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CYCLOPEDIA 


BIBLICAL, 

THEOLOGICAL,  AND  ECCLESIASTICAL 
LITERATURE. 


PKEPAEED   BY 


THE  REV.  JOHN  M'CLINTOCK,  D.D., 

AND 

JAMES  STRONG,  S.T.D. 
Vol.  VI.— ME-NEV. 


PRIVATE  LIBRARY 

RICHARD  C.   HALXCn-rM 


N  E  W    Y  O  E  K : 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN    SQUARE. 

188  3. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1876,  by 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PREFACE  TO  VOL.  VI. 


In  the  preparation  of  the  present  vohime  Dr.  Strong  has  remained  the  responsi- 
ble editor.  Professor  Worman  has  continued  to  act  as  assistant  in  the  non-biblical 
department.  Special  contributions  are  designated  by  the  initials  of  the  writer  ap- 
pended to  each.  The  issue  of  the  volume  has  been  delayed  by  the  extended  tour 
of  Dr.  Strong  in  Europe  and  the  East ;  but  the  readers  will  receive  a  compensation 
in  the  additional  value  which  his  observations  abroad  will  impart  to  the  work.  No 
material  change  has  been  deemed  desirable  in  the  scope  or  plan  of  the  Cyclopcedia, 
and  the  cordial  approbation  generally  expressed  by  the  public  as  to  its  essential  feat- 
ures and  fliithful  execution  is  an  encouragement  to  proceed  as  rapidly  as  practicable 
in  its  completion. 

The  department  of  modern  biography  has  been  found  to  call  for  the  greatest  ex- 
ercise of  editorial  discretion.  The  aim  has  been  to  insert  only  names  of  deceased 
persons  who  have  exerted  a  more  or  less  marked  religious  influence  upon  the  com- 
munity by  their  personal  labors  or  their  writings,  and  to  give  them  respectively  a 
space  as  nearly  as  possible  proportioned  to  the  extent  of  their  influence.  If  the 
ministers  of  any  particular  denomination  shall  seem  to  be  more  numerously  noticed 
than  others,  this  has  not  arisen  from  any  favoi-iiism,  i-at  simply  from  the  fact  that 
the  ecclesiastical  records  of  their  necrology  are  more  complete  and  accessible. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the  special  contributors  to  this  volume: 

C.  W.  B.— Professor  Charles  W.  Bennett,  D.D.,  of  the  Syracuse  University,  N.  Y. 
P.  A.  C— President  Paul  A.  Chadbourne,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  Williams  College,  Mass. 
H.  P.  C— The  Eev.  H.  P.  Collins,  A.M.,  Oxford,  N.  Y. 

G.  F.  C— Professor  George  F.  Comfort,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  of  the  Syracuse  University,  N.  Y. 

G.  P.  F.— Professor  George  P.  Fisher,  D.D.,  of  Yale  College. 

E.  n.  G.— The  late  Professor  E.  H.  Gillett,  D.D.,  of  the  New  York  University. 

N.  S.  G.— The  Rev.  N.  S.  Gould,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

D.  Y.  H.— The  Rev.  D.  Y.  Heisler,  Mt.  Alto,  Pa. 

G.  F.  IT.— Professor  George  F.  Holjies,  LL.D.,  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 

E.  H.— The  Rev.  R.  Hutcheson,  A.M.,  Washington,  Iowa. 

H.  E,  J.— Professor  H,  E.  Jacobs,  D.D.,  of  the  Gettysburgh  (Pa.)  College. 

D.  P.  K. — Professor  D.  P.  Kidder,  D.D.,  of  the  Drew  Theological  Seminary,  N.  J. 

E.  A.  JI. — The  Rev.  E.  A.  Manning,  Boston,  Mass. 

J.  W.  M.— The  Hon.  J.  W.  Marshall,  A.jNL,  First  Assistant  P.  M.  General,  Washington,  D.  C. 

G.  JL— The  Rev.  George  Miller,  B.D.,  of  the  Newark  Conference, 

^  ^.— The  Rev.  B.  Pick,  B.D.,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

J.  N.  P.— Mr.  J.  N.  Proeschel,  Paris,  France. 

A.  J.  S.— Professor  A.  J.  Schem,  A.M.,  N.  Y.  City. 

E.  de  S.— The  Right  Rev.  E,  de  Schweinitz,  D.D.,  editor  of  The  Moravian,  Bethlehem,  Pa. 

S.  S.— The  Rev.  Samuel  Scoville,  A.M.,  Norwich,  N.  Y. 

L.  E.  S.— Professor  L.  E.  Sjiith,  of  the  Examiner  and  Chronicle,  N.  Y.  City. 

R,  P.  S.— The  Very  Rev,  R.  Payne  Sjiith,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Canterbury,  England, 

J.  L,  S.— The  Rev.  J.  L.  Sooy,  A.M.,  Princeton,  N.  J, 


PREFACE  TO  VOL.  VI. 

IM.  L.  S.— The  late  Professor  JI.  L.  SroE\-EK,  D.D.,  of  Pennsylvania  University. 

X.  O.  S.— The  Kev.  Thomas  O.  Sl-.mju:us,  D.D.,  of  Vanderbilt  University,  Teiin. 

G.  L.  T.— The  licv.  Gkougk  L.  Tayi.ou,  A.M.,  of  the  N.  Y.  East  Conference. 

W.  J.  R.  T.— The  Rev.  W.  J.  R.  Taylor,  D.D.,  Newark,  N.  J. 

G.  A.  T-— George  A.  Thomas,  A.M.,  Norwich,  N.  Y. 

II.  W.  T.— Howard  W.  Tilton,  A.B.,  of  the  Chicafjo  Post. 

T.AV.— The  Rev.  Thomas  Webster,  D.D.,  Ncwburj-,  Canada. 

E.-\V._The  Rev.  E.  "Wkntwortii,  D.D.,  editor  of  7'/ie  Ladles'  Repository,  Cincinnati,  0. 

J.  P.  W.— The  Rev.  J.  P.  Weston,  D.D.,  President  of  the  Franklin  Academy,  Mass. 

D.  A.  W.— The  Rev.  D.  A.  Whedon,  D.D.,  of  the  Providence  Conference. 

T.  D.  W.— The  Rev.  Theodore  D.  Woolsey,  U.D.,  LL.D.,  ex-President  of  Y'ale  College. 

J.  II.  W.— Professor  J.  H.  Wokmax,  A.M.,  of  Lawrence  University,  Wis. 


C YC  L  OP^  D I  A 


BIBLICAL  THEOLOGICAL,  AND  ECCLESIASTICAL  LITERATURE. 


ME. 


Mead,  MattheTW,  an  English  divine,  was  born  in 
Buckinghamshire  in  1G29.  Of  his  early  history  we 
know  but  little.  He  first  came  prominently  into  pub- 
lic nf)tice  during  the  Cromwellian  movement.  Mead 
identified  himself  with  the  cause  of  the  Independents, 
and  was  appninted  by  the  Protector  to  the  living  of 
ShadwcU  in  l(j.")8.  Four  years  later  he  was  ejected  for 
nonconformity,  and  removed  to  Holland,  in  common 
with  many  other  ministers  of  that  age.  He  became 
acquainted  with  the  duke  of  Orange,  and  was  greatly 
favored  by  him  and  the  States.  Afterwards  he  returned 
to  England,  and  gathered  about  him  one  of  the  largest 
congregations  in  London.  He  settled  at  Stepney  as 
pastor  of  a  dissenting  congregation  in  1674,  and  the 
commimity  betokened  their  love  and  esteem  for  him  bj^ 
presenting  him  with  building  material  for  a  new  chapel. 
He  died  in  1699.  Matthew  Mead,  whom  his  friend  and 
associate,  Howe  {Funeral  Sermon  for  Mead),  describes 
as  "  that  very  reverend  and  most  laborious  servant  of 
Christ,"  was  as  indefatigable  in  Christian  work  as  he 
was  amiable  in  spirit,  and,  in  consequence  of  his  mild 
temperament  and  the  moderation  of  his  opinions,  formed 
the  strongest  personal  link  between  the  Presbyterians 
and  Independents  of  England  in  the  second  half  of  the 
17th  century.  Among  his  publications  are,  The  A  Imost 
C/iristidii,  or  seven  sermons  on  Acts  xxvi,  28  (Lond. 
i66(5,  8vo)  :  — 77(6  Almost  Christian  Discovered  (1684, 
4to;  Glasgow,  1755, 12mo;  with  Essav  by  Dr.  Young  of 
Perth,  Lond.  1825 ;  1849,  12mo)  -.—Life  'and  Death  of 
Nathaniel  Mather  (1689,  8vo): — Vision  of  the  Wheels: 
sermon  on  Ezek.  x,  13  (1689^4to).  See  Calamy,  Noncon- 
formists ;  Skeats,  Hist,  of  the  Free  Churches  of  England, 
p.  167 ;  Allibone,  Did.  of  Brit,  and  Amer.  Ailth.  ii,  1257. 

Mead,  Richard,  a  distinguished  English  physi- 
cian, who  was  born  at  Stepney  in  1673,  and  after  stndyiug 
at  the  most  eminent  medical  schddls  ou  the  Continent, 
returned  and  settled  in  Eii-l.iiid.  .tikI  liecame  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  practitioners  dl'  his  time,  wrote  a  treatise 
on  the  diseases  mentioned  in  Scripture,  entitled  Medi- 
cina  Sacra,  seu  de  morbis  iiisignioribus  qui  in  Biblis  vie- 
morantur  (Lond.  1749,  8vo ;  republished  at  Amsterdam, 
1749,  8vo).  A  translation  of  this  work  was  made  by 
Dr.  T.  Stark,  and  was  published  with  a  memoir  of  the 
author  (Lond.  1755,  8vo).  Dr.  Mead  died  in  1754.  See 
Allibone,  Diet.  Brit,  and  A  nier.  Biog.  s.  v. 

Mead,  Stith,  an  early  Methodist  Episcopal  minis- 
ter, was  born  in  Bedford  County,  Va.,  Sept.  25,  1767; 
was  converted  in  1789,  and  feeling  called  of  God  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  entered  the  itinerancy  in  1793 ;  was 
located  in  1816;  readmitted  superannuate  in  1827,  and 
died  in  1835.  IMr.  Jlead  was  eminently  useful  as  a 
preacher,  and  particularly  conspicuous  in  the  great  re- 
vivals of  his  time,  yet  remenibered  in  the  Southern 
States. — Minutes  of  Conferences,  ii,  347. 

Mead,  Zechariah,  a  clergyman  of  the  Protestant 

Episcopal  Church,  was  born  at  Greenwich,  Conn.,  some 

time  in  the  first  half  of  our  century  (perhaps  1802),  and 

was  educated  at  Yale  College  (class  of  1825).     He  was 

VI.— A 


ordained  priest  at  Norfolk,  Va.,  May  22,  1831;  became 
rector  of  Grace  Church,  Boston,  Mass.;  from  1837-1840 
was  editor  of  the  Southern  Churchman,  published  at 
Richmond,  Va. ;  and  died  Nov.  27,  1840.  See  General 
Catal.  of  till-  T)irinit;i  School  of  Yule  College,  p.  7. 

Meade,  \\'ii.i-iAjr,  D.D.,  a  noted  prelate  of  the  Prot- 
estant Ejii.scopal  Cliurch,  was  born  at  Millwood,  Clarke 
County,  Nov.  11,  1789,  his  father  being  Col.  Richard 
K.  Meade,  aide-de-camp  to  Gen.  Washington,  and  was 
connected  both  by  birth  and  marriage  with  some  of  the 
oldest  and  best  families  in  Virginia.  His  great-grand- 
father was  an  Irish  Romanist,  who  came  to  this  coun- 
try, married  a  Quakeress  in  Flushing,  L.  I.,  and  removed 
to  Virginia.  His  grandmother  was  a  descendant  of 
Richard  Kidder,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells.  William 
was  educated  at  Princeton  College,  N.  J.  (class  of  1808) ; 
was  ordained  deacon  by  bishop  Madison,  Feb.  24, 1811, 
in  Williamsburg,  Va. ;  and  priest  by  bishop  Claggett,  in 
St. Paul's  Church,  Alexandria.  He  commenced  his  min- 
istry in  his  own  native  parish,  Frederick  (now  Clarke) 
County,  as  assistant  to  the  Rev.  Alexander  Balmaine ;  in 
the  fail  of  1811  he  took  charge  of  Christ  Church,  Alex- 
andria, where  he  remained  two  years,  when  he  returned 
to  Millwood,  and,  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Balmaine,  became 
rector  of  that  Church.  In  1826  he  was  a  candidate  as 
assistant  bishop  in  Pennsylvania,  but  failed  by  one  vote 
of  nomination  by  the  clergy ;  and  in  the  following  year 
the  Rev.  H.  U.  6nderdc(nk,"D.D.,  was  elected.  In  1823 
he  was  elected  assistant  bishop  to  bishop  IMoore,  and  was 
consecrated  Aug.  19,  1829,  in  St.  James's  Church,  Phil- 
adelphia, by  bishops  White,  Hobart,  Griswold,  JNIoore, 
Croes,  Brownell,  and  H.  U.  Onderdonk.  On  the  death 
of  bishop  Moore,  Nov.  11, 1841,  he  became  bishop  of  the 
diocese  of  Virginia.  In  this  capacity  he  labored  un- 
ceasingly, up  to  the  hour  of  his  death,  March  14, 1862, 
for  the  good  of  evangelical  Christianity.  He  advanced 
the  interests  of  his  blaster's  cause  not  only  in  the  pul- 
pit, but  in  many  and  various  ways  he  labored  for  the 
good  of  humanity.  Several  educational  and  missionary 
societies  owe  their  origin  to  him,  and  the  Theological 
School  of  Virginia,  lately  at  Alexandria,  was  largely  in- 
debted to  him  for  its  existence  (though  the  plan  of  a 
theological  seminary  in  Virginia  was  not  original  with 
him).  He  gave  to  this  school  of  the  prophets  his  per- 
sonal care  and  labors,  nearly  to  the  close  of  his  life. 
During  the  exciting  days  of  1861  bishop  Meade  made 
many  fervent  though  futile  efforts  to  save  Virginia  from 
the  troubles  of  the  impending  civil  ^yar.  He  steadfast- 
ly opposed -secession  to  the  very  last.  Taken  altogether, 
but  few  men  in  the  nation  have  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  the  people  to  a  greater  degree  than  did  this  honest 
ecclesiastic,  who  sought  in  more  ways  than  one  to  serve 
his  day  and  generation  as  a  truly  Christian  man.  For 
years  before  his  death  bishop  Meade  was  the  recognised 
"head  of  the  evangelical  branch  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  in  the  United  States.  On  bishop  Meade's 
ecclesiastical  position,  the  Church  Review  (July,  1862) 
thus  comments :  "  The  gross  worldliness,  and  even  the 
open  immorality  of  many  of  the  early  clergy  of  Vir- 


MEADOW  2 

ginia ;  the  moral-essay  style  of  preaching  which  char- 
acterized many  of  the  missionaries;  the  French  infidel- 
ity introduced  during  the  Revolution,  and  the  absence 
of  that  bitter  opposition  to  Church  principles  which 
was,  and  even  now  is  waged  in  the  Northern  States,  led 
the  bishop  to  regard  as  not  only  mainly,  but  only  im- 
portant, the  development  of  the  subjective  in  religion. 
His  'extraordinary  will,'  as  the  Kpisropal  Jiecurder  \^ 
calls  it.  and  his  Calvinistic  doctrines,  led  him  to  separate 
evangelical  truth  from  apostolic  order,  and  to  make  him, 
we  doubt  not  an  honest,  but  a  most  determined  oppo- 
nent to  any  earnest  presentation  of  the  positive  institu- 
tions of  Christianity."  Bishop  Meade  was  buried  from 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Kichmond,  :March  17.  His  principal 
published  works  are,  FamUy  Prayer  {\»M):— Lectures 
on  the  I'mtordl  Office,  and  Lectures  to  Students  (1849) : 
— Old  Churches  and  Families  in  ]'irf/iniu  (Philad.  18.W, 
2  vols.  8vo)  -.—  The  Bible  ami  the  Classics  (ISGl,  12mo). 
Besides  tlicse,  he  also  published  .'Ifemorials  o/[his^  Two 
Beloved  Wires,  which  the  Church  Reriew  informs  lis 
was  suppressed.  His  controversial  writings  are  immer- 
ous.  See  Life,  by  bishop  Johns  (Baltimore,  1808).  (J. 
H.  W.) 

Meadow,  a  term  used  in  the  A.  V.  as  the  transla- 
tion of  two  Ileb.  words,  neither  of  whicli  seems  to  have 
this  meaning.  We  adopt  substantially  the  explanations 
of  them  found  in  Smith's  I)ictionai-y,  s.  v.  See  Abel. 
1.  Gen.  xli,2  and  18.  Here  the  wonl  in  the  original 
is  WXn  (with  the  delinite  article),  ha-Achii'.  It  ap- 
pears to  be  an  Egyptian  term,  literally  transferred  into 
the  Hebrew  text,  as  it  is  also  into  that  of  the  Alexan- 
drian translators,  who  give  it  as  r(jj  "Ax^i.  (This  is  tlie 
reading  of  Codex  A.  Codex  B,  if  we  may  accept  the 
edition  of  Mai,  has  t'Xoe ;  so  also  the  rendering  of  Aquila 
and  Symmachus,  and  of  Josephus  [Atit.  ii,  5,  5].  An- 
other version,  quoted  in  the  fragments  of  the  Hexapla, 
attempts  to  reconcile  sound  and  sense  by  ox^n-  '^^^ 
Veneto-Greek  has  Xtifiwv.)  The  same  form  is  retained 
by  the  Coptic  version.  Its  use  in  Job  viii,  11  (A.V. 
"flag")— where  it  occurs  as  a  parallel  to  yu/ne  (A.V. 
"rush"),  a  word  used  in  Exod. ii,3  for  the  "bulrushes" 
of  which  ;Moses's  ark  was  composed— seems  to  show  that 
it  is  not  a  "  meadow,"  but  some  kind  of  reed  or  water- 
plant.  This  the  Sept.  supports,  both  by  rendering  in 
the  latter  passage  jiovTojiov,  and  also  by  introducing 
'.4xt  as  the  ecjuivjilent  of  the  word  rendered  "paper- 
reeds"'  in  Isa.  xix,  7.  Jerome,  in  his  commentary  on  the 
passage,  also  contirms  this  meaning.  He  states  that  he 
was  informed  by  learned  Egyptians  that  the  word  acki 
denoted  in  their  tongue  any  green  thing  that  grew  in  a 
marsh— ow««?  quod  in  pahide  virens  nascitur.  But,  as 
during  high  inundations  of  the  Nile — such  inundations 
as  are  the  cause  of  fruitful  years — the  whole  of  the  land 
on  either  side  is  a  marsh,  and  as  the  cultivation  extends 
up  to  the  very  lip  of  the  river,  is  it  not  possible  that 
Achu  may  denote  the  herbage  of  the  growing  crops'? 
The  fact  that  the  cows  of  Pliaraoh's  vision  were  feeding 
there  would  seem  to  be  as  strong  a  figure  as  could  be 
presented  to  an  ICgyi)tian  of  the  extreme  fruitfulness  of 
the  season :  so  luxuriant  was  the  growth  on  either  side 
of  the  stream,  that  the  very  cows  fed  among  it  unmo- 
lested. The  lean  kine,  on  the  otlier  hand,  merely  stand 
on  the  dry  brink.  See  Nii.K.  No  one  appears  yet  to 
have  attempted  to  discover  on  the  spot  what  the  signi- 
fication of  the  term  is.     See  Rkkd. 

2.  Judg.  XX,  33  only :  "  the  meadows  of  Gibeah." 
Here  the  word  is  il"^S^,  Maareh',  which  occurs  no- 
where else  witli  the  same  vowels  attached  to  it.  The 
sense  is  thus  diuibly  uncertain.  "Meadows"  around 
Gibeah  can  certainly  never  liave  existed:  the  nearest 
approach  to  that  sense  would  be  ti)  take  maareh  as 
meaning  an  open  plain.  This  is  the  dictum  of  (iesenius 
{Thesaiir.  p.  1009 ).  on  the  authority  of  tlie  Targum.  It 
is  also  ado|ited  by  De  Wette  ("  Die  Pliine  von  G.'").  But. 
if  an  open  plain,  where  could  the  ambush  have  concealed 
itself ':•     See  Plaix. 


IVIEAL-TDIE 

The  Sept.,  according  to  the  Alex.  MS.  (the  "\'atican 
Codex  transfers  the  word  literally — Mapaaya/St))  read 
a  different  Hebrew  word — 2"ii'"a — "from  the  west  of 
Gibeah."'  Tremellius,  taking  the  nrnt  of  the  word  in  a 
figurative  sense,  reads  "  after  Gibeah  had  been  left  open," 
i.  e.  by  the  quitting  of  its  inhabitants — post  denudatio- 
nem  Gibhce.  This  is  adopted  by  Berthcau  (Kurzijef. 
Ilandh.  ad  loc).  But  the  most  plausible  interpretation 
is  that  of  the  Peshito-Syriac,  which  by  a  sliglit  differ- 
ence in  the  vowel-points  makes  the  word  rr^^'*,  "the 
cave;"  a  suggestion  quite  in  keeping  with  the  locality, 
which  is  ver\'  suitable  for  caves,  and  also  with  the  re- 
quirements of  the  ambush.  The  only  thing  that  can  be 
said  against  this  is  that  the  liers-in-wait  were  "  set  round 
about"  Gibeah,  as  if  not  in  one  spot,  but  several.  See 
Gibeah. 

Me'ah  (Ileb.  Medh ',  nX"?.  a  hundred,  as  often ;  Sept 
tKaTov,  Mta  ;  Vulg.  centum,  Kmath),  a  tower  in  Jerusa- 
lem, situated  on  the  eastern  Avail  (^Xeh.  iii,  1 ;  xii.  39),  . 
probably  at  the  north-eastern  angle  of  the  Temple  en- 
closure (Strong's  Harmony  and  Krpos.  of  the  Gospels, 
Append,  ii,  p.  19;  but  it  is  not  likely  that  the  outer  wall 
was  different  from  that  of  the  Temple,  as  supposed  by 
Dr.  Barclay,  City  of  the  Great  King,  p.  152).     See  Jeku- 

SALE.M. 

Meal  (n^p,  ke'mach,  in  pause  ITCp,  prob.y«^,  i.  e. 
marrow ;  hence  the  fatness  of  wheat  or  barley,  i.  e.  its 
ground  substance.  Gen.  xviii,  G;  Numb,  v,  15;  1  Kings 
iv,  22 ;  xvii,  12, 14, 10 ;  2  Kings  iv,  41 ;  1  Chron.  xii,  40 ; 
Isa.  xlvii,2 ;  IIos.  viii,  7;  "four,"  as  elsewliere  rendered, 
1  Sam.  i,  24;  xxviii,  24;  2  Sam.  xvii,  28:  Gr.  dXivpov, 
Matt.  xiii,33;  Luke  xiii,21;  also  r'sb,  so ' let h,  stripped 
of  its  bran,  the  finest  portion  of  the  ground  grain.  Gen. 
xviii,  6  [where  it  stands  after  the  preceding  term,  in 
apposition ] ;  elsewhere  " flour" or  "fine  flour,"  Sept.  <rf /ii- 
C'aAic),  the  ground  produce  of  any  species  of  grain.  See 
Grits.  This  is  usually  prepared  in  the  East  by  females 
in  hand-mills.     See  Floir. 

Meals.  SeeDiXE;  Repast;  Sii';  and  the  article 
following. 

Meal-time  (^3^  rV,eth  o'AW,  the  season  of  eat- 
ing, Ruth  ii,  14).  That  the  Hebrews  took  their  princi- 
pal meal  {cana,  supper)  in  the  latter  part  of  the  after- 
noon or  towards  evening,  follows  as  well  from  the  cir- 
cumstance that  banquets  and  convivial  entertaniments 
generally  (perhaps  always)  occurred  near  the  close  of 
the  day  (sometimes  being  continued  far  into  the  night, 
Josephus,  Life,  44),  as  from  the  custom  still  prevalent 
in  the  East  (Wellsted,  Trar.  i,  113;  the  Persians  sup 
about  six  or  seven  o'clock),  a  usage  to  which  the  Es- 
senes  were  an  exception  (Josephus,  War,  ii,  8.  5).  Sec 
Feast.  The  agricultural  and  laboring  portion  of  the 
community,  however,  probably  took  their  i)rincipal  meal 
at  noon  (1  Kings  xx,  10).  See  Dine.  In  the  forenoon 
a  slight  repast  was  partaken  (breakfast,  iipiffrov,  comp. 
Luke  xiv,  12;  John  xxi,  22).  Among  the  later  Jews, 
it  was  usual  for  the  deejily  religious  not  to  taste  any- 
thing before  the  hour  of  morning  prayer  (comp.  Acts  ii, 
15;  see  Lightfoot,  J/or.  //eh.  ad  loc. ;  the  passage  in  Be- 
rac/i.  fol.  xxvii,  2,  quoted  by  Kuiniil,  refers  to  the  bless- 
ing before  eating,  see  Geniar.  /iab.  vi,  1, 1) ;  on  the  Sab- 
bath, the  synagogue  worship  led  to  the  rule  of  not  eat- 
ing before  the  sixth  hour,  or  noon.  Before  eacli  meal, 
persons  were  accustomed,  especially  in  later  limes,  care- 
fully to  wash  (.Matt,  xv,  2;  Lukexi.aS;  :Markvi.2;  see 
]  the" younger  BuxtorTs  J)iss,rt.  philol.theol.\x3\*7  sq.), 
like  the  ancient  (ireeks  (l/lad.  x-.  577;  Odyss.i.  130  sq.; 
iv,  210  s(|.;  Aristoph.  I'esp.  1210)  and  the  modern  Ori- 
entals (Niebuhr,  /ieschr.  j).  54  ;  Shaw.  Trav.  \\  2o2),  and 
1  also  to  "say  grace"  (HS'^a,  the  blessing,  ivXoyin,  (i'xc- 
\  piffWa;  Matt,  xiv,  19;  xv,  .30;  xxvi,  20;  Luke  ix.  10; 
I  John  vi.  1 1 ;  comp.  Tim.  iv,  3 ;  see  the  (iemara.  AV  rac/>. 
p.27«;  and  the  rabbinical  tract,  V^frm7K<M,ii.0-l«;  also 
I  Hmnbl  l)e  precum  ante  et  post  cibum  uj>.Jud.  tt  Chria- 


MEAL-TIME 

Han.  antiquitafe,  Lips.  1764).    While  eating,  the  Hebrews 
originally  sat  (Gen.  xxvii,  19 ;  Hengstenberg,  Mos.  p. 
3G,  incorrectly  infers  their  recumbency  at  table  from 
Gen.  xviii,  4;  comp.  Judg.  xix,  6;  1  Sam.  xx,  5,  24;  1 
Kings  xiii,  20),  like  the  Greeks  in  the  heroic  period 
{Iliad,  X,  578;  Odyss.  i,  144;  xv,  134;  Athen.  viii,  303; 
xi,  459),  and  the  Eomans  anciently  (Serv.  ad  ^i:n.  vii, 
176 ;  Varro,  Ling.  Lat.  1,  p.  236  Bip. ;  see  Becker,  Char- 
ikl.  i,  425),  and  in  this  posture  are  the  early  Egyptians 
represented  on  the  monuments  (Wilkinson," ii,  201).    In 
later  times  the  practice  of  reclining  {uvaKtiaSiaL,  Kara-. 
Ktltj^ai,  KaTaKXtvtaB'at,  see  the  Mishna,  Berach.  vi,  6) 
on  cushions  or  divans  (n^i^ri ;  kXIvui,  Xen.  Cyrop.  viii, 
8,  16;  Ka-aKXifiara,  Josephus,  Ant.  xv,  9,  3;  comp.  A. 
Baccius,  Be  conviv.  antiq.  ii,  1  sq.,  in  Gronov.  Thesaur. 
ix),  at  iirst  only  in  special  entertainments  (Amos  vi,  4; 
comp.  ii,  8 ;  Matt,  ix,  10 ;  xxvi,  7 ;  Mark  vi,  22 ;  xiv,  3  \ 
Luke  V,  29;  vii,  37;  xiv,  10;  Johnxii,  2;  xiii,  23,  etc.),' 
but  eventuaUy  in  common  life  (Luke  xvii.  7),  without 
any  particular  invitation  to  that  effect  (Terent.  Heau- 
tonf.  i,  1,  72 ;  Plant.  Tmcul.  ii,  14,  16 ;  Martial,  iii,  50,  3  • 
comp.  Plat.  Conrir.  p.  213),  and  universallv  (see  H.  Mer- 
curialis.  Diss,  de  accubitu  tridinio,  in  h\i  Ars  gymnast. 
p.  75  sq.).     See  Accubatiox.     Every  such  divan  or 
dmner-bed  accommodated  (according  to  Roman  fashion) 
three  persons  (triclinium  [Plin.  xxxvii,6],a  prevalent 
form  of  luxury  [Plin.  xxxiii,  52 ;  Josephus,  A  nt.  xv,  9, 3  • 
Philo,ii,4/8], introduced  from  the  Babvlonians,who  use'd 
a  carpet  or  tapestry  over  it  [Plin.  viii,  74],  whence  the 
terms  descriptive  of  spreading  it  [sternere,  Cic.  Mur.  36  • 
Macrob.  Sat.  ii,  9 ;  arpcjvvljuv,  Xen.  Cyroj).  viii,  3,  6  \ 
which  explains  the  avdyuiov  ioTpui^kvov  of  Mark  xiv' 
lo;   see  generally  Ciacon.  Be  tridinio,  Amst.  16991)' 
sometimes  as  many  as  five,  who  leaned  upon  the  left  arm' 
the  feet  being  stretched  out  behind.     Each  one  on  the 
right  touched  with  the  bade  of  his  head  the  breast  of  his 
left  neighbor,  whence  the  phrase  ■'  to  lie  in  one's  bosom" 
iavaKua^ai  iv  Tip  k6\tz<i),  John  xiii,  23;  xxi,  20)  as 
being  the  place  of  the  spouse  (among  the  Jew's,  how- 
ever, wives  ate  sitting,  which  the  Romans  generally  held 
to  be  the  most  becoming  attitude,  Isidor.  6>/w  xx  11- 
comp.Sueton.6ya«c/.32;  Val.Max.  ii,  1,2;  the''^'sit'tinc^ 
at  the  leet"  in  Luke  x,  39,  was  not  an  act  of  participa- 
tion m  the  meal),  a  friend,  or  a  favorite  (Plin.  Ep  iv 
22 ;  see  Kype,  Observ.  i, 402 ;  comp.  Talra.  Babvl.  Beradi 
vii,  2,  o) ;  the  place  of  honor  being  in  tho  midcUe  of  the 
three  (Talm.  Hieros.  Taanith,  Ixviii,  1 ;   comp.  Potter, 
A  rchoBol.  11, 661).     The  tables  (comp.  1  Sam.  xx,  29  •  2 
Sam.  IX,  7,  11;  1  Kings  x,  5;  Ezek.  xxxix,  20;  Luke 
xxii,21 ;  Acts  xvi,34,  etc.)  were  probably,  as  still  in  the 
East  (Mariti,  Trav.  p.'  283;  Shaw,  Trav.'p.  202;  Mayr 
Hdadcsale,   i,  51 ;   Robinson,  Researches,  ii,  726)    low 
(among  modern  Orientals  consisting  of  a  round'  skin 
Isujra-]  or  reed-mat,  Rtlppel,  J %,,»;,.  ii,  85,  spread  on 
the  floor  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  Arvieux,  Voyaqe  iii 
2o/ ;  Pococke,  East,  i,  292 ;  Harmar,  Observ.  ii,  453,  or  on 
a  stool  and  furnished  with  rings  on  the  edge,  so  that 
Ku!'_^'^  ".?^  '5  '^.''y^^  ^"J^'ed  together,  and  hung  up 
on  mats,  or  upon  cloths 


5  MEANS 

282;  Arvieux,  P'oyrtr/e,  iii,  238;  Pococke,  ii,  63 ;  Niebuhr 
Besch.  p.  53  ;  Shaw,  Trav.  p.  203 ;  Burckhardt,  Wahaby 
p.  51 ;  Rosenmiiller,  Morgenl.  iv,  138 ;  Robinson,  ii,  726- 
111,  201).  Whether  they  drank  wine  during  the  meal 
(like  the  Romans)  or  after  it  (like  the  Egyptians,  Herod. 
11, 278,  and  Persians,  Herod,  v,  18,  and  as  is  stiU  the  prac- 
tice of  most  Arabians  and  Persians,  Chardin,  iv,  44,  52 ; 
Arvieux,  iii,  277;  Burckhardt,  Sjnrichen,]).  137;  comp! 
Josephus,  Ant.  xv,  1,  2),  is  not  positively  stated,  al- 
though the  Talmud  (Babylon.  Berach.  p.  251)  seems  to 
imply  that  the  Jews  did  both,  the  draught  following 
the  meal,  however,  being  the  principal  one  {Berach.viif, 
4,7;  comp.  Robinson,  ii,  726).  See  Eatixg.  (See  gen- 
erally M.  Geier,  in  the  Biblioth.  Lubec.  v,  1  sq.)— Winer, 
ii,  47.    See  Entertaixjient.  , 


like  a  bag,  the  food  being  laid 

covering  it,  comp.  Niebuhr,  Trav.  i,  372 ;  Paulus,  Samml. 
Ill,  101)  as  appears  likewise  from  the  pattern  of  the  ta- 
ble of  show-bread.  See  Table.  Meat  and  vegetables, 
the  hrst  cut  into  smaU  pieces  (the  loins  and  shoulders 
affording  what  were  regarded  as  choice  morsels,  Ezek 
XXIV  4),  were  set  on  the  table  in  large  platters,  out  of 
which  each  guest  took  his  share  with  his  fingers  upon 
the  flat  pieces  of  bread,  and  ate  without  either  knife  or 
fiiric  (comp.  Zorn,  in  the  Miscell.  Duisburg.  ii,  437  sq  • 
Manti  Irav.  p.  284) ;  or  was  sometimes  helped  bv  the 
ftost  (1  Jsam.  1,  4;  comp.  John  xiii,  26;  Xen.  Ci/rop.  i,  3, 
;iV  ..  '^^''T  °f  b'-e^fl  ^^-ere  dipped  into  the  sauce 
(Matt.  XXVI,  23 ;  Aristoph.  Eg.  1116),  and  the  vegetables 
^^ere  conveyed  from  the  dish  by  means  of  the  hand  or 
hngers  to  the  mouth  (comp.  Prov.  xix,  24;  xxvi  15- 
l.uth  11  14  IS  not  in  point),  a  custom  which  still  prevails 
in  the  East  even  at  the  royal  table  (Tavernier,  Trav.  i, 


Meal-tub  Plot  is  the  name  of  a  plot  concocted  on 
the  part  of  Romanists,  but  intended  to  be  fathered  on  a 
number  of  eminent  persons  engaged  in  the  interests  of 
the  Protestants  during  the  reign  of  Charles  H,  in  the 
year  1679.  A  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  the  Jesuits  to 
dethrone  or  make  away  with  Charles,  and  place  the 
duke  of  York  (who  was  in  favor  of  the  papal  rule)  on  the 
throne,  having  come  to  light,  the  papists,  exasperated, 
determined  to  set  on  foot  a  sham  plot,  and  brand  the 
Presbyterians  as  the  originators.  The  dastardly  at- 
tempt was  timely  discovered,  and  heaped  infamy  upon 
the  already  spotted  character  of  the  Jesuits.  For  a  full 
account,  see  Neale,  Hist,  of  the  Puritans,  ii,  290 ;  Stough- 
ton,  Ecd.llist.  of  Engl.  {Ch.  of  the  Restoration),  ii,  2l'sq. 
Mea'ni  {Mtavi  v.  r.  Mavi  and  Maavi),  a  less  cor- 
rect form  (1  Esdr.  v,  31)  for  the  Meiiuxiji  (ii.  v.)  of  the 
Heb.  text  (Ezra  ii,  50). 

Means  of  Grace,  a  convenient  but  unscientific  and 
unscriptural  phrase  for  those  exercises  or  agencies  which 
become  the  channel  or  occasion  of  spiritual  influences 
to  the  Christian.     The  doctrine  concerning  the  means 
of  grace  is  based  on  that  of  grace  itself.     It  has  only 
received  its  adequate  form  through  the  Reformation, 
which,  in  opposition  to  the  Roman  Church,  who  consid- 
ers that  grace  is  imparted  by  the  visible  Church,  par- 
ticiflarly  by  the  priest,  asserts  as  the  only  regular  means 
of  grace  the  Word  of  God  and  the  sacraments  insti- 
tuted by  Christ.     In  popular  language,  however,  the 
term  "means  of  grace"  is  extended  so  as  to  include  those 
duties  which  we  perform  for  the  purpose  of  improving 
our  minds,  affecting  our  hearts,  and  of  obtaining  spirit^ 
ual  blessings ;  such  as  hearing  the  Gospel,  reading  the 
Scriptures,  self-examination,  meditation,  praver,  praise. 
Christian  conversation,  etc.     The  means  are" to  be  used 
without  any  reference  to  merit,  solely  with  a  depend- 
ence on  the  divine  Being;  nor  can  we" ever  expect  hap- 
piness in  ourselves,  nor  be  good  exemplars  to  others, 
while  we  live  in  the  neglect  of  them.     It  is  in  vain  to 
argue  that  the  divine  willingness  to  bestow  grace  super- 
sedes the  necessity  of  them,  since  God  has  as  certainly 
appointed  the  means  as  the  end.     Besides,  he  himsel'f 
generally  works  by  them,  and  the  more  means  he  thinks 
proper  to  use,  the  more  he  displays  his  glorious  perfec- 
tions.    Jesus  Christ,  when  on  earth,  used  means ;  he 
prayed,  he  exhorted,  and  did  good,  by  going  from  place 
to  place.    Indeed,  tlie  systems  of  nature,  providence,  and 
grace  are  all  carried  on  by  means.     The  Scriptures 
abound  with  exhortations  to  them  (MatUv;  Rom.  xii), 
and  none  but  enthusiasts  or  immoral  oharaeters  ever  re- 
fuse to  use  them.     In  the  following  article  we  use  the 
term  in  its  more  restricted  sense,  as  "related  to  the  sacra- 
mental controversy  between  Roman  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants, condensing  the  statements  in  Herzog's  Real- 
Encykiop.  v,  200  sq. 

The  starting-point  of  the  Protestant  doctrine  on  this 
subject  is  contained  in  the  fifth  article  of  the  Confession 
f/-l  'igsbtirg.  Grace  itself  is  presupposed,  such  as  exists 
m  the  form  of  justification  by  faith.  The  hearing  of 
the  Word  and  the  partaking  of  the  sacraments  are  meth- 
ods of  arriving  at  this  faith  :  «  Nam  per  verbum  et  sa- 
craraenta,  tamquam  per  instrumenta  donatur  Spiritus 


MEANS 


MEAXS 


Sanctus,  qui  fidem  afficit,  ubi  et  quando  visum  est  Deo  in  [ 
iis,  qui  audiunt  Evangolium,"  etc.  To  this  statement  is 
joined  the  declaration, "  Uamnant  Anabaptistas  et  alios, 
([ui  sentiunt,  Spiritum  Sanctum  contingerc  sine  verbo  \ 
I  xterno  hominibus  per  ipsorum  prasparationes  ad  opera." 
Tlie  Ileidelberfi  CaltchUm  enounces  the  same  doctrine,  ! 
and  at  the  same  time  states  still  more  emphatically  the  i 
connection  between  the  sacraments  and  the  Word  of  j 
(iod  in  quest.  (55 :  '•  Whence  comes  saving  grace  ?  It  is 
the  effect  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  our  heart  by  means  of 
the  preaching  of  the  holy  (iospel,  and  contirmed  by  the  j 
use  of  the  holy  sacraments."  (The  most  imiiortant  pas- 
sages of  symbols  on  this  i)oint  arc :  Apolnj.  iv,  153 ;  A  r- 
tic.  Smulc.  pars  ii,  2, 8 ;  Catechism,  maj.  Pra?ccptum  iii,  p. 
42G;  JSi/mboLupost.\).bQ2;  Fo7-muL  cone.  Epitome :  "De 
lib.  arbitr."  Negativa  vi ;  SolUl.  decl.  p.  055,  GG9,  828  ; 
Cuiif.  lldi:  ii,  c.  1 ;  Conf.  Gall.  art.  25,  35;  Conf.  Bchj. 
art.  21.)  The  means  of  grace  are  called  instrumcuia  yra- 
tl(i\  media,  adiiiiiiiriila  (jratiw.  In  the  Lutheran  Church 
the  union  between  the  Word  and  the  sacraments  is  made 
much  closer  than  in  the  Keformed.  The  JJcl relic  Con- 
fe.<dim  treats  of  the  Word  of  God  in  the  first  chapter, 
and  of  the  sacraments  in  the  nineteenth.  The  reason 
of  this  separation  is  that  the  Bible,  as  the  Word  of  God, 
is  the  foundation  of  the  whole  system.  Yet  their  con- 
nection and  union  are  not  lost  sight  of:  "Triedicationi 
verbi  sui  adjunxit  Deus  mox  ab  initio  in  ccclesia  sua 
sacramenta,  vel  signa  sacramentalia."  The  idea  of  the 
unity  of  the  means  of  grace  is  not  considered  by  the 
evangelical  Church  as  only  a  formal,  human,  or  theolog- 
ical connection  between  the  Word  of  God,  baptism,  and 
the  Lord's  Supper,  but  as  the  consequence  of  a  divine 
act,  the  institution  of  the  Church  and  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical office.  The  means  of  grace  are  not  mere  pos- 
sessions of  the  Church,  but  its  foundation  itself.  The 
Church  is  called  into  existence  by  the  Word  of  God, 
ivhile  by  baptism  and  communion  it  is  manifested  as  a 
religious  community  (see  Vovf.  A  iig.  art.  vii).  Schleier- 
niacher  himself  recognised  in  them  the  essential  and 
unchangeable  foundations  of  the  Church  (ii,  §  127). 
Thus  he  contradicts  himself  when  further  on,  treating  of 
the  connection  between  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper, 
he  refuses  to  consider  it  as  an  actual  dogmatic  point  (p. 
41 G).  The  unity  of  the  means  of  grace  may  be  brictiy 
said  to  consist  in  their  constituting  the  Church  as  the 
organ  of  transmission  of  grace.  The  inner  ground  of 
their  unity  is  grace  itself,  of  which  they  are  the  chan- 
nels; the  outer  aspect  is  the  ministeriiim,  the  office  ap- 
pointed by  Christ,  which  has  to  administer  both  forms 
of  the  means  of  grace. 

This  brings  us  to  the  significance  and  necessity  of 
these  means  of  grace,  or  to  tlie  views  of  the  Protestant 
Church  as  opposed  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  on 
these  points.  The  first  iMjiiit  of  difference  lies  in  the 
conception  of  the  ecclesiastical  office.  Both,  indeed,  con- 
sider it  as  a  divine  institution,  but  the  rrotcstauts  look 
upon  it  as  a  miuisterium,  v;h\ch  can  be  considered  as  a 
continuous  Christian  working  of  the  Church  in  the 
Word  and  sacraments,  while  the  Koman  Catholics  re- 
tain the  idea  of  a  sacerdotium  forming  the  real  funda- 
mental means  of  grace,  and  creating  itself  the  distinct 
means  of  grace  after  the  manner  of  the  apostles  (see 
Dicringer,  I.ehrhnch  d.  Kalli.  Bor/malik,  p.  512),  "The 
substitution  of  the  Son  of  man  by  the  apostleship."  If 
its  sacerdotal  character  is  susceptible  of  being  defended 
by  Scripture  and  tradition,  it  yet  is  certain  that  it  is 
only  through  tradidon  that  it  obtained  this  superior 
importance,  as  capable  of  creating  the  other  means  of 
grace.  The  practical  results  of  this  superior  importance 
became  manifest  in  the  prohibition  to  read  the  Bible, 
the  refusal  of  the  chalice  in  commimion.  etc.,  thus  di- 
minishing the  other  means  of  grace,  while  they  were 
increased  on  the  other  hand  by  the  ]iromulgation  of  the 
commandments  of  the  Church,,  and  the  institution  of 
additional  sacraments;  and  also  modified  in  the  doc- 
trine of  the  sacrificial  character  of  the  I'^iicharist,  etc. 
Thus  the  rrotcstant  doctrme  of  the  means  of  grace  dif- 


fers at  once  from  the  Koman  Catholic,  by  its  conception 
of  a  miinsleriiim  in  the  place  of  a  sarerdotiiim.  They 
next  differ  in  the  relative  position  they  assign  to  the 
means  of  grace.  Protestants  maintain  that  this  grace 
is  fir.st  communicated  through  the  Word  of  (iod,  and 
confirmed  by  the  sacraments;  Roman  Catholics,  on  the 
contrary,  consider  the  sacraments  as  the  chief  means  of 
grace,  and  the  Word  of  (iod  as  accessory.  Then,  as  re- 
gards the  Word  of  (iod,  Protestants  consider  it  as  con- 
sisting essentially  in  Scripture,  together  with  exjila- 
nations,  while  by  it  Koman  Catholics  understand  only 
the prcedicatio  verbi.  The  latter  also  increase  the  num- 
ber of  sacraments,  and  recognise  other  means  of  grace. 
On  these  points,  see  Woun  of  God  and  Sacrajiknts. 
Another  distinction  is  the  difference  in  which  the  means 
of  grace  themselves  are  apprehended  in  their  connec- 
tion with  grace  and  forgiveness.  According  to  the  Con- 
di. Trident.,  sess.  7,  the  sacraments  work  ex  opere  operato, 
a  doctrine  which  the  Cmif.  A  lit/,  art.  xiii,  rejects.  We 
must,  of  course,  refer  to  Koman  Catholic  theologians  to 
find  the  sense  which  that  Church  attaches  to  the  opus 
operatum  (Bellarmine,  De  sacr.  ii,  1),  According  to 
them,  infant  baptism  is  efficient  in  itself  to  regenerate 
them,  without  any  resistance  being  for  a  moment  to  be 
thought  of.  The  opposition  of  adults  to  baptism,  con- 
fession, and  the  mass  coidd  only  consist  in  an  obstacle 
{ponere  ohiceni),  a  deceitfid  hiding  of  a  mortal  sin,  and 
the  persistence  in  it,  for  absolution  presupposes  a  full 
and  candid  confession.  But  a  passive  faith  as  saving 
faith,  in  the  Protestant  sense,  is  not  rc(iuired  to  give  ef- 
ficiency to  the  sacraments.  We  might  then  suppose 
that  the  AVord  would  here,  as  a  means  of  grace,  be  placed 
before  the  sacrament,  ami  produce  conversion,  which 
would  insure  the  cfTect  of  the  sacrament.  But  we  must 
remember  that,  for  the  most  part.  Koman  Catholics  are 
such  from  being  born  of  Koman  Catholic  parents.  Of 
converts  themselves  nothing  further  is  demanded  than 
that  they  should  have  enough  fides  iinplicila  in  the 
word  announced  to  them  to  submit  to  the  authority  of 
the  Church.  History  teaches  us  how  even  the  word 
itself  may  become  the  opus  operatum. 
j  In  opposition  to  the  Koman  Catholic  Church,  Protcs- 
I  tants  generally  draw  a  distinction  between  grace  and 
the  means  of  grace,  although  they  recognise  their  rela- 
tion. We  must,  however,  distinguish  between  such  as 
reject  altogether  the  necessity  and  ordinance  of  the 
means  of  grace,  and  those  who  recognise  as  such  the 
Word  of  God  but  not  the  sacraments.  Among  the  for- 
mer we  find  in  the  time  of  the  Reformation  the  Analiap- 
tists,  in  later  times  the  t^iakers.  They  maintain  that 
the  Holy  Spirit,  without  the  aid  of  the  Word,  illumi- 
nates each  man  immediately  by  an  inner  light  at  a  cer- 
tain time,  and  that  by  it  only  is  man  able  to  luulerstand 
the  Word  of  God  (see  Barclay,  Apo/.\  Still  it  would  be 
unjust  to  say  that  they  altogether  reject  the  notion  of 
means  of  grace,  for  the  (Quakers  are  especially  distin- 
guished for  diligent  searching  of  the  .Scriptures.  But 
they  deny  the  existence  of  divinely-ordained,  siiecial 
means  of  grace  of  the  Church.  The  Socinians  and  Jlen- 
nonites,  on  the  other  hand,  consider,  in  a  certain  sense, 
the  Word  of  (iod  as  an  objective  me.ins  of  grace;  the 
former  considering  the  sacraments  jiurely  as  symbols  of 
the  Christian  faith  (rerimoHitr),  while  the  Jlennonites 
consider  them  also  as  objective  signs  of  the  action  of 
grace  (Riz.^'o/j/l  art.  .SO).  Here  also  we  miss  the  objec- 
tive character  of  the  means  of  grace,  but  we  find  it  again 
among  the  Arminians.  Necessarily  as  the  sphere  of 
action  of  the  sacraments  is  restricted  as  means  of  grace, 
that  of  grace  itself,  as  immediately  active,  becomes  en- 
larged; this  we  see  exemplified  in  the  doctrine  <f  res- 
toration of  the  Anabaptists,  in  the  (Jiiaker  doctrine  of 
the  action  of  the  revealing  Spirit  (••  Deus  spiritus  reve- 
lationc  se  i|)sum  semper  filiis  homimmi  patefecit,"  Bar- 
clay,-l;m/.  thes,  ii),  and  in  the  Socinian  notion  of  an 
extraordinary  and  special  action  of  the  divine  i>\nnt 
aside  from  its  general  action  through  the  (Jospel  (Oste- 
rodt,  Unturricht.  K.  p.  34).     The  Protestant  Church,  in 


MEANS 


MEARS 


its  doctrine  of  grafia  jirceveniens,  recognises,  with  some 
restriction,  the  truth  of  these  views,  but  still  maintains 
the  necessity  of  the  sacraments.  According  to  Script- 
ure, the  sphere  of  the  gratia  jn-ceveniens  extends  beyond 
that  of  the  theocratic  revelation.  The  Spirit  dwells 
where  it  chooses,  the  Logos  shines  in  all  human  souls, 
and  the  gratia  praveniens  is  active  in  all  receptive 
hearts.  Yet  the  prepared  soul  only  arrives  to  an  experi- 
mental knowledge  of  salvation  within  the  sphere  of  rev- 
elation, and  to  a  certainty  of  it  by  the  ordained  means 
of  grace.  On  this  point  of  the  necessity  of  the  means 
of  grace,  the  difference,  such  as  it  is,  which  exists  be- 
tween the  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed  Church  on  that 
doctrine,  cannot  but  appear.  The  possibility  of  the  spir- 
itual enlightenment  of  individualmembers  of  the  Church, 
sine  externo  ministerio,  is  clearly  recognised  by  the  Conf. 
Ilelc.  ii,  cap.  i.  StiU  the  article  considers  it  as  divinely 
ordained  that  it  is  imparted  by  the  usitata  ratio  institu- 
endi  homines.  It  insists  still  more  strongly  on  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  prcedicatin  dei  rerbi,  to  which,  of  course,  is 
joined  the  interna  Sjiirif/is  tlliiininatio.  But  this  neces- 
sity is  defined  as  a  >tiri.<sit,i.-:  jirncepti,  non  absoluta,  i.  e. 
God,  in  the  work  of  rcckiiiiitimi.  is  not  confined  to  these 
means,  as  is  proved  by  the  pro]>hets  and  by  revelation, 
but,  in  consideration  of  the  weakness  of  our  nature,  has 
appointed  these  means  (see  Schweizer,  Glauhenslehre  d. 
€i\  ref.  Kirche,  ii,  561).  Luther,  on  the  contrary,  refers 
even  the  inspiration  of  the  prophets  to  the  verhum  vo- 
cale  (A7-t.  Smal.  p.  333).  Another  difference  consists  in 
the  close  connection  existing  in  the  Lutheran  Church 
between  the  sacrament  and  the  Word,  while  in  the  Re- 
formed theology  the  Word  takes  the  prominent  position 
as  the  causa  instrumentalis  fidei  (see  Y.hrarA,  Christliche 
JJogmatik;  p.  578).  The  Lutheran  Church  teaches  an 
organic  joint  action  of  grace  and  the  means  of  grace, 
without,  however,  making  them  identical.  The  Re- 
formed Lutherans  understand  only  an  economic  joint 
action,  which,  however,  does  not  exclude  irregularities 
or  rather  exceptions.  As  regards  the  Word  of  God.  the 
Lutheran  theologians  strongly  uphold  its  ejjicacia,  and 
Calovius  and  Quenstedt  speak  of  a  unio  mystica  gratice 
sire  virtutis  dicinm  cum  verbo  -(see  Hahn,  Lehrbuc/i,  p. 
549).  At  this  point  orthodoxy  approaches  the  idea  of 
the  opus  operatum  (see  Lange,  Dogmatik,  p.  1119).  Ac- 
cording to  Reformed  theology,  the  connection  of  the 
Spirit  with  the  Word  is  conditioned  by  the  number  of 
the  elect  among  the  number  of  hearers,  while  the  Hei- 
delberg Catechism  holds  that  the  Spirit  awakens  faith  in 
our  heart  through  the  preaching  of  the  holy  Gospel. 
According  to  Nitzsch,  the  point  of  union  of  the  two  con- 
fessions on  this  doctrine  lies  in  the  conception  of  the 
pignus.  We  further  notice  that  the  Reformed  Church 
does  not  insist  as  strongly  on  the  necessity-  of  baptism 
as  the  Lutheran.  The  Confessio  Scotica  (p.  127)  em- 
phatically rejects  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  the 
damnation  of  children  dying  without  baptism ;  so  does 
also  Calvin,  in  his  Instit.  iv,  16, 26.  As  regards  the  con- 
nection between  baptism  and  regeneration,  the  twenty- 
seventh  article  of  the  Conf.  Anglic,  takes  a  middle  course, 
saying  that  baptism  is  a  signum  regenei-ationis  per  quod 
recte  buptismum  suscipientes  ecclesiis  inseruntur.  By  this 
is  meant  that  the  ecclesiastic,  social  regeneration  is  ac- 
complished, the  individual,  social  regeneration  made 
thereby  perceptible  to  the  senses,  and  sacramentally 
promised.     See  Regeneration. 

With  regard  to  the  action  and  the  necessity  of  the 
means  of  grace,  the  differences  of  the  different  confes- 
sions come  again  into  plaj-.  While  the  evangelical 
churches  teach  that  the  sacraments  are  agents  of  sanc- 
tification  for  those  who  receive  them  with  faith,  strength- 
ening and  increasing  that  faith,  the  Roman  Catholic 
holds  that  they  are  the  agents  of  faith,  requiring  none 
to  be  worthily  participated  in  beyond  faith  in  the  au- 
thority of  the  Church,  and  that  mortal  sin  alone  can 
render  them  ineffectual,  and  the  Baptists  and  Socinians 
look  upon  the  participation  in  the  sacraments  only  as 
outward  acts,  professions  of  the  Christian  faith. 


In  dogmatics,  the  means  of  grace  represent  the  eter- 
nal presence  of  Christ  in  the  spiritual  Church,  and 
through  her  in  the  world.  In  his  institutions,  Christ, 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  identifies  himself  with  them,  and  in 
his  eternal  presence  draws  the  world  to  his  salvation. 
The  Word  and  the  sacraments  are  inseparably  con- 
nected with  each  other:  the  Word  receives  its  fulfilment 
and  seal  in  the  sacrament,  while  the  sacrament  receives 
light  and  spiritual  life  from  the  creative  power  of  the 
Word.  The  Word,  without  the  seal  of  the  sacrament, 
is  only  a  scholastic  knowledge;  the  sacrament,  without 
the  vivifying  influence  of  the  Word,  is  a  piece  of  priestly 
magic.  But  though  the  means  of  grace,  in  their  con- 
nection with  the  Holy  Spirit,  set  at  work  the  saving 
power  of  the  life  of  Christ,  as  a  participation  in  his  sal- 
vation, still  they  must  be  preceded  by  faith,  suice  Christ 
required  faith  when  personally  present  on  earth.  Yet  he 
no  more  requires  a  perfect  faith  than  he  compels  to  be- 
lieve.   Those  who  ask  shall  receive'.    See  Sacrajient. 

See  Fletcher,  Works;  Wesley,  Works;  Hagenbach, 
Hist,  of  Doctrines ;  Winer,  Symbol,  p.  113 ;  Kurtz,  Ch. 
Hist.  vol.  i ;  Niedner,  Philos.  p.  441. 

Mea'rah  (Heb.  Medrah',  i^^^'P,  a  cave,  as  often  ; 
Sept.  aTTo  Fa^r/c,  apparently  reading  il^^T^jf-omGaza; 
Vulg.  Maar-a),  a  place  mentioned  in  Josh,  xiii,  4  as  sit- 
uated in  the  northern  edge  of  Palestine:  "From  the 
south,  all  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  and  Mearah  that 
is  beside  the  Sidonians,  unto  Aphek."  Some  find  it 
in  the  town  Marathos  (Strabo,  xvi,  753  ;  Pliny,  v,  17 ; 
Ptolemy,  v,  15^  16).  Most  interpreters,  following  the 
Chaldce  and  Syriac  (see  the  Critici  Biblici,  s.v.),  are  of 
the  opinion  that  the  term  should  rather  be  rendered  as 
an  appellative — the  cace  (Keil's  Comment,  ad  loc.) ;  but 
if  a  mere  cave  were  intended,  and  not  a  place  called 
Mearah,  the  name  would  surely  have  been  preceded  by 
the  definite  article,  and  would  have  stood  as  niySil, 
"the  cave."  Besides,  the  scope  of  the  passage  sliows 
that  some  place — either  a  city  or  district — must  be 
meant.  "  Reland  {Palcest.  p.  896)  suggests  that  Mearah 
may  be  the  same  with  Meroth,  a  village  named  by  Jo- 
sephus  {Ant.  iii,  3, 1)  as  forming  the  limit  of  Galilee  on 
the  west  (see  also  Ant.  ii,  20, 6),  and  which  again  may 
possibly  hav^  been  connected  with  the  waters  of  Merom. 
A  village  called  el-Mughar  is  found  in  the  mountains  of 
Naphtali,  some  ten  miles  west  of  the  northern  extrem- 
ity of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  (Robinson,  iii,  79,  30 ;  Van  de 
Velde's  Map),  which  may  possibly  represent  an  ancient 
JMearah"  (Smith).  "About  half  way  between  Tyre  and 
Sidon,  close  to  the  shore,  are  the  ruins  of  an  ancient 
town ;  and  in  the  neighboring  cliffs  are  large  numbers 
of  caves  and  grottos  hewn  in  the  rock,  and  formerly 
used  as  tombs.  Dr.  Robinson  suggested  that  this  may 
be  '  Mearah  of  the  Sidonians'  (ii,  474).  The  ruins  are 
now  called  'Adldn,  but  perhaps  take  that  name  from 
the  village  on  the  mountain-side"  (Kitto).  Ritfcer  {Erdk. 
xvii,  10 ;  also  xvi,  8,  9),  on  the  other  hand,  identifies 
Mearah,  under  the  name  Mughara,  with  the  remarka- 
ble cavern  (Rosenmliller,  Alterth.  II,  i,  39  sq.,  66)  which 
the  Crusaders  fortified,  and  which  is  described  by  Wil- 
liam of  Tyre  {Histor.  Hieros.  xix,  2,  11)  as  "a  certain 
fortress  of  ours  in  the  Sidonian  territory,  namely,  an 
impregnable  grotto,  commonly  called  the  Cave  of  Tyre 
{Cavea  de  Tyron)."  It  was  afterwards  the  last  retreat 
of  the  emir  Fakhr  ed-Din.  The  place  is  now  also  known 
as  ShukifTairun  (Abulfeda,  Table).  -Schultz  is  the  first 
traveller  who  mentions  it  in  modern  Qays.  It  is  situ- 
ated in  the  high  cliff  east  of  Sidon,  between  Jezim  and 
Michmurhy  (Van  de  Velde,  Memoir,  s.  v.).     See  Cave. 

Mears,  Thomas,  M.A.,  an  English  divine  of  note, 
flourished  near  the  opening  of  the  present  centurj'.  He 
was  at  one  time  rector  of  St.  La^vrence  and  vicar  of  St. 
Michael's,  in  Southampton,  and  chaplain  to  the  corpo- 
ration of  that  town.  He  died  about  1810.  Jlr.  Mears 
was  a  prolific  writer,  and  a  pulpit  orator  of  no  mean 
ability.  He  contributed  many  articles  to  the  Orthodox 
Churchman's  Magazine,  and  published  several  of  his  ser- 


MEASURE 


MEAT 


mons,  among  which  the  following  desen-e  special  men-  |  by  the  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  meaning 
tion :  Eiightud  expects  tvny  Man  to  do  his  Duty  (1805,  of  the  word  is  in  the  case  of  the  ••  incat-tiffering,"  the 
8vo)  ■.-RcVufiom  Example  (1807,  8vo):— On  the  Lord's  second  of  the  three  great  divisions  into  which  the  sacri- 
kiupper  (1807,  8vo).  tices  of  the  Law  were  divided — the  bumt-offcring,  the 

Measure  is  the  rendering  in  the  Auth.  Vers,  of  a  '  meat-oftcring,  and  the  peace-offering  (Lev.  ii,  1,  ctc.)- 
nuniher  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  terms,  some  of  which  are  '  a"^!  which  consisted  solely  of  Hour,  or  corn,  and  od,  sac- 
descriptive  of  dimension  or  extent  generallv,  while  oth-  I  "'i^^s  of  flesh  being  confuted  to  the  other  two.  I  he 
e'-s  denote  a  specific  length  or  capacity.  Again,  there  word  thus  translated  is  S^npr,  vnnchuh',  elsewhere  ren- 
are  other  words  in  the  original  denoting  a  particular  dered  "present"  and  "oblation,"  and  derived  from  a  root 
(luantity  or  space,  which  are  still  differently  rendered  in  I  which  has  the  force  of  "  sending"  or  "  offering"  to  a  pcr- 


the  Auth. Vers.  It  is  our  purpose  in  the  present  article 
to  present  merely  a  general  view  of  the  various  render- 
ings, leaving  the  determination  of  the  modern  equiva- 
lents to  the  special  head  of  MiiiuoLOGY  (q.  v.).  The 
following  are  the  words  rendered  "  measure"  in  the  A.V. : 

L  Those  that  are  of  indefinite  Import.— {\)  ph,  chok 
(Isa.  v,  14 ;  a  statute,  as  elsewhere  usually  rendered) ; 
(•2)  T?,  mad  (Job  xi,  9 ;  Jer.  xiii,  25 ;  rediiplieatetl  jihir. 
Job  xxxviii,  5;  elsewhere  &  garment,  as  usually  render- 
ed) ;  (3)  properly  iTn?3,  vnddah',  the  usual  word  thus 
rendered  (Exod.  xxvi,  2,  8  ;  Josh,  iii,  4 ;  1  Kings  vi,  25  ; 
vii.9,11,37;  2  Chron.iii,  3;  Job  xxviii,25;  Psa.  xxxix, 
4  [5] ;  Jer,  xxxi,  39 ;  Ezek.  xl,  3,  5, 10,  21, 22,  24, 28,  29, 
32, 33, 35 ;  xli,  17;  xlii,  15, 16, 17, 18, 19 ;  xhii,  13 ;  xlv 
3;  xlvi,22;  xlviii,  10, 30, 33 ;  Zech.  ii,  1  [5];  clsew 
"  piece,"  etc.) ;  (4)  n"iVJ'2,  mesurah'  (Lev.  xix,  35  ;  1 
Chron.xxiii,39;  Ezek.  iv,  11,16);  (5}  X2B^'Q,mishpat/ 
(Jer.  XXX,  ii ;  xlvi,  28 ;  judrpfiient,  as  elsewhere  usually 
rendered);  (C)  TS'sn^,  mithko'neth  (Ezek.  xlv,  11; 
'•  tale,"  Exod.  v,  8  ;  "  composition,"  Exod.  xxx,  32,  37 : 
'•state,"  2  Chron.  xxiv,  13) ;  (7)  ")3Pl  to'ken  (Ezek.  xlv, 
11;  "tale,"  Exod.  v,  18);  (8)  fiirpov,  the  usual  and 
proper  ( Jreek  word  (Jlatt.  vii,  2 ;  xxiii,  32 ;  Mark  iv, 
24  ;  Luke  vi,  38 ;  John  iii,  34 ;  Rom.  xii,  3 ;  2  Cor.  x, 
13  ;  Eph.  iv,  7, 13, 16 ;  Kev.  xxi,  17). 

2.  fjuch  as  represent  a  definite  Value. — (1)  n&'^X,  ey- 
jiliah'  (Deut.  xxv,  14,  15;  Trov.  xx,  10;  Mic.  vi,  10; 
elsewhere  "ephak"  [q.  v.]);  (2)  rt52X,  ammah'  (Jer.  Ii, 


son.  It  is  very  desirable  that  some  English  term  should 
be  proposed  which  would  avoid  this  ambiguity.  "Food- 
offering"  is  hardly  admissible,  though  it  is  jjcrhaps  pref- 
erable to  "  unbloody  or  bloodless  sacrifice."    See  Me.vt- 

OFI-KIUXG. 

3.  There  are  several  other  words,  which,  though  en- 
tirely distinct  in  the  original,  are  all  translated  in  the 
A.V.  by  "meat ;"  but  none  of  them  present  any  special 
interest  except  t,'^'J),  te'reph.  This  word,  from  a  root 
signifying  "  to  tear,"  woidd  he  perhaps  more  accurately 
rendered  "  prey"  or  "  booty."  Its  use  in  Psa.  cxi,  5,  es- 
pecially when  taken  in  connection  with  the  word  ren- 
dered "good  understanding"  in  ver.  10,  which  should 
rather  be,  as  in  the  margin,  "good  success,"  throws  a 
,'^"'  I  new  and  unexpected  light  over  the  familiar  phrases  of 
that  beautiful  Psalm.  It  seems  to  show  how  inextin- 
guishable was  the  warlike,  predatory  spirit  in  the  mind 
of  the  writer,  good  Israelite  and  devout  ^vorshipper  of 
Jehovah  as  he  was.  Late  as  he  lived  in  the  historj-  of 
his  nation,  he  cannot  forget  the  "  power"  of  Jehovah's 
"works"  by  which  his  forefathers  acquired  the  "heri- 
tage of  the  heathen ;"  and  to  him,  as  to  his  ancestors 
when  conquering  the  country,  it  is  still  a  firm  article 
of  belief  that  those  who  fear  Jehovah  shall  obtain  most 
of  the  spoil  of  his  enemies — those  who  obey  his  com- 
mandments shall  have  the  best  success  in  the  field. 

4.  In  the  N.  T.  the  variety  of  the  (ireek  words  thus 

rendered  is  equally  great;  but  dismissing  such  terms  as 

avaKtiaQai  or  avaTriirrtiv,  which  are  rendered  by  "sit 

at  meat" — (payiir,  for  which  we  occasionally  find  "meat" 

' meat 


13;  "post,"  Isa.  vi,  4;  elsewhere  "cubit"  [q.  v.])  ;  (3)  i --p«-fs«  (Actsxvi,34),thesame-a'fwAoW-a, 

>'_  7      /,  y        •     mr     m        iir.-.-i    o  r'l         •■  m    offered  to  idols"  —  K\ciiTuarct,  generallv  "fragments 

^S,A-or  (1  Kmgs  IV,  22  rv,2|;  v.  11  r2o];  2Chron.  11,10    ,    ^^    .       ,, ,     ,      ■         ',,,.'''..       •,         •"     , 

'        ^  fc.       I       L   I   J '     .      L     J »  ;      I  jj^ij  twice  "  broken  meat  — disniissinc  these,  we  have 

f9];  xxvii,5;  Chald. plur.  Ezra 


elsewhere  "cor" 
[q.  V.]),  Gr.  Kopoc  (Luke  xvi,  7) ;  (4)  HXO,  s'edh'  (Gen. 
xviii,  6;  1  Sam.  xxv,  18;  1  Kings  xviii,  32;  2  Kings 


vii,  1, 16, 18  ;  a  seah  [q.  v.]),  the  iiT.acWov  (Matt,  x 
33  ;  Luke  xiii,  21),  and  the  reduplicated  form  MXSXO, 
sassea// (Isa.  xxvii,  8;  used  indeterminately) ;  (5)d"'?^, 
shalisli'  (Isa.  xl,  12;  "great  measure,"  Psa.  Ixxx,  6; 
lit.  a  third,  i.  e.  prob.  of  the  ephah,  but  used  indefinitely ; 
( in  /3(Jroc  (Luke  xvi,  G ;  the  Hebrew  bath  [q.  v.]) ;  (7) 
\oivii  (IJov.  vi,  6  ;  the  (Jreek  chanix  [q.  v.]). 

Meat.— I.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  word  "  meat" 
is  use.l  in  anv  one  instance  in  the  Authorized  Version    *^"''''"  "^'''®'®  ^^^ 


isniissing 
left  Tpo<pi)  and  jSpioixa  (with  its  kindred  words,  liptZaic, 
etc.),  both  words  bearing  the  widest  possible  significa- 
tion, and  meaning  everything  that  can  be  eaten  fir  can 
nourish  the  frame.  The  former  is  most  used  in  the 
(iospcls  and  Acts.  The  latter  is  found  in  John  and  in 
the  Epistles  of  Paul.  It  is  the  word  employed  in  the 
famous  sentences,  "for  meat  destroy  not  the  work  of 
God,"  "if  meat  make  my  brother  to  offend,"  etc. — Smith, 
s.  V.     See  Alisgema. 

II.  Meat,  however,  in  the  jiropcr  modern  sense  ("ITUS, 

basar',  flesh,  as  it  is  rendered  in  the  Auth.Vcrs.),i.  e.  of 

),  namely,  lambs  (Isa.  liii,  7;  Amos 


of  either  the  O.  or  N.Testament  in  the  sense  whi<-h  it 
now  almost  exclusively  hears  of  animal  food.  The  lat- 
ter is  denoted  uniformly  by  "  flesh." 

1.  Tiie  only  possible  exceptions  to  this  assertion  in 
the  O.  T.  are:  {a)  Gen.  xxvii,  4,  etc.,  "savory  meat;" 
Gen.  xlv,  23, "corn  and  bread  and  meat."  Here  the  He- 
brew word,  D*^^"— ^,  matammim' ,  which  in  this  form 
appears  in  this  chapter  only,  is  derived  from  a  root 


vi.  4),  calves  (1  Sam.  xxviii,  24;  Gen.  xviii,  7;  Amos 
vi.  4  ;  Luke  xv,  23 ;  comp.  Kussell,  -4  hppo,  i,  145),  oxen 
( Isa.  xxii.  13  ;  Prov.  xv,  17;  1  Kings  iv,  23 ;  Matt,  xxii, 
4\  kids  (1  Sam.  xvi,  20;  Judg.  vi,  19),  also  venison 
(1  Kings  iv,  23),  and  poultry  (1  Kings  iv,  23;  sec  Ge- 
senius,  Thes.  Ileb.  p.  715 ;  Jliehaelis.'j/os.  liecht.  iv,  198), 
was  a  favorite  dish  among  the  Hebrews,  either  roasted 
entire,  or  cooked  with  choice  vegetables  and  eaten  with 
bread  (2  Sam.  vi,  19;  1  Kings  xvii,  6) ;  yet  only  royal 


which  has  exactly  the  force  of  our  word  "taste,"  and  is  |  personages  partook  of  it  dailv  (1  Kings  iv,  23;  keh!  v, 
emiiloyed  in  reference  to  the  manna.  In  the  passages  in  |  j„)^  t,,e  ip^s  wealthv  merelvon  festive  occasions  (Luke 
(luesiiou  the  word  "dainties"  would  be  perhaps  more  ^v,  23;  comp.  Nielnihr,  liesch.  p.  52).  especiallv  at  the 
apiiropnatc.  {b)  In  Genesis  the  original  word  is  one  of  ^^rcat  sacrificial  festivals;  and  we  find  that  the" modem 
almost  equal  rarity, 'pT-a,  mazon';  and  if  the  Lexicons  Arabs,  namely,  tlie  I5edouin,  as  a  general  rule,  but  sel- 
did  not  show  that  this  had  only  the  general  force  of /borf  dom  eat  tlesli  (Sliaw,  Trar.  p.  169;  conij).  Ihirckhardt, 
in  all  the  other  Oriental  tongues,  that  would  be  estab-  t  Trar.  ii,  1003;  Wellsted,  i,  248;  those  of  the  peninsula 
lished  in  regard  to  Hebrew  by  its  other  occurrences,  }  of  Sinai  live  mostly  on  sour  milk,  dried  dates,  and  un- 
viz.  2  Chron.  xi,  23,  where  it  is  rendered  "victual;";  leavened  bread.  Hii]ipel,  p.  203;  but  among  tlie  ancient 
and  Dan.ix.,  12,  21,  where  the  meat  spoken  of  is  that  to  \  Egyjitians  flesh  was  very  commonly  eaten,  Exod.  xvi, 
be  furnished  by  a  tree.  ,  3  ;  comp.  Kosellini,  Mouum.  cir.  i.  151).    The  shoulder 

2.  The  only  real  and  inconvenient  ambiguity  caused  |  was  the  most  esteemed  piece  of  the  animal  (1  Sam.  ix, 


MEAT 

24 ;  comp.  Harmar,  i,  31 1) .  Flesh  which  contained  the 
blood  was  forbidden  (Lev.  iii,  17 ;  vii,  26 ;  xvii,  10  ; 
Deut.  xii,  16,  27),  because  the  life  was  regai'ded  as  re- 
siding in  the  blood  (Gen.  ix,  4;  comp.  Oedmann,  vi,  89 
sq.).  See  Blood.  The  pieces  of  flesh  were  taken  by 
each  guest  from  the  common  dish  with  his  fingers.  See 
Eat  ;  Meal-ti JIE.  The  Jews  were  very  careful  to  avoid 
the  flesh  of  heathen  victims  (^Aboda  Sara,  ii,  3).— 
"Winer,  i,  375.     See  Clean  ;  Offering. 

III.  As  above  noted,  in  the  English  version  the  word 
"  meat"  means  food  in  general ;  or  when  confined  to  one 
species  of  food,  it  always  signifies  meal,  flour,  or  grain, 
but  never  fesh,  which  is  now  the  usual  acceptation  of 
the  word. '  See  Flesh.  A  "meat-offeriny"  in  the  Script- 
ures is  always  a  vegetable,  and  never  an  animal  offer- 
ing; and  it  might  now  be  rendered  a  hread-ojfenng,  or 
o  meal-offering,  instead  of  a  meat-offering.  It  does  not 
appear  that  the  ancient  Hebrews  were  very  nice  about 
the  dressing  of  their  food.  We  find  among  them  roast 
meat,  boiled  meat,  aud  ragouts.  See  Cook.  Their  man- 
ner of  living  would  be  much  like  that  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  among  whom  they  had  long  resided.  Wil- 
kinson says,  "No  tray  was  used  on  the  Egyptian  ta- 
ble, nor  was  it  covered  by  any  linen ;  like  that  of  the 
Greeks,  it  was  probably  wiped  with  a  sponge  or  napkin 
after  the  dishes  were  removed,  and  polished  by  the  serv- 
ants when  the  company  had  retired.  The  dishes  con- 
sisted of  fish  ;  meat,  boiled,  roasted,  and  dressed  in  va- 
rious ways;  game,  poultry,  and  a  profusion  of  vege- 
tables and  fruit,  particularly  figs  and  grapes  during  the 
season  ;  and  a  soup  or  pottage  of  lentils.  Of  figs  and 
grapes  they  were  particularly  fond.  Fresh  dates  during 
the  season,  and  in  a  dried  state  at  other  periods  of  the 
year,  were  also  brought  to  table."  See  Food.  Among 
the  Hebrews  meats  that  were  offered  were  boiled  in  a 
pot  (1  Sam.  ii,  14, 15).  They  were  forbidden  to  seethe 
a  kid  in  the  milk  of  its  dam  (Exod.  xxiii,  19;  xxxiv, 
26).  They  might  not  kill  a  cow  and  its  calf  on  the 
same  day ;  nor  a  sheep  or  goat  and  its  young  one  at  the 
same  time.  They  might  not  cut  off  a  part  of  a  living 
animal  to  eat  it,  either  raw  or  dressed.  If  any  lawfid 
beast  or  bird  should  die  of  itself  or  be  strangled,  and 
the  blood  not  drain  away,  they  were  not  allowed  to 
taste  of  it.  He  that  by  inadvertence  should  eat  of  any 
animal  that  died  of  itself,  or  that  was  killed  by  any 
beast,  was  to  be  unclean  till  the  evening,  and  was  not 
purified  till  he  had  washed  his  clothes.  They  ate  of 
nothing  dressed  by  any  other  than  a  Hebrew,  nor  did 
they  ever  dress  their  victuals  with  the  kitchen  imple- 
ments of  any  but  one  of  their  own  nation. 

The  prohibition  of  eating  blood,  or  animals  that  are 
strangled,  has  been  always  rigidly  observed  by  the 
Jews.  In  the  council  of  the  apostles  held  at  Jerusalem, 
it  was  declared  that  converts  from  paganism  should  not 
be  subject  to  the  legal  ceremonies,  but  that  they  should 
refrain  from  idolatry,  from  fornication,  from  eating 
blood,  and  from  such  animals  as  were  strangled,  and 
their  blood  thereby  retained  in  their  bodies ;  which  de- 
cree was  observed  for  many  ages  by  the  Church  (Acts 
XV,  20-29). 

In  reference  to  "  meats  offered  to  idols,"  it  may  be  ob- 
served that  at  the  first  settling  of  the  Church  there 
were  many  disputes  concerning  the  use  of  meats  offer- 
ed X£>  idols  (1  Cor.  viii,  7, 10).  Some  newly-converted 
Christians,  convinced  that  an  idol  was  nothing,  and  that 
the  distinction  of  clean  and  unclean  creatures  was  abol- 
ished by  our  Saviour,  ate  indifferently  of  whatever  was 
served  up  to  them,  even  among  pagans,  without  in- 
quiring whether  the  meats  had  been  offered  to  idols. 
They  took  the  same  liberty  in  buying  meat  sold  in  the 
market,  not  regarding  whether  it  were  pure  or  impure, 
according  to  the  Jews;  or  whether  it  had  been  offered 
to  idols  or  not.  But  other  Christians,  weaker  or  less 
instructed,  were  offended  at  this  liberty,  and  thought 
that  eating  of  meat  which  had  been  offered  to  idols  was 
a  kind  of  partaking  in  that  wicked  and  sacrilegious  of- 
fering.    This  diversity  of  opinion  produced  some  scan- 


MEAT-OFFERING 

dal,  for  which  Paul  thought  that  it  behoved  him  to  pro- 
vide a  remedy  (Rom.  xiv,  20, 21 ;  Tit.  i,  15).  He  deter- 
mined, therefore,  that  all  things  were  clean  to  such  as 
were  clean,  and  that  an  idol  was  nothing  at  all;  that  a 
man  might  safely  eat  of  whatever  was  sold  in  the  sham- 
bles, and  need  not  scrupulously  inquire  whence  it  came; 
and  that  if  an  unbeliever  should  invite  a  believer  to  eat 
with  him,  the  believer  might  eat  of  whatever  was  set 
before  him  (1  Cor.  x,  25,  etc.).  But  at  the  same  time 
he  enjoins  that  the  laws  of  charity  and  prudence  should 
be  observed ;  that  believers  should  be  cautious  of  scan- 
dalizing or  offending  weak  minds ;  for  though  all  things 
might  be  lawful,  yet  all  things  were  not  always  expe- 
dient.    See  Sacrifice. 

Meat-offering  (pX^':'q,minchah' ;  sometiiiies  more 
fully  M'^?■2  "(S^i^,  to  mark  its  sacrificial  character; 
Sept.  fuUy  Swpov  Bvala,  but  generally  simply  dwpov  or 
^vffia,  sometimes  rrpoafopa  ;  Vulg.  ablatio  sacrificii, 
or  simply  sacrijiciuni).  The  word  minckah  (from  the 
obsolete  root  Hj^a,  "to  distribute"  or  "  to  give")  signifies 
originally  a  gi/t  of  any  kind,  and  appears  to  be  used 
generally  of  a  gift  from  an  inferior  to  a  superior,  wheth- 
er God  or  man  (Lat.fei'tum).  Thus  in  Gen.  xxxil,  13  it 
is  used  of  the  present  from  Jacob  to  Esau,  in  Gen.  xliii, 
11  of  the  present  sent  to  Joseph  in  Egypt,  in  2  Sam.  viii, 
2, 6  of  the  tribute  from  Jloab  and  Sj'ria  to  David,  etc. ; 
and  in  Gen.  iv,  3,  4,  5  it  is  applied  to  the  sacrifices  to 
God  offered  by  Cain  and  Abel,  although  Abel's  was  a 
whole  burnt-offering.  Afterwards  this  general  sense  be- 
came attached  to  the  word  corban  ("|2'1|^),  and  the 
word  minchah  restricted  to  an  "  unbloody  offering,"  as 
opposed  to  nnt,  a  "  bloody"  sacrifice.  It  is  constantly 
spoken  of  in  connection  with  the  drink-offering  (TjS?.?, 
Sept.  <jirovSi],\n\g.  libamen),  which  generally  accom- 
panied it,  and  which  had  the  same  meaning.  See 
Drink-offering.  The  law  or  ceremonial  of  the  meat- 
offering is  described  in  Lev.  ii  and  vi,  14-23.  It  was  to 
be  composed  of  fine  flour,  seasoned  with  salt,  and  mixed 
with  oil  and  frankincense,  but  without  leaven ;  and  it 
was  generally  accompanied  by  a'drink-offering  of  wine. 
A  portion  of  it,  including  all  the  frankincense,  was  to  be 
burnt  on  the  altar  as  "a  memorial;"  the  rest  belonged 
to  the  priest;  but  the  meat-offerings  offered  by  the 
priests  themselves  were  to  be  wholly  burnt. 

Its  meaning  (which  is  analogous  to  that  of  the  offer- 
ing of  the  tithes,  the  first-fruits,  and  the  showbread) 
appears  to  be  exactly  expressed  in  the  words  of  David 
(1  Chron.  xxix,  10-14),  "All  that  is  in  the  heaven  and 
in  the  earth  is  thine  ...  All  things  come  of  thee,  and 
of  thine  oivn  have  we  given  tfiee."  It  recognised  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Lord,  and  his  bounty  in  giving  us  all 
earthly  blessings,  by  dedicating  to  him  the  best  of  his 
gifts:  the  flour,  as  the  main  support  of  life;  oil,  as  the 
symbol  of  richness;  and  wine,  as  the  symbol  of  vigor 
and  refreshment  (see  Psa.  civ,  15).  All  these  were  un- 
leavened and  seasoned  with  salt,  in  order  to  show  their 
purity,  and  hallowed  by  the  frankincense  for  God's  spe- 
cial service.  This  recognition,  implied  in  all  cases,  is 
expressed  clearly  in  the  form  of  offering  the  first-fruits 
prescribed  in  Deut.  xxvi,  5-11. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  meaning  mvolves  neither  of 
the  main  ideas  of  sacrifice — the  atonement  for  sin  and 
the  self-dedication  to  God.  It  takes  them  for  granted, 
and  is  based  on  them.  Accordingly,  the  meat-offering, 
properly  so  called,  seems  always  to  have  been  a  subsidi- 
ary offering,  needing  to  be  introduced  by  the  sin-offer- 
ing, which  represented  the  one  idea,  and  forming  an  ap- 
pendage to  the  burnt-offering  which  represented  the 
other.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  pubhc  sacrifices,  a  "  meat- 
offering" was  enjoined  as  a  part  of  (1)  t/ie  daih/  morning 
and  evening  sacrifice  (Exod.  xxix,  40, 41)  ;  (2)  the  Sab- 
bath-offering (Niimb.  xxviii,  9,  10) ;  (3)  the  offering  at 
the  new  moon  (Numb,  xxviii,  11-14) :  (4)  the  offerings  at 
the  great  festivals  (Numb,  xxviii,  20,  28 ;  xxix,  3, 4, 14, 
15,  etc.) ;  (5)  the  offerings  on  the  great  day  of  atonement 


MEAT-OFFERIXG 


MEAT-OFFERIXG 


(Xuitib.  xxix,  0,  10).  The  same  was  tlie  case  with  pri-  |  11  sq.;  I>ev.  xxiii);  at  other  times  they  were  pricate 
vate  sacrifices,  as  at  (l)//ieco/wecrt/^w«o/p-M-A7s(Exod.  i  (n^n-^  msr),  as  that  of  the  purification  of  the  leper 
xxix,  1,2;  Lev.vi,  20;  \\\\,2)  and  of  Ucilts  (Numb,  i  (Lev.  xiv,  20  sq.),  the  Nazarite  who  had  fulfilled  his 
viii,8);  (2)  the  ckmmug  oj  (he  leper  (Lev.  xiv,20) ;  (3)  j  ,.„„.  (^^^^  ..j^  j^^  ,7)^  jj„^,  „,p  eonsecratiou  of  Levites 
the  termination  of  the  ,^uzaritu-h  row  (Numb,  vi,  lo).  I  (Xu^b.  viii,  8  sq.),  and  perhaps  of  priests  (Kxod.  xxix. 
The  unbloody  oflrerings  offered  alone  did  not  properly  9 ,  Lev.  viii,  2).  In  these  cases  the  essential  part  of  the 
belong  to  the  regular  meat-offering.     Ihev  were  usu-    „.,«•■  r  \     ^  n         />m^'^     i        1 

»,     .  ,.        ,        iv    •  'in       ;•  I       meat-offering  was  fine  wheat  Hour  (rSO;  Joseiphiis, 

ally  substitutes  lor  other  offerings.     1  hiis,  lor  example,  I  .,  „       ,  ,      ■■■  r    ..       ■  ■         ■         ■ 

in  "Lev.  v.  1 1.  a  tenth  of  an  ephah  of  tlour  is  allowed  to  I  «:V"P/'*'  i^a^afxof^aroy  A  «/.  in  0, 4).  mixed  wiih  olive- 
be  substituted  bv  a  poor  man  for  the  lamb  or  kid  of  a  \  °'^  ('''^^  were  both  to  be  the  best  procurable  in  I'ales- 

'  tme;  see  the  Mishna,  Minueh.  vui,  1),  and  it  was  all 


tresi)ass-offering:  in  Numb,  v,  15  the  same  offering  is 
ordained  as  the  "  offering  of  jealousy"  for  a  suspected 
wife.     The  unusual  character  of  the  offering  is  marked 
in  both  cases  by  the  absence  of  the  oil,  frankincense,  and 
wine.     We  find  also  at  certain  times  libations  of  water 
poured  out  before  (Jod ;  as  by  Samuel's  command  at  Jliz- 
peh  during  the  fast  (1  Sam.  vii,  C),  and  by  David  at 
IJcthlohom  (2  Sam.  xxiii,  10),  and  a  libation  of  oil  poured 
by  Jacob  on  the  pillar  at  liethel  (Gen.  xxxv,  14).     Hut 
these  have  clearlv  especial  meanings,  and  are  not  to  be    ^  .     ^        ,       .  .         ....  .,,    , 

inclu.led  in  the  onlinarv  drink-offerings.    The  same  ob-    ^I."'"  the  fact  that  m  connection  with  (free-will )  bumt- 
ation  of  water    offerings  a  handtul  ol  the  meal  only  as  a  meat-offering 


consumed  upon  the  altar.  The  |)roportions  were :  for 
a  lamb,  j^^  ephah  of  Hour  and  \  bin  of  oil ;  for  a  ram, 
^y  ephah  of  Hour  and  A  Jiiii  of  oil ;  finally,  for  a  bul- 
lock, ^\y  ephah  of  flour  and  ^  bin  of  oil  (Numb,  xv,  4 
sq. ;  xxviii,  5,  9, 12  sq.,  28  sq. ;  xxix,  3  sq.,  8  sq..  13  sq. ; 
Lev.  xiv,  21).  For  the  lamb  offered  witli  the  Passover 
sheaf,  ^jj  C])hah  of  fine  flour  was  prescribed  (Lev.  xxiii, 
13).  In  the  case  of  the  Nazarite  still  different  regula- 
tions are  made  (Numb,  vi,  KJ  sq.).     See  Nazaiuti;. 


scrvation  will  apply  to  the  remarkable  libation 
customarj'  at  tlie  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  but  not  men- 
I  ioned  in  Scripture.— Smith,  s.  v.  See  Tabeunaclks, 
Feast  of. 

From  the  above  statements  it  appears  that  the  "meat- 
offering" (or,  rather,  food-offering)  was  in  general  such 
eatable  but  bloodless  articles  (of  vegetable  growth)  as 
were  to  be  presented  to  .Jeliovah  as  devout  gifts  (comp. 
the  early  instance,  Gen.  iv,  3  sc[.),  and  in  a  special  sense 
only  gifts  of  meal,  raw  or  baked,  which  were  brought  to 
the  altar  of  burnt-offerings,  Exod.  xl,  29;  comp.  xxx, 
9),  and  either  wholly  or  partially  burnt  to  the  honor  of 
Jehovah  (commonly  with  incense)  by  the  liand  of  the 
priest.  Tlic  portion  of  such  "meat-offering"  that  was 
to  be  consumed  is  called  iTnStX,  in  contradistinction 
from  that  part  which  fell  to  the  priest  (Lev.  ii,  2,  9, 16 ; 
Numb,  vi,  26 ;  comp.  Lev.  xxiv,  7,  where  the  incense  of 
the  showbrcad  is  so  called,  Avhich  was  also  consumed). 
This  word  certainly  has  not  the  signification  of  odont- 
vientum  (Saadias),  or  in  general  offirinrj  (as  Michaelis 
thinks),  but  is  a  verbal  noun  from  ""'BTri  (^0  cause  to 
remember),  and  the  Sept.  translates  fivri^oavvov  accord- 
ingly (see  Gesen.  Thvsaur.  p.  417),  Tlie  Mishnic  tract 
jicnarhoth  (v,  2;  comp.  Otho,  /.ix.  liiM.  p.  649)  treats 
of  the  '•  meat-offering"  in  the  above  broad  sense  as  an 
important  part  of  the  sacred  ritual.  The  Uible  itself 
specifics,  of  the  not  burned  "meat-offerings,"  only  the 
1\  iiteciistal  bread  expressly  by  the  name  of  a  minchah 
(Lev.  xxiii,  18 ;  comp.  ver.  17),  while  the  Passover  sheaf 
and  the  showbread  belong  by  their  own  nature  to  the 
same  category.  The  proper  "  meat-offerings,"  as  above 
particularized,  were  cither  independent  gifts  (Talm. 
'^O'l"  "^ISn  mXSn),  or  simply  additions  to  other  prin- 
cipal offerings  (nSTtl  C"  nXSH).     For  example,  no 


was  to  be  sprinkled  upon  the  altar  to  be  consumed  with 
the  incense,  while  the  remainder  fell  to  the  priest's  lot 
(IjCV.  vii,  14  .sq.),  we  see  that  [iriestly  festivities  were 
associated  with  the  thank-offerings. 

It  likewise  appears  from  the  foregoing  account  that 
the  independent  "  meat-tifferings"  were  sometimes  free- 
will (Lev.  ii),  and  sometimes  obligatory.  To  the  latter 
belonged  the  cases  siiecified  above :  (</)  that  of  a  poor 
man,  who  had  made  himself  lialilc  in  the  manner  slated 
in  Lev.  v,  1  sq.  (com]),  ver.  ID;  and  (i)  the  "jealousy- 
offering"  of  a  wife  charged  with  adultery  (Numb,  v,  15, 
26);  to  which  is  to  be  added  (c)  the  consecration-offer- 
ing of  a  priest  (high-priest)  on  entering  upon  his  office 
(Lev.vi,  20  [13]  sq.).  The  Talmud  (see  Mtnuch.  iv, 
5;  xi,  3)  apjilies  this  law  exclusively  to  the  oblation  of 
the  high-priest,  and  makes  the  meat-offering  to  be  a 
daily  one  (T^'?'^  '^'^r'?)> ^^'^'^  which  Josephus  agrees 
{Ant.  iii,  10,  7).  In  both  the  first  cases  the  meat-offer- 
ing consisted  of  Jj,-  ephah  of  meal  (without  oil  or  in- 
cense), of  which,  as  above  noted,  only  a  handful  was 
burned,  and  the  rest,  as  usual,  went  to  the  jiriest ;  where- 
as in  the  third  case,  the  whole  meat-offering  w.is  to  be 
consumed  (if  so  we  may  understand  the  somewhat  dark 
passage  of  Lev.  vi,  22).  The  meal  in  cases  («)  and  (c) 
was  to  be  of  wheat,  but  in  the  case  (h)  of  barley.  Tlic 
free-will  offering  might  be  brought  in  either  of  three 
conditions,  namely,  as  raw  Hour,  upon  which  oil  was 
poured  and  incense  laid  (strewed)  (Lev.  ii,  1  s(|.) :  or  as 
roasted  and  pounded  (firstling^)  grains,  likewise  with  oil 
and  incense  (Lev.  ii,  14  sq.) ;  or.  lastly,  as  baked  dough. 
The  dough,  moreover,  might  be  baked  either  in  the 
oven,  and  in  that  case  the  oil  must  be  sprc.td  under  the 
loaves,  or  sprinkled  upon  them  (^Lev.  ii,  14) ;  or  in  a  pan 
(rarij),  when  the  dough  must  be  mixed  with  the  oil, 


burnt-offering  could  be  presented  without  a  meat  or  I  and  in  the  presentation  the  loaves  were  broken  in  pieces 
drink  offering  (see  Lev.  vii,  8  si|.);  and  drink-offerings  I  and  oil  poured  on  them  (Lev.  ii,  5  stj.) ;  or,  finally,  in 
were  associated  likewise  with  thank-offerings  (Lev.  vii,  the  r'^jn"!^,  i.  e.,  according  to  the  Jcw.s,  a  deep  stcw- 
12  sq.),  and  in  a  certain  case  with  a  sin-offering  (Lev.  |  pj,,,^  so' that  the  loaves  swam  in  oil  (Lev.  ii,  7).  See 
xiv,  10,  20).  This  appears  to  have  been  on  the  princi-  \  (.  ^^,,  -j^,,^  p^j^,,,  „i„.„^.g  ,j„r„e,i  „f  ,i,ose  free-will  of- 
plc  that  men  do  not  eat  flesh  without  bread  and  wine;  ^^^.  ^  ,,^,,,,,.,1  „p  ^^^j  ^^.j,,,  ^j,  (..^  „  ^„,^.,,>,^  ^^i,,,  ^n 
a  signification  which  also  lay  at  the  bottom  /'f  "»e  j,,^,  i,,^^,,,^^,,  „,j.  „„„r  (Lev.  ii.  2);  the  remainder  fell 
Greek  ovXai  (coarse  ground  bariey  grains)  and  the  Lo-  .  ,„^j.,in,^.g  j„  ,,in,^  sometimes  to  the  other  i.riests  (Ixv. 
man  viola  .W«/,  with  which  the  victim  was  strewn,  l.jjg  .,,,,,  ^^,^j  l,^,  ^^„,„„,^,,,  i„  „,,.  ^„„^.,y„r^.  ^I^^.^ 
Bahr  (S;,mhol.  i,  216),  however,  regards  the  supplemen-  ;;  3.  ^',o.,2sq.;  comp.  Josei.hiis,.l«r.iii,9,4).  i.eaven 
tarj' unbloody  offering  as  a  sort  of  compensation  for  tlie  I  ^^^^,,,^.^.,^,,,^,  ,,,,,  ,,,.  ,,,5^^,,  ^^.j,,,  „,^  meat-offering 
life  taken  from  the  sacrifice.  Such  additional  meat-  ,  ^^.  ;j  •, , .  ^^  ^,,,,,  ^^.,,i^.,,  „.;„,  ,,„p  cxcei.tioii  I  Lev.  vii, 
offerings,  at  all  events,  appear  regularly  in  connection    ,.. .  ,j,,,,  ,,,  ^„  ^,,,.,,  ..^-.^ings;  see  Kxod.  xxix,  2; 

with  the  principal  offerings,whether(«)iree-w.ll  (Numb.  ,  ,,J.  ^j!^  ,.,.  ^.j;;^  2,..  ^.  j._,.  ^^,i^,,„„_  „„,,„./,  ^.^  ,^^ 
xvi,  4  sq.;  comp.  Judg.  vi,  19)  or  (6)  enjoined.  1  he  ,^^^j  „^^^.  ^^^^^^  ,^^  ^,,^^,  ^^e^.  j;  ,.j,_  ,,^.,.„  ;„  ^^.j^^ 
latter,  again,  were  sometimes  offered ;>HW(r/y  in  the  name  ,,,p  mi-at-offering  the  priests  were  not  allowed  to  use 
of  the  whole  people  ("nS^I  rn:*;),  as  those  in  eonnec-  n„v  armeiit  (see  lev.vi,  16  [9];  x,  12).  Sec  generally 
tionwiththedaily  morning  and  evening  oblation  (Kxod.  IJtland,  Autiq.  .S<icr.  iii,  7;  Iken,  Aniiij.  //<l,r.  i,  14; 
xxix,  40  ;  xxviii,  6 ;  Numb,  iv,  16),  or  with  the  sabbat-  ( 'arpzov.  Ap/vir.  p.  708  (brief) ;  IJauer,  Cittttsd.  I  'trd.  i, 
ical  (Numb,  xxviii,  9)  and  feast  offerings  (Numb,  xxviii,  1  187  s(i.  (iiicompkte  and  inexact).— Winer,  ii,  493.     Sco 


MEBANE  ( 

VoUborth,  De  sacrificio  fari-eo  Hebrceorum  (Gottingen, 
1780).     See  Offering. 

Mebane,  William  N.,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  was 
born  in  Cniill'ord  County,  N.  C, IMarch  10, 1809.  His  pre- 
paratory education  was  received  in  Greensborough,  N.  C, 
under  tlie  Eev.  Drs.  Pressly  and  Carothers.  He  grad- 
uated at  the  University  of  North  CaroUna  in  1833,  and 
at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  in  1837 ;  in  1838  and 
1839  labored  as  a  missionary  in  the  bounds  of  the  states 
of  Louisiana  and  Texas;  in  1840  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled pastor  of  Spring  Garden  Church,  N.  C. ;  in  1852 
took  charge  of  Madison  Church.  He  died  in  May,  1859. 
Mr.  Mebane  possessed  fine  conversational  powers,  to- 
gether with  a  striking  independence  of  thought ;  as  a 
pastor  he  was  verj'  successful,  as  he  was  gifted  with  the 
happy  faculty  of  introducing  the  subject  of  personal  re- 
ligion.   See  'Presh.  Hist.  A  Imanac,  186 1 ,  p.  97.    (J.  L.  S.) 

Mebun'nai  (Heb.  Mebunnay',  "^l^p,  constructive, 
if  genuine;  Sept.  f'/c  twv  v'imv  [apparently  pointing 
"ija^],  but  V.  r.  "Zajiovxai ;  Vulg.  Mebounai),  a  person 
named  as  one  of  David's  body-guard  (2  Sam.  xxiii,  27), 
but  elsewhere  more  correctly  Sibbeciiai  (2  Sam.  xxi, 
18 ;  1  Chron.  xx,  4)  or  Sibbecai  (1  Chron.  xi,  29 ;  xxvii, 
11).     See  David. 

Mecaskey,  John  W.,  AM.,  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  born  in  1821,  was  the  son  of 
pious  parents,  and  inherited  an  honored  name,  a  fine 
phj'sical  form,  a  vigorous  intellect,  and  an  amiable  dis- 
position. On  the  death  of  his  devoted  mother  in  his 
twelfth  year,  he  was  placed  by  his  remaining  parent  in 
the  academy  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Andrews,  of  Doylestown, 
Pa.,  and  there  completed  his  academical  course.  His 
inclinations  were  for  the  legal  profession,  and  he  conse- 
quently fitted  himself  for  admission  to  the  bar,  with  fair 
promises  of  a  bright  future.  Suddenly  brought  to  ac- 
knowledge his  need  of  religion,  he  gave  himself  to  Chris- 
tianity, and,  believing  himself  to  be  called  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  at  once  prepared  for  the  great  work.  After 
rendering  good  service  in  the  Sunday-scliool,  and  as  a 
class-leader  and  exhorter,  he  was  licensed  to  preach; 
and  being  further  proved  by  one  j-ear's  travel  on  the 
Newtown  Circuit,  he  was  recommended  to  the  Philadel- 
phia Conference,  bj'  which  he  was  received  in  1844,  anil 
sent  to  Radnor  Circuit.  His  subsequent  fields  of  labor 
were  Grove  Circuit,  Mauch  Chunk,  Stroudsburg,  Bus- 
tleton,  St.  John's,  the  Tract  Agency,  and  West  Phila- 
delphia. After  this  he  was  stationed  in  Columbia, 
Reading,  Norristown,  and  Pottsville.  In  1862  he  was 
again  brought  to  Philadelphia,  and  stationed  in  Asbury, 
West  Philadelphia,  and  here  he  worked  for  the  blaster's 
cause  until  death,  Oct.  16, 1863.  "He  was  instant  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  an  able  minister  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  a  faithful  steward  of  the  mysteries  of 
God.  Puritj^,  dignity,  and  earnestness,  culminating  in 
deep,  constant  devotion  to  God  and  his  work,  marked 
and  illuminated  his  whole  course."  See  Minutes  of 
Conferences,  1864,  p.  26. 

Mecca  {Om  Al-Kora,  Mother  of  Cities),  the  birth- 
place of  Mohammed,  and  therefore  the  central  and  most 
sacredly  guarded  and  honored  city  of  Arabia,  is  one  of 
its  oldest  towns,  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Hejaz. 
It  is  situated  in  21°  30'  N.  lat.,  and  40°  8'  E.  long.,  245 
miles  south  of  Medina  (q.  v.),  and  about  65  miles  east  of 
Jiddah,  the  well-known  port  on  the  Red  Sea,  in  a  nar- 
row, barren  valley,  surrounded  by  bare  hills  and  sand}' 
plains,  and  watered  by  the  brook  Wady  Al-Tarafeyn. 
The  city  is  about  1500  paces  long,  and  about  650  broad, 
and  is  divided  into  the  Upper  and  Lower  City,  with 
twenty-five  chief  quarters.  The  streets  are  broad  and 
rather  regular,  but  unpaved ;  excessively  dusty  in  sum- 
mer, and  muddy  in  the  rainy  season.  The  houses,  three 
or  four  stories  high,  are  built  of  brick  or  stone,  orna- 
mented with  paintings,  and  their  windows  open  on  the 
streets.  The  rooms  are  much  more  handsomely  fur- 
nished, and  altogether  in  a  better  state  than  is  usual  in 
the  East,  the  inhabitants  of  Mecca  making  their  living 


MECHANIC 

chiefly  by  letting  them  to  the  pilgrims  who  flock  hither 
to  visit  the  Beit  Allah  (House  of  God),  or  chief  mosque, 
containing  the  Kaaba  (q.  v.).  This  mosque,  capable  of 
holding  about  35,000  persons,  is  surromided  by  nineteen 
gates  surmounted  by  seven  minarets,  and  contains  sev- 
eral rows  of  pillars,  about  twenty  feet  high,  and  about 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  of  marble,  granite,  por- 
phyry, and  common  sandstone,  which  at  certain  dis- 
tances are  surmounted  by  small  domes.  A  great  num- 
ber of  people  are  attached  to  the  mosque  in  some  kind 
of  ecclesiastical  capacity,  as  katibs,  muftis,  mueddins, 
etc.  Pilgrimages  have  very  much  decreased  of  late 
years,  and  in  consequence  the  inhabitants  of  this  city, 
at  one  time  containing  100,000,  now  scarcely  counts 
40,000  regular  residents.  The  age  of  the  city  of  INIecca 
is  not  exactly  known.  We  find  that  it  was  in  quite  a 
flourishing  condition  in  the  days  of  Ptolemy,  under  the 
name  of  Macorabu.  Mohammed,  who  had  been  obliged 
to  quit  it  quite  precipitately  in  A.D.  622,  returned  to  it 
in  627,  forcing  his  entrance  as  conqueror.  At  first  it 
belonged  to  the  tribe  of  the  Kosaites,  later  to  the  Ko- 
reish  (q.  v.).  Within  the  course  of  the  present  century 
(1803)  Mecca  was  taken  by  the  Wahabies  (q.  v.),  but 
given  up  again  to  the  pacha  of  Egypt,  Mehcnict  Ali 
(1833),  whose  son  Ibrahim  was  made  sheik  El-llaram 
— "  of  the  Sacred  Place."  At  present,  however,  IMecca 
is  directly  dependent  on  the  sultan  of  Turkey.  A  cer- 
tain balm,  tlie  "  Balm  of  IMecca,"  is  made  from  a  plant 
called  Besem,  which  grows  in  abundance  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  city.  Another  chief  article  of  manufact- 
ure, and  a  great  source  of  income  to  the  residents  of 
Mecca,  are  the  chajjlets  for  pious  pilgrims.  See  Cham- 
bers, Cyclop,  s.  V. ;  Der  Christliche  Apologete,  1872,  Nov. 
12. 

Mechanic.  The  Hebrews  appear  to  liave  learned 
in  Egypt  the  elements  at  least  of  all  the  forms  of  handi- 
craft practiced  in  that  highly-civilized  country,  and 
later  their  neighbors  the  Phoenicians,  famous  in  early 
times  for  their  progress  in  the  industrial  arts,  doubtless 
exerted  a  further  influence  upon  them;  nevertheless, 
down  at  least  to  the  close  of  the  period,  of  the  judges, 
the  skill  of  the  Hebrews  in  manufactures  was  quite  in- 
considerable (1  Sam.  xiii,  20).  Many  of  the  handicrafts 
were  practiced  by  the  proprietor  of  the  l?ouse  (land- 
owner) himself  (comp.  Homer,  Ochjss.  v,  243),  chiefly  the 
coarser  kinds  of  work  (i.  e.  in  wood),  while  other  sorts 
fell  to  the  female  head  of  the  family,  such  as  baking  (2 
Sara,  xiii,  8),  weaving  and  embroidering  (Exod.  xxxv, 
28 ;  Prov.  xxxi.  24),  and  the  making  up  of  garments, 
including  those  of  the  men  (Prov.  xxxi,  21 ;  1  Sam.  ii, 
19;  Acts  ix,  39).  See  Wojian,  and  comp.  the  Mishna, 
Kethuboth,  v,  5.  But  all  the  varied  forms  of  manufact- 
ure, which,  being  generally  executed' by  dint  of  actual 
manipulation,  required  a  good  degree  of  personal  dex- 
terity, were  carried  on  among  the  Hebrews  by  the  own- 
ers themselves,  who  were  not  slaves.  So  in  the  Homeric 
poems  several  kinds  of  mechanic  arts  appear  (Iliad,  iv, 
110,  485;  xviii,  601;  Odyss.  iii,  425,  432;  see  Wachs- 
muth,  Hellen.  Alterth.  II,  i,  47  sq.). 

Accordingly  we  find  mention  of  the  gold  and  silver 
smith  {^'i'y^S,  or  Ti'^Sp,  Judg.  xvii,  4;  Isa.  xl,  19;  Jen 
X,  14,  etc.),  Avho  especially  fabricated  idols,  or  plated  and 
ornamented  them ;  the  apothecary  (rii^l  or  H^'n.Exod. 
XXX,  35 ;  comp.  jivpiipoQ,  Ecclus.  xxxviii,  7) ;  the  ar- 
tificer ('■IJ'^n,  Exod.  xxxv,  35 ;  Deut.  xxvii,  l5 ;  1  Sara, 
xiii,  19),  a  term  inclusive  of  blacksmiths  (s]"^?  '^"'r^'^'^j 
Isa.  xliv,  12;  2  Kings  xxiv,  14;  1  Sam.  xiii,19;  Talm. 
■JinS.a,  Mishna,  Chel.  xiv,  3)  and  braziers  (ndn3  "n,  1 
Kings  vii,  14 ;  comp.  xa^^i^^vQ,  2  Tim.  iv,  14),  as  well  as 
carpenters  {y3  "n,  2  Sara,  v,  11 ;  Isa.  xliv,  13 ;  comp. 
TtKriuv,  Matt.x  iii,  55 ;  Mark  vi,  3 ;  also  cabinet-mak- 
ers, Mishna,  Baba  Kamma,  ix,  3)  and  masons  ("1^3'^H 
•Tip,  1  Chron.  xiv,  1);  the  stone-sqiiarers  Ci^X  "^^sh, 
2  Kings  xii,  12),  which  was  distinct  from  the  last  named, 


MECHANIC 


10 


MECHANIC 


Veneering  nnd  the  Use  of  Glne.    (Wilkinson.) 

a,  a  piece  of  dark  wood  applied  to  one  of  ordinnry  quality,  fc.    r,  adie,  fixed  into  a  block  of  wood  of  the  i 
to  those  used  by  our  carpenters.     -  -  *■—      Kio'  o  ,«  rrr„„l,n 


.t^^'Fi^  ^u  ^^ng'.;^:^^"  ;:^u;.;^t  So  ii;;  fi^r;;;:  ^eii^^  ^^.3,  .ppiying  gh.a  with .  bmsh.p. 


9  10 

BandaKinjc  Mummies  nnd  making  the  Cases.    (Wilkinson.) 

c  wood.     S,  f  uttinu  the  leg  of  a  chair,  indicalinR  the  trade  of  the  carpenter.     3, 
_  r,  wood  ready  for  ciitlinii.    d.  onions  nnd  other  provisions,  which  occur  apiin  at  j 

//.    4  anil  7,  binding  mummies.    6,  brings  the  bandages.    9,  using  the  drill.    «,10,andll, 
polishing  tlie  cose. 


Fig. 


but  whether  the  plasterers  Cna  VsP,  Ezek.  xiii,  11) 
were  a  sfi)aratc  trade  from  the  masons  is  not  clear;  the 
poller  ("^i",  Isa.  xxix,  16,  etc.;  Kipaftevf,  Matt,  xxvii, 
7,  10  :  comp.  Gcsenius,  Momm.  Plia-n.  p.  IGl) ;  the  lock- 
smith ("ap"3,  Jer.  xxix,  2);  the  fuller  (,033  or  03213, 
2  Kings  xviii,  17;  yvaftv^,  Mark  ix,  3;  comp.  (icsen. 
ut  sup.  p.  ISl) ;  the  weaver  (S'^J*)  <'»rly  (F-xod.  xxviii, 
32)  formed  a  separate  branch  of  industry  (especially  in 
fabrics  of  byssus,  1  Chron.  iv,  21),  and  in  large  cities  the 
baker  (HEX,  Hos.  vii,  4;  Jer.  xxxvii,  21 ;  see  Josejjhus, 
Ant.  XV,  it,  2;  but  Luke  xi,  2,  does  not  prove  the  ab- 
sence of  such  a  trade) ;  later  also  the  barber  (3?|',  Ezek. 
V,  1)  is  named  ("lED,  according  to  the  Targimi  of  Jon- 
ath.  at  Lev.  xiii,  45 ;  ]\lishna,  S/iabb.  i,  2).  Sec  each  in 
its  place.    Nevertheless,  that  the  Hebrews  took  no  very 


high  rank  in  the  tine  styles  of 
work,  especially  those  in  which 
labor  passes  over  into  an  art,  ap- 
pears from  the  fact  that  a  suigle 
individual  often  carried  on  sev- 
eral trades  at  once  (Exod.  xxxi, 
3  sq.;  2  Chron.  ii,  14);  while 
David  and  Solomon  are  record- 
ed as  having  imported  for  their 
structures  Phoenician  (Sidonian) 
artiliccrs  (1  Kings  v,  G ;  1  Chron. 
xiv,  1 ;  2  Chron.  ii,  7,  14,  etc.). 
See  PiKENiciA. 

After  the  exile  handicrafts  and 
arts  in  general  stood  in  greater 
esteem  among  the  Jews,  so  that 
experts  were  found  among  them, 
and  their  productions  acquired 
consitlcrablc  reputation  (see  Ko- 
senmiiller,  Mui-f/enland,  vi,  42). 
It  passed  for  a  sign  of  a  bad 
bringing  up  when  a  father  failed 
to  teach  his  son  a  trade  (Jlishna, 
Kiddtish.  iv,  14;  Lightfoot,  p. 
616;  comp.  Pirke  Abol/i,  ii,  2; 
Wagenseil,  Sola,  p.  507 ;  Otho, 
Lei\  liabb.  p.  491).  In  the  Apoc- 
rj-pha  of  the  Old  Test,  there  are 
mentioned  Ihc  Kipoftivc,  as  a 
moulder  of  figures  of  clay  (Wistl. 
XV,  S),  the  xpffovpiw-,  apyi'po- 
Xoocand  i^aXi:o7r\«(ir>jc  among  metal-workers  (AVistl. 
XV,  19),  chieHy  as  tributary  to  idol  image-makers;  in 
the  New  Test,  the  tanner  (livpaevr,  Acts  ix,  43;  x,  6, 
32;  Talm.  •^''DT-S  or  7313?,  C/iel.  xv,  1),  the  tent- 
maker  ((T»f>ji'07roi('c,  Acts  xviii,  3) ;  in  Josephus  occur 
the  cheese-makers  (-vpovoioi,  War,  v,  4,  1),  the  bar- 
bers (Kovptilc,  Aiit.  xvi,  5;  War,  i,  27,  5),  who  were  of 
service  to  princes;  in  the  Talmud,  among  others,  the 
tailor  (li'^'^n,  Shabb.  i,  3),  the  shoemaker  ("i'S'",  /'f- 
sacfi,  iv,  6\  the  plasterer  (T'-'O.  (//(/.  xxix,  3),  the 
glazier  (TTS,  C/iel.  viii,  9),  the  goldsmith  (^HT,  C/iel. 
xxix,  6),  the  dyer  (S3S,  comp.  Thilo.  Apocr.  p.  HI). 
Some  of  these  occujiations  were  of  .so  low  repute  that 
tliose  who  followed  them  could  not  attain  the  office  of 
high-priest  {Kuhliish.  Ixxxii.  1):  viz.  those  of  the 
weaver,  the  barber,  the  fuller,  the  apothecary,  the  blood- 


MECHERAH 


11 


MECHTHILDIS 


letter,  the  bath-keeper,  the  tanner,  which  avocations, 
especially  the  barber's  and  the  tanner's,  were  very 
odious  {Kiddush.  iv,  14;  Megilla,  iii,  2;  comp.  Otho, 
Lex.  Rabb.  p.  155 ;  Wetstein,  Nov.  Test,  ii,  51(j).  The 
workshops  or  place  of  business  of  the  artisans  appear  (in 
the  larger  cities)  to  have  been  in  certain  streets  or 
squares  (bazaars,  Tournefort,  Trav.  ii,  3-22),  where  they 
were  collected  (Jer.  xxxix,  21) ;  as  in  the  Talmud,  for 
instance,  there  is  mention  (Surenhusius,  Mischna,  v,  109, 
225)  of  a  meat-market  (Db::X  or  "pb^J'^X),  and  in  Jose- 
phus  ( War,  v,  4, 1)  of  a  cheese-maker's  valley  (the  Ty- 
ropceon),  as  likewise  of  forges  and  dealers  in  wool  and 
garments  ( War,  v,  8, 1).  On  occasions  of  public  mourn- 
ing such  places  were  closed  (Philo,  ii,  525).  See  gen- 
erally, Iken,  Aniiq.  Hebr.  ii,  578  sq. ;  Bellermann,  Haiidb. 
i,  221  sq.— Winer,  i,  462.     See  Handicraft. 

Mecherah.     See  Meciierathite. 

Mech'erathite  (Heb.  Mekerathi',  in'iap,  gentile 
from  n"!?'?)  Mekerah',  a  sword,  as  in  Gen.  xlix,  5; 
Sept.  jVIfxocpa^t  v.  r.  Mi\i)ipa^pi,  Vulg.  3Iecherathites), 
an  epithet  applied  to  Hepher,  one  of  David's  famous 
warriors,  probably  as  being  a  native  of  Mecherah,  a 
place  otherwise  unknown  (1  Chron.  xi,  36) ;  but  from 
the  parallel  passage  (2  Sara,  xxiii,  34)  it  would  appear 
to  be  a  corruption  for  Maachathite,     See  Ur. 

Mechitaf  (or  Mekliitar), Da  Petro,  the  founder 
of  the  Order  of  Mi'chitarists  (q.  v.),  was  born  at  Sebaste, 
a  town  of  Armenia  Minor,  Feb.  7,  1676.  His  lather's 
name  was  Peter  Manukean  (i.  e.  son  of  Manug).  but  he 
exchanged  his  family  name  (Manug)  for  that  of  ^leclii- 
tar,  or  "  Consoler,"  on  entering  into  ecclesiastical  orders. 
His  early  education  had  been  intrusted  to  monastics; 
they,  no  doubt,  influenced  him  to  devote  himself  to  the 
service  of  the  Church.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  became 
an  inmate  of  the  Convent  of  the  Holy  Cross,  near  Se- 
baste ;  and  a  few  years  after,  being  made  secretary  of 
the  archbishop  Michael,  who  took  him  to  Erzerum,  he 
became  acquainted  with  a  fellow-countryman  who  had 
travelled  in  Europe,  and  who  lent  him  an  Armenian  work 
by  Galanus,  an  Italian  missionarj',  Oh  the  Reconciliation 
of  the  ArnKniuu  Church  irllh  that  of  Rome  (published 
at  Rome  in  1650).  Though  Mechitar  still  continued 
professedly  a  member  of  the  Armenian  priesthood,  he 
appears  from  this  time  to  have' become  in  secret  a  pros- 
elyte to  the  Churcli  of  Rome  :  but  the  exact  date  of  his 
passing  over  seems  to  liave  been  unknown  to  all  his  bi- 
ographers. He  was  anxious  to  make  himself  acquainted 
with  the  civilization  of  the  West,  it  is  urged  by  some ; 
others  believe  that  Mechitar  had  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  Romish  priests,  and  was  induced,  as  early  as  1693,  to 
accept  the  Romish  interpretation  of  the  sacred  writings, 
and,  consequently,  of  the  doctrines  and  faith  of  the  hie- 
rarchy, and  that  he  determined  on  a  visit  to  Rome  to 
enjoy  an  interview  with  the  holy  father  and  the  great 
dignitaries  of  the  Latin  Church.  There  is  some  reason 
also  for  the  belief  that  Slechitar  was  at  once,  after  his 
entry  into  the  Latin  Church,  made  a  member  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Jesus,  and  that  he  secretly  worked  for  the  good 
of  the  order.  On  his  way  to  Rome  he  was  attacked  by 
severe  illness  in  the  island  of  Cyprus,  and  compelled  to 
return,  begging  his  way  as  he  went.  In  1696  he  re- 
entered the  convent,  determined  to  become  a  worker  for 
higher  religious  and  literary  culture  among  his  coun- 
trymen, and  to  further  this  undertaking  effectually  he 
sought  to  gather  about  him  young  men  desiring  to  work 
as  missionaries.  In  1699  he  was  made  D.D.,  and  shortly 
after  he  removed  to  the  Byzantine  capital.  In  1700,  when 
he  was  a  preacher  at  Constantinople,  some  dissensions 
between  the  partisans  of  two  rival  patriarchs  divided 
the  Armenian  community  into  two  hostile  parties.  Me- 
chitar at  first  advised  reconciliation,  and  afterwards,  to 
their  surprise,  preached  submission  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  this  roused  such  a  storm  against  him  that 
he  was  obliged  to  claim  the  protection  of  the  French 
ambassador,  which  was  readily  afforded. 

Thenceforth  Mechitar  appeared  openly  as  a  Roman 


Catholic.  To  escape  from  the  animosity  of  his  countrj'- 
men  he  still  found  it  necessary  to  remove  in  disguise  to 
Smyrna,  and  finally  he  settled  at  Modon,  in  the  INIorea, 
uncler  the  protection  of  the  Venetian  government,  to 
whom  it  then  belonged.  As  early  as  Sept.  8,  1701,  he 
had  founded  at  Constantinople  a  new  religious  commu- 
nity, in  which  ten  other  persons  joined  with  him ;  at 
Modon,  on  Sept.  8, 1703,  he  took  possession  of  an  estate 
given  him  by  the  Venetians,  to  build  a  convent  of  the 
new  order,  which  was  called  after  his  own  name.  The 
war  between  the  Turks  and  the  Venetians  drove  ^lechi- 
tar  in  1715  to  Venice,  where  he  remained  imtil  after  the 
conquest  of  the  INIorea  by  the  Mussulman.  His  petition 
for  a  place  instead  of  ISIodon  found  a  willing  ear  at  the 
Venetian  Senate  in  1717,  and  he  was  presented  with  the 
little  island  of  San  Lazaro,  near  the  Lido,  and  there 
Mechitar  built  the  convent  which  still  attracts  the  at- 
tention of  every  visitor  to  Venice.  It  was  opened  on  the 
day  of  the  Virgin  IMary's  birth,  Sept.  8.  Thenceforth 
Mechitar  labored  assiduously  for  the  good  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  and  the  elevation  of  his  countrymen.  He  is 
acknowledged  even  by  his  opponents  of  the  Armenian 
Church  to  have  revived  the  high  literary  attainments 
of  his  country  in  former  days.  He  not  only  contributed 
to  this  by  his  own  efforts  as  a  voluminous  writer,  but  in 
a  still  more  important  degree  by  establishing  l)rinting- 
presses.  He  died  April  27, 1749.  His  own  productions 
are,  besides  many  hymns,  which  are  still  sung  in  the  Ar- 
menian churches,  because  they  were  written  before  his 
apostasy,  a  translation  of  Thomas  a  Kempis's  Imitation 
of  Christ,  and  of  Thomas  Aquinas's  TheoliKjy,  and  many 
philological  works  of  value.  The  fullest  aexmiit  of 
Mechitar,  of  his  work,  and  of  his  followers,  in  Iji^lish, 
is  to  be  found  in  Brief  Account  of  llic  Mifhiltiri.-:lkaii 
Society,  by  Alexander  Gorde  (Venice,  1835).     See  Me- 

CHITAKISTS.       (J.  H.  W.) 

Mechitarists,  a  congregation  of  Armenian  Chris- 
tians, who  reside  on  the  island  of  San  Lazaro  at  Venice, 
but  who  have  also  obtained  a  footing  in  France  and 
Austria.  They  derive  their  name  from  Mechitar  da 
Petro  (q.  v.),  who  in  the  year  1701  founded  this  re- 
ligious society  for  the  purpose  of  diffusing  a  knowledge 
of  the  old  Armenian  language  and  literature.  The  Jle- 
chitarists,  like  their  founder  and  instructor,  acknowledge 
the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  seek  to  spread 
the  faith  and  practices  of  the  Church  of  Rome  in  the 
East.  The  rules  of  the  Mechitarists  are  modelled  after 
those  of  the  Benedictines,  but  every  member  must  be  of 
the  Armenian  nation,  and  promise  an  active  devotion  to 
the  cidtivation  of  the  Armenian  language  and  literature. 
The  result,  as  we  have  said  above,  has  been  the  forma- 
tion not  only  of  a  convent  but  of  an  academy ;  and,  in 
fact,  the  best  schools  for  the  study  of  Armenian  are  in 
the  houses  of  the  order.  A  division  was  provoked  in 
1773,  and  some  of  the  Mechitarists  settled  at  Trieste, 
and  there  founded  an  institution  like  that  at  San  Lazaro. 
In  1810  these  seceders  removed  to  Vienna,  the  Austrian 
capital,  and  there  they  still  remain,  busy  mainly  in  the 
publication  of  Armenian  classical  productions  and  in- 
structing young  Armenians.  A  third  societj-  has  re- 
cently been  founded  at  Paris,  and  efforts  are  making  for 
the  establishment  of  a  fourth  at  Constantinople.  Sev- 
eral hundred  volumes  have  already  been  published  by 
the  Mechitarists.  Of  these  the  theological  portion  has 
a  Roman  Catholic  circulation  only,  but  the  others  have 
been  welcomed  by  the  Armenians  generallj'.  They  pub- 
lish a  periodical  like  the  English  Penny  Magazine.^  See 
Boze,  De  Convent  de  St.  Lazare  a  Venise,  ou  Histoire 
succincte  de  rOrdre  des  Mechitaristes  A  i-rneniens  (Paris, 
1837).     (J.H.W.) 

Mechthildis,  St.,  a  younger  sister  of  St.  Gertrude 
(q.  v.),  of  the  ancient  and  renowned  family  of  ILacke- 
born,  was  born  at  Eislcben  in  the  early  i)art  of  the  13th 
century.  She  early  manifested  a  decided  taste  for  re- 
ligious exercises,  and  at  the  age  of  seven,  liaving  gone 
one  day  with  her  mother  to  visit  the  Convent  of  Ro- 


3IECKLENBURG 


12 


:\IECKLENBURG 


denjdorf,  occupied  bv  Benedictine  nuns,  she  was  so  much  I 
delighted  with  it  that  she  insisted  on  reraainin^f  in  it.  | 
.She  wa.s  allowed  to  become  a  novice,  and  fultilled  all 
the  duties  imfxjsed  upon  her  in  that  position  with  great 
zeal,  bhowiiig  herself  particularly  serviceable  in  taking 
care  of  the  {xx^r  and  the  afflicted.  At  the  end  of  her  ' 
noviciate  she  twjk  the  veil,  and  remained  in  the  convent  ' 
until  1-'.J8,  when,  together  with  the  other  nuns,  she  re-  ' 
moved  to  that  of  Heljjede,  where  she  died  shortly  after.  | 
Inclining  from  youth  to  mysticism,  she,  like  her  sister  I 
(jertrude,  claimed  to  have  had  visions,  but  she  stead-  , 
fastly  declined  writing  them  down;  this  was,  however,  | 
done  against  her  will  by  one  of  her  friends,  under  the 
title  Jieri-lfjtiones  selectie  S.  Mathildig,  together  with  a  | 
short  biogra[)hical  notice.  These  mystic  pieces  are  not 
only  full  of  elevated  thoughts  and  aspirations,  but  give  ! 
evidence  of  a  thorough  ac<{uaintance  with  Scripture. 
The  be«t  edition  is  that  publi.-hed,  together  with  a  (jer- 
man  translation,  in  the  Bibliothtca  mystka  et  ascetiia 
(Cologne.  1«.>1,  pt  X).  I 

Anotlier  Mechthildis,  also  honored  as  a  saint  in  the 
Koman  Catholic  Church,  flourished  near  the  middle  of  | 
the  12th  centurj'.  .She  was  a  descendant  of  the  counts 
of  Andechs.  In  early  youth  she  commenced  to  mani- 
fest signs  of  piety,  and  when  she  attained  the  requisite 
age  she  became  a  nun  in  the  Ojnvent  of  Diessen,  in  Ba- 
varia. Here  she  awjuired  such  reputation  for  piety  and 
zeal  that  she  was  elected  abVjess  in  11.0.3.  .Some  years 
afterwards  she  was  obliges],  at  the  command  of  the  bish- 
op, V)  go  as  abbess  to  the  Convent  of  EdeLstetten,  which 
she  was  to  renovate.  .She  lalxjred  there  with  her  usual 
zeal,  and  proved  very  successful,  yet  she  always  regret- 
ted leaving  her  former  convent,  and  during  her  last  ill- 
ness was  removed  Ui  it.  She  died  May  31,  11 W).  She 
is  commemorated  April  10.— Herzog,  lieal-EncyJdop.  ix, 
22.3 :  Wct/.iT  II.  Welu-, Kirchm-J^r.  xii, 788.  (J, N.  P.) 
Mecklenburg,  a  North  German  u-rritorj',  now  part 
of  the  (jerman  empire,  c-onsists  of  two  grand-duchies, 
the  larg'r  one  called  Mecklenburg-.Schwerin,  and  the 
smaller  one  f:allerl  Mecklcnburg-Strelitz, 

(\.)  MccUndjury-Sdiverin,  Ijounded  on  the  north  by 
the  Baltic,  on  the  east  by  I'omerania,  on  the  south  1  y 
Brandenljurg,  anrl  on  the  west  bj'  I^uenburg,  covers  an 
area  <  f  aUjut  .5120  8<juare  miles,  and  has  a  p^jpulation 
of  .^>>.i;iX  Tin  \nC,7),  of  which  .O.j<i,29<)  are  Lutherans 
rj<Kj  iJef<;rmed;,  1195  communicants  of  the  Church  of 
I'.ome.  and  :i<>U  adherents  to  the  .Jewish  faith.  The 
Meckleiiburgers  are  for  the  most  part  of  .Slavonic  ori- 
gin, but  amalgamation  with  their  .Saxon  neighlxjrs  has 
largely  fJermanizwl  the  original  race.  The  predomi- 
nating form  of  religion  is  the  Lutheran,  the  religion  of 
the  reigning  prince.  The  grand-<luke,  whfjse  fKJwers  are 
limit(;<l  by  a  mixed  feudal  and  constitutional  form  of 
-_'oveniment,has  the  title  of  royal  highness,  and  is  styled 
;  rince  of  the  Wends,  and  of  Schwerin  an<l  Batzeburg, 
'  ount  of  Schwerin,  and  lord  of  Bostf>f;k,  Stargard,  etc. 
1  he  state  Church  divider  the  territorj-  into  331  rectf>- 
riw,  with  47.J  churches,  which  are  controlled  by  six  su- 
l^rintendents  and  thirty-seven  prafjK/sitors.  Much  has 
frf-en  done  of  late  years  in  extending  the  educational  or- 
L'anization  of  JIe*;klenburg,  although  the  lower  clasM-s 
<'•>  not  yet  enjoy  as  many  a'lvantages  as  in  wjme  other 
':i-:r!  r-  offjennany.  lVrsid<-s  the  university  at  ]£<^t'K,k 
;.  .  .  iliere  are  five  gymnasia,  and  numerous  burgher, 
(.»r  Ml),  and  other  scIkxjIs.  The  principal  towns  are 
tlie  <  apital  Schwerin,  Ludwigslust,  Br*tw:k,  Gilstrow, 
and  ^Vi.smar. 

(■l.j  M^rUf^Jmrfi-Slrf.lUz,  the  othCT  grand-duchy,  \n 
f  ■  rn:  -'d  of  two  distinct  [K>rtions  of  tcrritorj-,  viz,  .Star- 
_  .'  ,  '.y  far  the  larger  division,  lying  to  the  f^ast  of 
y\"  r.;'iiburg-.S<)iw»-rin;  and  the  priiicii>ality  of  IJatze- 
burg  (Ijetween  Mw.klenbiirg-Shwerin  and  I^ii<-iiburgj, 
and  <;onrjprij(fc«  an  area  of  raih«-r  more  than  I'XX)  wpiare 
rriil<  -.  with  a  fiopulation  of  ffX.TTO  Cm  |H«;7;,  of  whifh 
'7.'  ;7  are  Lutherans  ( HKK)  B/rformed/,  W.f  Boman  Cath- 
',Ii  -  lid  M'li'i  .Jews.  Like  the  other  Mecklenburg  duchy, 
the  Loujiiry  iit  in  the  haii'ls  of  the  Lutherans.     It   i- 


divided  into  sixty-two  rectories,  and  is  governed  by 
seven  diocesan  superintendents  (propste). 

The  two  Mecklenburg  duchies  have  provincial  es- 
tates in  common,  which  meet  once  a  year,  alternately  at 
Malchin  and  Sternberg.  This  united  chamber  consists 
of  noble  landowners  and  the  representatives  of  forty- 
seven  provincial  Ixtroughs,  each  of  which  has,  however, 
its  separate  municipal  government. 

IJUlury. — The  Mecklenburg  territory',  anciently  oc- 
cupied by  Germanic  and  afterwards  by  .Slavonic  tribes, 
was  in  the  12th  centurj-  coii(|uered  by  Henry  the  Lion, 
duke  of  .Saxony,  who,  after  thoroughly  devastating  tlic 
countrj',  and  compelling  the  small  numIxT  of  inhaliit- 
ants  remaining  after  the  war  to  adopt  Christianity,  re- 
stored the  greater  part  of  the  territorv'  to  Burewin,  tlie 
heir  of  the  slain  .Slavonic  jirince,  Niklot,  and  gave  him 
hLs  daughter  in  marriage.  The  countrj-  at  that  period 
received  its  present  designation  from  its  principal  settle- 
ment, Mikilinborg,  now  a  village  Ixtween  Wismar  and 
Brui-L  Christianity  was,  however,  known  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  this  countrj'  long  before  the  inroads  of  Henry 
the  Lion.  Missionaries  of  the  Cross  arc  said  to  have 
lx;en  there  in  the  days  of  Charlemagne;  but  true  Chris- 
tian principles  and  faithful  adherents  to  the  Christian 
cause  were  not  made  there  until  the  first  half  of  the  lOlh 
centun,'.  After  Henry  I  had  vanquished  the  natives  in 
the  battle  at  Leuzen  (931  j,  bishop  Ailalward,  of  Verden, 
in  that  very  year  baptized  one  of  their  rulers,  and  by  the 
close  of  that  centurj'  many  converts  had  been  gathered. 
But  Christianity  was  still  unpopular,  and  its  coiifissors 
suffered  much  persecution,  es[»ecially  near  the  middle 
of  the  11th  centurj'  (comp.  .Jaffe,  Lolhur,  p.  147,  232; 
Conrad  III,  p.  10;.  Not  until  the  successful  incursions 
of  Henrj-  the  Lion  can  Christianity  Ixi  really  said  to 
have  found  a  hold  in  Mecklenburg  territorv',  and  hence 
he  is  generally  looked  upon  not  only  as  the  author  of 
the  cons<didation  of  the  territorj'  as  Mecklenburg,  but 
als<j  as  the  founder  of  Christianity  within  its  bounds. 
.Shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  12th  century  convents 
v.ere  built,  and  several  monastic  establishments  founded. 
We  find  one  Vicelin  (t  1  !•>!;,  bishop  of  Lulxck,  and  his 
success^jr  (jerold,  especially  active  as  missionaries.  But 
Christianity  diil  not  attain  to  a  really  prosperous  con- 
dition during  the  Middle  Ages  in  this  [lart  of  the  'i'eu- 
tonic  domains,  although  it  was  elevated  info  a  duchy  in 
1349  by  the  emperor  Charles.  The  Protestant  doctrines 
were  first  intrmluced  here  in  l.O.Of)  by  duke  Johann  Al- 
brecht,  ami  his  grandsons,  Wolf-Friedrich  and  .Fohann 
Albrecht,  who  founded  the  lines  of  Mccklenburg-Schwe- 
rin  and  Mecklenburg-(;ilstrow.  They  were,  however, 
de[)rived  f.f  the  ducal  title  in  1027,  in  consequence  of 
their  arllursion  to  the  Protestant  cause,  and  the  imperial 
general  Wallenstein  was  proclaimed  <luke  of  all  M<  ck- 
lenburg.  In  UVAZ  Gustavus  Adrdphus  of  .Sweden  re- 
st/»red  his  kinsmen,  the  de|K>s<(l  dukes,  to  (heir  domains. 
Kotzer,  alias  .S<;hltiter  fq.  v.j,  who  was  fK)isone»l  in  l.'>32, 
was  particularly  prominent  in  the  cause  of  the  Be- 
forrners.  The  fruit  of  his  lalxirs  was  seen  in  l.'/M  in  the 
decree  against  the  reading  of  the  mass,  and  in  the  final 
oflicial  adoption  of  the  Protestant  cause  in  \:)iM.  The 
secular  affairs  of  Mecklenburg  continued  to  undergo 
changes.  Aft^r  various  sulxlivisions  of  the  dmal  line 
into  the  bran<h<-s  of  .Shwerin,  .Strelilz,  and  otlu rs.  and 
the  hWT.ChMvc.  extindion  of  s<-veral  of  t hew  collateral 
houM'S,  the  ImfK'rial  Commission,  which  met  at  Ham- 
burg in  1701,  brought  alx.ut  the  settlement  of  a  family 
comi»act,  by  which  it  was  arranged  that  .S<  hwerin  and 
Gitstrow  should  form  one  duchy,  and  Stnlilz,  with 
liatzeburg  and  Stargard.  Mirow  and  NemcTow,  another 
inde|<endent  t«.v<r<ignty.  After  this,  very  few  events 
of  imjiortancc  <K<iirred  till  the  accession  in  .Shwerin,  in 
178.'j,of  Friedrich  I"  ranz,  who  obtained  the  title  of  grand- 
duke  in  1X1.'..  and  died  in  1K'J7,  after  a  long  reign,  which 
he  had  made  highly  conducive  to  the  iiitenial  wi-lfare 
and  external  npiitation  of  his  hiredilary  <lomiiiions. 
The  reign  of  l'ri»drich  Franz  H,  who  succeeded  his  fa- 
it,ir  I'liiil  I  ri<  ilri,  li-  ill  1>''12,  was  disturlx.d  by  a  contest 


MEDABA 


13 


MEDE 


between  the  nobles  and  the  biu^rher  and  equestrian  i  he  refused  at  first,  but  was  finally  induced  to  accept  by 

landowners,  the  former  am>gaiing  to  themselves  the  king  Clotaire  himselt\  and  the  two  dioceses  continued 

exclusive  rijjht  of  electing  members  into  the  equestrian  to  be  administered  by  the  same  bishop  imtil  1146.  when 

oriler.  nominating  to  benefices,  juid  mouopolizing  other  they  were  again  di\-ideil.     St.  Medatd  was  one  of  the 

pren>s:atives  of  the  ancient  feudal  nobility.     The  revo-  most  iniiucntial  and  most  universally-respected  bishops 

lutionar^-  excitement  of  1848  gave  a  fresh  stimulus  to  of  his  time.     King  Clotaire  came  to  visit  him  shonly 

the  popular  ferment,  and  the  disturbances  coidd  only  be  before  his  death,  which  occurreil  about  545.  and  alter- 

qnelleti  by  the  uitervention  of  IMissian  mxips.    In  iSG6  wanls  causeil  his  remains  to  be  buried  in  the  nn\>d  es- 

the  duchies  were  inci.>rporated  in  the  North  German  tate  of  Crouy,  near  S.>is«sons.     The  renowneil  cathetlral 

Confederation,  and  since  the  establishment  of  the  new  of  St.  Medanl  is  erectetl  over  his  grave.     He  is  com- 

German  empire  they  form  pjirt  of  the  latter.     Religions  memoratetl  on  June  fi.    He  is  highly  praisoil  by  Gregory 

toleration  and  freedom  of  speech,  which  were  compara-  of  Tours  ^ib-  iv.  c.  l?"*,  who.  like  his  biographers  Yenan- 

tively  unknown  in  the  duchies  of  Mev.kle*ibiu^.  have  tius.  Fortunatus,  and  Kadbotlus.  attributes  to  him  a  great 

since'  ISOG  gaineil  quite  a  footing  there,  and  jjromise  numlier  of  miracles.    Thebestbic^raphyof  St.Metlardis 

much  aid  in  the  extinction  of  a  veri-  lukewarm  proles-  ciuitaineil  in  the  .4  eta  Sanctorum  for  JiUy  8.    See  Perz, 


sion  of  Christianity,  and  the  establishment  of  vital 
Christianity  in  its  stcacL  See  Adam.  Bremens.  Hist. 
Hecks,  in  Pertz,  J/iwi.  Script.  voL  iii ;  Ernst  BoU.  Ge~ 
schichte  MecUeiiburff's  mit  besondtrer  Beriicisichtiffunff 
der  Culttirpesch.  (Xeubrandenbui^,  1855-56);  Heizog. 
JReal-EiHyUopddie.  s.  v.;  Ikutsch-AmeriL  Conr.  Lexi- 
hMi.s.y.     (J.H.W,-* 


Momim.  Hist.  Chrvi.  vol.  i  and  ii :  Gregorius  Turon.  Hisi. 

/  rtinc.  lib.  iv.c.  19:  sami^.  Ik  Gloria  Cottj'ess.c.  9b:  Kad- 

boilus,  Vita  S.  JfedanU,  Xoriom.  episc.  aptid  Surium,  8 

Junii :  Galiia  Christ.  voL  ix,  coL  979.     (J.  X.  P.) 

Medatha.     See  H-VitMEPAxn-v. 

Mede  ^Hcb.  JJada^',  "^  j^.  a  wonl  of  Indian  origin, 

Medaba  ^M,,cn3«,  2  Macc.ix.36\    SeeMEOEB.^.    meaning,  acorvling  to  Gesenius,  Thes.  /M.  p.  768,  the 

^,    -^     -,    ,,  ,    ,,     .    ,. .         -        -.r    -   i\     »Mt/(«f  countr\-.  ta>m  US  position,  as  in  Polvbuis,  v.44; 

Me  dad  ^lU^h. Ma/^iad  .  ^-l^-Z.hir:  &ept.  Ma,c«f\  •  :^„t^_ y^^  .•iledes,"  "Me.lia."  "Madai."  Gen.  x.  2;  2 
a  person  mentioneil  in  connection  with  Eldad,  as  two  j^j^^^^  xvii.  6;  xviii,  11:1  Chron.  i.  5 :  Esth.  i.  3. 14. 18, 
of  the  seventy  elders  who  were  nominated  to  assist  Mo-  jc> ,  ^  o .  j^a^  xiii,  17 :  xxi.  2 :  Jer.  xxv,  25 ;  li.  11. 28 ; 
ses  in  the  gvn-ernment  of  the  pe.>ple  but  who  remained    ^^   \V  ._j^; .  ."^  ^;  ^j'^  ^^.,  -^  .  ji^ile,-  Dan.  xi, 

m  the  camp,  prob.iblv  as  modestlv  deeminc  themselves    _     ^.    ,,    ,,    ,     ,   . ,,  j    ••" Ar  ^     ••  r-         •  .^ 

unfit  for  the  ofti.-e.  when  the  other;  presented  themselves  1  =  C^»^^^^-  -^^"'^''^  •  "  T'  "  ^^^-  "  ^*>^^^^  ^zra  v..  2 ; 
at  the  tabernacle.  The  diviue  Spirit,  however,  restetl  Dan-  v,  28  :  vi.  8.  12.  lo :  and  Madaah'.  f'^'^J-  "  ^e- 
on  them  even  there. "  and  they  prophesied  in  the  camp"  dian."'  or  Madaa'.  S""":,  Dan.  v,  31 :  Gr.  Mi/coc),  the 
(Xumb.  xi.  24-29>.  The  Targum  of  Jonathan  alleges  ethnographic  title  of  a  Mtdian.  oi  inhabitant  of  Media; 
that  these  two  men  were  brothers  of  Moses  and  Aaron  the  same  of  that  of  Mauai  [q.v.].  The  Hebrew  form, 
by  the  mothers  side,  being  sons  of  Jochebeil  and  Eliza-  ••  which  occurs  in  tien.  x,  2.  among  the  list  of  the  sons 
phan, — Kitto.     B.C.  1657.     See  Eu>ai>.  I  of  Japhet.  has  been  commonly  regarvleti  as  a  personal 

Me'dan  (Fleb-.l/ft/art', '(t^.  twj?en/it)n,  as  in  Prov.    appellation:  and  niivst  commentators  call  Msidai  the 

thinl  son  of  Japhet.  and  the  prv>genitor  of  the  Meiles. 
But  it  is  extremely  doubtfid  whether,  in  the  mind  of 
the  writer  of  Gen.  x.  the  term  Madoi  was  reganleii  as 
representing  a  person.  That  the  genejdogies  in  the 
hapter  are  to  Si>mc  extent  ethnic  is  universally  allow- 


vi.  14,  lii :  Sept.  Mnrdi'  v.  r.  in  Chron.  'Slactdft ;  Tulg, 
J/iji/(»;i>,  the  thinl  son  of  Abraham  by  Keturah  (Gen. 
xxv.  2>.  B.C.  post  2024.  He  and  his  brother  ilidian 
are  l>elieved  to  have  jieopled  the  countrj-  of  Midi.an. 
east  of  the  Dead  Sea.     "  It  has  l>een  supposed,  from  the 


similaritv  of  the  name,  that  the  tribe  descended  ftvra  ed.  and  may  be  seen  even  in  our  Aulhortteil  ^  ersion 
M<<lan  was  more  ckv<elv  allieii  to  Midiait  than  bv  mere  Oe»^  16-18\  As  Gomer.  Magv^g.  Javan.  Tukil.  and 
bUxKl-relaiion.  and  that  it  was  the  same  as,  or  a  portion  '  Meshech.  which  are  conjoineil  in  Gen.  x.  2  with  Madai. 
of  the  latter.  Ihere  is.  however,  no  ground  for  this  are  elsewhere  in  Scriptiure  alwa\-s  ethnic  and  not  pei^ 
thei^rv  bevond  its  pLausibilitv.  The  traditional  citv  sonal  appellatives  ^;Ezek.  xxvii.  13;  xxxviii.6;  xxxix, 
Metlven  of  the  Arab  £:et>-:raphers  (the  classical  Motlia-  6:  Dim.  viii,  21 :  Jivl  iii,  6:  Psa.  cxx.  5:  Isa.  Ixvi,  19, 
na^,  situate  in  Anibi.i^on  the  eiistern  shore  of  the  Gulf  etc.),  so  it  is  probable  that  they  stand  for  nations  rather 
of  Evleh.  must  be  held  to  have  been  Midianitish.  not  than  ^lersons  here.  In  that  case  no  one  would  regattl 
Medanitish  (^but  Bunsen,  BiMirerk:  suggests  the  latter  iladai  as  a  person :  and  we  must  remember  that  it  is 
identiticationX     It  has  been  elsewhere" remarked  [see    the  exact  wonl  useil  elsewhere  thmnghout  Sv-ripture  for 

the  well-known  nation  of  the  Metles.  Pn^l«bly.  there- 
fore, all  that  the  writer  intends  to  assert  in  Gen.  x.  2  is 
that  the  Jlede-s  as  well  as  the  Gomerites.  Greeks.  Til«- 
reni.  Moschi,  etc..  descendeil  frv>m  Japhet.  Minlem 
science  has  found  that,  both  in  physical  t>-pe  and  in 
language,  the  Meiles  belong  to  that  family  of  the  human 


Ketikah]  that  many  of  the  Keturahite  tribes  seem  to 
have  merged  iu  early  times  into  the  Ishmaelite  tril>es. 
The  mention  of  •  Ishmaelite"  as  a  convertible  term  with 
'Midianite.'  in  Gen.  xxxvii,  28,  36,  is  remarkable;  but 
the  MiiUauite  of  the  A,  V.  in  ver.  28  is  Meilanite  in  the 
Hebrew  (bv  the  Sept.  rendereil  MaoujraToi.  and  in  the 
Yulij.  Ism'atHtir  and  Madianitiv) ;  and  we  mav  have    ra^-e  which  embrai-es  the  Cymr>-  and  the  Gre^x>-Komjui3 


here  a  trace  of  the  subject  of  this  article,  though  Mid- 
ianite appears  on  the  whole  to  be  more  likely  the  cor- 
rect reading  ui  the  passages  referred  to"  ^Smith).  See 
MiniAx. 

Medard,  St.,  bishop  of  Xoyon,  in  France,  was  bom 
alxnit  450,  in  the  village   of  Sallencv,  near  Xovon, 


(^see  Prich.Hnl"s  Phi/s,  Hist,  of  Maitkimi.  iv.  6-5<^ :  chap. 
X.  §  2-4 :  and  conip.  the  article  on  Medi.v)"  (Smith). 
For  ••  Darius  the  Metle,"  see  Dahus. 

Mede.  Joseph.  RD.,  a  lesnied  English  divine,  was 
descender!  frem  a  resi>ectable  family  at  l>enlen.  iu  Essex, 
and  was  Kmi  in  1586.     When  but  a  Kn-  ten-vears  old 


Through  his  father.  Xe\.>tanlus,  he  belonged  to  a  noble  he  lost  his  father,  but  his  cilucation  was  previdetl  for  by 

Frank  family:  his  mother.  lV>tagia.  a  Giiili>-Roman.  also  friends.     He  liecame   a   ivmmoner  of  Christ  Chun-h, 

claimed  high  ciMuiections.  He  was  educatetl  in  the  s*.hool  Cambridge,  in  1602.  where  he  tiKik  the  degree  of  luas- 

of  his  native  city,  and  early  rajuiifestetl  that  zeal  and  ter  of  arts  in  1610.  having  made  such  pregress  ir.  .ill 
charity  for  which  he  .at^erwanls  bectime  distingnishetl.  ,  kinds  of  learning  that  he  was  universally  esteotr.ed  .<ui 

He  enteretl  the  Chureh  under  the  guidance  of  the  bishop  aiwunplishetl  si-holar.     He  was  appointed  tJreck  lect- 

of  Verm.and.  and  on  the  death  of  the  latter,  in  530.  was  urer  on  Sir  W.ilter  Mildmay's  foundation,  and  ivirticu- 

apjxunteil  his  suct-essor.     In  ivnsequence.  however,  of  karly  einployetl  himself  iu  studying  the  history  of  the 

the  fret^ueut  invasions  which  desolateil  that  district,  he  Chaldieans  and  Egypti.ws.     He  appears  to  ha>-e  had 

exchanged  this  see  for  Xoyon,  a  stnnigly-fortifietl  town,  mjuiy  otlers  of  preierment,  but  unhesi: -.i-igly  declimni 

When  St,  Eleutherns.  bishop  of  Tournay,  dieil.  in  532,  them  all  in  favor  of  this  jx>sition,  whi>  U  affonle*!  him 

Metlanl  w.is  iuviteil  to  join  this  see  to  that  of  Xoyon;  leisure  for  favorite  stuihes.     He  die^l  in  1638.     "Mr. 


MEDEBA 


14 


:media 


Mede,"  says  his  biographer,  "  was  an  acute  logician,  an 
accurate  philosopher,  a  skilful  mathematician,  an  excel- 
lent anatomist,  a  great  philologist,  a  master  of  many 
languages,  and  a  good  proticient  in  history  and  chronol- 
ogy." Ilis  principal  imiduction,  worthy  the  labors  of  a 
lifetime,  he  sent  forth  in  1027,  under  the  title  Clavis 
Aporii/i/j)lica  (Cambridge,  1027, 4to) ;  to  which  he  added 
in  l(j."!2,  In  iSdiicti  Jourmis  Apocalt/psin  Commentariiis, 
ad  aiiuigsiin  Cluvis  Apocali/pticw.  An  English  transla- 
tion of  this  celebrated  work  was  published  in  London  in 
1(550,  entitled  The  Key  of  Revelation  searched  and  dem- 
onstrated out  of  the  natural  and  proper  Characters  of  the 
Visions,  etc.;  to  which  is  added  a  Conjecture  concerninrj 
Gog  and  Mugorj.  This  work  has  been  honored  with 
liigh  commendation  from  the  learned  Dr.  Hurd,  in  his 
Introdurtlon  to  the  Study  of  the  Prophecies  (ii,  122,  etc.), 
where  Jlede  is  spoken  of  as  "a  sublime  genius,  without 
vanity,  interest,  or  spleen,  but  with  a  single,  unmixed 
love  of  truth,  dedicating  his  great  talents  to  the  study 
of  the  iirojihetic  Scriptures,  and  unfolding  the  myste- 
rious prophecies  of  the  lievelation."  A  collection  of  the 
whole  of  IMede's  writings  was  published  in  1G72,  in  2 
vols,  folio,  by  Dr.  Worthington,  who  added  to  them  a 
life  of  the  author.  He  was  a  pious  and  profoundly 
learned  man ;  and  in  every  part  of  his  works  the  talents 
of  a  sound  and  learned  divine  are  eminently  cons]>icu- 
ous.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  meekness,  modesty, 
and  prudence,  and  for  unbounded  liberality  towards  the 
needy.  A  very  full  account  of  Mede  is  given  in  AUi- 
bone's  /-'/(•/.  Brit,  and  Amer.  Authors,  s.  v.  See  also 
J-lngli.-ih  Ci/i-hip.  s.  v.;  Gen.  Biog.  Diet.  s.  v.;  Darling, 
Cyclnp.  lilhliog.  i,  2028 ;  Home,  Bihl.  Bill.  1839,  p.  331 ; 
Orme,  Bihlioth.  Biblia,  s.  v. ;  limit,  Hist,  of  Religious 
Thought  in  England,  i,  107. 

Med'eba  (llcb.  Metjdeha',  Nr"!"p,  iraler  of  quiet; 
Sept.  'S\i]i:aj^a  in  Chron.,  "MauaSd  in  .lo.-li.,  ^lioaft  m 
Nimib.,  and  'SWafilriQ  v.  r.  ^hicujia,  Mijcai^a,  M(t«/3« 
in  Isa. ;  Vulg.  Medaba ;  Joseph.  M»;o«/3n  and  'Mecajiri), 
a  town  east  of  the  Jordan,  in  a  plain  of  the  same  name 
in  the  southern  border  of  the  tribe  of  Keuben  (Josh,  xiii, 
9, 10),  before  which  was  fought  the  great  battle  where 
Joab  defeated  the  Ammonites  and  their  allies  (1  Chron. 
xix,  7  ;  comp.  with  2  Sam.  x,  8, 14,  etc.).  In  the  time 
of  Ahaz,  Medeba  was  a  sanctuary  of  Moab  (Isa.  xv,  2) ; 
but  in  the  denunciation  of  Jeremiah  (xlviii),  often  par- 
allel with  that  of  Isaiah,  it  is  not  mentioned.  It  origi- 
nally belonged  to  the  Moabitcs  (Numb,  xxi,  30),  from 
whom  it  was  concpiered  by  Sihon  the  Amoritish  king 
(.Io.-(  |iliii<. .  I  lit.  xiii,  1,  2,  and  4) ;  but  upon  the  captivity 
of  tlic  iriljrs  beyond  the  Jordan,  the  Jloabites  again 
took  jiossession  of  it  (Isa.  xv,  2),  and  retained  it  after 
the  return  from  exile  (1  JIacc.  ix,  30).  See  Jambui.  It 
was  the  scene  of  the  capture  and  possibly  the  death  of 
John  Maccalwus,  and  also  of  the  revenge  subsequently 
taken  by  Jcjnathan  and  Simon  (Josephus,  Ant.  xiii,  1, 4; 
the  name  is  omitted  in  JIaccabees  on  the  second  occa- 
sion, see  ver.  38).  About  B.C.  110  it  was  taken,  after  a 
long  siege,  by  John  Hyrcaiuis  {^Ant.  xiii,  9, 1 ;  War,  i, 
2, 4),  and  then  appears  to  have  remained  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Jews  for  at  least  thirty  years,  till  the  time 
of  Alexander  Jannjcus  (xiii,  15,  4)  ;  and  it  is  mentioned 
as  one  of  the  twelve  cities  by  the  promise  of  which  Arc- 
tas,  the  king  of  Arabia,  was  induced  to  assist  Hyrcanus 
II  to  recover  .Icriisalem  from  his  brother,  Aristobulus 
{Ant.  xiv,  1,4).  Ptolemy  calls  it  Medaua  (Miicava), 
in  Arabia  I'etnca,  in  long^  08^  30',  lat.  3(P  45'  (v,  17,  0). 
Stephen  of  Hyzantiitm  (p.  500)  assigns  it  to  Nabatene. 
The  (hiomitslicim  places  it  near  Heshbon ;  and  it  was 
once  the  seat  of  on<!  of  the  thirty-five  bishoprics  of  Ara- 
bia (Kcland,  J'alaslinii,  p.  217,  223,  220).  The  jilace, 
altliiiugh  in  ruins,  still  retains  the  name  .\fadtba,  and  is 
situated  upon  a  round  hill  seven  miles  south  of  Hesh- 
bon. The  ruins  are  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  circuit, 
but  not  a  single  edilice  remains  perfect,  although  the 
remains  of  the  walls  of  [irivate  houses  are  traceable,  and 
an  immejisc  tank  (Irby  and  Mangles,  p.  471)  is  visible 


(Seetzen,  in  Zach's  Monat.  Con-esj^.  xviii.  431 ;  Burck- 
hardt,  Trav.  in  Syria,  p.  305  sq.).  The  foundations  of 
an  ancient  temple  observed  by  th^se  travellers  on  the 
w^est  of  the  town  are  perhaps  those  of  the  Christian 
church  which  it  once  contained  (»/  ttoXic  Mjytfi/^wi', 
Le  Quien,  Oriens  Christianus,  709-772).  A  large  tank, 
columns,  and  other  marks  of  former  structures  are  still 
to  be  seen  ;  the  remains  of  a  Roman  road  exist  near  the 
town,  which  seems  formerly  to  have  connected  it  with 
Heshbon.  "Taken  as  a  Hebrew  word,  Jle-deba  means 
'  waters  of  quiet ;'  but,  except  the  above  tank,  what  wa- 
ters can  there  ever  have  been  on  that  high  plain  V  The 
Arabic  name,  though  similar  in  soimd,  has  a  different 
signification"  (Smith). 

The  plain  ("IVw'^p)  from  Medeba  to  Dibon,  given  in 
Josh,  xiii,  9  as  the  southern  portion  of  the  territory  of 
the  Amorites,  is  the  modern  Btlka,  a  fertile  tract  thus 
described  by  Ifaumer  (J'aldstina,  j>.70):  "Soutliwards 
from  Kaljbath  Amnion  as  far  as  the  Amon  the  country 
is  mostly  table-land,  in  some  places  for  a  considerable 
distance  without  a  tree,  but  covered  with  the  ruins  of 
cities  that  have  been  destroyed.  Towards  the  east  it 
stretches  away  into  the  desert  of  Arabia,  and  on  the 
west  it  slopes  away  to  the  Jordan."  Tlie  part  of  this 
plateau  here  referred  to  is  elsewhere  (Xumb.  xxi,  20) 
called,  after  its  former  inhabitants,  "  the  field  of  Moab," 
or  (Numb,  xxiii,  14)  "  the  field  of  the  watchmen"  (comp. 
Hengstenberg,  Bileam,  p.  241, 243).     See  Misiiok. 

Medhurst,  Waltkr  Henry,  D.D.,  an  English 
missionary  and  Chinese  scholar,  was  born  in  London  in 
179().  He  first  entered  the  missionary  field  of  labor  in 
1810,  when  he  was  sent  to  China  by  the  London  3Iis- 
sionarj-  Society  to  ascertain  if  the  country  was  open  to 
the  Gospel,  and,  if  so,  to  furnish  this  people  with  a  cor- 
rect version  of  the  Scriptures  in  Chinese.  After  having 
labored  successfully  in  India,  on  the  island  of  JIalacoa, 
and  other  Asiatic  countries,  he  was  again  sent  to  China 
in  1835,  w^ith  the  I!ev.  Edwin  Stevens;  but  he  did  not 
commence  active  missionarj-  work  in  that  country  until 
1845,  when  he  was  joined  by  Ix)ckhart,  and  settled  at 
Shanghai.  He  had  charge  of  the  printing  establish- 
ment which  was  owned  by  this  society,  and  had  up  to 
this  time  been  operated  at  Batavia;  he  now  removed  it 
to  Shanghai,  and  began  the  publication  of  sermons  and 
tracts.  In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  numerous  Ro- 
manists, the  mission  grew  so  rapidly  that  in  the  year 
1847  34,000  copies  of  different  works  were  printed,  and 
500  tracts  were  weekly  distributed.  This  same  year 
delegates  from  several  stations  convened  in  Shanghai 
for  the  revision  of  the  New  Testament  in  Chinese.  Med- 
hurst was  engaged  in  this  important  labor  until  1H50, 
when  he  withdrew,  and  gave  his  whole  time  to  the  re- 
vision of  the  Old  Testament.  He  died  Jan.  24, 1857,  a 
few  days  after  his  return  to  England,  closing  a  life  of 
valuable  service  spent  in  the  interests  of  Christian  mis- 
sions. INIedhurst  founded  several  orphan  asyhnns,  and 
did  much  good  among  the  Asiatics  in  various  ways. 
His  works  of  special  interest  are,  China,  its  State  ami 
Prospects,  with  especial  Reference  to  the  J>ijj'usiiin  of  the 
Gospel  (Lond.  1838,  8vo) : — IHssertatiim  on  the  Thudngy 
of  the  Chine.ie  (8vo) : — The  Chinese  ]'ersion  of  the  Script- 
ures (1851,  8vo) :— also  a  Chinese  Dictionary  (|H;{8,4to), 
and  a  Japanese  and  English  Vocabulary.  See  Vaixreau, 
Dictionnaire  des  Contemporuins,  s.  v. ;  Allibone.  iJivt.  if 
B)it.  and  Amer.  A  uthors,  vol.  ii,  s.  v. 

Me'dia  ("^^"2).     The  same  Hebrew  word  is  used  in 

the  ().  T.  as  the  name  of  a  son  of  Japhet.  of  the  nation 

which  he  founded,  and  of  their  country.     Hence  we  find 

it  rendered  in  four  different  ways  in  our  A.  V.     In  most 

cases  these  r('n<k'rings  are  arbitrary,  and  lend  to  confuse 

rather  than  explain — (1.)  J/</(/(;/,  the  proper  rendering 

((ien.  X,  2;  MatJot;  Alex.  Mot"rti;  Madai;  1  Cliron.  i, 

,  5,  Mofai^);  (2.)  Medes  {Mi]?oi,2.  Kings  xvii.O;  xviii, 

I  11;  Esther  i,  19;  Isa.  xiii,  17;  .Jer.  xxv,25;  Dan.  ix.  1 ; 

!  V,  28;  y\i)lna,  Ezra  vi,22;  Medoi);  (3.)  Media  (M//- 

I  ^oj,  J/e(/tii,  Esther  i,  3 ;  x,  2;  Isa.  xxi,  2;  Pan.  viii,20).- 


MEDIA 


15 


MEDIA 


(4.)  Mede,  only  in  Dan.  xi,  1.  In  the  following  account 
we  chiefly  make  use  of  the  articles  in  Kitto's,  Smith's, 
and  Fairbairn's  dictionaries. 

I.  Geography. — The  general  situation  of  the  country 
is  abundantly  clear,  though  its  limits  may  not  be  capa- 
ble of  being  precisely  determined.  Media  lay  north- 
west of  Persia  Proper,  south  and  south-west  of  the  Cas- 
pian, east  of  Armenia  and  Assyria,  west  and  north-west 
of  the  great  salt  desert  of  Iran.  Its  greatest  length  was 
from  north  to  south,  and  in  this  direction  it  extended 
from  the  32d  to  the  40th  parallel,  a  distance  of  550  miles. 
In  width  it  reached  from  about  long.  45^  to  53"^;  but  its 
average  breadth  was  not  more  than  from  250  to  300 
miles.  Its  area  may  be  reckoned  at  about  150,000  square 
miles,  or  three  fourths  of  that  of  modern  France.  The 
natural  boundary  of  Jledia  on  the  north  was  the  river 
Aras ;  on  the  west  Zagros,  and  the  mountain-chain  which 
^connects  Zagros  with  Ararat ;  on  tlie  south  Media  was 
probably  separated  from  Persia  by  the  desert  which  now 
forms  the  boundary  between  Farsistan  and  Irak  Ajemi; 
on  the  east  its  natural  limit  was  tlie  desert  and  the  Cas- 
pian Gates.  West  of  the  gates  it  was  bounded,  not  (as 
is  commonly  said)  by  the  Caspian  Sea,  but  by  the  moun- 
tain range  south  of  that  sea,  which  is  the  natural  bound- 
ary between  the  high  and  the  low  country.  It  thus  com- 
prised the  modern  provinces  of  Irak  Ajemi,  Persian  Kur- 
distan, part  of  Luristan,  Azerbijan,  perhaps  Talish  and 
Ghilan,  but  not  Mazanderan  or  Asterabad. 

The  division  of  Media  commonly  recognised  by  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  was  that  into  Media  Magna  and 
Media  Atropatene  (Strabo,  xi,  13,  §  1 ;  comp.  Polyb.  v, 
44;  Pliny,  H.  X.  vi,  13  ;  Ptolera.  vi,  2,  etc.).  1.  Media 
Atropatene,  so  named  from  the  satrap  Atropates,  who 
became  independent  monarch  of  the  province  on  the 
destruction  of  the  Persian  empire  by  Alexander  (Arrian, 
Exjml.  Alex,  iii,  8;  vi,  29;  Diod.  Sic.  xviii,  3),  corre- 
sponded nearly  to  the  modern  Azerbijan,  being  the  tract 
situated  between  the  Caspian  and  the  mountains  which 
run  north  from  Zagros,  and  consisting  mainly  of  the 
ricli  and  fertile  basin  of  Lake  Urumiyeh,  with  the  val- 
leys of  the  Aras  and  the  Sefid  Pud.  Tliis  is  chiefly  a 
high  tract,  varied  between  mountains  and  plains,  and 
lying  mostly  three  or  four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea 
level.  The  basin  of  Lake  Urumiyeh  (the  Spanta  of 
Strabo)  has  a  still  greater  elevation,  the  surface  of  the 
lake  itself,  into  which  all  the  rivers  run,  being  as  much 
as  4200  feet  above  the  ocean.  The  country  is  fairly  fer- 
tile, well-watered  in  most  places,  and  favorable  to  agri- 
culture; its  climate  is  temperate,  though  occasionally 
severe  in  winter;  it  produces  rice,  corn  of  all  kinds,  wine, 
silk,  white  wax,  and  aU  manner  of  delicious  fruits.  Ta- 
briz, its  modern  capital,  forms  the  summer  residence  of 
the  Persian  kings,  and  is  a  beautiful  place,  situated  in  a 
forest  of  orchards.  The  ancient  Atropatene  may  have 
included  also  the  countries  of  Ghilan  and  Talish,  together 
with  the  plain  of  Moghan,  at  the  mouth  of  the  combined 
Kur  and  Aras  rivers.  These  tracts  are  low  and  flat; 
that  of  Moghan  is  sandy  and  sterile ;  Talish  is  more 
productive?  while  Ghilan  (like  Mazanderan)  is  rich  and 
fertile  in  the  highest  degree.  The  climate  of  Ghilan, 
however,  is  unhealthy,  and  at  times  pestilential;  the 
streams  perpetually  overflow  their  banks ;  and  the  wa- 
ters which  escape  stagnate  in  marshes,  whose  exhala- 
tions spread  disease  and  death  among  the  inhabitants. 
2.  Media  Magna  lay  south  and  east  of  Atropatene.  Its 
northern  boundary  was  the  range  of  Elburz  from  the 
Caspian  Gates  to  the  Rudbar  pass,  through  which  the 
Setid  Rud  reaches  the  low  country  of  Ghilan.  It  then 
adjoined  upon  Atropatene,  from  which  it  may  be  re- 
garded as  separated  by  a  line  running  about  south-west 
by  west  from  the  bridge  of  Menjil  to  Zagros.  Here  it 
touched  Assyria,  from  which  it  was  probably  divided  by 
the  last  line  of  hills  towards  the  west,  before  the  moun- 
tains sink  down  upon  the  plain.  On  the  south  it  was 
bounded  by  Susiana  and  Persia  Proper,  the  former  of 
which  it  met  in  the  modem  Luristan,  probably  about 
lat.  33^  30',  while  it  struck  the  latter  on  the  eastern  side 


of  the  Zangros  range,  in  lat.  32°  or  32=  30'.  Towards 
the  east  it  was  closed  in  by  the  great  salt  desert,  which 
Herodotus  reckons  to  Sagartia,  and  later  writers  to  Par- 
thia  and  Carmania.  Media  Magna  thus  contained  a  great 
part  of  Kurdistan  and  Luristan,  with  all  Ardelan  and 
Irak  Ajemi.  The  character  of  this  tract  is  very  varied. 
Towards  the  west,  in  Ardelan,  Kurdistan,  and  Luristan, 
it  is  highly  mountainous,  but  at  the  same  time  well- 
watered  and  richly  wooded,  fertile  and  lovely;  on  the 
north,  along  the  flank  of  Elburz,  it  is  less  charming,  but 
still  pleasant  and  tolerably  pnoductive ;  while  towards 
the  east  and  south-east  it  is  bare,  arid,  rocky,  and  sandy, 
supporting  with  difficulty  a  spare  and  wretched  popula- 
tion. The  present  productions  of  Zagros  are  cotton,  to- 
bacco, hemp,  Indian  corn,  rice,  wheat,  wine,  and  fruits  of 
ever}'  variety;  everj'  valley  is  a  garden;  and  besides 
valleys,  extensive  plains  are  often  found,  furnishing  the 
most  excellent  pasturage.  Here  were  nurtured  the  val- 
uable breed  of  horses  called  Nisajan,  which  the  Persians 
cultivated  with  such  especial  care,  and  from  which  the 
horses  of  the  monarch  were  always  chosen.  The  past- 
ure grounds  of  Khawah  and  Alishtar,  between  Behis- 
tun  and  Khorram-abad,  probably  represent  the  "  Nisrean 
plain"  of  the  ancients,  which  seems  to  have  taken  its 
name  from  a  town  Nisfea  (Nisaya),  mentioned  in  the 
cuneiform  inscriptions. 

Although  the  division  of  Media  into  these  two  prov- 
inces can  only  be  distinctly  proved  to  have  existed  from 
the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  yet  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  it  was  more  ancient,  dating  from  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Medes  in  the  country,  which  did  not  take 
place  all  at  once,  but  was  first  in  the  more  northern  and 
afterwards  in  the  southern  country.  It  is  indicative  of 
the  division,  that  there  were  two  Ecbatanas — one,  the 
northern,  at  Takht-i-Suleiman  ;  the  other,  the  southern, 
at  Hamadan,  on  the  flanks  of  Mount  Orontes  (Elwand) 
— respectively  the  capitals  of  the  two  districts.     See 

ECBATANA. 

Next  to  the  two  Ecbatanas,  the  chief  town  in  Media 
was  undoubtedly  Rhages^the  Raga  of  the  inscriptions. 
Hither  the  rebel  Phraortes  fled  on  his  defeat Hjy  Darius 
Hystaspis,  and  hither,  too,  came  Darius  Codomannus 
after  the  battle  of  Arbela,  on  his  way  to  the  eastern 
provinces  (Arrian,  Exped.  A  lex.  iii,  20).  The  onh'  oth- 
er place  of  much  note  was  Bagistana,  the  modern  Be- 
histun,  which  guarded  the  chief  pass  connecting  Media 
with  the  Mesopotamian  plain. 

No  doubt  both  parts  of  Media  were  further  subdivided 
into  provinces,  but  no  trustworthy  account  of  these  mi- 
nor divisions  has  come  down  to  us.  The  tract  about 
Khages  was  certainly  called  Rhagiana,  and  the  moun- 
tain tract  adjoining  Persia  seems  to  have  been  known 
as  PariBtacene,  or  the  country  of  the  Paraetacre.  Ptol- 
emy gives  as  JMedian  districts  Elymais,  Choromithrene, 
Sigrina,  Daritis,  and  Syromedia;  but  these  names  are 
little  known  to  other  writers,  and  suspicions  attach  to 
some  of  them.  On  the  whole,  it  would  seem  that  we  do 
not  possess  materials  for  a  minute  account  of  the  ancient 
geography  of  tlie  country,  which  is  very  imperfecth'  de- 
scribed by  Strabo,  and  almost  omitted  by  Pliny. 

In  tireat  JleiHa  lay  the  metropolis  of  the  countr_y,  the 
Ecbatana  of  that  district  (Pliny,  Hist. Nat.  vi,  17),  as  well 
as  tlie  province  of  Rhagiana  and  the  city  Rhaga?,  with 
the  above  Nisasan  plain,  celebrated  in  the  time  of  the 
Persian  empire  for  its  horses  and  horse-races  (Herod,  iii, 
106;  Arrian,  vii,  13 ;  Heeren,/(/ef?!,i,  1.305).  This  plain 
was  near  the  city  Nis«a,  around  which  were  fine  pasture 
lands  producing  excellent  clover  {Uerha  Medica).  The 
horses  were  entirely  white,  and  of  extraordinary  height 
and  beauty,  as  well  as  speed.  They  constituted  a  part 
of  the  luxury  of  the  great,  and  a  tribute  in  kind  was 
paid  from  them  to  the  monarch,  who,  like  all  Eastern 
sovereigns,  used  to  delight  in  equestrian  display.  Some 
idea  of  the  opulence  of  the  country  may  be  had  when  it 
is  known  that,  independently  of  imposts  rendered  in 
money.  Media  paid  a  yearty  tribute  of  not  less  than  3000 
horses,  4000  mules,  and  nearly  100,000  sheep.  The  breeds, 


MEDIA 


16 


MEDIA 


once  celebrated  through  the  world,  appear  to  exist  no  I 
more;  but  Ker  I'ortcr  saw  the  shah  ride  on  festival  oc-  [ 
casions  a  splendid  horse  of  pure  white.  Cattle  abound-  \ 
ed,  as  did  tlie  richest  fruits,  as  pines,  citrons,  oranges,  all 
of  peculiar  excellence,  growing  as  in  their  native  land,  j 
Here  also  was  fomid  the  silphium  (probably  assafa'tida), 
which  formed  a  considerable  article  in  the  commerce  of 
the  ancients,  and  was  accounted  worth  its  weight  in 
gold. 

1 1.  History.— 1.  Us  Early  Stages.— In  Gen.  x,  2  we  are 
told  that  Madai  was  the  third  son  of  Japhet  (comp.  1 
Cliroii.  i,  o).  The  names  in  that  invaluable  ethnologi- 
cal summary  were  not  merely  those  of  individuals  but  ' 
of  the  nations  which  descended  from  them ;  for  the  his- 
torian says,  "  By  these  were  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles 
divided  in  their  lantls,  every  one  after  his  tongue,  after 
their  families,  in  their  nations"  (ver.  5).  For  a  period  j 
of  fifteen  centuries  the  Mcdes  are  not  again  mentioned 
in  Scripture.  Then  Isaiah,  in  pronomicing  the  pro-  [ 
idu'iiu  (loom  of  IJabylon,  says,  '•  I  will  stir  up  the  Medes 
against  them'  (xiii,  17).  This  prophecy  was  uttered 
alxjut  15.C.720.  There  is  no  direct  evidence  connecting 
IMadai,  tlie  son  of  Japhet,  and  the  nation  he  founded, 
witli  the  iMcdes  {.\fadai)  of  whom  Isaiah  speaks;  but 
the  names  are  identical  in  Hebrew;  and  the  genealogi- 
cal tables  of  (iencsis  appear  to  have  been  intended  to 
show  the  origin  of  those  nations  which  afterwards  bore 
an  important  part  in  the  history  of  God's  people. 

Berosus,  the  liabylonian  priest  and  historian,  states 
that  at  a  very  remote  period  (B.C.  cir.  2000)  the  Jledes 
ruled  in  Babylon  (Eusebius,  Chron.  i,  4).  Though  we 
may  not  be  able  to  rely  upon  either  his  dates  or  his 
facts,  yet  we  may  infer  from  his  words  and  references 
that  the  Jledes  were  one  of  the  gresit  primeval  races 
which  established  themselves  in  Central  Asia.  Herod- 
otus gives  a  very  graphic  and  circumstantial  account  of 
the  early  history  of  the  Medes,  and  the  establishment 
of  the  emi)ire :  "  The  Medes  were  called  anciently  by 
all  people  .1  rians ;  but  when  Medea,  the  Colchian,  came 
to  them  from  Athens,  they  changed  their  name.  Such 
is  the  account  wliich  they  themselves  give"  (vii,  G2). 
This  is  ojiposed  to  wliat  apjiears  to  be  the  opinion  of  the 
sacred  writers ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  during 
the  time  of  ascendency  of  Greek  arms,  literature,  and 
art,  Eastern  nations  were  all  anxious  to  claim  some  sort 
of  connection  with  Greece,  and  this  may  account  for 
Herodotus's  story  (comp.  Kawlinson's  Herod,  iv,  61,  1st 
ed.). 

Tlie  Medes  appear,  however,  to  have  been  a  branch 
of  the  Arian  family,  who  probably  had  their  primitive 
seat  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Indus,  and  thence  sent  their 
colonics  eastward  into  India,  and  westward  to  Jledia, 
I'ersia.  ( Jreecc, etc.  (Jlliller, Science  o/Laiif/uoffe),  There 
arc  independent  grounds  for  thinking  that  an  Arian  ele- 
ment existed  in  the  population  of  the  Mesopotamia!! 
valley,  side  by  side  with  the  Cushite  and  Shcmitic  ele- 
ments, at  a  very  early  date.  It  is  therefore  not  at  all 
impossiljle  that  the  Jledes  may  have  been  the  predomi- 
naiit  race  there  for  a  time,  as  Berosus  states,  and  may 
afterwards  liave  been  overpowered  and  driven  to  the 
motuitains,  whence  they  may  have  spread  themselves 
eastward,  i!(»rlliward.  aiid  westward,  so  as  to  occupy  a 
vast  numlKT  of  localities  from  the  baidis  of  the  Indus  to 
those  of  tlie  middle  Daitube.  The  term  Arians,  which 
was  by  the  universal  consent  of  their  neighbors  applied 
to  the  ^ledes  in  the  lime  of  Herodotus  (Herod,  vii,  &2), 
con!!ects  them  with  the  early  Vedic  settlers  in  'Western 
HitKhistai!;  the  .l/(//(-e!ii  of  IMount  Zagros.  the  Sauro- 
3f(ttti'  of  the  steppe-country  between  the  Caspiaii  and 
the  Euxino,  and  the  Mnta  or  Mieot(e  of  the  Sea  of 
Azov,  mark  their  jmigress  towards  the  north ;  while 
the  Mwdi  or  Midi  of  Thrace  seem  to  indicate  their 
spread  westward  ii!to  Europe,  which  was  directly  at- 
tested by  the  native  traditio!!s  of  the  Sigynn.-e  (Herod. 
V,  1').  it  has  been  suiiposed  by  some  that  there  was  a 
Scythic  tribe  of  ^ladai  who  conipiered  ami  held  Bal)y- 
lonia  long  previous  to  the  irruption  of  the  Ariat!  family. 


and  that  it  is  to  them  Berosus  alludes.  There  are  no 
good  grounds  for  this  belief;  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  as 
tendii!g  to  disprove  the  theory  that  the  name  "  Mede" 
does  not  appear  upon  the  Assyrian  monuments  before 
the  year  B.C.  880  (Hawliiison's  Commentanj  on  A  ssyrian 
Insci-iplions).  To  that  date  is  assigned  the  i!!scription 
on  the  famous  black  obelisk,  discovered  by  Layard  at 
Nimrud,  which  contains  a  record  of  the  victories  of  Te- 
men-bar,  the  Assyrian  monarch.  In  the  twenty-fourth 
year  of  his  reign  he  invaded  the  territory  of  the  Jledcs 
(Vaux,  Xinereh  and  Persepolis,  p.  203,  where  a  transla- 
tion of  the  inscription  is  given).  At  that  time  the 
Medes  were  itidependent,  occupying  an  extensive  coun- 
try with  many  cities,  and  divided,  like  the  Persians, 
into  a  tiumber  of  tribes  having  each  a  chief.  Tiiis  re- 
markable monument  thus  fixes  the  date  of  the  first  con- 
quest of  the  Medes  by  the  Assyrians ;  but  it  does  not 
determine  the  date  of  the  settlement  of  the  former  in 
jMedia.  Sir  H.  Kawlinson  thinks  that  the  way  in  which 
the  nations  are  grouped  in  that  ii!scription  seems  to  in- 
dicate that  the  Medes  when  attacked  were  in  the  act 
of  migrating  (Commentary).  This,  however,  is  very 
uncertain. 

The  invasion  of  Temen-bar  was  probably  more  like 
an  Arab  raid  than  a  militarj'  conquest.  His  successors 
on  the  Assyrian  throne  were  almost  incessantly  engaged 
in  hostilities  with  the  Medes  (KawUnso!i's  JItrodot.  i, 
404) ;  and  Sargon  appears  to  have  been  the  first  who 
attempted  to  occupy  the  countrj-  with  regular  garrisons. 
He  built  cities  i!i  Media,  and  reduced  the  people  to  trib- 
ute (Kawlinson's  Herod.  1.  c. ;  and  Comment.).  Sargon 
was  that  king  of  Assyria  "  who  took  Samaria,  and  car- 
ried Israel  captive,"  and  placed  some  of  them  "in  the 
cities  of  the  Medes"  (2  Kings  xvii,  6;  comp.  xviii,  17; 
Isa.  XX,  1).  The  truth  of  Scripture  history  is  here 
strongly  confirmed  by  monuments  recently  ilisentombed 
from  the  ruins  of  Sargon's  palace  at  Khorsabad.  On  its 
walls  are  inscribed  the  records  of  his  conquests,  in  which 
both  Media  and  Judsea  are  mentioned — the  former  as 
on  the  eastern,  and  the  latter  on  the  western  limits  of 
his  vast  empire  (Kawlinson's  Comment,  p.  CI ;  Kawlin- 
son's Herodot.  i,  405).     See  Sakgon. 

INIedia  was  not  yet  a  kingdom.  It  was  occupied  by  a 
number  of  petty  chiefs,  each  ruling  his  own  tribe.  From 
these  chiefs  the  Assyrian  monarchs  exacted  tribute. 
The  tribes  increased  in  numbers,  influence,  a!id  power. 
They  held  a  cou!itry  naturally  strong.  The  Assyrian 
yoke  was  galling  to  their  free  spirits,  and  probably  this 
first  induced  them  to  unite  their  forces,  elect  a  conmion 
leader,  a!!d  assert  their  iiidcpendence.  The  exact  date 
of  this  revolution  ca!!!!ot  now  be  fixed,  but  the  fact  of  it 
is  certain.  Herodotus's  account  of  it  is  as  follows: 
"  The  Assyrians  had  held  the  empire  of  Upper  Asia  for  a 
space  of  .")20  years,  wheti  the  Medes  set  the  example  of 
revolt.  Tiiey  took  arms  for  the  recovery  of  their  free- 
dom, a!id  fought  a  battle  with  the  Assyrians,  in  which 
they  behaved  with  such  gallantry  as  to  shake  off  the 
yoke  of  servitude"  (i,  95).  He  then  tells  how  the  em- 
pire was  formed  by  a  certain  Deioces,  who,  in  co!ise- 
(pience  of  his  wisdom  and  justice,  was  elected  moiiarch 
by  the  six  tribes  composing  the  nation  (i,  !U)-li)l). 
Deioces  built  the  great  city  of  Ecbatana;  aiitl,  after  a 
prosperous  reign  of  (ifty-tlirec  years,  left  the  throne  to 
his  son  I'hraortes.  I'iiraortes  coiiipiered  Persia,  vastly 
enlarged  the  Jledian  emiiire,  and  reigned  twenty-two 
years.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cyaxarcs.  Dur- 
i!!g  his  reign,  while  engaged  in  a  war  ngaii!st  Nineveh, 
Media  was  overrun  by  a  horde  of  Scythians,  who  held  a 
great  part  of  Western  Asia  for  t  wei!ty-eight  year*.  The 
Scythian  leaders  were  at  length  treacherously  murden-d 
i>y  Cyaxares,  aitd  the  ^lediaii  moiiarchy  rc-estalilished. 
He  ruled  forty  years.  ai!d  then  left  the  kii!gdom  to  his 
son  Astyages,  whose  daughter  Mandane  was  married  to  a 
Persian  noble,  and  became  the  mother  of  the  great  Cyrus. 
According  to  this  !!arrative.  the  ^ledian  monarchy  was 
estal)lisiied  about  B.C.  708  (Kawlins..n"s  //<  m/o/.  i!  407). 
There  is  gooil  reasoti  to  believe,  however,  that  the  early 


MEDIA 


17 


MEDIA 


According  to  Herodotus. 

Years  of 
Reign. 

According  to  Diodorus. 

Reign. 

Eusebius. 

Reign. 

Syncellua. 

Reign. 

53 

22 
40 
35 

1.  Arbaces 

2.  Mandauces.... 

3.  Sosarmus 

4.  Articas 

5.  Arbaciues 

6.  Artffius 

7.  Artynes 

8.  Autibarnes.... 

9.  Astibares,  or 
10.  Astyages 

Total 

28 
50 
30 
50 
22 
40 
22 
40 

1.  Arbaces  . . . 

2.  Sosarmus.. 

3.  Medidus... 

4.  Cardiccas.. 

5.  Deioces.... 

6.  Phraortes.. 

7.  Cyaxares  . . 

8.  Astyas 

Total 

28 

30 
40 
13 

54 
24 
32 

1.  Arbaces 

28. 
20 
30 
30 

54 
51 
32 
3S 

4.  Articas 

5.  DicBces 

2.  Phi-aortes 

3.  Cyaxares 

4.  Astyages 

Total 

S.  Astyages,  or  Darius. . . 
Total 

150 

282 

259 

283 

Herodotus. 

B.C. 

Presumed  Original  Authority.               |b.c. 

Rawlinson's  Chronology. 

B.C. 

Revolt  of- the  Medes 

70S 

655 
C33 
632 
604 
603 
602 
596 
593 
558 

Revnlt  of  thp  Mprl(>« 

70S 

633 
632 
604 
603 

558 

Medes  at  war  with  Assyria 

710 
633  (?) 

625 

597 
593 
558 

I 

Media  conquered  by  Assyria 

Media  generally  subject  to  Assyria, 
but  often  in  revolt 

Phraortes  (22  yrs.)  conquers 
Persia,  and 

X 

II 

\ 

i 

2 

Phaortes  (53  yrs.)  conquers 

Persia,  and 
Cyaxares  (40  years) 
28    (Attacks  Nineveh  .... 
yrs.  (Drives  out  the  Scyths 
Takes  Nineveh 

Astyatjes  (35  years) 

Conquered  by  Cyrus 

Cyaxares  begins  his  conquests 

Wars  with  Scyth# 

Drives  out  the  Scyths  .... 

Attacks  Halyattes 

Wars  with  Lydia 

Astyages,  or  Aspadas 

Conquered  by  Cyrus 

Conquered  by  Cyrus 

portion  of  the  narrative  is  apocryphal,  and  that  Cyaxa- 
res was  the  real  founder  of  the  Median  empire.  He  is 
so  represented  by  most  ancient  historians  (Diodorus  Sic. 
ii,  32;  yEschykis,  Persn,  761;  see  Grote's  Histonj  of 
Greece,  vol.  iii).  The  Assyrian  monumental  annals  are 
almost  complete  down  to  the  reign  of  the  son  of  Esar- 
haddon  (B.(_'.  640),  and  they  contain  no  mention  of  any 
Median  irruptions;  on  the  contrary,  they  represent  the 
Median  chiefs  as  giving  tribute  to  Esarhaddon  (Rawlin- 
son's llerodot.  i,  405,  408). 

Ctesias,  as  quoted  by  Diodorus  Siculus  (ii,  32),  as- 
signs to  the  jNIedian  monarchy  a  still  older  date  than 
Herodotus.  He  gives  a  list  of  eight  kings  who  ruled 
before  Astyages,  for  an  aggregate  period  of  282  years, 
which  would  fix  the  establishment  of  the  monarchy 
about  B.C.  875.  The  names  of  the  kings  are  different 
from  those  of  Herodotus ;  and  it  is  vain  to  attempt  to 
reconcile  the  narratives  (see,  however,  Hales's  A  nuli/sis 
of  Chronology,  iii,  84 ;  Heeren,  Manual  of  A  ncient  Hist.'). 
Rawlinson  has  clearh'-  shown  that  Ctesias's  narrative  is 
fabulous  (fferodot.  i,  406). 

2.  The  Median  Empire. — (1.)  Its  Estahlishmenf.—Yrom 
the  foregoing  notices  we  may  conclude  that  the  Medes 
migrated  from  beyond  the  Indus  to  the  country  on  the 
southern  shores  of  the  Caspian  Sea  not  later  than  the 
9th  century  B.C. ;  that  they  settled  there  as  a  number 
of  distinct  tribes  (probably  six,  as  Herodotus  states,  I.  c), 
and  so  remained  during  a  period  of  three  or  four  centu- 
ries; that  some  Scythian  tribes  either  occupied  the 
country  with  them  or  invaded  it  at  a  later  date ;  and 
that  (about  B.C.  633)  Cyaxares  rose  suddenly  to  power, 
united  the  Medes  under  his  sway,  drove  out  the  Scyth- 
ians, and  established  the  monarchy.  Before  this  time 
the  Medes  are  only  once  mentioned  in  Scripture,  and 
then,  as  has  been  seen,  their  couiUry  was  subject  to  As-^ 
Syria  (2  Kings  xvii,  6). 

A  few  years  after  the  establishment  of  his  empire 
Cyaxares  made  a  league  with  the  Babylonian  monarch, 
and  invaded  Assyria.  Nineveh  was  captured  and  de- 
stroyed, B.C.  625.  The  incidents  of  the  siege  and  cap- 
ture, as  related  by  Diodorus  Siculus  (ii,  27,  28),  contain 
a  remarkable  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies  uttered  by 
Nahum  (i,  8 ;  ii,  5,  G ;  iii,  13,  14)  nearly  a  century  pre- 
viously; and  recent  excavations  by  Layard  illustrate 
both  (^Nineveh  and  Babylon,  p.  71, 103,  etc.).  See  Nin- 
eveh. The  Assyrian  monarchy  was  then  overthrown 
(Rawlinson,  Ancient  Monarchies,  ii,  521). 

Abydenus  (probably  following  Berosus)  informs  us 
that  in  his  Assyrian  war  Cyaxares  was  assisted  by  the 
Babylonians  under  Nabopolassar,  between  whom  and 
Cyaxares  an  intimate  alliance  was  formed,  cemented  by 
a  union  of  their-children;  and  that  a  result  of  their  suc- 
cess was  the  establishment  of  Nabopolassar  as  indepen- 

yi.— B 


dent  king  on  the  throne  of  Babylon,  an  event  which  we 
know  to  belong  to  the  above-mentioned  year.  It  was 
undoubtedly  after  this  that  Cyaxares  endeavored  to 
conquer  Lydia.  His  conquest  of  Assyria  had  made  him 
master  of  the  whole  country  lying  between  Mount  Za- 
gros  and  the  river  Halys,  to  which  he  now  hoped  to  add 
the  tract  between  the  Halys  and  the  JEgsBan  Sea.  It  is 
surprising  that  he  failed,  more  especially  as  he  seems  to 
have  been  accompanied  b}'  the  forces  of  the  Babyloni- 
ans, who  were  perhaps  commancled  by  Nebuchadnezzar 
on  the  occasion.  See  Nebuchadnezzar.  After  a  war 
which  lasted  six  years  he  desisted  from  his  attempt,  and 
concluded  the  treaty  with  the  Lydian  monarch  of  which 
we  have  already  spoken.  The  three  great  Oriental 
monarchies  —  Media,  Lydia,  and  Babylon  —  were  now 
united  by  mutual  engagements  and  intermarriages,  and 
continued  at  peace  with  one  another  during  the  j-emain- 
der  of  the  reign  of  Cyaxares,  and  during  that  of  Asty- 
ages, his  son  and  successor. 

(2.)  Extent  of  the  Empire The  conquest  of  Assyria 

produced  a  great  change  in  the  Median  empire,  and  on 
the  whole  of  Western  Asia.  Babylon  then  regained  its 
independence,  and  formed  a  close  alliance  with  Media. 
The  Israelites,  who  had  been  led  captive  by  the  Assyr- 
ians, were  placed  under  new  rulers.  Cyaxares  led  his 
victorious  armies  into  Syria  and  Asia  Minor  (Herod,  i, 
103).  When  Pharaoh-necho  marched  to  the  banks  of 
the  Euphrates  against  Babylon,  the  Babylonians  were 
aided  by  the  Medes  (Joseph.  ^^J^  x,  5, 1).  It  was  in  at- 
tempting to  oppose  this  expedition*  of  the  Egyptian 
monarch  that  king  Josiah  was  slain  at  Megiddo  (Jer. 
xlvi,  2;  2  Chron.  xxxv,  20;  2  Kings  xxiii,  29).  We 
also  learn  that  Nebuchadnezzar  was  aided  by  the  Medes 
in  the  conquest  of  the  Jews  and  capture  of  Jerusalem 
(FAisehins,Pr.Efanff.;  comp.  2  Kings  xxiv,  1 ;  2  Chron. 
xxxvi,  5).  Jledia  was  now  the  most  powerful  monarchy 
in  Western  Asia. 

The  litnits  of  the  Median  empire  cannot  be  definitely 
fixed,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  give  a  general  idea  of  its 
size  and  position.  From  north  to  south  its  extent  was 
in  no  place  great,  since  it  was  certainly  confined  between 
the  Persian  Gulf  and  the  Euphrates  on  the  one  side,  and 
the  Black  and  Caspian  seas  on  the  other.  From  east  to 
west  it  had,  however,  a  wide  expansion,  since  it  reached 
from  the  Halys  at  least  as  far  as  the  Caspian  Gates,  and 
possibly  farther.  It  comprised  Persia,  Media  iMagna, 
Northern  Media,  Matiene  or  Media  Mattiana,  Assyria, 
Armenia,  Cappadocia,  the  tract  between  Armenia  and 
the  Caucasus,  the  low  tract  along  the  south-west  and 
south  of  the  Caspian,  and  possibly  some  portion  of  Hyr- 
cania,  Parthia,  and  Sagartia.  It  was  separated  from 
Babylonia  cither  by  the  Tigris,  or  more  probably  by  a 
line  running  about  half-way  between  that  river  and  the 


]MEDIA 


18 


MEDIA 


Euphrates,  and  thus  did  not  include  Syria.  Phoenicia,  or  |  given  us  by  Xenophon  of  his  vain,  capricious,  and  fickle 
Judaea,  which  fell  to  Babylon  on  the  destruction  of  the  disposition  jjerfectly  accords  with  the  idea  suggested  re- 
Assyrian  empire.     Its  greatest  length  may  be  reckoned    speeting  him  by  the  narrative  in  Dan.  vi. 


at  lo^JO  miles  from  north-west  to  south-east,  and  its  av- 
erage breadth  at  4WJ  or  450  miles.  Its  area  would  thus 
be  about  »;<XJ,tXK)  s<iuare  miles,  or  somewhat  greater  than 
that  of  modem  Persia. 

.)  Jt.i  Charucttr. — With  regard  to  the  nature  of  the 


Whether  we  suppose  Cyrus  himself  to  have  been  king 
of  Persia  at  the  period  of  the  conquest  of  Babylon,  or 
Cambyses  his  father  tt)  have  still  reigned  there,  the  Da- 
rius of  Daniel  would  properly  b<?  head  only  of  the  ^ledian 
kingdom ;  and  it  was  not  until  Cyrus  came  to  the  throne 


government  established  by  the  Medes  over  the  con-  ^  that  the  great  empire  was  united  under  one  head.  Cy- 
quered  nations,  we  possess  but  little  trustworthy  evi-  rus  was  consequently  the  first  king  of  the  Medo-Persian 
dence.  Herodotus  in  one  place  compares,  somewhat  l  dominions,  without  any  discredit  to  Daniel's  statement 
vaguely,  the  Median  with  the  Persian  system  (i,  134),  that  Darius,  the  head  of  the  older  kingdom  of  ^kdia, 
and  Ctesias  appears  to  have  asserted  the  positive  intro-  and  the  uncle  and  father-in-law,  atiording  to  Xeno- 
duction  of  the  satrapial  organization  into  the  empire  at  phon,  of  Cyrus,  received  during  his  brief  reign  tlie  rank 
it3  first  foundation  by  his  Arbaces  (Diod.  Sic.  ii,  28j ;  that  gratified  his  excessive  vanity.  In  regard  to  the 
but.  on  the  whole,  it  is  perhaps  most  probable  that  the  position  and  character  of  Cyrus,  this  is  not  the  place  for 
Assyrian  organization  was  continue<l  by  the  Medes,  the  any  detailed  account.  He  was  the  real  founder  of  the 
subject  nations  retaining  their  native  monarchs,  and  vast  empire  which  ruled  Abia  and  threatened  Europe 
merely  acknowledging  s&bjection  by  the  paj-ment  of  an  until  the  time  of  Alexander.  He  is  the  hero  whom  the 
annual  tribute.  This  seems  certainly  to  have  been  the  poets  and  historians  of  Persia  delighted  to  celel)rale,  and 
case  in  Persia,  where  Cyrus  and  his  father  Cambyses  whose  real  character  doubtless  was  of  the  grand  and 
were  monarchs,  holding  their  crown  of  the  Median  king  heroic  cast.  The  praises  of  Xenophon  had  been  antici- 
before  the  revolt  of  the  former ;  and  there  Ls  no  reason  pated  in  that  sublime  address  in  which  Jehovah,  nearly 
to  suppose  that  the  remainder  of  the  empire  was  organ-  200  years  before,  calls  upon  Cyrus  his  shepherd  to  ad- 
ized  in  a  different  manner.  The  satrapial  organiza-  vance  on  his  career  of  conquest  (Isa.  xlv.  1-0).  The 
tion  was  apparently  a  Persian  invention,  begun  by  Cy-  ,  statement  of  Xenophon  that  the  Medes  voluntarily  sub- 
rus,  continued  by  Cambyses,  his  son,  but  first  adopted  as  mitted  to  Cyrus  {Cyrop.  i,  1;  seems  much  more  agreea- 
the  regular  governmental  system  by  Darius  Hysta.spis.   j  ble  to  the  scriptural  accounts  of  tilings  after  tlie  con- 

(4.)  Its  Duration. — Of  all  the  ancient  Oriental  mon-  quest  of  Babylon,  and  to  the  manner  in  which  foreign 
archies  the  Median  was  the  shortest  in  duration.  It  j  nations  regarded  the  newly-risen  emfiire,  than  is  the 
commenced,  as  we  have  seen,  after  the  middle  of  the  7th  narrative  of  Herodotus,  who  relates  that  iledia  was  con- 
centurj-  B.C.,  and  it  terminated  B.C.  5.08.  The  period  quered  by  Cyrus,  and  held  in  subjection  by  force  (He- 
of  thrt'e  quarters  of  a  c(;ntury,  which  Herodotus  assigns  rodotus,  i,  125, 130>  The  accession  of  Darius  the  Mede 
to  the  reigns  of  Cyaxares  and  Astyages,  may  be  taken  TDan.  v,  31;  seems  inconsistent  with  this  latter  view. 
as  fairly  indicating  its  probable  length,  thnugh  we  can-  Throughout  hLs  reign  we  always  find  the  Medes  men- 
not  feel  sure  that  the  years  are  correctly  apportioned  tioned  first  in  rank,  which  they  would  scarcely  be  if  they 
between  the  monarchs. '  Its  rise  was  rapid,  and  appears  ,  were  a  conquered  people  (Dan.  v,  28;  vi,  8, 12, 15>  At 
to  have  been  chiefly  owing  to  the  genius  of  one  man—  a  subsequent  period,  when  the  Persian  line  of  kings  had 
Cyaxares.  The  power  of  Media  was  short-lived.  With  succeeded  to  the  throne,  while  we  find  the  Medes  ever 
Cyaxares  it  rose,  and  with  him  it  passed  away.  At  his  ranked  side  by  side  with  the  Persians,  we  find,  as  was 
death  he  left  his  throne  to  Astyages,  of  whom  little  is  natural,  that  the  language  of  the  court  placed  Persia, 
known  except  the  stories  told  by  Herodotus  (i,  110-129;  the  country  of  the  reigning  king,  first  in  rank  (Esth.  i, 
and  Xicolaus  of  Damascas  (Friui.  Hut.  dr.  iii,  404-0;,  '  3, 18, 19.  etc.).  We  have,  however,  in  the  conclusion  of 
who  probably  Ixjrrowed  from  Ctesias;  and  on  these  little  ,  this  Ijook  an  indication  that  while  the  language  of  the 
reliance  canbe  placed.  They  are  founded  on  fact,  and  ,  court  gave  the  preference  to  Persia,  the  state  chronicles 
we  may  infer  from  them  that  during  the  reign  of  As-  still  ran  under  their  ancient  title,  "  the  chronicles  of  the 
tyages'a  war  broke  out  between  the  Medes  and  Persians,  kings  of  Media  and  Persia"— jK.inting  idainly  to  the 
in  which  the  latter  were  victorious,  and  Cyrus,  the  Per-  original  superiority  of  rank  of  Media  over  Persia,  quite 
Bian  king,  who  was  himself  closely  related  to  Astyages,  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  a  con(|iiered  race  (Esth.  x, 
united  the  two  nations  under  one  sceptre  CB.C.  .5.08).  2).  With  this  view  of  Scripture  the  notions  enter- 
The  life  of  Astyages  was  spared,  and  even  the  title  of  I  tained  Ly  foreign  nations  of  the  nfw  empire  agree.  So 
king  continued  with  him.  far  from  Iwiking  on  the  Medes  as  a  conquered  depend- 

This  Ls  as  far  as  the  authorities  we  have  followed  ency  of  Persia,  both  the  Oreeks  of  Eurojie  and  the  bar- 
carrj-  us.  But  Xenophon,  in  his  Cynqiadia,  gives  us  a  barians  of  Asia  l(K)k  on  the  ]^Iedian  as  the  preponderant 
verj'  different  account  of  the  relationship  of  C>tus  to  element,  quite  oliscuring  the  more  recent  jiower  of  Per- 
the' Median  king,  at  the  time  of  the  capture  of  Babylon  sia  The  queen  of  the  ilassagelic  addresses  Cyrus  as 
by  their  allifd  arms.     See  DAUifs  thk  Mei>k.        '        \  the  "  wn-ereign  of  the  Medes,"  ignoring  the  Per-ian  na- 

(:>.)  ConlfKCf^ce  irilh  the  Persian  Kmpirc^-lt  is  uni-  '  tion  CHerodotus,  i,  20C).  Thucydides,  who  ranks  in  the 
versally  allowed  that  the  Median  king  who  succeeded  foremost  place  of  (irecian  historj-,  invariably  styles  the 
Cyaxares  was  hw  son  Astyages;  but  of  the  character  barbarous  power  that  liad  nearly  confjuerf d  (Jreece  Me- 
of  this  kijig  and  the  events  and  duration  of  his  reign  dian.  and  never  calls  it  IVr^ian  fbk.i).  All  this  points 
there  exists  an  aljs<dute  contradiction.  In  w>  far  as  to  the  original  sufK-riority  of  the  Mi  rlian  kingdom — a 
Scripture  is  conceme<l,  the  accounts  are  chiefly  of  im-  suijeriority  which  still  belonged  to  it  in  f<ireign  eyes, 
fKjrtance  from  their  relation  to  Cyrus  and  Darius,  the  but  which  cf>uld  not  well  have  allnclnd  fo  it  if  Media 
only  [)ers<jnage9  mentioned  in  Scripture  as  connected  had  bc-en  violently  subdued  to  the  rulr  of  Persia.  Script- 
with  this  jjcrifKl  of  Median  histor>'.  But  having  al-  ure,  which  in  its  eariy  silenc  e  as  to  the  verj'  existence 
ready  been  considered  under  the  two  names  in  ((uestion,  of  Persia  was  true  to  the  jKililical  obscurity  of  this  lat- 
it  Ixrfrfimes  unnecessary  to  rflate  the  circumstances  ter  jMiwer,  is  ais^i  the  first  to  recogiii.Hf.  the  superiority 
afresh  here.  From  chronological  considerations  we  liavc  to  which  it  rose  under  Cyrus.  iWlorc  the  alii*  <l  armies 
leaned  to  the  authority  of  Xenophon  in  those  previous  i  ha/l  marched  through  the  empty  brd  of  the  Euphrates 
articles,  but  it  is  imjrfjssible  to  arrive  at  certainty.  We  i  into  the  heart  «if  Baliylon.  j.rophrcy  dr•f^•ril>ed  the  ri.-ing 
fiimjily  state  that  whichever  account  Ik;  jireferred  of  the  empire  as  a  ram  with  two  bonis,  one  of  which  was 
birth  and  relations  of  Cyrus,  the  notices  in  Daniel  oblige  hiKher  than  the  other,  and  tlie  higher  came  up  last 
us  to  hold  that  at  the  time  of  tlie  capture  of  Babylon  i  ("Dan.  viii.  .3).  Srri[.ture  histori-,  iKtietrating  the  veil 
there  was  a  sufterior  in  rank,  though  not  in  jK.wer,  to  ^  of  tradition,  and  Ifn.king  thniigli  the  thin  disguise 
Cynis;  and  this  can  only  have  l>een  either  Astyages  or  which  the  assumption  of  Me<lian  dross  and  manners  by 
Cyaxares  II.     If  it  were  the  latter,  the  description  :  the  Persians  had  cast  over  reality,  was  the  first  to  rcc- 


MEDIA 


19 


IVIEDIA 


ognise  that  Persia,  not  Media,  had  become  the  ruler  of 
Asia.  It  is  Persia  that  is  spoken  of  tliroughout  the 
book  of  Ezra,  the  Jewish  scribe  being  better  acquainted 
with  the  facts  of  history  than  Thucydides  was.  Nor  are 
the  subsequent  revolts  of  the  !Medes  against  Persian  rule 
any  argument  that  at  the  first  rise  of  the  empire  they 
were  not  one  of  two  great  nations  united  together  on 
friendly  and  equal  terms.  So  long  as  Cyrus  and  Cam- 
byses  his  son,  descended  from  the  Median  as  from  the 
Persian  dynast}',  sat  on  the  throne.  Media  made  no  at- 
tempt at  revolt.  Nor  did  they  do  so  under  the  foreign 
the  pseudo  Smerdis,  who  was  supposed  to  be  the  son  of 
Cyrus.  It  was  not  until  the  discovery  of  the  imposture 
practiced  by  Smerdis,  and  the  elevation  of  a  purely  Per- 
sian family  in  the  person  of  Darius  Hystaspis  to  the 
throne,  that  Media  sought  for  a  separate  existence.  Her 
ancient  Ime  of  kings  no  longer  ruled  over  the  mountains 
of  Media,  and  hence  probably  she  sought  to  return  to 
that  independence  which  had  been  her  pride  during  the 
centuries  when  Assyria  vainly  sought  to  rule  over  Me- 
dian land. 

According  to  some  writers  (as  Herodotus  and  Xeno- 
phon)  there  was  a  close  relationship  between  Cyrus  and 
the  last  Jledian  monarch,  who  was  therefore  naturally 
treated  with  more  than  common  tenderness.  The  fact 
of  tlie  relationship  is,  however,  denied  by  Ctesias;  and 
whether  it  existed  or  no,  at  any  rate  the  peculiar  posi- 
tion of  the  Medes  under  Persia  was  not  really  owing  to 
this  accident.  The  two  nations  were  closely  akin ;  they 
had  the  same  Arian  or  Iranic  origin,  the  same  early  tra- 
ditions, the  same  language  (Strabo,  xv,  2, 8),  nearly  the 
same  religion,  and  ultimately  the  same  manners  and 
customs,  dress,  and  general  mode  of  life.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising therefore  that  they  were  drawn  together,  and 
that,  though  never  actually  coalescing,  they  still  formed 
to  some  extent  a  single  privileged  people.  Medes  were 
advanced  to  stations  of  high  honor  and  importance  un- 
der Cyrus  and  liis  successors,  an  advantage  shared  by  no 
other  conquered  people.  The  Jledian  capital  was  at  tirst 
the  chief  royal  residence,  and  always  remained  one  of  the 
places  at  which  the  court  spent  a  portion  of  the  year; 
while  among  the  provinces  Media  claimed  and  enjoyed 
a  precedency,  which  appears  equally  in  the  (ireek  writ- 
ers and  in  the  native  records.  Still  it  would  seem  that 
the  nation,  so  lately  sovereign,  was  not  altogether  con- 
tent with  its  secondary  position.  On  the  tirst  conven- 
ient opportunity  Media  rebelled,  elevating  to  the  throne 
a  certain  Phraortes  (^Frawartuh^,  who  called  himself 
Xathrites,  anil  claimed  to  be  a  descendant  from  Cyaxa- 
res.  Darius  Hystaspis,  in  whose  reign  this  rebellion 
took  place,  had  great  difficulty  in  suppressing  it.  After 
vainly  endeavoring  to  put  it  down  by  his  generals,  he 
was  compelled  to  take  the  Meld  himself.  He  defeated 
Phraortes  in  a  pitched  battle,  pursued  and  captured  him 
near  Khages,  mutilated  him,  kept  him  for  a  time 
"  chained  at  his  door,"  and  finally  crucified  him  at  Ec- 
batana,  executing  at  the  same  time  his  chief  followers 
(see  the  lye/iistiiii  Inscription,  in  Kawlinson's  fhrodotus, 
ii,  001,  C()2).  Tlic  iMedes  thereupon  submitted,  and  qui- 
etly bore  the  yoke  for  another  ccntiu-y,  when  they  made 
a  second  attempt  to  free  themselves,  whicli  was  sup- 
pressed by  Darius  Nothus  (Xenophon,  J/dl.  i,  2,  19). 
Thenceforth  they  patiently  acquiesced  in  their  subordi- 
nate ixisition,  and  followed  through  its  various  shifts 
and  changes  the  fortune  of  Persia. 

INIedia,  with  the  rest  of  the  Persian  empire,  fell  under 
the  sway  of  Alexander  the  (ireat.  At  his  death  the 
northern  province  was  erected  by  the  satrap  Atropates 
into  an  independent  state,  and  called  Atropatene.  The 
southern  province,  Media  Magna,  was  attached  with 
Babylon  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Seleucida\  The  whole 
country  eventually  passed  over  to  the  Parthian  mon- 
archy (Strabo,  xvi,  745).  It  is  now  included  in  the  do- 
minions of  the  shah  of  Persia. 

III.  .1  iitiqiiili(s. — 1.  Internal  Divisions. — According  to 
Herodotus  the  Jlodian  nation  was  divided  into  six  tribes 
(tSv/;),  called  the  Busie,  the  Paretaceni,  the  Struchates, 


'  the  Arizanti,  the  Budii,  and  the  Magi.  It  is  doubtful, 
I  however,  in  what  sense  these  are  to  be  considered  as 
'  ethnic  divisions.  The  Paretaceni  appear  to  represent  a 
geographical  district,  while  the  Magi  were  certainly  a 
'  priest-caste ;  of  the  rest  we  know  little  or  nothing.  The 
I  Arizanti,  whose  name  would  signify  "of  noble  descent,"' 
or  '•  of  Arian  descent,"  must  (one  would  think)  have 
been  the  leading  tribe,  corresponding  to  the  Pasargadne 
in  Persia;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  they  have  only  the 
fourth  place  in  the  list  of  Herodotus.  The  Budii  are 
fairly  identified  with  the  eastern  Phut — the  Putiya  of 
the  Persian  inscriptions  — whom  Scripture  joins  with 
Persia  in  two  places  (Ezek.  xxvii,  10;  xxxviii,  5).  Of 
the  Bus«  and  the  Struchates  nothing  is  known  beyond 
the  statement  of  Herodotus.  We  may  perhaps  assume, 
from  the  order  of  Herodotus's  list,  that  the  Busa?,  Pare- 
taceni, Struchates,  and  Arizanti  were  true  Medes,  of 
genuine  Arian  descent,  while  the  Budii  and  Magi  were 
foreigners  admitted  into  the  nation. 

2.  Character,  Manners,  and  Customs.  —  The  ancient 
Medes  were  a  warlike  people,  particularly  celebrated,  as 
Herodotus  (vii,  61)  and  Strabo  (xi,  525)  inform  us,  for 
their  skill  iji  archer}^.  Xenophon  says  their  bows  were 
three  ells  long.  This  illustrates  the  language  of  Isaiah 
describing  the  attack  of  the  Medes  on  Babylon :  "  Their 
hows  also  shall  dash  the  young  men  to  pieces"  (xiii,  18), 
Their  cavalry  was  also  excellent,  their  horses  being  fleet 
and  strong,  and  their  men  skilful  riders.  It  is  doubtlrss 
ui  reference  to  this  fact  that  Jeremiah,  speaking  of  the 
overthrow  of  Babylon,  says,  '•  They  (the  enemies)  shall 
hold  the  bow  and  the  lance  .  .  .  and  they  shall  ride  ttpcn 
horses"  (1, 42).  Strabo  states  that  the  province  of  Atro- 
patene alone  was  able  to  bring  into  the  field  an  army 
of  10,000  horse  (xi,  523).  Xenophon  affirms  that  the 
Medes  did  not  fight  for  plunder.  jMilitary  glory  was 
their  great  ambition,  and  they  would  never  permit  gold 
or  silver  to  tiuni  them  aside  from  their  object.  How 
striking  do  the  words  of  Isaiah  thus  appear !  '•  Behold 
I  will  stir  up  the  Medes  against  them,  which  shall  not 
regard  silver,  and  as  for  gold,  they  shall  not  delight  in 
'  it"  (xiii,  18).  The  wcjilth  of  Babylon  could  not  save  ir, 
j  for  the  Medes  could  not  be  bought  ot!"  (Kos^nmidler. 
]  Bib.  Geog.  i,  176).  The  conquests  of  the  Medes.  and 
'  their  intercourse  with  other  nations,  produced  a  marked 
change  upon  their  character.  They  became  fond  of 
I  dress  and  display;  those  settled  in  cities  engaged  in 
commerce,  and  lost  their  hardy  habits  and  bravery.  The 
splendor  of  the  ISIedian  robes 
'  became  proverbial,  and  their 
!  princes  and  nobles  ruled  the 
fashion  in  the  East.  They 
were  imitated  by  the  Persian 
coiurt  (Herodot.  vi,  112;  Xen- 
oph.  Cyrop.  i,  3,  2 ;  Strabo,  xi, 
p,  525).  It  was  this  dress,  that 
is,  of  the  highest  class,  which 
seems  to  have  gained  a  sort 
of  classical  authority,  and  to 
have  been  at  a  later  period 
worn  at  the  Persian  court, 
probably  in  jiart  from  its  an- 
tiquity. This  dress  the  Per- 
sian monarchs  used  to  present 
to  those  whom  they  wished  to 
honor,  and  no  others  were  jier- 
mitted  to  wear  it.  It  consist- 
ed of  a  long  white  loose  robe 
or  gown,  flowing  down  to  the 
'  feet,  and  enclosing  the  entire 
I  body,  specimens  of  which,  as 
now  used  in  tliose  countries, 
may  be  seen  in  plates  given  in 
Perkin's  Pesidence  in  Persia 
(N.  y.  1843).  The  nature  and 
the  celebritv  of  this  dress  com- 


'  bine  with  the  natural  richness 
I  of  the  coiuitrv   to  assure  us 


Median  Dress  (from  the 
^I  onuuieuts  of  Persep- 
olis). 


IVIEDIA 


20 


MEDIAX 


that  the  ancient  Sreilians  had  made  no  moan  progress 
in  the  arts;  indeed,  the  colors  of  the  Persian  textures 
are  known  to  have  been  accoimted  second  only  to  those 
of  India.     If  these  regal  dresses  were  of  silk,  then  was 
there  an  early  commerce  between  Media  and  India;  if 
not,  weaving,  as  well  as  dyeing,  must  have  been  prac- 
ticed and  carried  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection  in  the 
former  country-  (Ammian.  Marcell.  xxiv,  G,  p.  353,  ed.  i 
Bip. ;  Athen.  xii,  p.  512,  514  sq. ;  Heeren,  Idem,  i,  205,  ] 
307;  Ikrod.  vi,  112;  Dan.iii,21).    The  Medes  thus  gave  ! 
way  to  luxury  and  its  consequent  vices,  and  they  soon  ! 
became  an  easy  prey  to  their  more  warlike  neighbors,  j 
The  northern  mountaineers  retained  their  primitive  hab- 
its, and  consequently  their  independence,  for  a  much 
longer  period. 

3.  JMif/ioii. — The  ancient  religion  of  the  Medes  must 
undoubtedly  have  been  that  simple  creed  which  is  placed 
before  us  in  the  earlier  portions  of  the  Zcndavesta.  Its 
peculiar  cliaracteristic  was  Dualism,  the  belief  in  the 
existence  of  two  opposite  principles  of  good  and  evil, 
nearly  if  not  quite  on  a  par  with  one  another.  Ormazd 
and  Ahriman  were  both  self-caused  and  self-existent, 
both  indestructible,  both  potent  to  work  their  will — 
their  warfare  had  been  from  all  eternity,  and  would  con- 
tinue to  all  eternity,  though  on  the  whole  the  struggle 
was  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Prince  of  Darkness.  Or- 
mazd was  the  (lod  of  the  Arians,  the  object  of  their 
worship  and  trust;  Ahriman  was  their  enemy,  an  object 
of  fear  and  abhorrence,  but  not  of  any  religious  rite. 
Besides  Ormazd,  the  Arians  worshipped  the  sun  and 
moon,  under  the  names  of  Mithra  and  Homa;  and  they 
believed  in  the  existence  of  numerous  si)irits  or  genii, 
some  good,  some  bad,  the  subjects  and  ministers  respec- 
tively of  the  two  powers  of  Good  and  Evil.  Their  cult 
was  simple,  consisting  in  processions,  religious  chants 
and  hymns,  and  a  few  plain  offerings,  expressions  of 
devotion  and  thankfulness.  Such  was  the  worship  and 
such  the  belief  which  the  whole  Arian  race  brought 
with  them  from  the  remote  east  when  they  migrated 
westward.  Their  migration  brought  them  into  contact 
with  the  fire-worshippers  of  Armenia  and  Mount  Zagros, 
among  wliom  Magism  had  been  established  from  a  re- 
mote antiquity.  The  result  was  either  a  combination 
of  the  two  religions,  or  in  some  cases  an  actual  conver- 
sion of  the  conquerors  to  the  faith  and  worship  of  the 
conquered.  So  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  the  scanty 
materials  in  our  possession,  the  latter  was  the  case  with 
the  Medes.  While  in  Persia  the  true  Arian  creed  main- 
tained itself,  at  least  to  the  time  of  Darius  Ilystaspis,  in 
tolerable  purity,  in  the  neighboring  kingdom  of  !^ledia 
it  was  early  swallowed  up  in  iMagism,  which  was  prob- 
ably established  by  Cyaxares  or  his  successor  as  the  re- 
ligion of  the  state.  The  essence  of  Magism  was  the 
worship  of  the  elements,  tire,  water,  air,  and  earth,  with 
a  special  preference  of  fire  to  the  remainder.  Temjiles 
were  not  allowed,  but  fire-altars  were  maintained  on  va- 
rious sacred  sites,  generally  mountain-tops,  where  sacri- 
fices were  continually  offered,  and  the  fiame  was  never 
suffered  to  go  out.  A  hierarcliy  naturally  followed,  to 
perform  these  constant  rites,  and  the  magi  became  rec- 
ognised as  a  sacred  caste  entitled  to  the  veneration  of 
the  faithful.  They  claimed  in  many  cases  a  power  of 
divining  the  future,  and  practiced  largely  those  occult 
arts  which  are  still  called  by  their  name  in  most  of  the 
languages  of  modern  Europe.  The  fear  of  polluting  the 
elements  gave  rise  to  a  number  of  curious  superstitions 
among  the  professors  of  the  Jlagian  religion  (Herod,  i, 
1.38) ;  among  the  rest  to  the  strange  practice  of  neither 
burying  nor  burning  their  dead,  but  exjiosing  them  to 
be  devoured  by  beasts  or  birds  of  prey  (Ilerod.  i.  110; 
Strabo,  xv,  3,  §  20).  This  custom  is  still  observed  by 
their  representatives,  the  modern  Parsecs.  See  Khode, 
Jhil.  ^(iffc  der  Baktr.  Medcr  vnd  Perser,  p.  820;  ylbhil- 
dunqen  cms  der  Mythol.  der  A  Iten  Welt ;  Pers.  Med.  plate 
10,11. 

4.  The  language  of  the  ancient  ISIedes  was  not  con- 
nected with  the  Shemitic,  but  with  the  Indian,  and  di- 


vided itself  into  two  chief  branches,  the  Zend,  spoken  in 
North  Media,  and  the  Pehlvi,  spoken  in  Lower  Media 
and  Parthia,  which  last  was  the  dominant  tongue  among 
the  Parthians  (Adelung,  Milhridates,  i,  25G  sq. ;  Eich- 
horn,  Gesc/i. der  Lit.  v,  ],  294  sq.). 

5.  References  to  (he  Medes  in  Scripture. — The  refer- 
ences to  the  Medes  in  the  canonical  Scriptures  are  not 
very  numerous,  but  they  are  striking.  We  first  hear  of 
certain  '■  cities  of  the  Medes,"  in  wliich  the  captive  Is- 
raelites were  placed  by  "  the  king  of  Assyria"  on  the  de- 
struction  of  Samaria,  B.C.  721  (2  Kings  xvii,  6;  xviii, 
11).  This  implies  the  subjection  of  ^ledia  to  Assyria  at 
the  time  of  Shalmaneser,  or  of  Sargon,  his  successor,  and 
accords  (as  Ave  liave  shown)  very  closely  with  the  ac- 
count given  by  the  latter  of  certain  milit.irj-  colonies 
which  he  planted  in  the  Median  country.  Soon  after- 
wards Isaiah  proidiesies  the  part  which  the  Jledes  should 
take  in  the  destruction  of  Babylon  (Isa.  xiii,17;  xxi,2), 
and  this  is  again  still  more  distinctly  declared  by  Jere- 
miah (li,  11  and  28),  who  sufficiently  indicates  the  inde- 
pendence of  Media  in  his  day  (xxv,  25).  Daniel  re- 
lates, as  a  historian,  the  fact  of  the  Medo-Persic  con- 
quest (v,  28, 31),  giving  an  account  of  the  reign  of  Da- 
rius the  Mede,  who  appears  to  have  been  made  viceroy 
by  Cyrus  (vi,  1-28).  In  Ezra  we  have  a  mention  of 
Achmetha  (Ecbatana),  "  the  palace  in  the  province  of 
the  jMedes,"  where  the  decree  of  Cyrus  was  found  (vi, 
2-5) — a  notice  which  accords  with  the  known  facts  that 
the  Median  capital  was  the  seat  of  government  under 
Cyrus,  but  a  royal  residence  only  and  not  the  seat  of 
government  under  Darius  Ilystaspis.  Finally,  in  Es- 
ther, the  high  rank  of  ;Media  under  the  Persian  kings  is 
marked  by  the  frequent  combination  of  the  two  names 
in  phrases  of  honor. 

In  the  apocryphal  Scriptures  the  ]Medes  occupy  a 
more  prominent  place.  The  chief  scene  of  one  whole 
book  (Tobit)  is  ]\ledia,  and  in  another  (.ludith)  a  very 
striking  portion  of  the  narrative  belongs  to  the  same 
country.  But  the  historical  character  of  both  these 
books  is  with  reason  doubted,  and  from  neither  can  we 
derive  any  authentic  or  satisfactory-  information  con- 
cerning the  people.  From  the  story  of  Tobias  little 
could  be  gathered,  even  if  we  accepted  it  as  true,  while 
the  history  of  Arphaxad  (which  seems  to  be  merely  a 
distorted  account  of  the  struggle  betAveen  the  rebel 
Phraortes  and  Darius  Ilystaspis)  adds  nothing  to  our 
knoAvledge  of  that  contest.  The  mention  of  Khages  in 
both  narratives  as  a  Median  town  and  region  of  impor- 
tance is  geographically  correct,  and  it  is  historically  true 
that  Phraortes  suffered  his  overthrow  in  the  Khagian 
district.  But  beyond  these  facts  the  narratives  in  ques- 
tion contain  little  that  even  illustrates  the  true  historj' 
of  the  Median  nation. 

IV.  Literature. — The  ancient  authorities  for  the  liis- 
tory  and  geography  of  Media  and  the  Modes  are  He- 
rodotus, especially  when  read  with  the  learned  and  val- 
uable notes  of  Kawlinson;  Strabo,  Xenophon,  Ptolemy, 
Diotlorus  Siculus,  Arrian,  and  Josephus.  The  monu- 
ments and  inscriptions  discovered,  and  in  jiart  <leci- 
phered,  Avilhin  the  last  few  years,  add  vastly  to  our 
stores  of  inf(»nnation.  The  various  works  and  articles 
of  Sir  H.  I.'awlinson  referred  to  in  the  body  of  this  arti- 
cle serve  to  set  forth  and  illustrate  their  contents. 
Among  modern  writers  the  student  may  consult  Bt>chart, 
Cellarius.  Pittor ;  Crote's  Iliatory  of  Greece,  iii,  301-312 ; 
Prof.  Pawlinson's .1  ncieiit  ifonarrhics ;  Bosanquet's  Chro- 
uoliigii  iiftlie  .\fedes,  read  before  the  lioyal  Asiatic  Soci- 
ety, .Tune  0, 1858;  Brandis,  lierum  A.iKi/riariim  tempora 
emeiidata,  p.  1-14;  and  \\\.\\\MiYs  Kxcrcilatiomim  I/ero- 
dotearinn  Specimiiia  duo,  yi.  5()  sq.  For  tlie  present  state 
of  the  country,  see  Sir  K.  Porter's  Trarels;  Kinnier's 
Persian  JCiiipire  ;  Layard's  Xinere/i  and  Babylon  ;  Chos- 
ncy'a  Euphrates  Expedition;  Sir  II.  Kawlinson's  articles 
in  the  Journal  of  R.  G.  S.  vols,  ix  and  x ;  and  the  valu- 
able dissertations  in  Kawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  i. 

Me'diau  (Chald.  Madaya'.  N"^^":,  marg.  ^X^"?." 


MEDIATION- 


21 


MEDIATION 


Sept.  6  MJ/^ocVulg.  Medus),  a  patrial  epithet  of  Darius, 
"  the  son  of  Ahasuerus,  of  the  seed  of  the  Medes"  (Dan. 
ix,  1),  or  "  the  Mede"  (xi,  1),  as  described  in  Dan.  v,  31. 
See  IVIede. 

Mediation,  in  the  Christian  sense,  is  the  interven- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  between  God  and  sinners.  It  im- 
plies a  condition  of  alienation  and  hostility  on  the  part 
of  man  towards  God,  and  a  corresponding  state  of  disfa- 
vor and  condemnation  in  the  divine  mind  with  respect 
to  man.  Such  a  mutual  relation  of  dissatisfaction  lies 
at  the  basis  of  the  whole  remedial  scheme  of  salvation, 
originating  in  the  fall  (q.  v.),  and  provided  for  in  the 
atonement  (q.  v.).  It  is  presumed  in  every  form  of  re- 
ligion and  worship,  whether  heathen,  Jewish,  or  any 
other ;  and  has  its  natural  exponents  in  sacrifice  (q.  v.), 
the  priesthood  (q.  v.),  and  ritual  (q.  v.).  In  addition 
to  the  considerations  adduced  under  the  head  Mediator 
(q.  v.),  there  remain  certain  fiuidamental  aspects  of  this 
question  which  we  propose  here  briefly  to  discuss.  See 
Expiation. 

1.  Mini's  Enmity  towards  God. — This  is  a  fact  too  ap- 
parent to  require  detailed  proof.  Its  historical  origin  is 
given  in  the  Bible  in  the  account  of  Eden,  its  record  is 
engraven  in  the  whole  course  of  human  conduct,  and  its 
conclusive  attestation  is  found  in  the  deepest  conscious- 
ness of  man's  nature.  The  sense  of  guilt  and  condem- 
nation, to  which  it  inevitably  and  legitimately  gives 
rise  in  the  human  conscience,  is  a  testimony  so  uni- 
versal, so  profound,  and  so  overwhelming  as  to  call  for 
little  if  anj'^  external  corroboration. 

2.  God's  Displeasure  towards  Man. — This  is  a  doctrine 
which  of  necessity  results  from  the  preceding  one.  If 
God  be  holy,  as  the  Scriptures  represent  him,  and  as  the 
purest  forms  of  faith  depict  him,  he  cannot  but  regard 
all  sin  with  the  utmost  abhorrence,  and  he  cannot  be 
supposed  to  entertain  amicable  emotions  towards  those 
who  commit  and  delight  in  sin.  This  feeling  in  the 
divine  mind,  however,  must  not  be  regarded  as  one  of 
vindictiveness  or  personal  hatred.  A  pure  and  unself- 
ish being,  raised  above  the  petty  jealousies  and  haz- 
ards of  earth,  cannot  be  conceived  as  entertaining  senti- 
ments of  malice.  Such  a  vie^v  of  the  divine  nature  is 
inconsistent  with  the  emphatic  statements  of  Scripture 
(such  as  that  "  God  is  love,"  etc.),  with  the  interest  he 
still  takes  in  fallen  humanity  ("  God  so  loved  the  world 
that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,"  etc.),  and  even 
with  the  benevolent  provision  which  he  makes  in  nat- 
ure for  the  continuation  and  comfort  of  the  race.  In 
like  manner  Christians  are  forbidden  to  indulge  any 
malevolence  towards  their  own  personal  enemies,  much 
more  towards  their  fellow-creatures  at  large.  That  view 
of  the  Almighty  which  represents  or  imagines  him  as 
taking  anj'  delight  in  human  suffering  is  characteristic 
of  heathenism,  not  of  Bible  truth.     See  Love. 

Nevertheless  the  purest  ethics,  as  well  as  the  sound- 
est theology,  demands  a  place  in  the  divine  mind  for 
that  sense  of  indignation  with  moral  evil,  and  that  call 
for  its  punishment,  which  are  instinctive  in  the  human 
breast.  In  this  light  are  to  be  interpreted  the  many 
and  pointed  declarations  of  the  Bible  respecting  God's 
anger  against  sin,  and  his  inexorable  determination  to 
intiict  vengeance  upon  its  perpetrators.  Justice,  no  less 
than  mercy,  is  one  of  the  indispensable  attributes  of  a 
holy  deity.  The  ultimate  grounds  of  this  doctrine  are 
not  to  be  sought  so  much  in  any  considerations  of  ad- 
ministrati\-e  policy  or  governmental  consistency — mere 
views  of  expediency  and  safety — as  in  the  essential  con- 
tradiction of  the  divine  nature  itself  to  all  that  is  incon- 
sistent with  its  own  character. 

3.  These  premises  being  settled  as  the  actual  relations 
between  the  parties,  the  grand  problem  arises.  How 
can  this  mutual  disagreement  be  removed?  That  the 
change,  if  any,  must  take  place  in  man,  is  obvious,  not 
only  because  God  is  immutable,  but  because  he  certainly 
has  not  been  at  fault.  The  offender  alone  must  make 
the  amends.  The  Being  offended  against  may  indeed 
propose  advances  towards  reconciliation,  as  it  belongs 


to  him  to  lay  down  the  terms  of  satisfaction,  but  these 
cannot  involve  any  concession  nor  imply  any  retraction. 
The  standard  of  righteousness  must  not  be  lowered,  nor 
wrong  exculpated.  The  case  presents  a  difficulty  in 
two  aspects,  neither  of  which  can  be  overlooked  in  any 
scheme  proposing  its  settlement.  They  relate  respect- 
ively to  th&imst  and  i\\Q  future.  Two  questions  there- 
fore arise :  1.  How  can  the  sinful  acts  already  com- 
mitted be  properly  forgiven?  2.  How  can  their  recur- 
rence be  most  effectively  prevented  in  time  to  come? 
These  two  subordinate  problems  must  be  wrought  out 
together,  as  the  omission  to  solve  the  latter  would  ren- 
der the  solution  of  the  former  nugatorj'.  The  media- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  exactly  meets  all  the  conditions  of 
both  these  problems.  It  is  spontaneous  on  the  part  of 
God,  voluntary  on  the  part  of  the  Mediator,  and  does 
not  infringe  on  the  freedom  of  man.  It  cancels  the  past 
debt,  takes  away  the  sense  of  present  guilt,  and  removes 
the  disposition  to  transgress  thereafter.  It  releases,  rec- 
onciles, and  renews  at  once..  Pardon,  peace,  purity  are 
its  harmonious  results.  Justification,  regeneration,  sanc- 
tification  are  its  immmiities.  The  first  frees  from  the 
judicial  sentence,  the  second  restores  to  the  heavenly 
family,  and  the  third  fits  for  life  here  and  forever.  All 
this  is  due  to  the  vicarious  principle  of  the  atonement. 
It  remains  to  show  more  particularly  how  the  substitu- 
tion of  Christ  as  a  victim  for  man  in  undergoing  the 
penalty  accomplishes  these  ends  successfidly  and  satis- 
factorily. The  transfer  of  the  punishment  due  to  hu- 
man crimes,  as  effectetl  in  the  life  and  death  of  our  Sav- 
iour, is  not  a  mere  forensic  device,  nor  simply  a  diplo- 
matic artifice ;  it  is  no  stratagem  invented  to  elude  jus- 
tice, nor  a  pretence  set  up  to  screen  impunity.  If,  with 
regard  to  its  individual  objects,  it  was  unconditional 
and  absolute,  as  Universalism  generally  on  the  one  hantl 
represents  it  by  extension,  and  strict  Predestinarianism 
on  the  other  by  limitation,  it  would  justly  be  liable  to 
this  charge.  But  inasmuch  as  it  secures  the  permanent 
reformation  of  the  culprit  in  the  very  process  of  amnesty, 
it  is  not  purely  penal, but  also  prophylactic;  it  changes 
the  relations  of  the  sinner  by  converting  him  into  a 
saint. 

(1.)  The  chief,  if  not  the  only  difficulty  in  our  concep- 
tions of  the  method  of  Christian  redemption,  relates  to 
the  justice  of  substituting  an  innocent  for  a  guilty  per- 
son in  the  expiation  of  crime.  This  is,  to  be  sure,  an 
abstract  question,  but  it  is  a  fundamental  one.  Its  de- 
termination, however,  rests  with  the  Being  to  be  pla- 
cated, and  with  the  individual  submitting  to  become  the 
victim,  rather  than  with  ourselves,  the  beneficiaries  of 
the  arrangement,  or  with  any  other  intelligences  who 
may  be  merely  spectators.  As  the  compact,  in  pursuance 
of  which  this  mediation  is  effected,  was  confined  to  the 
bosom  of  the  Godhead,  we  might  fairly  be  excused  from 
attempting  its  vindication ;  especially  as  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  regarded  as  the  contracting  parties,  are  so  iden- 
tified in  nature  and  action  that  any  moral  discrepancy 
or  personal  disagreement,  such  as  this  question  implies, 
is  necessarily  excluded.  Indeed,  if  thej'  two  freely  con- 
sent, as  the  plan  presupposes,  it  is  hard  to  see  who  can 
have  a  right  to  raise  a  doubt  or  utter  complaint  on  the 
subject.  Still,  to  obviate  all  cavil,  it  may  not  be  amiss 
to  pursue  this  point  as  far  as  we  may  without  presump- 
tion or  arrogance. 

Instances  of  a  similar  but  far  less  extensive  vicarious 
suffering  have  occurred  in  human  histor}',  and  arc  often 
pointed  to  as  rare  but  striking  illustrations  of  this  prin- 
ciple. These  were  applauded  at  the  time  of  their  occur- 
rence, and  have  been  commended  ever  since  by  the  com- 
mon voice  of  mankind,  without  incurring  the  imputa- 
tion of  unfairness  or  compromise.  If  we  look  into  the 
design  of  judicial  exactions,  so  far  as  human  legislation 
and  administration  enable  us  to  discern  it,  we  find  it  to 
be  fourfold :  1,  the  appeasement  of  the  wrath  of  the  in- 
jured party;  2,  the  moral  cure  of  the  offending  party; 
3,  the  allaying  of  the  sense  of  wrong  in  the  convictions 
of  the  community ;  and,  4,  the  deterring  of  others  from 


MEDIATION 


22 


MEDIATOR 


similar  crimes.  ISIost  laws  for  earthly  retribution  have 
chiefly  in  view  the  pecuniary  reparation  of  the  wrong, 
and  the  protection  of  society  against  its  recurrence ;  and 


it  shall  die."  The  mediation  under  consideration  was 
an  equkuleni,  such  as  met  the  mond  design  of  the  pen- 
alty.    Nor  is  it  correct  to  argue  that  as  man  incurred 


in  these  respects  Christ's  atonement  is  as  parallel  as  pos-  injiniie  guilt  hy  sinning  against  infinite  holiness,  so 
sible.  In  cases  of  capital  punishment,  with  which  the  Christ  otfered  an  infinite  satisfaction  by  reason  of  his 
present  is  most  analogous,  the  first  two  ends  of  penal  in-  i  divine  and  perfect  nature.  Neither  part  of  this  propo- 
tiiction  are  necessarily  excluded,  by  the  death  of  the  j  sition  is  tenable.  No  finite  creature  is  capable  of  infi- 
murdered  and  the  execution  of  the  murderer;  so  that  I  nite  guilt,  not  even  the  sum  total  of  all  humanity,  for  it 
there  remain  only  the  moral  influence  and  the  preventive  i  is  limited  both  in  its  numbers  and  nature,  and  so  is  like- 


effect  upon  others  as  the  essential  objects  to  be  attained. 
!See  Punishment.  But,  in  the  case  in  hand,  these  ex- 
ternal and  disinterested  observers  can  consist  only  of  the 
angels  and  inhabitants  of  other  worlds,  inasmuch  as  our 
own  race  is  wholly  included  in  the  culprit  himself.  Of 
the  moral  constitution  or  even  existence  of  the  latter 
of  these  two  classes  of  presumed  spectators  we  have  ab- 
solutely no  knowledge,  nor  any  reason  to  suppose  that 
they  could  become  informed  of  the  transaction.  Of  the. 
former  we  know  but  little  more,  and  that  little  leads  us 
to  the  belief  that  they  have  already  passed  their  proba- 
tion, and  are  therefore  incapable  of  being  influenced  by 
example,  while  the  interest  which  they  take  in  the  scene 
is  that  of  intense  satisfaction  at  its  progress  and  con- 
summation. All  objectors  are  thus  removed,  and  the 
substitution  is  ratified  by  common  consent. 

We  have  assumed  that  man's  demurral  to  this  pro- 
cedure is  silenced  by  the  fact  of  his  being  himself  the 
convict.  Yet  a  prisoner  may  be  imagined  to  have  a 
right  to  protest  against  another's  taking  his  place  as  ac- 
cused or  condemned.  This,  however,  he  can  only  be 
allowed  in  court  to  do  when  he  confesses  his  crime,  and 
demands  to  bear  its  penalty  in  person.  Both  these  i^riv- 
ilegcs.  if  such  they  can  be  called,  arc  reserved  to  him  by 
the  silu'ine  under  consideration.  Nay,  he  is  required  to 
iiKike  ((infession  before  he  can  avail  himself  of  the  ben- 
eliis  of  Christ's  mediation,  and  that  with  a  sincerity  and 
fidiiess  which  admit  of  no  retraction;  and  he  is  at  last 
compelled  to  undergo  the  penalty  himself  unless  he  vol- 
untarily and  actively  apply  for  the  exem|ition  offered 
him.  These  provisions  are  the  saving  clauses  of  the  [  ness  would  have  been  nn^hsx,  and  that  in  two  most  vital 
bill  of  amnesty,  and  by  virtue  of  them  the  vicarious  re-  respects :  it  would  so  fidly  have  exhausted  the  penalty 
dcmption  receives  its  final  approvjil. 

(■2.)  Nevertheless  the  sinner  realizes  a  partial  effect 
of  the  atonement  unconditionally,  in  the  respite  from 


wise  the  sum  of  its  sins.  Christ  therefore  did  not  need 
to  make  an  infinite  atonement,  but  only  an  adequate  or 
commensurate  one.  His  expiation  was  sufficient,  not 
because  it  was  made  by  his  divine  nature — for  that  was 
by  hypothesis  incapable  and  incompetent — but  because 
it  contained  such  a  degree  of  merit,  in  view  of  its  com- 
pleteness and  the  exalted  character  of  the  offerer,  that 
the  divine  Being  coidd  consistently  accept  it  in  Hut  of 
the  actual  obedience  of  the  race  represented,  and  thus 
remit  the  jienalty  due  them.  In  the  next  place,  an  ab- 
solute equality  or  identity  of  retribution  was  impuxsible 
in  the  remedial  scheme.  The  supposition  that  Jesus 
endured — whether  during  his  whole  lifetime,  or  in  the 
brief  agonies  of  the  garden  and  the  cross — the  sum  total 
of  the  torments  tliat  will  be  and  that  would  have  been 
experienced  by  the  eternally  damned,  is  simply  prepos- 
terous. Not  only  had  he  no  opportunity  for  this,  but 
he  was  not  capable  of  it,  either  jjhysically  or  spiritually. 
His  bodily  pain  was  such,  indeed,  as  to  take  his  life,  but 
other  men  have  known  as  great,  if  not  greater.  His 
mental  anguish,  especially  the  hiding  of  his  Father's 
face,  was  so  intense  as  to  literally  break  his  heart ;  but  it 
cannot  have  been  the  same,  either  in  character,  extent, 
or  continuance,  as  the  everlasting  pangs  of  conscious 
guilt.  All  that  was  practicable,  in  him  as  a  sidjstitute 
for  man,  was  to  undergo  an  ordeal  as  similar  in  kind 
and  degree  as  his  pure  human  nature  would  admit.  In 
this  sense  he  drank  the  bitter  cup  of  atonement  to  its 
very  dregs,  but  it  was  not  the  identical  draught  intend- 
ed for  mankind.     Tinallv,  such  an  absolute  vicarious- 


punishment  till  the  close  of  his  earthly  career. 


But  for 


for  all  ])t)ssible  or  foreseen  lumian  transgression  as  to 
render  the  personal  punishment  of  any  offender  there- 
after impossible,  because  unjust ;  and  it  would  have  been 
no  gain  or  saving  of  suffering  on  the  whole,  but  a  mere 


this  the  whole  race  had  been  cut  off  in  embryo  at  the  shifting  of  a  specific  load  from  the  shoulders  of  one  be- 
first  transgression.  Hence  there  is  an  opportunity  for  ing  to  those  of  another.  No  larger  average  of  happi- 
the  exercise  of  the  remedial  or  curative  as  well  as  pre-  |  ness  could  have  resulted,  nor  any  greater  glory  redound- 
ventive  influence  of  that  penal  retribution,  which  is  tem-  ed  to  God.  Such  an  atonement  woidd  have  defeated 
porarily  suspended  and  may  be  wholly  averted  from  instead  of  furthering  the  main  design  of  its  merciful 
himself.  The  only  problem  here  arising  is,  How  can  Projector.  It  would  have  been  fatal  to  all  the  advan- 
impunity  be  alloAved  without  encouraging  viceV  or  rath- j  tages  seen  above  to  be  secured  by  Christ's  mediation, 
er,  to  state  it  more  radically.  How  can  the  criminal  go    See  Vicvisiois  Sii'Feuing. 

scot-free  and  yet  be  reformed'?     It  has  of  late  years  |      Mediator,  a  ncrson  who  intervenes  between  two 
only  been  discovered  in  families,  schools,  armies,  and 
diplomacy  that  pardon  is  often  the  best  discipline;  but    ^^^.^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^^^^ 

God  knew  long  ago  the  true  philosophy  of  the  preven-  ^^^^^^^^  j,,  ^^^^^  remarkable  passage  (Job  ix,33)  which  is 
tion  of  crime.     The  spectacle  of  another  suffering  the  \  re„acred  in  the  Aulh.  Vers.  '•  Neither  is  there  any  d(i;is- 


Mediator,  a  jicrson 
parties  at  variance,  in  order  to  reconcile  them.     The 
ur  in  the  Old  Test.,  but  the  idea  is  con- 


penalty  due  to  ourselves  has  been  found  to  be  the  most 
effectual  softener  of  the  rebel  heart,  and  the  condition 
of  genuine  contrition  is  the  best  safeguard  against  tlie 
abuse  of  clemency.  In  this  light  the  scheme  of  Chris- 
tian mediation  is  most  abundantly  sanctioned  by  actual 
experiment,  and  the  Cross  becomes  the  glory  of  the  re- 
deemed.   See  Kedkmption. 


m<in  betwixt  us,  that  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us  both." 
Tlie  lleijrcw  words  are.  T'J^  n"r"^  "".r?"-\?  ^'^ 
?;":'^"'p"  ".T^;  literally,  "There  is  not  Ixlirttn  us  a  re- 
prover—he shall  place  his  hand  upon  us  both."  This 
the  Sept.  translates,  or  rather  paraphrases,  tirt  »/»/  o  fit- 


(3.)  It  is  not  to  be  imagined,  however,  that  in  this  (jioripwr.  See  Daysman.  In  the  New  Test,  it  is  the 
vicarious  atonement  Jesus  Christ  actually  ex])erienced  invariable  rendering  of /ifiriV/K;  a  word  which  is  rather 
the  aggregate  amount  of  suffering  due  for  the  sins  of 


every  human  being.  In  the  first  jilace,  this  was  uimic- 
essarji.  The  object  to  be  attained  was  not  a  given 
amount  of  penal  infliction,  whether  to  jilacate  the  Al- 
mighty, to  reform  the  offender,  or  to  vindicate  the  stat- 
utes infracted.  This  is  obvious  from  tiie  foregoing  dis- 
cussion. Had  these  ends  rigidly  reciuired  an  exact  l)al- 
ance-sheet  of  debit  and  credit  on  this  basis,  no  snbstitu- 


rare  in  classical  (ireek — Polybius  and  Lucian  being,  it 
would  appear,  nearly  the  only  classical  authors  who  em- 
ploy it  (see  Kobinson.  X.-T.  Lex.  s.  v.).  Its  meaning, 
however,  is  not  difiicult  to  determine.  This  seems  e\-i- 
dcntly  to  be.  7»/i  meilio  itiU  r  ihio  stat—hc  who  takes  a  mid- 
dle position  between  two  parties.and  principally  with  the 
view  of  removing  their  (lifterences.  Thus  Suidas  para- 
phrases the  word  by  ftiaiyyvni:,  and  also  by  lyyi'tfriir, 


lonor  vicarious  satisfaction  had  been  admissible  at  all.    /(trrof  ci'O  ftipwv.     In  the  Sept.  the  word  apjiears  to 
The  strict  terms  of  the  law  are,  '-The  soul  that  sinueth, '  occur  only  ouce,  namely,  in  the  above  p.issage  of  Job. 


MEDIATOR 


23 


MEDIATOR 


1.  It  is  used,  in  an  accommodated  sense,  by  many  of 
the  ancient  fathers,  to  denote  one  who  intervenes  between 
two  dispensations.  Hence  it  is  applied  by  them  to  John 
the  Baptist,  because  he  came,  as  it  were,  between  the 
Jlosaic  and  Christian  dispensations.  Thus  Greg.  Nazi- 
anzen  {Orat.  xxxix,p.6o3)  calls  him  o  TToXaiaq  Kal  viag 
/u£(TiV?/c-  Theophylact,  commenting  on  Matt,  iii,  gives 
him  the  same  denomination. 

2.  Again,  it  signilies,  in  its  more  proper  sense,  an  in- 
ternuncius,  or  ambassador,  one  who  stands  as  the  chan- 
nel of  communication  between  two  contracting  parties. 
Thus  most  commentators  think  that  the  apostle  Paul, 
in  Gal.  iii,  19,  calls  Moses  mediator,  because  he  conveyed 
the  expression  of  God's  will  to  the  people,  and  reported 
to  God  their  wants,  wishes,  and  determinations.  In  ref- 
erence to  this  passage  of  Scripture,  Basil  {De  Spiritu 
Sancto,  cap.  xiv),  says,  "  Mosen  figiiram  reprosentasse 
quando  inter  Deum  et  populum  intermedius  extiterit." 
Many  ancient  and  modern  divines,  however,  are  of  opin- 
ion that  Christ  himself,  and  not  Moses,  is  here  meant  by 
the  apostle,  and  this  view  would  seem  to  be  confirmed  by 
comparing  Deut.  xxxiii,  2  with  Acts  vii,  38-52.  Christ 
it  was  who,  surrounded  by  angelic  spirits,  communicated 
with  Moses  on  JMount  Sinai.  On  this  point,  the  words 
of  the  learned  and  pious  Chrysostom,  on  Gal.  iii,  are 
very  express :  "  Here,"  says  he,  "  Paul  calls  Christ  Me- 
diator, declaring  thereby  that  he  existed  before  the  law, 
and  that  by  him  the  law  was  revealed."  This  applica- 
tion of  the  passage  will  be  the  more  evident  if  we  con- 
sider the  scope  of  the  apostle's  argument,  which  evi- 
dently is  to  point  out  the  dignity  of  the  law.  How 
could  he  present  a  clearer  demonstration  of  this  than  by 
showing  that  it  was  the  second  person  of  the  ever- 
blessed  Trinity  who  stood  forth  on  the  mount  to  com- 
municate between  God  the  Father  and  his  creature 
man !  Moreover,  to  contradistinguish  Christ's  media- 
tion from  that  of  Moses,  the  former  is  emphatically 
styled  jU£(TiV//eK-(0f(Vroi'ot,'Cia3'/j(c'?fCHeb.viii,G).  This, 
however,  implies  that  Moses  was  the  mediator  of  the 
former  covenant,  and  Eadie,  in  his  Commentary  on  Ga- 
latians  (ad  loc),  shows  at  length  that  this  is  the  meaning 
of  the  passage,  in  opposition  to  all  other  views.  Moses  is 
likewise  often  styled  'I^OIp,  or  mediator,  in  the  rab- 
binical writings  (see  Schbttgen  and  Wetstein,  ad  loc). 
But  be  this  as  it  may,  far  more  emphatically  and  othcially 

3.  Christ  is  called  Mediator  (1  Tim.  ii,  5 ;  Ileb.  viii, 
G;  ix,  15;  xii,  24)  by  virtue  of  the  reconciliation  he  has 
effected  between  a  justly-offended  God  and  his  rebel- 
lious creature  man  (see  Grotius,  De  Satli/actione  Christi, 
cap.  viii).  In  this  sense  of  the  term  Moses  was,  on 
many  occasions,  an  eminent  type  of  Christ.  The  latter, 
however,  was  not  Mediator  merely  by  reason  of  his 
coming  between  God  and  his  creatures,  as  certain  here- 
tics ^vould  affirm  (see  Cyril.  Alex.  Dial.  I  de  Sancta 
Trinitale,  p.  410),  but  because  he  appeased  his  wrath, 
and  made  reconciliation  for  iniquity.  "Christ  is  the 
Mediator,"  observes  Theophylact,  commenting  on  (Jal. 
iii,  "  of  two,  i.  e.  of  God  and  man.  He  exercises  this 
office  between  both  by  making  peace,  and  putting  a  stop 
to  that  spiritual  war  which  man  wages  against  God. 
To  accomplish  this  he  assumed  our  nature,  joining  in  a 
marvellous  manner  the  human,  by  reason  of  sin  un- 
friendly, to  the  divine  nature."  '•  Hence,"  he  adds, "  he 
made  reconciliation."  OJ^cumenius  expresses  similar 
sentiments  on  the  same  passage  of  Scripture.  Again, 
Cyril,  in  his  work  before  quoted,  remarks :  '•  He  is  es- 
teemed Mediator  because  the  divine  and  human  nature 
being  disjointed  by  sin,  he  has  shown  them  united  in 
his  own  person ;  and  in  this  manner  he  reunites  us  to 
God  the  Father."  If,  in  addition  to  the  above  general 
remarks,  confirmed  by  manj^  of  the  most  ancient  and 
orthodox  fathers  of  the  Church,  we  consider  the  three 
great  offices  which  holy  Scripture  assigns  to  Christ  as 
Saviour  of  the  world,  viz.  those  oi  prophet,  priest,  and 
Mn;;.  a  further  and  more  ample  illustration  will  be  af- 
forded of  his  Mediatorship. 


(1.)  One  of  the  first  and  most  palpable  predictions 
which  we  have  of  the  prophetic  character  of  Christ  is 
that  of  Moses  (Deut.  xviii,  15):"  The  Lord  thy  God  will 
raise  up  unto  thee  a  prophet  from  the  midst  of  thee,  of 
thy  brethren,  like  unto  me ;  unto  him  ye  shall  hearken." 
That  this  refers  to  Christ  we  are  assured  by  the  inspired 
apostle  Peter  (Acts  iii,  22).  Again,  in  Isaiah  Ixi,  1,  3, 
Christ's  consecration  to  the  prophetic  office,  together 
with  its  sacred  and  gracious  functions,  is  emphatically 
set  forth  (see  Luke  iv,  16-21,  where  Christ  applies  this 
passage  to  himself).  In  order,  then,  to  sustain  this  part 
of  his  mediatorial  office,  and  thus  work  out  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  -(vorld,  we  may  see  the  necessity  there  was 
that  Messiah  should  be  both  God  and  man.  It  belongs 
to  a  prophet  to  expound  the  law,  declare  the  will  of  God, 
and  foretell  things  to  come :  all  this  was  done,  and  that 
in  a  singular  and  eminent  manner,  by  Christ,  oiu-  prophet 
(Matt.  V,  21,  etc. ;  John  i,8).  All  light  comes  from  this 
prophet.  The  apostle  shows  that  all  ministers  are  but 
stars  which  shine  by  a  borrowed  light  (2  Cor.  iii,  6,  7). 
All  the  prophets  of  the  Old,  and  all  the  prophets  and 
teachers  of  the  New  Testament,  lighted  their  tapers  at 
this  torch  (Luke  xxi,  15).  It  was  Christ  who  preached 
by  Noah  (1  Pet.  iii,  19),  taught  the  Israelites  in  the  wil- 
derness (Acts  vii,  37),  and  still  teaches  by  his  ministers 
(Eph.  iv,  11, 12).  On  this  subject  bishop  Butler  {Anal- 
ogy, part  ii,  ch.  v)  says :  "  He  was,  by  way  of  eminence, 
the  j^rophet,  '  the  prophet  that  should  come  into  the 
world'  (John  vi,  14)  to  declare  the  divine  will.  He  pub- 
lished anew  the  law  of  nature,  which  men  had  corrupt- 
ed, and  the  very  knowledge  of  which,  to  some  degree, 
was  lost  among  them.  He  taught  mankind,  taught  us 
authoritatively,  to  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly 
in  this  present  world,  in  expectation  of  the  future  judg- 
ment of  God.  He  confirmed  the  truth  of  this  moral 
system  of  nature,  and  gave  us  additional  evidence  of  it, 
tile  evidence  of  testimony.  He  distinctly  revealed  the 
manner  in  which  God  would  b?  worshipped,  the  efficacy 
of  repentance,  and  the  rewards  and  punishments  of  a 
future  life.  Thus  he  was  a  prophet  in  a  sense  in  which 
no  other  ever  was."  Hence  the  force  of  the  term  o  \c- 
yoc,  by  which  John  designates  Christ.     See  Prophet. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  had  the  second  person  of  the 
Trinity  come  to  us  in  all  the  majesty  of  his  divine  nat- 
ure, we  could  not  have  approached  him  as  our  instruc- 
tor. The  Israelites,  terrified  at  the  exhibitions  of  Deity, 
cried  out  that  the  Lord  might  not  so  treat  with  them 
again ;  it  was  then  that  he,  in  gracious  condescension  to 
their  feelings,  promised  to  communicate  with  them  in 
future  through  a  prophet  like  unto  Moses.  The  son  of 
God,  in  assuming  the  form  of  an  humble  man,  became 
accessible  to  all.  This  condescension,  moreover,  enabled 
him  to  sympathize  with  his  clients  in  aU  their  trials 
(Heb.  ii,  11, 18;  iv,  14, 15).  Thus  we  perceive  the  con- 
nection of  Christ's  prophetic  office — he  being  both  God 
and  man — with  the  salvation  of  man.  On  this  subject 
Chrj-sostora  {Homil.  cxxxiv,  tom.  v,  p.  860)  remarks  : 
"A  mediator,  unless  he  has  a  union  and  communion 
with  the  parties  for  whom  he  mediates,  possesses  not  the 
essential  qualities  of  a  mediator.  When  Christ,  there- 
fore, became  mediator  between  God  and  man  (1  Tim.  ii, 
etc.),  it  was  indispensable  that  he  should  be  both  God 
and  man."  Macarius,  also  (Ilomil.  vi,  97),  on  this  ques- 
tion more  pointedly  observes :  "  The  Lord  came  and  took 
his  body  from  the  virgin ;  for  if  he  had  appeared  among 
us  in  his  naked  divinity,  who  could  bear  the  sight*''  But 
he  spoke  as  man  to  us  men." 

Again,  the  Redeemer  was  not  only  to  propound,  ex- 
plain, and  enforce  God's  law,  but  it  was  needful  that  he 
should  give  a  practical  proof  of  obedience  to  it  in  his 
own  person  (comp.  Kom.  v,  19).  Now,  if  he  had  not 
been  man,  he  could  not  have  been  subject  to  the  law; 
hence  it  is  said.  Gal.  iv,  4,  "  When  the  fulness  of  the 
time  was  come,  God  sent  forth  his  son,  made  of  a  wom- 
an, made  under  the  law ;"  and  if  he  had  not  been  God, 
he  could  not,  by  keeping  the  law,  have  merited  forgive- 
ness for  us,  for  he  had  done  but  what  ^vas  required  of 


MEDIATOR 


24 


MEDIATOR 


him.  It  was  the  fact  of  his  Ixintc  very  find  and  reiij 
man  which  constituted  the  hk  rit  of  Christ's  (il)p(lionce. 
(2.)  Moreover,  in  workinii  out  tlie  nii;;hly  scliomc  of 
redemption  the  mediator  must  assume  Ilie  oHico  of piiest. 
To  this  office  he  was  solemnly  appointed  hy  (Jod  (Psa. 
ex,  4;  lleb.  V,  10),  being  qualified  for  it  l)y  liis  incarna- 
tion (Heb.  X,  6,  7),  and  he  accomplished  all  the  ends 
thereof  bv  his  sacrificial  death  (Heb.  ix,  11,  1-2);  as  in 


sustaining  his  pi-ophetic  character,  so  in  this,  liis  Deity  > 
and  humanity  will  be  seen.  According  to  the  exhibition 
of  type  and  declaration  of  prophecy,  the  mediator  must 
die,  and  thus  rescue  us  sinners  from  death  by  destroy- 
ing him  who  had  the  power  of  death.  "  But  we  see 
Jesus,"  says  the  apostle  (Heb.  ii,  9),  "who  was  made  a 
little  lower  than  the  angels  for  the  suffering  of  death, 
crowned  with  glor\'  and  honor,  that  he  by  the  grace  of 
God  should  taste  death  for  every  man.  Forasmuch, 
then,  as  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood, 
he  also  himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same,  that 
through  death  he  might  destroy  him  wlio  had  the  pow- 
er of  death,  that  is,  the  devil."  On  the  other  liand,  had 
he  not  been  God  he  could  not  have  raised  himself  from 
the  dead.  "I  lay  down  my  life  (saith  he,  John  x,  17, 
18),  and  take  it  up  again."  lie  had  not  had  a  life  to 
lay  down  if  he  had  not  been  man,  for  the  (iodhead 
could  not  die;  and  if  he  had  not  been  (iod,  he  could  not 
have  acquired  merit  by  laying  it  down  :  it  must  be  his 
own,  and  not  in  the  power  of  another,  else  his  volunta- 
rily surrendering  himself  unto  death — as  he  did  on  the 
charge  that  he,  being  only  man,  made  himself  equal 
with  God — ^vas  an  act  of  suicide,  and  consequently  an 
act  of  blasphemy  against  God !  It  was,  then,  the  myste- 
rious union  of  both  natures  in  the  one  person  of  (Christ 
which  constituted  the  essential  glori)  of  his  vicarious 
obedience  and  death. 

Nor  are  the  two  natures  of  Christ  more  apparent  in 
his  death  than  thej'  are  in  the  intercession  which  he  ever 
liveth  to  make  in  behalf  of  all  who  come  unto  God  by 
him  (Ileb.  vii,  25).  The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  teaches  us  (chaps,  vii,  ix)  that  the  high-priest 
under  the  Levitical  dispensation  typified  Christ  in  his 
intercessory  character:  as  the  high-priest  entered  alone 
within  the  holiest  place  of  the  tabernacle  once  a  year 
with  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice  in  his  hands,  and  the 
names  of  the  twelve  tribes  upon  his  heart,  .'o  Christ, 
having  offered  up  himself  as  a  lamb  without  spot  unto 
God,  has  gone  into  glory  bearing  on  his  heart  the  names 
of  his  redeemed.  We  may  then  ask  with  the  apostle 
(Rom.  viii,  33),  "  Who  shall  lay  anything  to  the  charge 
of  God's  elect?  It  is  God  that  justifieth,  who  is  he 
that  condemncth?  It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea  rather, 
that  is  risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of 
(Jod,  who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us."  In  this  jiart 
of  his  mediatorial  work  God's  incomnwvicahle  attributes 
of  omniscience,  omnipresence,  and  omnipotence  are  seen. 
He  must  therefore  have  been  God,  and  on  the  ground 
of  his  being  able  from  personal  experience  to  sympa- 
thize with  the  suffering  members  of  liis  mystical  body, 
he  must  have  been  man ;  being  perfect  God  and  perfect 
man,  he  is  tlien  a  perfect  intercessor. 

(3.)  We  come,  lastly,  to  notice  Christ's  mediatorial 
character  as  kinrj.  The  limits  of  this  article  will  not 
admit  of  our  even  alluding  to  the  varied  and  multiplied 
passages  of  Scripture  which  delineate  Christ  as  '•  Head 
over  all  things  to  the  Church"  (see  Psa.  ii.  G;  Ixx;  Isa. 
xxxii,  1:  Dan.  ix.  2.5;  Col.  i,  17,  1«,  etc.).  Suffice  it 
here  to  say  that  Christ  could  not,  without  the  concur- 
rence of  his  divine  nature,  gather  and  govern  the  Church, 
protect  and  defend  it  against  all  assailants  open  and 
secret,  and  impart  to  it  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  enlighten 
and  renew  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  and  subdue  Sa- 
tan—all these  are  acts  of  his  kingly  office. 

Such,  then,  is  the  work  of  Christ's  mediatorship — 
salvation  revealed  by  him  as  prophet,  procured  by  him 
as  priest,  and  applied  by  him  as  king — the  work  of  tlie 
whole  person  wherein  both  natures  are  engaged.  Hence 
it  is  that  some  of  the  ancients  speaking  of  it,  designate 


it  GeavcpiKt]  ivipyiia,  "a  divine-human  operation"  (see 
Dionjs.  Areopag.  Epist.  I V  ad  Cuiam  Damascenum,  iii, 
19). 

Thus  Jesus  Christ  is  the  mediator  between  an  offend- 
ed God  and  sinfid  man  (1  Tim.  ii,  5).  Both  Jews  and 
Gentiles  have  a  notion  of  a  mediator:  the  Jews  call  the 
Messiah  XriirS?,  the  Mediator,  or  Middle  One.  The 
Persians  call  their  god  Mithras  fiiairtjc,  a  mediator ;  and 
the  diemons,  with  the  heathens,  seem  to  be,  according 
to  them,  mediators  between  the  superior  gods  and  men. 
Indeed,  the  whole  religion  of  paganism  was  a  system 
of  mediation  and  intercession.  The  idea,  therefore,  of 
salvation  by  a  mediator  is  not  so  novel  or  restricted  as 
some  imagine ;  and  the  Scriptures  of  truth  inform  us 
that  it  is  only  by  this  way  human  beings  can  arrive  to 
eternal  felicity  (Acts  iv,  12;  John  xiv,  G).  Man,  in  his 
state  of  innocence,  was  in  friendship  with  God ;  but, 
by  sinning  against  him,  he  exposed  himself  to  his  just 
displeasure;  his  powers  became  enfeebled,  and  his  heart 
filled  with  enmity  against  him  (Kom.  viii,  G) ;  he  was 
driven  out  of  his  paradisaical  Eden,  and  was  totally'  in- 
capable of  returning  to  God,  and  making  satisfaction  to 
his  justice.  Jesus  Christ,  therefore,  was  the  appointed 
mediator  to  bring  about  reconciliation  (Gen.  iii,  12; 
Col.  i,  21);  and  in  the  fulness  of  time  he  came  into  this 
world,  obeyed  the  law,  satisfied  justice,  and  brought  his 
people  into  a  state  of  grace  and  favor ;  yea,  into  a  more 
exalted  state  of  friendship  with  God  than  was  lost  by 
the  fall  (Eph.  ii,  18). 

We  have  seen  above  some  of  the  reasons  why  in  or- 
der to  accomplish  this  work  it  was  necessarj-  that  the 
IMediator  should  be  (iod  and  man  in  one  person.  We 
may  specify  the  following  in  addition.  («)  It  was  nec- 
essary that  he  should  be  man :  1.  That  he  might  be  re- 
lated to  those  to  whom  he  was  to  be  a  mediator  and  re- 
deemer (Phil,  ii,  8;  Heb.  ii,  11-17).  2.  That  sin  might 
be  atoned  for,  and  satisfaction  made  in  the  same  nat- 
ure which  had  sinned  (Kom.  v,  17-21 ;  viii,  3).  3.  It 
was  meet  that  the  mediator  should  be  man,  that  he 
might  be  cai)able  of  suffering  death ,  for,  as  Gcd,  he 
could  not  die,  and  without  shedding  of  blood  there  was 
no  remission  (Heb.  ii,  10, 15;  viii,  3-6;  ix,  15-28;  1  Pet. 
iii,  18).  4.  It  was  necessary  that  he  should  be  a  holy 
and  righteous  man,  free  from  all  sin,  that  he  might  of- 
fer himself  without  spot  to  God  (Heb.  vii,  26;  ix,  14; 
i,  19;  1  Pet.  ii,  22.  (b)  But  it  was  not  enough  that  the 
mediator  should  be  truly  man,  and  an  innocent  person; 
he  must  be  more  than  a  man  ;  it  was  requisite  that 
he  should  be  really  God.  I.  No  mere  man  could  have 
entered  into  a  covenant  with  (Jod  to  mediate  between 
him  and  sinful  men  (Pom.  ix.  5  ;  Heb.  i,  8  ,  1  Tim. 
iii,  16;  Tit.  ii,  13).  2.  lie  must  be  (iod,  to  give  virtue 
and  value  to  his  obedience  and  sufi'erings  (John  xx,  28; 
Acts  XX,  28;  2  Pet.  ii,  1;  Phil,  ii,  5-11).  3.  The  Me- 
diator being  thus  God  and  man,  we  are  encouraged  to 
hoj)e  in  him.  In  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  the  object 
of  trust  is  brought  nearer  to  ourselves.  If  he  were 
God  and  not  man,  we  should  approach  him  with  fear 
and  dread ;  and  if  he  were  man  and  not  (iod.  we  should 
I  be  guilty  of  idolatn,'  to  worship  and  trust  in  him  at  all 
j  (Jer.  xvii,  5).  The  plan  of  salvation  by  such  a  Medi- 
I  ator  is  therefore  the  most  suitable  to  human  beings; 
i  for  here  "Mercy  and  truth  are  met  together,  righteous- 
ness and  peace  have  kissed  each  o;  her"  (Psa.  Ixxxv,  10). 
I  The  properties  of  Christ  as  Mediator  are  these  :  1.  He 
I  is  the  only  Mediator  (1  Tim.  u.-i).  Praying,  therefore, 
I  to  saints  and  angels  is  an  error  of  the  Church  of  Home, 
I  and  has  no  countenance  from  Scripture.  2.  Christ  is  a 
IMediator  of  men  only,  not  of  angels;  good  angels  need 
not  any;  and  as  for  evil  angels,  none  is  provided  nor 
admitted.  3.  He  is  the  ^lediator  both  for  Jews  and 
(ientiles  (Eph.  ii.  18;  1  John  ii.2).  4.  He  is  the  Medi- 
ator both  for  Old  and  New  Testament  saints.  5.  He  is 
j  a  suitable,  constant,  willing,  and  prevalent  jNIedialor;  his 
mediation  always  succeeds,  and  is  iufallilile. 

For  a  more  ami»le  view  of  this  important  subject,  see 


MEDICAMENTUM 


Flavel.  Panstratia  of  Shamiei;  vol.  iii  (Geneva,  folio), 
vii,  1,  in  which  the  views  of  the  Eomish  Church  are 
ably  controverted.  See  also  Brinsley  (John),  Chrisfs 
Mediation  (Lond.  1657, 8 vo) ;  Gill's  Bocli/  of  Dirinity,  i, 
33G;  Witsii  (Econ.  Fad.  lib.  ii,  c.  4;  Fuller's  C,i>^pd  its 
oivn  Witness, eh. iv, p.  2 ;  Ilurrion's  Christ  ( 'nu-ij'n  «/.  p.  1 03, 
etc.;  Owen,  On  the  Person  of  C/u-ist;  Goodwin's  Works, 
b.  iii ;  M'Laughlan,  Chrisfs  Mediatorship  (Edinb.  1853) ; 
Kitto,  Bill.  Cyclop,  s.  v. ;  Buck,  Theol.  Bid.  s.  v. ;  A  mer. 
Presb.  Rev.  1863,  p.  419.     See  Atonement. 

Medicamentum,  or  MedicTna  corporis  et 
MENTIS,  a  name  occasionally  found  in  the  writings  of 
the  Church  fathers  as  a  synonyme  of  our  term  "  the  Lord's 
Supj^er."  Ignatius  and  others  not  unusually  speak  of 
"  the  medicine  of  immortality,"  "  medicine  or  preserva- 
tive of  the  soul."  See  Riddle,  Christian  Antiquities,  p. 
551. 

Medici,  the  house  of,  one  of  the  most  noted  fam- 
ilies of  Italy's  nobility,  tigures  so  largely  in  the  ecclesi- 
astical history  of  medieval  times  and  the  days  of  the 
Eenaissance  that  we  cannot  pass  it  without  a  some- 
what detailed  account  of  its  ditferent  members. 

1.  The  early  history  of  the  family  of  the  Medici  is 
obscure,  although  some  authors  have  traced  their  gene- 
alogy from  the  age  of  Charlemagne.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  these  genealogies  were  made  after  the 
elevation  of  this  family  to  supreme  power  in  the  repub- 
lic of  Florence — a  position  which  they  attained  only 
by  degrees,  after  tlie  accumulation  of  wealth  sufficient 
to  control  the  affairs  of  the  Italian  nation.  It  appears, 
however,  from  authentic  monuments,  that  many  indi- 
viduals of  this  family  had  signalized  themselves  on  va- 
rious important  occasions  even  in  early  times.  Gio- 
vanni de'  Jledici,  in  the  year  1251,  with  a  body  of  only 
one  hundred  Florentines,  forced  his  Avay  through  the 
IMilanese  army,  then  besieging  the  fortress  of  Scarperia, 
and  entered  the  ])lace  with  the  loss  of  twenty  lives. 
Francesco  de'  Jledici  was  at  the  head  of  the  magistracy 
of  Florence  in  1348,  at  the  time  when  the  black  plague, 
which  had  desolated  so  large  a  portion  of  the  world,  ex- 
tended its  ravages  to  that  city.  Salvestro  de'  Medici 
acquired  great  reputation  by  his  temperate  but  firm  re- 
sistance to  the  nobles,  who,  in  order  to  secure  their 
power,  accused  those  who  opposed  them  of  being  at- 
tached to  the  party  of  the  Ghibelines,  then  in  great 
odium  at  Florence.  The  persons  so  accused  were  said 
to  be  ainmoniti  (admonished),  and  by  that  act  were  ex- 
cluded from  all  offices  of  government.  In  the  year  1379, 
Salvestro,  being  chosen  chief  magistrate,  exerted  his 
power  to  reform  this  abuse,  which  was  not,  however,  ef- 
fected without  a  violent  commotion,  several  of  the  no- 
bility losing  their  lives  in  the  attempt.  It  is  from  this 
time  that  we  date  the  rise  of  the  Medici  to  prominence 
in  political,  and  Anally  also  in  ecclesiastical  affairs. 

2.  The  founder,  liowever,  of  that  almost  regal  great- 
ness which  the  Medici  enjoyed  for  more  than  two  cen- 
turies was  not  Salvestro,  who  first  received  great  public 
distinctions,  but  Giovanni  de'  Medici.  His  immense 
wealth,  honorably  acquired  by  commercial  dealings, 
which  had  already  rendered  the  name  of  Medici  cele- 
brated in  Europe,  was  expended  with  liberality  and 
magnificence.  Of  a  mild  temper  and  averse  to  cabals, 
Giovanni  de'  Medici  did  not  attempt  to  set  up  a  party, 
but  contented  himself  with  the  place  in  the  public  coun- 
cils to  which  even  his  enemies  declared  him  entitled  in 
virtue  of  his  eminence,  his  acquirements,  and  the  purity 
of  his  character.  He  died  in  1429,  leaving  to  his  sons, 
Cosmo  and  Lorenzo,  a  heritage  of  wealth  and  honors 
hitherto  unparalleled  in  the  republic. 

Cosmo  (born  1389,  died  1404),  on  whom  was  grate- 
fully bestowed  the  honored  title  of  "  Father  of  his  coun- 
try," really  began  the  glorious  epoch  of  the  Medici. 
Cosmo's  life,  except  during  a  short  period,  when  the  Al- 
bizzi  and  other  rivals  re-established  a  successful  opposi- 
tion against  the  policy  and  credit  of  the  Medici,  was 
one  uninterrupted  course  of  prosperity ;  at  once  a  mu- 


25  MEDICI 

nificent  patron  and  a  successful  cultivator  of  art  and  lit- 
erature, he  did  more  than  any  other  sovereign  in  Europe 
to  revive  the  study  of  the  ancient  classics,  and  to  foster 
a  taste  for  mental  culture.  He  assembled  around  him 
learned  men  of  every  nation,  and  gave  liberal  support 
to  numerous  Greek  scholars,  whom  the  subjection  T)f 
Constantinople  by  the  Tiu-ks  had  driven  into  exile ;  and 
by  his  foundation  of  an  academy  for  the  study  of  the 
philosophy  of  Plato,  and  of  a  library  of  Greek,  Latin, 
and  Oriental  MSS.,  he  inaugurated  a  new  ajra  in  mod- 
ern learning  and  art.  In  the  lifetime  of  his  father, 
Cosmo  had  engaged  not  only  in  the  extensive  business 
by  which  the  family  had  acquired  its  wealth,  but  also 
in  the  affairs  of  state.  Such  was  his  authority  and  rep- 
utation that  in  the  year  1414,  when  Balthasar  Cossa, 
who  had  been  elected  pope,  and  had  assumed  the  name 
of  John  XXIII,  was  summoned  to  attend  the  Council  of 
Constance,  he  chose  to  be  accompanied  by  Cosmo  de' 
Medici,  among  other  men  of  eminence,  whose  characters 
might  countenance  his  cause.  By  this  council,  which 
continued  nearly  four  years,  Balthasar  was  deprived  of 
his  pontifical  dignity,  and  Otto  Colonna,  who  took  the 
name  of  Martin  V,  was  elected  pope.  Cosmo  did  not 
desert  in  adversity  the  man  to  whom  he  had  attached 
himself  in  prosperity.  At  the  expense  of  a  large  sum 
of  money,  he  redeemed  him  from  the  hands  of  the  duke 
of  Bavaria,  who  had  seized  upon  his  person ;  and  after- 
wards gave  him  a  hospitable  shelter  at  Florence  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  The  successful  pontiff,  in- 
stead of  resenting  the  kindness  shown  to  his  rival,  soon 
afterwards  paid  a  public  visit  to  Florence,  where,  on  the 
formal  submission  of  Balthasar,  and  at  the  request  of 
the  Medici,  he  created  the  ex-pope  a  cardinal,  with  the 
privilege  of  taking  the  first  place  in  the  sacred  college. 
The  new-made  cardinal  died  in  1419,  and  it  was  rumored 
that  the  Medici  at  his  death  possessed  themselves  of 
immense  wealth  which  he  had  acquired  during  his  pon- 
tificate. This  rumor  was  afterwards  encouraged  by 
those  who  well  knew  its  falsehood.  The  true  source  of 
the  wealth  of  the  Medici  was  their  superior  talents  and 
application  to  business,  and  the  property  of  the  cardinal 
was  scarcely  sufficient  to  discharge  his  debts  and  lega- 
cies. During  the  retirement  of  his  latter  days,  his  hap- 
piest hours  were  devoted  to  the  study  of  letters  and 
philosophy,  and  the  conversation  of  learned  men.  He 
also  endowed  numerous  religious  houses,  and  built  a  hos- 
pital at  Jerusalem  for  the  relief  of  distressed  pilgrims. 

3.  Cosmo's  grandson,  Lorenzo,  afterwards  surnamed 
the  "  Magnificent"  (born  Jan.  1, 1448,  died  April  8, 1492), 
was  introduced  to  a  knowledge  of  public  affairs,  on  ac- 
count of  the  infirmities  of  his  father,  immediately  upon 
the  decease  of  Cosmo.  Though  only  a  j'outh,  he  was 
at  once  pushed  forward  to  take  upon  himself  the  work 
supposed  to  belong  to  a  much  niaturor  niin<l.  To  afford 
him  a  clearer  insight  into  pulitical  affairs  than  he  could 
secure  at  home,  he  was  sent  to  visit  the  principal  courts 
in  Italy.  Upon  the  accession  of  Sixtus  IV  to  tlie  papal 
throne,  he  went,  with  other  citizens  of  Florence,  to  con- 
gratulate the  new  pope,  and  was  invested  with  the  office 
of  treasurer  of  the  holy  see;  and  while  at  Rome  embraced 
the  opportunity  to  add  to  the  remains  of  ancient  art 
which  his  family  had  collected.  One  of  the  first  events 
after  he  undertook  the  administration  of  affairs  was  a 
revolt  of  the  inhabitants  of  Volterra,  on  account  of  a  dis- 
pute with  the  Florentine  republic.  By  the  recommen- 
dation of  Lorenzo,  force  was  used,  and  the  result  was  the 
sack  of  Volterra.  Like  his  grandfather,  he  encouraged 
literature  and  the  arts,  employed  learned  men  to  collect 
choice  books  and  antiquities  lor  liim  from  every  part  of 
the  known  world,  established  priiilin--presses  in  liis  do- 
minions as  soon  as  the  art  was  invented,  but,  above  all, 
he  deserves  special  commendation  for  his  rc-establish- 
ment  of  the  Academy  of  Pisa,  to  which  city  he  removed 
in  order  to  complete  the  undertaking :  he  selected  the 
most  eminent  professors,  and  contributed  a  large  sum 
from  his  private  fortune,  in  addition  to  that  granted  by 
the  state  of  Florence.     In  another  respect  also  Loreuzo 


MEDICI 


26 


MEDICI 


resembled  his  grandfather  Cosmo.  He  was,  or  affected 
to  be,  an  admirer  of  Plato,  took  an  active  part  in  the 
establishment  of  an  academy  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
Platonic  philosophy,  and  instituted  an  annual  festival 
in  honor  of  Plato. 

While  Lorenzo  was  dividing  his  time  between  the 
administration  of  the  state  and  the  promotion  of  litera- 
ture, tlie  Pazzi,  a  numerous  and  distinguished  family  in 
Florence,  of  all  the  opponents  of  the  Medici  the  most 
inveterate,  formed  a  conspiracy  to  assassinate  Lorenzo 
and  his  brother;  experience  having  taught  them  the 
impossibility  of  overthrowing  the  reign  of  the  i^fedici 
in  any  other  way.  Giuliano  was  killed,  but  Lorenzo  es- 
caped. "A  horrible  transaction  this,  which  has  been 
justly  quoted  as  an  incontrovertible  proof  of  the  practi- 
cal atheism  of  the  times  in  which  it  took  place — one  in 
which  a  pope,  a  cardinal,  an  archbishop,  and  several 
other  ecclesiastics,  associated  themselves  with  a  band 
of  ruffians  to  destroy  two  men  who  were  an  honor  to 
their  age  and  country ;  and  purposed  to  perpetrate-  their 
crime  at  a  season  of  hospitality,  in  the  sanctuary  of  a 
Christian  Church,  and  at  the  very  moment  of  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  host,  when  the  congregation  bowed  down  be- 
fore it,  and  the  assassins  were  presumed  to  be  in  the  im- 
mediate presence  of  their  God.  The  plan  was  concocted 
at  Kome,  with  the  participation  of  pope  Sixtus  IV.  On 
the  2Gth  of  April,  1478,  in  the  church  of  the  Keparata, 
during  the  mass,  while  the  host  was  elevated  and  the 
multitude  were  kneeling,  the  murderous  blow  was  struck, 
the  very  mass-bell  itself  sounding  the  signal  to  the  other 
conspirators  to  possess  themselves  of  the  palace  and  gov- 
ernment." The  failure  of  this  dastardly  scheme  only 
made  the  Medici  the  more  invincible.  The  people,  who 
had  always  been  attached  to  them,  exasperated  by  this 
open  and  daring  attempt  to  rob  them  of  those  whom  they 
conceived  to  be  their  best  friends,  now  took  the  execu- 
tion of  the  law  in  their  own  hands,  and  put  to  death  or 
apprehended  the  assassins.  Salviati,  archbishop  of  Pisa, 
was  hung  through  the  windows  of  the  palace,  and  was 
not  allowed  to  divest  himself  even  of  his  robes;  and 
Jacopo  de'  Pazzi,  with  one  of  his  neithews,  shared  the 
same  fate.  The  name  and  arms  of  the  Pazzi  family 
were  suppressed,  its  members  were  banished,  and  Lo- 
renzo rose  still  higher  in  the  regard  of  his  fellow-citi- 
zens. The  troubles  of  the  Medici,  however,  did  not 
stop  here.  For  them  yet  remained  the  punishment 
at  the  disposal  of  the  papal  party,  and  the  latter,  mad- 
dened by  the  failure  of  their  plot,  determined  now  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  which  Kome  could 
afford  as  '■'  ecclesiastical  thunderer."  Sixtus  lY  prompt- 
ly excommunicated  Lorenzo  and  the  magistrates  of 
Florence,  laid  an  interdict  upon  the  whole  territory,  and, 
forming  a  league  with  the  king  of  Naples,  prepared  to 
invade  the  Florentine  dominions.  Lorenzo  appealed  to 
all  the  surrounding  potentates,  and,  zealously  supported 
by  his  fellow-citizens,  commenced  hostilities,  and  car- 
ried on  two  campaigns.  At  the  close  of  147'J,  Lorenzo 
took  the  bold  resolution  of  paying  a  visit  to  the  king  of 
Naples,  anil,  without  obtaining  any  previous  promise  of 
security,  trusted  himself  to  the  mercy  of  his  enemy. 
The  result  of  this  confidence  was  a  treaty  of  mutual  de- 
fence and  friendship  botween  the  king  of  Naples  and 
Florence,  and  this  (inally  forced  Sixtus  to  consent  to  a 
treaty  of  |ioace.  In  IWl  Sixtus  IV  died,  and  his  suc- 
cessor on  llio  papal  ilirone,  Innocent  VIII,  manifesting  a 
determination  to  ro-cstablish  friendly  relations  with  the 
different  Italian  |princi's  [see  IsxociiNT  VIII],  the  con- 
test of  llie  ^Medici  with  the  Church  seemed  to  have 
come  to  a  hapjiy  close.  There  was,  however,  still  one 
dark  cloud  on  the  lirmament  of  the  heavens,  and  it 
threatened  sooner  or  later  to  bring  trouble  and  discom- 
fiture to  the  Medici— we  refer  to  Savonarola,  the  great 
Italian  reformer,  who  was  in  the  very  strength  of  his 
manhood  at  this  time.  The  Italian  monk  had  long  oj)- 
posed  the  licentious  habits  of  the  court  and  tlie  nobility. 
He  was  oi)i)osed,  moreover,  to  the  disyilay  of  regal  sjdcn- 
dor,  and  boldly  preached  in  favor  of  democracy  and  re- 


publican institutions.  Lorenzo  sought  in  more  than 
one  way  to  conciliate  the  sturdy  reformer,  but  all  ef- 
forts ])roved  futile.  Not  even  the  cardinalate  could 
tempt  him  [see  Savonarola],  and  Lorenzo  was  forced 
to  admit  himself,  "Uesides  this  man,  I  have  never  seen 
a  true  monk."  Gradually  Savonarola  gave  system  to 
his  republican  ideas,  and,  gathering  about  him  a  host 
of  followers,  these  opponents  of  the  ruling  administra- 
tion came  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  Puif/noiii  (q.  v.) 
or  '-weepers,"  so  called  because  of  their  determination 
to  stem  the  progress  of  the  voluptuous  refinement  of  the 
day  by  ascetic  severity  of  morals.  Lorenzo  himself 
saw  clearly  the  inherent  insufficiency  of  art  and  ])hilos- 
ophy  alone  for  the  security  of  a  state;  but  while  he 
sighed  for  a  purely  religious  influence,  he  feared  the 
dangerous  tendency  of  the  Piaffnoni  towards  a  popular 
and  democratic  form  of  government,  and  he  had  failed 
to  extinguish  or  abate  this  opposition  when  suddenly 
cut  down  by  disease  and  death,  April  8, 1492. 

Lorenzo  is  credited  with  even  greater  love  and  devo- 
tion to  the  develo]iraent  of  literarj'  life  and  the  study  of 
the  fine  arts  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  His  own 
productions  are  sonnets,  canzoni,  and  other  lyric  pieces; 
some  longer  works  in  stanzas,  some  comic  satires,  car- 
nival songs,  and  various  sacred  poems.  Many  of  the 
lighter  kind  were  popular  in  their  day.  Although  the 
ancestors  of  Lorenzo  laid  the  foundation  of  the  immense 
collection  of  manuscripts  contained  in  the  Laurentian 
librarj-,  Lorenzo  has  the  credit  of  adding  most  largely  to 
the  stock.  For  the  purpose  of  enriching  his  collection 
of  books  and  antiipiities,  he  employed  learned  men  in 
different  parts  of  Italy,  and  especially  his  intimate  friend 
Politian,  who  made  several  journeys  in  order  to  discover 
and  purchase  the  valuable  remains  of  anticpiity.  Two 
journeys  were  undertaken  at  the  request  of  Lorenzo  into 
the  East  by  John  Lascaris,  and  the  result  was  the  acqui- 
sition of  a  great  number  of  manuscripts.  On  his  return 
from  his  second  expedition,  Lascaris  brought  two  hun- 
dred manuscripts,  many  of  which  he  had  procurcil  from 
a  monastery  at  Mount  Athos;  but  this  treasure  did  not 
arrive  till  after  the  death  of  Lorenzo,  who  in  his  last 
moments  expressed  to  I'olitian  and  Pico  of  Jlirandola 
his  regret  that  he  could  not  live  to  complete  the  collec- 
tion which  he  was  forming.  On  the  discovery  of  the 
art  of  printing,  Lorenzo  quickly  saw  and  appreciated  its 
importance.  At  his  suggestion,  several  Italian  scholars 
devoted  their  attention  to  collating  the  manuscripts  of 
the  ancient  authors,  for  the  purpose  of  having  them  ac- 
curately printed.  On  the  capture  of  Constantinople  by 
the  Turks,  many  learned  Greeks  took  refuge  in  Italy ; 
and  an  academy  was  established  at  Florence  for  the 
]iurpose  of  cultivating  the  (ircek  language,  partly  under 
the  direction  of  native  (ireeks,  and  partly  under  native 
Italians.  The  services  of  these  learned  men  were  pro- 
cured by  Lorenzo,  and  were  amply  rewarded  by  his 
bounty.  "Hence,"  as  Koscoe  observes  (in  his  Life  of 
Lorenzo  de!  Medici,  1795,  2  vols.  4to;  Bohn's  edit.  Lend. 
1851, 12mo), "succeeding  scholars  have  been  profuse  of 
their  acknowledgments  to  their  great  patron,  who  first 
formed  that  establishment,  from  which  (to  use  their  own 
scholastic  figure),  as  from  the  Trojan  horse,  so  many 
illustrious  chaniiuons  have  sjirung,  and  by  menus  of 
which  the  knowledge  of  the  (ireek  tongue  was  extend- 
ed, not  only  through  Italy,  but  through  France.  Spain, 
Germany,  and  Fngland,  from  all  which  countries  nu- 
merous pu|)ils  attended  at  Florence,  wlio  diffused  the 
learning  they  had  there  accpiireil  throughout  the  rest 
of  Europe.'  Lorenzo  also  augmented  Ids  father's  col- 
lection of  tlie  remains  of  ancient  art.  He  ajipropriated 
his  gardens  in  Florence  to  the  purpose  of  an  academy 
for  the  study  of  the  antique,  whieli  he  furnished  witli 
statues,  busts,  and  otlier  works  of  art.  the  best  of  their 
j  kind  that  he  ci>uld  jirocure.  The  higher  class  of  his 
!  fellow-citizens  were  incited  to  these  pursuits  by  tlie  ex- 
I  ample  of  Lorenzo,  ami  the  lower  class  by  his  liberality. 
'  To  the  latter  he  not  only  allowed  competent  stipends 
I  while  they  attended  to  their  studies,  but  gave  consider- 


MEDICI 


27 


MEDICINE 


able  premiums  as  rewards  of  their  proficiency.  To  this 
institution,  more  than  to  any  other  circumstance,  Koscoe 
ascribes  the  sudden  and  astonishing  advance  which,  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  15th  centurj-,  was  evidently  made 
in  the  arts,  and  which,  commencing  at  Florence,  ex- 
tended itself  to  the  rest  of  Europe. 

4.  Lorenzo's  successor  in  the  government  of  Florence 
was  his  eldest  son  Pietro ;  but  of  far  greater  interest  to 
the  ecclesiastical  student  is  the  history  of  his  younger  son 
Giovanni,  and  that  of  his  nephew  Giulio.  The  former 
of  the  two  last  named,  Giovanni,  was  honored,  by  the 
prudent  manipulations  of  Lorenzo,  v.-ith  the  cardinal's 
hat  when  only  a  boy  of  thirteen  years,  at  the  hands  of 
Innocent  VIII,  and,  on  the  death  of  JuUus  II,  brought 
credit  upon  the  name  of  Medici  by  his  accession  to  the 
papal  throne.  See  Leo  X.  Of  Giulio's  history  we  have 
the  following  from  Eoscoe.  Shortly  after  the  attempt 
at  assassination,  he  says,  "  Lorenzo  received  a  visit  from 
Antonio  da  San  (xallo,  who  informed  him  that  the  un- 
timely death  of  Giuliano  had  prevented  his  disclosing  to 
Lorenzo  a  circumstance  with  which  it  was  now  become 
necessary  that  he  should  be  acquainted :  this  was  the  birth 
of  a  son,  whom  a  lady  of  the  family  of  Gorini  had  borne 
to  Giuliano  about  twelve  months  before  his  death,  and 
whom  Antonio  had  held  over  the  baptismal  font,  where 
he  received  the  name  of  Giulio.  Lorenzo  immediately 
repaired  to  the  place  of  the  infant's  residence,  and,  taking 
him  under  his  protection,  delivered  him  to  Antonio,  with 
whom  he  remained  until  he  had  arrived  at  the  seventh 
year  of  his  age.  This  concealed  offspring  of  illicit  love, 
to  whom  the  kindness  of  Lorenzo  supplied  the  untimely 
loss  of  a  father,  was  destined  to  act  an  important  part  in 
the  affairs  of  Europe.  The  final  extinction  of  the  lib- 
erties of  Florence,  the  alliance  of  the  family  of  Medici 
with  the  royal  house  of  France,  the  expulsion  of  Henry 
VIII  of  England  from  the  bosom  of  the  Roman  Church, 
and  the  consequent  establishment  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  Reformers  in  Great  Britain,  are  principally  to  be  re- 
ferred to  this  illegitimate  son  of  Giuliano  de'  Medici,  who 
through  various  vicissitudes  of  fortune  at  length  ob- 
tained the  supreme  direction  of  the  Roman  see,  and,  un- 
der the  name  of  Clement  VII,  guided  the  bark  of  St.  Pe- 
ter through  a  succession  of  the  severest  storms  which  it 
has  ever  experienced." 

Pietro  possessed  neither  capacity  nor  prudence,  and 
in  the  troubles  which  the  ambition  of  her  princes  and 
the  profligacy  of  her  popes  brought  upon  Italy,  by 
plunging  her  into  civil  and  foreign  war,  he  showed  him- 
self treacherous  and  vacillating  alike  to  friends  and  foes. 
Lodovico  Sforza,  surnamed  the  "  Moor,"  relying  on  the 
friendship  which,  from  the  middle  of  the  15th  century, 
had  prevailed  between  the  Sforza  family  of  Milan  and 
the  Medici,  applied  to  him  for  assistance  in  establishing 
his  claim  to  the  duchy  of  ^Nlilan ;  but,  seeing  that  no  re- 
liance could  be  placed  on  Pietro,  he  threw  himself  into 
the  arms  of  Charles  VIII  of  France.  The  result  was 
the  invasion  of  Italy  by  a  French  army  of  32,000  men. 
Pietro,  in  hopes  of  conciliating  the  powerful  invader, 
hastened  to  meet  the  troops  on  their  entrance  into  the 
dominions  of  Florence,  and  surrendered  to  Charles  the 
fortresses  of  Leghorn  and  Pisa,  which  constituted  the 
keys  of  the  republic.  The  magistrates  and  people,  in- 
censed at  his  perfidy,  drove  him  from  the  city,  and  for- 
mally deposed  the  family  of  the  Medici  from  all  partici- 
pation of  power  in  1494. 

The  attempts  of  Giovanni,  then  a  cardinal,  to  up- 
hold the  ]Medician  authoritj',  and  his  success  in  the  re- 
establishment  of  his  house  in  1512,  we  have  narrated  in 
our  article  on  Leo  X.  Pietro  was  slain  in  1503,  while 
fighting  in  the  French  ranks. 

It  was  during  the  invasions  of  the  French  in  Italy,  in 
the  days  of  Pietro,  that  Florence  was  robbed  of  one  of 
her  greatest  treasures— the  invaluable  librarj'  which  had 
been  collected  by  the  care  of  his  father  and  grandfather. 
"  The  French  troops,  which  had  entered  the  city  with- 
out opposition,  led  the  way  to  this  act  of  barbarism,  in 
which  they  were  joined  by  the  Florentines  themselves, 


who  openly  carried  off  or  purloined  whatever  they  could 
discover  that  was  rare  or  valuable.  Besides  the  nu- 
merous manuscripts,  the  plunderers  carried  off  the  ines- 
timable specimens  of  the  arts  which  the  palace  of  the 
Medici  contained,  and  which  had  long  made  it  the  ad- 
miration of  strangers  and  the  chief  ornament  of  the  city. 
Exquisite  pieces  of  ancient  sculpture,  vases,  cameos,  and 
gems  of  various  kinds,  were  lost  amid  the  indiscriminate 
plunder,  and  the  rich  accumulations  of  half  a  century 
were  destroyed  or  dispersed  in  a  single  day."  During 
the  interregnum,  the  labors  of  the  Piagnoni  were  sud- 
denly checked  by  the  martyrdom  of  their  beloved  leader, 
Savonarola,  in  1498 ;  and,  when  the  Medici  came  again 
to  rule  over  Florence,  this  disposition  of  some  of  their 
strongest  ojiponents  threw  a  -weight  of  power  into  the 
hands  of  the  Medici  which  rendered  all  attempts  to 
maintain  even  a  show  of  independence  futile  on  the 
part  of  the  Florentines.  The  faintest  indication  of  re- 
publican spirit  was  at  once  crushed  by  the  combined 
aid  of  pope  and  emperor. 

5.  The  accession  of  Clement  VII  only  strengthened  the 
Medici  in  Florence,  and,  though  the  legitimate  male  line 
of  Cosmo  was  extinct  (with  the  exception  of  the  pope), 
Clement  VII  gave,  in  1529,  to  Alessandro,  natural  son  of 
the  last  prince  Lorenzo  II,  the  rank  of  duke  of  Florence ; 
and  on  his  death,  by  assassination,  without  direct  heirs, 
in  1537,  raised  Cosmo  I,  the  descendant  of  a  collateral 
branch,  to  the  ducal  chair. 

Cosmo,  known  as  the  Great,  possessed  the  astute- 
ness of  character,  the  love  of  elegance,  and  taste  for 
literature,  but  not  the  frank  and  generous  spirit  that 
had  distinguished  his  great  ancestors;  and  wliile  he 
founded  the  academies  of  painting  and  of  fine  arts,  made 
collections  of  paintings  and  statuary,  published  magnifi- 
cent editions  of  his  own  works  and  those  of  others,  and 
encouraged  trade,  for  the  protection  of  which  he  insti- 
tuted the  ecclesiastical  order  of  St.  Stephen,  he  was  im- 
jjlacable  in  his  enmity,  and  scrupled  not  utterly  to  ex- 
tirpate the  race  of  the  Strozzi,  the  hereditary  foes  of  his 
house.  His  acquisition  of  Sienna  gained  for  him  the  title 
of  grand-duke  of  Tuscany  from  Pius  V ;  and  he  died  in 
1574,  leaving  enormous  wealth  and  regal  power  to  his 
descendants,  who,  throughout  the  next  half  century, 
maintained  the  literary  and  artistic  fame  of  their  fam- 
ily. In  the  17th  century  the  race  rapidly  degenerated, 
and,  after  several  of  its  representatives  had  suffered 
tjiemselves  to  be  made  the  mere  tools  of  Spanish  and 
Austrian  ambition,  the  main  line  of  the  Medici  family 
became  extinct  in  1737.  The  genealogy  of  the  Medici 
to  the  present  time  is  given  in  a  splendid  work  but  little 
known,  entitled  Fami<]lie  celebii  Italiane,  by  Litta.  The 
IMedici  and  their  descendants  are  comprised  in  Fascicolo 
XVII  (in  seven  parts,  Milan,  1827-30,  folio).  See  also 
Modern  Universal  History,  vol.  xxxvi ;  Noble,  Memoirs 
of  the  House  of  Medici,  illustrated  with  genealogical  ta- 
bles; Tenhove,  il/ewoirs  of  the  House  of  Medici,  trans- 
lated from  the  French  by  Sir  R.  Clayton  (Bath,  1797, 2 
vols.  4to) ;  Roscoe,  Life  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  and  his 
Life  and  Pontificate  of  Leo  X  (Liverp.  1805, 4  vols.  4to) ; 
Guicciardini,  Storia  d' Italia  ;  Botta,  Storia  d' Italia  ; 
Sismondi,  Hist,  des  Repuhliques  Italiennes ;  Leo,  Gesch.  v. 
Italien;  TroUope,  Hist,  of  Florence  (Lond.  1865,  4  vols. 
8vo) ;  Hallam,  Middle  Ages  (Smith's  ed..  Harpers,  1872), 
p.  229  sq. ;  National  Quart.  Rev.  Dec.  1863,  art.  iii ;  For- 
eign Quart.  Rev.  v,  475;  and  the  excellent  article  in  the 
English  Cyclopcedia,  s.  v. 

Medicine  (HS^^ri,  teruphah',  a  medical  powder, 
Ezek.  xlvii,  12 ;  Sept.  vylna,  comp.  ^(pa-n-eia  of  Rev. 
xxii,2;  Yulg. medicina;  also  the  plur.  niXS'7,  repliuoth', 
medicaments,  or  remedies  for  wounds,  Jer.  xxx,  13 ;  xlvi, 
11 ;  "  healed,"  Ezek.  xxx,  21 ;  but  ililX  gehah ',  in  Prov. 
xvii,  12,  is  properly  the  removal  of  the  bandages  from  a 
sore,  hence  its  healing ;  therefore  render,  "  a  joj-ful  heart 
perfects  a  cui-e").  In  the  following  article  we  chiefly 
make  use  of  that  m  Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  s.  v.  See 
Heal. 


MEDICINE 


28 


MEDICINE 


1.  Sources  of  Medical  Science  among  the  Jlehreii-s.—l. 
Natural. — Next  to  care  for  food,  clothinf;,  and  shelter, 
the  curing  of  hurts  takes  precedence  even  among  savage 
nations.  At  a  later  period  comes  the  treatment  of  sick- 
ness, and  recognition  of  states  of  disease,  and  these  mark 
a  nascent  civilization.  Internal  diseases,  and  all  tor 
which  an  obvious  cause  cannot  be  assigned,  are  in  the 
most  early  period  viewed  as  the  visitation  of  God,  or  as 
the  act  of  some  malignant  power,  human — as  the  evil 
eye — or  else  superhuman,  and  to  be  dealt  with  by  sor- 
cerj',  or  some  other  occult  supposed  agency.  The  In- 
dian notion  is  that  all  diseases  are  the  work  of  an  evil 
spirit  (Sprcngel,  Gesch.  ikr  A  i-zeneikunde,  ii,  48).  Hut 
among  a  civilized  race  the  pre-eminence  of  the  medical 
art  is  confessed  in  proportion  to  the  increased  value  set 
on  luiman  life,  and  the  vastly  greater  amount  of  com- 
fort and  enjoyment  of  which  civilized  man  is  capable. 

2.  K;jij]>tiiin. — It  would  be  strange  if  their  close  con- 
nection historically  with  Egypt  had  not  imbued  the  Is- 
raelites with  a  strong  appreciation  of  the  value  of  this 
art,  and  ^vitli  some  considerable  degree  of  medical  cult- 
ure. From  the  most  ancient  testimonies,  sacred  and 
secular,  I'^gypt,  from  whatever  cause,  though  perhaps 
from  necessity,  was  foremost  among  the  nations  in  this 
most  human  of  studies  purely  physical.  Again,  as  the 
active  intelligence  of  Greece  flowed  in  upon  her,  and 
mingled  with  the  immense  store  of  pathological  records 
whicli  must  have  accumulated  under  the  system  de- 
scribed by  Herodotus,  Egypt,  especially  Alexandria,  be- 
came the  medical  repertory  and  museum  of  the  world. 
Thither  all  that  was  best  worth  preserving  amid  earlier 
civilizations,  whether  her  own  or  foreign,  had  been  at-  , 
tractcd,  and  medicine  and  surgery  flourished  amid  po- 
litical decadence  and  artistic  decline.  The  attempt  has 
been  made  by  a  French  writer  (Henouard,  Ilistoire  de 
Medicine  depuis  son  Oriffi/ie,  etc.)  to  arrange  in  periods 
the  growth  of  the  medical  art  as  follows :  1st.  The  I'rim- 
itive  or  Instinctive  Period,  lasting  from  the  earliest  re- 
corded treatment  to  the  fall  of  Troy.  2dly.  The  Sacred 
or  3Iystic  Period,  lasting  till  the  dispersion  of  the  I'y- 
thagorean  Society,  B.C.  500.  3dly.  The  Philosophical 
Period,  closing  with  the  foundation  of  the  Alexandrian 
Library,  H.Co20.  4thly.  The  Anatomical  Period,  wliich 
continued  till  the  death  of  (Jalen,  A.I).  200.  But  these 
artificial  lines  do  not  strictly  exhibit  the  truth  of  the 
matter.  Egypt  was  the  earliest  home  of  medical  and 
other  skill  for  the  region  of  the  Mediterranean  basin, 
and  every  Egyptian  mummy  of  the  more  expensive  and 
elaborate  sort  involved  a  process  of  anatomy.  This 
gave  opportunities  of  inspecting  a  vast  number  of  bod- 
ies, varying  in  every  possible  condition.  Such  oppor- 
tunities were  sure  to  be  turned  to  account  (Pliny,  A'.  //. 
xix,."))  by  the  more  diligent  among  the  faculty,  for  "the 
physicians"  embalmed  (Gen.  1, 2).  The  intestines  had  a 
separate  receptacle  assigned  them,  or  were  restored  to  | 
the  body  through  the  ventral  incision  (Wilkinson,  v,  i 
468) ;  and  every  such  j)rocess  which  we  can  trace  in  the  I 
mummies  discovered  shows  the  most  minute  accuracy 
of  manipulation.  Notwithstanding  these  laborious  ef- 
forts, we  have  no  trace  of  any  philosophical  or  rational 
system  of  Egyptian  origin,  and  medicine  in  Egypt  was 
a  mere  art  or  profession.  Of  science  the  Asclepiadaj  of 
Greece  were  the  true  originators.  Hippocrates,  wlio 
wrote  a  book  on  "Ancient  Medicine,"  and  who  seems  to 
have  had  many  opportunities  of  access  to  foreign  sources, 
gives  no  pruminence  to  Egypt.  It  was  no  douiit  owing 
to  the  rejiressive  influences  of  her  fixed  institutions  that 
this  country  did  not  attain  to  a  vast  and  speedy  profi- 
ciency in  medical  science,  when  po.'^t  mortem  examina- 
tion was  so  general  a  rule  instead  of  being  a  rare  excep- 
tion. Still  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  considerable 
advances  in  physiology  could  have  failed  to  be  made 
there  from  time  to  time,  and  similarly,  though  we  can- 
not so  well  determine  how  far,  in  Assyria.  Kecent  re- 
searches at  Kouyunjik  have  given  proof,  it  is  said,  of 
the  use  of  the  microscope  in  minute  devices,  and  yielded 
up  even  s|)ecimens  of  magnifying  lenses.     A  cone  en- 


graved with  a  table  of  cubes,  so  small  as  to  be  unintel- 
ligible without  a  lens,  was  brought  home  by  Sir  H. 
Kawlinson,  and  is  now  in  the  British  Museum.  As  to 
whether  the  invention  was  brought  to  bear  on  medical 
science,  proof  is  wanting.  Probably  such  science  had 
not  yet  been  pushed  to  the  point  at  which  the  micro- 
scojic  becomes  useful.  Only  those  who  have  quick,  keen 
eyes  for  the  nature-world  feel  the  want  of  such  specta- 
cles. The  best  guarantee  for  the  advance  of  medical 
science  is,  after  all,  the  interest  which  everj-  human  be- 
ing has  in  it,  and  this  is  most  strongly  felt  in  large  gre- 
garious masses  of  population.  Compared  with  tlie  wild 
countries  around  them,  at  any  rate,  Egypt  must  have 
seemed  incalculably  advanced.  Hence  the  awe  with 
which  Homer's  Greeks  speak  of  her  wealth,  resources, 
and  medical  skill  (//.  ix,  381 ;  Od.  iv,  229.  See  also 
Herod,  ii,  84,  and  i,  77).  The  simple  heroes  had  rever- 
ence for  the  healing  skill  which  extended  only  to 
wounds.  There  is  hardly  any  recognition  of  disease  in 
Homer.  There  is  sudden  death,  pestilence,  and  weary 
old  age,  but  hardly  any  fixed  morbid  condition,  save  in 
a  simile  (Od.  v,  39.")).  See,  however,  a  letter  J)e  rebus 
ex  Jfomero  medicis.  1).  G.  Wolf  (Wittenberg,  1791).  So 
likewise  even  the  visit  of  Abraham,  though  prior  to  this 
period,  found  Egypt  no  doubt  in  advance  of  other  coim- 
tries.  Kepresentations  of  early  Egyptian  surgerj-  ap- 
parently occur  on  some  of  the  monuments  of  Beni-Has- 
san.  Flint  knives  used  for  embalming  have  been  re- 
covered; the  "Ethiopic  stone"  of  Herodotus  (ii,  86; 
comp.  Ezek.  iv,  25)  was  probably  either  black  flint  or 
agate  [see  Knife],  and  those  who  have  assisted  at  the 
oijcning  of  a  mummy  have  noticed  that  the  teeth  ex- 
hibit a  dentistry  not  inferior  in  execution  to  the  work 
of  the  best  modern  experts.  This  confirms  the  state- 
ment of  Herodotus  that  everj'  part  of  the  body  was 
studied  by  a  distinct  practitioner.  Pliny  (vii,  57)  as- 
serts that  the  Egyptians  claimed  the  invention  of  the 
healing  art,  and  (xxvi,  1)  thinks  them  subject  to  manj 
diseases.  Their  "many  medicines"  are  mentioned  (.Jer. 
xlvi,  11).  Many  valuable  drugs  may  be  derived  from 
the  plants  mentioned  by  Wilkinson  (iv,  621),  and  the 
senna  of  the  adjacent  interior  of  Africa  still  excels  all 
other.  Athothmes  II,  king  of  the  countn,-,  is  said  to 
have  written  on  the  subject  of  anatomy.  Hermes  (who 
may  perhaps  be  the  same  as  Athothmes,  intellect  per- 
sonified, only  disguised  as  a  deity  instead  of  a  legendary 
king),  was  said  to  have  written  six  books  on  medicine, 
in  which  an  entire  chapter  was  devoted  to  diseases  of 
the  eye  (Kawlinson's  I/erod.  note  to  ii,  84),  and  the  first 
half  of  which  related  to  anatomy.  The  various  rccijics 
known  to  have  been  beneficial  were  recorded,  with  their 
peculiar  cases,  in  the  memoirs  of  physic,  inscribed  among 
the  laws,  and  deposited  in  the  principal  temples  of  the 
place  (Wilkinson,  iii,  396,  397).  The  reputation  of  its 
practitioners  in  historical  times  was  such  that  both  Cy- 
rus and  Darius  sent  to  Egypt  for  ])hysicians  or  surgeons 
(Herod,  iii,  1, 129-132)  ;  and  by  one  of  the  same  coun- 
try, no  doubt,  Cambyses's  wound  was  tended,  though 
not,  perhaps,  with  much  zeal  for  liis  recovery. 

Of  midwifery  we  have  a  distinct  notice  (Exod.  i,  15), 
and  of  women  as  its  practitioners,  which  fact  may  also 
be  verified  from  the  sculptures  (Kawlinson's  note  on 
Herod,  ii.  84\  The  sex  of  the  practitioners  is  clear 
from  tlie  Hob.  grammatical  forms.  The  names  of  two, 
Shiphrah  and  Puah,  are  recorded.  The  treatment  of 
new-born  Hebrew  infants  is  mentioned  (Ezek.xvi.4)  as 
consisting  in  wasliing.  sailing,  and  swaddling— this  last 
was  not  used  in  Egypt  (Wilkinson).  The  j)hysician8 
had  salaries  from  the  public  treasury,  and  treated  al- 
ways acconiing  to  established  precedents,  or  deviated 
from  these  at  their  peril,  in  case  of  a  fatal  termination; 
if,  however,  the  patient  dietl  inider  accredited  treatment, 
no  blame  was  attached.  They  treated  gratis  patients 
wlien  travelling  or  on  military  service.  Most  diseases 
were  by  them  ascribed  to  indigestion  and  excessive 
eating  (Diod.  Sicul.  i,  82\  and  when  their  science  failed 
them  magic  was  called  in.     On  recovery  it  was  also 


MEDICINE 


29 


MEDICINE 


Ancieut  Egyptian  Kxvotos,  for  Cures, 

1.  Ivory  hand,  in  Mr.  Salt's  collection. 

2.  Stone  tablet,  dedicated  to  Aniun-re,  for  the  recovery  of  a  conipla 

3.  An  ear,  of  terra  cotta,  from  Thebes,  in  Sir  Gardiner  Wilkinson' 

customary  to  suspend  in  a  temple  an  exvoto,  which  was 
commonly  a  model  of  the  part  affected ;  and  such  offer- 
ings doubtless,  as  in  the  Coan  Temple  of  ^sculapius, 
became  valuable  aids  to  the  pathological  student.  The 
Egyptians  who  lived  in  the  corn-growing  region  are 
said  by  Herodotus  (ii,  77)  to  have  been  specially  atten- 
tive to  health.  The  practice  of  circumcision  is  trace- 
able on  monuments  certainly  anterior  to  the  age  of  Jo- 
seph. Its  antiquity  is  involved  in  obscurity,  especially 
as  all  we  know  of  the  Egyptians  makes  it  unlikely  that 
they  would  have  borrowed  such  a  practice,  so  late  as  the 
period  of  Abraham,  from  any  mere  sojourner  among 
them.  Its  beneficial  effects  in  the  temperature  of  Egypt 
and  Syria  have  often  been  noticed,  especially  as  a  pre- 
servative of  cleanliness,  etc.  The  scrupulous  attention 
paid  to  the  dead  was  favorable  to  the  health  of  the  liv- 
ing. Such  powerful  drugs  as  asphaltum,  natron,  resin, 
pure  bitumen,  and  various  aromatic  gums,  suppressed  or 
counteracted  all  noxious  effluvia  from  the  corpse  ;  even 
the  saw-dust  of  the  floor,  on  which  the  body  had  been 
cleansed,  was  collected  in  small  linen  bags,  which,  to  the 
number  of  twenty  or  thirty,  were  deposited  in  vases 
near  the  tomb  (Wilkinson,  v,  4G8, 469).  For  the  extent 
to  which  these  practices  were  imitated  among  the  Jews, 
see  E.'MBALJiiNG.  At  any  rate,  the  uncleanness  imputed 
to  contact  with  a  corpse  was  a  powerful  preservative 
against  the  inoculation  of  the  living  frame  with  morbid 
humors.  But,  to  pursue  to  later  times  this  merely  gen- 
eral question,  it  appears  (Pliny,  N.  H.  xix,  5)  that  the 
Ptolemies  themselves  practiced  dissection,  and  that,  at 
a  period  when  Jewish  intercourse  with  Egypt  was  com- 
plete and  reciprocal,  there  existed  in  Alexandria  a  great 
zeal  for  anatomical  study.  The  only  intiuence  of  im- 
portance which  would  tend  to  check  the  Jews  from 
sharing  this  was  the  ceremonial  law,  the  special  rever- 
ence of  Jewish  feeling  towards  human  remains,  and  the 
abhorrence  of  "uncleanness."  Yet  those  Jews — and 
there  were,  at  all  times  since  the  Captivity,  not  a  few, 
perhaps— who  tended  to  foreign  laxitj',  and  affected 
Greek  philosophy  and  culture,  would  assuredly,  as  we 
shall  have  further  occasion  to  notice  that  they  in  fact 
did,  enlarge  their  anatomical  knowledge  from  sources 
which  repelled  their  stricter  brethren,  and  the  result 
would  be  apparent  in  the  general  elevated  standard  of 
that  profession,  even  as  practiced  in  Jerusalem.  The 
diffusion  of  Christianity  in  the  3d  and  4th  centuries  ex- 
ercised a  similar  but  more  universal  restraint  on  the 
dissecting-room,  until  anatomy  as  a  pursuit  became  ex- 
tinct, and,  the  notion  of  profaneness  quelling  everywhere 
such  researches,  surgical  science  became  stagnant  to  a 
degree  to  which  it  had  never  previously  sunk  within 
the  memory  of  human  records. 

3.  Grecian. — In  comparing  the  growth  of  medicine  in 
the  rest  of  the  ancient  world,  the  high  rank  of  its  prac- 
titioners— princes  and  heroes — settles  at  once  the  ques- 


tion as  to  the  esteem  in  which  it 
was  held  in  the  Homeric  and  pre- 
Homeric  period.  To  descend  to  the 
historical,  the  story  of  Democedes 
at  the  court  of  Darius  illustrates 
the  practice  of  Greek  surgery  be- 
fore the  period  of  Hippocrates- 
anticipating,  in  its  gentler  waiting 
upon  nature,  as  compared  (Herod, 
iii,  130)  with  that  of  the  Persians 
and  Egyptians,  the  methods  and 
maxims  of  that  father  of  physic, 
who  wrote  against  the  theories  and  . 
speculations  of  the  so-called  Phil- 
osophical school,  and  was  a  true 
empiricist  before  that  sect  was  for- 
mularized.     The  Dogmatic  school 
was  founded  after  his  time  by  his 
disciples,  who  departed  from  his 
eminently  practical  and  inductive 
method.      It    recognized    hidden 
causes  of  health  and  sickness  aris- 
ing from  certain  supposed  principles  or  elements,  out  of 
which  bodies  were  composed,  and  by  virtue  of  which  all 
their  parts  and  members  were  attempered  together  and 
became  sympathetic.    Hippocrates  has  some  curious  re- 
marks on  the  sympathy  of  men  with  climate,  seasons,  etc. 
He  himself  rejected  supernatural  accounts  of  disease, 
and  especially  demoniacal  possession.    He  refers,  but 
with  no  mystical  sense,  to  numbers  as  furnishing  a  rule 
for  cases.     It  is  remarkable  that  he  extols  the  discern- 
ment of  Orientals  above  Westerns,  and  of  Asiatics  above 
Europeans,  in  medical  diagnosis.    The  Empirical  school, 
which  arose  in  the  3d  century  B.C.,  under  the  guidance  of 
Acron  of  Agrigentum,  Serapion  of  Alexandria,  and  Phi- 
linus  of  Cos,  waited  for  the  symptoms  of  every  case,  dis- 
regarding the  rules  of  practice  based  on  dogmatic  princi- 
ples. Among  its  votaries  was  a  Zachalias  (perhaps  Zach- 
arias,  and  possibly  a  Jew)  of  Babylon,  who  (Pliny,  N.  H, 
xxxvii,  10 ;  comp.  xxxvi,  10)  dedicated  a  book  on  med- 
icine to  Mithridates  the  Great ;  its  views  were  also  sup- 
ported by  Herodotus  of  Tarsus,  a  place  which,  next  to 
Alexandria,  became  distinguished  for  its  schools  of  phi- 
losophy and  medicine ;  as  also  by  a  Jew  named  Theodas, 
or  Theudas,  of  Laodicea  (see  Wunderbar,  Bibiisch-Tal- 
mudische  Medicin,  i,  25),  but  a  student  of  Alexandria, 
and  the  last,  or  nearly  so,  of  the  empiricists  whom  its 
schools  produced.    The  remarks  of  Theudas  on  the  right 
method  of  observing,  and  the  value  of  experience,  and 
his  book  on  medicine,  now  lost,  in  -which  he  arranged 
his  subject  under  the  heads  of  iiidicato7-ia,  curatoria, 
and  salubris,  earned  him  high  reputation  as  a  champion 
of  empiricism  against  the  reproaches  of  the  dogmatists, 
though  they  were  subsequently  impugned  by  Galen  and 
Theodosiiis  of  Tripoli.     His  period  was  that  from  Titus 
to  Hadrian.     "The  empiricists  held  that  observation 
and  the  application  of  known  remedies  in  one  case  to 
others  presumed  to  be  similar  constitute  the  whole  art 
of  cultivating  medicine.    Though  their  views  were  nar- 
row, and  their  information  scanty  when  compared  with 
some  of  the  chiefs  of  the  other  sects,  and  although  they 
rejected  as  nseless  and  unattainable  all  knowledge  of 
the  causes  and  recondite  nature  of  diseases,  it  is  unde- 
niable   that,  besides  personal   experience,  they*  freely 
availed  themselves  of  historical  detail,  and  of  a  strict 
analogy  founded  upon  observation  and  the  resemblance 
of  phenomena"  (Dr.  Adams,  Paid.  jEyin.  ed.  Svdenham 
Soc). 

This  school,  however,  was  opposed  by  another,  known 
as  the  Methodic,  which  had  arisen  under  the  leading  of 
Themison,  also  of  Laodicea,  about  the  period  of  Pompey 
the  Great.  Asclepiades  paved  the  way  for  the  "  meth- 
od" in  question,  finding  a  theoretic  basis  in  the  corjjus- 
cular  or  atomic  theory  of  physics  which  he  borrowed 
from  Heraclides  of  Pontus.  He  had  passed  some  early 
years  in  Alexandria,  and  thence  came  to  Rome  shortly 
before  Cicero's  time  ("Quo  nos  medico  amicoque  usi 


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30 


MEDICINE 


sumus,"  Cicero,  de  Orat.  i,  14).  He  was  a  transitional 
link  between  the  Dogmatic  and  Empiric  schools  and  this 
later,  or  :VIethodic  (Sprengel,  ut  sup.  pt.  v,  Ifi),  that 
sought  to  rescue  medicine  from  the  bewildering  mass  of 
particulars  into  wliich  empiricism  had  plunged  it.  He 
reduced  diseases  to  two  classes,  chronic  and  acute,  and 
endeavored  likewise  to  simplify  remedies.  In  the  mean- 
while, the  most  judicious  of  medical  theorists  since  Hip- 
pocrates, Celsus,  of  the  Augustan  period,  had  reviewed 
medicine  in  the  light  which  all  these  schools  afforded, 
and,  not  professing  any  distinct  teaching,  but  borrowing 
from  all,  may  be  viewed  as  eclectic.  He  translated  Hip- 
pocrates largely  eerbalim,  quoting  in  a  less  degree  Ascle- 
piades  and  others.  Antonius  ]Musa,  whose  "cold-water 
cure,"  after  its  successful  trial  on  Augustus  himself,  be- 
came generally  pojjular,  seems  to  have  had  little  of 
scientilic  basis,  but  by  the  usual  method,  or  the  usual 
accidents,  became  merely  the  fashionable  practitioner 
of  his  tlay  in  Kome.  Attalia,  near  Tarsus,  furnished 
also,  shortly  after  the  period  of  Celsus,  Athen.-eus,  the 
leader  of  the  last  of  the  schools  of  medicine  which  di- 
vided the  ancient  world,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Pneu- 
matic," holding  the  tenet  "of  an  etherial  principle 
(Tri/fyjua)  residing  in  the  microcosm,  by  means  of  which 
the  mind  performed  the  functions  of  the  body."  This 
is  also  traceable  in  Hippocrates,  and  was  an  established 
opinion  of  the  Stoics.  It  was  exemplified  in  the  innate 
heat, Oipfii)  tfKpvToc  (Aret.  Je  Cans,  et  Sir/ii.  .\fotb.Ch7-oii. 
ii,  13),  and  the  ralidinn  innutum  of  modern  physiologists, 
especially  in  the  17th  century  (Dr.  Adams,  Pre/.  A  retmis, 
ed.  Sydenh.  Soc). 

4.  Kfject  of  these  Systems. — It  is  clear  that  all  these 
schools  may  easily  have  contributed  to  form  the  med- 
ical opinions  current  at  the  period  of  the  N.T.;  that  the 
two  earlier  among  them  may  have  influenced  rabbinical 
teaching  on  that  subject  at  a  much  earlier  period ;  and 
that,  especially  at  the  time  of  Alexander's  visit  to  Jeru- 
salem, the  Jewish  people,  whom  he  favored  and  protect- 
ed, had  an  opportunity  of  largely  gathering  from  the 
medical  lore  of  the  West.  It  was  necessary,  therefore, 
to  pass  in  brief  review  the  growth  of  the  latter,  and  es- 
pecially to  note  the  points  at  which  it  intersects  llio 
medical  progress  of  the  Jews.  Greek  Asiatic  medicine 
culminated  in  Galen,  who  was,  however,  still  but  a  com- 
mentator on  his  Western  predecessors,  and  who  stands 
literally  without  rival,  successor,  or  disciple  of  note,  till 
the  period  when  Greek  learning  was  reawakened  by  the 
Aral)ian  intellect.  The  Arabs,  however,  continued  to 
build  wholly  upon  Hippocrates  and  (Jalen,  save  in  so 
far  as  their  advance  in  chemical  science  improved  their 
pharmacopoeia:  this  mav  be  seen  on  reference  to  the 
works  of  Rhazes,  A.D.  i)30,  and  Haly  Abbas,  A.D.  980. 
The  first  mention  of  small-pox  is  ascribed  to  Khazes, 
who,  however,  quotes  several  earlier  writers  on  the  sub- 
ject. Mohammed  himself  is  said  to  have  been  versed 
in  medicine,  and  to  have  compiled  some  aphorisms  upon 
it;  and  a  herbalist  literature  was  always  extensively 
followed  in  the  East  from  the  days  of  Solomon  down- 
wards (Freind's  llistoi-y  of  Medicine,  ii,  .5,  27).  Galen 
himself  belongs  to  the  period  of  the  Antonines,  but  he 
appears. to  have  been  acquainted  with  thA  writings  of 
Moses,  and  to  liavc  travelled  in  quest  of  medical  expe- 
rience over  Egyjjt,  Syria,  and  Palestine,  as  well  as 
Greece,  and  a  large  part  of  the  West,  and.  in  particular, 
to  have  visited  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  in  quest  of  opo- 
balsanuim,  and  the  coasts  of  the  Dead  Sea  to  obtain 
samples  of  bitumen.  He  also  mentions  Palestine  as 
producing  a  watery  wine,  suitable  for  the  tlrink  of  fe- 
brile patients. 

II.  Historical  Xotices. — Having  thus  described  the 
external  influences  which,  if  any,  were  probably  most 
l)otent  in  forming  the  medical  practice  of  the  Hebrews, 
we  may  trace  next  its  internal  growtli.  Tlic  cal)alistic 
legends  mix  up  the  names  of  Slicm  and  Heber  in  their 
fal)l(  s  about  healing,  and  ascribe  to  those  patriarchs  a 
knowledge  of  simples  ai\d  rare  roots,  with,  of  course, 
magic  spells  and  occult  powers,  such  as  have  clouded 


'  the  hist orj'  of  medicine  from  the  earliest  times  down  to 
the  17th  centur}'. 

I  1.  In  the  Old  Testament. — So  to  Abraham  is  ascribed 
a  talisman,  the  touch  of  which  healed  all  disease.  We 
know  that  such  simple  surgical  skill  as  the  operation 
for  circumcision  implies  was  Abraham's:  but  severer  op- 
I  erations  than  this  are  constantly  required  in  the  flock 
j  and  herd,  and  those  who  watch  carefully  the  habits  of 
animals  can  hardly  fail  to  amass  some  guiding  princi- 
ples applicable  to  man  and  beast  alike.  Beyond  this, 
there  was  probal)ly  nothing  but  such  ordinary  obstetri- 
'  cal  craft  as  has  always  been  traditional  among  the  wom- 
'  en  of  rude  tribes,  that  could  be  classed  as  medical  h)re 
'  in  the  family  of  the  patriarch,  until  his  sojourn  brought 
him  among  the  more  cultivated  Philistines  and  Egyp- 
tians, The  only  notices  which  Scripture  aflTords  in  con- 
nection with  the  subject  are  the  cases  of  difficult  mid- 
wifery in  the  successive  households  of  Isaac,  Jacob,  and 
Judah  (Gen.  xxv,  26;  xxxv,  17;  xxxviii,  27),  and  so, 
I  later,  in  that  of  Phinehas  (1  Sam.  iv,  19).  Doubts  liave 
been  raised  as  to  the  possibility  of  twins  being  born,  one 
holding  the  other's  heel ;  but  there  does  not  seem  to  be 
any  such  limit  to  the  operations  of  nature  as  an  objection 
on  that  score  would  imply.  After  all,  it  was  perhaps  only 
just  such  a  relative  position  of  the  limbs  of  the  infants 
at  the  mere  moment  of  birth  as  would  suggest  the  "  hold- 
ing by  the  heel."  The  midwives,  it  seems,  in  case  of 
twins,  were  called  upon  to  distinguish  the  first-born,  to 
whom  important  privileges  appertained.  The  tying  on 
of  a  thread  or  ribbon  was  an  easy  way  of  preventing  mis- 
take, and  the  assistant  in  the  case  of  Tamar  seized  the 
earliest  possible  moment  for  doing  it.  "  Wlien  the  hand 
or  foot  of  a  living  child  protrudes,  it  is  to  be  pushed  up 
.  .  .  and  the  head  made  to  present"  (f «!//.. AV/iw.ed  Syd- 
enh. Soc.  I,  048,  Hippocr.  quoted  by  Dr.  Adams).  This 
probably  the  midwife  did,  at  the  same  time  marking 
him  as  first-born  In  virtue  of  being  thus  "presented" 
first.  The  precise  meaning  of  the  doubtful  expression 
in  Gen.  xxxviii,  27  and  marg.  is  discussed  by  Wundcr- 
bar,  vt  sup.  p.  50,  in  reference  both  to  the  children  and 
to  the  mother.  Of  Kachel  a  Jewish  commentator  says, 
"Multis  etiam  ex  itinere  difficultatibus  pra?gressis,viri- 
busque  post  diu  protractos  dolores  exhaustis,  atonia 
uteri,  forsau  quidcm  liajmorrhagia  in  pariendo  mortua 
est"  {ibid.).  Tlie  traditional  value  ascribed  to  the  man- 
drake, in  regard  to  generative  functions,  relates  to  the 
same  branch  of  natural  medicine;  but  tliroughout  this 
period  there  occurs  no  trace  of  any  attempt  to  study, 
digest,  and  systematize  the  subject. 

But,  as  Israel  grew  and  multiplied  in  Eg^7)t,  they 
doubtless  derived  a  large  mental  cultivation  from  their 
position  until  cruel  policy  turned  it  into  bondage;  even 
then  Moses  was  rescued  from  the  lot  of  his  bretliren,  and 
became  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  in- 
cluding, of  course,  medicine  and  cognate  sciences  (Clera. 
Alex,  i,  p.  418 ),  and  those  attainments,  perhaps,  became 
suggestive  of  future  laws.  Some  practical  skill  in  met- 
allurgy is  evident  from  Exod.  xxxii,  20.  But,  if  we  ad- 
mit Egyptian  learning  as  an  ingredient,  we  should  also 
notice  how  far  exalted  above  it  is  the  standard  of  the 
whole  Jewish  legislative  fabric.  In  Its  exemption  from 
the  blemishes  of  sorcery-  and  juggling  pretences.  Tlie 
priest,  who  liad  to  jironoiuice  on  the  cure,  used  no  means 
to  advance  it.  and  the  wliole  regulations  iirescribcd  ex- 
clude the  notion  of  trafficking  In  popular  superstition. 
We  have  no  occult  practices  reserved  in  the  hands  of 
the  sacred  caste.  It  is  God  alone  who  doeth  great 
things,  working  by  the  wand  of  Moses,  or  the  brazen 
serpent;  but  the  very  mention  of  such  instnmients  is 
such  as  to  expel  all  pretence  of  mysterious  virtues  in 
the  things  themselves.  Hence  various  allusions  to  (iod's 
"healing  mercy."  and  the  title  "Jehovah  that  healeth'' 
(Exod,xv,2(;;  Jer,  xvii,  14;  xxx,17;  Psa.ciii.3:  cxlvii, 
3 ;  Isa.  XXX,  2(1).  Xor  was  the  practice  of  physic  a  priv- 
ilege of  the  Jewish  priesthood.  Any  one  might  pr.ac- 
tice  it,  and  this  publicity  must  have  kept  it  pure.  Nay, 
there  was  no  scriptural  bar  to  its  practice  by  resident 


MEDICINE 


31 


MEDICINE 


aliens.  We  read  of  "  physicians,"  "  healing,"  etc.,  in 
Exod.  xxi,  19;  2  Kings  viii, '29;  2  Chron.  xvi,  12;  Jer. 
viii,  22.  At  the  same  time  the  greater  leisure  of  the 
Levites  and  their  other  advantages  would  make  them 
the  students  of  the  nation,  as  a  rule,  in  all  science,  and 
their  constant  residence  in  cities  would  give  them  the 
opportunity,  if  carried  out  in  fact,  of  a  far  wider  field  of 
observation. 

The  reign  of  peace  in  Solomon's  days  must  have 
opened,  especially  with  renewed  Egyptian  intercourse, 
new  facilities  for  the  study.  He  himself  seems  to  have 
included  in  his  favorite  natural  history  some  knowledge 
of  the  medicinal  uses  of  the  creatures.  His  works  show 
him  conversant  with  the  notion  of  remedial  treatment 
(Prov.  ili,  8 ;  vi,  15 ;  xii,  18 ;  xvii,  22 ;  xx,  30 ;  xxix,  1 ; 
Eccles.  iii,  3);  and  one  passage  (Eccles.  xii,  3, 4)  indicates 
considerable  knowledge  of  anatomy.  His  repute  in 
magic  is  the  universal  theme  of  Eastern  story.  It  has 
even  been  thought  he  had  recourse  to  the  shrine  of  iEs- 
culapius  at  Sidon,  and  enriched  his  resources  by  its  rec- 
ords or  relics;  but  there  is  some  doubt  whether  this 
temple  was  of  such  high  antiquity.  Solomon,  however, 
we  cannot  doubt,  would  have  turned  to  the  account,  not 
only  of  wealth  but  of  knowledge,  his  peaceful  reign, 
wide  dominion,  and  wider  renown,  and  woidd  have 
souglit  to  traffic  in  learning,  as  well  as  in  wheat  and 
gold.  To  him  the  Talmudists  ascribe  a  "volume  of 
cures"  (mX1S"l  "lED),  of  which  they  make  frequent 
mention  (Fabricius,  Cod.  Pseudep.  V.  T.  p.  1043).  Jose- 
phus  (^Ant.  viii,  2)  mentions  his  knowledge  of  medicine, 
and  the  use  of  spells  by  him  to  expel  dismons  who  cause 
sicknesses, "  which  is  continued  among  us,"  he  adds, "  to 
this  time."  The  dealings  of  various  prophets  with  quasi- 
medical  agency  cannot  be  regarded  as  other  than  the 
mere  accidental  form  which  their  miraculous  gifts  took 
(1  Kings  xiii,6;  xiv,  12;  xvii, 17;  2Kingsi,4;  xx,7; 
Isa.  xxxviii,  21).  Jewish  tradition  has  invested  Elisha, 
it  would  seem,  with  a  function  more  largely  medicinal 
than  that  of  the  other  servants  of  God;  but  the  script- 
ural evidence  on  the  point  is  scanty,  save  that  he  ap- 
pears to  have  known  at  once  the  proper  means  to  apply 
to  heal  the  waters,  and  temper  the  noxious  pottage  (2 
Kings  ii,  21 ;  iv,  39^1).  His  healing  the  Shunammite's 
son  has  been  discussed  as  a  case  of  suspended  animation, 
and  of  animal  magnetism  applied  to  resuscitate  it ;  but 
the  narrative  clearly  implies  that  the  death  was  real. 
As  regards  the  leprosy,  had  the  Jordan  commonly  pos- 
sessed the  healing  power  which  Xaaman's  faith  and 
obedience  found  in  it,  would  there  have  been  "  many 
lepers  in  Israel  in  the  days  of  Eliseus  the  prophet,"  or  in 
any  other  tlays  ?  Further,  if  our  Lord's  words  (Luke  iv, 
27)  are  to  be  taken  literally,  Elislia's  reputation  could 
not  have  been  founded  on  any  succession  of  lepers 
healed.  The  washing  was  a  part  of  the  enjoined  lustra- 
tion of  the  leper  after  his  cure  was  complete ;  Naaman 
was  to  act  as  though  clean,  like  the  "  ten  men  that  were 
lepers,"  bidden  to  "go  and  show  themselves  to  the  priest" 
— in  either  case  it  was  "  as  thou  hast  believed,  so  be  it 
done  unto  thee."  The  sickness  of  Benhadad  is  certainly 
so  described  as  to  imply  treachery  on  the  part  of  Hazael 
(2  Kings  viii,  15).  Yet  the  observation  of  Bruce,  upon 
a  "  cold-water  cure"  practiced  among  the  people  near 
the  Red  Sea,  has  suggested  a  view  somewhat  different. 
The  bed-clothes  are  soaked  with  cold  water,  and  kept 
thoroughly  wet,  and  the  patient  drinks  cold  water  freely. 
But  the  crisis,  it  seems,  occurs  on  the  third  day,  and  not 
till  the  fifth  is  it  there  usual  to  apply  this  treatment. 
If  tlie  chamberlain,  through  carelessness,  ignorance,  or 
treacher}',  precipitated  the  application,  a  fatal  issue  may 
have  suddenly  resulted.  The  "  brazen  serpent,"  once 
the  means  of  healing,  and  worshipped  idolatrously  in 
Hezekiah's  reign,  is  supposed  to  have  acquired  those 
honors  under  its  ^Esculapian  aspect.  This  notion  is  not 
inconsistent  with  the  Scripture  narrative,  though  not 
therein  traceable.  It  is  supposed  that  something  in  the 
"  volume  of  cures,"  current  under  the  authority  of  Solo- 


mon, may  have  conduced  to  the  establishment  of  these 
rites,  and  drawn  away  the  popular  homage,  especially  in 
prayers  during  sickness,  or  thanksgivings  after  recovery, 
from  Jehovah.  The  statement  that  king  Asa  (2  Chron. 
xvi,  12)  "sought  not  to  Jehovah  hut  to  the  physicians," 
may  seem  to  countenance  the  notion  that  a  rivalry  of 
actual  worship,  based  on  some  medical  fancies,  had  been 
set  up,  and  would  so  far  support  the  Talmudical  tradi- 
tion. 

The  captivity  of  Babylon  brought  the  Jews  into  con- 
tact with  a  new  sphere  of  thought.  Their  chief  men 
rose  to  the  highest  honors,  and  an  improved  mental  cult- 
ure among  a  large  section  of  the  captives  was  no  doubt 
the  result  which  they  imported  on  their  return.  Wun- 
derbar  regards  the  Babylonian  captivity  as  parallel  in 
its  effects  to  the  Egyptian  bondage,  and  seems  to  think 
that  the  people  would  return  debased  from  its  intiuence. 
On  the  contrary,  those  whom  subjection  had  made  ig- 
noble and  unpatriotic  would  remain.  If  any  returned, 
it  was  a  pledge  that  they  were  not  so  impaired;  and,  if 
not  impaired,  they  would  certainly  be  improved  by  the 
discipline  they  had  undergone.  He  also  thinks  tliat 
sorcery  had  the  largest  share  in  any  Babyloniaji  or  Per- 
sian system  of  medicine.  This  is  assuming  too  much : 
there  were  magicians  in  Egypt,  but  physicians  also  (see 
above)  of  high  cultivation.  Human  nature  has  so  great 
an  interest  in  human  life  that  only  in  the  savage,  rudi- 
mentary societies  is  its  economy  left  thus  involved  in 
pliantasms.  The  earliest  steps  of  civilization  include 
something  of  medicine.  Of  course  superstitions  are 
found  copiously  involved  in  such  medical  .tenets,  but 
this  is  not  equivalent  to  abandoning  the  study  to  a  class 
of  professed  magicians.  Thus  in  the  Ueherreste  der  alt- 
bahylonischen  Literatur,  p.  123,  by  D.  Chwolson,  St.  Pe- 
tersb.  1859  (the  value  of  which  is  not,  however,  yet  as- 
certained), a  writer  on  poisons  claims  to  have  a  magic 
antidote,  but  declines  stating  what  it  is,  as  it  is  not  his 
business  to  mention  such  things,  and  he  only  does  so  in 
cases  where  the  charm  is  in  connection  with  medical 
treatment  and  resembles  it;  the  magicians,  adds  the 
same  writer  on  another  occasion,  use  a  particular  means 
of  cure,  but  he  declines  to  impart  it,  having  a  repugnance 
to  witchcraft.  So  (p.  125-6)  we  find  traces  of  charms 
introduced  into  Babylonian  treatises  on  medical  science, 
but  apologetically,  and  as  if  against  sounder  knowledge. 
Similarly,  the  opinion  of  fatalism  is  not  without  its  in- 
fluence on  medicine;  but  it  is  chiefly  resorted  to  where,  as 
often  happens  in  pestilence,  all  known  aid  seems  useless. 
We  know,  however,  too  little  of  the  precise  state  of  med- 
icine in  Babylon,  Susa,  and  the  "  cities  of  the  Medes," 
to  determine  the  direction  in  which  the  impulse  so  de- 
rived would  have  led  the  exiles ;  but  the  confluence  of 
streams  of  thought  from  opposite  sources,  which  im- 
pregnate each  other,  would  surelj'  produce  a  tendency 
to  sift  established  practice  and  accejited  axioms,  to  set 
up  a  new  standard  by  which  to  try  the  current  rules  of 
art,  and  to  determine  new  lines  of  inquiry  for  any  eager 
spirits  disposed  to  search  for  truth.  Thus  the  visit  of 
Democedes  to  the  court  of  Darius,  though  it  seems  to 
be  an  isolated  fact,  points  to  a  general  opening  of  Orien- 
tal manners  to  Greek  influence,  which  was  not  too  late 
to  leave  its  traces  in  some  perhaps  of  the  contemporaries 
of  Ezra.  That  great  reformer,  with  the  leaders  of  na- 
tional thought  gathered  about  him,  could  not  fail  to 
recognise  medicine  among  the  salutary  measures  which 
distinguished  his  epoch.  Whatever  advantages  the  Le- 
vites had  possessed  in  earlier  days  were  now  speedily 
lost  even  as  regards  the  study  of  the  divine  law,  and 
much  more  therefore  as  regards  that  of  medicine ;  into 
which  competitors  would  crowd  in  proportion  to  its 
broader  and  more  obvious  human  interest,  and  effectu- 
ally demolish  any  narrowing  barriers  of  established  priv- 
ilege, if  such  previouslv  existed. 

2.  In  the  Interval  between  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment.—It  may  be  observed  that  the  priests  in  their  min- 
istrations, who  performed  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  bare- 
foot on  stone  pavement,  and  without  perhaps  any  vari- 


MEDICINE 


32 


MEDICIXE 


ation  of  dress  to  meet  that  of  temperature,  were  peculiarly  I 
liable  to  sickness  (KaJl,  De  Morlns  Hacodotum,  Hafn.  ] 
1745).  Hence  the  permanent  appointment  of  a  Temple  ; 
physician  has  been  supposed  by  some,  and  a  certain  ' 
Beii-Ahijah  is  mentioned  by  Wunderl)ar  as  occurring  in  i 
the  Talmud  in  that  capacity.  But  it  rather  appears  as  ] 
if  such  an  otlicer's  appointment  were  precarious,  and  va- 
ried with  the  demands  of  the  ministrants. 

The  book  of  Ecclesiasticus  shows  the  increased  regard 
given  to  the  distinct  study  of  medicine  by  the  repeated 
mention  of  physicians,  etc.,  which  it  contains,  and  which, 
as  probably  belonging  to  the  period  of  the  Ptolemies,  it 
might  be  expected  to  show.  The  wisdom  of  prevention 
is  recognised  in  Ecclus.  xviii,  19 ;  perhaps  also  in  x,  10. 
Rank  and  honor  are  said  to  be  the  portion  of  the  physi- 
cian, and  his  office  to  be  from  the  Lord  (xxxviii,  1,  3, 
12).  The  repeated  allusions  to  sickness  in  vii,  35 ;  xxx, 
17;  xxxi,  22;  xxxvii,  30;  xxxviii,  9,  coupled  with  the 
former  recognition  of  merit,  have  caused  some  to  sup- 
pose that  this  author  was  himself  a  physician.  If  he 
was  so,  the  power  of  mind  and  wide  range  of  observa- 
tion shown  in  his  work  would  give  a  favorable  impres- 
sion of  the  standard  of  practitioners;  if  he  was  not,  the 
great  general  popularity  of  the  study  and  practice  may 
be  inferred  from  its  thus  becoming  a  common  topic  of 
general  advice  offered  by  a  non-professit)naal  writer.  In 
Wisd.  xvi,  12,  plaistcr  is  spoken  of;  anointing,  as  a  means 
of  healing,  in  Tob.  vi,  8. 

8.  In  the  New  Testaimnt.— Luke,  "  the  beloved  phy- 
sician," who  practiced  at  Antioch  while  the  body  was 
his  care,  could  hardly  have  failed  to  be  conversant  with 
all  the  leading  opinions  current  down  to  his  own  time. 
Situated  between  the  great  schools  of  Alexandria  and 
Cilicia,  within  easy  sea-transit  of  both,  as  well  as  of  the 
Western  homes  of  science,  Antioch  enjoyed  a  more  cen- 
tral position  than  any  great  city  of  the  ancient  world, 
and  in  it  accordingly  all  the  streams  of  contemporary 
medical  learning  may  have  probably  found  a  point  of 
confluence.  The  medicine  of  the  New  Test,  is  not  sole- 
ly, nor  even  chiefly,  .Jewish  medicine;  and  even  if  it 
were,  it  is  clear  that  the  more  mankind  became  mixed 
by  intercourse,  the  more  medical  opinion  and  practice 
must  have  ceased  to  be  exclusive.  The  great  number 
of  Jews  resident  in  Kome  and  Greece  about  the  Chris- 
tian a^ra,  and  the  successive  decrees  by  which  their  ban- 
ishment from  the  former  was  proclaimed,  must  have 
imported,  even  into  Palestine,  whatever  from  the  West 
was  best  worth  knowing;  and  we  may  be  as  sure  that 
its  medicine  and  surgery  expanded  under  these  influ- 
ences as  that,  in  the  writings  of  the  Talmudists,  such 
obligations  would  be  unacknowk'dgcd.  Hut.  beyond 
this,  the  growth  of  large  mircanlilc  ((iminuniiics.  mkIi 
as  existed  in  Home,  Alexandria,  AnliiKli,  and  l'',|ihcsiis, 
of  itself  involves  a  peculiar  sanitary  condition  from  the 
mass  of  human  elements  gathered  to  a  focus  under  new 
or  abnormal  circumstances.  Nor  are  the  words  in  which 
an  elo(|uent  modern  writer  describes  the  course  of  this 
action  less  applicable  to  the  case  of  an  ancient  than  to 
that  of  a  modern  metropolis.  "  Diseases  once  indigenous 
to  a  section  of  humanity,  are  slowly  but  surely  crcci)ing 
up  to  commercial  centres,  whence  they  will  be  rapidly 
propagated.  One  form  of  Asiatic  leprosy  is  approaching 
.  the  Levant  from  Arabia.  The  history  of  every  disease 
which  is  communicated  from  man  to  man  establishes 
this  melancholy  truth,  tltat  ultimately  such  maladies 
overleap  all  oljsiai-les  of  climate,  and  demonstrate  a  sol- 
idarity in  evil  as  well  as  in  good  among  the  brotherhood 
of  nations''  (Dr.  Ferguson, /Vp/'.  y^'.wf///  fo  (iooch  on  Dis- 
eases o/' 11 '"»«",  New  Sydenham  Society,  London,  1859, 
p.  xlvi).  In  proiHirlion  as  this  "melancholy  truth"  is 
perceived  would  an  intercommunication  of  medical  sci- 
ence prevail  also. 

4.  In  Coittempornri/  Ikdlhtn  Writers. — The  medicine 
and  surgery  referred  to  in  the  New  Test.,  then,  was  ]irob- 
ably  not  inferior  to  that  commonly  in  demand  among 
educated  Asiatic  Greeks,  and  must  have  been,  as  regards 
its  basis,  Greek  medicine,  and  nut  Jewish.     Hence  a 


standard  Gentile  medical  writer,  if  any  is  to  be  found  of 
that  period,  would  best  represent  the  profession  to  wliich 
the  evangelist  belonged.  Without  absolute  certainty 
as  to  date,  we  seem  to  have  such  a  writer  in  Aretieus, 
commonly  called  ''the  Cappadocian,"  who  wrote  cer- 
tainly after  Nero's  reign  began,  and  probably  flourished 
shortly  before  and  after  the  decade  in  which  Paul  reached 
Kome  and  Jerusalem  fell.  If  he  were  of  Luke's  age,  it 
is  striking  that  he  should  also  be  perhaps  the  only 
ancient  medical  authority  in  favor  of  drumoniacal  pos- 
session as  a  possible  account  of  epilepsy.  If  his  coun- 
try be  rightly  indicated  by  his  surname,  we  know  that 
it  gave  him  the  means  of  intercourse  with  both  the 
Jews  and  the  Christians  of  the  apostolic  period  (Acts 
ii,  9;  1  Pet.  i,  1).  It  is  \eTy  likely  that  Tarsus,  the 
nearest  place  of  academic  repute  to  that  region,  was 
the  scene  of,  at  any  rate,  the  earlier  studies  of  Aretaeus, 
nor  would  any  chronological  difficulty  prevent  his  hav- 
ing been  a  pupil  in  medicine  there  when  Paul  and  also, 
perhaps,  Barnabas  were,  as  is  probable,  pursuing  their 
early  studies  in  other  subjects  at  the  same  spot.  Are- 
tiuus,  then,  assuming  the  date  above  indicated,  may  be 
taken  as  expounding  the  medical  practice  of  the  Asiatic 
Greeks  in  the  latter  lialf  of  the  first  centurj-.  There  is, 
however,  much  of  strongly-marked  individuality  in  his 
work,  more  especially  in  the  minute  verbal  portraiture 
of  disease.  That  of  pulmonary  consumption  in  partic- 
ular, is  traced  with  the  careful  description  of  an  eye-wit- 
ness, and  represents  with  a  curious  exactness  the  curved 
nails,  shrunken  fingers,  slender,  sharpened  nostrils,  hol- 
low, glazy  eye,  cadaverous  look  and  hue,  the  waste  of 
muscle  and  startling  prominence  of  bones,  the  scapida 
standing  off  like  the  wing  of  a  bird;  as  also  the  habit 
of  body  marking  predispfjsition  to  the  malady,  the  thin, 
veneer-like  frames,  the  limbs  like  pinions,  the  prominent 
throat  and  shallow  chest,  with  a  remark  that  moist  and 
j  cold  climates  are  the  haunts  of  it  (Aret.  irepi  (ftiiffiwc). 
His  work  exhibits  strong  traits  here  and  there  of  the 
Pneumatic  school,  as  in  his  statement  regarding  leth- 
1  argy,  that  it  is  frigidity  implanted  by  nature ;  concern- 
ing elephantiasis  even  more  emphatically,  that  it  is  a 
i  refrigeration  of  the  innate  heat,  '•  or,  rather,  a  congela- 
]  tion— as  it  were  one  great  winter  of  the  system."  The 
same  views  betray  themselves  in  his  statement  regard- 
ing the  blood,  that  it  is  the  warming  principle  of  all  the 
i  parts;  that  diabetes  is  a  sort  of  dropsy,  both  exhibiting 
I  the  watery  principle ;  and  that  the  effect  of  white  hel- 
lebore is  as  that  of  fire:  "so  that  whatever  fire  does  by 
burning,  hellebore  effects  still  more  by  penetrating  in- 
wardly." The  last  remark  shows  that  he  gave  some 
scope  to  his  imagination,  which  indeed  we  might  illus- 
1  trate  from  some  of  his  pathological  descriptions;  e.  g. 
that  of  elephantiasis,  where  the  resemblance  of  the  beast 
j  to  the  afliictod  human  being  is  wrought  to  a  fanciful 
parallel.  Allowing  for  such  overstrained  touches  here 
and  there,  we  may  say  that  he  generally  avoids  extrav- 
agant crotchets,  and  rests  chiefly  on  wide  observation, 
and  on  the  common-sense  which  sobers  theory  and  ra- 
tionalizes facts.  He  hardly  ever  quotes  an  authority; 
and  though  much  of  what  he  states  was  taught  before, 
it  is  dealt  with  as  the  common  property  of  science,  or  as 
,  become  suiJKri.f  through  being  proved  by  his  own  ex- 


perience. 


The  freedom  with  which  he  follows  or  re- 


jects earlier  opinions  has  occasioned  him  to  be  classed 
by  some  among  the  Eclectic  school.  His  work  is  divi- 
ded into— I,  the  causes  and  signs  of  (1)  acute  and  (2) 
chronic  diseases;  and,  II,  the  curative  treatment  of  (1) 
I  acute  and  (2)  chronic  diseases.  His  boldness  of  treat> 
ment  is  exeniplilied  in  his  selection  of  the  vein  to  b« 
opened  in  a  wide  range  of  parts — the  arm.  ankle,  tongue, 
I  nose,  etc.  He  first  has  a  distinct  mention  of  leeches 
I  w  liich  Themison  is  said  to  have  introduced :  and  in  this 
;  respect  his  surgical  resources  ai)pear  to  be  in  advance 
of  Celsus.  He  was  familiar  with  the  operation  for  the 
stone  in  the  bladder,  and  prescribes,  as  Celsus  also  docs, 
I  the  use  of  the  catheter,  where  its  insertion  is  not  pre- 
vented bv  inflammation,  then  the  incision  into  the  neck 


MEDICINE 


33 


MEDICINE 


of  the  bladder,  nearly  as  in  modern  lithotomy.  His 
views  of  the  internal  economy  were  a  strange  mixture 
of  truth  and  error,  and  the  disuse  of  anatomy  was  no 
doubt  the  reason  why  this  was  the  weak  point  of  his 
teaching.  He  held  that  the  work  of  producing  the 
blood  pertained  to  the  liver,  "  which  is  the  root  of  the 
veins ;"  that  the  bile  was  distributed  from  the  gall-blad- 
der to  the  intestines ;  and,  if  this  vesica  became  gorged, 
the  bile  was  thrown  back  into  the  veins,  and  by  them 
diffused  over  the  system.  He  regarded  the  nerves  as 
the  source  of  sensation  and  motion ;  and  had  some  no- 
tion of  them  as  branching  in  pairs  from  the  spine.  Thus 
he  has  a  curious  statement  as  regards  paralysis,  that  in 
the  case  of  any  sensational  point  heloio  the  head,  e.  g. 
from  the  membrane  of  the  spinal  marrow  being  affected 
injuriously,  the  parts  on  the  right  side  will  be  paralyzed 
if  the  nerve  towards  the  right  side  be  hurt,  and  simi- 
larly, conversely,  of  the  left  side ;  but  that  if  the  head 
itself  be  so  affected,  the  inverse  law  of  consequence  holds 
concerning  the  parts  related,  since  each  nerve  passes 
over  to  the  other  side  from  that  of  its  origin,  decussating 
each  other  in  the  form  of  the  letter  X.  The  doctrine  of 
the  Pneuma,  or  ethereal  principle  existing  in  the  micro- 
cosm by  which  the  mind  performs  all  the  functions  of 
the  bod}^,  holds  a  more  prominent  position  in  the  works 
of  Aretseus  than  in  those  of  any  of  the  other  authorities 
(Dr.  Adams's  Preface  to  Aret.  p.  x,  xi).  He  was  aware 
that  the  nervous  function  of  sensation  was  distinct  from 
the  motive  power;  that  either  might  cease  .and  the 
other  continue.  His  pharmacopoeia  is  copious  and  rea- 
sonable, and  the  Umits  of  the  usefidness  of  this  or  that 
drug  are  laid  down  judiciously.  He  makes  large  use  of 
wine,  and  prescribing  the  kind  and  the  number  of  cyathi 
to  be  taken ;  and  some  words  of  his  on  stomach  disor- 
ders (jTipi  KapdiaXyitjo)  forcibly  recall  those  of  Paul  to 
Timothy  (1  Tim.  v,  23),  and  one  might  almost  suppose 
them  to  have  been  suggested  by  the  intenser  spirituality 
of  his  Jewish  or  Christian  patients.  "  Such  disorders," 
he  says,  "are  common  to  those  who  toil  in  teaching, 
whose  yearning  is  after  divine  instruction,  who  despise 
delicate  and  varied  diet,  whose  nourishment  is  fasting, 
and  whose  drink  is  water."  As  a  purge  of  melancholy, 
he  prescribes  "  a  little  wine,  and  some  other  more  liberal 
sustenance."  In  his  essay  on  causiis,  or  "  brain"  fever, 
he  describes  the  powers  acquired  by  the  soul  before  dis- 
solution in  the  following  remarkable  words :  "  Every 
sense  is  pure,  the  intellect  acute,  the  gnostic  powers 
prophetic ;  for  they  prognosticate  to  themselves  in  the 
first  place  their  own  departure  from  life ;  then  they  fore- 
tell what  will  afterwards  take  place  to  those'  present, 
who  fancy  sometimes  that  they  are  delirious :  but  these 
persons  wonder  at  the  result  of  what  has  been  said. 
Others  also  talk  to  certain  of  the  dead,  perchance  they 
alone  perceiving  them  to  be  present,  in  virtue  of  their 
acute  and  pure  sense,  or  perchance  from  their  soul  see- 
ing beforehand,  and  announcing  the  men  with  whom 
they  are  about  to  associate.  For  formerly  they  were 
immersed  in  humors,  as  if  in  mud  and  darkness ;  but 
when  the  disease  has  drained  these  off,  and  taken  away 
the  mist  from  their  eyes,  they  perceive  those  things 
which  are  in  the  air,  and,  through  the  soul  being  unen- 
cumbered, become  true  prophets."  To  those  who  wish 
further  to  pursue  the  study  of  medicine  at  this  sera,  the 
edition  of  Aretasus  by  the  Sydenham  Society,  and  in  a 
less  degree  that  by  Boerhaave  (Lugd.  Bat.  1735),  to 
which  the  references  have  here  been  made,  may  be  rec- 
ommended. 

As  the  general  science  of  medicine  and  surgery  of 
this  period  may  be  represented  by  Aretseus,  so  we  have 
nearly  a  representation  of  its  Materia  Medica  by  Dios- 
corides.  He  too  was  of  the  same  general  region — a 
Cilician  Greek  —  and  his  first  lessons  were  probably 
learnt  at  Tarsus.  His  period  is  tinged  bj'  the  same 
uncertainty  as  that  of  Aretieus;  but  he  has  usually  been 
assigned  to  the  end  of  the  first  or  beginning  of  the  second 
century  (see  Smith,  Diet,  of  Class.  Biocj.  s.  v.).  He  was 
the  first  author  of  high  mark  who  devoted  his  attention 
VI.— C 


to  Materia  Medica.  Indeed,  this  branch  of  ancient 
science  remained  as  he  left  it  till  the  times  of  the  Ara- 
bians ;  and  these,  though  they  enlarged  the  supply  of 
drugs  and  pharmacy,  yet  copy  and  repeat  Dioscorides, 
as,  indeed,  Galen  himself  often  does,  on  all  common  sub- 
ject-matter. Above  90  minerals,  700  plants,  and  168 
animal  substances  are  said  to  be  described  in  the  re- 
searches of  Dioscorides,  displaying  an  industry  and  skill 
which  has  remained  the  marvel  of  all  subsequent  com- 
mentators. Pliny,  copious,  rare,  and  curious  as  he  is, 
yet,  for  want  of  scientific  medical  knowledge,  is  little 
esteemed  in  this  particular  branch,  save  when  he  follows 
Dioscorides.  The  third  volume  of  Paulus  ^Jffin.  (ed. 
Sydenham  Soc.)  contains  a  catalogue  of  medicines  sim- 
ple and  compound,  and  the  large  proportion  in  which 
the  authority  of  Dioscorides  has  contributed  to  form  it 
will  be  manifest  at  the  most  cursory  inspection.  To 
abridge  sucli  a  subject  is  impossible,  and  to  transcribe  it 
in  the  most  meagre  form  woidd  be  far  beyond  the  limits 
of  tliis  article. 

III.  Pathology  in  tJm  Bible. — Before  proceeding  to  the 
examination  of  diseases  in  detail,  it  may  be  well  to  ob- 
serve that  the  question  of  identity  between  any  ancient 
malady  known  by  description  and  any  modern  one 
known  by  experience  is  often  doubtful.  Some  diseases, 
just  as  some  plants  and  some  animals,  will  exist  almost 
anywhere ;  others  can  only  be  produced  within  narrow 
limits  depending  on  the  conditions  of  climate,  habit, 
etc. — and  were  only  equal  observation  applied  to  the 
two,  the  habitat  of  a  disease  might  be  mapped  as  accu- 
rately as  that  of  a  plant.  It  is  also  possible  that  some 
diseases  once  extremely  prevalent  may  run  their  course 
and  die  out,  or  occur  only  casually ;  just  as  it  seems  cer- 
tain that,  since  the  Middle  Ages,  some  maladies  have 
been  introduced  into  Europe  which  were  previously  mi- 
known.  See  Bihlioth.  Script.  Med.  (Geneva,  173 1 ) ,  s.  v. ; 
Hippocrates,  Celsus,  Galen;  Leclerc'sBisim-y  of  Medicine 
(Paris,  1723 ;  transl.  London,  1799) ;  Freind's  History  of 
Medicine. 

1.  General  Maladies. — Eruptive  diseases  of  the  acute 
kind  are  more  prevalent  in  the  East  than  in  colder 
climes.  They  also  run  their  course  more  rapidly ;  e.  g. 
common  itch,  which  in  Scotland  remains  for  a  longer 
time  vesicular,  becomes,  in  Syria,  pustular  as  early  some- 
times as  the  third  day.  The  origin  of  it  is  now  sup- 
posed to  be  an  acarus,  but  the  parasite  perishes  when 
removed  from  the  skin.  Disease  of  various  kinds  is 
commonly  regarded  as  a  divine  infliction,  or  denounced 
as  a  penalty  for  transgression;  "the  evil  diseases  of 
Egypt"  (perhaps  in  reference  to  some  of  the  ten  plagues) 
are  especially  so  characterized  (Gen.xx,  18;  Exod.  xv, 
20;  Lev.  xxvi,  16;  Deut,  vii,  15;  xxviiir60;  1  Cor.  xi, 
30) ;  so  the  emerods  [see  Haemorrhoids]  of  the  Philis- 
tines (1  Sam.  V,  6) ;  the  severe  dysenterj'  (2  Chron.  xxi, 
15, 19)  of  Jehoram,  which  was  also  epidemic  [see  Blood, 
Issue  of;  and  Fever],  the  peculiar  symptom  of  which 
may  perhaps  have  been  prolapsus  ani  (Dr.  Mason  Good, 
i,  311-13,  mentions  a  case  of  the  entire  colon  exposed) ; 
or,  perhaps,  what  is  known  as  diarrhcea  tubidaris, 
formed  by  the  coagulation  of  fibrine  into  a  membrane 
discharged  from  the  inner  coat  of  the  intestines,  which 
f^i^s  the  mould  of  the  bowel,  and  is  thus  expelled; 
so  the  sudden  deaths  of  Er,  Onan  (Gen.  xxxviii,  7, 10), 
the  Egyptian  first-born  (Exod.  xi,  4,  5),  Nabal,  Bath- 
sheba's  son,  and  Jeroboam's  (I  Sam.  xxv,  38;  2  Sara'.  ;cii, 
15;  1  Kings  xiv,  1,  5),are  ascribed  to  the  action  of  Je- 
hovah immediately,  or  through  a  prophet.  Pestilence 
(Hab.  iii,  5)  attends  his  path  (comp.  2  Sam.  xxiv,  15), 
and  is  innoxious  to  those  whom  he  shelters  (Psa.  Kci, 
3-10).  It  is  by  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  Amos  associated 
(as  historically  in  2  Sam.  xxiv,  13)  with  "  the  sword" 
and  "famine"  (Jer.  xiv,  12;  xv,  2;  xxi, 7,  9;  xxiv,  10; 
xxvii,8,13;  xxviii,8;  xxix,17,18;  xxxii,24,36;  xxxiv, 
17;  xxxviii,  2;  xlii,17,22;  xliv,  13;  Ezek.  v,12,17;  vi, 
11,12;  vii,  15;  xii,  16;  xiv,  21 ;  xxxiii,27;  Amosiv,  6, 
10).  The  sicknesses  of  the  widow's  son  of  Zarephath, 
of  Ahaziah,  Benhadad,  the  leprosy  of  Uzziah,  the  boil 


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34 


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of  Ilezekiali,  are  also  noticed  as  diseases  sent  by  Jeho-  | 
vah,  or  in  which  he  interposed  (1  Kings  xvii,  17,  20; 
2  Kings  i,  3 ;  xx,  1).  In  2  .Sam.  iii,  29,  disease  is  invoked 
as  a  curse,  and  in  Solomon's  prayer  (1  Kings  viii,  37; 
comp.  2  Chron.  xx,  9)  anticipated  as  a  cliastisement. 
Job  and  his  friends  agree  in  ascribing  his  disease  to  di- 
vine inf.iction ;  but  the  latter  urge  his  sinS  as  the  cause. 
So,  conversely,  the  healing  character  of  God  is  invoked 
or  promised  (Psa.  vi,  2;  xli,  3;  ciii,  3;  Jer.  xxx.  17). 
Satanic  agency  appears  also  as  procuring  disease  (Job 
ii,  7 ;  Luke  xiii,  1 1,  IG).  Diseases  are  also  mentioned  as 
ordinary  calamities;  e.  g.  the  sickness  of  old  age,  head- 
ache (perhaps  by  sunstroke),  as  that  of  the  Shunam-  , 
mite's  son,  that  of  Elisha,  and  that  of  Benhadad,  and 
that  of  Joram  (Gen.  xlviii,  1 ;  1  Sam.  xxx.  13 ;  2  Kings 
iv,  20;  \-iii,7,  29;  xiii,  14;  2  Chron.  xxii,C). 

2.  Among  special  diseases  mentioned  in  the  Old  Test, 
are,  ophthalmia  (Gen.  xxix,  17,  0^3^  msS'S),  which  is 
perhaps  more  common  in  Syria  and  Egj'pt  than  anj^- 
where  else  in  the  world,  especially  in  the  tig  season,  the 
juice  of  the  newly-ripe  fruit  having  the  power  of  giving  1 
it.  It  may  occasion  partial  or  total  blindness  (2  Kings  j 
vi,  18).  The  eye-salve  (KoXXvptov,  Kev.  iii,  18;  Hor. 
Suf.  i)  was  a  remedy  common  to  Orientals,  (i reeks,  and 
Komans  (see  Hippocr.  KoWovpiov ;  Celsus,  vi,  8,  Be  ocu- 
lonim  morbis,  [2]  De  diversis  collyriis).  Other  diseases 
are — barrenness  of  women,  which  mandrakes  were  sup- 
posed to  have  the  power  of  correcting  (Gen.  xx,  18; 
comp.  xii,  17;  xxx,  1,  2,  14-16);  "consumption,"  and 
several,  the  names  of  which  are  derived  from  various 
words,  signifying  to  burn  or  to  be  hot  (Lev.  xxvi,  16 ; 
Deut.  xxviii,  22)  [see  Fever]  ;  compare  the  kinds  of 
fever  distinguished  by  Hippocrates  as  KavaoQ  and  irvp. 
The  "  burning  boil,"  or  "  of  a  boil"  (Lev.  xiii,  23,  T.'2'^l 
'pn'i'il,  Sept.  ov\i)  Tov  tKicovc),  is  again  merclj'  marked 
by  tlie  notion  of  an  effect  resembling  that  of  fire,  like 
the  Greek  (pXiy^ovr'i,  or  our  '•  carbuncle ;"  it  may  possi- 
bly find  an  equivalent  in  the  Damascus  boil  of  the  pres- 
ent time.  The  "botch  ('pn'd)  of  Egypt"  (Deut.  xxviii, 
27)  is  so  vague  a  term  as  to  yield  a  most  uncertain 
sense ;  the  plague,  as  known  by  its  attendant  biiho,  has 
been  suggested  by  Scheuchzer.  It  is  possible  that  the 
Elephantiasis  Grceconim  may  be  intended  by  "i'^H"^,  un- 
derstood in  the  widest  sense  of  a  continued  ulceration 
until  the  whole'  body,  or  the  portion  affected,  may  be 
regarded  as  one  'pri'iIJ.  Of  this  disease  some  further 
notice  will  be  taken  below ;  at  present  it  is  observable 
that  the  same  word  is  used  to  express  the  "boil"  of 
Hezekiah.  Tliis  was  certaiidj^  a  single  locally-confined 
eruption,  and  was  probably  a  carbuncle,  one  of  which 
may  well  be  fatal,  though  a  single  "  boil"  in  our  sense 
of  the  word  seklom  is  so.  Dr.  Mead  supposes  it  to  have 
been  a  fever  terminating  in  an  abscess.  The  diseases 
rendered  "seal)"  and  "scurvy"  in  Lev.  xxi,  20;  xxii, 
22 ;  Deut.  xxviii,  27,  may  be  almost  any  skin-disease, 
such  as  those  known  under  the  names  of  lepra,  iisoriaris, 
pityriasis,  icthyosis,  favus,  or  common  itch.  Some  of 
these  may  be  said  to  apjjroach  the  type  of  leprosy  as 
laid  down  in  Scripture,  although  they  do  not  appear  to 
have  involved  ceremonial  defdement,  but  only  a  blemish 
disqualifying  for  the  priestlj'  office.  The  (luality  of 
being  incurable  is  added  as  a  special  curse,  for  these  dis- 
eases are  not  generally  so,  or  at  any  rate  are  common  in 
milder  forms.  The  "  running  of  the  reins"  (Lev.  xv,  2, 
3;  xxii,  4,  marg.)  may  perhajis  mean  ;/onorrhwa,  or  more 
probaldy  lilrniioriliaa  (mucous  discharge).  If  we  com- 
pare Numb.  XXV,  1,  xxxi,  7,  with  Josh,  xxii,  17,  there  is 
ground  for  thinking  that  some  disease  of  this  class,  de- 
rived from  polhiting  sexu.'d  intercourse,  remained  among 
the  people.  Tlio  existence  o(  (/(niurrlKvu  in  early  times 
— save  in  the  mild  form — has  been  much  disputed.  i\Ii- 
chel  Levy  {Trait e  d'/Ii/r/ieiie,  p. 7)  considers  the  affirma- 
tive as  establislied  by  the  above  passage,  and  says  of 
syphilis,  "Que  pour  notre  jiart,  nous  n'avons  jamais  pu 
cuusiderer  comme  une  nouveaute  du  xv"'  siecle."     lie 


certainly  gives  some  strong  historical  evidence  against 
the  view  that  it  was  introduced  into  France  by  Spanish 
troops  under  Gonzalvo  de  Cordova  on  their  return  from 
the  New  AVorld,  and  so  into  the  rest  of  Eurojie,  where  it 
was  known  as  the  morbus  Gallicus,  He  adds,  "La 
syphilis  est  perdue  confusement  dans  la  pathologic  an- 
cienne  par  la  diversite  de  ses  symptomes  et  de  ses  alte- 
rations; leur  interpretation  collective,  et  Icur  redaction 
en  une  seule  unite  morbide,  a  fait  croire  ii  lintroduction 
d'une  malailie  nouvelle."  See  also  Freind's  History  of 
Mi'd.,  Dr.  Mead,  Miehaelis,  Ileinhart  (liihtUcraukhciten'), 
Schmidt  (Jiibli-scli.  Med.),  and  others.  Wunderbar  (Bib.- 
Ttdni.  Med.  iii,  20,  commenting  on  Lev.  xv,  and  compar- 
ing Mishna,  Zabim,  ii,  2,  and  Maimonides,  ad  loc.)  thinks 
that  yonorrhaa  beniyna  was  in  the  mind  of  the  latter 
writers.  Dr.  Adams,  the  editor  of  Paul.  yEgin.  (Sydenh. 
Soc,  ii,  14),  considers  syphilis  a  modified  form  of  ele- 
phantiasis. For  all  ancient  notices  of  the  cognate  dis- 
eases, see  that  work,  i,  593  sq.  The  "  issue"  of  xv,  19, 
may  be  the  menorrkagia,  the  duration  of  which  in  the 
P2ast  is  sometimes,  when  not  checked  by  remedies,  for 
an  indefinite  period  (Matt,  ix,  20),  or  uterine  hemorrhage 
from  other  causes. 

In  Deut.  xxviii,  35  is  mentioned  a  disease  attacking 
the  "  knees  and  legs,"  consisting  in  a  "  sore  botch  which 
cannot  be  healed,"  but  extended,  in  the  sequel  of  the 
verse,  from  the  "  sole  of  the  foot  to  the  top  of  the  head." 
The  latter  part  of  the  quotation  would  certainly  accord 
with  Elej)hantiasis  Gneconim;  but  this,  if  I  lie  whole 
verse  be  a  mere  continuation  of  one  described  malady, 
would  be  in  contradiction  to  the  fact  that  this  disease 
commences  in  the  face,  not  in  the  lower  members.  On 
the  other  hand,  a  disease  which  affects  the  knees  and 
legs,  or  more  commonly  one  of  them  only— its  jirincipal 
feature  being  intumescence,  distorting  and  altering  all 
1  the  proportions  —  is  by  a  mere  accident  of  language 
I  known  as  Elephantiasis  A  rubum,  Bucnemia  Tropica 
(Rayer,  iii,  820-841),  or  "  liarbadocs  leg,"  from  being 
well  known  in  that  island.  Supposing,  however,  that 
the  affection  of  the  knees  and  legs  is  something  distinct, 
and  that  the  latter  part  of  the  descrijjtion  applies  to  the 
Elephantiasis  Gi'cecorum,  the  incurable  and  all-j)ervading 
character  of  the  malady  are  well  expressed  by  it.  This 
disease  is  what  now  passes  under  the  name  of  "leprosy" 
(^Miehaelis,  iii,  259) — the  lepers,  e.  g.  of  the  huts  near 
the  Zion  gate  of  modern  JerustUcm  are  elcphantiac?. 
It  has  been  asserted  that  there  are  two  kinds,  one  pain- 
fid,  the  other  painless;  but,  as  regards  Syria  and  the 
East,  this  is  contradicted.  There  the  parts  affected  are 
quite  benumbed  and  lose  sensation.  It  is  classed  as  a 
tubcrcidar  disease,  not  confined  to  the  skin,  but  per- 
vading the  tissues  and  destroying  the  bones.  It  is  not 
confined  to  any  age  or  either  sex.  It  first  appears  in 
general,  but  not  always,  about  the  face,  as  an  indurated 
nodule  (hence  it  is  improjierly  called  tubercular),  which 
gradually  enlarges,  inllanies,  and  ulcerates.  Sometimes 
it  commences  in  the  neck  or  arms.  The  ulcers  will  heal 
si)ontaneously,  but  only  after  a  long  period,  and  after 
destroying  a  great  deal  of  the  neighboring  parts.  If  a 
joint  be  attacked,  the  ulceration  will  go  on  till  its  de- 
struction is  complete,  the  joints  of  linger,  toe,  etc.,  drop- 
ping off  one  by  one.  Frightful  dreams  and  fetid  breath 
are  symptoms  mentioned  by  some  jiathologists.  More 
nodiiics  will  develop  themselves,  and,  if  the  face  be  the 
chief  seat  of  the  disease,  it  assumes  a  leonine  aspect 
(hence  called  also  Leontiasis),  loathsome  and  hideous; 
the  skin  becomes  thick,  rugose,  and  livid;  the  eyes  are 
fierce  and  staring,  and  the  hair  generally  falls  off  from 
all  the  parts  affected.  When  the  throat  is  attacked  the 
voice  shares  the  affection,  and  sinks  to  a  hoarse,  husky 
whisper.  These  two  syn)i)loms  arc  eminently  character- 
istic. The  patient  will  become  bed-ridden,  and,  though 
a  mass  of  bodily  corruption,  seems  happy  and  contented 
with  his  sad  condition,  until,  sinking  exhausted  under 
the  ravages  of  the  disease,  he  is  generally  carried  f)ff,  at 
least  in  Syria,  by  diarrha-a.  It  is  hereditary,  and  may 
be  inoculated,  but  does  not  propagate  itself  by  the  closest 


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35 


MEDICINE 


contact ;  e.  g.  two  women  in  the  aforesaid  leper-huts  re- 
mained uncontaminated  thoiigli  their  husbands  were 
both  affected,  and  yet  the  children  born  to  them  were, 
like  the  fathers,  elephantisiac,  and  became  so  in  early 
life.  On  the  children  of  diseased  parents  a  watch  for 
the  appearance  of  the  malady  is  kept;  but  no  one  is 
afraid  of  infection,  and  the  neighbors  mix  freely  with 
them,  though,  like  the  lepers  of  the  Old  Test.,  they  live 
"  in  a  several  house."  Many  have  attributed  to  these 
wretched  creatures  a  libido  inexplebilis  (see  Proceedinr/s 
of  Med.  and  Chirurg.  Soc.  of  London,  Jan.  i860,  iii,  1G4, 
from  which  some  of  the  above  remarks  are  taken).  This 
is  denied  by  Dr.  Robert  Sim  (from  a  close  study  of  the 
disease  in  Jerusalem),  save  in  so  far  as  idleness  and  in- 
activity, with  animal  wants  supplied,  may  conduce  to  it. 
It  became  first  prevalent  in  Europe  during  the  crusades, 
and  by  their  means  was  diffused,  and  the  ambiguity  of 
designating  it  leprosy  then  originated,  and  has  been 
generally  since  retained.  Pliny  {JVaf.  Hist,  xxvi,  5)  as- 
serts that  it  was  unknown  in  Italy  till  the  time  of  Pom- 
pey  the  Great,  when  it  was  imported  from  Egypt,  but 
soon  became  extinct  {Paul.  yEgin.  ed.  Sydenh.  Soc.  ii,  (5). 
It  is,  however,  broadly  distinguished  from  the  XtTrpa, 
XtvKi],  etc.  of  the  Greeks  by  name  and  symptoms,  no 
less  than  by  Roman  medical  and  even  popular  writers ; 
comp.  Lucretius,  whose  mention  of  it  is  the  earliest — ■ 
"Est  elephas  morbus,  qui  propter  fiumiua  Nili, 

Gignitur  ^gypto  iu  niediu,  ueque  prteterea  usquam." 
It  is  nearly  extinct  in  Europe,  save  in  Spain  and  Nor- 
wa,v.  A  case  was  seen  lateh^  in  the  Crimea,  but  may 
have  been  produced  elsewhere.  It  prevails  in  Turkey 
and  the  Greek  Archipelago.  One  case,  however,  indig- 
enous in  England,  is  recorded  among  the  medical  fac- 
similes at  Guy's  Hospital.  In  Granada  it  was  generally 
fatal  after  eight  or  ten  years,  whatever  the  treatment. 
This  favors  the  correspondence  of  this  disease  with  one 
one  of  those  evil  diseases  of  Egypt,  possibly  its  "  botch," 
threatened  in  Deut.  xxviii,  27,  35.  This  "  botch,"  how- 
ever, seems  more  probably  to  mean  the  foul  ulcer  men- 
tioned by  Aretaeus  (Be  Sign,  et  Cans.  Morb.  A  cut.  i,  9), 
and  called  by  him  ricpSra  or  taxapi].  He  ascribes  its  fre- 
quency iu  Egypt  to  the  mixed  vegetable  diet  there  fol- 
lowed, and  to  the  use  of  the  turbid  water  of  the  Nile, 
but  adds  that  it  is  common  in  Cojle-Syria.  The  Tal- 
mud speaks  of  the  elephantiasis  (Baba  Kama,  80  b)  as 
being  "  moist  without  and  dry  within"  (Wunderbar,  Bib- 
lisch-Talmudische  Med.  Stes  Heft,  10,  11).  Advanced 
cases  are  said  to  have  a  canceraas  aspect,  and  some  even 
class  it  as  a  form  of  cancer,  a  disease  dependent  on  faults 
of  nutrition. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  this,  which  is  perhaps  the 
most  dreadfid  disease  of  the  East,  was  Job's  malady. 
Origen,  llexapla  on  Job  ii,  7,  mentions  that  one  of  the 
Greek  versions  gives  it,  loc.  cit.,  as  the  affliction  which 
befel  him.  Wunderbar"(((<  sup.  p.  10)  supposes  it  to  have 
been  the  Tyrian  leprosy,  resting  chiefly  on  the  itching 
implied,  as  he  supposes,  by  Job  ii,  7, 8.  Schmidt  {Bib- 
lischer  Med.  iv,  4)  thinks  the  "sore  boil"  may  indicate 
some  graver  disease,  or  complication  of  diseases.  But 
there  is  no  need  to  go  beyond  the  statement  of  Script- 
ure, which  speaks  not  only  of  this  "  boil,"  but  of  "  skin 
loathsome  and  broken,"  "  covered  with  worms  and  clods 
of  dust;"  the  second  symptom  is  the  result  of  the  first, 
and  the  "  worms"  are  probably  the  larvne  of  some  fly, 
known  so  to  infest  and  make  its  nidus  in  any  wound  or 
sore  exposed  to  the  air,  and  to  increase  rapidly  in  size. 
The  "  clods  of  dust"  would  of  course  follow  from  his  "  sit- 
ting in  ashes."  The  "  breath  strange  to  his  wife,"  if  it 
be  not  a  figurative  expression  for  her  estrangement  from 
him,  may  imply  a  fetor,  which  in  such  a  state  of  body 
hardly  requires  explanation.  The  expression  my  "  bow- 
els boiled"  (xxx,  27)  may  refer  to  the  burning  sensation 
in  the  stomach  and  bowels,  caused  by  acrid  bile,  vi^hich 
is  common  in  ague.  Aretieus  {De  Cur.  Morb.  A  cut.  ii, 
3)  has  a  similar  expression,  ^epj.ui<yit]  tCjv  CTr\ayx^^'>v 
diov  airb  irvpoQ,  as  attending  sjmcope.  The  "  scaring 
dreams"  and  "  terrifying  visions"  are  perhaps  a  mere 


symptom  of  the  state  of  mind  bewildered  by  imaccount- 
able  afflictions.  The  intense  emaciation  was  (xxxiii, 
21)  perhaps  the  mere  result  of  protracted  sickness. 

The  disease  of  king  Antiochus  (2  Mace,  ix,  5-10,  etc.) 
is  that  of  a  boil  breeding  worms  (ulcus  vermhwsuni). 
So  SuUa,  Pherecydes,  and  Alcman,  the  poet,  are  men- 
tioned {VlvLt.Vita  Sullce)  as  similar  cases.  The  exam-  . 
pies  of  both  the  Herods  (Josephus,  A  nt.  xvii,  6, 5 ;  War, 
i,  33,  5)  may  also  be  adduced,  as  that  of  Pheretime 
(Herod,  iv,  205).  There  is  some  doubt  whether  this  dis- 
ease be  not  allied  to  phthiriasis,  in  which  lice  are  bred, 
and  cause  idcers.  This  condition  may  originate  either 
in  a  sore,  or  in  a  morbid  habit  of  body  brought  on  by 
uncleanliness,  suppressed  perspiration,  or  neglect;  but 
the  vermination,  if  it  did  not  commence  in  a  sore,  would 
produce  one.  Dr.  Mason  Good  (iv,  504-6),  speaking  of 
l-idXiQ,  ;[(a\(«(Tjuoc=cutaneous  vermination,  mentions  a 
case  in  the  Westminster  Infirmaiy,  and  an  opinion  that 
universal  phthiriasis  was  no  unfrequent  disease  among 
the  ancients ;  he  also  states  (p.  500)  that  in  gangrenous 
ulcers,  especially  in  warm  climates,  innumerable  grubs 
or  maggots  will  appear  almost  every  morning.  The 
camel,  and  other  creatures,  are  known  to  be  the  habitat 
of  similar  parasites.  There  are  also  cases  of  vermina- 
tion without  any  wound  or  faulty  outward  state,  such  as 
the  VenaMedinensis,  known  in  Africa  as  the  "Guinea- 
worm,"  of  which  Galen  had  heard  only,  breeding  under 
the  skin,  and  needing  to  be  drawn  out  carefully  by  a 
needle,  lest  it  break,  when  great  soreness  and  suppura- 
tion succeed  (Ereind,  Hist,  of  Med.  i,  49 ;  De  Mandelslo's 
Travels,  p.  4;  and  Paul.  ^gin.  t.  iv,  ed.  Sydenh.  Soc). 
Rayer  (iii,  808-819)  gives  a  list  of  parasites,  most  of 
them  in  the  skin.  This  "  Gumea-worm,"  it  appears,  is 
also  found  in  Arabia  Petraja,  on  the  coasts  of  the  Cas- 
pian and  Persian  Gulf,  on  the  Ganges,  in  Upper  Egypt 
and  Abyssinia  (ib.  814).  Dr.  Mead  refers  Herod's  dis- 
ease to  LvTo^wa,  or  intestinal  worms.  Shapter,  without 
due  foundation,  objects  that  the  word  in  that  case  should 
have  been  not  (jki'o\i]%,  but  tvXi)  {Medica  Sacra,  p.  188). 

In  Deut.  xxviii,  65  it  is  possible  that  a  palpitation  of 
the  heart  is  intended  to  be  spoken  of  (comp.  Gen.  xlv, 
26).  In  Mark  ix,  17  (comp.  Luke  ix,  38)  we  have  an 
apparent  case  of  epilepsy,  shown  especially  in  the  foam- 
ing, falling,  wallowing,  and  similar  violent  symptoms 
mentioned ;  this  might  easily  be  a  form  of  demoniacal 
manifestation.  The  case  of  extreme  hunger  recorded  in 
1  Sam.  xiv  was  merely  the  result  of  exhaustive  fatigue ; 
but  it  is  remarkable  that  the  bulimia  of  which  Xeno- 
phon  speaks  (A?iab.  iv,  5,  7),  was  remedied  by  an  appli- 
cation in  w^hich  "  honey"  (comp.  1  Sam.  xiv,  27)  was  the 
chief  ingredient. 

Besides  the  common  injuries  of  wounding,  bruising, 
striking  out  e3'e,  tooth,  etc.,  we  have  in  Exod.  xxi,  22 
the  case  of  miscarriage  produced  by  a  blow,  push,  etc., 
damaging  the  foetus. 

The  plague  of  "  boils  and  blains"  is  not  said  to  have 
been  fatal  to  man,  as  the  murrain  preceding  was  to  cat- 
tle ;  this  alone  would  seem  to  contradict  the  notion  of 
Shapter  {Medica  *S'«tva,p.  113),thatthe  disorder  in  ques- 
tion was  small-pox,  which,  wherever  it  has  appeared, 
until  mitigated  by  vaccination,  has  been  fatal  to  a  great 
part,  perhaps  a  majority  of  those  seized.  The  small-pox 
also  generjill}'  takes  some  days  to  pronounce  and  ma- 
ture, which  seems  opposed  to  the  Mosaic  account.  The 
expression  of  Exod.  ix,  10,  a  "  boil"  flourishing,  or  ebul- 
lient with  blains,  may  perhaps  be  a  disease  analogous  to 
phlegmonous  erysipelas,  or  even  common  erysipelas, 
which  is  often  accompanied  by  vesications  such  as  the 
word  "  blains"  might  fitly  describe.  This  is  Dr.  Robert 
Sim's  opinion.  On  comparing,  however,  the  means  used 
to  produce  the  disorder  (Exod.  ix,  8),  an  analogy  is  per- 
ceptible to  what  is  called  "  bricklayer's  itch,"  and  there- 
fore to  leprosy.  A  disease  involving  a  white  spot  break- 
ing forth  from  a  boil  related  to  leprosy,  and  clean  or  un- 
clean according  to  symptoms  specified,  occmrs  under  the 
general  locus  of  leprosy  (Lev.  xiii,  18-23). 

The  "  withered  hand"  of  Jeroboam  (1  Kuigs  xiii,  4-6), 


MEDICIXE 


36 


MEDICINE 


and  of  the  man  (^latt.  xii,  10-13 ;  comp.  Luke  vi,  10),  is 
such  an  effect  as  is  known  to  follow  from  the  oblitera- 
tion of  the  main  artery  of  any  member,  or  from  paraly- 
sis of  the  principal  nerve,  either  through  disease  or 
through  injurj'.  A  case  with  a  sjTnptom  exactly  par- 
allel to  that  of  Jeroboam  is  mentioned  in  the  life  of  (ia- 
briel,  an  Arab  physician.  It  was  that  of  a  woman  whose 
han(i  had  become  rigid  in  the  act  of  swinging,  and  re- 
mained in  the  extended  posture.  The  most  remarkable 
feature  in  the  case,  as  related,  is  the  remedy,  which  con- 
sisted in  alarm  acting  on  the  nerv'es,  inducing  a  sudden 
and  s]io!itaneous  effort  to  use  the  limb — an  effort  which, 
like  that  of  the  dumb  son  of  Croesus  (Herod,  i,  85),  was 
paradoxically  :^uccessfid.  The  case  of  the  willow's  son 
restored  iiy  IClisha  (2  Kings  W,  19),  was  probably  one  of 
sunstroke.  The  disease  of  Asa  "  in  his  feet'"  (Schmidt, 
Bibli.irhi'r  Med.  iii,  5,  2),  which  attacked  him  in  his  old 
age  (1  Kings  xv,  23;  2  Chron.  xvi,  12),  and  became  ex- 
ceeding great,  may  have  been  either  ademu,  dropsy,  or 
poddijra,  gout.  The  former  is  common  in  aged  persons, 
in  whom,  owing  to  the  dilHculty  of  the  return  upwards 
of  the  sluggisli  blood,  its  watery  part  stays  in  the  feet. 
The  latter,  though  rare  in  the  East  at  present,  is  men- 
tioned by  the  Talmudists  {Sota/i,  10  a,  and  Sanhedrin, 
48  h),  and  there  is  no  reason  why  it  may  not  have  been 
known  in  Asa's  time.  It  occurs  in  Hippocr.  Aphor,  vi, 
Prof/nost.  15;  Celsus,  iv,  24;  Aretaeus,  Moth,  Chron,  ii, 
12,  and' other  ancient  writers. 

In  1  Mace,  vi,  8,  occurs  a  mention  o£  "sickness  of 
grief;"  in  Ecclus.  xxxvii,  30,  of  sickness  caused  by  ex- 
cess, which  require  only  a  passing  mention.  The  dis- 
ease of  Nel>uchadnezzar  has  been  viewed  by  Jahn  as  a 
mental  and  purely  subjective  malady.  It  is  not  easy  to 
see  how  tliis  satisfies  the  plain,  emphatic  statement  of 
Dan.  iv,  33,  which  seems  to  include,  it  is  true,  mental 
derangement,  but  to  assert  a  degraded  bodily  state  to 
some  extent,  and  a  corresponding  change  of  liabits.  The 
"  eagles'  feathers"  and  "  birds'  claws"  are  probably  used 
only  in  illustration,  not  necessarily  as  describing  a  new 
tyi)c  to  which  the  hair,  etc.,  approximated.  (Comp.  the 
.simile  of  Psa.  ciii,  5,  and  that  of  2  Kings  v,  14.)  We 
may  regaril  it  as  Jlead  {Med.  Sacr.  vol.  vii),  following 
Burton's  A  ixttomy  of  M(lancliohj,  docs,  as  a  species  oi' 
the  melancholy  known  as  Lycauthropia  (Paidiis  yEgin. 
iii,  16;  Avicenna,  iii,  1,  5,  22).  Persons  so  affected  wan- 
dor  like  wolves  in  sepulchres  by  night,  and  imitate  the 
howling  of  a  wolf  or  a  dog.  Further,  there  are  well-at- 
tested accounts  of  wild  or  half-wild  himian  creatures,  of 
either  sex,  who  have  lived  as  beasts,  losing  human  con- 
sciousness, and  acquiring  a  superhuman  ferocity,  activ- 
ity, and  swiftness.  Either  the  lycanthropic  patients  or 
these  latter  may  furnish  a  partial  analogy  to  Nebu- 
chadnezzar in  regard  to  the  various  points  of  modified 
outward  appearance  and  habits  ascribed  to  him.  Nor 
•would  it  seem  imjiossible  that  a  sustained  lycauthropia 
might  produce  this  latter  condition. 

Here  should  be  noticed  the  mental  malady  of  Saul. 
His  melancholy  seems  to  have  had  its  origin  in  his  sin; 
it  was  therefore  grounded  in  his  moral  nature,  but  ex- 
tended its  effects,  as  commonly,  to  the  intellectual. 
The  "evil  spirit  from  God,"  whatever  it  mean,  was  no 
part  of  the  medical  features  of  his  case,  and  may  there- 
fore be  excluded  from  the  present  notice.  Music,  which 
soothed  him  for  a  while,  has  entered  largelj'  into  the 
milder  modern  treatment  of  lunacy. 

The  jialsy  meets  us  in  the  New  Test,  only,  and  in 
features  too  familiar  to  need  special  remark.  The  words 
"grievously  tormented"  (JIatt.  viii,  0)  have  been  com- 
mented on  by  liaier  {De  ParuL  p.  32),  to  the  effect  that 
examples  of  acutely  painful  paralysis  are  not  wanting 
in  moiiorn  patliology,  e.  g.  when  paralysis  is  complicated 
with  neuralgia.  But  if  this  statement  be  viewed  with 
doubt,  we  might  understand  the  Greek  expression  (/3a- 
aai'i'^ofiivoQ)  as  used  of  paralysis  agitans,  or  even  of 
chorea  (St.Vitus's  dance),  in  both  of  which  the  patient, 
being  never  still  for  a  moment  save  when  asleep,  might 
well  be  so  described.  The  woman's  case  who  was  "  bowed 


together"  by  •'  a  spirit  of  infirmity"  may  probably  have 
been  paralytic  (Luke  xiii,  11).  If  the  dorsal  muscles 
were  affected,  those  of  the  chest  and  abdomen,  from 
want  of  resistance,  would  undergo  contraction,  and  thus 
cause  the  patient  to  suffer  as  described. 

Gangrene  {yc'tyypaii>a,  Celsus,  vii,  33,  de  fjanffrtend), 
or  mortification  in  its  vari<ins  forms,  is  a  totally  different 
disorder  from  the  "  canker"  of  the  A.  Y.  in  2  Tim.  ii,  17. 
Both  gangrene  and  cancer  were  common  in  all  the  coun- 
tries familiar  to  the  scriptural  writers,  and  neither  dif- 
fers from  the  modern  disease  of  the  same  name  (Dr.  M. 
Good,  ii,  GG9,  etc.,  and  579,  etc.). 

In  Isa.  xxvi,  18 ;  Psa.  vii,  14,  there  seems  an  allusion 
to  false  conception,  in  which,  though  attended  by  pains 
of  quasi-labor  and  other  ordinarj^  symptoms,  the  womb 
has  been  found  unimpregnated,  and  no  dcliverj'  has  fol- 
lowed. The  medical  term  (Dr.  !M.  Good,  iv,  188)  *;<- 
TTVtvfiariorrtg,  mold  reutosa,  suggests  the  scriptural  lan- 
guage, "  We  have,  as  it  were,  brought  forth  wind ;"  the 
whole  passage  is  figurative  for  disappointment  after 
great  effort. 

Poison,  as  a  means  of  destroying  life,  hardly  occurs  in 
the  Bible,  save  as  applied  to  arrows  (.Job  vi,  4).  In 
Zech.  xii,  2,  the  marg.  gives  "poison"  as  an  alternative 
rendering,  which  does  not  seem  preferable,  intoxication 
being  probably  meant.  In  the  annals  of  the  Ilerods 
poisons  occur  as  the  resource  of  stealthy  murder. 

The  bite  or  sting  of  venomous  beasts  can  hardly  be 
treated  as  a  disease,  but  in  connection  with  the  "  fiery 
(i.  e.  venomous)  serpents"  of  Numb,  xxi,  6,  and  the  de- 
liverance from  death  of  those  bitten,  it  deserves  a  notice. 
Even  the  Talmud  acknowledges  that  the  healing  power 
lay  not  in  the  brazen  serpent  itself,  but  "  as  soon  as  they 
feared  the  Most  High,  and  uplifted  their  hearts  to  their 
heavenly  Father,  they  were  healed,  and  in  default  of 
this  were  brought  to  naught."  Thus  the  brazen  figure 
was  symbolized  only;  or,  according  to  the  lovers  of 
purely  natural  explanation,  was  the  stage-trick  to  cover 
a  false  miracle.  It  was  customarj'  to  consecrate  the 
image  of  the  aflliction,  either  in  its  cause  or  in  its  effect, 
as  in  the  golden  emerods,  golden  mice,  of  1  Sam.  vi.  4, 
8,  and  in  the  ex-votos  common  in  Egypt  even  before 
the  exodus:  and  these  may  be  compared  with  the  set- 
ting up  of  the  brazen  serpent.  Thus  we  have  in  it  only 
an  instance  of  the  current  custom,  fanciful  or  supersti- 
tious, being  sublimed  to  a  higher  purpose.  The  bite  of 
a  white  she-mule,  perhaps  in  the  rutting  season,  is,  ac- 
cording to  the  Talmudists,  fatal;  and  they  also  mention 
that  of  a  mad  dog.  with  certain  symptoms  by  which  to 
discern  his  state  (Wunderbar,  iit  ."tip.  p.  21).  The  scor- 
pion and  centipede  are  natives  of  the  Levant  (Kcv.  ix, 
5, 10),  and,  with  a  large  variety  of  serpents,  swarm  there. 
To  these,  according  to  Lichtenstein,  shoidd  be  added  a 
venomous  solpuga,  or  large  spider,  similar  to  the  Cala- 
brian  tarantula;  but  the  passage  in  Pliny  adduced  (/f. 
X.  xxix,  29)  gives  no  satisfactory  ground  for  the  theory 
based  upon  it,  that  its  bite  was  the  cause  of  the  emerods. 
It  is,  however,  remarkable  that  Pliny  mentions  with 
some  fulness  a  mm  ai-anciis — not  a  sjjider  resembling  a 
mouse,  but  a  mouse  resembling  a  spider  —  the  shrew- 
mouse,  and  called  araneus,  Isidore  says  from  this  resem- 
blance, or  fnmi  its  eating  spiders.  Its  bite  was  venom- 
ous, caused  mortification  of  the  part,  and  a  spreading 
ulcer  attended  with  inward  gri|)iiig  pains,  and  when 
crushed  on  the  wound  it  was  its  own  best  antidote.     See 

DiSKASK. 

The  disease  of  old  age  lias  acquired  a  place  in  Bibli- 
cal nosology  chiefly  owing  to  the  elegant  allegorj-  into 
which  "  The  Preacher"  throws  the  succeeding  tokens  of 
the  ravage  of  time  on  man  (Eccles.  xii).  The  symptoms 
enumerated  have  each  their  significance  for  the  physi- 
cian; for,  though  his  art  can  do  little  to  arrest  them, 
they  yet  mark  an  altered  condition  calling  for  a  treat- 
ment of  its  own.  '-The  Preacher"  divides  the  sum  of 
human  existence  into  that  period  which  involves  every 
mode  of  growth,  and  that  which  involves  every  mode 
of  decline.     The  first  reaches  from  the  point  of  birth  or 


MEDICINE 


37 


MEDICINE 


even  of  generation,  onwards  to  the  attamment  of  the 
"  grand  cUmacteric,"  and  the  second  from  that  epoch 
backwards  through  a  corresponding  period  of  decUne  till 
the  point  of  dissolution  is  reached.  These  are  respect- 
ively called  the  r\'-'hvn  i:ai  and  the  mi^S'n  i?3i  of 
the  rabbins  (Wunderbar,  2tes  Heft).  This  latter  course 
is  marked  in  metaphor  by  the  darkening  of  the  great 
lights  of  nature,  and  the  ensuing  season  of  life  is  com- 
pared to  tlie  broken  weather  of  the  wet  season,  setting 
in  when  summer  is  gone,  when  after  every  shower  fresh 
clouds  are  in  the  sky,  as  contrasted  with  the  showers  of 
other  seasons,  which  pass  away  into  clearness.  Such  he 
means  are  the  ailments  and  troubles  of  declining  age,  as 
compared  with  those  of  advancing  life.  The  '•  keepers 
of  the  house"  are  perhaps  the  ribs  which  support  the 
frame,  or  the  arms  and  shoulders  which  enwrap  and  pro- 
tect it.  Their  "  trembling,"  especially  that  of  the  arms, 
etc.,  is  a  sure  sign  of  vigor  past.  The  "  strong  men" 
are  its  supporters,  the  lower  limbs  "  bowing  themselves" 
under  the  weight  they  once  so  lightly  bore.  The  "  grind- 
ing" hardly  needs  to  be  explained  of  the  teeth,  now  be- 
come "  few."  The  "  lookers  from  the  windows"  are  the 
pupils  of  the  ej^es,  now  "  darkened,"  as  Isaac's  were,  and 
Eli's ;  and  Moses,  though  spared  the  dimness,  was  yet 
in  that  very  exemption  a  marvel  (Gen.  xxvii ;  comp. 
xlviii,  10 ;  1  Sam.  iv,  15 ;  Dent,  xxxiv,  7).  The  "  doors 
shut"  represent  the  dulness  of  those  other  senses  which 
are  the  portals  of  knowledge ;  thus  the  taste  and  smell, 
as  in  the  case  of  Barzillai,  became  impaired,  and  the 
ears  stopped  against  sound.  The  "  rising  up  at  the 
voice  of  a  bird"  portrays  the  light,  soon-tleeting,  easilj'- 
broken  slumber  of  the  aged  man ;  or  possibly,  and  more 
literally,  actual  waking  in  the  early  morning,  when  tirst 
the  cock  crows,  may  be  intended.  The  "  daughters  of 
music  brought  low"  suggest  the 

"  big,  manly  voice 

Now  turu'd  again  to  childish  treble ;" 

and  also,  as  illustrated  again  by  Barzillai,  the  failure  in 
the  discernment  and  the  utterance  of  musical  notes. 
The  fears  of  old  age  are  next  noticed:  "They  shall  be 
afraid  oUhatiohich  is  highf  an  obscure  expression,  per- 
haps, for  what  are  popularly  called  "  nervous"  terrors, 
exaggerating  and  magnifying  every  object  of  alarm, 
and  "making,"  as  the  sajdng  is,  "mountains  of  mole- 
hills." Or,  even  more  simply,  these  words  may  be  un- 
derstood as  meaning  that  old  men  have  neither  vigor 
nor  breath  for  going  up  hills,  mountains,  or  anything  else 
that  is  "  high ;"  nay,  for  them  the  plain,  even  the  road 
has  its  terrors — they  walk  timidly  and  cautiously  even 
along  that.  "  Fear  in  the  way"  is  at  first  less  obvious ; 
but  we  observe  that  nothing  unnerves  and  agitates  an 
old  person  more  than  the  prospect  of  a  long  journey. 
Thus  regarded,  it  becomes  a  fine  and  subtile  touch  in 
the  description  of  decrepitude.  All  readiness  to  haste 
is  arrested,  and  a  numb  despondency  succeeds.  The 
"flourishing"  of  "the  "almond-tree"  is  still  more  ob- 
scure ;  but  we  observe  this  tree  in  Palestine  blossoming 
when  others  show  no  sign  of  vegetation,  and  when  it  is 
dead  winter  all  around— no  ill  type,  perhaps,  of  the  old 
man  who  has  survived  his  own  contemporaries  and  many 
of  his  juniors.  Youthful  lusts  die  out,  and  their  organs, 
of  which  "  the  grasshopper"  is  perhaps  a  figure,  are  re- 
laxed. The  "  silver  cord"  may  be  that  of  nervous  sen- 
sation, or  motion,  or  even  the  spinal  marrow  itself. 
Perhaps  some  incapacity  of  retention  maj^  be  signified 
by  the  "  golden  bowl  broken ;"  the  "  pitcher  broken  at 
the  well"  suggests  some  vital  supply  stopping  at  the 
usual  source — derangement  perhaps  of  the  digestion  or 
of  the  respiration ;  the  "  wheel  shivered  at  the  cistern" 
conveys,  through  the  image  of  the  water-lifting  process 
familiar  in  irrigation,  the  notion  of  the  blood,  pumped, 
as  it  were,  through  the  vessels,  and  fertilizing  the  whole 
system ;  for  "  the  blood  is  the  life." 

IV.  Hebrew  Therapeutics.  —  This  careful  register  of 
the  tokens  of  decline  might  lead  us  to  expect  great  care 
for  the  preservation  of  health  and  strength ;  and  this 


indeed  is  found  to  mark  the  Mosaic  system,  in  the  regu- 
lations concerning  diet,  the  "  divers  washings,"  and  the 
pollution  imputed  to  a  corpse — nay,  even  in  circumci- 
sion itself.  These  served  not  only  the  ceremonial  pur- 
pose of  imparting  self-consciousness  to  the  Hebrew,  and 
keeping  him  distinct  from  alien  admixture,  but  had  a 
sanitary  aspect  of  rare  wisdom,  when  we  regard  the 
country,  the  climate,  and  the  age.  The  laws  of  diet  had 
the  effect  of  tempering,  by  a  just  admixture  of  the  or- 
ganic substances  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms, 
the  regimen  of  Hebrew  families,  and  thus  providing  fur 
the  vigor  of  future  ages,  as  ^veU  as  checking  the  stimu- 
lus which  the  predominant  use  of  animal  food  gives  to 
the  passions.  To  these  effects  may  be  ascribed  the  im- 
munity often  enjoyed  by  the  Hebrew  race  amid  epi- 
demics devastating  the  countries  of  their  sojourn.  The 
best  and  often  tlie  sole  possible  exercise  of  medicine  is 
to  prevent  disease.  Moses  could  not  legislate  for  cure, 
but  his  rules  did  for  the  great  mass  of  the  people  what 
no  therapeutics,  however  consummate,  could  do — they 
gave  the  best  security  for  the  public  health  by  provi- 
sions incorporated  in  the  public  economy.  Whether  we 
regard  the  la-\\'S  which  secluded  the  leper  as  designed  to 
prevent  infection  or  repress  the  dread  of  it,  their  wisdom 
is  nearly  equal,  for  of  all  terrors  the  imaginary  are  the 
most  terrible.  The  laws  restricting  marriage  have  in 
general  a  similar  tendency,  degeneracy  being  the  pen- 
alty of  a  departure  from  those  which  forbid  commixture 
of  near  kin.  Michel  Levy  remarks  on  the  salubrious 
tendency  of  the  law  of  marital  separation  (Lev.  xv)  im- 
posed (Levj^,  Traite  de  Hygiem,  p.  8).  The  precept  also 
concerning  purity  on  the  necessary  occasions  in  a  desert 
encampment  (Dent,  xxiii,  12-14),  enjoining  the  return 
of  the  elements  of  productiveness  to  the  soil,  would  prob- 
ably become  the  basis  of  the  municipal  regulations  hav- 
ing for  their  object  a  similar  purity  in  towns.  The 
cc^sequences  of  its  neglect  in  such  encampments  is 
shown  by  an  example  quoted  by  INIichel  Levy,  as  men- 
tioned by  ]\I.  de  Lamartine  (ib.  8,  9).  Length  of  life 
was  regarded  as  a  mark  of  divine  favor,  and  the  divine 
legislator  had  pointed  out  the  means  of  ordinarily  in- 
suring a  fuller  measure  of  it  to  the  people  at  large  than 
coidd,  according  to  physical  laws,  otherwise  be  hoped 
for.  Perhaps  the  extraordinary  means  taken  to  prolong 
vitality  may  be  referred  to  this  source  (1  Kings  i,  2), 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  the  case  of  David  should  be 
deemed  a  singular  one.  \\q  maj'  also  compare  tlie  ap- 
parent infiuence  of  vital  warmth  enhanced  to  a  miracu- 
lous degree,  but  having,  perhaps,  a  physical  law  as  its 
basis,  in  the  cases  of  Elijah,  Elisha,  and  the  sons  of  the 
widow  of  Zarephath,  and  the  Shunammite.  Wunderbar 
has  collected  several  examples  of  such  influence  simi- 
larly exerted,  which,  however,  he  seems  to  exaggerate 
to  an  absurd  pitch.  Yet  it  would  seem  not  against  an- 
alogy to  suppose  that,  as  pernicious  exhalations,  mias- 
mata, etc.,  may  pass  from  the  sick  and  affect  the  healthj-, 
so  there  should  be  a  reciprocal  action  in  favor  of  liealth. 
The  climate  of  Palestine  afforded  a  great  range  of  tem- 
perature within  a  narrow  compass — e.  g.  a  long  sea- 
coast,  a  long,  deep  valley  (that  of  the  Jordan),  a  broad, 
flat  plain  (Esdraelon),  a  large  portion  of  table-land  (Ju- 
dah  and  Ephraim),  and  the  higher  elevations  of  Carmel, 
Tabor,  the  lesser  and  greater  Hermon,  etc.  Thus  it 
partakes  of  nearly  all  supportable  climates.  In  October 
its  rain}'  season  begins  with  moist  westerly  winds.  Jn 
November  the  trees  are  bare.  In  December  snow  and 
ice  are  often  found,  but  never  lie  long,  and  only  during 
the  north  wind's  prevalence.  The  cold  disappears  at 
the  end  of  Februar}^  and  the  "  latter  rain"  sets  in,  last- 
ing through  ]\Iarch  to  the  middle  of  April,  when  thun- 
der-storms are  common,  torrents  swell,  and  the  heat 
rises  in  the  low  grounds.  At  the  end  of  April  the  hot 
season  begins,  but  preserves  moderation  till  June,  thence 
till  September  becomes  extreme;  and  during  all  this 
period  rain  seldom  occurs,  but  often  heavy  dews  prevail. 
In  September  it  commences  to  be  cool,  first  at  night,  and 
sometimes  the  rain  begins  to  fall  at  the  end  of  it.     The 


MEDICINE 


38 


MEDICINE 


migration  with  the  season  from  an  inland  to  a  sea-coast 
position,  from  low  to  high  ground,  etc.,  was  a  ])oiiit  of 
social  development  never  systematically  reached  during 
the  scriptural  history  of  Palestine.  But  men  inhabit- 
ing the  same  regions  for  centuries  could  hardly  fail  to 
notice  the  connection  between  the  air  and  moisture  of  a 
place  and  human  health,  and  those  favored  by  circum- 
stances would  certainly  turn  their  knowledge  to  account. 
The  Talmudists  speak  of  the  north  wind  as  preservative 
of  life,  and  the  south  and  east  winds  as  exhaustive,  but 
the  south  as  the  most  insupportable  of  all,  coming  hot 
and  dry  from  the  deserts,  jiroducing  abortion,  tainting 
the  babe  yet  unborn,  and  corroding  the  pearls  in  the 
sea.  Further,  they  dissuade  from  performing  circum- 
cision or  venesection  during  its  prevalence  {Jehamoth, 
72  «,  ap. Wunderbar,  2tes  lleft,  vol. ii,  A).  It  is  stated 
that  "  the  marriage-bod  placed  between  north  and  south 
will  be  blessed  with  male  issue"  {Berachoih,  15,  ih.), 
which  may,  ^^'underbar  thinks,  be  interpreted  of  the 
temperature  when  moderate,  and  in  neither  extreme 
(which  these  winds  respectively  represent),  as  most  fa- 
voring fecundity.  If  the  fact  be  so,  it  is  more  probably 
related  to  the  phenomena  of  magnetism,  in  connection 
witli  which  the  same  theory  has  been  lately  revived. 
A  number  of  precepts  are  given  by  the  same  authorities 
in  reference  to  health ;  e.  g.  eating  slowly,  not  contract- 
ing a  sedentary  habit,  regularity  in  natural  operations, 
cheerfulness  of  temperament,  due  sleep  (especially  early 
morning  sleep  is  recommended),  but  not  somnolence  by 
day  (Wunderbar,  nt  sup.).  We  may  mention  likewise 
in  this  connection  that  possession  of  an  abundance  of 
salt  tended  to  banish  much  disease  (Psa.  Ix,  2 ;  2  Sam. 
viii,  13 ;  1  Chron.  xviii,  12).  Salt-pits  (Zeph.  ii,  9)  are 
still-  dug  by  the  Arabs  on  the  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
For  the  use  of  salt  to  a  new-born  infant,  Ezek.  xvi,  4 ; 
comp.  Galen,  De  Sanit.  lib.  i,  cap.  7. 

The  rite  of  circumcision,  besides  its  special  surgical 
operation,  deserves  some  notice  in  connection  with  the 
general  question  of  the  health,  longevity,  and  fecundity 
of  the  race  with  whose  history  it  is  identified.  Besides 
being  a  mark  of  the  covenant  and  a  symbol  of  purity,  it 
was  perhaps  also  a  protest  against  the  phalhis-worship, 
which  has  a  remote  antiquity  in  the  corruption  of  man- 
kind, and  of  which  we  have  some  trace  in  the  Egyptian 
rayth  of  Osiris.  It  has  been  asserted  also  (Winulerbar, 
3t.es  Heft,  p.  25)  that  it  distinctly  contributed  to  increase 
the  fruitfulness  of  the  race,  and  to  check  inordinate  de- 
sires in  the  individual.  Its  beneficial  effects  in  such  a 
climate  as  that  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  as  tending  to  pro- 
mote cleanliness,  to  p^e^'ent  or  reduce  irritation,  and 
thereby  to  stop  the  way  against  various  disorders,  have 
been  the  subject  of  comment  to  various  writers  on  hy- 
giene. In  particular  a  troublesome  and  sometimes  fatal 
kind  of  boil  (p/ii/mosis  and  puriiphymosis)  is  mentionc;! 
as  occurring  commonly  in  those  regions,  but  only  to  the 
uncircumeised.  It  is  stated  by  Jcsephus  {Cent.  A]),  ii, 
13)  that  Apion,  against  whom  he' wrote,  having  at  first 
derided  circumcision,  was  circumcised  of  necessity  by 
reason  of  such  a  boil,  of  which,  after  suffering  great  pain, 
he  died.  Pliilo  also  appears  to  speak  of  the  same  bene- 
fit when  he  speaks  of  the  "  anthrax"  infesting  those 
who  retain  the  foreskin.  Medical  authorities  have  also 
stated  that  the  capacity  of  imbibing  syphilitic  virus  is 
less,  and  that  this  has  been  proved  experimentally  by 
comparing  Jewish  with  other,  c.  g.  Christian  popula- 
tions (Wunderbar,  3tes  Heft,  p.  27),  The  operation  it- 
self consisted  of  originally  a  mere  incision,  to  which  a 
further  slrip])ing  oft'  the  skin  from  the  part,  and  a  cus- 
tom of  sucking  the  blood  from  the  wound,  was  in  a  later 
period  added,  owing  to  the  attempts  of  Jews  of  the  Mac- 
cabwan  period,  and  later  (1  Jlacc.  i,  15;  Joseph  us,  .1  n/. 
xii,  5, 1 :  comp.  1  Cor.  vii,  H),  to  cultivate  heatlien  prac- 
tices. The  reduction  of  the  remaining  portion  of  the 
prcrputiuni  after  the  more  simple  operation,  so  as  to 
cover  what  it  had  ex|iosed,  known  as  epispasnnis,  ac- 
complished by  the  elasticity  of  the  skin  itself,  was  what 
this  anti-Judaic  practice  sought  to  eflect,  and  what  the 


later,  more  complicated  and  severe,  operation  frustrated. 
To  these  were  subjoined  the  use  of  the  warm-bath,  be- 
fore and  after  the  operation,  pounded  cummin  as  a  styp- 
tic, and  a  mixture  of  wine  and  oil  to  heal  the  wound. 
It  is  remarkable  that  the  tightly-swathed  rollers,  which 
formed  the  first  covering  of  the  new-born  child  (Luke 
ii,  7),  are  still  retained  among  modern  Jews  at  the  cir- 
cumcision of  a  child,  effectually  preventing  any  move- 
ment of  the  body  or  limbs  (Wunderbar,  p.  29).     See 

ClUCUJlCISION. 

No  surgical  operation  beyond  this  finds  a  place  in 
holy  Scrijjture,  unless,  indeed,  that  adverted  to  under 
the  article  Ecxf  cii.  The  Talmudists  speak  of  two  op- 
erations to  assist  birth,  one  known  as  "|Snn  r"i~p 
(ffastrotomui),  and  intended  to  assist  i)arfurition,  not 
necessarily  fatal  to  the  mother;  the  other  known  as 
" -~n  r"'^1p  {lii/slerofomia,sectioca:s(irea),v;hic\x -was 
seldom  practiced  save  in  the  case  of  death  in  the  crisis 
of  labor,  or,  if  attempted  on  the  living,  was  either  fatal, 
or  at  least  destructive  of  the  powers  of  maternity.  An 
operation  is  also  mentioned  by  the  same  authorities 
having  for  its  object  the  extraction  piecemeal  of  an  oth- 
erwise inextricable  ftttus  {ihiJ.  p.  53,  etc.). 

Wunderbar  enumerates  from  the  JNIishna  and  Talmud 
fifty-six  surgical  instruments  or  ])ieces  of  apparatus;  of 
these,  however,  the  following  only  are  at  all  alluded  to 
in  Scripture.  A  cuttaig  instrument,  called  "il^J,  supposed 
to  be  a  "sharp  stone"  (Exod.  iv,  25).  Such  was  proba- 
bly the  " /Ethiopian  stone"  mentioned  by  Herodotus  (ii, 
80),  and  Pliny  speaks  of  what  he  calls  I'esia  samui.  as  a 
similar  implement.  Zijiiwrah  seems  to  have  caught 
up  the  first  instrument  which  came  to  hand  in  her  ap- 
prehension for  the  life  of  her  husband.  The  '•  knife" 
(rbzX':)  of  Josh,  v,  2  was  probably  a  more  refined  in- 
strument for  the  same  purpose.  An  "awl"  (";j"1"2)  is 
mentioned  (Exod.  xxi,  6)  as  used  to  Iwre  through  the 
ear  of  the  bondman  who  refused  release,  and  is  supposed 
to  have  been  a  surgical  instrument.  A  seat  of  delivery, 
called  in  Scripture  CI^X,  Exod.  i,  IG,  by  the  Talmud- 
ists "iSw"^  (comp.  2  Kings  xix,  3),  "  the  stools ;"  but 
some  have  doubted  whether  the  word  used  by  Moses 
does  not  mean  rather  the  uterus  itself,  as  that  which 
moidds  and  shapes  the  infant.  Delivery  upon  a  seat  or 
stool  is,  however,  a  common  practice  in  France  at  this 
day,  and  also  in  Palestine.  The  "roller  to  bind"  of 
I-lzek.  XXX,  21  was  for  a  broken  limb,  as  still  used.  Sim- 
ilar bands,  wound  with  the  most  precise  accuracy,  in- 
volve the  mummies.  A  scraper  (0"in),  for  which  the 
"  potsherd"  of  Job  was  a  substitute  (Job  ii,  8). 

Exod.  XXX,  23-5  is  a  p7-escripti(in  in  form.  It  may 
be  worth  while  also  to  enumerate  the  leading  substances 
which,  according  to  Wunderbar,  composed  the  pharma- 
copd'ia  of  the  Talmudists — a  much  more  limited  one — 
wliich  will  afford  some  insight  into  the  distance  which 
separates  them  from  the  leaders  of  (ireek  medicine.  Be- 
sides such  ordinary  appliances  as  water,  wine  (Luke  x, 
34).  beer,  vinegar,  honey,  and  milk,  various  oils  are 
foinul;  as  oiiobalsamum  ("balm  of  (iilead"),  the  oil  of 
olive,  myrrh,  rose,  palma  christi,  walnut,  sesamum,  colo- 
cynth,  and  fish  :  figs  (2  Kings  xx, 7), dates,  apples  (Cant, 
ii,  5),  pomegranates,  pistachio-nuts,  and  almonds  (a  prod- 
uce of  Syria,  but  not  of  Egypt,  (ien.  xliii,  11);  wheat, 
barley,  and  various  other  grains;  garlic,  leeks,  onions, 
and  some  other  common  herbs;  mustard,  pepper,  cori- 
ander seed,  ginger,  prejiarations  of  beet,  fish,  etc,  steeped 
in  wine  or  vinegar,  whey,  eggs,  s,ilt,  wax,  and  suet  (in 
plasters),  gall  of  fish  (Tob.  vi,  8 ;  xi,  1 1),  ashes,  cowdung, 
etc. ;  fasting-saliva,  urine,  bat's  blood,  and  the  following 
rarer  herbs,  etc. ;  (imnicisision,  vienta  fientilis.  saffron, 
niandragora.  Liiir.tonia  .ynnosn  (Arab,  allicniia).  juniiier, 
broom,  po]ipy.  acacia,  jnne,  lavender  or  rosemary,  clover- 
root,  jujub,  liysso]),  fern,  siiwpsKc/iinn,  milk-thistle,  lau- 
rel, Krttca  mnralh,  absynth,  jasmine,  narcissus,  madder, 
curled  mint,  fennel,  endive,  oil  of  cotton,  myrtle,  myrrh, 
aloes,  sweet  cane  {iicorus  calamus),  cinnamon,  caittUa 


MEDICINE 


39 


MEDICINE 


alba,  cassia,  ladanum,  ijalbamcm,  frankincense,  storax, 
nard,  gum  of  various  trees,  musk,  hlatta  byzantina ;  and 
these  minerals  —  bitumen,  natrum,  borax,  alum,  clay, 
ai'tites,  quicksilver,  litharge,  yellow  arsenic.  The  fol- 
lowing preparations  were  also  well  known :  Theriacas, 
an  antidote  prepared  from  serpents;  various  medicinal 
drinks,  e.  g.  from  the  fruit-bearing  rosemary ;  decoction 
of  ^vine  with  vegetables;  mixture  of  wine,  honey,  and 
pepper;  of  oil,  wine,  and  water;  of  asparagus  and  other 
roots  steeped  in  wine;  emetics,  purging  draughts,  sopo- 
rifics, potions  to  produce  abortion  or  fruitfulness ;  and 
various  salves,  some  used  cosmetically,  e.  g.  to  remove 
hair;  some  for  wounds  and  other  injuries.  The  forms 
of  medicaments  were  cataplasm,  electuary,  liniment, 
plaster  (Isa.  i,  6;  Jer.  viii,  22;  xlvi,  11;  li,  8;  Josephus, 
War,  i,33,5),  powder,  infusion,  decoction,  essence,  syrup, 
mixture. 

An  occasional  trace  occurs  of  some  chemical  knowl- 
edge, e.  g.  the  calcination  of  the  gold  by  Moses;  the  ef- 
fect of  "vinegar  upon  nitre"  (Exod.  xxxii,  20;  Prov. 
XXV,  20;  com  p.  Jer.  ii,  22).  The  mention  of  "  the  apoth- 
ecary" (Exod.  XXX,  35 ;  Eccl.  x,  1),  and  of  the  merchant 
in  "powders"  (Cant,  iii,  6),  shows  that  a  distinct  and 
important  brancli  of  trade  was  set  up  in  these  wares,  in 
which,  as  at  a  modern  druggist's,  articles  of  luxury,  etc., 
are  combined  with  the  remedies  of  sickness  (see  further, 
"Wunderbar,  Istes  Heft,  p.  73,  ad  fin.). 

Among  the  most  favorite  of  external  remedies  has 
always  been  the  bath.  As  a  preventive  of  numerous 
disorders  its  virtues  were  known  to  the  Egyptians,  and 
the  scrupulous  Levitical  bathings  prescribed  by  Moses 
would  merely  enjoin  the  continuance  of  a  practice  fa- 
miliar to  the  Jews,  from  the  example  especially  of  the 
priests  in  that  country.  Besides  the  significance  of 
moral  purity  which  it  carried,  the  use  of  the  bath  check- 
ed tlie  tendency  to  become  unclean  by  violent  perspira- 
tions from  within  and  effluvia  from  without ;  it  kept  the 
porous  system  in  play,  and  stopped  the  outset  of  much 
disease.  In  order  to  make  the  sanction  of  health  more 
solemn,  most  Oriental  nations  have  enforced  purificatory 
rites  by  religious  mandates — and  so  the  Jews.  A  treatise 
collecting  all  the  dicta  of  ancient  medicine  on  the  use 
of  the  bath  has  been  current  ever  since  the  revival  of 
learning,  under  tlie  title  De  Balneis.  According  to  it, 
Hippocrates  and  Galen  prescribe  the  bath  medicinally 
in  peripneumonia  ratlier  than  in  burning  fever,  as  tend- 
ing to  allay  the  pain  of  the  sides,  chest,  and  back,  pro- 
moting various  secretions,  removing  lassitude,  and  sup- 
pling joints.  A  hot  bath  is  recommended  for  those 
suffering  from  lichen  (De  Bain.  p.  464).  Those,  on  the 
contrary,  v.'ho  have  looseness  of  the  bowels,  who  are 
languid,  loathe  their  food,  are  troubled  with  nausea  or 
bile,  should  not  use  it,  as  neither  should  the  epileptic. 
After  exhausting  journeys  in  the  sun,  the  bath  is  com- 
mended as  the  restorative  of  moisture  to  the  frame  (p. 
45G-458).  The  four  objects  which  ancient  authorities 
chiefly  proposed  to  attain  by  bathing  are — 1,  to  warm 
and  distil  the  elements  of  the  body  throughout  the 
whole  frame,  to  equalize  whatever  is  abnormal,  to  rarefy 
the  skin,  and  promote  evacuations  through  it ;  2,  to  re- 
duce a  dry  to  a  moister  habit;  3  (the  cold  bath),  to  cool 
the  frame  and  brace  it;  4  (the  warm  bath),  a  sudorific 
to  expel  cold.  Exercise  before  bathing  is  recommend- 
ed, and  in  the  season  from  April  till  November  inclusive 
it  is  the  most  conducive  to  health ;  if  it  be  kept  up  in 
the  other  months,  it  should  then  be  but  once  a  week, 
and  that  fasting.  Of  natural  waters  some  are  nitrous, 
some  saline,  some  aluminous,  some  sulphureous,  some 
bituminous,  some  copperish,  some  ferruginous,  and  some 
compounded  of  these.  Of  all  the  natural  waters  the 
power  is,  on  the  whole,  desiccant  and  calefacient,  and 
they  are  peculiarly  fitted  for  those  of  a  humid  and  cold 
habit.  Pliny  (//.  N.  xxxi)  gives  the  fullest  extant  ac- 
count of  the  thermal  springs  of  the  ancients  {Paul. 
yEyiii.  ed.  Sydenh.  Soc.  i.  71).  Avicenna  gives  precepts 
for  salt  and  other  mineral  baths ;  the  former  he  recom- 
mends in  case  of  scurvv  and  itching,  as  rarefving  the 


skin,  and  afterwards  condensing  it.  Waters  medicated 
with  alum,  natron,  sulphur,  naphtha,  iron,  litharge,  vit- 
riol, and  vinegar,  are  also  specified  by  him.  Friction 
and  unction  are  prescribed,  and  a  caution  given  against 
staying  too  long  in  the  water  (ibid.  p.  338-340 ;  comp. 
Aetius,  De  Bain,  iv,  484).  A  sick  bather  should  lie  quiet,, 
and  allow  others  to  rub  and  anoint  him,  and  use  no 
strigil  (the  common  instrument  for  scraping  the  skin), 
but  a  sponge  (p.  456).  Maimonides,  chiefly  following 
Galen,  recommends  the  bath,  especially  for  phthisis  in 
the  aged,  as  being  a  case  of  dryness  with  cold  habit,  and 
to  a  hectic-fever  patient  as  being  a  case  of  dr\-ness  with 
hot  habit ;  also  in  cases  of  ephemeral  and  tertian  fevers, 
under  certain  restrictions,  and  in  putrid  fevers,  with  the 
caution  not  to  incur  shivering.  Bathing  is  dangerous 
to  those  who  feel  pain  in  the  liver  after  eating.  He 
adds  cautions  regarding  the  kind  of  water,  but  these  re- 
late chiefly  to  water  for  drinking  {De  Bain.  p.  438,  439). 
The  bath  of  oil  was  formed,  according  to  Galen  and 
Aetius,  by  adding  the  fifth  part  of  heated  oil  to  a  water- 
bath.  .  Josephus  speaks  ( Wa?;  i,  33,  5)  as  though  oil 
had,  in  Herod's  case,  been  used  pure.  There  were  spe- 
cial occasions  on  which  the  bath  was  ceremonially  en- 
joined— after  a  leprous  eruption  healed,  after  the  conju- 
gal act,  or  an  involuntary  emission,  or  any  gonorrhceal 
discharge,  after  menstruation,  childbed,  or  touching  a 
corpse ;  so  f(jr  the  priests  before  and  during  their  times 
of  office  such  a  duty  was  prescribed.  The  Pharisees 
and  Essenes  aimed  at  scrupulous  strictness  of  all  such 
rules  (Matt,  xv,  2;  Mark  vii,  5;  Luke  xi,  38).  River- 
bathing  was  common,  but  houses  soon  began  to  include 
a  bath-room  (Lev.  xv,  13 ;  2  Kings  v,  10 ;  2  Sam.  xi,  2 ; 
Susanna  15).  Vapor-baths,  as  among  the  Romans,  were 
latterly  included  in  these,  as  well  as  hot  and  cold  bath 
apparatus,  and  the  use  of  perfumes  and  oils  after  quit- 
ting it  was  everywhere  diffused  (Wunderbar,  2tes  Heft, 
vol.  ii,  B).  The  vapor  was  sometimes  sought  to  be  in- 
haled, though  this  was  reputed  mischievous  to  the  teeth. 
It  was  deemed  healthiest  after  a  warm  to  take  also  a 
cold  bath  (Paul.  ^-Egin.  ed.  Sydenh.  Soc.  i,  68).  The  Tal- 
mud has  it — "  Whoso  takes  a  warm  bath,  and  does  not 
also  drink  thereupon  some  warm  water,  is  like  a  stove 
hot  only  from  without,  but  not  heated  also  from  within. 
Whoso  bathes,  and  does  not  withal  anoint,  is  like  the 
liquor  outside  a  vat.  •  AVhoso  having  had  a  warm  bath 
does  not  also  immediately  pour  cold  water  over  him,  is 
like  an  iron  made  to  glow  in  the  fire,  but  not  thereafter 
hardened  in  the  water."  This  succession  of  cold  water 
to  hot  vapor  is  commonly  practiced  in  Russian  and 
Polish  baths,  and  is  said  to  contribute  much  to  robust 
health  (Wunderbar,  ibid.).     See  Bathe. 

V.  Lite7-atirre. — Besides  the  usual  authorities  on  He- 
brew antiquities,  Talmudical  and  modern,  Wunderbar 
(Istes  Heft,  p.  57-69)  has  compiled  a  collection  of  writ- 
ers on  the  special  subject  of  scriptural,  etc.,  medicine, 
including  its  psychological  and  botanical  aspects,  as  also 
its  political  relations;  a  distinct  section  of  thirteen  mon- 
ographs treats  of  the  leprosj^;  and  every  various  disease 
mentioned  in  Scripture  appears  elaborated  in  one  or 
more  such  short  treatises.  Those  out  of  the  whole  num- 
ber which  appear  most  generally  in  esteem,  to  judge 
from  references  made  to  them,  are  the  following,  which 
include  a  few  from  other  sources :  RosenmUller's  Natural 
Histor;/  of  ihe  Bible  (in  t\\e Biblical  Cabinet,  \o\.yi;K.wii); 
De  Wette,  Ihbrdisrh-jiidi.irhe  A  rc/iaolor/ie,  §  271  b  ,-«Cal- 
met  (Aui;ustin),  Ln  Mrih-rine  ct  /r.s-  Mrdtcins  des  anc. 
Hebreu.r  (in  his  ( 'nmi.K  lili-nih  .  Paris.  1721,  vol.  v) ;  idem, 
Dissertation  siir  la  Sueur  du  Sang  (Luke  xxii,43,44); 
Vniner,  KranJcheiten  des  Orients;  Sprengel  (Kurt),  i?e 
medic.  Ebrceorum  (Halle,  1789,  8  vo)  ;  idem,  Beit  rage  zur 
Geschickte  der  Medicin  (Halle,  1794, 8vo) ;  idem,  Versuch 
einer  pragm.  Geschickte  der  Arzeneikunde  (Halle,  1792, 
1803, 182i;  the  last  edition  by  Dr.  Rosenbaum,  Leipsic, 
1846, 8vo,  vol.  i,  §  37-45) ;  idem,  Histor.  Rei  Herbar.  (lib, 
i.  cap.  i,  Flora  Biblica)  ;  Bartholini  (Thorn.),  Z^e  morbis 
biblicis,  miscellanea  medica  (in  LTgolini,  xxx,  1521); 
idem,  Paralytici  novi  Testamenti  (in  Ugolini,  xxx,  1459),- 


MEDIETY 


40 


MEDITERRANEAN" 


Schmiilt  (Joh.  Jac),  Biblischer  Medicm  (Ziillichau,  1743, 
8vo,  p.  7(il) ;  Kail,  De  morbis  sacerdot.  V.  T.  (Hafii.  1745, 
4to) ;  Keinhard  (Chr.Tob.  Ephr.),  Bibelkrankheit.,  u-elche 
ini  alkn  Testam.  vorkommen  (i  and  ii,  1767,  8vo,  p.  384;  , 
V,  17C8,  8vo,  p.  244) ;  Shapter  (Thomas),  Medica  sacra, 
or  Short  Expositions  of  the  more  important  Diseases 
mentioned  in  the  Sacred  Writings  (London,  1834) ;  Wun- 
derbar  (K.  J.),  Biblisch-Talmudische  Medicin  (in  4  parts, 
i;ifi;a,  1850-1853,  8vo;  new  series,  1857) ;  Celsius  (01.), 
liierobotanicon,  s.  deplantis  sacra  scripture  dissertationes 
breves  (2  parts,  Upsal,  1745, 1747, 8vo ;  Amstelod.  1748) ;  I 
Bochart  (Samuel), /yjerosofcon,  s.  bipartitum  opus  de  ani- 
mulibus  sacra  scripturw  (London,  16G5,  fol. ;  Frankfort,  ! 
1G75.  I'.il. ;  ediied  by,  and  with  the  notes  of  Em.  F.  G.  ] 
EostiimlilkT,  Lips.  1793,  3  vols.4to);  Spencer,  iJe  leyibus 
Ilt'bnviirnm  ritualibus  (Tubingen,  1732,  fol.)  ;  Keinhard 
(:\Iich.  IL),  Jh-  cibis  Iltbrceorum  prohibitis;  Diss.  1  re- 
spon.  Seb.  Miiller  (Viteb.  1697, 4to) ;  JJiss.  II respon.  Chr, 
Liske  (ibid.  1697,  4to) ;  Eschenbach  (Chr.  Ehrenfr.), 
Profp:  de  lepra  Judceorum  (Kostock,  1774,  4to ;  in  his 
Scripta  medic,  bibl.  p.  17^1)  ;  Schilling  (G.G.),-/>'e  lepra 
comnientutiones,  rec.  J.  D.  Hahu  (Lugd.  liat.  1788,  8vo)  ; 
Chamseru  (K.),  Recherches  stir  le  veritable  caract'ere  de 
la  lepre  des  Ilebreux  (in  Mem.  de  la  Soc,  medic,  d'emula- 
iion  de  Paris,  1810,  iii,  335) ;  Relation  Chirui-gicale  de 
I'Armee  de  VOi-ient  (Paris,  1804) ;  Wedel  (Geo,W.),Z>e 
lepra  in  sacris  (Jena,  1715, 4to;  in  his  Exercitat.  med. 
philoloff.  Cent.  II,  dec.  4,  p.  93-107) ;  idem,  De  morb. 
Iliskim  (,Jena,  1692, 4to ;  in  his  Exercitat.  med.  philulog. 
Cent.  I,  dec.  7) ;  idem,  De  morbo  Jorami  exercitat.  I,  II 
(Jena,  1717, 4to ;  in  his  Exercitat.  med. philolog.  Cent,  II, 
dec.  5) ;  idem,  De  Saulo  etiergumeno  (Jena,  1685 ;  in  his 
Exercitat.  med.  philolog.  Cent.  I,  dec.  2) ;  idem,  De  morbis 
senuni  Solomonceis  (Jena,  1686, 4to ;  in  his  Exercitat.  med. 
j)hilolog.  Cent.  I,  dec.  3) ;  Lichtenstein,  Versuch,  etc.  (in 
Eichhorn's  ^l%em,£iWio^/ieA-,vi,  407-167);  IMead  (Dr. 
R.),  Medica  Sacra  (London,  4to) ;  Gudius  (G.  V.),Exei-- 
citatio  philolof/ica  de  Ilebraica  obstetrician  origine  (in 
Ugolini,  XXX,  1061) ;  Kail,  De  obstttricibus  matrum  Ile- 
brmariun  in  J-lggpto  (Hamburg,  1746, 4to);  Israels  (Dr. 
K.\\^,Tentumen  historico-niediciim,  exhibens  collectanea 
Ggmrcologica,  qua  ex  Ttdniude  Bubylonico  depromsit 
((iriiningen,  1845,  8vo);  Biirner  {¥.),  Dissert,  de  statu 
Medicince  ap.  V'ett.  Ilebr.  (1735);  Norberg,Z'e  Medicina 
Arabum  (in  Opusc.Acad.  ii,  101) :  Asrhkenazei  (JIos.), 
De  ortu  etprogr-essu  Medli-hni  i,,/,  ,■  II,  Imros  (Hamburg, 
17. .,  8vo);  Ginsburger  ( 1!.  W'.i.  J>i  Midica.  ex  Talmn- 
dis  illustrata  (Gotting.  1743,  4toj;  Goldmann,  De  rebus 
medices  Vet.  Test.  (Bresl.  1846,  4to);  Leutenschliiger  (J. 
IL),  De  medicis  veterum  Hebr.  (Schleiz.l786,8vo) ;  Lind- 
linger  (J.  S.),  De  Ilebr.  vett.  medica  de  Bcemoniacis  (Wit- 
teni).  1774,  2  vols.  8vo);  Keineccius  (Chr.),  Dictum  Tal- 
mndicum  de  optima  medico,  (Jehenne  digno  (Weissenb. 
1721.  fol.).     Sec  Physician. 

iVIKDlClNK,  Heath  K.N.     Sec  Supekstition. 

Mediety  (or  Portion)  is  the  name  given  to  the 
division  of  a  rectory  church  into  several  parsonages  or 
vicarages. 

Medigo,  Elia  ben-Mose,  Abba  del,  a  noted 
Jewisli  savan  of  the  15th  century,  celebrated  for  his  at- 
tainments as  a  ]ihiloso])lier,  flourished  at  Padua,  Italy, 
as  te.ailicr  of  inctapbysics.  He  died  in  1493.  For  his 
works,  s.c  Fiirsl,  Bibl.  .lud.  ii,  338. 

Medigo,  Joseph  Salomo  del,  another  Jewish 
writer  of  note,  and  of  the  same  family  as  the  preceding, 
was  born  at  Candia  in  1591.  He  was  highly  educated, 
and  though  busily  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine 
as  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  his  i)rofe.ssion,  he  never- 
theless devoted  much  time  and  attention  to  the  study 
of  Jewish  philosophical  jiroductions  and  the  writings  of 
Jewish  mystics.  He  published  dissertations  on  differ- 
ent philosophical  subjects  and  on  the  Cabala,  and  biog- 
raphies of  several  eminent  Hebrew  literati.  He  died 
at  Prague  in  1655.    See  V\\Kt,Bibl.  Judaica,  ii,  338  sq. 

Medina  (Arab,  city),  or,  more  fully,  JIedinat  al- 
N.,UJi  (City  of  the  Prophet),  also  called  Tubah,  Tibah, 


etc.  (the  Good,  Sweet,  etc.),  and  mentioned  by  Ptolemy 
as  Juthrippa :  the  holiest  city  of  Moliammedan  coun- 
tries, next  to  IMecca,  and  the  second  capital  of  Hejaz 
in  Western  Arabia,  is  situated  about  270  miles  north  of 
Mecca,  and  140  north  by  east  of  the  port  of  Jembo,  on 
the  Bed  Sea,  and  contains  about  16,000  inhabitants 
(Burton).  Medinaisabout  half  the  size  of  Mecca.  The 
streets,  between  fifty  and  sixty  in  number,  are  deep  and 
narrow,  paved  only  in  a  few  places.  The  houses  are 
flat-roofed  and  double-storied,  and  are  built  of  a  basaltic 
scoria,  burned  brick,  and  palm-wood.  Very  few  public 
buildings  of  any  importance  are  to  be  noticed  besides 
the  great  mosque  Al-Haram  (the  Sacred),  supposed  to 
be  erected  on  the  spot  where  IMohammed  died,  and  to 
enclo.se  his  tomb.  It  is  of  smaller  dimensions  than  that 
of  Mecca,  being  a  parallelogram,  420  feet  long  and  340 
feet  broad,  with  a  spacious  central  area,  called  El-Sahn, 
which  is  surrounded  by  a  peristyle,  with  numerous  rows 
of  pillars.  The  Mausoleum,  or  Hujrah,  itself  is  an  irreg- 
ular square,  50-55  feet  in  extent,  situated  in  the  south- 
east corner  of  the  building,  and  separated  from  the  walls 
of  the  mosque  by  a  passage  about  26  feet  broad.  A 
large  gilt  crescent  above  the  '•  Green  Dome,"  springing 
from  a  series  of  globes,  surmounts  the  Hujrah,  a  glimpse 
into  which  is  only  attainable  through  a  little  opening, 
called  the  Prophet's  Window;  but  nothing  more  is  vis- 
ible to  the  profane  eye  than  costly  carpets  or  hangings, 
with  three  inscriptions  in  large  gold  letters,  stating  that 
behind  them  lie  the  bodies  of  the  Prophet  of  Allah  and 
the  two  caliphs — which  curtains,  changed  whenever 
worn  out,  or  when  a  new  siUtan  ascends  the  throne,  are 
supposed  to  cover  a  square  edifice  of  black  marble,  in 
the  midst  of  which  stands  IMohammed's  tomb.  Its  ex- 
act place  is  indicated  by  a  long  pearly  rosary  (Kaukab 
al-Durri) — still  seen — suspended  to  the  curtain.  The 
Prophet's  bodj^  is  supposed  to  lie  (undecayed)  stretched 
at  full  length  on  the  right  side,  with  the  right  palm 
supporting  the  right  cheek,  the  face  directed  towards 
Mecca.  Close  behind  him  is  placed,  in  the  same  po- 
sition, Abubekr,  and  behind  him  Omar.  The  fact, 
however,  is  that  when  the  mos(iuc,  which  had  been 
struck  by  lightning,  was  rebuilt  in  892,  three  deep 
graves  were  found  in  the  interior,  filled  only  with  rub- 
bish. Many  other  reasons,  besides,  make  it  more  than 
problematic  whether  the  particular  spot  at  jMedina  really 
contains  the  Prophet's  remains.  That  his  cofhn,  said 
to  be  covered  with  a  marble  slab,  and  cased  with  silver 
(no  European  has  ever  seen  it),  rests  suspended  in  the 
air,  is  a  stupid  story,  invented  by  Christians,  and  long 
exploded.  Of  the  fabulous  treasures  which  this  sane— 
tuarj'  once  contained,  little  now  remains.  As  in  Mecca, 
a  great  number  of  ecclesiastical  oflicials  are  attached  iu 
some  capacily  or  other  to  the  Great  Mosque,  as  ulemas, 
mudarisin,  imaums,  khatibs,  etc.;  and  not  only  they, 
but  the  townspeople  themselves  live  to  a  great  extent 
only  on  the  pilgrims'  alms.  There  are  few  other  note- 
worthy spots  to  be  mentioned  in  IMedina,  save  the  minor 
mosques  of  Abubekr,  Ali,  Omar,  Balal,  etc.— Chambers, 
Cyclop,  s.  V, 

Mediolanum.     See  Milan. 

Mediocres,  or  Second  Gk.vde,  an  epithet  of  that 
class  of  monks,  from  the  age  of  twenly-four  to  forty, 
who  were  exempted  from  being  taper-bearers,  from  the 
reading  of  the  epistle,  gospel,  marlyrology,  collation  in 
chapter,  parva  cantaria,  and  chanting  the  ollices.  See 
Walcott,  Sacred  A  rchwology,  s.  v. 

Mediterranean  Sea,  a  later  name  (Solin.  xxii, 
18;  see  I'orbigcr.  Handb.  de  alt.  (ieogr.  ii,  13  st].)  for  the 
usual  Ponian  title  {Mare  Internum)  of  that  immense 
body  of  water  between  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  styled 
by  the  Hebrews  "  the  Great  Sea"  (^"ili'fl  C^l^,  Numb. 
xxxiv,  6  sq. ;  Josh,  i,  4;  Ezek.  xlvii,  10,  etc.;  likewise 
in  the  Talmud,  X3"l  ^"C^ ;  so  >)  fteyaXt]  BdXaffaa,  He- 
cat.  Frugm.  p.  349),  or  "the  hinder  (i.  c. Western)  sea" 
('(iinxn  C^n,  Dcut.  xii,  24;  in  distinction  from  "the 


MEDLER 


41 


MEEKNESS 


forward  [i.  e.  Eastern]  sea,"  i.  e.  the  Dead  Sea,  Zech. 
xiv,  8,  etc.),  "sea  of  the  Philistines"  (DipiabQil  D^, 
Exod.  xxiii,  31),  and  also  simply  "  the  Sea"  (Josh,  xix, 
8G ;  as  likewise  in  the  Greek,  ?'/  SrdXaaffa,  1  Mace,  xiv, 
34;  XV,  11;  Acts  x,  6,  32),  and  bounding  Palestine  on 
the  west.  It  has,  from  Tyre  to  Ptolemais,  a  high  and 
rocky  shore,  which  farther  south  becomes  low  and 
sandy  (Strabo,  xvi,  758  sq. ;  comp.  Josephus,  Ant.  xv,  9, 
6 ;  \Var,  i,  21,  5 ;  see  Scholz,  Beise,  p.  130)  ;  it  makes  at 
Mount  Carmel  a  great  bay  (that  of  Accho  or  Ptolemais), 
but  elsewhere  it  affords  very  few  good  harbors  (chiefly 
those  of  Ca3sarea,  Joppa,  and  Gaza),  Its  surface  lies 
higher  than  that  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  ebb  and  flow 
of  the  tide  in  the  Jlediterranean  is  irregular,  and  no- 
ticeable only  in  particular  localities,  and  unimportant 
on  the  coast  of  Palestine  (see  Michaelis,  Eiiileif.  ins  A . 
T.  i,  7-1,  anm.).  The  current  of  the  sea  is  regularly  from 
south  to  north,  and  i§  doubly  strong  at  the  time  of  the 
Nile  freshet,  so  as  to  carry  the  deposit  of  mud  and  sand 
against  the  southern  (Philistian)  shore,  which  accord- 
ingly is  continually  pushing  farther  and  farther  into 
the  sea  (see  Hitter,  ErdJc.  ii,  460,  462).  Under  the  wa- 
ter there  are  found  at  the  coast  from  Gaza  to  Jaffa  large 
coral  reefs  (Volney,  Voyage,  ii,  246) ;  and  the  sea  abounds 
in  fish.  Commerce  finds  on  it  a  great  sphere ;  but  the 
Phoenicians  and  Egj'ptians  had  nearly  a  monopoly  of 
this,  as  the  Mosaic  legislation  was  unfavorable  even  to 
coast  trading.  Particular  portions  of  this  vast  body  of 
water  were  designated  by  special  names,  but  of  these 
only  the  Adriatic  (o  'Ao^uiag)  is  distinctively  named  in 
the  Bible  (Acts  xxvii,  27).  SeeAoRiA.  Vague  mention, 
however,  is  made  likewise  of  the  ^gajan  Sea,  the  mod- 
ern Archipelago  (Acts  xvii,  14, 18),  the  sound  between 
Cilicia  and  Cyprus  (Acts  xxvii,  5),  and  the  Syrtis  of  the 
Lybian  Sea  (Acts  xxvii,  17).  See  generally  Bachiene, 
I'aldst,  I,  i,  87  sq. ;  Hamesveld,  Bibl.  Geogr.  i.  440  sq. — 
Winer,  ii,  70.  See  Sea.  The  whole  of  the  coast,  from 
the  Nile  to  Mount  Carmel,  was-  anciently  called  the 
Plain  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  The  tract  between 
Gaza  and  Joppa  was  simply  called  the  Plain;  in  this 
stood  the  five  principal  cities  of  the  Philistine  satrapies 
— Ascalon,  Gath,  Gaza,  Ekron  or  Accaron,  and  Azotus 
or  Ashdod.  The  countries  bordering  on  the  Mediterra- 
nean were  unquestionably  the  cradle  of  civilization,  and 
they  have  in  all  ages  been  the  scene  of  mighty  changes 
and  events,  the  investigation  of  which  belongs  to  the 
general  historian;  all,  however,  that  has  relation  to 
scriptural  subjects  will  be  found  stated  under  the  heads 
Cykene,  Egypt,  Greece,  Syria,  etc.,  and  therefore  to 
enter  into  the  detail  here  would  be  superfluous,  as  would 
any  lengthened  notice  of  the  sea  itself,  the  Hebrews 
having  never  been  a  maritime  people.  See  Smith,  Diet, 
of  Class.  Geogr.  a.  v.  Internum  Mare ;  M'Culloch,  Diet, 
of  Geogr.  s.  v.     See  Palestine. 

Medler,  Nicholas,  one  of  the  three  principal  dis- 
ciples of  Luther,  was  born  at  Hof,  in  Saxony,  in  1502. 
He  studied  at  Erfurt  and  Wittenberg,  where  lie  held 
conferences  on  the  Old  TeSt.  and  mathematics.  He  af- 
terwards opened  a  school  at  Eger,  but  came  into  conflict 
with  the  authorities  of  that  city  for  teaching  the  doc- 
trines of  Luther  to  his  pupils.  He  then  took  a  situation 
as  teacher  in  his  native  city,  and  was  appointed  pastor 
there  in  1530,  but  preached  such  violent  sermons  that 
he  was  obliged  to  leave  in  1531.  Eetiring  to  Witten- 
berg, he  remained  there  six  years  as  deacon.  Luther 
often  allowed  him  to  supply  his  place  in  the  pulpit,  as 
he  highly  esteemed  Medler  for  his  great  talents  as  well 
as  zeal.  He  was  made  chaplain  of  the  wife  of  Joachim 
I,  who  had  fled  to  Wittenberg.  In  1535  he  was,  to- 
gether with  Jerome  Weller,  made  D.D.,  and  in  1536 
superintendent  at  Naumburg.  Here  he  engaged  in  nu- 
merous controversies,  but  was  much  beloved  and  re- 
spected both  by  the  people  and  by  the  authorities. 
Maurice  of  Saxony  succeeded  in  attracting  him  to  the 
University  of  Leipsic.  In  1541,  as  he  went  by  order  of 
the  elector  to  hold  the  first  evangelical  worship  in  the 


cathedral  of  Naumburg,  he  found  that  the  canon  regu- 
lars had  closed  the  doors :  Medler  caused  one  of  them  to 
be  broken  open  and  another  he  burned  down.  In  the 
same  year  he  got  mto  a  controversy  with  Sebastian 
Schwebinger,  who  was  surnamed  the  Greek,  on  accomit 
of  his  philosophical  acquirements  and  his  devotion  to_ 
the  cause  of  the  canons.  He  also  quarrelled  with  his 
colleague  Amsdorf,  and  with  the  senate  of  Naumburg, 
particularly  with  IMohr,  to  whom  he  addressed  the  re- 
proach, '■  Quod  numquam  palam  et  expresse  taxarit  vel 
errores  papisticse  doctrinae  et  cidtus  impios,  vel  manifesta 
scandala  in  vita  illius  gregis."  The  facultj'  of  Witten- 
berg approved  the  accusation,  and  deposed  Mohr,  but 
Medler  himself  was  also  obliged  to  resign.  Medler  now 
went  to  Spandau,  near  Berlin,  where  the  Refctrmed  doc- 
trines were  becoming  established,  and  in  1546  finally 
became  superintendent  of  Brunswick,  after  having  three 
times  declined  the  appointment,  notwithstanding  the 
advice  of  Melancthon  and  Luther.  In  Brunswick  he 
succeeded,  after  great  efforts,  in  establishing  a  school, 
where  afterwards  Melancthon,  Urbanus  Regius,  Justus 
Jonas,  and  Flacius  taught  for  a  while  after  the  downfall 
of  Wittenberg  in  1547,  In  1551  he  left  Brmiswick  on 
account  of  his  health,  and  went  to  Leipsic,  where  he 
was  made  superintendent  of  Bernburg,  but  on  his  first 
preaching  he  was  struck  with  apoplexy,  and  died  shortly 
after  at  Wittenberg.  He  was  full  of  controversial  zeal 
for  the  doctrines  of  Luther.  His  works  are  enumerated 
by  Streitpeiger,v,4,  andby  Schamelius,A'(«K&Mry«m  lit- 
eratiim,.^.  19,  37.  A  sermon  of  his  against  the  Interim 
of  Leipsic  (q.  v.)  was  often  reprinted ;  also  in  Schame- 
lius,  Numburgum  literatum.  See  M.  A.  Streitperger,  De 
vita  D.N.Medl.  (in  Actus promotionis^Kr  Ambrosium 
Reudenium,  fol.  O  sq.,  Jena,  1591) ;  Hummel,  Neue  B'Sb- 
liothek,  iii,  536  sq. ;  Rethmeyer,  Kirchengeseh.  v.  Braun- 
sckweig,  iii,  173, 194;  Danz,  Epistolce  P.  Melanch.  ad  TV. 
MedL;  D6]l'mgeT,Beformation.sgesch.ii,74iSq.;  Herzog, 
Real-EneyUopudie,  ix,  234.     (J.  N.  P.) 

Mee'da  (Mtfrico  v.  r.  Atc^a),  a  Gnngcized  form  (1 
Esdr.v,  32)  of  the  Meiiida  (q.  v.)  of  the  Heb.  lists  (Ezra 
ii,  52;  Neh.vii,54), 

Meekness  (t^^sy,  7rp«orj?c),  a  calm,  serene  tem- 
per of  mind,  not  easily  ruffled  or  provoked  to  resent- 
ment (James  iii,  7,  8).  Where  the  great  principles  of 
Christianity  have  disciplined  the  soul,  where  the  holy 
grace  of  meekness  reigns,  it  subdues  the  impetuous  dis- 
position, and  causes  it,  trusting  in  God,  both  to  submit 
and  to  forgive.  It  teaches  us  to  govern  our  own  anger 
whenever  we  are  at  any  time  provoked,  and  patiently 
to  bear  the  anger  of  others,  that  it  may  not  be  a  provo- 
cation to  us.  The  former  is  its  office,  especially  in  su- 
periors ;  the  latter  in  inferiors,  and  both  in  equals  (James 
iii,  13).  The  excellency  of  such  a  spirit  appears,  if  we 
consider  that  it  enables  us  to  gain  a  victorj'  over  corrupt 
nature  (Prov.  xvi,  32) ;  that  it  is  a  beauty  and  an  orna- 
ment to  human  beings  (1  Pet.  iii,  4) ;  that  it  is  obedi- 
ence to  God's  word,  and  conformity  to  the  best  patterns 
(Eph.  V,  1,  2  ;  Phil,  iv,  8).  It  is  productive  of  the  high- 
est peace  to  the  professor  (Luke  xxi,  19;  Matt,  xi,  28, 
29).  It  fits  us  for  any  duty,  instruction,  relation,  condi- 
tion, or  persecution  (Phil,  iv,  11,  12),  To  obtain  this 
spirit,  consider  that  it  is  a  divine  injunction  (Zeph.  ii, 
3;  CoL  iii,  12;  1  Tim.  vi,  11),  Observe  the  many  ex- 
amples of  it :  Jesus  Christ  (Matt,  xi,  28),  Abraham  (Gen. 
xiii,xvi,5,6),Moses  (Numb,  xii.3),  David  (Zech.xii,8; 
2  Sam.  xvi,  10,  12;  Psa.  cxxxi,  2),  Paul  (1  Cor.  ix,  19). 
Note  how  lovely  a  spirit  it  is  in  itself,  and  how  it  secures 
us  from  a  variety  of  evils ;  that  peculiar  promises  are 
made  to  such  (M"att.v,  5;  Isa.  Ixvi,  2) ;  that  such  give 
evidence  of  their  being  under  the  influence  of  divine 
grace,  and  shall  enjoy  the  divine  blessing  (Isa.  Ivii,  15). 
See  Henry,  On  Meekness;  Dunlop,  Sermons,  ii,  434; 
Evans,  Sermons  on  the  Christian  Temper,  ser.  29 ;  Tillot- 
son,  Sermon  on  1  Pet.  ii,  21,  and  ore  Matt,  r,  44 ;  Logan, 
Sermons,  vol,  i,  ser.  10 ;  Jortin,  Sermons,  voL  iii,  ser.  11. 
—Buck,  Theol.  Diet.  s.  v. 


MEENE 


42 


MEETING 


Meene,  IlKiNnicir,  a  German  theoloc^ian,  was  born 
at  Hremen  April  11, 1710,  and  was  educated  at  the  uni- 
versities of  Ilelrastiiilt  and  Leipsic.  In  1734  he  entered 
the  ministry  as  pastor  at  Yolkersheim,  near  Ilildesheim, 
and  in  17i57  removed  to  Quedlinburg,  where,  in  addition 
to  his  pastoral  labors  in  town,  he  served  as  court  preach- 
er. He  was  honored  at  this  time  with  the  title  of  "Con- 
sistorial-Kath."  In  1758  he  accepted  a  call  to  Jever, 
and  there  he  nourished  until  his  death,  May  20, 1782. 
Besides  many  contributions  to  different  periodicals,  to 
Siiicerl's  Siuitinliniii  llamhiirfiiscLer  KanzHraihn.  and  to 
Cramer's  Siiiiimhi/i'/m  ~iir  Kirr/ietifjcsch.  v.  i/ieol.  Gekhr- 
satnk.,  e(c.,  IMeene  [lublishcd  a  large  number  of  books  in 
the  department  of  religious  literature.  His  works  of 
special  interest  are,  Die  trejfliche  Fiirsprache  lies  heili;jen 
Geistesfiir  die  (Jlciubir/en  (Helmstiidt,  1745,  8vo;  2d  edi- 
tion much  enlarged,  1754,  8vo): — Unpurtheiische  Prii- 
fung  dcr  Abhandlung :  Schrifl  und  VernunJ'tmdszifje 
Uebtrkgung  der  beiderseitigen  Griindefiir  und  wider  die 
gaiiz  unendlic/ie  Ungliickseligkeit  der  Verbrecker  Gottes 
und  deren  endliche  selige  Wiedei-bringung,  angestellt,  und 
zur  Rechtfertigung  der  Gedanlcen  des  hoclnciirdigen  Ilerrn 
A  bts  Mosheim  von  dem  Ende  der  Jlollenstrqfen  (Ilelm- 
Btiidt,  1747-1748,  3  vols,  8vo;  also  published  under  the 
title,  Die gute  Suche  der  Lehre  von  der  unendlichen  Dauer 
der  Jfdllen^trafen).  —  During,  Gekhrte  Theol.  Deutsch- 
landf,  ii,  458  sq. 

Meerza.     See  Mirza. 

Meeting.  The  Society  of  Friends,  vulgarly  called 
( >uakers,  have  adopted  the  use  of  this  word  to  designate 
their  official  gatherings  for  various  purposes. 

(1.)  Meeting  fur  i^ it fferings.— Its  origin  and  purpose 
are  thus  given :  "  The  }-carly  meeting  of  London,  in  the 
year  1G75,  appointed  a  meeting  to  be  held  in  that  city, 
for  the  purpose  of  advising  and  assisting  in  cases  of  suf- 
fering for  conscience  sake,  which  hath  continued  with 
great  use  to  the  society  to  this  da\\  It  is  composed  of 
Friends,  under  the  name  of  correspondents,  chosen  by 
the  several  (juarterly  meetings,  and  residing  in  or  near 
the  city.  The  same  meetings  also  appoint  members 
of  their  own  in  the  country  as  correspondents,  who 
are  to  join  their  brethren  in  London  on  emergency.  The 
names  of  all  these  correspondents,  previously  to  their 
being  recorded,  are  submitted  to  the  approbation  of  the 
yearly  meeting.  Such  men  as  are  approved  ministers 
and  appointed  elders  are  also  members  of  this  meeting, 
which  is  called  the  'Meeting  for  Sufferings,'  a  name 
wliich  arose  from  its  original  purpose,  and  has  not  yet 
become  entirely  obsolete.  The  yearly  meeting  has  in- 
trfistid  ilic  [Meeting  for  Sufferings  with  the  care  of  print- 
ing anil  (lisiriliiiiiiig  Ixioks,  and  with  the  management  of 
its  ^iiick:  mill,  edii^idcred  as  a  standing  committee  of 
iho  yearly  meeting,  it  hath  a  general  care  of  whatever 
may  arise,  during  the  intervals  of  that  meeting,  affect- 
ing the  society,  and  requiring  immediate  attention,  par- 
ticularly of  those  circumstances  which  may  occasion  an 
application  to  government."     See  Friends. 

(■-'.;  Mduihlg  Meeting,  a  gathering  of  Friends  of  sev- 
eral particular  congregations,  situated  within  a  con- 
venient distance  of  one  another.  The  business  of  the 
monthly  meeting  is  to  jirovide  for  the  subsistence  of  the 
poor,  and  for  the  education  of  their  offspring;  to  judge 
of  (he  sincerity  and  fitness  of  persons  appearing  to  be 
convinced  of  the  religious  principles  of  the  society,  and 
desiring  to  be  admitted  into  membership;  to  excite  due 
attention  to  the  discharge  of  religious  and  moral  duty ; 
and  to  deal  with  disorderly  members.  Monthly  meet- 
ings also  grant  to  such  of  their  members  as  remove  into 
the  limits  of  other  monthly  meetings  certificates  of  their 
membership  and  conduct.  It  is  likewise  the  duty  of 
this  body  to  appoint  overseers  for  the  proper  observance 
of  the  rides  of  discipline,  and  for  the  disposal  of  ditH- 
ciiliies  .■imiiiig  mcinliers  by  private  admonition,  agreea- 
bly to  (lie  (idspel  rule  ([Matt,  xviii,  15-17),  so  as  to  pre- 
vent, if  iiiis>iiil(.  their  being  laid  before  the  montlily 
nKctiiig,     When  a  case,  however,  is  introduced  to  the 


monthly  meeting,  it  is  usual  for  a  small  committee  to 
be  appointed  to  visit  the  offender,  in  order  to  endeavor 
to  convince  him  of  his  error,  and  induce  liim  to  for- 
sake and  condemn  it.  Time  is  allowed  to  judge  of 
the  effect  of  this  labor  of  love,  and  if  neetlful  the 
visit  is  repeated.  If  these  endeavors  prove  successful, 
the  person  is  by  minute  declared  to  have  made  satisfac- 
tion for  the  offence;  if  not,  he  is  disowned  by  the  so- 
ciety. In  disputes  between  individuals,  it  has  long  been 
the  decided  judgment  of  the  society  that  its  members 
should  not  sue  each  other  at  law.  It  therefore  enjoins 
all  to  end  their  differences  by  speedy  and  impartial  ar- 
bitration, agreeably  to  rules  laid  down.  If  any  refuse  to 
adopt  this  mode,  or,  having  adopted  it,  to  submit  to  the 
award,  it  is  the  direction  of  the  yearly  meeting  that 
such  be  disowned.  To  monthly  meetings  also  belongs 
the  allowing  of  marriages;  for  the  society  lias  always 
scrupled  to  acknowledge  the  exclusive  authority  of  the 
priests  in  the  solemnization  of  marriage.  A  record  of 
marriages  is  kept  by  the  monthly  meeting,  as  also  of 
the  births  and  burials  of  its  members,  A  certificate  of 
the  date,  of  the  name  of  the  infant,  and  of  its  parents,  is 
the  subject  of  one  of  these  last-mentioned  records;  and 
an  order  for  the  interment,  countersigned  by  the  grave- 
maker,  of  the  other. 

(3.)  Quarterly  Meeting,  among  the  Society  of  Friends, 
is  an  assembly  composed  of  several  monthly  meetings. 
At  the  quarterly  meeting  are  produced  written  answers 
from  the  monthly  meetings  to  certain  (lueries  respect- 
ing the  conduct  of  their  members,  and  the  meetings' 
care  over  them.  The  accounts  thus  received  are  di- 
gested into  one,  which  is  sent,  also  in  the  form  of  an- 
swers to  queries,  by  representatives  to  the  yearly  meet- 
ing. Appeals  from  the  judgment  of  monthly  meetings 
are  brought  to  the  quarterly  meetings,  whose  business 
also  is  to  assist  in  any  difficult  case,  or  ^vhere  remissness 
appears  in  the  care  of  the  monthly  meetings  over  the 
individuals  who  compose  them.  See  Quakteely  Meet- 
ing. 

(4.)  Yearly  Jfeeting,  an  annual  meeting  of  the  Society 
of  Friends.  '-The  yearly  meeting  has  the  general  su- 
perintendence of  the  society  in  the  country  in  which  it  is 
established;  and  therefore,  as  the  accounts  which  it  re- 
ceives discover  the  state  of  inferior  meetings,  as  particu- 
lar exigencies  require,  or  as  the  meeting  is  impressed 
with  a  sense  of  duty,  it  gives  forth  its  advice,  makes 
such  regulations  as  appear  to  be  requisite,  or  excites  to 
the  observance  of  those  already  made,  and  sometimes 
appoints  committees  to  visit  those  quarterly  meetings 
which  appear  to  be  in  need  of  immediate  advice."  At 
the  yearly  meeting  another  meeting  (a  sort  of  sub- 
committee) is  appointed,  bearing  the  name  of  the  morn- 
ing meeting,  for  the  purpose  of  revising  the  denomina- 
tional manuscripts  previous  to  publication  ;  and  also  the 
granting,  in  the  intervals  of  the  yearly  meeting,  of  cer- 
tificates of  approbation  to  such  ministers  as  are  con- 
cerned to  travel  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  foreign 
parts,  in  addition  to  those  granted  by  their  monthly  and 
quarterly  meetings.  When  a  visit  of  this  kind  does 
not  extend  beyond  Great  Britain,  a  certificate  from  the 
monthly  meeting  of  which  the  minister  is  a  member  is 
sufficient.  If  to  Ireland,  the  concurrence  of  the  quar- 
terly meeting  is  also  re(|uired,  Kegulations  of  similar 
tendency  obtain  in  other  yearly  meetings.  The  "stock" 
of  the  yearly  meeting  consists  of  occasional  voluntary 
contributions,  which  is  expended  in  printing-books,  sal- 
ary of  a  clerk  for  keeping  records,  the  jiassage  of  minis- 
ters who  visit  their  brethren  beyond  sea,  and  some  small 
incidental  charges;  but  not,  as  has  been  falsely  sup- 
posed, the  reimbursement  of  those  who  suffer  distraint 
ibr  tithes  and  other  demands  with  which  they  scruple 
to  comply.  Ajjpeals  from  the  quarterly  meetings  arc 
heard  at  the  yearly  meetings.  There  are  ten  yearly 
meetings — namely,  one  in  l,iindon,  to  wliiclv  rejiresenta- 
tives  from  Ireland  are  received;  one  in  Dublin;  one  in 
New  Kngland :  one  in  New  York ;  one  in  Pennsylvania ; 
one  in  Maryland ;  one  in  Virginia ;  one  in  the  Carolinas; 


MEETING-HOUSE 


43 


MEGAPOLENSIS 


one  in  Ohio ;  and  one  in  Indiana. — Eadie,  Eccles.  Cyclop. 
s.  V. 

INIEETING,  Quarterly,  Among  the  Methodists, 
the  quarterly  meeting  is  a  general  meeting  of  the  stew- 
ards, leaders,  and  other  officers,  for  the  purpose  of  trans- 
acting the  general  business  of  the  "  circuit"  or  "  dis- 
trict ;"  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  presided  over 
by  the  "  presiding  elder,''  or  the  minister  in  charge.  Its 
special  object  is,  besides  the  celebration  of  the  Love-feast 
(q.  v.),  to  examine  the  spiritual  and  financial  conditions 
of  the  Church.  See  Discipline,  chap,  ii,  sect,  i,  3.  See 
Conference,  Quarterly. 

Meeting-house,  a  place  appropriated  for  the 
purpose  of  public  Christian  worship.  In  England  the 
churches  of  Dissenters  are  so  called  by  the  Anglican 
communicants,  and  in  the  United  States  the  Quakers 
thus  name  their  places  of  public  worship.  See  Church  ; 
Chapel. 

Meganck,  FRANgois  Dominique,  a  noted  Dutch 
theologian  and  valiant  defender  of  the  cause  of  the  Jan- 
sonists,  was  born  at  Menin  about  1G83 ;  studied  at  the 
University  of  Louvain,  and  then  devoted  himself  wholly 
to  the  polemical  field  of  theology.  At  first  he  wielded 
his  pen  only,  but  after  a  time  he  entered  the  pulpit  also, 
determined  to  combat  the  Romanism  of  the  Ultramon- 
tanes.  He  was  a  member  at  the  council,  in  17G3,  at 
Utrecht.  He  died  at  Leyden,  Oct.  12, 1775.  His  prin- 
cipal works  are,  Refutation  abregee  du  Traite  du  ScMsme 
(1718, 12mo;  Paris,  1791,  8vo)  : — Defense  des  contrats  de 
rente  rachetables  des  deux  cotes  (1730, 4to) : — Primaute  de 
Saint  Pierre  et  de  ses  Successeuis  (1763  and  1772,  r2mo). 
In  the  last-named  work  he  questions  the  pope's  suprem- 
acy over  a  council.     See  Diet,  des  Heresies,  ii,  654. 

Megander  (also  known  under  the  name  of  Gros- 
manu),  Caspar,  was  born  at  Ziirich  in  1495.  He  was 
educated  at  the  University  of  Basle,  where  he  secured 
the  degree  of  M.A.  in  1518,  and  soon  after  was  appointed 
chaplain  of  the  hospital  at  Ziirich.  Here  he  early  es- 
poused the  doctrines  of  Zwingle,  and  with  him,  in  1525, 
publicly  demanded  the  suppression  of  the  mass  and  the 
evangelical  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  After  the 
Berne  disputation,  in  1528,  he  was  called  as  professor  of 
theology  to  Berne,  where  he  soon  obtained  the  first  po- 
sition among  the  leading  personalities,  and  zealously 
labored  in  this  place  for  the  advance  of  Zwinglian  doc- 
trines. In  1532,  at  Zofingen,  he  took  part  in  the  delib- 
erations of  the  Anabaptists;  and  again,  as  deputy  of  the 
council,  at  the  disputes  at  Lausanne  in  1536,  and  of  the 
synod  at  the  same  place  in  1537.  He  also  compiled  the 
Berne  Catechism  in  1536.  His  Zwinglianism  involved 
him  in  many  serious  disputes  with  Bucer  in  the  latter's 
attempts  at  union.  As  one  of  the  originators  of  the 
Helvetic  Confession  of  1536,  he  successfully  defended  the 
Wittenberg  Formula  of  Concord  at  the  convent  at  Bern^ 
Oct.  19, 1536,  and  in  consequence  Bucer  was  dismissed. 
In  1537,  however,  Bucer's  justification  of  his  conduct  was 
finally  accepted,  and  Megander  was  charged  to  modify 
his  Catechism  in  conformity  with  the  Formula  of  Con- 
cord. Megander  no  longer  opposed  the  alteration,  the 
revised  Catechism  was  at  once  prepared  by  Bucer,  and 
was  accepted  by  the  Council  of  Berne  in  1537.  Megan- 
der, however,  refusing"  to  be  governed  by  these  altera- 
tions, was  deposed  from  office,  and  returning  to  Ziirich 
was  there  reappointed  archdeacon  at  the  cathedral,  and 
in  this  position  he  arduously  labored  to  oppose  the  efforts 
of  Bucer.  Megander  died  in  1545.  Of  his  works,  the 
AnmerLungen  to  Genesis  and  Exodus, Hebrews  and  Epis- 
tles of  John,  deserve  special  mention.  See  Hundeshagen, 
Conflicte  des  Zwinc/l.,  Luterth.,  mid  Call',  in  Berne  (Berne, 
1842). — Herzog,  Real-Encyklopddie,  s.  v. 

Megapolensis,  Joannes,  a  minister  of  the 
(Dutch)  Reformed  Church,  was  the  second  clergyman 
sent  out  by  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  to  this  country, 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company 
and  the  patroon  Van  Rensselaer  (in  1642).  He  was  also 
the  frst  missionarij  to  the  Didiaiis,  preceding  the  cele- 


brated "  apostle  to  the  Indians,"  John  Eliot,  some  three 
years.  His  original  family  name  was  Van  Mekelen- 
BURG,  which,  after  the  pedantic  fashion  of  the  age,  was 
Hellenized  into  Megapolensis.  Leaving  his  two  congre- 
gations in  Holland,  he  engaged  with  the  patroon  to  serve 
for  six  years,  his  outfit  and  expenses  of  removal  to  be 
paid,  and  at  a  salary  of  eleven  hundred  guilders  per  year 
(|i440).  In  addition  to  the  usual  duties  of  a  missionary 
pastor  at  an  outpost  of  civilization,  like  Rensselaerwyck, 
he  soon  interested  himself  in  the  Indians  who  came 
thither  to  trade,  and  learned  what  he  called  "their 
heavy  language"  so  as  to  speak  and  preach  fluently  in 
it.  The  early  records  of  the  First  Reformed  Church  in 
Albany  contain  many  names  of  Indians  converted,  bap- 
tized, and  received  into  the  communion  of  the  Church 
under  his  labors.  Thus  completely  were  the  home  and 
foreign  missionary  work  and  spirit  combined  in  this 
apostolic  man.  In  1644  he  wrote  a  tract  (which  was 
published  in  1651  in  Holland)  on  the  Mohawk  Indians 
in  New  Netherlands  (now  translated  in  the  New  York 
Historical  Society's  Collections,  vol.  ii,  series  i,  p.  158). 
While  our  subject  was  residing  in  Albany,  the  celebrated 
Jesuit  missionary,  father  Isaac  Jogues,  was  captured  on 
the  St.  Lawrence  by  the  Mohawks,  and  subjected  to 
horrible  cruelties  by  the  savages.  The  Dutch  at  Fort 
Orange  tried  to  ransom  him.  At  length,  escaping  from 
his  captors,  he  remained  in  close  concealment  for  six 
weeks.  During  this  time  Megapolensis  was  his  con- 
stant friend,  and  rendered  him  every  kindness  that  vras 
in  his  power.  The  Jesuit  father  was  at  length  ran- 
somed by  the  Dutch,  and  sent  to  Manhattan,  whence  he 
returned  to  Europe.  But  in  1646  he  came  back  again 
to  Canada,  and  revisited  the  Jlohawks,  who  put  him  to 
a  cruel  death.  Another  Jesuit,  father  Simon  le  Bloyne, 
who  discovered  the  salt  springs  at  Onondaga  in  1654,  also 
became  intimate  with  the  dominie  of  Fort  Orange,  and 
wrote  "  three  polemical  essays"  to  convert  his  "  Dutch 
clerical  friend  to  the  Romish  doctrine."  But  the  stanch 
minister  wrote  a'  vigorous  and  elaborate  replj',  which, 
however,  was  lost  in  the  wreck  of  the  ship  by  which  he 
sent  it  to  Canada.  At  the  close  of  his  stipulated  term 
of  service  Megapolensis  proposed  to  return  to  Holland, 
but  governor  Stuyvesant  persuaded  him  to  remain  in 
New  Amsterdam  (now  New  York)  as  pastor  of  the  Dutch 
Church.  Here,  for  twenty  years,  he  labored  as  senior 
pastor,  being  assisted  from  16(U  to  1668  by  his  son  Sam- 
uel. He  died  in  1670,  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his 
age,  retaining  his  pastoral  relation  to  the  last.  "He 
was  a  man  of  thorough  scholarship,  energetic  charac- 
ter, and  devoted  piety,  and  he  is  entitled  to  a  high,  if 
not  pre-eminent  position  in  the  roll  of  earlj'  Protestant 
missionaries  among  the  North  American  savages.  For 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  exercised  a  marked  in- 
fluence in  the  affairs  of  New  Netherlands.  He  saw  the 
infancy  of  the  Dutch  province,  watched  its  growth,  and 
witnessed  its  surrender  to  overpowering  English  force. 
His  name  must  ever  be  associated  with  the  early  his- 
tory of  New  York,  towards  the  illustration  of  which  his 
correspondence  with  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  now  in 
the  possession  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed 
Protestant  Dutch  Church,  and  his  sketch  of  the  Mo- 
hawk Indians,  form  original  and  very  valuable  contribu- 
tions."— Hon.  J.  Romeyn  Brodhead,  in  the  A'^.  Y.  Hist, 
Society's  Coll.  vol.  iii ;  Rev.  E.  P.  Rogers,  D.D.,  Histori- 
cal Discourse ;  Sprague,  A  minis,  vol.  ix.  (W.  J.  Hi  T.) 
Megapolensis,  Samuel,  son  of  the  above,  was 
born  in  l('io4.  and  was  educated  at  Harvard  College, 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  where  he  spent  three  years ;  after- 
wards went  to  the  University  of  Utrecht,  Holland,  and 
there  he  graduated  in  1659,  having  pursued  a  full  theo- 
logical course.  He  next  went  to  Leyden  University,  and, 
after  a  complete  course  in  that  most  celebrated  medical 
school  of  Europe,  obtained  the  degree  of  doctor  of  med- 
icine. Returning  to  America,  he  was  associate  pastor  of 
the  Church  of  New  Amsterdam  with  his  venerable  father 
for  over  four  years— 1663-68.  In  1664  he  was  appoint- 
ed one  of  the  Dutch  commissioners  who  prepared  the 


MEGARA,  SCHOOL  OF 


44 


JMEGIDDO 


terms  of  surrender  to  the  English  government.  "  Prob- 
ably it  was  through  his  influence  that  the  rights  of  the 
lieformed  Chirrch  were  so  carefully  guarded."  In  1G68 
he  returned  to  Holland,  and  settled  at  Wernigerode, 
where  he  ministered  seven  years,  1C70  to  1677.  After- 
wards, '■  being  well  skilled  iji  both  the  English  and 
Dutcli  languages,"  he  served  the  English  or  Scotcli 
churches  of  Flushing  (1G77-85)  and  Dordrecht  (1C85- 
1700),  when  he  was  declared  e/nerittts,  or  honorably  laid 
aside  from  his  work,  after  a  ministry  of  tlurty-seven 
years.  The  date  of  his  death  is  not  known.  See  Kev. 
Dr.  De^^'itt,  in  Sprague's  A  nnals,  vol.  ix ;  Corwin's  Man- 
ual of  the  Kef.  Church,  s.  v.     (W.  J.  K.  T.) 

Megara,  School  of,  one  of  the  schools  founded 
by  (iisiiplci  i)f  Socraies,  l)ut  so  modified  in  position  from 
their  teaclicr  as  to  deserve  the  name  of  a  peculiar  society. 
Its  principal  supporter  was  Euclid  of  jNIegara,  who  was 
born  about  440  iJ.C,  and  was  himself  a  pupil  of  Parmen- 
ides,  one  of  the  most  prominent  leaders  in  the  Eleatic 
School  (q.  v.).  After  the  death  of  Socrates,  his  disciples, 
fleeing  for  safety  from  Athens,  found  a  pleasant  home  in 
the  house  of  Euclid,  and  there,  guided  by  him,  linallj' 
established  principles  which  gave  them  the  name  of 
Megarists.  They  taught  that  ethics  stands  in  the  ser- 
vice of  dialectics.  The  essence  of  good  is  unity — unity 
so  entire  as  to  embrace  immobility,  identity,  and  per- 
manence. Hence  the  sensi^ble  world  has  no  part  in  ex- 
istence. Being  and  good  are  thus  the  same  tiling,  viz. 
unity ;  good  therefore  alone  exists,  and  evil  is  but  the 
absence  of  existence.  It  does  not  follow,  however,  that 
there  is  but  a  single  being  and  a  single  sort  of  good,  for 
miity  may  be  found  contained  in  various  things.  Euclid 
expressly  taught  that,  in  spite  of  their  unity,  being  and 
good  clothe  themselves  in  different  forms,  present  them- 
selves under  different  points  of  view,  and  receive  differ- 
ent names,  as  wisdom,  God,  intelligence,  and  the  like. 
Euclid  also  anticipated  Aristotle  in  distinguishing  the 
act  from  the  power,  and  resolved,  accorduig  to  his  ideas 
of  being,  the  relation  between  the  two.  Other  support- 
ers of  this  school  were  Eubulicles,  Alexinos,  Diodorus, 
Chronos,  Philo,  and  Stilpo.  See  Dyck,  De  Megai'icoi-um 
doctrinu  (Bonn,  1827)  ;  liittcr,  Ueber  die  Philosophie  der 
Megarischen  Schule ;  Ueberweg,  Uistori/  of  Philosophy, 
vol.  i. 

Megerlin,  Daahd  Friedrich,  a  noted  German 
Orientalist  and  mystic,  was  born  at  Stuttgard  near  the 
opening  of  the  18th  century.  After  hokling  for  some 
time  a  professorship  at  the  gymnasium  at  Montbelliard, 
he  preached  at  Laubach,  whence,  in  17G9,  he  removed 
to  Frankfort-on-the-Main  to  continue  in  the  pastorate. 
He  died  in  August,  1769.  Megerlin  took  a  lively  in- 
terest in  the  welfare  of  the  Jews,  and  labored  earnestly 
for  their  conversion.  In  1756  he  gained  great  notori- 
ety by  his  public  intercession  in  behalf  of  rai)bi  Eibe- 
schiltz,  who  had  published  a  cabalistic  work  containing 
many  points  to  which  his  brethren  had  taken  decided 
exception,  particularly  the  favorable  allusions  to  Sab- 
bathai  Zewi  (q.  v.).  The  .Jews  were  greatly  provoked 
with  Eibeschiitz  because  they  had  found  him  a  be- 
liever in  the  messiahship  of  the  pretender  Sabbathai, 
but  Megerlin  insisted  that  Eibeschiitz  had  been  misin- 
terpreted, and  that  the  rabbi  was  a  believer  in  Jesus 
Christ.  He  made  these  views  public  in  his  Geheime 
Zeitgnisse  fir  die  Wuhrheit  der  christlichen  Religion 
(Lcipsic,  17.^6,  4to) ;  and  in  Ncue  Erweckung  der  Zer- 
slri'iiliii  Jndenschdft  (1756),  and  ChrUtlicher  Zuruf  an 
die  lidhhinen  (1757).  His  other  valuable  works  are,  De 
scriptis  et  cnllegiis  nrientalibus ;  item  Observatiows  cri- 
tiro-l/H'(il(igirir  (Tiil)iiig.  1729,  4to)  :— //ca-««  orienlaliiim 
coUegiiinim  jihihihigicurum  (1729,  4to): — De  BiUiis  La- 
Unix  Miiguniiir  priiiio  iinpre.isis  1450-1462  (1750,  4to); 
anil  a  translation  of  the  Koran  into  German.  See  Meu- 
8<4.  dtUhrteii-Lexikon,  s.  v.;  Griitz,  Gesch.  der  Juden,  x, 


41(: 


Megethius.     See  Marcion. 

Megid'do  (Ileb.  Megiddo',  "i^a"?,  according  to  Ge- 


senius,  \>erh.  place  of  troops,  according  to  Fiirst,  rick  in 
ornaments,  i.  e.  noble,  fruitful;  Sept.  Maytccw,  but  Ma- 
yicixt  in  Judg.  i,  27,  Maycai  in  1  Kings  ix,  15,  and  Ma- 
yi^ujv  V.  r.  MayftCoiv  and  Mayecfw  in  2  C'hron.  pcxxv, 
22;  Vulg.  Mageddo),  once  in  the  prolonged  form  JIE- 
GIDDOX  (Zech.  xii,  11,  Heb.  Megiddon',  V''^?  r,  Sept. 
renders  i icicoTrrd/itvoc,  Vulg.  Mageddon),  a  town  belong- 
ing to  Manasseh  (Judg.  i, 27),  although  at  first  witliin  the 
boundaries  of  Issachar  (Josh,  xvii,  11),  and  commanding 
one  of  those  passes  from  the  north  into  the  hill-coun- 
try which  were  of  such  critical  importance  on  various 
occasions  in  the  history  of  Judah  (Judith  iv,  7).  It  had 
originally  been  one  of  the  royal  cities  of  the  Canaan- 
ites  (Josh,  xii,  21).  This  tribal  arrangement  was  made 
partly  to  supplement  the  mountain-territory  of  Jlanas- 
seh,  and  partly  to  give  those  strongly-fortified  places  to 
a  tribe  who,  from  their  courage  and  their  alliance  with 
Ephraim,  might  be  able  to  drive  out  the  old  inhabit- 
ants. The  task,  however,  proved  too  great  even  for  the 
warlike  IManassites ;  but  when  the  power  of  Israel  was 
fiUly  established,  the  Canaanites  were  reduced  to  slavery 
(Josh,  xvii,  13-18 ;  Judg.  i,  27,  28).  Indeed,  we  do  no't 
read  of  Megiddo  being  firmly  in  the  occupation  of  the 
Israelites  till  the  time  of  Solomon.  That  monarch 
placed  one  of  his  twelve  commissariat  ofricers,  named 
Baana,  over  "Taanach  and  Jlegiddo,"  with  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Beth-shean  and  Jezreel  (1  Kings  iv,  12).  In 
this  reign  it  appears  that  some  costly  works  were  con- 
structed at  ISIegiddo  (ix,  15).  These  were  probably  for- 
tifications, suggested  by  its  important  military  position. 
Nearly  all  the  notices  of  the  place  are  connected  with 
military  transactions.  Of  these  there  were  three  nota- 
ble ones.  The  following  account  of  those  we  extract 
in  part  from  Kitto's  and  Smith's  Dictionaries.    See  Es- 

DRAELOX. 

(1.)  The  first  was  the  victor}'  of  Barak.  The  song  of 
Deborah  brings  the  place  vividly  before  us,  as  the  scene 
of  the  great  conflict.  Jabin,  king  of  Hazor,  successor  of 
the  prince  who  had  organized  the  northern  confedera- 
tion against  Joshua,  was  now  the  o()pressor  of  Israel, 
and  Sisera  was  his  general.  The  army  of  Jabin,  with 
its  900  chariots  of  iron,  was  led  down  into  the  great 
plain,  and  drawn  up  at  Jlegiddo,  in  a  position  to  afford 
the  best  ground  for  the  terrible  war-chariots.  With 
much  difficulty  Deborah  the  prophetess  induced  Barak 
to  collect  the  warriors  of  the  northern  tribes.  They  as- 
sembled on  Tabor.  Deborah  gave  the  signal,  and  the  Is- 
raelites marched  down  to  attack  the  enemy,  full  of  hope 
and  enthusiasm.  At  this  moment  a  hail-storm  from 
the  east  burst  over  the  plain,  and  drove  full  in  the  faces 
of  the  advancing  Canaanites  (Josephus,  .4  nf.  v,  4).  '•  The 
stars  in  their  courses  fought  against  Sisera."  His  army 
was  thrown  into  confusion.  The  waters  of  the  Kishon 
rose  rapidly,  the  low  plain  became  a  morass;  chariots, 
horses,  soldiers,  all  together  were  engulfed  (Judg.  iv  and 
v).  Those  who  have  visited  Megiddo  and  traversed 
its  plain  in  the  spring,  after  a  heavy  fall  of  rain,  have 
found  the  Kishon  greatly  swollen,  its  banks  quagmires, 
and  all  the  ordinary  mails  impassable.     See  Kisiiox. 

(2.)  To  this  place  Aliaziah  fled  when  his  unfortunate 
visit  to  Joram  had  brought  him  into  collision  with  .Jehu, 
and  here  he  died  (2  Kings  iv,  27),  within  the  confines  of 
what  is  elsewhere  called  Samaria  (2  Chron.  xxii,  9). 
As  there  are  some  difficulties  in  the  history,  we  give  the 
texts  at  length : 

Ftdl  (2  Chron.  xxii,  T-9). 
"And  the  destruction  of 
Ahaziah  was  of  God  l)y 
coming  to  Joram:  for  wlieu 
he  was  come,  he  went  nut 
with  Jchorani  n^aiiist  .Jtliu 
the  son  of  Ninishi,  wliom 
the  Lord  had  anointed  to 
going  up  to  "Gnr,  whirli  is  cut  off  the  house  of  Ahab. 
hy  Ibleam.  And  he  fled  to  And  it  came  to  pass  that 
Megiddo,  and  died  there,  when  Jehu  was  execuling 
And  his  servnuts  carried  judgment  upon  tlie  house 
him  in  a  chariot  to  Jci-usa-  of  Ahab,  and  found  the 
lem,  and  buried  him  iu  his    princes  of  Judah,  and  the 


Short  (2  Kings  ix,  2"). 

"And  when  Ahaziah  the 
kill};  of  Judah  saw  this,  he 
lied  by  the  way  of  the  gar- 
den-house. Aiid  Jehu  fol- 
lowed alter  liini,  and  said, 
Smite  him  also  in  the  char- 
iot.   And  they  did  so  at  the 


MEGIDDO 


45  MEGIDDO 


sepulchre  with  his  fathers  sons  of  the  brethren  of 
ill  the  city  of  David."  Ahaziah,    that    ministered 

to  Ahaziah,  he  slew  them. 
Aud  he  sought  Ahaziah: 
aud  they  caught  him  (for 
he  was  hid  m  Samaria), 
aud  they  brought  him  to 
Jehu :  aud  wheu  they  had 
slain  him,  they  buried  him: 
Because,  said  they,  he  is  the 
sou  of  Jehoshapliat,  who 
sought  the  Lord  w^ith  all 
his  heart.  So  the  house  of 
Ahaziah  had  no  power  to 
keep  still  the  kingdom." 

With  reference  to  the  above  two  accounts  of  the  death 
of  Ahaziah,  which  have  been  thought  irreconcilable 
(Ewald,  iii,  529 ;  Parker's  De  Wette,  p.  270 ;  Thenius, 
etc.),  it  may  be  here  remarked  that  the  order  of  the 
events  is  sufficiently  intelligible  if  we  take  the  accoimt 
in  Chronicles,  where  the  kingdom  of  Judah  is  the  main 
subject,  as  explanatory  of  the  brief  notice  in  Kings, 
where  it  is  only  incidentally  mentioned  in  the  history 
of  Israel.  The  order  is  clearly  as  follows :  Ahaziah  was 
with  Jehoram  at  Jezreel  when  Jehu  attacked  and  killed 
him.  Ahaziah  escaped  and  fled  by  the  Beth-gan  road 
to  Samaria,  where  the  partisans  of  the  house  of  Ahab 
were  strongest,  and  where  his  own  brethren  were,  and 
there  concealed  himself.  But  when  the  sons  of  Ahab 
were  all  put  to  death  in  Samaria,  and  the  house  of  Ahab 
had  hopelessly  lost  the  kingdom,  he  determined  to  make 
his  submission  to  Jehu,  and  sent  his  brethren  to  salute 
the  children  of  Jehu  (2  Kings  x,  13),  in  token  of  his  ac- 
knowledgment of  him  as  king  of  Israel  (not,  as  Thenius 
and  others,  to  salute  the  children  of  Jehoram,  and  of 
Jezebel,  the  queen-mother).  Jehu,  instead  of  accepting 
this  submission,  had  them  all  put  to  death,  and  hastened 
on  to  Samaria  to  take  Ahaziah  also,  who  he  had  proba- 
bly learned  from  some  of  the  attendants,  or  as  he  already 
knew,  was  at  Samaria.  Ahaziah  again  took  to  flight 
northwards,  towards  Jlegiddo,  perhaps  in  hope  of  reach- 
ing the  dominions  of  the  king  of  the  Sidonians,  his 
kinsman,  or  more  probably  to  reach  the  coast  where  the 
direct  road  from  TvTe  to  Egypt  would  bring  him  to 
Judah.  See  C.esarea.  He  was  hotly  pursued  by  Jehu 
and  his  followers,  and  overtaken  near  Ibleam,  and  mor- 
tally wounded,  but  managed  to  get  as  far  as  Megiddo, 
where  it  would  seem  Jehu  followed  in  piursuit  of  him, 
and  where  he  was  brought  to  him  as  his  prisoner.  There 
he  died  of  his  wounds.  In  consideration  of  his  descent 
from  Jehoshaphat,  "who  sought  Jehovah  with  all  his 
heart,"  Jehu,  who  was  at  this  time  very  forward  in  dis- 
playing his  zeal  for  Jehovah,  handed  over  the  corpse  to 
his  followers,  with  permission  to  carry  it  to  Jerusalem, 
which  they  did,  and  buried  him  in  the  city  of  David. 
The  whole  difficulty  arises  from  the  account  in  Kings 
being  abridged,  and  so  bringing  together  two  incidents 
which  were  not  consecutive  in  the  original  account. 
But  if  2  Kings  ix,  27  had  been  even  divided  into  two 
verses,  the  first  ending  at "  garden-house,"  and  the  next 
beginning  "  and  Jehu  followed  after  him,"  the  difficidty 
would  almost  disappear.  Jehu's  pursuit  of  Ahaziah 
would  only  be  interrupted  by  a  day  or  two,  and  there 
would  be  nothing  the  least  unusual  in  the  omission  to 
notice  this  interval  of  time  in  the  concise  abridged  nar- 
rative. We  should  then  understand  that  the  word  also 
in  the  oi-iginal  narrative  referred,  not  to  Jehoram,  but  to 
the  brethren  of  Ahaziah,  who  had  just  before  been  smit- 
ten, and  the  death  of  Ahaziah  would  fall  under  2  Kings 
X,  17.  If  Beth-gan  (A.  V.  "  garden-house")  be  the  same 
as  En-gannim,  now  Jenin,  it  lay  directly  on  the  road 
from  Jezreel  to  Samaria,  and  is  also  the  place  at  which 
the  road  to  Megiddo  and  the  coast,  where  Cicsarea  after- 
wards stood,  turns  off  from  the  road  betw^een  Jezreel  and 
Samaria.  In  this  case  the  mention  of  Beth-gan  in 
Kings  as  the  direction  of  Ahaziah's  flight  is  a  confirma- 
tion of  the  statement  in  Chronicles  that  he  concealed 
himself  in  Samaria,  This  is  also  substantially  Keil's 
explanation  (p.  288,  289).  Movers  proposes  an  altera- 
tion of  the  text  (p.  92,  note),  but  not  very  successfully 


(fTliin-ib  X^in  Xb^l  instead  of  ^in.^-^N  =l!^i<??.^).  See 
Jehu. 

(3.)  But  the  chief  historical  interest  of  Megiddo  is 
concentrated  in  Josiah's  death.  On  this  occasion  Me- 
giddo saw  a  very  different  sight  from  the  first,  and 
heard,  instead  of  a  song  of  triumph,  a  funeral  wail  from 
the  vanquished  host  of  Israel  (Zech.  xii,  1 1).  Pharaoh- 
Necho  was  on  his  march  against  the  king  of  Assyria. 
He  passed  up  the  plains  of  Philistia  and  Sharon,  and 
king  Josiah  foolishly  attempted  to  stop  him  while  defil- 
ing through  the  glens  of  Carmel  into  the  plain  of  Me- 
giddo. He  was  defeated,  and  as  he  fled  the  Egyptian 
archers  shot  him  in  his  chariot.  He  was  taken  to  Je- 
rusalem, but  appears  to  have  died  on  the  road  (2  Kings 
xxiii,  29).  The  story  is  told  in  the  Chronicles  in  more 
detail  (2  Chron.  xxxv,  22-24).  There  the  fatal  action 
is  said  to  have  taken  place  "  in  the  valley  of  IMegiddo" 
(Sept.  tv  T([i  n(Si<i>  MayfOowv).  This  calamity  made 
a  deep  and  permanent  impression  on  the  Jews.  It  is 
recounted  agam  in  1  Estl.  i,  25-31,  where  in  the  A.V. 
"the  plain  of  Magiddo"  represents  the  same  Greek 
words.  The  lamentations  for  this  good  king  became 
'•  an  ordinance  in  Israel"  (2  Chron.  xxxv,  25).  "  In  all 
Jewry"  they  mourned  for  him,  and  the  lamentation  was 
made  perpetual  "  in  all  the  nation  of  Israel"  (1  Esd.  i, 
32).  "  Their  grief  was  no  land-flood  of  present  passion, 
but  a  constant  channel  of  continued  sorrow,  streaming 
from  an  annual  fountain"  (Fuller's  Pisguh  Sif/ht  of  Pal- 
estine, p.  165).  Thus,  in  the  language  of  the  prophets 
(Zech.  xii,  11),  "the  mourning  of  Hadadrimmon  in  the 
valley  (Sept.  7r«0i</j)  of  Megiddon"  becomes  a  poetical 
expression  for  the  deepest  and  most  despairing  grief;  as 
in  the  Apocalypse  (Rev.  xvi,  16)  Armageddon,  in  con- 
tinuance of  the  same  imagery,  is  presented  as  the  scene 
of  terrible  and  final  conflict.  For  the  Septuagint  ver- 
sion of  this  passage  of  Zechariah,  we  may  refer  to  Je- 
rome's note  on  the  passage.  "Adadremmon,  pro  quo 
LXX  transtulerunt  'Powi'oc,  urbs  est  juxta  Jesrrelem, 
quaj  hoc  olim  vocabulo  nuncapata  est,  et  hodie  vocatur 
Maximianopolis  in  Campo  jMageddon."  A  r-Mageddon 
may  be  for  11573  "i?,  that  is,  "the  city  of  Megiddo;"  or 
if  we  regard  the  aspirated  ap  as  equivalent  to  the  He- 
brew "in,  then  the  meaning  will  be  "moimtain  of  IMe- 
giddo,"  which  would  likewise  be  appropriate  (Alford, 
ad  loc).  That  the  prophet's  imagerj'  is  drawn  from 
the  occasion  of  Josiah's  death  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
In  Stanley's  S.  and  P.  (p.  347)  this  calamitous  event  is 
made  very  vivid  to  us  by  an  allusion  to  the  "  Egyptian 
archers,  in  their  long  array,  so  well  known  from  their 
sculptured  monuments."  For  the  mistake  in  the  ac- 
count of  Pharaoh-Necho's  campaign  in  Herodotus,  who 
has  evidently  put  JMigdol  by  mistake  for  Megiddo  (ii, 
159),  it  is  enough  to  refer  to  Biihr's  excursus  on  the 
passage  (see  below).  The  Egyptian  king  may  have 
landed  his  troops  at  Acre ;  but  it  is  far  more  likely  that 
he  marched  northwards  along  the  coast-plain,  and  then 
turned  round  Carmel  into  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  taking 
the  left  bank  of  the  Kishon,  and  that  there  the  Jewish 
king  came  upon  him  by  the  gorge  of  Megiddo. 

Eusebius  and  Jerome  (Onomast.)  do  not  attempt  to 
mark  the  situation  of  the  place,  and  it  appears  that  the 
name  IMegiddo  was  in  their  time  already  lost.  They 
often  mention  a  town  called  Legio  (Atytwv),  which  must 
in  their  day  have  been  an  important  and  well-known 
place,  as  they  assume  it  as  a  central  point  from  w  hich 
to  mark  the  position  of  several  other  places  in  this  quar- 
ter (e.  g.  fifteen  miles  west  of  Nazareth,  and  three  or  four 
from  Taanach).  This  has  been  identified  (Reland,  Pa- 
Icest.  p.  873 ;  comp.  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  ii,  433)  with  the 
village  now  called  Lejjim,  which  is  situated  upon  the 
western  border  of  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon,  where  it 
begins  to  rise  gently  towards  the  low  range  of  wooded 
hills  that  connect  Carmel  with  the  mountains  of  Sarna- 
ria  (Onomast.  s.  v.  Gabathon).  This  place  was  visited 
by  Maundrell,  who  speaks  of  it  as  an  old  village  near  a 
brook,  with  a  khan  then  in  good  repair  ( Jo ii?ney, March 


MEGIDDO 


46 


JklEHETABEL 


22).  This  khan  was  for  the  accommodation  of  the  car- 
avan on  the  route  between  Egypt  and  Damascus,  wliich 
passes  here.  Having  already  identitied  tlie  present  vil- 
lage of  Taannuk  with  the  ancient  Taanach,  the  vicinity 
of  this  to  Lejjun  induced  Dr.  Robinson  (Blbl.  liesearckes, 
iii,  177-180;  also  new  ed.  iii,  116-118)  to  conceive  that 
the  latter  might  be  the  ancient  Mcgiddo,  seeing  that 
Taanach  and  ^legiddo  arc  constantly  named  together 
in  Scripture  (1  Kings  iv,  12;  1  Chron.  vii,  29);  and  to 
this  a  writer  in  a  German  review  ((irosse,  in  the  Stud. 
11.  Krit.  1845,  i,  252  sq.)  adds  the  further  consideration 
that  the  name  of  Legio  was  latterl}'  applied  to  the  plain 
or  low  valley  along  the  Kishon,  as  that  of  ^legiddo  had 
been  in  more  ancient  times  ("1^5^  PP?,  2  Chron.  xxxv, 
22;  '|'1^5p  P?p3,  Zech.  xii,  11;  to  irtciov  Maytcdtii, 
3  Esdr.  i,  27).  See  Esdraelox,  Herodotus  (ii,  15'J) 
appears  to  allude  to  the  overthrow  of  Josiah  at  this 
place  (2  Kings  ix,  23,  29),  but  instead  of  Megiddo  he 
names  the  town  Mai/dolum  (MaycoXov),  the  Migdol 
of  Egypt  (see  Hareiiberg,  Bibl.  Bnm.  vi,  281 ;  Kosen- 
miillcr.  .1  Iti-r/h.  H,  ii.  99).  Kosellini  (Afonum.  stor.  ii,  p. 
i;5;))  thinks  that  Herodotus  may  still  refer  to  the  Pales- 
tinian locality,  and  he  imagines  that  he  finds  traces  of 
the  name  on  the  monuments  (Mdldo,  i.  e.  Magdo,  ih.  iv, 
p.  158),  but  Ewald  (/.</-.  CVmc//.  iii,  400)  finds  the  Mag- 
dolum  of  Herodotus  in  d-Mejdd  (the  Migdal  of  Josh. 
xix,  38),  between  the  Kishon  and  Acco  (comp.  Hitzig, 
rii'dist.  i, 96).  ilegiddo  or  Lejjun  is  probably  the  place 
mentioned  by  Shaw  as  the  Rus  el-Kishon,  or  the  head 
of  the  Kishon,  under  the  south-east  brow  of  Carmel 
{Trar.  p.  274).  It  was  visited  and  described  by  Mr. 
Wolcott  in  1842,  who  found  it  to  be  an  hour  and  forty 
minutes  distant  from  Taanach.  The  Xahr  Lejjun  is  a 
stream  five  or  six  feet  wide,  running  into  the  Kishon, 
and  feeding  three  or  four  mills.  A  little  distance  up  it 
is  situated  the  Khan  cl-Lejjun,  and  on  a  small  eminence 
on  the  opposite  side  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Legio. 
Among  the  rubbish  are  the  foundations  of  two  or  three 
buildings,  with  limestone  columns  mostly  worn  awny ; 
and  another  with  eight  or  ten  polished  columns  still  re- 
maining, and  others  of  limestone  among  them.  The 
finest  structure  appears  to  have  been  in  the  south-west 


corner  of  the  ruins,  by  the  side  of  the  brook.  Among 
its  foundations  are  two  marble  columns  with  Corinthian 
capitals,  and  several  of  granite.  A  gateway  with  a 
pointeil  arch  is  still  standing.  A  small  bridge  is  thrown 
over  the  stream,  and  leads  to  the  khan,  which  is  of  Sar- 
acenic structure  {liiUiothcca  Sacra,  1843,  p.  77).  Van 
dc  Yelde  visited  the  spot  in  1852,  approaching  it  through 
the  hills  from  the  south-west.  He  describes  the  view 
of  the  plain  as  seen  from  the  highest  point  between  it 
and  the  sea,  and  the  huge  tells  which  mark  the  positions 
of  the  "  key-fortresses"  of  the  hills  and  the  plain,  Taa- 
nfik  and  el-Lejjun,  the  latter  being  the  most  considera- 
ble, and  having  another  called  Tell  Mctzellim,  half  an 
hour  to  the  north-west  {Syr.  and  Pal.  i,350-356).  About 
a  month  later  in  tlie  same  year  Dr.  Kobinson  was  there, 
and  convinced  himself  of  the  correctness  of  his  former 
opinion.  He,  too,  describes  tlie  view  over  the  i)lain, 
northwards  to  the  wooded  hills  of  Galilee,  eastwards  to 
Jezreel,  and  southwards  to  Taanach,  Tell  iMetzellim  be- 
ing also  mentioned  as  on  a  projecting  portion  of  the  hills 
Avhich  arc  continuous  with  Carmel,  the  Kishon  being 
just  below  {Jiib.llcn.  ii,  116-119).  Uoth  writers  men- 
tion a  copious  stream  flowing  down  this  gorge  (^March 
and  April),  and  turning  some  mills  before  joining  the 
Kishon.  Here  are  proljably  the  "waters  of  Megiddo" 
("i^a?  ''•q)  of  Judg.  V,  19,  though  it  should  be  added 
that  by  professor  Stanley  (-V.  ami  P.  p.  339)  they  are 
supposed  rather  to  be  "  the  pools  in  the  bed  of  the  Ki- 
shon" itself,  which  has  its  springs  in  Tabor  (ver.  21 ; 
see  Hollman,  Commentar.  in  carm.  Deborcp,  Lips.  1818,  p. 
42  sq.),  and  not  (as  in  ^lichaelis,  Siippl.  p.  339;  Hames- 
veld,  iii,  138)  the  Sea  o{  Cmdcria  (^I'liny,  v,  17;  xxxvi, 
65),  at  the  foot  of  Carmel.  The  same  author  regards 
the  "plaui  (or  valley)  of  Megiddo"  as  denoting  not  the 


whole  of  the  Esdraelon  level,  but  that  broadest  part  of 
it  which  is  immediately  opposite  the  place  we  are  de- 
scribing (p.  335, 336).  The  supposition  of  Eaumer  (Pa- 
Idstina,  p.  402),  that  Legio  represented  the  ancient  Max- 
iinianopolis  (which  is  given  by  Jerome  as  the  later  name 
for  IJadadrimmon),  based  upon  the  presumption  that 
the  remains  of  a  Roman  road  said  to  be  still  visible  to 
the  south  of  Lejjun  are  those  of  the  thoroughfare  be- 
tween Caisarea  and  Jezreel,  is  without  good  foundation 
(see  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  1844,  p.  220).  Yet  Van  de  Velde 
(Memoir,  p.  333)  holds  this  view  to  be  correct.  He 
thinks  he  has  found  the  true  Hadadrimmon  in  a  place 
called  Rummanch,  '"at  the  foot  of  the  ^legiddo  hills,  in 
a  notch  or  valley  about  an  hour  and  a  half  south  of  Tell 
Metzellim,"  and  would  place  the  old  fortified  ^lei;iddo 
on  this  tell  itself, suggesting  further  that  its  name,  -the 
Tell  of  the  Governor,"  may  possibly  retain  a  reminis- 
cence of  Solomon's  officer,  Baana  the  son  of  Ahilud. 
Porter  believes  this  tell  was  the  site  of  the  stronghold 
of  Megiddo  itself  {Family  Treasury,  Dec.  1864). 
Megid'don  (Zech.  xii,  1).  See  Megiddo. 
Megillah.    See  Talmld. 

Megilloth  (rV?5-a,  rolls,  from  ^^5).  The  Hebrew 
MSS.  were  on  rolls  of  parchment,  usually  wTitten  on  one 
side,  though  sometimes  also  on  both  (Ezek.  ii,  10).  Af- 
terwards the  term  nb572  was  used  of  a  book  consisting 
of  several  leaves  fastened  together  (Jer.  xxxvi,  23.  24) ; 
once  it  occurs  in  Scripture  as  designating  the  Penta- 
teuch (Psa.  xl,  8  [7]).  In  later  Jewish  usage  the  term 
Megilloth  was  applied  to  the  five  books,  viz.  Song  of 
Songs,  Kuth,  Lamentations,  Ecclesiastes,  and  Esther, 
wliich  were  read  on  certain  festivals  in  the  synagogue. 
See  HAPurnAHAii.  The  title  of  Megillah  was  used 
KUT  t^oyiiv  of  the  book  of  Esther  [see  Estiiek,  Book 
ok]  ;  and  from  this  it  is  supposed  it  was  transferred  to 
the  others.  To  the  reading  of  this  at  the  Eeast  of  Pu- 
rim  special  importance  was  attached  by  the  Jews  (Tal- 
mud, Tr.  Mer/illuh,  ed.  Surenhus.  ii,  387). — Kitto.     See 

KOLL. 

Megma,  the,  a  Mohammedan  name  for  an  assem- 
bly or  council  specially  convened  to  judge  of  the  merits 
or  demerits  of  their  highest  functionary.  The  members 
of  the  Megma  are  the  imams,  or  '•  doctors  of  the  law." 
See  Imam. 

Mehadu  is  the  name  of  a  HindA  deity  of  inferior 
rank,  supposed  to  have  been  created  before  the  world, 
and  which  they  hold  will  be  used  when  the  end  of  the 
world  shall  come  as  an  instrument  to  destroy  all  created 
things.     See  Broughton,  Bibliolh.  llist.  Sac.  ii,  78. 

Mehemet  Ali,  one  of  the  most  noted  of  Egypt's 
sovereigns,  who  filled  the  viceroyalty  from  1804  to  1848, 
deserves  a  place  here  for  his  philanthropic  acts  towards 
the  Christians,  and  his  beneficence  towards  all  men, 
without  distinction  of  creed.  He  was  born  in  1769,  and 
died  at  Cairo  Aug.  3, 1849.  Mehemet  .:Vli  was  particu- 
larly noted  for  his  successful  wars  against  the  Mame- 
lukes, and  for  his  reduction  of  Syria,  which  he  c(»nquered 
in  1830.  "  As  a  ruler,"  says  a  contemporary.  '•  !Melieniet 
Ali  displayed  talents  of  a  very  high  order,  and  few  ])rinces 
have  founded  more  beneficent  institutions  or  shown  a 
more  just  and  liberal  spirit.  He  established  schools  and 
colleges,  created  an  army  and  navy,  and  introduced  the 
manufactures  of  Europe.  He  protected  his  Christian 
subjects,  and  aided  by  his  liberality  the  researches  of 
ChampoUion.  Lepsius,  and  other  eminent  savants."  See 
V.  jNIengin,  Jlistvire  de  fE'/ypte  sons  le  O'ouveriiemeiit  de 
Mohammed  Ali  (1839);  A.  de  Vaulabelle,  Ilistoire  de 
UEyypte;  Creasiy, /list,  of  the  Ottoman  Turks,  ii,392. 

Mehet'abeel  (Xeh.  vi,  10).    See  Meiietabee. 

Mehet'abel  (Heb.  Milieytabcl[,  ^xn^n  r-  whose 
bemfdctiir  is  Cu,!;  or.  according  to  Gesenius,  a  Chald. 
form  for  5X  -"'i:"''?,  blessed  by  God;  Vulg.  MetabeeT), 
the  name  of  a  man  and  of  a  woman. 

1.  (ScpU  Mt-t/if/yX,  Mt-a/3{i'y\.)     The  daughter  of 


MEHIDA 


47 


MEICHELRECK 


Hatred,  and  wife  of  Hadad,  the  last  named  of  the  orig- 
inal kings  of  Edom,  whose  native  or  regal  city  was  Pai 
or  Pau  (Gen.  xxxvi,  39;  1  Chron.  i,  50).  B.C.  prob. 
cir.  1619. 

2.  (Sept.  M£>jrrt/3fi;\  v.  r.  MerafitijX,  Auth.  Vers. 
"  Mehetabeel.")  The  father  of  Delaiah,  and  grandfather 
of  the  Semaiah  who  connived  with  Sanballat  in  his  at- 
tempts to  decoy  Nehemiah  into  signs  of  fear  (Neh.  vi, 
10).     B.C.  considerably  ante  446. 

Mehi'da  (Heb.  MecJiida',  XT^rip,  pmh.  joining  ; 
Sept.  in  Ezra  MtiSd  v.  r.  MaovSci,  in  Neh.  M££t5d  v.  r. 
Mt^a;  Vulg.  Mahida),  a  name  given  in  Ezra  ii,  52; 
Neh.  vii,  54,  apparently  as  that  of  a  person  whose  de- 
scendants (or  possibly  a  place  whose  inhabitants)  were 
among  the  Nethinim  of  the  "  children"  (i.  e.  probably 
residents)  of  Bazlith,  after  the  exUe.     B.C.  ante  53G. 

Me'hir  (Heb.  J/ec^«>',  "|inp, /jrice,  as  often ;  Sept. 
Maxf;,o  V.  r.  Mnx'p),  the  son  of  Chelub  and  father 
(?  founder)  of  Eshton,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  (1  Chron. 
iv,  11),  but  of  what  particular  family  does  not  clearly 
appear.     B.C.  perhaps  cir.  1618. 

Meholah.     See  Abel-meholaii. 

Meho'lathite  (lleh.  Mecholathi' ,  "^nVnp,  Gentile 
adj.  from  Jlekoluk;  Sept.  MaovXa^tTTjC,  MoovXa^i),  a 
native  doubtless  of  Abel-jieholaii  (1  Sam.xviii,19;  2 
Sam.  xxi,  8), 

Mehu'jael  (Heb.  Mechuyael',  ^X^^llra,  smitten  by 
God;  v.  r.  in  the  same  verse  Mechiyael',  ix'^^PlT;  ; 
Sept.  has  MaXeXt/'/X  v.  r.  MaV/'/X ;  Yulg.  Maniuel),  the 
son  of  Irad  and  father  of  Methusael,  third  antediluvian 
patriarch  in  descent  from  Cain  (Gen.  iv,  18).  B.C.  cir. 
3840. 

Mehu'man  (Helj.  Mehuman',  ')'2^nT2,  either  from 
the  ^yx.  faithful,  or  from  some  unknown  Persian  word ; 
Sept.  'k\.iav,  Yidg,  Mehumani),  the  tirst  named  of  the 
seven  eunuchs  whom  Xerxes  commanded  to  bring  in 
Vashti  to  the  royal  presence  (Esth.  i,  10).     B.C.  483. 

Mehu'nim  (Keb.  Meilnim,'  D"3^""a,  habitations,  as 
in  1  Chron.  iv,  41,  etc.;  Sept.  in  Ezra,  Moovvtii.i  v.  r. 
Moovvii^i,  Auth.Yers.  '■  Meunim ;"  in  Neh.  Misivwfi  v.  r. 
Mtifioi';  Vulg.  constantly  Muni/n),  apparently  a  person 
whose  "children"  returned  among  the  Nethinim  from 
Babylon  (Ezra  ii,  50 ;  Neh.  vii,  52) ;  but  rather,  perhaps, 
to  be  regarded  as  indicating  the  inhabitants  of  some 
town  in  Palestine  where  they  settled  after  the  exile, 
and  in  that  case  probably  identical  with  the  inhabitants 
of  Maon  (or  possibly  the  '"Mehmiims"  [below]  of  2 
Chron.  xxvi,  7).     See  jMaoxite. 

MEKUNIMS,  THE  (Ci3^r52n,  i.  e.  ike  Me'unim ; 
Sept.  01  MitvaloL  v.  r.  o'l  MivaToi ;  Vulg.  Amnionilce),  a 
people  against  whom  king  Uzziah  waged  a  successful 
war  (2  Chron.  xxvi,  7).  Although  so  diiferent  in  its 
English  dress,  yet  the  name  is  in  the  original  merely 
the  plural  of  Maon  ("p"^),  a  nation  named  among  those 
who  in  the  earlier  days  of  their  settlement  in  Palestine 
harassed  and  oppressed  Israel.  Maon,  or  the  Maonites, 
probably  inhabited  the  country  at  the  back  of  tlie  great 
range  of  Seir,  the  modern  esh-Sherah,  which  forms  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Wady  el-Arabah,  where  at  the  pres- 
ent day  there  is  still  a  town  of  the  same  name  (Burck- 
hardt,  Syria,  Aug.  24).  This  is  quite  in  accordance  with 
the  terms  of  2  Chron.  xxvi,  7,  where  the  Mehunim  are 
mentioned  with  "  the  Arabians  of  Gur-baal,"  or,  as  the 
Sept.  renders  it,  Petra.  Another  notice  of  the  Mehu- 
nims  in  the  reign  of  Hezekiah  (B.C.  cir.  726-697)  is 
found  in  1  Chron.  iv,  41,  Here  they  are  spoken  of  as  a 
pastoral  people,  either  themselves  Hamites,  or  in  alli- 
ance with  Hamites,  quiet  and  peaceable,  dwelling  in 
tents.  They  had  been  settled  from  "  of  old,"  i,  e.  abo- 
riginally, at  the  east  end  of  the  valley  of  Gedor  or  Ge- 
rar,  in  the  wilderness  south  of  Palestine.  A  connection 
with  Mount  Seir  is  hinted  at,  though  obscurely  (ver.  42). 
Here,  however,  the  Auth,  Vers,— probably  following  the 
translations  of  Luther  and  Junius,  which  in  their  turn 


follow  the  Targum — treats  the  word  as  an  ordinary  noun, 
and  renders  it  "habitations;"  a  reading  now  relinquished 
by  scholars,  who  understand  the  word  to  refer  to  the 
people  in  question  (Gesenius,  Thesaur.  p,  1002  a,  and 
Xotes  on  Burckhardt,  p.  1069;  Bertheau,  CAro?iii).  A 
tliird  notice  of  the  Mehunim,  corroborative  of  those  al- 
ready mentioned,  is  found  in  the  narrative  of  2  Chron, 
XX,  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  in  ver,  1 "  the 
Ammonites"  should  be  read  as  "  the  Maonites,"  who  in 
that  case  are  the  "  men  of  Mount  Seir"  mentioned  later 
in  the  narrative  (ver,  10, 22), 

In  all  these  passages,  including  the  last,  the  Sept,  ren- 
ders the  name  by  o'l  Mtivaloi — the  Minaaans — a  nation 
of  Arabia  renowned  for  their  traffic  in  spices,  who  are 
named'  by  Strabo,  Ptolemy,  and  other  ancient  geogra- 
phers, and  whose  seat  is  now  ascertained  to  have  been 
the  south-west  portion  of  the  great  Arabian  peninsula, 
the  western  half  of  the  modern  Hadramaut  (Smith,  Diet, 
of  Geography,  s,  v,  Minoei).  Bochart  has  pointed  out 
{Phaleg,  vol,  ii,  cap,  xxii),  with  reason,  that  distance 
alone  renders  it  impossible  that  these  Minteans  can  be 
the  Meunim  of  the  Bible,  and  also  that  the  people  of  the 
Arabian  peninsula  are  Shemites,  while  the  Meunim  ap- 
pear to  have  been  descended  from  Ham  (1  Chron,  iv, 
41).  But,  with  his  usual  turn  for  etymological  specula- 
tion, he  endeavors  nevertheless  to  establish  an  identity 
between  the  two,  on  the  ground  that  Cam  al-Munasil, 
a  place  two  days'  journey  south  of  ]\lecca,  one  of  the 
towns  of  the  Minasans,  signifies  the  "  horii  of  habita- 
tions," and  might  therefore  be  equivalent  to  the  Hebrew' 
Meonim.  Josephus  (^1  nt.  ix,  10, 3)  calls  them  "  the  Arabs 
who  adjoined  Egypt,"  and  speaks  of  a  city  built  by  Uz- 
ziah on  the  Red"  Sea  to  overawe  them,  Ewald  {Ge- 
sckichie,  i,  323,  note)  suggests  that  the  southern  Minfe- 
ans  were  a  colony  from  the  Maonites  of  Mount  Seir,  who 
in  their  turn  he  appears  to  consider  a  remnant  of  the 
Amorites  (see  the  text  of  the  same  page).  That  the 
Minaeans  were  familiar  to  the  translators  of  the  Sept.  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  they  not  only  introduce  the 
name  on  the  occasions  already  mentioned,  but  that  they 
further  use  it  as  equivalent  to  Naamathite,  Zophar 
the  Naamathite,  one  of  the  three  friends  of  Job,  is  by 
them  presented  as  "  Sophar  the  Mina^an,"  and  "  Sophar 
king  of  the  Minaeans."  In  this  connection  it  is  not  un- 
worthy of  notice  that  as  there  was  a  town  called  Maon 
in  the  mountain-district  of  Judah,  so  there  was  one 
called  Naamah  in  the  lowland  of  the  same  tribe.  El- 
jMinyay,  which  is  or  was  the  first  station  south  of  Gaza, 
is  probably  identical  with  Minois,  a  place  mentioned 
with  distinction  in  the  Christian  records  of  Palestine  in 
the  5th  and  6th  centuries  (Reland,  Palcest.  p.  899 ;  Le 
Quien,  Oriens  Christ,  iii,  669),  and  both  may  retain  a 
trace  of  the  Minaeans.  Baal-meox,  a  town  on  the  east 
of  Jordan,  near  Heshbon,  still  called  Ma'in,  probably 
also  retains  a  trace  of  the  presence  of  the  Maonites  or 
Mehimim  north  of  their  proper  locality. 

The  latest  appearance  of  the  name  Mehunims  in  the 
Bible  is  in  the  lists  of  those  who  returned  from  the  cap- 
tivity with  Zerubbabel.  Among  the  non-Israelites  from 
whom  the  Nethinim — following  the  precedent  of  what 
seems  to  have  been  the  foundation  of  the  order — were 
made  up,  we  find  their  name  (Ezra  ii,  50,  A.  V.  "  Mehu- 
nim;" Neh.  vii,  52,  A.V.  "Meimim").  Here  they  are 
mentioned  with  the  Nephishim,  or  descendants  of  Na- 
phish,  an  Ishmaelitish  people  whose  seat  appears  to  have 
been  on  the  east  of  Palestine  (1  Chron.  v,  19),  and  there- 
fore certainly  not  far  distant  from  Ma'an,  the  chief  city 
of  the  Maonites. — Smith. 

Meichelbeck,  Chables,  a  German  monastic  and 
scholar,  was  burn  :\Iay  29, 1669,  at  Oberndorf,  in  ^Ugau. 
He  was  admitted  in  1687  to  the  Order  of  the  Benedic- 
tines of  Buren,  in  Bavaria.  From  1697  he  taught  Latin, 
and  subsequently  theology,  in  the  different  convents 
of  his  order.  After  having  prepared  a  history  of  the 
abbey  of  Bwxm—Chronico  Benedicto-Buranum  (Buren, 
1752,  fol.)— he  was  commissioned  in  1722,  by  the  chief 
bishop  of  Freisuigen,  to  write  one  of  that  city— Historia 


JMEIER 


48 


MEIXDAERTS 


Frisingensis,  ah  anno  724  (Augsburg,  1724-29,  2  vols, 
fol.);  the  numerous  diplomas  contained  in  this  work 
render  it  vcrj'  valuable  as  a  history  of  Germanic  insti- 
tutions. Called  later  to  Vienna  to  write  the  annals  of 
the  house  of  Austria,  he  declined  the  task  on  account  of 
the  bad  state  of  his  health.  He  died  at  Freisingen 
April  2, 1734.  V.  Haidenfeld  prepared  a  life  of  Meichel- 
beck,  but  it  was  never  published.  See  Hirsching,  FHst. 
liter,  llandbuch ;  Zapf,  Literarische  Rdsen,  voL  i ;  Meu- 
sel,  Gelehrten-Lexikori,  s.  v. 

Meier,  Ernst  Heinrich,  a  German  Orientalist, 
was  born  at  Itusbimli.  in  Scliaumburg-Lippc,  May  17, 
1813.  He  studied  at  the-  I'nivcrsity  of  Tubingen,  and 
was  appointed  professor  there  in  1848.  He  died  March 
2, 18GG.  Of  his  writings,  the  following  deserve  especial 
mention :  Uebersetzttiif/  und  Erkldrum;  dcs  Proph.  Joel 
(Tubing.  1840)  r—Z/eiz-awc^c*  Wurzrfb'rdrtcrhuch  pianh.  ! 
1845) : — Ueber  die  Bildunf)  vnd  B(-d<utiiiif/  dcs  IHural  in 
den  sem,  und  germanischen  Spi-achen  (ibid.  1846)  : — Die 
urspriingliche  Form  des  Dekalogs  (1846)  -.—Commentar  zu 
Jesuia,  vol.  i  (Pforzh.  1850) : — Die  Form  der  hebr.  Poesie 
(Tubing.  1853) : — Geschichte  der  poetischen  Nationallit- 
eraiur  der  Ilebrder  (ibid,  1856).  This  last-named  work 
was  an  attempt  to  transform  the  introduction  of  the  Old 
Test,  into  a  history  of  the  literatiu-c  of  the  Hebrews. 

Meier,  Friedrich  Karl,  a  German  theologian, 
was  born  Aug.  11,1X08.  He  became  privat-doccnt  in 
1832,  and  professor  of  theology  at  Jena  in  1835.  In 
1836  he  removed  to  Giessen  to  labor  in  the  same  capac- 
ity, and  there  he  died,  Feb.  13,  1841,  His  principal 
■writings  are,  Geschichte  der  Transubstantionslehre  (Hei- 
delb.  1832): — Commentar  zum  Briefe  an  die  Ephesier 
(Berlin,  1834) : — Girolamo  Savonarola  (ibid.  1836) : — 
Lehrbuch  der  Dogmeiigeschichte  (Giess.  1840). 

Meier,  Georg  Friedrich,  a  German  philosopher, 
was  born  in  1718  at  Ammendorf;  was  a  student,  and  in 
1746  was  appointed  professor  of  philosophy,  at  Halle. 
He  died  there  in  1777.  His  writings  are,  A  vfangsgriinde 
der  schonen  Wixsenscha/ten  (Halle,  1748,3  vols. ;  2d  edit, 
ibid.  1754): — Betrachtinigcn  iiber  den  ersten  Grundsatz 
aller  schuner  Kiin.tte  vnd  \V issenschaften  (ibid.  1757)  : — 
Metaphysik  (ibid.  1756, 4  vols.) : — Philosoj)hische  Sitten- 
lehre  (ibid,  1756-61,  5  vols,)  -.—Rechl  der  Nuiur  (ibid. 
1767) :  —  Versuch  eines  neiien  Lehrgebdudes  von  den  See- 
len  der  Thieve  (ibid.  1756): — Versuch  ciner  uUgemeinen 
Auslegiingskunst  (ibid.  1756): — Untersucbinig  rerschiede- 
ner  Mdterien  aits  der  Philosophic  (ibid.  17(>«-71,4  vols.). 
See  his  biography  bj'  S.  G.  Lange  (ibid.  1778). 

Meier,  Gerhard,  a  (Jerman  theologian,  was  born 
at  Hamburg  Aug.  26,  1664.  He  received  his  first  in- 
struction in  the  schools  of  his  native  city;  studied  the- 
ology at  the  university  at  Leipsic  and  at  'Wittenberg. 
In  1684  he  received  his  degree,  and  in  1687  was  ap- 
pointed adjunct  to  the  faculty  of  philosophy.  In  1692 
he  received  his  degree  of  licentiate  of  theology.  His 
dissertation  at  this  time  was  De  mt/steriis  pentecoslalibus 
in  Pai-adiso  reveltdis.  In  December  of  the  same  year 
he  was  called  to  the  gymnasium  of  his  native  city  as 
professor  of  logic  and  metaphysics.  He  was  next  ap- 
pointed pastor  of  St.  Benedict's  Church,  and  later  was 
made  superintendent  and  a  Church  councillor.  In  1698 
he  went  to  Wittenberg  to  receive  the  degree  of  doctor  j 
of  divinity.  In  1700  he  accepted  a  call  to  Bremen  as 
councillor  of  the  consistory,  and  superintendent  and  pas- 
tor of  the  cathedraL  In  1715  the  position  of  general 
Buperintondent  and  professor  of  theology  at  (ireifswalde 
was  offered  him,  but  he  declined  it.  He  died  Feb.  25, 
1723.  ^leier  was  esteemed  for  his  sound  tlicological 
research,  which  he  dis|)layed  in  several  dissertations, 
mostly  of  a  dogmatic  cliaracter.  A  complete  list  of  his 
works  is  given  by  Diiring,  Gelehrte  Theol.  Deutschlands, 
ii,462. 

Meier,  Johann  Christian  "Wilhelm,  a  German 
theologian,  was  born  at  Kngter  July  5,  1731.  He  re- 
ceived his  first  instruction  in  languages  and  sciences  at 
home,  and  afterwards  at  the  gymnasium  at  Osnabrlick. 


He  studied  theologj-  in  Jena  and  Giittingen.  In  1753 
he  returned  home,  a  candidate  of  theologj',  and  was  soon 
assigned  a  place  as  assistant  to  an  aged  "pastor  at  Wes- 
ten,  near  Nienburg.  In  this  position  he  secured  for 
himself  the  respect  of  his  superior,  and  added  to  his  lit- 
erary fame  by  contributions  to  a  theological  periodicaL 
In  1756  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  major  Von  Busch 
at  Nienburg,  who  appointed  him  field  chaplain  to  his 
regiment.  In  this  capacity  he  accompanied  the  regi- 
ment to  Canterburj',  England.  During  his  stay  there 
he  collected  material  for  a  history  of  the  Methodists. 
After  having  travelled  much  for  this  purpose,  he  re- 
turned to  Nienburg  with  his  regiment  in  February-, 
1757.  The  history,  we  are  sorrj-  to  say,  was  never  pub- 
lished. Some  of  his  dissertations,  but  particularly  one, 
crowned  with  a  prize,  Schrift  und  Vernunftmdszige  Ab- 
handlung  von  dem  versuhnen  der  Zeilpunkte  im  Ltben  Jesii, 
published  in  1756,  recommended  him  to  the  favor  of 
the  count  of  Schaumburg-Lippe,  AVith  the  title  of  a 
councillor  of  consistory,  he  became  presiding  superin- 
tendent of  Blickeburg  and  supreme  pastor  at  Stadtha- 
gen.  At  Eintein  he  obtained  the  degree  of  a  doctor  of 
divinity  by  the  defence  of  his  dissertation  De  ejfectibus 
conciomim  3lethodi,<ticanim  hand  Jfiraculosis  nee  mira- 
bilibns  (Kintelii,  1758,  4to).  He  died  in  1775.  jMeier 
was  esteemed  a  theologian  of  great  learning  and  sincere 
piety,  and  was  untiring  in  his  endeavors  to  elevate  the 
moral  qualities  of  the  heart.  (J.  H.  W.) 

Meigs,  Benjamin'  Ci-akk,  D.D.,  a  missionary  of 
the  American  board  in  Ceylon,  was  born  at  Bethlehem, 
Conn.,  Aug.  9, 1789 ;  was  educated  at  Yale  College  (class 
of  1809),  and  while  a  student  there  he  was  hopefully 
converted,  and  united  with  the  college  Church  in  1809. 
His  religious  exercises  were  very  deep  and  marked.  He 
taught  for  a  time  in  an  academy  at  Bedford,  Xew  York, 
and  then  spent  two  and  a  half  years  at  the  Andover 
Theological  Seminary.  During  his  course  there  he  at- 
tended, in  connection  with  Samuel  J.  Jlills  and  others, 
those  select  meetings  of  inquiry  and  prayer  in  reference 
to  the  subject  of  missions  to  the  heathen  which  were 
commenced  with  the  formation  of  the  American  board. 
Mr.  IMeigs,  determined  to  devote  himself  to  a  mission- 
ary's life,  was  ordained  at  Xewburjport, ISIass.,  June  21, 
1815,  and  sailed  from  that  place  October  23  following,  to 
found  the  Ceylon  mission  at  Jaffna.  In  connection  with 
this  mission  he  labored  more  than  forty  years,  sharing 
in  its  toils  and  trials,  its  fears  and  hopes.  In  1840,  after 
an  absence  of  twenty-five  years,  he  returned  to  his  na- 
tive land,  and  sailed  again  from  Boston  Oct.  17, 1841,  to 
continue  his  missionary  labors.  In  (1858  the  failure  of 
his  health  compelled  him  to  return  again  to  America, 
and  relinquish  the  work  to  which  his  life  had  been  de- 
voted. He  died  from  a  disease  contracted  by  his  long 
residence  in  India,  at  New  York  City,  May  12, 1862.  See 
Missinmirg  lhrald,,]n\\,\mi. 

Meilah.     See  TAi.Mti), 

Meindaerts,  Pktku  John,  a  Dutch  theologian  of 
note,  was  iHirn  Nov.  7, 1684,  at  Groningen.  After  hav- 
ing concluded  his  studies  at  ]\Ialines  and  Louvain,  he 
became  attached  to  the  cause  of  I'eter  Codde,  a  Jansen- 
istic  prelate,  who  had  just  been  dismissed  by  the  pope 
from  the  vicarship  of  the  United  Provinces.  Bleindaerts 
was  therefore  obliged  to  go  to  Ireland  to  receive  his  sacer- 
dotal ordination  (171()).  On  his  return  he  was  made  pas- 
tor of  Leuwarden.  In  1739  he  was  elected  .irehbislmp 
of  Utrecht,  in  the  place  of  Theodore  van  der  Croon, 
and  occupied  tlie  sec  until  his  death.  Like  his  ]ircdc- 
cessors,  Meindaerts  was  often  obliged  to  defend  tlie  riglits 
of  his  see  against  the  encroachmentsof  the  court  of  Home. 
Censured  by  Clement  XH,  he  appealed  from  him  to  the 
first  council,  and  executed  the  project,  a  long  time  med- 
itated, of  filling  the  vacant  sees  of  his  metropolis.  It 
was  thus  that  he  revived  the  extinct  bishoi)rics  of  Har- 
lem and  Deventer,  by  giving  them,  one  to  .Jerome  de 
Bock  (1742),  tlie  other  to  Jean  Byeveld  (1758).  These 
acts  of  authority  drew  upon  him  new  censures  from 


MEINEKE 


49 


MEIR 


Benedict  XTV  and  Clement  XIII.  In  1763  Meindaerts 
held  a  council  at  Utrecht,  in  which  were  seated  his  suf- 
fragans, his  clergy,  and  many  French  Jansenists.  This 
act  further  provoked  the  most  animated  controversies. 
He  died  at  Groningen  Oct.  31, 1767,  after  having  pre- 
sided many  times  at  Utrecht  over  a  religious  assembly, 
to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Provincial  Synod.  His 
principal  writings  are,  Recueil  de  temoignages  enfaveur 
de  reglise  d'Utrecht  (Utrecht,  1763,  4to;  reprinted  in  2 
vols.  12mo):— the  Actes  of  the  Council  of  Utrecht,  in 
Latin,  translated  into  French,  ito -.—Letti-e  a  Clement 
A'/// (Utrecht,  17G8, 12mo).— Chalmot,  Biograph.  Woor- 
denhock,  s.  v. ;  Hoefer,  Xouv,  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Meineke,  Joiiann  Heixricii  Friedrich,  a  Ger- 
man theologian,  was  born  at  Quedlinburg  Jan.  11, 1745, 
and  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Helmstiidt,  which 
he  entered,  when  in  his  nineteenth  year,  as  a  student  of 
divinity;  later  he  studied  at  Halle.  He  returned  to 
Quedlinburg  in  1767,  and  was  two  years  after  appointed 
to  a  position  in  the  high-school  of  that  city.  He  gave 
himself  up  to  the  study  of  literature  and  philosophy,  es- 
pecially Kant's  system,  which  he  studied  diligentlj- 
for  several  years.  Though  much  engaged  in  his  pro- 
fession as  a  teacher,  he  yet  wished,  as  he  advanced  in 
years,  to  leave  the  pedagogical  sphere,  and  he  very 
readily  accepted  an  appointment  as  minister  at  St.  Bla- 
sius'  Church  at  Quedlinburg.  In  the  beginning  of  1825 
he  was  taken  ill,  and  died  July  25,  1825.  Meineke 
united  a  perfect  knowledge  of  theology,  philosophy,  and 
ancient  languages,  with  a  talent  for  the  practical  appli- 
cation of  his  knowledge.  Though  liberal  in  sentiment, 
he  yet  displayed  the  most  decided  abilities  of  a  polemic 
who  gave  no  quarter.  He  knew  only  one  cause,  that  of 
his  God  and  of  his  Church,  and  to  serve  it  faithfully  was 
his  only  endeavor.  His  best  polemical  production,  enti- 
tled Finsterlinge  unserer  Zeit,  he  published  under  the 
nom  de  plume  of  Aloysius  Frey  (in  1822).  For  the  use 
of  ministers,  he  published  in  1811  liepertorium  fur  alle 
Kanzelbediirfnisse  der  Prediger  an  Sonn-  und  Festtags- 
friihpredigten  oder  in  der  Woche  (Quedlinburg,  1811, 
8vo),  vol.  i ;  the  second  volume  was  never  published,  but 
an  appendix  to  this  he  published  in  1817: — Tdglkhes 
Handhuch  fur  Prediger  und  Predigamts-Candidaten  zur 
leichteni  Auffindnng  der  Muterialien  zu  ihren Kanzekor- 
trdgen  (ibid.  1817, 8vo).  But  perhaps  the  most  valuable 
production  of  his  life  was  Die  Bibel  ikrem  Gesummtin- 
halte  nach  summarisch  erHdrt  zurichtiger  Beurtheilung 
und  zweckmassigem  Gebrauche  derselben  fir  Lehrer  in 
Burger  und Landschulen  (Quedlinburg,  1819, 2  vols.  8vo). 
See  During,  Gelehrte  Theol,  Deutschlands,  s.  v, 

Meiners,  Christoph,  a  celebrated  German  philos- 
opher, was  born  at  Otterndorf,  Hanover,  in  1747.  About 
his  early  life  but  little  is  known.  He  studied  at  the 
University  of  Gottingen,  and  became  a  professor  at  his 
alma  mater  in  1772.  He  died  in  1810.  He  wrote,  i?f- 
vision  der  Philosophie  (Gottingen,  1772) : —  Versuch  einer 
Heligionsgeschickte  der  dltesten  Volker  besondeis  Aegijp- 
tens  (ibid,  1775) : — Historia  doctrince  de  ve.ro  Deo  (Lem- 
go,  1780,  2  vols.) : — Geschichie  des  Ursprungs  der  Wis- 
senschaften  in  Griechenland  und  Rom  (ibid.  1781, 2  vols.) : 
— Geschichte  des  Verfalls  der  Sitten  und  St  aatsv  erf  as- 
sung  der  Homer  (Leips.  1782) : — Geschichte  des  Verfalls 
der  Sitten,  Wissenschnften  und  Sprache  der  Rijmer  (Wien, 
1791) : — Geschichte  aller  Religionen  (Hanover,  1806,  2 
voh.)  -.—Geschichte  der  Kfhik  (ibid.  ISdo.  •_'  vol^^.):  — r»- 
tersuchinigen  iiber  die  Diiil:-  inn/  W'illni^Lriifli  ^  (;,,tiing. 
1806)  -.—Geschichte  der  KiilM,  hung  iind  FitiirirkduDg  der 
hoken  Schulen  (ibid.  1802,  4  vols.)  -.—Geschichte  des  weib- 
lichen  Geschlechts  (Hanov.  1798,  4  vols.) :  —  Lebensbe- 
schreibungen  von  Mdnnern  aus  der  Zeit  der  Wiederher- 
stelluug  der  Wissenschnften  (Zurich,  1796) : — Historische 
Vergleichung  der  Sitten  des  Mittelalters  mit  denen  unseres 
Jahrhunderts  (Hanov.  1793,  3  vols.).  Besides  these, 
his  o\v^l  works,  he  edited,  in  connection  with  T.  G.  Fe- 
der,  Philosophische  Bibliothek  (Getting.  1788-91, 4  vols.); 
in  connection  with  Spittler,  Gottingisches  historisches 
YX.-D 


Magazin  (Hanov.  1787-90);  Neueres  Magazin  (ibid. 
1791-92, 3  vols.).  Meiners's  literary  works  e^-ince  great 
activity,  and  at  the  same  time  a  great  variety  in  his 
themes;  the  most  of  his  writings,  however,  are  devoted 
to  show  the  difference  between  past  and  present  morals. 
Meinhold,  Johann  Wilhelm,  a  German  theolo- 
gian, was  born  Feb.  27,  1797,  at  Netzelkow,  on  the  isle 
of  Usedom,  and  was  educated  at  Greifswalde.  In  1820 
he  was  appointed  rector  of  the  school  at  Usedom,  and 
soon  after  minister  at  Koserow,  near  the  Baltic;  in 
1826  at  Krummin,  and  in  1844  at  Eehwinkel,  near  Star- 
gard.  He  resigned  this  position  in  1850,  and  joined  the 
Koman  Catholic  confession.  He  died  in  1851  at  Char- 
lottenburg.  He  published  Athnnasia  oder  die  Verkldr- 
ung  Fi-iedrich  Wilhelm  III  (1844): — Die  habylonische 
Sprachen  und  1  deenvericirrung  der  modernen  Presse 
(Leips.  1848).  His  works  were  collected  and  published 
at  Leipsic  (1846-52),  entitled  Gesammelte  Schriften. 

Meinrad,  St.,  a  German  Roman  Catholic  ascetic, 
was  born  towards  the  close  of  the  8th  century.  He  was 
educated  at  the  abbey  of  Reichenau.  He  secluded  him- 
self in  a  desert  near  the  Etzel  Mountains,  and  afterwards 
near  the  spot  where  now  stands  the  Benedictine  convent 
of  Einsiedeln,  which  was  built  in  934  by  the  canon  Ben- 
edictus  of  Strasburg.  Meinrad  was  murdered  Feb.  21, 
863. — Regensburger  Encgklopddie,  s.  v. 

Meintel,  Conrad  Stephen,  a  German  theologian, 
was  born  at  Schwabach,  Bavaria,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  18th  century.  In  his  very  youth  he  made  such 
rapid  progress  in  old  and  modern  languages  that  he  had 
finished  in  his  twelfth  year  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in 
the  original.  He  studied  theology  at  the  university  at 
Altdorf  in  1745 ;  continued  in  1746  at  Jena ;  went  in 
1747  home  to  Peternaurach,  where  his  father  was  then 
installed  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  In  1751  he  re- 
turned to  Altdorf.  He  gained  great  notoriety  in  1751 
by  means  of  his  dissertation  De  locis  quibusdam  Jobi, 
in  quibus  celeberr.  Schultens  majorem  lucem  desideravit. 
In  the  latter  part  of  1751  he  went  home  to  assist  his  fa- 
ther, and  staj'ed  there  till  1754,  when  he  went  to  Er- 
langen,  and  then  gained  great  distinctitin  by  his  defence 
of  the  dissertation  Observutionesjihilohgico-jihilosophicm 
in  Ecclesiastis  septem  jyriores  versus.  He  was  given  the 
privilege  of  holding  public  lectures.  He  had  hopes  of  a 
professorship,  but  love  for  his  home  made  him  return  to 
it  again,  and  he  became  an  assistant  of  his  father.  He 
finally  accepted  a  call  from  St.  Petersburg,  Russia,  and 
died,  as  minister  of  the  Protestant  congregations  at  Was- 
sili-Ostrow,  Aug.  13,  1764.  A. short  time  before  his 
death  the  doctorate  in  divinity  was  given  to  him  by  the 
University  of  Konigsberg.  Besides  several  literary  es- 
says, he  published  the  following :  Notm  selectissimorum 
commentatorum  Judaicorum  in  Psalmos  Davidi  ex  col- 
lectione  Hebraica  celeberr.  H.  J.  v.  Bashuysen,  Latine  red- 
ditai  (Suabaci,  1744,  8vo) : — Cento  quattro  histoi-ie  scelte 
della  Biblia  raccolte  dul  fee  Sgr.  Giov.  Hubner  ed  hora 
tradotte  de  original  Tedesco  in  Italiano  (ibid.  1745, 4to). 
Meir,  Rabbi  (surnamed  " illuminator"  i.  e.  the  en- 
lightener,  from  the  estimate  which  his  contemporaries 
had  formed  of  his  merit),  lived  about  120.  He  was  a 
native  of  Asia  Minor.  Legend  traces  his  origin  to  the 
emperor  Nero.  He  was  a  disciple  of  the  famous  rabbi 
Akiba  (q.  v.),  and  was  very  intimate  with  Elisa  ben- 
Abua,  who,  after  his  apostasy  and  subserviency  to.  the 
Romans,  was  called  Aclier,  i.  e.  the  other  one.  Meir's 
talents  early  procured  him  ordination  from  his  teacher 
Akiba.  As  an  instructor,  he  was  remarkable  for  a 
thorough  and  effective  investigation  of  his  subject.  The 
rabbins  used  to  say,  in  their  Oriental  manner,  that  he 
dealt  with  difficulties  of  the  law  as  a  giant  would  uproot 
the  mountains,  and  shatter  them  against  each  other. 
So  replete  was  he  with  knowledge,  and  so  successful  in 
the  communication  of  it,  that  '•  were  a  man  even  to 
touch  the  staff  of  rabbi  Meir,  he  would  become  wise." 
His  wife  was  Beruria,  the  talented  and  accomplished 
daughter  of  Chananja  ben-Teradion,  who  was  burned, 


MEIR 


50 


MEIR  BEN-BARUCH 


wrapped  in  the  roll  which  he  had  been  discovered  study- 
ing, (luring  the  persecution  under  Hadrian.  Meir  sup- 
ported liimselfby  making  copies  of  the  Scriptures.  This 
occupation  required  not  only  considerable  learning,  but 
cs[)ccially  scrupulous  exactness,  a  quality  for  which 
Meir  was  not  particularly  distinguished.  His  teacher, 
the  conscientious  Ishmael,  anxiously  set  these  things 
before  liim,  representing  the  danger  which  must  result 
from  any  neglect  on  his  part.  But  Meir,  who  felt  no 
peculiar  scruples,  and  was  vain  of  his  excellent  memorj-, 
which  on  one  occasion  had  enabled  him  to  copy  the 
whole  book  of  Esther,  set  these  jjrudent  counsels  aside. 
It  was  the  practice  of  Jewish  copyists  to  use  an  ink 
which,  ill  case  of  any  mistake,  could  easily  be  oblitera- 
ted. On  the  other  hand,  Meir,  confident  of  his  accu- 
racy, used  an  indelible  ink  prepared  from  sulphate  of 
copper  (Chalcanthon).  Referring  to  this,  he  replied  to 
Ishraael's  admonitions  in  his  usual  off-hand  manner, 
"Oh,  I  have  a  remedy  at  hand  against  all  mistakes:  I 
use  sul[)hate  of  copper."  As  has  already  been  said,  his 
talents  had  procured  him  ordination  from  Akiba.  The 
youthful  appearance  of  the  rabbi  excited  the  jealousy 
of  some,  whom  he  reminded  that,  as  it  was  not  the  ves- 
sel but  its  contents  which  were  precious,  it  might  hap- 
pen that,  while  a  new  vessel  contained  old,  an  old-look- 
ing vessel  might  only  enclose  new  wine.  Meir  was 
very  fond  of  illustrating  his  doctrine  by  apologue  and 
parable,  and  is  reported  to  liave  invented  no  less  than 
three  hundred  fables  about  foxes  {Saiili.oH,b;  Sota,  49, 
a).  The  only  lasting  merit  of  rabbi  Meir  was  liis  con- 
tinuation of  the  labors  of  Akiba  in  the  arrangement  of 
the  Halacha.  This  he  carried  a  stage  further,  by  divid- 
ing, according  to  their  contents,  the  traditions  which  had 
hitherto  been  only  strung  together  according  to  their 
number.  In  this  respect  Jehuda  Hakkodesh,  the  com- 
piler of  the  Mishna,  was  much  indebted  to  his  tuition. 

The  domestic  history  of  Meir  is  in  many  respects 
touching.  "  It  has  already  been  stated  that  our  rabbi 
was  married  to  Beruria,  so  famed  for  her  talents  and 
rabbinical  lore  as,  in  the  opinion  of  contemporaries,  to 
occupy  a  high  place  among  the  sages  of  the  time.  Her 
sister  had,  after  the  martyrdom  of  their  parents,  been 
carried  to  Rome  for  the  purpose  of  public  prostitution. 
But  there  Providence  had  watched  over  her  honor. 
When  the  persecutions  ceased,  Beruria  found  no  rest  till 
Meir  went  to  Rome  to  rescue  his  sister-in-law  from  infa- 
my. Before  entering  on  the  dangerous  undertaking,  he 
resolved  to  try  whether  her  principles  had  remained  un- 
shaken. Disguising  himself  as  a  Roman,  he  approached 
her,  and,  having  satisfactorily  ascertained  her  steadfast- 
ness, he  bribed  the  attendants  and  procured  her  escape, 
though  in  the  attempt  he  himself  escaped  capture  only 
by  disguise  and  feigning  to  eat  forbidden  meat.  .  .  . 
Beruria,  tliroughout  all  these  trials,  proved  herself  not 
only  an  attached,  but  a  devoted  wife.  She  had  shared 
his  trials  when,  during  the  persecutions,  Meir  had  tied 
from  Palestine.  On  his  return  she  cheered  and  encour- 
aged him,  and  by  her  conduct  softened  the  domestic 
afflictions  with  which  he  was  visited.  For  examjilc, 
while  on  a  certain  Sabbath  the  rabbi  was  engaged  in 
the  college,  his  two  sons  were  suddenly  taken  ill  and 
died.  To  spare  her  husband  some  hours  of  grief,  and 
especially  not  to  commute  the  festivities  of  the  Sab- 
bath into  a  season  of  mourning,  the  mother  carefully 
repressed  her  own  feelings  and  concealed  the  sad  tid- 
ings. The  Sabbath  had  been  spent  as  usual,  and  its  holy 
exercises  and  stillness  were  ended  with  the  evening. 
when  Beruria  asked  her  husband  whether  it  were  not 
duty  readily  and  cheerfully  to  restore  to  its  owner  any 
property,  however  i>leasant,  which  had  been  intrusted 
for  safe-keeping.  NN'lien  the  astonished  rabbi  answered 
the  strange  in<iuiry  in  the  allirmative,  his  weeping  wife 
took  him  by  the  hand,  and  led  him  to  the  bed  on  which 
the  lifeless  remains  of  their  two  children  were  stretched, 
reminding  him  that  he  whose  two  children  these  right- 
fully were  had  taken  back  what  for  a  time  he  had  in- 
trusted to  their  keeping."    Unfortunately  Beruria  after- 


wards compromised  her  character  and  committed  sui- 
cide. Her  death  appears  to  have  unsettled  Meir's  tran- 
quillity. He  left  Palestine  and  resided  some  time  in 
Babylonia,  whence  he  returned  to  his  colleagues  with 
another  and  less  learned  bride. 

Meir,  besides  cultivating  intercourse  with  the  most 
noted  theologians  of  his  own  time,  was  also  on  friendly 
and  even  intimate  terms  with  heathen  sages,  especially 
with  Naumenius  the  idiilosopher,  of  Apamea,  in  Syria. 
The  princi])lcs  of  this  philosopher  were  essentially  those 
of  Neo-Platonism,  in  the  peculiar  modification  of  that 
philosophy  which  the  influx  of  Eastern  elements  had 
brought  about.  The  most  noted,  if  not  the  most  sophis- 
tical, among  Meir's  numerous  pupils,  was  Symmachus, 
of  Samaritan  origin,  known  as  a  translator  of  the  Bible 
into  Greek.  He  had  attended  Meir's  prelections,  and 
thoroughly  imbibed  his  method.  It  is  said  that  this 
dialectician  on  one  occasion  undertook  by  forty-nine  ar- 
guments to  prove  that  the  touch  of  a  certain  dead  rep- 
tile could  not  defile  a  person.  It  was  opprobriously  said 
of  Symmachus  by  his  contemporaries  that  his  ancestors 
could  not  have  heard  the  law  on  Mount  Sinai.  Sym- 
machus afterwards  joined  the  Christian  sect  of  the 
Ebionites.  His  translation  of  the  Bible  is  stated  to 
have  been  more  free  from  errors  and  more  faithful  than 
that  of  Aquila.  According  to  Griitz,  this  Symmachus 
is  not  the  translator  of  the  Bible. 

Jleir  had  frequently  changed  his  residence.  When 
the  Sanhedrim  was  restituted  under  Simeon  (q.  v.),  he 
returned  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  was  elected  vicar  of  the 
rabbinical  see ;  but  his  continual  disagreements  with 
the  Nasi  induced  him  at  last  to  leave  I'alestine  for  Asia 
Minor,  where  he  died,  bequeathing  to  his  countrymen 
the  following  proud  and  characteristic  message:  '"Tell 
the  children  of  the  Holy  Land  that  their  Messiah  has 
died  in  a  strange  country."  According  to  his  expressed 
wish,  the  tabernacle  of  his  unquiet  spirit  found  its  last 
resting-place  by  the  sea-shore,  where  his  grave  was 
washed  by  the  waves,  and  looked  out  upon  the  wide, 
storm-tossed  ocean.  See  Etheridge,  Intr.  to  Hihr.  Lit- 
erature, p.  79  sq.;  Griitz,  Gesvh.  d.  Jiiden,  iv,  188-196, 
468-470;  Edersheim,  Hist,  of  the  Jewish  Xation  (Edin- 
burgh, 1857),  p.  -251-259.     (B.  P.) 

Meir,  Abulafia,  kl-Li;\vi  hkx-Todros,  a  Jewish 
savant  of  note,  was  born  about  1180,  and  was  a  native 
of  Burgos.  He  taught  the  law  at  Toledo,  where  he  died 
in  1244.  He  wrote  various  cabalistical  works,  such  as 
the  D"^;Eb|l  ■'.2S5,  a  part  of  which  was  published  in 
Hebrew  and  Latin  by  Rittangel  in  the  •Tn'i^';i  "iSO 
(Amst.  1662).  He  wrote  also  a  letter  against  Maimon- 
ides's  ni^JX,  a  treatise  on  the  Masorah,  entitled  "The 
Fence  of  the  Law,"  miop  5*^0  f^jD'^j  ^"'1  some  no- 
vellas on  parts  of  the  Mishna.  Sec  Flirst,  Bill  Jud.  i, 
16;  Etheridge,  Introd.  to  Ilehr.  Literature,  p.  276,  277; 
Griitz,  Gesch.  d.  Jiiden,  vii,  33  sq. ;  Jost,  Gesch,  d.  Juden- 
thums,  iii,  8,  9 ;  Lindo,  History  of  the  Jeics  of  Spain  and 
Portiifjal,  p.  81 ;  Finn,  Sephardim,  or  the  History  of  the 
Jews  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  p.  193  (Lond.  1841).  (B.  P.) 
Meir  ben-Baruch  (also  called  by  the  Jews  .lAi- 
haniin,  from  the  initial  letters^ -."S-  S""  ""I'a 
ai'hr,  our  t( acker  the  rabbi  Miir).  one  of  the  mo.<t  dis- 
tinguished Jewish  literati  during  the  ^Middle  Ages,  was 
born  in  1230.  He  was  the  first  ollicial  chief  rabbi  in  the 
German  empire,  to  which  dignity  he  was  nominated  by 
the  emperor  Rudolph  I  of  Hajisburg.  He  had  his  seat 
and  college  at  Rottenburg-an-der-Tauber,  whence  he  is 
also  called  Meir  of  Holtenhir;/  or  Meier  Roltenbury.  The 
unsettled  condition  of  the  Jews  in  the  German  emjiire, 
especially  the  oppressions  and  persecutions  which  threat- 
ened them  every  year,  obliged  Jlcir  to  leave  the  coun- 
try. In  the  spring  of  12H(;  he  ])repared  to  go  to  Syria. 
There,  it  was  said,  a  Messiah  bad  appeared  to  deliver 
the  unhappy  people.  When  aljoiit  to  enter  tlie  vessel 
which  would  convey  him  and  his  co-religionists  who 
had  followed  him  from  Italy  to  the  East,  he  was  recog- 


MEIR  IBN-GABBAI 


51 


MEISNER 


nispcl  by  a  former  co-religionist,  named  Knippe,  who 
nas  in  the  suite  of  the  bishop  of  Basle.  Eabbi  Meir 
was  imprisoned  by  the  emperor,  not  so  much  for  punish- 
ment as  for  the  purpose  of  extorting  from  him  or  his 
co-religionists  a  sum  of  money,  Meir  died  in  1293  in 
prison  at  Worms,  where  his  tombstone  was  discovered  a 
few  years  since  in  the  "  Gottesacker,"  or  cemetery.  The 
Ashkenazim,  or  German  Jews,  venerate  him  as  a  saint. 
Meir  wrote  Tlieological  Decisions,  or  Questions  and  A  n- 
swers  (niailUm  mbxiU),  which  have  been  published 
at  Cremona,  1557 ;  Prague,  1G03.  He  also  wrote  Com- 
mentaries  on  the  Masorah  (n"iD^  ''■lIX— ),  which  are 
still  in  MS.  in  the  public  libraries.  He  also  wrote  some 
liturgical  pieces,  which  are  still  in  use  among  the  Jews; 
among  other  pieces,  the  famous  lamentation  "ipX'J 
t'i\3  nSlllIJ,  in  commemoration  of  the  burning  of  the 
law  at  Paris  in  1242.  See  Etheridge,  Introd.  to  Ileb.  Lit- 
erature, p.  288 ;  Gratz,  Gesch.  d.  Juden,  vii,  107, 170-172, 
188-191, 445, 456-60  (new  edit.  Leipsic,  1873) ;  Jost,  Ge- 
schichte  des  Judenthums  ti.  s.  Sekten,  iii,  32,  58;  FUrst, 
Bihlioth.  Jud.  iii,  176, 177 ;  Zunz,  Gegchichte  und  Litera- 
tur,  p.  40,  92, 128  (Berlin,  1845) ;  Literuturgeschichte  der 
Synagogales  Poesie,  p.  357-62, 623  (Berlin,  1865).    (B.  P.) 

Meir  ibn-Gabbai,  a  Jewish  writer,  was  born  in 
1481  in  Spain.  When  eleven  years  old  he  was  obliged 
to  leave  his  country  on  account  of  the  edict  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  which  banished  all  Jews  from  the 
land.  Little  is  known  of  his  personal  history  after  this 
time.  He  wrote  several  cabalistical  works:  fia^TSi*  Tp'!!, 
i.  e.  the  way  of  truth,  ten  sections  on  the  ten  Sephiroth 
(Padua,  1563 ;  Berlin,  1850,  by  N.  A.  Goldberg) :— nnh? 
Ty'nprj,  also  D^il'PX  riiX'ip,  in  four  sections:  a,  on  the 
unity  of  God;  b,  on  the  mysteries  of  the  adoration  of 
God;  c,  on  the  end  of  the  hiyher  and  loioer  creatures  ;  d, 
on  the  mysteries  of  the  law  (Mantua,  1545,  folio;  Venice, 
1567;  Krakau,  1578);  and  a  work  o\\  prayer,  entitled 
Sp^;;)  nrbin(Kstpl.l5G0;  Zolkiew,  1799).  SeeFlirst, 
Bihlioth.  Jud.  i,  311,  312;  Jost,  Geschichte  des  Juden- 
thums, iii,  138 ;  Griitz,  Geschichte  d.  Juden,  ix,  239  (Berl. 
1866).    (B.P.) 

Meir  Joseph  bex-Joshua,  surnamed  Ha-Sephardi, 
i.  e.  the  Spaniard,  a  Jewish  savant  of  note,  flourished  in 
the  early  part  of  the  16th  century.  He  was  born  in 
1496  at  Avignon,  whither  his  father  had  retired  on  leav- 
ing Spain.  He  is  the  author  of  a  most  valuable  historic 
work,  entitled  D'^ri^tl  '^'^a'l.  Chronicles  of  the  Kings  of 
France  and  the  Ottoman  Sovereigns,  in  two  parts;  the 
first  from  the  creation  till  1520,  and  the  second  of  trans- 
actions from  that  time  till  1553  (Venice,  1554 ;  Amsterd. 
1733).  The  value  of  the  work  consists  in  the  fact  that 
it  throws  aside  much  of  the  fable  and  wild  imagination 
which  render  almost  worthless  all  other  rabbinical  his- 
tories. Though  contemporary  with  those  events,  the 
chronicler  must  be  regarded  as  an  impartial  historian. 
A  part  of  this  work  has  been  translated  into  Latin  by 
L.  Ferrand  (Paris,  1670).  To  English  readers  this  work 
is  made  accessible  by  C.  H.  Bialloblotzky's  translation, 
The  Chronicles  of  li.  Joseph  hen-Joshua  Meir,  the  Se- 
j>hardi  (Lond.  1836-38).  See  Fiirst,  Bihlioth.  Jud.  ii, 
115;  Etheridge,  Introd.  to  Heh.  Literat.  p.  453;  Lindo. 
Hist,  of  the  Jews  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  p.  451 ;  Jost, 
Geschichte  des  Judenthums,  iii,  124;  Milman,  History  of 
the  Jeios,  iii,  461  (New  York,  1870) ;  Da  Costa,  Israel  and 
the  Gentiles,  p.  397  sq.  (New  York,  1855).     (B.  P.) 

Meir  Rofe,  of  Hebeox.  Like  his  father  Chija 
Rofe,  he  was  a  physician.  Little  is  known  of  his  life, 
except  that  he  was  one  of  the  adherents  of  Sabbathai 
Zewi  (q.  v.),  or  Aga  jMohammed  Effendi,  the  Messiah, 
who  during  the  17th  century  excited  the  whole  of  Eu- 
rope and  Asia.     (B.  P.) 

Meiri  CT^X^  n-^nb  or  i-liX^),  Menachkm  bkx- 
Salomo,  also  called  lJo7i  Vidal  Salonio,  also  Menachem 
ben-Salomo,  a  Jewish  savant,  was  born  at  Perpignan,  in 


France,  in  1249.  He  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  and, 
like  Maimonides,  he  tried  to  harmonize  philosophy  with 
the  Talmud.  He  wrote  in  a  lucid  style,  and  in  this  re- 
spect made  an  exception  to  that  bombastic  method  wliich 
was  prevalent  in  his  times.  In  his  explanations  of  the 
holy  Scriptures  he  kept  aloof  from  the  philosophical  and 
mystical  interpretation,  and,  though  he  acknowledged 
that  some  passages  contain  a  higher  hidden  sense,  he 
nevertheless  adhered  to  the  literal  interpretation  of  the 
AVord.  He  died  between  1317  and  1320.  Besides  a  com- 
mentary on  the  book  of  Proverbs,  he  wrote  commenta- 
ries on  the  Talmudical  tract  J/e^zYfo.  (b?  •T^i'^riS'!?  ri"'a 
niS'a ;  new  edition  Konigsberg,  1860,  4to) ;  on  Joma, 
printed  with  Is.  Nuiies-Vaez's  p^i^^  '^"'^  (Livorno, 
1760) ;  on  Jehamoth,  Sabhath,  Nedarim,  Nazir,  Sota  (Li- 
vorno and  Salonica,  1794  and  1795).  But  his  greatest 
commentary  is  on  the  tract  Ahoth  (m21!<  IT^a  or  d*l~Q 
nSX?,  with  an  introduction  to  the  Talmud,  etc.  This 
latter  work  has  been  edited  by  M.  Stern  (Vienna,  1854), 
with  biographical  andbibliographical  matter.  See  Griitz, 
Gesch.  d.  Juden,  vii,  240-42  (Leipsic,  1873) ;  Jost,  Gesch. 
des  Judenthums  u.  s.  Sekten,  iii,  57;  Fiirst,  Bihlioth.  Jud. 
ii,  345,  346 ;  Zunz,  Zur  Gesch.  u.  Literatur,  p.  476^81 
(Berl.  1845).     (B.P.) 

Meisel,  Marco  or  Mordechai,  a  great  Jewish  phi- 
lanthropist, was  born  in  1528  and  died  in  1601.  Little 
is  known  of  his  life,  except  that  he  was  one  of  the 
wealthiest  men  at  that  time  in  Germany,  and  that  he 
used  his  means  for  philanthropic  purposes.  He  built 
homes,  hospitals,  synagogues,  colleges,  and  did  fJl  in  his 
power  to  elevate  the  condition  of  his  brethren,  especially 
at  Prague.  The  German  emperor,  Eudolph  I,  honored 
him  by  the  appointment  of  councillor.  See  Gr'Atz,Gesch. 
d.  Juden,  ix,  497-99  (Leipsic,  1866) ;  Jost,  Gesch.  d.  Ju- 
denthums, ni,28L     (B.P.) 

Meisels,  Bar,  a  celebrated  rabbi,  was  born  in  1797, 
and  died  on  the  15th  of  February,  1871,  at  Warsaw, 
where  for  many  years  he  had  ably  tilled  the  eminent 
distinction  of  a  leader  in  Israel.  A  decided  republican 
in  politics,  he  was  long  the  eyesore  of  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment, but  the  very  eye-apple  of  the  Poles.  Of  his 
life  we  hardly  know  anything,  because  the  papers  were 
prohibited  by  the  police  from  giving  any  biographical 
notices  of  the  deceased,  or  any  description  of  the  demon- 
stration at  his  funeral.  That  Meisels's  death  was  felt  as 
a  loss  to  the  community  at  large,  we  may  gather  from 
the  fact  that  forty  thousand  people,  representing  all 
creeds,  nationalities,  and  m^s,  attended  his  funeral.  In 
him  the  Poles  lost  one  of  flreir  stanchest  patriots,  a  man 
who  was  never  afraid  to  utter  his  political  sentiments. 
In  1861  he  suffered  imprisonment  for  six  months  on  ac- 
count of  his  political  activity.     (B.  P.) 

Meisner,  Balthazar,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
German  Protestant  theologians  of  the  early  part  of  the 
17th  century,  was  born  in  1587,  He  studied  at  Witten- 
berg, Giessen,  Strasburg,  and  Tubingen,  and  in  1613  be- 
came professor  at  Wittenberg.  In  connection  with  B. 
Blentzer  (q.  v.)  of  Giessen,  and  J.  Gerhard  of  Jena,  he 
perceived  the  requirements  of  the  Church,  and  did  his 
utmost  to  satisfy  them.  This  we  see  in  a  remarkable 
sketch  of  his  on  the  subject,  published  anonymously  at 
Frankfort  in  1679,  under  the  title  B.  Meisneri  pia.  dc 
sideria  paulo  ante  beatum  obitum  ah  ipso  manifestata. 
The  principal  passages  of  it  were  also  published  in  Tho- 
luck's  Wittenherger  Theologen,  p.  96.  He  had  made  him- 
self known  in  the  literary  world  wlicu  but  twenty-four 
years  of  age  by  his  Philosophiu  siit)ria  ((iiessen,  IGll), 
which  passed  through  several  eiliiimis.  This  work  in- 
volved him  in  a  controversy  with  Cornelius  INIartin  of 
Helmstiidt,  the  champion  of  the  Aristotehan  school  (see 
Henke,  Calixtus,  i,  258).  His  merits  as  a  theologian 
have  lately  been  fully  recognised  by  Kaltenborn,  in  his 
Vorldufer  d.  Grotius  avf  dem  Gebiete  des  "  Jus  natures 
gentium"  (1848),  p.  220.  'Meisner  died  Dec.  29, 1626.  See 
Herzog,  Real-Encyklop,  ix,  251.     (J.  N.  P.) 


MEISXIC  INTERIM 


52 


MELANCHOLY 


Meisnic  Interim  is  the  former  name  for  the  first 

formula  of  the  I.i:ii-sk-  Intkhim  (q.  v.). 

Meister,  Christoph  Andreas,  a  German  theo- 
loi^ian,  was  bom  at  Aliornber^  -^"K-  -3, 1671.     He  was 
the  son  of  a  minister,  who  gave  him  his  first  education. 
Afterwards  he  attended  school  at  Miinchberg,  Hof,  and 
Bayreuth,  where  he  excelled  in  the  study  of  the  ancient  j 
languages.     He  went  to  Wittenberg  to  study  theology,  : 
and,  thanks  to  several  influential  men,  he  became  in 
1693  minister  at  Langensteinach,  but  resigned  in  1701,  i 
when  he  was  appointed  minister  at  the  court  of  Lim- 
burg-Speckfeld,  and  located  at  Mark  Eimersheim.     In 
1704  he  became  chief  minister  and  inspector  at  Sommer- 
hausen,  and  in  1709  minister  at  the  court  of  Hohen- 
lohe ;  also  superintendent  and  counsellor  of  the  consis- 
tory at  Weikersheim,  where  he  died  Oct.  31, 1728.    Mei- 
ster bore  the  reputation  of  one  thoroughly  acquainted  \ 
with  the  theology  of  his  time.    He  was  above  all  things  [ 
tolerant  towards  those  who  differed  from  him  in  their  j 
religious  opinions.     Several  of  his  sermons  were  pub-  I 
lished.     A  list  of  them  is  given  bv  During,  Gelehrte 
Thiol  IkHtsMaiuh,  s.  V. 

Meister,  Christoph  Georg  Ludwig,  a  Ger-  j 
m.in  theologian,  was  born  at  Halle  Aug.  \i,  1738,  where 
he  began  his  education  at  Franke's  orphan  school;  in 
riper  years  he  was  a  student  at  the  university  of  his  na- 
tive town.  In  1763  he  was  appointed  second  minister  ! 
at  Ballenstedt.  In  1784  he  was  called  to  Duisburg,  on  j 
the  Kliine,  where  ho  filled,  besides  the  office  of  a  minis- 
ter, a  professorship  of  theology.  In  the  autumn  of  1784  ' 
he  was  called  to  Bremen,  and  was  there  installed  as 
third  minister  of  the  Liebfrauen  Kirche,  at  the  same 
time  serving  also  as  professor  of  theology  at  the  high- 
school;  he  became  in  1789  second  minister  of  the  same 
church, and  in  1795  first  minister.  Hedied  Jan. 26,1811, 
holding  in  his  hands  the  manuscript  of  a  sermon  which 
he  was  to  deliver  the  day  after.  Meister  was  highh' 
esteemed  by  his  contemporaries  as  the  author  of  several 


ascetic  works.  lie  published  also  .7.  /..  mu  J ,'.,■,■//. ///,'.■ 
KrkUirm,'!  irlrhlhi,  r  Sh  Ih  „  ,1.  r  h,  i/i;/,  i,  Srh,:/!.  ,u,s  ./,  x- 
S<n  \V>  rh  I,  v  •."'/'  "  "/'"'  "lit  I'ninisrh,  „  /„^,l  .,  „  fur  -//-• 
hiinslirh,'  Andarht  b.ykiM  ( Leipsic  and  AVesel',  1777, 
8vo) ;  and Khiiic  tlu'<d„fjische Schriften  (Hrem.  1790,8vo). 

Me-jar'kon  {\l(ih.Mey-IIcnj-tjai-kon','{^p'~}^'n  "^^^ 
tcaters  of  yellowness,  or  clear  water;  Sepf.SaXrtira  'lapa- 
Kiov,\u\g.  Mejurcon),  a  town  in  the  tribe  of  Dan,  men- 
tioned betAveen  Gath-rimmon  and  Rakkon  (.Josh,  xix, 
4G) ;  probably  so  called  from  a  spring  in  its  vicinity. 
Schwarz  (Palest,  ^t.  Ml)  regards  the  name  as  equivalent 
to  rinr  afilisi  ii.o-  (lit.  of  palcmss),  and  states  that  there 
is  a  ••  Wiiili/  l''/s/,i  which  descends  from  the  mountains 
of  Lw(l"  (imilialily  referring  to  the  ravine  in  the  south 
rear  of  LiKJdj,  a  nearly  synonymous  epithet,  according 
to  him,  on  the  strength  of  which  he  is  disposed  to  iden- 
tify the  locality.  "  It  is  difficidt  not  to  suspect  that  the 
name  following  that  of  Me-hajjarkon,  har-Kakon  (A.  A'. 
Kakkon),  is  a  mere  corrupt  repetition  thereof,  ao  the 
two  bear  a  very  close  similarity  to  each  other,  and  oc- 
cur nowhere  else"  (Smith). 

Mekhitar  Kosh,  surnamed  tlie  neanlless,  a  learned 
Armenian  ecclesiastic,  who  was  born  about  1140,  found- 
ed a  monastery  in  the  valley  of  Dandsoud,  in  I'^astern 
Armenia,  in  119],  and  became  its  first  abbot.  He  died 
in  1213.  Alekhitar  Kosh  left  several  works,  but  they 
still  continue  in  MS.  form,  and  are  of  minor  value.  See 
Hoefer,  Xoin:  Jiior/.  Generale,  xxxiv,  786. 

Meko'nah  (lleb.  Mekonah',  n!-?.,  a  h(tsc,  as  in  I 
Kings  \  ii.J7.eli-. :  Sejit.  in  most  editions  omits,  but  v.  r. 
y\a\ra  and  .Mr/i'Ji';';,  A'ulg.  .1/((c/(0H«),  a  town  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  tribe  of  .ludali,  and  inhaljited  after  ' 
the  exile  (Neh.  xi,  28).  From  its  being  coupled  (in  that 
passage)  with  Ziklag,  we  shoidd  infer  that  it  was  situ- 
ated far  to  the  south,  while  the  mention  of  the  "  daugh- 
ter towns"  (n23,  A.V. "  villages")  dependent  on  it,  seem 
to  show  that  it  was  a  place  of  some  magnitude,     lie- 


land  {Palcest.  p.  892)  thinks  it  may  be  identical  with 
Mechanum,  a  village  located  by  Jerome  between  Kku- 
theropolis  and  Jerusalem,  eight  miles  from  the  former 
(Onomust.  s.  v.  Betlimacha).  It  seems  strange  that  Je- 
rome should  speak  of  a  village  south  of  Jerusalem  when 
describing  Beth-maachah,  which  lay  at  the  northern 
extremity  of  Palestine  (2  Sam.  xx,  14).  The  only  un- 
appropriated site  at  about  the  required  distance  is  Je- 
rush,  not  far  north-east  of  Beit  Nettif  (Robinson,  Re- 
searches, ii,  342,  note). 

Mekshirim.     See  Talmud, 

Mel  (iir  Mali),  Conrad, a  German  theologian, was 
born  Aug.  14, 1666,  at  Gudensberg  (Hesse).  He  was  the 
son  of  a  Protestant  minister,  studied  theology  at  the 
Dutch  University  of  Groningen,  then  returned  to  Ger- 
many, and  performed  pastoral  tluties  at  Jlittau,  Me- 
mel,  and  Kfinigsberg.  In  1705  he  was  called  to  take 
charge  of  the  Gymnasium  of  Hersfeld  as  director,  and 
later  received  due  recognition  for  his  services  from  his 
prince,  the  landgrave,  in  the  position  of  superintendent 
of  the  churches  of  Hesse,  He  died  at  Cassel,  May  3, 
1733,  IMel  had  made  sacred  antitpiity  a  special  study, 
and,  if  his  works  were  written  too  liastily,  it  must  be  at- 
tributed to  the  necessity  of  providing  for  the  support  of 
a  large  family.  Mel  belonged  to  the  Royal  Societies  of 
London  and  lierlin.  (_>f  his  works  we  notice  Die  Posavne 
f/e/-y->/7/.r(V— sermons (Kiinigsb.  1697,4to;  7th  edit. Cas- 
sel, 175.5,  4to) ;  there  is  a  kind  of  sequel,  under  the  title 
l)er  J/erohl  der  Ewiykeit  (Berlin,  1729,  -Ito) -.—Legatio 
orienialis  Sinetmum,  Samaritunorum,Chahkeonnn,  et  He- 
breeoriim,  cum  interpretationihus  (Kiinigsberg,  1760,  fol)  : 
— Omina  hruta  (1704,  8vo);  inserted  in  D'Haubert's 
Bibl.  may  tea  : — Der  wUrdige  Cast  an  des  Jleirn  Tafel — 
sermons  (Konigsberg,  1704,  4to,  eight  editions): — An- 
tiquarius  sacer,  seu  de  usu  antiquitatitm  Juduicarum, 
Grcecai-itm,  et  Romanarum  in  erplkandis  obscurioribus 
Scripturw  dictis  (Schlensingen,  1707,  8vo;  the  edition 
of  Frankfort,  1719,  4to,  is  augmented  by  the  addition  of 
four  small  works): — I'antometrvm  nauticum  (Hersfeld, 
1707,  fol.).  He  invented  a  machine  by  which  he  pre- 
tended to  measure  longitude  at  sea  with  great  exact- 
ness, ami  offered  models  to  several  academies;  those  of 
London  and  Herlin  presented  several  objections,  to  which 
he  replied  in  the  I'hurus  illii.<lntns  (ibid.  1709,  Ibl.) : — 
Der  Tabernackel  oder  (pilndiihe  /uschrdliinig  der  Sl{fis- 
hiitte,  samint  alien  ihren  Thtilcii  i/nd  hi  ilii/en  Gerahten 
(Frankfort,  1709,  1711,  4to;  Cassel.  1720,  4t'o)  :—J/jWo- 
narins  evaiigelicus  (Hersfeld,  1711,  8vo)  : — Zinn's  I.ehre 
und  Wimder — sermons  (Frankfort,  1713,  4to,  eight  edi- 
tions): — J)as  Leben  der  I'atriarchen  (Frankfort,  1715, 
171(;,  2  vols.  4to)  -.—Die  Lust  der  lleiligen  (Cassel.  1715, 
8vo;  l.')th  edit.  ibid.  1779);— i'<i/o«(07("s  Temptl  (Frank- 
fort, 1724,  4to;  Cassel,  1726, 4to).  The  manuscripts  of 
Mel  are  jirescrvcd  in  the  library  of  Cassel,  among  w  hich 
is  a  J/istoire  lilleraire  de  la  Hesse,  See  Acta  Jlistor, 
Kccles.  i,  105;  J.  H.  Lederhose,  Khrengfddchtniss  Conrad 
Mel  (Cassel,  1733, 4to) ;  Streides,  Griatdl.  zu  einer  liess. 
Gelehrlen  Gescbichte,  viii,  391.     (J,  H,  W,) 

Melach.     See  Salt, 

Melah.     See  Ti-.i.-MKi.Air, 

Melancholy,  in  so  far  as  it  is  a  mental  disease, 
and  must  more  or  less  afll'ect  the  religious  state  of  the 
believer,  demands  our  consideration.  It  is  generally 
held  that  melancholy  is  the  exaggeration  of  the  natural 
and  legitimate  feelings  of  grief,  despondency,  and  ap- 
prehension, which  become  morbid  w  here  the  emotion  is 
without  a  cause,  or  is  disproportioncd  to  the  actual  cause, 
or  is  so  intense  as  to  disturb  and  destroy  the  exercise  of 
the  other  mental  powers.  This  dejection  and  suffering 
is  found  associated  with  exalted  .sensations,  or  delusions 
as  to  the  personal  or  jihysical  condition  of  the  individ- 
ual, which  originate  in  habitually  cherishing  certain 
impres.sions,  in  lixing  the  attention  upon  certain  vital 
processes,  which  may  be  unhealtliy,,or  become  so  by  the 
very  concentration  of  thought  bestowed  ujion  them. 
The  patient  lives  in  fear  of  death,  in  the  conviction  that 


MELANCTHON 


53 


MELANCTHON 


he  is  differently  or  more  exquisitely  constructed  than 
those  around ;  that  he  labors  under  some  foul  or  fatal 
disease ;  that  he  is  destitute  of  strength  or  comeliness. 
This  has  been  regarded  as  hypochondriacal  melancholy 

tlie  maladie  Anglaise,  and  affects  the  opening  of  life. 

Similar  feelings  are  called  forth  in  reference  to  the  social 
position.  There  arises  a  dread  of  poverty  and  want. 
The  victim  is  haunted  by  imaginary  debts,  obligations, 
peculations.  He  feels  incapable  of  extricating  himself. 
The  poor,  as  well  as  the  rich,  entertain  such  doubt  and 
dread.  They  starve  iu  order  to  husband  their  resources. 
This  affection  prevails  at  maturity— at  the  period  of 
greatest  activity  and  usefulness.  Towards  the  decline 
of  life— although  encountered  at  every  age— morbid  de- 
pression assumes  the  form  of  religious  anxiety,  despair, 
remorse.  Moral  statistics  show  that  among  the  inhab- 
itants of  Northern  Europe  the  number  of  cases  of  mel- 
ancholy exceeds  those  of  mania ;  and  it  has  been  sup- 
posed that  the  rudiments  of  the  malady  may  be  detected 
in  the  original  character,  the  temperament  and  habits 
of  the  race,  as  well  as  in  the  climate,  domestic  condi- 
tion, and  diet,  by  which  these  are  modified.  Defective 
blood  nutrition,  or  anajmia,  appears  to  be  the  physical 
state  with  which  the  great  majority  of  cases  of  melan- 
choly are  connected,  and  to  which  all  modes  of  treat- 
ment are  directed.  Powerfid  and  permanent  and  de- 
pressing moral  emotions  act  as  effectively  in  arresting 
healthy  digestion  and  alimentation  as  the  use  of  inju- 
dicious food,  or  the  use  of  proper  nourishment  under 
circumstances  such  as  the  respiration  of  impure  air,  or 
indulgence  in  intemperate  or  degraded  tendencies,  which 
render  assimUatiou  impossible.  The  aspect  of  the  mel- 
ancholiac  corroborates  the  view  of  inanition  and  ex- 
haustion. The  surface  is  pale,  dry,  cold,  attenuated, 
even  insensible ;  the  muscles  are  rigid ;  the  frame  is 
bent;  the  eyes  sunk,  and  fixed  or  flickering;  the  lips 
parched  and  colorless.  There  is  a  sense  of  exhaustion 
or  pain,  or  impending  dissolution.  It  has  been  remarked 
that  in  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  the  internal  agony 
is  there  an  obtuseness  or  anaesthesia  to  wounds  or  ex- 
ternal injuries.  Such  an  immunity  causes  in  lunatics 
an  indifference  to  the  most  grievous  forms  of  suffering, 
and  has  given  rise  to  the  supposition,  on  the  part  of 
those  scientists  who  cannot  see  any  virtue  in  religion, 
that  Christian  martyrs  displaj^ed  at  the  stake  a  fortitude 
inspired  rather  by  a  lunatic  condition  than  by  heroic 
faithfulness  to  their  convictions Chambers,  Cyclop,  s.  v. 

To  remove  the  oppressiveness  of  melancholy  the  fol- 
lowing remedies  may  be  applied :  1,  early  rising ;  2, 
plain,  nourishing  food ;  3,  strict  temperance ;  4,  exer- 
cise in  the  open  air.  Or,  if  it  arises  particularly  from 
the  mind:  1,  associate  with  the  cheerful;  2,  study  the 
Scriptures;  3,  consider  the  amiable  character  of  God, 
and  the  all-sufficient  atonement  of  his  Son ;  4,  avoid  all 
sin ;  5,  be  much  in  prayer,  so  as  to  enjoy  the  promised 
presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  infallible  Comforter ;  6, 
be  constantly  engaged  in  such  employments  as  combine 
the  sense  of  duty  and  the  feelings  of  benevolence.  See 
Burton,  Baxter,  and  Rogers,  On  Melancholy ;  Cecil,  Ee- 
vuiitis;  Fuller,  Works;  Haslsim,  Observations  on  Madness 
and  Melancholy ;  Esquirol,  Maladies  Mentales,  i,  398 ; 
Crichton,  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Origin  of  Mental 
Derangement.     See  also  Mind  ;  ]\Ioxo>ianl\. 

Melancthon,  Philip,  the  most  noted  associate  of 
Luther  in  the  German  Reformation. 

Life. — Philip  was  bora  at  Bretten,  then  in  the  Lower 
Palatinate,  but  now  in  the  grand-duchy  of  Baden,  Feb. 
Ifi,  1497.  His  father,  George  Schwartzerd,  was  a  skilful 
armorer,  and  an  earnest,  pious  man,  whose  personal 
worth  and  success  in  his  art  had  gained  for  him  the 
patronage  and  esteem  of  many  of  the  princes  of  Ger- 
many. His  mother,  Barbara  Reuter,  was  a  frugal,  in- 
dustrious, and  energetic  woman,  the  daughter  of  the 
burgomaster  of  the  village,  and  the  supposed  authoress 
of  several  householrl  rhymes  still  popular  in  Germany. 
His  education  was  begun,  under  the  superintendence  of 
his  grandfather  Reuter,  at  his  native  place.     Among 


his  earliest  teachers  was  John  Unger,  to  whose  thor- 
oughness Melancthon,  in  later  years,  paid  the  tribute, 
"  He  made  me  a  grammarian."  Already,  under  Unger, 
his  quickness  of  comprehension,  the  facility  with  which 
he  memorized,  the  readiness  with  which  he  clearly  ex- 
plained what  he  knew,  his  deep  interest  in  his  studies, 
and  his  eagerness  to  converse  upon  them,  marked  the- 
young  pupil  as  a  boy  of  rare  promise.  Upon  the  death 
of  his  grandfather,  he  was  removed  in  1508  to  Pforz- 
heim, in  Baden,  where  he  attended  a  Latin  school,  and 
made  his  home  with  a  female  relative  (according  to 
some  authorities,  his  grandmother),  who  was  a  sister  of 
the  renowned  Reuchlin.  Here  he  became  a  favorite  of 
this  great  classical  scholar,  who  presented  him  with 
books,  and  in  recognition  of  his  extraordinary  attain- 
ments, according  to  a  custom  of  the  times,  translated 
his  German  name  Schwartzerd  into  the  Greek  Melanch- 
thon  (/.itXag,  black;  x^'^»'»  earth)— a  name  retained 
throughout  his  life,  although  he  usually  spelled  it  Me- 
lanthon ;  at  present  many  writers  have  come  to  adopt 
the  spelling  Melancthon,  and,  as  this  is  the  orthogra- 
phy of  this  Cycloptedia,  we  have  conformed  to  it.  In 
October,  1509,  he  entered  the  University  of  Heidel- 
berg, where,  notwithstanding  his  extreme  j'outh,  he 
soon  gained  great  distinction  as  a  linguist,  being  known 
among  his  fellow-students  as  "the  Grecian."  When 
only  a  few  months  over  fourteen  he  received  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  arts,  became  private  tutor  to  the  sons  of 
count  Lowenstein,  and  composed  the  Greek  Grammar 
which  was  published  several  years  afterwards.  The  se- 
verity of  the  climate  occasioning  repeated  attacks  of  fever, 
and  the  refusal  of  the  faculty,  on  account  of  his  youth, 
to  admit  him  to  the  master's  degree,  induced  him  in 
1512  to  remove  to  Tubingen.  Here  he  devoted  himself 
to  a  wide  range  of  study,  embracing  Greek  and  Latin 
literature,  philosophy,  history,  rhetoric,  logic,  mathe- 
matics, medicine,  jurisprudence,  and  theology.  In  the- 
ology he  attended  the  lectures  of  Lempan,  and  read 
William  Occam.  In  medicine,  he  studied  Galen  with 
such  diligence  that  he  could  repeat  the  most  of  that  au- 
thor from  memori'.  In  1514  he  received  his  master's 
degree,  and  began  to  lecture  on  Virgil  and  Terence. 
The  next  year  found  him  aiding  Reuchlin  in  the  con- 
troversy with  the  monks.  About  the  same  time  (1515) 
Erasmus  expressed  his  unquahfied  admiration  of  the 
young  master's  attainments.  "  What  promising  hopes 
does  Philip  Melancthon  give  us,  who,  yet  a  youth,  yes, 
almost  a  boy,  deserves  equal  esteem  for  his  knowledge 
of  both  languages.  What  sagacity  in  argument,  what 
purity  of  expression,  what  a  rare  and  comprehensive 
knowledge,  what  extensive  reading,  what  delicacy  and 
elegance  of  mind  does  he  not  display  1"  Three  years 
later  he  wrote :  "  Christ  designs  this  youth  to  excel  us 
all :  he  will  totaUy  eclipse  Erasmus."  In  151G  he  lectured 
on  rhetoric,  and  expounded  Livy  and  Cicero ;  and  before 
leaving  Tubingen  had  published  his  Greek  Grammar. 

Of  the  spiritual  struggles  of  Melancthon  during  this 
period  we  know  nothing.  His  great  modesty  prevented 
him  from  giving  publicity  to  the  details  of  his  inner 
history.  Whatever  was  the  mode  in  which  God  was 
preparing  this  chosen  vessel  for  his  service  we  cannot 
discern,  as  in  the  case  of  Luther,  any  crisis,  marked  on 
the  one  side  by  the  anguish  of  felt  guilt  and  agonizing 
efforts  to  satisfy  God's  law,  and  on  the  other  by  rest  in 
the  merits  of  Christ  and  joy  in  the  assurance  of  pessonal 
salvation.  From  his  earliest  j-outh  God's  Spirit  s^ems 
to  have  sanctified  his  mind  through  the  principles  of  the 
divine  Word,  which  he  had  made  the  object  of  the 
most  conscientious  study;  so  that  when  he  was  called 
to  the  assistance  of  Luther,  by  his  personal  experience 
of  the  grace  of  God,  he  had  already  apprehended  tbe 
great  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  which  he  was 
summoned  to  expound  and  defend.  Called  in  1518, 
upon  the  recommendation  of  Reuchlin,  to  the  Greek 
professorship  at  Wittenberg,  he  declined,  on  his  way 
thither,  invitations  from  both  Ingolstadt  and  Leipsic, 
At  his  arrival,  his  boyish  appearance,  and  his  timid  and 


MELAXCTHON 


54 


MELAXCTHOX 


retirinf^  manners,  caused  a  feeling  of  disappointment ; 
but  wlien,  four  days  later  (Aug.  -29),  he  delivereil  his 
inaugural  Icot ure,  '•  On  i-eforining  the  Studk.i  of  Youth,'' 
lie  \V(iii  ilic  ciithiisiastic  apjilause  of  all  his  hearers.  Lu- 
ther, I'siiccially,  was  delighted.  Two  days  aftenvards 
he  wrote :  '•  \Ve  quickly  forgot  all  our  thoughts  about 
his  person  and  stature,  and  rejoiced  and  wondered  at  his 
treatment  of  his  theme.  ...  I  realh'  desire  no  other 
teacher  of  Greek  so  long  as  he  lives."  And  again,  Sept. 
2.  "Philip  has  his  lecture-room  crowded  with  students. 
He  has  especially  infused  an  enthusiasm  for  the  study 
of  (ireek  into  the  students  of  theology  of  all  classes." 
This  favorable  opinion  was  only  strengthened  by  fur- 
ther intimacy,  which  revealed  the  extensive  erudition 
of  Melancthon,  and  called  forth  eulogiums  still  more  ar- 
dent. "A  wonderful  man,  in  whom  everything  is  al- 
most supernatural,  yet  my  most  cherished  and  intimate 
friend"  (Luther  to  Heuchlin,  Dec.  14,  lol8).  Although 
r(i)eatedly  called  elsewlicre,  even  to  France  and  Eng- 
l:ind,  he  remained  at  Wittenberg  until  the  close  of  his 
life,  exerting,  by  his  varied  attainments,  marvellous  in- 
dustry, and  simple  piety,  an  intluence  second  only  to  that 
of  the  great  Keformer.  Married  in  1520  to  Catharine 
Krapp,  daughter  of  the  burgomaster  of  Wittenberg, 
whom  his  friend  Camerarius  describes  as  a  pious  and 
devoted  wife  and  mother,  Melancthon  enjoyed  in  his 
domestic  life  much  happiness,  but  during  his  later  years 
suffered  great  trouble  and  anxiety.  Of  his  two  sons, 
one  died  in  infancy;  Philip  died  in  1G03,  a  pious  but 
not  a  gifted  man,  at  one  time  secretary  of  the  Consistory. 
Of  his  two  daughters,  Anna  married  the  learned  but  er- 
ratic and  unjirincipled  George  Sabinus,  provost  of  the 
University  of  Kiinigsberg,  and  died  in  1547 ;  while 
INLigdalena  became  tlie  wife  of  Dr.  Caspar  Keucer,  after- 
wards professor  at  Wittenberg,  and  survived  her  lather. 

ISIclancthon's  last  years  were  embittered  not  only  by 
(liimestic  griefs,  but  also  by  the  distracted  condition  of 
t  lie  Church.  He  longed  to  be  delivered,  as  he  said,  from 
the  '•rabies  thenlogirii."  A  violent  cold,  contracted  in 
travelling,  April,  15G0,  terminated  in  a  fever,  which 
eventually  proved  fatal.  Although  in  much  feebleness, 
lie  continued  to  lecture  until  a  week  before  his  death, 
whicli  occurred  Ajiril  19.  .\lmost  his  last  words  were, 
'•  Nothing  but  heaven."  Two  days  afterwards  his  body 
was  laid  by  the  side  of  that  of  Luther,  where,  on  the 
anniversary  of  his  death,  in  1860,  the  corner-stone  of  a 
monument  to  his  memory  was  laid  vith  appropriate 
ceremonies.    It  has  since  been  reared,  in  1869. 

Melancthon  as  a  Teacher.  —  His  reputation  as  a 
teacher  gave  him  the  title  of  Prceceptor  Germanim,  and 
attracted  to  Wittenberg  crowds  of  students  not  only 
Irom  all  parts  of  Germany,  but  also  from  England, 
Prance,  Poland,  Hungary,  Denmark,  and  even  Italy 
and  Greece.  He  frecpiently  lectured  to  an  audience  of 
2000.  His  lectures  covered  Old  and  Xew  Testament 
exegesis,  dogmatic  theology,  the  explanation  of  the 
principal  Latin  and  (Jreek  classics,  ethics,  logic,  physics, 
and  occasionally  metajdiysics.  In  addition,  he  received 
jirivate  pupils  at  his  house,  and  exercised  over  them  a 
truly  paternal  oversight.  By  his  work  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  many  of  the  schools  of  Germany,  and  more  espe- 
cially by  his  valuable  text-books,  he  continued  for  many 
years  after  his  death  to  exert  a  more  powerful  iniluence 
than  any  living  teacher,  and  became,  as  Hallam  {Hist, 
of  Lit.  i,  145)  remarks,  "  far  aliove  all  others,  the  founder 
of  general  learning  throughout  Europe."  His  Jjafin 
(Jraminai;  prepared  originally  for  his  private  pu]>ils, 
was  almost  universally  adopted  in  Euro|)e,  running 
through  lifty-one  editions,  and  continuing  until  1734  to 
be  the  text-book  even  in  the  Komaii  Catholic  schools 
of  Saxony.  His  Greek  Grammar  also  enjoyed  great 
popularity.  Of  his  Terence,  73  editions  had  been  pub- 
lished within  IOC  years  of  its  first  publication.  He 
also  published  either  scholia  upon  or  ex])ositioiis  or  par-  I 
aphnases  of  the  De  Ojjiciis,  LwUus,  I)e  Oratore,  Orator, 
Topine,  Epistles,  and  19  Orations  of  Cicero,  Porciiis  La- 
tro,  Sallust,  tlie  Germania  of  Tacitus,  Pliny,  Quintiliau,  | 


1.  xii,  six  orations  of  Demosthenes,  one  of  ^schines, 
Lycurgus,  Stoba;us,  ^Elian,  Lucian,  Thucydides,  Xeno- 
phon,  Plutarch,  Lysis,  Ptolemieus,  selections  from  Ho- 
mer and  Sophocles,  18  tragedies  of  Euripides,  Aristoph- 
anes, Menander,  PJth  Idyl  of  Theocritus,  Tyrtasus,  So- 
lon, Theognis,  Calimaclius,  Pindar,  Empedocles,  Virgil, 
Ovid,  the  Miles  of  Plautus,  and  the  Theognis  of  Seneca, 
in  addition  to  composing  391  Latin  and  Greek  odes. 
His  style  (genus  dicendi  J'hitippicum),  which  is  said,  in 
purity  of  diction  and  correctness  of  classical  taste,  to 
excel  even  that  of  Erasmus,  for  a  time  was  regarded  in 
the  schools  as  a  model,  even  to  the  exclusion  of  Cicero 
and  Quintilian. 

In  philosophy,  although,  in  his  first  edition  of  his  Loci 
Communes,  he  sympathizes  with  Luther's  antagonism  to 
Aristotle,  yet  he  soon  learned  to  distinguish  between 
the  use  and  the  abuse  of  that  author,  and,  while  con- 
demning Aristotle  as  perverted  by  Romish  scholasticism, 
he  effectually  employed  him  in  his  true  meaning  as  an 
important  aid  to  the  student  of  theology  for  the  detec- 
tion of  sophistry  and  the  attainment  of  a  clear  method 
of  thought.  He  declared  that  he  had  never  understood 
the  use  of  philosophy  until  he  had  apprehended  the 
pure  doctrine  of  the  (iospel.  Among  his  philosophical 
works  were  an  Epitome  oj" Moral  Philosophy ;  Elements 
of  Ethics;  Explanation  of  Aristotle's  Ethics;  Commen- 
tari/  on  Aristotle's  Politics;  Elements  of  Rhetoric ;  Log- 
ical Questions ;  and  dissertations  on  various  ethical  sub- 
jects, such  as  oaths,  contracts,  etc.  For  many  years  in- 
struction in  these  works  was  the  regular  course  in  ethics 
in  most  of  the  schools  of  Protestant  Germany,  A  writer 
before  quoted  pronounces  them  "more  clear,  elegant, 
and  better  arranged  than  those  of  Aristotle  himself  or 
his  commentators"  (Ilallam's  Literature,  ii,  50).  lie  was 
the  author,  also,  of  an  eleinentaiy  text-book  of  physics, 
and  a  sketch  of  inii\  cr>al  lii^toiy.  Injin  the  creation  to 
the  Reformation  (('hrnnirnii  ( ■inln„i.<).  His  miscella- 
neous iiratiiiMs.  lectures,  and  essays  (ill  over  two  volumes 
of  tlie  ''nrjiii.^  L'l formatorum. 

Mt  hiiiiihnii  ii.f  a  Theologian  and  Reformer. — But  it  is 
with  Melancthon  as  a  theologian  that  we  have  chiefly 
to  do.  He  never  entered  the  ministry,  and  therefore 
performed  his  work  in  the  (Jhurch  entirely  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  a  layman.  Immediately  upon  going  to  ^^'it- 
tenberg  he  identified  himself  with  the  Reformation, 
which  had  begun  the  preceding  year.  During  his  first 
fall  and  winter  there  he  delivered  lectures  on  Titus,  fol- 
lowing them  by  a  course  on  the  Psalms,  ilatthcw,  and 
Romans.  His  published  exegetienl  lertures  embrace,  in 
addition,  (ienesis,  Proverbs,  Ivelc  -i.i-ii  ~.  l-aiali,  .lere- 
miah.  Lamentations,  Daniel,  ILmual.  /. .  hariah.  Mala- 
chi,  John.  Corinthians,  Colossians.  and  Timothy.  His 
lectures  on  Romans  and  Corinthians  were  published  by 
Luther  without  the  author's  knowledge.  Extemiiora- 
neous  explanations  of  the  Gospels,  during  a  later  period 
of  his  life,  delivered  on  Sundays  at  his  residence,  were 
committed  to  writing  by  some  of  his  hearers,  and,  after 
revision  by  Pezcl,  were  published  under  the  title  of 
Postils. 

He  accompanied  Luther  to  the  Leipsic  Disputation 
(1519),  at  which  he  remained  a  mere  spectator,  but  af- 
terwards published  a  letter  to  CEcolampadius,  in  which 
he  gave  a  succinct  account  of  the  discussion.  Though 
written  in  tlie  best  sjiirit.  it  provoked  a  very  bitter  re- 
ply from  Dr,  Eek,  in  which,  while  acknowledging  ^yie- 
iancthon's  ]ire-einiiience  as  a  grammarian,  lie  expressed 
the  utmost  contempt  for  his  theological  attainments, 
and  advised  him  thereafter  to  confine  his  attention  to 
classical  pursuits.  an<l  not  to  attempt  to  enter  a  higher 
sphere.  The  reply  of  Melancthon  is  brief  and  modest, 
l)ut  the  indignation  of  Luther  manifested  itself  in  a  se- 
verer answer,  in  which  he  ])ronouiiced  Jlclancthon  bet- 
ter versed  in  Scripture  than  all  the  Ecks  together. 
During  the  same  year  ^Melancthon  received  the  degree 
of  B.D. 

Early  in  1521,  under  the  assumed  name  of  Didymus 
Faventuius,  he  published  au  apology  for  the  Keforma- 


MELANCTHON 


55 


MELANCTHON 


tion,  in  reply  to  Eraser  (Rhadinus).  About  Easter  of 
the  same  year  he  laid  the  foundation  of  Protestant  sys- 
tematic theology  by  the  publication  of  his  Loci  Com- 
munes sen  Hypotyjmses  Tkeologicm.  It  originated  from 
a  very  brief  summary  of  doctrine,  prepared  for  his  pri- 
vate use,  which  was  afterwards  delivered  to  his  pupils, 
as  an  introduction  to  his  lectures  on  Romans,  and  pub- 
lished by  them  without  his  consent  or  revision.  The 
Loci  Communes  were  intended  to  take  the  place  of  this 
meagre,  and,  to  its  author,  very  unsatisfactory  sketch. 
They  are  marked  by  the  clearness  of  method  and  purity 
of  style  for  which  Melancthon  was  distinguished.  Lu- 
ther declared  that  the  little  book  could  not  be  refuted, 
and  that  it  was  worthy  not  only  of  immortality,  but 
even  of  canonical  authority.  Chemnitz  affirms  that 
Luther  often  remarked  in  private  conversation  that 
there  was  more  solid  doctrine  contained  in  it  than  in 
any  other  volume  since  the  days  of  the  apostles.  The 
same  author  quotes  the  Romish  theologian,  Alphonso 
de  Zamara,  as  declaring :  "  It  explains  its  doctrinal  state- 
ments in  such  appropriate  and  accurate  terms,  and,  by  a 
methodical  treatment,  renders  them  so  clear  and  strong, 
that  it  is  injuring  the  papal  power  more  than  all  other 
writings  of  the  Lutherans."  Erasmus  termed  it  "a 
■wondrous  army,  ranged  in  order  of  battle  against  the 
Pharisaic  tyranny  of  false  teachers ;"  and  Calvin,  "  So 
beautiful  is  the  proof  that  it  affords,  that  the  most  per- 
fect simplicity  is  the  noblest  method  of  handling  the 
Christian  doctrine."  The  couplet  of  Selnecker  was  of- 
ten repeated : 

"Non  melior  liber  est  nllus  post  biblia  Christi, 
Quam  qui  doctriniE,  corpusque,  locique  vocatur." 


During  the  author's  life  it  passed  through  over  sixty 
editions,  but  was  subjected  to  constant  changes.  The 
onlj-  exception  of  any  moment  taken  within  the  Lu- 
theran Church  to  the  first  edition  is  against  its  state- 
ment of  the  doctrine  of  the  freedom  of  the  will,  to  which 
Hutter  and  others  have  objected  that  it  inclines  towards 
fatalism.  Seckendorf,  on  the  contrary,  claims  that  on 
this  point  it  was  misunderstood.  In  1535  the  objection- 
able sentence, "  All  things  happen  necessarily,"  was  omit- 
ted. After  1543  the  work  was  greath'  enlarged,  and  so 
far  changed  on  that  subject  as  to  seem  far  more  in  har- 
mony with  the  teaching  of  Erasmus  than  that  of  Lu- 
ther. It  was  repeatedly  translated  into  the  German. 
The  translation  of  Justus  Jonas  was  revised  by  Luther, 
who  suggested  that,  while  the  articles  on  justification 
and  the  holy  supper  were  well  treated,  they  were  not 
sufficiently  full.  A  French  translation  appeared,  with 
the  commendation  of  Calvin,  in  1546,  and  one  into  Ital- 
ian (1534  or  1535)  found  eager  readers  even  at  Rome. 
There  were  also  Dutch  and  Wendic  versions.  Portions 
of  it  have  been  translated  into  English — "On  the  Divine 
Essence,"  by  Dr.  J,  A,  Seiss,  in  the  Eranr/elical  Revieic, 
xii,  1-46 ;  "  On  the  Nature  of  Sin,"  Theological  Essays 
from  the  Princeton  Revieio,  p,  218-228,  It  was  attacked 
by  the  papist,  Richard  Smyth,  of  England,  and  defended 
by  Paulus  ab  Eitren,  a  Hamburg  theologian,  who  pre- 
pared an  edition  with  additional  notes,  and  citations 
from  the  fathers.  The  renowned  L^oci  Theologici  of 
Chemnitz  is  a  commentary'  upon  it.  Similar  commen- 
taries were  written  by  Praetorius,  Pezel,  Strigel,  and  Fa- 
bricius,  while  Spangenberg,  Sohn,  Mayer,  and  Hemmin- 
gius  have  preparetl  abridgments.  For  many  years  it 
continued  to  be  a  text-book  in  the  Lutheran  schools, 
until  supplanted  by  Hutter's  Compend, 

During  Luther's  absence  at  the  Wartburg,  the  care 
of  the  Reformation  rested  mainly  upon  Melancthon, 
"With  great  abOity  he  defended  Luther  against  the  the- 
ologians of  Paris,  but  found  himself  unable  to  withstand 
the  storm  of  fanaticism  which  arose  among  some  of  his 
former  friends.  He  was  even  for  a  time  greatly  in 
doubt  as  to  whether  the  pretensions  of  Carlstadt  and 
the  Zwickau  prophets  might  not  be  true,  and  received 
from  Luther  a  reproof  because  he  dealt  with  them  with 
so  much  mildness,    Witliout  anv  reserve,  he  insisted  on 


his  own  inability  to  meet  the  crisis,  and  urged  the  re- 
turn of  Luther  as  the  only  solution  of  the  difficulty. 

After  Luther's  return,  he  was  diligently  occupied  in 
revisuig  the  translation  of  the  Bible — a  work  in  wiiich 
his  philological  attainments  were  at  several  periods  of 
invaluable  service  to  the  Church.  In  1522  Luther  Mrote  - 
to  Spalatine,  asking  that  Melancthon  might  be  relieved 
of  teaching  the  classics,  in  order  to  devote  his  entire 
time  to  theology,  but  the  latter  objected,  and  preferred 
even  to  cease  his  theological  instructions.  In  1526, 
however,  he  was  formally  appointed  professor  of  theol- 
ogy. During  the  two  succeeding  years  he  was  the  prin- 
cipal member  of  the  commission  to  visit  the  churches 
and  church-schools  of  Thuringia.  The  A  riicles  of  Vis- 
itation, prepared  in  connection  with  this  commission, 
to  give  the  ministers  some  directions  concerning  their 
preaching  and  teaching,  are  sometimes  regarded  as  the 
earliest  confession  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  The  im- 
portance which  they  attach  to  the  preaching  of  the  law, 
in  order  to  guard  against  the  abuse  of  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith,  excited  the  opposition  of  Agricola 
and  others,  and  led  to  a  conference  at  Torgau  (q.  v.), 
November,  1527,  in  which  the  position  of  Melancthon 
was  approved.  In  February,  1529,  he  accompanied  his 
prince  to  the  Diet  of  Spires,  and  assisted  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  Protest,  presented  April  19th,  from  which  the 
friends  of  the  Reformation  obtained  the  name  Protes- 
tants. A  few  months  later,  October  1-3,  he  participated, 
together  with  Luther,  Brentius,  and  others,  in  the  Collo- 
quy at  Marburg  (q.  v.)  with  Zwingle  and  his  adherents. 
In  1530  he  accompanied  the  evangelical  princes  to  the 
Diet  of  Augsburg,  and  there,  on  the  basis  of  the  seven- 
teen articles  prepared  by  Luther  at  Schwabach,  elabo- 
rated the  A  uysburff  Confession,  which  was  presented  to 
the  emperor  June  25.  During  its  preparation  the  work 
was  repeatedh'  revised  by  Luther,  then  at  Coburg,  in  al- 
most daily  correspondence  with  Melancthon.  "  Melanc- 
thon, then,  was  by  pre-eminence  the  composer  of  the 
Confession,  not  as  a  private  individual,  but  as  chief  of  a 
body  of  advisers,  without  whose  concurrence  nothing 
was  fixed;  Luther,  by  pre-eminence,  as  the  divinely- 
called  representative  of  the  Church,  its  author."  For  a 
thorough  examination  of  the  relation  which  Melancthon 
sustained  to  the  Augsburg  Confession,  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred to  Krauth's  Conservative  Reformation,  p.  201-267. 
The  hypothesis  of  the  rationalist  RUckert,  that  Me- 
lancthon intended  by  it  to  effect  a  compromise  with 
Rome,  and  that,  for  this  purpose,  a  conspiracy  was 
formed  to  keep  Luther  in  ignorance  of  the  plan,  is  there 
completely  overthrown.  Jlelancthon's  excessive  love 
of  peace,  and  his  desire  to  bring  together  into  an  or- 
ganic union  all  the  Protestant  churches,  caused  him  in 
after  years  to  forget  that  the  Augsburg  Confession  was 
the  work  of  the  Church,  and  not  his  own ;  for  he  felt 
himself  at  liberty  to  publish  numerous  revised  editions, 
in  which  he  made  frequent  changes.  These  changes, 
originating  the  distinction  between  the  Variata  and  In- 
vaiiata,  almost  caused  a  rupture  with  Luther,  and  idti- 
mately  resulted  in  controversies  which  imperilled  the 
life  of  the  Lutheran  churches.  Notwithstanding  these 
changes,  it  cannot  be  proved  that  his  personal  convic- 
tions were  at  anj-  succeeding  period  actually  different 
from  the  teaching  of  the  unaltered  Confession.  He  re- 
peatedly declared,  until  the  close  of  his  life,  that  his  faith 
was  unchanged.  His  object  in  the  alterations  was  sim- 
ply to  generalize  those  statements  which  were  so  spe- 
cific in  their  declaration  of  the  Lutheran  faith  as  to  pre- 
vent the  endorsement  of  the. adherents  of  Calvin  and 
others.  He  was  constantly  seeking  for  a  generic  form 
of  agreement  in  which  the  specific  differences  might  be 
lost  sight  of.  He  remained  at  Augsburg  until  late  in 
September,  employed  in  fruitless  negotiations  with  the 
Romish  theologians.  The  confutation  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession,  presented  August  3,  led  him  in  reply  to  pre- 
pare the  Apology — a  masterpiece  which  the  Lutheran 
Church  has  prized  so  highly  as  to  number  it  among  her 
symbols. 


MELANCTHOJ^ 


56 


MELANGISTS 


His  Catechism  (Catechesis  Puerilis}  appeared  in  1532. 
In  1535  and  1536  he  was  actively  engaged  in  negotia- 
tions with  Bucer  to  secure  a  union  of  tlie  Protestant 
churches  on  the  doctrine  ol'  the  Lord's  Supper.  As  the 
result  of  these  efforts,  the  Wittenberg  Concord  was 
signed  May  '2S,  1536.  In  February,  1537,  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  tlie  convention  at  Smalcald,  and  signed  the  A  r- 
ticles,  with  the  proviso  that  he  would  acknowledge  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  pope,  Jwre  kuniano,  if  the  lat- 
ter would  permit  the  preaching  of  the  pure  (jospel.  In 
the  negotiations  with  the  papists  at  Worms  (1540),  and 
at  Katisbon  (1541),  he  was  the  principal  theologian  of 
the  Protestants.  At  the  latter  conference  his  compro- 
mising spirit  acceded  to  articles  clothed  in  such  ambig- 
uous language  as  to  admit  the  interpretation  either  of 
an  affirmation  or  a  denial  of  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith;  but  the  object  of  the  conference  failed,  because 
of  an  irreconcilable  difference  concerning  tlie  externals 
of  religion,  in  which  Jlelancthon  displayed  more  than 
his  ordinary  firmness.  In  1542  and  1543  he  was  em- 
ployed by  the  archbishop  and  elector  of  Cologne  to  su- 
perintend the  introduction  of  the  Reformation  into  his 
territories.  Tlie  book  of  instruction  ])repared  in  con- 
nection with  this  work  excited  the  indignation  of  Lu- 
ther against  Jlelancthon,  until  the  latter  assured  him 
that  Hucer  was  alone  responsible  for  the  article  on  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Early  in  1545,  at  the  request  of  the 
elector,  he  ])rcpared  a  pamphlet  on  The  Reformation  of 
Wittenberg,  which  was  sent  to  the  Council  of  Trent  as  a 
summary  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Lutheran  Reformers. 
After  the  death  of  Luther,  in  1546,  he  was  the  acknowl- 
edged head  of  the  Reformation,  but  unfortunately  be- 
came again  involved  in  negotiations  with  the  papists, 
to  whom  he  made  the  most  remarkable  concessions. 
His  connection  with  the  Leipsic  Interim  (1548)  was  the 
most  unfortunate  act  of  his  life.  Under  the  form  of  an 
apparent  compromise,  he  yielded  to  the  papists  many 
of  the  most  essential  points  of  difference  between  them 
and  the  Protestants.  "  He  was  willing  to  tolerate  both 
a  popedom  and  a  hierarchy,  stripped,  however,  of  divine 
rights,  and  deprived  of  all  power  in  matters  of  faith. 
The  relation  of  faith  to  works,  and  the  doctrine  of  the 
sacraments,  might,  in  his  estimation,  be  veiled  in  a  judi- 
cious obscurity  of  phrase."  In  every  part  of  the  evan- 
gelical Church  the  Interim  was  most  violently  resisted, 
and  liis  connection  with  it  strongly  condemned.  In 
addition  to  private  rebukes  from  Calvin  and  Brentius, 
Agricola,  Flacius,  and  others  publicly  attacked  him.  In 
1550  he  publislied  his  Explanation  of  the  Nicene  Creed, 
and  in  the  succeeding  year  the  Confessio  Saxonica,  in 
which  he  had  gained  courage  to  entirely  repudiate  the 
concessions  of  the  Interim,  In  1552  he  was  engaged  in 
a  controversy  with  Osiander,  who  had  confounded  justi- 
fication with  sanctificatioii ;  in  1553  he  publislied  brief 
treatises  against  Schwenckfeldt  and  Stancar,  and  in  1554 
his  Examen  Ordinandorum,  a  brief  outline  of  doctrinal, 
ethical,  and  polemical  theology,  for  the  use  of  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry.  His  efforts  during  his  last  years 
to  unite  the  followers  of  Calvin  with  those  of  Luther, 
and  his  attendance  at  another  religious  conference  at 
Worms  (1557)  with  the  papists,  were  equally  unsuc- 
cessful. 

Melancthon  was  undoubtedly  the  great  theologian  of 
the  Lutheran  Reformation.  Yet  the  very  gifts  which 
were  of  such  great  service  in  reducing  the  purilied  doc- 
trine to  a  connected  system,  and  organizing  the  outward 
form  of  the  Church,  constantly  tempted  him  to  seek  for 
external  union,  even  at  the  exjiense  of  principles  es- 
sential to  all  true  inner  harmony.  This  tendency,  fos- 
tered by  his  classical  tastes  and  natural  amiability  and 
timidity,  rendered  him  very  unsafe  as  a  leader,  although 
so  strong  when  under  the  guidance  of  a  firmer  will,  as 
that  of  Luther.  It  is  to  this  that  Calvin  referred  when 
he  heard  of  Mclancthon's  death:  '•(),  Pliilip  Melanc- 
thon! for  it  is  upon  thee  whom  I  call,  upon  thee,  who 
now  livest  with  Christ  in  (iod,  and  art  waiting  for  us, 
until  we  shall  attain  that  blessed  rest.     A  hundred 


times,  worn  out  with  fatigue  and  overwhelmed  with 
care,  thou  hast  laid  thy  head  upon  my  breast  and  said, 
Would  God  I  might  die  here.  And  a  thousand  times 
since  then  I  have  earnestly  desired  that  it  had  been 
granted  us  to  be  together.  Certainly  thou  wouldst 
liave  been  more  valiant  to  face  danger,  and  stronger  to 
despise  hatred,  and  bolder  to  disregard  false  accusa- 
tions." 

Literature. — The  first  edition  of  his  collected  works 
was  published  at  Basle,  1541 ;  the  second,  edited  by  his 
son-in-law,  I'eucer,  Wittenberg,  1562-64  (4  vols.  foL). 
The  most  valuable  is  that  of  the  Corpus  Rrformaioriim, 
edited  by  Bretschneider  and  Bindseil  (1834-60,  28  vols, 
fol.).  A  complete  catalogue  of  Melancthon's  writings, 
and  of  their  different  editions,  etc.,  was  published  by  H. 
E.  Bindseil,  entitled  Bibliotheca  Meluncthoniana  (Halle, 
18G8,  8vo,  28  pp.).  The  tercentenary  of  Melancthon's 
decease  has  called  forth  a  large  number  of  addresses  and 
essays  to  celebrate  his  memory.  Besides  the  admirable 
orations  of  Dorner,  Kahnis,  and  Rothe,  are  W.  Tliilo, 
Melancthon  in  the.  Service  of  the  ilolij  Scriptures ;  F.  A. 
Nitzelnadel,  Philip  Melancthon,  the  Teacher  of  Germa- 
mi;  W.  P>eys(hlag.  Phil  Mel,  a  Sketch  in  Church  Ilis- 
torij ;  F.  W.  (lent lie.  Oration  at  Eisleben ;  H.  Keil,  Lau- 
datio  Phil.  Melaiirtlionis;  II.  K.  Sack,  a  Sermon  at 
Magdeburrj ;  C.  Schlottmann,  De  Phil.  Mel.  reipuUicm 
literaricB  Reformator ;  J.  Classen,  Melancthon's  Relations 
to  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  Other  works  have  been 
published  upon  some  of  the  pupils  and  friends  of  Me- 
lancthon; e.  g.  J.  Classen,  on  Jaccih  Micyllus,  rector  at 
Frankfort,  and  professor  in  Heidelberg,  1526  to  1558; 
E.  W.  LiJhn,  on  Ur.  Caspar  Creutziger  (Cruciger),  a  pu- 
pil of  both  Melancthon  and  Luther,  Reb.  Tagmann,  on 
Petrus  Vincentius  of  Breslau.  The  earliest  life  of  3Ie- 
lancthon  was  written  by  his  friend  Camerarius.  The 
A  nncdes  Vitce,  in  vol.  xxviii,  Corp.  Ref.,  afford  the  rich- 
est biographical  material.  Biographies  have  been  writ- 
ten by  Camerarius  (1566),  Strobel  (1777),  Niemeyer 
(1817),  Kothe  (1829),  Facius  (1832),  Ulenberg  (1836), 
Heyd  (1839),Galle  (1840),  Matthes  (1841),  Lcdderhose 
(1847),  Wohlfahrt  (1860),  C.  .Schmidt  (1«61),  Meurer, 
Plank  (1866),  and  others.  Those  accessible  to  English 
readers  are  the  valuable  but  brief  sketch  by  Dr.  F.  A. 
Cox,  and  an  excellent  translation  of  Ledderhose  by  Dr. 
(t.  F.  Krotel  (Phila.  1855).  See  also  Krauth's  Conserva- 
tire  Reformation,  p.  220  sq.;  Seckendorf's  lliftaria  Lu- 
theranismi:  Ranko,  Hist.  Ref.  p.  132;  Cmniinghani.  Re- 
formers; I)'Auhign(^//^■.•>■^/ep/:i, 97,325:  Nisani.AV //</<'« 
sur  la  Renaissance  ;  Hardwick,  Hist.  Rif.  p.  30  sq. ;  Wnx- 
waX,  Hist.  Ref;  (iieseler,  C//«/r//  ///.s/.  vol.  iv,  ch.  i ;  Mos- 
lieim,  Eccles.  Ilist.yo].  iii;  Hagenbach,  Kirchcm/fsch.  vol. 
iii ;  Fisher,  Hist.  Ref.  p.  97  sq. ;  Dorner,  (Jesch.  der  pro- 
testant.  Theoloqie,  p.  108,  320,  329;  Bibliotheca  Sacra, 
1846,  p.  301 ;  1864,  p.  448 ;  Jahrbuch  deutscher  Theol.  voL 
X,  pt.  i,  p.  185 ;  1870,  iii,  503 ;  iv,  615 ;  Mercershurg  Rev. 
1850,  p.  325 ;  Kitto,  Journ.  Sac.  Lit.  1854,  p.  185 ;  Meth. 
Qii.  Rev.  1855,  p.  163;  1860,  p.  676;  Studien  u.  Kritiken, 
1859,  vol.  ii;  Brit,  and  For.  Ev.  Rev.  1861,  Jan.;  1868, 
Oct.;  Am.  Theol.  Rev.  1861,  April;  1860,  p.  529;  Amer. 
Presbi/t.  Ilcr.  18C)1,  (i.  261 ;  Zeitschr.f  icissensch.  TheoL 
1871,  vol.  ii.  .art.  viii.     (H.  E.  J.) 

Melangists  (or  Convulsionists)  is  the  name 
of  a  liegenerate  sect  of  Jansenists  ((].  v.).  It  originated 
in  1727,  upon  the  decease  of  Fran(,'ois  de  Paris.  He  liad 
been  noted  for  his  piety  and  ascetitisni.  and,  now  that 
he  had  loft  his  earthly  abode,  multitudes  Hocked  to  his 
grave,  and  there,  in  various  ways,  testified  their  super- 
stitious regard  aiul  veneration.  iMarvellous  cures  were 
claimed  to  be  wrought  there,  and  miracles  were  said  to 
be  jx-rformed.  Strong  religious  emotions  were  mani- 
fested, and  some  were  seized  with  convidsions.  .Some 
were  endowed  with  the  spirit  of  iimphecy,  and  predicted 
the  overthrow  of  Church  and  St.iie.  .Slany  of  the  fa- 
natics themselves  claimed  that  their  miraculous  doings 
were  divinely  inspired,  while  others  ascribeil  them  to 
evil  influences.  Those  who  considered  these  curious 
works  inspired  by  evil  influences  were  called  '■  Discern- 


MELANIA 


57 


MELCHIZEDEK 


ents,"  while  the  believers  received  the  name  of  Melan- 
gists,  because  they  supposed  themselves  partly  actively, 
partly  passively  inspired.  The  superstition  and  fanati- 
cism which  prevailed  at  Francois's  grave  soon  after  his 
death  were  not  wholly  confined  to  the  common  people, 
but  were  shared  by  a  considerable  number  of  men  of 
rank  and  learning.  These  religious  excesses,  however, 
tended  to  create  a  general  prejudice  against  Jansenism, 
and  really  ruined  the  cause — at  least  in  France ;  or,  as 
Voltaire  aptly  remarks,  "  The  grave  of  St.  i'rancois  of 
Paris  became  the  grave  of  Jansenism." 

Melania,  St.,  called  thk  Younger,  a  Roman  lady 
of  a  noble  family,  who  was  born  about  A.D.  388,  became 
a  convert  to  ChrisCianity  and  founded  a  convent  in 
Palestine,  and  subsequently  a  monastery  near  Mount 
Calvary.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a  Koman  consul, 
and  one  of  the  many  noble  ladies  of  the  Eternal  City 
who  joined  the  cause  of  the  Christians.  She  died  in 
439,  and  her  death  is  commemorated  by  the  Church  of 
Rome  Dec.  31.  See  Mace,  Bist.de  Sainte-Melanie  (Paris, 
1729, 12mo). 

Melati'ah  (Heb.  MeJatyah',  tl^ipbp,  deliverance  of 
Jehovah;  Sept.  MaXriaq,  but  most  copies  omit),  a  Gib- 
eonite  who  repaired  part  of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  on 
the  northern  side,  after  the  return  from  Babylon  (Neb. 
iii,  7).     B.C.  44(3. 

Mel'chi  (MsXxi, for  Heb.  "^S^p, my  kinr/),  the  name 
of  two  of  Christ's  maternal  ancestors.  See  Genealogy 
OF  Jesus  Christ. 

1.  The  son  of  Addi  and  father  (maternal  grandfather) 
of  Neri  or  Neriah  (Luke  iii,  28) ;  probably  identical  with 
the  Maaseiah  of  2  Chron.  xxxiv,  8). 

2.  The  son  of  Janna  and  father  of  Levi,  fourth  in  as- 
cent from  the  Virgin  jMary  (Luke  iii,  24).  B.C.  much 
ante  22. 

Melchi'ah  (Heb.  MalUyah,  n^3^-a,  Jehovah's  liny ; 
Sept.  INIfX^int'),  a  priest,  the  father  of  Pashur  (Jer.  xxi, 
1);  elsewhere  called  Malciiiah  (Jer.  xxxviii,  1 ;  Neh. 
xi,  12)  and  Malciiijah  (1  Chron.  ix,  12). 

Melchi'as  (Mf  Xx'«c),  the  Greek  form  (in  the  Apoc- 
rypha) of  the  Heb.  Malchiah  ;  namel.y,  [a)  1  Esdr.  ix, 
2{};  [h)  1  Esdr.  ix,  32;  (c)  1  Esdr.  ix,  44. 

Mel'diiel  (MfXxa/jX)),  a  person  whose  son  Char- 
mis  was  one  of  the  three  governors  of  Bethulia  (Judith 
vi,  15).  The  Vidgate  has  a  different  reading,  making 
Charmis  the  same  as  Gothoniel;  and  the  Peshito  gives 
the  name  Manshajel. 

Melchior,  the  name  attributed  in  Romish  legends 
to  one  of  the  wise  men  who  visited  the  infant  Saviour. 
See  Magi. 

Melchior,  Albrecht  Wilhelm,  a  German  theo- 
logian, was  born  at  Herborn  March  12,  lG8o.  His  fa- 
ther, who  died  in  1G90,  was  superintendent  and  professor 
of  theology.  Albrecht  commenced  his  academic  course 
at  Duisburg,  but  continued  his  studies  at  the  university 
at  Franecker.  He  paid  special  attention  to  Oriental 
languages  and  literature.  He  finished  his  studies  at 
Utrecht,  and  returned  to  Duisburg.  He  was  in  1709 
installed  as  minister  at  Mlihlheim,  and  made  professor  of 
theology  at  Hanau  in  1718.  Upon  taking  this  position 
he  delivered  an  essay,  De  religione  et  verce  reliyionis  cri- 
teriis.  In  1723  he  was  called  to  a  professorship  of  the- 
ology and  Church  history  at  Franecker,  where  he  died, 
Aug.  11, 1738.  Melchior  made  quite  a  name  for  himself 
in  theological  literature.  He  published  several  dog- 
matic and  exegetical  dissertations  to  prove  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  miracles  of  Christ.  A  list  of  all  his  pro- 
ductions, of  minor  value  at  present,  is  giv^en  by  Doring, 
Gelehrte  TheoL  Deutschl.  s.  v. 

Melchis'edec  (Heb.  v-vii).     See  Melchizedek. 

Melchi-shu'a  (I  Sam.  xiv,  49;  xxxi,  2).  See 
Malciiisiiua. 

Melchites  or  IMelekitks  (from  "^'?3,  a  Mug),  i.  e. 
Royalist's,  is  the  name  given  to  those  Syriac,  Egyptian, 


and  other  Christians  of  the  Levant,  wh6  acknowledge 
the  authority  of  the  pope  and  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  Excepting  some  few  points  of  little 
or  no  importance,  which  relate  only  to  ceremonies  and 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  the  ]\Ielchites  are  in  every  re- 
spect professed  Greeks ;  but  they  are  governed  by  a  par- 
ticular patriarch,  who  assumes  the  title  of  Patriarch  of 
Antioch.  Their  origin  is  referred  to  the  labors  of  the 
Jesuits  in  the  17th  century,  and  the  name  of  Melchites 
was  given  to  them  because  they  agreed  with  the  Greeks 
who  submitted  to  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  and  was 
designed  by  their  enemies  to  brand  them  with  the  re- 
proach of  having  done  so  merely  in  conformity  to  the 
religion  of  the  emperor.  They  celebrate  mass  in  the 
Arabic  language,  use  unleavened  bread  in  the  Eucha- 
rist, and  their  priests  (not  their  bishops)  are  allowed  to 
marry.  They  have  also  some  monastic  establishments, 
whose  inmates  follow  the  rule  of  St.  Basil,  the  common 
rule  of  all  the  Greek  monks.  See  Farrar,  Eccles.  Diet. ; 
Eadie,  Eccles.  Cyclop. ;  Neale,  Hist.  East.  Church,  ch.  ii, 
7  ;  Neander,  Church  Hist,  iii,  176. 

Melchiz'edek  {B.eb.Malki'-Tse'del',  p'n^-^sbs, 
king  of  righteousness,  i.  e.  righteous  king,  comp.  Heb.  vii, 
2 ;  Sept.  and  N.  T.  MiXxKriCtK,  and  so  Anglicized  in  the 
N.  T.  " Melchisedec ;"  Josephus,  MfX^'fTf ciekjjc,  ^  nt.  i,  10, 
2),  the  "priest  of  the  most  high  God,"  and  king  of  Sa- 
lem, who  went  forth  to  meet  Abraham  on  his  return 
from  the  pursuit  of  Chedorlaomer  and  his  allies,  who 
had  carried  Lot  away  captive.  The  interview  is  de- 
scribed as  having  occurred  in  the  "  valley  of  Shaveh  (or 
the  level  valley),  which  is  the  king's  valley."  He 
brought  refreshment,  described  in  the  general  terras  of 
"bread  and  wine,"  for  the  fatigued  warriors,  and  be- 
stowed his  blessing  upon  their  leader,  who,  in  return, 
gave  to  the  royal  priest  a  tenth  of  all  the  spoil  which 
had  been  acquired  in  his  expedition  (Gen.  xiv,  18,  20). 
B.C.  cir.  2080.  See  Abrahaji.  In  one  of  the  Jlessianic 
Psalms  (ex,  4)  it  is  foretold  that  the  Messiah  should  be 
"a  priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek;"  which  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (vi,  20)  cites  as 
showing  that  Melchizedek  was  a  type  of  Christ,  and  the 
Jews  themselves,  certainly,  on  the  authority  of  this  pas- 
sage of  the  Psalms,  regarded  Melchizedek  as  a  type  of 
the  regal-priesthood,  higher  than  that  of  Aaron,  to  which 
the  jMessiah  should  belong.  The  bread  and  wine  which 
were  set  forth  on  the  table  of  show-bread,  was  also  sup- 
posed to  be  represented  by  the  bread  and  wine  which 
the  king  of  Salem  brought  forth  to  Abraham  (Schott- 
gen.  Ho?:  Heb.  ii,  615).  In  the  following  discussions  re- 
specting his  person,  office,  and  locality,  we  chiefly  follow 
the  articles  in  Kitto's  and  Smith's  Dictionaries. 

There  is  something  surprising  and  mysterious  in  the 
first  appearance  of  Melchizedek,  and  in  the  subsequent 
references  to  him.  Bearing  a  title  which  Jews  in  after- 
ages  would  recognise  as  designating  their  own  sover- 
eign, bringing  gifts  which  recall  to  Christians  the  Lord's 
Supper,  this  Canaanite  crosses  for  a  moment  the  path 
of  Abraham,  and  is  unhesitatingly  recognised  as  a  per- 
son of  higher  spiritual  rank  than  the  friend  of  God. 
Disappearing  as  suddenly  as  he  came  in,  he  is  lost  to 
the  sacred  writings  for  a  thousand  years,  and  then  a  few 
emphatic  words  for  another  moment  bring  him  into 
siglit  as  a  tv'pe  of  the  coming  Lord  of  David.  Once 
more,  after  another  thousand  years,  the  Hebrew  Chris- 
tians are  taught  to  see  in  him  a  proof  that  it  was  the 
consistent  purpose  of  God  to  abolish  the  Levitical  priest- 
hood. His  person,  his  office,  his  relation  to  Christ,  and 
the  seat  of  his  sovereigntj',  have  given  rise  to  innumer- 
able discussions,  which  even  now  can  scarcely  be  consid- 
ered as  settled.  Hence  the  faith  of  early  ages  ventured 
to  invest  his  person  with  superstitious  awe.  A  myste- 
rious supremacy  came  also  to  be  assigned  to  him  ("  the 
great  high-priest,"  Philo,  Ojip.  ii,  34)  by  reason  of  his 
having  received  tithes  from  the  Hebrew  patriarch ;  and 
on  this  point  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (vii,  1-10)  ex- 
patiates strongly.     But  the  Jews,  in  admitting  this  of- 


MELCHIZEDEK 


58 


MELCHIZEDEK 


ficial  or  personal  superiority  of  Melchizedck  to  Abra- 
ham, soiif^ht  to  account  for  it  by  alleging  that  the  royal 
priest  was  no  other  than  Shem,  the  most  pious  of  Noah's 
sons,  who,  according  to  the  shorter  chronology,  might 
have  lived  to  the  time  of  Abraham  (Bochart,  I'lialeri,  ii, 
1),  and  who,  as  a  survivor  of  the  deluge,  is  supposed  to 
have  been  authorized  by  the  superior  tlignity  of  old  age 
to  bless  even  the  father  of  the  faithful,  and  entitled,  as 
the  paramount  lord  of  Canaan  (Gen.  ix,  26),  to  convey 
(xiv,  19 )  his  right  to  Abraham.  Jerome,  in  his  A/j.bcxiii, 
ad  Ecaitijelum  (in  0pp.  i,  438),  which  is  entirelj'  devoted 
to  a  consideration  of  the  person  and  dwelling-place  of 
Melchizedek,  states  that  this  was  the  prevailing  opinion 
of  the  Jews  in  his  time ;  and  it  is  ascribed  to  the  Sa- 
maritans by  Epiphanius  (//rer.  Iv,  6,  p.  472).  It  was 
afterwards  embraced  by  Luther  and  Melancthon,  by  II. 
Broughton,  Selden,  Lightfoot  {Clior.  Marco  pram.  eh. 
X,  1,  §  2),  Jackson  {On  the  Creed,  bk.  ix,  §  2),  and  by 
many  others.  Equally  old,  perhaps,  but  less  widely  dif- 
fused, is  the  supposition,  not  unknown  to  Augustine 
(^Qucesf.  in  Gen.  Ixxii,  in  0pp.  iii,  396),  and  ascribed  by 
Jerome  (/.  c.)  to  Origen  and  Didymus,  that  Melchizedck 
was  an  angeL  The  fathers  of  the  4th  and  5th  centuries 
record  with  reprobation  the  tenet  of  the  Melchizedekians 
that  he  was  a  Power,  Virtue,  or  Influence  of  (Jod  (Au- 
gust. J)e  Haresibiis,  §  34,  in  0pp.  viii,  1 1 ;  Theodoret, 
Hmet.fuh.  ii,  6,  p.  332;  Epiphan. //(cn  Iv,  1,  p.  4G8; 
corap.  Cml  Alexand.  Glaph.  in  Gen.  ii,  57)  superior  to 
Christ  (Chrysost.  Horn,  in  Melchiz.  in  0pp.  vi,  p.  269) 
and  the  not  less  daring  conjecture  of  Ilieracas  and  his 
followers  that  Melchizedek  was  the  Holy  Ghost  (Epi- 
phan.  Ifmr.  Ixvii,  3,  p.  711,  and  Iv,  5,  p.  472).  Epi- 
phanius also  mentions  (Iv,  7,  p.  474)  some  members  of 
the  Church  as  holding  the  erroneous  opinion  that  I\Iel- 
chizedek  was  the  Son  of  God  appearing  in  human  form, 
an  opinion  which  Ambrose  {l)e  Ahrah.  i,  §  3,  in  Opj). 
i,  288)  ser'ins  willing  to  receive,  and  which  has  been 
adopted  by  many  modern  critics.  Similar  to  this  was  a 
Jewish  opinion  that  he  was  the  Messiah  (ap.  Deyling, 
Ohs.  Sacr.  ii,  73;  Schottgen,  /.  c. ;  comp.  the  book  Sohar, 
ap.  Wolf,  Curoi  Phil,  in  Heb.  vii,  1).  Jlodern  writers 
have  added  to  these  conjectures  that  he  may  have  been 
Ham  (Jurieu),  or  a  descendant  of  Japhet  (Owen),  or  of 
Shem  (ap.  Deyling,  I.  c),  or  Job  (Kohlreis),  or  Mizraim,  or 
Canaan,  or  even  Enoch  (DcyVing,  Observat.  iSacr.  ii,  71 
sq. ;  Clayton,Chronoloff_i/  of  the  Heb.  Bible,  p.  100).  Other 
guesses  may  be  found  in  Deyling  (/.  c.)  and  in  Pfeiifer 
(Be  persona  Melch.  in  0pp.  p.  51).  All  these  opinions 
are  unauthorized  additions  to  Holy  Scripture — many  of 
them  seem  to  be  irreconcilable  with  it.  The  conjecture, 
however,  which  holds  jMelchizedek  to  have  been  Sliem 
(see  Jerome,  ad  Isa.  xli),  and  which  we  liiid  in  Kashi  on 
Gen.  as  well  as  in  the  Jerusalem  Targum,  and  also  that 
of  Jonatlian  (ad  loc.  Gen.),  but  not  in  that  of  Onkelos, 
requires  an  explanation  how  his  name  came  to  be 
changed,  liow  he  is  found  reigning  in  a  country  inhab- 
ited l)y  the  descendants  of  Ham,  how  he  came  forth  to 
congratulate  Abraham  on  the  defeat  of  one  of  his  own 
descendants,  as  was  Chedorlaomer,  and  how  he  could  be 
said  to  liavc  been  without  recorded  parentage  (Heb.  vii, 
3),  since  tlie  pedigree  of  Shem  must  have  been  notori- 
ous. In  that  case,  also,  the  difference  of  the  priesthoods 
of  Melchizedek  and  Levi  would  not  be  so  distinct  as  to 
bear  the  argument  which  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
founds  upon  it.  Rejecting  on  such  grounds  this  opin- 
ion, others,  as  we  have  seen,  in  their  anxiety  to  vindi- 
cate the  dignity  of  Abraham  from  marks  of  spiritual 
submission  to  any  mortal  man,  have  held  that  Melchiz- 
edek was  no  other  than  the  Son  of  God  himself.  But 
in  this  case  it  would  hardly  have  been  said  that  he  was 
made  "/*/.e  unto  the  Son  of  (iod"  (Heb.  vii,  3j,  or  that ; 
Christ  was  constituted  "  a  priest"  after  the  order  of  Jlel-  I 
chizedek  (Heb.  vi,  20),  or,  in  other  words,  was  a  type  of  ' 
himself.  The  best  founded  opinion  seems  io  be  that  of  I 
Cari)Z()v  {Apparat.  A  ntiip  Sacr.  Cod.  chap,  iv,  p.  52)  and  I 
most  judicious  moderns,  who,  after  Josejilius  (ir«)-,  vi, 
10),  allege  that  he  was  a  principal  person  among  the  I 


Canaanites  and  posterity  of  Xoah,  and  eminent  for  holi- 
ness and  justice,  and  therefore  discharged  the  priestly  as 
well  as  regal  functions  among  the  people ;  and  we  may 
conclude  that  his  twofold  capacity  of  king  and  priest 
(characters  very  commoidy  united  in  the  remote  ages ; 
see  N.  Schwebel,  De  caiisis  conjunctce  olim  c.  7-eyno  sa- 
cerdotii  dignitatis,  Onold.  1769 ;  J.  G.  Mliller,  De  re;fibus 
ap.  antiq.  poptdvs  sacerdotibus,  Jen.  1746)  afforded  Abra- 
ham an  opportunity  of  testifying  his  thankfidness  to 
God,  in  the  manner  usual  in  those  times,  by  offering  a 
tenth  of  all  the  spoil.  This  combination  of  characters 
happens  for  the  first  time  in  Scripture  to  be  exhibited  in 
his  person,  which,  with  the  abrupt  manner  in  which  he 
is  introduced,  and  the  nature  of  the  intercourse  between 
him  and  Abraham,  render  him  in  various  respects  an 
appropriate  and  obvious  t/pe  of  the  Messiah  in  his 
united  regal  and  priestly  character.  The  way  in  which 
he  is  mentioned  in  Genesis  would  lead  to  the  immediate 
inference  that  Melchizedek  was  of  one  blood  ^vith  the 
children  of  Ham,  among  whom  he  lived,  chief  (like  the 
king  of  Sodom)  of  a  settled  Canaanitish  tribe.  This 
was  the  opinion  of  most  of  the  early  fathers  (ap.  Je- 
rome, /.  c),  of  Theodoret  {in  Gen.  Ixiv,  p.  77),  and  Epi- 
phanius {Ilwr.  Ixvii,  p.  716),  and  is  now  generally  re- 
ceived (see  Grotius  in  Ifeh: ;  Patrick's  Commentary  in 
Gen.;  Bleek,  Jlebrder,  ii,  303;  Ebrard,  Ilebriicr ;  Fair- 
bairn,  Typolofiy,  ii,  313,  ed.  1854).  As  Balaam  was  a 
prophet,  so  Melchizedek  was  a  priest  among  the  cor- 
rupted heathen  (Philo,  Abrah.  xxxix  ;  Euseb.  Pros/?. 
Erang,  i,  9),  not  self-ap|)ointed  (as  Chrj'sostom  suggests, 
Horn,  in  Gen.  xxxv,  §  5;  comp.  Heb.  v,  4),  but  consti- 
tuted by  a  special  gift  from  God,  and  recognised  as  such 
by  him. 

Melchizedek  combined  the  offices  of  priest  and  king, 
as  was  not  uncommon  in  patriarchal  times.  Nothing  is 
said  to  distinguish  his  kingship  from  that  of  the  con- 
temporary kings  of  Canaan;  but  the  emphatic  words  in 
which  he  is  described,  by  a  title  never  given  even  to 
Abraham,  as  a  "  priest  of  the  most  high  God,"  as  bless- 
ing Abraham  and  receiving  tithes  from  him,  seem  to  im- 
ply that  his  priesthood  was  something  more  (see  Heng- 
stenberg,  Christol.  Psa.  ex)  than  an  ordinary  patriarchal 
priesthood,  such  as  Abraham  himself  and  other  heads  of 
families  (Job  i,  5)  exercised.  Altliough  it  has  been  ob- 
served (Pearson,  On  the  Creed,  p.  122,  ed.  1843)  tliat  we 
read  of  no  other  sacerdotal  act  performed  by  Jlelcliize- 
dek,  but  only  that  of  blessing  [and  receiving  tithes, 
Pfeiffer],  yet  it  may  be  assumed  that  he  was  accustomed 
to  discharge  all  the  ordinary  duties  of  those  who  are 
"ordained  to  offer  gifts  and  sacrifices"  (Heb.  viii,  3) ; 
and  we  might  concede  (with  Philo,  Grotius,  I.  c,  and 
others)  that  liis  regal  hospitality  to  Atirahara  was  possi- 
bly preceded  liy  an  unrwunled  sacerdotal  act  of  oblation 
to  (Jod,  without  imjilying  that  his  liospitality  was  in  it- 
self, as  recorded  in  tJeiiesis,  a  sacritice. 

The  "order  of  ^lelchizcdek,"  in  Psa.  ex,  4,  is  explained 
by  Gesenius  and  Koseinnidler  to  mean  "  manner" = like- 
ness in  official  dignity =a  king  and  priest.  The  relation 
between  Melchizedek  and  Clirist  as  type  and  antitype 
is  made  in  the  Ejiistle  to  the  Hebrews  to  consist  in  the 
following  particulars:  1.  Melchizedek  was  the  priest  of 
the  most  high  (iod  l)y  an  immediate  divine  constitution; 
so  Christ  was  a  ]iriest  after  his  order,  and  not  after  that 
of  Aaron.  2.  ISIelchizedek  derived  his  priestly  office 
from  no  predecessor,  and  delivered  it  down  to  no  suc- 
cessor; in  this  respect  Christ  also  stands  alone:  "Our 
Lord  sprang  from  the  tribe  of  Judah,  of  which  tribe 
Moses  spake  nothing  concerning  priesthood."  3.  Mel- 
cliizedek  was  stiporior  to  Abraham,  consequently  his 
priesthood  was  superior  to  that  of  Levi  and  bis  descend- 
ants. So  Clirisi's  priesthood  was  superior  to  the  Aaronic. 
4.  Melchizedek  was  the  priest  appointed  to  exercise  bis 
office  in  behalf  of  all  the  worshippers  of  the  true  (iod; 
so  Clirist  is  the  universal  priest,  the  only  one  ajipointed 
to  make  intercession  for  our  ginlty  race.  5.  !Molclii/.o- 
dek's  priesthood  was  limited  to  no  definite  time;  tliis 
circumstance  is  noticed  just  as  it  would  have  been  had 


MELCHIZEDEK 


59 


MELDENIUS 


his  priesthood  had  neither  beginning  nor  end :  "  Christ 
is  a  priest  forever"  (Psa.  ex,  4).  G.  Each  sustained  the 
high  honors  of  king  and  priest ;  and  the  significant  ap- 
pellations are  appUed  to  both — "Righteous  King  and 
King  of  Peace"  (Isa.  xxxii,  1 ;  viii,  6,  7).  In  the  Mes- 
sianic prediction  (Psa.  ex, 4),  "Thou  art  a  priest  forever 
after  the  order  of  Melchizedek,"  the  phrase  '■•forever'' 
is  not  to  be  understood  in  the  absohite  sense,  either  of 
Melchizedek's  priesthood  or  of  Christ's.  Melchizedek's 
priesthood  terminated  with  his  life;  so  Christ's  priestly 
and  liingly  office  as  IMediator  wiU  both  cease  when  the 
work  of  redemption  is  fully  accomplished  (1  Cor.  xv,  24- 
28).  But  in  neither  case  is  there  any  statute  which 
limits  the  specified  accession  to  office  and  of  egress  i'rom 
it.  To  these  points  of  agreement,  noted  by  the  apostle, 
human  ingenuity  has  added  others  which,  however, 
stand  in  need  of  the  evidence  of  either  an  inspired  wTiter 
or  an  eye-witness  before  they  can  be  received  as  facts 
and  applied  to  establish  any  doctrine.  Thus  J.  Johnson 
{Unhloody  Sacrijice,  i,123,  ed.l847)  asserts  on  very  slen- 
der evidence  that  the  fathers  who  refer  to  Gen  xiv,  18, 
understood  that  Melchizedek  oifered  the  bread  and  wine 
to  God;  and  hence  he  infers  that  one  great  part  of  our 
Saviour's  Melchizedekian  priesthood  consisted  in  offer- 
ing bread  and  wine.  Bellarmine  asks  in  what  other 
respects  is  Christ  a  priest  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek. 
^Vaterland,  who  does  not  lose  sight  of  the  deep  signifi- 
cancy  of  Melchizedek's  action,  has  replied  to  Johnson  in 
his  Ajypendix  to  "the  Christian  Sacrifice  explained" 
(ch.  iii,  §  2,  Works,  v,  165,  ed,  1843).  Bellarmine's  ques- 
tion is  sufficiently  answered  bj'  Whitaker,  I)iiputatio}i 
on  Scripture  (Quest,  ii,  ch.  x,  p.  168,  ed.  1849).  The 
sense  of  the  fathers,  who  sometimes  expressed  them- 
selves in  rhetorical  language,  is  cleared  from  misinter- 
pretation by  bishop  Jewel,  Reply  to  Harding,  art.  xvii 
( Works,  ii,  731,  ed.  1847).  In  Jackson,  On  the  Creed 
(bk.  ix,  §  2,  ch.  vi-xi,  p.  955  sq.),  there  is  a  lengthy  but 
valuable  account  of  the  priesthood  of  Melchizedek;  and 
the  views  of  t^vo  different  theological  schools  are  ably 
stated  by  Aquinas  {Summa,  iii,  22,  §  6)  and  Turretin 
{Theologia,  ii,  443-453). 

Another  fruitful  source  of  discussion  has  been  found 
in  the  site  of  Salem  and  Shaveh,  which  certainly  lay  in 
Abraham's  road  from  Hobah  to  the  plain  of  Mamre,  and 
which  are  assumed  to  be  near  to  each  other.  The  va- 
rious theories  may  be  briefly  enumerated  as  follows: 
(1)  Salem  is  supposed  to  have  occupied  in  AJbraham's 
time  the  ground  on  which  afterwards  Jebus  and  then 
Jerusalem  stood;  and  Shaveh  to  be  the  valley  east  of 
Jerusalem  through  which  the  Kidron  flows.  This  opin- 
ion, abandoned  by  Reland  {Pal.  p.  833),  but  adopted  by 
Winer,  is  supported  by  the  facts  that  Jerusalem  is  called 
Salem  in  Psa.  Ixxvi,  2,  and  that  Josephus  {Ant.  i,  10,  2) 
and  the  Targums  distinctly  assert  their  identity;  that 
the  king's  dale  (2  Sam.  xviii,  18),  identified  in  Gen.  xiv, 
17,  with  Shaveh,  is  placed  by  Josephus  {Ant.  vii,  10,  3), 
and  by  medi.-eval  and  modern  tradition  (see  Ewald, 
GescJi.  iii,  239),  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Jeru- 
salem ;  that  the  name  of  a  later  king  of  Jerusalem,  Ado- 
nizedek  (Josh,  x,  1),  sounds  like  that  of  a  legitimate 
successor  of  Melchizedek ;  and  that  Jewish  writers  {op. 
Schrittgen,  Hor.  Heb.  in  Heb.  vii,  2)  claim  Zedek  = 
righteousness,  as  a  name  of  Jerusalem.  (2)  Jerome 
{0pp.  i,  446)  denies  that  Salem  is  Jerusalem,  and  asserts 
that  it  is  identical  with  a  town  near  Scythopolis  or 
Bethshan,  which  in  his  time  retained  the  name  of  Sa- 
lem, and  in  which  some  extensive  ruir.s  were  shown  as 
the  remains  of  Melchizedek's  palace.  He  supports  this 
view  by  quoting  Gen.  xxx,  18,  where,  however,  the 
translation  is  questionable ;  compare  the  mention  of  Sa- 
lem in  Judith  iv,  4,  and  in  John  iii,  23.  (3)  Stanley, 
{S.  and  P.  p.  237)  is  of  opinion  that  there  is  every  prob- 
ability that  jNIoimt  Gerizim  is  the  place  where  Melchiz- 
edek, the  priest  of  the  Most  High,  met  Abraham.  Eu- 
polemus  (ap.  Eusebius,  Prcej}.  Evang.  ix,  17),  in  a  confused 
version  of  this  story,  names  Argerizim,  the  mount  of  the 
Most  High,  as  the  place  in  which  Abraham  was  hospita- 


bly entertained.  (4)  Ewald,  GescJi.  iii,  239)  denies  pos- 
itively that  it  is  Jerusalem,  and  says  that  it  must  be 
north  of  Jerusalem  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan  (i,  410) : 
an  opinion  which  Eodiger  (Gesen.  Thesaurus,  p.  1422  V) 
condemns.  There,  too,  Stanley  thinks  that  the  king's 
dale  was  situate,  near  the  spot  where  Absalom  fell.  See 
King's  Dale. 

Some  Jewish  writers  have  held  the  opinion  that  Mel- 
chizedek was  the  writer  and  Abraham  the  subject  of  Psa. 
ex.  See  Deyling,  Obs.  Sacr.  iii,  137.  It  may  suffice  to 
mention  that  there  is  a  fabulous  life  of  Melchizedek 
printed  among  the  spiu-ious  works  of  Athanasius,  iv,  189. 

Reference  may  be  made  to  the  following  works  in  ad- 
dition to  those  already  mentioned :  two  tracts  on  Mel- 
chizedek by  M.  J.  H.  von  Elswick,  in  the  Thesaurus 
Novus  Theolog.-philologicus ;  'L.BoTQisiVi%,Historia  Crit- 
ica  Melchisedeci  (Bern.  1706);  Quandt,  De  sacerdotio 
Melch.  (Regiom.  1737);  Gaillard,  ^feirhisedecKs  Chris- 
tus  (Leyd.  1686) ;  M.  C. H(.iirniaii.  De  Jfelchi.^c dt en  (  KKI'.)) ; 
H.  Broughton,  Treatise  on  JIi/chizaM  (lo91);  Kirch- 
maier,  JJe  Melchisedecho  (Rotterd.  169G);  Lange,  idem. 
(Hal.  1713, 1714);  Danhauer,  idein  (Strasb.1684) ;  Pietsch, 
idem  (HaUe,  1713);  Reinhart,  idem  (Wittenb.  1751); 
Withner,  idem  (Gott.  1745);  Henderson,  Melchisedek 
(Lond.  1839) ;  and  other  monographs  cited  in  Darling, 
Cyclop).  Bibliogr.  col.  183, 1607.  See  also  J.  A.  Fabricius, 
Cod.  Pseudepig.  V.  T. ;  P.  IMolinaeus,  Vates,  etc.  (1640), 
iv,  11;  J.  H.  Heidegger,  Hist.  Sac?:  Patriarcharmti 
(1671),  ii,  288;  Hottinger,  Ennead.  Dispvt.;  P.  Ctnianis, 
De  Pepubl.  Heb.  iii,  3,  apud  Crit.  Sacr.  vol.  v;  IrMiii, 
Analect.  Sacr.  i,  349;  Krahmer,  in  Illgen's  Ziii^rirr. 
vii,  4,  p.  87 ;  Auberlcin,  in  the  Stud.  u.  Krit.  iii,  l.s57, 
453  sq. ;  Presh.  Quar.  Rev.  Oct.  1861. 

Melchizedekiaiis,  a  sect  which  arose  in  the 
Christian  Church  about  the  beginning  of  the  3d  cen- 
tury, and  was  composed  mainly  of  Jewish  converts. 
They  affirmed  that  ^lelchizedek  was  not  a  man,  but  a 
heavenly  power  superior  to  Jesus  Christ;  for  Melchize- 
dek, they  said,  was  the  intercessor  and  mediator  of  the 
a.igels ;  and  Jesus  Christ  was  onlj^  so  for  man,  and  his 
priesthood  only  a  copy  of  that  of  Melchizedek.  Similar 
views  were  revived  among  the  Hieracites.  See  Theodo- 
ret,  Hceies.  Sat.  ii,  5,  6. 

Meldenius,  Rlpertus,  a  German  Protestant  the- 
ologian of  the  17th  century,  is  known  especially  by  his 
work  entitled  Parcenesis  rotiva  pro  pace  ecclesice  ad  The- 
ologos  AvgristancB  Confessionis  s.  1,  et  a,  Yery  little  is 
known  of  his  life,  and  it  was  even  at  one  time  supposed 
that  the  name  was  fictitious.  Yet  the  existence  of  Mel- 
denius appears  now  well  established.  He  was  a  warm 
supporter  of  the  Formula  Concordice,  and  did  not  con- 
template a  union  of  the  two  churches,  but  at  the  same 
time  he  wished  the  sjiirit  of  scholastic  controversy  which 
then  ruled  the  churches  to  give  way  to  real,  practical 
piety  and  peace.  In  the  first  part  of  his  work  he  de- 
nounces the  state  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  in  the 
second  he  presents  the  remedy  for  it.  He  accused  the- 
ologians of  not  distinguishing  sufficiently  between  es- 
sentials and  non-essentials,  and  maintains  that,  while 
they  should  always  be  ready  to  defend  their  opinions, 
they  ought  not  to  be  ceaselessly  engaged  in  controver- 
sies. He  claims  that  in  order  to  labor  efficiently  for  the 
edification  of  his  flock  the  minister  must  himself  lead 
a  holy  life,  and  nothing,  in  his  opinion,  can  be  wors& 
than  Pharisaical  hypocrisy,  which  is  the  origin  of  (pi- 
XoSo^ia,  (piXopyvpici,  and  (ptXovfixif-  He  ends  his  de- 
scription of  these  besetting  sins  of  the  Church  with  the 
exclamation,  Serva  nos  Domine,  alioqui{n)  perituns.  In 
the  second  part  he  contrasts  with  these  faults  the  opix)- 
site  virtues  of  humility,  moderation,  and  peacefulness 
which  the  Christian  should  possess.  Want  of  Christian 
love  he  considers  as  the  true  cause  of  the  state  of  af- 
fairs ;  there  is  enough  of  science,  but  a  great  lack  of 
love.  He  cannot  understand  a  minister  whose  sins  have 
been  pardoned  by  God  not  hiding  under  the  shield  of 
love  the  faults  of  his  colleague.    "  Omnium  vero  norma," 


MELEA 


60 


MELETIUS 


says  Rupertus,  "sit  caritas  cum  prudentia  quadam  pia 
et  humilitate  noii  ficta  conjuncta."  He  does  not  wish 
all  controversies  to  cease,  but  to  be  conducted  in  a  more 
moderate,  charitable  spirit.  He  then  compares  the  act- 
ual state  of  religion  with  its  state  in  the  early  ages, 
and  concludes  bj*  saying, "  Si  nos  servareraus  in  necessa- 
riis  unitatem,  in  non  necessariis  libertatem,  in  utrisque 
caritatcm,  optimo  certe  loco  essent  res  nostriB."  As 
essentials,  Rupertus  considers  those  principles  which 
refer  directly  to  the  articles  of  faith  or  principal  points 
in  the  Catechism,  or  such  as  can  be  clearly  established 
from  Scripture,  such  as  were  held  by  the  early  Church, 
proved  such  by  the  acts  of  synods  or  symbolic  works, 
and,  finally,  tliose  which  all  orthodox  theologians  agree 
upon  .as  such.  On  the  otlier  hand,  he  holds  as  non-es- 
sential such  points  as  arc  not  clearly  demonstrated  by 
Scripture,  do  not  form  an  article  of  the  Catechism,  were 
not  held  by  the  ancient  Church,  or  considered  neces- 
sary by  the  greater  number  of  orthodox  theologians. 
Rupertus  openly  declares  that  he  does  not  hold  the  views 
of  those  who  consider  purity  of  doctrine  as  essential. 
The  work  is  published  by  J.  G.  Pfeiffer  in  his  Miscella- 
nea Tlieologica  (Leips.  173G) ;  also  by  Liicke,  Ueber  das 
Alter,  den  VerJ'asser,  etc.,  des  Kirchlkhen  Frieden- 
spruches:  In  necessariis  unitus,  in  non  necessariis  liber- 
tax,  in  Htr'uque  caritas  ((lotting.  1850). — Herzog,  Real- 
Encyklopddie,  ix,  304.      (.J.  N.  P.) 

Mel'ea  (MfXEac,  of  uncertain  signification),  a  per- 
son named  as  the  son  of  Jlenan  and  father  of  Elialiim, 
among  the  maternal  ancestry  of  Jesus,  in  the  private 
line  of  David  (Luke  iii,  31),  but  the  name  itself  is  of 
doul)tful  authenticity  (seeMet/i.  Quai:  ]iev.lSb2,p.  bOT). 

Me'lech  (Heb.  Me'lel;  "b-a,  kint/;  Sept.  MiXdx 
and  jM(t\a,Y  v.  r.  MaXwy  and  MoAwS),  the  second 
named  of  the  four  sons  of  Jlicah,  the  grandson  of  Saul's 
son  Jonathan  (1  Chron.  viii,  35;  ix,  41).  IJ.C.  post 
1037.   See  also  Ham.melech;  Ebf.d-jielecii;  Natiian- 

MELECir  ;    RhXili.M-MELECH. 

Meletians,  Asiatic.  The  Arians  in  331  hart  de- 
posed Eustathius,  bishop  of  Antioch,  a  learned  and  zeal- 
ous Nicene;  but  a  party  who  adhered  to  the  Nicene 
symbol,  and  who  callecl  themselves  Eustathians,  con- 
tinued to  exist  at  Antioch.  After  appointing  several 
successors  to  Eustathius.  the  Arians,  in  360,  transferred 
Meletius  from  the  bishopric  of  Sebaste  to  that  of  Anti- 
och. Although  the  Arians  found  they  had  made  a  mis- 
take, and  soon  deposed  him  as  an  enemy  of  Arianism, 
yet  only  a  part  of  the  Nicenes  at  Antioch  would  ac- 
knowledge liim  as  bishop,  since  the  Eustathians  regarded 
an  Arian  ordination  as  invalid.  In  this  way  two  par- 
ties were  formed  among  the  Nicenes  at  Antioch— a  strict 
party,  the  Eustathians ;  and  a  moderate  party,  the  Mele- 
tians. This  schism,  after  Athanasius  had  tried  in  vain 
to  remove  it,  Lucifer  made  worse  by  ordaining  as  bishop 
over  the  Eustathians  the  presbyter  Paulinus,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  wishes  of  Eusebius  of  Vercelli,  who  had  been 
sent  with  him  to  Antioch,  by  the  Alexandrian  Synoil,  as 
his  co-deputy.  The  entire  Nicene  portion  of  Christen- 
dom now  became  divided,  in  reference  to  tliis  matter, 
into  two  parties;  the  Occidentals  and  i:^'yptians  recog- 
nising Paulinus  as  the  true  l)i>liii|i  of  Aniiocb,  and  the 
majority  of  the  Orientals,  whose  Nicciio  pnx'livities  had 
been  somewhat  weakened  by  senii-Arian  influences,  rec- 
ognising Meletius.— Eadie,  Kecks.  Did.  s.  v.  See  Eus- 
tathians.   See  also  ISIki.kthis  of  Antioch. 

Meletios,  M.,  an  Eastern  prelate,  was  born  in  the 
latter  i)art  til"  the  IGth  century,  in  Janina,  in  Epirus, 
and  liiiurislied  lirst  as  metropolitan  at  Lejianto  and  Arta, 
and  in  the  same  position,  after  1703,  at  Athens.  He 
died  at  Constantinople  in  1714.  He  wrote  Kirc/wnije- 
schichte,  (Ills  dem  A  Itr/riec/iinc/iPn  iii\i  Xeiir/riec/iisc/ie  iiber- 
truijen  (Wein.  1780,  3  vols.,  with  Notes  by  J.  Vendoti). 

Meletius  oi-  Antiocii,  an  eminent  Greek  ecclesi- 
astic, was  born  in  the  beginning  of  the  4th  century  at 
Melitene,  in  Armenia  Miuor.  His  tirst  important" ap- 
pointment was  that  of  bishop  of  Sebaste  (A.D.  357),  to 


which  office  he  succeeded  Eustathius,  who  had  been  de- 
posed. See  EisTATHiAXS.  The  wilful  conduct  of  the 
people  soon  caused  Meletius  to  resign,  and  he  retired  to 
Beroea,  in  Syria.  At  this  time  the  Arian  controversy 
caused  so  much  excitement  that  sectarian  zeal  was  fast 
displacing  true  piety.  Meletius,  however,  by  confining 
himself  to  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  and  ig- 
noring polemical  subjects,  succeeded  in  wiiniing  the  es- 
teem of  all  except  the  extremists  of  both  factions,  and 
by  universal  assent  was  raised  to  the  bishopric  of  Anti- 
och (A.D.  300).  His  new  position  gave  such  imjwr- 
tance  to  his  opinions  that  he  could  no  longer  remain 
indifferent  to  tlie  disputes  which  were  marring  the 
concord  of  the  Christian  world.  At  the  request  of  the 
emperor  Constantius  he  gave  an  exposition  of  Prov. 
viii,  22,  in  which  he  expressed  himself  as  being  in 
sympathy  with  the  orthodox  party.  At  this  avowal 
the  Arians  became  greatly  excited,  and  succeeded  in 
influencing  the  emperor  to  banish  him  to  his  native 
!Melitene.  Euzoius  was  installed  in  his  place,  and  the 
orthodox  party  separated  from  the  communion  of  the 
Arians.  Previous  to  this  the  most  zealous  portion  of 
the  orthodox  had  withdrawn  on  account  of  the  deposi- 
tion of  Eustathius,  but  the  two  seceding  parties  remained 
separate — the  Eustathians  adhering  at  this  time  to 
presbyter  Paulinus,  the  intended  successor  of  Eustathius, 
who  had  died  in  the  mean  while,  and  the  other  orthodox 
gathering  around  IMeletius.  On  the  accession  of  Julian 
as  emperor  (302),  Meletius  was  recalled,  and  for  two 
years  endeavored  to  reconcile  and  miite  the  two  fac- 
tions of  the  orthodox  party;  but  the  Eustathians  re- 
fused to  recognise  him,  and  elected  Paulinus  as  their 
bishop,  who  was  duly  ordained  by  Lucifer  of  Cagliari. 
On  the  accession  of  Valens,  Meletius  was  again  ban- 
ished, but  by  an  edict  of  Gratian  (378)  was  recalled,  and 
shortly  after  reinstated.  The  unrelenting  prejudice  of 
Paulinus  frustrated  all  attempts  at  reconciliation,  though 
Meletius  proposed  to  him  a  just  plan  of  union.  ^lelc- 
tius  died  at  an  advanced  age  while  attending  the  Coun- 
cil of  Constantinople  in  A.I).  381,  His  funeral  oration, 
pronounced  by  (jregorius  Nyssenus,  is  still  extant.  The 
schism  in  the  Church  lasted  until  413  or  415,  when 
bishop  Alexander  succeeded  in  reconciling  the  old  or- 
thodox party  with  the  successor  of  Meletius.  See 
Schafl;  Ch.  liist.  i,  372  and  394 ;  Gieseler,  Eccles.  Hist,  i, 
201  sq. ;  Smith,  Diet,  of  Gr.  and  Rom.  Biog.  vol.  ii,  s.  v. ; 
Walch,  ^etzerhistoHe,  vol.  iv.  See  Meletians.  (H. 
W.  T.) 

Meletius  of  Lycopolis  flourished  in  the  Egyptian 
district  of  'I'hebais  in  the  beginning  of  the  4th  century. 
He  was  a  prelate  in  the  Church,  and  the  founder  of  the 
Meletian  sect,  or,  as  they  termed  themselves,  the  Clinrch 
of  the  Martijrs.  During  the  bitter  persecutions  wliieh 
the  Christians  suffered  under  the  reign  of  Diocletian,  he 
and  his  superior,  Peter,  arclibisho)i  of  Alexandria,  were 
thrown  into  prison.  JMaiiy  Cliristians  had  abjured  their 
religiousbelief  for  the  sake  of  freedom  from  persecution, 
and  some  of  tliese.  regretting  their  faithlessness,  repaired 
to  tlic  two  imjirisoned  bishops,  desiring  to  receive  abso- 
lution, and  to  become  reconciled  with  the  Cbnrch.  Pe- 
ter was  in  favor  of  granting  the  request  of  these  Itip.ti, 
provided  they  would  do  ]ienance;  but  Meletius,  denounc- 
ing them  as  traitors,  refused  to  have  any  intercourse 
with  tliem,  until  at  least  all  persecution  had  ceased.  A 
majority  of  the  ( 'hristians  then  in  confinement  approved 
of  his  course.  This  gave  rise  to  a  schism,  whicli  gained 
some  prominence  after  the  release  of  Meletius,  who  be- 
came the  leader  of  the  rebels,  and  from  whom  they  re- 
ceived their  name.  After  regaining  his  freedom  he  or- 
dained some  twenty-nine  bisliops,  and  even  encro.iched 
upon  the  diocese  of  Peter  with  ordinations  and  cxcom- 
munication.s.  He  was  finally  checked  by  the  Council  of 
Nice,  who  censured  him,  but  allowed  him  to  retain  his 
title.  The  council  .also  agreed  to  confirm  his  appoint- 
ments, provided  tliey  would  receive  a  new  ordination 
from  tiie  projjcr  authorities.  Tiie  sect  to  which  he 
gave  rise,  sometimes  called  Egyptian  Meletians,  lasted 


MELICU 


61 


for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half,  when  its  members  made 
common  cause  with  the  Arians.  See  Schaff,  Ch.  Hist, 
i,  451 ;  Gieseler,  Eccles.  Hist,  i,  1G6 ;  Stanley,  Hist,  of  the 
East.  Ch.  p.  256 ;  Mosheim,  Eccles.  Hist,  i,  75 ;  Hase,  Ch. 
Hist.  ■p.G^O.     (H.W.T.) 

Mel'icu  (Heh.  mar g.  3Ieliku',  ^Zi'O'O,  text  Meloki', 
i^ibp  ;  Sept.  MaXovx  v.  r,  'i\|UaXoiiX)  Vulg.  Milicho; 
Neh.  xii,  14).     See  Malluch. 

Melissus  OF  Samos,  a  Greek  philosopher,  was  born 
at  Samos,  and  flourished  in  the  5th  century  (about  444) 
before  Christ.  It  is  said  that  he  was  not  less  distin- 
guished as  a  citizen  than  as  a  philosopher,  and  that  he 
commanded  the  fleet  of  his  country  during  its  insur- 
rection against  Athens.  Melissus  seems  to  have  been 
the  disciple  of  Parmenides  ;  he  studied  at  least  the 
writings  of  the  philosophers  of  the  Eleatic  school,  and 
adopted  their  doctrines  in  a  modified  form ;  or,  as  one 
has  it,  "he  took  up  the  letter  rather  than  the  spirit 
of  their  system."  He  made  his  opinions  known  in  a 
work  written  in  Ionic  prose,  probably  entitled  Of  Being 
and  of  Nature.  He  treated  not  of  the  infinite  variety 
of  things  produced  or  engendered,  but  of  eternal  nature 
considered  abstractly,  apart  from  all  concrete  things, 
and,  like  Parmenides,  called  it  being.  Simplicius  has  pre- 
served some  fragments  of  this  treatise,  and  the  author 
(Aristotle  or  Theophrastus)  of  the  book  on  IMelissus, 
Xenophanes,  and  Gorgias,  has  made  its  doctrines  well 
kno;vn.  IMelissus  taught  the  same  system  of  idealism 
as  did  the  leaders  of  the  Eleatic  school,  Xenophanes 
and  Parmenides,  but  he  is  characterized  by  greater  bold- 
ness in  his  way  of  stating  it,  and  in  some  respects  by 
profounder  views.  What  really  existed,  he  maintained, 
could  neither  be  produced  nor  perish ;  it  exists  with- 
out having  either  commencement  or  end ;  infinite  (dif- 
fering in  this  respect  from  Parmenides),  and  conse- 
quently one ;  invariable,  not  composed  of  parts,  and 
indivisible :  which  doctrine  implies  a  denial  of  the  ex- 
istence of  bodies,  and  of  the  dimensions  of  space.  All 
that  our  senses  present  to  us  (that  is  to  say,  the  greater 
part  of  things  which  exist)  is  nothing  more  than  an 
appearance  relative  to  our  senses  (-6  Iv  vi-iiv),  and  is 
altogether  beyond  the  limits  of  real  knowledge.  He 
thus  made  the  first  though  weak  attempt,  which  was 
afterwards  carried  out  by  Zeno  with  far  more  acutencss 
and  sagacity,  to  prove  that  the  foiuidations  of  all  knowl- 
edge derived  from  experience  are  in  themselves  contra- 
dictory, and  that  the  reality  of  the  actual  world  is  in- 
conceivable. As  for  the  relation  between  real  existence 
and  the  Deity,  we  are  ignorant  of  the  sentiments  of  Me- 
lissus on  this  head;  for  what  is  reported  by  Diogenes 
Laertius  (ix,  24)  can  be  considered  as  relating  only  to 
the  popular  notions.  Some  important  fragments  of  Me- 
lissus have  been  collected  by  Brandis  in  the  first  part  of 
the  Com»}i)it<ifi<i)iiiiii  Eleaticarum,  pars  prima,  p.  185  sq., 
and  by  ^I.  Mullai  li  in  liis  excellent  edition  of  the  treatise 
AristotdiK  fic  .M(/isso,  Xenophane,  et  Gorgia,  Disputa- 
tiones,  cum  Eleaticarum philosophorum  fragmentis  (Ber- 
lin, 1846),  The  same  editor  inserts  them  in  the  Frag- 
menta  Philosophorum  Grcecorum  of  the  Didot  collection 
(1869,  8vo).  See  Diogenes  Laertius,  ix,  24;  Plutarch, 
Pe7-icles,  p.  26,  27 ;  Simplicius,  In  A  rist.  Phys.  de  Ccelo  ; 
Ritter,  Gesch.  der  Philosophie,  vol.  i ;  Tenneman's  Man- 
ual of  Philosophy,  p.  68, 69 ;  Smith,  Diet,  of  Class,  Biog. 
s,  V. ;  Hoefer,  Nouv,  Biog,  Generale,  s.  v. 

Mel'ita  (MtX/r*/ ;  probably  of  Phoenician  etymol- 
ogy, and  signifying  refuge,  otherwise  clay ;  but  accord- 
ing to  Hammeker,  Miscell.  Phcenic.  p.  46,  so  named  from 
its  abundance  of  a«/i-trees),  an  island  in  the  IMediterra- 
nean,  on  which  the  ship  which  was  conveying  the  apos- 
tle Paul  as  a  prisoner  to  Rome  was  wrecked,  and  which 
was  the  scene  of  the  interesting  circumstances  recorded 
in  Acts  xxvii,  28  (see  J.  Ab.  Ciantari  Diss.  apol.  de 
Paulo  in  Melitam  navfragio  ejecto,Yen.  1738). 

I.  Identrfication  of  the  Locality. — Melita  was  the  an- 
cient name  of  Malta  (see  J.  F.Wandalin,  Diss,  de  Me- 
lita Pauli,  Havn,  1707),  and  also  of  a  small  island  in 


MELITA 

the  Adriatic,  now  called  Meleda  (MeXiTivi]  vtjaoc,  Ptol. 
ii,  17,  39  ;  comp.  Pliny,  iii,  30 ;  Apollon.  Rhod.  iv,  572), 
and  each  of  these  has  found  warm  advocates  for  its 
identification  with  the  Melita  of  Scripture  (see  Ciantar's 
edition  of  Abela's  Malta  Jllustrata,  i,  608),  the  former 
being  the  traditionary  and  long-established  opinion  (see  - 
Ign.  Giorgi,  Paulus  in  mari  quod  nunc  Venetus  sinus  diei- 
tur,  navfragus,Yen.  1730;  Jac.  de  Rhoer,  Z>e  Pauli  ad 
insul.  Melit.  naufragio,  Traj.  ad  R.  1743 ;  comp.  Bibl. 
Ital.  xi,  127  ;  Nov.  Miscell.  Lips,  iv,  308 ;  Paulus,  tiamml. 
iv,356),  liable  only  to  the  objection  that  the  part  of  the 
Mediterranean  in  which  it  is  situated  was  not  properly 
"  the  Sea  of  Adria"  (Dr.  Falconer's  Dissertation  on  St. 
Paul's  Voyage,  1817),  which  has  been  shown  (see  Wet- 
stein's  Comment,  ad  loc.)  to  be  without  force  (see  J. 
Smith,  Voyage  and  Shipwreck  of  St.  Paul,  Lond.  1848; 
also  Conybeare  and  Howson's  Life  of  St.  Paul,  ii,  353). 
As,  however,  the  controversy  on  this  subject  has  been 
somewhat  voluminous,  we  will  discuss  it  in  detail,  avail- 
ing ourselves  for  this  purpose  of  the  summary  found  in 
Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  s.  v. 

1.  Arguments  in  Favor  of  Malta.— {\.)  We  take  St. 
Paul's  ship  in  the  condition  in  which  we  find  her  about 
a  day  after  leaving  Fair  Havens,  i.  e.  when  she  was  un- 
der the  lee  of  Clauda  (Acts  xxvii,  16),  laid  to  on  the 
starboard  tack,  and  strengthened  with  "undergirders" 
[see  Ship],  the  boat  being  just  taken  on  board,  and  the 
gale  blowing  hard  from  the  east-north-east.  See  Eu- 
ROCLYDOS.  (2.)  Assuming  (what  everj-  practiced  sailor 
would  allow)  that  the  ship's  direction  of  driit  would  be 
about  west  by  north,  and  her  rate  of  drift  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  an  hour,  we  come  at  once  to  the  conclusion, 
by  measuring  the  distance  on  the  chart,  that  she  would 
be  brought  to  the  coast  of  Malta  on  the  thirteenth  day 
(see  ver.  27).  (3.)  A  ship  drifting  in  this  direction  to 
the  place  traditionally  known  as  St.  Paul's  Bay,  woidd 
come  to  that  spot  on  the  coast  without  touching  any 
other  part  of  the  island  previously.  The  coast,  in  fact, 
trends  from  this  bay  to  the  south-east.  This  may  be 
seen  on  consulting  any  map  or  chart  of  Malta.  (4.) 
On  Koura  Point,  which  is  the  south-easterly  extremity 
of  the  bay,  there  must  infallibly  have  been  breakers, 
with  the  wind  blowing  from  the  north-east.  Now  the 
alarm  was  certainly  caused  by  breakers,  for  it  took  place 
in  the  night  (ver.  27),  and  it  does  not  appear  that  the 
passengers  were  at  first  aware  of  the  danger  which  be- 
came sensible  to  the  quick  ear  of  the  "  sailors."  (5.) 
Yet  the  vessel  did  not  strike ;  and  this  corresponds  with 
the  position  of  the  point,  which  would  be  some  little 
distance  on  the  port  side,  or  to  the  left  of  the  vessel. 
(6.)  Oft"  this  point  of  the  coast  the  soundings  are  twenty 
fathoms  (ver.  28),  and  a  little  farther,  in  the  direction 
of  the  supposed  drift,  they  are  fifteen  fathoms  (ver.  28). 
(7.)  Though  the  danger  was  imminent,  we  shall  find 
from  examining  the  chart  that  there  would  stiU  be  time 
to  anchor  (ver.  29)  before  striking  on  the  rocks  ahead. 
(8.)  With  bad  holding-ground  there  would  have  been 
great  risk  of  the  ship  dragging  her  anchors.  But  the 
bottom  of  St.  Paul's  Bay  is  remarkably  tenacious.  In 
Purdy's  Sailing  Directions  (p.  180)  it  is  said  of  it  that 
"  while  the  cables  hold  there  is  no  danger,  as  the  an- 
chors will  never  start."  (9.)  The  other  geological  char- 
acteristics of  the  place  are  in  harmony  with  the  narra- 
tive, which  describes  the  creek  as  having  in  one  place 
a  sandy  or  muddy  beach  {koXttov  ixovra  alyiaXov,  ver. 
39),  and  which  states  that  the  bow  of  the  ship  was  held 
fast  in  the  shore,  while  the  stern  was  exposed  to  the 
action  of  the  waves  (ver.  41).  For  particulars  we  must 
refer  to  the  work  (mentioned  below)  of  Mr.  Smitli,  an 
accomplished  geologist.  (10.)  Another  point  of  local 
detail  is  of  considerable  interest — viz.  that,  as  the  ship 
took  the  ground,  the  place  was  observed  to  be  ciS'i'iXaa- 
(Toc,  i.  e.  a  connection  was  noticed  between  two  appar- 
ently separate  pieces  of  water.  We  shall  sec,  on  looking 
at  the  chart,  that  this  would  be  the  case.  The  small 
island  of  Salmonetta  would  at  first  appear  to  be  a  part 
of  Malta  itself;  but  the  passage  would  open  on  the  right 


MELITA 


62 


MELITA 


Chart  of  Part  of  the  Coast  of  Malta. 


as  the  vessel  passed  to  the  place  of  shipwreck.  (11.) 
Jlalta  is  in  the  track  of  ships  between  Alexandria  and 
ruteoli;  and  this  corresponds  with  the  fact  that  the 
"Castor  and  Pollux,"  an  Alexandrian  vessel  which  ulti- 
mately conveyed  St.  Paul  to  Italy,  had  wintered  in  the  | 
island  (Acts  xxviii,  1 1).  (12.)  Finally,  the  course  pur-  I 
sued  in  this  conclusion  of  the  voyage,  first  to  Syracuse 
and  then  to  Khegium,  contributes  a  last  link  to  the 
chain  of  arguments  by  which  we  prove  that  Melita  is  ' 
Malta.  '  j 

2.  Objections  to  jifalta.—The  case  is  established  to  ' 
demonstration.  Still  it  may  be  worth  while  to  notice 
one  or  two  objections.  It  is  said,  in  reference  to  xxvii, 
27,  that  the  wreck  took  place  in  the  Adriatic  or  Gulf  of 
Venice.  It  is  urged  that  a  well-known  island  like  Malta 
coidd  not  have  been  unrecognised  (xxvii,  39),  nor  its 
inliabitants  called  "barbarous"  (xxviii,  2).  And  as  re- 
gards the  occurrence  recorded  in  xxviii,  3,  stress  is  laid  ' 
on  tlie  facts  that  Malta  lias  no  poisonous  serpents,  and 
hardly  any  wood.  To  these  objections  we  reply  at  once 
tliat  Adkia,  in  the  language  of  the  period,  denotes  not 
the  (iulf  of  Venice,  but  the  ojien  sea  between  Crete  and 
Sicily;  that  it  is  no  wonder  if  the  sailors  did  not  recog- 
nise a  strange  part  of  the  coast  on  wliich  they  were  ' 
thrown  in  stormy  weather,  and  that  they  did  recognise 
the  place  when  they  did  leave  the  ship  (xxviii,  1) ;  that ' 
the  kindness  recorded  of  the  natives  (xxviii,  2,  10),  ' 
shows  that  they  were  not  "barbarians"  in  the  sense  of  I 
being  savages,  and  that  the  word  denotes  simply  that 
they  did  not  speak  (ircck;  and,  lastly,  that  the  popula-  [ 
tion  of  Malta  has  increased  in  an  extraordinary  manner  i 
in  recent  times,  that  proliably  there  was  abundant  wood 
there  formerly,  and  tliat  with  the  destruction  of  the 
wood  many  indigenous  animals  would  disappear. 

o.  Ohjeclious  to  Mclcda.— In  adducing  positive  argu- 
ments and  answering  objections,  we  have  indirectly 
proved  that  Melita  in  the  (Julf  of  Venice  was  not  the 
scene  of  the  shipwreck.  Hut  we  may  add  that  this  isl- 
and could  not  have  been  reached  without  a  miracle  un- 
der tlie  circumstances  of  weather  described  in  the  nar- 


rative; that  it  is  not  in  the  track  between  Alexandria 
and  Puteoli;  that  it  would  not  be  natural  to  proceed 
from  it  to  Kome  by  means  of  a  voyage  embracing  Syra- 
cuse ;  and  that  the  soundings  on  its  shore  do  not  agree 
with  what  is  recorded  in  the  Acts. 

4.  History  of  the  Controversy. — An  amusing  passage 
in  Coleridge's  Table  Talk  (p.  185)  is  worth  noticing  as 
the  last  echo  of  what  is  now  an  extinct  controversy. 
The  question  has  been  set  at  rest  forever  by  Mr.  Smith, 
of  Jordan  Hill,  in  his  Voyage  and  Shipwreck  of  St.  Paul, 
the  first  published  work  in  Avhich  it  was  thoroughly  in- 
vestigated from  a  sailor's  point  of  view.  It  liad,  liow- 
ever,  been  previously  treated  in  the  same  manner,  and 
with  the  same  results,  by  admiral  Penrose,  and  copious 
notes  from  his  3ISS.  are  given  in  The  Life  ami  K/ii.tths 
of  St.  Paul.  In  that  work  (2d  ed.  ji.  42C,  note)  are  given 
the  names  of  some  of  those  who  carried  on  the  coiitrf)- 
versy  in  the  last  century.  The  ringleader  on  the  Adri- 
atic side  of  the  question,  not  unnaturally,  was  padre 
Georgi,  a  Benedictine  monk  connected  with  the  •Vene- 
tian or  Austrian  Mileda,  and  his  Paulus  Xaufra//ii.i  is 
extremel}-  curious.  He  was,  however,  not  the  tirst  to 
suggest  this  untenable  view.  AVe  find  it.  at  a  much 
earlier  period,  in  a  Hyzanti..e  writer,  Const.  Porphyrog. 
JJe  Adm.  Imp.  (c.  30,  vol.  iii,  p.  164,  of  the  Bonn  e<i.). 

II.  Descriptiiin  and  History  of  the  Locality. — (In  this 
portion  we  chiefly  use  the  statements  found  in  Kitto's 
Cyclopedia,  s.  v.). — 1.  The  immediate  Scene. — Tlic  name 
of  St.  Paul's  Bay  has  been  given  to  the  i)lace  Avhere  the 
shipwreck  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place.  This,  the 
sacred  historian  says,  was  at  "  a  certain  creek  with  a 
shore,"  i.  e.  a  seemingly  practicable  shore,  on  which  they 
purposed,  if  possible,  to  strand  the  vessel,  as  their  only 
apparent  chance  to  escape  being  broken  on  the  rocks. 
In  attempting  this  the  ship  seems  to  have  struck  and 
gone  to  jjieces  on  the  rocky  headland  at  the  entrance  of 
the  creek.  This  agrees  very  well  with  St.  Paul's  Bay, 
more  so  than  with  any  other  creek  of  the  island.  This 
bay  is  a  deep  inlet  on  the  north  side  of  the  island,  being 
the  last  indentation  of  the  coast  but  one  from  the  west- 


MELITA 


63 


MELITA 


fniimliu^s  arc  hi^tHioms 


13 

V  l/i/i 


?    r 


n.     'A     8A 


2C 


J  "'2J 

f^acicT  oi-SalittoTipltal 

2S      22 

2T 


2n 

2G 


em  extremity  of  the  island.  It  is  about  two  miles  deep, 
by  one  mile  broad.  The  harbor  which  it  forms  is  very 
unsafe  at  some  distance  from  the  shore,  although  there 
is  good  anchorage  in  the  middle  for  light  vessels.  The 
most  dangerous  part  is  the  western  headland  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  bay,  particularly  as  there  is  close  to  it  a 
small  island  (Salamone),  and  a  still  smaller  islet  (Sal- 
monetta),  the  currents  and  shoals  around  which  are  par- 
ticularl}'  dangerous  in  stormy  weather.  It  is  usually 
supposed  that  the  vessel  struck  at  this  point.  From 
this  place  the  ancient  capital  of  Malta  (now  Citta  Yec- 
chia.  Old  City)  is  distinctly  seen  at  the  distance  of  about 
five  miles;  and  on  looking  towards  the  bay  from  the 
}op  of  the  church  on  the  summit  of  the  hill  whereon 
the  city  stands,  it  is  evident  that  the  people  of  the  town 
Hiight  easily  from  this  spot  have  perceived  in  the  morn- 
ing that  a  v.'reck  had  taken  place ;  and  this  is  a  circum- 
stance which  throws  a  fresh  light  on  some  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  deeply  interesting  transactions  which 
ensued.     See  Shipwreck. 

2.  The.  Island  in  General. — The  island  of  Malta  lies  in 
the  Mediterranean,  about  sixt}'  mUes  south  from  Cape 
Passaro,  in  Sicily.  It  is  about  seventeen  miles  in  length, 
and  nine  or  ten  in  breadth.  Near  it,  on  the  west,  is  a 
smaller  island,  called  Gozo,  the  ancient  Gaulos.  Malta 
has  no  mountains  or  high  hills,  and  makes  no  figure 

from  the  sea.    It  is  

naturally  a  barren 
rock,  but  has  been 
made  in  parts  abun- 
dantly fertile  bythe 
industry  and  toil  of 
man.     It    was    fa- 
mous for  its  honey 
andfruits,  foritsrc  It- 
ton- fabrics,  for  ex- 
cellent  buildiii 
stone,  and  for  a  \\   1 
known breedotdi  ^ 
A  few  years  btd  i 
St.  Paul's  viMt.  ( 1  r- 
sairs  from  his  n.un 
province  of  Ciln  1 1 
made  Melita  a  fre- 
quent   resort ,    and 
through  subseiiuent 
periods  of  its  histo- 
ry, Vandal  and  Ara- 
bian, it  was  often  as- 


sociated with  piracy. 
The  Christianity, 
however,introduced 
by  Paul  was  never 
extinct.  Melita, 
from  its  position  in 
the  Mediterranean, 
and  from  the  excel- 
lence of  its  harbors, 
has  always  been 
important  both  in 
commerce  and  war. 
The  island  was 
first  colonized  by  the 
Phoenicians  (hence 
the  term  "barbari- 
an," that  is,  neither 
Greek  nor  Roman, 
used  in  the  sacred 
narrative,  Acts 
xxviii,  2),  from 
wiiom  it  was  taken 
by  the  Greek  colo- 
nists  in  Sicily, 
about  B.C.  736  ;  but 
j  the  Carthaginians 
began  to  dispute  its 
possession  about 
,C.  528,  and  eventually  became  entire  masters  of  it. 
The  Phoenician  language,  in  a  corrupted  form,  continued 
to  be  spoken  there  in  St.  Paul's  day  (Gesenius,  Versuch 
iib.  malt.  Sprache,  Leips.  1810).  From  the  Carthagini- 
ans it  passed  to  the  Komans  in  the  Second  Punic  War, 
B.C.  242,  who  treated  the  inhabitants  well,  making  Meli- 
ta a  municipium,  and  allowing  the  people  to  be  governed 
by  their  own  laws.  The  government  was  administered 
by  a  proprietor,  who  depended  upon  the  prajtor  of  Sicily ; 
and  this  office  appears  to  have  been  held  by  Publius  when 
Paul  was  on  the  island  (Acts  xxviii,  7).  Its  chief  officer 
(imder  the  governor  of  Sicily)  appears  from  inscriptions 


Coin  of  Melita. 

to  have  had  the  special  title  of  -rrpwroQ  Me^tTaiwv,  or 
Primus  Melitensium,  and  this  is  the  very  phrase  which 
Luke  uses  (xxviii,  7).     j\Ir.  Smith  coidd  not  find  these 


(This  view 


'  St  Paul's  Bi\,'  Milti. 
taken  from  a  point  at  the  back  of  the  bay,  near  the  castle. 
shutting  in  the  bay  is  Salmonetta.) 


The  island  shown  as 


MELITO 


64 


MELITO 


jnscript  ions.  There  seems,  however,  no  reason  whatever 
to  doubt  their  authenticity  (see  Bochart,  Opera,  i,  502; 
Abela,  Descr.  Melilce,  p.  14G,  appendcil  to  the  last  volume 
of  the  Antiquities  ofGncvius;  and  Bijckh,  Co/y). //wf.  iii, 
575i).  On  the  division  of  the  Homan  empire,  Melita  be- 
longed to  the  western  portion ;  but  having,  in  A.D.  553, 
been  recovered  from  tlie  Vandals  by  Belisarius,  it  was 
afterwards  attached  to  the  empire  of  the  East.  About 
the  end  of  the  9th  century  the  island  was  taken  from  the 
Greeks  by  the  Arabs,  who  made  it  a  dependency  ujjon 
Sicily,  which  was  also  in  their  possession.  The  Arabs 
have  left  the  impress  of  their  aspect,  language,  and 
many  of  their  customs  upon  the  present  inhabitants, 
whose  dialect  is  to  this  day  perfectly  intelligible  to  the 
Arabians  and  to  the  Moors  of  Africa.  Malta  was  taken 
from  the  Arabs  by  the  Normans  in  A.D.  1090,  and  after- 
wards underwent  other  changes  till  A.U.  1530,  when 
Charles  V,  who  had  annexed  it  to  his  empire,  transferred 
it  to  the  Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  whom  the 
Turks  had  recently  dispossessed  of  Rhodes.  Under  the 
knights  it  became  a  flourishing  state,  and  was  the  scene 
of  their  greatest  glory  and  most  signal  exploits  (see  Por- 
ter, Jfdita  and  its  Kiw/lifs,  Lond.  1872).  The  institu- 
tion having  become  nnsuited  to  modern  times,  the  Order 
of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  commonly  called  Knights  of 
Malta,  gradually  fell  into  decay,  and  the  island  was  sur- 
rendered to  the  French  under  Bonaparte  wlien  on  his 
>Vay  to  Egypt  in  1798.  From  them  it  was  retaken  by 
the  English  with  the  concurrence  and  assistance  of  the 
natives;  and  it  was  to  have  been  restored  to  the  Knights 
of  Malta  by  the  stipulations  of  the  treats  of  Amiens; 
but  as  no  sufficient  security  for  the  independence  of  the 
order  (composed  mostly  of  Frenchmen)  could  be  ob- 
tained, the  English  retained  it  in  their  hands;  and  this 
necessary  infraction  of  the  treaty  was  the  ostensible 
ground  of  the  war  which  only  ended  with  the  battle  of 
Waterloo.  The  island  is  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
lish, who  have  lately  remodelled  the  government  to 
meet  the  wishes  of  the  numerous  inhabitants.  It  has 
.recently  become  the  actual  seat  of  an  Anglican  bishop- 
ric, which,  however,  takes  its  title  from  Gibraltar  out  of 
deference  to  the  existing  Catholic  bishopric  of  iNIalta. 
See,  in  mliliiinn  In  the  works  above  cited,  P.  Carlo, 
Ori'/ii,>  </,//:>  /■;,/.  ;,/  .\/„//<i  (Milan,  1759) ;  Carstens,/>e 
apolhiM  l',n,ll  in  M.liu,  (Lubec,  1754);  L.de  Boisgelin, 
Mal/e  ancieime  et  imnknie  (Par.  1809);  Bartlett's  Ocer- 
land  Route  (Lond.  185 1 ),  p.  3-1 1 8 ;  Smith's  Diet,  of  Class. 
Geofjr.  s.  V.  Melita ;  M'C'ulloch's  Gazetteer,  s.  v.  Malta ; 
also  the  observations  and  travels  cited  by  Engelmann, 
Bibl.  Geofi.  (see  Index,  s.  v.  Malta) ;  and  the  monographs 
cited  Ijy  Volbeding,  Index  Pro//raiii.  p.  84.     See  Paui,. 

Melito  OF  Sakdis,  bishop  of  the  place  after  which 
he  is  n;nned,  and  a  writer  of  considerable  eminence, 
tlourisiicd  in  the  2d  century.  So  little  is  known  of  his 
personal  history  that  it  cannot  be  determined  at  what 
date  he  was  elevated  to  the  episcopacy,  though  he  prob- 
ably held  the  bishopric  when  the  controversy  arose  at 
Laodicea  respecting  the  observance  of  Easter,  which 
caused  him  to  write  a  book  on  the  subject.  This  took 
place  uucUt  Marcus  Aurelius,  to  wliom  Melito  ijrescnted 
an  Ajiuiot/i/  for  ChrLitianifi/,  according  to  Euspltius,  in 
his  (  Itroidcon,  in  A.D.  lG9-i70.  In  tliis  a|iology  (which, 
recently  re-discovered  in  a  Syriac,  translation  and  ]ilaced 
in  tlic  British  Museum,  was  lately  |  l«(it)|  ronilered  into 
English  by  the  celebrated  Cureton )  Clirisiianity  is  de- 
scribed as  a  philosophy  that  hail  indeed  originated 
among  the  barbarians,  but  had  attained  to  a  flourish- 
ing condition  under  the  Koman  emjiire.  to  tlie  benelit 
of  which  it  greatly  redounded.  According  to  a  frag- 
ment preserved  by  Euscbius,  he  beseeches  the  emper- 
or "to  examine  the  accusations  which  were  brought 
against  the  Christians,  and  to  stop  the  persecution  by 
revoking  the  edict  which  he  had  published  against 
them.  lie  represents  to  him  that  the  Roman  empire 
was  so  far  from  being  injured  or  weakened  by  Cliris- 
iianity that  its  foundation  Avas  more  firmly  cstablislied 
and  its  bounds  considerably  enlarged  since  that  religion 


had  taken  footing  in  it.  He  puts  him  in  mind  that  the 
Christian  religion  had  been  persecuted  by  none  but  the 
worst  emperors,  such  as  Nero  and  Domitian ;  that  Ha- 
drian and  Antoninus  had  granted  privileges  in  its  favor, 
and  that  he  hoped  from  his  clemency  and  goodness  that 
they  should  obtain  the  same  protection  of  their  lives  and 
property  from  him."  According  to  the  testimony  of 
TertuUian  (in  a  work  now  lost,  but  which  Jerome  cites), 
Melito  was  regarded  as  a  prophet  by  many  of  his  con- 
temporaries. The  Church  of  Rome  commemorates  him 
as  a  saint  April  1.  From  a  passage  in  Origen,  quoted 
by  Theodoret  {Quasi,  in  Genesim,  c.  20),  ilelito  appears 
to  have  believed  that  God  possessed  a  bodily  form,  and 
to  have  written  in  support  of  that  doctrine.  This  as- 
sertion of  Origen  is  supported  by  the  testimony  of  Gre- 
nadius  of  jNIassilia  {Lib.  Dogm.  Eccles.  c.  4) ;  and  Tille- 
mont,  though  unwilling  to  allow  this,  admits  that  the 
early  Church  may  possibly  have  been  withheld  from  hon- 
oring his  memory  by  an  appointed  office  on  account  of 
this  imputation,  or  else  on  account  of  the  ascription  to 
him  of  the  book  De  Transitu  Beatce  Virr/inis.  The  sur- 
names of  A  sianits  and  oi'  JS a rdensis  given  him  by  Jerome 
designate  rather  his  see  than  his  birthplace.  Polycra- 
tes  of  I'.phesus,  a  somewhat  later  writer,  in  a  letter  to 
Victor,  bishop  of  Rome,  calls  him  Eunuchiis ;  yet  this  is 
not  to  be  taken  in  the  literal  sense,  but  rather  indicates 
only  that  he  remained  faithful  to  his  vow  of  chastity. 
As  to  the  particidars  of  the  death  of  Jlelito,  scarcely 
anything  is  known.  Polj'crates,  in  a  letter  addressed 
to  pope  Victor  (A.D.  19(5),  says,  "What  shall  I  say  of 
Melito,  whose  actions  were  all  guided  by  the  operations 
of  the  Holy  Spirit?  who  was  interred  at  Sardis,  where 
he  waits  the  resurrection  and  the  judgment."  From 
this  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  had  died  some  time  pre- 
vious to  the  date  of  this  letter  at  Sardis,  the  place  of  his 
interment.  IMelito  was  especially  skilled  in  the  litera- 
ture of  tlie  Old  Testament,  and  vas  one  of  the  most 

'  prolific  authors  of  his  time.  Eusebius  furnishes  the  fol- 
lowing list  of  Melito's  works:  Uipi  tov  iraaxn  Ci'o; 
Utfji  TToXirtiaQ  Kai  irpoipTjruii' ;  Iltpi  KVfjiaKi'ig  ;  Tlipl 
(pv(jiw(^  aj'^pwTTOV ;  lltpl  TrXaaiujij;  Ilipi  inraKoiiQ 
Triartiog  alaBjjrripitiJv ;  Uipi  xpvxrjt;  Kaiawfiaroc  ;  Uipl 
Xovrpoij;  llipi  d\i]$tint:;  Ilipi  Kriaiujg  Kai  ytr'taiutq 
XpitTToi);  nepi  TrpofJirtiaQ;  Iltpl  (piXoKti'iaQ ;  'H  KXtig; 
riepi  rov  SiajSoXon  Kai  rz/f  airoKaXvxptojcj  'lujdpvov; 
Ilspi  ii'awi^tdrov  Ofoii;  Upvg 'Aimuvlpov  (iifiXiSiov ; 
'EKXoyai;  Ilipi  aapKwcnmt;  Xpitrrov,  against  Marcion; 
Aoyof  4('t;  '<>  TTfi^oc.  Although  these  works  are  lost, 
the  testimony  of  the  fathers  remains  to  inform  us  how 
highly  they  were  esteemed.  Eusebius  gives  some  im- 
portant fragments  of  Melito's  works;  some  others  are 
found  in  the  works  of  different  ecclesiastical  writers. 
The  best  collection  of  these  fragments  is  found  in  Routh, 

j  Reliquiee  Sacree  (Oxford,  1814, 8vo),  i,  109.     Dom  Pitra 

'  published  several  fragments  in  the  Spicilegium  Soles- 
iiiense.  Fragments  of  his  works,  found  preserved  in  a 
Syriac  translation,  are  now  stored  in  the  library  of  the 
British  Museum.  Cureton  has  translated  some;  others 
have  been  published  in  Kitto's  Journal  of  iSacred  Lit- 
eriitiire,  vol.  xv.  A  satire  against  monks  was  published 
in  France  under  the  title  Apocali/psc  de  Melilon.  See 
ICusebius,  I/ist.  Eccles.  vol.  iv;  Jerome,  De  Vir  illust.; 

I  Chronon  Paschale;  Cave,  Hist.  lAlteraria,  ad  ann.  170; 

1  Tillemont,  Mem.  pour  serrir  a  I'/iL^t.  rcclts.  ii.  407  sq., 

]  (;tJ3  s(i. ;  Ceillier,  A  uteurs  Sacres,  ii,  78  sq. ;  Lardner, 
Credibiliti/,  [it.  ii,  c.  15;    Le  Clerc,  /list.  Eccks.  duoruin 

'  prim,  so'i-u/or.;    Ittig,  De  Ilwresiarch.  sec.  ii,  c.  xi; 

j  Woog,  Di.tsertationes  de  Melitone  (Leips.  174-4-51,  4to) ; 

1  Semler,  Hist.  Eccles.  selecta  capita  swculi,  vol.  ii,  c.  5; 
Dupiii,  Xonrelle  Bihliotb'eque  des  auteur.t  eccles.  vol.  i; 
Galland,  EiU.  Patrum,  vol.  ii,  IVoleg. ;  Presscnse,  Ilis- 
toire  des  trois  premiers  siecks,  ii,  2,  \>.  ll'>(> ;  Smith,  Diet, 
of  Gr.  and  Rom.  Bioff.  and  Mijtiiol.  ii,  1023;   Ilerzog, 

'  Real-Encyklopddie,  ix.  313 ;  Nealc.  Hist,  of  the  East.  Cli. 

:  Introd.  i,  38;   Donahlson.  Cli.  Literature;    Schaff,  Ch. 

I  Hist.  i.  IGG,  et  al. ;  .lonrnal  Sacred  Lit.  vols,  xv,  xvi, 

I  and  xvii ;  Piper,  in  Sludien  und  Kiiliken,  1838 ;  Steitz, 


MELITONIANS 


65 


MELON 


Und.  1856  and  1857;  Welte,  Tiibinger  theol.  Quart al- 
schrift,  1862,  p.  302  sq. 

Melitonians,  so  called  from  Melito  of  Sardis 
(q.  v.),  a  sect  who  maintained  tliat  not  the  soul,  but  the 
body  of  man,  was  made  after  God's  image. 

Melius,  John  Petek,  a  Hungarian  theologian,  was 
born  at  llorki  in  1536.  After  having  embraced  Calvin- 
ism, he  became  in  1558  professor  in  the  school  of  De- 
brczin,  and  later  superintendent.  He  died  in  1572. 
Melius  contributed  largely  towards  propagating  the 
Keformcd  religion  among  the  nobles  of  Transylvania. 
He  is  mainly  known,  however,  by  his  translations  of  the 
New  Testament  and  many  parts  of  the  Old  into  Hunga- 
rian. See  Gerdes,  Scrinium  Antiquarium,  vol.  vii;  Se- 
lig,  HUtorie  der  A  ugsburgischen  Confession,  vol.  ii. 

Melkart.     See  Hekcules. 

Mellen,  John  (1),  a  Unitarian  divine,  was  born  at 
Hopkinton,  Mass.,  in  1722.  He  graduated  at  Hansard 
College  in  1741,  was  pastor  of  the  Church  in  Lancaster, 
Mass.,  and  subsequently  at  Hanover,  and  died  in  1807. 
Mr.  Mellen  was  the  author  oi Eight  Occasional  Sermom, 
1735-95,  and  Fifteen  Discourses  on  Doctrinal  Subjects, 
1765.  See  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and  Amer.  Authors. 
vol.  ii,  s.  v. 

Mellen,  John  (2),  a  Unitarian  divine,  was  born  in 
1752.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1770,  was 
minister  of  Barnstable,  INIass.,  and  died  in  1828.  Mr. 
Mellen  published  eight  separate  Sei-?nons  and  Discourses 
(1791,  '93,  '95,  '97,  '99),  and  also  two  Dudleian  Lectures 
(1795,  '99). 

Mellin,  Georg  Samuel  Albrecht,  a  German  the- 
ologian, was  born  at  Halle  in  1775.  After  finishing  his 
education  he  was  appointed  minister  and  counsellor  of 
the  consistory  at  Magdeburg,  where  he  died  in  1825. 
He  wrote,  Murginulien  und  Register  zn  Kant's  Kritik 
des  ErkeiiHtnissrermogens  (ZuUichau,  1794,2  vols.  8vo)  : — 
Enq/klopddisches  Wortei-buch  der  krlth<-h<ii  I'hihu^djihie 
(ibid.  1797-1804,  6  vols.  ^yo):—M,trfN,ili.n  ni„l  i;,.,is- 
ter  zu  KanVs  metaphysischen  A  nfaiigsgrii/uli  n  di  r  J!i  i-lits- 
lehre  (ihxA.lSQQ)  ■.  —  Worterbuch  der  Ehilosophie  (Mag- 
deburg, 1805-7,  2  vols.  8vo). 

Mellitus,  a  noted  prelate  of  the  Church  in  the  An- 
glo-Saxon period,  flourished  in  the  7th  century.  He 
was  sent  in  A.D.  601,  by  pope  Gregory  the  Great,  as 
missionary  to  the  assistance  of  Augustine,  who  was  then 
laboring  in  England.  Mellitus,  with  other  zealous  mis- 
sionaries, proved  a  valuable  help  in  the  promotion  of 
Christianit}-  on  the  Anglican  shores.  He  brought  from 
Eome  all  the  paraphernalia  necessary  for  the  perform- 
ance of  Church  services ;  also  a  manuscript  copy  of  the 
Bible  in  two  volumes,  two  copies  of  the  Psalms,  as  they 
were  sung  in  the  churches,  two  copies  of  the  (iospels, 
Lives  of  the  Apostles  and  Martyrs,  and  a  Commentary 
on  the  Gospels  and  Epistles.  These  were  the  first 
books  ever  known  among  the  Saxons.  Sebert,  king 
of  Essex,  permitted  Mellitus  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  his 
subjects,  made  him  first  bishop  of  the  Saxons  in  London, 
and  favored  him  with  a  life-long  friendship.  At  his 
death  Sebert  was  succeeded  by  three  pagan  sons,  who  did 
not  continue  their  father's  protection.  It  is  related  that 
after  the  decease  of  Sebert,  Mellitus  encountered  much 
opposition,  and  was  finally  required  to  leave  the  coun- 
try ;  and  consequently  he,  with  others  of  the  persecuted, 
crossed  over  to  France.  Subsequently  Edbald,  who  suc- 
ceeded Ethelbert  in  Kent,  embracing  Christianity  and 
relenting  towards  the  exiles,  Mellitus  was  recalled,  and 
afterwanls  labored  zealously  in  the  cause  of  Christianity, 
which  from  that  time  became  firmly  established  in  Kent. 
Mellitus  appears  to  have  been  endowed  with  much  pru- 
dence as  well  as  piety :  not  making  fierce  inroads  upon 
paganism,  but  watching  for  and  seizing  the  favorable 
moment  for  speaking  and  doing,  he  eftected  much  for 
Christianity.  He  was  afterwards  made  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  died  about  the  year  625.  See  Maclear, 
Hist,  of  Missions,  p.  105  sq. ;  Churton,  Hist,  of  the  Early 
Ewjl.  Ch.;  Inett,  Hist,  of  the  Engl.  Ch.  (see  Index). 
VL— E 


Mello,  GuiLLAUME  de,  an  ascetic  French  author,  a 
native  of  Nantes,  flourished  in  the  latter  half  of  the  17th 
century.  He  was  canon  of  the  collegiate  church  of 
Notre  Dame  of  Nantes.  He  wrote  Les  Elevations  de 
I'dnie  a  Dieu par  les  degres  de  Creatures,  taken  from  the 
Latin  of  cardinal  Bellarmine  (Nantes,  1666,  4to) : — Le 
Devoir  des  Pasteurs,  translated  from  the  Latin  of  Bar- 
thelemi  des  Martj-r  (Paris,  1672,  12mo): — Les  divines 
Ophxitions  de  Jesus  (Paris,  1673, 12mo): — Ze  Prklica- 
teur  evangelique  (Paris,  1685,  7  vols.  12mo).  These 
works  are  anonymous.  It  is  believed  that  Mello  is  also 
the  author  of  a  Vie  des  Saints  (Paris,  1688,  4  vols.  8vo). 
— Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Melody  (!T^^t,  zimrah',  a  song  or  music,  of  the 
voice,  Isa.  Ii,  3  ["  psalm,"  Psa.  Ixxxi,  2 ;  xcviii,  6],  or 
of  an  instrument,  Amos  v,  23 ;  metaphorically,  a  song  of 
the  laml,  i.  e.  its  "  best  fruits,"  Gen.  xliii,  11 ;  "53,  nagan', 
to  st)-ike,  i.  e.  sound  a  musical  chord,  Isa.  xxiii,  13,  else- 
where "  play"  =  \^d\X(o,  Eph.  v,  19,  elsewhere  "  sing")  is 
strictly  a  musical  science,  the  pleasing  variation  between 
notes  of  a  different  pitch  in  the  same  part  or  strain,  in 
distinction  from  harmony,  which  is  the  accord  of  sounds 
between  the  different  parts;  but  in  general  terms  it  is 
synonj^mous  with  music  or  sweetness  of  sound.  See 
Music. 

Melon  (only  in  the  plur.  Giria^X,  abaftichim', 
from  n^3,  according  to  Gesenius  by  transposition  for 
niS^,  to  cook,  but  perh.  rather  a  foreign  word ;  Sept. 
likewise  irsTroi>(c,Yu\g. pepo7ies')  occurs  only  in  Numb. 
xi,  5,  where  the  murmuring  Israelites  say,  "  We  remem- 
ber the  fish  which  we  did  eat  freely  in  Egypt,  the  cu- 
cumbers and  the  melons,''  etc.  The  correctness  of  this 
translation  is  evident  from  the  kindred  word  bulikh  used 
for  the  melon  generically  by  the  Arabs  (Abdul,  p.  52, 
54;  Khaz.  De  var.  p.  56  ;  Abulf.  Ann.  ii,  65),  whence  the 
Spanish  hudiecus,  and  French  pasteques.  The  Mishna, 
however  (Jemmoth,  viii,  6 ;  Maaser,  i,  4),  distinguishes 
this  term  from  watermelons  (n''"lb"I);  but  it  uses  the 
singular  {Chilaim,  i,  8 ;  Edujoth,  iii,  3)  midoubtedly  in 
the  sense  of  muskmelon,  a  signification  which  all  the 
versions  (Onkelos,  Syr.,  Arab.,  and  Samar.)  have  af- 
fixed to  it.  A  similar  distinction  prevails  among  the 
Arabs,  who  call  the  watermelon  butikh-hindi,  or  Indian 
melon.  The  muskmelon  is  called  in  Persian  khurpuzeh, 
and  in  Hindi  khurbuja.  It  is  probably  a  native  of  the 
Persian  region,  whence  it  has  been  carried  south  into 
India,  and  north  info  Europe,  the  Indian  being  a  slight 
corruption  of  the  Persian  name.  As  the  Arabian  au- 
thors append  ./i//(w/i  as  the  Greek  name  oibutikh,  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  this  is  intended  for  ntTrajv,  es- 
pecially if  we  compare  the  description  in  Avicenna  with 
that  in  Dioscorides.  By  Galen  it  was  called  Melojupo, 
from  melo  and  pepo,  the  former  from  being  roundish  in 
form,  like  the  apple.  The  melon  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  (jIkvoq  of  Theophrastus,  and  the  (TiKuof  TrtTrtuv 
of  Hippocrates.  It  was  known  to  the  Romans,  and  cul- 
tivated by  Columella,  with  the  assistance  of  some  pre- 
caution at  cold  times  of  the  j-ear.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  introduced  into  England  about  the  year  1520,  and 
was  called  muskmelon  to  distinguish  it  from  the  pump- 
kin, which  was  then  usually  called  melon.  All  travel- 
lers in  Eastern  countries  have  borne  testimony  to  tlie 
refreshment  and  delight  they  have  experienced  from  the 
fruit  of  the  melon  (Hasselquist,  Trav.  p.  528;  Bellon, 
Observ.  ii,  75 ;  JoHflfe,  Trav.  p.  231 ;  Tournefort,  iii,  311 ; 
Chardin,  iii,  330 ;  Sonnini,  ii,  216,  328).  Alpinus  speaks 
of  their  very  general  use,  under  the  title  Batech,  by  the 
Egyptians  (Perum  ^Egypt.  Hist,  i,  17).  He  also  describes 
in  the  same  chapter  the  kind  of  melon  called  Abdellavi, 
which,  according  to  De  Sacy,  is  oblong,  tapering  at  both 
ends,  but  thick  in  the  middle  (De  Plantis  ^Egypti,  tsb. 
xli) ;  but  Forskal  applies  this  name  also  to  the  Chate 
(winch  is  separately  described  by  Alpinus,  and  a  figure 
given  by  him  at  tab.  xl),  and  says  it  is  the  commonest 
of  all  fruits  in  Egypt,  and  is  cultivated  in  all  their  fields, 


MELON 


66 


MELVILLE 


Cucumtis  Chate,  Egyptian  Melon. 

and  that  manj'  prepare  from  it  a  very  grateful  drink 
(Flora  yEt/i/ptiaco-Atribico,  p.  1G8).  The  Chate  is  a 
villous  plant  with  trailing  stems,  leaves  roundish,  bluntlj^ 
angled,  and  toothed;  the  fruit  pillose,  elliptic,  and  ta- 
pering at  both  ends  (Alpin.  /.  c.  p.  54).  Hasselquist 
calls  this  the  "Egyptian  melon"  and  "queen  of  cucum- 
bers," and  says  that  it  grows  oidy  in  the  fertile  soil 
round  Cairo ;  that  the  fruit  is  a  little  watery,  and  the 
flesh  almost  of  the  same  substance  as  that  of  the  melon, 
sweet  and  cool.  "This  the  grandees  and  Europeans 
in  Egypt  cat  as  the  most  pleasant  fruit  they  find,  and 
that  from  which  they  have  the  least  to  api)r"ehend.  It 
is  the  most  excellent  fruit  of  this  tribe  of  any  yet  known" 
(Hasselquist,  Travels,  p.  258).  These  plants,  though 
known  to  the  Greeks,  are  not  natives  of  Europe,  but  of 
Eastern  countries,  whence  they  must  have  been  intro- 
duced into  Greece.  They  probably  may  be  traced  to 
Syria  or  Egypt,  whence  other  cultivated  plants,  as  well 
as  civilization,  have  travelled  westwards.  In  Egypt 
they  formed  a  portion  of  the  food  of  the  people  at  the 
very  early  period  when  the  Israelites  were  led  by  IMoses 
from  its  rich  cultivation  into  the  midst  of  the"  desert. 
The  melon,  the  watermelon,  and  several  others  of  the 
Cucurbitace»,  are  mentioned  by  Wilkinson  (T/iebcs,  p. 
212;  Ancient  Ef/yptians,  iv,  62)  as  still  cultivated  there, 
and  arc  descriljed  as  being  sown  in  the  middle  of  De- 
cember, and  cut,  the  melons  in  ninety  and  the  cucum- 
bers in  sixty  days. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  exclude  from  the  generic  term 
ahattich  in  the  above  passage  the  watermelon  (Citcurbita 
citruUns),  which  is  clearly  distinguished  bv  Alpinus  as 
cultivated  in  Egypt,  and  called  by  names  s'imilar  to  the 
above.     Serapion,  accorduig  to  Sprcngel  (Comment,  in 


Oriental  Watermelon. 


Dioscor.  ii,  162)  restricts  the  Arabic  Batikh  to  the  water- 
melon. It  is  mentioned  h\  Forskal,  and  its  properties 
described  by  Hasselquist.  Though  resembling  the  other 
kinds  very  considerably  in  its  properties,  it  is  very  dif- 
ferent from  them  in  its  deeply-cut  leaves.  The  plant 
is  hairy,  with  trailing  cirrhiferous  stems.  Hasselquist 
says  that  it  is  cultivated  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  ia 
the  rich  clayey  earth  which  subsides  during  the  inun- 
dation, and  serves  the  "  Egyptians  for  meat,  drink,  and 
physic.  It  is  eaten  in  abundance,  during  the  season, 
even  by  the  richer  sort  of  tlie  people ;  but  the  common 
people,  on  whom  Providence  hath  bestowed  nothing  but 
poverty  and  patience,  scarcely  eat  anything  but  these, 
and  account  this  the  best  time  of  the  year,  as  they  are 
obliged  to  put  up  with  worse  at  other  seasons  of  the 
year"  (Travels,  p.  256). 

The  common  melon  (Cucumis  vielo)  is  cultivated  in 
the  same  places  and  ripens  at  the  same  time  with  the 
watermelon,  but  the  fruit  in  Egypt  is  not  so  delicious 
(see  Sonnini's  Travels,  ii,  328) ;  the  poor  in  Egypt  do 
not  eat  this  melon.  "A  traveller  in  the  East,"  says 
Kitto  (note  on  Numb,  xi,  5),  "who  recollects  the  intense 
gratitude  which  a  gift  of  a  slice  of  melon  inspired  while 
journeying  over  the  hot  and  dry  plains,  will  readily 
comprehend  the  regret  with  which  the  Hebrews  in  the 
Arabian  Desert  looked  back  upon  the  melons  of  Egypt." 

For  further  details,  see  01.  Celsius,  De  Melonibus 
^■Effi/ptiis  (Lugd.  B.  1726),  and  Ilierohot.  i,  356  sq. ;  Sal- 
masii  Ilonion.  hi/les  iutricce,  c.  35;  Rosenmiiller,  ^[or- 
fjenl.  ii,  241  sq. ;  Thomson,  JMud  and  Book,  ii,  261 ;  Tris- 
tram, Nat.  Hist,  of  the  Bible,  p.  468. 

Melugin,  Thomas  Maddix,  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South,  was  born  near  Coving- 
ton, Ky.,  Sept.  17, 1838 ;  in  1853  he  was  converted,  and 
joined  the  above  Church;  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
August,  1861,  and  in  November  following  was  admitted 
into  the  ^lemphis  Conference  on  trial,  and  sent  to  La 
Grange  Circuit;  in  1862  to  Randolph  Circuit;  in  1863 
to  Huntingdon  Circuit,  where  his  health  failed,  and  he 
was  compeOed  to  leave  the  work.  In  1864  he  received 
a  superinimerary  relation,  in  which  he  was  assigned  to 
Randolph  Circuit,  and  in  1865  to  Covington  Station, 
where  he  remained  until  his  death,  April  2, 1866.  Mr. 
iMelugin  was  ever  devoted  to  his  work,  and  in  his  last 
illness  excmplifiod  the  power  of  the  Christian's  faith. 
See  Miiiiitis  of  th,-  M.  K.  Church,South,  1866. 

Melville,  Andrew,  one  of  Scotland's  celebrated 
characters,  the  most  eminent  worker  in  the  "  Kirk"  next 
to  John  Knox  himself,  and  denominated  by  Anglican 
churchmen  "  the  father  of  Scottish  Presbytery"  (Ste- 
phen, i,  258 ;  compare,  however,  Hetherington,  p.  78,  coL 
I ),  was  born  Aug.  1, 1545.  He  was  the  youngest  of  the 
nine  sons  of  Richard  Melville  of  Baldovy,  a  small  estate 
on  the  banks  of  the  South  Esk,  near  Montrose.  He  had 
the  misfortune  to  lose  both  his  parents  when  only  about 
two  years  old,  liis  father  falling  at  the  battle  of" Pinkie 
in  1547,  and  his  mother  dying  in  the  course  of  the  same 
year;  and  the  education  of  young  Andrew  devolved  upon 
his  eldest  brother,  who  was  minister  of  the  neighboring 
parish  of  JIaritoun  after  the  establishment  of  the  Ref- 
ormation in  1560.  Even  as  a  child  Anih-ew  distin- 
i,'uishod  himself  by  the  quickness  of  his  capacity,  and, 
though  a  delicate  Ijoy,  it  was  determined  that  lie  should 
have  all  the  advantages  the  schools  of  his  day  could  af- 
ford him.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  removed  from 
tlic  grammar-school  of  Montrose,  where  he  had  been  for 
some  time,  to  St.  Mary's  College,  in  the  University  of 
St.  Andrew's.  Here  he  studied  for  four  years  most  de- 
votedly, and,  upon  the  completion  of  the  curriculum, 
bore  away  the  re]iutation  of  being  "the  best  philoso- 
|)her,  poet,  and  (irecian  of  any  young  master  in  the 
land."  We  are  told  that  .lohn  Douglas,  who  was  at  that 
time  rector  of  St.  Andrew's,  showed  Andrew  Melville 
much  marked  attention,  and  that  the  old  rector  was  so 
much  pleased  with  his  shrewdness  and  accuracy  of  ob- 
servation, that,  on  parting  with  him,  Douglas  exclaimed, 


MELVILLE 


67 


MELVILLE 


"  My  silly  fatherless  and  motherless  boy,  it's  ill  to  wit 
what  God  may  make  of  thee  yet."  Anxious  to  continue 
his  studies  under  the  guidance  of  master  minds,  he  de- 
termined to  go  abroad,  and  take  his  place  at  the  feet  of 
the  learned  of  other  lands.  First  among  the  high- 
schools  of  that  day  figured  Paris,  and  thither  he  now 
directed  his  steps.  He  was  only  a  boy  of  nineteen,  but 
he  had  the  purposes  of  a  man,  and  without  the  loss  of  a 
moment,  he  made  haste  to  reach  Paris,  and  recommenced 
his  studies  at  the  French  capital.  After  a  two-years' 
stay  he  proceeded  to  Poitiers,  to  devote  some  time  to 
the  study  of  civil  law,  not,  however,  for  the  purpose  of 
preparing  for  the  legal  profession,  but  only  as  a  source 
of  discipline  "  connected  with  a  complete  course  of  edu- 
cation." 

MelviUe  had  gone  to  Poitiers,  as  he  imagined,  a  per- 
fect stranger,  but  his  reputation  as  a  scholar  had  reached 
the  place  long  before  he  made  his  actual  debut,  and  he 
was  greeted  with  the  offer  of  a  professorship  at  the  high- 
school  which  he  had  intended  to  enter  as  a  student.  For 
three  years  he  labored  at  the  College  of  St.  Marceon 
with  most  marked  success,  at  the  same  time,  however, 
adhering  steadfast  to  the  chief  intention  of  his  visit 
thither,  viz.  the  study  of  civil  law.  In  1567  the  renewed 
political  disturbances  obliged  him  to  quit  France.  He 
retired  to  Geneva,  and  by  the  exertions  of  Beza  the  chair 
of  humanity,  which  happened  to  be  then  vacant,  in  the 
academy  of  that  place,  was  secured  for  him.  Andrew 
INIelville  was  now  more  in  his  element,  both  politically 
and  religiously,  and  Geneva  was  a  scene  to  which  his 
mind  often  recurred  in  after-life.  It  was  there  he  made 
that  progress  in  Oriental  learning  for  which  he  became 
so  distinguished.  There  also  he  enjoyed  the  society  of 
some  of  the  best  and  most  learned  men  of  the  age ;  but 
above  all  it  ivas  there  the  hallo-.ved  flame  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  began  to  glow  in  his  breast,  with  a  fer- 
vor which  continued  unabated  ever  after.  In  the  spring 
of  1574,  at  the  urgent  request  of  his  friends  at  home,  he 
resigned  his  position  here,  and  decided  to  return  to  his 
native  country,  from  which  he  had  now  been  absent  al- 
together about  ten  years.  On  this  occasion  Beza  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  General  Assembly,  in  which, 
among  other  expressions  of  a  like  kind,  he  declared  that 
Jlelville  was  "  equally  distinguished  for  his  piety  and 
his  erudition,  and  that  the  Church  of  Geneva  could  not 
give  a  stronger  proof  of  affection  to  her  sister  Church 
of  Scotland  than  by  suffering  herself  to  be  bereaved  of 
him  that  his  native  country  might  be  enriched  with  his 
gifts." 

On  Melville's  arrival  in  Edinburgh,  in  July,  1574,  he 
was  invited  by  the  regent  Morton  to  enter  his  family  as 
a  domestic  tutor;  but  this  invitation  was  declined  by 
Melville,  who  ivas  averse  to  a  residence  at  court,  and 
preferred  an  academic  life.  He  was  early  gratified  in 
this  wish,  for,  having  taught  for  a  short  time  as  private 
tutor  in  the  house  of  a  near  relative,  he  was  urged  by 
archbishop  Boyd  and  other  leading  men  for  the  princi- 
palship  of  Glasgow  College,  and  was  promptly  appointed 
by  the  General  Assembl}'.  In  this  new  position  his 
learning,  energy,  and  talents  were  eminently  serviceable, 
not  only  to  the  university  over  which  he  presided,  but 
to  the  whole  kingdom  and  to  literature  in  general.  He 
introduced  improvements  of  great  importance  in  teach- 
ing and  discipline,  and  infused  an  uncommon  ardor 
into  his  pupils.  It  was  not,  however,  as  a  mere  scholar 
or  academician  that  Melville  now  distinguished  himself. 
The  constitution  of  his  office,  as  a  professor  of  divinity, 
entitled  him  to  a  seat  in  the  ecclesiastical  judicatories, 
and  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  ecclesiastical  dis- 
putes of  the  time,  and  was  active  in  the  Church  courts 
and  in  the  conferences  held  with  the  Parliament  and 
privy  council  on  the  then  much  agitated  subject  of 
Church  government.  During  Melville's  absence  from 
Scotland,  an  incongruous  species  of  Church  govern- 
ment—norhinally  Episcopalian,  but  which  neither  satis- 
fied Episcopalians  nor  Presbyterians — had  been  intro- 
duced.   He,  however,  was  not  a  believer  in  prelacy.    He 


insisted  that  prelacy  is  not  founded  upon  scriptural  au- 
thority, and  that  it  is  foreign  to  the  institutions  and 
practices  of  apostolical  times.  His  stay  in  Geneva,  more- 
over, had  afforded  him  a  very  favorable  opportunity  to 
judge  of  the  workings  of  the  Presbyterian  parity,  and, 
in  consequence,  he  was  determined  to  exert  himself  for 
the  establishment  of  like  institutions  in  his  own  coun- 
try. Hetherington  will  have  it  that  the  Episcopalians 
are  in  "  the  habit  of  ascribing  the  decided  Presbyterian 
form  of  Church  government  in  Scotland  to  the  personal 
influence  of  Andrew  Melville,  who,  they  say,  had  brought 
from  Geneva  the  opinions  of  Calvin  and  Beza,  and 
succeeded  in  infusing  them  into  the  Scottish  minis- 
ters, who  had  previously  been  favorable  to  a  modified 
prelacy."  But  no  less  an  authority  than  Dr.  Cook,  him- 
self a  Presbyterian,  holds  that  until  Melville's  arrival 
from  Geneva  "  a  modified  and  excellent  form  of  episco- 
pacy" was  prevailing  in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and 
that  it  was  the  indifference  of  tlie  earl  of  Morton,  who 
was  now  acting  regent,  that  resulted  perniciously  to  the 
country,  and  paved  the  way  for  the  agitation  of  "  new 
plans  of  ecclesiastical  polity"  (i,  237, 238).  He  certainly 
was  not  given  the  name  of  Episcopomastrix,  or  the 
"scourge  of  bishops,"  by  any  Episcopalian,  and  there 
seems  every  reason  for  the  opinion  that  Melville  was 
reaUy  the  first  Scotchman  to  press  the  interests  of  Pres- 
byterianism.  There  is  one  thing  certain,  however,  that 
even  though  INIelville  did  not  come  determined  to  oust 
prelacy  from  Scottish  churches,  he  yet  steered  clear  of 
the  regent's  proposals,  which,  if  Melville  had  acceded  to 
them,  "  might  have  enabled  that  craftj'  statesman  [Mor- 
ton] to  rivet  securely  the  fetters  with  which  he  was 
striving  to  bind  the  Church,  instead  of  being  mightily 
instrumental  in  wrenching  them  asunder"  (Hethering- 
ton, p.  78,  col.  2).  Slelville's  intrepidity  was  often  very 
remarkable.  On  one  occasion,  when  threatened  by 
IMorton  in  a  menacing  way,  which  few  who  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  regent's  temper  could  bear  without 
apprehension,  Melville  replied,  "Tush,  man!  threaten 
your  courtiers  so.  It  is  the  same  to  me  whether  I  rot 
in  the  air  or  in  the  ground ;  and  I  have  lived  out  of  your 
country  as  well  as  in  it.  Let  God  be  praised ;  you  can 
neither  hang  nor  exile  his  truth !" 

In  March,  1575,  jNIelville  had  an  opportimity  to  pub- 
licly press  his  reforming  schemes.  He  was  at  this  time 
a  member  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  his  name  was  in- 
cluded in  a  committee  appointed  to  confer  with  the  gov- 
ernment on  the  subject  of  the  polity  of  the  Church,  and 
to  prepare  a  scheme  of  ecclesiastical  administration  to  be 
submitted  to  a  general  assembly.  In  1578  his  labors  were 
finally  crowned  with  success.  He  presided  this  j'ear  over 
the  assembly,  and  had  the  pleasure  to  take  the  vote  ap- 
proving the  second  book  of  Discipline,  from  that  period 
the  standard  of  Presbyterian  Church  government.  An- 
other matter  to  which  the  attention  of  the  General  As- 
sembly was  at  this  time  directed  was  the  reformation  and 
improvement  of  the  universities.  Here  Melville  also  took 
a  leading  part.  The  high  state  of  learning  and  discipline 
to  which  the  University  of  Glasgow  had  been  raised  by 
him,  and  the  comparatively  low  grade  of  education  in 
the  other  colleges,  had  become  an  object  of  public  noto- 
riety, and  it  was  necessary  that  measures  be  taken  for 
reforming  and  remodelling  them.  A  new  theological 
school  was  agreed  upon  for  St.  Andrew's,  and  it  Was 
resolved  to  translate  Melville  thither.  At  the  end  of 
the  year  1580  he  was  installed  principal  of  St,  Mary's 
College,  in  the  University  of  St.  Andrew's,  and  in  this 
new  position  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  usual  zeal 
and  ability.  Besides  giving  lectures  on  theology,  he 
taught  the  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Syriac,  and  rabbinical  lan- 
guages, and  his  prelections  were  attended  not  only  by 
young  students  in  unusual  numbers,  but  also  by  several 
masters  of  the  other  colleges.  But  his  scholastic  labors, 
however  arduous  and  multifarious,  could  not  prevent 
him  from  continuing  an  active  worker  for  the  interests 
of  the  Church,  even  in  the  pulpit.  Immediately  after 
his  removal  to  St.  Andrew's,  Melville  began  to  i;)€rform 


MELVILLE 


G8 


MELVILLE 


divine  service,  and  he  also  took  a  share  of  the  other  min- 
isterial duties  of  the  parish.  His  gratuitous  labors  were 
highly  gratifying  to  the  people  in  general,  but  the  free- 
dom and  litifclity  with  which  he  reproved  vice  ex[)osed 
him  to  the  resentment  of  several  leading  individuals, 
and  the  most  atrocious  calumnies  against  ^lelville  were 
conveyed  to  the  kii-.g,  whose  mind  was  predisposed  to 
receive  any  insinuations  to  his  disadvantage.  A  bad 
matter  was  made  worse  in  1582,  when  Melville  was  sent 
to  the  General  Assembly,  and  was  by  that  body  honored 
with  the  office  of  moderator.  In  this  prominent  place 
he  had  many  opportunities  to  advocate  the  interests  of 
his  pet  plans  on  ecclesiastical  government.  But  even 
here  matters  did  not  rest.  He  was  invited  to  preach 
before  the  assembly,  and  in  his  sermon  he  boldly  in- 
veighed against  the  tyrannous  measures  of  the  court, 
and  against  those  who  had  brought  into  the  country  the 
'•  bludie  gullie"  of  absolute  power.  This  fearless  charge, 
which  the  assembly  had  applauded,  and  had  secuiidc  d 
by  a  written  remonstrance,  intrusted  to  Melville  fur 
presentation  at  court,  led  to  a  citation  before  the  privy 
council  for  high-treason,  and,  though  the  crime  was  not 
proved,  he  was  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  contempt 
of  court,  as  he  had  refused  to  appear,  maintaining  that 
whatever  a  preacher  might  say  in  the  pulpit,  even  if  it 
should  be  called  treason,  he  was  not  bound  to  answer  for 
it  in  a  civil  court  until  he  had  been  (irst  tried  in  an  ec- 
clesiastical court.  Apprehensive  that  his  life  was  really 
in  danger,  he  set  out  tor  London,  and  did  not  return  to 
the  North  till  the  faction  of  Arran  was  dismissed  in  the 
year  following.  After  being  reinstate4  in  his  office  at 
St.  Andrew's,  Melville  and  his  nephew  took  an  active 
part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Synod  of  Fife  (q.  v.), 
which  terminated  in  the  excommunication  of  archbishop 
Adamson,  for  having  dictated  and  defended  the  laws 
subversive  of  ecclesiastical  discipline.  When  Adamson 
was  relaxed  from  censure,  and  restored  to  his  see,  Mel- 
ville was  charged  to  retire  to  the  north  of  the  Tay,  and 
was  not  permitted  to  return  to  his  post  till  the  college 
had  reluctantly  consented  to  gratify  one  of  the  king's 
menial  servants  by  renewing  a  lease,  to  the  great  dimi- 
nution of  the  rental.  Not  long  afterwards,  the  king,  ac- 
companied by  Du  Bartas,  the  poet,  on  a  visit  to  St.  An- 
drew's, hail  an  opportunity  of  hearing  from  Melville  a 
most  S4)irited  and  learned,  though  extemporaneous,  ref- 
utation of  an  elaborate  lecture  by  Adamson  in  favor  of 
liis  views  of  royal  prerogative,  and,  upon  the  decease  of 
Adamson  in  1592,  Melville  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the 
passage  of  an  act  of  Parliament  ratifying  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  by  general  assemblies,  provincial 
synods,  presbyteries,  and  kirk  sessions,  and  explaining 
away  or  rescinding  the  most  offensive  of  the  acts  of 
the  year  1584  —  the  black  acts,  as  they  were  usually 
called.  This  important  action  is  considered  to  this  day 
as  the  legal  foundation  of  the  Presbyterian  government, 
and  it  was  regarded  by  JMelville  as  an  ample  reward  for 
liis  laborious  efforts.  The  king,  however,  was  not  sin- 
cerely in  favor  of  these  measures,  and  secretly  displayed 
a  strong  desire  to  make  the  "  Kirk"  a  mere  tool  of  polit- 
ical power,  or  to  restore  episcopacy.  Melville  strenu- 
ously resisted  every  such  attempt,  whether  made  in  an 
open  or  clandestine  form. 

In  15!)(;  a  very  favorable  opportunity  seemed  to  pre- 
sent itself  for  the  court  to  effect  its  purjioses.  A  tu- 
mult had  taken  place  at  Edinburgh  on  December  K!. 
and  this  opjiortunity  was  seized  by  the  court  as  a  han- 
dle for  tlie  purpose  of  effecting  a  change  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Church.  MelviUe,  and  the  Synod  of 
Fife,  and  many  leading  clergymen,  protested.  To  reach 
the  king's  ears,  Melville  was  selected  as  chairman  of 
a  deputation  to  the  king.  Upon  this  occasion  Mel- 
ville displayed  the  same  intrepidity  of  character  that 
he  had  exhibited  on  meeting  Morton  while  in  the  re- 
gency. King  James  seemed  to  be  displeased  with  the 
Protestants,  and  reminded  Melville  that  he  was  his  vas- 
sal, "  Sirrah,"  retorted  Melville, " ye  are  God's  silly  vas- 
sal ;  there  are  two  kings  and  two  kingdoms  in  Scotland : 


I  there  is  king  James,  the  head  of  the  commonwealth ; 
and  there  is  Christ  Jesus,  the  king  of  the  Church,  whose 
subject  James  the  Sixth  is,  and  of  whose  kingdom  he  is 
not  a  king,  nor  a  lord,  nor  a  head,  but  a  member."  It  b 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  such  plain  speaking  met  the 
j  displeasure  of  the  man  who  had  a  peculiar  liking  for 
I  stratagems,  or  who  was  accustomed  to  look  upon  the 
[works  of  darkness  as  the  essence  of  "kingcraft."  A 
.  general  assembly  was  summoned  by  the  king  to  meet 
at  Perth ;  and  as  it  was  composed  chiefly  of  ministers 
from  the  north,  who  were  studiously  infected  with  prej- 
udices against  their  southern  brethren,  the  adherents  of 
Melville  were  left  in  the  minority.  But  the  next  as- 
sembly at  Dundee,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  was  not 
J  quite  so  tractable,  and  it  became  quite  clear  to  king 
i  James  that  in  this  way  he  would  not  succeed  in  anni- 
hilating, nor  even  lessening,  Melville's  ascendency.  An 
oppiirtiuiity,  however,  was  not  long  wanting  for  such  a 
nefarious  attempt.  A  royal  visitation  of  the  university 
:  was  determined  upon,  and  king  James  went  to  St.  An- 
drew's in  person,  where,  after  searching  in  vain  for  mat- 
ter of  accusation  against  Melville,  it  was  ordained  that 
all  professors  of  theology  or  phildsdjihy,  nut  being  act- 
ual pastors,  should  thenceforth  be  preiluiUd  from  sitting 
in  sessions,  presbyteries,  synods,  or  assemblies,  and  from 
teaching  in  congregations.  When  the  assembly  met  at 
Dundee  in  1588,  Melville  made  his  appearance,  notwith- 
standing the  restrictions  under  which  he  had  just  been 
placed;  but,  when  liis  name  was  called,  king  James  ob- 
jected, and  declared  that  he  would  not  permit  any  busi- 
ness to  be  done  until  IMelville  had  withdrawn.  Melville 
defended  himself,  and  boldly  told  the  king  that  the  objec- 
tion was  invalid ;  to  prevent  difficulty,  however,  he  finally 
withdrew  under  protest.  Preparation  was  now  made 
for  restoring  the  order  of  bishops,  and  the  first  approach 
to  this  measure  was  to  induce  the  commissioners  of  the 
General  Assembly  to  solicit  that  the  ministers  and  eld- 
ers of  the  Church  might  be  represented  in  Parliament. 
A  statute  w^as  accordingly  passed,  declaring  prelacy  to 
be  the  third  estate,  and  asserting  the  right  of  such  min- 
istcrs  as  should  be  advanced  to  the  episcopal  dignity  to 
I  the  same  legislative  privileges  which  had  been  enjoyed 
l)y  the  former  prelates.  The  next  conference,  held  at 
Falkland, :Melville  attended, and  therein  presence  of  iiis 
I  majesty,  maintained  his  sentiments  with  his  accustomed 
fearlessness  and  vehemence,  and  the  king  judged  it  jiru- 
dent  to  refer  all  the  matters  which  were  still  intended 
to  be  adjusted  to  an  assembly  which  met  at  ^lontrose 
in  March,  IGOO.  IMelville  appeared  as  a  commissioner 
from  his  presbytery,  and  though,  by  the  king's  objec- 
tions, he  was  not  suffered  to  take  his  seat,  his  counsels 
and  his  unconquerable  zeal  served  to  animate  and  con- 
firm the  resolution  of  his  brethren;  and  the  assembly 
was  with  great  dithculty  ])revailed  upon  to  adopt  the 
scheme  of  the  court,  under  certain  modilications.  In 
IGOl  IMelville,  notliing  daunted  by  the  fierce  opposition 
of  his  royal  master,  attended  the  assemi)ly  at  Burnt  Isl- 
and. jMelville's  conduct  was  grossly  misrepresented,  and 
James,  incensed  by  the  perseverance  of  his  subject,  im- 
mediately set  out  for  St.  Andrew's,  and  there,  without 
even  the  sanction  of  his  privy  council,  issueil  a  Icttre  de 
cachet,  charging  I^Ielville  to  confine  himself  within  tlie 
walls  of  the  college ;  the  roval  mandamus  decreeing,  at 
the  same  time,  "if  he  fail  and  do  in  the  contrary,  that 
he  shall  be  incontinent  thereafter,  denounced  rebel,  and 
put  to  tlie  law,  and  all  his  movable  goods  escheat  to 
his  higliness's  use  for  his  contemption."  The  king's 
conduct  towards  tlie  Church  from  this  time  forward  we 
have  alreadv  treated  in  detail  in  the  article  Jasies  I 
(q.vO. 

James's  accession  to  the  English  throne  brought  to 
^lelville  a  permit  enlarging  his  circle  of  activity  to 
within  six  miles  of  the  college,  and  three  congratu- 
latory poems,  which  he  had  written  for  the  occasion, 
seemed  even  to  have  established  peace  between  the 
two  combatants.  In  1G06,  however,  the  war  broke  out 
anew,  and  this  time  it  ended  onlv  with  the  removal 


MELVILLE 


69 


MEMBER 


of  the  sturdy  reformer.  In  1604  and  in  1605,  Mel- 
ville had  sorely  provoked  the  king  by  his  activity 
against  the  royal  measures.  In  1606  Melville  was  se- 
lected to  represent  his  presbytery  at  Parliament,  and 
protest  against  the  act  of  restoring  episcopacj'  and  re- 
viving chapters.  This  action  was  unfavorably  com- 
mented upon  before  the  king,  and  the  latter  determined 
to  punish  Melville.  One  fine  day  Melville  quite  unex- 
pectedly received  a  letter  from  his  majesty  desiring  him 
to  repair  to  London  before  September  15,  that  his  maj- 
esty might  consult  him  and  others  of  his  learned  breth- 
ren on  ecclesiastical  matters.  Melville  and  others  went 
accordingly,  and  had  various  interviews  with  the  king, 
who  at  times  condescended  even  to  be  jocular  with 
them ;  but  they  soon  learned  that  they  were  interdicted 
from  leaving  the  place  without  special  permission  from 
his  majesty,  and  that  James  was  only  waiting  for  a  fa- 
vorable opportunity  to  vent  his  wrath  upon  Melville. 
The  occasion  was  not  long  wanting.  Melville  having 
written  a  short  Latin  epigram,  in  which  he  expressed 
his  feelings  of  contempt  and  indignation  at  some  rites 
of  the  English  Church  on  the  festival  of  St.  Michael, 
was  immediately  summoned  before  the  privy  council, 
found  guilty  of  "  scandalum  magnatum,"  and,  after  a 
confinement  of  nearly  twelve  months,  first  in  the  house 
of  the  dean  of  St.  Paul's,  and  afterwards  in  that  of  the 
bishop  of  Winchester,  was  committed  to  the  Tower,  and 
was  there  kept  a  prisoner  for  more  than  four  years,  in 
violation  of  every  principle  of  justice.  The  first  year 
of  his  imprisonment  was  particularly  severe.  He  was 
deprived  of  all  opportunity  to  give  expression  to  his 
thoughts  either  by  writing  or  oral  communication. 
Through  the  influence  of  Sir  James  Sempill,  he  was  re- 
moved, at  the  end  of  ten  months,  to  a  more  healthy  and 
spacious  apartment,  and  was  allowed  the  use  of  pen,  ink, 
and  paper.  When  the  rigor  of  his  confinement  was  re- 
laxed, he  was  consulted  both  by  Arminius  and  his  an- 
tagonist Lubbertus  on  their  theological  disputes.  He 
continued  to  refresh  his  mind  by  occasionally  writing  a 
poem,  and  in  two  or  three  letters  to  his  nephew,  James 
Melville,  whom  he  loved  as  a  son,  he  reviewed  Dr.  Down- 
ham's  sermon  on  Episcopacy.  In  1610  he  printed  a 
specimen  of  poetical  translations  of  the  Psalms  into  Lat- 
in verse,  and  he  never  wrote  a  letter  to  his  nephew  with- 
out transmitting  copies  of  some  of  his  verses.  In  l(jll 
he  was  released,  on  the  solicitation  of  the  duke  of  Bouil- 
lon, who  wanted  his  services  as  a  professor  in  the  uni- 
versity at  Sedan,  in  France.  Melville,  now  in  his  sixty- 
sixth  year,  would  fain  have  gone  home  to  Scotland  to 
lay  his  bones  there,  but  the  king  would  on  no  account 
hear  of  such  a  thing,  and  he  was  forced  to  spend  his  old 
age  in  exile.  Melville  died  about  1622,  but  neither  the 
date  of  his  death  nor  the  events  of  his  last  years  are  as- 
certained. 

Melville  appears  to  have  been  low  in  stature  and 
slender  in  his  person,  but  possessed  of  great  physical 
energy.  His  voice  was  strong,  his  gesture  vehement, 
and  he  had  much  force  and  fluency  of  language,  with 
great  ardor  of  mind  and  constancy  of  purpose.  His 
natural  talents  were  of  a  superior  order,  and  he  was  a 
scholar  and  divine  of  no  common  attainments.  "As  a 
preacher  of  God's  word,  he  was  talented  in  a  very  high 
degree — zealous,  untiring,  instant  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  and  eminently  successful — and  as  a  saint  of  God, 
he  was  a  living  epistle  of  the  power  of  religion  on  the 
heart.  Sound  in  faith,  pure  in  morals,  he  recommended 
the  Gospel  in  his  life  and  conversation — he  fought  the 
good  fight ;  and,  as  a  shock  cometh  in  at  its  season,  so  he 
bade  adieu  to  this  mortal  life,  ripe  for  everlasting  glorj'. 
If  John  Knox  rid  Scotland  of  the  errors  and  supersti- 
tions of  popery,  Andrew  Melville  contributed  materially, 
by  his  fortitude,  example,  and  counsel,  to  resist,  even  to 
the  death,  the  propagation  of  a  form  of  worship  uncon- 
genial to  the  Scottish  character"  (Howie,  p.  278).  Dr. 
]\IcCrie  concludes  his  two  interesting  volumes  of  Mel- 
ville's Life  (1819)  with  the  declaration,  '•  Next  to  the 
Keformer,  I  know  no  individual  from  whom  Scotland 


has  received  such  important  services,  or  to  whom  she 
continues  to  owe  so  deep  a  debt  of  national  respect  and 
gratitude,  as  Andrew  Melville."  See,  besides  McCrie's 
biography,  Hetherington,  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Scotland 
(N.  Y.  1856, 8vo),  p.  78  sq. ;  Cook,  Rpformation  in  Scot- 
land, chap,  xxvii;  Stephen, /7w<.  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land (Lond.  18-45, 4  vols.  8vo),  i,  258  sq. ;  Russel,  Hist,  of 
the  Church  of  Scotland  (Lond.  1834,2  vols.  18mo),  i,  chap. 
ixi  ii,  chap,  x  sq.;  Howie,  Scots  Worthies,  p.  239  sq.; 
Chambers  and  Thomson,  Biog.  Diet,  of  Eminent  Scots- 
men (1855),  iv,  1  sq.;  Blackwood's  Magazine,  Sept.  1824, 
(J.  II.  W.) 

Melville,  Henry,  B.D.,  an  eminent  English  di- 
vine and  pulpit  orator,  was  bom  at  Pendennis  Castle. 
Cornwall,  Sept.  14,  1800;  was  educated  at  St.  Peter's 
College,  Cambridge,  graduated  B.A.  in  1821,  and  soon 
after  became  a  fellow  and  tutor ;  later  he  determined  to 
take  holy  orders,  and  was  appointed  minister  of  Camden 
Chapel,  Camberwell,  London;  in  1843  he  was  made 
principal  of  East  India  College,  Haileybury ;  in  1846  he 
accepted  the  appointment  as  chaplain  to  the  Tower  of 
London,  and  incumbent  of  the  church  within  its  pre- 
cincts; about  1848  he  was  elected  to  the  Golden  Lect- 
ureship of  St.  Margaret's,  Lothbury ;  in  1853  he  became 
chaplain  to  the  queen,  and  in  1856  canon  of  St.  Paul's ; 
in  1863  rector  of  Barnes  and  rural  dean.  He  died  in 
London  Feb.  9, 1871.  A  number  of  Mr.  Melville's  Lect- 
ures and  Sermons  were  published,  manv  of  them  Avith- 
out  his  consent  (1845, 1846, 1850, 1851, 1853) ;  they  have 
also  been  several  times  republished  in  this  country.  Also 
Voices  of  the  Year:  Readings  for  the  Sundays  and  Holi- 
days through  the  Year  (1856,  2  vols.)  -.—Golden  Counsels  : 
Persuasions  to  a  Christian  Life  (1857) ;  and  other  works. 
"  No  other  clergyman  of  the  English  Church  during  the 
present  century  has  had  the  reputation  for  eloquence 
and  rhetorical  finish  in  his  discourses  which  Mr.  Mel- 
ville retained  to  the  last.  His  sermons  were  very  care- 
fully and  elaborately  written,  and  delivered  with  great 
earnestness  and  fervor.  If  there  was  faidt  anywhere,  it 
was  in  the  superabundance  of  his  imagery,  and  his  more 
than  Oriental  wealth  of  style." — Nnc  A  mer.  A  n.  Cyclop. 
1871,  p.  495;  AUibone's  Diet,  of  Brit,  and  Amer.  Au- 
thors, ii,  1262 ;  English  Iincyclop.  vol.  ii,  s.  v. 

Melville,  James,  an  eminent  Scotch  scholar  and 
divine,  was  born  in  1556.  He  was  professor  of  Hebrew 
and  Oriental  languages  in  the  University  of  St.  Andrew's 
in  1580,  minister  of  Anstrutherwerter  in  1596,  and  sub- 
sequently of  Kilrenny.  He  died  in  1614.  Mr.  Melville 
was  a  zealous  advocate  of  Presbj'terian  discipline.  He 
was  the  author  of  A  d  Jacobum  I  Ecclesice  Scotianm  Li- 
bellus  supplex  (1645),  and  his  Autobiography  and  Diary 
(1556-1610).  See  Dr.  M'Crie's  Life  of  A  ndreio  Melville ; 
Black-wood's  Magazine,  xvi,  256. 

Mel'zar  {Heh.meltsa?-',  'i:sbp,prob.from  the  Pers. 
master  ofivine,  i.  e.  chief  butler;  so  Bohlen,  Symbol,  p. 
22;  others,  ti-easiti-er),  the  title  rather  than  the  name  of 
an  officer  in  the  Babylonian  court  (as  in  the  margin, 
"steward,"  but  Sept.  'Aficpaap,  on  account  of  the  Heb. 
art.,  Vulg.  Malasar'),  being  that  of  the  person  who  had 
charge  of  the  diet  of  the  Hebrew  youths  in  training  for 
promotion  as  magi  (Dan.  i,  11,  16;  comp.  Lengerke, 
Stuart,  Comment,  ad  loc).  "  The  melzar  was  subordi- 
nate to  the  '  master  of  the  eunuchs ;'  his  office  was  to 
superintend  the  nurture  and  education  of  the  young;  he 
thus  combined  the  duties  of  the  Greek  Trai^aywyoQ  and 
Tpocpevc,  and  more  nearly  resembles  our  'tutor'  than 
any  other  officer.  As  to  the  origin  of  the  term,  there 
is  some  doubt ;  it  is  generally  regarded  as  of  Persian 
origin,  the  words  mal  f «?-a  giving  the  sense  of  '  head 
cup-bearer;'  Fiirst  {Lex.  s.  v.)  suggests  its  connection 
with  the  Hebrew  nazar, '  to  guard' "  (Smith). 

Member  (in  the  plur.  tu'^'l'.i'^,  yetsii-im',  forms,  Job 
xvii,7;  fiiXt],  parts,  i.  e.  limbs)  properly  denotes  a  part 
of  the  natural  body  (1  Cor.  xii,  12-25);  figuratively, 
sensual  affection,  like  a  body  consisting  of  many  mem- 
bers (Rom.  vii,  23);  also  true  believers,  members  of 


MElilENTO  MORI  1 

Christ's  mystical  body,  as  forming  one  society  or  body, 
of  which  Christ  is  the  head  (Eph.  iv,  25). 

Memento  Mori — remember  death.  It  was  God 
himself  wlio  first  gave  this  admonition  to  fallen  Adam 
(Gen.  iii,  19).  Such  admonitions  we  find  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  and  that  very  frequently,  no  doubt  with 
intent  to  remind  us  constantly  of  the  final  day,  of  the 
end  of  life.  Philip,  king  of  Macedon,  it  is  said,  crdered 
his  attendant  to  remind  him  of  his  death  every  monitng 
by  saying,  "  King,  thou  art  a  mortal  being;  live  in  the 
thought  of  death."  Human  beings  are  but  too  apt  to 
forget  the  "  Memento  mori"  when  called  to  high  places 
of  honor.  An  exception,  however,  was  a  certain  gen- 
eral who,  when  holding  his  triumphal  processions,  had  a 
servant  advance  to  him  and  cry  out  repeatedly,  "  Do 
not  forget  tliat  you  are  a  mortal  man."  We  shoidd  be 
mindful  that  every  one  of  us  is  but  a  mortal  being.  Even 
to  this  day  the  sinister  thought  of  this  is  impressed  upon 
the  pope  at  his  coronation,  when  the  master  of  the  cere- 
mony advances  toward  the  holy  father  with  a  silver 
staff",  on  which  is  fastened  a  tuft  of  oakum  ;  this  is  light- 
ed by  a  candle  borne  by  a  clerical,  who  bends  his  knee, 
and,  holding  up  the  burning  oakum,  exclaims,  "  Holy 
father,  be  reminded  that  all  earthly  existence  will  be 
extinguished  like  this  tuft  of  oakum."  Another  occa- 
sion the  Romanists  furnish  in  their  liturgy,  so  especially 
solemn  on  Ash  Wednesday,  where  the  sentence  occurs, 
"  Memento  homo,  quia  pulvis  es,  et  in  pulverem  revert e- 
ris."  There  are  two  ecclesiastical  onlers,  the  Carthusi- 
ans and  Trappists,  whose  members,  on  meeting  a  per- 
son, utter  aloud  the  words  "  Memento  mori."  The  Trap- 
pists  always  keep  in  their  gardens  an  open  grave,  surely 
a  good  warning  and  constant  reainder  of  the  uncertainty 
ol  earthly  existence.     See  Dkatii. 

Memling,  Hans  or  Jan,  a  celebrated  Flemish 
painter,  was  born  at  Constanz  in  1439,  according  to  Dr. 
Boisseree,  but  other  authorities,  among  whom  may  be 
cited  Mrs.  Heaton,  assert  positively  that  his  birthplace 
was  Bruges,  and  that  he  was  born  in  1430.  There  was 
for  a  long  time  a  fierce  controversy  as  to  this  painter's 
name,  some  writers  insisting  that  it  should  be  written 
JlemliiKj  or  llemmelinck,  and  that  he  was  of  German 
origin ;  there  is,  however,  very  little  reason  for  doubting 
that  Jlemling  was  the  real  name  of  the  painter  whose 
works  adorn  the  Chapel  of  St.  John  at  Bruges.  There 
is  but  little  known  of  his  life;  he  appears  to  have  lived 
some  years  in  Spain,  and  is  supposed  to  have  visited 
Italy  and  Germany — certainly  Cologne ;  he  is  also  said 
to  have  served  Charles  the  Bold  of  Burgundy,  botli  a.'- 
painter  and  as  warrior.  He  was  admitted,  wounded  and 
destitute,  into  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  at  Bruges,  a  re- 
ligious institution,  in  which  none  but  inhabitants  of 
Bruges  were  entered  (which  fact  i3  also  given  to  prove 
that  he  was  born  in  Bruges),  and,  upon  recovering, 
painted,  from  gratitude  at  his  kind  treatment,  the  beau- 
tiful picture  of  Sibiil  Zambvth.  There  are  a  number  of 
works  of  art  in  this  hospital  by  Memling,  prominent 
among  which  is  the  history,  in  minute  figures,  of  St. 
Ursula,  the  virgin  saint  of  Cologne,  and  her  compan- 
ions, exquisitely  painted  in  oil  in  manj'  compartments, 
upon  a  relic  case  of  Gothic  design,  known  as  La  Cliasse 
de  Ste.  Ursule.  Memling  painted  also  during  his  stay 
at  this  hospital  the  Adoration  of  the  Mayi,  the  large 
altar-piece  of  the  Marriatje  i>f  Ut.  Catharine,  the  Ma- 
donna and  Child,  and  a  Di-snid  fmiii  il,c  Cross.  Nine 
pictures  by  ^lemling  are  in  the  .Miini(  li  (iallcry,  among 
which  the  greatest  arc,  Jsra< /it(s  <■<>//,  ,fi,i;/  M'auna,  St. 
Christophir  carrying  the  infant  Christ,  Abraham  and 
Melchizedtk,  the  Seizure  of  Christ  in  the  Garden,  a 
Sancta  Veronica  or  Face  of  Christ,  the  .Joys  and  Sor- 
rows of  the  Virifin,  and  the  .fourney  of  the  three  Kings 
of  the  East.  Kathgeber  enumerates  over  one  hundred 
works  which  are  attributed  to  Memling,  but  few  of  them, 
however,  can  be  authenticated.  He  also  decorated  mis- 
sals and  other  books  of  Church  service,  one  of  which  is 
in  the  Library  of  St.  Mark  at  Venice.     Jlemling  proba- 


)  MEMORY 

bly  died  in  the  year  1499,  as  an  authentic  document  pre- 
served in  the  records  of  tlie  town  of  Bruges,  dated  in 
1499,  speaks  of  him  as  "  the  late  Meestre  Hans."  See 
Mrs.  Heaton,  Masterpieces  of  Flemish  Ai-t  (Lond.  18G9, 
4to) ;  Kuglor's  Hand-book  of  Painting,  transl.  by  Waagen 
(Lond.  18G0,  2  vols.  r2mo) ;  ilrs.  Jameson,  Legends  of 
the  Madonna,  p.  19,  89, 105,  202,  304. 

Memmi,  Simon,  an  eminent  Siennese  painter,  was 
born  in  128.5.  Yasari  says  he  was  a  pupil  of  Giotto; 
Lanzi,  however,  claims  him  as  a  scholar  of  the  Siennese 
maestro  Mino.  He  was  a  close  imitator  of  the  style  of 
Giotto,  whom  he  accompanied  to  Rome.  After  bis 
master's  death  he  painted  a  Virgin  in  the  portico  of  St. 
Peter,  also  two  figures  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  upon 
the  wall  between  the  arches  of  the  portico  on  the 
outer  side.  He  then  returned  to  Sienna,  where  he  was 
appointed  by  the  Signoria  to  paint  one  of  the  halls  of 
their  palace  in  fresco,  the  subject  being  a  Virgin,  with 
many  figures  around  her.  He  painted  three  other  pict- 
ures in  the  same  palace,  one  of  which,  an  Annunciation, 
was  afterwards  removed  to  the  gallery  of  the  Uffizi. 
The  other  represented  tlie  Virgin  holding  the  Child  in 
her  arms,  and  was  destroyed  by  the  earthquake  of  1798. 
He  was  invited  to  Florence  by  the  general  of  the  Au- 
gustines,  where  he  painted  a  very  remarkable  Cruci- 
fixion. Vasari  says,  "In  this  painting  tlie  thieves  on 
the  cross  are  seen  expiring,  the  soul  of  the  repentant 
thief  being  joyfully  borne  to  heaven  by  angels,  while 
that  of  the  impenitent  departs,  accompanied  by  devils, 
and  roughly  dragged  by  these  dicmons  to  the  torments 
of  hell"  {Lives  of  the  Painters,  i,  184).  He  also  painted 
three  of  the  walls  of  the  chapter-house  of  Santa  Maria 
Novella.  On  the  first  wall,  over  the  entrance,  is  the 
Life  of  San  Domenico;  on  that  which  is  nearest  the 
church  h'j  represented  the  Jirethren  of  the  Dominican  Or- 
der contending  against  the  Heretics;  on  the  third,  which 
is  where  the  altar  stands,  was  depicted  the  Crucifixion 
of  Christ.  Many  other  works  are  attributed  to  him 
jointly  with  his  "brother  Lijjpo  Memmi,  who  also  prac- 
ticed the  art  of  painting  with  great  success.  About 
1342  the  two  brothers  returned  to  Sienna,  where  Simon 
commenced  a  work  of  vast  extent,  being  a  Coronation 
of  the  Virgin,  with  an  extraordinary  number  of  figures. 
He  died  before  its  completion  at  Avignon,  in  July,  1344. 
See  Vasari,  Lives  of  the  Painters,  transl.  by  Foster  (Lond. 
1850,  5  vols.  8vo),  i,  181 ;  Lanzi's  Uistonj  of  Painting, 
transl.  by  Roscoe  (Lond.  1847,  3  vols.  8vo),  i,  278 ;  Mrs. 
Jameson,  Legends  of  the  Madonna  (Lond.  1857,  8vo),  p. 
172,  273. 

Mem'mius,  Quintis  (KoVjtoc  Mf/ijuioc).  one  of 
the  Roman  ambassadors  sent  to  the  Jews  by  Lysias  (2 
Mace,  xi,  31)  about  B.C.  103-2.     Sec  JIanliis. 

Memorial  is  the  name  (1)  of  a  prayer  of  oblation; 
the  prayer  in  the  order  of  the  communion  beginning 
'•  O  Lord  and  heavenly  Father,"  which  follows  the  com- 
munion of  the  faithful.  (2)  The  tomb  of  a  martyr,  or  a 
church  dedicated  to  his  memory.  (3)  The  commemo- 
ration of  a  concurrent  lesser  festival  by  the  use  of  its 
collect.  (4)  Exequies,  an  office  for  the  dead  said  by  the 
priest  in  the  14th  century  in  England. — Walcott, /S«c/ed 
A  rchaol.  s.  v. 

Memory,  that  faculty  of  the  mind  which  enables 
us  to  recall  past  impressions,  whether  of  external  facts  or 
internal  consciousness.  It  applies  to  sensations,  percep- 
tions, creations  of  the  fancy,  matters  actpiired  by  learn- 
ing, in  short,  to  anything,  actual  or  imaginary,  which  has 
previously  occupied  the  mind.  It  is  the  great  mental 
storehouse  of  knowledge.  The  clearness  of  the  impres- 
sion so  recalled  depends,  other  things  being  equal,  upon 
the  strength  and  vividness  of  the  original  impression, 
and  this  largely  depends  upon  tlie  tlcgree  of  atlmlion 
given  to  the  object  of  it  at  the  time.  Other  conditions 
are,  chiefly,  length  of  interval  since  the  first  impression, 
frequency  of  its  reiteration,  variety  of  intervening  and 
confusing  impressions,  etc.  There  are  two  accessory 
ideas  usuallv  included  in  the  definition  of  memory, 


MEMPHIS 


11 


MEMPHIS 


namely,  the  power  of  retaining  as  well  as  recalling  pre- 
vious impressions,  and  an  accompanying  consciousness 
that  the  impressions  recalled  relate  to  the  past.  But 
both  these  are  logically  involved  in  the  definition  above 
given ;  for  the  power  of  retention  is  only  indicated  and 
measured  by  the  facility  or  ability  of  recalling,  and  the 
past  character  of  the  thing  remembered  is  implied  in  its 
being  ?-e-called  rather  than  conceived,  perceived,  or  orig- 
inated. Memory  is  thus  a  definite  act,  which  serves  as 
the  exponent  or  index  of  the  faculty  by  virtue  of  which 
it  is  performed ;  and  the  power  itself  is  estimated  and 
characterized  according  to  the  ease,  rapidity  and  com- 
pleteness of  the  function.  Memorj^  can  hardly  be  said 
to  be  voluntary,  yet  the  will  may  assist  it  indirecth'. 
The  recurrence  of  the  past  impression  depends  upon 
•what  is  called  the  association  of  ideas,  i.  e.  the  connec- 
tion in  which  the  impression  was  first  made ;  and  this 
furnishes  the  link  for  retrieving  it.  This  association 
differs  greatly  in  different  minds,  and,  indeed,  with  al- 
most every  occasion.  B\'  attentively  fixing  the  mind 
upon  something  connected  with  the  matter  sought  to  be 
recalled,  the  train  of  thought  may  often  be  recovered  ; 
yet,  when  it  does  at  last  recur,  it  is  spontaneous.  Hence 
memory  has  been  distinguished  into  simple  i-emembrance, 
or  passive  memory  without  effort,  and  recollection,  or 
active  memory  accompanied  by  a  mental  endeavor. 
Memory  of  a  particular  point  may  be  clear  or  faint. 
Memory  in  general  may  be  either  weak  or  strong.  In 
some  individuals  these  last  characteristics  are  constitu- 
tional. The  memory,  however,  may  be  greatly  im- 
proved by  habit.  Artificial  helps  are  called  mnemonics. 
Memory  may  also  be  weak  in  one  respect,  and  strong  in 
another.  Hence  the  distinction  of  verbal  memory,  etc. 
Names  and  numbers  are  proverbially  difficult  to  remem- 
ber. Yet  some  remarkable  instances  of  these  species  of 
memory  are  on  record.  Singular  instances  also  of  dis- 
ordered memory,  either  excessively  acute  or  defective 
in  some  peculiar  respects,  have  been  observed.  It  is 
held  by  many  that  nothing  is  absolutely  lost  by  the 
memorj' ;  and  some  are  of  the  opinion  that  this  facultj^ 
will  furnish  the  conscience  ^vith  the  whole  catalogue  of 
past  sins  at  the  final  judgment.     See  Mind. 

Mem'phis  (Mfju^ic,  Herod,  ii,  99,  114,  136,  154; 
Polyb.  V,  61 ;  Diod.  i,  50  sq.),  a  very  ancient  city,  the 
capital  of  Lower  Egypt,  standing  at  the  apex  of  the 
Delta,  ruins  of  which  are  still  found  not  far  from  its  suc- 
cessor and  modern  representative,  Cairo.  In  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  it,  we  shall  mainly  follow  the  article 
of  R.  T.  Poole,  in  the  new  edition  of  Kitto's  Cyclopcedia, 
with. some  additions  from  J.  P.  Thompson's  article  in 
Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  and  other  sources.  See 
Egypt. 

I.  The  Name. — Memphis  occurs  once  in  the  A.V.,  in 
Hosea  ix,  6,  where  the  Hebrew  has  Hfoph  (Cib,  Sept. 
'Mtn<l)iQ,\v,\g. ilemphis).  Elsewhere  the  Hebrew  name 
appears  as  Nojih  (vl3),  under  which  form  it  is  mentioned 
by  Isaiah  (xix,  13),  Jeremiah  (ii,  16 ;  xlvi,  14,  19),  and 
Ezekiel  (xxx,  13,  16).  These  two  Hebrew  forms  are 
contractions  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  men-nufr  or  men- 
NEFKU,  whence  the  Coptic  Mevfi,  Memfi,  Membe  (Mem- 
phitic  forms),  and  Memfe  (Sahidic),  the  Greek  name, 
and  the  Arabic  Menf.  The  Hebrew  forms  were  proba- 
bly in  use  among  the  Shemites  in  Lower  Egypt,  and 
perhaps  among  the  Egyptians,  in  the  vulgar  dialect. 

Tlie  ancient  Egj-ptian  common  name  (as  above)  sig- 
nifies either  "the  good  abode,"  or  "the  abode  of  the 
good  one."  Plutarch,  whose  Egyptian  information  in 
the  treatise  De  Iside  de  Osii-ide  is  generally  valuable, 
indicates  that  the  latter  or  a  similar  explanation  was 
current  among  the  Egyptian  priests.  He  tells  us  that 
some  interpreted  the  name  the  "  haven  of  good  ones," 
others,  "the  sepulchre  of  Osiris"  (kai  Hjv  fiti'  ttvXiv  o'l 
fiiv  opjxov  uyaSiCov  ipfirjvivovatv,  ol  o  [('o(]wc  rc'iipov 
'OfflpiSii;,  c.  20).  "  To  come  to  port"  is,  in  hieroglyph- 
ics, MCNA  or  5IAN,  and  in  Coptic  the  long  vowel  is  not 
only  preserved  but  sometimes  repeated.    There  is,  how- 


ever, no  expressed  vowel  in  the  name  of  Memphis,  which 
we  take  therefore  to  commence  with  the  word  jien, 
"  abode,"  like  the  name  of  a  town  or  village  men-hcb, 
"  the  abode,  or  mansion,  of  assembly,"  cited  by  Brugsch 
(Geogi-aphische  Inschriften,  i,  191,  No.  851,  tab.  xxxvii). 
"  The  good  abode"  is  the  more  probable  rendering,  for 
there  is  no  preposition,  which,  however,  might  possibly 
be  omitted  in  an  archaic  form.  The  special  determina- 
tive of  a  pyramid  follows  the  name  of  IMemphis,  be- 
cause it  was  the  pyramid-city,  pyramids  having  per- 
haps been  already  raised  there  as  early  as  the  reign  of 
Venephes,  the  fourth  king  of  the  first  dynasty  (Mane- 
tho,  ap. Cory,  Anc. Frag.  p.  96, 97 ;  comp. Brugsch,  Geogr. 
Inschr.  i,  240). 

The  sacred  name  of  Memphis  was  ha-ptah,  pa- 
PTAH,  or  HA-PTAH-KA,  or  HA-KA-PTAH,  "  the  abode  of 
Ptah."  or  "  of  the  being  of  Ptah"  (Brugsch,  i,  235,  236, 
Nos.  1102, 1103, 1104, 1105,  tab.  xlii). 

II.  Geog7-aphical  Position. — Memphis  was  well  chosen 
as  the  capital  city  of  all  Egypt.  It  stood  just  above 
the  ancient  point  of  the  Delta,  where  the  Pelusiac,  Se- 
benny  tic,  and  Canopic  branches  separated.  It  was  with- 
in the  valley  of  Upper  Egypt,  yet  it  was  close  to  the 
plain  of  Lower  Egypt.  If  farther  north  it  could  not 
have  been  in  a  position  naturally  strong ;  if  anywhere 
but  at  the  division  of  the  two  regions  of  Egypt,  it  could 
not  have  been  the  seat  of  a  sovereign  who  wished  to 
unite  and  command  the  two.  Where  the  valley  of  Up- 
per Egypt  is  about  to  open  into  the  plain  it  is  about  five 
miles  broad.  On  the  east,  this  valley  is  bounded  almost 
to  the  ri,ver's  brink  by  the  light  j'ellow  limestone  moun- 
tains which  slope  abruptly  to  the  narrow  slip  of  fertile 
land.  On  the  west,  a  broad  surface  of  cultivation  ex- 
tends to  the  low  edge  of  the  Great  Desert,  upon  which 
rise,  like  landmarks,  the  long  series  of  Memphite  pyra- 
mids. The  valley  is  perfectly  flat,  except  where  a  vil- 
lage stands  on  the  mound  of  some  ancient  town,  and  un- 
varied but  by  the  long  groves  of  date-palms  wliich  ex- 
tend along  the  river,  and  the  smaller  groups  of  the  vil- 
lages. The  Nile  occupies  the  midst  with  its  great  vol- 
ume of  water,  and  to  the  west,  not  far  beneath  the  Lib- 
yan range,  is  the  great  canal  called  the  Bahr  Yiisuf, 
or  "  Sea  of  Joseph."  The  scene  is  beautiful  from  the 
contrast  of  its  colors,  the  delicate  tints  of  the  bare  des- 
ert-mountains or  hills  bright  with  the  light  of  an  Egyp- 
tian sun,  and  the  tender  green  of  the  fields,  for  a  great 
part  of  the  year,  except  when  the  Nile  spreads  its  inun- 
dating waters  from  desert  f  o  desert,  or  when  the  harvest 
is  yellow  with  such  plenteous  ears  as  Pharaoh  saw  m 
his  dream.  The  beauty  is  enhanced  by  the  recollec- 
tion that  here  stood  that  capital  of  Egypt  which  was  in 
times  very  remote  a  guardian  of  ancient  civilization; 
that  here,  as  those  pyramids — ^ivhich  frifiers  in  all  ages 
have  mocked  at — were  raised  to  attest,  the  doctrine  of  a 
future  state  was  firmly  believed  and  handed  down  till 
revelation  gave  it  its  true  significance;  and  that  here 
many  of  the  great  events  of  sacred  history  may  have 
taken  place,  certainly  many  of  its  chief  personages  may 
have  wondered  at  remains  which  in  the  days  of  Abra- 
ham were  the  work  of  an  older  and  stronger  generation. 

But  for  the  pyramids  it  would  now  be  difficult  to  as- 
certain the  precise  site  of  Memphis,  and  the  pyramids, 
extending  for  twenty  miles,  do  not  minutely  assist  us. 
No  lofty  mounds,  as  at  Bubasfis  and  Sais,  mark  the 
place  of  the  great  city;  no  splendid  temples,  as  at 
Thebes,  enable  us  to  recall  its  magnificence.  The  val- 
ley between  the  Libyan  Desert  and  the  Nile  is  flat  and 
unmarked  by  standing  columns,  or  even,  as  at  neigh- 
boring Heliopolis,  by  a  solitary  obelisk.  Happily  a 
fallen  colossal  statue  and  some  trifling  remains  near  by, 
half  buried  in  the  mud,  and  aimually  drowned  by  the 
inundation,  show  us  where  stood  the  chief  temple  of 
Memphis,  and  doubtless  the  most  ancient  part  of  the 
city,  near  the  modern  village  of  Mit-Eahhieh  (fully 
Minyet  Rahineh ;  comp.  Eobinson,  Resea7-ches,  i,  40,  41). 
This  central  position  is  in  the  valley  verj-  near  the  pres- 
ent west  bank  of  the  river,  and  three  miles  from  the 


MEMPHIS 


MEMPHIS 


PiCSGiit  \  .e 


Tlie  climate  of  Mem- 
|)liis  may  be  inferred 
iromthatofthemod- 
erii  (  airo  —  about 
ten  imlestotlie  north 
—winch  is  the  most 
t  \ui\  le  that  I-jrypt 
an  r  Is.  The  city  13 
•-ti  1  to  have  had  a 
c  irt  nmfercnce  of 
al)  ut  nineteen  miles 
(L)iod.Sic.i,50),and 
the  houses  or  inhab- 
it <  Uiuarters,  as  was 
11  iial  in  the  great 
II  ic?  of  antiquity, 
vcre  interspersed 
with  numerous  gar- 
de ns  and  public 
area"! 

The  building  of 
iVFemphis  is  associated  by  tradition  with  a  stupendous 
work  of  art,  which  has  permanently  changed  the 
course  of  the  Kile  and  the  face  of  the  Delta.  Uefore 
the  time  of  Menes  the  river,  emerging  from  the  ii])- 
per  valley  into  the  neck  of  the  Delta,  bent  its  course 
westward  towards  the  hills  of  the  Libyan  Desert,  or  at 
least  discharged  a  portion  of  its  waters  through  an  arm 


edge  of  the  Great  Desert.  The  distance  above  Cairo  is 
about  nine  miles,  and  that  above  the  ancient  head  of 
the  Delta  about  sixteen.  The  ancient  city  was  no 
doubt  of  great  extent,  but  it  is  impossible,  now  that  its 
remains  have  been  destroyed  and  their  traces  swallowed 
up  i)y  the  alluvial  dejiosit  of  the  Nile,  to  determine  its 
limits,  or  to  decide  whether  the  different  quarters  men- 
tioned in  the  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  were  portions  of  j  in  that  direction.  Here  the  generous  Hood,  whose  yearly 
one  connected  city;  or,  again,  whether  the  IMemphis 
known  to  classical  writers  was  smaller  than  the-  old  cap- 
ital, a  central  part  of  it,  from  which  the  later  additions 
had,  in  a  time  of  decay,  been  gradually  separated.  In 
the  inscriptions  we  find  three  quarters  distinguished: 
The  "  White  Wall,"  mentioned  by  the  classical  writers 
(XfVKvv  Tilxof;},  has  the  same  name  in  hieroglyphics, 
SEBT-HET  (IJrugsch,  ut  sup.  i,  120,  234,  235;  1  tab.  xv, 
Nos.  1091-1094;  tab.  xlii).  That  Memphis  is  meant  in 
the  name  of  the  nome  appears  not  only  from  the  cir- 
cumstance that  Memphis  was  the  caj)ital  of  the  Mem- 
phitic  Nome,  but  also  from  the  occurrence  of  ha-ptaii- 
KA  or  HA-KA-PTAii,  as  the  equivalent  of  sebt-iikt  in 
the  name  of  the  nome  (Brugsch,  ibul.  i,  tab.  xv ;  i,  1 ; 
ii,  1,  etc.,  and  Nomcn  aus  dem  neuen  Reiche,  p.  1).  The 
White  Wall  is  put  in  the  nome-name  for  Memphis  it- 
self, i)robably  as  the  oldest  part  of  the  city.  Herodotus 
mentions  the  White  Wall  as  the  cita<l(l  of  ^Memphis,  for 
he  relates  that  it  held  a  garrison  of  IJO.tidu  IVrsians  (iii, 
91),  and  he  also  speaks  of  it  by  the  name  of  the  Citadel 
simply  (to  Tti\oQ,  p.  13, 14).  Thucydides  speaks  of  the 
White  Wall  as  the  third,  and,  as  we  may  infer,  the  strong- 
est part  of  Memphis,  but  he  does  not  give  the  names 
of  the  other  two  parts  (i,  104).  The  Scholiast  remarks 
that  Memphis  had  three  walls,  and  that  whereas  the 
others  were  of  brick,  the  third,  or  White  Wall,  was  of 
stone  (ad  loc.).  No  doubt  the  commentator  had  in  his 
mind  (ireek  towns  surrounded  by  more  than  a  single 
wall,  and  did  not  know  that  Egyptian  towns  were  rarely 
if  ever  walled.  But  his  idea  of  the  origin  of  the  name 
white,  as  applied  to  the  citadel  of  Memphis,  is  very  prob- 
ably correct.  The  Egyptian  forts  known  to  ns  are  of 
crude  brick ;  therefore  a  stone  fort,  verj^  possible  in  a 
city  like  Memphis,  famous  for  its  great  works  in  ma- 
sonrj',  would  receive  a  name  denoting  its  peculiarity. 
It  is  noticeable  that  the  monuments  mention  two  other 
quarters,  "The  two  regions  of  life"  (Brugsch,  ibid,  i, 
236,  237,  Nos.  1107  sq.,  tab.  xlii,  xliii),  and  amui  or 
PEK-AMiii  (j7/«/.  p.  237,  No.  1114  a,  tab.  xliii). 

ni.  Illotory.—l.  The  foundation  of  the  city  is  assigned 
to  Menes,  the  first  king  of  Egypt,  head  of  the  first  dy- 
nasty (Herod,  ii,  99).  The  situation,  as  already  ob- 
served, is  admirai)le  for  a  cajiital  of  the  whole  country, 
and  it  was  probably  chosen  willi  that  object.  It  would 
at  once  command  the  Delta  and  hold  the  key  of  Upper 
Egypt,  controlling  the  commerce  of  the  Nile,  defended 
upon  the  west  by  the  Libyan  mountains  and  desert,  and 
on  the  east  by  the  river  and  its  artificial  embankments. 


ion  gives  life  and  fertility  to  Egypt,  was  largely 
absorbed  in  the  sands  of  the  desert  or  wasted  in  stag- 
nant morasses.  It  is  even  conjectured  that  up  to  the 
time  of  Menes  the  whole  Delta  was  an  uninhabitable 
marsh.  The  rivers  of  Damascus,  the  Barada  and  'Awaj, 
now  lose  themselves  in  the  same  way  in  the  marshy 
lakes  of  the  great  desert  plain  south-east  of  that  city. 
Herodotus  informs  us,  upon  the  authority  of  the  Egyp- 
tian priests  of  his  time,  that  Menes, "  by  banking  up  the 
river  at  the  bend  which  it  forms  about  a  hundred  fur- 
longs south  of  Memphis,  laid  the  ancient  channel  drj', 
while  he  dug  a  new  course  for  the  stream  half-way  be- 
tween the  two  lines  of  hills.  To  this  day,"  he  contin- 
ues, '•  the  elbow  which  the  Nile  forms  at  the  point  where 
it  is  forced  aside  into  the  new  channel  is  guarded  with 
the  greatest  care  by  the  Persians,  and  strengthened  ev- 
ery year;  for  if  the  river  were  to  burst  out  at  this  place, 
and  pour  over  the  mound,  there  would  be  danger  of 
Memphis  being  completely  overwhelmed  by  the  flood. 
Men,  the  first  king,  having  thus,  by  turning  the  river, 
made  the  tract  where  it  used  to  run  dry  land,  proceeded 
in  the  first  place  to  build  the  city  now  called  Memphis, 
which  lies  in  the  narrow  part  of  Egypt ;  after  which  he 
further  excavated  a  lake  outside  of  the  town,  to  the  north 
and  west,  communicating  with  the  river,  which  was  it- 
self the  eastern  boundary"  (Hcro<l.  ii,  99).  From  this 
descrii)tion  it  appears  that — like  Amsterdam  diked  in 
from  the  Zuyder  Zee,  or  St.  Petersburg  defended  by  the 
mole  at  Cronstadt  from  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  or  more 
nearly  like  New  Orleans  protected  by  its  levee  from  the 
freshets  of  the  Mississippi,  and  drained  by  Lake  Pont- 
chartrain — ^lemjdiis  was  created  upon  a  marsh  reclaimed 
by  the  dike  of  >ienes  and  drained  by  his  artificial  lake. 
The  dike  of  ISIenes  began  twelve  miles  .south  of  Mem- 
phi.s,  and  deflected  the  main  channel  of  the  river  about 
two  miles  to  the  eastward.  Upon  the  rise  of  the  Nile, 
a  canal  still  conducted  a  portion  of  its  waters  west- 
ward through  the  old  channel,  thus  irrigating  the  plain 
beyond  the  city  in  that  <iirection.  while  an  inundation 
was  guarded  against  on  that  .side  by  a  large  artificial 
lake  or  reser\-oir  at  Abusir.  The  skill  in  engineering 
which  these  works  re()uired,  and- which  their  remains 
still  indicate,  argues  a  liigh  degree  of  material  civiliza- 
tion, at  least  in  the  mechanic  arts,  in  the  earliest  known 
]X'riod  of  Egyptian  history.  The  manufactures  of  glass 
at  Memphis  were  famed  for  the  superior  quality  of  their 
workmanship,  with  which  Home  continued  to  be  sup- 
plied long  after  Egypt  became  a  province  of  the  empire. 


MEMPHIS 


IS 


MEMPHIS 


The  environs  of  Memphis  presented  cultivated  groves 
of  the  acacia-tree,  of  whose  wood  were  made  the  planks 
and  masts  of  boats,  the  handles  of  offensive  weapons  of 
war,  and  various  articles  of  furniture  (Wilkinson,  iii,  92, 
168). 

Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  obsers'es,  "  The  dike  of  Menes 
was  probably  near  the  modern  Kafr  el-Eiyiit,  fourteen 
miles  south  of  Mit-Eahlneh,  where  the  Nile  takes  a 
considerable  bend,  and  from  this  point  it  would  (if  the 
previous  direction  of  its  course  continued)  run  immedi- 
ately below  the  Libyan  mountains,  and  over  the  site  of 
Memphis.  Calculating  from  the  outside  of  Memphis, 
this  bend  agrees  exactly  with  the  hundred  stadia,  or 
nearly  eleven  and  a  half  English  miles — iMit-Kahineh 
being  about  the  centre  of  the  old  city.  No  traces  of 
these  dikes  (sic)  are  now  seen"  (Rawlinson's  Herod,  ii, 
163,  note  G).  That  the  dike  has  been  allowed  to  fall  into 
neglect,  and  ultimately  to  disappear,  may  be  accounted 
for  by  the  gradual  obliteration  of  the  old  bed,  and  the 
cessation  of  any  necessity  to  keep  the  inundation  from 
the  site  of  Memphis,  which,  on  the  contrary,  as  the  city 
contracted,  became  cultivable  soil  and  required  to  be 
annually  fertilized.  But  are  we  to  suppose  that  IMenes 
executed  the  great  engineeriug  works  attributed  to  him? 
It  is  remarkable  that  the  higher  we  advance  towards 
the  beginnings  of  Egyptian  history,  the  more  vast  are 
the  works  of  manual  labor.  The  Lake  Moeris,  probably 
excavated  under  the  6th  dynasty,  cast  into  the  shade  all 
later  works  of  its  or  any  other  kind  executed  in  Egypt. 
The  chief  pyramids,  which,  if  reaching  down  to  this 
time,  can  scarcely  reach  later,  increase  in  importance  as 
we  go  higher,  the  greatest  being  those  of  El-Gizeh,  sep- 
ulchres of  the  earlier  kings  of  the  4th  dynasty.  This 
state  of  things  implies  the  existence  of  a  large  serf  pop- 
ulation gradually  decreasing  towards  later  times,  and 
shows  that  Menes  might  well  have  diverted  the  course 
of  the  Nile.  The  digging  of  a  new  course  seems  doubt- 
ful, and  it  may  be  conjectured  that  the  branch  which 
became  the  main  stream  was  already  existent. 

The  mythological  system  of  the  time  of  Menes  is  as- 
cribed by  Bunsen  to  "  the  amalgamation  of  the  religion 
of  Upper  and  Lower  Egj'pt ;"  religion  having  "  already 
united  the  two  provinces  before  the  power  of  the  race 
of  This  in  the  Thebaid  extended  itself  to  Memphis,  and 
before  the  giant  work  of  Menes  converted  the  Delta 
from  a  desert,  checkered  over  with  lakes  and  morasses, 
into  a  blooming  garden."  The  political  union  of  the 
two  divisions  of  the  country  was  effected  by  the  builder 
of  Memphis.  "  Menes  founded  the  Einjnre  of  Eipjp  hy 
raising  the  people  who  inhabited  the  valley  of  the  Nile 
from  a  little  provincial  station  to  that  of  a  historical 
nation"  {lujjipfs  Place,  i,  4-11 ;  ii,  409). 

2.  It  ;vould  appear  from  the  fragments  of  Manetho's 
historT|-  that  Memphis  continued  the  seat  of  government 
of  kings  of  all  Egypt  as  late  as  the  reign  of  Venephes, 
the  third  successor  of  Menes.  Athothis,  the  son  and 
successor  of  Menes,  built  the  palace  there,  and  the  king 
first  mentioned  built  the  pyramids  near  Cochome  (Cory's 
Ann.  Frag.  2d  ed.  p.  94-97)  ;  pyramids  are  scarcely  seen 
but  at  Memphis,  and  Cochome  is  probably  the  name  of 
part  of  the  Memphitic  necropolis,  as  will  be  noticed  later. 
The  3d  dynasty  was  of  Memphitic  kings,  the  2d  and 
part  of  the  1st  having  probably  lost  the  undivided  rule 
of  Egypt.  The  4th  dynasty,  which  succeeded  about 
B.C.  2440,  was  the  most  powerful  Memphitic  line,  and 
under  its  earlier  kings  the  pyramids  of  El-Ghizeh  were 
built.  It  is  probable  that  other  Egyptian  lines  were 
tributary  to  this,  which  not  only  commanded  all  the  re- 
sources of  Egypt  to  the  quarries  of  Syene  on  the  south- 
ern border,  but  also  worked  the  copper  mines  of  the  Si- 
naitic  Peninsula.  The  5th  dynasty  appears  to  have  been 
contemporary  with  the  4th  and  6th,  the  latter  being  a 
Memphitic  house  which  continued  the  succession.  At 
the  close  of  the  latter  Memphis  fell,  according  to  the 
opinion  of  some,  into  the  hands  of  the  Shepherd  kings, 
foreign  strangers  who,  more  or  less,  held  Egypt  for  500 
years.    At  the  beginning  of  the  ISth  dynasty  we  once 


more  find  hieroglyphic  notices  of  Memphis  after  a  si- 
lence of  some  centuries.  During  that  dynasty  and  its 
two  successors,  while  the  Egyptian  empire  lasted,  jM em- 
phis  was  its  second  city,  though,  as  the  sovereigns  were 
Thebans,  Thebes  was  the  capital. 

3.  After  the  decHne  of  the  empire,  we  hear  little  of  ■ 
Memphis  until  the  Persian  period,  when  the  provincial 
dynasties  gave  it  a  preference  over  Thebes  as  the  chief 
city  of  Egypt.  Herodotus  informs  us  that  Cambyses, 
enraged  at  the  opposition  he  encountered  at  Memphis, 
committeil  many  outrages  upon  the  city.  He  killed  the 
sacred  Apis,  and  caused  his  priests  to  be  scourged.  '•  He 
opened  the  ancient  sepulchres,  and  examined  the  bodies 
that  were  buried  in  them.  He  likewise  went  into  the  tem- 
ple of  Hephaestus  (Ptah),  and  made  great  sport  of  the 
image.  ...  He  went  also  into  the  temple  of  the  Cablri, 
which  it  is  unlawful  for  any  one  to  enter  except  the 
priests,  and,  not  only  made  sport  of  the  images,  but  even 
burned  them"  (Herod,  iii,  37).  Memphis  never  recov- 
ered from  the  blow  inflicted  by  Cambyses,  With  the 
Greek  rule,  indeed,  its  political  importance  somewhat 
rose,  and  while  Thebes  had  dwindled  to  a  thinly-popu- 
lated collection  of  small  towns,  Memphis  became  the 
native  capital,  where  the  sovereigns  were  crowned  by 
the  Egyptian  priests;  but  Alexandria  gradually  de- 
stroyed its  power,  and  the  policy  of  the  Komans  hastened 
a  natural  decay. 

4.  At  length,  after  the  Arab  conquest,  the  establish- 
ment of  a  succession  of  rival  capitals,  on  the  opposite 
bank  of  the  Nile— El-Fustat,  El-Askar,  Ei-Kata-e,  and 
El-Kahireh,  the  later  Cairo — drew  away  the  remains  of 
its  population,  and  at  last  left  nothing  to  mark  the  site 
of  the  ancient  capital  but  ruins,  which  were  long  the 
quarries  for  any  who  wished  for  costh^  marbles,  massive 
columns,  or  mere  blocks  of  stone  for  the  numerous 
mosques  of  the  Moslem  seats  of  government.  The 
Arabian  physician,  Abd-el-Latif,  who  visited  Memphis 
in  the  13th  century,  describes  its  ruins  as  then  marvel- 
lous beyond  description  (see  De  Sacy's  translation,  cited 
by  Brugsch,  Histoire  iVEi/ijpte,  p.  18).  Abidfeda,  in  the 
14th  centurj-,  speaks  of  the  remains  of  Memphis  as  im- 
mense; for  the  most  part  in  a  state  of  decay,  thongh 
some  sculptures  of  variegated  stone  still  retained  a  re- 
markable freshness  of  color  {Descriptio  Algypii,  ed.  ^li- 
chaelis,  1776).  At  length,  so  complete  was  the  ruin  of 
Memphis  that  for  a  long  time  its  very  site  was  lost. 
Pococke  could  find  no  trace  of  it.  Kecent  explorations, 
especially  those  of  Messrs.  Mariette  and  Linant,  have 
brought  to  light  many  of  its  antiquities,  which  have 
been  dispersed  in  the  museums  of  Europe  and  America. 
Some  specimens  of  sculpture  from  Memphis  adorn  the 
Egyptian  hall  of  the  Bntish  Museum ;  other  monuments 
of  this  great  city  are  in  the  Abbott  Museum  in  New 
York.  The  dikes  and  canals  of  Menes  still  form  the 
basis  of  the  system  of  irrigation  for  Lower  Egypt ;  the 
insignificant  village  of  Mit-Rahineh  occupies  nearly  the 
centre  of  the  ancient  capital. 

IV.  Edifices,  Ruins,  and  Monuments. — Of  the  buildings 
of  Memphis,  none  remain  above  ground;  the  tombs  of 
the  neighboring  necropolis  alone  attest  its  importance. 
It  is,  however,  necessary  to  speak  of  those  temples  which 
ancient  writers  mention,  and  especially  of  such  of  these 
as  are  known  by  remaining  fragments. 

1.  Herodotus  states,  on  the  authority  of  the  priests, 
that  Menes  "built  the  temple  of  Hephasstus,  which 
stands  within  the  city,  a  vast  edifice,  well  worthy  of 
mention"  (ii,  99).  The  divinity  whom  Herodotus  thus 
identifies  with  Hephsestus  was  Ptah,  "the  creative 
power,  the  maker  of  all  material  things"  (Wilkinson,  in 
Rawlinson's  Herod,  ii,  289;  Bunsen,  Egypfs  Place,  i, 
367,  384).  Ptah  was  worshipped  in  all  Egypt,  but  un- 
der different  representations  in  different  nomes;  ordi- 
narily "as  a  god  holding  before  him  with  both  hands 
the  Nilometer,  or  emblem  of  stability,  combined  with 
the  sign  of  life"  (Bunsen,  i,  382).  But  at  IMemphis  his 
worship  was  so  prominent  that  the  primitive  sanctuary 
of  his  temple  was  built  by  Menes :  successive  monarchs 


MEMPHIS 


U 


MEMPHIS 


greatly  enlarged  and  beautified  the  structure  by  the  ad- 
dition of  courts,  porches,  and  colossal  ornaments.  He- 
rodotus and  Diodorus  describe  several  of  these  additions 
and  restorations,  but  nowhere  give  a  complete  descrip- 
tion of  the  temple,  with  measurements  of  its  various 
dimensions  (Herod,  ii,  99,  101^108-110,  121,  13G,  153, 
176;  Diod.  Sic.  i,  45,  51,  62,  07).  According  to  these 
authorities,  Moeris  built  the  northern  gateway;  Sesos- 
tris  erected  in  front  of  the  temple  colossal  statues  (vary- 
ing from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  in  height)  of  himself,  his 
wife,  and  his  four  sons;  Rhampsinitus  built  the  western 
gateway,  and  erected  before  it  the  colossal  statues  of 
Summer  and  Winter;  Asychis  built  the  eastern  gate- 
way, which  '•  in  size  and  beauty  far  surpassed  the  other 
three;"  Psammetichus  built  the  southern  gateway;  and 
Amosis  presented  to  this  temple  "a  recumbent  colossus 
seventy-tive  feet  long,  and  two  upright  statues,  each 
twenty  feet  high."  The  period  between  IMenes  and 
Amosis,  according  to  Brugsch,  was  3731  years;  accord- 
ing to  Wilkinson  only  about  2100  years;  but  upon 
eitlier  calculation  the  temple,  as  it  appeared  to  8trabo, 
was  the  growth  of  many  centuries.  Strabo  (xvii,  807) 
describes  this  temple  as  "built  in  a  very  sumptuous 
manner,  both  as  regards  the  size  of  the  Naos  and  in  other 
respects."  The  Dromos,  or  grand  avenue  leading  to  the 
temple  of  Ptah,  was  used  for  the  celebration  of  bull-fights, 
a  sport  pictured  in  the  tombs.  But  these  fights  were 
probably  between  animals  alone-— no  captive  or  gladia- 
tor being  compelled  to  enter  the  arena.  The  bulls  hav- 
ing been  trained  for  the  occasion,  were  brought  face  to 
face  and  goaded  on  by  their  masters,  the  prize  being 
awarded  to  the  owner  of  the  victor.  But  though  the 
bull  was  thus  used  for  the  sport  of  the  people,  he  was  the 
sacred  animal  of  Memphis. 

This  chief  temple  was  near  the  site  of  the  modern 
village  of  Mit-Kahineh.  The  only  important  vestige 
of  this  great  temple,  probably  second  only,  if  second,  to 
that  of  Amen-ra  at  Thebes,  now  called  the  temple  of 
El-Karnak,  is  a  broken  colossal  statue  of  limestone  rep- 
resenting Kameses  II,  which  once  stood,  probabh'  with 
a  fellow  that  has  been  destroyed,  before  one  of  the 
propyla  of  the  temple,  (See  cut,  p.  72.)  This  statue, 
complete  from  the  head  to  below  the  knees,  is  the  finest 
Egyptian  colossus  known.  It  belongs  to  the  British 
government,  which  has  never  yet  spared  the  necessarj' 
funds  fur  transporting  it  to  ]'>ngland. 

2.  Near  tliis  temple  was  one  of  Apis,  or  Hapi,  the  cel- 
ebrated sacred  bull,  worshipped  with  extraordinary  hon- 
ors at  Memphis,  from  which  the  Israelites  possibly  took 
the  idea  of  the  golden  calf.  Apis  was  believed  to  be  an 
incarnation  of  Osiris.  The  sacred  bull  was  selected  by 
certain  outward  symbols  of  the  indwelling  divinity;  his 
color  being  black,  with  the  exception  of  white  spots  of  a 
peculiar  shape  upon  his  forehead  and  right  side.  The 
temple  of  Apis  was  one  of  the  most  noted  structures  of 
Memphis.  It  stood  opposite  the  southern  portico  of  the 
temple  of  Ptah ;  and  Psammetichus,  who  built  that 
gateway',  also  erected  in  front  of  the  sanctuary  of  Apis  a 
magnificent  colonnade,  supported  by  colossal  statues  or 
Osiride  pillars,  such  as  may  still  be  seen  at  the  temple 
of  Medinet  Aim  at  Thebes  (Ilerod.  ii,  153).  Through 
this  colonnade  the  Apis  was  led  with  great  pomp  upon 
state  occasions.  Two  stables  adjoined  the  sacred  vesti- 
bule (Strabo,  xvii,  807), 

The  Serapeum,  or  temple  of  Serapis,  or  Osirhapi,  that 
is,  Osiris-Apis,  the  ideal  corresiiondent  to  the  animal, 
lay  in  the  dest^rt  to  the  westward,  between  the  modern 
villages  of  Abu-Sir  and  Sakkarah,  though  to  the  west 
of  both.  Strabo  describes  it  as  very  much  exposed  to 
sand-drifts,  and  in  bis  time  ])artly  buried  by  masses  of 
Band  heaped  up  by  the  wind  (xvii,  807).  The  sacred 
cubit  and  other  symbols  used  in  measuring  the  rise  of 
the  Nile,  were  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Serapis.  Near 
this  temple  was  the  burial-place  of  the  bulls  Apis,  a 
vast  excavation,  in  which  they  were  sepulchred  in  sar- 
cophagi of  stone  in  the  most  costly  manner.  Diodorus 
(i,  85)  describes  the  magnificence  with  which  a  deceased 


Apis  was  interred  and  his  successor  installed  at  Mem- 
phis. The  place  appropriated  to  the  burial  of  the  sa- 
cred bulls  was  a  gallery  some  2000  feet  in  length  by 
twenty  in  height  and  width,  hewn  in  the  rock  without 
the  city.  This  gallery  was  divided  into  numerous  re- 
cesses upon  each  side ;  and  the  embalmed  bodies  of  the 
sacred  bulls,  each  in  its  own  sarcophagus  of  granite, 
were  deposited  in  these  '"sepulchral  stalls."  A  few 
years  since  this  burial-place  of  the  sacred  bulls  was  dis- 
covered by  M.  Mariette,  and  a  large  number  of  the  sar- 
cophagi have  already  been  opened.  These  catacombs 
of  mummied  bulls  were  approached  from  Memphis  by 
a  paved  road,  having  colossal  lions  on  either  side. 

3.  At  Mem|)his  was  the  reputed  burial-place  of  Isis 
(Diod.  Sic.  i,  22) ;  it  had  also  a  temple  to  that  "  m\Tiad- 
named"  divinity,  which  Herodotus  (ii,  176)  describes  as 
"  a  vast  structure,  well  worthy  of  notice,"  but  inferior  to 
that  consecrated  to  her  iu  Busiris,  a  chief  city  of  her 
worship  (ii,  59). 

Herodotus  describes  "a  beautiful  and  richly -orna- 
mented enclosure,"  situated  upon  the  south  side  of  the 
temple  of  Ptah,  which  was  sacred  to  Proteus,  a  native 
Jlemphitic  king.  Within  this  enclosure  there  was  a 
temple  to  "the  foreign  Venus"  (Astarte?),  concerning 
which  the  historian  narrates  a  myth  connected  with  the 
Grecian  Helen.  In  this  enclosure  was  "the  Tyrian 
camp"  (ii,  112).  A  temple  of  Ra  or  Phre,  the  Sun,  and 
a  temple  of  the  Cabiri,  complete  the  enumeration  of  the 
sacred  buildings  of  Memphis. 

4.  The  necropolis  of  IMemphis  has  escaped  the  de- 
struction that  has  obliterated  almost  all  traces  of  the 
city,  partly  from  its  being  beyond  the  convenient  reach 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  IVIoslem  capitals,  partly  from 
the  unrivalled  massive  solidity  of  its  chief  edifices.  This 
necropolis,  consisting  of  pyramids,  was  on  a  scale  of  gran- 
deur corresponding  with  the  city  itself.  The  "city  of 
the  pyramids"  is  a  title  of  Memphis  in  the  hieroglyph- 
ics upon  the  monuments.  The  great  field  or  plain  of 
the  pyramids  lies  wholly  upon  the  western  bank  of  the 
Nile,  and  extends  from  Abu-Koesh,  a  little  to  the  north- 
west of  Cairo,  to  JMeydftm,  about  forty  miles  to  the 
south,  and  thence  in  a  south-westerly  direction  about 
twenty-five  miles  farther,  to  the  pyramids  of  Howara 
and  of  Biahmil  in  the  Payum.  Lepsius  regards  the 
"  pyramid  fields  of  Memphis"  as  a  most  important  testi- 
mony to  the  civilization  of  Egypt  {Letters,  Bohn.  p.  25; 
also  Chronolof/ie  der  A  er/i/pter,  vol.  i).  These  royal  pyr- 
amids, with  tile  subterranean  halls  of  Apis,  and  numer- 
ous tombs  of  public  oflicers  erected  on  tlic  plain  or  ex- 
cavated in  the  adjacent  hills,  gave  to  Jlemjihis  the 
pre-eminence  which  it  enjoyed  as  "  the  haven  of  the 
blessed." 

The  pyramids  that  belong  to  Memphis  extend  along 
the  low  edge  f)f  the  Libyan  range,  and  form  four  groups 
—those  of  El-<ibizeh,  Abu-Sir,  Sakkarah,  and  Dahshilr 
— all  so  named  from  a  neighboring  town  or  village.  The 
principal  pyramids  of  EMihizeh— those  called  the  First 
or  (Jreal.  Second,  and  Third— are  respectively  the  tombs 
of  Khufu  or  Shufu,  the  Cheops  of  Herodotus  and  Supliis 
I  of  Manetho,  of  the  4th  dynasty;  of  Khafra  or  Shafra, 
Cephren  (Herod.),  of  the  5th?  and  of  Mcnkaura,  ^Mycer- 
inus  or  Mencheres  of  the  4th.  The  (ireat  Pyramid  has 
a  base  measuring  733  feet  square,  and  a  perpemiicular 
height  of  456  feet,  having  lost  about  twenty-five  feet  of 
its  original  height,  which  must  have  been  at  least  480 
feet  (Mr.  Lane,  in  ^Irs.  Poole's  Kiifjlifhiromdn  in  Kffypt, 
ii,  121, 125).  It  is  of  solid  stone,  except  a  low  core  of 
rock,  and  a  very  small  space  allowed  for  chambers  and 
passages  leading  to  them.  The  Second  Pyramid  is  not 
far  inferior  to  this  in  size.  Next  in  order  come  the  two 
stone  pyramids  of  DahshAr.  The  rest  are  much  smaller. 
In  the  Dahshur  group  are  two  built  of  crude  brick,  the 
only  examples  in  the  Menipbitic  necropolis.  The  whole 
number  that  can  now  be  traced  is  upwards  of  thirty,  but 
Lepsius  supposes  that  anciently  there  were  about  sixty, 
including  those  south  of  Dahshur,  the  last  of  which  are 
as  far  as  the  Faiyum,  about  sixty  miles  above  the  site 


MEMPHIS 


15 


MEMUCAN 


of  Memphis  by  the  course  of  the  river.  The  principal 
p\-ramids  in  the  Memphitic  necropolis  are  twenty  in 
number,  the  pyramid  of  Abil-Koesh,  the  three  chief 
pyramids  of  El-Ghizeh,  the  three  of  AbCl-Slr,  the  nine 
of  Sakkarah,  and  the  four  of  Dahshur.  The  "pyra- 
mids" built  by  Venephes  near  Cocliome  may  have  been 
in  the  groups  of  Abii-Sir,  for  the  part  of  the  necropolis 
where  the  Serapsum  lay  was  called  in  Egyptian  kem- 
K.v  or  K\-KEM,also  KEM  or  KEJii,as  Brugsch  has  shown, 
remarking  on  its  probable  identity  with  Cochome  (((< 
sup.  i,  240,  Nos.  1121, 1122, 1123,  tab.  xliii). 

The  pyramids  were  tombs  of  kings,  and  possibly  of 
members  of  royal  families.  Ai-ound  them  were  the 
tombs  of  subjects,  of  which  the  oldest  were  probably  in 
general  contemporaneous  with  the  king  who  raised  each 
pyramid.  The  private  tombs  were  either  built  upon  the 
rock  or  excavated,  wherever  it  presented  a  suitable  face 
in  which  a  grotto  could  be  cut,  and  in  either  case  the 
mummies  were  deposited  in  chambers  at  the  foot  of 
deep  pits.  Sometimes  these  pits  were  not  guarded  by 
the  upper  structure  or  grotto,  though  probably  they  were 
then  originally  protected  by  crude  brick  walls.  A  curi- 
ous inquiry  is  suggested  by  the  circumstance  that  the 
Egyptians  localized  in  the  neighborhood  of  Memphis 
those  terrestrial  scenes  which  tliey  supposed  to  symbol- 
ize the  geography  of  the  hidden  world,  and  that  in  these 
the  Greeks  found  the  first  ideas  of  their  own  poetical 
form  of  the  more  precise  belief  of  the  older  race,  of  the 
Acherusian  Lake,  the  Ferry,  Charon,  and  the  "Meads 
of  Asphodel,"  but  this  captivating  subject  cannot  be 
here  pursued  (see  Brugsch,  i,  240, 241,  242).  See  Pyra- 
mids. 

V.  Biblical  Notices.— The  references  to  Memphis  in 
the  Bible  are  wholly  of  the  period  of  the  kings.  Many 
have  thought  that  the  land  of  Goshen  lay  not  very  far 
from  this  city,  and  that  the  Pharaohs  who  protected  the 
Israelites,  as  well  as  their  oppressors,  ruled  at  Memphis. 
The  indications  of  Scripture  seem,  however,  to  point  to 
the  valley  through  which  ran  the  canal  of  the  Red  Sea, 
the  Wadi-t-Tumeyhit  of  the  present  inhabitants  of 
Egypt,  as  the  old  land  of  Goshen,  and  to  Zoan,  or  Tanis, 
as  the  capital  of  the  oppressors,  if  not  also  of  the  Phara- 
ohs who  protected  the  Israelites.  A  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  narrative  of  the  events  that  preceded  the 
Exodus  seems  indeed  to  put  any  city  not  in  the  eastern- 
most portion  of  the  Delta  wholly  out  of  the  question. 
See  Goshen. 

It  was  in  the  time  of  the  decline  of  the  Israelitish 
kingdom,  and  during  the  subsequent  existence  of  that 
of  Judah,  that  Memphis  became  important  to  the  He- 
brews. The  Ethiopians  of  the  2oth  dynasty,  or  their 
Egyptian  vassals  of  the2.>d  and  24th,  proljably,  and  the 
Saitesof  the  26th,  certaiuly,  nri.lc  ^leniphis  the  political 
capital  of  Egypt.  Hosea  msutious  Jlotnplus  only  with 
Egj'pt,  as  the  great  city,  predicting  of  the  Israelitish  fu- 
gitives, "Mizraim  shall  gather  tham  up,  Noph  shall  burj' 
them"  (ix,  G).  Memphis,  the  city  of  the  vast  necropo- 
lis, where  Osiris  and  Anubis,  gods  of  the  dead,  threat- 
ened to  overshadow  the  worship  of  the  local  divin- 
ity, Ptah,  could  not  be  more  accurately  characterized. 
No  other  city  but  Abydos  was  so  mucn  occupied  with 
burial,  and  Abydos  was  far  inferior  in  the  extent  of  its 
necropolis.  With  the  same  force  that  personifies  Mem- 
phis as  the  burier  of  the  unhappy  fugitives,  the  prophet 
Nahum  describes  Thebes  as  walled  and  fortified  by  the 
sea  (iii,  8),  as  the  Nile  had  been  called  in  ancient  and 
modern  times,  for  Thebes  alone  of  the  cities  of  Egypt  lay 
on  both  sides  of  the  river.  See  No-Ammon.  Isaiah,  in 
the  wonderful  Burden  of  Egypt,  which  has  been  more 
marked  and  literally  fulfilled  than  perhaps  any  other 
like  portion  of  Scripture,  couples  the  princes  of  Zoan 
(Tanis)  with  the  princes  of  No])h  as  evil  advisers  of 
Pharaoh  and  Egypt  (xix,  13).  Egypt  was  then  weak- 
ly governed  by  the  last  Tanitic  king  of  the  23d  dynasty, 
as  ally  or  vassal  of  Tirhakah ;  and  Memphis,  as  already 
remarked,  was  the  political  capital.  In  Jeremiah,  Noph 
is  spokpn  of  with  "  Tahapanes,"  the  frontier  stronghold 


Daphnfe,  as  an  enemy  of  Israel  (ii,  16).  It  is  difficult  to 
explain  the  importance  here  given  to  "Tahapanes." 
Was  it  to  warn  the  Israelites  that  the  first  city  of  Egypt 
which  they  should  afterwards  enter  in  their  forbidden 
flight  was  a  city  of  enemies?  In  his  prophecy  of  the 
overthrow  of  Pharaoh-Necho's  array,  tlie  same  projihet  - 
warns  Migdol,  Noph,  and  "  Tahpanhes"  of  the  approach 
of  the  invader  (xlvi,  14),  as  if  warning  the  capital  and 
the  frontier  towns.  When  Migdol  and  "Tahpanhes" 
had  fallen,  or  whatever  other  strongholds  guarded  the 
eastern  border,  the  Delta  could  not  be  defended.  Wlien 
Memphis  was  taken,  not  only  the  capital  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  but  the  frontier  fort  commanding 
the  entrance  of  the  valley  of  Upper  Egypt  had  fallen. 
Later  he  saj-s  that  "Noph  shall  be  waste  and  desolate, 
without  an  inhabitant"  (ver.  19).  And  so  it  is,  while 
many  other  cities  of  that  day  yet  flourish— as  Hermop- 
olis  Parva  and  Sebennytus  in  the  Delta,  and  Lycopolis, 
Latopolis,  and  Syene,  in  Upper  Egypt;  or  still  exist  as 
villages,  like  Chcmmis  (I'anopolis),  Tentyra,  and  Her- 
monthis,  in  the  latter  (li\  i^iim— it  is  doubtful  if  any  vil- 
lage on  the  site  of  Miin|ihi.'^,  duce  the  most  populous 
city  of  Egypt,  even  preserves  its  name.  Latest  in  time, 
Ezekiel  prophesies  the  coming  distress  and  final  over- 
throw of  Memphis.  Egypt  is  to  be  filled  with  slain ; 
the  rivers  are  to  be  dried  and  the  lands  made  waste ; 
idols  and  false  gods  are  to  cease  out  of  Noph ;  there  is 
to  be  "no  more  a  prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt."  So 
much  is  general,  and  refers  to  an  invasion  by  Nebu- 
chadnezzar. Noph,  as  by  Hosea,  is  coupled  with  Egypt 
— the  capital  with  the  state.  Then  more  particularly 
Pathros,  Zoan,  and  No  are  to  suifer;  Sin  and  No  again; 
and  with  more  vivid  distinctness  the  distresses  of  Sin, 
No,  Noph,  Aven,  Pi-beseth,and  "  Tehaphnehes"  are  fore- 
told, as  if  the  prophet  witnessed  the  advance  of  fire  and 
sword,  each  city  taken,  its  garrison  and  fighting  citi- 
zens, "  the  young  men,"  slain,  and  its  fair  buildings  given 
over  to  the  flames,  as  the  invader  marched  upon  Daph- 
i\ee,  Pelusium,  Tanis,  Bubastis,  and  Heliopolis,  until  ]\k  m- 
phis  fell  before  him,  and  beyond  Memphis  Thebes  alone 
offered  resistance,  and  nitt  with  the  like  overthrow  (xxx, 
1-19).  Perhaps  these  vivid  images  represent,  by  the 
force  of  repetition  and  their  climax-like  arrangement, 
but  one  series  of  calamities:  perhaps  they  represent 
three  invasions — that  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  of  which  we 
may  expect  history  one  day  to  tell  us;  that  of  Camby- 
ses ;  and  last,  and  most  ruinous  of  all,  that  of  Ochus. 
The  minuteness  with  which  the  first  and  more  particu- 
lar prediction  as  to  Memphis  has  been  fulfilled  is  very 
noticeable.  The  images  and  idols  of  Noph  have  disap- 
peared; when  tlie  site  of  almost  every  other  ancient 
town  of  Egypt  is  marked  by  colossi  and  statues,  but 
one,  and  that  fallen,  with  some  insignificant  neighbors, 
is  found  where  once  stood  its  greatest  citj'-, 

YL  Liierattij-e.—The  cliicf  autlmrities  on  the  subject 
of  this  article  are  Lepsius.  Jh  iiLmiih  r  aus  Aegypttn  unci 
Aethiopien;  Brugsch,  tud'j/i/jilii.'ickc  Inschrifien;  Col. 
Howard  Vyse,  I'l/rcmids  of  Gize/i,  fol.  plates,  and  8vo 
text  and  plates;  Sir  J,  G,  Wilkinson,  J/oc/erw  Eff'/pt  and 
Thehes,  and  Ihind-hool-  fo  EgyiA ;  and  Mrs.  Poole,  Eiiff- 
lishu-oman  in  E(/ypt,  where  the  topography  and  descrip- 
tion of  the  necropolis  and  the  pyramids  are  by  Mr,  Lane. 
See  furtlier,  Fourmont,  Descrijjt.  des  Plaines  d'lJeliop.  et 
de  MemjMs  (Par.  1755) ;  Niebuhr,  Trav.  i,  101 ;  Du  Bois 
Ayme,  in  the  Bescript.  de  VEr/ypte,  viii,  63 ;  Prokcscft, 
Erimier.  ii,  38  sq. ;  also  Gesenius,  Thes.  Heb.i).  812; 
Smith's  Diet,  of  Class.  Geogr.  s,  v.     See  Noph. 

Memu'can  (Heb.  Memukan',  'S^^?,  of  unknown 
but  prob,  Persian  origin ;  Sept.  MonxnTof,  Vulg,  Mamu- 
chan),  the  last  named  of  the  seven  satraps  or  royal  coun- 
sellors at  the  court  of  Xerxes,  and  the  one  at  whose 
suggestion  Vashti  was  divorced  (Esth.  i,  14,  IG,  21),  B,C. 
483,  "They  were  'wise  men  who  knew  the  times' 
(skilled  in  the  planets,  according  to  Aben-Ezra),  and 
appear  to  have  formed  a  council  of  state ;  Josephus  says 
that  one  of  their  oflices  was  that  of  uiterpreting  the  laws 


MEN 


V6 


aiENAHEM 


QAnt.  xi,6, 1).  This  may  also  be  inferred  from  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  royal  question  is  put  to  them  when 
assembled  in  council;  ' A ccoi-diiifj  to  law  what  is  to  be 
done  with  the  queen  A'ashti ?'  Memucan  was  either  the 
president  of  tlie  council  on  this  occasion,  or  gave  his 
opinion  first  in  consequence  of  his  acknowledged  wis- 
dom, or  from  the  respect  allowed  to  his  advanced  age. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause  of  this  priority,  his 
sentence  for  Vashti's  disgrace  was  approved  by  the  king 
and  princes,  and  at  once  put  into  execution.  The  Tar- 
gum  of  Esther  identifies  him  with  '  Ilaman,  the  grand- 
son of  Agag.'  The  reading  of  the  Kethib,  or  written 
text,  in  ver.  IG,  is  "='01^"  (Smith). 

Men,  Thk,  are  a^  class  of  persons  who  occupy  a 
somewhat  conspicuous  place  in  the  religious  communi- 
ties of  Northern  Scotland,  chiefly  in  those  parts  of  it 
where  the  (Jaelic  language  prevails,  as  in  Ross,  Suther- 
land, and  the  upland  districts  of  Inverness  and  Argyle. 
Large  and  undivided  parishes,  a  scanty  supply  of  the 
means  of  grace,  patronage,  and  other  causes  peculiar  to 
such  localities,  seem  to  have  developed  this  abnormal 
class  of  self-appointed  instructors  and  spiritual  over- 
seers, who  sustain  in  the  Church  of  Scotland  a  relation 
very  similar  to  that  of  our  lay-preachers.  They  are 
designated  "Men"  by  way  of  eminence,  and  as  a  title 
of  respect,  in  recognition  of  their  superior  natural  abili- 
ties, and  their  attainments  in  religious  knowledge  and 
personal  piety.  There  is  no  formal  manner  in  which 
they  pass  into  the  rank  or  order  of  Men,  further  than 
the  general  estimation  in  which  they  are  held  by  the 
people  among  whom  they  live,  on  account  of  their 
known  superior  gifts  and  religious  experience.  If  they 
are  considered  to  excel  their  neighbors  in  the  exercises 
of  prayer  and  exhortation,  for  which  they  have  abun- 
dant opportunities  at  the  lyke-ioakes,  which  are  still 
common  in  the  far  Highlands,  and  at  the  meetings  for 
prayer  and  Christian  fellowship,  and  if  they  continue 
to  frequent  such  meetings,  and  take  part  in  these  relig- 
ious services,  so  as  to  meet  with  general  approbation, 
they  thus  gradually  gain  a  repute  for  gotlliness,  and 
naturally  glide  into  the  order  of  "The  3Ien." 

There  are  oftentimes  three  or  four  "  jMen"  in  a  par- 
ish ;  and  as,  on  communion  occasions,  Friday  is  spe- 
cially set  apart  for  prayer  and  mutual  exhortation,  these 
lay-workers  liave  then  a  public  opportunity  of  exercis- 
ing their  gifts  by  engaging  in  prayer,  and  speaking  on 
questions  Ijearing  on  religious  experience.  This,  in 
many  parts  of  the  Highlands,  is  considered  as  the  great 
day  of  the  communion  season,  and  is  popularly  called 
the  "  Men's  day ;"  and,  as  there  maj'  be  present  twenty 
or  thirty  of  these  "Men"  assembled  from  the  surround- 
ing parishes,  the  whole  service  of  the  day  is,  so  to  speak, 
left  in  their  hands— only  the  minister  of  the  parish  usu- 
ally presides,  and  sums  up  the  opinions  expressed  on  the 
subject  under  consideration.  Many  of  the  "  Men"  as- 
sume on  these  occasions  a  peculiar  garb  in  the  form  of  a 
large  blue  cloak ;  and  in  moving  about  from  one  com- 
munity to  another,  they  are  treated  with  great  respect, 
kindness,  and  hospitality.  The  influence  which  was 
thus  acquired  by  the  "  Men"  over  the  people  was  very 
powerful,  and  no  wonder  that  some  of  tliem  grievously 
abusetl  it.  Yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  in  many  par- 
ishes in  the  Highlands,  where  the  ministers  have  been 
careless  and  remiss  in  the  performance  of  their  duties, 
these  lay-workers  have  often  been  useful  in  keeping  spir- 
itual religion  alive.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  the 
heads  of  some  of  them  were  turned,  and  that  the  lionor 
in  which  they  were  held  begat  spiritual  pride  in  them. 
But  these  are  always  said  to  have  been  the  exception. 
Since  the  period  of  the  disruption,  when  the  Highlands 
have  been  furnished  with  a  more  adequate  supply  of  Gos- 
pel ordinances,  anil  spiritual  fiuilahsiu  lias  been  broken,  it 
has  been  observed  tliat  the  intlucnce  of  tlie'-Men,"for  the 
most  i>art  connected  now  with  the  Free  Church,  has  been 
graduallv  on  the  wane.  See  Auld.  Min.  <tnd  Mtn  of  the 
Far  North  (1868),  p.  142-262.     (J.  U.  W.) 


Men  of  Understanding,  a  religious  sect  which 
seems  to  liave  been  a  branch  of  the  Brethren  and  Sisters 
of  the  Free  Spirit,  has  already  been  considered  under  the 
heading  Ho.minks  Intelligentle. 
Menachoth.  See  Talmud. 
Menaea  (or  MtvaTov),  a  part  of  the  liturgj'  of  the 
Eastern  Church,  containing  all  the  changeable  parts  of 
the  services  used  for  the  festival  days  of  the  Christian 
year.  It  is  usually  arranged  in  twelve  volumes,  one  for 
every  month,  but  the  whole  is  sometimes  compressed 
into  three  volumes.  The  Menaa  of  the  Eastern  Church 
nearly  answers  to  the  Breviary  of  the  Western  Church, 
omitting,  however,  some  portions  of  the  services  which 
the  latter  contains,  and  inserting  others  which  are  not 
in  it.  See  Zacharius,  Bibliotheca  Hit. ;  Neale,  Eastern 
Church,  p.  829.     See  Breviary. 

Menage,  iNIatthieu,  a  French  theologian,  was  bom 
about  loS.'^.  in  Maine,  near  Angers.  He  studied  at  the 
University  of  Paris,  and  there  received  the  degree  of 
iNI.A.  in  1408,  and  was  called  to  the  chair  of  philosophy 
after  1413.  The  success  he  obtained  caused  him  to  be 
elected  vice-chancellor  in  1416,  and  rector  of  the  uni- 
versity in  1417.  He  afterwards  established  himself  at 
Angers,  where  he  tiiught  theology.  In  the  year  1432 
he  was  sent  by  the  Church  of  Angers,  with  Guy  of  Ver- 
sailles, to  the  Council  of  Basle,  and  by  the  council  to 
pope  Eugene  IV  at  Florence.  He  did  not  return  to 
Basle  until  1437.  In  1441  he  received  the  functions  of 
a  theologian.  He  died  Nov.  IG,  1446.  His  biography 
has  been  written  by  Gilles  jNIenage.  Sec  Hoefer,  Nouv. 
Bioff.  Generak;  s.  v. 

Meu'ahem   (Heb.  Menachem',  DH3p,  comforting 
[comp.  JIanaen,  Acts   xiii,  1]  ;   Sept.  Mavatifi,  Vulg. 
Manahem;  Josephus,  Mavo/j^oc,  Ant.  ix,  11,  1),  the 
seventeenth  separate  king  of  Israel,  who  began  to  reign 
B.C.  769,  and  reigned  ten  years.     He  was  the  son  of 
Gadi,  and  appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  generals 
of  king  Zachariah.     When  he  heard  the  news  of  the 
murder  of  that  prince,  and  the  usurpation  of  Shallum, 
he  was  at  Tirzah,  but  immediately  marched  to  Samaria, 
I  where  Shallum  hail  shut  himself  up,  and  slew  him  in 
I  that  city.     He  then  usurped  the  throne  in  his  tarn,  and 
forthwith  reduced  Tiphsah,  whix;h  refused  to  acknowl- 
!  edge  his  rule.     He  adhered  to  the  sin  of  Jeroboam,  like 
I  the  other  kings  of  Israel.     His  general  character  is  de- 
I  scribed  by  .Josephus  as  rude  and  exceedingly  cruel  {Ant. 
I  ix,  11, 1).    Tiie  contemporary  prophets,  Hosea  and  Amos, 
have  left  a  melancholy  picture  of  the  ungodliness,  de- 
moralization, and  feebleness  of  Israel ;  and  Ewald  adds 
i  to  their  testimony  some  doubtful  references  to  Isaiah 
j  and  Zechariah.     (For  the  encounter  with  the  Assyrians, 
see  below.)     jMenahem  died  in  B.C.  759,  leaving  the 
throne  to  his  son  Pekahiah  (2  Kings  xv,  14-22).    There 
are  some  peculiar  circumstances  in  the  narrative  of  his 
reign,  in  the  discussion  of  which  we  chiefly  follow  tlie 
statements  in  Smith's  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  s.  v.     See  Is- 
KAEi>,  Kingdom  of. 

(1.)  Ewald  {(Jesch.  Isr.  iii,  598),  following  the  Sept., 
would  translate  the  latter  part  of  2  Kings  xv,  10,  "And 
Kobolam  (or  Keblaam)  smote  him,  and  slew  him,  and 
reigned  in  his  stead."  Ewald  considers  the  fact  of  such 
a  king's  existence  a  help  to  the  interpretation  of  Zech. 
xi,8;  and  he  accounts  for  the  silence  of  Scripture  as  to 
his  end  by  saying  that  he  may  have  thrown  himself 
across  the  Jordan,  and  disappeared  among  the  subjects 
of  king  Uzziah.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  how  .such 
a  translation  can  be  made  to  agree  with  the  subsecpient 
mention  (ver.  13)  of  Sliallum,  and  with  tlie  express  as- 
cription of  Shallum's  death  (ver.  14)  to  Menahem.  Tlie- 
'  nius  excuses  the  translation  of  the  Sept.  by  supjiosing 
I  that  their  MSS.  may  have  been  in  a  defective  state,  but 
'  ridicules  the  theory  of  Ewald.     See  Kings. 

(2.)  In  the  brief  history  of  jNIenahcm,  his  ferocious 
treatment  of  Tiphsah  occupies  a  conspicuous  place.  The 
time  of  the  occurrence  and  the  site  of  the  town  have 
been  doubted.     Keil  says  that  it  can  be  no  other  place 


MENAHEM 


V7 


MENARD 


than  the  remote  Thapsacus  on  the  Euphrates,  the  north- 
east boundary  (1  Kings  iv,  24)  of  Solomon's  dominions ; 
and  certainly  no  other  place  bearing  the  name  is  men- 
tioned in  the  Bible.  Others  suppose  that  it  may  have 
been  some  town  which  Menahem  took  in  his  way  as  he 
went  from  Tirzah  to  win  a  crown  in  Samaria  (Ewald) ; 
or  that  it  is  a  transcriber's  error  for  Tappuah  (Josh,  xvii, 
8).  and  that  Menahem  laid  it  waste  when  he  returned 
from  Samaria  to  Tirzah  (Thenius).  No  sufficient  rea- 
son appears  for  having  recourse  to  such  conjectures 
where  the  plain  text  presents  no  insuperable  difficulty. 
The  act,  whether  perpetrated  at  the  beginning  of  jNIena- 
hem's  reign  or  somewhat  later,  was  doubtless  intended 
to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  reluctant  subjects 
throughout  the  whole  extent  of  dominion  which  he 
claimed.  A  precedent  for  such  cruelty  might  be  found 
in  the  border  wars  between  Syria  and  Israel  (2  Kings 
viii,  12).  It  is  a  striking  sign  of  the  increasing  degra- 
dation of  the  land,  that  a  king  of  Israel  practiced  upon 
his  subjects  a  brutality  from  the  mere  suggestion  of 
which  the  unscrupulous  Syrian  usurper  recoiled  with 
indignation.     See  Tiphsah. 

(3.)  But  the  most  remarkable  event  in  Menahem's 
reign  is  the  first  appearance  of  a  hostile  force  of  Assyr- 
ians on  the  north-east  frontier  of  Israel.  King  Pul,  how- 
ever, withdrew,  having  been  converted  from  an  enemy 
into  an  ally  by  a  timely  gift  of  1000  talents  of  silver, 
which  Menahem  exacted  by  an  assessment  of  fifty  shek- 
els a  head  on  G0,000  Israelites.  This  was  probably  the 
only  choice  left  to  him,  as  he  had  not  that  resource  in 
the  treasures  of  the  Temple  of  which  the  kings  of  Judah 
availed  themselves  in  similar  emergencies.  It  seems, 
perhaps,  too  much  to  infer  from  1  Chron.  v,  26  that  Pul 
also  took  away  Israelitish  captives.  The  name  of  Pul 
(Sept.  Phaloch  or  Phalos)  appears,  according  to  Rawlin- 
son  {Bampton  Lectures  for  1859,  Lect.  iv,  p.  133),  in  an 
Assyrian  inscription  of  a  Ninevite  king,  as  Phallukha, 
who  took  tribute  from  Beth  Kumri  (  =  the  house  of 
Omri  =  Samaria),  as  well  as  from  Tyre,  Sidon,  Damas- 
cus, Idumsea,  and  Philistia ;  the  king  of  Damascus  is  set 
down  as  giving  2300  talents  of  silver,  besides  gold  and 
copper,  but  neither  the  name  of  jMenahem,  nor  the 
amount  of  his  tribute,  is  stated  in  the  inscription.  Eaw- 
linson  also  says  that  in  another  inscription  the  name  of 
Menahem  is  given,  probably  by  mistake  of  the  stone- 
cutter, as  a  tributary  of  Tiglath-pileser.    See  Nineveh. 

Menahem  (bp:x-Zerach)  of  Estella,  a  Jewish 
savant,  was  born  in  1306  at  Estella,  whither  his  father 
had  rted  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  France. 
In  1328,  six  years  after  his  marriage  to  the  daughter  of 
Benjamin  Abiz,  the  rabbi  of  Estella,  the  Navarresc  mas- 
•sacre  occurred,  in  which  his  father,  mother,  and  four 
younger  brothers  were  murdered,  while  he  himself,  se- 
verely wounded,  was  left  for  dead.  A  soldier  riding  by, 
late  in  the  night,  heard  him  groan,  and  lifted  the  unfor- 
tunate Jew  upon  his  horse,  bound  up  his  wounds,  clothed 
him,  and  secured  a  physician's  care  for  hira.  Thus  pre- 
served, IMenahem  repaired  to  Toledo,  and  studied  the 
Talmud  for  two  years.  Thence  he  went  to  Alcala,  where 
he  joined  R.  Joshua  Abalesh  in  his  studies.  Upon  the 
death  of  the  latter  in  1350,  Menahem  succeeded  as  ruler 
of  the  college,  and  held  this  place  till  1368.  Having 
lost  all  his  property  during  the  civil  war,  Don  Samuel 
Abarbanel,  of  Seville,  liberally  supplied  him  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  which  he  spent  at  Toledo,  where 
he  died  in  1374.  To  this  benefactor  he  dedicated  his 
book  on  Jewish  rites  and  ceremonies,  in  327  chapters, 
entitled  Provision  for  the  Way,  Xlin  TxT^^  •T'? 
**'7"''?^  (Ferrara,  1554).  Comp.  Griitz,  Gesch.  d,  Juden 
(Leipsic,  1873),  vii,  312;  Jost,  Gesch.  d.  Judenthums  u. 
s.  Sekten,  iii,  86 ;  Zunz,  Zur  Gesch.  u.  Literntur  (Berlin, 
1845),  p.  415;  Dessauer,  Gesch.  d.  Israeliten  (Breslau, 
1870),  p.  323  sq.;  Furst,  Bibl.  Judaica,  ii,  353;  Lindo, 
History  of  the  Jews  of  Spain  and  Portugal  (London, 
1848),  p.  157  sq. ;  Finn,  Sephardim,  or  the  History  of  the 
Jews  in  Spain  and  Portugal  (London,  1841),  p.  307  j 


Etheridge,  Introd.  to  Hehr.  Literature,  p.  265 ;  Manasseh 
ben-Israel,  The  Conciliator,  transl.  by  E.  H.  Lindo  (Lon- 
don, 1842),  p.  sxx ;  Zunz,  Literaturgeschichte  der  syna- 
gogalen  Poesie  (Berlin,  1865),  p.  506.     (B.  P.) 

Menahem  of  Merseburg,  a  rabbi  of  great  dis- 
tinction among  Jewish  scholars  of  the  14th  century,  and 
one  of  the  representatives  of  truly  German  synagogal 
teacheis,  flourished  about  1360.  He  lived  in  very  troub- 
lesome times,  and  because  the  literary  remains  of  this 
period  were  scanty,  it  was  called  the  cip^  "lin,  "the 
destitute  generation."  To  the  prominent  literati  of  that 
period,  who  left  some  monuments  of  their  learning,  be- 
longs Menahem  of  Merseburg,  who  wrote  annotations 
on  Rabbinical  decisions,  entitled  CplSJ,  reprinted  in 
Jak.Weit's  m'i5,  "questions  and  answers"  (Vened.1549; 
Hanau,  1610).  Comp.  Griitz,  Geschichte  der  Juden,  viii, 
149 ;  Jost,  Geschichte  des  Judenthums  u.  s.  Sekten,  iii,  116; 
Zunz,  Zur  Geschichte  u.  Literatur  (Berlin,  1845),  p.  193; 
Furst,  Bibl.  Judaica,  ii,  352. 

Me'nan,  or  rather  Mainan  {Mdivov  [with  much 
variety  of  readings],  of  uncertain  signification),  a  per- 
son named  as  the  son  of  Mattatha  and  father  of  Melea, 
among  the  private  descendants  of  David  and  ancestors 
of  Christ  (Luke  iii,  31) ;  but  of  doubtful  authenticity 
(Meth.  Quart.  Per.  1852,  p.  597).  See  Genealogy  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Menandrians,  one  of  the  most  ancient  branches 
of  the  Gnostics,  received  their  name  from  their  leader, 
Menander.  He  was  a  Samaritan  by  birth,  and  is  said 
to  have  received  instruction  from  Simon  Magus.  This 
supposition  is  not  well  founded,  however,  and  has  arisen, 
no  doubt,  from  the  similarity  which  existed,  to  some 
extent,  between  his  teachings  and  those  of  Simon,  as 
well  as  from  the  erroneous  idea  that  all  the  Gnostic 
sects  sprung  from  the  Simonians.  Menander  aspired  to 
the  honor  of  being  a  Messiah,  and,  according  to  the  tes- 
timonies of  Irenjeus,  Justin,  and  Tertullian,  he  pretended 
to  be  one  of  the  jeons  sent  from  the  pleroma,  or  celestial 
regions,  to  succor  the  souls  that  lay  groaning  under  bod- 
ily oppression  and  servitude,  and  to  maintain  tlJ€m 
against  the  violence  and  stratagems  of  the  dtemons  that 
hold  the  reins  of  empire  in  this  sublunary  world.  One 
of  the  conditions  of  salvation  was  baptism  in  his  name, 
according  to  a  peculiar  form  instituted  by  him.  He 
claimed  also  the  power  to  make  his  followers  immortaL 
His  daring  pretensions  and  fanatical  teachings  should 
cause  him  to  be  ranked  as  a  huiatic  rather  than  the 
founder  of  a  heretical  sect.  The  influence  of  the  Me- 
nandrians continued  through  several  minor  sects  untU 
some  time  in  the  6th  century.  They  were  often  con- 
founded, by  those  not  well  informed  on  the  subject,  with 
the  orthodox  followers  of  Christ.  See  Eusebius,  Hist. 
Eccles.  iii,  26,;  iv,  22;  Irenseus,  ^  f/i'.  hares,  i,  21;  Jus- 
tin M.,  Ajwlog.  i,  26 ;  Schaff,  Ch.  Hist,  i,  235 ;  Gieseler, 
Eccles.  Hist,  i,  56 ;  Mosheim,  Commentary  on  Eccles.  Hist.  ; 
Wetzer  und  Welte,  Kirchen-Lexikon, \o\.  vi,  s.  v. ;  Walch, 
Hist,  der  Ketzereien,  i,  185  sq.,  276,  284  ;  Schrockh, 
Kirchen-Gesch.  ii,  244.     See  also  Gnostics;  Magus, 

SlJION. 

Menard,  Claude,  a  French  theologian,  was  born 
at  Angers  in  1580.  He  began  his  career  as  a  barrister, 
and  was  made  a  lieutenant-general  of  the  provostsh'ip. 
Becoming  depressed  in  mind  by  the  loss  of  his  wife,  he 
forsook  his  calling,  and  intended  to  retire  from  the  world. 
His  friends  prevented  his  entering  a  cloister,  but  he 
embraced  the  ecclesiastical  profession,  and  showed  his 
interest  in  monastic  institutions  by  contributing  to 
the  erection  of  several  convents.  He  applied  himself  to 
researches  in  the  antiquities  of  his  province  with  so 
much  success  that  his  compatriot  Menage  calls  him  "Le 
pere  de  I'histoire  d'Anjou."  He  died  Jan.  20, 1652.  He 
is  noted  for  the  following  works:  Zes  deux  premiers  li- 
vres  de  St.  A  ugustin  contre  Julien  (Paris,  1617,  folio  and 
8vo)  : — S.  Hieronymi  endiculus  de  Hceresibus  Jud(eorum 
(ibid.  1617, 4to).    Menard  published  this  history  from  a 


MEXARD 


IS 


MEXART 


manuscript  which  he  had  found  at  LasaL  He  added 
different  Latin  treatises  of  the  same  age,  and  notes,  in 
which  he  showed  much  judgment  and  erudition.  Me- 
nard's edition  served  as  a  basis  for  that  of  Ducange,  in 
which  tlie  notes  and  observations  of  the  former  are  up- 
held : — Ilinerarium  B.  A  ntonini  martyris,  cum  annota- 
tionibus  (Angers,  1640,  4to)  -.—Recherches  et  avis  sur  le 
corps  de  St.  Jacques  le  Majeur  (Angers,  1610).  In  this 
work  he  maintains,  against  general  opinion,  that  the 
relics  of  this  apostle  are  kept  in  St.  Maurille's  Church 
at  Angers.  To  Menard  is  also  attributed  Ukistoire  de 
Vordre  du  Croissant,  a  JIS.  in  the  library  at  Paris.  See 
Biographie  Universelle,  s.  v. 

Menard,  Fran9ois,  a  Dutch  writer  of  note,  was 
born  at  Stcllcwroof.  in  Fricsland,  in  1570.  He  estab- 
lished hiuiself  at  Poitiers,  where  he  was  at  first  professor 
of  humanity,  and  later  professor  of  jurisprudence.  He 
obtained  a  pension  from  Louis  XHI.  The  time  of  his 
death  is  not  known.  His  important  works  are,  Regici- 
diitm  detestatum,  qucesitum,  prcecoeutum  (Poitiers,  1610), 
written  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Henry  IV: — 
DUputallones  dejuribus  episcoporum  (Poitiers,  1612, 8vo), 
which  dis])lays  a  deep  knowledge  of  civil  and  canonical 
law ;  and  Des  notes  sur  la  vie  de  Ste.-Radegerel  et  sur  la 
regie  de  Saint-Cesaire  (edited  by  Charles  Pidoux,  Poi- 
tiers, l6-2l).—Biog7-ap/iie  Universelle,  s.  v. 

Menard,  Jean,  a  French  ecclesiastic  and  writer, 
•was  born  at  Nantes  Sept.  23, 1650.  He  studied  law  at 
Paris,  and  met  with  great  success  at  Nimes  as  a  pleader. 
But,  intluenced  by  conscientious  scruples,  he  entered  the 
Seminary  of  Saint-Magloire  in  1675  as  a  student  of  the- 
olog}',  and,  after  receiving  orders  at  Paris,  returned  to 
his  native  place  to  devote  himself  to  the  furtherance  of 
true  Christianity.  Believing  that  an  ascetic  life  of  the 
very  strictest  sort  is  required  of  all  devout  Christians, 
he  determined  to  give  himself  entirely  to  works  of 
charity  and  kindred  offices.  He  refused  the  canonship 
to  Sainiu-Chapellc,  and  also  the  bishopric  of  Saint-Pol 
de  Leon,  preferring  the  humble  position  of  warden  of 
the  seminary  at  Nimes,  where  he  labored  with  great  sat- 
isfaction for  more  than  thirty  %-ears.  He  died  at  Nimes 
April  15, 1717.  Menard  is  the  author  of  a  Catechisine 
(Nimes,  1695,  8vo),  which  has  been  approved  by  many 
prelates.  His  memory  for  some  time  was  the  object  of 
a  kind  of  worship,  and  his  tomb,  it  is  said,  was  a  place 
of  miracles  and  wonderful  cures. — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog. 
Generate,  s.  v. 

Menard,  Leon,  a  French  antiquary,  was  born 
Sept.  12,  171)1),  at  Tarasc^'on.  After  having  studied  suc- 
cessfully at  the  college  of  the  Jesuits  at  Lyons,  he  took 
liis  degree  in  law  at  Toulouse,  and  succeeded  his  father 
in  the  position  of  counsellor  to  the  inferior  court  of 
Nimes.  After  17-14  he  resided  almost  continually  at 
Paris,  whither  he  had  been  sent  in  tlie  interest  of  his 
clients.  Largely  devoted  to  the  study  of  history  and 
antiquity,  he  made  himself  known  by  his  History  of  the 
Bishops  of  Xinies,  the  success  of  which  opened  to  him 
in  1719  the  doors  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions.  He 
also  became  a  member  of  the  academies  of  Lyons  and  of 
Marseilles.  In  1762  he  went  to  Avignon,  and,  at  the  ex- 
press invitation  of  the  magistrates,  he  spent  two  years 
in  collecting  the  materials  necessary  for  a  history  of 
that  city;  but,  his  health  failing,  he  was  obliged  to  de- 
sist from  this  work.  He  died  Oct.  1,  1767,  at  Paris. 
Jlenard  wrote,  Hitstoire  des  Eveques  de  jVimes  (La  Haye 
[Lyons],  1737,  2  vols.  12mo) ;  revised  in  the  Ilistoire  of 
that  city  : — //istoirc  civile,  ecrlesiastique,  et  litteraire  de 
la  Ville  de  Ximes,  avcc  des  A'otes  et  les  P/-eures  (Paris, 
1750-58,  7  vols.  4to).  The  only  fault  of  this  learned 
work  is  its  excessive  prolixity.  An  abridgment  of  it 
has  appeared,  continuing  as  far  as  1790  (Nimes,  1831- 
33,  3  vols.  8vo): — Refutation  du  Sentiment  dc  Voltaire 
qui  traite  d'Ouvrage  suppose  le  "  Testament  du  Car- 
dinal Richelieu''^  (anonymous,  1750,  12mo).  Fonce- 
magne  joined  Menard  in  sustaining  the  authenticity  of 
a  Avriting  that  Voltaire  persisted  in  declaring  apocry- 


phal : — Pieces  fugitives  pour  servir  a  I'l/istoiie  de  France, 
avec  des  Xotes  historiques  et  geographiques  (Paris,  1759, 
3  vols.  4to).  This  valued  collection,  published  in  co- 
operation with  the  marquis  D'Aubois,  contains  a  num- 
ber of  researches  respecting  persons,  places,  dates,  etc., 
from  1546  to  1653: — Vie  de  Flechicr,  at  the  head  of  an 
edition  of  the  works  of  that  prelate,  but  of  which  only 
the  first  volume  appeared  (1760,  4to).  Menard  is  also 
the  author  of  several  dissertations,  which  have  been 
printed  in  the  Memoires  de  V Academic  des  Inscriptioits. 
See  Le  Beau,  Eloge  de  Menard,  in  the  Jfem,  de  I'A  cad, 
des  Inscript.  vol.  xxxvi ;  Xecrologe  des  llommes  illustres 
de  la  France  (1770). — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Menard,  Nicolas  Hugues,  a  French  thof.lo- 
gian,  was  born  at  Paris  in  l.'iS,").  Having  finished  his 
studies  at  the  college  of  tlie  cardinal  Le  Moine,  Hugues 
INIenard  joined  the  Benedictines  in  the  Monastery  of  St. 
Denis,  Feb.  3,  1608.  He  at  first  devoted  himself  to 
preaching,  and  was  very  successfid  in  the  principal  pul- 
pits of  Paris.  Finding  the  discipline  not  sufhciently 
severe  in  the  Abbey  of  St.  Denis,  he  repaired  to  Verdun, 
to  enter  the  reformed  Monastery  of  St.  Vanne.  Later 
he  taught  rhetoric  at  Cluni,  and  finall}^  went  to  St.  (ier- 
main-des-Pres,  where  he  terminated  his  laborious  ca- 
reer, Jan.  20, 1644.  He  wrote,  Murtyrologium  SS.  ord. 
S.  Benedicti  (Paris,  1629, 8vo),  a  work  that  is  still  read : 
— Concordia  Regulurum,  uuctore  S,  Benedicto,  Aniance 
abbate,  with  notes  and  learned  observations  (Paris,  1628, 
4to) : — 1).  Gregorii  papw,  cognomento  Jlagni,  Liber  Sa- 
cramentorum  (Par.  1642,  4to)  -.—De  unico  Dyonisio,  A  re- 
opagilica  Athenarum  et  I'aj-uiorum  episcopo  (Paris, 
1643,  8vo),  against  the  canon  of  Launoy  -.—S.Barnahce, 
apostoli,  Fpistola  catholica  (Paris,  1645,  4to),  an  epistle 
taken  by  H.  jNIenard  from  a  IMS.  of  Corbie,  and  pub- 
lished after  his  death  by  D'Achery.  See  Niceron,  Me- 
moires,  vol.  xxii;  Ellies  Dupin,  Bibl.  des  Aut.  eccles.  du 
dix-$eptien;e  siecle;  Hist.  litf.  de  la  Cong,  de  Saint-Maur. 
p.  18  sq. — Hoefer,  Xouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Menart,  Qlestin,  a  French  prelate,  was  born  at 
Flavigny,  diocese  of  Autun,  about  the  bcginninj;  of  the 
15th  century.  He  was  successively  treasurer  to  the 
chapel  of  Dijon,  provost  of  St.  Omer,  counsellor  to  the 
duke  Philippe  de  Bourgogne,  and  his  ambassador  to  the 
kings  of  France,  England,  and  Germany.  The  letters 
of  pope  Eugenius  IV,  who  afterwards  promoted  him  to 
the  metropolitan  see  of  Besanc^on,  bear  the  date  of  Sept. 
18, 1439.  He  made  his  entrance  into  that  city  Aug.  1, 
1440.  There  was  at  that  time  no  kingdom  or  repul)lic 
whose  administration  was  more  difficult  than  that  of  the 
Church  of  Besanc^on.  The  archbishop  pretended,  by 
virtue  of  ancient  titles,  to  be  temporal  lord  of  the  city; 
but  the  citizens  contested  these  assumed  rights,  and 
reserved  to  themselves  uniiualified  freedom,  which  they 
did  not  hesitate  to  defend  at  all  times  even  at  the  point 
of  the  sword,  so  that  between  the  archbishop  and  his 
lieople  there  was  continual  war.  Quentin  :Menart  had 
just  taken  possession  of  his  sec  as  his  procurator  had 
arrested  a  citizen  whom  he  accused  of  heresy,  and 
caused  to  be  condemned  by  the  ecclesiastical  judge. 
The  citizens  declared  that  this  crime  of  heresy  was  only 
a  pretext,  and  came  to  the  archbishop's  palace  bringing 
a  complaint  which  greatly  resembled  a  menace.  The 
latter  was  obliged  to  yield,  blamed  the  conduct  of  his 
procurator,  and  restored  liberty  to  the  condemned  her- 
etic. Very  soon  other  tumults  arose.  On  the  heights 
of  Bregille  the  archbishop  possessed  a  castle,  which 
overlooked  and  irritated  the  city  of  Besan(;on.  A  pre- 
text offering  itself,  the  citizens  repaired  to  Bregille,  and 
entirely  demolished  not  only  the  castle,  but  tlie  adja- 
cent houses  also,  INIenart  complained  in  his  turn,  but 
they  scarcely  listened  to  him.  He  then  retired  to  his 
castle  of  Gy,  with  all  his  court,  and  hurled  against  the 
city  a  sentence  of  interdiction.  The  citizens  of  Besan- 
(;;on,  however,  were  not  superstitious  enough  to  fear  this 
punishment,  and  submitted  without  a  mumnir  to  the 
suffering  inflicted  bv  the  resentment  of  the  archbishop, 


MENASSEH  BEN-ISRAEL 


79 


MENCIUS 


and  refused  to  yield  in  order  to  obtain  a  repeal  of  the 
interdict.  Menart  proceeded  to  Rome,  and  invoked  the 
authority  of  the  pope ;  the  pope  delegated  the  affair  to  a 
cardinal,  who  even  aggravated  the  sentence  pronounced 
upon  the  rebels.  But  the  people  carried  the  cause  be- 
fore the  tribunal  of  the  emperor,  and  the  latter  sent 
many  of  his  counsellors  successiveh'  to  Besan^on — Di- 
dier  of  Montreal,  Hartung  of  Cappel — who  in  their  turn 
declared  Queutin  Menart  accused  and  guilty  of  rebellion. 
At  last,  in  April,  1450,  this  great  lawsuit  was  terminated, 
Menart  coming  forth  victor.  The  castle  of  Bregille 
was  reconstructed  at  the  expense  of  the  citizens.  Then 
the  archbishop  of  Besanoon  returned  to  his  city  and  to 
his  palace,  where  he  died,  Dec.  18,  1462.  See  Dimod, 
Hist,  de  VEglise  de  Besangon,  vol.  i;  L'Abbe  Eichard, 
Hist,  des  Dioc.  de  Besangon  et  de  Saint-Claude, — Hoefer, 
Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 
Meuasseh  ben-Israel.     See  Manasseh  bex- 

ISRAEL. 

Menasseh  Vital.     See  Vital. 

Mencius  (or  Meng),  one  of  the  two  great  Chinese 
sages  (the  other  being  Confucius),  is  supposed  by  Legge 
(whose  statements  we  condense)  to  have  been  born  about 
the  year  B.C.  371,  one  hundred  years  after  the  death  of 
Confucius,  and  to  have  been  contemporarj^  with  Plato, 
Aristotle,  Zeno,  Epicurus,  and  Demosthenes.  His  name, 
like  that  of  his  great  exemplar,  was  Latinized  by  the 
Jesuits  from  Meng-tse,  as  that  of  the  earlier  sage  was 
from  Koong-foo-tse,  to  conform  to  which  the  later  wor- 
thy should  have  been  called  Meng-foo-ise,  or  Menfacius. 
The  Chinese  language  is  monosyllabic,  and  the  original 
one  hundred  family  names  of  the  empire  are  all  mono- 
syllables. In  transferring  the  names  Koong  and  IMeng 
into  Latin  or  English,  foreigners  have  fallen  into  the 
ludicrous  mistake  of  confounding  name  and  title,  and 
making  a  single  polysyllabic  surname  out  of  the  two — 
as  if  the  Chinese  were  to  make  Popjohn  out  of  pope 
John,  or  Lordbut  out  of  lord  Bute ! 

Men  often  owe  their  greatness  to  their  mothers.  The 
mother  of  Meng  is  celebrated  throughout  China  as  a 
model  of  feminine  wisdom  in  family  training.  The  first 
home  of  her  widowhood  ^vas  near  a  cemetery,  and  her 
little  boy,  with  the  instinctive  imitativeness  pecidiar  to 
children,  began  to  practice  funeral  ceremonies,  and  to  per- 
form Liliputian  burial-rites.  "  This  will  never  do,"  said 
Madam  Meng,  "  my  son  will  grow  up  an  undertaker," 
and  she  promptly  removed  to  a  house  in  the  market- 
place. Here  the  boy  imitated  the  cries,  disputes,  and 
chafferings  of  the  buyers  and  sellers.  "  This  will  not 
answer,"  said  the  watchful  mother,  "  he  will  make  only 
a  pedler  or  an  auctioneer,"  and  again  she  removed  and 
took  up  her  abode  in  the  vicinity  of  a  school.  The 
youth  forthwith  took  to  chanting  lessons  in  concert  with 
the  loud  chorus  peculiar  to  the  Chinese  school-room. 
"  This  wOl  do,"  said  the  prudent  dame,  "  my  son  will 
become  a  scholar,"  and  she  was  not  disappointed  in  her 
forecasting.  Nevertheless  he  was,  like  all  boys,  indif- 
ferent and  careless,  and  we  are  told  that,  to  quicken  his 
zeal  and  give  him  a  striking  lesson,  his  mother  one  day 
surprised  and  alarmed  him  by  suddenly  cutting  asunder 
the  web  she  was  weaving.  Upon  his  inquiring  why 
she  did  it,  she  replied  that  thus,  by  his  idleness,  he  was 
cutting  asunder  the  web  of  opportunity,  and  destroying 
his  prospects  for  life,  just  as  she  had  destroyed  the  prod- 
uct of  the  loom.  The  boy  was  affected,  and  gave  great- 
er diligence  to  his  studies.  These  are  all  the  glimpses 
we  have  of  philosopher  Mepg,  until  we  meet  him  in 
public  life  at  forty  years  of  age.  He  must  have  spent 
his  early  years  in  diligent  study  of  the  classics,  but  how, 
or  under  what  masters,  we  are  riot  informed.  In  his 
writings  he  saj-s,  "Although  I  could  not  be  a  disciple 
of  Confucius  myself,  I  have  endeavored  to  cultivate  my 
character  and  knowledge  by  means  of  others  who  were." 
Like  his  master  Confucius,  Mencius  doubtless  assumed 
the  othce  of  a  teacher — not  a  teacher  or  professor  in  our 
Western  sense,  but  a  peripatetic  advocate  of  morals,  po- 


litical philosophy,  and  good  government — one  to  whonj 
youthful  and  perplexed  inquirers  resorted  for  coimsel 
and  encouragement.  In  the  times  of  Confucius  and 
Mencius,  China  was  not  a  consolidated  empire  as  at 
present,  but  consisted  of  a  number  of  states  or  provinces 
under  independent  chieftains  or  kings.  To  the  court 
of  one  of  these  Mencius  resorted  at  about  the  age  of 
forty  years,  and  at  the  court  of  one  or  another  of  these 
petty  rulers  he  lingered  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century 
— the  period  which  his  published  works  cover — when  he 
retired  to  obscurity,  and  spent  the  remaining  twenty 
years  of  his  life  with  his  disciples  in  social  converse,  or 
the  preparation  of  the  seven  books  that  constitute  his 
writings.  It  was  a  long  time  before  his  reputation  be- 
came national;  but  the  time  came  at  last,  when  a  native 
writer  says,  "  Since  the  time  when  Han,  duke  of  Liter- 
ature, delivered  his  eulogium— '  Confucius  handed  the 
scheme  of  doctrine  to  Mencius,  on  whose  death  the  line 
of  transmission  was  interrupted'— all  the  scholars  of  the 
empire  have  associated  Confucius  and  Mencius  togeth- 
er." Meng  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  dying  B.C.  288, 
The  influence  of  his  doctrines  and  opinions  in  China 
is  second  only  to  that  of  Confucius.  "  Confucius,"  says 
a  native  writer,  "  spoke  only  of  benevolence ;  Mencius 
speaks  of  benevolence  and  righteousness."  "  Confucius 
spoke  only  of  the  will  or  mind ;  Mencius  enlarged  on  the 
nourishment  of  the  passion-nature." 

The  petdoctrine  of  Mencius  was  the  intrinsic  goodness 
of  human  nature,  although  he  admitted  that  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  mankind  had,  through  unfavorable  "cir- 
cumstances or  influences,  become  perverted.  He  says, 
"  The  way  in  which  a  man  loses  his  natural  goodness  is 
like  the  way  in  which  trees  are  deprived  by  the  wood- 
man of  their  branches  and  foliage ;  and,  if  they  still  send 
forth  some  buds  or  sprouts,  then  come  the  cattle  and 
goats  and  browse  upon  them.  As  in  the  tree  all  appear- 
ance of  life  and  beauty  is  destroyed,  so  in  man,  after  a 
long  exposure  to  evil  influences,  all  traces  of  native 
goodness  seem  to  be  obliterated."  But  he  maintams 
that "  there  is  an  original  power  of  goodness  in  the  race," 
and  that  "  aU  men  may,  if  they  will,  become  like  Yao 
and  Shun,  t^\o  of  the  early  sages  and  kings,  who  were 
pre-eminent  for  their  virtue."  Mencius  attributed  the 
decline  in  morals  to  the  neglect  of  the  precepts  of  Con- 
fucius. He  Avas  determined,  therefore,  to  correct  the 
evils  which  had  sprung  up,  and,  by  securing  the  atten- 
tion of  the  people  to  the  study  of  morals,  to  restore  the 
virtues  of  the  primitive  ages.  One  well  versed  in  Chinese 
scholarship  says,  "  The  great  object  of  Mencius  is  to 
rectify  men's  hearts.  '  If  a  man  once  rectify  his  heart,' 
says  he, '  little  else  will  remain  for  him  to  do.'  In  an- 
other place  he  says,  '  The  great  or  superior  man  is  he 
who  does  not  lose  his  child's  heart,' "  an  expression  which 
vividly  recalls  those  beautiful  lines  of  the  great  German 
poet — 

"  Wohl  dem  der  frei  von  Schuld  und  Fehle 
Bewahrt  die  kindlich  reine  Seele"  (Schiller). 
It  is  evident,  however,  that,  owing  to  his  sanguine  and 
ardent  nature,  or  to  some  other  cause,  Mencius  did  not 
very  fully  realize  the  exceeding  difficulty  of  "  rectifying 
one's  heart."  He  did  not  like  disputing,  yet,  when 
forced  to  it,  showed  himself  master  of  the  art.  His  rea- 
sonings are  often  marked  by  an  enjoyable  ingenuity 
and  subtlety.  "We  have  more  sympathy  with  him 
than  with  Confucius.  He  comes  closer  to  us;  he  is  not 
so  awful,  but  he  is  more  admirable."  The  people  he  con- 
sidered the  most  important  element  of  a  nation,  the  sov- 
ereign of  the  least  consequence.  The  ground  of  the  re- 
lation between  sovereign  and  people  is  the  will  of  God. 
He  asserts  the  doctrine.  Vox  poprili,  vox  Dei.  "  Heaven 
sees  as  the  people  see.  Heaven  hears  as  the  people  hear." 
The  highest  compliment  to  the  Chinese  sage  IMeng  is 
paid  him  by  Dr.  Legge,  who  finds  his  views  of  human 
nature  identical  with  those  of  the  great  author  of  the 
"Analogy,"  bishop  Butler,  whom  Wardlaw,  in  his  Chris- 
tian Ethics,  compares  to  the  Greek  Zeno.  It  would 
please  us  to  quote  largely  from  the  Seven  Books,  as  the 


MENCKE 


80 


MEXD.EANS 


best  means  of  showing  the  real  character  and  teachings 
of  this  teaching  "  celestial."  His  writings  abound  in 
gems  of  illustration.  Opening  them  at  random,  we  ev- 
erywhere light  upon  striking  sayings :  '■  To  dig  a  well, 
and  stop  without  reaching  the  spring,  is  to  throw  away 
the  well."  "  People  cannot  live  without  fire  or  water,  yet, 
if  you  knock  at  a  man's  door  and  ask  for  water  or  tire, 
there  is  no  man  who  will  not  give  them,  such  is  the 
abundance  of  these  things ;  a  sage  king  will  cause  pulse 
and  grain  to  be  as  abundant  as  fire  and  water,"  "  To  the 
truly  great  man  belong  by  nature  benevolence,  right- 
eousness, prosperity,  and  knowledge."  "  Good  govern- 
ment is  feared  by  the  people,  good  instructions  are  loved 
by  them  :  good  government  gets  their  wealth,  good  in- 
structions their  hearts."  "  Honor  and  virtue  delight  in 
righteousness."  "  Death  in  the  discharge  of  duty  may 
be  ascribed  to  the  will  of  Heaven."  "  Life  springs  from 
sorrow  and  calamity,  death  from  ease  and  pleasure." 
"The  value  of  benevolence  depends  on  its  being  brought 
to  maturity."  "  I  like  life  and  I  like  righteousness :  if 
I  cannot  keep  the  two  together,  I  will  let  the  life  go  and 
choose  righteousness."  "  The  tendency  of  man's  nature 
to  good  is  like  the  tendency  of  water  to  flow  down- 
wards." "As  you  do  violence  to  wood  in  order  to  make 
it  into  cups  and  bowls,  so  you  must  do  violence  to  hu- 
manity to  fashion  it  to  benevolence  and  righteousness." 
"  No  man  can  bend  himself  and  at  the  same  time  make 
others  straight." 

Legge  linds  fault  with  Confucius  and  Mencius  be- 
cause their  views  were  so  human — both  said  so  little 
of  (rod  and  heaven.  To  these  influential  teachers  he 
attributes  the  gross  materialism  of  the  Chinese  literati 
to-day.  We  have  no  apology  to  offer  for  their  athe- 
ism. Mencius  is  an  object  of  reverence,  but  he  does  not 
indirectly  contribute,  like  Confucius,  to  idolatry,  in  the 
sanctification  of  tables,  altars,  sacrifices,  and  victims 
to  himself.  Mencius  is  only  human,  Confucius  is  di- 
vine. The  distinguished  Orientalist  Kemusat,  in  draw^ 
ing  a  comparison  between  Confucius  and  Mencius,  says 
the  former  "  is  always  grave,  and  even  austere ;  he  ex- 
alts men  of  virtue,  of  whom  he  presents  an  ideal  por- 
trait; he  speaks  of  bad  men  only  with  a  cool  indigna- 
tion. Mencius,  with  the  same  love  of  virtue,  seems  to 
feel  for  vice  rather  contempt  than  abhorrence.  He  as- 
sails it  with  the  force  of  argument;  he  does  not  disdain 
even  to  employ  against  it  tlie  weapons  of  ridicule." 
Mencius  combined  a  certain  modesty  with  a  just  and 
manly  appreciation  of  liimself.  He  seemed  greatly  sur- 
prised when  one  of  his  disciples  was  disposed  to  rank 
him  as  a  sage ;  yet  he  said  on  another  occasion, "  When 
sages  shall  rise  up  again,  they  will  not  change  my 
words."  He  believed  that  he  was  appointed  by  Heaven 
to  uphold  or  restore  the  doctrines  of  the  ancient  sages, 
sucii  as  Yao,  Shun,  and  Confucius.  Han-Yu,  a  celebrated 
Chinese  critic,  says,  "If  we  wish  to  study  the  doctrines 
of  the  sages,  we  must  begin  with  Mencius.  ...  It  is 
owing  to  his  words  that  learners  nowadays  still  know 
how  to  revere  Confucius,  to  honor  benevolence  and  right- 
eousness, to  esteem  the  true  sovereign,  and  to  despise 
the  mere  pretender."  See,  besides  the  notice  prefixed 
to  the  Chinese-English  edition  of  Legge's  Chinese  Clas- 
sics (Hong-Kong,  1861),  vol.  ii,  Panthier's  translation 
of  Mencius's  writings  (Paris,  1851),  and  his  Chine,  p,  187 
sq.;  Loomis,  Confudns  and  the  Chinese  Classics  (San 
Francisco,  18{)7, 12mo),  bk.  iv ;  Kosny,  in  Hoefer's  Xouv. 
livxj.  (Unh-dlc,  s.  V. ;  and  the  excellent  article  in  Thom- 
as's Dirt,  of  Hiiui.  and  Mythol.  s.  v.     ( !•:.  W.) 

Mencke,  Johann,  son  of  the  following,  was  born 
at  Leii)sic  in  KlTl,  and  was  admitted  master  of  arts  in 
that  university  in  li)'J4.  He  spent  some  time  there  in 
the  study  of  divinity,  and  then  travelled  in  Holland 
and  England.  The  reputation  of  his  father  secured 
him  ready  admission  to  literary  circles,  but,  to  the 
great  disappointment  of  his  father,  he  turned  away 
from  theology,  and  gave  himself  to  the  pursuit  of 
studies  in  historv  and  jurisprudence.  He  died  April  1, 
1732, 


Mencke,  Otto,  a  learned  German  divine,  was  bom 
at  Oldenburg,  in  Westphalia,  in  1644.  When  a  youth 
of  seventeen,  he  left  the  parental  roof  to  seek  further 
educational  advantages  than  his  native  place  could  af- 
ford him  at  the  large  harbor  of  Bremen,  and  there  he 
pursued  the  study  of  philosophy;  he  next  removed  to  the 
University  of  Leipsic,  where  he  was  admitted  master  of 
arts  in  16()4.  Thereafter  lie  continued  his  studies  at  the 
universities  of  .lena,  Wittemberg,  Groningen,  Franeker, 
L'trcrht.  L(  yden,  and  Kiel,  lieturning  to  Leipsic,  he 
apjilied  liimself  for  some  time  to  divinity  and  civil  law. 
In  1668  he  was  chosen  professor  of  morality  in  that  uni- 
versity, and  in  1671  took  the  degree  of  licentiate  in  di- 
vinity. He  discharged  the  duties  of  his  professorship 
with  great  reputation  till  his  death,  which  happened  in 
1707,  He  was  five  times  rector  of  the  University  of 
Leipsic,  and  seven  times  dean  of  the  faculty  of  philoso- 
phy, lie  published  several  works  of  his  own,  and  ed- 
ited many  valuable  productions  of  others.  They  are 
all,  however,  of  a  secular  character.  See  Gen.  Biorj.  Diet. 
s.  \. ;  Jiioyrdjihie  Universelle,  s.  v. 

Mendaeans  (or  Mendians),  also  known  as 
CiiKiSTiANS  OF  St.  John,  are  an  Eastern  religious  sect 
of  Christians,  who  appear  to  retain  some  New- Testa- 
ment principles,  tainted,  however,  verj-  much  with  .Jew- 
ish doctrines  and  customs,  and  even  with  many  heathen 
practices  and  phases  of  religious  opinion.  See  Hk.mero- 
BAPTiST.E.  They  style  themselves  Mendei  Yochanan, 
i,  e.  Disciples  of  John. 

Xames. — The  name  X*'^3"2,  Mandaijt;  derived  from 
^fund(l  dt-Ch(i)ji;  5<*n'l,  the  \6yOQ  r//c  Z'^^':^  or  word  of 
Uf.  is  equivalent  to  oi  XoyiKoi,  in  opposition  to  those 
holding  ditferent  views,  who  are  designated  liy  them  as 
iiXoyoi.  Eut  it  is  only  among  themselves  they  use  that 
appellation ;  in  public  they  call  themselves  Sobha  (from 
the  Arabic  tsabbah),  and  allow  themselves  to  be  consid- 
ered by  the  Mohammedans  as  the  followers  of  the  aS'u- 
bwnns  mentioned  in  the  Koran.  This  erroneous  oitinion, 
it  is  said,  took  its  rise  from  their  habit  of  turning  to  the 
polar  star  when  praying.  The  name  of  Christians  of  St. 
John  was  never  assumed  by  them,  and  originated  with 
travellers.  Their  most  learned  and  distinguished  men 
are  called  by  them  Nasui-aye,  X^^^IjIS. 

Sacred  Boohs. — !Most  of  their  standard  worlds.  Avhich 
might  have  given  us  authentic  views  of  their  princi- 
ples, were  destroyed  by  the  Turks,  and  their  religious 
works  now  extant  are  only,  1,  the  SS"^'  X~'70.  .s'/'/ra 
Rubba,  "the  great  book;"  also  called  ST5H,  (.>««/,  "the 
treasure."  This  is  their  principal  work,  and  contains 
their  doctrines,  only  in  unconnected  fragments,  evident- 
ly the  production  of  a  number  of  different  ]iersons.  It  is 
divided  into  two  parts,  the  first  forming  about  two 
thirds  of  the  whole,  is  written  for  the  living,  and  is 
called  XJ'^'C'^,  ^'the  rirjht ;"  the  other,  smaller,  for  the 
dead,  is  called  X?'2p,  "the  left,"  and  contains  an  ac- 
count of  the  death  of  Adam,  as  also  the  prayers  to  be 
used  by  the  priests  on  the  occasion  of  deaths  and  fu- 
nerals. Norbcrg  has  given  some  information  on  that 
work  under  the  title  "Liber  Adami"  wliieh  is  quite 
improper,  and  whicli  he  probably  took  from  Abraliam 
Ecchellensis ;  his  version  also  is  full  of  errors  arising 
from  erroneous  interpretation  of  the  text,  which  he 
gives  also  incorrectly,  so  that  this  work  can  oidy  be 
used  with  great  caution.  2.  Xr^ w5  X^i^p.  "  the  book 
of  souls;"  it  contains  the  prayers  of  the  priests,  and  con- 
stitutes the  liturgy,  which  every  priest  is  to  know  by 
heart.  3.  XPp2'p.  This  contains  the  marriage  rit- 
ual. 4.  St'^n^l  Xr*X3,  in  which  are  found  the  pray- 
ers for  each  day.  b.  X',^3'1"I'7  "'"?"•  prayers  to  be  re- 
cited before  the  cross,  botli  at  home  and  in  the  church, 
but  exclusively  by  the  priests.  6.  XSH^T  5<"1'~~.  a  his- 
tory of  .John  the  Baptist.  7.  X'^'i^.b^  "'2pN.  a  treatise 
I  on  astrology.     Aside  from  these  they  have  formulas  for 


MEND^ANS 


81 


MEND^ANS 


all  kinds  of  screen^,  and  amulets  for  sickness  and  other 
misfortunes  which  evil  spirits  may  bring ;  these  charms 
are  to  be  worn  on  the  breast.  Those  used  against  in- 
curable diseases  are  called  X'^H'S]?,  those  against  cura- 
ble disorders  X^TCQ.  According  to  Ignatius  a  Jesu, 
the}'  also  possess  another  work,  entitled  "  Biran,'^  of 
which  he  gives  an  account ;  yet  the  characteristics  he 
furnishes  of  it  seem  to  apply  equally  to  the  Sidra  liahha, 
and  it  is  thought  that  the  latter  may  be  the  work  he 
refers  to. 

Belief. — Their  religion,  which  is  a  singular  mixture 
of  the  most  opposite  systems  of  antiquity,  is  very  ob- 
scure and  confused,  the  more  as,  in  the  course  of  time, 
it  underwent  different  and  often  contradictory  modifica- 
tions, which  we  lind  in  their  religious  works.  Another 
very  perplexing  feature  of  the  system  for  those  who 
study  it  is  that  the  same  deities  or  angels  are  some- 
times designated  by  entirely  different  names,  luitil  it 
becomes  almost  impossible  to  establish  their  identity. 

In  a  single  abstract  from  the  Sidra  Rabba  (i,  130- 
236)  we  lind  no  less  than  three  conflicting  accounts  of 
the  creation.  They  agree  in  placing  at  the  beginning 
of  all  things  NST  X'^'^S,  Pira  Rabba,  "the  great  fruit," 
the  X3T  xniQ  152,  Bego  Pira  Rabba,  "in  the  great 
fruit."  This  recalls  the  Orphean  myth  of  a  world's  egg, 
containing  the  germ  of  all  that  exists.  Norberg,  in  his 
preface,  remark  3,  not  being  able  to  understand  XI'^S, 
transformed  it  into  5<n"iS,  which,  in  his  Onomasticon, 
he  explains  "  volucris,  sc.  Phoenix,"  and  translates  the 
preceding  words  "(fuit)  Ferho  per  Ferho,"  which,  in 
the  Oiiom.,  he  explains  by  "  Summum  Numen  per  se 
exstitit."  At  the  same  time  with  the  great  fruit  was 
the  N'^I^^'n  xan  NiX^,  "3fana  the  Lord  of  Glory," 
andtlie  xnn  XliT  "i;^X,  "the  Etherof great  briUiancy," 
which  latter  is  the  world,  in  which  the  Muna  Rabba 
reigns,  and  which  contains  the  XST  X5'7"i;|i,  "  the  great 
Jordan"  (they  call  all  rivers  Jordans),  which  proceeds 
from  him.  Mana  Rabba  finally  called  forth  "  the  life," 
X^n  (sc.  Xi^'lp,  "  the  first").  This  accomplished  the 
act  of  creation,  and  the  ]Mana  Rabba  at  once  went  into 
the  most  absolute  retirement,  where  he  dwells  invisible 
to  all  but  tlie  purest  emanations,  and  the  most  pious 
among  the  ISIendajans,  who,  after  their  death,  are  per- 
mitted, Ijut  only  once,  to  contemplate  the  Almighty. 
As  the  revealed,  active,  and  governing  dei'ty — but  not 
similar  to  the  semigods  of  the  Gnostics — stands  the 
Chaye  Kadmaye,  "  the  first  life,"  which  is  therefore  en- 
titled to  the  first  worship  and  adoration.  Hence  also  it 
is  it,  and  not  the  Mana  Rabba,  who  is  first  invoked  in 
all  prayers,  and  with  whose  name  every  book  begins. 
It  is  designated  under  a  variety  of  names,  even  some- 
times by  those  applied  to  the  Mana  Rabba,  with  whom 
it  is  occasionally  confounded.  Like  him,  it  dwells  in 
the  pure,  brilliant  ether,  which  is  considered  as  a  world 
in  itself,  in  which  all  that  exists  is  pervaded  by  the  wa- 
ters of  the  fire  of  life,  and  is  inhabited  by  numberless 
UthrC-,  X"^"iriS",  "angels,"  who  dwell  there  in  eternal 
blessedness.  From  the  Chaye  Kadmaye  emanated  first 
the  Ckayc  Thinydne,  Xi^Dn  X.'^H,  "  the  second  life,"  of- 
ten called  also  l''^dl'^,  and  then  the  X'^nn  N'lSp, 
Mandd.  de-Chaye.  This  is  sometimes  (ii,  208)  called 
'*)!'?':?»  the  "  pure,"  yet  is  described  as  susceptible  of  im- 
pure thoughts :  thus  it  attempted  to  usurp  the  place  of 
the  first  life,  and  was  on  that  account  exiled  from,  the 
pure  ether  into  the  world  of  light,  being  separated  from 
it  by  the  X.-^-^  X-^^iSn  (the  Cabalists  call  them  "ip-'SJX 
D^^a).  It  is  similar  to  Cain,  while  its  younger  brother, 
Manda  de-Chaye,  represents  Abel.  He  is  called  the  fa- 
ther, master,  and  king  of  the  Uthre,  lord  of  the  worlds, 
the  beloved  son,  the  good  shepherd,  the  high-priest,  the 
word  of  life,  the  XoyoQ,  the  teacher  and  redeemer  of 
mankind,  who  descended  into  hell  and  chained  the  devil : 
YI.— F 


he  is,  in  short,  the  Christ  of  the  Mendaeans ;  and  as  the 
followers  of  our  Saviour,  so  are  they  named  after  the 
founder  of  their  faith.  He  dAvells  with  the  father,  who 
is  supposed  to  be  sometimes  Chaye  Kadmaye,  sometimes 
Mana  Rabba,  and  is,  like  the  "first  life,"  called  D'lX 
!!<!^^7l?  (comp.  in  the  Cabala,  'ii'2'lp  D'lX).  He  re- 
vealed himself,  however,  to  humanity  in  his  three  sons, 
who  are  also  called  his  brothers,  P'^3'iri,P^nik3,  and  dl3X 
(Abel,  Seth,  and  Enoch).  In  another  place  it  is  said 
that  Hebil  alone  is  his  son,  Shethil  his  grandson,  and 
Anush  his  great-grandson.  Hebil,  the  most  important 
among  them,  is  almost  equally  venerated  with  the 
Manda  de-Chaye,  receives  the  same  names,  and  is  often 
confounded  with  him.  He  is  generally  named  -'"^S'^tl 
XT^t.  Among  the  Uthre,  "  angels,"  who  emanated  from 
Chaye  Thinyune,  the  first  and  most  eminent  is  X^^H 
X'^n'ilpn,  "the  third  life;"  often  also  called  "iir^x, 
Abathur.  This  is  not  the  "buffalo,"  as  erroneously  as- 
serted by  Gesenius  (in  Erscli  und  Gruber,  EncyUop.  s. 
V.  Zabier),  but  only  has  that  name  because  of  his  being 
called  Kar  ti,ox<]v,  "the  father  of  the  Uthre,"  X2X 
X^"iri13'"1.  He  is  also  called  "the  old,  the  hidden,  the 
watcher."  He  sits  at  the  limit  of  the  world  of  light, 
where,  at  the  door  which  leads  to  the  middle  and  lower 
regions,  and  in  a  scale  which  he  always  holds  in  his 
hand,  he  weighs  the  deeds  of  the  departed  as  they  appear 
before  him  to  gain  admittance.  Under  him  there  was 
in  the  beginning  an  immense  void,  and  at  the  bottom 
of  it  the  troubled,  black  waters,  X^IXI^p  X^^ri.  As  he 
looked  down  and  saw  his  image  reflected  in  it,  arose 
b'^nxrS,  who  is  also  called  Gabriel,  and  retains  in  part 
the  nature  of  the  dark  waters  from  which  he  proceeded. 
He  received  from  his  father  tlie  mission  to  bviild  the 
earth  and  to  create  man..  This  he  is  represented  some- 
times as  having  performed  alone;  at  others,  with  the 
aid  of  the  daemons.  "When  he  had  created  Adam  and 
Eve,  he  found  himself  unable  to  give  them  an  upright 
posture,  or  to  breathe  the  spirit  into  them.  Hebil,  She- 
thil, and  Anush  then  interfered,  and  obtained  from  Chaye 
Kadmaye  (or  took  from  Pethahil  at  his  instigation)  the 
spirit  of  INIana,  and  infused  it  into  man,  that  he  might 
not  worship  Pethahil  as  his  creator.  Tlie  latter  was  on 
that  account  exiled  from  the  world  of  light  by  his  fa- 
ther, and  consigned  to  a  place  below,  where  he  is  to  re- 
main until  the  day  of  judgment.  He  will  then  be  raised 
up  by  Hebil-Siva,  be  baptized,  made  king  of  the  Uthre, 
and  will  be  generally  worshipped.  The  nether  world 
consists  of  four  entrances  into  hell,  or  limbo,  each  of 
which  is  governed  by  a  king  and  queen.  Then  only 
comes  the  real  kingdom  of  darkness,  divided  into  three 
parts,  governed  by  three  old,  single  kings — Shedum,  the 
grandson  of  darkness;  Gio,  the  great;  and  Krun,  or 
Karkum,  "  the  great  mountain  of  flesh,"  who,  as  the 
oldest  and  greatest  among  them,  the  first-born  king  of 
darkness,  inhabits  the  lowest  region.  In  the  entrances 
to  hell  there  is  yet  dirty,  slimy  water;  in  the  real  hell 
there  is  none,  and  Krun's  kingdom  consists  only  of  dust 
and  vacancy.  In  hell  and  its  entrance  there  is  no  longer 
anj'  brilliancy  in  fire,  but  only  a  consuming  power.  Hc- 
bil-Siva  (or  jManda  de-Chaye),  sustained  by  the  power 
of  Mana  Kabba,  descended  into  it,  unravelled  the  mysr 
teries  of  the  lower  regions,  took  all  power  from  their 
kings,  and  closed  the  door  of  the  different  worlds.  By 
subterfuge  he  brought  out  Rucha,  daughter  of  Kin,  the 
queen  of  darkness,  and  prevented  her  return  to  the 
nether  world.  She  then  bore  the  worst  of  all  devils, 
"IIX,  the  fire,  i.  e.  the  destroyer,  whom  Hebil-Siva,  when 
in  his  zeal  he  sought  to  storm  the  worlds  of  light,  threw 
into  the>  black  waters,  bound,  and  surrounded  with  iron 
and  seven  golden  walls.  While  Pethahil  was  occupied 
in  the  creation  of  the  world  and  of  man,  Rucha  bore  first 
seven,  then  twelve,  and  again  five  sons  to  the  fire. 
These  twenty-four  sons  -were  by  Pethahil  transplanted 


MEND  JEANS 


82 


MEXD^ANS 


into  the  heavens;  the  first  seven  are  the  seven  planets, 
one  for  each  of  the  seven  heavens ;  the  sun,  as  the  great- 
est, stands  in  the  central  or  fourth  heaven ;  the  twelve 
became  the  signs  of  the  zodiac;  the  fate  of  the  remain- 
ing five  is  unknown.  They  are  intended  to  be  service- 
able to  man,  but  only  seek  to  injure  liim,  and  are  the 
source  of  aU  evil  and  wrong  upon  eartli.  The  seven 
planets  have  their  stations,  Sr"i^"2,  where  they  return 
always,  after  accomplishing  tlieir  course  in  the  heav- 
ens. They,  like  tlie  earth,  and  another  world  situated 
in  its  neighborhood,  to  the  north,  rest  on  anvils  which 
Hebil-Siva  placed  on  the  belly  of  the  "  fire."  The  Men- 
dseans  consider  the  heavens  as  built  of  the  clearest, 
purest  water,  but  so  solid  that  even  diamond  will  not 
cut  it.  On  this  water  the  planets  and  other  stars  are 
sailing ;  tliey  are  of  themselves  dark,  being  evU  demons, 
but  are  illuminated  by  brilliant  hghts  carried  by  the 
angels.  The  clearness  of  the  sky  enables  us  to  see 
through  the  seven  heavens  as  far  as  the  polar  star,  around 
which,  as  the  central  sun,  all  the  other  stars  are  revolv- 
ing. It  stands  at  the  dome  of  heaven,  before  the  door 
of  the  Abathur,  ami  is  therefore  the  place  to  which  the 
MendiBans  direct  their  prayers.  They  consider  the  earth  i 
as  a  circle,  inclining  somewhat  to  the  south.  It  is  sur-  | 
rounded  on  three  sides  by  the  sea ;  on  the  north,  on  the  , 
contrary,  is  a  great  mountain  of  turquoise,  whose  reflec- 
tion causes  the  sky  to  appear  blue.  Immediately  on 
the  other  side  of  that  mountain  is  another  world,  in 
which  Pliaraoh,  a  king  and  high-priest  of  the  Mendaj- 
ans,  and  tlie  Egyptians,  who  did  not  perish  in  the  Red 
Sea,  but  were  saved,  lead  a  happy  life.  Botli  worlds 
aresurroundedby  the  outer  sea,  "101  X3'n  XSl^  (which 
Norberg  erroneously  translates  "  the  Ked  Sea"),  and  im- 
mediately behind  this  are  tlie  stations  of  the  seven  plan- 
ets. Man  consists  of  three  parts :  the  body,  N"^5S  ;  the  1 
animal  soul,  Xni"l ;  and  the  heavenly  soul,  the  spirit,  , 
Kria'JS,  or  awfia,  rp^xn,  vovc.  It  is  Rucha,  i^vxv ,'^'''^^0 
leads  him  into  evil;  one  virtue  only  is  assigned  to  her — 
she  plays  the  part  of  Juno  Lucina  at  confinements. 

Although  the  Mendieans  were  originally  Christians, 
thoy  have  entirely  estranged  themselves  from  the  true 
principles  of  Christianity.  When  in  the  Syriac  N.  T. 
they  found  the  Holy  Spirit  called  Ituchu  de-Kodgha, 
as  for  them  Rucha,  as  ^vxu,  was  the  mother  of  the 
devil,  they  identified  them,  considered  the  Messiah  as 
her  son,  and  therefore  looked  upon  him  as  a  sorcerer, 
and,  as  Mercurj',  placed  him  among  the  planets.  They 
consider  the  earth  as  altogether  480,000  years  old, during 
which  it  has  been  alternately  under  the  influence  of  the 
various  planets  for  an  equal  length  of  time ;  the  human 
race  has  been  three  times  destroyed  by  the  sword,  fire, 
and  water,  only  one  couple  remaining  alive  after  each 
time.  At  tlie  time  of  Noah  the  world  was  4G6.000  years 
old;  6000  years  after  him,  when  the  sun  (whom  they 
call  also  ^•'X  b-'X,  "^i^nx,  t^l^)  came  to  reign  over 
the  world,  and  Jerusalem  (called  C^'IJ^ilX)  was  built  at 
its  command,  her  first  prophet,  Abraham,  C^fl'^SX,  ap- 
peared ;  her  second  was  Jloses,  Xd'^72,  after  whom  came 
Shlimun  bar-Davith,  to  whom  the  d;emons  yielded  obe- 
dience. As  the  third  false  prophet,  they  name  ^'C^ 
Kri^'ii"2,  whom  they  consider  as  an  impostor,  taught  l)y 
the  Kucha  dc-Kodsha,  calling  himself  (iod  and  the  son 
of  God,  but  was  inimasked  as  an  impostor  by  Anush 
(perhaps  so  called  in  view  of  the  N'wIX  "i3  of  the  Syr- 
iac N.  T.),and  was  put  to.  death  by  the  Jews.  Anush 
himself  was  bajitizcd  i)y  John  the  Raiitist,  the  only  true 
prophet,  and  he  i)erfiirnied  the  miracles -and  resurrec- 
tions attributed  by  Christians  to  Christ.  The  last  of 
the  false  ])roi)hets  was  ^lohammed,  whom  they  call  Ach- 
mat,  and  there  will  be  none  after  him.  After  4000  or 
5000  years  mankind  will  again  be  destroyed:  this  time 
by  a  terrific  storm.  But  the  world  will  be  again  repeo- 
.  pled  b}'  a  man  and  a  woman  from  the  upper  world,  and 
their,  descendants  shall  dwell  on  the  earth  for  oO,000 


years  in  piety  and  innocence.  Then  will  the  fire,  also 
called  leviathan,  destroy  the  earth  and  the  other  metlium 
worlds,  as  well  as  the  nether  worlds ;  their  spirits  will  be 
annihilated,  and  the  universe  become  a  realm  of  liglu. 

Priesthood.  —  There  are  different  degrees  in  their 
priesthood.  The  lower  class  is  called  Sheganda,  Xlja'j, 
and  forms  a  sort  of  medium  between  the  clergj-,  properly 
so  called,  and  the  laity.  The  members  of  it  are  actually 
but  assistants,  Ciukovoi,  of  the  priests,  and  can  be  re- 
ceived into  it  while  yet  mere  boys.  They  are  conse- 
crated to  that  office  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  and  the 
recital  of  a  short  formula  at  baptism.  Many  remain  al- 
ways in  this  subordinate  position;  if  they  desire  to  go 
higher,  which  they  are  not  permitted  to  do  before  they 
are  fifteen  years  of  age,  they  must  study  diligently  the 
reli.gious  books  and  customs  of  their  people,  undergo  a 
strict  trial  for  sixty  days,  and  pass  seven  days  and  nights 
awake  and  in  prayer  with  a  priest;  if  admitted,  they 
then  become  T(irmides,^^'''Z'^'T\  (probably  for  Xl'^^bplj 
"scholars"),  to  which  office  they  are  consecrated  by 
seven  priests.  This  is  the  true  priestly  order,  which 
qualifies  them  for  every  ecclesiastical  office.  Those  who 
distinguish  themselves  by  their  science  and  conduct  can 
become  N'^3T:|i,  which  probably  is  equivalent  to  "wja, 
"I3T5,  Ezra  i,  8;  vii,  21,  or  "  thesaurarius,"  he  who  pos- 
sesses the  great  treasure  in  himself.  It  corresponds  to 
the  office  of  high-priest  or  bishop,  and  requires  only  a 
short  ]>robation  and  the  consecration  by  another  of  that 
rank.  His  functions  are  only  to  consecrate  others,  and 
to  preside  at  marriages,  which  can,  however,  be  legally 
administered  by  the  tarmides,  without  his  participation. 
A  priest  who  officiates  at  the  marriage  of  a  woman  not  a 
maiden,  a  widow,  or  a  woman  divorced  from  her  hus- 
band, looses  the  right  to  perform  afterwards  any  relig- 
ious ceremony  except  such  marriages ;  he  is  then  called 
pO'^iS,  "  one  cut  off."  Finally,  the  liighest  ecclesias- 
tical dignity,  similar  to  that  of  patriarch  or  pope,  is  that 
of  the  XS?  ^'''!^>  "  chief  of  the  people,"  who  is  also  con- 
sidered as  their  civil  chief.  Their  princes — when  they 
had  princes — were  to  be  at  the  same  time  their  high- 
priests,  as  they  assert  was  the  case  with  Pharaoh.  At 
present  they  have  none.  AN'omen  are  also  allowed  by 
them  to  become  members  of  the  clergy ;  they  must  be 
I  virgins  to  enter  into  the  order  of  shegandi,  but  wlien 
they  enter  the  order  of  tarmides  they  must  at  once 
marrj'  a  priest  of  that  order  or  of  a  higher.  They 
can  in  this  manner  arrive  to  the  degree  of  Rcsh  Amnia, 
if  their  husband  is  invested  with  that  title,  for  in  no 
case  can  the  woman  have  a  higher  title  than  her  hus- 
band. The  official  dress  of  the  priests  is  pure  white,  is 
very  simple,  and  consists  of  white  linen  underclothing, 
I  and  a  shirt  of  the  same  material  tied  with  a  white  belt. 
From  both  shoulders  hangs  a  white  stole,  about  the 
1  width  of  the  hand,  extending  down  to  the  feet.  They 
i  wear  a  white  cloth  on  their  head,  twisted  like  a  tur- 
j  ban,  the  end  of  which,  about  a  yard  in  length,  liangs 
down  on  the  left  side  in  front.  On  the  right  fore- 
arm they  wear,  during  divine  worship  only,  the  XJP, 
'  "crown."  whjch  consists  of  a  piece  of  white  linen,  two 
finger-lengths  in  breadth,  sewed  on  three  sides,  and 
which,  when  not  in  use,  is  ])ut  under  the  turban.  On 
the  little  finger  of  the  right  hand  the  tarmides  wear  a 
gilt  and  the  suiierior  priests  a  golden  seal-ring,  bearing 
the  inscription  XT^T  "il^  CVr, "  the  name  of  the  Jiirar- 
Sira,'"  and  carry  an  olive-branch  in  the  left  hand.  They 
'  must  always  be  barefooted  in  exercising  their  func- 
1  tions. 

Nouses  of  ]Vorshiji. — The  churches,  which  are  only 
intended  for  the  use  of  tlie  priests  and  their  assistants, 
the  laymen  remaining  in  the  entry,  are  so  s^maW  that 
only  two  persons  can  stand  in  them  at  the  same  time. 
They  are  built  from  west  to  east,  and  are  distinguished 
by  gable-roofs.  'J"hey  have  no  altar  and  no  ornaments, 
oidv  a  few  boards  in  the  corners  to  put  things  on  when 


MENDELSSOHN" 


83 


MENDELSSOHN 


needed,  but  they  must  be  provided  witli  flowing  water 
for  baptism. 

Religious  Worshp,  Practices,  and  Observances. — Their 
year  is  the  solar  j'ear  of  3G5  days,  divided  into  twelve 
months  of  tliirty  days  each  ;  the  remaining  five  days  do 
not  belong  to  any  month.  Their  months  are  generally 
named  after  the  signs  of  the  zodiac ;  they  have  also  re- 
tained for  them  the  Jewish  appellation,  with  a  few  alter- 
ations. They  observe  the  Sabbath,  and  have  besides 
four  ecclesiastical  festivals :  1,  on  New-year's-day,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  "Waterman;"  2,  on  the  18th  day  of 
"  Taurus ;"  3,  between  the  Virgin  and  the  Balance ;  4, 
on  the  first  day  of  the  Capricorn.  Their  greatest  festi- 
val is  the  Pantesha,  the  five  days  of  baptism  :  it  is  the 
third  in  the  above  list.  On  this  occasion  all  iMendseans 
are  baptized  again;  the  most  pious  among  them  are 
baptized  every  Sunday.  The  Lord's  Supper  is  always 
connected  by  them  with  baptism ;  for  it  they  use  paste, 
prepared  in  the  church  by  the  priest,  instead  of  bread, 
and  water  in  the  place  of  wine.  It  is  only  on  the  occa- 
sion of  marriage,  which  is  always  preceded  by  baptism, 
that  the  laymen  commune  with  wine,  prepared  also  in 
the  church  by  the  priest.  The  priests,  on  the  contrary, 
always  commune  with  wine. 

Nuniher. — In  the  17th  century  the  Mendaeans  still 
counted  some  20,000  families ;  they  have  since  consider- 
ably decreased  in  number.  They  are  located,  some  on  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris,  south  of  Bagdad,  or  between  the 
two  rivers ;  some  in  various  cities  of  Kurdistan,  where 
they  carry  on  the  trades  of  je^vellers,  blacksmiths,  ship- 
builders, carpenters,  or  joiners.  The  statement  of  Ger- 
manus  Conti,  that  there  are  persons  of  the  same  creed 
in  Lebanon,  appears  to  have  originated  in  a  mistake  be- 
tween them  and  the  Nosairians.  The  Mendreans  do  not 
outwardly  distinguish  themselves  from  the  Mohamme- 
dans among  whom  they  reside.  They  should,  however, 
according  to  their  law,  dress  entirely  in  white ;  but,  as 
the  Mohammedans  claim  the  exclusive  use  of  that  col- 
or, the  Mendffians  wear  mostly  brown,  or  brown  and 
white  garments.  They  must  avoid  dark  colors,  as  be- 
longing to  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  yet  this  rule  can- 
not always  be  observed.  Polygamy  is  not  only  per- 
mitted, but  advised,  as  their  "  great  book"  repeatedly 
recommends  them  to  diligenth^  increase  the  race.  It  is 
a  very  general  practice  with  them,  although,  according 
to  the  statement  of  the  priests,  they  do  not  usually  have 
more  than  two  wives. — Herzog,  Real-Eiicyklop.  ix,  318 
sq.  See  also  Farrar,  Eccles.  Diet.  s.  v. ;  Deutsche  Zeit- 
schriftf.  christl.  WissenschaJ't  u.  christl.  Leben,  1854,  No. 
23 ;  1856,  No.  42, 43, 46, 49 ;  Burckhardt,  Les  Nazorees  ou 
Mandai-Jahja  appeles  ordinairement  Zabiens  et  Chre- 
tiens de  St.  Jean  Baptiste  (Strasb.  1840) ;  Chwolsohn,  Die 
Szabier  (Petersb.  1856) ;  Petermann,  Reisen  im  Orient, 
(18G1),  vol.  ii.  ■ 

Mendelssohn,  Bartholdy-Felix,  the  first  mu- 
sical comiiDser  of  eminence  who.  since  Bach  and  Handel 
bequeathed  to  tlio  wurld  their  sacred  harmonies,  devoted 
his  best  efforts  and  great  talents  chiefly  to  sacred  music. 
Felix  was  the  grandson  of  Moses  Mendelssohn,  the  phi- 
losopher; his  father  was  the  eminent  Jewish  banker, 
Abraham  Mendelssohn  -  Bartholdy,  who  embraced  the 
Christian  religion  and  became  a  member  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  Felix  was  born  Feb.  3, 1809,  at  Hamburg.  As 
a  boy  he  displayed  a  wonderful  talent  for  music,  which 
attracted  the  attention  of  the-poet  Goethe,  who  warmly 
interested  himself  in  Felix,  and  greatly  encouraged 
him  to  develop  that  talent  with  which  the  Creator  had 
so  largely  endowed  him.  Upon  the  removal  of  his 
parents  to  Berlin  in  1812,  his  instruction  in  music  was 
intrusted  to  Zelter  and  Berger,  both  masters  in  the  art : 
the  former  a  profound  musical  theorist,  and  the  latter  a 
renowned  pianist  and  teacher.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that,  under  the  care  and  guidance  of  such  masters,  the 
progress  of  Felix  in  his  musical  studies  more  than  ful- 
filled their  expectations.  At  the  age  of  nine  we  find 
him  giving  his  first  concert-  in  Berlin,  delighting  the 
audience  by  his  graceful  performance  on  the  piano.    He 


now  commenced  to  write  musical  compositions  of  every 
form.  At  the  early  age  of  sixteen,  he  composed  his 
first  opera,  the  music  of  which  is  not  only  charming,  but 
full  of  dramatic  element.  This  composition  shows  what 
Mendelssohn  might  have  accomplished  in  operatic  mu- 
sic had  he  not  left  this  field  for  a  higher  and  nobler  one 
— that  of  sacred  music.  Another  proof  of  his  dramatic 
power  is  in  his  music  to  Shakespeare's  Midsummer 
Ni(jhCs  Dream,  which  is  regarded  as  one  of  his  best  ef- 
forts in  dramatic  music.  In  1821  he  composed  his  sec- 
ond opera,  and  finished  one  half  of  a  third  one,  besides 
writing  six  symphonies,  one  quartette  for  the  piano  and 
stringed  instruments,  a  cantata,  six  fugues,  and  a  num- 
ber of  etudes,  sonatas,  and  songs.  At  the  age  of  twenty 
Mendelssohn  visited  England  for  the  first  time,  and  was 
there  deeply  influenced  for  the  whole  course  of  his  after- 
life. He  arrived  in  London  in  1829,  and,  being  known 
by  reputation  to  the  most  eminent  musicians,  was  most 
cordially  received.  At  the  first  concert  with  the  Phil- 
harmonic Society,  his  overture  to  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream  was  most  enthusiastically  received  by  those  who 
had  not  even  heard  his  name.  In  the  same  year  Men- 
delssohn visited  Scotland,  and  was  warmlj'  welcomed 
by  literary  and  musical  societies  fully  able  to  appreciate 
his  genius.  He  made  an  extended  tour  through  (he 
Highlands,  being  deeply  impressed  with  the  wild  and 
romantic  beauty  of  the  old  Caledonian  music,  which 
some  years  after  gave  rise  to  his  celebrated  Scotch  sym- 
phony in  A  minor.  His  music  to  the  Isles  of  Fingal 
also  owes  its  origin  to  the  impression  made  upon  his 
mind  by  the  wUd  and  stormj'  shores  of  the  Hebricies.  In 
the  following  year  he  visited  Italy,  and  two  years  after- 
wards Paris.  Later  he  revisited  London,  and  from  that 
time  to  the  end  of  his  life  was  a  frequent  sojourner  there. 
He  began  to  be  even  more  appreciated  in  England  than 
in  his  native  country,  and  it  became  to  him,  as  it  were, 
the  land  of  his  adoption.  Benedict,  in  his  life  of  Men- 
delssohn, says:  "The  mean  cabals  which  were  always 
at  work  against  him  in  Berlin  increased  his  dislike  to 
that  city,  so  much  so  as  to  induce  him  to  leave  it,  as  he 
then  thought,  Ibrever."  At  Leipsic  he  accepted  the 
conductorship  of  the  celebrated  Gewandhaus  concerts, 
and  remained  there  until  1844,  when,  induced  by  the 
invitation  of  the  king  of  Prussia,  he  returned  to  Berlin. 

His  entrance  upon  his  glorious  career  as  a  composer 
of  sacred  music  may  be  ascribed  to  the  committee  of 
the  Birmingham  Festival,  which  called  forth  the  orato- 
rio of  St.  Paul  for  its  festival  of  1837.  The  impression 
which  this  composition  made  at  Bu'mingham  is  de- 
scribed by  those  present  as  truly  grand.  In  1840  Men- 
delssohn composed  his  Hymn  of  Praise,  written  ex- 
pressly for  the  Birmingham  Festival,  and  performed 
under  his  direction.  It  is  a  work  called  a  symphony 
cantata,  of  marvellous  beauty.  His  third  and  last  ora- 
torio was  also  written  for  Birmingham,  and,  although 
he  commenced  it  in  1837,  it  was  onh^  finished  in  time 
for  the  festival  of  1846,  and  during  these  nine  years  he 
bestowed  upon  it  his  greatest  care  and  attention.  The 
first  performance  of  it  took  place  Aug.  26, 1846,  he  being 
the  conductor.-  The  enthusiasm  was  unbounded,  and  it 
was  universally  pronounced  his  masterpiece,  and  the 
greatest  oratorio  since  Handel  brought  out  his  Messiah, 

Although  king  Frederick  William  IV  bestowed  the 
greatest  honors  upon  IMendelssohn,  and  offered  him  ev- 
ery inducement  to  stay  in  Berlin,  yet  he  preferred  Leip- 
sic, and  it  was  mostly  there  and  in  England  that  he 
devoted  his  time  to  further  everT,'thing  noble  and  true 
in  art,  IMendelssohn  was  also  a  diligent  scholar  in  phi- 
lology', hfstory,  and  other  sciences.  His  Letters  from 
Italy  and  Switzerland  (translated  from  the  German  by 
lady  Wallace,  London,  1862)  bear  evidence  of  his  su- 
perior attainments,  and  may  be  regarded  as  a  fine  liter- 
ary production.  In  the  selection  of  a  text  for  his  ora- 
torios he  was  very  exact,  and  to  the  careful  student  of 
sacred  music  it  must  be  apparent  that  in  ^Mendelssohn's 
compositions,  founded  upon  a  scriptural  text,  not  only 
love  of  music  as  an  art,-but  also  a  genuine  spirit  of  piety 


MENDELSSOHN 


8-4 


MEXDELSSOIIX 


is  revealed.  No  one  could  give  more  true  and  deeply- 
I'elt  expression  than  he  did  in  his  music  to  such  passa- 
ges as  tliesc:  "As  the  hart  pants  for  cooling  streams," 
"I  waited  for  the  Lord,"  "He,  watching  over  Israel," 
"  It  is  enough,"  etc.  By  the  student  and  lover  of  sa- 
ci"ed  music  Mendelssohn  must  ever  be  regarded  as  a 
shining  light.  If  not  endowed  with  the  genius  of  a 
Bach,  lliindel,  Mozart,  or  Beethoven,  the  great  talent, 
exquisite  taste,  and  depth  of  feeling  which  he  disiilayed 
in  all  his  cornpositions  will  ever  secure  him  a  place 
among  the  first  of  masters.  Kiehl,  in  his  Munikaligche 
Karukterlcupfe  (i,  lOG),  says,  "  jMany  thousands  have, 
by  the  influence  of  Mendelssohn's  music,  been  led  to  tlie 
study  of  the  works  of  Bach  and  Handel,  and  enableil  to 
form  a  more  correct  idea  of  their  true  and  lasting  value." 
Again,  KieJil  says  (p.  101),."  He  made  the  severe  forms 
of  sacred  music  more  elegant  and  more  charming  by 
uniting  the  formal  part  of  it  with  a  subjective  wealth 
of  feeling."  In  his  private  life  he  was  a  man  of  most 
charming  disposition,  making  all  who  came  in  contact 
with  him  his  ardent  friends  and  admirers.  Towards  his 
fellow-artists  he  was  perfectly  free  from  ein-y,  always 
encouraging  those  in  wliom  he  discovered  talent.  Death 
plucked  liim  when  in  his  best  years,  at  Leipsic,  Xov.  4, 
1817.  It  is  impossible  to  speak  here  in  detail  of  Men- 
delssohn's works.  They  are  very  numerous,  and  embrace 
every  branch  of  his  art,  but  it  was  in  sacred  music  that 
his  highest  powers  were  displayed;  and  St.  Pdul  and 
Elijdli  will  descend  to  jiosterity  along  with  the  Messiah 
and  7.s/v/(/  //;  /.''/'///^  See  Bfuvdict,  Leben  u.  Werke  dcs 
F.  Mend,h.<nhn-iiarlhnl'hi  (isr.d);  Lampadius,  7.-/««  (/. 
Felix  MtiidcUsokn-Hiirthnl,!,!  (l.cips.  IMS;  i,,  ];n-li>li. 
•  N.  Y.  18G5)  ;  IVtis,  ]iin;,n,ph;,   I  >nn  /v,  //,  ,/,  .V  Miisiri.  n.<  : 

V.  Magnien,  Etude  bioyrajj/ii'^ne  siir  Mendi  l^sohn-JJar- 
tholdy  (1850);  Uiller/j/endclsso/iH-Bcirtkoldt/  (Cologne 
and  Lond.  1874);  Fraser's  Afiif/dzine,  Apn],l8i8;  Brit- 
ish (InartTlij  /i'erzeir,  October,' 1862. 

Mendelssohn,  Moses  (also  called  Ramban 
[■^Z-^IJ,  from  the  initials  of  bn:"3  Cn:i3  'p  tTi^^D  H, 
li.  Moses  ben-Menachem  Mendel,  and  Moses  Dkssau), 
whom  Mirabeau  describes  as  "  nn  homme  jete  par  la 
nature  au  sien  d'une  horde  avilie,  ne  sans  espece  de  for- 
tune, avcc  nn  temjierament  faible  et  meme  infirme,  un 
caracti-re  timide,  uiie  douceur  peut-etre  excessive,  en- 
chainii  toute  sa  vie  dans  une  profession  presque  me- 
chanique,  s'est  eleve  rang  des  plus  grands  ecrivains  que 
ce  siecle  a  vu  naitre  en  Allemagne"  {Sur  Moses  Men- 
delssohn, London,  1787),  was  born  at  Dessau,  Germany, 
Sept.  6, 1729.  His  father  was  a  copier  (ISJ'D)  of  Bibli- 
cal writings  upon  parchment.  Moses  gave  early  tokens 
of  an  intelligent  and- scrutinizing  mind.  Fortunately 
for  liis  nascent  talents,  the  rabbi  of  the  congregation, 
Daviil  Ilerschel  Friinkel,  perceiving  the  eagerness  of 
the  boy  for  learning,  undertook  to  instruct  him  in  all 
those  Ijranches  which  then  constituted  a  Jewish  educa- 
tion—the Bible  in  the  original  Hebrew,  with  its  chief 
commentaries,  and  rabbinical  literature.  At  an. early 
age  Mendelssohn  also  became  acquainted  with  Mai- 
monidcs's  (q.  v.)  famous  work,  the  Moi-e  Xebu'chim,  or 
"CJuide  of  the  Perplexed,"  the  intense  study  of  which 
made  a  new  sera  in  liis  life,  and  that  in  two  ways— it 
laid  the  foundation-  of  his  mental  culture,  and  ajso  of 
his  bodily  disease  and  suffering.  (Mendelssohn  was 
hump-backed,  and  extremely  small  and  feelde  in  per- 
son.) The  (ierman  language  the  rabbins  of  :Mendels- 
sohn's  early  days  iiroscribed  as  (;entile  learning,  and 
hence  his  studies  had  been  entirely  confined  to  tlie 
Hebrew  ;  but  as  he  branched  out  in  "his  studies  he  also 
acquired  the  (ierman  tongue.  AVhen  hardly  fourteen 
years  of  age  he  was  obliged  to  relintiuish  learning  for 
the  choice  of  a  profession.  He  went  to  Berlin  in  search 
of  employment,  and  there  gained  his  scanty  subsistence 
by  following  the  occui>ation  of  copyist  and  corrector 
for  the  press,  carefully  making  use  of  every  leisure  mo- 
ment to  learn  the  ancient  languages,  ami  to  gam  in- 


struction ia  general  literature  and  philosophy.  Chance 
favored  him  v.ith  the  acquaintance  of  a  Polish  .lew 
who  possessed  a  profound  knowledge  of  m.athematics. 
The  Bole  became  his  instructor  in  Euclid,  wliich  he 
studied  from  a  copy  of  the  work  in  Hebrew,  this  being 
the  only  language  understood  by  his  teacher.  Be- 
sides Locke's  Essay  on  thv  Human  Understandintj,  he 
studied  the  writings  of  Wolf,  Leibnitz,  and  Spinoza, 
which  exercised  the  greatest  influence  upon  his  men- 
tal development.  Thus  passed  seven  of  the  most  la- 
borious years  of  his  life;  it  was  the  period  of  &\->- 
prenticeship  served  to  science,  (iradually  this  most 
reserved  but  most  persevering  and  highly-cultivated 
j-outh  became  known  in  wider  circles.  His  fortune  now 
began  to  turn.  A  rich  co-religionist  of  Berlin,  Isaac 
Bernhard,  a  silk  manufacturer,  engaged  him  as  tutor 
for  his  children.  Henceforth  he  was  in  easy  if  not  af- 
fluent circumstances.  His  connection  with  the  house 
of  Bernhard  continued  throughout  life,  first  as  tutor  in 
the  family,  afterwards  as  book-keeper  in  the  manufac- 
tory, and  eventually  as  manager  if  not  as  partner  in  the 
concern.  In  the  intervals  of  business  he  published,  in 
concert  with  his  friend,  Tobias  Bock,  some  essays  on 
natural  philosophy  in  Hebrew,  for  the  use  of  young 
men  studj-ing  the  Talmud.  This  publication,  which  ap- 
peared in  the  1D^"a  P5~p,  i.  e.  "The  Hebrew  Preach- 
er," gave  some  offence  to  the  rabbins,  and  he  escaped 
persecution  only  by  his  strict  observance  of  the  Oral 
Law,  to  which  he  undeviatingly  submitted  all  the  rest 
of  his  life,  although  his  internal  convictions  were  little 
in  accordance  with  its  practices.  About  this  time  (1754) 
be  became  accjuainted  with  Lessing  ((j.  v.)  and  Nicolai 
(q.  v.).  With  the  former  he  formed  an  intimate  friend- 
ship, always  regarded  by  jMendelssohn  as  aniong  the 
most  fortunate  circumstances  of  his  life ;  for  in  "  Lessing, 
than  whom  no  man  \vas  ever  more  free  from  the  preju- 
dices of  creed  and  nation,  Mendelssohn  found  a  hearty 
sympathy  and  an  effective  fellow-laborer  in  his  projects 
for  bettering  the  condition  of  the  (lerman  Jews,  an  ob- 
ject which  then  and  at  all  times  lay  nearest  his  heart. 
Indeed,  the  known  friendship  of  so  eminent  a  man  for 
one  of  that  tribe,  in  defiance  of  all  the  i)rejudices  of  his 
age,  was  scarcely  less  important  to  the  Jews  in  general 
than  it  was  to  Mendelssohn  in  particular."  For  two 
hours  every  day  regularly  they  met  and  discussed  to- 
gether literary  and  philosophical  subjects,  a  circum- 
stance which  led  Mendelssolni  to  write  his  Philosophi- 
sche  Gesptdche.thc  very  first  .effort  by  which  he  became 
distinguished  beyond  the  pale  of  Judaism.  The  MS. 
of  these  dialogues  JMendelssohn  left  with  Lessing  for 
examination ;  but  how  great  was  the  former's  surprise 
when  one  day  Lessing  returned  his  dialogues  in  print, 
published  without  the  author's  knowledge.  He  next 
sent  forth  Pope,  ein  Metaphysiker  (together  with  Les- 
sing [1755J),  and  several  other  essays,  and  finally  his 
iJrie/e  iiber  die  Kmpfimhtngen  (1764).  In  the  same  year 
he  also  wrote  Abhandlitnt/en  iiber  die  Eridenz  der  vieta- 
physischen  W'issenschaJ'tai  as  a  prize  essay  for  the  Berlin 
Academy,  which  was  crowned  by  that  learned  body, 
who  besides  unanimously  resolved  to  elect  him  a  mem- 
'  ber  of  their  number.  Frederick  the  Great,  however, 
generally  prejudiced  against  the  Jews,  struck  the  name 
off  the  list,  and  the  Jew  had  to  content  himself  with  the 
consciousness  that  he  enjoyed  less  than  his  contempora- 
ries believed  him  eiuiiled  to.  Jlendelssohn  afterwards, 
at  the  instigation  of  Nicolai  and  Lessing.  collected  all 
his  philoso|(hical  lucubrations,  and  iiuldished  them  in 
1761  uiidcr  the  title  of  J'hi/osophi.irhe  gchri/lni,  of 
which  in  a  short  time  three  editions  were  published  (3d 
ed.  1777,  2  vols.  8vo).  ,\t  thirty-one  Jlendelssohn  mar- 
ried a  lady  from  Hamburg,  Ijy  whom  he  had  several 
children,  among  them  a  son,  whose  l)irth  gave  rise  to 
one  of  his  most  celebrated  works,  the  Morfjenslunden, 
which  treats  on  the  existence  of  (ioil.  in  refutation  of 
Pantheism  and  Spinozism  —  the  result  of  many  years' 
inquiry  on  that  subject.     Mendelssohn  had  formerly 


MENDELSSOHN 


85 


MENDELSSOHN 


defined  the  universe  as  a  creation  out  of  the  divine 
substance,  a  view  involving  the  main  principle  of  Spi- 
nozism,  and  directly  opposed  to  the  notions  of  deity 
and  creation  prevalent  in  his  day.  He  now  attempted, 
by  concessions  and  modifications,  to  get  rid  of  the  eth- 
ical objections  usually  brought  against  kindred  theories. 
The  work  is  a  fragment ;  only  the  first  volume  appeared 
(in  1785),  the  death  of  the  author  arresting  its  progress. 
The  most  popular  work,  however,  was  his  Phddon,  oder 
iiber  die  UnsterblichJceit  der  Seek,  a  colloquy  on  the  doc- 
trine of  immortality.  The  characters  are  taken  from 
Plato's  dialogue  of  the  same  name,  and  the  descriptive 
parts  are  mere  translations  of  the  original.  The  Jew- 
ish philosopher,  however,  has  made  Socrates  produce 
new  arguments  in  place  of  those  attributed  to  him  by 
his  disciple  Plato,  thinking  these  substitutions  better 
adapted  to  modern  readers.  The  following  is  his  prin- 
cipal, and,  indeed,  his  only  peculiar  argument,  the  rest 
of  the  dialogue  being  employed  m  its  defence,  and  in 
expressions  of  reliance  on  the  goodness  of  the  Deity. 
For  every  change  three  things  are  required :  first,  a 
state  of  the  changeable  thing  prior  to  its  change  ;  sec- 
ondlj',  the  state  that  follows  the  change ;  and,  thirdly, 
a  middle  state,  as  change  does  not  take  place  at  once, 
but  by  degrees.  Between  being  and  not-being  there  is 
no  middle  state.  Now  the  soul  being  simple,  and  not, 
as  a  compound  body,  capable  of  resolution  into  parts, 
must,  if  it  perish,  be  absolutely  annihilated;  and  in  its 
change  from  death  to  life,  it  must  pass  at  once  from  be- 
ing to  not-being,  without,  of  course,  going  through  any 
raiildle  state — a  change  which,  according  to  the  three 
requisitions  of  change,  is  impossible.  Thus  by  "  reduc- 
tio  ad  absurdum"  the  immortality  of  the  soul  was  proved. 
Kant,  in  his  Kritik  der  reinen  Vernunft  ('2d  ed. ;  it  is  not 
in  the  1st  ed. ;  see  the  complete  edition  of  Kant's  works 
by  M.  Kosenkranz  [Leipsic]),  has  shown  the  iutilitj'  of 
Mendelssohn's  argument,  while  he  admits  his  acuteness 
in  perceiving  that  mere  incapability  of  resolution  into 
parts  ^v•as  of  itself  not  sufficient  to  preserve  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  as  had  been  supposed  by  many  phi- 
losophers of  the  time.  Mendelssohn,  by  assuming  that 
change  must  be  gradual  and  not  sudden,  thought  that 
he  had  established  his  point,  as  the  soul,  being  simple, 
could  not  admit  of  gradual  resolution.  Kant,  however, 
shows  that  we  may  conceive  a  gradual  annihilation 
even  without  resolution  into  parts — or,  to  use  his  own 
expression,  a  diminution  of  the  "intensive  magnitude." 
Thus  a  deep  red  color  may  grow  fainter  and  fainter  till 
at  last  all  the  redness  is  gone,  and  this  without  any 
diminution  of  the  surface  colored.  Another  fallacy  in 
Mendelssohn's  argument  is  that  his  definition  of  change 
applies  only  to  a  transition  from  one  state  of  being  to 
another,  and  therefore  does  not  include  a  transition  from 
being  to  not-being.  For  if  not-being  be  considered  a 
state  of  being,  there  is  no  occasion  for  an  argument  at 
all,  as  the  continuance  of  being  is  assumed  in  the  defini- 
tion of  change,  nor  would  anything  be  gained  by  sup- 
posing the  soul  in  such  a  paradoxical  state  as  nonentity 
with  still  a  sort  of  being  attached  to  it.  This  work  not 
only  immortalized  its  author's  name,  but  conferred  upon 
him  for  the  strength  of  his  reasoning  the  name  of  "  the 
Jewish  Socrates,"  and  "  the  Jewish  Plato"  for  the  amen- 
ity of  his  diction.  In  less  than  two  years  after  its  first 
appearance  (17G7)  it  went  through  three  large  editions, 
and  was  translated  into  Hebrew,  and  into  almost  every 
modern  language ;  English  editions  were  published  in 
1789  and  1838.  Mendelssohn's  fame  was  at  its  height 
both  among  Christians  and  Jews,  and  he  was  lauded 
both  as  a  philosopher  and  literary  character.  Zeal- 
ous Christians  were  wondering  that  so  enlightened  and 
exemplary  a  man  should  retain  the  faith  of  his  fathers, 
and  regarded  it  as  a  sacred  duty  to  bring  him  over  to 
the  Church.  Foremost  among  them  was  John  Caspar 
Lavater  (q.  v.),  who  sought  to  drag  him  into  theolog- 
ical controversy,  though  with  no  unkind  intentions. 
In  order  to  bring  about  this  result,  he  dedicated  to 
Mendelssohn  his  translation  of  Bonnet's  Inquiry  into 


the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  with  the  request  that  he 
would  refute  it  in  case  he  should  find  the  argument 
untenable ;  and  that,  if  it  should  seem  to  him  con- 
clusive, he  would  "  do  what  policy,  love  of  truth,  and 
probity  demanded — what  Socrates  doubtless  would  have 
done,  had  he  read  the  work  and  found  it  unanswerable ;" 
thus  offering  him  the  alternative  either  to  incur  the 
odium  of  his  own  people  by  formally  abjuring  the  faith 
of  his  fathers,  or  to  draw  upon  himself  the  wrath  of  the 
Christian  clergy  by  a  public  assault  on  their  religion. 
This  was  in  the  year  1769.  The  position  in  which  Men- 
delssohn was  thus  placed  was  not  only  most  delicate, 
but  also  not  without  peril.  He  clung  to  the  ancestral 
religion  not  only  with  the  tenacity  of  early  habits,  but 
also  with  the  fulness  of  conviction  which  profound  study 
of  the  subject  had  given  him.  How  was  it  possible  to 
reply  to  the  arguments  brought  forward  in  favor  of 
Christianity  without  giving  offence  to  the  dominant 
churches,  and  becoming  liable  to  the  severe  penalties 
enacted  by  the  laws  against  the  assailants  of  the  estab- 
lished creeds?  Mendelssohn,  however,  did  reply.  He 
wrote  a  courteous  but  decided  letter  to  the  pastor  of 
Zurich,  in  which  he  not  only  speaks  of  his  "veneration 
for  the  moral  character  of  the  founder  of  Christianity," 
but  also  defines  very  fuUy  his  position  as  a  liberal-mind- 
ed and  enlightened  Jew.  This  letter  not  only  satisfied 
all  parties,  but  also  drew  from  Lavater  a  public  apology 
and  retraction  of  his  peremptory  challenge.  The  agita- 
tion caused  by  this  transaction  aggravated  Mendels- 
sohn's constitutional  complaints,  threatening  his  •life, 
and  for  a  long  time  incapacitating  him  for  intellectual 
labor.  After  his  recovery  he  published  a  Hebrew  com- 
mentary on  Ecclesiastes  (Berl.  1769;  ibid.  1788),  trans- 
lated iiito  German  by  Eabe  (Anspach,  1771),  and  into 
English  by  Preston  (Lond.  1845),  The  author  com- 
plains that  "  nearly  all  the  commentators  who  have 
preceded  me  have  almost  entirely  failed  in  doing  jus- 
tice to  their  task  of  interpretation.  ...  I  have  not 
found  in  one  of  them  an  interpretation  adequate  to  the 
correct  explanation  of  the  connection  of  the  verses  of 
the  book,  but,  according  to  their  method,  nearly  ev- 
ery verse  is  spoken  separately  and  unconnectedly ;  and 
this  would  not  be  right  in  a  private  and  insignificant 
author,  much  less  in  a  wise  king."  As  to  the  design  of 
the  book,  Mendelssohn  thinks  "  that  Solomon  wrote  it 
to  propound  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  ' 
and  the  necessity  of  leading  a  cheerful  and  contented 
life,  and  interspersed  these  cardinal  points  with  lessons 
of  minor  importance,  such  as  worship,  politics,  domestic 
economy,  etc."  Soon  afrer  this  appeared  a  German 
translation  of  the  Pentateuch,  made  by  himself,  with 
a  grammatical  and  exegetical  commentary  in  Hebrew, 
contributed  by  several  Jewish  literati,  viz.  Sal.  Dubno 
(q.  v.),  Aaron  Jaroslaw,  K  H.  Wessely  (q.  v.),  and  H. 
Homberg.  This  important  work,  which  is  entitled  "lEO 
nibr-'tl  n'i^'^np,  i.  e.  The  Boole  of  the  Puths  of  Peace 
(Berlin,  1780-83),  is  preceded  by  an  elaborate  and  most 
valuable  introduction,  written  in  Hebrew,  called  "liS 
n-'^nn^,  a  Light  to  the  Path,  in  which  Mendelssohn 
discusses  various  topics  connected  with  Biblical  exegesis 
and  literature.  The  introduction,  which  was  published 
separately  before  the  completion  of  the  commentary 
(Dec.  1782),  now  accompanies  the  translation  and  com- 
mentary, and  is  given  in  German  in  his  Collected  World 
(Leips.  1845),  vii,  18  sq. ;  and  in  English  in  the  Hebrew 
Review,  edited  by  Breslau  (Lond.  1860).  The  work 
soon  found  its  way  into  the  principal  synagogues  and 
schools  in  Germany,  and,  thus  encouraged,  he  produced 
afterwards  a  version  of  the  Psalms  and  the  Song  of  Sol- 
omon, which  are  considered  classical.  "  It  was  in  this 
especially,"  says  Da  Costa,  "that  the  philosopher  kept 
up  the  striking  resemblance  to  Jlaimonides,  his  cele- 
brated predecessor  and  model.  Both,  under  the  out- 
ward forms  of  Rabbinical  Judaism,  desired  to  give  an 
entirely  new  direction  to  the  religion  of  the  Jews — to 
reform  it,  to  develop  it."-    Nothing,  indeed,  could  have 


MENDELSSOHN 


86 


IVIENDELSSOHN 


more  powerfully  affected  the  Orientalism  of  his  coun- 
trymen than  these  elforts  of  Mendelssohn  for  Biblical 
criticism  from  a  modern  Platonic  stand-point.  The  new 
HKulium  of  vision  broiij^ht  new  insight;  critical  inquiry 
took  the  place  of  fanaticism;  the  divergences  of  Shemitic 
and  European  thought  proved  not  so  irreconcilable  after 
all.  Cabalism  and  other  kindred  superstitions  quietly 
dropped  out  of  sight ;  the  old  dialectical  barbarism  was 
extiri)ated ;  the  Jews  who  read  his  Scriptures  in  the 
translation  attained  purity  of  idiom,  and  with  it  the 
])0wer  of  appreciating  the  writings  of  the  great  minds 
of  German}',  to  whom  they  had  remained  strangers. 
Ere  long  the  best  minds  of  the  race  became  thoroughly 
associated  with  the  intellectual  movement  of  (Jermaiiy, 
content  to  abandon  mystical  ambitions  and  theocratic 
pretensions,  and  to  hnd  their  Canaan  in  Europe.  Men- 
delssohn's next  work  declared  more  clearly  (though  al- 
ways with  ia  degree  of  vagueness)  his  own  ideas  on  re- 
ligion than  any  other  work  hitherto  published.  It  was 
written  in  answer  to  the  treatise  of  his  friend  the  coun- 
cillor Dohm  {Ueber  die  burf/erUche  Verbesserung  der  Ju- 
di'ii).  Tlie  statesman  in  his  work  "had  started  from 
the  principle  that  every  amenilment  must  proceed  from 
liberty  and  equality  of  rights  in  society  bestowed  upon 
the  Jew;  from  an  entire  reform  in  the  systems  of  in- 
struction and  education;  from  free  admission  to  the 
practice  of  all  aris  and  sciences,  and  even  a  participa- 
tion in  some  posts  and  oflices  of  state  ;  the  authority  of 
the  synagogue  over  its  members  to  be  maintained,  in 
cases  of  religious  difference,  by  the  power  of  casting 
them  out  of  its  bosom  for  a  time  or  entirely."  On  this 
last  point  Mendelssohn  took  exception.  He  woukl  not 
allow  the  synagogue  or  any  other  religious  society  to 
impose  any  restriction  whatever  on  the  rights  of  think- 
ing and  teaching.  In  the  preface  to  his  German  trans- 
lation of  jNIanasseh  ben-Israel's  (q.  v.)  Sulfation  of  Is- 
rael, he  plainly  declared  his  conviction  "  that  every  so- 
ciety liad  certainly  the  right  to  exclude  its  members 
when  they  ceased  to  conform  to  the  principle  of  the  so- 
ciety ;  but  that  this  rule  could  not  in  any  way  apply  to 
a  religious  society,  whether  church  or  synagogue,  be- 
cause true  religion  exerts  no  authority  over  ideas  and 
oi)inions,  but,  being  all  heart  and  spirit,  only  desires  to 
use  tlie  power  of  conviction ;  and  Jews  especially  should 
take  from  Christians,  among  whom  they  live,  an  exam- 
ple of  charity,  and  not  of  hatred  or  intolerance,  and  be- 
gin by  loving  and  bearing  with  each  other,  that  they 
might  themselves  be  loved  and  tolerated  by  others." 
The  influence  produced  by  the  writings  of  Mendelssohn 
was  to  destroy  all  respect  for  the  Talmud  and  tlie  rab- 
binical writers  among  the  Jews,  who  approved  his  opin- 
ions. This  is  the  more  remarkable,  inasmuch  as  Men- 
delssohn professed  all  the  while  to  be  himself  an  admir- 
er of  those  works;  and  this  obvious  inconsistency  called 
forth  a  publication  entitled  Kin  Brief  an  Jlendelsso/in, 
in  wliicli  this  contradiction  was  clearly  pointed  out,  and 
the  assertion  made  that  he  was  in  reality  a  Christian, 
withiiiit  having  the  courage  to  avow  his  true  sentiments. 
To  this  attack  he  replied  by  his  Jerustalem,  oder  itbcr 
ri'Ii'jii.fc.  Maeht  uiid  .Indent hum  (Berlin,  1783),  in  which 
he  contended  that  "  the  state,  which  has  the  right  to 
compel  actions,  cannot  justly  attempt  to  constrain  its 
citizens  to  unanimity  in  thought  and  sentiment ;  it 
should,  however,  seek  by  wise  provisions  to  produce 
those  sentiments  from  which  good  actions  spring.  Bc- 
ligious  differences  should  not  prejudice  civil  equality ; 
the  true  ideal  is  not  unity,  but  freedom  of  belief."  He 
says,  "All  religion  is  solely  a  matter  of  the  heart,  and 
shoidd  not  be  under  any  control,  either  of  the  State, 
Church,  or  Synagogue ;"  while  at  the  same  time  he  in- 
sists that  "  the  law  of  Moses  was  not  a  law  of  faith,  but 
merely  of  statutes  and  prohibitions."  "  Whatever  may 
have  caused  the  inward  struggles  of  the  philosopher  of 
Berlin,"  says  Da  Costa,  "it  is  certain  that,  without 
wishing  or  suspecting  it,  ^Mendelssohn — as,  six  centuries 
earlier,  ^laimonides — stirred  up  among  his  co-religion- 
ists a  feeling  of  void."     Soon,  however,  Mendelssohn 


I  was  doomed  to  experience  another  trial  of  his  sensibil- 
ity in  an  attack  on  his  deceased  friend  Lessing  by 
I  Jacobi  (q.  v.),  who  published  Jirifjh  an  Mendelssohn 
I  iiber  die  Lehre  des  Spinoza,  in  which  he  charged  Les- 
j  sing  with  being  an  "im|)licit  Si)inozist"  —  a  charge 
then  much  severer  than  at  present,  when  many  German 
philosophers  are  avov.ed  admirers  of  S])inoza.'  Men- 
delssohn endeavored  to  refute  the  charge  in  a  work  enti- 
tled Afoses  Mendelssohn  an  die  Freumle  Lessinr/s  (l~8fi), 
in  which  he  stated  that  "  if  Lessing  was  able  absolutely 
I  and  without  all  further  limitation  to  declare  for  the  sys- 
tem of  any  man,  he  was  at  that  time  no  more  in  harmo- 
ny with  himself,  or  he  was  in  a  strange  humor  to  make 
a  paradoxical  assertion  which,  in  a  serious  hour,  he  him- 
self rejected."  The  answer  was  considered  triumphant, 
and  drew  from  Kant  the  remark,  "It  is  Mendelssohn's 
fault  that  Jacobi  thinks  himself  a  philosopher."  In 
a  hurried  preparation  of  this  latter  work  Mendelssohn 
overtasked  his  physical  powers,  and  the  exhaustion  thus 
produced  led  to  his  premature  death,  which  took  i)lace 
Jan.  4,  1786.  Ramler  wrote  this  epitapli  on  Mendels- 
sohn :  "  True  to  the  religion  of  his  forefathers,  wise  as 
Socrates,  teaching  immortality,  and  becoming  immortal 
like  Socrates."  Besides  many  Hebrew  and  German  es- 
says which  we  have  not  room  to  mention,  Mendelssohn 
contributed  freely  to  the  Eibliothek  der  schiinen  Wissen- 
scha/ten,  edited  by  Lessing  (<}.  v.).  His  complete  works 
were  collected  and  edited  by  his  grandson,  G.  B.  Men- 
delssohn (Leips.  1843-5,  7  vols.).  The  influence  which 
lie  exercised  over  the  Jewish  nation  is  incalculable, 
lie  roused  the  Jews  of  Germany,  if  not  of  the  world, 
from  the  mental  apathy  with  which  in  his  day  they  re- 
garded all  that  had  not  a  distinct  reference  to  religion. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  acted  in  the  most  beneficial  man- 
ner on  his  Christian  contemporaries  by  exterminating 
the  brutal  prejudices  which  they  entertained  against 
Jews,  and  through  his  most  distinguished  Christian 
friends  brought  about  the  abrogation  of  the  disgraceful 
laws  with  respect  to  them.  See  Jkws.  .He  effected  a 
reformation  in  Judaism,  and  founded  that  new  school 
of  Hebrew  literature  and  Biblical  exegesis  which  has 
now  produced  so  many  and  such  distinguished  Jewish 
literati  not  only  in  Germany,  but  throughout  Europe. 
No  wonder  that  the  Jews  exjiress  tlieir  gratitude  to  him 
and  reverence  for  him  in  the  saying,  "  From  Moses  (the 
law-giver)  to  Closes  (^laimonidcs)  and  Moses  (Jlen- 
delssohn),  no  one  hath  arisen  like  IMoses"  (nw^"a 
nrr:  Cn  XP  nr-a  iri  nr^b).  See  Kayserling, 
Af.  Mendelssohn,  seine  Leben  u.  s.  Werke  (Leips.  18G2); 
Samuels,  Afemoirs  of  Moses  MendeUsohn,  etc.  (2d  ed. 
Lond.  18-27);  Hedge,  Prose  Writers  of  Germany,  p.  99 
sq. ;  Adler,  Versdhminrj  von  Gott,  Religion,  und  Men- 
schenthnm  durch  M.  Mendelssohn  (Berlin,  1871)  ;  Axen- 
feld,  Moses  Mendelss(din  im  Verhiiltniss  ziini  Chnslen- 
thum  (Erlangen,  1805^;  i\x\\t7.,Gesch.d.Juden,^\,\  sq.; 
Ueberweg,  Ilistorg  ofl'hilosophg.  ii,  1 18,  523,  528  (Engl, 
transl.  by  ^lorris.  New  York,  1874") ;  Milman,  J/ist.  of  the 
Jen-s,  iii,  408  sq. ;  IMcCaid,  Sketches  of  Judaism  and  the 
Jews,  11.  43  sq. ;  Da  Costa,  Isi-ael  and  the  Gentiles,  p.  544 
sq. ;  Schmucker,  IJi.ft.  of  the  Modern  Jens  (Pliiladelphia, 
18(57%  p.  239  sq. ;  Kalkar.  I.irael  ?/.  d.  Kirche  (Hamburg, 
1869),  p.  117  sq.;  Jevish  Intelligence  (Lond.  1866),  p. 
31  8(1.;  Etheridge,  Introduction  to  I/ebrew  Literature, 
p.  475  sq. ;  Miscellany  of  Hebrew  Literature  (Lond. 
1872),  p.  22  sq. ;  Dessaner,  Oesch.  d.  Israeliten  (Brcs- 
lau,  1870),  p.  497  sq. ;  Stern,  Gesch.  d.  Judenthums  (ibia. 
1870),  p.  54  sq.;  Cassel,  Zeitfaden  fur  Jiid.  Gesch.  u. 
Lileratur  (Berlin,  1872%  p.  108  sq.;  FUrst,  Bibl.  Jud. 
ii,  359-367  :  De  Rossi,  Diziomirio  storico  degli  auton 
F.brei  (German  transl.  by  Hamberger),  p.  224  sq. ;  id., 
liibliothecn  Judaica  aniichristiana,  p.  09 ;  Jost,  Gesch. 
d.  Israeliten,  ix.  66 ;  id.,  Gesch.  d.  .hiden.  v.  s.  Sekten, 
iii,  293  sq. ;  Zedner,  .1  usirahl  hiitoi-^ischer  Stiicke  (Berl. 
1840),  p.  204  sq. ;  Farrar,  Crit.  History  of  Free  Thought ; 
Hurst's  Hagenbach,  Church  Hist.  \Hth  and  I9th  Ctnlury; 
Christian  Remembrancer,  Oct.  1866,  p.  267.     (B.  1'.) 


MENDEZ 


87 


MENDICANTS 


Mendez,  Alphonso,  a  noted  missionary  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  flourished  in  Abyssinia  in  the 
early  part  of  the  17th  century.  lie  was  a  Portuguese 
by  birth,  but  we  know  little  of  his  personal  history  dis- 
connected from  his  labors  in  the  East.  He  belonged  to 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  was  created  patriarch  of  the 
Abyssinians  in  16-26,  by  the  emperor  Suscenius,  or  Soci- 
nios,  who,  quite  contrary  to  general  practices,  not  only 
himself  paid  allegiance  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  but  also 
obliged  his  subjects  to  abandon  the  religious  rites  and 
tenets  of  their  ancestors,  and  to  embrace  the  doctrine 
and  worship  of  the  Romish  Church.  Mendez,  as  patri- 
arch, by  his  intemperate  zeal,  imprudence,  and  arro- 
gance, ruined  the  cause  in  which  he  had  embarked,  and 
occasioned  the  total  subversion  of  the  Roman  pontiffs 
authorit}'  and  jurisdiction,  which  seemed  to  have  been 
established  upon  solid  foundations.  "  He  began  his  min- 
istry'," says  Jlosheim  {Eccles.  Hist.,  Harper's  edit.,  ii, 
193),  "with  the  most  inconsiderate  acts  of  violence  and 
despotism.  Following  the  spirit  of  the  Spanish  Inqui- 
sition, he  employed  formidable  threatenings  and  cruel 
tortures  to  convert  the  Abyssinians;  the  greatest  part 
of  whom,  together  with  their  priests  and  ministers,  held 
the  religion  of  their  ancestors  in  the  highest  veneration, 
and  were  willing  to  part  with  their  lives  and  fortunes 
rather  than  forsake  it.  He  also  ordered  those  to  be  re- 
baptized  who,  in  compliance  with  the  orders  of  the  em- 
peror, had  embraced  the  faith  of  Rome,  as  if  their  for- 
mer religion  had  been  nothing  more  than  a  system  of 
paganism.  Nor  did  the  insolent  patriarch  rest  satisfied 
with  these  arbitrarj'  and  despotic  proceedings  in  the 
Church ;  he  excited  tumults  and  factions  in  the  state, 
and,  with  an  unparalleled  spirit  of  rebellion  and  arro- 
gance, encroached  upon  the  prerogatives  of  the  throne, 
and  attempted  to  give  law  to  the  emperor  himself. 
Hence  arose  civil  commotions,  conspiracies,  and  sedi- 
tions, which  excited  in  a  little  time  the  indignation  of 
the  emperor,  and  the  hatred  of  the  people  against  the 
Jesuits,  and  produced  at  length,  in  1631,  a  public  decla- 
ration from  the  throne,  by  which  the  Abyssinian  mon- 
arch annulled  tlie  orders  he  had  formerly  given  in  favor 
of  popery,  and  left  his  subjects  at  liberty  either  to  per- 
severe in  the  doctrine  of  their  ancestors  or  to  embrace 
the  faith  of  Rome.  This  rational  declaration  was  mild 
and  indulgent  toward  the  Jesuits,  considering  the  treat- 
ment which  their  insolence  and  presumption  had  so  just- 
ly deserved;  but  in  the  following  reign  much  severer 
measures  were  employed  against  them.  Basilides,  or 
Facilidas,  the  son  of  Segued,  who  succeeded  his  father 
in  1632,  thought  it  expedient  to  free  his  dominions  from 
these  troublesome  and  despotic  guests,  and  accordingly, 
in  1634,  he  banished  from  his  territories  the  patriarch 
Mendez,  with  all  thp  Jesuits  and  Europeans  who  be- 
longed to  his  retinue,  and  treated  the  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries  with  excessive  severity.  From  this  period 
the  very  name  of  Rome,  its  religion,  and  its  pontiff, 
were  objects  of  the  highest  aversion  among  the  Abys- 
sinians." Le  Grand,  himself  a  Roman  Catholic,  makes 
the  following  remark  upon  the  conduct  of  the  patriarch 
Mendez :  "  It  is  to  be  wished  that  the  patriarch  had 
never  intermeddled  in  such  a  variety  of  affairs"  (by  which 
mitigated  expression  the  author  means  his  ambitious  at- 
tempts to  govern  in  the  cabinet  as  well  as  in  the  Church), 
"or  carried  his  authority  to  such  a  height  as  to  behave 
in  Ethiopia  as  if  he  had  been  in  a  country  where  the 
Inquisition  was  established;  for  by  this  conduct  he  set 
all  the  people  against  him,  and  excited  in  them  such  an 
aversion  to  the  Roman  Catholics  in  general,  and  to  the 
Jesuits  in  particular,  as  nothing  has  hitherto  been  able 
to  diminish,  and  which  subsists  in  full  force  to  this  day" 
(in  the  fourth  dissertation  subjoined  to  vol.  ii  of  Lobo's 
Voyage  dCAbyssinie,  which  the  reader  will  do  well  to 
consult,  especially  p.  116,  130,  144).  See  also  Ludolfi 
Histor.  yEthiopica,  lib.  iii,  cap.  xii ;  Geddes,  Ch.  Hist,  of 
Ethiopia,  p.  233 ;  La  Croze,  //wf.  du  Christianisme  d'Ethi- 
opie,  p.  79 ;  Lockman,  Travels  of  the  Jesuits,  i,  308  sq.  (J. 
H.W.) 


Mendez,  Gonzalez  Juan,  a  Roman  Catholic 
prelate  of  note,  flourished  in  the  latter  half  of  the  16th 
century.  He  was  an  Augustinian  friar  of  the  province 
of  Castile,  when  he  was  chosen  by  the  king  of  Spain  to 
become  ambassador  to  the  emperor  of  China  in  1584. 
In  1593  he  was  made  bishop  of  Lipari,  in  Italy ;  in  1607, 
bishop  of  Chiapi,  in  New  Spain ;  and  in  1608,  bishop  of 
Propajan,  in  the  West  Indies.  He  died  in  1617.  He 
wrote  A  History  T>f  China  in  Spanish,  which  has  been 
translated  into  several  languages. 

Mendez,  Gonzalez  Pedro,  a  noted  Roman  Cath- 
olic prelate  in  the  Church  of  Spain,  called  the  '■  grand 
cardinal,"  was  born  at  Guadalajara  in  1428,  of  an  ancient 
and  noble  family.  He  made  rapid  progress  in  his  tiad- 
ies,  especially  in  the  languages,  in  civil  and  canon  Uiw, 
and  in  belles-lettres.  His  uncle,  Gautier  Alvarez,  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo,  gave  him  an  archdeaconry  in  his 
church,  and  sent  him  to  the  court  of  John  II,  king  of 
Castile.  His  merit  and  quality  soon  made  him  friends, 
and  he  acquired  the  bishopric  of  Calahorra.  Henry  IV, 
who  succeeded  John,  trusted  him  with  the  most  impor- 
tant affairs  of  state,  and  with  the  bishopric  of  Siguenca, 
and  finally  procured  a  cardinal's  hat  for  him,  from  Six- 
tus  IV,  in  1473.  When  Henry  died,  in  the  year  follow- 
ing, he  named  cardinal  Mendez  for  his  executor,  and 
dignified  him  at  the  same  time  with  the  title  of  the 
Cardinal  of  Spain.  He  did  great  service  afterwards  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  in  the  war  against  the  king  of 
Portugal,  and  in  the  conquest  of  the  kingdom  of  Granada 
from  the  INIoors.  He  was  then  made  archbishop  of  Sev- 
ille and  Toledo  successively ;  and,  after  governing  some 
years  in  his  several  provinces  with  great  wisdom  and 
moderation,  he  died  Jan.  11, 1495.  He  founded  the  mag- 
nificent college  of  Santa  Cruz  at  Valladolid,  and  a  hos- 
pital at  Toledo.  See  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Chronica  del 
gran  Cardinal  de  Espafia  (1625) ;  Gen.  Biog.  Diet.  s.  v. 

Mendicants,  Order  of,  also  known  as  Begging 
Friars,  is  the  name  of  several  religious  organizations 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
intended  to  depend  for  support  on  the  voluntary  contri- 
butions of  the  laity.  This  sort-  of  society  began  in  the 
13th  century,  and  the  members  of  it,  by  the  tenor  of 
their  institution,  were  to  remain  entirely  destitute  of  all 
fixed  revenues  and  possessions.  Innocent  III  was  the 
first  of  the  popes  who  perceived  the  necessity  of  insti- 
tuting such  an  order;  and  though  his  far-seeing  eye 
took  in  the  possible  dangers  of  fierce  and  ascetic  enthu- 
siasm, he  nevertheless  felt  constrained  to  give  those  mo- 
nastic societies  making  a  profession  of  poverty  the  most 
distinguishing  marks  of  his  protection  and  favor.  The 
peculiar  state  and  circumstances  of  the  time  seem  to 
have  rendered  such  an  establishment  very  essential  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Church.  The  monastic  orders 
then  existing  wallowed  in  opulence,  and  were  by  the  cor- 
rupting influence  of  their  ample  possessions  lulled  into 
a  luxurious  indolence.  They  lost  sight  of  all  their  re- 
ligious obligations,  trampled  upon  the  authority  of  their 
superiors,  suffered  heresy  to  triumph  unrestrained,  and 
the  sectaries  to  form  various  assemblies;  in  short,  they 
were  incapable  of  promoting  the  true  interests  of  the 
Church,  and  abandoned  themselves,  without  either  shame 
or  remorse,  to  all  sorts  of  crimes.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  "  heretics"  of  the  Church,  the  sects  which  had  left  its 
communion,  followed  certain  austere  rules  of  life  apd 
conduct,  which  formed  a  strong  contrast  between  them 
and  the  religious  orders,  and  contributed  to  render  the 
licentiousness  of  the  latter  still  more  offensive  and  shock- 
ing to  the  people.  These  sects  maintained  that  volun- 
tary poverty  was  the  leading  and  essential  quality-  in  a 
servant  of  Christ;  obliged  their  doctors  to  imitate  the 
simplicity  of  the  apostles ;  reproached  the  Church  with 
its  overgrown  opulence,  and  the  vices  and  corruptions 
of  the  clergy,  that  flowed  thence  as  from  their  natural 
source;  and,  by  their  commendation  of  poverty  and 
contempt  of  riches,  acquired  a  high  degree  of  respect, 
and  gained  a  prodigious  ascendency  over  the  minds  of 


MENDICANTS 


88 


MENDS 


the  multitude.  In  consequence,  the  great  desire  of  the 
Churoli  was  the  formation  of  a  society  composed  of  a  set 
of  men  who — by  the  austerity  of  their  manners,  their 
contempt  of  riches,  and  the  external  .gravity  and  sanc- 
tity of  their  conduct  and  maxims — might  resemble  those 
doctors  that  had  gained  such  reputation  for  the  heretical 
sects,  and  who  might  rise  so  far  above  the  allurements 
of  workily  protit  and  pleasure  as  not  to  be  seduced  by  ' 
the  promises  or  threats  of  kings  and  princes  from  the 
performance  of  the  duties  which  they  owed  to  the 
Church,  or  from  persevering  in  their  subordination  to 
the  Roman  pontiffs.  I 

The  favors  which  the  Mendicants  received  at  the 
hands  of  Innocent  III  were  extended  to  them  likewise 
by  his  successors  in  the  pontifical  chair,  as  experience 
had  demonstrated  their  public  and  extensive  usefulness. 
But  when  it  became  generally  known  that  they  had 
such  a  peculiar  jilaco  in  the  esteem  and  protection  of  the 
rulers  of  the  Church,  their  number  grew  to  such  an 
enormous  and  unwieldy  multitude,  and  swarmed  so  pro- 
digiously in  all  the  European  provinces,  that  they  be- 
came a  burden,  not  only  to  the  people,  but  to  the  Church 
itself.  The  great  inconvenience  that  arose  from  the  ex- 
cessive multiplication  of  the  Mendicant  orders  was  first 
attempted  to  be  remedied  by  Gregory  X  in  a  general 
council  which  he  assembled  at  Lyons  in  1272 ;  for  here 
all  the  religious  orders  that  had  sprung  up  after  the 
council  held  at  Rome  in  1215,  under  the  pontificate  of 
Innocent  III,  were  suppressed;  and  the  extravagant 
multitude  of  Mendicants,  as  Ciregory  called  them,  were 
reduced  to  a  smaller  number,  and  confined  to  four  soci- 
eties or  denominations,  viz.  the  Dominicans,  the  Fran- 
ciscans, the  Carmelites,  and  the  A  ur/ustines,  or  Hermits  of 
St.  Augustine  (see  each).  As  the  pontiffs  allowed  these 
four  Mendicant  orders  the  liberty  of  travelling  wherever 
they  thouglit  proper,  of  conversing  with  persons  of  ev- 
crj'  rank,  of  instructing  the  youth  and  multitude  wher- 
ever they  went,  and  as  these  monks  exhibited  in  their 
outward  appearance  and  manner  of  life  more  striking 
marks  of  gravity  and  holiness  tlian  were  observable  in 
the  other  monastic  societies,  they  arose  all  at  once  to 
the  very  surrimit  of  fame,  and  were  regarded  with  the 
utmost  esteem  and  veneration  through  all  the  countries 
of  Europe.  The  enthusiastic  attachment  to  these  sanc- 
timonious beggars  went  so  far  that,  as  we  learn  from  the 
most  .authentic  records,  several  cities  were  divided  or 
cantoned  out  into  four  parts,  with  a  view  to  these  four 
orders :  tlie  first  part  being  assigned  to  the  Dominicans, 
the  second  to  the  Franciscans,  the  third  to  the  Carmel- 
ites, and  the  fourth  to  the  Augustines.  The  ))cople 
were  unwilling  to  receive  the  sacraments  from  any  other 
hands  than  those  of  the  Mendicants,  to  whose  churches 
they  crowded  to  perform  their  devotions  while  living, 
and  were  extremely  desirous  to  deposit  there  their  re- 
mains after  death.  Nor  did  the  influence  and  credit  of 
the  Jlendicants  end  here,  for  we  find  in  the  history  of 
this  and  the  succeeding  ages  that  they  were  employed 
not  only  in  spiritual  matters,  but  also  in  temporal  and 
political  affairs  of  the  greatest  consequence — in  compos- 
ing the  differences  of  princes,  concluding  treaties  of 
peace,  concerting  alliances,  presiding  in  cabinet  coun- 
cils, governing  courts,  levying  taxes,  ami  other  occupa- 
tions, not  onh'  remote  from,  but  absolutely  inconsistent 
with  the  monastic  character  and  profession.  However, 
the  j)ow(r  of  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  greatly 
surpassed  that  of  the  other  two  orders,  insomuch  that 
these  two  orders  were,  before  the  Reformation,  what  the 
Jesuits  have  been  since  that  period — the  very  soul  of 
the  hierarchy,  the  engines  of  the  state,  the  secret  spring 
•  of  all  the  motions  of  the  one  and  the  other,  and  the  au- 
thors and  directors  of  every  great  and  imi)ortant  event, 
both  in  the  religious  and  ]iolitical  world. 

B)'  very  quick  progression,  the  pride  and  confidence 
of  the  Mendicants  arrived  at  such  a  i)itch  that  they  had 
the  jtresumption  to  declare  themslves  jiubliily  possessed 
of  a  divine  impulse  and  commission  to  illustrate  and 
maintain  the  religion  of  Jesus.     They  treated  with  the 


utmost  insolence  and  contempt  the  priesthood ;  they  af- 
firmed without  a  Ijlush  that  the  true  method  of  salvation 
was  revealed  to  them  alone;  proclaimed  with  ostentation 
the  superior  efficacy  and  virtue  of  their  indulgences ;  and 
vaunted  beyond  measure  their  interest  at  the  court  of 
heaven,  and  their  familiar  connections  with  the  Supreme 
Being,  the  Virgin  Man,-,  and  the  saints  in  glory.  By 
these  impious  wiles  they  so  deluded  and  captivated  the 
ignorant  and  blinded  the  multitude  that  they  would  not 
intrust  any  others  but  the  Mendicants  with  the  care  of 
their  souls.  They  retained  their  credit  and  influence  to 
such  a  degree  nearly  to  the  close  of  the  Mth  century 
that  great  numbers  of  both  sexes — some  in  health,  others 
in  a  state  of  infirmity,  others  at  the  point  of  death— ear- 
nestly desired  to  be  admitted  into  the  Jlendicant  order, 
which  they  looked  upon  as  a  sure  and  infallible  method 
of  rendering  Heaven  propitious.  Many  made  it  an  es- 
sential part  of  their  last  wills  that  their  bodies,  after 
death,  should  be  wra|)ped  in  old,  ragged  Dominican  or 
Franciscan  habits,  and  interred  among  the  Jlendicants; 
for  such  was  the  barbarous  superstition  and  wretched 
ignorance  of  this  age,  that  people  universally  believed 
they  should  readily  obtain  mercy  from  Christ  at  the  day 
of  judgment  if  they  ap[)eared  before  his  tribunal  associ- 
ated witli  the  Jlendicant  friars.  About  this  time,  how- 
ever, the  Mendicants  fell  under  a  universal  odium  ;  but, 
being  resolutely  protected  against  all  opposition,  whether 
open  or  secret,  by  the  popes,  who  regarded  them  as  their 
best  friends  and  most  effectual  supports,  they  suffered 
little  or  nothing  from  their  numerous  adversaries. 

In  the  15th  century,  besides  their  arrogance,  which 
was  excessive,  a  quarrelsome  and  litigious  spirit  pre- 
vailed among  the  JMendicants,  and  drew  upon  them 
justly  the  displeasure  and  indignation  of  many.  By 
affording  refuge  at  the  time  to  the  Beguins  (q.  v.)  in 
their  order,  they  became  offensive  to  the  bishops,  and 
were  involved  in  difficulties  and  perplexities  of  vari- 
ous kinds.  They  lost  their  credit  in  the  IGth  cen- 
tury by  their  rustic  impudence,  their  ridiculous  super- 
stitions, their  ignorance,  cruelty,  and  brutish  manners. 
They  displayed  the  most  barbarous  aversion  to  the  arts 
and  sciences,  and  expressed  a  like  abhorrence  of  certain 
eminent  and  learned  men,  who  had  endeavored  to  open 
the  paths  of  science  to  the  pursuits  of  the  studious  youth, 
and  had  recommended  the  culture  of  the  mind,  and  at- 
tacked the  barbarism  of  the  age  in  their  writings  and 
discourses.  The  general  character  of  the  society,  to- 
gether with  other  circumstances,  concurred  to  render  a 
reformation  desirable,  and  had  the  effect  of  bringing  it 
about.  Among  the  number  of  Jlcndicants  are  also 
ranked  the  Capuchins,  Kecollets,  Minims,  and  others, 
who  are  branches  or  derivations  from  the  former.  Bu- 
chanan says  that  the  Mendicants  of  Scotland,  inider  an 
appearance  of  beggary,  lived  a  very  luxurious  life; 
whence  one  wittily  called  them,  not  MtmUcant,  but 
Manditcanl  friars.  See  Jean  le  Rond  d'Alembert,  Hist, 
lies  Moines  mendiants  (Paris,  17G8, 12mo;  German  by  J. 
Scheubner,  Nuremb.  17C9);  J.  Gurlitt,  Gesc/i.  <l.  Bettel- 
munchsorden  im  13  Jahrh.  {Thevl.  Htudien  v.Kritiken,  i, 
100  &i\.) ;  Gieseler,  Kccles.  Hist,  ii,  287  sq. ;  iii,  4G  et  al. ; 
Jlosheim,  Kccles.  IJist.  vol.  ii  (sec  Index) ;  Neander,  C/i. 
J/ist.\o\.  v  (see  Index);  Milman,  Hist,  o/  Latin  C/iris- 
tianity,  vii,  o21  et  al.;  Hardwick,  Ch.  Hist.  (:SIiddle 
Ages)  p.  252  sq.,  320  sq.  et  al. ;  jMrs.  Jameson,  J  At/ends 
oj'tlie  Monastic  Orders,  p.  227  &i\.\  Lea,  Sacerdotal  Ctl- 
ibacii,  p.  377;  Chr.  Review,  vol.  xx,  Jan.     (J.Il.W.) 

Mendoza.     See  Mendez. 

Mends,  lIicnBian-,  an  English  Trotestant  divine, 
born  at  Brinkworth.  in  Wiltshire,  about  the  niiilcUe  of 
the  181  h  cenliiry,  was  the  son  of  Christopher  blends, 
also  a  clergyman.  He  early  decided  to  devote  himself 
to  the  ministry,  and  was  accordingly  pl.-iced  at  a  gram- 
mar-school at  riymouth,  where  he  obtained  the  rudi- 
ments of  a  classical  education;  and  was  after  that  in- 
structed by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Buncombe,  a  minister  of 
the  Independent  Church  at  Ottery  St.  Mary,  Devon, 


MENE  6 

where  he  continued  three  years.  In  1777,  having  com- 
pleted his  academical  studies,  he  removed  to  Sherborne, 
in  Dorset,  and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Church,  In 
1782,  his  father's  infirmities  increasing,  he  was  invited 
to  assist  him  at  Plymouth ;  here  he  was  very  successful, 
his  Church  augmenting  greatly,  not  only  in  the  number 
of  hearers,  but  in  the  membership.  He  was  steadfast 
and  consistent  in  his  attachment  to  evangelical  truth  in 
the  midst  of  various  and  conflicting  errors,  which  at  that 
period  pervaded  the  West  of  England,  and  which  led 
him  to  express  his  sentiments  with  unusual  energy  in 
his  confession  of  faith  delivered  at  his  ordination.  If 
in  his  later  years  he  insisted  more  earnestly  on  the  ob- 
ligations of" true  Christians  to  maintain  good  works,  it 
dill  not  arise  from  any  diminished  sense  of  the  value 
of  other  religious  duties;  but  local  circumstances  in- 
duced him  to  inveigh  against  certain  errors  which 
seemed  to  him  dangerous  to  practical  religion.  Anoth^ 
er  great  cause  of  his  success  was  the  animation  and 
warmth  of  his  address,  which  not  only  attracted  a  large 
congregation,  but  krpt  I  luin  si  ill  united  at  a  period  when 
a  minister's  waning;  ciur-us  liequently  impair  his  use- 
fulness. In  1785  Mr.  iMends  became  the  first  and  most 
active  promoter  of  the  Association  of  Independent  Min- 
isters of  Churches  in  the  West  of  England,  by  which  so- 
ciety valuable  aid  was  contributed  to  the  extension  and 
success  of  the  Gospel.  He  died  about  the  opening  of 
this  century.  Mends  did  not  write  much  for  publica- 
tion. In  1785  he  published  an  J^leijt/  on  the  Death  of 
WiUiain  Sh(ph(inl,Esq.;  in  1789,  A  Sermon  on  the  In- 
justice and  C  melt  I)  of  the  Slare-trade ;  in  1790,  A  Ser- 
mon on  the  Educ'ntinii  <f  thi-  ChUdnn  of  th,-  Poor;  in 
\l'd7,ADefenceoflifiiit  /!,ij,/i.<n,  .•  .-nKl.  in  l.sill,^!  Ser- 
mon preached  in  Loinloii  liij'orc  Ih,'  Mis>ii(iiiiirii  Society. 

Me'ne,  a  word  Anglicized  in  the  Auth.  Vers,  of  the 
Chaldee  sentence  Mexe,  Mene,Tekei.,Upharsin  (S372 
"pp-iSI  b^T\  N3T3,  mene',  mene',  tekel',  u-pharsin', 
numbered,  numbered,  veighed,  and  diriding,  as  each  term 
is  immediately  interpreted,  the  last  being  given  in  its 
sing,  and  pass,  form  ^"^1^,  jxres',  dicided;  Sept.  [i.e. 
Theodotion]  in  both  passages  iiavri,3ieKsX,  (paptq ;  Vulg. 
mane,  thecel,  phures),  an  inscription  supernaturally  writ- 
ten "  upon  the  plaster  of  the  wall"  in  Belshazzar's  pal- 
ace at  Babylon  (Dan.  v,  5-25) ;  which  "  the  astrologers, 
the  Chaldreans,  and  the  soothsayers"  could  neither  read 
nor  interpret,  but  which  Daniel  first  read  and  then  in- 
terpreted. Yet  the  words,  as  they  are  found  in  Daniel, 
are  pure  Chaldee,  and,  if  they  appeared  in  the  Chaldee 
character,  could  have  been  read,  at  least,  by  any  person 
present  on  the  occasion  who  understood  the  alphabet  of 
his  own  language.  To  account  for  their  inabilitv  to  de- 
cipher this  inscription,  it  has  been  supposed  that  it  con- 
sisted of  those  Chaldee  words  written  in  another  char- 
acter. Dr.  Hales  thinks  that  it  may  have  boon  written 
in  the  primitive  Hchrrw  cliaractci-.  Imin  ^vliicli  the  Sa- 
maritan was  formed,  and  that,  in  order  ti)  sIkiw  (ni  this 
occasion  that  the  writer  of  the  inscription  was  the 
offended  (iod  of  Israel,  whose  authority  was  at  that 
moment  peculiarly  despised  ( ver.  2, 3, 4),  he  adopted  his 
own  sacred  character,  in  which  he  had  originally  writ- 
ten the  decalogue,  in  which  Moses  could  transcribe  it 
into  the  law,  and  whose  autograph  copy  was  found  in 
Josiah's  days,  and  was  most  proljably  brought  to  Baby- 
lon in  the  care  of  Daniel,  who  could  therefore  under- 
stand the  character  without  inspiration,  but  which  would 
be  unknown  to  "the  wise  men  of  Babylon"  {Neiv  Anal- 
ysis of  Chronology  [Lond.  1811],  i,  505).  This  theory 
has  the  recommendation  that  it  involves  as  little  as 
possible  of  miraculous  agency.  Joseph  us  makes  Daniel 
discoiu-se  to  Belshazzar  as  if  the  inscription  had  been  in 
Greek.  "He  (Daniel)  explained  the  writing  thus: 
MANH.  'This,'  said  he,  '««  the  Greek  language,  may 
mean  a  number;  thus  God  hath  numbered  so  long  "a 
time  for  thy  life  and  for  thy  government,  and  that  there 
remains  a  short  time  for  thee.'  BEKE.V.  This  signi- 
fies weight;  hence  he  says,  'God  having  weighed  in  a 


)  MENEDEMUS 

balance  the  time  of  thy  kingdom,  finds  it  already  going 
down.'  $APE2.  This  also,  according  to  the  Greek 
language,  denotes  a  fragment ;  hence  'he  will  break  in 
pieces  thy  kingdom,  and  divide  it  among  the  Medes 
and  Persians' "  {Ant.  x,  11,  3).  It  has  been  supposed  by 
some  that "  the  wise  men"  were  not  so  much  at  fault  to 
read  the  inscription  as  to  explain  its  meaning,  which,  it 
is  said,  thej^  might  sufficiently  understand  to  see  its 
boding  import  to  the  monarch,  and  be  unwilling  to  con- 
sider further— like  the  disciples  in  regard  to  the  predic- 
tions of  our  Lord's  death  (Luke  ix,  45),  where  it  is  said, 
"  This  saying  was  hid  from  them,  they  perceived  it  not ; 
and  they  feared  to  ask  him  of  that  saying."  Certainly 
it  is  said  throughout  our  narrative  that  "the  wise  men 
could  not  read  the  writing,  nor  make  known  the  inter- 
pretation of  it,"  phrases  which  would  seem  to  mean  one 
and  the  same  thing ;  since,  if  they  mean  different  things, 
the  order  of  ideas  would  be  that  they  coidd  not  inter- 
pret nor  even  read  it,  and  Wintle  accordingly  translates, 
"  could  not  read  so  as  to  interpret  it"  {Improved  Version 
of  Daniel,  Lond.  1807).  At  all  events,  the  meaning  of 
the  inscription  by  itself  would  be  extremely  enigmatical 
and  obscure.  To  determine  the  application,  and  to  give 
the  full  sense,  of  an  isolated  device  which  amounted  to 
no  more  than  "  he  or  it  is  numbered,  he  or  it  is  nutn- 
bered,  he  or  it  is  weighed,  they  are  divided"  (and  there 
is  even  a  riddle  or  paranomasia  on  the  last  word  D"iS ; 
comp.  Susannah,  ver.  54,  55,  and  58,  59,  Greek,  and  Jer. 
i,  11,  12,  Hebrew;  which  may  either  mean  "they  di- 
vide," or  "  the  Persians,"  with  little  difference  of  pro- 
mmciation  in  the  sing.  [0*13  and  G^S]  and  none  in 
the  plur.  ["t"'p"iQ]),  must  surely  have  required  a  super- 
natural endowment  on  the  part  of  Daniel — a  conclusion 
which  is  confirmed  by  the  exact  coincidence  of  the 
event  with  the  prediction,  which  he  propounded  with 
so  much  fortitude  (ver.  30,  31).— Kitto. 

Menedemus,  a  (iicck  philosopher  and  teacher. 
flourished  in  the  :!<l  rentiiry  l;.('. 

Z{/(.— lie  was  bdiii  in  l.iclria  of  a  noble  family,  the 
Theopropidte.  Being  poor,  he  labored  as  a  tent-maker 
and  builder  for  a  livelihood.  According  to  Diogenes 
Laertius,  he  was  sent  on  some  military  service  to  Slegara, 
where  he  profited  by  the  occasion  to  hear  Plato.  He 
then  relinquished  the  army,  and  devoted  himself  to  phi- 
losophj%  But  it  is  not  probable  that  he  w'as  old  enough 
to  have  heard  Plato  before  the  death  of  the  latter.  If 
the  length  of  his  life  as  Diogenes  gives  it  is  correct,  it 
would  not  have  been  possible ;  for  at  the  period  of  Pla- 
to's death  he  would  have  been  only  four  years  of  age. 
According  to  the  story  in  Athenosus  (iv,  p.  168),  he  and 
his  friend  Asclepiades  labored  for  a  maintenance  as  mil- 
lers, passing  the  night  in  toil  in  order  to  gain  time  for 
philosophy  during  the  day.  They  subsequently  became 
pnpils  of  Stilpo  at  Megara,  whence  they  proceeded  to 
Klis.  to  profit  by  the  instructions  of  some  disciples  of 
l'li:edo.  Menedemus,  on  his  return  to  Eretria,  estab- 
lished a  school  of  philosophy,  which  was  called  the  Ere- 
trian.  He  did  not  devote  himself  cntiiily  to  philosophy, 
but  was  an  active  participant  in  tb.e  polities  ol  his  native 
city,  becoming  the  most  influential  man  in  the  state, 
although  in  his  earlier  days  he  was  regarded  with  dis- 
like. He  was  sent  on  various  missions  to  Ptolemaus 
(probably  Ptolemteus  Ceraunus),  to  Lysimachus,  and  to 
Demetrius,  and  obtained  for  his  native  city  a  repeal  of  a ' 
portion  of  the  tax  paid  to  Demetrius.  During  some 
portion  of  his  life  he  visited  Cyprus,  and  greatly  enraged 
the  tyrant  Nicocreon  by  his  freely-expressed  opinions. 
The  story  of  his  being  in  Egypt',  and  sharing  in  the 
making  of  the  Septuagint  version,  which  is  found  in 
Aristeas,  is  doubtless  unworthy  of  credence.  He  en- 
joyed the  favor  of  Antigonus  Gonatus,  and  persuaded 
the  Eretrians  to  present  to  him  a  (Hiblic  congratulation 
after  his  victory  over  the  Gaids.  Tliis  induced  the  sus- 
liicion  of  an  intention  on  his  part  of  betraying  Eretria 
into  the  power  of  Antigonus.  According  to  one  ac- 
cotuit,  these  surmises  led  him  to  depart  secretly  from 


MENELAUS 


90 


MEXESES 


Eretria,  and  take  refuge  in  the  sanctuary  of  Amphiaraus 
at  Oropus.  Some  golden  vessels,  the  property  of  the 
temple,  being  lost  while  he  was  there,  the  15a?otians 
compelled  him  to  leave,  when  he  fled  to  the  court  of 
Antigonus,  where  he  soon  died  of  grief,  probably  in  the 
year  U.C.  277,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four.  Another  ac- 
count says  that  he  went  to  Antigonus  to  solicit  his  in- 
terference in  behalf  of  the  freedom  of  his  native  city. 

A  s  (I  I'liUosopher  and  Teacher. — As  a  teacher,  ilene- 
demus,  in  his  intercourse  with  his  disciples,  was  char- 
acterized by  the  absence  of  formality  and  restraint,  al- 
though noted  for  the  severity  with  which  he  rebuked  all 
dissoluteness  and  intemperance,  so  that  the  fear  of  his 
censure  seems  to  have  acted  as  a  check.  He  lived  with 
his  friend  Asclepiades,  between  whom  and  himself  there 
existed  a  close  friendship.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life 
he  seems  to  have  lived  in  afHuence.  Of  the  philosophy 
of  Menedcnnis  little  is  known,  excepting  that  it  closely 
resembled  that  of  the  JMegarian  school,  and  that  of  Phasdo 
•of  Elis.  Indeed,  he  may  be  said  to  have  continued  Philo's 
philosophy.  Its  leading  feature  was  the  dogma  of  the 
oneness  of  the  Good,  which  he  carefully  distinguished 
from  the  Useful.  All  distinctions  between  virtues  he 
regarded  as  merely  nominal.  The  Good  and  the  True 
he  looked  upon  as  identical.  In  dialectics  he  rejected 
all  merely  negative  propositions,  maintaining  that  truth 
could  be  predicated  only  of  tliose  which  were  affirma- 
tive, and  of  these  he  admitted  such  alone  as  were  iden- 
tical ])ropositions.  He  was  a  vehement  and  keen  dis- 
putant, but  none  of  his  philosophical  controversies  or 
doctrines  were  committed  to  writing.  Epicrates,  in  a 
passage  quoted  by  Atlienanis  (ii.  p.  o9),  classes  Mene- 
demus  with  Plato  an<l  Sp<ii:sip]nis ;  but  it  appears  from 
Diogenes  Laertius  that  his  opinion  of  Plato  and  Xenoc- 
rates  was  not  very  high.  Stilpo  he  greatly  admired. 
See  Diogenes  Laertius,  ii,  125-144 ;  Plutarch,  De  A  diil. 
et  A  mid.  Disc.  p.  55 ;  Strabo,  ix,  p.  393 ;  Pitter,  Gescliic/ile 
der  Philosophie,  bk.  vii,  c.  5. — Smith,  Hid.  of  Greek  and 
Roman  Biog.  and  Mythol.  s.  v. 

Menela'iis  CSXtv'cXaoc,  a  common  Greek  name),  a 
usur]]ini;  lii^h-iiricsl  wlio  oljtaincd  the  office  from  Anti- 
ochus  JCiiipliancs  (U.C  cir.  172)  by  a  large  bribe  (2 
Mace,  iv,  23-25),  and  drove  out  Jason,  who  liad  obtained 
it  not  long  before  by  similar  means.  AVhen  he  neglected 
to  pay  the  sum  which  he  had  promised,  he  was  sum- 
moned to  the  king's  presence,  and  by  plundering  the 
Temple  gained  the  means  of  silencing  the  accusations 
which  were  brought  against  him.  Uy  a  similar  sacri- 
lege he  secured  himself  against  the  consequences  of  an 
insurrection  which  his  tyranny  had  excited,  and  also 
procured  the  death  of  Onias  (ver.  27-34).  He  was  af- 
terwards hard  pressed  by  Jason,  who,  taking  occasion 
from  liis  unpopularity,  attemjited  unsuccessfully  to  re- 
cover the  high-priesthood  (2  IMacc.  v,  5-10).  For  a 
time  he  then  disappears  from  the  history  (yet  comp. 
ver.  23),  but  at  last  he  met  with  a  violent  death  at  the 
hands  of  Antiochus  Eupator  (B.C.  cir.  1G3),  which 
seemed  in  a  peculiar  manner  a  providential  punishment 
of  his  sacrilege  (xiii,  3,  4). 

According  to  Josephns  (.1 7tt.  xii,  5, 1)  he  was  a  younger 
brother  of  Jason  and  Onias,  and,  like  Jason,  changed 
his  proper  name,  Oniati,  for  a  (Jreek  name.  In  2  jNIacc, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  is  called  a  l)rothcr  of  Simon  the 
Benjamite  (2  Mace,  iv,  23),  whose  treason  led  to  the 
first  attempt  to  plunder  the  Tem]tle.  If  this  account  be 
correct,  the  profanation  of  the  sacred  otHce  was  the  more 
marked  by  the  fact  that  it  was  transferred  from  the  fam- 
ily of  Aaron. — Smith. 

Menes  was  the  name  of  the  first  king  of  the  first 
Egyjilian  dynasty.  He  marks  a  great  chronological 
epoch,  being  placed  by  dilTerent  ehronologers  as  early  as 
B.C.  3(;43,  3892,  or  even  5702.  Stricter  Egyptologists 
make  his  accession  15.C'.  2717.  This  name,  which  signi- 
fies t/ie  coiduclor,  has  been  found  on  inscriptions,  liut  no 
ot^niteniiiorary  monuments  of  him  are  known.  Menes  is 
the  most  usual  form  of  his  name,  but  it  is  also  written 


Menas,  ^fen^s,  Meinis,  Men,  Min,  and  J/ein.  It  is  sin- 
gularly in  accordance  with  the  Indian  Menu,  the  Greek 
Minos,  the  Teutonic  Mannits,  and  similar  appellations 
of  a  primeval  king;  although  the  oldest  Egyjitian  lan- 
guage seems  to  have  had  nothing  akin  with  the  Aryan 
family,  to  which  the  others  belong.  Herodotus  says  that 
he  built  Memphis  on  the  original  bed  of  the  Nile.which 
he  turned  from  its  former  course,  and  erected  therein  a 
beautiful  temple  to  Ilcphajstus  or  I'thah  II  (comp.  Diod. 
i,  50,  ed.Wcss.  ad  loc).  Diodorus  informs  us  that  he 
introduced  into  Egypt  the  worship  of  the  gods,  the 
practice  of  sacrifices,  and  many  luxuries.  For  this  last 
innovation  he  was  subsequently  held  in  great  dishonor, 
as  Plutarch  mentions  a  pillar  at  Thebes,  in  Egypt,  on 
which  was  inscribed  an  imprecation  against  ]Mencs  as 
an  introducer  of  luxurj-.  There  is  a  legend  preserved 
by  Diodorus  which  narrates — in  defiance  of  chronology-, 
unless  Mendes  is  to  be  substituted  for  Menas— his  being 
saved  from  death  in  Lake  IVloeris  by  a  crocodile,  in  grat- 
itude for  which  he  inaugurated  the  worship  of  that  ani- 
mal, and  built  a  city  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  lake 
called  the  City  of  Crocodiles,  and  a  pyramid  to  serve  as 
his  own  tomb.  During  his  reign  there  was  a  revolt  of 
the  Libyans.  That  ho  made  foreign  conquests  we  learn 
from  an  extract  from  IManetho,  preserved  by  Eusebius. 
By  Marsham  and  others  he  is  considered  as  identical 
with  the  Mizraiin  of  Scripture.  According  to  some  ac- 
counts he  was  killed  by  a  hippopotamus.  See  Lepsius, 
Kdnifjshuch,  Quellentaf,  p.  5 ;  Bcickh,  Manetho,  p.  38G ; 
Poole,  Ilor.  j-Egijpt.  p.  219;  Herodotus,  ii,  4,  99;  Diodo- 
rus, i,  43,  45,  89  (ed.Wcss.  ad  loc.) ;  Plutarch,  De  Is.  et 

I  Osi?:  p.  8 ;  Perizon,  Orirj.  yEf/ypt.  c.  5 ;  Shuckford's  Con- 
nection, bk.  iv;  Bunsen,  A-lfiypU-ns  Sielle  in  der  Wellge- 
schichte,  ii,  38-45. — Smith,  Diet,  of  Class.  Biog.  s.  v.  See 
Egypt  ;  Me.mi'His. 

Meneses,  Aleixio  uk,  a  Portuguese  prelate  and 
statesman,  was  born  Jan.  2.5,  1559.  His  father  had 
directed  the  education  of  king  Sebastian.  Brought  up 
in  the  palace,  he  entered,  contrary-  to  his  parent's  wishes, 
the  convent  of  the  Augustines  at  Lisbon,  Feb.  24, 1574, 
and  finished  his  studies  at  Coimbra.  He  was  appointed 
archbishop  of  Goa  by  Philip  II,  and  took  possession  of  his 
see  in  September,  1595,  He  convened  a  provincial  synod, 
in  which  useful  reforms  were  established;  he  organized 
many  missions,  and  evangelized,  among  others,  the  sav- 
age inhabitants  of  the  island  of  Socotra,  He  devoted 
himself  also  to  the  Christians  of  Abyssinia,  and,  above  all, 
to  those  schismatic  Nestorians  known  under  the  name  of 
"Christians  of  St,  Thomas,"  who  have  taken  refuge  for 
centuries  in  the  mountains  of  Malabar,  That  in  which 
the  bishop  of  Cochin,  the  Jesuits,  the  Dominicans,  and 
even  the  disciples  of  St,  Francis  were  unsuccessful,  he 
was  enabled  to  accomiilish,  and  after  many  centuries 
of  division  the  Koman  Church  received  into  its  bosom 
the  greater  p.art  of  this  branch  of  the  Christian  f.iniily. 
Pope  Clement  testified  to  Meneses  his  satisfaction  by  a 
brief  April  1, 1599.  Meneses  was  subsecjuently  ajipointed 
to  the  government  of  the  Indies,  and  performed  the 
duties  of  viceroy  i'roni  jMay  3,  ItJOG,  to  Jlay  28,  1G09. 
He  showed  himself  stern  and  severe  towards  some 
of  the  Jlohammedan  princes,  but  tranquillity  at  least 
was  preserved  in  the  Indies  during  his  administration. 
He  died  May  3,  1GI7.  His  memorable  journey  in  the 
mountains  is  published  under  this  title :  Jornadado 
Arcebispo  de  (Joa  D.  Alei.ro  de  Menezes  quandofoi  a 
serrus  do  Malavar,  cm  que  mordo  os  untignos  Cliri.itaos 
de  S.-Tome  porFr.  Antonio  de  Gonvea  (Coimbra,  1C06, 
fol,).  There  is  added  generally  to  this  curious  narration : 
Sinodo  diocesano  de  igreja  e  Ifkpado  de  antiguos  C/iris- 
taos  de  S.-Tome  das  serras  de  Malarar  ceUbrado  por 
D.  Fr.  Aleia-o  de  Menezes  (ibid.  IGOG;  translated  into 
Spanish  in  1G08  by  Francis  ^lufios).  He  also  wrote  His- 
toire  Orientate  dts  grands  progres  de  VEglise  cat/iolique 
en  la  reduction  des  anciens  ('///-eliens  dits  de  St.  Thomas, 
arec  la  tuesse  des  ancitns  Chretiens  en  Tervche  d'Angamale 
(Bruxelles,  IGOO,  8vo:  the  translator,  J,  B,  de  (ilen,  has 

I  unfortunately  left  many  blanks  in  his  version).     See 


MENESTHEUS 


91 


MENI 


Ba.Thosa.Machado,  Bibliotheca  Lusitana;  Temaux-Com- 
pans,  Biblioih.  Asiatique  et  Africaine;  Veyssiere  la 
Croze,  Hist,  du  Christianisme  des  Indes ;  Pedro  Barreto 
de  liegende,  Tratado  dos  Vizos-Reis  da  India,  in  IMS.  in 
the  Biblioth.  imp.  de  Paris.— Hoefer,  A'^oui'.  i)W«7.  Gene- 
rale,  xxxiv,  973. 

Menes'theus  {Mtvta^tvQ  v.  r.  Mfi/f'(T^f(nc,Vulg. 
Mnestheus),  the  father  of  ApoUonius  (q.  v.),  the  ambas- 
sador of  Antiochus  Epiphanes  to  Ptolemy  Philometor 
(2  Mace,  iv,  21). 

Meng.     See  Mexcius. 

Mengs,  Anton  Rafael,  a  distinguished  artist  of 
the  18th  century,  was  born  at  Aussig,  in  Bohemia,  in 
1728.  His  father,  also  a  painter,  adopted  a  very  cruel 
course  of  treatment  to  his  son,  forcing  him,  at  the  age 
of  six  years,  to  draw  the  entire  day  witliout  other  nour- 
ishment than  a  crust  of  bread  and  a  bottle  of  water,  and 
chastising  him  severely  if  the  task  given  was  unfinished 
in  the  allotted  time.  In  1741,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  he 
was  taken  to  Rome,  where  he  was  employed  in  copying 
the  works  of  Raphael  in  miniature  for  Augustus  III, 
elector  of  Saxony  and  king  of  Poland.  In  17-14  he  re- 
turned to  Dresden,  and  was  appointed  court-painter  by 
Augustus,  with  permission  to  return  to  Rome  to  con- 
tinue his  studies.  He  there  painted  several  original  pict- 
ures, among  which  was  a  lovely  Virgin  and  Child,  in 
which  the  Virgin  was  painted  from  a  beautiful  peasant- 
girl,  of  whom  he  became  so  enamoured  that-  he  turned 
Roman  Catholic  for  her  sake  and  married  her.  Soon  after 
this  he  again  returned  to  Dresden,  where  he  remained 
three  years,  when  the  tyranny  of  his  father  became  so 
oppressive  that  he  received  permission  from  his  royal 
patron  to  visit  Rome  again,  in  order  to  execute  his  com- 
mission for  an  altar-piece  for  the  royal  chapel.  Shortly 
after  his  arrival  he  was  deprived  of  his  pension,  the 
king's  finances  having  suffered  by  the  Seven -Years' 
War;  and  thus  suddenly  thrown  upon  his  own  resources, 
Mengs  painted  at  low  prices  for  the  support  of  his  fam- 
ily. In  1751  he  received  an  appointment  as  director  of 
the  new  academy  at  Rome,  and  in  1757  was  employed 
by  the  Celestines  to  paint  the  ceilings  of  the  Church  of 
St.  Eusebio.  In  1761  the  king  of  Spain  invited  JNIengs 
to  his  court  at  Madrid,  and  granted  him  a  liberal  pen- 
sion. Here  he  executed,  among  other  works,  a  Descent 
from  the  Cross  and  the  Council  of  the  Gods.  The  air 
of  Spain  proved  detrimental  to  his  health,  and  he  re- 
turned to  Rome,  and  was  there  engaged,  immediately 
upon  his  arrival,  by  Clement  XIY,  to  paint  in  the  Yati- 
cau  a  picture  of  Janus  dictating  to  Ilistorg,  and  one  of 
the  Holy  Family.  One  of  his  finest  productions  is  the 
Nativity,  painted  for  the  royal  collection  of  the  king  of 
Spain.  He  died  in  1779.  See  Giobals,  Eloge  historique 
de  Mengs  (1781) ;  Bianconi,  Elogio  storico  di  fi.  Mengs 
(1780)  ;  Spooner,  Biograj)hical  History  of  the  Fine  Arts 
(N.  Y.  1865, 2  vols.  8vo),  vol.  ii ;  Chev.  Don  -Joseph  Nich- 
olas d'Azara,  The  Works  of  Anthony  Raphael  Mengs 
(Lond.  1796, 2  vols.  12mo) ;  Kugler's  Hand-hook  of  Paint- 
ing (transl.  by  Waagen,  Lond.  1860,  2  vols.  12mo),  ii,  519, 
521. 

Meni  (Heb.  Meni',  13^,  from  Tili'O,  to  distribute; 
Sept.  ryxj;,Yulg.  ea,  i.  e.fortuna,  just  mentioned  [see 
Gai>]  ;  Auth.  Yers.  "  that  number,"  marg.  "]Meni"),  ap- 
parenth'  an  idol  which  the  captive  Israelites  worshipped 
by  libations  (lectisternia),  after  the  custom  of  the  Bab- 
ylonians (Isa.  Ixvi,  11),  and  probably  symbolical  of  des- 
tiny (a  sense  indicated  by  the  first  clause  of  the  next 
verse),  like  the  Arabic  manan.fate  (from  the  same  root), 
and  the  Greek  fiolpa.  Pococke  (^Specim.  hist.  A  rab. 
p.  92)  has  pointed  out  the  resemblance  to  Mandt,  an 
idol  of  the  ancient  Arabs  (Koran,  Sur.  liii,  19.  20),  "What 
think  ye  of  Allat,  and  Al-Uzzah,  and  Manah,  that  other 
third  goddess?"  Manah  was  the  object  of  worship  of 
"the  tribes  of  Hudheyl  and  Kuza'ah,  who  dwelt  be- 
tween Mekkeh  and  El-IMedineh,  and,  as  some  say,  of 
the  tribes  of  Ows,  El-Khazraj,  and  Thakik  also.  This 
idol  was  a  large  stone,  demolished  by  one  Saad  in  the 


eighth  year  of  the  flight,  a  year  so  fatal  to  the  idols  of 
Arabia"  (Lane's  Sel.from  the  Kur-dn,  pref.  p.  30,  31). 
But  Al-Zamakhshari,  the  commentator  on  the  Koran, 
derives  Manah  from  a  root  signifying  "to  flow,"  be- 
cause of  the  blood  which  flowed  at  the  sacrifices  to  this 
idol,  or,  as  Mill  explains  it,  because  the  ancient  idea  of 
the  moon  was  that  it  was  a  star  full  of  moisture,  with 
which  it  filled  the  sublunarj'  regions. 

"  That  the  word  is  a  proper  name,  and  also  the  proper 
name  of  an  object  of  idolatrous  worship  cultivated  by 
the  Jews  in  Babylon,  is  a  supposition  which  there  seems 
no  reason  to  question,  as  it  is  in  accordance  with  the 
context,  and  has  every  probability  to  recommend  it. 
But  the  identification  of  jNIeni  with  any  known  heathen 
god  is  stiU  uncertain.  The  versions  are  at  variance. 
In  the  Sept.  the  word  is  rendered  '  fortune'  or  '  luck.' 
The  old  Latin  version  of  the  clause  is  '  impletis  dcsmoni 
potionem;'  while  Symmachus  (as  quoted  by  Jerome) 
must  have  had  a  diiferent  reading,  1313,  ininni, '  without 
me,'  which  Jerome  interprets  as  signifying  that  the  act 
of  worship  implied  in  the  drink-offering  was  not  per- 
formed for  God,  but  for  the  daamon  ('  ut  doceat  non  sibi 
fieri  sed  doemoni').  The  Targum  of  Jonathan  is  very 
vague — '  and  mingle  cups  for  their  idols ;'  and  the  Syr- 
iac  translators  either  omit  the  word  altogether,  or  had  a 
different  reading,  perhaps  T^P,  Idmo,  'for  them.'  Some 
viiriatiou  of  the  same  kind  apparently  gave  rise  to  the 
super  earn  of  the  Yulgate,  referring  to  the  '  table'  men- 
tioned in  the  first  clause  of  the  verse.  From  the  old 
versions  we  com&  to  the  commentators,  and  their  judg- 
ments are  equally  conflicting.  Jerome  {Comm.  in  Fs, 
Ixv,  11)  illustrates  the  passage  by  reference  to  an  an- 
cient idolatrous  custom  which  prevailed  in  Egypt,  and 
especially  at  Alexandria,  on  the  last  day  of  the  last 
month  of  the  year,  of  placing  a  table  covered  with  dishes 
of  various  kinds,  and  a  cup  mixed  with  mead,  in  acr 
knowledgment  of  the  fertility  of  the  past  year,  or  as  an 
omen  of  that  which  was  to  come  (comp.Yirgil,^i'«,  ii, 
763).  But  he  gives  no  clue  to  the  identification  of 
Meni,  and  his  explanation  is  evidently  suggested  by  the 
renderings  of  the  Sept.  and  the  old  Latin  version ;  .the 
former,  as  he  quotes  them,  translating  Gad  by  'fortune,' 
and  Meni  by  '  dajmon,'  in  which  they  are  followed  by 
the  latter.  In  the  later  mythology  of  Egypt,  as  we 
learn  from  Macrobius  (^Saturn,  i,  19),  AalfUDV  and  Thxn 
were  two  of  the  four  deities  who  presided  over  birth, 
and  represented  respectively  the  Sun  and  Moon.  A 
passage  quoted  by  Selden  {De  Dis  Syris,  i,  c.  1)  from 
a  MS.  of  Yettius  Yalens  of  Antioch,  an  ancient  astrol- 
oger, goes  also  to  prove  that  in  the  astrological  lan- 
guage of  his  day  the  sun  and  moon  were  indicated  by 
Saifiwv  and  tvxi],  as  being  the  arbiters  of  human  des- 
tiny. This  circumstance,  coupled  with  the  similarity 
between  Meni  and  M//i'  or  M/jv?/,  the  ancient  name  for 
the  moon,  has  induced  the  majority  of  commentators  to 
conclude  that  Meni  is  the  INIoon  god  or  goddess,  the 
Deus  Lunus,  or  Dea  Lima  of  the  Romans ;  masculine  as 
regards  the  earth  which  she  illumines  {teri-ce  maritus), 
feminine  with  respect  to  the  sun  (soils  uxor),  from 
whom  she  receives  her  light.  This  twofold  character 
of  the  moon  is  thought  by  David  Mill  to  be  indicated 
in  the  two  names  Gad  and  Meni,  the  former  feminine, 
the  latter  masculine  (DL^s.  v,  §  23) ;  but '  as  both  iire 
masculine  in  Hebrew,  his  speculation  falls  to  the  groinnl. 
Le  Moyne,  on  the  other  hand,  regarded  both  words  as 
denoting  the  sun,  and  his  double  worship  among  the 
Egyptians :  Gad  is  then  the  goat  of  Mendes,  and  Meni 
=  Mnevis  worshipped  at  Heliopolis,.  The  opinion  of 
Huetius  that  the  Meni  of  Isaiah  and  the  M>']v  of  Strabo 
(xii,  c,  31)  both  denoted  the  sun,  was  refuted  by  Vi- 
tringa  and  others.  Among  those  who  have  interpreted 
the  word  literally  '  number'  may  be  reckoned  Jarchi  and 
Abarbanel,  who'understand  by  it  the  -number'  of  the 
priests  that  formed  the  company  of  revellers  at  the  feast, 
and  later  Hoheisel  (Obs.  ad.  diffic.  Jes.  loca,  p.  349)  fol- 
lowed in  the  same  track.     Kimchi,  in  his  note  on  Isa. 


MENIFEE 


92 


MENKEN 


Ixv,  11,  says  of  Meni,  'It  is  a  star,  and  some  interpret  it 
of  the  stars  which  are  numbered,  and  tliey  are  the  seven 
stars  of  motion,'  i.  e.  the  planets.  Huxtorf  (Lea-.  J/ebr.) 
applies  it  to  the  'number'  of  the  stars  which  were  wor- 
shipped as  gods ;  Schindler  (Lex.  I\-ntiiyl.)  to  the  '  num- 
ber and  multitude'  of  the  idols,  while  according  to  oth- 
ers it  refers  to  '  Mercury,  the  god  of  numbers;'  all  which 
are  mere  conjectures,  quot  kominvs,  tot  sententice,  and 
take  their  origin  from  the  ]>lay  upon  the  word  Meni, 
which  is  found  in  the  verse  next  following  that  in  which 
it  occurs  ('therefore  will  I  number  [^T\'''^'0''\,u-mdnithi'\ 
you  to  the  sword'),  and  which  is  supposed  to  point  to 
its  derivation  from  the  verb  1^3^,  indndh,  to  number. 
But  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Noah,  as  given  in  Gen.  v, 
29,  shows  that  such  plays  upon  words  are  not  to  be  de- 
pended upon  as  the  bases  of  etymology..  On  the  sup- 
position, however,  that  in  this  case  the  etymologj-  of 
Meni  is  really  indicated,  its  meaning  is  still  uncertain. 
Those  who  understand  by  it  the  moon,  derive  an  argu- 
ment for  their  theory  from  the  fact  that  anciently  years 
were  numbered  by  the  courses  of  the  moon"  (Smith). 

The  fact  of  Meni  being  a  Babylonian  goil  renders  it 
probable  that  some  planet  was  worshipped  under  this 
name:  but  there  is  much  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the 
particidar  planet  to  which  the  designation  of  destiny 
would  be  most  applicable  (see  Lakemacher,  Obseri:  phi- 
lol.  iv,  18  sq. ;  David  ^Mill's  diss,  on  the  subject  in  his 
Dissert,  selectee,  p.  81-13-2).  Miinter  considers  it  to  be 
Venus  (see  Gesenius,  Comment,  ad  loc),  as  the  lesser 
star  of  good  fortune  (the  Nunmn  of  the  Persians  [2  Mace, 
i,  13]  or  .1  wetis  [Strabo,  xv,  733]  of  the  Armenians  [xi, 
532;  xii,  559]);  Ewald  takes  it  to  be  Saturn,  the  chief 
dispenser  of  evil  influences;  and  Movers  {Phdnic.\,6h0) 
has  returned  to  the  old  opinion  that  Meni  is  the  moon, 
which  was  also  supposed  to  be  an  arbitress  of  fortune : 
the  best  arguments  for  which  last  view  are  collected  by 
Vitringa  (ad  loc).  It  also  deserves  notice  that  there 
are  some,  among  whom  is  Hitzig,  who  consider  Gad  and 
Meni  to  be  names  for  one  and  the  same  god,  and  who 
chietiy  differ  as  to  whether  the  sun  or  the  moon  is  the 
god  intended.  It  would  seem  on  the  whole  that,  in  the 
passage  under  consideration,  the  pro])het  reproaches  the 
idolatrous  Jews  with  setting  up  a  table  to  Fortune,  and 
with  making  libations  to  Fate;  and  Jerome  (ad  loc.) 
observes  that  it  was  the  custom  as  late  as  his  time,  in 
all  cities,  especially  in  Egypt,  to  set  tables  before  the 
gods,  and  furnish  them  with  various  luxurious  articles 
of  food,  and  with  goblets  containing  a  mixture  of  new 
wine,  on  the  last  day  of  the  month  and  of  the  year,  and 
that  the  people  drew  omens  from  them  in  respect  to  the 
fruitfulness  of  the  year ;  but  in  honor  of  what  god  these 
things  were  done  he  does  not  state.  Numerous  exam- 
ples of  this  practice  occur  on  the  monuments  cf  Egypt 
(■Wilkinson.  Anc.  E;;.  i,  2(55).     See  Gad. 

Menifee,  Qrixx  J[.,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church, South,  son  of  Hon.  William  Menifee, 
was  a  native  of  Texas.  He  first  studied  law,  and  took 
his  place  at  the  bar  with  a  good  pros|)cct  of  success  in 
that  (irofession.  At  the  call  of  duty,  however,  he  relin- 
quished the  practice  of  jurisprudence,  and  entered  the 
Metliodist  itinerancy  in  1857.  Duringthe  war  he  served, 
for  nearly  two  years,  as  a  private  soldier  in  the  army  of 
Virginia,  losing  a  leg  at  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg.  Af- 
ter the  restoration  of  peace  he  entered  upon  minis- 
terial work  in  Texas,  and  there  labored  faithfully  till 
his  death  in  18()7.  '"t^uinn  ]\fenifee  was  a  young  man 
of  noble  and  generous  impulses,  a  liigh-toned  gentle- 
man, and  a  pure-minded  Christian.  .  .  .  Notwithstand- 
ing the  loss  of  one  of  his  limbs,  his  friends  predicted  for 
him  a  useful  and  successful  career  in  the  ministry.  But 
liis  sun  of  life  went  down  ere  it  had  reached  its  merid- 
ian."—Thrall,  Hist.  oJ'Meth.  in  Texas,  p.  104. 

Menippus,  one  of  the  most  noted  Cynic  philoso- 
phers, was  born  at  Gadara,  in  Ca'le-Syria,  in  the  first 
century  B.C.  He  was  originally  a  slave,  but  afterwards 
became  one  of  the  pupils  of  Diogenes.    He  satirized  the 


philosophers  of  his  time  in  such  severe  terms  that  the 
most  bitter  satires  were  afterwards  denominated  Menip- 
pean.  Lucian  pronounces  him  "  the  greatest  snarler  and 
sna])per  among  the  old  dogs"  (the  Cynics),  and  in  his 
"  Dialogues  of  the  Dead"  makes  Diogenes  describe  him 
as  an  old  bald-headed  man,  in  a  tattered  cloak,  inces- 
santly ridiculing  the  pedantry  of  his  brother  philoso- 
phers. He  was  the  author  of  thirteen  treatises,  which 
contained,  we  are  told,  nothing  serious,  but  were  filled 
with  cutting  sarcasms.  These  works  are  all  lost,  but 
we  have  fragments  of  Yarro's  Sutune  ^fen^ppe(p,  writ- 
ten in  imitation  of  Menippus.  According  to  Diogenes 
(vi,  101),  these  works  were  entitled  as  follows  :  'SiKvia, 
AiaBI'jKai,  'ETTiaToXai,  etc.  He  amassed  great  wealth 
as  a  usurer,  but,  having  been  cheated  out  of  all  of  it, 
was  so  mortified  that  he  strangled  himself.  —  Smith, 
Diet,  oj"  Class.  Biog.  s.  v. 

Menius  (or  Menig),  Justus,  an  eminent  German 
theologian  of  the  Reformation  period,  noted  for  his  part 
in  the  spread  of  the  Protestant  doctrines,  was  born  at 
Fulda  Dec.  13, 1499.  He  studied  for  the  Church,  and 
intended  to  become  a  monastic  in  order  to  serve  the 
cause  of  Home  the  more  faithfully,  but,  while  living  as 
deacon  at  Meilbirg,  he  was  made  acquainted  with  the 
doctrines  of  Luther,  and  he  .became  so  interested  in  the 
reformatory  movement  that  he  decided  to  go  to  the 
verj'  stronghold  of  the  heretics  and  judge  for  himself. 
He  accordingly  set  out  for  Wittenberg  to  hear  Luther 
preach,  and  while  there  was  made  a  convert  to  the  new 
cause,  and  at  once  identified  himself  with  the  Protes- 
tants. In  1546  he  was  made  ecclesiastical  superintend- 
ent of  Gotha,  and  afterwards  he  became  pastor  of  St. 
Thomas's  Church  at  Leipsic,  which  situation  he  retained 
until  his  death,  Aug.  11,1588.  Menius  was  a  devoted 
friend  of  Luther,  whom  he  accompanied  to  the  (dllcxmy 
of  Marburg  (q.  v.),and  in  1532  he  signed  the  an  ides  of 
Smalcald  (q.  v.).  Together  with  George  Spalatin,  Cru- 
ciger,  Mj'conius,  and  John  Webern,  he  drew  up  the  first 
ecclesiastical  ritual  used  in  Saxonv.    Among  his  works, 


we  notice  Cummentaria  in  lib.  SdiiiiKlis  it 


loruni  (Wittenb.  1532,  8v( 


,1/1/1 


If,  IS 


■II  Lull,,,-;  (  1538, 


4to)  :  —  low  (Uist  d.  U'iedrr/diiji'cr  (W'ilteiil).  1544.  4lo)  : 
—  I '-// ./.  .\o/li,ribr  (Wittenb.  1547. 8vo)  ■.—JJlstorira  De- 
srripiin  ,/,  /„  //„  Cothico  (15(i8, 8vo).  See  IMotschmann, 
F.i-fiirdid  IMirata;  K\hxfiK\\i,  Sdchsisvhe  Kirelumjesch. 
i,  30G ;  Tcntzel,  Suppl.  Reliqua  Jlist.  Gothame,  p.  787 ; 
Schmidt,  Justus  Menius,  der  Refvrmator  Thiiringens 
(1867,  2  vols.  8vo);  Jahrb.  deutsch.  Theol.  1870,  No.  iv; 
llerzog,  lieal-Knn/Mojmdie,  ix,  325  sq. 

Menken,  Gottfried,  D.D.,  an  eminent  (icrman 
Protestant  ilivine,  was  born  at  Bremen  ^L^y  29.  1768. 
His  early  education  was  somewhat  imperfect,  from  want 
of  means,  but  in  1788  he  entered  the  L'niversity  of  Jena, 
bringing  with  him  only  his  Bible,  a  lexicon,  and  the 
works  of  Jacob  Bilhme.  The  rationalistic  tendency 
which  prevailed  in  the  German  universities  at  that  time 
was  thoroughly  repugnant  to  liis  nature,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  give  liimself  to  a  close  and  (juiet  study  of  his 
Bible,  and  of  those  languages  which  could  assist  him  in 
that  object,  leaving  entirely  aside  the  divers  purely  the- 
ological systems.  He  wrote  at  the  time  a  number  of 
essays  and  expositions,  which,  however,  not  being  satis- 
fied with  them,  he  afterwards  destroyed  at  Wetzlar,  with 
the  exception  of  some  valuable  pieces  forming  one  vol- 
ume of  about  150  pages.  In  1790  he  went  to  the  L'ni- 
versity of  Duisburg,  where  he  found  the  .same  general 
tendency  prevailing  as  at  Jena.  He  met.  however,  with 
.some  kindred  spirits,  such  as  Aehelis  (t  judge  at  Duis- 
burg in  1857)  and  Schlechtendal,  earnest  evangelical 
men,  with  whom  he  formed  a  friendship  which  lasted 
all  his  life.  About  1791  he  became  an  inmate  in  the 
family  of  the  rector,  Fr.  A.  Hasenkamp,  whose  exam]>le 
and  precepts  appear  to  have  exerted  a  lasting  inliueiice 
over  him.  In  1794  he  became  assistant  ])rea(hcr  at 
Frankfort-on-the-Main;  in  1796,  pastor  of  the  Protes- 
tant Church  at  Wetzlar ;  removed  in  the  same  capacity 


MENNANDER 


93 


MENNO 


to  Bremen  in  1802,  and  died  there  June  1,  1831.  He 
was  a  great  admirer  of  Bengel,  and  opposed  not  only 
Wolf  and  Baumgarten's  views,  but  also  those  of  such 
men  as  Lavater,  Pfenninger,  Hitfeli,  Stolz,  Ewald,  and 
Yung  Stilling,  whom  he  accused  of  conceding  too  much 
to  the  philosophical  notions  of  the  times.  Among  his 
numerous  works  we  notice  Beitrag  z.  Ddmonolor/ie,  oder 
Wideiiegung  d.  exegetischen  A  ufsatze  d.  H.  Prof.  Grimm 
(Frankf.  and  Leips.  1793)  -.—  U'eber  Gliick  u.  Sieg  d.  Gott- 
losen  (Frankf.  and  Leips.  1795)  —  both  of  which  were 
published  anonymously : — ChristUche  Homilien  (Nurenb. 
1798)  : — Xeue  Sammlung  (1802)  : — Homilien  ii.  d.  Pro- 
jiheten  Elias  (1801)  ■.—Predigteii  (1825).  After  his  death 
there  appeared  Letzte  Sammlung  ch-istlicher  Predigten 
(Cologne,  18'17): — Anleitung  z.  eigenen  Unterricht  in  d. 
Wahrheiten  d.  Ueiligen  Sckrift  (Frankf.  1805;  2d  edit. 
182b)  ■.—Leiffaden  z.  Unterricht  f.  Conjirmiuidrn  (1817; 
3d  edit.  182g")-  See  Osiander  (J. E.), in  the  Tiih;,i,i,  r  Z> it- 
schrift,  18;32,  vol.  ii ;  also,  separately,  M(  iiL;  n  al.^  Sflirift- 
steller  (Bremen,  1832)  ;  Herzog,  Real-Encyklopddie,  ix, 
328  sq.     (J.N. P.) 

Mennander,  Carl  Fredrik,  a  learned  Swedish 
prelate,  was  born  July  19,  1712,  at  Stockholm.  After 
having  been  bishop  of  Abo,  in  Finland,  he  was  called  to 
teach  physics  at  the  University  of  Upsala.  Towards 
the  close  of  his  life  he  was  made  archbishop  of  that 
citv.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
Upsala,  in  which  city  he  died  May  22, 1786.  He  wrote 
JJe  Usu  Logices  in  historia  (Abo,  1748)  :  —  De  Ophio- 
lafria  Gentiliiim  (ibid.  1752, 4to)  :—De  Sgnodis  Aboensi- 
bus  (ibid.  1773,  4to) ;  and  many  papers  on  archseology 
inserted  in  the  collection  of  the  society  of  Upsala. — 
Hoefer,  N'ouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Meniias,  a  patriarch  of  the  Eastern  Church,  flour- 
ished in  the  first  half  of  the  Gth  century.  He  was  for 
a  time  superintendent  of  the  great  hospital  "Holy  Sam- 
son," at  Constantinople.  In  536  he  became  patriarch 
of  that  city  by  the  choice  of  the  emperor  Justinian  and 
the  clergy,  to  supersede  the  Monophysite  Antimus  I, 
who  had  left  his  episcopal  seat  at  Trapezunt,  and  had 
usurped  the  patriarchal  dignity.  Mennas  was  the  first 
among  Oriental  patriarchs  who  was  consecrated  as 
bishop  by  a  Roman  pope  (March  13,  563)  (see  Labbe, 
Condi,  col.  47  sq. :  also  Baronius,  A  nnal.  ad  ann.  536,  n. 
27 ;  Pagi,  Critica,  ad  ann.  536,  n.  6).  Mennas  attended 
quietly  to  his  duties  at  the  Church  of  Constantinople 
till  the  war  of  the  "  Three  Chapters"  broke  out  and  in- 
volved him  [see  Chapters,  Three],  and  finally  brought 
about  his  deposition  from  Rome,  because  of  his  adhe- 
sion to  the  side  of  the  emperor  against  the  Roman 
pontiff.  In  this  trying  hour  Mennas  displayed  a  most 
amiable  disposition,  and  acted  the  part  of  a  truly  hon- 
orable man.  He  bowed  submissively  to  the  severe 
decision  of  the  pope,  and  even  used  his  influence  to 
persuade  the  other  bishops  of  the  Eastern  Church,  who 
had  suffered  like  him  the  displeasure  of  the  papal  vice- 
gerent, to  bear  patiently  with  the  holy  father  and  to 
approve  his  decisions,  and  to  revoke  their  previous  ap- 
proval of  the  imperial  decrees  (Hardouin,  iii,  10 ;  Labbe, 
v,  338).  Mennas  soon  after  died,  August,  552.  He 
Lad  presided  over  the  Church  of  Constantinople  for 
sixteen  years  and  six  months.  He  is  commemorated 
in  the  Latin  Martyrologium  Aug.  25,  and  in  the  (ireek 
Menologium  Aug.  24.  A  pretty  full  account  of  the  life 
of  Mennas  is  furnished  both  in  the  Latin  and  Greek 
Martyrologies  under  the  dates  of  commemoration.  See 
also  Wetzer  und  Welte,  Kirchen-Lexikon,  vii,  57, 

Menno,  Simox,  one  of  the  "shining  lights"  of  the 
16th  century,  a  Reformer  whose  apostolic  spirit  and 
labors  have  thus  far  failed  to  receive  the  recognition 
they  deserve,  probably  because  of  the  relation  he  sus- 
tained to  that  peculiar  sect  of  Christians  called  after 
him,  Mennonites  (q.  v.). 

Life. — The  early  history  of  Menno  is  somewhat  ob- 
scured; it  has  not  yet  been  definitely  determined  when 
he  was  born.     The  year  generally  fixed  upon  is  1498 ; 


his  friends  of  the  Netherlands  believe  it  to  have  oc- 
curred in  1496,  but  Gobel,  the  noted  German  Church 
historian,  holds  that  Menno  saw  the  light  nf  day  in 
1505  {Gesch.  d.  christl,  Lebens  in  d.  Rhein.  \Vi:.<tjili. ,  nm- 
gel.  Kirche,  i,  191).  His  native  place  was  the  little  vil- 
lage of  Witmarsura,  in  Friesland.  He  was  reared  and 
educated  under  the  influence  of  the  Church,  and  finally 
decided  to  devote  his  life  to  her  service.  In  1524  he 
took  orders  as  priest,  and  was  located  at  the  village  of 
Pingium.  His  religious  condition  at  this  time  was 
anything  but  desirable.  "He  was,"  we  are  told,  "in 
utter  darkness  of  mind  and  worldliness  of  spirit,  yet  not 
without  some  tenderness  of  conscience  and  apparent 
piety."  In  1530  he  was  induced  to  examine  the  New 
Testament  with  diligence,  in  consequence  of  doubts  con- 
cerning transubstantiation.  He  now  became  through 
grace  gradually  enlightened,  his  preaching  changed, 
and  he  was  called  by  some  an  evangelical  preacher, 
though  he  says  of  himself,  "  At  that  time  the  world 
loved  me,  and  I  the  world."  His  preaching  found  favor 
among  the  people,  and  he  gained  daily  in  popularity. 
In  1531  finallj'  came  the  turning-point  which  resulted 
in  his  departure  from  the  mother  Church.  In  this  j'ear 
he  witnessed  the  martyrdom  of  Sieke  Snyder,  at  Leeu- 
warden,  for  Anabaptism.  This  severity  towards  one  who 
had  dared  to  differ  for  conscience  sake  rather  enlisted 
his  sympathy,  roused  him  to  a  similar  inquiry  concern- 
ing the  sacrament  of  Baptism,  and  resulted  in  his  em- 
bracing the  views  of  the  persecuted  Baptists,  though  he 
for  several  years  struggled  to  suppress  his  secret  con- 
victions, on  account  of  the  odium  and  suffering  which  the 
avowal  must  incur.  "  By  the  gracious  favor  of  God," 
he  observes,  "  I  have  acquired  my  knowledge,  as  well 
of  baptism  as  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  through  the  enlight- 
ening of  the  Holy  Spirit,  attendant  on  my  much  read- 
ing and  contemplating  the  Scriptures,  and  not  through 
the  efforts  and  means  of  seducing  sects,  as  I  am  ac- 
cused." 

Mosheim  has  taken  advantage  of  this  hesitating 
course  on  the  part  of  ]\lenno  after  his  conversion  to  the 
cause  of  the  Anabaptists,  and  has  accused  our  subject 
of  duplicity,  as  guilty  of  having  held  "  clandestine  in- 
tercourse with  the  Anabaptists"  until  he  found  it  con- 
venient "  to  throw  off  the  mask."  This,  however,  is 
unjust  and  cruel.  IMeimo  was  never  truly  an  Ana- 
baptist. He  never  sympathized  with  the  excesses  com- 
mitted at  Miinster  and  elsewhere  (for  he  actually  pub- 
lished a  severe  censure  against  the  erroneous  opinions 
and  vile  practices  of  John  of  Leyden  in  1535 ),  and  his 
views  of  baptism  were  so  peculiar  that  to  this  day  the 
Mennonites  stand  alone  in  their  mode  of  oliserviiig  this 
sacrament.  The  only  tliiiiL,'-  he  held  in  common  with 
the  Anabaptists  was  opposii  urn  to  infant  baptism.  Men- 
no,  however,  associated  (jnite  freely  with  the  Anabap- 
tists, and  exerted  a  most  salutary  influence  over  them, 
making  many  friends  among  that  sect.  In  1537  he 
was  actually  invited  by  a  number  of  Anabaptists  of 
Groningen  to  assume  among  them  the  rank  and  func- 
tions of  a  public  teacher ;  and  as  he  looked  upon  the 
persons  who  made  this  proposal  as  exempt  from  the 
fanatical  frenzy  of  their  brethren  at  Minister,  he  yield- 
ed to  their  entreaties.  His  conversion  from  Romanism 
he  himself  alludes  to  in  the  following  strain :  "  I  be- 
sought my  God  with  sighing  and  tears  that  to  mei'^ 
troubled  sinner,  he  would  grant  the  gift  of  his  grace; 
that  he  would  endue  me  with  wisdom,  spirit,  frankness, 
and  manly  fortitude,  so  that  I  might  preach  his  worthy 
name  and  holy  word  unadulterated,  and  proclaim  his 
truth  to  his  praise.  At  length  the  great  and  gracious 
Lord,  perhaps  after  the  course  of  nine  months,  extended 
to  me  his  fatherly  spirit,  help,  and  mighty  hand,  so  that 
I  freely  abandoned  at  once  my  character,  honor,  and 
fame,  which  I  had  among  men,  as  also  my  antichris- 
tian  abominations,  mass,  infant  baptism,  loose  and  care- 
less life,  and  all,  and  put  myself  willingly  in  all  trouble 
and  poverty  under  the  pressing  cross  of  Christ  my  Lord. 
In  my  weakness  I  feared  God ;  I  sought  pious  people, 


MENNO 


94 


MENNO 


and  of  these  I  found  some,  though  few,  in  good  zeal  and 
doctrine.  I  disputed  with  the  perverted,  and  some  I 
gained  through  God's  help  and  power,  and  led  them  by 
his  word  to  the  Lord  Christ ;  but  the  stiff-necked  and 
obdurate  I  commended  to  the  Lord.  Thus  has  the  gra- 
cious Lord  drawn  me,  through  the  free  favor  of  his 
great  grace.  He  first  stirred  in  my  heart:  he  has  given 
me  a  new  mind  ;  he  has  Inmibled  me  in  his  fear;  he  has 
led  me  from  the  way  of  death,  and,  through  mere  merc\', 
has  called  me  upon  the  narrow  path  of  life  into  the  com- 
pany of  the  saints.  To  him  be  ])raise  forever.  Amen." 
According  to  Yan  Oosterzee  (in  Merzog's  Real-Encyklo- 
pddie,  ix,  339  sq.),  Menno  was  led  to  separation  from 
Rome  by  the  cruel  treatment  of  the  Anabaptists  in  1535. 
Manj'  of  the  sufferers  at  this  time  had  been  hearers  of 
the  word  of  God  as  dispensed  by  IMenno,  and  had  been 
made  disciples  of  the  new  sect  by  his  declarations  against 
infant  baptism  and  the  opinion  of  a  "  real  presence"  in 
the  Eucliarist.  Indeed,  his  own  brother  had  suffered  a 
martyr's  death  on  this  occasion,  and  tliis  may  have  con- 
tributed in  no  small  measure  to  the  decided  step  which 
Menno  took  shortly  after. 

W'lih  Jlenno's  appointment  to  the  ministrj'  of  a  class 
of  '■  Anabaptists"  at  Groningen  opens  the  most  event- 
ful period  of  his  life's  work.  His  withdrawal  from  the 
Cluirch  of  Rome  relieved  liim  of  tlie  vow  of  celibacy, 
and  he  made  haste  to  select  a  companion  for  life,  by 
whom  he  had  several  children.  All  these  things  would 
make  it  appear  that  IVIenno  settled  quietly  at  Gronin- 
gen, and  there  enjoyed  life's  ease.  But  this  is  not  the 
record  of  Simon  Menno.  Anxious  to  spread  the  Re- 
formed doctrines,  and  more  especially  his  own  peculiar 
views  of  the  Bible's  teachings,  he  travelled  constantly 
far  and  near.  He  visited  not  only  aU  Friesland,  but 
traversed  Holland  and  Germany,  determined  to  make 
new  converts,  and  to  organize  and  unite  the  scattered 
members  of  the  Anabai)tists  into  his  own  fold.  Al- 
thougli  oftentimes  exposed  to  persecution,  he  neverthe- 
less continued  steadfast  in  the  work.  AVhen  he  found 
it  impossible  to  remain  any  longer  in  Friesland  he  re- 
moved to  Wismar;  finally  he  settled  at  Oldcslolie,  in 
Holstein,  where  he  was  granted  not  only  protection.  1  ut 
even  encouragement,  and  was  allowed  to  establish  a 
printing-press  for  the  diffusion  of  liis  religious  opinions. 
There  he  died,  January  13,  15(5],  in  the  satisfaction  of 
liaving  gatlicred  a  large  and  flourishing  sect,  which  con- 
tinues to  this  day.     See  IMennonites. 

Mcimo  (IS  u  Protestant. — IMoslicim  {Eccles.  Hist.  16th 
century)  thus  speaks  of  Menno's  labors  after  his  es- 
tablishment at  Groningen  as  a  Protestant  minister: 
"  East  and  West  Friesland,  with  the  province  of  (Jron- 
ingen,  were  first  visited  by  this  zealous  apostle  of  the 
Anabaptists;  whence  he  directed  his  course  into  Hol- 
land, (Juelderland,  Brabant,  and  Westphalia;  continued 
it  through  the  German  provinces  that  lie  on  the  coast 
of  the  Baltic  Sea,  and  penetrated  so  far  as  Livonia.  In 
all  these  places  his  ministerial  labors  were  attended  with 
remarkable  success,  and  added  to  his  sect  a  prodigious 
number  of  followers.  Hence  he  is  deservedly  considered 
as  the  common  chief  of  almost  all  the  Anabaptists,  and 
the  |)arent  of  the  sect  that  still  subsists  under  that  de- 
nomination." As  Jlosheim  persists  in  mentioning  Men- 
no  in  connection  with  the  Anaba[)tists,  and  as  the  pub- 
lic is  prejudiced  against  all  who  were  known  under  that 
name,  we  think  it  but  just  to  insert  here  Menno's  own 
account  of  Ids  labors:  "Through  our  feeble  service, 
teaching,  and  simple  writing,  with'  the  careful  deport- 
ment, labor,  and  help  of  our  faithful  brethren,  tlic  great 
and  mighty  (Jod  has  made  so  known  and  public,  in 
many  cities  and  lands,  the  word  of  true  repentance,  the 
word  of  his  grace  and  power,  together  witli  the  whole- 
some use  of  his  holy  sacraments,  and  has  given  such 
growtk  to  his  churches,  and  endued  them  with  such  in- 
vincible strength,  that  not  only  many  proud,  stout 
hearts  have  become  huniiile,  the  imi)ure  chaste,  the 
drunken  temperate,  the  covetous  liberal,  the  cruel  kind, 
the  godless  godly,  but  also,  for  the  testimony  which 


they  bear,  they  faithfully  give  up  their  property  to  con- 
fiscation, and  their  bodies  to  torture  and  to  death;  as 
has  occurred  again  and  again  to  the  present  hour. 
These  can  be  no  fruits  nor  marks  of  false  doctrine  (with 
that  God  does  not  co-operate)  ;  nor  under  such  oppres- 
sion and  misery  could  anything  have  stood  so  long 
were  it  not  the  power  and  word  of  the  Almighty.  See, 
this  is  our  calling,  doctrine,  and  fruit  of  bur  service,  for 
which  we  are  so  horribly  calumniated,  and  persecuted 
with  so  much  enmity.  Whether  all  the  prophets,  apos- 
tles, and  true  servants  of  God  did  not  through  their 
service  also  produce  the  like  fruits,  we  would  gladly  let 
all  the  pious  judge.  He  who  bought  me  with  the  blood 
of  his  love,  and  called  me  to  his  service,  unworthy  as  I 
am,  searches  me,  and  knows  that  I  seek  neither  gold  and 
goods,  nor  luxury,  nor  ease  on  earth,  but  oidy  my  Lord's 
glory,  my  salvation,  and  the  souls  of  many  immortals. 
Wherefore  I  have  had,  now  the  eighteenth  year,  to  en- 
dure so  excessive  anxiety,  oppression,  trouble,  sorrow, 
and  persecution,  with  my  poor,  feeble  wife  and  little  off- 
spring, that  I  have  stood  in  jeopardy  of  my  life  and  in 
many  a  fear.  Yes,  while  the  priests  lie  on  soft  beds  and 
cushions,  we  must  hide  ourselves  commonlj-  in  secret 
corners.  While  they  at  all  nuptials  and  christenings, 
and  other  times,  make  themselves  merry  in  public  with 
fifes,  drums,  and  various  kinds  of  music,  we  must  look 
out  for  every  dog,  lest  he  be  one  employed  to  catch  us. 
Instead  of  being  greeted  bj'  all  as  doctors  and  masters, 
we  must  be  called  Anabaptists,  clandestine  holders-forth, 
deceivers,  and  heretics.  In  short,  while  for  their  serv- 
ices they  are  rewarded  in  princely  style,  with  great 
emoluments  and  good  days,  our  reward  and  portion 
must  be  fire,  sword,  and  death.  What  now  I,  and  my 
true  coadjutors  in  this  very  difl^cult,  hazardous  service, 
have  sought,  or  could  have  sought,  all  the  well-disposed 
may  ea^ily  estimate  from  the  work  itself  and  its  fruit. 
I  will  then  humbly  entreat  the  faithful  and  candid  read- 
er once  more,  for  Jesus's  sake,  to  receive  in  love  this  my 
j  forced  acknowledgment  of  my  enlightening,  and  make 
of  it  a  suitable  application.  I  have  presented  it  out  of 
I  great  necessity,  that  the  pious  reader  may  know  how  it 
has  happened,  since  I  am  on  all  sides  calumniated  and 
falsely  accused,  as  if  I  were  ordained  and  called  to  this 
service  by  a  seditious  and  misleading  sect.  Let  him 
that  fears  God  read  and  judge." 

In  the  article  Anabai'TISts  we  have  already  alluded 
to  the  general  mistake  of  Supposing  that  all  Anabaptists 
were  engaged  in  the  Minister  excesses,  and  that  usually 
persons  fail  to  make  a  distinction  between  the  sober 
Christians  and  the  worst  fanatics  of  the  party.  In  our 
sketch  of  the  life  and  labors  of  David  Joris  {<\.  v.),  we 
had  occasion  to  point  out  the  earnestness  which  charac- 
terized liis  followers  of  the  "Anabaptists;"  but  it  is  in 
this  place  that  we  would  enlist  our  reader's  attention  to 
the  injustice  of  suffering  a  whole  sect  to  be  despised 
and  forsaken  because  of  the  faults  of  a  few  who  may 
have  secured  membership  in  order  to  make  their  rcUg- 
ious  garb  a  stepping-stone  to  abused  power.  The  two 
large  Protestant  bodies  of  Lutheran  and  Reformed  liave 
always  been  characterized  by  jealousy  towards  any  new 
sects,  and  have  quickly  charged  their  weaker  rivals  with 
all  the  infirmities  which  flesli  is  heir  to,  if  any  one  mem- 
ber of  the  new  comers  was  open  to  criticism.  Even  in 
our  very  day  the  Methodists  and  Baptists  suffer  more 
or  less  persecution  from  the  communicants  of  the  State 
churches  in  (iermany;  how  much  more  likely  in  tliosc 
days  of  the  IGth  century,  wlien  first  the  iron  hold  of  the 
papacy,  which  had  cramped  the  Church  for  ages,  was 
suddenly  relaxing.  From  all  the  sources  now  at  our 
command,  we  gather  the  fact  that  Menno  w.is  a  gentle, 
earnest,  modest  man.  of  a  spiritual  nature,  with  no  trace 
about  him  of  wild  fanaticism;  ready  to  encourage  all 
that  was  nol)le.  pure,  and  g()o<l  in  his  fellow-men,  con- 
stantly reproving  those  of  his  followers  who  apjjcared 
guilty  of  misdenieanors  of  any  sort.  Flourishing  in  the 
lieformatiou  period,  he  was  frecpicntly  involved  in  con- 
troversies ;  thus  in  15-13  he  was  visited  by  the  celebrated 


MENNO 


95 


MENNONITES 


John  a  Lasko,  who  was  determined  to  draw  Menno  into 
the  party  of  the  Keformed  or  Lutherans.  For  three  or 
four  days  the  two  eminent  divines  held  public  disputa- 
tions upon  Christ's  humanit_y,  infant  baptism,  etc.,  etc., 
but  so  gentle  was  Menno  in  his  manner  that  at  the  close 
of  the  controversy  the  two  combatants  parted  in  peace, 
promising  good-will  towards  each  other.  In  1550  he 
published  a  special  tract  to  defend  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  against  the  Unitarians,  who  were  coming  to  his 
country  from  Italy  and  Switzerland;  in  1552,  .1  thorough 
Confession  on  Disputed  Points,  for  the  use  of  other  relig- 
ious bodies  than  his  own. 

Result  ofMenno's  Labors. — The  whole  system  of  the- 
ology as  taught  by  Simon  Menno  presents  few,  if  any, 
new  developments.  In  his  controversies  with  John  a 
Lasko  and  Micronius,  he  confessed  a  peculiar  Christolo- 
gy.  He  did  not  believe  in  a  Son  sundered  and  divided 
into  two  persons  ("zers<McA,Wi  oder  zertheill"}  of  a  human 
and  divine  nature.  He  confessed  one  and  the  same  Son 
and  Only-begotten,  who  in  his  very  flesh  is  the  God- 
Logos,  who  in  his  flesh  came  down  from  heaven,  and  in 
very  flesh  became  man.  He  believed  that  Christ,  in  this 
Avay,  was  born  in  Mary,  but  not  of^lnry;  that  he  be- 
came flesh,  and  was  made  man,  without  taking  upon 
him  Mary's  flesh  and  blood.  Anxious  to  ascribe  to  our 
Lord  the  highest  purity  possible,  he  seems  to  have  in- 
dulged in  speculations  which  rendered  the  reality  of 
Christ's  human  nature  somewhat  doubtful.  He  probably 
borrowed  this  vague  notion  from  the  Munster  Anabap- 
tists. As  a  writer  of  systematic  theology,  Simon  Menno 
was  inferior  to  most  of  his  contemporaries,  and  his  main 
work.  Das  Fundamenthuch  (1539),  shows  his  want  of 
adapteduess  to  a  systematic  treatment  of  religious  doc- 
trines. Following  the  example  of  the  apostles,  he  taught 
his  followers,  as  the  occasion  required,  in  a  simple,  child- 
like way,  and  never  allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  into 
abstruse,  or  even  abstract  questions,  when  preaching  to 
them.  A  complete  and  systematic  statement  of  his  doc- 
trines was  never  given  by  Simon  Jlenno,  and  the  great 
influence  which  he  and  his  followers  exercised  on  the 
internal  and  external  history  of  the  Reformation  was 
due  to  the  principle  they  represented. 

Like  the  other  Protestant  Reformers,  Menno  accept- 
ed the  formed  and  material  principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  but,  besides  these,  he  aimed  at  a  moral,  practical 
end.  It  was  his  earnest  desire  to  restore  the  king- 
dom of  God,  or  the  Christian  Church,  to  that  purity 
which  is  taught  in  the  New  Testament,  and  which  he 
believed  had  existed  in  the  Apostolic  Church.  To  bring 
back  this  golden  age  of  Christianity,  and  to  organize  a 
congregation  ju)/  txovaav  aTfi\ov,i]  pvTica,i)  n  t^v  toi- 
ovTojv  (Ephes.v,  27),  was  the  constant  aim  of  all  his  ef- 
forts. This  accounts  fur  the  singular  asceticism  of  the 
sect,  and  explains  why  the  Mennonites  did  not,  like  other 
evangelical-^bodies,  concern  themselves  about  abstract 
religious  speculations,  but  about  moral  laws  and  duties. 
For  the  same  reasons  they  also  separated  themselves 
from  the  unbelieving  world,  and  tried  to  purif)-  the 
Church  by  administering  the  ordinance  of  baptism  only 
to  those  who  had  made  a  personal  profession  of  faith 
in  Christ.  The  validity  of  infant  baptism  was  rejected, 
while  only  adults  "  who  do  actually  profess  repentance 
towards  God  and  obedience  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ" 
were  considered  proper  subjects  of  this  ordinance.  We 
quote  here  article  seven  of  a  Mennonite  Confession  of 
Faith:  "We  confess  of  baptism  that  all  repenting  be- 
lievers, who  by  faith,  regeneration,  and  renewal  of  heart 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  have  been  united  with  God,  and 
whose  names  are  written  down  in  heaven,  are  to  be  bap- 
tized in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  to  show  forth  in  a  solemn  and  beautiful 
emblem  their  faith  in  the  crucilied,  buried,  and  risen 
Redeemer,  with  its  effect  to  live  up  to  whatsoever  things 
Christ  taught  his  followers."  The  necessity  of  the  power 
of  excommunication  in  the  Church  was  earnestly  as- 
serted by  Menno,  '-for  without  the  right  usage  of  ex- 
communication the  spiritual  kingdom  of  God  on  earth 


cannot  exist  intact  in  purity  and  piety.  A  Church 
without  the  proper  apostolical  ban  or  excommunication 
is  like  a  city  without  walls  or  gates,  like  a  field  or  gar- 
den without  a  fence,  or  like  a  house  without  walls  or 
doors.  For  without  it  the  Church  would  stand  open  to 
all  seducers  and  evil-doers,  to  idolators  and  wilfully  per- 
sistent smners."  He  insisted  upon  excommunication  to 
such  an  extent  that  members  of  his  congregation  at 
Wismar  who  had  listened  to  the  sermons  of  Lutheran 
clergymen  were  excommunicated  as  if  they  had  com- 
mitted public  crimes,  or  indulged  in  gross  passions. 

The  works  of  Simon  ^Menno,  of  which  the  last  were 
printed  in  his  own  printing  establishment,  were  pub- 
lished collectively  in  1600,  under  the  title  Sommaria 
of  Byllnvergaderinrj  van  sommige  schriftelyke  Beh  ntm- 
issen  des  geloo/s,  mitsgaders  eenige  ivaarachtige  y<  nuit 
ivoo7-dinge7i,  gedaan  door  Menno  Simons.  It  was,  how- 
ever, a  very  imperfect  compilation;  much  better  was 
that  of  1646,  4to  ;  but  the  best  appeared  in  1681,  in 
sm.  fol.,  at  Amsterdam,  entitled  Opera  omnia  fheolo- 
gica,  of  al  de  Godgeleei-de  werJcen  van  Menno  Simonis, 
etc. 

Besides  the  histories  on  his  followers,  quoted  in  the 
article  Mennonites,  see  Biographie  des  Protest,  eelebres 
(Paris),  ii,  59-70 ;  Cramer,  Ilet  leven  an  de  verrigtingen 
von  Menno  Simons  (Amst.  1837),  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant work  to  be  consulted ;  Harder,  Lehen  Menno  Si- 
mons (Konigsb.  1846)  ;  Roosen,  Menno  Simons  den  evan- 
gelischen  Mennonitengemeindengeschildert  (Leipsic,  1848). 
(J.H.W.) 

Mennonites  is  the  name  of  a  Christian  sect  which 
sprung  up  in  Holland  and  Germanj'  about  the  time  of 
the  Reformation,  though  it  cannot  be  said  to  have  actu- 
ally originated  in  the  great  revolution  of  the  16th  cen- 
tury. The  Baptists  claim  the  Mennonites  as  their  fore- 
runners, and  regard  them  to  be  the  direct  descendants 
of  the  Waldenses  (q.  v.) ;  but  this  origin  of  the  Mennon- 
ites is  disputed  by  most  Pa2<lobaptist  writers,  who  recog- 
nise them  simply  as  the  followers  of  one  Simon  Menno 
(q.v.),  who  gathered  the  more  moderate  of  the  Anabap- 
tists (q.  v.),  gave  them  a  new  code  of  discipline,  and  be- 
came to  them  the  interpreter  of  the  law  and  the  (iospel. 
Because  of  the  excesses  committed  by  the  more  fanatic 
and  unruly  of  the  German  Anabaptists  in  the  reforma- 
tory period,  the  Baptists  and  Mennonites  take  exception 
to  this  classification.  M.  Herman  Schyn,  a  Mennonite 
minister,  who  has  published  their  history  and  apology, 
seeks  to  maintain  that  they  are  not  Anabaptists,  either 
by  principle  or  by  origin.  Besides  the  necessity  of  adult 
baptism,  the  Mennonites  in  the  16th  century  held,  in  com- 
mon with  the  Anabaptists,  the  belief  in  Christ's  personal 
reign  during  the  millennium — the  unlawfulness  of  oaths 
and  wars,  even  in  resistance  to  injur\' — the  impropriety 
of  engaging  in  lawsuits — and  the  exclusion  of  the  civil 
magistrate  from  the  Church.  But  with  the  wild  notions, 
which  were  indulged  in  by  many,  of  setting  up  Christ's 
kingdom  on  earth  by  violence  and  bloodshed,  they  had 
no  sympathy.  Every  immoral  practice,  also,  they  as  a 
sect  discountenanced;  and  they  deserve  to  be  held  up 
as  a  Christian  body  characterized  by  consistency  and 
moderation.  In  the  days  of  their  founder  they  were 
certainly  among  the  most  pious  Christians  the  Church 
ever  saw,  and  the  worthiest  citizens  the  State  ever  had. 
"  It  must  be  at  once  conceded,"  saj's  Hardwick  {Church 
Hist,  during  the  Ref.  p.  280),  "  that  the  principles  of  thfe 
sect  are  free  from  nearly  all  the  dark  fanaticism  which 
stains  the  records  of  the  older  party." 

Mennonites,  the  Anabaptists  of  the  Netherlands  first 
called  themselves  in  1536,  the  year  in  which  the  hith- 
erto scattered  community  celebrated  its  union.  iMenno, 
seeing  clearly  that  "in  union  lies  strength,"  had  ob- 
tained a  regular  state  of  Church  order,  separate  from  all 
Dutch  and  German  Protestants,  and  thus  secured  an 
ecclesiastical  establishment.  He  laid  do^vn  rules  for 
the  guidance  of  the  congregations,  and  furnished  them 
with  a  sort  of  "  confession  of  faith."  His  iloctrines  were 
free  from  the  anti-social  and  licentious  tenets  and  the 


MENNONITES 


96 


MEXXOXITES 


pretensions  to  inspiration  which  are  ascribed  to  the  An- 
abaptists; but  he  agreed  with  them  in  condemning  the 
baptism  of  infants  (Matt,  xxviii,  19),  in  expecting  a  per- 
sonal reign  of  Christ  on  eartli  for  a  thousand  years  at  tlic 
millennium,  in  excluding  magistrates  from  the  Christian 
Church  (Schyn,  i,  214),  and  in  maintaining  that  all  war 
was  unlawful  (Matt,  xxvi,  52),  that  the  taking  of  oaths 
was  prohibited  by  Christ  (Matt,  v,  37),  and  that  hu- 
man science  is  useless  and  pernicious  to  a  Christian. 
But  these  tenets  were  so  explained  and  moditied  by 
Menno  as  (o  differ  very  little  from  the  doctrines  gener- 
ally held  by  the  lieformed  churches,  securing  a  high 
degree  of  credit  to  tlie  religious  system  of  this  famous 
teacher,  and  thus  contributing  to  the  rapid  progress  of 
his  followers  both  in  numbers  and  in  influence.  He  in- 
sisted upon  the  strictest  attention  to  moral  duties,  and 
exercised  a  most  severe  disci|)line  upon  offenders,  and  in 
a  very  short  time  succeeded  in  excluding  from  ttiis  fel- 
lowship those  fanatics  that  had  so  dishonored  the  name 
of  Anabaptists,  and  gradually  built  up  a  large  and  tioiur- 
ishing  sect. 

The  severe  discipline  which  ^lenno  exercised  over 
his  followers  had,  however,  ultimately  the  effect  of  pro- 
ducing divisions  within  his  Hock.  Oftentimes  the  pro- 
priety or  impropriety  of  excommunicating  from  the 
fellowship  of  the  Church  those  who  had  incurred  its 
censures  was  questioned.  Menno  insisted  upon  the  ex- 
pulsion of  all  guilty  of  misdemeanor,  even  if  the  erring 
ones  sliowcd  signs  of  repentance.  Some  in  the  flock 
took  exception  to  this  severity,  and  insisted  upon  it  that 
an  excommunicated  might  at  least  be  readmitted  if 
signs  of  repentance  were  clearly  manifest.  This  divi- 
sion of  opinion  residted  finally  in  the  division  of  the 
sect  into  two  parties,  named  respectively  "die  Feinen" 
the  Fine,  and  "■die  Groben"  the  Coarse.  They  were 
also  called  "Flemings"  or  '•  Flandrians"  and  "Water- 
landers,"  from  the  districts  in  which  they  resided.  The 
former  was  the  more  rigid  of  the  two ;  but  ere  long 
it  was  also  divided  into  Flandrians  and  Frieslanders. 
This  separation  arose,  out  of  a  question  as  to  what  should 
constitute  a  sufficient  cause  for  excommunication.  One 
l)arty  regarded  those  only  who  were  open  contemners 
of  the  divine  law  to  be  deserving  the  highest  censure 
of  the  Church,  while  the  other  party  considered  offences 
of  the  most  trivial  kind  a  reason  for  the  instant  rejec- 
tion of  the  offender.  Menno  liimself  officially  sided  with 
tiie  Flemings,  and  he  was  forced  to  pronounce-tlie  expul- 
sion of  the  milder  party,  although  his  sympathies  were 
supposed  to  be  with  them. 

Other  particular  sentiments  that  divided  the  Mcn- 
nonites  are  the  following:  The  Flemingians  maintain, 
with  various  degrees  of  rigor,  the  opinions  of  their 
founder  iSIenno  as  to  the  human  nature  of  Christ,  al- 
leging that  it  was  produced  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin 
by  the  creating  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  hence 
object  to  the  terms  person  and  trinity  as  not  consistent 
with  the  simplicity  of  the  Scriptures;  they  hold  to  the 
obligation  that  binds  us  to  wash  the  feet  of  strangers,  in 
consequence  of  our  Saviour's  command ;  the  necessity 
of  excommunicating  and  avoiding,  as  one  would  do  the 
plague,  not  only  avowed  sinners,  but  also  all  those  who 
depart,  even  in  some  slight  instances  pertaining  to  dress, 
etc.,  from  the  simplicity  of  their  ancestors;  the  con- 
tempt due  to  human  learning,  and  to  other  matters  of 
less  moment.  Another  separation  took  place  at  Am- 
sterdam in  KiiM,  and  had  a  much  wider  influence,  ex- 
tending also  to  the  other  Dutcli  churches;  it  was  be- 
tween the  ^lennoiiites  who  held  to  the  opinions  of  the 
Remonslndits  ( ().  v.)  and  the  old  orthodox  ])arty.  The 
leader  of  the  llemonstrants,  or  Socinians,  Avas  Dr.  Gale- 
nus  Abrahams  (see  iicnthim,  /Jol/dnd.  Ki?r/ie-  ii.Sc/iii- 
Instaat,  i,  832;  Jehring,  p.  30),  hence  called  diilleniats 
(q.  v.),  and,  from  the  house  where  they  assembled  (Inj 
het  Lam),  Lamists;  the  opponents  were  called  Apostoo- 
lians,  from  their  leader.  Dr.  Samuel  Apostool;  an<l  Zon- 
ists,  from  their  house  in  de  Zon  (sun).  By  the  A  Irje- 
meene  JJoojiSffezinde  Socieleit,  founded  in  1811,  the  two 


churches  came  again  into  closer  fellowship  (see  Jahr- 
boekje  voor  de  Doopsgez.  Ganeenten,  1838  and  1839,  p. 
118;  com  p.  p.  99). 

But,  though  divided,  all  Jlennonites  are  agreed  in 
regard  to  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  baptism,  which 
is  administered  by  pouring,  and  only  to  adults.  "The 
opinions,"  says  Mosheim  (Kccles.  Hist,  iv,  142  sq.),  "  that . 
are  held  in  common  by  the  IVIennonites,  seem  to  be  all 
derived  from  this  fundamental  principle,  that  the  king- 
dom which  Christ  established  upon  earth  is  a  visible 
Church,  or  community,  into  which  the  holy  and  just 
alone  are  to  be  admitted,  and  which  is  conseiiuently  ex- 
empt from  all  those  institutions  and  rules  of  discipline 
that  have  been  invented  bj'  human  wisdom  for  the  cor- 
rection and  reformation  of  the  wicked.  This  fanatical 
principle  was  avowed  by  the  ancient  Mennonites,  but  it 
is  now  almost  wholly  renounced.  Yet  from  this  ancient 
doctrine  many  of  the  religious  opinions  that  distinguish 
the  Mennonites  from  all  other  Christian  communities 
seem  to  be  derived.  In  consccjuence  of  this  doctrine, 
they  admit  none  to  the  sacrament  of  bajitism  except 
persons  that  are  come  to  the  full  use  of  their  reason; 
they  neither  admit  civil  rulers  into  their  communion, 
nor  allow  any  of  their  members  to  perform  the  functions 
of  magistracy ;  they  pretend  to  deny  the  lawfidness  of 
repelling  force  by  force,  and  consider  war,  in  all  its  shapes, 
as  unchristian  and  unjust;  they  entertain  the  utmost 
aversion  to  the  execution  of  justice,  and  more  especially 
to  capital  punishments ;  and  they  also  refuse  to  confirm 
their  testimony  by  an  oath." 

The  first  settlement  of  the  Mennonites  in  the  United 
Provinces  was  granted  them  by  A\'illiam,  prince  of  Or- 
ange, towards  the  close  of  the  IGth  century.  During 
the  War  of  Liberation  they  had  played  no  uniinportant 
part.  Although  their  obligation  not  to  carry  arms  pre- 
vented them  from  entering  the  army,  they  nevertheless 
greatly  aided  the  cause  by  liberal  contributions  of  mon- 
ey, etc.  It  was  not,  however,  before  the  17th  century 
that  their  liberty  and  tranquillity  were  fixed  upon  solid 
foundations,  when,  by  a  Confession  of  Faith  puljlished  in 
the  year  162G,  they  cleared  themselves  from  the  impu- 
tations of  those  pernicious  and  detestable  errors  that 
had  been  laid  to  their  charge.  In  order  to  ajiiiease  their 
intestine  discords,  a  considerable  part  of  the  Anabajjtists 
of  Flanders,  Germany,  and  Friesland  concluded  their  de- 
bates in  a  conference  held  at  Amsterdam  in  the  year 
1G30,  and  entered  into  the  bonds  of  fraternal  commun- 
ion, each  reserving  to  themselves  a  liberty  of  retaining 
certain  opinions.  This  association,  simply  nominal,  how- 
ever, was  renewed  and  confirmed  by  new  resolutions  in 
the  year  1G49,  in  consequence  of  which  the  rigorous 
laws  of  Menno  and  liis  successors  were  in  various  re- 
spects mitigated  and  corrected.  Their  association  at 
tiiat  time  was  very  much  like  that  of  the  Congregation- 
alists  in  the  United  States.  Indeed,  in  cul^is  they  had 
much  in  common  with  this  religious  body.  Each  con- 
gregation chooses  its  own  jiastor,  whom  they  call  ex- 
horter,  and  iqion  him  they  lean  in  his  strength  or  weak- 
ness. These  preachers  frequently  were  not  paid  by  their 
congregations,  but  depended  upon  business  or  trade  en- 
terprises for  their  daily  bread.  When  no  preacher  could 
be  secured,  the  deacon  woidd  minister  unto  the  male 
portion,  and  the  deaconess  unto  the  female  portion  of 
the  congregation. 

In  the  17th  and  18th  centuries  the  persecution  of  the 
jMeinionitcs  in  (Jermany  and  Switzerland  drove  many 
to  Holland,  and  the  "iiarent"  body  was  thus  largely  in- 
creased. It  was  estimated  about  the  middle  of  the  18th 
centur.'  at  some  IGO.OOO.  Since  that  time  the  Dutch 
Mennonites  have  again  cpnsiilerably  decreased  in  num- 
ber. An  important  event  in  their  liistory  was  the  pro- 
vision of  the  theological  training  of  their  ministry  by 
the  establishment  of  a  seminary  in  1735.  There  are  no 
buildings  connected  with  this  college,  but  the  students 
receive  theological  instruction  in  a  room,  containing  the 
library,  over  the  JMennonite  chapel.  The  lectures  are 
delivered  in  Latin ;  and  each  student  before  his  entrance 


MENNONITES 


97 


MENNONITES 


must  be  acquainted  with  Latin  and  Greek.  Thev  at- 
tend at  a  literary  institution  for  instruction  in  Hebrew, 
ecclesiastical  history,  physics,  natural  and  moral  philos- 
ophy, etc.  They  have  private  lodgings  in  different 
parts  of  the  city.  The  college  was  established  nearly  t 
century  ago,  and  was  at  lirst  supported  by  the  Amster- 
dam ^iennonites  alone ;  but  lately  other  churches  send 
in  their  contributions.  Some  of  the  students  receive 
support  from  the  public  fund ;  they  are  all  intended  for 
the  Christian  ministry.  Thus  provided  with  an  edu 
cated  ministry,  they  were  placed  on  a  more  equal  foot' 
ing  with  the  other  Protestant  bodies  of  the  country. 
The  names  Oosterbaan,  Stinstra,  and  Hesselink  arc  men 
tioned  with  pride  as  theologians  of  Holland,  and  not  sim- 
ply as  Mennonite  ministers,  by  every  Dutchman.  In 
1795  they  were  granted  equality  with  the  other  Prot- 
estants, and  soon  after  they  began  gradually  to  drop 
peculiar  characteristics,  so  as  to  form  substantially  onlj^ 
one  national  bodj'.  In  1811  all  jMennonites  united  in 
the  formation  of  a  society  for  the  support  and  encour- 
agement of  theological  education.  In  1835  the  ter- 
centennial date  of  jNIenno's  withdrawal  from  the  Papal 
Church  was  unitedly  observed  by  all  his  followers.  A 
missionary  society,  sustaining  three  laborers  in  .Java,  is 
supported  by  aU  Mennonites,  and  so  is  the  Teyler  Theo- 
logical Society  at  Haarlem.  According  to  the  Mennon- 
ite '-Year-Book"  of  1850  (the  last  published  by  the  de- 
nomination), they  had  then  in  Holland  127  congrega- 
tions and  140  ministers,  not  counting  the  retired  preach- 
ers and  those  engaged  as  professors. 

The  Mennonites  in  Germany,  etc. — In  Germany  the 
Mennonites  were  rather  numerous  in  the  17th  century. 
In  Moravia  alone  they  counted  some  70,000.  They 
were  expelled  from  that  country  by  Ferdinand  II  in 
1622,  and,  after  a  short  stay  in  Hungarj'-  and  Transyl- 
vania, finally  found  a  resting-place  in  Russian  territorj' 
(see  below).  The  Mennonites  were  very  largely  repre- 
sented in  Eastern  Prussia.  They  were  particularly  nu- 
merous at  Dantzic,  IMarienburg,  and  Elbing.  Their 
Dutch  neatness  and  Dutch  industry'  soon  made  these 
desolate  and  swampy  regions  to  flourish  like  a  garden. 
But  almost  incessant  persecution  largely  reduced  their 
number  by  emigration.  In  1730  and  in  1732  they  Avere 
threatened  with  expatriation  on  account  of  their  refusal 
to  serve  in  the  array;  but  the  storm  passed  by,  and  king 
Frederick  II  gave  them  additional  privileges — not,  how- 
ever, until  the  order  had  been  weakened  by  emigration. 
Gradually  they  increased  again  until  1789,  when  they 
were  forbidden  to  purchase  landed  property.  But,  not- 
withstanding all  difficulties,  the  Mennonites  have  re- 
mained, in  part  at  least,  on  Prussian  soil,  particularly 
the  valley  of  the  Vistula,  called  "  the  Garden  Spot  of 
Prussia."  Their  number  in  all  Germany  is  estimated  at 
about  18,000. 

The  Mennonites  in  Russia. — Russia  gladly  availed  her- 
self of  Prussia's  intolerance,  and  diil  much  to  secure 
these  valuable  citizens  for  her  own  territory.  Catharine 
II  in  1786  had  invited  the  Mennonites  to  Russia,  along 
with  other  German  colonists,  and  in  1789  228  families 
arrived  in  Russia,  and  between  1793  and  1796  there  was 
an  immigration  of  118  more  families.  These  all  settled 
on  and  near  the  island  of  Khortitz,  on  the  Lower  Dnie- 
per, beloAv  Tekaterinoslav.  The  conditions  on  which 
they  came  to  Russia  were :  Protection  from  all  attacks, 
freedom  of  worship,  a  gift  of  lands  to  the  amount  of  190 
acres  for  each  family,  exemption  from  all  taxes  and  im- 
posts for  ten  years,  money  for  their  journey,  and  money 
and  wood  with  which  to  establish  themselves,  freedom 
of  trade  and  manufactures,  the  administration  of  oaths 
in  their  own  way,  and  exemption  forever  from  military 
service.  These  privileges  were  confirmed  by  the  em- 
peror Paul,  and  extended  to  all  Mennonites  who  should 
come  thereafter.  In  spite,  therefore,  of  the  repeal  and 
mitigation  of  the  severe  laws  against  them  in  Prussia, 
there  was  a  continued  and  large  immigration  of  Mennon- 
ites into  Russia  up  to  the  year  1817.  These  colonists 
settled  near  their  brethren  in  the  government  of  Tau- 
VI.— G 


rid,  in  the  region  between  the- rivers  Molotchna,  Dnie- 
per, and  Tokmak,  not  far  from  the  town  of  Berdiansk. 
From  that  time  the  Mennonites  have  gone  on  increasing 
and  prospering,  until  they  now  number  about  40,000 
souls.  They  have  always  been  protected  and  favored 
by  the  government,  so  that  they  have  almost  entirely 
governed  themselves,  and  have  preserved  their  German 
character  and  institutions  intact.  This  they  in  great 
part  owe  to  the  character  and  efforts  of  Johann  Cornies, 
who,  up  to  his  death  in  1848,  exercised  a  very  powerful 
influence  over  them,  though  he  held  no  office  and  no 
rank.  Titles  and  orders  were  on  several  occasions  of- 
fered to  him  by  the  imperial  government,  which  highly 
appreciated  his  services,  but  they  were  always  refused. 
His  advice  was  several  times  asked  by  the  minister  of 
domains,  and  the  governor-general  of  New  Russia  rare- 
ly took  an  important  measure  without  first  consulting 
Cornies.  These  Mennonites  not  only  had  their  own 
schools  and  churches,  and  retained  in  their  integrity  the 
language,  habits,  and  usages  of  their  ancestors,  but  had 
a  sort  of  self-government,  each  group  of  villages  being 
under  a  governor  appointed  by  themselves  from  their 
own  ranks,  who  acted  as  the  organ  of  communication 
between  them  and  the  general  government.  In  1861, 
the  present  czar  (Alexander  II)  granted  new  lands  and 
renewed  all  the  old  concessions  to  a  colony  of  Mennon- 
ites who  settled  on  the  Volga.  These  lands,  however, 
as  also  those  ceded  by  Catharine,  were  not  given  in  fee 
simple.  The  receivers  were  allowed  to  leave  them  to 
their  children  and  to  sell  them  to  each  other,  but  could 
not  dispose  of  them  to  any  other  than  a  Mennonite 
without  special  permission  of  the  government. 

In  our  own  day  the  attitude  of  the  Russian  govern- 
ment towards  the  IMennonites  has  decidedly  changed, 
and  a  harsh  and  unfriendly  spirit  been  manifested  in 
regard  to  them.  The  sharp-sighted  among  them  fore- 
saw an  invasion  of  their  liberties  from  the  tone  of  the 
Russian  newspapers  and  the  attitude  of  Russian  offi- 
cials. On  June  4,  1871,  the  expected  blow  came.  An 
edict,  addressed  to  all  the  colonists  in  the  empire — Ger- 
man Lutherans  and  Roman  Catholics,  as  well  as  Men- 
nonites, Bulgarians,  and  others,  to  all  of  whom,  as  to  t^e 
Mennonites,  grants  of  lands  and  special  privileges  had 
been  given — set  the  limit  of  ten  j'ears  as  the  terminal 
period  of  exemption  from  military  service,  with  the  pro- 
viso that,  us  to  furnishing  recruits,  the  laws  ruling  col- 
onists should  remain  in  force  only  till  the  publication  of 
a  general  law  on  military  duty.  Such  a  law  might  be 
promulgated  at  any  day,  and  the  Mennonites,  with  oth- 
ers, be  obliged  to  furnish -recruits,  in  spite  of  their  re- 
ligious convictions  against  bearing  arms.  By  the  gen- 
eral law  of  Russia  emigration  is  not  permitted;  bur,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  aggrieved  colonists,  ten  years  were 
given  them  in  which  to  take  themselves  out  of  Russia, 
if  unwilling  to  come  under  the  full  intent  of  Russian  laiv. 
After  that  time  no  emigration  is  to  be  permitted.  IVIean- 
while  some  of  the  IMennonites  had  been  busy  making 
inquiries  to  guide  them  in  the  selection  of  new  homes. 
Cornelius  Jonsen,  a'  leading  Mennonite,  acting  as  Ger- 
man consul  at  Berdiansk,  had  written  tetters  to  mem- 
bers of  the  sect  in  this  country  and  Canada,  asking  in- 
formation as  to  the  advantage  of  America  for  settlement 
by  their  people.  Very  full  and  encouraging  replies  were 
received  from  John  Funk,  at  Elkhart,  Indiana,  and  from 
others  in  Canada,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  West.  Jonseii 
had  these  letters  printed,  and  distributed  them,  togeth- 
er with  little  pamphlets,  tcUing  of  the  attractions  of 
America.  So  enthusiastic  did  the  people  become  over 
the  hope  of  freer  and  happier  homes  in  the  New  World, 
that  in  a  short  time  $20,000  was  raised  to  aid  a  deputa- 
tion to  America,  to  visit  its  finest  sections,  and  to  return 
to  Russia  with  a  report  of  the  result  of  their  spying 
out  of  the  land.  The  delegates  sent  were  twelve  in 
number,  and  left  Russia  for  this  country  at  various  times 
from  February  to  JMay,  1873,  and  the  result  is  manifest 
in  the  large  arrival  of  this  people,  who  have  purchased 
lands  on  the  Western  prairies,  and  in  some  of  our  South- 


MENNOXITES 


98 


MENNONITES 


ern  states.  The  probability  is  that  all  the  ilennoiiites 
of  Kussia  will  settle  in  the  United  States. 

Tliose  ilennonites  who,  after  their  emigration  to  Kus- 
sia, settled  in  the  Crimea,  and  there  lived  on  land  bought 
by  themselves,  and  not  included  in  the  grants  of  eitlier 
Catharine  or  Alexander,  are  likewise  emigrating  to  this 
country.  An  advance  guard  of  some  thirty  families, 
who  were  al)le  to  sell  their* estates  at  once,  quitted  the 
Uussian  territory  and  arrived  here  Aug.  15  (1873).  They 
are  essentially  (ierman,  still  speaking  the  language  of 
the  land  they  wore  obliged  to  leave  nearly  a  century 
ago,  and  are  from  tlie  villages  of  Friedenstcin  ("Stone 
of  Peace")  and  Bruderfeld  ("  Brother's  Tield"),  in  the 
Crimea,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Black  Sea.  They 
marry  only  within  tlieir  own  Church.  A  correspondent 
of  the  Xew  York  Tribune  writes  from  St.  Petersburg, 
under  date  of  April  19  (1873),  concerning  this  people: 
"  That  the  Mennonites  arc  thrifty,  industrious,  and  eco- 
nomical, their  jjrosperity  is  sufficient  proof.  They  are, 
besides  this,  very  clean,  neat,  and  orderly  (a  lady  could 
go  into  every  peasant's  stable),  and  quiet,  contented, 
honest,  moral,  and  deeply  religious.  There  is  no  drunk- 
enness or  gambling  among  them.  Crime  is  exceedingly 
rare.  The  latest  statistics  I  can  lind  arc  dated  1841 ,  and 
those  show  that  for  37  years  there  were  only  88  crimes 
in  the  Mennonite  colonies  on  the  Molotchna,  including 
about  12,000  people.  Of  these  crimes,  41  sprang  from 
the  sexual  relation,  and  9  were  thefts;  all  the  rest  were 
minor  oifences,  such  as  disobedience  to  the  authorities. 
Besides  all  this,  the  Mennonites  are  educated.  Every 
child  knows  how  to  read  and  write;  in  every  village 
there  is  a  school.  The  Bible  and  other  religious  books 
are,  of  course,  to  be  found  in  every  house.  The  IVIen- 
nonites  were  visited  by  Ilaxthausen  in  1843.  and  by 
Petzholdt  in  1855,  and  both  travellers  bear  testimony 
to  the  worth  and  the  prosperity  of  the  colonists.  Petz- 
holdt says:  'It  is  my  firm  conviction  that  Kussia  pos- 
sesses no  more  useful  or  more  industrious  citizens  than 
the  Mennonites.'  Up  to  this  time  the  Jlennonites  have 
always  been  loyal  sulyects  to  Kussia,  They  have  never 
been  remiss  in  their  taxes;  and  during  the  Crimean  War 
.sent  large  voluntary  gifts  of  grain  and  provender  to  the 
besieged  army.  It  is  only  because  the  privileges  grant- 
ed to  tlicm  are  infringed,  and  they  will  be  compelled  to 
enter  the  army  against  their  conscience,  that  they  now 
wish  to  emigrate  from  Kussia." 

The  Mennonites  in  the  United  States. — These  new- 
comers are  not  by  any  means  the  lirst  ^lennonites  in 
the  United  States.  They  came  as  early  as  1G83.  Hold- 
ing much  in  common  with  the  Friends,  the  Mennonites 
received  an  invitation  from  William  Penn  to  settle  in 
the  new  province  of  Pennsylvania.  IMaiiy  accepted  the 
kind  offer  of  the  Quaker  leader,  and  in  little  more  than 
half  a  century  the  sect  had  migrated  to  ttie  number  of 
.about  500  fatnilies.  In  1708  a  school  and  meeting-house 
were  erected  by  tliem  in  Germantown,  Pa.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  another  colony  was  established  in  what  is 
now  known  as  Lancaster  Comity,  Pa.  Other  emigra- 
tions followed  in  1711, 1717,  1727,  and  1733  successive- 
ly. In  1735  thtre  were  nearly  if  not  quite  500  families 
settled  in  Lancaster  County.  Afterwards  their  fam- 
ilies settled  also  in  various  parts  of  Jlaryland,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  New  York,  and  Canada;  and  they  are  now 
found  in  nearly  every  part  of  tlic  Union  and  of  Canada, 
though  they  are  most  numerously  jjresented  in  Penii- 
sylvania,  Oliio,  ^Maryland,  and  Virginia.  It  is  dillicidt 
to  arrive  at  their  whole  number,  .as  tliey  keep  no  afces- 
sible  records  for  that  purpose,  believing  jiublic  displays 
of  this  nature  to  be  only  one  of  tlie  vanities  of  denomi- 
nations, and  of  no  good  service,  as  the  (Jreat  Head  of 
the  Cliurch  well  sees  and  knows  how  many  are  his. 
They  probably  number,  however,  as  nearly  as  can  be 
ascertained,  about  .'JSO  ministers  and  40,000  members. 
Thcj'  have  a  publishing- house  af  Elkhart,  Indiana. 
Their  bishops,  ministers,  and  deacons  meet  semi-annu- 
ally in  district  conferences  for  the  purpose  of  learning 
the  state  of  the  Church,  and  deliberating  upou  sug- 


gested methods  for  advancing  her  spiritual  prosperity. 
Their  religious  views  are  similar  to  those  held  by  their 
brethren  in  Europe.  They  have,  however,  distinguish- 
ing peculiarities.  Their  office-bearers — bishops,  minis- 
ters, and  deacons — are  all  of  them  chosen  by  lot.  Their 
pastors  give  their  services  gratuitously.  Their  views 
and  character  as  a  body  meeting  with  much  misrepre- 
sentation, and  exciting  .considerable  prejudice  against 
them,  they  translated  and  published  at  Pliiladclphia,  ia 
1727,  their  Confession  of  Faith.  For  details,  see  A  mer- 
ican  Christ i(in  Record,  p.  145  sq. 

Besides  the  Old  Mennonites,  there  are  in  America  :  1, 
The  Ri'Jhrmed  oT  Strict  Mennonites,  who  in  1811  branch- 
ed off'  from  the  parent  American  body.  They  follow 
strictly  the  inj  mictions  of  Simon  Menno  in  regard  to 
foot-washing,  non-resistance  of  evil,  abstinence  from 
oatlis,  and  separation  from  all  excommunicated  persons. 
This  sect  numbers  not  more  than  10,000,  and  is  con- 
lined  chietiy  to  Pennsylvania,  where  it  lirst  originated. 
Their  doctrines  are  too  rigid  for  general  acceptance,  and 
they  progress  but  slowly.  They  are  a  worthy,  honest, 
and  exeni[)lary  people.  2.  The  Ne^o  Mennonites,  num- 
bering about  2500,  organized  in  1847  b\'  J.  H.  Oberholt- 
zer  and  ten  other  ministers  of  the  Old  Mennonites  in 
Eastern  Pennsylvania.  They  introduced  various  re- 
forms, and  spread  rapidly,  not  only  in  Pennsylvania,  but 
in  other  states,  and  were  the  first  Mennonites  to  found 
a  theological  seminary,  located  at  Wadsworth,  Ohio. 
In  1872  they  had  three  teachers  and  twenty-two  jnipils. 
They  also  have  a  publishing-house  at  Milford  Scjuare, 
I'a.  3,  The  J-Jranr/e/ical  Mennonites,  organized  from  the 
preceding  body  in  1856,  who  hold  stated  meetings  for 
prayer  as  a  Christian  necessity.  They  number  only 
about  300.  4.  The  Ornish  Mennonites,  numbering  about 
1200,  followers  of  Jacob  Amman,  of  Alsace,  and  very 
much  like  the  Kefonned.  They  discard  the  use  of  but- 
tons on  their  clothes,  substituting  the  hook,  and  hence 
are  frequently  called  /lookers. 

The  Mennonites  all  over  the  world  count  probably 
200,000.  Their  oldest  authoritative  "  Confession  of 
Faith"  dates  from  1580,  entitled  f)e  Waterkindsche  Be- 
Iijdenis;  in  1591  was  published  the  Concept  von  Koln; 
in  1G17,  l)e  Friesche  Belydenis ;  and  later  (17GG),  the 
most  complete  and  generally  accepted  Confession  was 
prepared  by  .lobn  Kie.<,  preacher  of  the  ^^'aterlanders  in 
Alcmar.  and  bv  Lubbert  Gerard,  in  Latin  (comp.  Schvn, 
ii,78,279;  i,  172). 

For  infonnatioa  respecting  the  ^lennonitcs,  see  Ot- 
tus,  Annales  Anabuptislici  (Basle,  1G72,  4to) ;  (Jriind- 
liche  JJistorie  von  den  Bef/ebenheiten,  Streiti</keiten,  und 
'Tremwrif/en,  so  unter  den  Tiuif<jesinnten  bis  1G15  vorge- 
;/<inf/en  (from  the  Dutch  of  Van  (Jent),  by  Jehring  (.Jena, 
1720);  Schyii,  yy/.v/.  ('hristiani>rinn,qiii  in  Beljio  Jlede- 
riito  Mennonitm  apjiellantiir  (Ainstelod.  1725) ;  id.,  Ilis- 
tonie  Afennoniturum  plenior  JJeductio  (Amsterd.  1729), 
which  is  a  defence  of  the  sect,  and  in  which  the  author 
protests  against  their  being  confounded  with  the  Ana- 
bajitists;  A'an  Huyzen,  Epitome  doctr.  Mennonitarum ; 
Botsace,  Wiederbelebiinr/  der  W'iedertduJ/'erischen  Lthre; 
Crichton,  Gesch.  der  Mennoniten;  Starck,  (Jesch.  d.  Tavje 
II.  Tiiiifi/esinnten ;  V.  Keiswitz  u.  Wadzeck,  Gluubensbe- 
kenntniss  der  Mennoniten  u.  Xdchricht  von  ihren  Colonieen 
nebst  Lebensbeschreib.  Menno  Simonis  (Berl.  1824);  Keis- 
witz, Beitrdije  zur  Kenntniss  der  Mennoniten  (Breslau, 
1829);  BlaupotTcn  Cate,  Geschiedenisder  Doopsgezinden 
in  Frieslund,  I/nlland,  Zeeland,  etc.  (Amsterd.  1837-50)  ; 
Cornelius,  Gtsch.  d.  Miinstersch.  A  nj'ruhrs  (Leips.  1855)  ; 
Wigandus,  In  Ihii/mutibus  Anaboptistarum ;  Ilase,  Xeue 
Propheteu  ;  De  Bussierc,  Les  Anabiiptistes  (Paris.  1853); 
Kucs,  Gi;i<nuiirtiyer  Ziisttind  der  Mennoniten;  JIos- 
heim.  l-.t-rlts.  Hist.  cent,  xvi,  §  iii,  pt.  ii,  c.  3;  and  cent, 
xvii,  i^  ii,  pt.  ii,  c.  5  (it  is  to  be  wished  that  Mosheim 
had  written  the  history  of  this  sect  in  a  spirit  of  great- 
er candor);  (lieseler.  Juries.  /list,  iv,  371  sq.;  Jliihler, 
Si/mbolics,  p.  355  sq,;  llagenbach,  J/ist.  of  Doctrines, vu\. 
ii  (see  Index);  and  Van  t)osterzee,  in  Ilerzog, /ie«/-A'«- 
ct/klop.  vol.  ix,  s.  V.     (J.  11.  W.) 


MENOCHIUS 


99 


MENSA  CAPITULARIS 


Menochius,  Giovanni  Steffano,  a  learned  Ital- 
ian, the  son  of  Jacques  Menochius,  a  celebrated  lawyer, 
was  born  at  Pavia  in  1576.  At  the  age  of  seventeen 
he  entered  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits.  He  taught  theol- 
ogy in  different  colleges  of  his  order,  was  principal  of 
those  of  Modena  and  Rome,  then  became  inspector  for 
the  province  of  Milan,  next  for  that  of  Venice,  and 
was  finally  appointed  assistant  to  the  superior-general. 
He  died  at  Kome  Feb.  4,  1655.  Of  his  works  we  men- 
tion Ilkropoliticon,  sire  imtitutiones  politicm  e  Scrip- 
turis  depromptm  (Lyons,  1625,  8vo)  -.—Institutiones  aco- 
nomicce  e  Scripturis  depromptm  (Lyons,  1627,  8vo)  :— 
Brevis  Expositio  sensus  litter alis  totius  Scripturce  (Co- 
logne, 1630, 2  vols.  fol. :  this  estimable  work  was  reprint- 
ed several  times  ;  the  best  edition  is  that  published 
at  Paris  [1719,  2  vols,  fol.],  by  P.  Tournemine  —  re- 
produced at  Avignon  [1768,  4  vols.  4to]  ;  it  contains  an 
appendix  to  the  commentaries  on  the  Bible,  and  to  dif- 
ferent Jesuitical  authors.  See  Simon,  Histoire  critique 
des  2>rincipaux  Commentateurs  du  Nouv,  Test.  p.  651) : — 
Storie  tessute  di  varie  eruditione  sacra,  morale  e  pro- 
fana  (Rome,  1646-51,  6  vols.  4to) ;  the  first  published 
under  the  fictitious  name  of  J.  Corona: — De  Repuhlica 
Ilehraorum  (Paris,  1648  and  1652,  fol.): — De  (Kcono- 
miaChrisiiuna  (Venice,  1656, 4to)  -.—Storia  Miscellanea 
Sacra  (Venice,  1658,  4to).  See  also  Alegambe  and 
Sottwell,  Sci-iptO}-es  Societates  Jesu  ;  Dupin,  Bibl.  des 
Autmrs  Eccles.  vol.  xviii. — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biofj.  Gene- 
rale,  s.  V. 

Menologiiim  (/ojrrjXoyiov,  from  ////»');  and  Xo- 
yoQ),  a  name  given  by  the  Greek  Christians  to  such  of 
their  Church  books  as  contained,  besides  the  Mencea 
(q.  v.),  or  special  prayers  and  hymns  for  each  festival 
and  saint's  day,  short  biographical  notices  and  descrip- 
tions of  the  death  of  the  saints  and  martyrs.  The 
Menologia  were  generally  divided  into  monthly  parts ; 
sometimes  into  two  semi-annual  volumes.  There  are 
yet  a  number  of  them  extant  in  MS.,  and  extracts  of 
them  for  the  use  of  the  Greek  Church  were  repeatedly 
printed  in  the  17th  century.  It  nearly  corresponds  to 
the  Martijrolog;)  of  the  Roman  Church.  The  Greeks 
give  the  names  of  the  saints,  together  with  short 
biographical  notices  of  them,  taken  from  the  i.ir}vaia, 
and  also  the  Gospel  lessons  for  the  day.  AUatius,  in 
De  libris  Grcecorum,  p.  83-86,  gives  an  account  of  their 
origin  and  contents.  Several  of  them  are  very  ancient, 
and  known  to  us  by  the  accounts  of  Assemani,  Gene- 
brardus,  and  Ant.  Contius.  The  most  important  are: 
Menol.  ex  rersimir  ('unliiKiIis  Sirleti  in  Canisii  lectt. 
antiquarum,  (tonic  \)  :  —  M'liol.  ex  Menceis  Grmcoi-um 
erutum  et  in  limjuain  rem.  rcrsum  a  Maximo  Afai-gut2io 
ed.  Anion.  Pinello  (Venet.  1529):  —  Menol.  Grcecoi-um 
jussu  Basilii  Imperatoris  Greece  olim  editum — nunc 
primum  Gr.  et  Liit.  prodit  studio  et  opera  A  nnibalis  Tit. 
S.  Clementis  (Urbini,  1727).  Still  more  remarkable  than 
this  edition  of  the  so-called  Menoloyium  Basilianuni  is 
the  M»;i^oXoy(oi'  tmv  svayyiXujv  iopraarix^v  sive 
Calendarium  Ecclesice  Constaniinopolitanm  primitus  ex 
BihUotheca  Romana  Albanoruni  in  lucem  editum,  etc., 
cura  Steph.  A  nton.  MorcelU  (Rome,  1788,  2  vols.).  The 
text  in  this  edition,  revised  with  great  care,  was,  accord- 
ing to  the  opinion  of  the  author,  written  during  the 
reign  of  Constantinus  Copnuiymus.  See  Augusti,  Denk- 
%ciirdi(/lceiten,  vi,  208;  xii.  .'.(H):  Suicer  and  Du  Fresne, 
Lexicon,  s.  v. ;  Siegel,  (7///.s7/.  Al!<  rtliilmer  (see  Index); 
Neale,  Introd.  Hist.  East.  Church. — Herzog,  Real-Ency- 
Mopddie,  ix,  353. 

Menot,  JMiciir.T..  a  French  preacher,  was  born  about 
1440.  He  belunu,(d  to  tlir  Order  of  the  Gray  Friars, 
amongwhom  lie  taui^ht  theology  for  several  years.  His 
sermons  were  of  a  peculiar  make-up — half  in  barbarous 
Latin,  half  in  burlesque  French,  and  tilled  with  coarse 
jests  and  trivialities ;  he  nevertheless  gained  great 
reputation,  rather  for  his  oddity  than  anj'  display  of 
ability,  and  his  enthusiastic  hearers  surnamed  him  "  the 
golden  trigend."     Menot  died  at  Paris  in  1518.     The 


printer  Claude  Chevalier  collected  a  certain  number  of 
Menot's  sermons,  which  appeared  under  the  title  Ser- 
mones  quadragesimales  olim  Turonis  declamuti  (Paris, 
1519  and  1525,  8vo),  very  rarely  seen  at  present.  See 
Niceron,  Memoires,  etc.,  vol.  xxiv  ;  Diet.  Hist.  (ed.  of 
1822),  s.  V. ;  Le  Bas,  Diet.  Encycl.  de  la  France,  s.  v. 

Menoux,  Joseph  de,  a  French  Jesuit,  was  born 
October  14,  1695,  at  Besan(;on.  He  belonged  to  an  ec- 
clesiastical family,  and,  destined  for  the  Church,  he  en- 
tered the  Society  of  Jesus  at  an  early  age,  studied  the 
classics  at  different  colleges,  and  apjjlied  himself  with 
success  to  preaching.  He  obtained  the  confidence  of 
king  Stanislas,  who  appointed  him  preacher  and  supe- 
rior of  the  seminary  of  missions  for  Lorraine.  He  is  rep- 
resented as  a  man  of  mind,  intriguing  and  serviceable, 
a  useful  friend  and  a  dangerous  enemy.  Voltaire  says 
that  he  persuaded  pope  Benedict  XIV,  the  author  of 
some  large  treatises  in  folio  on  the  canonization  of  the 
saints,  that  he  should  translate  them  into  French.  He 
sent  several  pages  of  it  to  him,  and  obtained  a  good 
benefice  for  his  seminary,  of  which  the  Benedictines 
were  robbed.  Voltaire,  who  in  his  secret  correspond- 
ence calls  aienoux  a  false  brother,  was  assured  of  the 
protection  of  the  learned  Jesuit  in  all  circumstances ; 
but  the  alliance  established  between  them  was  not  sin- 
cere on  either  side.  Menoux  was  one  of  the  first  mem- 
bers of  the  Academy  of  Nancy,  and  was  associated  with 
those  of  the  Arcades  of  Rome.  He  wrote :  Notions  Phi- 
losophiques  des  verites  fondamentales  de  la  Religion^ 
ouvrage  didactique  dhin  ordre  nouveau  (7th  edition,  re- 
vised and  corrected  ;  Nancy,  1758,  8vo.  This  work  ap- 
peared at  first  under  the  title  of  Deji  general  a  I'incre- 
dulite.  "  There  are  few,"  says  Freron,  "  so  methodical, 
so  clear,  so  precise,  so  consistent")  :— Hemes  du  Chretien, 
a  Vusage  des  Missions  (Nancj\  1741,  12mo)  -.—Discours 
prononce  en  1753  a  la  seance  publique  de  la  Societe  Lit- 
teraire  de  Natiri  (ibid.  1753,  4to;  translated  into  Italian 
by  order  nf  pope  lienedict  XIV) : — Coup  d'ceil  sus  I'arret 
du  I'lir/i  nil  III  ill'  Paris  concernant  I'institut  des  Jesuites 
(Avignon,  1761,  in  two  parts,  8vo).  Menoux  is  regarded 
as  the  author  of  this  writing,  signed  by  P.  Griffet,  and 
he  furnished  to  Cerutti  the  materials  for  L'Apologie  ge- 
nerale  de  Vinstitut  des  Jesuites.  He  was  a  co-laborer  in 
the  moral  and  religious  works  of  Stanislas.  See  Fre- 
ron, Annee  litteraire,  1753, 1758 ;  Dnrival,  Desciii^t.  de  la 
Lorraine,  i,  236 ;  J.  J.  Rousseau,  Confessions,  bk.  viii. — 
Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Mensa,  Mensal  {table),  a  name  anciently  given 
to  a  church  erected  over  a  martyr's  grave.  See  Mar- 
tyr. Such  edifices  received  this  appellation  from  the 
distinctive  altar  or  communion  table.  Thus  Augus- 
tine speaks  of  a  church  called  mensa  Cgjn-iani — Cyp- 
rian, as  he  explains,  not  having  eaten  there,  but  having 
there  been  offered  up.  Prior  to  the  Reformation  in 
Scotland,  when  the  revenue  of  a  popish  bishopric  arose 
from  the  annexation  of  parish  churches,  those  allotted 
to  the  bishop  himself  were  caUed  mensal  churches,  as 
furnishing  his  table;  the  other  churches  being  called 
common,  as  bishop  and  chapter  had  an  interest  in  them. 
Jfi  iisii  is  used  by  some  writers  in  the  same  sense  as 
Miiiii/riiim  (q.  v.).  See  Eadie,  Eccles.  Cyclop,  s.  v. ; 
Riddle,  Christian  Antiquities  (Index);  Walcott,  Sacred 
Ai-cha'oLa.Y. 

Mensa  Capitulaiis  and  Mensa  Episcopa-' 
lis  are  the  technical  terms  severally  given  to  the  table 
suppo7-t  of  chapter  members  and  the  incumbents  of  the 
episcopal  office.  So  long  as  communistic  life  prevailed 
in  churches  endowed  by  monastic  institutions,  the  ex- 
pense for  the  table  was  provided  for  by  the  common 
property  of  the  chapter.  But  in  the  10th  and  1 1th  cen- 
turies, when  canonical  life  was  done  away  with,  and  the 
canons  supported  their  own  private  establishments,  the 
endowment  was  reamed  by  deducting  therefrom  the 
amount  necessary  to  delray  the  expense  of  the  table, 
and  this  sum  was  ajiportioned,  and  consequently  the 
term  (1)  mensa  capiiularis  for  that  share  of  the  tablfi 


MENSA  DEI 


100 


MEX-STEALER 


endowment  which  was  to  defray  the  table  expenses  of 
the  chapter  members,  and  (2)  mensa  episcopalis  for  the 
episcopal  share.  The  chapter's  portion  was  again  sub- 
divided according  to  the  number  of  members  belonging 
to  a  chapter,  and  the  proportion  of  allowance  for  each 
particular  person  was  determined  by  rank.  The  admin- 
istration of  the  capitular  property  was  usually  intrusted 
to  the  provost,  and  that  of  tlie  ejiiscopal  table  estate  to 
an  official  appointed  by  the  bishop  himself  (vice-domi- 
nus)  (Carol.  M.,  capit  I  ao.  802,  c.  13 ;  Lotliar  I,  capit  ao. 
824,  c.  8).  If  any  of  the  capitulary  estates  were  to  be 
sold,  a  permit  of  the  bishop  and  all  capitularies  must  be 
secured  (c.  1, 2, 3, 8,  x,  De  his  qucefuint  a  prcelat.  iii,  10 ; 
sext.  c.  2,  De  reb.  eccl.  non  alien,  iii,  9).  If  any  of  the 
episcopal  estates  were  to  be  sold,  a  permit  of  the  pope 
had  to  be  asked  for  (c.  8,  x,  De  reb.  eccl.  non  alien.).  In 
cases  where  the  episcopal  chair  is  endowed  with  such 
goods,  this  regidation  remains  yet  in  force.  See  Wetzer 
und  Welte,  Kirckeii-Lexikon,  s.  v. 

Mensa  Dei  (the  Lord's  tahle\  a  term  which  has  im- 
mediate reference  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  opposition 
between  the  expressions, " table  of  the  Lord"  and  "table 
of  diemoiis"  (see  1  Cor.  xi),  at  once  marks  it  out  as  a  ta- 
ble set  apart  for  sacred  purposes.     See  Altar  ;  Table. 

Menses  Papales  is  the  technical  term  for  one 
form  (if  jiajial  investiture  claimed  by  the  incumbent 
of  St.retcr's  eliair.  in  ease  the  vacancy  occurs  within 
certain  >taiiil  nmnths.  The  present  rules  of  theKoman 
chaniil  nn  tlii>  jHiint  are:  '■CupiensSanctissimusDom- 
inus  Xostrr  panpcribLS  clericis  et  aliis  benemeritis  per- 
sonis  providere  omnia  beneficia  ecdesiastica  cum  cura 
et  sine  cura,  siecularia  et  quorumvis  ordinum  regularia 
qualitercumque  qualiticata,  et  ubicumque  existentia  in 
singulis  Januarii,  Februarii,  Aprilis,  Mali,  Julii,  August!, 
Octobris,  et  Novembris  mensibus,  usque  ad  sua;  volun- 
tatis beneplacitum  extra  Komanam  curiam,  alias,  quam 
per  resiguationem  quocumcpie  modo  vacatura,  ad  col- 
lationem,  provisionem,  prtesentationem,  elcctionem,  et 
quamvis  aliam  dispositionem  quorumcunque  collatorum 
et  collatrieium  swcularium  et  quorumvis  ordinum  rcgu- 
larium  (non  autem  S.  I!.  E.  cardinalium,  aut  aliorum  sub 
concordatis  inter  sedem  apostolicam  et  quoscunque  alios 
initis,  et  per  cos  qui  ilia  acceptare  et  observare  ddnK  - 
rant  accei)tatis,  quic  lajdere  non  intendit,  compreluiisu- 
rum)  quoniodolibet  pertinentia  dispositioni  sua;  gene- 
raliter  reservavit,"  etc.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the 
term  allcrmitira  tneimtim  is  sometimes  used  to  designate 
the  papal  months,  although  they  do  not  really  have  the 
same  meaning.  In  the  case  of  patriarchs,  archbishops, 
or  bishops,  residing  in  their  dioceses,  the  papal  months 
are  reduced  from  eight  to  six,  the  pope  retaining  only 
the  uneven  months  (January,  March,  ]\Iay,  July,  Sep- 
tember, November). 

The  papal  months  originated  in  the  12th  centurj-. 
The  reason  was  a  desire  of  the  popes  to  secure  ben- 
efices to  worthy  but  destitute  members  of  the  clergy. 
At  first  this  was  done  by  recommendations  (p)-eces)\ 
when  this  did  not  succeed,  a  real  command  was  issued 
(inandatiim  de p?-ovi(lenil(i).  Gratian's  decretal  of  1].")1 
contains  no  such  mandate,  as  they  originated  shortly  af- 
terwards. One  exami)lc  of  them,  of  the  times  of  Inno- 
cent 11.  is  L,ri\  (II  I,y  Peter,  aI)l)ot  of  Cluny,  in  his  Epistol. 
lib.  ii.  (  |..  .;.;  :;."j  i(|uoted  in  (ionzales  Tellez,  cap.  37,  x, 
De  r<. <,;■;/,/;.<.  i. :;.  Xo.  4) ;  another  from  Adrian  IV  (1 154- 
1159),opist.  13  (Wilrdtwein,  .S'»6,s-/<//'»  d;j,/,„„a/in(  [Ilei- 
delb.  1774],  torn,  iv,  p.  ix) ;  Mansi.  ( '.-//. ,  //.-  ( •,ii„-ili<,nim. 
xxi,  805.  If  these  mandates  were  not  nbeyed.  it  was 
then  the  practice  to  issue  succcssi\-ely  lit(r(e.  monitoriw, 
prwceptoriw.  and  execuloricv.  The  mamhiin  de  prori- 
dendo  came  afterwards  to  be  issued  not  only  for  actually 
vacant  benefices,  but  also  in  advance  (e.  10,  x,  De  le- 
scriptis,  i,3:  "Si  qua  [prwbenda]  tunc  in  eorum  vaca-  ' 
ret  ccclesia  vel  proxima  vacaturam").  The  Council  j 
of  Lateran  of  1179,  however,  forbade  to  present  to  or  | 
even  to  promise  benefices  before  they  were  vacant  (c.  2, 
XjZ'e  concess.  prceb.  non  vucatis,  iii,  8),  and  this  defence  I 


I  was  renewed  by  Innocent  III,  Honorius  III,  and  Boni- 
face Vlir;  the  practice  was,  however,  justified  on  the 
I  ground  that  the  promise  did  not  specify  any  particular 
I  benefice.  The  churches  often  resisted  these  papal  en- 
[  croachments  (see  liiehter,  Lehrbiich  d.  Kirchenrechls, 
j  ij  148;  Thomassin,lV^/A-  «c  nova  ecchi>i(e  disciplinu,  pt. 
I  ii,  lib.  i,  cap.  xliii,  xliv),  but  their  protestations  were  dis- 
regarded imtil,  in  the  Coimcil  of  Costnitz  (1418),  pope 
Martin  V declared:  "Ultra  reservationes  juris  dua;  par- 
tes sint  in  dispositione  Papie,  et  tertia  pars  remaneat  iii 
dispositione  Ordinariorum ;  ita,  quod  duo  prima  cedant 
Papa;  et  tertium  Ordinario,  ita,  quod  per  quamcumque 
aliam  rese^^■ationem  aut  pra;rogativas  non  minuatur" 
(Van  der  Ilardt,  Concilium  Conshintiense,  i,  1022  sq.).  In 
France  this  was  understood,  in  1425,  to  give  the  pope 
eight  months,  the  bishops  four.  Hy  the  Concordat  of 
Vienna,  in  1448,  the  pope  was  to  have  the  disposal  of 
vacant  benefices  during  the  six  uneven  months,  and  the 
bishops  during  the  six  others.  The  text  of  the  con- 
cordat further  states :  "  De  cieteris  dignitatibus  et  bene- 
ficiis  quibuscunque,  sa-cularibus  et  regularibus  vacaturis, 
ultra  reservationes  jam  dictas,  majoribus  dignitatibus 
post  pontificales  in  cathcdralibus  et  jirincipalibus  in  col- 
legiatis  exceptis,  de  quibus  jure  ordinario  provideatur 
per  illos  inferiores,  ad  quos  alias  pertinet ;  idem  sanctis- 
simus  dominus  .  .  .  non  impediet,  quo  minus  de  illis, 
cum  vacabunt  de  mensibus  Februarii  .  .  .  libere  di.spo- 
natur  per  illos,  ad  quos  coUatio,  provisio.praesentatio,  elec- 
tio  aut  alia  quievis  dispositio  pertincbit  .  .  .  ."  Tliis 
seems  evidenth'  to  signify  that  the  other  dignities  are 
excepted  from  the  alkrnaliva  mevsium ;  but  from  the 
first  this  was  understood  to  take  the  appointment  to 
such  dignities  out  of  the  allernativa  to  confer  it  on  the 
pope.  That  the  first  was  the  true  interpretation  is  ap- 
parent from  its  being  the  view  taken  by  Martin  V  in 
the  Council  of  Costnitz,  whose  tenor  was  more  favorable 
even  than  that  of  the  Concordat  of  Vienna  to  the  papal 
cause.  The  later  interpretation,  liowever,  was  asserted 
by  Pius  II. 

Vacancies  occurring  in  consc(iucnce  of  a  simple  resig- 
nation, or  of  an  exchange  of  benefices,  are  excepted  from 
the  altcrnutiva  nunsiiim  (.Schliir,  iJe  reservutione  bene- 
jii  icnim  tt  dir/nitatnm  <.r  (jiialitale  racatioiiis  per  resig- 
niitiniidn  [Francf.  ad  M.  1777,  4to  |),  as  also  benelices  im- 
(Icr  lay  patronage  (Fcrvarh,  Dibliolheca  Canoinca,  s.  y. 
Peneficiuni,  art.  xi,  note  18-20) ;  most  curacies,  and  other 
subordinate  offices,  are  also  excepted  (Heddcrich,  Diss, 
de  ])arocliiis  in  Germania,  etc.  [Bonn,  1780,  4to],  vol.  i; 
Koch,  Snncdo  prarjmaticu  (Jermanorum  illusirata  [Ar- 
gcntorati,  1789, 4to],  p.  228,  note  G4). 

Some  dioceses,  however,  managed  to  elude  the  papal 
months  entirely,  by  means  of  special  papal  edicts  ren- 
dered for  the  purpose  of  securing  other  advantages  (see 
I'robst,  Turnarii  ecclesiarum  (Jermaniw,  pi  Ullheinier, 
A  d  concordata  nationis  Germ,  intcf/ra  documeniorum, fasc. 
iv  [Frankf.  and  Leips.  1777],  p.  3G0,  376;  Gudenus.  Co- 
dex diplomat,  torn,  iv.  No.  ccexxiv,  p.  717 ;  Le  Bret, 
Mof/azin  z.  Gebrauche  d.  Staalen-  v.  Kirchenc/esch.  pt, 
viii,  p.  4,  etc.). 

This  law  is  still  in  force,  but  has  in  later  times  under- 
gone various  modifications.  In  Bavaria,  tlie  Concordat 
of  1817,  art.  x,  states:  "Kegia  ^lajestas  ad  canonicatus 
in  sex  mensibus  apostolicis  sive  papalibus  nominabit." 
For  Prussia,  the  bull  De  sfdute  animariim,  of  1821,  regu- 
lates that  "  Future  autem  tempore  .  .  .  canonicatus  in 
mensibus  Januarii,  Martii,  Maii,  Jtdii,  Semtcmbris,  ac 
Novembris  .  .  .  vacantcs  conferentur,  quemadmodum 
hactenus  in  capitulo  Wratislaviensi  hactcnus  factum  est" 
(see  Laspcyre,  Gesch.  v.  heti1i;/e  Verthssinit/  d.  Kaf/i.  K. 
Preiissens  [Halle,  1840], i, 339,  3(59,  370).  In  several  oth- 
er countries  the  law  has  fallen  into  disuse,  and  the  ap- 
pointments are  made  bv  the  dioceses. — Herzog,  lieal- 
J-:„.yU„p.ix.:'.:>9.     (.I.N.P.) 

Men-Stealer  {t'nrpaTroUKTTiic),  one  who  kidnaps 
or  decoys  a  free  ])crson  into  slavery,  an  act  condemned 
by  the  apostle  among  the  highest  crimes  (1  Tim.  i,  10). 
The  seizing  or  stealing  of  a  free-born  Israelite,  either  to 


MENSURIUS 


101 


MENUCHITE 


treat  him  as  a  slave  or  sell  him  as  a  slave  to  others,  was 
by  the  law  of  Moses  punished  with  death  (Exod.  xxi, 
1(5;  Deut.  xxiv,  7),  which  the  Jewish  writers  inform  us 
was  inflicted  by  strangling  (see  Wetstein,  ad  loc).  The 
practice  was  likewise  I'orbidden  among  the  Greeks  (see 
Smith's  Diet,  of  Class.  A  iit.  s.  v.  Andrapodismou  Graphe), 
and  was  condemned  by  law  among  the  Romans  (see 
Adams's  Roman  Antiq.  p.  24).     See  Slave. 

Mensurius,  bishop  of  Carthage,  of  whose  personal 
history  but  little  is  known,  figured  very  prominently 
during  the  Diocletian  persecutions.  He  seems  to  have 
been  identified  with  the  liberal  or  Arian  party,  and  to 
have  entertained  heretical  opinions,  to  which  he  gave 
piiblicity  in  books  published  under  the  title  of  "Sa- 
cred Scriptures."  He  opposed  the  enthusiastic  ven- 
eration of  the  confessors  who  were  kept  in  prison  At 
the  synod  held  at  Ceuta,  A.D.  305,  he  was  arraigned  for 
these  acts,  but,  as  most  of  the  African  bishops  were 
accused  of  the  same  crime,  tlie  matter  was  passed  over. 
Later  a  new  charge  was  brought  against  Mensurius,  and 
he  had  to  defend  himself  at  Rome  in  311.  It  seems  that 
he  there  cleared  himself,  but  on  his  return  home  he  died. 
Under  his  successor  in  tlie  bishopric  the  Donatist  quar- 
rels opened.     See  Donatists. 

Mental  Reservation  is  a  term  for  withholding 
or  failing  to  disclose  something  that  affects  a  statement, 
promise,  oath,  etc.,  and  which,  if  disclosed,  woidd  mate- 
rially vary  its  import.  As  this  is  a  false  and  deceitful 
way  of  acting,  it  can  not  be  approved  by  true  morality. 
The  Jesuits,  indeed,  allowed  and  taught  their  pupils  to 
delude  people  by  all  kinds  of  mental  reservations  and 
deceitful  intentions.  With  many  of  them  the  end  sanc- 
tified the  means,  and  so  they  taught  that  even  deceit  by 
false  promises  and  perjuries  is  allowable,  if  only  good 
things  were  attained  thereby  in  the  end.  They  de- 
fended this  manner  of  action  by  the  shallow  pretext  that 
mentally  something  very  different  has  been  promised  or 
sworn  to  from  what  the  spoken  words  declared.  See 
Casuistry;  Moral  Philosophv. 

Mentone,  Bernard  de.     See  Bernard. 

Mentzer,  Balthasar  (1),  a  German  Lutheran  di- 
vine, greatlj'  noted  for  his  decided  opposition  to  the 
Reformed  Church  theologians,  was  born  in  Allendorf, 
Hesse,  February  27,  1505.  He  studied  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Marburg,  where  he  excelled  by  the  display  of 
unusual  talents  and  knowledge.  After  preaching  for 
several  years  at  Kirtorf,  he  was  appointed  in  159G  pro- 
fessor of  theology  at  his  alma  mater.  While  in  this 
position  he  was  involved  in  many  controversies  because 
of  his  prince's  tendency  towards  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformed  Church.  Mentzer  was  especially  radical  in 
his  opposition  to  their  views  on  the  doctrine  of  Ubiq- 
uity, on  Iconockism,  the  Lord's  Supjier,  and  the  Deca- 
logue, and  in  1605  was  actually  forced  to  quit  Marburg, 
and,  together  with  his  colleagues,  Winckelmann  and 
Leuchter,  removed  to  Giessen,  to  take  a  position  in  the 
new  university  founded  by  landgrave  Lewis,  and  there 
became  one  of  the  most  renowned  teachers.  He  died 
Jan.  6,  1627,  at  Marburg,  to  which  place  the  univer- 
sity had  been  removed  in  the  mean  time. 

Mentzer  was  a  pure  Lutheran ;  his  Christian  faith  was 
a  truly  orthodox  belief  in  the  Christological  dogma  as 
fiu-nished  in  the  idiomatic  and  ubiquistic  doctrine.  He 
published  many  works,  most  of  which  bore  a  polemic 
character.  His  Latin  works  were  afterwards  collected 
and  publislied  by  his  son  :  Opera  theolorjica  Laiina 
(Frankf.  1669, 2  vols.  8vo).  His  apologetic  works  against 
Romanism  and  the  Reformed  Church  contain  the  Exege- 
sis Confessionis  Augustance  (Giessen,  1603).  Similar  to 
this  is  his  Repetitio  Chemnitiana.  Challenged  by  the 
work  of  the  Romanist  John  Pistorius  (Wegweiser  Jur 
alle  verfilhrte  C/iristen),'he  wrote  Anti- Pistorius  sui  dis- 
putatio  de  prcecipuis  quibusdnm  controversis  capitibus 
(Marburg,  1600)  : — Erungelischer  Wegweiser  (Marburg, 
1603) ;  and  many  others.  He  engaged  in  a  contro- 
versy with  John  Crocius,  professor  at  Marburg,  against 


whom  he  sent  forth  Ahstersio  calumniarum  J.  Crocii, 
Apologetica,  Anticrocia,  Collatio  Augustance  Confes- 
sionis cum  doctrina  Calvini,  Bezm  et  sociorum  (1610). 
He  had  also  a  controversy  with  John  Sadeel,  of  Paris 
and  Geneva,  jMatthias  Martinius,  at  Herborn,Paul  Stein, 
at  Cassel,  Schcinfeld,  and  Parens :  Elenckeus  erronim 
J.  Sadeelis  in  libello  de  veritate  humance  natures  Chrisfi 
(Giessen,  1615) : — Elenckeus  errorum  J.  Sadeelis  in  libel- 
lo de  sacramentali  manducatione  (Giessen,  1612) : — Anti- 
Martinius  sive  modesfa  et  solida  responsio,  etc.  (Giessen, 
1612)  ;  and  many  others.  These  polemics  concern- 
ing the  human  nature  of  Christ,  the  sacramental  use 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  idiomatic  use  of  im- 
panafio7i,  give  an  idea  of  the  logic  of  the  Reformed 
criticism  and  the  tenacity  of  the  Lutheran  defence. 
The  humanity  of  Clirist,  the  "Word  was  made  flesh, 
and  dwelt  among  us,"  are  the  principal  points  of  Ment- 
zer's  theological  grounds.  He  condemns  his  opponent's 
view  as  Arianistic :  "  Non  igitur  existimo,  unquam  ex- 
stitisse  inter  Christianos,  qui  Christo  homini  vel  natursB 
ejus  humanfe  minus  glorise  et  auctoritatis  et  potentiaj 
tribuendum  censuerint,  quam  Martinium  hunc  Freienha- 
gensem"  {Anti-Martinius,  p.  167).  In  a  communication 
to  Martinius,  Mentzer's  assertion,  "  Ipsa  divina  prte- 
sentia  juxta  sacras  literas  est  actio,"  provoked  another 
controversy  with  his  colleagues  at  Giessen,  professors 
Winckelmann  and  Gisenius.  This  controversy  was 
settled  by  the  landgrave's  personal  interference  only, 
who  in  1607  imposed  silence  and  peace  on  all  parties. 
Mentzer's  principal  work  is  Ntcessaria  etjustu  defensio 
contra  injustas  criminatiunes  L.  Osiandri,  M.  Nicolai, 
Th.  Tummii,  in  qua  multi  de  persona  et  officio  Christi 
erroris  detegiintur  et  7-efutantur  (162'4).  This  was  an- 
swered in  1625  in  Thummi's  Acta.  In  1618  Mentzer 
was  called  to  Wolfenbllttel  to  give  his  opinion  on  Ca- 
lixtus's  Epitome  theologice.  He  never  went  thither,  but 
sent  a  criticism  to  his  son-in-law,  superintendent  Wiede- 
burg,  acknowledging  the  eminent  talents  of  the  author, 
but  judging  his  epitome  from  his  own  narrow  and  ex- 
clusive stand-point.  See  Witten,  Mem.  Theol.  i,  223  sq.; 
Stricdcr.  //(.-•■xi.^c/ii  < :i Ii IirtengescMchte,Yo\.\n\;  Walch, 
Rdig.  .s/n//ii/L;if,ii  ii/iK  r/ialb  der  Luth.-Kirche ;  also, 
Stni/igLtilcii  uusstrluill  der  Luther.- Kirche,  iii,  505  ; 
Henke,  Georg.  Calixtus,  i,  123,  282,  307,  321 ;  ii,  23  ; 
Memo?:  Theol.  i,  223  sq. ;  Gasz,  Gesch.  der  protest.  Theol. 
i,  277,  278;  Walch,  Biblioth.  theologica,  ii,  654;  Dorner, 
Doctrine  of  the  Person  ,f  Christ,  ii,  243  et  al.    (J.  H.  W.) 

Mentzer,  Balthasar  cJ),  son  of  the  preceding, 
was  born  May  14,  1614,  at  Giessen,  and  was  educated  at 
the  University  of  Marburg,  which  he  entered  in  1628, 
but  completed  his  education  at  Strasburg  and  Jena.  In 
1640  he  became  professor  at  Marburg,  in  1648  at  Rin- 
teln.  He  returned  four  years  after  and  got  a  position  at 
the  University  of  Giessen,  and  died  July  28, 1679.  His 
most  important  works  are,  Comjxndium  Theol.  Chi-ist. 
(Rinteln,  1649)  -.—Qucesff.  Theol.  ad  Aug.  Conf.  (Darmst. 
1668;  often  republished;  at  last  at  Rinteln,  1753):— 
De  termino  vitm  (1647),  and  Af)ij<  ui'tlrigte  fernere  Er- 
kldrung  der  Frage  vom  Zii  I  '/<  >  im  Kschlichen  Lebens  (Rin- 
teln, 1649) :— A'MJ-zes  Beihnhn  iih.r  Wahrenberg's  Ge- 
sjirdch  von  der  Polygamie  (Damist.  1671) ;  etc. 

Menu.     See  Manu. 

Menuchah  (Heb.  Menuchah',  ntl^Up,  rest,  as  of- 
ten) appears  in  the  marg.  of  the  A.V.  at  Judg.  xxj'43 
(Sept.  [Vat.]  dTTo  Noi>«,  Vulg.  and  A.  V.  "  with  ease," 
as  if  nn^li^),  and  Jer.  Ii,  59  (Sept.  Su)pm>,\\.\\g.pro- 
j)hetice,  A.Y.  "quiet").  The  Sept.  likewise,  in  the  re- 
markable list  of  additional  towns  in  Judah  (Josh,  xv, 
59),  seems  to  make  mention  of  it  {Mai>o\M^.  Fiirst 
{Ileb.  Lex.  s.  v.)  thinks  it  the  place  in  Benjamin  called 
Manochath  (1  Chron.  viii,  6)  or  Hat  si-ham- Menuchoth 
(1  Chron.  ii,  54).  But  all  this  is  doubtful,  and  the  word 
is  rather  an  appellative.     See  Menuchite. 

Meniichite  or  Menuchoth  is  given  in  the  mar- 
gin of  the  A.V.  at  1  Chron.  ii.  52,  54,  in  place  of  "Ma- 
nahethite"  of  the  textual  rendering,  as  an  alternative 


MENYMEXI 


102 


MEOXEXDI 


rendering  of  the  Heb.  Menuchoth'  (pMli'O,  ver.  52)  or 
Menachti'  Ctnnj'p,  ver.  54),  which,  as  far  as  can  be 
gathered  from  the  obscure  and  confused  passage,  seems 
to  be  assigned  as  a  general  name  of  certain  descendants 
of  Judah,  classified  according  to  some  localitj'  settled  or 
inhabited  by  them.  Some  (as  apparently  the  A.  V.) 
have  referred  this  presumed  place  to  the  Manahath  (q. 
V.)  of  1  Cliron.  viii,  G;  but  this  was  either  in  Benjamin 
or  Moab,  certainly'  not  in  Judah.  Others  have  found  it 
in  the  Menuchah  (q.  v.)  sui)poscd  to  be  referred  to  in 
Judg.  XX,  43  ;  but  of  the  existence  of  this  latter  there  is 
very  great  doubt.  The  ancient  versions  are  able  to 
make  nothing  intelligible  out  of  the  passage.  Thus 
much  is  clear,  that  the  IJdtsi-ham-Menuchoth  of  ver.  52 
corresponds  as  one  half  eitlier  of  a  lineage  or  of  a  dis- 
trict to  the  other  half  which  appears  in  ver.  54  as  llatsi- 
ham-Menachti ;  but  the  relation  between  the  noun  Me- 
nuchoth and  the  adjective  Menachthite  we  cannot  dis- 
cover. Tiie  latter  of  these  two  moieties  is  predicated 
of  the  son  of  Salma,  the  former  of  the  son  of  Shobal. 
As  of  Shobal,  however,  sons  are  announced,  we  must 
recognise  in  Ilaroeh  the  name  of  another  son ;  more- 
over, in  chap,  iv,  2,  Keaiah  ajjpears  as  a  son  of  Shobal, 
and  this  name  so  closely  resembles  Ilaroeh  that  we  may 
suppose  them  identical.  Haroeh  and  Keaiah  are  thus 
associated  as  the  two  sons  of  Shobah,  and  the  1  connect- 
ive ("and")  may  have  originally  stood  between  them 
in  the  text.  Haroeh,  indeed,  may  be  resolved  into  the 
article  and  a  jiarticiple  (nxnn  =  //«e  seei-),  and  thus  be 
reduced  to  a  mere  ajipellation  or  attribute,  but  this 
woidd  not  help  the  narrative.  Ilatsi-ham-Menuchoth, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  a  less  natural  form  for  a  patrial 
name  than  Ilatsi-ham-ISIenachti,  and  this  would  seem 
to  designate  an  original  or  ancestor  by  the  name  of  ]Ma- 
nachath  (rn3w),  a  form  which  actually  occurs  else- 
where as  the  name  of  a  man.  See  Manahath.  Now 
as  Shobal  is  rciteatedly  stated  to  be  the  "  father"  (found- 
er) of  Kirjath-jearim,  his  sons  of  course,  in  part  at  least, 
settled  there.  We  may  therefore  clear  uj)  ver.  52  by 
interpreting  it  as  meaning  that  Shobal  had  two  sons, 
Keaiah  and  Manahath,  and  that  part  of  the  descendants 
of  the  latter  settled  at  Kirjath-jearim,  becoming  the 
heads  of  the  families  named  in  ver.  53.  The  other  por- 
tion of  the  Manahathites  appear  to  have  colonized  at 
Zorah,  in  the  adjoining  territory  of  Dan ;  and  are  hence, 
for  some  reason  not  clear,  classed  in  ver.  54  with  the 
descendants  of  Shobal's  brother  Salma  as  "Zorites," 
that  city  being  perhaps  chiefly  occupied  by  the  latter. 
Yet  it  is  a  singular  circumstance  that  in  chap,  iv,  1,  2, 
Keaiah's  posterity  are  said  to  have  peopled  this  city,  if, 
indeed,  that  be  the  just  interpretation  of  "  Zorathites." 
See  ZouAii. 

Menymeni  (^\^vvlnvol,  lite  initiated)  was  the 
nainc'  given,  es])ecially  in  the  4th  and  5th  centuries,  to 
full  members  of  the  Cluirch  of  Christ.  It  originated 
in  the  supposed  analogy  between  l)aptism  and  the  rites 
of  initiation  into  the  sacred  mysteries  of  the  heathen. 
The  phrase  laaair  ol  iiinvi]fi'ivoi,  "the  initiated  know," 
occurs  about  fifty  times  in  the  works  of  Augustine  and 
Chrysostom.  In  like  manner  /iojUTat,  iivaTnybjytjToi, 
fivaraytoyoi,  and  other  terms  borrowed  from  the  hea- 
then mysteries,  arc  applied  to  the  Christian  rites.  All 
these  expressions,  which  came  into  general  use  in  the 
4th  century,  mark  the  prevalence  of  that  system  of  se- 
cret instruction  or  doctrine  which  we  noticed  in  the  ar- 
ticle AucANi  Discu'LiNA,  See  Kiddle,  Christian  An- 
tiqiiitii'S,  p.  195. 

Meon.  See  Baai.-.mkon  ;  Ih:Tii-nAAi.-Mi:oN  : 
Bktii-jif.ox. 

Meon'enim  (Ileb.  MeOnmim')  occurs  in  the  Auth. 
Vers.  (Judg.  ix,  37)  in  the  proper  name  Elon-Meonenim 
(D''33'lj!a  "ibx),  "the  plain;"  or,  as  it  should  be  ren- 
dered,^Ae  oak  of  Afeotwnim  (Sept."H\w»'  Mawviri^  v.  r. 
ipvoQ  d7ro/i/\t7rovrw»',marg.  "regarders  of  limes").   Me- 


onenim  (variously  rendered  in  the  Auth. Vers. "sooth- 
sayers," "  regarders  of  times,"  etc.)  means  sorcerers,  and 
is  derived  either  from  DJT",  "time"  (Exod.  xxi,  10), 
from  ■jl'?,  "  the  eye,"  or  else,  which  is  more  probable, 
from  '5^*,  "a  cloud;"  it  means,  therefore,  those  dealers 
in  forbidden  arts  who  observe  times,  or  practice  fascina- 
tion, or  take  auguries  from  the  signs  of  the  sky.  See 
DivixATios.  Wliatever  was  its  original  meaning,  Me- 
onenim  was  afterwards  used  in  a  perfectly  general  sense 
(Deut.  xviii,  10,  14;  2  Kings  xxi,  G;  jMicah  v,  12)  for 
wizards.  In  this  article,  therefore  (which  we  adopt  sub- 
stantially from  Kitto),  we  are  only  concerned  with  "the 
oak  of  the  sorcerers,"  a  celebrated  tree  near  Shechem, 
mentioned  in  Judg.  ix,  37,  where  Gaal,  son  of  Ebed,  the 
Shcchemite  conspirator,  standing  "  in  the  entering  of 
the  gate,"  saw  the  soldiers  of  Abimelech  first  on  the 
hill-tops,  and  then  in  two  companies,  of  which  one  ap- 
proacheil  b\'  the  "  oak  of  the  sorcerers,"  which  is  evi- 
dently pointed  out  as  a  conspicuous  land-mark.  It  woidd 
be  the  better  suited  for  this  pnr|)ose  because  oaks  are 
rare  in  Palestine,  except  in  the  hills.  For  other  trees 
used  as  land-marks,  see  Gen.  xxxv,  8 ;  1  Sam.  xxii,  6 ; 
x,3;  xiv,  2,  etc.  Now  it  happens  that  in  Scripture  no 
less  than  four  other  celebrated  trees  in  the  immediate 
neighborliood  of  Shechem  are  prominently  mentioned 
in  conned  ion  with  important  events,  and  it  is  interest- 
ing to  inquire  whether  all  or  any  of  these  can  be  identi- 
fied with  "  the  sorcerers  oak."     See  Oak. 

1.  In  Gen.  xii,  G  we  are  told  that  Abraham  "passed 
through  the  land  unto  the  place  of  Sichem,  unto  the 
oak  of  Moreh"  (Sept.  ti'iv  Cpvf  n)v  vxprjXiit'),  where  the 
use  of  the  singular  points  to  one  tree  of  note,  although 
at  Shechem  there  was  a  grove  of  oaks  (Deut.  xi,  30). 
It  was,  therefore,  in  all  probability  conspicuous  for  size 
and  beauty,  and  the  vision  which  Abraham  there  com- 
memorated by  building  an  altar  would  add  to  it  a  sa- 
cred and  venerable  association.     See  Auuaham. 

2.  In  Gen.  xxxv,  4  we  read  that  Jacob,  on  his  way  to 
Bethel,  took  from  his  family  all  tlie  strange  gods  which 
were  in  their  hand,  and  all  their  ear-rings  which  were 
in  their  ears,  and  hid  them  under  the  oak  which  was  by 
Shechem  (Cr'::-Dy  "irx  n^xri).  The  use  of  the  ar- 
ticle in  this  verse  is  not,  indeed,  absolutely  decisive,  but 
would  lead  naturally  to  the  supposition  that  this  tree 
was  the  one  already  so  famous  in  the  religious  history 
of  the  Israelitish  family.  That  nbx  is  used  (Sept.  repi- 
iSiv^oc')  and  not  "ibx,  is  a  consideration  of  no  impor- 
tance, for  it  seems  certain  that  the  two  words  are  synon- 
j-mous  (see  Gesenius,  T/iesaiir.  p.  50,51),  or  at  any  rate 
are  used  interchangeably.     See  Tekkhinth. 

3.  In  Josh,  xxiv,  2G,  Joshua,  after  addressing  the  as- 
sembled tribes  at  Shechem,  "took  a  great  stone  and  set 
it  up  there  under  an  oak  {the  oak,  n^xn)  that  was  by 
the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord."  The  use  of  the  definite  ar- 
ticle again  renders  it  probable  that  this  is  the  same  tree 
as  that  which  had  been  connected  with  tlie  memories 
of  Abraliarn's  vision,  and  Jacob's  rejection  of  idolatrous 
possessions;  and  the  probability  is  slrengthcned  into 
certainty  by  the  fact  that  Joshua's  injunction  in  ver.  14 
("put  away  the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  on  the 
other  side  of  the  flood")  is  almost  identical  with  that 
which  Jacob  had  addressed  to  his  family  on  that  very 
spot  (Gen.  xxxv,  2)  some  300  years  before.  Kalisch,  in- 
deed, objects  that  a  "sanctuary  of  the  Lord"  would  nev- 
er have  been  erected  at  the  jilace  of  idols  (^(ienesij),  p. 
58G) ;  but,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  several  of  the 
Jewish  high-jilaces  seem  to  have  been  also  connected 
with  the  worship  of  the  Canaanitcs,  a  place  where  idols 
had  been  buried,  and  so  rejected  and  scorned,  would 
surely  be  most  fitted  for  the  sanctuary,  especially  if  it 
had  been  hallowed  by  a  previous  jirotest  made  liy  the 
great  forefather  of  the  race  against  the  idolatry  which 
there  surrounded  him  ((Jen.  xii,  7). 

4.  In  Judg.  ix,  G,  we  read  that  "  all  the  men  of  She- 
chem  .  .   .  made  Abimelech  king,  by  the  oak  (A-V. 


MEONOTHAI 


103 


MEPHIBOSHETH 


plain)  of  the  pillar  that  was  in  Shechem"  Ci'l^S'fi^ 
CD":33  "I'iiX  asp.  The  word  2Sp,  muistsab',  is  very 
obscure,  and  Jerome's  version,  "quercus  qute  stabat  in 
Sichem,"  seems  to  show  that  it  may  once  have  followed 
"idX.  The  Sept.  renders  it  irpbg  tij  (iaXuvqj  (rtj  tvptrrj) 
r;7c  ardaeiDQ  rijc  tv  SiKi'yuoic,  where  (jtcktis  means  "  a 
miUtary  station,"  a  rendering  approved  by  Gesenius 
{Thesa'ur.  p.  90-1),  who  compares  Isa.  xxix,  3.  Our  A.  V. 
refers  it  to  the  sacred  stone  set  up  by  Joshua,  and  this 
seems  a  very  probable  rendering,  from  the  constant  use 
of  the  word  riuiUtsebdh  for  similar  erections  (Gen.xxviii, 
18;  Exod.  xxiv,  4;  2  Kings  iii,  2;  Micah  v,  13,  etc.). 
It  seems  further  possible  that  during  the  confusions 
^vhich  prevailed  in  the  country  after  Joshua's  death, 
the  stone  which  he  had  erected  beneath  it,  and  which 
he  invested,  even  though  only  in  metaphor,  with  quali- 
ties so  like  those  which  the  Canaanites  attributed  to 
the  stones  they  worshipped —during  these  confused 
times  this  famous  block  may  have  become  sacred  among 
the  Canaanites,  one  of  their  •' matstsebahs"  [see  Idol], 
and  thus  the  tree  have  acquired  the  name  of  "  the  oak 
of  Mutstsab"  from  the  fetish  below  it.  The  argument 
that  this  tree  cannot  be  identical  with  Jacob's,  because 
that  is  spoken  of  as  neai-  (D"),  and  this  as  in  (3)  She- 
chem, is  quite  unconvincing,  both  because  the  use  of 
the  prepositions  by  Hebrew  writers  is  by  no  means  mi- 
nutely accurate,  in  this  way  corresponding  to  their  gen- 
eral dyeioypafia,  and  because  Shechem  may  mean  the 
district  round  the  city,  as  well  as  the  city  itself.  (For  a 
decisive  case  in  point,  see  Josh,  v,  13,  where  the  Vulgate 
rightly  renders  irT^T^a  by  "  *ft  agris  iirhis  Jericho.") 
We  believe,  therefore,  that  all  these  trees  are  one  and 
the  same,  which  thus  becomes  connected  with  four  most 
memorable  events  in  the  lives  of  Abraham,  Jacob,  Josh- 
ua, and  Abimelech. 

AVas  this  tree  also  the  "oak  of  the  sorcerers?"  There 
might  at  first  seem  to  be  a  positive  reason  against  the 
identification,  because  (1.)  The  name  "sorcerers,"  or  "en- 
chanters," would  not  be  particularly  suitable  to  the  tree, 
which  Kalisch  also  thinks  might  with  more  propriety 
have  been  called  the  "  oak  of  idols,"  or  of  "  witchcraft," 
than  the  oak  of  enchanters  (^Genesis,  p.  586) ;  and  (2.) 
Because  Gaal  evidently  points  to  the  EIon-Meonenim 
at  a  distance  from  the  city,  whereas  Jacob's  tree  was  in 
it.  Of  this  second  argument  we  have  already  dis- 
posed ;  and  besides,  Gaal's  expression  may  merely  mean 
that  one  company  was  on  the  road  which  led  by  "  the 
sorcerer's  oak."  As  regards  the  first  argument,  the  Elon- 
Meonenim  may  have  been  the  same  as  Jacob's  tree,  and 
yet  not  have  received  its  name  from  the  idols  and  amu- 
lets which  Jacob  buried  there.  The  close  connection 
of  ear-rings  with  talismans  and  magic  arts  is  well  known, 
and  in  the  Chaldee  the  word  used  for  ear-ring  is  X^'^'HiTi, 
so  that  it  does  seem  reasonable  to  suppose  that  there 
is  a  connection  between  the  name  and  the  event.  But 
if  not,  may  not  the  name  have  originated  in  some  use 
made  of  the  tree  by  the  jjriests  and  necromancers  of  the 
neighboring  shrine  of  Baal-Berith?  (Judg.  viii,  33 ;  ix, 
36).  If  it  be  asked  how  it  was  that  a  tree  so  sacred  as 
this  could  have  received  an  ojiprobrious  name,  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  this  name  onlj'  occurs  on  the  lips 
of  Gaal,  who  in  all  probability  was  an  aboriginal  Ca- 
naanite  of  the  old  royal  family  (ix,  28 ;  comp.  Gen. 
xxxiv,  2,  6),  and  who  would  therefore  be  likely  to  call 
the  tree  by  a  name  derived  from  its  associations  with 
idolatrous  rather  than  with  Jewish  worship.    See  Gaal. 

Meon'othai  (Heb.  Mednoihay',  "irbisp,  my  habi- 
tations ;  Sept.  Mai'aSri  v.  r.  Maiovaiii),  the  father 
(?  founder)  of  Ophrah,  and  apparently  the  brother  of 
Hathath,  the  sou  of  Othniel  (1  Chron.  iv,  14).  B.C. 
post  1612. 

Meph'aath  [some  Mepha'ath}  (Ueh.Meypha'ath, 
!^"S"^p,  prob.  splendor ;  once  defectively  written  Ti' S'2, 
Josh,  xiii,  18,  and  once  [Kethib]  n> Sio,  Jer.  xlviii,  21 ; 


Sept,  Mr](pda^  in  Josh.,  <Paa^  v.  r.  Maf^Xa  in  Chron. _, 
and  Mafdg  v.  r.  Mw(pd^  in  Jer.),  a  Levitical  (Merarite) 
city  (Josh,  xxi,  37 ;  1  Chron.  vi,  79)  of  the  tribe  of  Reu- 
ben (Josh,  xiii,  18),  doubtless  originally  (like  Heshbon, 
of  which  it  formed  a  dependency)  in  the  hands  of  the 
Amorites  (Numb,  xxi,  26),  but  afterwards  belonging  to 
Moab  (Jer.  xlviii,  21) ;  probably  situated  near  Kede- 
moth  and  Jahazah,  in  connection  with  which  it  is  al- 
^^'ays  mentioned.  Eusebius  (Onomast.)  calls  it  Mephath 
(M))0aS),  and  states  that  it  was  still  occupied  by  a  Ro- 
man garrison  as  a  defence  against  the  Arabs  of  the 
neighboring  desert.  As  the  name  implies  a  conspicu- 
ous position,  the  site  may  possibly  correspond  with  tliat 
of  the  modern  village  with  ruins  on  an  eminence  marked 
as  Urn  el-Weled  on  Van  de  Velde's  Jlap,  east  of  Mede- 
ba.  "The  extended,  and  possibly  later,  form  of  the 
name  which  occurs  in  Chronicles  and  Jeremiah,  as  if 
Mey  Phaath,  '  waters  of  Phaath,'  may  be,  as  in  other 
cases,  an  attempt  to  fix  an  intelligible  meaning  on  an 
archaic  or  foreign  word"  (Smith) ;  although  the  fuller 
form  appears  to  be  radical  (so  both  Gesenius  and  Fiirst, 
from  S'S'',  to  glitter,  be  eminent), 

Mephib'osheth  (Heb.  Mephibo'sheth,  niyn'^Sp 
[twice  defectively  Ddnsp,  2  Sam,  xix,  24;  xxi,  8], 
exterminator  of  the  shame,  i.  e.  idols  or  Baal,  see  Simo- 
nis  Lex.  V.  T.  p.  160;  Ewald,  Isr.  Gesch.  ii,  383;  Sept. 
Mf0i/3o(Tf5  V.  r.  Mip<pLj3oaSrs,  Yulg.  Miphiboseth,  Jose- 
phus  Mfju^('/3o(T^oc),  the  name  of  two  of  king  Saul's 
descendants.  "  Bosheth  appears  to  have  been  a  favor- 
ite appellation  in  Saul's  family,  for  it  forms  a  part  of  the 
names  of  no  fewer  than  three  members  of  it — Ish-bo- 
sheth  and  the  two  Mephi-bosheths.  But  in  the  gene- 
alogies preserved  in  1  Chronicles  these  names  are  given 
in  the  different  forms  of  Esh-baal  and  Merib-baal.  The 
variation  is  identical  with  that  of  Jerub-baal  and  Jerub- 
besheth,  and  is  in  accordance  with  passages  in  Jeremiah 
(xi,  13)  and  Hosea  (ix,  10),  where  Baal  and  Bosheth 
appear  to  be  convertible  or,  at  least,. related  terms,  the 
latter  being  used  as  a  contemptuous  or  derisive  syno- 
nyme  of  the  former.  One  inference  from  this  would  be 
that  the  persons  in  question  were  originally  named  Baal ; 
that  this  appears  in  the  two  fragments  of  the  family 
records  preservedin  Chronicles;  but  that  in  Samuel  the 
hateful  heathen  name  has  been  uniformly  erased,  and 
the  nickname  of  Bosheth  substituted  for  it.  It  is  some 
support  to  this  to  find  that  Saul  had  an  ancestor  named 
Baal,  who  appears  in  the  lists  of  Chronicles  only  (1 
Chron.  viii,  30 ;  ix,  36).  But  such  a  change  in  the  rec- 
ord supposes  an  amount  of  editing  and  interpolation 
which  would  hardly  have  been  accomplished  without 
leaving  more  obvious  traces,  in  reasons  given  for  the 
change,  etc.  How  different  it  is,  for  example,  from  the 
case  of  Jerub-besheth,  where  the  alteration  is  mentioned 
and  commented  on.  Still  the  facts  are  as  above  stated, 
whatever  explanation  may  be  given  of  them"  (Smith). 

See  ISHBOSHETH, 

1,  Saul's  son  by  his  concubine  Rizpah,  the  daughter 
of  Aiah  (2  Sam,  xxi,  8),  He  and  his  brother  Armoni 
were  among  the  seven  victims  who  were  surrendered 
by  David  to  the  Gibeonites,  and  by  them  crucified  in 
sacrifice  to  Jehovah,  to  avert  a  famine  from  which  the 
country  was  suffering.  There  is  no  doubt  about  this 
being  the  real  meaning  of  the  word  'S'Q'^,  translated 
here  and  in  Numb,  xxv,  4  "hanged  up"  (see  Michaelis's 
Supplement,  No.  1046;  also  Gesenius,  Thesaur.  p,  620; 
and  Fiirst,  Handwb.  p.  539  6).  Aquila  has  di'mrriyvvpt, 
understanding  them  to  have  been  not  crucified  but  im- 
paled. The  Vulgate  reads  crucifixerunt  (ver,  9),  and 
qui  affixi  fuerant  (ver.  13).  The  Hebrew  term  is  en- 
tirely distinct  from  tlbri,  also  rendered  "to  hang"  in 
the  A.  v.,  which  is  its  real  signification.  It  is  this  lat- 
ter word  which  is  employed  in  the  story  of  the  five 
kings  of  Makkedah ;  in  the  account  of  the  indignities 
practiced  on  Saul's  bodj',  2  Sam.  xxi,  12;  on  Baanah 
and  Rechab  by  David,  "2  Sam.  iv,  12 ;  and  elsewhere. 


MEPHIBOSHETH 


104 


IMEPHIBOSHETH 


The  seven  corpses,  protected  by  the  tender  care  of  the 
mother  of  Mephibosheth  from  the  attacks  of  bird  and 
beast,  were  exposed  on  their  crosses  to  the  fierce  sua  of 
at  least  live  of  the  midsummer  months,  on  the  sacred 
eminence  of  Gibeah.  This  period  results  from  the  state- 
ment that  they  hung  from  barley  harvest  (April)  till 
the  commencement  of  the  rains  (October);  but  it  is  also 
worthy  of  notice  that  the  Sept.  lias  employed  the  word 
i'i,i]\ui'L,tiv,  "  to  expose  to  the  sun."  It  is  also  remark- 
able that  on  the  only  other  occasion  on  which  this  He- 
brew term  is  used — Numb,  xxv,  4 — an  express  command 
was  given  that  the  victims  should  be  crucified  '-in  front 
of  tlic  sun."  At  tlie  end  of  tliat  time  the  attention  of 
David  was  called  to  the  circumstance,  and  also  possibly 
to  the  fact  that  tlie  sacrifice  had  failed  in  its  pur[)ose. 
A  different  method  was  tried:  the  bones  of  Saul  and 
Jonathan  were  disinterred  from  their  resting-place  at 
the  foot  of  the  great  tree  at  Jaljesh-Gilead,  the  blanched 
and  withered  remains  of  Mephiboshetfi,  his  brother,  and 
his  five  relatives,  were  taken  down  from  the  crosses, 
and  father,  son,  and  grandsons  found  at  last  a  resting- 
jilace  together  in  the  ancestral  cave  of  Kish  at  Zelah. 
^\■hen  this  liad  been  done,  "  God  was  entreated  for  the 
land,"  and  the  famine  ceased.— Smith.  B.C.  1053-1019. 
See  KizpAii. 

2.  The  son  of  Jonathan  and  grandson  of  king  Saul 
(2  Sam.  iv,  4;  in  which  sense  "  the  son  of  Saul"  is  to  be 
taken  in  2  Sam.  xix,  24;  see  Gesenius,  Thesaur.  p.  21G) ; 
called  also  by  the  equivalent  name  of  Meuibbaal  (1 
Chron.  ix,  40).  The  following  account  of  his  history 
and  character  embraces  much  of  the  matter  found  in 
Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible^  s.  v.,  with  modifications 
and  additions. 

1.  His  life  seems  to  have  been,  from  beginning  to  end, 
one  of  trial  and  discomfort.  Tlie  name  of  his  mother  is 
iniknown.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  she  died 
shortly  after  his  birth,  and  that  he  was  an  onlj^  child. 
At  any  rate,  we  know  for  certain  that  when  his  father 
and  grandfather  were  slain  on  (iilboa  he  was  an  infant 
of  but  five  years  old.  E.G.  1053.  He  was  tlien  living 
under  the  charge  of  his  nurse,  probably  at  (iibeah,  the 
regular  residence  of  Saul.  Tlie  tidings  that  the  army 
was  destroyed,  the  king  and  his  sons  slain,  and  that  the 
riiilistines,  spreading  from  hill  to  hill  of  the  country, 
were  sweeping  all  before  tliem,  reached  the  royal  house- 
hold. Tlie  nurse,  jierhaps  apprehending  that  the  enemy 
were  seeking  to  exterminate  the  whole  royal  family, 
fled,  carrying  the  child  on  her  shoulder.  This  is  the 
statement  of  Josejjhus  (utto  tmv  wjnav.  Ant.  vii,  5,  5) ; 
but  it  is  hardly  necessarj-,  for  in  the  East  cliildren  are 
always  carried  on  the  shoulder  (see  Lane's  Mod.  Ei/yp- 
//ans,  ch.  i,  p.  52,  and  the  art.  Cim.i)).  But  in  her  panic 
and  hurry  she  stumbled,  and  Jleiihibosheth  was  precip- 
itated to  the  ground  with  such  force  as  to  deprive  him 
for  life  of  the  use  of  both  feet  (2  Sam.  iv,  4).  These 
early  misfortunes  threw  a  shade  over  his  whole  life,  and 
his  personal  deformity — as  is  often  the  case  where  it  has 
been  the  result  of  accident — seems  to  have  exercised  a 
depressing  and  depreciatory  influence  on  his  character. 
He  can  never  forget  that  he  is  a  poor  lame  slave  (2 
Sam.  xix,  2fj),  and  unable  to  walk;  a  dead  dog  (ix,  8) ; 
that  all  the  house  of  his  father  were  dead  (xix,  28); 
that  the  king  is  an  angel  of  God  (ib.  27),  and  he  his  ab- 
ject dci)endent  (ix,  G,  8).  He  receives  the  slanders  of 
Ziba  and  the  harshness  of  David  alike  with  a  submis- 
sive efiuaiiiinity  which  is  quite  touching,  and  which  ef- 
fectually wins  our  sympathy. 

2.  After  the  accident  which  thus  embittered  his  whole 
existence,  IMephibosheth  was  carried  with  the  rest  of 
his  family  beyond  the  Jordan  to  the  mountains  of  (Jil- 
ead,  where  he  found  a  refuge  in  the  house  of  JIachir 
ben-Ammiel,  a  powerful  (iadite  or  Manassite  sheik  at 
Lo-debar,  not  far  from  jNIahanaim,  which  during  the 
reign  Of  his  uncle  Islibosheth  was  the  head-quarters  of 
his  family.  15y  Machir  he  was  brouj^ht  up  (^Josejiluis, 
,l«/.vii,5,5);  tliere  he  married, and  there  he  wasliving 
at  a  later  period,  when  David,  having  completed  the 


subjugation  of  the  adversaries  of  Israel  on  every  side, 
had  leisure  to  turn  his  attention  to  claims  of  other  and 
less  pressing  descriptions.  The  solemn  oath  which 
he  had  sworn  to  the  father  of  Mephibosheth  at  their 
critical  interview  by  the  stone  Ezel,  that  he  ''would 
not  cut  off  his  kindness  from  the  house  of  Jonathan 
forever:  no,  not  when  Jehovah  had  cut  off  the  ene- 
mies of  David  each  one  from  the  face  of  the  earth" 
(1  Sam.  XX,  15) ;  and  again,  that  "Jehovah  should  be 
between  Jonathan's  seed  and  his  seed  forever"  (ver.42), 
was  naturally  the  first  thing  that  occurred  to  liim,  and 
he  eagerly  inqiured  who  was  left  of  the  house  of  Saul, 
that  he  might  show  kindness  to  him  for  Jonathan's 
sake  (2  Sam.  L\,  1).  So  completely  had  the  family  of 
the  late  king  vanished  from  the  western  side  of  Jordan 
that  the  only  person  to  be  met  with  in  any  way  related 
to  them  was  one  Ziba,  formerly  a  slave  of  the  royal 
house,  but  now  a  freed  man,  with  a  famOy  of  fifteen 
sons,  who,  by  arts  which,  from  the  glimpse  we  subse- 
quently have  of  his  character,  are  not  difficult  to  unc'.cr- 
stand,  must  have  acquired  considerable  substance,  since 
he  was  possessed  of  an  establishment  of  twenty  slaves 
of  his  own.  From  this  man  David  learned  of  the  ex- 
istence of  jNIephibosheth.  Koyal  messengers  were  sent 
to  the  house  of  Machir  at  I^i-debar,  in  the  mountains  of 
Gilead,  and  by  them  the  prince  and  his  infant  son  Mi- 
chah  (comp.  1  Chron,  ix,  40)  were  brought  to  Jerusalem. 
The  interview  with  David  was  marked  bj'  extreme  kind- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  king,  and  on  that  of  Jlephibo- 
sheth  by  the  fear  and  humility  which  have  been  pointed 
out  as  characteristic  of  him.  He  leaves  the  royal  pres- 
ence with  all  the  property  of  his  grandfather  restored 
to  him,  and  with  the  whole  family  and  establishment 
of  Ziba  as  his  slaves,  to  cultivate  the  land  and  harvest 
the  produce.  He  himself  is  to  be  a  daily  guest  at  Da- 
vid's table.  From  this  time  forward  lie  resided  at  Jeru- 
salem (2  Sam.  ix).  B.C.  cir.  1037.  See  Kitto's  Daily 
Bible  Illust.  ad  loc. 

3.  An  interval  of  about  fourteen  years  now  passes, 
and  the  crisis  of  David's  life  arrives.  See  David.  Of 
Mephibosheth's  behavior  on  this  occasion  we  possess 
two  accounts — his  own  (2  Sam.  xix,  24-30),  and  that  of 
Ziba  (xvi,  1-4).  They  are  naturally  at  variance  with 
each  other.  (1.)  Ziba  meets  the  king  on  his  flight  at 
the  most  opportune  moment,  just  as  David  has  under- 
gone the  most  trying  part  of  that  trying  day's  journey, 
has  taken  the  last  look  at  the  city  so  peculiarly  liis  own, 
and  completed  the  hot  and  toilsome  ascent  of  the  Jlount 
of  Olives.  He  is  on  foot,  and  is  in  want  of  relief  and 
refreshment.  The  relief  and  refreshment  are  there. 
There  stand  a  couple  of  strong  he-asses  ready  saddled 
for  the  king  or  his  household  to  make  the  descent  upon ; 
and  there  are  bread,  grapes,  melons,  and  a  skin  of  wine; 
and  there — the  donor  of  these  Avelcome  gifts— is  Ziba, 
with  respect  in  his  look  and  sympathy  on  his  tongue. 
Of  course  the  whole,  though  offered  as  Ziba's,  is  the 
property  of  Mephibosheth :  the  asses  are  his,  one  of 
them  his  own  riding  animal  ("i^iri,  both  in  xvii,  2,  and 
xix,  2G) ;  the  fruits  are  from  his  gardens  and  orchards. 
But  why  is  not  their  owner  here  in  person  ?  Where  is 
the  "son  of  Saul?"  He,  says  Ziba,  is  in  Jerusalem, 
waiting  to  receive  from  the  nation  the  throne  of  his 
grandfather,  that  throne  from  which  he  lias  so  long  been 
unjustly  excluded.  Such  an  aspiration  would  be  very 
natural,  but  it  must  have  been  speedily  dissipated  bj' 
the  thought  that  he  at  least  would  be  likely  to  gain  lit- 
tle by  Absalom's  rebellion.  Still  it  must  be  confessed 
that  Ziba's  tale  at  first  sight  is  a  most  plausible  one,  and 
that  the  answer  of  David  is  no  more  than  was  to  be  ex- 
liected.  So  the  presumed  ingratitude  of  IMephibosheth 
j  is  requited  with  the  ruin  he  deser\-es.  while  the  loyalty 
and  thoughtful  courtesy  of  Ziba  are  rewarded  by  the 
!  ])ossessions  of  his  master,  thus  reinstating  him  in  the 
i  position  which  he  seems  to  have  occupied  on  IMephibo- 
j  sheth's  arrival  in  Judah,  (2.)  jMcphibosheth's  story — 
1  which,  however,  he  had  not  the  opportunity  of  telling 


MERAB 


105 


MERAN 


until  several  clays  later,  when  he  met  David  returning 
to  his  kingdom  at  the  western  bank  of  the  Jordan — was 
very  difterent  from  Ziba's.  He  had  been  desirous  to  fly 
with  his  patron  and  benefactor,  and  had  ordered  Ziba 
to  make  ready  his  ass  that  he  might  join  the  cortege. 
But  Ziba  had  deceived  him,  had  left  him,  and  not  re- 
turned with  tlie  asses.  In  his  helpless  condition  he  had 
no  alternative,  when  once  the  opportunity  of  accom- 
panying David  was  lost,  but  to  remain  where  he  was. 
The  swift  pursuit  which  had  been  made  after  Ahimaaz 
and  Jonathan  (2  Sam.  xvii)  had  shown  what  risks  even 
a  strong  and  able  man  must  run  who  would  try  to  follow 
the  king.  But  all  that  he  could  do  under  the  circum- 
stances he  had  done.  He  had  gone  into  the  deepest 
mourning  possible  (the  same  as  in  xii,  20)  for  his  lost 
friend.  From  tlie  very  day  that  David  left  he  had  al- 
lowed his  beard  to  grow  ragged,  bis  crippled  feet  were 
unwashed  (Jerome,  however,  jjedibus  inftctis — alluding 
to  false  wooden  feet  which  he  was  accustomed  to  wear, 
Quw.st.  Ileb.  ad  loc.)  and  untended,  his  linen  remained 
unchanged.  That  David  did  not  disbelieve  this  story 
is  shown  by  his  revoking  the  judgment  he  had  previ- 
ously given.  That  he  did  not  entirely  reverse  his  de- 
cision, but  allowed  Ziba  to  retain  possession  of  half  the 
lands  of  Mephibosheth,  is  probably  due  partly  to  weari- 
ness at  the  whole  transaction,  but  mainly  to  the  concili- 
atory frame  of  mind  in  which  he  was  at  that  moment. 
"  ShaU,  then,  any  man  be  put  to  death  this  day?"  is  the 
key  note  of  the  whole  proceeding.  David  could  not  but 
have  been  sensible  that  he  had  acted  hastily,  and  was 
doubtless  touched  by  the  devotedness  of  his  friend's  son, 
as  well  as  angry  at  the  imposition  of  Ziba;  but,  as  he 
was  not  wholly  convinced  of  Mephibosheth's  iiuiocence, 
and  as  there  was  at  the  time  no  opportunity  to  examine 
fully  into  the  matter,  perhaps  also  actuated  by  the  pride 
of  an  already  expressed  judgment  or  bj^  reluctance  to 
offend  Ziba,  who  had  adhered  to  him  when  so  many  old 
friends  forsook  him,  he  answered  abruptly,  "Why  speak- 
est  thou  any  more  of  thy  matters?  I  have  said.  Thou 
and  Ziba  divide  the  land."  The  answer  of  Mephibo- 
sheth was  worthy  of  the  son  of  the  generous  Jonathan, 
and,  couched  as  it  is  in  Oriental  plirase,  shows  that 
he  had  met  a  better  reception  than  he  had  expected : 
"Yea,  let  him  take  all;  forasmuch  as  my  lord  the  king 
is  come  again  in  peace  unto  his  own  house"  (2  Sam.  xix, 
2i-30).     B.C.  cir.  1023. 

4.  We  hear  no  more  of  Mephibosheth,  except  that 
David  was  careful  that  he  should  not  be  included  in  the 
savage  vengeance  which  the  Gibeonites  were  suffered  to 
execute4upon  the  house  of  Saul  for  the  great  wrong 
they  had  sustained  during  his  reign  (2  Sam.  xxi,  7). 
B.C.  cir.  1010.  Through  his  son  Micah  the  family  of 
Saul  was  continued  to  a  late  generation  (1  Chron.  ix,  40 
sq.). 

On  the  transaction  between  David  and  Mephibo- 
sheth, see  J.  G.  Eisner,  Ueh.  die  gerechte  Unschuld  u.  Red- 
Uchkeit  Mcjyhihoseths  (Frankf.  u.  Leipz.  1760) ;  Niemeyer, 
Charukt.  iv,  434  sq. ;  Kitto's  Daily  Bible  Illust.  ad  loc. ; 
Blunt.  Undesigned  Coincidences,  ad  locw ;  Hall,  Contempla- 
tions, ad  loc. ;  H.  Lindsay,  Lectures,  ii,  102 ;  Doddridge, 
Sermons,  i,  177 ;  Ewald,  Hist,  of  Israel  (Engl,  transl.  iii. 
191).     See  Ziba. 

Me'rab  (Heb. il/e>-«6',  n'n^,  increase;  Sept.  Mfpo/3 
and  jrfpw/3  ;  Josephus  Mipojir],  A  nt.  vi,  6,  5),  the  eldest 
of  tlie  two  daughters  of  king  Saul  (doubtless  by  his  wife 
Ahinoam),  and  possibly  the  eldest  chUd  (1  Sam.  xiv, 
49).  She  first  appears  (B.C.  cir.  1062)  after  the  victory 
over  Goliath  and  the  Pliilistines,  when  David  had  be- 
come an  inmate  in  Saul's  house  (1  Sam.  xviii,  2),  and 
immediately  after  the  commencement  of  his  friendship 
with  Jonathan.  In  accordance  with  the  promise  which 
he  made  before  the  engagement  with  Goliath  (xvii,  25), 
Saul  betrothed  Merab  to  David  (xviii,  17),  but  it  is  evi- 
dently implied  that  one  object  of  thus  rewarding  his 
valor  was  to  incite  him  to  further  feats,  which  might  at 
last  lead  to  his  death  by  the  Philistines.     David's  hesi- 


tation looks  as  if  he  did  not  much  value  the  honor,  al- 
though his  language  in  ver.  18  may  be  only  an  Oriental 
form  of  self-depreciation  (comp.  1  Sam.  xviii,  23 ;  xxv, 
42 ;  2  Sam.  ix,  8) ;  at  any  rate  before  the  marriage  Me- 
rab's  younger  sister  Michal  had  displayed  her  attach- 
ment for  David,  and  Merab  was  then  married  to  Adriel 
the  IMeholathite,  who  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the 
^vealthy  sheiks  of  the  eastern  part  of  Palestine,  with 
whom  the  house  of  Saul  always  maintained  an  alliance. 
To  Adriel  she  bore  five  sons,  who  formed  five  of  the 
seven  members  of  the  house  of  Saul  who  were  given  up 
to  the  Gibeonites  by  David,  and  by  them  impaled  as  a 
propitiation  to  Jehovah  on  the  sacred  hill  of  Gibeah  (2 
Sam.  xxi,  8).     See  Eizpah. 

The  Authorized  Version  of  this  passage  is  an  accom- 
modation, rendering  tT^?^,  "she  brought  up,"  although 
it  has  "  she  bare"  for  the  same  Hebrew  word  in  the  pre- 
vious part  of  the  verse.  The  Hebrew  text  has  "  the 
tiv^e  sons  of  Michal,  daughter  of  Saul,  which  she  bare  to 
Adriel,"  and  this  is  followed  in  the  Sept.  and  Vulgate. 
The  Targum  explains  the  discrepancy  thus :  "  The  five 
sons  of  Merab  (which  Michal,  Saul's  daughter,  brought 
up)  which  she  bare,"  etc.  The  Peshito  substitutes  Me- 
rab (in  the  present  state  of  the  text  "  Nodob")  for  Mi- 
chal. J.  H.  Michaelis,  in  his  Hebrew  Bible  (2  Sam.  xxi, 
10),  suggests  that  there  were  two  daughters  of  Saul 
named  Michal,  as  there  were  two  Elishamas  and  two 
Eliphalets  among  David's  sons.  Probably  the  most 
feasible  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  that  "Michal"  is  the 
mistake  of  a  transcriber  for  "Merab;"  but,  if  so,  it  is 
manifest  from  the  agreement  of  the  versions  and  of  Jose- 
phus (^K^  vii,4,30)  with  the  present  text,  that  the  error 
is  one  of  verj'  ancient  date. — Smith,  s.  v.    See  JMichal. 

Merai'ah  (Heb.  Merayah',  iT^lp,  resistance;  Sept. 
'Afiapia  v.  r.  IMapsa  ;  Vulg.  Maraja),  a  chief  priest,  the 
"son"  of  Seraiah,  contemporary  with  the  high-priest 
Joiakim  (Neh.  xii,  12).    B.C.  post  536. 

Merai'oth  (Heb.  Merayoth',  "i'l'IT;,  rebellions; 
Sept.  Mfpttiw^,  Mipai')^,  and  MapiwS-  v.  r.  Mnpn'yX), 
the  name  of  one  or  more  leading  priests. 

1.  The  son  of  Zerahiah  and  father  of  Amariah,-a 
high-priest  of  the  line  of  Eleazar  (1  Chron.  vi,  6, 7,  52; 
Ezra  vii,  3).  B.C.  considerably  ante  1062.  It  was 
thought  by  Lightfoot  that  he  was  the  immediate  pred- 
ecessor of  Eli  in  the  office  of  high-priest,  and  that  at 
his  death  the  high-priesthood  changed  from  the  line  of 
Eleazar  to  the  line  of  Ithamar  {Temple  Service,  iv,  §  1). 
In  1  Chron.  ix,  11 ;  Neh.  xi,  11,  his  name  appears  to  have 
become  transposed  between  those  of  Zadok  and  Ahitub, 
instead  of  its  proper  place  after  the  latter,  as  may  be 
seen  from  1  Chron.  vi,  6-12.     See  Higii-piukst. 

2.  A  chief  priest  whose  son  Helkai  was  contemporary 
with  the  high-priest  Joiakim  (Neh.  xii,  15) ;  doubtless 
identical  with  the  Meremoth  of  ver.  3. 

Me'ran  (M£ppoj^,Vulg.3/e?v-Aa),  aplace  mentioned 
along  with  Theman  as  famous  for  its  merchants  and  its 
wise  men  (Bar.  iii,  23).  The  association  with  the  Ha- 
garenes  leads  us  to  seek  for  Meran  in  Arabia.  It  may 
be  Mohrnh  in  Desert  Arabia,  or  Marane,  of  which  Pliny 
speaks  (V.  H.  vi,  28, 32).  Strabo  (xvi,  4,  p.  776)  and  Di- 
odor.  Sic.  (iii, 43)  also  mention  the  Mapavlrai,  The  con- 
jecture of  Grotius  that  it  is  the  Mcaruh  mentioned  in 
Josh,  xiii,  4,  and  that  of  Hiivernick  {I)e  libra  Baruch,'^ 
5)  that  it  is  the  Syrian  town  Maarah,  are  mere  guesses 
(comp.  Fritzsche,  Exeget.  Hdb.  z.  Apoh.  ad  loc.).— Kitto. 
The  suggestion  of  Hitzig  {Psalmen,\\\\'S)  that  Meran 
is  merely  a  corruption  of  "Medan"  or  "Midian,"  owing 
to  the  ready  mistake  by  a  translator  of  1  for  1,  is  more 
plausible,  although  there  is  little  evidence  of  a  Hebrew- 
original  for  this  portion  of  Baruch.  Junius  and  Tre- 
mellius  give  Medunai,  and  their  conjecture  is  supported 
by  the  appearance  of  the  Midianites  as  iiomade  mer- 
chants in  Gen.  xxxvii.  Both  jMedan  and  INIidian  are 
enumerated  among  the  sons  of  Keturah  in  Gen.  xxv,  2, 
and  are  closely  connected  with  the  Deaanim,  whose 


MERARI 


106 


MERAPvITE 


"  travelling  companies,"  or  caravans,  are  frequently  al- 
luded to  (Isa.  xxi,  13 ;  Ezek.  xxvii,  15). — Smith. 

Mera'ri  (Heb.  Merari',  ^"^"^"C,  sad;  Sept.  MfpapO, 
the  youngest  son  of  Levi,  probably  born  in  Canaan  (Gen. 
xlvi,  11;  Exod.  vi,  IG;  Numb,  iii,  17;  1  Chron.  vi,  1). 
B.C.  1874.  Of  Merari's  personal  liistory,  beyond  the 
fact  of  his  birth  before  the  descent  of  Jacob  into  Egypt, 
and  of  his  being  one  of  the  seventy  who  accompanied 
Jacob  thither,  we  know  nothing  whatever  (Gen.  xlvi,  8, 
11).  He  became  the  head  of  the  third  great  division 
(nriE  w"2)  of  the  Levites,  whose  designation  in  Hebrew 
is  tlie  same  as  that  of  their  progenitor,  only  with  the 
article  prefixed,  viz.  *''^"i53il,  i.  e.  the  Merarites  (Exod. 
vi,  19),  who  during  the  march  through  the  desert  had 
charge  of  the  materials  of  the  Tabernacle  (Numb,  iii,  36 ; 
iv,  30  sq.),  for  the  transportation  of  which  they  were 
provided  with  four  carts,  each  drawn  by  a  yoke  of  oxen 
(Numb,  vii,  8),  In  Palestine  they  were  assigned  twelve 
trans- Jordan ic  cities  for  a  residence  (Josh,  xxi,  7, 34  sq.). 
See  Meraiute. 


Merahi  (Mfpapi  v.  r.  Mtpapci)  was  likewise  the 
name  of  the  father  of  Judith  (Judith  viii,  1 ;  xvi,7). 

Mera'rite  (Heb.  same  as  Merari,  Sept.  Mepapi, 
Autli.  Vers.  '•  Merarites"),  the  patronymic  title  of  the 
descendants  of  Mer^mu  (Numb,  xxvi,  57).  In  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  them  we  follow  that  in  Smith's  ZHct. 
of  t/ie  Bible,  s.y. 

At  the  time  of  the  exodus,  and  the  numbering  in  the 
wilderness,  the  iMerarites  consisted  of  two  families,  the 
JIahlites  and  the  Mushites,  Mahli  and  Mushi  being 
either  the  two  sons  or  the  son  and  grandson  of  Jlcrari. 
(1  Chron.  vi,  19,47).  Their  chief  at  that  time  was  Zu- 
riel,  and  the  whole  number  of  the  family,  from  a  month 
old  and  upwards,  was  G"200 ;  those  from  thirty  years  old 
to  fifty  were  3200.  Their  charge  was  the  boards,  bars, 
pillars,  cockets,  pins,  and  cords  of  the  Tabernacle  and 
the  court,  and  all  the  tools  connected  with  setting  them 
up.  In  the  encampment  their  place  was  to  the  ntirth 
of  the  Tabernacle,  and  both  they  and  the  Gershonites 
were  "  under  the  hand"  of  Ithamar,  the  son  of  Aaron. 
Owing  to  the  heavy  nature  of  the  materials  which  they 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  MERAK1TE8. 
Levi  (Exod.  vi,  lC-19 ;  Numb,  iii,  lT-20). 


Merari. 

Mushi. 

I 


Mahli. 

I 


Eder 
(1  Chron.  xxiv,  SO). 


Jerimoth 
(ib.). 


Libui. 

I 
Shiinei. 

I 
Uzza. 

Shimei. 

Eagiriah. 


Abihail. 

I 

Zuiiel, 

chief  of  the  house  of  the 

father  of  the  families  of  Merari  iu 

the  time  of  Moses 

(Numb,  iii,  35). 


Shamer. 

Baui^Buuni  (Neh.  xi,  16)  ? 

i 
Amzi. 

I 
Hilkiah. 

I 


.'fof 


Asiiiali,  clii 

220Meraiiu-s  in 

the  time  of  David 

(tChrou.  vi,14,  4r); 

XV,  6).    But  this 

genealoiry  is  doubtless 

imperfect,  as  it  frives 

only  ten  jreneiations 

from  Levi  to  Asaiah 

iuclusive. 


Ilashabiah. 

I 


I  I 

JaaziahorJaaziel(l  Chron.  xv,lS;  xxiv,20,2T).  Malluch. 
I  I 


Shoham 
(xxiv,  27). 


Zaccur  or       Ibri  or  Abdi 
Zeehaiiah  (vi.44; 

(ib.  aud  XV,  IS),      xxiv,  27). 

See  Sept.  {'Aftai). 


Abdi. 


Eleazar  (xxiii,  21, 22 ;  xxiv,  2S). 


Hosah 
(xvi,  HS,  42 ; 
xxvi,  10, 10). 


Obed-        Galal  or      Zeri  or 

Edom        Oodaliah        Izri 

(xvi,  38).    (xxv.  3,'.t)-   (ib.3,11). 


.Teshaiah  Ilashabiah 
(ib.  3,15).  (ib.  3,  lU; 
vi.  45). 


Kishi,  Kish  (xxiii,  21),  or  Knshaiah  (xv,  17). 

.  _J 

I 


I  I  I 

Simri     Hilkiah   Teba- 
(xxvi.lO).  (ib.  11).      liah 
(ib.). 


Zecha- 
riah 
(ib.). 


"Sons  of  Jednthun,  Sliemaiah,  and  T'z/.iel," 
iu  time  of  Uezekiah  (2  Chiou.  xxix,  14). 

"Obadiah  (or  Abda),  the  son  of  Shemaiah, 
the  son  of  Galal,  the  son  of  Jeduthnu," 
after  the  return  from  captivity 
(1  Chron.  ix,  10 ;  Neh.  xi,  17). 


Jlatti-       Jerahmeel     Ethan,  called 
thiah         (xxiv,  29).      also  Jednthun, 
(ib.3,21).  head  of  the 

singers  in  the  time  of 

David  (vi.  44-47: 

XV,  17,  1!»;  xvi,  41,  42; 

xxv,  1,  3,  C). 


Kish  the  son  of  Abdi,  and  Azariah  the  son 

of  Jehalelfl,  in  ri'ign  of  Hezekiah 

(2  Chron.  xxix,  12). 


Sherpbinh,  in  time  of  Ezra,  "of  the 

sons  of  Mahli"  (Ezra  viii,  IS) :  corrupted  to 

Asebebia  (1  Esdr.  viii,  47). 


Jcshaiah,  of  the  sons 
of  Merari,  in  the  time 
of  Ezra  (Ezra  viii,  19). 


Ilasshub. 

Shemainh,  after  the  return  from  captivity 
(1  Chron.  ix,  14 ;  Neh.  xi,  15). 

llas-habiah.of  the  sons  of  Merari,  in  the 

time  of  Ezra  (Ezra  viii,  19),  called  Asehi 

aud  Assanias  (1  Esdr.  viii,  48, 54). 


MERARITE 


107 


MERBES 


had  to  earn',  four  wagons  and  eight  oxen  were  assigned 
to  them ;  and  in  the  march  both  they  and  the  (iershon- 
ites  followed  immediately  after  the  standard  of  Judah, 
and  before  that  of  Reuben,  that  they  might  set  up  the 
Tabernacle  against  the  arrival  of  the  Kohathites  (Numb. 
iii,20, 33-37 ;  iv,  29-33,  42-45 ;  vii,  8  ;  x,  17,  21).  In  the 
division  of  the  land  by  Joshua,  the  iMerarites  had  twelve 
cities  assigned  to  them,  out  of  Reuben,  Gad,  and  Zebu- 
Ion,  of  which  one  was  Ramoth-Gilead,  a  city  of  refuge, 
and  in  later  times  a  frequent  subject  of  war  between 
Israel  and  Syria  (Josli.  xxi,  7,  34-40;  1  Chron.  vi,  G3, 
79-81).  In  the  time  of  David  Asaiah  was  their  chief, 
and  assisted  with  220  of  his  family  in  bringing  up  the 
ark  (1  Chron.  xv,  6).  Afterwards  we  find  the  Merar- 
ites  still  sharing  with  the  two  other  Levitical  families 
the  various  functions  of  their  caste  (1  Chron.  xxiii,  6, 
21-23).  Thus  a  third  part  of  the  singers  and  musicians 
were  Merarites,  and  Ethan  or  Jeduthun  was  their  chief 
in  the  time  of  David.  See  Jeduthcn.  A  third  part 
of  the  door-keepers  were  IMerarites  (1  Chron.  xxiii,  5, 6; 
xxvi,  10, 19),  unless,  indeed,  we  are  to  understand  from 
ver.  19  that  the  door-keepers  were  all  either  Kohathites 
or  Merarites,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Gershonites,  which 
does  not  seem  probable.  In  the  days  of  Hezekiah  the 
Merarites  were  still  flourishing,  and  Kish,  the  son  of 
Abdi,  and  Azariah,  the  son  of  Jehalelel,  took  their  part 
with  their  brethren  of  the  two  other  Levitical  families 
in  promoting  the  reformation,  and  purifying  the  house 
of  the  Lord  (2  Chron.  xxix,  12, 15).  After  the  return 
from  captivity  Shemaiah  represents  the  sons  of  Merari, 
in  1  Chron.  ix,  14;  Neh.  xi,  15,  and  is  said,  with  other 
chiefs  of  the  Levites,  to  have  "  had  the  oversight  of  the 
outward  business  of  the  house  of  God."  There  were 
also  at  that  time  sons  of  Jeduthun  under  Obadiah  or 
Abda,  the  son  of  Shemaiah  (1  Chron.  ix,  16;  Neh.  xi, 
17).  A  little  later  again,  in  the  time  of  Ezra,  when  he 
was  in  great  want  of  Levites  to  accompany  him  on  his 
journey  from  Babylon  to  Jerusalem,  '•  a  man  of  good 
understanding  of  the  sons  of  Mahli"  was  found,  whose 
name,  if  the  text  here  and  at  ver.  24  is  correct,  is  not 
given.  "  Jeshaiah,  also,  of  the  sons  of  Merari,"  with 
twenty  of  his  sons  and  brethren,  came  with  him  at  the 
same  time  (Ezra  viii,  18, 19).  But  it  seems  pretty  cer- 
tain that  Sherebiah,  in  ver.  18,  is  the  name  of  the  Mah- 
lite,  and  that  both  he  and  Hashabiah,  as  well  as  Jesha- 
iah, in  ver.  19,  were  Levites  of  the  family  of  Merari,  and 
not,  as  the  actual  text  of  ver.  24  indicates,  priests.  The 
copulative  1  has  probably  fallen  out  before  their  names 
in  ver.  24,  as  appears  from  ver.  30  (see  also  1  Chron.  ix, 
14;  Neh.  xii,  24).     See  Levite. 

The  above  table  gives  the  principal  descents,  as  far 
as  it  is  possible  to  ascertain  them.  But  the  true  posi- 
tion of  Jaaziah,  Mahli,  and  Jeduthun  is  doubtfid.  Here 
too,  as  elsewhere,  it  is  difhcult  to  decide  when  a  given 
name  indicates  an  individual,  and  when  the  family  called 
after  him,  or  the  head  of  that  family.  It  is  sometimes 
no  less  dilHcult  to  decide  whether  any  name  which  oc- 
curs repeatedly  designates  the  same  person,  or  others  of 
the  family  who  bore  the  same  name,  as  e.  g.  in  the  case 
of  Mahli,  Hilkiah,  Shimri,  Kishi  or  Kish,  and  others.  As 
regards  the  confusion  between  Ethan  and  Jeduthun,  it 
may  perhaps  be  that  Jeduthun  was  the  patronymic  title 
of  the  house  of  which  Ethan  was  the  head  in  the  time 
of  David.  Jeduthun  might  have  been  the  brother  of 
one  of  Ethan's  direct  ancestors  before  Hashabiah,  in 
which  case  Hashabiah,  in  1  Chron.  xxv,  3,  19,  might 
be  the  same  as  Hashabiah  in  vi,  45.  Hosah  and  Obed- 
edom  seem  to  have  been  other  descendants  or  clansmen 
of  Jeduthun,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  David;  and,  if  we 
may  argue  fiom  the  name  of  Hosah's  sons,  Simri  and 
Hilkiah,  that  they  were  descendants  of  Shamer  and  Hil- 
kiah, in  the  line  of  Ethan,  the  inference  would  be  that 
Jeduthun  was  a  son  either  of  Hilkiah  or  Amaziah,  since 
he  Hved  after  Hilkiah,  but  before  Hashabiah.  The  great 
advantage  of  this  supposition  is,  that  while  it  leaves  to 
Ethan  the  patronymic  designation  Jeduthun,  it  draws  a 


wide  distinction  between  the  term  "sons  of  Jeduthun" 
and  "  sons  of  Ethan,"  and  explains  how  in  David's  time 
there  could  be  sons  of  those  who  are  called  sons  of  Jedu- 
thun above  thirty  years  of  age  (since  they  filled  offices, 
1  Chron.  xxvi,  10),  at  the  same  time  that  Jeduthun  was 
said  to  be  the  chief  of  the  singers.  In  like  manner  it  is 
possible  that  Jaaziah  may  have  been  a  brother  of  INIal- 
luch  or  of  Abdi,  and  that  if  Abdi  or  Ibri  had  other  de- 
scendants besides  the  lines  of  Kish  and  Eleazar,  they 
may  have  been  reckoned  under  the  headship  of  Jaaziah. 
The  families  of  Merari  which  were  so  reckoned  were, 
according  to  1  Chron.  xxiv,  27,  Shoham,  Zaccur  (appar- 
ently the  same  as  Zechariah  in  1  Chron.  xv,  18,  where 
we  probably  ought  to  read  "  Zaccur,  son  of  Jaaziah,"  and 
xxvi,  11),  and  Ibri,  where  the  Sept.  has  'QjiSi,  'AjSai, 
and  'AjSci.     See  each  name  in  its  place. 

Meratha'im  (Heb.  Meratha'yim,  C^Jn^r,  double 
rebellion ;  Sept.  TTDfjOwcVulg.  dominanies),  a  name  given 
to  Babylon  (Jer.  1,  21),  symbolical  of  its  intensely  per- 
verse character  (see  Henderson,  Comment,  ad  loc).  The 
expression  "  the  land  of  two  dominations"  seems  espe- 
cially to  allude  "  to  the  double  captivity  which  Chaldsea 
had  iniiicted  on  the  nation  of  Israel  (Jer.  1,  21).  This 
is  the  opinion  of  Gesenius,  EUrst,  Michaelis  {Bibel  fur 
Ungelehrteii),  etc.,  and  in  this  sense  the  wortl  is  taken 
by  the  versions  generally,  excepting  that  of  Junius  and 
Tremellius,  which  the  A.  V.— as  in  other  instances — has 
followed  here"  (Smith). 

Merati,  Gaetaxo  Maria,  an  Italian  theologian, 
was  born  at  Venice  Dec.  23, 16(58.  He  was  educated  in 
the  regular  order  of  the  Theatians,  afterwards  taught 
philosophy  and  theology  in  the  college  belonging  to  his 
order,  and  in  1705  accompanied  the  Venetian  ambassa- 
dor to  London.  He  went  to  Rome  in  1716  as  procurator- 
general  of  his  order.  Pope  Benedict  XIV  honored  him 
with  his  friendship.  He  died  at  Rome  Sept.  8,  1744. 
Some  of  Merati's  works  are,  La  vita  soavemente  rer/olata 
delle  donne  (Venice,  1708,  12mo) : — La  Verita  della  Re- 
lifjione  Cristiana  e  Cuttolica  diniostrata  lie!  suoi  Jonda- 
menti  (1721,  2  vols.  4to)  : — Novcb  Observationes  et  Addi- 
tiones  ad  Gavanti  Coniinentaria  in  rubricas  Missalis  et 
Breviarii  Roniani  (Augsburg,  1740,  2  vols.  4to)  :— =^six 
Lett  res  dans  les  EpistolcB  claror.  Venetoruni  (1746, 2  vols.), 
addressed  to  Mogliobecchi.  He  was  also  the  editor  of 
T/iesauriis  sacrorum  Rituum  de  Gavanti  (Rome,  1736-38, 
4  vols.  4to),  a  work  to  which  he  made  valuable  contribu- 
tions.— Hoefer,  Xouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Merault,  Athanase  Renee,  a  noted  French  edu- 
cator, was  born  at  Paris  in  1744,  and  was  educated  at 
the  College  of  Jeuilly.  Although  possessing  a  very  large 
fortune,  he  entered  the  Oratory  in  order  to  devote  him- 
self to  the  instruction  of  the  young.  After  his  twenty- 
fifth  year  he  was  director  of  the  house  of  education. 
Compelled  to  leave  Paris  by  the  Revolution,  he  retired 
to  Orleans,  where  his  parents  resided.  Imprisoned  in 
1793,  and  set  free  again  after  the  9th  of  Thermidor,  he 
remained  in  the  city,  and  became  in  1805  grand  vicar  of 
the  bishopric  of  Bernier,  which  placed  him  at  the  head 
of  the  great  seminary.  The  Church  of  Orleans  is  in- 
debted to  the  abbot  Merault  for  several  religious  and 
charitable  institutions,  to  the  foundation  of  which  he 
devoted  a  large  portion  of  his  money.  He  died  at  Or- 
leans June  13, 1835.  His  works  are,  Les  Apologistes  Ln- 
volontaires  ou  la  Religion  elernelle prouvee  et  defenduejxfir 
les  objections  memes  des  incredules  (Paris,  1806,  anony- 
mous, and  1820,  r2mo)  : — Les  Apologistes,  on  la  Religion 
Chritienne  prouvee  par  ses  eimemis  comme  par  ses  amis 
(Orleans,  1821,  8vo  and  12mo);  a  continuation  of  the 
preceding  work: — Conspiration  de  rimpieti  conire  I'liu- 
manite  (Paris,  1822,  8vo)  :  — Rapport  sur  Vhistoire  des 
llebreux  rapprochee  des  temps  contemporains  (Orleans, 
1825,  12mo):  —  Enseignements  de  la  Religion  (Orleans, 
1827,  5  vols.  r2mo)  -.—  Recueil  des  Mandements  sur  Vin- 
st ruction  des  peuples  (Paris,  1830, 12mn).— Hoefer,  Xouv. 
Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Merbes,  Box  de,  a  French  theologian,  was  born  in 


MERCATI 


108 


MERCHANT 


1G16  at  ^yiontdidier.  He  entered  the  congregation  of 
tlie  Oratory,  and  rose  to  much  distinction.  The  doc- 
torate of  theology  was  conferred  upon  him.  He  died 
Aug.  2,  \i}Hi.  I  lis  Latin  works  are  excellent.  Espe- 
cial notice  is  due  to  his  Suin/na  Christiana  sen  Ortlio- 
doxa  morum  disciplina  ex  Sacris  Lilfe?-is,  sanctorum  pa- 
trum  monumentis,  conciliorum  oracidis,  summorum  deni- 
que  pontijiciim  decretis  fideliter  excerpta,  etc.  See  Du 
Pin,  Bibliotheque  du  dix-septieme  siede,  iv,  271. — Hoefer, 
Xoui:  Jiioff.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Mercati,  Giovanni  Baptista,  a  painter  of  the 
17th  century,  was  a  native  of  S.  Sepolcro,  Tuscany.  He 
achieved  a  high  reputation  at  home,  and  his  fame  ex- 
tended as  far  as  Kome.  Two  of  his  historical  frescos, 
representing  Our  Lady,  are  in  S.  C'hiara;  and  at  S.  Lo- 
renzo there  is  a  picture  of  the  titular,  with  other  saints. 
In  the  (aiidcs  to  Venice  and  Kome  several  of  his  works 
are  mentioned;  and  in  that  of  Leghorn,  the  only  picture 
in  the  cathedral  esteemed  worthy  of  notice  is  that  of 
the  Five  Saints,  painted  by  Mercati  with  great  care.  See 
Lanzi's  Uistoi-y  of  I'uintinr/,  transl.  by  Eoscoe  (London, 
1847,  3  vols.  8vo),  i,  255. 

Mercator,  INLmuus.     See  IMarius. 

Mercein,  T.  F.  Kandolpii,  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  was  born  in  New  York  Citj' 
Nov.  27, 1825.  He  was  converted  in  early  youth,  and 
joined  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  which  his  parents 
belonged.  His  educational  advantages  were  very  supe- 
rior, as  he  was  intended  for  tlie  ministry.  Li  his  second 
year  at  college  his  health  failed,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
desist  from  all  study.  While  at  home  he  fell  in  with 
books  that  gave  him  a  distaste  for  Calvinistic  theologj'. 
He  promptly  joined  the  jMetliodists,  was  licensed  to 
preach,  and  exercised  his  power  as  a  Cluisiiar.  pasinr 
for  eleven  years.  He  died  at  Sluiliil.l,  .'Ma—..  Srpi.  !."■. 
1856.  "Of  a  high  order  of  iiitcllcri.  carcliilly  (•(lucalcd. 
deeply  serious  and  ihdiightful,  with  a  profound  sense  of 
ministerial  rospdiisiliility.  hold  and  faithful  in  the  dis- 
charge of  duty,  gentle,  amiable,  and  genial,  he  was  em- 
inently fitted  to  atlorn  both  public  and  private  life.  His 
deep,  ardent  piety  jiervaded  and  beautified  his  whole 
being.  He  was  emphatically  a  pure,  humble,  heavenly- 
minded  man.  His  rare  gifts  made  him  an  attractive 
speaker,  a  fine  writer,  a  successful  author,  an  accom- 
plished debater,  a  choice  friend.  He  was  loved  even 
more  than  he  was  admired"  (Smith,  Sacred  Memories 
of  the  N.  Y.  and  X.  Y.  East  Conf  p.  75  sq.).  His  pub- 
lished works  are,  Natural  Goodness : — The  Wise  Master- 
Builder:  —  Childhood  and  the  Church;  and  numerous 
essaj-s,  etc.,  in  the  periodicals  of  the  Church.  All  these 
evince  great  genius  and  earnest  study,  deeply  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  Christian  love. — Minutes  of  Confer- 
ences, vi,  321 ;  Dr.  Dewey's  Lecture  (p.  298),  of  the 
"  Pitt's  Street  Chapel  Lectures"  (Boston,  Jewett  &  Co., 
1858). 

Mercer,  Jksse,  D.D.,  a  Baptist  minister,  was  born 
in  Halifax  County,  N.  C,  Dec.  16, 1760.  His  early  ed- 
ucation was  limited,  yet  he  began  to  preach  when  only 
eighteen  years  of  age ;  was  ordained  Nov.  7, 1789,  and 
soon  became  pastor  of  a  Church  at  Hutton's  Fork  (now 
Sardis),  in  Wilkes  County.  In  1793  he  accepted  a  call 
to  Indian  Creek  (or  Bethany),  in  Oglethorpe  County, 
whence  he  removed  in  1796  to  Salem,  where  he  became 
preceptor  in  the  academy,  and  also  succeeded  his  father 
in  the  charge  of  the  Phillips  ilill,  Powelton,  and  Bcth- 
csda  churches  for  some  time,  and  finally  removed  to  the 
fork  of  the  Little  Piver,  in  Crcen  County.  In  1826  he 
attended  tiie  (ieneral  Convention  in  Philadelphia,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  next  year  accepted  a  call  from  the 
Church  at  Washington,  Wilkes  County,  where  he  con- 
tinued until  1833,  when  he  became  editor  of  the  Chris- 
tian Index,  a  religious  periodical.  He  was  made  D.D. 
by  Brown  University  in  1S3.5.  He  was  for  many  years 
identified  with  the  (Jeorgia  Association,  acting  as  clerk 
of  that  body  from  1795  till  1816,  and  afterwards  as  mod- 
erator till  1839;  he  was  also  connected  with  the  Baptist 


Convention  of  the  State  of  Georgia  from  its  beginning 
in  1822,  being  its  moderator  until  1841,  when  his  im- 
paired health  obliged  him  to  resign.  He  became  also 
one  of  the  trustees  of  the  college  at  Washington,  and 
president  of  the  mission  board  of  the  Georgia  Associa- 
tion from  18.30  to  1841.  He  died  Sept.  6,  1841.  Dr. 
Jlercer  published  a  large  number  of  A  Messes,  Circular 
Letters,  Essays,  etc.  See  Mallory,  Memoir  if  the  Rev. 
Jesse  Mercer,  D.D.  ;  Sprague,  Annals,  vi,  283. 

Merchant  (this  and  kindred  terms,  as  merchan- 
dise, etc.,  are  properly  expressed  bj-  some  form  of  the 
Heb.  *n!D,  sachar',  to  travel  about,  Gr.  tfiiropoc,  a  pas- 
senger to  and  fro;  sometimes  also  by  531,  rakal',  to 
yo  about;  and  occasionally  by  the  title  Canaamtk). 
Trade  is  of  very  great  antiquity  in  the  East  (Niebuhr, 
Trav.  iii,4  .sq.),  and  was  sometimes  carried  on  by  sea 
(Prov.  xxxi,  14;  Psa.  cvii,  23),  but  more  commonly  on 
land  by  means  of  a  company  associated  for  a  mercantile 
journey  (Gen.  xxxvii,  25;  Job  vi,  18).  See  Cahavax. 
The  itinerant  character  and  temporary  location  which 
appear  in  all  the  ancient  notices  of  Oriental  merchants, 
whether  individuals  or  an  association  of  several  persons, 
is  still  a  marked  trait  of  the  same  class  in  the  East 
(Ilackett's  Illnstrat.  of  Script,  p.  63).  In  the  patriarchal 
times  such  parties  of  Ishmaelites  passed  through  Canaan 
on  their  way  to  Egypt  (Gen.  xxxvii,  25,  28),  and  bar- 
tered with  the  nomades  for  various  products  of  their 
herds  in  exchange  for  implements,  apparel,  and  similar 
articles,  and  sometimes  purchased  slaves  (Gen.  xxxvii, 
28;  xxxix,  1).  After  the  Hebrews  became  settled  in 
Palestine,  they  were  drawn  into  those  forms  of  commer- 
cial relations  that  early  existed,  but  rather  passively 
than  actively,  since  the  Mosaic  law  little  favored  this 
jirofession  (^lichaelis,  Mas.  Recht,  i,  238  sq. ;  Josephus's 
ilonial  of  all  mercantile  pursuits  by  his  nation,  Apion,  i, 
12,  is  probably  too  strong  an  expression),  although  the 
geographical  position  of  their  country  would  seem  to  be 
in  general  advantageous  for  it ;  but  the  circumscribed 
extent  of  their  territory,  the  prevailing  direction  of  the 
population  to  agriculture,  which  left  few  poor,  their  al- 
most total  want  of  those  natural  and  artificial  products 
most  in  demand  for  general  traffic,  and  the  preoccupa- 
tion of  the  trade  between  Asia  and  Africa  by  two  mer- 
cantile nations  (the  Phoenicians  and  Arabians),  mostly 
precluded  them  from  an  independent  commerce,  for 
which,  indeed,  they  were  further  incapacitated  by  the 
continuance  of  their  sea-coast  for  the  most  jiart  in  the 
hands  of  the  Canaanites  and  Philistines,  who  had,  more- 
over, secured  to  themselves  the  great  commercial  route 
to  Damascus,  tnrough  the  prominence  of  several  cities 
in  the  northern  part  of  Palestine  (Bertheau, /.«;•.  C'wr/;. 
p.  287).  Yet  the  north-western  Israelites  ajipear  quite 
early  to  have  occupied  a  post  in  the  Phoenician  marts 
(CJen.xlix,  13;  Dent,  xxxiii,  18;  Judg.  v,  17).  Solomon 
not  only  (as  a  royal  monopoly)  imported  horses  from 
Egypt,  and  traded  them  away  in  Syria  by  governmental 
salesmen  (I  Kings  x,  26;  2  Chron.  i,  16, 17),  but  formed 
a  commercial  treaty  with  the  king  of  Tyre  for  maritime 
enterprise  (1  Kings  ix,26),  and  launched  from  the  Edom- 
itish  ports  of  Ezion-geber  and  Elath,  which  David  had 
acquired  on  the  Bed  Sea,  a  fleet  that  sailed  under  the 
pilotage  of  Tyrian  seamen  into  the  Indian  Ocean,  and, 
after  a  three  years'  voyage,  brought  back  gold,  silver, 
ivory,  sandal -wood,  ebony,  apes,  peacocks,  and  other 
products  of  Cliin-India  (1  Kings  x,  11;  xxii,  22, 50;  2 
Chron.  ix,  10, 21).  See  OriiiR.  After  the  death  of  Sol- 
omon this  marine  commerce  shared  the  neglect  of  all 
the  royal  affairs,  and  the  trade  never  revived,  with  the 
single  cxcei)tion  of  .Jehoshaiihat's  nndertalving  (1  Kings 
xxii,  49),  until  these  harbors  passed  entirely  out  of  the 
control  of  the  Israelites.  See  Eiiomitk.  What  posi- 
tion the  .Jews  held  in  the  Phoenician  traffic,  or  what 
profit  the  transit  of  Pha-nician  merchandise  brought 
them,  is  only  to  be  gleaned  indirectly  from  the  histori- 
cal records  (Bertheau,  /.sr.  Gcsch.  p.  354") ;  but  that  both 
these  were  not  inconsiderable  is  clear  from  Ezek.  xxvi, 


MERCHANT 


109 


MERCIER 


2 ;  xxvii,  17.  The  kingdom  of  Israel  was  probably  more 
Vavored  in  this  latter  particular  than  that  of  Jiidah,  as 
the  principal  thoroughfares  of  trade  passed  through  its 
bounds.  Commercial  relations  subsisted  between  Tyre 
and  Judaea  after  the  exile  (Neh.  xiii,  IG),  and  even  in 
New-Testament  tirhes  (Acts  xii,  20).  I'rom  the  Phoe- 
nicians the  Hebrews  imported,  besides  timber  for  edi- 
fices (1  Kings  v;  1  Chron.  xiv,  1),  and  sea-fish  (Neh. 
xiii,  10),  a  great  many  foreign  necessaries,  and  even  lux- 
uries (such  as  variegated  stuffs,  unguents,  and  peltries, 
purple  garments,  etc.),  which  for  the  most  part  came 
from  Arabia,  Babylonia,  and  India  (comp.  Ezek.  xxvii), 
and  sold  in  exchange  wheat  (comp.  Acts  xii,  20),  oil  (1 
Kings  V,  11),  honey,  dates,  balsam  (Hos.  xii,  2 ;  see  Ezek. 
xxvii,  17),  and  also  a  fine  species  of  fancy  fabric,  whicli 
the  diligent  hands  of  the  women  had  prepared  (Prov. 
xxxi,  2-1).  Respecting  the  balance  of  trade  we  have  no 
certain  means  of  judging,  and  it  is  the  more  difficult  to 
ascertain  how  this  was  adjusted,  inasmuch  as  Palestine 
must  have  derived  its  supply  of  the  metals  likewise  from 
foreigners.  Yet  we  nowhere  find  any  indication  that 
the  national  wealth  had  sensibly  diminished;  on  the 
contrary,  the  Israelites  were  able  to  endure  an  almost 
unbroken  series  of  hostile  attacks,  often  resulting  in  pil- 
lage, and  always  very  exhaustive  of  money  (1  Kings 
xiv,  26;  XV,  18;  2  Kings  xii,  18;  xiv,  14;  xvi,  18,  etc.), 
while  certain  periods  (Isa.  ii,  7),  and  even  individual 
tribes  (Hos.  xii,  9),  were  distinguished  for  opulence  and 
luxury ;  perhaps  the  revenue  was  derived  through  the 
surrounding  districts  of  Edom,  ]\Ioab,  and  Phoenicia  (see 
T.  C  Tychsen,  De  commerciis  et  navi(jaiionibus  Ilebrmor. 
ante  exil.  Bah.,  in  the  Comment.  Gott.  vol.  xvi ;  Class. 
Hist.  p.  150  sq. ;  Hartmann,  Ueh.  Pentat.  p.  751  sq.).  After 
the  exile  the  Hebrew  commerce  had  a  wider  range,  es- 
pecially as  many  Jews  had  become  scattered  in  foreign 
countries  where  they  experienced  many  favors,  so  that 
the  nation  took  a  greater  relish  in  this  avocation  and 
in  its  safe  emoluments.  Prince  Simon  invited  com- 
mercial intercourse  by  the  improvement  of  the  harbor 
of  Joppa;  the  Palestinian  Jews,  however,  being  still  re- 
strained by  the  discouragement  of  their  law  and  their 
early  mercantile  prejudices,  appear  not  to  have  risen  to 
any  great  degree  of  activity  in  trade;  and  Herod's  im- 
proved port  at  Cassarea  (Josephus,  Ant.  xv,  9,  G)  was 
mostly  occupied  by  foreigners,  while  under  the  Koman 


Shop  of  an  Eastern  Clothes-dealer. 


dominion  traffic  was  encumbered  by  tolls  and  imposts, 
many  commodities  being  even  included  in  the  list  of 
government  monopolies.  Still  Jewish  love  of  gain  pre- 
vailed wherever  a  favorable  opportunity  offered  (Jose- 
phus, Life,  p.  13),  and  laid  claim  to  trading  privileges 
(Josephus,  War,  ii,  21,  2).  Internal,  especially  retail 
trade  (enactments  relative  to  which  are  contained  in 
Lev.  xix,  3G ;  Deut.  xxv,  13  sq. ;  comp.  Hos.  xii,  8),  was 
particularly  promoted  by  the  high  festivals,  to  which 
every  adult  Israelite  resorted  in  pursuance  of  the  na- 
tional religion.  In  the  cities  open  spaces  at  the  gates 
were  designated  for  the  exposure  of  wares,  and  even 
Tyrian  merchants  frequented  the  market  at  Jerusalem 
(Neh.  xiii,  16  ;  see  Hartman,  ad  loc. ;  comp.  Zeph.  i,  10 ; 
Zech.  xiv,  2 ;  and  see  Movers,  Phonic,  i,  50) ;  a  mart  for 
sacrificial  victims  and  sacred  shekels  being  established 
in  the  outer  court  of  the  Temple  itself  (John  ii,  14  sq. ; 
JIatt.  xxi,  12).  The  Mishna  contains  notices  of  the 
earh^  practice  of  beating  down  in  price  {Nedar.  iii,  1), 
and  of  shop-keepers  {Maasetvtk,  ii,  3).  For  the  com- 
merce of  the  Phoenicians,  Egyptians  (Isa.  xiv,  14),  Bab- 
ylonians (Nah.  iii,  16),  and  Arabians,  see  those  articles 
respectively. — Winer,  i,  458.  See  Comjiehce.  In  mod- 
ern Oriental  cities  the  retail  trade  is  chiefly  carried  on 
in  small  shops,  usually  gathered  together  in  a  particular 
quarter  or  street,  like  the  stalls  iu  an  Occidental  market. 
See  Bazaar. 

Merchants'  Lecture,  a  lecture  originally  set  up 
at  Pinner's  Hall  in  1672  by  the  Presbyterians  and  Inde- 
pendents to  defend  the  doctrines  of  the  lieformation 
against  popery  and  Socinianism.  Some  misunderstand- 
ing occurring,  the  Presbyterians  removed  to  Salter's 
Hall. — Eadie,  Eccles.  Diet.  s.  v.     See  Lecture. 

Mercier,  Barthelemi,  a  learned  French  ecclesi- 
astic and  biblidgraphcr,  was  born  at  Lyons  April  4,1734. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  became  a  novice  among  the  reg- 
ular prebendaries  of  the  collegiate  church  of  Saint-Gen- 
evieve,  in  Paris,  and  after  one  year  of  probation  he 
was  allowed  to  take  the  vow.  Immediately  thereafter 
he  was  sent  to  the  Abbey  of  Chatrices,  in  Champagne, 
and  there  studied  rhetoric  and  philosophy.  In  1754  he 
was  made  assistant  to  the  learned  Perigre,  librariaii  of 
Saint-Genevieve,  and  in  1760  was  appointed  his  suc- 
cessor. Four  years  later  Mercier  was  invested  with  the 
ahbotship  of  Saint-Leger,  which  was  then  vacant,  at 
Soissons.  In  1772,  in  consequence  of  some  trouble  which 
lie  had  with  his  associates,  he  resigned  his  functions  as 
au  abbot.  Being  thus  liberated  from  official  duties,  he 
travelled  through  Holland  and  the  Netherlands,  where 
lie  was  in  hopes  of  collecting  the  materials  necessarj'  for 
the  compilation  of  certain  works  on  which  he  was  en- 
gaged. Although  he  had  yet  published  only  the  Sup- 
plement to  the  history  of  printing  by  jMarchand,  he  was 
warmly  greeted  wherever  he  went.  In  1792  he  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  so-called  Monument  Com- 
mission. In  this  capacity  he  exerted  himself  to  rescue 
from  destruction  all  private  and  public  collections  of  art 
and  literature.  He  also  drew  up  for  the  use  of  librari- 
iiis  minute  instructions  touching  the  books  intrusted  to 
their  custody,  and  a  method  for  classifying  them.  To- 
w  ards  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  Francois  de  Neufcha- 
teaii,  a  clergyman  and  a  fosterer  of  letters,  granted  him 
1  pension  of  2400  francs,  the  first  annual  instalment  of 
M  hich  was  paid  to  him  in  1798.  This  assistance  ena- 
bled Mercier  to  decline  the  generous  offer  of  La  Serna 
Santander,  who  had  proposed  to  relinquish  in  favor  of 
"Mercier  his  own  office  of  librarian  at  Brussels.  He  died 
in  1799.  His  writings  are  characterized  by  an  evidence 
I  profound  erudition,  together  with  system  and  perspicu- 
y  in  all  his  researches.  He  published  a  large  number 
I  works,  among  which  we  may  cite.  Lettres  siir  la  Bib- 
I  of/raphie  instructive  lie  M.  Debure  (Paris,  1763,  8vo)  : — 
I. litre  sur  le  veritable  auteur  du  Testament  politique  du 
Cardinal  de  Richelieu  (Paris,  1765,  8vo ;  all  of  which 
1  were  extracted  from  the  Memoires  de  Treveux) : — Con- 
sultation sur  la  question  de  savoir  si  les  religieux  de 


:mercier 


110 


MERCY 


Saint-Genevieve  sont  ou  tie  sont  pas  Chanoities  Reguliers 
(new  ed.  Paris,  1772,  4to) : — Opinion  sur  cle  pre/endues 
pi-opheties  qu'on  applique  aux  erenements  presents  (Paris, 
1791): — Dissertations  stir  rauteur  tie  Vlmitation  tie  Je- 
sus-Christ, par  Tabbe  Ghcsquiere  (1775,  r2mo).  Sec 
Notice  sur  la  vie  et  les  ecrits  tie  Mercier  de  Saint-Leger, 
by  Chardon  de  la  Kochette.— Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Gene- 
rale,  s.  V. 

Mercier,  Christopher,  a  French  ascetic  author, 
was  born  at  \)i<\v  near  I  lie  opening  of  the  17th  century, 
lie  entered  tlie  ( )ril(  r  of  (lie  (.'armeUtes,  and  changed  liis 
worldly  name  to  Alb<rt  tie  Saini-Jacques.  lie  died  in 
1G80.  His  most  celebrated  works  are.  Vie  tie  la  Mere 
Therese  de  Jesus,  J'onilalrice  des  Carmelites  de  hi  Franche 
Course  (Lyons,  1G73, 4to);  and  La  Lumi'ere  aux  vicants 
par  Verpeiiences  des  marts  (Lyons,  1G75,  8vo). 

Mercier  (or  Le  Mercier),  Jean,  in  Latin  Mer- 
ceriis,  a  distiiiiiui>li<'(l  Iltigiieiiot,  was  born  in  Uzi's, 
France,  near  tlie  b(i;inninu;  of  the  IGlh  century.  Des- 
tined for  the  bar,  he  studied  law  in  Avignon,  and 
also  in  Toulouse.  But  the  dead  languages  having  a 
powerful  attraction  for  him,  he  devoted  much  of  his 
time  to  the  study  of  { Jreek,  and  ere  long  confined  him- 
self entirely  to  the  pursuit  of  Hebrew  and  other  Siie- 
mitic  tongues.  After  having  been  the  most  noted  pu- 
pil of  Vatable,  lie  became  his  successor,  in  154G,  to  the 
chair  of  professor  of  Hebrew  in  the  Royal  College  of 
France.  Casaubon  believed  that  Mercier  was  the  most 
learned  Hebraist  of  his  day.  When  the  second  religious 
war  broke  out,  Mercier  was  constrained  to  quit  Paris. 
After  the  treaty  of  peace  at  Saint-Germain,  he  returned 
to  France,  but  while  passing  through  his  native  city  he 
was  carried  away  by  the  pestilence.  He  died  a  Protes- 
tant in  loG2.  Mercier  j)ublished  almost  the  whole  of 
Jonathan's  Targum  on  the  Prophecies.  He  also  wrote 
in  Latin  valuable  commentaries  on  all  the  books  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  on  the  (iospcl  according  to  Mat- 
thew. His  commentaries  furnished  matter  to  the  Sy- 
Tiopsis  Criticorum  of  Utrecht  (1GI54).  He  is  also  the 
author  of  Tructatidns  de  ticcentibus  Johi,  Proverhioruin, 
ft  Psalmorum,  aiirtorc  li.Jiid(i,fdi<)  Jietham  I/ispano,  a 
translation  from  Hebrew  (Paris,  IfjoG,  4to)  : — Liber  de 
accentibus  Scripturte,  auctore  R.  Judo,  Jdio  Btdaani 
(Paris,  15G5,  4to) : — In  Decalogum  commenturius  Rab- 
bini  Abraham,  cognomtnto  Ben-F.zra,  interpr.J.  Mercero 
(Lyons,  15G8,  4t<)) : — .\■"^'  ///  'rhit^ditrum  Llngute  Sanc- 
tcB  Ptignini  (Lyons.  I."i7.'i  '.),"i.  lol. ) : — Olmrvationes  ad 
Uorcrpollinis  hieroghjphirn  (^Slra>biirg,  lo!).'),  4to).  He 
also  jniblished  a  Comnicntary  on  the  Canticles  and  Lect- 
ures on  Genesis.  See  llaag.  La  France  Protestanie. — 
Hoefer,  Xouv.  Biog.  Generate,  s.  v. 

Mercurianus,  Father,  a.  noted  Romanist  of  the 
Order  of  the  Jesuits,  was  a  Belgian  by  birth.  We  know 
but  little  of  his  personal  history,  except  that  he  stood 
very  high  in  the  estimation  of  pope  (iregorj-  XIH,  who 
caused  his  advancement  to  the  generalship  of  the  order. 
He  died  Aug.  1,  1580.  Nicolini,  I/isl.  of  the  Jesuits  (p. 
150),  tells  us  that  "he  was  a  simple  and  weak  old  man. 
Mercurianus,"  he  continues,  "exercised  very  little  influ- 
ence on  tiie  destinies  of  the  order,  and  was  the  first  gen- 
eral whose  authority  was  held  in  little  account." 

Mercu'rius  (the  Roman  name  of  the  god  Mei- 
cury,  the  Hermes  of  the  Greeks,  "Ep/ni/c,  Acts  xiv,  12; 
comp.  liom.  xvi,  14  ;  the  name  is  of  uncertain  etymol- 
ogy), ])roporly  a  Greek  deity,  whom  the  Romans  iden- 
tified with  their  god  of  commerce  and  bargains.  In 
the  (ireek  mythology  Hermes  was  the  son  of  Zeus  and 
Maia,  the  daughter  of  Atlas,  and  is  constantly  rejire- 
sented  as  the  c<imi(anion  of  his  father  in  his  wanderings 
upon  cartii.  On  one  of  these  occasions  they  were  trav- 
elling in  Phrygia,  and  were  refused  hosjiitality  by  all 
save  Baucis  and  Philemon,  the  two  aged  peasants  of 
whom  Ovid  tells  the  charming  episode  in  his  Metam. 
viii,  020-724,  which  appears  to  have  formed  part  of  the 
folk-lore  of  Asia  Minor.  See  Lvcaonia.  Mercury  was 
the  herald  of  the  gods  (Homer,  Od.  v,  28;  IJym,  in 


Herm.  3),  and  of  Zeus  (Od.  i,  38,  84  ;  //.  xxiv,  333, 
4G1),  the  eloquent  orator  (Od.  i,  8G;  Horace,  Od.  i,  10, 
1),  inventor  of  letters,  music,  and  the  arts.  He  was 
equally  characterized  by  adroitness  of  action  and  readi- 
ness of  speech,  being  the  representative  of  intelligence 
and  craft  among  men  (see  Pauly's  Retil-Encyklop.  iv, 
1842).  He  was  usually  represented  as  a  slender,  beardless 
youth,  but  in  an  older  Pelasgic  figure  he  was  bearded. 
The  fact  that  he  was  the  customary  attendant  of  Jupi- 
ter when  he  appeared  on  earth  (Ovid,  Fast,  v,  495; 
comp.  Metam.  ii,  731  sq.),  explains  why  the  inhabitants 
of  Lystra  (Acts  xiv,  12),  as  soon  as  they  were  disposed 
to  believe  that  the  gods  had  visited  them  in  the  like- 
ness of  men,  discovered  Hermes  in  Paul,  as  the  chief 
speaker,  and  as  the  attendant  of  Jupiter  (see  Kuincil, 
Comment,  ad  loc).  It  seems  unnecessary  to  be  curious 
whether  the  representations  of  Mercurj-  in  ancient  stat- 
ues accord  with  the  supposed  personal  appearance  of 
Paul  (see  Walch,  Diss,  ad  Acta  Ap.  iii,  183  sq.),  and 
especially  in  the  matter  of  the  beai-d  of  the  latter,  for 
all  known  representations  of  the  god  differ  in  much 
more  important  particulars  from  the  probable  costume 
of  Paul  (e.  g.  in  the  absence  of  any  garment  at  all,  or 
in  the  use  of  the  short  chlamys  merely :  in  tlie  cadu- 
ceus,  the  petasus,  etc.  (see  Miiller,  Ancient  Art,  §  379- 
381).  It  is  more  reasonable  to  suppose  that  those  who 
expected  to  see  the  gods  mixing  in  the  affairs  of  this 
lower  world,  in  human  form,  woukl  not  look  for  much 
more  than  the  outward  semblance  of  ordinary  men.  See 
Smith's  Diet,  of  Class.  Biog.  and  Mythol.  s.  v.  Hermes. 


Ilcriiies  (MtTimy). 
Mercurius.  See  Hekmks  Tkismegistis. 
Mercy  (iiroperly  ipn,  che'sed,  k-indness  ;  t\ioc, 
pity),  a  virtue  which  inspires  us  with  compassion  for 
others,  and  inclines  us  to  assist  them  in  their  necessi- 
ties. That  works  of  mercy  may  be  acceptable  to  God, 
as  Christ  has  promised  (Matt,  v,  7),  it  is  not  enough 
that  they  proceed  frf)m  a  natural  sentiment  of  human- 
'  ity,  but  they  must  be  performed  for  the  sake  of  God, 
j  and  from  truly  jiious  motives.  In  Scripture  mercy  and 
j  truth  are  commonly  joined  together.  To  show  the  good- 
I  ness  that  precedes  and  the  faithfulness  that  accompa- 
I  nies  the  promises ;  or.  a  goodness,  a  clemency,  a  mer- 
cy that  is  constant  and  faithful,  and  that  does  not  de- 
ceive. Mercy  is  also  taken  for  favors  and  benefits 
received  from  God  or  man;  for  probity,  justice,  good- 
I  ness.  Merciful  men — in  Hebrew,  chasdim — are  men  of 
j  piety  and  goodness.  I^Iercy  is  often  taken  for  giving 
of  aims,  Prov.  xiv,  34 ;  xvi,  G;  Zaeh,  vii,  9,    See  Ciiar- 

j  ITV. 

I  Mercy,  as  derived  from  misericordia,  may  import  that 
sympathetic  sense  of  the  suffering  of  another  by  which 
the  heart  is  affected.  It  is  one  of  the  noblest  traits  of 
character.  The  object  of  mercy  is  misery  :  so  God 
pities  human  misery,  and  forbears  to  chastise  severely; 
so  man  pities  the  misery  of  a  fellow-man.  and  assists 

1  to  diminish  it ;  so  public  officers  occasionally  moderate 


MERCY 


111 


MERED 


the  strictness  of  national  laws  from  pity  to  the  culprit. 
But  only  those  can  hope  for  mercy  who  express  peni- 
tence and  solicit  mercy ;  the  impenitent,  the  stubborn, 
the  obdurate,  rather  brave  the  avenging  hand  of  jus- 
tice than  beseech  the  relieving  hand  of  mercy.  See 
Pakoox. 

Jlercy  is  an  essential  attribute  of  Jehovah,  for  the 
knowledge  of  which  we  are  indebted  wholly  to  revela- 
tion. By  the  propitiatory  sacrifice  of  our  Divnie  Re- 
deemer a  way  is  opened  for  the  exercise  of  mercy  and 
grace  towards  the  human  family  perfectly  honorable  to 
the  attributes  and  government  of  God.  He  appears  a 
just  God  and  a  Saviour  :  "He  is  just,  and  yet  he  justi- 
tieth  him  that  believeth  in  Jesus."  Thus  the  plan  of 
salvation  by  Jesus  Christ  provides  for  the  exercise  of 
infinite  mercy,  consistently  with  the  most  rigid  de- 
mands of  truth  and  righteousness ;  so  that,  under  this 
gracious  dispensation,  "  mercy  and  truth"  are  said  to 
"have  met  together,"  and  "righteousness  and  peace 
have  kissed  each  other"  (Gen.  xix,  19 ;  Exod.  xx,  C ; 
xxxiv,  G,  7  ;  Psa.  Ixxxv,  10  ;  Ixxxvi,  15,  IG  ;  ciii,  17  ; 
Luke  xviii,  13;  Rom.  ix,  15-18;  Heb.  iv,  IG;  viii,  12). 
The  expression  "I  will  have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice" 
(Hos.  vi.  G;  Matt,  ix,  13),  signifies,  as  the  connection 
indicates,  that  God  is  pleased  with  the  exercise  of  mer- 
cy rather  than  with  the  offering  of  sacrifices,  though  sin 
has  made  the  latter  necessary  (1  Sam.  xv,  22 ;  Mic.  vi, 
6-8).     See  Atonement. 

Mercy  is  also  a  Christian  grace,  and  no  duty  is  more 
strongly  urged  by  the  Scriptures  than  the  exercise  of 
it  towards  all  men,  and  especially  towards  such  as  have 
trespassed  against  us  (Matt,  v,  7 ;  xviii,  33-35). 

Mercy,  Sisters  of.     See  Sisters  of  Mercy. 

Mercy,  Wilhelm,  a  German  Roman  Catholic  the- 
ologian, was  born  Feb.  9, 1753,  at  Ueberlingen,  near  the 
Bodensee,  and  was  educated  at  Oberschwangar.  In 
1787  he  was  called  to  the  court  of  duke  Charles  of  Wilr- 
temberg,  and  in  1798  became  minister  at  Gruol,  prin- 
cipality of  Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.  His  advanced 
age  obliged  him  to  resign  his  position  in  1819,  and  he 
died  July  1,  1825.  Mercy  was  an  extremely  well-ed- 
ucated man.  He  published  in  1801  an  essay  on  the 
necessity  of  reform  witliin  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
which  caused  considerable  sensation.  He  aimed  at  an 
entire  reform  of  the  Church  constitution  and  the  cler- 
gy. Besides  several  articles  in  the  JahresscliriftenjTir 
Theologie  utid  Kirchenrecht  der  Kaiholiken  (Ulm,  1806- 
10),  he  published  several  other  valuable  but  minor  pro- 
ductions in  theological  literature.  —  Doring,  Gelehrte 
Theol  Deutschlands,  s.  v. 

Mercy-seat  (""133,  happo'reth,  a  covering,  i.  e. 
lid  of  a  vessel,  spoken  only  of  the  top  of  the  sacred  ark ; 
Sept.  and  New  Test.  iXaariipioi',yu\p;,  p7-opitiatoriit)ti), 
the  cover  of  the  box  or  ark  containing  tlie  tables  of 
the  Sinaitic  law,  and  overspread  by  the  cherubim,  be- 
tween which  appeared  the  shekinah,  or  visible  radiant 
symbol  of  the  divine  presence ;  it  is  generally  repre- 
sented as  a  plank  of  acacia  overlaid  with  gold,  but  it  was 
more  probably  a  solid  plate  or  sheet  of  the  purest  gold 
(Exod.  XXV,  17  sq. ;  xxx,  G;  xxxi,  7,  etc.).  Hence  the 
holy  of  holies  is  sometimes  called  the  "house  of  the 
mercy-seat"  (1  Chron.  xxviii,  11,  Heb.).  Josephus  sim- 
ply calls  it  a  licl  (fTriB'fjKn,  Ant.  iii,  6,  5) ;  but  the  ver- 
sions have  all  regarded  the  term  as  indicative  oi propi- 
tiation (as  if  from  the  Piel  of  "iSS),  and  the  same  view 
appears  to  be  taken  by  the  New-Testament  writers, 
who  compare  it  with  the  throne  of  grace  in  heaven, 
access  to  which  has  been  opened  by  the  blood  of  Christ 
(Heb.  ix,  5;  Rom.  iii,  24).  See  Ark.  Comp.  1  Chron. 
xxviii,  11,  where  the  holy  of  holies  is  called  the  n'^2 
n'iSSil,  "  house  of  the  mercy-seat."  "  It  was  that 
whereon  the  blood  of  the  yearly  atonement  was  sprinkled 
by  the  high-priest;  and  in  this  relation  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  sense  of  the  word  in  the  Heb.  is  based  on 
the  material  fact  of  its  '  covering'  the  ark,  or  from  this 


notion  of  its  reference  to  the  'covering'  (i.  e.  atonement) 
of  sin.  See  Atonement.  But  in  any  case  the  notion 
of  a  '  seat,'  as  conveyed  by  the  name  in  English,  seems 
superfluous  and  likely  to  mislead.  Jehovah  is  indeed 
spoken  of  as  '  dwelling'  and  even  as  '  sitting'  (Psa.  Ixxx, 
1 ;  xcix,  1)  between  the  cherubim,  but  imdoubtedly  his 
seat  in  this  conception  would  not  be  on  the  same  level 
as  that  on  which  they  stood  (Exod.  xxv,  18),  and  an 
enthronement  in  the  glory  above  it  must  be  supposed. 
The  idea  with  which  it  is  connected  is  not  merely  that 
of '  mercy,'  but  of  formal  atonement  made  for  the  breach 
of  the  covenant  (Lev.  xvi,  14),  which  the  ark  contained 
in  its  material  vehicle — the  two  tables  of  stone.  The 
communications  made  to  Moses  are  represented  as  made 
'  from  the  mercy-seat  that  was  upon  the  ark  of  the  tes- 
timony' (Numb,  vii,  89 ;  comp.  Exod.  xxv,  22 ;  xxx, 
6) ;  a  sublime  illustration  of  the  moral  relation  and  re- 
sponsibility into  which  the  people  were  by  covenant 
regarded  as  brought  before  God"  (Smith).  It  is  not 
without  significance  that  the  mercy-seat  was  above  the 
ark  and  below  the  symbols  of  the  divine  presence  and 
attributes,  as  if  to  foreshadow  the  supersedence  of  the 
law  of  ordinances  contained  in  the  ark  by  the  free  grace 
of  the  Gospel.  See  Pratenius,  De  Judcea  area  (Upsal. 
1727) ;  Werner,  Be  Projntiatoria  (Giessen,  1695).  See 
Shekinah. 

Me'red  (Heb.  id.,  T^^,  rehelHon,  as  in  Josh,  xxii, 
22;  Sept.  MwpaS  and  Mwp?/5,  Vulg.  Mered),  a  person 
named  as  the  second  son  of  Ezra  (or  Ezer),  of  tlie  tribe 
of  Judah  (1  Chron.  iv,  17).  See  Ezrah.  Great  confu- 
sion prevails  in  the  account  of  his  lineage  and  family, 
and  indeed  in  the  whole  chapter  in  question.  Yer.  17, 
after  mentioning  the  four  sons  of  Ezra,  immediately 
adds,  "  and  she  bore  Miriam,"  etc. ;  where  the  Sept.,  by 
an  evident  gloss,  attributes  these  children  to  Jethro, 
the  first  named  of  Ezra's  sons ;  the  Vulg.  has  genuit,  re- 
ferring them  to  Ezra  as  additional  sons,  in  defiance  of 
the  text  ^ilW,  which  is  undoubtedly  feminine;  while 
Luther  renders  this  word  as  a  proper  name,  Thahar, 
equally  at  variance  with  the  text,  which  joins  the  fol- 
lowing -word  by  the  accus.  particle  S"iX,  a  construction 
that  does  not  here  allow  the  resolution  by  the  rendering 
with.  In  ver.  18  we  find  several  sons  attributed  to  "his 
wife  Jehudijah,"  and  the  statement  added,  "And  these 
are  the  sons  of  Bithiah,  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh,  which 
Mered  took :"  the  Sept.,  Vulg.,  and  Luth.  follow  the 
Heb.,  which  yields  no  intelligible  connection.  Yer.  19 : 
"And  the  sons  of  his  wife  Hodiah,  the  sister  of  Naham, 
the  father  of  Keilah  the  Garmite,  and  Eshtemoa  the 
Maachathite ;"  where,  however,  the  Heb.  text  would  be 
more  naturally  rendered  "  the  sons  of  the  wife  of  Hodi- 
jah,"  nj'lin  nrx  ^33,  the  form  nrS  being  rarely 
absolute  (see  Nordheimer's  Ilch.  Cramm.  §  604);  the 
Sept.  renders:  "And  the  sons  of  the  wife  of  liis  Jewisli 
sister  [uioi  yvvaiKOQ  Ti]Q  'lovcaiai;  ((I'tA^i/c]  were  Na- 
chem,  and  Dana  the  father  of  Keeila,  and  Someion  the 
father  of  Joriam.  And  the  sons  of  Naem,  the  father  of 
Keeila,  were  (iarmi  and  Jcsthemoe,  Machatha"  [various 
readings,  "of  the  Idumivan  sister"  (or  "of  Odia  the  sis- 
ter") of  Nachain,  the  fatliir  oi'  Keeila,  were  Garmi  (oth- 
ers "Hotarmi"  or  "  Hugarini ")  and  Eshthaimon,  No- 
chathi] ;  the  Yulg.  and  Luther  are  like  the  Heb.,  ex- 
cept the  ambiguous  renderings,  "  Et  filii  uxoris  Odajae/' 
"  Die  Kinder  des  Weibes  Hodija."  The  Syr.  and  Arab, 
omit  ver.  17  and  18  (Davidson's  Jievis.  of  the  Ihh.  Text, 
ad  loc).  The  corruption  of  the  text  is  evident.  We 
suggest  a  conjectural  restoration  by  transposing  the  lat- 
ter part  of  ver.  18  to  the  middle  of  ver.  17,  and  the 
whole  of  ver.  19  to  the  end  of  ver.  17;  these  simple 
changes  will  supply  the  manifest  incongruities  as  fol- 
lows :  "And  the  sons  of  Ezra  [or  Ezer]  were  Jetlier,  and 
Mered,  and  Epher,  and  Jalon.  And  these  are  the  sons 
of  Bithiah  (the  daughter  of  Pharaoh),  whom  Mered 
[first]  married;  she  bore  Miriam,  and  Shammai,  and 
Ishbah   (founder  of  Eshtemoa) :  and  the  sous  of  his 


MEREDITH 


112 


MERES 


[second]  wife  Hodijah  (the  sister  of  Naham,  father 
[founder]  of  Keilah  the  (iarmite  [?  strong  city]  and  of 
Eshtemoa  tlie  Maacbatlilte)  — this  Jewish  wife  hore 
Jered  (founder  of  Gedor).  and  Ileber  (founder  of  Socho), 
and  Jokuthiel  (founder  of  Zanoali)."  This  essentially 
agrees  with  Bertheau's  rectilication  of  the  passage  (A>- 
Jclar.  ad  loc),  adopted  by  Keil  (Comment,  ad  loc). 

"  It  lias  been  supposed  that  Pharaoh  is  here  the  name 
of  an  Israelite,  but  there  are  strong  reasons  for  the  com- 
mon and  contrary  opinion.  The  name  Bithiah,  'daugh- 
ter,' that  is,  'servant  of  the  Lord,'  is  a))propriate  to  a 
convert.  It  may  be  observed  that  the  INIoslems  of  the 
present  day  very  frequently  give  the  name  Abdallah, 
'servant  oV  God,'  to  those  who  adopt  their  religion. 
That  another  wife  was  called  the  Jewess,  is  in  favor  of 
Bithiah's  Egyptian  origin.  The  name  Miriam,  if,  as 
we  believe,  Egyptian,  is  especially  suitable  to  the  child 
of  an  Egyptian"  (Kitto).  See  Bitiiiah.  I'haraoh, 
whose  daughter  Jlered  espoused,  was  therefore  undoubt- 
edh'  some  one  of  the  Egyptian  kings,  and  hence  Jlered 
himself  would  appear  to  have  been  a  person  of  note 
among  the  Israelites.  As  his  children  by  his  other 
wife  (who  was  also  highly  related),  were  recognised  as 
chief  men  or  rebuilders  of  Canaanitish  cities,  and  hence 
must  have  lived  soon  after  the  conquest  and  settlement 
of  Palestine  by  the  Hebrews,  Mered  himself  will  be 
placed  i!i  the  period  of  the  exodc,  and  he  may  be  sup- 
posed to  have  married  the  daughter  of  the  predecessor 
of  that  Pharaoh  by  whom  the  Israelites  were  detained 
in  so  cruel  bondage;  perhaps  his  Egyptian  wife  refused 
to  accompany  him  to  the  promised  land,  and  the  later 
children  may  have  been  the  fruit  of  a  subsequent  mar- 
riage during  the  wanderings  in  the  desert  with  a  He- 
brewess  Hodijah.     B.C.  cir.  1658. 

Mered's  wife  Bithiah  "is  enumerated  by  the  rabbins 
among  the  nine  who  entered  Paradise  (Hottingcr,  Smeg- 
ma Orientale,  p.  515),  and  in  the  Targum  of  H.  Joseph  on 
Chronicles  she  is  said  to  have  been  a  proselyte.  In  the 
same  Targum  wc  find  it  stated  that  Caleb,  the  son  of 
Jephunneh,  was  called  3Iered  because  he  withstood  or 
rebelled  against  ("T^  v)  '^^  counsel  of  the  spies,  a  tradi- 
tion also  recorded  by  Jarchi.  But  another  and  \ny 
curious  tradition  is  ijreserved  in  the  QmnsHones  in  libr. 
ParciL,  attributed  to  Jerome.  According  to  this  Ezra 
was  Amram;  his  sons  Jether  and  JMered  were  Aaron 
and  jMoses;  Ephcr  was  Eldad,  and  Jalon  Medad.  The 
tradition  goes  on  to  say  that  Moses,  after  receiving  the 
law  in  the  desert,  enjoined  his  father  to  put  away  his 
mother  because  she  was  his  aunt,  being  the  daughter  of 
Levi:  that  Amram  did  so,  married  again,  and  begat 
Eldad  and  Medad.  Bithiah,  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh, 
is  said,  on  the  same  authority,  to  have  been  '  taken'  by 
Moses,  because  she  forsook  idols,  and  was  converted  to 
the  worship  of  the  true  God.  The  origin  of  all  this 
seems  to  have  been  the  occurrence  of  the  name  '^lir- 
iam'  in  1  Chron.  iv,  17,  which  was  referred  to  Jliriam 
the  sister  of  Moses.  Kabbi  D.  Kimchi  would  put  the 
first  clause  of  ver.  18  in  a  parenthesis.  He  makes  Bith- 
iah the  daughter  of  Pharaoh  the  first  wife  of  IMercd, 
and  nuilhcr  of  :\Iiriam,  Siiammai,  and  Ishbah  ;  Jchudi- 
jah,  <ir  •  the  .Jewess,'  being  his  second  wife"  (Smith). 

Meredith,  C.  G.,  a  Methodist  Episcopal  minister, 
was  born  in  Baltimore  County,  JId.,  May  5,  1820;  was 
converted  at  eleven,  joined  the  Ohio  Conference  in  184G, 
travelled  with  usefulness  eight  years,  and  died  at  Leba- 
non Station,  Ohio,  July  It!,  1854.  Jlr.  Meredith  was 
amiable  and  serious  from  childhood,  was  full  of  good 
works,  and  by  his  own  efforts  acquired  not  only  a  fine 
general  English  education,  but  read  Greek  and  Latin 
fluently.  He  was  a  sound  theologian,  and  a  dignilied, 
instructive,  and  usefid  minister  of  the  Gospel. — Miiiuks 

Meredith,  Thomas,  a  Bajitist  minister,  was  born 
at  Warwick,  Bucks  County.  Pa.  After  graduating  (.Ian. 
4,  l.SKJ)  in  the  University  of  Philadelphia,  he  began  the 
study  of  theology,  was  licensed  Dec.  30,  1816,  and  two 


years  after  he  was  ordained  at  Edenton.  In  1819  he 
was  settled  as  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Xewbeni. 
In  \H1-1  he  accepted  a  call  of  the  Baptist  Church  of  Sa- 
vannah, and  finally  settled  in  1825  as  pastor  of  the 
Church  at  Edenton,  N.  C.  where  he  remained  for  nine 
years.  He  commenced  the  publication  of  the  liaptist 
Interpreter,  the  first  Baptist  paper  printed  in  North  Car- 
olina. In  1835  he  returned  to  the  Church  of  Newbern, 
where  he  publisheil  the  Jiiblirul  Recorder.  In  \XM  he 
removed  to  L'aleigh.  where  he  continued  to  issue  the 
paper,  though  his  health  was  too  feelde  to  allow  him  to 
take  a  pastoral  charge.  He  died  Nov.  13,  1850.  He 
published  a  pamphlet  entitled  Christianili/  and  Slavery 
in  1847,  which  had  previously  appeared  in  the  Biblical 
Recorder. 

Mer'emoth  (Ileb.  Meremoth' ,  Ti'Z'yZ, exaltations), 
the  name  of  two  men  at  the  close  of  the  captivity. 

1.  (Sept.  Mfpo/dii^,  Mflpf/iwc,  Mo/j/iwS-,  avo  'Va- 
fiio^  V.  r.  MapifxioSr,  etc.;  Vulg.  Merimut/i).  A  priest, 
son  of  Urijah,  and  grandson  (descendant)  of  Koz.  who 
returned  from  Babylon  with  Zerubbabel  (Neli.  xii,  3), 
B.C.  536,  and  to  whom  were  afterwards  consigned  the 
bullion  and  sacred  vessels  forwarded  by  Ezra  (l->.ra  viii, 
33).  B.C.  459.  "After  the  statement  in  Ezra  ii,  62,  re- 
specting the  exclusion  of  the  family  of  Koz  from  the 
priesthood,  it  is  puzzling  to  find  one  of  this  family  rec- 
ognised as  a  priest ;  but  probably  the  exclusion  did  not 
extend  to  the  whole  family,  some  being  able  to  establish 
their  pedigree"  (Kitto).  He  repaired  two  sections  of  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  (Neh.  iii,  4, 21),  B.C.  446,  and  lived  to 
join  in  the  sacred  covenant  of  fidelity  to  Jehovah  (Neh. 
X,  5).  B.C.  cir.  410.  In  Neh.  xii,  1 5  he  is  mentioned  by 
the  name  of  MEKAiOTir,  as  the  father  of  Ilelkai. 

2.  (Sept.  i\rrtp(^uJ^,  Vulg.  Marimuth.)  An  Israelite 
of  the  "sons"  (V  inhabitants)  of  Bani,  who  divorced  his 
Gentile  wife  after  the  exile  (Ezra  x,  36).    B.C.  459. 

Mererius,  a  French  prelate,  flourished  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  (iih  century  as  bishop  of  Angouh'me.  He 
was  originally  count  of  Angouleme.  At  that  period  of 
history  the  civil  government  diff'ered  so  little  from  the 
ecclesiastical  that,  without  any  change  of  habits  or  al- 
teration of  moral  life,  the  appellation  of  count  was  not 
unfrcquently  exchanged  for  that  of  bishop,  in  order  to 
transmit  to  a  son,  or  perhaps  a  nephew,  the  title  thus 
relinquished.  In  this  way  the  prerogatives  of  both  ti- 
tles were  retained  in  the  same  family.  But  it  was  con- 
sidered an  abuse  of  authority  to  have  any  one  person 
invested  with  the  combined  privileges  and  distinctions 
of  a  count  and  of  a  bishop.  The  count  ^lererius  was 
canonically  settled  in  the  see  of  Angouleme  by  St.  Ger- 
main, bishop  of  Paris,  and  St.  Euphrone,  archbishop  of 
Tours,  with  the  consent  of  king  Charibcrt.  Nantin,  the 
nephew  of  Jlererius,  inherited  the  immunities  and  pos- 
sessions attached  to  the  title  of  count.  This  occurred 
about  570.  After  seven  years  of  episcopacy  Mererius 
was  poisoned  by  Erontonius,  who  seized  the  bishop's 
mitre,  and  was  apparently  rect)gniscd  without  opposition 
as  the  bishop  of  Angouleme.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that 
in  those  troublesome  times  it  was  not  uncommon  through 
such  crimes  to  reach  the  highest  offices.  The  authors 
of  L'Hixtoire  Lilteraire  and  the  Gnllia  CfiruHiava  have 
fancied  the  identity  of  ilererius,  bishop  of  Angouleme, 
with  one  ]\Iaracharius,  who,  according  to  Fortunitus,  at- 
tended the  dedication  of  the  church  at  Nantcc  in  568'. 
but  father  Lecointe  woulil  rather  believe  that  this  Mar- 
acharius  Pomacharius  was  the  bishop  of  Coutanccs, 
Yet  neither  the  bishop  of  Coutances  nor  the  bishop  of 
Angouleme  was  a  fellow- provincial  of  the  bishop  of 
Nantes.  It  is  much  more  likely  that  the  Maracharius 
mentioned  by  Fortunatus  is  the  same  with  Maclianus, 
bishop  of  Valines,  who  died  probably  in  577.  It  is  said 
that  some  writings  by  Mererius  were  deposited  in  the 
library  of  Cluni,  but  they  seem  to  have  been  lost. — Hoe- 
fcr,  Xonr.  />/".'/.  Htnerule,  s.  v. 

Me'res  (Hcb.  id.,  C;^"?,  from  the  Sanscrit  meresh, 
worthy,  accoriling  to  Benfey,  p.  200;  Sept.  Alf/off,  but 


MERI 


113 


MERIBAH 


most  copies  omit ;  Vulg.  Mares),  one  of  the  seven  sa- 
traps or  viziers  of  Xerxes  (Esth.  i,  14).    B.C.  483. 

Meri,  Francois,  a  French  Benedictine  monk,  was 
born  at  Vierzon  in  1675.  He  died  Oct.  18, 1723,  in  the 
Abbey  of  Saint-Martin  de  Ma^ai,  province  of  Berrj-. 
Meri  published  a  work  entitled  Discussion  a-itique  et 
iheolorjique  des  Remarques  de  M.  sui-  le  didionnaire  de 
Moreri,  under  the  nom  de  plume  AF.  Thomas  (1720). 
He  has  sometimes  been  mistaken  for  Dom  Philippe  Bil- 
louet,  his  contemporary,  who  never  published  any  work. 

Meriadec,  St.,  a  French  prelate,  whose  name  in 
Latin  is  Mereadocus,  was  born  iu  Vannes  about  AD.  605. 
He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  ancient  kings  of  Ar- 
morica,  and  was  brought  up  at  the  court  of  Joel  HI,  king 
of  Brittany.  He  was  ordained  a  priest  by  Hingueten, 
the  bishop  of  Vannes.  and  afterwards  retired  into  the 
waste  and  sterile  country  of  Stival,  near  Pontivy.  At 
the  death  of  Hingueten,  the  clergy  and  the  laity  alike 
with  one  acclaim  appointed  Meriadec  his  legitimate  suc- 
cessor, St.  Meriadec  is  mentioned  in  the  Vita  Sancto- 
rum by  BoUandus  (ii,  36).  It  is  not  known  when  he  was 
canonized,  but  his  name  is  still  much  venerated  in  Brit- 
tany, where  many  churches  and  chapels  have  been  con- 
secrated under  the  inspiration  of  his  memory.  He  died 
in  Vannes  in  the  year  666. 

Merian,  Hans  Berxhard,  a  noted  philosopher,  was 
born  in  1723  at  Lichstall,  in  the  canton  of  Basle,  Avhere 
his  father  was  a  minister.  After  finishing  an  academi- 
cal course  of  philosophical  and  philological  studies,  he 
became  private  tutor  of  a  young  Dutch  nobleman.  At 
the  recommendation  of  M.  lie  IMaupertuis,  Frederick  the 
Great  called  him  to  Berlin.  Here  he  became  a  member 
of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  soon  distinguished  him- 
self so  much  that  in  1771  he  was  nominated  director  of 
the  philosophical  department,  and  in  1797  (after  For- 
mey's  death)  secretary  of  the  academy.  Of  his  numer- 
ous philosophical  works,  some  of  which  show  superior 
merits,  we  mention  the  following:  Diss,  de  auiochiria 
(Basle,  1740): — Discours  sur  la  metajihysique  (Basle, 
1766) :  —  Systeme  du  monde  (Bouillon,  1770): — Examen 
de  Vhistoire  naturelle  de  la  religion  par  Mr.  Hume,  ou 
Von  refute  les  erreurs,  etc.  (Amsterdam,  1779).  Numer- 
ous philosophical  essays  of  his  are  printed  in  the  "  Mem. 
de  I'Acad.  des  Sciences  ii  Berlin,"  e.  g.  Mem.  sur  Vapjier- 


ception  de  sa  propre  existence ;  Mem.  sur  Vapperception 
consideree  relativement  aux  idees,  ou  sur  Vexistence  des 
idees  dans  Vdme  (vol.  v) ;  Reflexions  philos.  sur  la  ressem- 
blance  (vol.  xii) ;  Examen  d'une  question  concernant  la 
liberte  (vol.  ix)  ;  Parall'ele  de  deux principes  de  psycholo- 
gie  (vol.  xiii) ;  Sur  le  se7is  moixil  (vol.  xiv)  ;  Sur  le  de- 
sir  (vol.  xvi) ;  Sur  la  crainte  de  la  mort ;  Sur  le  mepris 
de  la  mort;  Sur  le  suicide  (vol.  xix)  ;  Sur  le  duree  et 
sur  Vintensite  du  pilaisir  et  de  la  peine  (vol.  xii).  For 
further  details,  see  Fred.  AnciUon,  Eloge  historique  de  J. 
B.  Merian,  etc.  (Berlin,  1810), 

Mer'ibah  (Heb.  Merihah',  !l3'i'17D,  quarrel,  or 
"  strife,'"  as  in  Gen.  xiii,  8 ;  Numb,  xxvii,  14),  the  desig- 
nation of  two  places,  each  marked  by  a  spring. 

1.  (Sept.  \ow6pi]aiQ ;  Vulg.  joins  with  the  preceding 
name  in  one,  tentatio,  Exod.  xvii,  7 ;  but  in  Psa.  Ixxxi, 
8,  XoiSopia,  contradictio.)  The  latter  of  the  two  names 
given  by  IMoses  to  the  fountain  in  the  desert  of  Sin,  ou 
the  western  gulf  of  the  Red  Sea,  which  issued  from  the 
rock  which  he  smote  by  the  divine  command,  the  other 
equivalent  name  being  Massah;  and  the  reason  is  as- 
signed, "  because  of  the  chiding  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
and  because  they  did  there  tempt  the  Lord"  (Exod.  xvii, 
1-7).  This  spot  is  only  named  once  again  by  this  title 
(Psa.  Ixxxi,  8).  The  general  locality  is  designated  by 
the  name  Eephidim  (ver.  1,  8).  See  Exodk.  The 
monks  of  Sinai  still  pretend  to  show  the  identical  rock 
from  which  Moses  brought  forth  the  water  (Olin's  Trav- 
els, i,  416).  Stephens  describes  it  as  an  isolated  stone, 
about  twelve  feet  high,  with  several  artificial  gashes 
from  which  water  trickles  (Trav.  i,  285).  Burckhardt, 
also,  wlio  was  one  of  the  first  travellers  that  critically 
examined  the  locality,  thinks  it  bears  indubitable  marks 
of  art,  yet  one  of  the  later  travellers,  D.  Roberts,  holds 
that  the  orifice  has  been  naturally  formed  by  the  oozing 
of  water  for  a  long  period  (Holy  Land,  Egypt,  etc.,  vol.  iii, 
pi.  iii).  The  rock  rests  isolated  where  it  has  fallen  from 
the  face  of  the  mountain.  It  is  of  red  granite,  fifteen 
feet  long,  and  ten  feet  wide.  Down  the  front  of  the 
block,  iu  an  oblique  direction,  runs  a  seam,  twelve  or 
fourteen  inches  wide,  of  apparently  a  softer  material; 
the  rock  also  has  ten  or  twelve  deep  horizontal  crevices, 
at  nearly  equal  distances  from  each  other.  There  are 
also  other  apertures  upon  its  surface  from  which  the 


VI.— H 


'The  Kock  of  Moses." 


MERIB-BAAL 


114 


MERITUM 


water  is  said  to  have  issued — in  all  about  twenty  in 
number,  and  lying  nearly  in  a  straight  line  around  the 
three  sides  of  the  stone,  and  for  the  most  part  ten  or 
twelve  inches  long,  two  or  three  inches  broad,  and  from 
one  to  two  inches  ilcep;  but  a  few  are  as  deep  as  four 
inches.  Tlie  rock  is  highly  revered  both  by  the  Chris- 
tians and  IJedouins.  It  lies  in  the  valley  called  Wady 
el-Lejah,  in  the  very  highest  region  of  the  Sinai  group, 
running  up  narrow  and  choked  with  fallen  rocks  between 
the  two  i)eaks  that  claim  to  be  the  Mount  of  jMoscs,  and 
contains  the  deserted  convent  of  El-Abein  (^Kitto,  Picl. 
Bible,  ad  loc). 

2.  (Sept.  HvnXoy/njinNumb.xXjlS;  xxvii,14;  Deut. 
xxxii,  51 ;  XoiSopia  in  Numb,  xx,  24 ;  Vulg.  contradic- 
tio ;  but  in  Psa.  xcv,  8,  liitpaaixvi-,  tentatio,  Auth.Vers. 
"provocation;"  and  in  Ezek.xlvii,19,M  api/iw^;  xlviii, 
28,  BapiiJM^ — in  which  last  two  passages,  as  well  as  in 
Psa.  cvi.  32,  the  Auth.Vers.  has  "strife."^  Another  foun- 
tain produced  in  the  same  manner,  and  under  similar 
circumstances,  in  the  desert  of  Zin  (Wady  Arabah),  near 
Kadesh ;  to  which  the  name  was  given  with  a  similar 
reference  to  the  previous  misconduct  of  the  Israelites 
(Numb.  XX,  13,  24 ;  Deut.  xxxiii,  8).  In  the  last  text, 
which  is  the  only  one  where  the  two  places  are  men- 
tioned together,  the  former  is  called  Massah  only,  to 
prevent  the  confusion  of  the  two  Meribahs, "  Whom 
thou  didst  prove  at  ^lassah,  and  with  whom  thou  didst 
strive  at  the  waters  of  Meribah."  Indeed,  this  latter 
Mcribah  is  almost  always  indicated  by  the  addition  of 
"  waters,"  as  if  further  to  distinguish  it  from  the  other 
(Numb.  XX,  13,  24;  Deut.  xxxiii,  8;  Psa.  Ixxxi.S;  cvi, 
32;  Ezck.  xlvii,  19;  xlviii,  28),  a  title  that  is  but  once 
applied  to  the  other  Meribah  (Psa.  Ixxxi,  8) ;  and  the 
locality  we  are  now  considering  is  still  more  distinctly 
called  "waters  of  Meribah  in  Kadesh"  (Numb,  xxvii, 
14),  and  even  INIeribah  of  Kadesh  (A.V.  '•  iSIcribah-Ka- 
desh,"  Deut.  xxxii,  51).  Only  once  is  this  place  called 
simply  Meribah  (Psa.  xcv,  8).  It  is  strange  that,  with 
all  this  carefulness  of  distinction  in  Scripture,  the  two 
places  should  rarely  have  been  properly  discriminated. 
Indeed  many  commentators  have  regarded  the  one  as 
a  mere  du|)licate  of  the  other,  owing  to  a  mixture  of 
earlier  and  later  legend.  The  above  monkisli  tradition 
has  contributed  to  confound  the  two  localities.  But,  be- 
sides the  differences  already  noted,  there  was  this  very 
important  one,  that  in  smiting  the  rock  at  the  second 
jilace  Closes  himself  exhibited  impatience  with  the  mul- 
titude (Numb.  XX,  10-12);  whereas  he  showed  no  signs  of 
passion  on  the  former  occasion.  See  Moses.  The  dis- 
tance of  place  from  the  former  Meribah,  the  distance  of 
time,  and  the  difference  of  the  people  in  a  new  genera- 
tion, arc  circumstances  which,  when  the  positive  condi- 
tions of  the  two  wells  were  so  equal,  explain  why  Closes 
might  give  the  same  name  to  two  places.    See  Kai)i;sh. 

Merib'-Baal  (Ucb.  Aferib'-Ba'al,hv^  2"'"ip,co«- 
iende?-  wltli  liddl,  1  Chron.  viii,34;  Sept.  Mfpil3aci\  v.  r. 
Mtfpiii(ut\,Yu\ii;.M<rihfifd;  also  in  the  contracted  form 
Meri'-]ia'(d,hV'Z  '^'np,!  Chron.  ix, 40;  Sept.  M£jo(/3onX 
v.  r.  ;\If\'0(/^f(fiX,Vulg.  .Verihfinl),  the  son  of  Jonathan, 
elsewhere  called  MKriiiiiOsiiETii  (2  Sam.  iv,  4,  etc.),  ap- 
parently from  an  unwillingness  to  pronounce  the  idola- 
trous name  of  Baal.    See  IsiiBOSiiiiTii. 

Merici,  Angela,  foundress  of  the  Order  of  Ursu- 
lincs,  was  born  at  Desenzano,  on  the  lake  of  Guarda, 
in  1511.  Her  family  name  was  I)e  Breccia.  She  was 
brought  up  l)y  lier  uncle,  and  at  an  early  age  entered 
the  (Jrder  of  St,  Francis.  She  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the 
Holy -Land,  and  after  her  return  established  at  Brescia, 
in  1537,  a  new  order  of  nuns,  of  wliicli  she  was  appoint- 
ed superior.  Angela  Merici  diiil  JIarch  21, 1540.  Her 
order  was  so  successful  tliat  at  the  end  of  a  century 
after  its  organization  it  counted  in  Prance  alone  over 
three  hundred  and  lifty  convents.  See  Helyot,  Hist,  dis 
ordri'S  moiKinliqiie.i,  iv,  150;  D'Emilliannc,  //t.ft.dcs  or- 
dres  momistiqvcs,  p.  247-24'J ;  !M(jrcri,  Did.  hist.  s.  v. — 
Hoefer,  Xuuv,  Biog.  Gsnerak,  ii,  038.    See  Uksuli>es. 


Meridian  is  the  technical  term  for  the  siesta  or 
noon-day  sleep  in  a  convent,  allowed  to  be  taken  during 
one  hour  after  hall-time. — Walcott,  Sacr.  A  rcJueol.  s.  v. 

Merino,  .Toiin  Anton  Diaz,  a  Boman  Catholic 
prelate,  was  born  in  1771.  In  his  twelfth  year  he 
had  made  such  extraordinan,-  progress  in  his  studies 
that  he  was  ready  to  enter  the  University  of  Alcala. 
Later  he  lectured  as  professor  of  theology  at  several 
universities  in  Spain  and  Cuba,  then  joined  the  Domin- 
icans, and  was  shortly  after  promoted  general  of  this 
order.  On  account  of  his  great  wisdom  and  sagacity, 
he  was  often  consulted  by  the  bishops  in  cases  of  an  in- 
tricate character.  In  1832  he  was  ordained,  and  in  his 
position  led  a  most  exemplary  and  simple  life,  and 
greatly  devoted  himself  to  the  sufferings  of  the  poor. 
His  firm  and  vivid  faith  was  a  bulwark  against  the 
evils  of  his  time,  and,  for  refusing  to  support  irreligious 
edicts  of  his  government,  he  was  finally  expelled  from 
his  see  and  had  to  leave  Spain.  He  spent  his  last 
years  in  France  in  exile,  and  died  at  Marseilles  in  1844. 
He  published  Coleccion  Ecchsia.'stica  and  liilliotccu  de 
Id  Relir/ion,  the  first  work  containing  all  the  acts  of  the 
S]ianish  bishops  in  defence  of  the  system  of  the  Church 
jHirsucd  (luring  tlie  constitutional  epoch,  and  the  lat- 
ter coiniirising  the  translation  of  the  works  of  Lameu- 
nais,  Maistre.  etc. 

Merit  signifies  desert,  or  that  which  is  earned ;  orig- 
inally the  word  was  applied  to  soldiers  and  other  mili- 
tary persons,  who,  by  their  labors  in  the  field,  and  by 
the  various  hardships  they  underwent  during  the  course 
of  a  campaign,  as  also  by  other  senices  they  might 
occasionally  render  to  the  commonwealth,  were  said, 
merere  stipendid,  to  merit,  or  earn  their  pay ;  which 
they  might  properly  be  said  to  do,  because  they  yield- 
ed in  real  service  an  equivalent  to  the  state  for  the  sti- 
pend they  received,  wliich  was  therefore  due  to  them 
in  justice.  Here,  then,  we  come  at  the  true  meaning 
of  the  word  merit ;  from  which  it  is  very  clearly  to  be 
seen  that,  in  a  theological  sense,  there  can  be  r.o  such 
thing  as  merit  in  our  best  obedience.  One  man  may 
merit  of  another,  but  all  mankind  together  cannci  merit 
from  the  hand  of  God.  This  evidently  ajjpears,  if  we 
consider  the  imperfections  of  all  our  services,  and  the 
express  declaration  of  the  divine  Word  (Ephes.  ii,  8,  9; 
Eom.  xi,  5,  6 ;  Tit.  iii,  5 ;  Kom.  x,  1, 4).  The  scholastic 
distinction  between  merit  of  congruily  and  merit  of  con- 
diipiiti/  is  thus  stated  by  Hobbes  {Of  Mdii,  pt.  i,  ch.  iv)  : 
"  (iod  Almighty  having  promised  Paradise  to  those  that 
can  walk  through  this  world  according  to  the  limits  and 
precepts  prescril)ed  by  him,  they  say  he  that  shall  so 
walk  shall  merit  I'aradise  ex  coxgnio.  But  because  no 
man  can  demand  a  right  to  it  by  his  own  righteousness, 
or  any  other  power  in  himself,  but  by  the  free  grace  of 
(iod  only,  they  say  no  man  can  merit  Paradise  ex  con- 
diffno."  See  IMekituji.  See  South's  Sermons,  The  Doc- 
trine of  Merit  stated,  vol.  iii,  ser.  1 ;  Toplady's  Works,  iii, 
471;  Hervey's  Eleven  Letters  to  Wesley;  Kobinson's 
Cldude,  ii,  2 18 ;  Buck,  Theol  Diet.  s.  v.    See  also  Wokks. 

BIeuits  ok  CiiKisT,  a  term  used  to  denote  the  intlu- 
once  or  moral  consideration  resulting  from  the  obedience 
of  Christ — all  that  he  wrought  and  all  that  he  suffered 
for  the  salvation  of  mankind.     See  Atonioiext  ;  Im- 

riTATION  ;    BlOlITEOlSNESS  OF   ClIKIST. 

Mekits  oi-  Saints.     See  Slperekogation. 

Meritum  de  Condigno,  or  i>e  Congkio  {desert 
of  irorth  or  Jitnes.t).  This  distinction  in  the  idea  of 
the  merit  of  good  works,  as  it  was  first  interpreted  by 
Tliomas  A(iuinas,  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  compromise 
between  the  strict  Augustinian  doctrine  to  which  he 
himself  was  attached,  and  the  Pelagian  tendencies  of 
the  Church  in  general,  particidarly  on  the  subject  of 
good  works.  He  therefore  considers  meritorious  works 
uiuler  two  asjiects  :  1.  According  to  the  substance  of  the 
work  itself,  in  so  far  as  jtrocecding  from  beings  en- 
dowed with  free  will,  it  is  an  effect  of  ilicir  free  voli- 
tion,   2.  As  proceeding  in  a  measure  from  the  grace  of 


MERLAT 


115 


MERLE  D'AUBIGNE 


the  Holj'  Spirit.  Under  the  last  aspect,  being,  in  fact, 
an  eflect  of  the  divine  grace  in  man,  it  is  raeritorium 
vitjB  asternoe  ex  condigm.  While  considered  as  a  result 
of  free  will,  the  immense  disproportion  between  tlie 
creature  and  the  supernatural  communicated  grace  pre- 
vents there  being  any  comlif/nitas,  any  absolute  desert, 
but  only  a  congruitas,  propter  quandam  a?qualitatem 
proportionis.  For  it  appears  suitable  that  "  ut  homini 
operanti  secundum  suam  virtutem  Deus  recompenset 
secundum  excellentiara  suw.  virtutis."  From  this  Thom- 
as Aquinas  concludes :  1.  That  no  one  but  Christ  can 
gain  by  meriium  condigni  any 2}rimamg?-aHam  for  anoth- 
er. 2.  That,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  possible  to  all  as  re- 
gards merittim  congrui,  since  "  secundum  amicitia;  propor- 
tionem  Deus  implet  hominis  voluntatem  in  salvatione 
alterius."  The  conclusion,  which  opens  wide  the  door 
to  the  practice  of  supererogatory  works,  is  consequently 
this,  that  "tides  aliorum  valet  alii  ad  salutcm  mei-ilo 
congrui,  non  condigni."  Duns  Scotus  goes  even  further 
in  this  Pelagian  direction,  and  asserts  that  man  can, 
de  congruo,  prepare  (dispomre)  himself  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  grace  oflFered  him.  By  Protestants  this  dis- 
tinction is  of  course  rejected,  as  weU  as  the  whole  doc- 
trine of  good  works.  The  A2)ol.  Conf.  (ii,  63)  declares 
that  this  scholastic  distinction  is  but  a  screen  for  Pela- 
gianism  :  "Nam  si  Deus  necessario  dat  gratiam  pro  me- 
rito  congrui,  jam  non  est  meritum  congrui,  sed  con- 
digni;" elsewhere  (iii,  127)  it  opposes  to  it  the  follow- 
ing arguments :  1.  That  this  doctrine  tends  to  diminish 
the  mediatorial  character  of  Christ,  qui  perpetuo  est 
mediator,  non  tantum  in  principio  justificationis.  2.  That 
it  continually  awakens  doubts  in  the  conscience,  for 
hypocrites  could  always  rely  on  their  good  works  to 
merit  justification,  while  conscientious  believers  would 
be  in  doubt  as  to  all  their  works,  and  always  seeking 
for  more.  "  Hoc  est  enim  de  congruo  mereri,  dubitare 
et  sine  fide  operari,  donee  desperatio  incidit."  See  Mlin- 
scher,  Lehrhuch  d.  Dogmengesch.  ii,  1, 145,  146, 176 ;  Ne- 
ander,  Gesch.  d.  christl.  Religion  ii.  Kirche,  ii,  294,  610. — 
Herzog,  Real-EnajMop.  ix,  365.     (J.  N.  P.) 

Merlat,  Elik,  a  French  theologian,  was  born  at 
Saintes  in  March,  1634,  and  was  educated  at  Saumur  and 
Montauban ;  he  afterwards  visited  Switzerland,  Holland, 
and  England,  and  in  1658  secured  a  position  as  minister 
at  the  church  of  All  Saints.  In  1678  he  presided  over 
the  provincial  synod  at  Jonzac.  His  reply  to  Renverse- 
ment  de  la  Morale  d'Arnauld  brought  upon  him  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  government  in  1679;  he  was  sent  to  pris- 
on, and  in  1680  the  Parliament  of  Guienne  banished  him 
from  the  country.  Merlat  escaped  to  Lausanne,  where 
he  was  appointed  professor  of  theology.  He  died  there 
Nov.  18, 1705.  His  most  celebrated  works  are,  Reponse 
generale  au  livre  de  M.  A  rnauld:  Le  Renversement  de  la 
Morale  de  Jesus  Christ  (Saumur,  1672, 12mo) : — Le  mo- 
yen  de  discerner  les  esprits;  this  sermon  was  directed 
towards  the  visionaries,  and  created  great  disturbance : 
—Le  vrai  et  lefaux  Pietisme  (Lausanne,  1700,  Timo). — 
Hoefer,  Noiiv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Merle  d'Aubigne,  Jean  Henri,  D.D.,  one  of 

the  illustrious  characters  of  the  Church  of  the  19th  cen- 
tury, the  popular  historian  of  the  most  prominent  event 
of  modern  times — the  great  Reformation  of  the  16th 
century — was  born  at  the  village  of  Eaux  Vives,  on 
Lake  Leman,  in  the  canton  of  Geneva,  Switzerland,  Aug. 
16, 1794.  He  was  the  descendant  of  celebrated  French 
Protestants.  His  first  French  ancestor  to  leave  the  na- 
tive soil  was  his  great-grandfather,  John  Lewis  Merle, 
who  quitted  his  home  at  Nisraes  after  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  (1685),  and  found  a  refuge  in  the 
home  of  Switzerland's  greatest  character— John  Calvin. 
In  1743  Francis,  son  of  John  Lewis,  married  Elizabeth 
D'Aubigne,  daughter  of  the  celebrated  French  Protestant 
nobleman,  and  direct  descendant  of  the  noted  chevalier, 
Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  the  grandfather  of  Ma- 
dame de  Maixtexon  (q.v.).  According  to  French  usage, 
the  family  name  of  Elizabeth's  illustrious  ancestry  was 


appended  to  the  family  name  of  her  own  oflFspring.  One 
of  these  was  her  son,  Aime  Robert  (born  in  1755,  mur- 
dered in  1799),  the  father  of  this  subject,  and  of  two 
other  sons  who  now  figure  in  American  mercantile  life 
— one  of  them  has  been  for  many  j-ears  a  resident  of 
Brooldyn,  L.  I. ;  the  other  a  resident  of  New  Orleans. 

Jean  Henri  was  educated  in  the  Academy,  or,  as  it  is 
more  commonly  called,  the  University  of  Geneva.  De- 
termined to  enter  the  ministry,  he  inaugurated  his  the- 
ological course  at  his  alma  mater.  While  engaged  in 
his  studies,  under  the  leadership  of  a  faculty  decidedly 
rationalistic  in  tendencj',  he  fell  in  with  the  Haldanes, 
and  was  led  to  dedicate  himself  to  Christ  as  a  faithful 
and  devoted  servant.  In  his  own  account  of  his  con- 
version, Dr.  d'Aubigne  states  that  his  professor  of  divin- 
ity disbelieved  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  that, 
instead  of  the  Bible,  "  St.  Seneca  and  St.  Plato  were 
the  two  saints  whose  writings  he  held  up  for  admiration." 
The  pupil  followed  the  master  throughout.  He  was 
chairman  of  a  meeting  of  students  who  protested  most 
vehementl)',  in  a  public  document,  against  "  the  odious 
aggression"  of  a  pamphlet  entitled  "Considerations  upon 
the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,"  by  Henri  Empey  taz,  which 
was  addressed  to  them,  and  had  produced  a  great  excite- 
ment. "But  soon,"  he  continues,  "I  met  Robert  Hal- 
dane,  and  heard  him  read  from  an  English  Bible  a  chap- 
ter from  Romans  about  the  natural  corruption  of  man — 
a  doctrine  of  which  I  had  never  before  heard.  In  fact, 
I  was  quite  astonished  to  hear  of  man  being  corrupt  by 
nature.  I  remember  saying  to  ]Mr.  Haldane,  '  Now  I  see 
that  doctrine  in  the  Bible.'  'Yes,'  he  replied;  'but  do 
you  see  it  in  your  heart  ?'  That  was  but  a  simple  ques- 
tion, yet  it  came  home  to  my  conscience.  It  was  the 
Sword  of  the  Spirit ;  and  from  that  time  I  saw  that  my 
heart  was  corrupted,  and  knew  from  the  Word  of  God 
that  I  can  be  saved  by  grace  alone.  So  that,  if  Geneva 
gave  something  to  Scotland  at  the  time  of  the  Refor- 
mation— if  she  communicated  light  to  .John  Knox- 
Geneva  has  received  something  from  Scotland  in  return 
in  the  blessed  exertions  of  Robert  Haldane."  See  Hal- 
dane; Malax. 

Upon  the  completion  of  his  theological  course  at  Ge- 
neva, INIerle  d'Aubigne  went  abroad  and  studied  at  the 
universities  of  Leipsic  and  Berlin.  In  the  last-named 
place  he  attended  the  lectures  of  the  "  father  of  modem 
Church  history,"  Neander.  On  his  way  to  Berlin  he 
had  passed  tlirough  Eisenach,  and  visited  the  castle  of 
Wartburg,  made  famous  by  Luther's  sojourn.  It  was  in 
this  spot  that  he  first  conceived  the  purpose  of  writing 
the  "  History  of  the  Reformation."  His  stay  at  Berlin, 
and  association  with  the  immortal  Neander,  only  con- 
firmed the  purpose,  and  he  rested  not  until  the  work  was 
in  the  possession  of  the  world.  In  1817  he  was  ordained 
to  preach,  and  became  the  pastor  of  an  interesting  French 
Protestant  Church  at  Hamburg.  There  he  labored  dil- 
igently for  his  people  and  his  God  for  some  five  years, 
when  he  was  invited  to  Brussels,  by  the  late  king  him- 
self, as  pastor  of  a  newly-formed  French  congregation. 
He  rapidly  rose  in  favor  and  distinction,  and  enjoj-ed 
the  position  of  president  of  the  Consistory  of  the  Frencli 
and  German  Protestant  churches  of  the  Belgian  capi- 
tal. In  1830,  the  revolution  delivering  the  country  from 
Protestant  rule  and  Dutch  authority,  all  persons  friend- 
ly to  the  king  of  Holland  were  regarded  as  euemie.s  of 
the  Belgians,  and  Merle  d'Aubigne,  fearing  for  his  life, 
determined  to  return  to  his  native  country.  The  pious 
"Switzers"  were  actively  canvassing  at  this  time  for 
the  establishment  of  an  independent  theological  school 
— a  training  place  for  the  ministry  of  the  orthodox 
churches.  His  arrival  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  proj- 
ect, and  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  "Evangelical 
Society"  in  1831,  and  the  founding  of  the  long-desired 
seminarj-.  Merle  was  appointed  professor  of  Church 
history,' and  intrusted  with  the  management  of  the 
school,  a  position  which  he  continued  to  hold  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life,  adorning  it  by  his  piety,  learning, 
and  eloquence,  and  sanctified  by  the  divine  blessing 


MERLE  D'AUBIGXE 


IIG 


MERLE 


upon  his  ever-memorable  labors.  His  associates  in  the 
school  were  Gaiissen,  celebrated  as  the  author  of  a"  work  on 
"  Inspiration,"  Pilet,  and  La  Harpe.  Though  possessed 
of  an  ample  fortune,  Dr.  Merle  d'Aubigne  lived  a  life 
of  laborious  activity.  At  seventy-eight  he  was  still 
vigorous,  and  went  to  bed  on  Sunday  night,  October  20, 
after  partakuig  of  the  sacrament,  and  subsequent  devo- 
tions, with  no  sense  of  pain  or  ilhiess.  Like  Dr.  Chal- 
mers, whom  in  some  points  he  may  be  said  to  have  re- 
sembled, he  was  found  to  have  diet!  quietly  in  his 
room  at  night,  and  to  have  been  some  hours  dead  before 
liis  family  knew  their  loss.  His  death  occurred  on  Oct. 
21, 1872,  at  Geneva.  Upon  his  country's  loss,  the  C/irLs- 
fian  Intdligencer  (Oct.  24,  1872)  thus  comments  in  a 
beautifully-written  obituary  of  our  subject:  "Not  since 
the  imjiressive  death-scene  of  John  Calvin,  which  took 
place  308  years  ago,  has  Geneva  been  called  to  mourn 
over  the  loss  of  a  more  illustrious  citizen  and  minister 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  Free  Church,  of  which 
he  was  founder,  pastor,  professor — which  differs  from  the 
Established  Church  in  having  no  connection  with  the 
State  government  —  partakes  largely  of  the  nature  of 
Calvinistic  Methodism.  But  the  man  himself  was  broader 
and  greater  than  any  sect.  His  beautifid  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  Calvin  is  his  own  most  appro]iriate  epitaph  : 
'He  was  not  a  Genevan;  he  was  not  a  Swiss;  he  was 
of  the  City  of  God.'"  Henry  Baylies,  in  a  short  report 
of  "  An  Evening  .with  D'Aubigne"  {ZiotCs  IJeralJ,  Nov. 
14, 1872),  has  furnished  a  description  of  Merle's  appear- 
ance of  late  years :  "  D'Aubigne  stood,  I  shoidd  say,  full 
six  feet,  rather  more  than  less ;  was  large,  but  not  cor- 
pulent. His  face  was  long,  not  full,  and  smooth,  I  think. 
His  iron-gray  locks  were  combed  back,  exposing  a  high 
forehead ;  his  eyebrows  were  lieavy  and  black.  His  feat- 
ures and  expression  were  somewhat  severe,  and  marked, 
as  if  lie  had  inherited  the  spirit  and  fought  tlie  battles 
of  the  old  Scotch  Covenanters.  He  conversed  in  Eng- 
lish with  tolerable  readiness.  His  health  was  then  fee- 
ble, but  he  was  hopeful  of  improvement." 

Merle  d'Aubigne  us  an  Author. — The  duties  incum- 
bent upon  a  professor  of  theology  are  so  varied,  espe- 
cially at  Geneva,  where  the  influences,  as  in  most  large 
European  cities,  are  decidedly  rationalistic,  that  tlie 
manner  in  which  D'Aubigne  discharged  his  duty  to- 
wards his  pupils  was  of  itself  sufficient  to  entitle  him  to 
the  very  highest  regards  on  the  part  of  all  followers  of 
Jesus  the  Christ.  The  task,  however,  which  D'Aubigne 
had  set  for  himself  at  Eisenach,  the  writing  of  a  histury 
ofihecjnut  Reformation,  yi&s  the  one  that  mainlj- oc- 
cupied liim ;  and  while  a  most  devoted  jiastor  and  a 
triUy  laborious  professor,  he  yet  found  time  for  the  com- 
pletion of  a  work  that  has  immortalized  the  name  of 
its  author.  His  Uistoire  de  la  Reformation  au  Seizi'eme 
Siecle  (Paris,  1835-5.3,  5  vols.  8vo)  gained  for  him  liter- 
ally a  world-wide  reputation.  His  warm,  devotional 
manner  mailc  him  singularly  popular  as  a  preacher 
and  speaker,  and  threw  a  charm  over  his  hearers.  His 
vigorous  Protestantism,  and  his  bjlief  in  the  special 
providential  mission  of  the  evangelical  forms  of  Prot- 
estant Christianity,  made  his  history  almost  a  mani- 
festo of  Protestantism.  His  style  is  brilliant,  and  gen- 
erally clear,  and,  as  was  said  of  him  by  one  of  the 
most  eminent  of  the  English  reviewers,  "He  wrote  for 
time,  and  his  writings  will  endure  for  eternity."  The 
sale  of  this  work  was  immense.  Jlore  than  200,000  cop- 
ies were  sold  in  France  alone;  while  tlie  English  trans- 
lation lias  circulated  in  more  tlian  300,000  copies  in 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  In  (Germany  also 
the  work  proved  an  immense  success.  But  while  the 
fascinations  of  its  style,  as  well  as  the  transcendent  in- 
terest and  importance  of  its  matter,  captivated  the  peo- 
ple, there  are  many  scholars  who  have  taken  excep- 
tion to  his  "one-sidcdness,"  and  have  declared  it  uncrit- 
ical and  unscholarly.  One  of  the  latest  writers  on  the 
subject.  Prof.  Fisher,  of  Yale,  actually  ignores  D'Au- 
bigne as  an  authority,  and  refuses  to  place  him  by  the 
side  of  such  men  as  Gieseler  and  Banke.    This  we  think 


a  great  injustice  to  D'Aubigne.  We  do  not  ourselves 
believe  that  he  has  done  anything  more  than  popular- 
ize the  great  Protestant  story ;  but  to  ignore  him  who 
may  be  said  to  have  been  virtually  the  first  to  write 
the  historj'  of  the  licformation  is  a  shortcoming  to  be 
regretted.  See  Preface  to  Fisher,  The  Reformation 
I  (N.  Y.  1873,  8vo) ;  antl  compare  Baird,  IJ'A  ubif/ne  and 
\his  Wrilinr/s,  with  a  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  the  Author 
!  (X.  Y.  184(1, 12mo),  p.  xx.  Says  the  writer  in  the  Chiis- 
j  tian  I ntelliyencer,  whom  we  have  already  had  occasion 
,  to  (piote :  '•  It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  far-reaching 
j  influence  of  this  work  in  reproducing  the  characters, 
I  scenes,  and  struggles  of  the  Keformation  times,  and  in 
^  its  strong  hold  upon  the  popular  mind.  Wa  arc  well 
aware  of  the  critical  ordeal  which  it  has  passed  through 
among  the  scholars  of  Europe,  and  that  its  scientific 
value  is  not  rated  so  high  as  that  of  histories  written 
for  learned  men.  But  as  a  book  for  the  people  it  has 
no  rival,  either  in  its  immense  circulation,  or  in  its  ac- 
knowledged iTOwer  in  behalf  of  the  great  princijiles  of 
the  Protestant  Keformation.  The  work  is,  moreover, 
j  the  bright  and  best  reflection  of  its  gifted  author's  gen- 
ius, learning,  and  grace.  Brilliant  in  style,  picturesque 
in  description,  sententious,  full  of  striking  thoughts  and 
powerful  word-painting,  it  also  glows  with  his  profound 
love  for  the  dear  old  faith,  and  with  burning  zeal 
against  the  corruptions  and  iniquities  of  the  great  apos- 
tasy of  Pome.  In  no  other  book  in  our  language  do 
Luther  and  Erasmus,  Melancthon,  Farel,  Calvin,  Tetzel, 
and  Dr.  Eck,  the  great  emperor  and  the  greater  elec- 
tor, Leo  X,  and  other  characters,  so  live  and  move,  and 
act  in  all  their  jiersonal  traits  and  historical  deeds."  In 
18G2  he  supiihiiK'iiled  his  great  work  by  the  publica- 
tion of  The  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Europe  in  the 
TiiiH'  dj'  Cdlriii,  the  fourth  volume  of  which  was  pub- 
li>li((l  ill  1m;s.  The  other  works  of  M.  d'Aubigne,  al- 
thniigh  li  ss  \videly  celebrated,  are  in  their  way  scarcely 
inferior  to  his  greatly-renowned  production.  They  are: 
Le  Lutherunisme  et  la  Reforme  (Paris,  1844)  : — Le  Pro- 
tecteur,  ou  la  Republique  d' A  nyleterre  aux  Jours  de 
Cromwell  (ibid.  1848,  8vo) :  rendered  into  English,  and 
largely  circulated  under  the  title,  "The  Protector,  or 
the  English  Republic  in  the  Days  of  Cromwell,"  a 
thoughtful  and  admirably  written  review  of  the  rule  of 
the  Puritan  dictator.  It  is  based  upon  Carlyle's  famous 
monogram  on  the  Protector,  and  was  expressly  designed 
as  an  exhibit  of  that  "Protestantism  which  in  Crom- 
well's mind  was  far  above  his  own  person:" — Germany, 
Em/land,  and  Scotland,  or  Recollections  of  a  Swiss  Minis- 
ter (London,  1848,  8vo),  a  work  that  showed  great  pow- 
ers of  observation  and  clearness  of  expression: — Three 
Centuries  of  StriH/ylinff  in  Scotlajid,  or  Two  Kings  and 
Two  Kinf/iloms  (Paris,  1850, 18mo) :  a  brief— if  ^ve  may 
so  style  it  —  in  which  are  presented  the  main  features 
of  the  Scottish  Keformation: — L'Ancien  et  le  Ministre 
(185C)  :— and  Character  of  the  Reformer  and  the  Refoi- 
malion  of  Genera  (1802,  8vo).  jNL  Jlerle  d'Aubigne 
has  also  contributed  largely  to  periodical  publications, 
the  most  noted  of  ids  jiapers  being  a  series  on  the  Ar- 
chires  of  Christianity.  See,  besiiles  the  writers  already 
quoted.  La  France  Protestante,  ou  vies  des  J^rottslanls 
Frangais  (1853);  Charles  de  Kemusat,  Melanges  de  Lit- 
terature  et  Philosophie ;  Vaperean,  Diet,  des  Contempo- 
rains,  s.  v. ;  Hoefer,  Xour.  Biog.  Genirale,  s.  v. ;  Brit,  and 
For.  L'rang.  Rer.  1843, 101  sq.;  Aeir-Fnglander,  iv,344; 
Harper's  Magazine,  1872,  Nov.     (J.  H.Nv.) 

Merle,  Matthieu,  a  noted  Huguenot  soldier,  was 
born  at  Uzis,  Languedoc,  in  1548.  He  was  not,  as  De 
Thou  represents,  the  son  of  a  wool-carder,  nor  did  he 
follow  in  his  youth  the  trade  of  wool-carding.  He  be- 
longed to  a  noble  but  poor  family  of  Lower  Languedoc, 
did  not  receive  any  school  education,  and  never  learned 
either  to  read  or  to  write.  Having  a  decided  liking 
for  war  and  the  profession  of  arms,  ^Merle,  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  enlisted  in  a  guard  commanded  liy  D'Acicr, 
who  subsequently  became  the  duke  of  Uzes.  As  a 
member  of  that  guard,  Merle  went  through  the  cam- 


MERLIN 


117 


MERLIN 


paign  of  1569  in  Poitou.  After  the  pacificntion  in  1570, 
he  entered  the  service  of  Francjois  de  Peyre,  a  gentle- 
man of  the  horse,  who  intrusted  him  with  the  super- 
vision of  his  castle  in  Genaudau.  Shortly  after  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  hostilities  having  been 
kindled  afresh,  Merle  inflicted  the  bloodiest  retaliation 
upon  the  Eomanists,  and  by  his  deeds  of  valor  and 
prowess  became  so  redoubtable  that  the  mere  mention  of 
his  name  was  sufficient  to  cause  far  and  near  the  direst 
consternation  among  his  enemies.  He  died  about  1590. 
Goudin,  in  his  Memoires,  published  a  brief  sketch  of 
Merle,  and  his  career  as  a  soldier.  See  De  Thou,  His- 
toria  sui  tempo ris ;  M.  Imberais,  Hist,  des  guerres  re- 
Kffieuses  en  A  uvergne ;  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Ghierale,  s.  v. 

Merlin,  Charles,  a  French  critic,  was  born  at 
Amiens  in  1G78.  He  joined  the  Society  of  Jesus;  at 
first  was  a  teacher  of  belles-lettres,  and  subsequently 
instructed  in  theology  with  much  success.  He  was  also 
one  of  the  editors  of  the  Memoires  de  Trevoux.  Merlin 
died  in  Paris  about  17-17.  He  is  the  author  of  Refuta- 
tion des  critiques  de  M.  Bayle  sur  St.  Augustin  (Paris, 
1732,  4to).  He  had  also  undertaken  to  examine  or  re- 
fute Bayle's  criticisms  on  religious  matters,  but  this 
work  was  never  given  to  the  public.  Nearly  all  the 
articles  which  Merlin  contributed  to  the  Memoires  de 
Trevoux  were  intended  to  controvert  Bayle's  religious 
opinions.  Other  Avorks  of  his  are,  Vei-itable  clef  des 
ouvrages  de  St.  Augustin  (Paris,  1732,  4to): — Examen 
exact  et  detaille  diifait  d'Uonorius  (1738,  r2mo) : — Traite 
historique  et  dogmatique  sur  les  jmroles  ou  les  formes  des 
Sacremenis  de  VEglise  (Paris,  174:5,  12mo ;  reprinted  in 
1840  by  Migne) Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Merlin,  Jacques  (1),  a  French  theologian,  was 
born  in  Saint- Victurnin,  Limousin,  about  the  latter  part 
of  the  15th  century.  After  having  received  his  diploma 
as  a  doctor  of  theology  at  Navarre  (1499),  he  became 
lecturer  on  divinity  to  the  chapter  of  Saint-Etienne  de 
Limoges.  Subsequently  he  was  ordained  curate  of 
Montmartre,  near  Paris.  In  1525  he  was  appointed 
chief  penitentiary  of  the  cathedral  of  Notre-Dame,  of 
which  he  had  previously  been  resident  canon.  In  1527, 
king  Francis  I  caused  his  arrest  and  incarceration  for 
preaching  against  certain  courtiers  who  were  suspected 
of  sympathy  with  the  reform  movement.  He  was  cast 
into  the  dungeon  of  the  Louvre.  At  the  entreaties  of 
the  prebendaries  of  Paris  he  was  liberated,  after  having 
suffered  incarceration  for  two  years,  but  even  then  was 
confined  in  his  residence  at  Nantes.  He  was  allowed, 
however,  to  return  to  Paris  in  1530,  when  he  was  in- 
stalled grand-vicar  to  the  bishop  of  Paris,  and  also  cu- 
rate and  archpriest  of  La  iMadeleine.  In  the  introduc- 
tion to  the  edition  of  Origen's  works,  which  he  pub- 
lished in  1511,  he  wrote  an  Apologie  d'Orig'ene.  This 
apology,  wherein,  for  the  first  time,  the  errors  imputed 
to  Origen  are  justified,  caused  Merlin's  condemnation 
by  the  Paris  Faculty  of  Theology,  and  by  the  impetu- 
ous syndic  Noel  Beda.  He  likewise  published  a  Collec- 
tion de  tous  les  Conciles,  the  first  ever  issued  from  the 
press  (Paris,  1524,  fol. ;  Cologne,  1530,  8vo;  and  Paris, 
1535,  8vo).  He  also  edited  the  works  of  Richard  de 
Saint-Victor  (Paris,  1518)  t  —  Pjer/'e  de  Blois  (Paris, 
1519): — Durand  de  Saint-Pour^ain  (1515);  and  six 
J/omelies  en  Fran^ais,  sur  ces  paroles  de  rjEvangile  : 
Missus  est  angelus  Gabriel  (Paris,  1538,  8vo).  Merlin 
died  in  Paris  Sept.  26, 1541,  and  was  buried  in  the  crypt 
of  Notre-Dame.  See  Dupin,  A  ut.  eccl.  du  seizieme  siecle, 
iv,  545;  Salmon,  jyaite  de  V Etude  des  Conciles,  p.  197, 
474. 

Merlin,  Jacques  (2),  a  Protestant  clergyman,  the 
son  of  Pierre  Merlin,  was  born  at  Alen^on  Feb.  5, 1566. 
He  studied  at  (ieneva,  and  at  Oxford,  England.  In 
1589  he  was  appointed  incumbent  of  La  Rochelle,  where 
he  continued  to  labor  until  the  end  of  his  life.  In  1601 
he  was  a  delegate  from  his  province  to  the  political  as- 
sembly at  Sainte-Foi.  He  was  chosen  vice-president 
of  the  national  synod  held  at  La  Rochelle  in  1607,  and 


president  of  the  synod  convened  two  years  later  in 
Saint-Maxent.  He  wrote  Diaire  ou  Journal  du  minis- 
tre  Merlin  (Geneva,  1855,  8vo,  65  pp.),  published  by  M. 
Crottet  from  a  MS.  deposited  in  the  library  at  La  Ro- 
chelle. In  this  same  library  there  is  another  IMS.  by 
Jacques  INIerlin,  which  contains  a  chronological  record  . 
of  the  events  noted  by  him  in  La  Rochelle.  He  died 
about  1620.  See  Haag,  La  France  Protest.;  Arcere, 
Hist,  de  La  Rochelle. — Hoefer,  Nouc.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Merlin,  Jean-Raymond  (surnamed  Monroy),  a 
Protestant  theologian,  was  born  at  Romans,  France, 
about  1510.  He  was  a  professor  of  Hebrew  at  Lausanne, 
probably  from  1537  to  1558,  when  he  resigned  his  posi- 
tion in  order  the  better  to  protest  against  the  removal 
from  office  of  two  of  his  colleagues,  Pierre  Viret  and  Ja- 
cob Valier,  by  act  of  the  Bernese  government.  He  af- 
terwards retired  to  Geneva,  where  he  was  pastor  for 
three  years.  Called  to  Paris  in  1561,  at  the  instance 
of  Coligny,  he  was  intrusted  with  a  mission  to  La  Ro- 
chelle, and  attended  the  Conference  at  Poissy,  where  he 
took,  however,  only  a  secondary  part.  Jeanne  d'Albret 
then  invited  him  to  visit  the  Beam,  and  engaged  him 
to  projiagate  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation.  He  re- 
turned to  Geneva  about  the  middle  of  1564.  Shortly 
thereafter  he  came  in  conflict  with  the  civil  authorities, 
and,  because  of  his  decided  opposition  to  civil  interfer- 
ence in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  was  removed.  Merlin  then 
went  into  the  Dauphine,  from  which  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew  drove  him  away.  He  sought  refuge 
in  Geneva.  He  died  about  1578.  Merlin  wrote  a 
French  translation  entitled  Commentaires  d'CEcolam- 
pade  sur  Job  et  Daniel  (Geneva,  1561,  8vo).  He  also 
published  Catechisme  extrait  de  celui  de  Geneve,  piour 
examiner  ceux  qu'on  veut  recevoir  a  la  C'ene,  avec  la 
translation  en  langue  Beamoise  (Limoges,  s.  d.  8vo) : — 
Les  dix  Commandements  de  la  lot  de  Diev,  translates 
d^Hebreu  en  Fran^ais,  et  exposes  avec  six  autres  transla- 
tions (Geneva,  1561,  8vo).  See  Marchand,  Diet.  Histo- 
rique ;  Haag,  La  France  Protestunte. 

Merlin,  Pierre,  a  French  Protestant  theologian, 
the  son  of  Jean-Raymond,  was  born  about  1535.  After 
having  been  a  disciple  of  Theodore  de  Beza,  according 
to  De  Thou,  he  became  religious  adviser  to  the  prince 
de  Conde.  D'Aubigne,  however,  maintains  that  he 
M'as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  under  admiral  de  Chatil- 
lon.  The  latter  version  is  the  likelier  of  the  two.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  he  was  with  admiral  de  Chatillon  dur- 
ing the  St.  Bartholomew  massacre.  Through  a  for- 
tunate circumstance  he  escaped  the  slaughter  and  fled 
to  Geneva,  where  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  J.  J. 
Scaliger.  In  process  of  time,  however,  he  returned  to 
France,  and  then  became  the  pastor  in  ordinary  of  a 
nobleman  named  Laval,  residing  at  Vitre.  He  was 
highly  esteemed  by  his  co-religionists,  and  presided  at 
the  general  synods  held  respectively  at  Sainte-Foi,  in 
1578,  and  at  Vitre,  in  1583.  As  a  delegate  from  the 
churches  in  Brittany,  he  also  attended  the  Synod  of 
Saumur  in  1596.  Pierre  de  L'Estoile  relates  that  the  ini.: 
petuous  Covenanter,  Jean  Boucher,  in  a  sermon  preached 
in  July,  1591,  represented  that  IMerlin  was  really  the 
father  of  Henry  of  Navarre  (Henry  IV).  From  this 
singular  fabrication  likewise  sprang  the  other  story 
that  he  had  clandestinely  married  Jeanne  dAlbret,,.the 
queen  of  Navarre,  and  that  the  celebrated  D'Auliigne 
was  the  issue  from  that  union.  Prosper  Marchand,  in 
his  Dictionnaire,  took  great  pains  to  refute  all  tliese  al- 
legations made  by  the  Covenanters,  or  opposers  of 
Henry  IV.  Merlin  died  about  1603.  He  wrote :  Vingt 
Sermons  sur  le  livre  d'Esther  (La  Rochelle,  1591,  8vo; 
Geneva,  1594,  8vo) : — Job  Commentariis  illusti-atus  (Ge- 
neva, 1599, 18mo)  -.—Sainctes  Prieres  recueillies  de  plu- 
sieur  passages  de  VAncien  et  du,  Nouveau  Testament 
(Geneva,  1609,  8vo)  : — Discours  theologiques  de  la  tran- 
quillite  et  vrai  repos  de  Vdme  (Geneva,  8vo).  See  Haag, 
La  France  Protestante. — Hoefer,  Nouv,  Biog.  Generale, 
s.  V. 


MERO 


118 


merodach-balada:n^ 


Mero.     See  jrEROTir.  | 

Mer'odach  (Heb.  Merodalc' ,  "t?""?'  apparently  a 
syncopated  form  of  "nX""?;  Sept.  Matpwccix  v.  r. 
Miuodx  anil  Maiwcax;  Vul^;.  Merodach)  occurs  in  Jer. 
1,  2,  in  such  connection  with  idols  as  to  leave  no  doubt 
that  it  is  the  name  of  a  Babylonian  god.  In  conform- 
ity with  the  general  cliaracter  of  Babylonian  idolatr}-, 
Merodach  is  supposed  to  be  the  name  of  a  jilanet ;  and, 
as  one  of  the  Tsabian  and  jVrabic  names  for  !Mars  is 
Mirrich,  "arrow"  (the  latter  of  which  Gesenius  thinks 
may  be  for  Mhdicli,  whicli  is  very  nearly  the  same  as 
Merodach),  there  is  some  presumption  that  it  may  be 
Mars,  but  ill  other  respects  he  more  closely  resembles 
Jupiter.  As  for  etymologies  of  the  word,  Hitzig  has 
suggested  {Comment,  on  Isa.  xxxix,  1)  that  it  is  the  Per- 
sian marduk,  the  diminutive  of  mard,  "  man,"  used  as 
a  term  of  endearment ;  but  more  probably  it  is  from 
the  Persian  and  Indo-Ciermaiiic  mord,  or  mort  (which 
means  death,  and  is  so  far  in  harmony  with  the  coiicej)- 
tion  of  Mars,  as  the  lesser  star  of  evil  omen),  and  the 
attix  och,  which  is  found  in  many  Assyrian  names,  as 
Nisroch,  etc.  ((iesenius,  Thes.  Ihb.  p.  818).  The  bloody 
rites  with  which  IMars  was  worshipped  by  the  ancient 
Arabs  are  described  in  Norberg's  Onomast.  Codicis  Na- 
sar.  p.  107.  Of  the  worship  of  this  idol  by  the  As- 
.syrians  and  Babylonians,  besides  the  passages  in  Isa. 
xxxix,  1 ;  Jer.  1,  2,  we  have  testimony  in  the  jtrojjcr 
names  of  the  liings  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  which  are 
often  compounded  with  this  name,  as  Evil-^Ierodach, 
and  Merodach-Baladan,  who  is  also  called  Berodach- 
Baladan  (see  Gesenius,  Comment,  zu  Jesa.  i,  281).  In  the 
above  passage  of  Jeremiah, "  Bel  and  Merodach  are  coup- 
led together,  and  threatened  with  destruction  in  the 
fall  of  Babylon.  It  has  commonly  been  concluded  from 
this  passage  that  Bel  and  Merodach  were  separate 
gods ;  but  from  the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  inscrip- 
tions it  appears  that  this  was  not  exactly  the  case. 
Jlerodach  was  really  identical  with  the  famous  Babj'- 
lonian  Bel  or  Behis,  the  word  being  probably  at  tirst  a 
mere  epithet  of  the  god,  which  by  degrees  superseded 
his  proper  appellation.  Still  a  certain  distinction  ap- 
pears to  have  been  maintained  between  the  names.  The 
golden  image  in  the  groat  temple  at  Babylon  seems  to 
have  been  worshipped  distinctly  as  Bel  rather  than  JNIe- 
rodach,  while  other  idols  of  the  god  may  have  repre- 
sented him  as  Merodach  rather  than  licl.  It  is  not 
known  what  the  word  i^Ferodach  means,  or  what  the 
special  aspect  ol'  the  god  Avas,  Avhen  Avorshipped  under 
that  title.  In  a  general  way  Bel-Merodach  may  be  said 
to  correspond  to  the  Greek  Jupiter.  He  is  '  the  old 
man  of  the  gods,'  'the  judge,'  and  has  the  gates  of  heav- 
en under  his  especial  chiirge.  Nebuchadnezzar  calls 
liim  '  the  great  lord,  the  senior  of  the  gods,  the  most 
ancient,'  and  Neriglissar  '  the  first-born  of  the  gods,  the 
layer-up  of  treasures.'  In  the  earlier  period  of  Baby- 
lonian history  he  seems  to  share  with  several  other 
deities  (as  Nebo,  Nergal,  Bel-Nimrod,  Ann,  etc.)  the 
worship  of  the  people,  but  in  the  later  times  he  is  re- 
garded as  the  source  of  all  power  and  blessings,  and 
thus  concentrates  in  his  own  person  the  greater  (lart  of 
that  homage  and  respect  which  had  previously  been 
divided  among  the  various  gods  of  the  I'antheon" 
(Smith  ).  See  Kawlinson,  lh'rodvtus,\,  207  sq.;  Ancient 
Momtrclnes.  i,  It)',). 

Mer'odach-baradan(Heb.jVe?of7a^'-jBa/o(7«H', 
""ixba  T^lXl*:,  Mars  [oxJupiter'\  is  his  lord  [see  Me- 
itoDAciiJ ;  Bohlen  less  well  compares  the  Persian  mar- 
duk balaudaun,  Imnori'd  man;  .Sept.  "SXapiucax  \ia\a- 
cav  v. r.  !Mniwf(ix  ' .Wacai>,\u\^.  Merodach  Jiahidan), 
a  king  of  Babylonia,  the  son  of  B.iladan,  and  contempo- 
rary of  Ilezckiah  (B.C.  711),  with  whom  he  cherished 
friendly  relations  (Isa.  xxxix,  1;  2  Kings  xx,  12;  2 
Chron.  xx,  31;  in  which  latter  two  passages  the  name 
is  written  BiiUOi>A(ii-BAi,Ai)AX,  by  an  interchange  of 
letters).  He  is  unipiestionably  the  Mardiikempad  (M«- 
doKenTraSog)  of  Ptolemy's  Cation  (comp.  Ewald,  Isr, 


Gesch.  iii,  344),  who  reigned  at  Babylon  for  twelve  years, 
B.C.  721-709.  Josephus  {Ant.  x,  2,  2)  calls  him  simply 
Baladas  (B«\ac«c),  apparently  identifying  his  name 
with  that  of  his  fatlier.  He  is  usually  identilicd  (Gese- 
nius, Comment,  on  Isa.  ad  loc.)  with  the  ^lerodach-Ba- 
ladan  mentioned  by  Berosus  (in  Eusebius,  Chron.  Armen. 
i,  42,  ed.  Aucher)  as  a  viceroy  of  the  king  of  Assyria, 
who  rebelled  and  seized  the  kingdom  of  Babylon  for 
himself  (see  Knobel,  Comment,  on  Isa.  p.  282) ;  but  this 
person  is  probably  one  who  fell  in  a  part  of  the  two 
years'  interregnum  some  years  later  (B.C.  702 -OUP"), 
since  he  is  said  to  have  been  slain  by  Elibus  (the  Ikli- 
bus  of  Ptolemy's  Canon)  after  a  reign  of  only  six 
months  (see  Hitzig,  Comment. on  Isa.p.450).  iSIeroiiach- 
Baladan  is  mentioned  in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  at 
Khorsabad,  deciphered  by  Dr.  Hincks  and  Col.  Kawlin- 
son,  according  to  which  he  was  conquered  by  Sennach- 
erib in  the  first  year  of  the  latter's  reign.  Merodach- 
Baladan  is  there  called  king  of  Kar-Duniyas,  a  city  and 
country  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Assyrian  inscrip- 
tions, and  comprising  the  southernmost  part  of  Mesopo- 
tamia, near  the  contluence  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates, 
together  with  the  districts  watered  by  these  two  rivers, 
to  the  borders  of  Susiana.  This  king,  with  the  hel])  of 
his  Susianian  allies,  had  recently  recovered  Babylon, 
from  which  Sargon,  Sennacherib's  father,  had  expelled 
him  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign.  The  battle  seems 
to  have  been  fought  considerably  to  the  north  of  that 
city.  The  result  was  that  Sennacherib  totally  defeated 
iSIerodach-Baladan.whofledto  save  his  life,  leaving  be- 
hind him  all  his  military  equipments.  In  the  cuneiform 
annals  of  the  fourth  year  of  Sennacherib's  reign,  ^lero- 
I  dach-Baladan  is  further  mentioned  as  having  escajied  to 
an  island,  where  himself  and  all  his  family  were  finally 
captured  by  Semiacherib  (Layard's  Nineveh  and  Bahi/- 
lon,  p.  140,  14o).  The  dates  of  these  notices  would 
seem  to  identify  the  jMerodach-Baladan  of  the  monu- 
ments with  the  temporary  usurper  of  the  same  name 
alluded  to  by  Berosus,  rather  than  with  the  one  of 
Scripture;  possibly  future  investigations  may  show  that 
they  were  all  three  identical,  as  also  the  jMardokempa- 
dus  of  the  Canon,  since  the  records  of  the  inscriptions 
appear  to  speak  of  an  occupancy  of  Babylon  by  him  at 
two  distinct  periods,  the  first  during  the  reign  of  Sargon 
(being  probably  that  referred  to  in  the  Scriptures  and 
the  Canon),  and  the  second  for  a  shorter  space  and  after 
a  considerable  interval,  in  the  first  of  Sennacherib  (be- 
ing that  alluded  to  by  Berosus).  A  different  but  anal- 
ogous solution  of  the  above  difliculty  is  to  suppose  two 
kings  of  the  same  name  at  the  two  periods  in  question 
(II.  Browne,  in  Kitto's  Ci/clop.  s.  v.).  See  Hezkkiaii. 
"Putting  all  our  notices  together,  it  becomes  appar- 
ent that  Merodach-Baladan  was  the  head  of  the  popular 
party,  which  resisted  the  Assyrian  monarchs,  and  strove 
to  maintain  the  independence  of  the  country.  It  is  un- 
certain whether  he  was  self-raised  or  was  the  son  of  a 
former  king.  In  the  second  book  of  Kings  he  is  styled 
'the  son  of  Baladan;'  but  the  inscriptions  call  him  'the 
son  of  Yariin ;'  whence  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  Bala- 
dan was  a  more  remote  ancestor.  Yagin,  the  real  father 
of  Merodach-Baladan,  is  possibly  represented  in  Ptole- 
my's Canon  by  the  name  Juganis — which  in  some  copies 
replaces  the  name  Eluhvus,  as  the  apjiellation  of  the  im- 
mediate predecessor  of  Jlerodach-Baladan.  At  any  rate, 
from  the  time  of  Sargon,  IMerodach- Baladan  and  his 
family  were  the  champions  of  Babylonian  independence, 
and  fought  with  spirit  the  losing  battle  of  their  conntr}-. 
The  king  of  whom  we  are  here  treating  sustained  two 
contests  with  the  jiower  of  Assyria,  was  twice  defeated, 
and  twice  compelled  to  fiy  his  country.  His  sons,  sup- 
liorted  by  the  king  of  Elam,  or  Susiana,  continued  the 
struggle,  and  arc  found  among  the  adversaries  of  Esar- 
\  Haiidon,  Sennacherib's  son  and  successor.  His  grand- 
,  sons  contende<l  against  Asshur-bani-pal,  the  son  of  Esar- 
I  Haddon.  It  is  ncit  till  the  fourth  generation  that  the 
I  family  seems  to  bi^come  extinct,  and  tlie  Babylonians, 
I  having  no  champion  to  maintain  their  cause,  content- 


MERGE 


119 


MEROM 


edly  acquiesce  in  the  yoke  of  the  stranger.  The  in- 
creasing power  of  Assyria  was  at  this  period  causing 
alarm  to  her  neighbors,  and  the  circumstances  of  tlie 
time  were  such  as  would  tend  to  draw  Judtea  and  Bab- 
j-lonia  together,  and  to  give  rise  to  negotiations  between 
them.  The  astronomical  marvel,  whatever  it  was, 
which  accompanied  the  recovery  of  Hezekiah,  would 
doubtless  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Babyloni- 
ans ;  but  it  was  probably  rather  the  pretext  than  the 
motive  for  the  formal  embassy  which  the  Chaldsean 
king  despatched  to  Jerusalem  on  the  occasion.  The 
real  object  of  the  mission  was  most  likely  to  effect  a 
league  between  Babylon,  Judiea,  and  Egifpt  (Isa.  xx,  5, 
6),  in  order  to  check  the  growing  power  of  the  Assyri- 
ans. Hezekiah's  exhibition  of '  all  his  precious  things' 
(2  Kings  XX,  13)  would  thus  have  been,  not  a  mere  dis- 
play, but  a  mode  of  satisfying  the  Babylonian  ambassa- 
dors of  his  ability  to  support  the  expenses  of  a  war. 
The  league,  however,  though  designed,  does  not  seem 
to  have  taken  effect.  Sargon,  acquainted  probably  with 
the  intentions  of  his  adversaries,  anticipated  them.  He 
sent  expeditions  both  into  Syria  and  Babylonia— seized 
the  stronghold  of  Ashdod  in  the  one,  and  completely 
defeated  Merodach-Baladan  in  the  other.  That  mon- 
arch sought  safety  in  flight,  and  lived  for  eight  years  in 
exile.  At  last  he  found  an  opportunity  to  return.  In 
B.C.  703  or  702  Babylonia  was  plunged  in  anarchy — the 
Assyrian  yoke  was  thrown  off,  and  various  native  lead- 
ers struggled  for  the  master}-.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  exiled  monarch  seems  to  have  returned,  and 
recovered  his  throne.  His  adversary,  Sargon,  was  dead 
or  dying,  and  a  new  and  untried  prince  was  about  to 
rule  over  the  Assyrians.  He  might  hope  that  the  reins 
of  government  would  be  held  by  a  weaker  hand,  and 
that  he  might  stand  his  ground  against  the  son,  though 
he  had  been  forced  to  yield  to  the  father.  In  this  hope, 
however,  he  was  disappointed.  Sennacherib  had  scarcely 
established  himself  on  the  throne  when  he  proceeded  to 
engage  his  people  in  wars,  and  it  seems  that  his  very 
first  step  was  to  invade  the  kingdom  of  Babylon.  ]\Ie- 
rodach-Baladan  had  obtained  a  body  of  troops  from  his 
ally,  the  king  of  Susiana ;  but  Sennacherib  defeated  the 
combined  armj'  in  a  pitched  battle ;  after  which  he  rav- 
aged the  entire  country,  destroying  79  walled  cities  and 
820  to^vns  and  villages,  and  carrying  vast  numbers  of 
the  people  into  captivity.  Merodach-Baladan  fled  to 
'the  islands  at  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates'  (Fox  Tal- 
bot's Assyrian  Texts,  p.  1) — trads  probably  now  joined 
to  the  continent — and  succeeded  in  eluding  the  search 
which  the  Assyrians  made  for  him.  If  we  may  believe 
Polyhistor,  however,  this  escape  availed  him  little.  That 
writer  relates  (ap.  Euseb.  Chron.  Can.  i,  5)  that  he  was 
soon  after  put  to  death  by  Ellbus,  or  Belibus,  the  vice- 
roy whom  Sennacherib  appointed  to  represent  him  at 
Babylon.  At  any  rate,  he  lost  his  recovered  crown  after 
wearing  it  for  about  six  months,  and  spent  the  remain- 
der of  his  days  in  exile  and  obscurity"  (Smith).  See 
Babylonia. 

Meroe.     See  Seba. 

Me'rom  (Heb.  Merom',  Cil^,  height;  Sept.  Mf- 
pwjii),  a  lake  (C'^'p,  "  waters")  among  the  hills  (hence 
the  name,  Burckhardt,  Trav.  ii,  553)  of  northern  Pal- 
estine, whose  shores  were  the  scene  of  the  great  victory 
of  the  Hebrews  over  the  northern  Canaanites  (Josh. 
xi,  5-7) ;  doubtless  the  same  with  that  through  which 
the  Jordan  flows  three  miles  from  its  source,  called  by 
Josephus  tSaiiicchdiii/is  (i'rt/.iox'wi'Trf*;  or  Sf/ie^^wi^irtc, 
Ant.  v,  5,  1 ;  War,  iii,  10,  7 ;  iv,  1,  1).  In  his  account 
of  the  battle  (Ant.  v,  1.  18),  the  confederate  kings  en- 
camp "near  Beroth,  a  city  of  upper  Galilee,  not  far  from 
Kedes  ;"  nor  is  there  any  mention  of  water.  In  the 
OnomasticoH  of  Eusebius  the  name  is  given  as  "Mer- 
ran"  (Mtppin'),  and  it  is  stated  to  be  "a  village  twelve 
miles  distant  from  Sebaste  (Samaria),  and  near  Dothaim." 
Abulfeda  (Tah.  Syr.  p.  155)  calls  it  the  Sea  of  Banias, 
but  its  usual  modern  name  is  Bakrat  el-Hule'h  (Burck- 


hardt, Trav.  i,  87).  It  was  visited  by  Lieut.  Lynch  (£"3;- 
pedition,  p.  471),  and  is  most  fully  described  by  Thomson 
(in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  1846,  p".  185';  see  also  1843,  p.  12, 
and  map ;  1854,  p.  56 ;  Robinson's  Res.  new  ed.  p.  395  ; 
comp.  Keland,  Palcest.  p.  2G1  sq. ;  Hamelsveld,  i,  482  sq. ; 
Schwarz,  Palest,  p.  47).  As  regards  the  modern  name 
of  Hideh,  by  which  the  native  inhabitants  of  the  district 
commonly  designate  the  lake,  there  are  some  grounds  for 
tracing  it  also  to  a  very  ancient  source.  Josephus  {Ant. 
XV,  10,  3)  speaks  of  Herod  as  having  obtained  from  Cis- 
sar  the  territory  of  a  troublesome  prince  named  Zenodo- 
rus — a  territory  that  lay  between  Trachon  and  GaUlee, 
and  which  "contained  Ulatha  (OiXa^av)  and  Paneas." 
The  country  so  described  is  the  very  region  in  which 
Lake  Merom  is  situated;  and  OvXa^a  has  every  appear- 
ance of  being  the  Greek  form  of  Huleh.  It  is  also  con- 
jectured that  this  Ulatha  of  Josephus  and  Huleh  of 
modern  times  may  derive  their  common  origin  from  a 
period  so  remote  as  that  oi  IJul,  the  son  of  Aram,  men- 
tioned in  the  book  of  Genesis  '(x,  23),  a  personage 
whom  Josephus  calls  "Ov\oq  {Ant.  i,  6,  4).  Hence,  not 
improbably,  the  name  (see  Hitter,  Palest,  und  Syr.  ii, 
234 ;  Stanley,  Sin.  and  Pal.  p.  283).  The  word,  both  in 
Hebreiv  and  Arabic,  seems  to  have  the  force  of  depres- 
sion— the  low  land  (see  Michaelis,  Siippl.  Nos.  687, 720); 
and  Michaelis  most  ingeniously  suggests  that  it  is  the 
root  of  the  name  KoiAr/trnpia,  although  in  its  pres- 
ent form  it  may  have  been  sufficiently  modified  to  trans- 
form it  into  an  intelligible  Greek  word  {Sjncilegium,  ii, 
137, 138).  The  name  Samechonitis  maj'  perhaps  be  de- 
rived from  the  Arabic  root  samak,  "  to  be  high,"  and 
would  thus  be  identical  in  meaning  with  the  Hebrew 
Merom  (Gesenius,  Thesaur.  p.  1276 ;  Reland,  Palcest.  p. 
262).  Perhaps  the  phrase  0^3  i?3  might  be  rendered 
"  the  upper  waters ;"  that  is,  the  upper  lake  or  collection 
of  waters  formed  by  the  river  Jordan  (see  Reland,  p. 
262).  Several  other  explanations  of  the  Greek  name  as 
found  in  Josephus  have  been  given :  1.  It  is  derived  from 
the  Chaldee  p^O,  "  red,"  because  of  the  ruddy  color  of 
its  water.  2.  From  ~iD,  "a  thorn,"  because  its  shores 
abound  with  thorn-bushes  (Lightfoot,  O^rp,  ii,  172).  3. 
From  the  Arabic  samJc,  "  a  fish"  (Reland,  p.  262).  These 
explanations  appear  to  be  all  too  fanciful  (Stanley,  Sin^ 
and  Pal.  p.  383,  note).  Josephus  mentions  a  city  called 
Meroth  (Mi]qw^  or  mrjpi'o,  Life,  p.  37;  War,  ii,  20,  6), 
which  Ritter  connects  with  the  Heb.  name  of  the  lake 
{Pal.  mid  Si/r.  ii.  235). 

This  interesting  lake — Merom,  Samechonitis,  or  Hu- 
leh—  lies  embedded  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  finest 
scenes  in  Palestine.  The  Ard  el-Huleh,  the  centre  of 
which  the  lake  occupies,  is  a  nearly  level  plain  of  six- 
teen miles  in  length,  from  north  to  south ;  and  its 
breadth,  from  east  to  west,  is  from  seven  to  eight  miles. 
On  the  west  it  is  walled  in  by  the  steep  and  lofty 
range  of  the  hills  of  Kedesh-Naphtali ;  on  the  east  it 
is  bounded  by  the  lower  and  more  gradually  ascending 
slopes  of  Bashan ;  on  the  north  it  is  shut  in  by  a  line 
of  hills  hummockj'  and  irregular  in  shape,  and  of  na 
great  height,  and  stretching  across  from  the  mountains 
of  Naphtali  to  the  roots  of  Mount  Hermon,  which  tow- 
ers up,  at  the  north-eastern  angle  of  the  plain,  to  a 
height  of  10,000  feet.  At  its  southern  extremity  the 
plain  is  similarly  traversed  by  elevated  and  broken 
ground,  through  which,  by  deep  and  narrow  clefts,  flie 
Jordan,  after  passing  through  Lake  Huleh,  makes  its 
rapid  descent  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  the  level  of  which 
is  from  600  to  700  feet  lower  than  that  of  the  waters  of 
jMerom  (Van  de  Velde,  Memoir,  p.  181).  This  noble 
landscape,  when  seen,  for  the  first  time  and  suddenly, 
from  the  lofty  brow  of  the  mountains  of  Naphtali,  can 
never  fail  to  excite  the  liveliest  admiration  :  the  in- 
tense greenness,  so  unusual  in  Palestine,  of  the  abun- 
dantly-watered plain  —  the  bright  blue  lake  reflecting 
from  its  bosom  the  yet  brighter  and  bluer  sky— the  sin- 
gularly-picturesque ranges  of  the  surrounding  hiUs;  and, 
rising  far  above  them  all,  the  Jebel  esh- Sheikh,  the 


]VIERON 


120 


MEROZ 


monarch  of  the  mountains,  the  mighty  Hermon,  dark 
and  shaggy  to  its  shoulders  with  the  forests  that  clothe 
its  sides,  and  with  its  double  summit  covered  with  per- 
petual snow.  The  lake  itself  in  form  is  not  far  from  a 
triangle,  the  base  being  at  the  north  and  the  apex  at 
the  south ;  and,  though  no  exact  measurement  of  it 
seems  ever  to  have  been  made,  it  is  about  four  and  a 
half  miles  in  length  by  about  three  miles  in  breadth. 
According  to  Josephus  (  W'ai;  iv,  1,  1)  it  is  sixty  stadia 
long  and  thirty  wide,  and  full  of  tish  (Burckhardt,  Trciv. 
ii,  554).  Kobinson  states  {litsvarches,  iii,  339  sq.)  that 
its  size  varies  somewhat  according  to  the  season,  being 
■when  he  saw  it  (in  summer)  about  two  miles  long,  but  in 
the  northern  jiart  bounded  by  an  extensive  marsh,  which 
explains  the  length  sometimes  assigned  of  eight  or  ten 
miles  (Seetzcn.  in  Zach's  Monall.  Corresp.  xviii, 3 14).  It 
is  surrounded  on  all  sides,  and  especially  on  the  south, 
west,  and  north,  by  broad  morasses,  and  by  such  im- 
pervious brakes  of  tall  sedges,  reeds,  and  canes,  as  to  be 
all  but  unapproachable.  It  is  the  receptacle  for  the 
drainage  of  the  highlands  on  each  side,  but  more  espe- 
cially for  the  waters  of  the  Merj  Ayun,  an  elevated  pla- 
teau which  lies  above  it  among  the  roots  of  the  great 
nortliern  mountains  of  Palestine.  On  the  north-west- 
ern side  of  the  lake  the  morasses  extend  almost  to  the 
very  base  of  the  Kedesh-Xaphtali  liills.  The  Ilasbany 
river,  which  falls  almost  due  south  from  its  source  in 
the  great  Wady  et-'l'eim,  is  joined  at  the  north-east  cor- 
ner of  the  ^Vrd  el-IIiileh  by  the  streams  from  Banias 
and  Tell  el-Kady,  and  the  united  stream  then  flows  on 
through  the  morass,  rather  nearer  its  eastern  than  its 
western  side,  until  it  enters  the  lake  close  to  the  eastern 
end  of  its  upper  side.  From  the  apex  of  the  triangle 
at  the  lower  end  the  Jordan  flows  out.  In  addition 
to  the  Hasbany,  and  the  innumerable  smaller  water- 
courses which  filter  into  it  the  waters  of  the  swamp 
above,  the  lake  is  fed  by  independent  springs  on  the 
slope  of  its  enclosing  mountains.  Of  these  the  most  con- 
siderable is  the  Ain  el-Mellahah,  near  the  upper  end  of 
its  western  side,  which  sends  down  a  stream  of  forty  or 
fifty  feet  in  width.  Though  this  name  signifies  "the 
fountain  of  salt,"  neither  is  the  water  brackish,  nor  is 
there  any  saline  incrustation  in  its  neigborhood,  to  ac- 
count for  such  a  designation.  This  spring  gives  to  the 
lake  one  of  its  names,  ^^'illiam  of  Tyre  calls  it  Laciis 
Melcha  {Hist,  xviii,  13) ;  and  the  name  now  frequently 
given  to  it  by  the  neighboring  Arabs  is  Bahret  el-JIel- 
idhuh.  The  water  of  the  lake  is  clear  and  sweet ;  it  is 
covered  in  parts  by  a  broad-leaved  plant,  and  abounds 
in  water-fowl.  The  only  inhabitants  of  the  plain  are  a 
few  tribes  of  Arabs  who  dwell  in  tents.  There  is  not  a 
single  village  or  house  in  any  part  of  it.  Its  soil  is  sin- 
gularly fertile,  and  where  cultivated,  as  it  is  partially  to 
the  south  and  east  of  the  lake,  yields  luxuriant  crops. 
Its  rich,  swampy  pastures  are  covered  with  large  herds 
of  buffaloes.  This  cultivated  district  is  called  the  Ard 
el-Khait,  pcrhaps"the  undulating  land"'  (otherwise  "the 
land  of  wheat,"  from  its  fertility),  el-Khait  being  also 
the  name  which  the  Arabs  sometimes  call  the  lake 
(Thomson,  in  the  Jiihl.  Sacra,  iii,  l'.)9;  Robinson,  Bib. 
lies,  iii,  App.  p.  135, 13G).  In  fact  the  name  Iluleh  ap- 
pears to  belong  rather  to  the  district,  and  only  to  the 
lake  as  occupying  a  portion  of  it.  It  is  not  restricted  to 
this  spot,  but  is  applied  to  another  ver\'  fertile  district 
in  northern  Syria  lying  below  Ilamah.  A  town  of  the 
same  name  is  also  found  south  of  and  close  to  the  Kasi- 
miyeh  river,  a  few  miles  from  the  castle  of  Iluniu.  Sec 
Pajlestine. 

Meron.     See  Shimhox-merox. 

M^ron,  Pmi.iri'E  van,  a  Dutcli  visionary  and  doc- 
tor of  theology,  was  l)orn  at  (loude  in  1435.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Brethren  of  the  Conference,  and  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  eloquence.  He  Avas  sent  iis  a  mis- 
sionary to  Sweden,  and  died  in  l.^(l(i.  His  works  are  of 
a  mystical  character.  The  most  important  of  them  is 
Historic  van  den  lltiliyen  Patriach  Jusej)h,  hniyde</om 


der  Magh  Maiia,  ende  opvoeder  0ns  Heeren  J/iesu  Christi 
(Goude,  149(;,  8vo).  In  this  work  Meron  narrates  a 
revelation  which  he  claims  to  have  had  in  Sweden, 
when  he  ascertained  by  divine  intuition  that  Joseph 
"became  the  foster-father  of  Jesus  Clirist  on  the  19th 
of  January."  In  consequence  of  this  revelation  he  ex- 
horted all  good  Christians  to  fast  on  that  day,  and  to 
keep  the  festival  of  St.  Joseph.  But  this  alleged  reve- 
lation did  not  in  any  way  alter  the  custom  of  the  Church 
to  honor  the  memory  of  Joseph  on  the  19th  of  March, 
See  Walvis,  Btsihr.  v.  Goude,  ii,  144 ;  Prosper  Marchand, 
iJivtloiiiiiilre.  p.  106. — Hoefer,  Xouv.  Bior/.  Generate,  s.  v. 

Meronoth.     See  Mekoxothite. 

Meron'othite  (Ileb.  Meronothi',  "^riir,  gentile 
from  ri:T2,  Meronoth',  signif.  uncertain,  a  place  else- 
where unknown;  Sept.  U  Mfpojwj/  or  MapaS-oJi',  Mjj- 
|0wvuj3iVi)c,Vulg.  Mcronothites),  an  epithet  applied  to 
Jehdeiah,  the  herdsman  of  the  royal  asses  in  the  time 
of  David  and  Solomon  (1  Chron.  xxvii,  30),  and  also  to 
Jadon,  one  of  those  who  repaired  the  walls  of  Jerusalem 
(Neh.  iii,  7) ;  apparently  as  being  natives  of  some  town 
called  Mekoxotif,  of  the  position  or  existence  of  which 
no  other  notice  is  extant,  but  from  the  latter  passage  it 
may  be  conjectured  to  have  Iain  not  far  from  (Jibeon 
and  Mizpah,  and  appears  to  have  been  inhabited  after 
the  captivity. 

Merorim.     See  Bitteis  (IIeubs). 

Meroth  (Mj;pw3')  or  Mero  (.M»;|Ou.),  a  fortified 
town  of  Galilee  (.Josephus,  War,  ii,  '10,  G;  Life,  p.  37), 
probably  the  Meiron  ("I""";)  of  the  Talmud  (Keland, 
Palast.  p.  817);  now  the  village  of  Meirvn,  about  If 
hours  west-north-west  of  Safed ;  famous  for  Jewish  pil- 
grimages to  the  tombs  of  their  ancient  rabbis  (Wilson, 
Lands  of  the  Bible,  ii,  311 ;  Carmoly,  Itin.  p.  133,  260; 
Kobinson,  Researches,  iii,  334 ;  Later  Pes.  p.  73,  74 ; 
Schwarz,  Palest,  p.  70  note,  186 ;  Van  de  Velde,  Memoii; 
p.  334).     See  A-MEHYTHA ;  Meroji;  Meroz. 

Me'roz  (Heb.  Meroz',  fiTC,  perh.,  as  suggested  by 
Gesenius,  for  TTiX'2,  from  the  .Vrabic,  refuge;  but  Furst 
disapproves  of  tliis  etymology;  Sept.  I\I>;pwi^,  Vulg. 
terra  Meroz),  a  place  in  the  northern  part  of  Palestine, 
the  inhabitants  of  which  were  severely  reprehended 
(Judg.  V,  23)  for  not  having  taken  the  field  w  ith  Barak 
against  Sisera  (comp.  Judg.  xxi,  8-10;  1  Sam.  xi,  7). 
It  would  seem  as  if  they  had  had  an  opportunity  of  ren- 
dering some  particular  «nd  important  service  to  the 
public  cause  which  they  neglected  (see  Dr.  Pobinson's 
note  in  the  Bib.Repos.  1831,  p.  600).  The  tradiiion  of 
its  site  was  lost  as  early  as  the  time  of  Proct.pius  of 
Gaza,  who  had  attempted  in  vain  to  recover  it  (IJeland, 
I'aUvst.  p. 890).  Possibly  the  city  was  utterly  ikslroycd 
in  consequence  of  the  curse.  In  the  Jewisli  traditions 
preserved  in  the  Commentary  on  the  Song  of  Deborah 
attributed  to  .Jerome,  Meroz,  which  may  be  interpret- 
ed as  secret,  is  made  to  signify  the  evil  angels  who 
led  on  tlie  Canaanites.  and  are  cursed  by  Jlichael.  the 
angel  of  Jehovah,  the  leader  of  the  Israelites.  Eusebius 
and  Jerome  (Oimmast.  s.  v.  Merrus)  fix  it  twelve  Homan 
miles  from  Sebaste,  on  the  road  to  Dothaim;  but  this 
position  would  place  it  south  of  the  field  of  battle,  and 
therefore  scarcely  agrees  with  the  history.  Schwarz 
(/'«/('*•/.  p.  36)  says  it  is  mentioned  in  the  Talmud  under 
the  name  of  Marchesheth  or  Martshelh,  and  locates  it 
(i6.  p.  168)  at  the  village  of  .Murnsgiis,  two  or  three 
miles  north  or  north-west  of  Bethshan,  on  the  line  of 
hills  separating  the  basin  of  Tayibeh  from  the  valley  of 
Jezreel  (Robinson's  Researches,  new  ed.  iii,  339).  The 
,  town  must  have  commaniled  the  Pass,  and  if  any  of 
Siser.a's  people  attempted,  as  the  Jlidianites  did  when 
routed  by  (iideon,  to  escape  in  that  direction,  its  inhab- 
itants might  no  doubt  have  prevented  their  doing  so, 
and  have  slaughtered  them.  Fiirst  (Lex.  s.  v.)  sug- 
gests that  it  was  a  locality  in  a  district  of  (ialilec  jtarlly 
inhabiieil  l)y  (kntiles  (1  Kings  ix,  11),  not  far  from  Ke- 
desh-Xaphtali, and  consequently  in  the  neighborhood  of 


MERRIAM 


121 


MERRILL 


the  Lake  Merom,  perhaps  the  locahty  (reading  QTT?, 
high  place)  which  gave  name  to  the  lake  itself.  Wilson 
(Lands  of  the  Bible,  ii,  89)  itlentifles  it  with  the  Kefr- 
Mesr,  on  the  southern  slope  of  Mount  Tabor,  and  this 
Van  de  Velde  approves  (Memoir,  p.  334).  Thomson 
thinks  it  may  be  the  present  Meiron,  a  famous  Jewish 
cemetery  six  miles  west  of  Safed ;  this  would  be  between 
Barak's  residence  and  Tabor  (Judg.  iv,  12),  and  there- 
fore render  the  inhabitants  liable  to  a  summons  to  arms 
by  the  Hebrew  general  (Land  and  Bool;  i,  424).  This 
last  place  is  possibly  the  Meroth,  strongly  fortified  by 
Josephus  (Life,  p.  37;  1V'«/-,  ii,  20,  6;  iii,  3, 1). 

Merriam,  Edwin  Elisha,  a  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter, was  bom  in  Mason,  Hillsborough  County,  N.  H.,  in 
1837.  He  graduated  with  honor  at  Amherst  College, 
Mass.,  in  1858,  and  at  Union  Theological  Seminary,  N.  Y., 
in  18G3 ;  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Church 
in  Salem,  Wayne  County,  Pa.,  in  1864,  where  he  died 
Feb.  17, 1865.  Mr.  Merriam  possessed  superior  qualifica- 
tions for  usefulness  as  a  minister,  and  was  much  beloved 
as  a  pastor.     See  Presb.  Hist.  Almanac,  1866,  p.  218. 

Merriam,  "W.  "W.,  an  American  missionar)'  to  Tur- 
key, of  whose  personal  history  we  know  but  little,  de- 
serves a  place  here  for  his  activity  and  zeal  in  behalf 
of  the  cause  of  missions,  a  devotion  which  cost  him  his 
life  in  June,  1862,  when  he  was  assassinated  near  Phi- 
lippopolis,  Turkey,  on  his  return  from  a  missionary  meet- 
ing at  Constantinople.  Merriam  was  appointed  by  the 
American  Board. 

Merrick,  James,  an  English  divine,  noted  for  his 
theological  and,  especially,  for  his  poetical  productions, 
called  by  Lowth  "  one  of  the  best  of  men  and  most  em- 
inent of  scholars,"  was  born  in  1720,  and  was  educated 
at  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  He  became  a  "  probation 
fellow"  at  his  alma  mater  in  1744,  took  holy  orders 
shortly  after,  and  became  noted  for  his  philanthropic 
labors.  Owing  to  infirm  health  he  never  undertook  the 
task  of  supplying  the  pulpit.  He  died  in  1769.  When 
yet  a  mere  boy  at  school  at  Reading,  Merrick  published 
a  poetical  production  that  deserves  to  be  placed  among 
the  classical  writings  of  the  English.  His  chief  works 
are,  A  Dissertation  on  Proverbs,  ch.  ix  (Lond.  1744,  8vo) : 
— Prayers  for  a  Time  of  Earthqualces  and  Violent 
Floods,  written  in  1756,  soon  after  the  earthquake  at 
Lisbon: — Annotations.  Critical  and  Grammatical,  on  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John  (Reading,  1764,  8vo;  2d  pt.  1767, 
8vo) : — Annotations  on  the  Psalms  (ibid.  1767, 8 vo;  1768, 
4to),  of  which  onh'  part  were  his  own;  archbishop 
Seeker,  bishop  Lowth,  and  Kennicott  were  contributors : 
■ — An  Encouragement  to  a  Good  Life,  particularly  ad- 
dressed to  soldiers  quartered  at  Reading,  among  whom 
he  labored  much  for  the  good  of  the  Christian  cause. 
Indeed,  he  appears  to  have  paid  great  attention  to  this 
class  of  men,  who  at  that  time  especially  required  it. 
He  also  wrote  Poems  on  Sacred  Subjects,  and  made  an 
excellent  Translation  of  the  Psalms  into  English  Verse. 
This,  beyond  all  doubt  the  best  poetical  translation  in 
English,  was  unfortunately  not  adapted  for  parochial 
choirs,  inasmuch  as  it  was  divided  into  stanzas  for  mu- 
sic. This  work  is  not  perhaps  as  generally  known  as  its 
merits  would  justify.  He  published  several  other  minor 
religious  treatises.  See  Orme,  Bibliotheca  Biblica,  p. 
313;  Allibone,  Diet.  Brit,  and  A  me?:  Authors,  s.  v.; 
English  Ci/clop.  s.  v.;  Holland,  Psalmists  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, ii,  210  sq. 

Merrick,  James  Lyman,  a  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter, was  bdin  at  Mmison,  Mass.,  Dec.  11, 1813.  He  grad- 
uated at  Amherst  College  in  1830,  and  in  1833  at  the 
theological  seminary  at  Columbia,  S.  C. ;  was  ordained 
as  a  missionary  to  the  Persians  in  18.34;  in  August  of 
the  same  year  he  sailed  for  Constantinople,  and  in  Oc- 
tober, 1835,  arrived  at  Tabriz,  Persia.  He  labored, 
travelled,  and  explored  among  the  Mohammedans  about 
two  years,  then  joined  the  Nestorian  Mission  at  Oroo- 
miah,  and  in  1845  returned  to  America,  and  in  1849  was 
installed  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Am- 


herst, Mass.  He  died  June  18, 1866.  Mr.  Merrick  had  a 
strong  mind,  and  was  a  good  scholar,  a  faithful  pastor,  and 
an  earnest  missionary.  He  was  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  Persian,  and  well  read  in  the  Arabic,  Hebrew, 
Turkish,  Greek,  Latin,  and  French  tongues.  He  was 
altogether  absorbed  in  the  interests  of  the  Persian  lan- 
guage and  literature,  and  bequeathed  his  property  to 
the  literary  institutions  which  had  afforded  him  his 
early  advantages,  for  the  founding  of  four  Persian  schol- 
arships. He  was  the  author  of  The  Pilgrim's  Harp,  a 
volume  of  poems  (1847)  : — The  Life  and  Religion  of  Mo- 
hammed, translated  from  the  Persian  (1850) : — Keith's 
Evidences  of  Prophecy,  translated  into  Persian  (1846). 
He  also  left  in  MS.,  A  Full  Work  on  Astroiwmy,  select- 
ed, compiled,  and  translated  into  Persian,  A  Friendly 
Treatise  on  the  Christian  Religion,  and  A  Treatise  on  the 
Orthography  and  Grammar  of  the  English  Language. 
See  Presb.  Hist.  Almanac,  1867,  p.  181,  182;  N.  Amer. 
Rev.  Ixxi,  273 ;  Brownson's  Quar.  Rev.  2d  sen,  iv,  408. 
(J.  L.  S.) 

Merriken,  Joseph,  a  Methodist  Episcopal  minis- 
ter, was  born  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  Nov.  25, 1811 ;  entered 
the  Baltimore  Conference  in  1831;  in  1835-8  was  sta- 
tioned in  Baltimore;  in  1838-9,  in  Lewiston,  Pa.;  in 
1840-1,  in  Hagerstown,  Md. ;  in  1842-3,  in  Annapolis ; 
in  1844-5,  in  Baltimore;  and  in  1847  in  Alexandria, 
where  he  died,  in  February  (?),  1848.  He  was  a  man  of 
great  energy  and  labor,  and  one  of  the  best  preachers  of 
his  time,  not  in  great  talents,  but  in  sound  judgment, 
clear  and  earnest  study,  and  great  faith.  He  was  espe- 
cialh'  noted  for  excellence  and  faithfidness  as  a  pastor. 
— Minutes  of  Conferences,  iv,  197. 

Merrill,  Daniel,  an  American  Baptist  minister, 
noted  for  his  opposition  to  open  communion  and  Pajdo- 
baptists,  flourished  as  pastor  at  Sedgwick,  Me.,  where 
he  died  in  1833,  about  sixty-five  years  of  age.  His 
works  are.  Seven  Sermons  on  Baptism  (10th  ed.  1812) : — 
Eight  Letters  on  Ojien  Communion  (1805)  : — Letters  oc- 
casioned by  Worcester's  Discourses: — Balaam  Disap- 
pointed; and  several  sermons  preached  on  important 
public  occasions. 

Merrill,  David,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  was  bom 
at  Peacham,  Vt.,  in  1798,  and  was  educated  at  Dart- 
mouth College  (class  of  1821).  He  was  called  to  preach 
at  Urbanna,  Ohio,  in  1827;  thence  to  the  Church  at 
Peacham  in  1841,  where  he  died  in  1850.  Mr.  Merrill 
published  Three  Occasional  Sermons,  and  contributed  to 
several  periodicals,  A  volume  of  his  sermons,  with  a 
sketch  of  his  life,  was  published  by  Thomas  Scott  Pear- 
son (Windsor,  Vt,,  1855,  8vo).  See  Allibone,  Diet,  of 
Brit,  and  Amer:  Authors,  s.  v. 

Merrill,  Franklin,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  was 
born  in  1819.  He  was  educated  at  Princeton  College, 
studied  divinity  at  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminar}', 
and  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Hempstead,  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  in  1848.  In  1853  he 
accepted  a  call  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Stillwa- 
ter, N.  Y.,  and  in  1858  to  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church 
of  Schuylerville,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died,  March  31, 1861. 
j\[r.  Merrill  was  an  earnest  and  instructive  preacher,  and 
possessed  the  high  art  of  impressing  the  message  of 
God  with  peculiar  directness  and  pungencj'.  See  Presb. 
Hist.  Almanac,  1862,  p.  206. 

Merrill,  Joseph  A.,  a  noted  Methodist  Episco- 
pal minister,  was  born  at  Newbury,  Mass.,  Nov.  22, 1785; 
was  converted  in  1804 ;  entered  the  New  England  Con- 
ference in  1807;  was  stationed  in  Boston  in  1813-14; 
in  1815-18  was  presiding  elder  on  Vermont  District; 
in  1819  was  agent  of  the  Wesleyan  Academy  at  New 
Market,  and  the  first  missionary  of  the  first  missionary 
society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which  ivas 
formed  by  the  Lynn  Common  Church,  and  his  field  was 
New  Hampshire.  In  1826-27  he  was  stationed  in  Bos- 
ton ;  1830-33  was  presiding  elder  on  Providence  Dis- 
trict; 1834-38  was  on  Springfield  District;  1843-47,  in 
Salem,  Boston,  and  Cambridge ;  and  died  at  Wilbra- 


JMERRILL 


122 


MERU 


ham,  IMass.,  July  22,  1849.  "  Jlr.  Merrill  was  an  able 
and  useful  minister,  and  greatly  devoted  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  ( !liurcli.  He  was  one  of  the  original  trustees 
of  the  M'csk'vaii  University,  and  remarkably  success- 
ful as  an  agent  for  the  academy,  of  which  he  secured 
the  removal  to  \\ilbraham.  He  was  one  of  the  ear- 
liest and  most  devoted  friends  of  the  anti-slavery  cause, 
and  his  name  is  Iionorably  identified  with  the  rise  and 
progress  of  tliat  important  movement."  His  admin- 
istrative and  i)ractical  talents  were  of  the  highest  order, 
and  his  firm  integrity  made  him  trusted  and  respected 
by  all.  See  Minutes  of  Con/ei-ences,  iv,  536;  Steven's 
Memorials  of  Methodism,  ii,  ch.  xxxii.     (G.  L.  T.) 

Merrill,  Thomas  Abbott,  D.D.,  a  Congrega- 
tional minister,  was  born  .January  18, 1780,  in  Andover, 
Mass.;  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1801;  Avas 
chosen  tutor  in  180,^ ;  and  in  1804  tutor  in  Middlcbury 
College,  which  office  he  held  a  year,  and  Avas  then  or- 
dained pastor  in  Middlcbury,  Dec.  19,  1805.  He  la- 
bored on  this  charge  until  Oct.  19. 1842.  He  died  April 
25,  1855.  He  was  one  of  the  formers  of  the  Vermont 
Domestic  JMissionary  Society  in  1818,  and  secretary  of 
the  same  until  18-21 ;  and  he  was  president  of  the  I'eace 
Convention  in  1853.  In  1842  he  was  chosen  treasurer 
of  Middlcbury  College.  He  published  two  of  his  ser- 
mons (180G;  "l833).— Sprague,  .4H«t;fe,ii,481. 

Merritt,  Timothy,  an  early  and  eminent  Methodist 
Episcopal  minister,  was  bom  at  Barkhamstead,  Conn., 
October,  1775.  He  was  converted  about  1792,  and  en- 
tered the  New  England  Conference  in  179G.  From  1803 
to  1817  he  located  ;  was  stationed  in  Boston  in  1817-18 ; 
in  1822  was  at  Providence;  in  1825-26 preached  at  Bos- 
ton; in  1831  at  Maiden,  and  also  "devoted  much  time  to 
the  editorship  of  Z/o//.s-  lln-dhl;'  from  1832  to  1836  was 
assistant  editor  of  the  t'hrislidn  Ailmade  and  Jtnnnal, 
New  York.  Ho  died  at  Lynn.  :\la.ss.,  1«45.  i\Ir.  Jlerritt 
was  an  al..  an^l  iiowcrful  wrilcr,  an  eloquent  preacher,  an 
accomiili-lii  il  ii(  Kai(  r.  and  in  all  respects  one  of  the  fore- 
most niini>i(  IS  nt  liis  time.  He  was  a  well-read  man, 
and  worlhy  of  a  place  among  the  scholars  of  bis  Church. 
His  ministry  was  made  especially  useful  by  the  enjoy- 
ment and  earnest  preaching  of  the  doctrine  of  Christian 
perfection.  His  influence  was  wide  and  blessed,  and 
his  memory  is  precious.  INIr.  Merritt  published  Con- 
vert's Guide  and  I'reac/ier's  Assistant : — Christian  Man- 
ual:— Discussion  ar/ainst  Universal  Salvation: — On  the 
Validiti)  and  SuJJicienci/  of  Infant  Baptism  : — and  (to- 
gether with  Dr.  Wilbur  Eisk)  Lectures  and  Discussions 
on  Universal  Salvation.  See  Minutes  of  Conferences,  iii, 
616;  Steven's  Memorials  of  Methodism,  i,  ch.  xxiii;  ii, 
ch.  xxvii ;  Sherman's  New  £7>f/l.  Divines, p. 312.  ((}.  L.  T.) 

Merriwether,  .Toiix  T.,  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcojial  Church  South  ;  joined  the  Jlemphis 
(Tenn.)  Conference  in  1854,  and  was  appointed  to 
Dyersburg  Circuit;  in  1855  to  Dresden  Station;  in 
1856  to  Trenton  Station;  in  1857  to  Holly  Springs 
Station;  in  1858  to  Asbury  Chajiel,  IMemphis;  in  1859 
and  1860  to  ^Vberdeen  Station;  in  1861  was  made  pre- 
siding elder  of  Alierdeen  District;  in  1865  was  appoint- 
ed to  Denmark  Circuit;  and  in  1866  took  a  supernumer- 
ary relation.  He  died  in  Denmark,  Tenn.,  April  10, 
1867.  '•  He  possessed  a  strong  and  highly -cultured 
mind,  a  soul  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  an 
intelligent  yet  burning  zeal  in  his  high  calling."  See 
Minutes  of  the  M.K.  Church  South,  1867. 

Mersennws  (Fr.  Mersk.nniO,  IMaktn,  a  very 
learned  French  ecclesiastic  and  philosopher,  was  Iwrn 
in  1588  at  Oyso,  in  the  present  department  of  Maine. 
He  received  his  education  at  the  College  of  La  Flcche. 
where  he  was  a  fellow-student  of  Des  Cartes,  and  with  lum 
he  formed  an  intimacy,  which  a  similarity  of  pursuits 
ripened  into  a  friendship  dissolved  only  by  death.  He 
also  studied  at  tlie  University  of  Paris,  and  subsequent- 
ly at  the  Sorbonne.  In  1612  he  took  the  vows  at  the 
Minimes,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris.  In  tlic  year  fol- 
lowing entering  the  priesthood,  he  deemed  it  incum- 


bent on  him  to  study  the  Hebrew  language,  and  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  accomplishment  of  this  task.  In 
1615  he  filled  the  chair  of  philosophy  at  Nevers,  and 
there  taught  till  the  year  1619,  when  he  was  chosen 
superior  of  the  convent,  and,  on  completing  the  term 
of  his  office,  he  travelled  in  Germany,  Italy,  and  the 
Netherlands.  He  finally  settled  in  Paris,  where  his 
gentle  temper  and  polite  and  engaging  manners  pro- 
cured him  a  number  of  distinguished  friends.  Of  these 
the  chief  was  the  founder  of  the  Cartesian  philosophy, 
who  entertained  the  highest  opinion  of  his  abilities,  and 
consulted  him  ujion  all  occasions.  It  has  ijccn  stated 
—  though  the  story  seems  highly  improbable  —  tliat 
Des  Cartes,  by  the  advice  of  Mersenne,  at  once  changed 
his  intention  of  founding  his  .system  on  the  priiiciide  of 
a  vacuum,  and  adopted  that  of  a  plenum.  The  discov- 
ery of  the  cycloid  has  been  ascribed  to  him  and  also  to 
Des  Cartes,  but  it  now-  seems  pretty  clear  that  to  nei- 
ther are  we  indebted  for  the  first  notice  of  this  curve. 
Mersenne  died  at  Paris  in  1648.  Pcre  Mersenne  was 
undoubtedly  a  man  of  great  learning  and  unwearied 
research,  and  deserved  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held 
by  the  philosophers  and  literati  of  his  age ;  but,  except 
his  Ilarmonie  UniverseUe,  his  works  are  now  unread 
and  almost  unknown.  If  by  some  he  was  overrated,  by 
others  he  has  been  undervalued  ;  ajid  when  Voltaire 
mentioned  him  as  "  Le  minime  et  tres  minime  Pere 
Mersenne,"  he  indulged  his  wit  at  the  expense  of  one 
with  whose  writings,  it  is  to  be  suspected,  he  was  very 
little  acquainted.  His  eulogist,  however,  in  the  Dic- 
tionnaire  //istorique,  admits  that  Mersennus  very  ingeni- 
ously converted  the  thoughts  of  others  to  his  own  use; 
and  the  abbe  Le  Vayer  calls  him  "  Le  bon  I^arron" — a 
skilfid  pilferer.  Nevertheless,  the  v.'ork  above  named, 
IJIIai-mdiili  I'liin  i-s(  llf,  contenant  la  Theorie  et  la  Pra- 
tique de  III  Miisiijii,  (  I  (137, 2  vols,  fol.),  has  proved  of  the 
utmost  value  to  all  later  waiters  on  the  subject.  The 
work  was,  in  1648,  translated  into  Latin  and  enlarged  by 
the  author;  but  both  the  original  and  translation  have 
now  become  as  rare  as  they  are  curious.  Another,  but 
earlier  production  of  his.  La  Verite  des  Sciences  contre 
les  Sceptiques  (Paris,  1625),  discusses  at  considerable 
length  the  nature  of  mathematical  evidence,  and  con- 
cludes by  maintaining  that  mental  philosophy,  jurispru- 
dence, and  all  the  arts  and  sciences,  should  be  taught 
and  illustrated  through  the  aid  of  mathematics  (liv.  i, 
ch.  viii,  X,  xiii,  xiv).  "The  mind  itself,"  he  held, 
"is  the  real  and  effective  source  of  all  its  powers  and 
perceptions  of  abstract  truth"  (p.  193).  See  Ililarion  do 
Coste,  U/c  du  7?.  /'.  Marin  de  Jfei-senne ;  Nicenm.  Ilommes 
illustres,  vol.  xxxiii :  Blakev,  Hist,  of  the  rhilost>plii)  of 
J/tW,  ii,  423  sq.     (J.H.W.) 

Merton,  AValtkh,  an  English  prelate  noted  for 
his  philanthropy,  flourished  in  the  13th  century.  He 
was  surnanied  from  the  place  of  his  birth,  a  village  in 
Surrey.  His  education  he  received  at  a  neighboring 
convent,  and  was  there  influenced  to  enter  the  ecclesias- 
tic life.  After  filling  various  important  offices  in  the 
Church,  he  was  in  1258  advanced  to  the  post  of  chan- 
cellor of  England;  but  he  held  this  position  only  a  very 
short  time.  In  12()4  he  founded  a  college  at  0.\for<l, 
which  still  bears  his  name.  In  1274  he  was  advanced 
to  the  see  of  IJochester.  He  died  before  the  expiration 
of  1277. — liiof).  lirit.  s.  v. 

Meru  or  Merus  (O.  M/;poc),  a  word  of  donl)tful 
etymology,  is  in  Hindu  mythology  the  name  of  a  myth- 
ical mountain.  It  is  said  to  be  situated  in  the  centre 
of  the  seven  continents,  and  its  height  is  supposed  to 
be  84,000  ijojanas.  of  which  16,000  are  l)elow  the  surface 
of  the  earth.  (A  yojana  is  usually  reckoned  at  16,000 
yards,  or  about  nine  of  our  miles ;  but,  according  to  some 
authorities,  it  is  only  five  miles.)  The  sacred  river 
Ganges  ((Janga),  we  are  told,  falls  from  heaven  on  its 
siunmit,  and  flows  to  the  surrounding  worlds  in  four 
streams,  of  which  the  southernmost  is  the  Ganges  of 
India.     Brahma,  attended  by  rishis  (sages)  and  celes- 


MERUTH 


123 


MESHA 


tial  minstrels,  is  supposed  to  visit  them,  and  also  Siva  and 
his  consort  Parvati.  See  Wilson,  Sanscrit  Dictionary, 
s.  V. ;  jMoor,  Hindu  Pantheon,  s.  v. ;  Coleman,  Hindu 
Mytholoijy,  p.  253. 

Me 'ruth  (E^fiepovSr,  Vulg.  Emerus),  put  (1  Esdr. 
v,  24)  for  Immek  (Ezra  ii,  37). 

Mervrin,  Sajiuel,  an  early  and  eminent  Methodist 
Episcopal  minister,  was  born  at  Durham,  Conn.,  Sept. 
13,  1777  ;  was  converted  while  young;  entered  the  New 
York  Conference  in  1800 ;  in  1803  was  stationed  at  Mon- 
treal, Canada ;  in  1804  at  New  York ;  in  180(3  at  Boston ; 
in  1807-8  at  Newport,  K. I. ;  in  1812-13  at  Albany;  in 
1814  at  Brooklyn :  from  1815  to  1818  was  presiding  elder 
on  New  York  District;  in  1819  preached  in  New  York;  in 
1820  in  Albany;  from  1821  to  1823  was  on  the  New  Haven 
District;  in  1824-5  at  Baltimore;  in  1826-7  at  Phila- 
delphia; in  1828-9  at  Troy;  in  1830-31  at  New  York; 
from  1832  to  1835  on  the  New  York  District ;  in  1836  at 
New  York ;  in  1837-8  at  Rhinebeck,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
died,  Jan.  13,  1839.  ]Mr.  Merwin  was  a  man  of  great 
influence  and  usefulness  in  his  whole  public  career. 
His  ministerial  and  administrative  talents  were  of  the 
highest  order.  He  possessed  a  mind  of  great  richness 
and  power,  a  vivid  imagination,  a  commanding  voice  and 
person,  and  fervent  piety;  these,  combined  with  the 
gift  of  utterance,  made  him  one  of  the  most  eloquent  men 
of  his  time ;  and  the  important  stations  which  he  filled  in 
the  New  England,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Balti- 
more Conferences,  testify  to  the  opinion  of  his  brethren 
respecting  his  abilities.  In  the  presiding  eldership  his 
masterly  judgment  and  influence  over  men  made  him 
conspicuous  as  a  peace-maker  and  an  organizer.  Many 
souls  were  converted  through  his  labors,  and  his  memory 
in  the  church  is  blessed.  See  Minutes  of  Conferences, 
ii,  669;  Sprague,  Annals  of  American  Pulpit,  vol.  vii. 
(G.L.T.) 

Merz,  Philipp  Paul,  a  German  theologian,  was 
born  at  Augsburg  near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  After  having  been  received  as  a  candidate  for 
orders  in  the  evangelical  ministry  in  1724,  he  suddenly 
turned  to  Romanism ;  was  subsequently  ordained  a  priest, 
and  became  the  curate  of  Schwabsoyen,  and  sometime 
afterwards  retired  into  his  native  city.  He  died  in 
1754.  He  wrote  Thesaurus  Biblicus  (Augsburg,  1733-38, 
1751, 1791,  2  vols.  4to;  Venice,  1758,  4to).  This  work 
is  very  useful  to  preachers.  At  the  end  of  each  impor- 
tant word  it  contains  a  reference  to  such  passages  of 
Scripture  as  bear  upon  it.  Merz  also  published  Quotlibet 
Catecheticum  (Augsburg,  1752,  5  vols.  4to),  which  is  a 
complete  and  methodical  abstract  of  the  best  catechisms 
then  extant.  See  Zapf,  A  ugsburrjische  Bibliotheh,  p.  11 ; 
Veith,  Bibliotheca  Augustana ;  Meusel,  Gelehrten-Lexi- 
kon,  a.  V. 

Mesa,  Christobal  de,  a  Spanish  poet,  was  born  at 
Zafra  (Estramadura)  in  1550.  The  little  that  is  known 
of  him  is  gathered  from  his  own  poetical  compositions, 
and  particularly  his  two  epistles  to  the  count  de  Lemos, 
together  with  that  addressed  to  the  count  de  Castro. 
From  these  productions  it  appears  that  in  his  youth 
Mesa  was  the  pupil  of  Sanchez,  the  most  eminent  of 
Spanish  philologists,  and  that  he  had  also  deeply  studied 
both  Fernand  de  Herrera  and  Louis  de  Soto.  In  after- 
life he  spent  some  years  in  Italy,  where  he  became  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  poet  Tasso.  He  died,  poor 
and  obscure,  about  1620.  One  of  his  poems  is  founded 
upon  the  tradition  that  the  corpse  of  St.  James,  after  his 
martyrdom  in  Jerusalem,  was  miraculously  translated  to 
Spain  and  deposited  at  Compostella,  where  from  that 
day  to  this  James  has  been  honored  as  the  patron  saint 
of  the  realm.  See  Jajies.  Another  of  his  poems  treats 
of  Pelagius  and  the  struggles  of  the  Christians  against 
the  jMoors  up  to  the  battle  of  Covadonga.  His  third 
poetical  work  relates  the  battle  of  Tolosa,  Avhich  de- 
stroyed the  power  of  the  Mohammedans,  and  secured  the 
emancipation  of  the  Peninsula.  He  also  wrote  £1 
Patron  de  Espana  (Madrid,  1611, 12mo).     See  Tickaor, 


History  of  Spanish  Literature,  ii,  462;   Iloefer,  Xouv, 
Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Me'sech  (Psa.  cxx,  5).     See  Meshech. 

Meseugui,  Francois  Piiuxippe,  a  French  eccle- 
siastic, celebrated  for  liis  connection  with  Jansenism, 
was  born  at  Beauvais,  in  August,  1677.  His  parents 
being  poor,  friends  defrayed  the  expenses  of  his  educa- 
tion in  the  College  of  Beauvais  and  at  the  Seminary  of 
Trente-Trois  in  Paris.  After  having  been  invested 
with  the  first  minor  orders,  he  became  a  professor  of 
humanities  in  his  native  city.  On  his  return  to  Paris 
in  1707,  through  the  influence  of  his  friends  he  was  ap- 
pointed superintendent  of  the  department  of  rhetoric  in 
the  college  at  Beauvais.  Coffin,  who  succeeded  Rollin 
as  the  director  of  that  mstitution,  selected  the  abbe 
Mesengui  for  his  coadjutor,  and  upon  him  devolved  the 
duty  of  teaching  the  catechism  to  the  students.  The 
opposition,  however,  which  he  manifested  to  the  papal 
bull  known  as  Unigenitus  constrained  him  in  1728  to 
resign  his  official  functions.  He  subsequently  became 
a  member  of  the  clergy  at  Saint-Etienne-du-jNIont.  Sus- 
pected of  harboring  the  doctrines  of  Jansenism,  he  was 
in  consequence  prohibited  from  all  ecclesiastical  avoca- 
tions, and  confined  to  privacy  and  obscurity.  He  took 
up  his  residence  in  Paris,  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
composition  of  various  works  designed  for  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  Jansenistic  doctrines,  which  he  finally  adopt- 
ed. He  died  in  February,  1763,  at  Saint-Germain-en- 
Laye.  Mesengui  published :  Idee  de  la  vie  et  de  Vesprit 
de  N.  Choart  de  Buzauval,  eveque  de  Beauvais,  avec  un 
abrege  de  la  vie  de  M.  Hermant  (Paris,  1717,  12mo) : — 
Abrege  de  Vhistoii-e  et  de  la  morale  de  VAncien  Testa- 
ment (Paris,  1728, 12mo) : — Le  Noureau  Testament,  trad, 
en  Frangais,  avec  des  notes  litterales  (Paris,  1729, 12mo; 
1752,  3  vols.  12mo) :  —  Vie  des  Saints  pour  ious  les 
jours  de  I'annee  (Paris,  1730,  6  vols.  12mo): — Ah-ege 
de  rhistoire  de  rAncien  Testament,  avec  des  eclair cisse- 
ments  et  des  reflexions  (Paris,  1735-53,  10  vols.  12mo) : 
— Abrege  de  Ihistoire  de  VAncien  et  du  Noiiveau  Testa- 
ment (Paris,  1737-38,  3  vols.  12mo) : — E2nt7-es  et  Evan- 
giles,  avec  des  reflexions  (Paris,  1737 ;  Lyons,  1810, 12mo) : 
— Exposition  de  la  doctrine  Chi'itienne,  ou  instructiorfs 
sur  les princip ales  verites  de  la  7'eligion  (Utrecht  [Paris], 
1744,  6  vols.  r2mo;  new  edition,  revised  and  enlarged, 
Paris,  1754-58,  4  vols.  12mo).  Some  writers  state  that 
the  duke  of  Orleans  endeavored  to  prevail  upon  Mesen- 
gui to  expunge  from  his  works  such  passages  as  re- 
flected upon  the  religious  controversies  of  his  day;  but 
jMesengui  evidently  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  duke's  en- 
treaties. A  new  edition  of  the  last  work,  issued  in 
Italy,  was  placed  in  the  Index  Expurgatorius  by  an 
apostolic  brief  from  pope  Clement  XIII  in  1761.  In 
a  posthumous  Memoire,  addressed  to  the  cardinal  Pas- 
sionei,  Mesengui  attempted  to  justify  his  religious  views. 
Among  his  other  works  may  be  mentioned.  La  Consti' 
tution  Unigenitus,  avec  des  liemarques  (Paris,  1746, 
r2mo): — Entntim  (h  Tliiopliile  et  d'Eugene  sur  la  re- 
ligion (ibid.  17i;(i.  IJuKi).  Mesengui  took  part  with 
Vigier  and  Collhi  in  the  liturgical  writings  which  M. 
de  Vintimille,  archbishop  of  Paris,  disseminated  in  his 
diocese.  See  Lequeux,  Memoire  abrege  sur  la  vie  et  les 
ouvrages  de  Pabbe  Mesengui  (Paris,  1763,  8vo); — Hoe- 
fer,  Nouv,  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Me'sha,  the  name  of  a  place  and  of  three  men,  dif-  ' 
ferently  written  in  the  Heb. 

1.  (Heb.  Mesha',  Ni:3^,  probably  of  Arabic  origin ; 
Sept.  MaiTiTJ),  Vulg.  Messa.)  A  place  mentioned  in  de- 
scribing the  boundaries  of  that  part  of  Arabia  inhab- 
ited by  the  descendants  of  Joktan  (Gen.  x,  30),  where 
it  is  stated  that  "their  dwelling  was  from  Mesha  even 
unto  Sephar,  (and  beyond  even  unto)  a  mount  of  the 
east."  In  this  passage  it  has  been  assumed  by  many 
that  "the  mountain  of  the  east''  (on;?!!  ".n)  is  not 
put  by  apposition  in  conjunction  with  Sephar,  but  is 
some  third  locality  to  which  the  boundary  extends,  as 


MESHA 


124 


MESHA 


Saadias  interprets ;  and,  if  so,  it  is  doubtless  none  other 
than  the  chain  running  across  the  middle  of  Arabia  from 
the  region  of  Mecca  and  INIedina  as  far  as  the  Persian 
Gulf,  now  called  Nesjd,  the  highlands  (sec  Jomard,  No- 
tice sitr  le  pays  de  IW  rubie  cent  rale,  Paris,  1 823).  Sephar 
would  then  be  the  modern  Sephr,  the  chief  city  of  the 
district  Shehr  in  the  province  of  Iladramant.  See 
Sei'HAU.  Bochart  {Phakg,  ii,  20)  thinks  that  Mesha, 
from  which  the  boundary  extends,  is  the  Musa  or  Muza 
(MoDffa,  Ptol.  vi,  8;  Movja,  Arrian,  Per'qil.;  Muza, 
I'liny,  vi,  23)  spoken  of  as  a  maritime  city  on  the  west- 
em  coast  of  iVrabia,  not  far  from  Mocha,  where  ^fu- 
zaa  (Niebuhr,  Arabien,  p.  223;  Janaen,  Hist.  Jcmame, 
p.  286),  or  rather  Mausij  (Niebuhr,  p.  224, 225 ;  Mannert, 
Geoff7:  vi,  1,  p.  63),  now  stands.  It  was  a  town  of  note 
in  classical  times,  but  has  since  fallen  into  decay,  if  the 
modern  Musa  be  the  same  place.  The  latter  is  situated 
in  about  13°  40'  N.  lat.,  43°  20'  E.  long.,  and  is  near  a 
mountain  called  the  Three  Sisters,  or  Jebel  Musa,  in  the 
Admiralty  Chart  of  the  Ked  Sea,  drawn  from  the  sur- 
veys of  captain  Pullen,  K.N.  But  as  neither  of  these 
Arabic  names  can  well  be  compared  with  that  of  Mcsha, 
it  may  be  better  (with  J.  D.  ^Micliaclis,  Sjiicilir/.  ii,  p. 
214;  i»'(/7j;j/.  No.  1501)  to  understand  .\/is,i,i  or  .Ucisaii, 
situated  among  the  mouths  of  the  Tigris  (in  the 
Shat  el-Arab)  on  the  Persian  Gulf —  a  place  described 
by  Philostogius  (iii,  7;  comp.  Dion  Cass.  Ixviii,  28; 
A'sseman.  Bibl.  Orient,  iii,  2,  p.  430,  603;  Abulfcda 
in  Tub.  Iracce  ap.  Michael,  in  Spicil.  1.  c. ;  D'Anville, 
rEuphixite  et  le  Tigre,  p.  135),  the  name  perhaps  signi- 
fj'ing  the  river  island,  from  its  being  enclosed  by  the 
branches  of  the  Tigris,  as  often  alluded  to  by  the  Greek 
geographers  (see  Steph.  Byz.  s.  v.  Orathra  and  Mes- 
sene ;  Pliny,  v,  27, 31 ;  Cellar.  Notit.  ii,  p.  749 ;  D'Anville, 
p.  130, 131).  The  sacred  writer  would  thus  in  his  de- 
scription begin  with  the  eastern  limits  of  the  Joktanida;, 
and  end  with  the  western  and  northern,  Sephar  being 
sought  between  them.  "  But  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
the  island,  which  has  been  formed  by  the  deposits  of  the 
river,  was  in  existence  in  the  days  of  Moses;  and  it  is 
still  more  doubtful  whether  such  a  s]iot  could  at  that  ear- 
ly period  have  attained  to  any  jiolitical  or  geographical 
notoriety.  Besides,  it  is  not  likely  that  an  accurate 
writer  would  describe  a  purely  Arabian  territory  as  com- 
mencing on  the  east  side  of  the  Tigris.  The  theory  of 
Mr.  Porster  is  much  more  probable  than  either  of  the 
preceding,  lie  identities  Mcsha  with  a  mountain-range 
called  Zames  by  Ptolemy  (vi,  7),  which  commences  near 
the  Persian  Gulf,  and  runs  in  a  south-western  direction 
nearly  across  the  peninsvda.  It  is  an  undoubted  fact 
that  the  various  Joktanitic  tribes,  or  Beni-Kahtan,  as 
they  are  called  by  Arab  writers,  are  still  found,  and  have 
been  from  tlie  earliest  period,  in  the  wide  region  extend- 
ing from  jMount  Zames  to  the  Indian  Ocean  and  Ked 
Sea;  and  that  this  range  separates  them  from  the  Ish- 
maelitish  Arabs  (Forster,  Geography  of  A  rahia,\,SSh  sq.). 
Porster  further  conjectures  that  the  name  Zames  is  radi- 
cally identical  with  ^Slesha,  the  syllables  being  inverted, 
as  is  very  common  in  AraVuc  words  —  thus  Mesza  = 
Mesha.  The  Zames  range  is  now  called  by  the  general 
name  of  the  'Nejd  ilountains,' and  the  country  extend- 
ing thence  to  the  Indian  Ocean  on  the  east,  and  the  Ked 
Sea  on  the  south,  embraces  the  most  fertile  part  of  Ara- 
bia— the  classic  Arabia  Pelix,  now  called  Yemen  (Kitter, 
Erdkundv,  xii,  708  sq.).  The  moinitains  of  Nejd  arc 
famous  for  their  pastures  and  for  their  horses,  which  are 
considered  the  best  in  Arabia  (Kitter,  p.  918-lii;)5; 
Fresnel,  Lettres  sur  la  Giog.  de  V Arable,  in  .lourn. 
Asiat.  vol.  v"  (Kitto).  "The  position  of  the  early  Jok- 
tanitic colonists  is  clearly  made  out  from  the  traces  they 
have  left  in  the  ethnology,  language,  and  monuments 
of  Southern  Aral)ia ;  and,  without  ])utting  too  precise 
a  limitation  upon  the  possible  situation  of  ^Mesha  and 
Sephar,  we  may  supjiose  that  these  places  must  have 
fallen  within  the  south-western  quarter  of  the  i>enin- 
sula;  including  the  modern  Yemen  on  the  west,  and 
the  districts   of  'Oman,  Jlahrch,  Shihr,  etc.,  as  far  as 


Iladramant,  on  the  east.  These  general  boundaries 
are  strengthened  by  the  identitication  of  Sephar  with 
the  port  of  ZafAri,  or  Dhafari ;  though  the  site  of  Se- 
phar may  possibly  be  hereafter  connected  with  the  old 
liimyeriiic  metropolis  in  the  Yemen,  but  this  would 
not  materially  alter  the  question.  In  Sephar  we  be- 
lieve we  have  the  eastern  limit  of  the  early  settlers, 
whether  its  site  be  the  sea-port  or  the  inland  city ;  and 
the  correctness  of  this  supposition  appears  from  the  Bil> 
lical  record,  in  which  the  migration  is  apparently  from 
west  to  east,  from  the  probable  course  taken  by  the  im- 
migrants, and  from  the  greater  importance  of  the  known 
western  settlements  of  the  Joktanites,  or  those  of  Ye- 
men" (Smith). 

2.  (Uch.Meysha'.^'O'^^^ deliverance;  Sept.  Mapivag 
V.  r.  Mapiffa,  Vulg.  A/esa.)  The  eldest  son  of  Caleb  or 
Chclubai  (brother  of  Jerahmeel  and  son  of  Ilezron), 
and  the  father  (founder)  of  Ziph,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah 
(1  Chron.  ii,  42).     B.C.  cir.  1618. 

3.  (Heb.  Meysha',  K'i"^^,  retreat ;  Sept.  Mwtra  v.  r. 
M((T«,  Yulg.  Mosa.)  One  of  the  sons  of  Shaharaim  of 
the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  by  the  latter  of  his  two  wives, 
Baara  or  Hodesh  (1  Chron.  viii,  9).  B.C.  cir.  1012.  See 
Shaharaim. 

4.  (Heb.  Meyslia',  --'TIJ^-,  deliverance  ;  Sept.  Mftra 
V.  r.  Mwaa,  A'ulg.  Mesa.)  A  king  of  Moab,  who  pos- 
sessed an  immense  number  of  flocks  and  herds  (2  Kings 
iii,  4).  Probably  the  allegiance  of  Moab,  with  that  of 
the  tribes  east  of  the  Jordan,  was  transferred  to  the 
northern  kingdom  of  Israel  upon  the  division  of  the 
monarchy,  for  there  is  no  account  of  any  subjugation  of 
the  country  subsequent  to  the  war  of  extermination 
with  which  it  was  visited  by  David,  when  Benaiah  dis- 
played his  prowess  (2  Sam.  xxiii,  20),  and  "  the  Moab- 
ites  became  David's  servants,  bearers  of  gifts"  (2  Sam. 
viii,  2).  When  Ahab  had  fallen  in  battle  at  Kamotli 
Gilead,  Mesha  seized  the  opportunity  aiforded  by  the 
confusion  consequent  upon  this  disaster,  and  the  fee- 

*  Lie  reign  of  Ahaziah,  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of  Israel, 
'  and  free  himself  from  the  burdensome  tribute  of  a  "  hun- 
dred thousand  lambs  and  a  hundred  thousand  rams 
with  their  wool."  These  numbers  may  seem  exagger- 
ated if  understood  as  the  amount  of  yearly  tribute.  It 
is  therefore  more  probable  that  the  greedy  and  implaca- 
ble Ahab  had  at  some  one  time  levied  this  enormous 
impost  upon  the  Jloabites;  and  it  is  likely  that  it  was 
the  apprehension  of  a  recurrence  of  such  ruinous  exac- 
tions which  incited  the  revolt  (2  Kings  i,  1 ;  iii,  5).  The 
country  east  of  the  Jordan  was  rich  in  pasture  for  cattle 
(Numb,  xxii,  1),  the  chief  wealth  of  the  Jloabites  con- 
sisted in  their  large  Hocks  of  sheep,  and  the  king  of  this 
pastoral  people  is  described  as  nokcd  (Hl^is),  "  a  sheep- 
master,"  or  owner  of  herds.  About  the  signification 
of  this  word  naked  there  is  not  much  doubt,  but  its  ori- 
I  gin  is  obscure.  It  occurs  but  once  besides  in  Amos  i,  1, 
I  where  the  jirophet  Amos  is  described  as  "  among  the 
herdmen  (D^"Ip13j  nokedim)  of  Tekoah."  On  this  Kim- 
chi  remarks  that  a  herdsman  was  called  naked,  because 
most  cattle  have  black  or  white  spots  (comp.  llpS, 
nakod.  Gen.  xxx,  32,  A.V.  "speckled"),  or,  as  Buxtorf 
explains  it,  because  sheep  are  generally  marked  with 
certain  signs  so  as  to  be  known.  But  it  is  highly  im- 
probable that  any  such  etymology  should  be  correct, 
and  Piirst's  conjecture  that  it  is  derived  from  an  obso- 
lete root,  signilying  to  keep  or  feed  cattle,  is  more  like- 
ly to  be  true  {( 'oncord.  s.  v.).     See  Hiinn. 

"When,  upon  the  death  of  Ahaziah,  his  brother  Jeho- 
ram  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Israel,  one  of  his  first 
acts  was  to  secure  the  assistance  of  Jehoshaphat,  his  fa- 
ther's ally,  in  reducing  the  Jloabites  to  their  former 
condition  of  tril)utarics.  The  iniited  armies  of  the  two 
kings  marched  l)y  a  circuitous  route  round  the  Dead 
Sea,  and  were  joined  by  the  forces  of  the  king  of  Edom. 
See  Jkhokam.  The  disordered  soldiers  of  Moab,  eager 
only  for  spoil,  were  surprised  by  the  warriors  of  Israel 


MESHA 


125 


MESHA 


and  their  allies,  and  became  an  easy  prey.  In  the 
panic  which  ensued  they  were  slauglitered  without 
mercy,  their  country  was  made  a  desert,  and  the  king 
took  refuge  in  his  last  stronghold  and  defended  himself 
with  the  energy  of  despair.  AVith  700  fighting  men  he 
made  a  vigorous  attempt  to  cut  his  way  through  the 
beleao-ueriiig  army,  and,  when  beaten  back,  he  with- 


drew to  the  wall  of  his  city,  and  there,  in  sight  of  the 
allied  host,  offered  his  first-born  son,  his  successor  in  the 
kingdom,  as  a  burnt-offering  to  Chemosh,  the  ruthless 
fire-god  of  Moab.  There  appears  to  be  no  reason  for 
supposing  that  the  son  of  the  king  of  Edom  was  the 
victim  on  this  occasion,  whether,  as  R.  Joseph  Kimchi 
supposed,  he  was  already  in  the  power  of  the  king  of 


^ywy^  :^w4i  zyl^^<^  ^^x(^  j^^y.^  w^Y'tsiTN 


The  Moabitic  Stone. 

(The  numbers  in  the  mnrgin  designate  the  lines  correspondinfc  to  the  verses  below.  The  dots  over  some  of  the  characters 
show  that  the  decipherment  is  doubtful.  The  small  letters,  ah,c.  e,  indicate  the  two  large  fragments  rescued  irom 
the  Arabs,  who  had  broken  the  stone  after  impressions  had  been  taken  from  it  by  the  discoverer.  The  whole  stone 
was  about  three  feet  seven  inches  long,  by  one  foot  eleven  inches  wide.) 


'/// 


MESHA 


12G 


MESHECH 


Bloab,  and  was  the  cause  of  the  Edomites  joining;  the 
arnnt-s  of  Israel  and  Judali :  or  ^vliether,  as  K.  Moses 
Kimchi  suggested,  he  was  taken  prisoner  in  the  sally  of 
the  Moabites,  and  sacriticcd  out  of  revenge  for  its  fail- 
ure. These  conjectures  appear  to  have  arisen  from  an  j 
attempt  to  lind  in  this  incident  tlie  event  to  which  al- 
lusion is  made  in  Amos  ii,  1,  where  the  Moabite  is 
charged  with  l)urning  the  bones  of  the  king  of  Edoni 
into  lime.  It  is  more  natural,  and  renders  the  narra- 
tive more  vivid  and  consistent,  to  suppose  that  the  king 
of  Moab,  finding  his  last  resource  fail  him,  endeavored 
to  avert  the  wrath  and  obtain  the  aid  of  his  god  by  the 
most  costly  sacrifice  in  his  power.  On  beholding  this 
fearful  sight,  the  besiegers  withdrew  in  horror,  lest 
some  portion  of  the  monstrous  crime  might  attach  to 
their  own  souls  (comp.  Josephus,  A  nt.  ix,  3,  2 ;  Ewald, 
Js)\  Gesch.  iii,  226  sq.).  By  this  withdrawal  they,  how- 
ever, afforded  the  king  the  relief  he  desired,  and  this 
was,  no  doubt,  attributed  by  him  to  the  efficacy  of  his 
offering,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  god  therewith. 
The  invaders,  however,  ravaged  the  countrj'  as  they 
withdrew,  and  returned  with  much  spoil  to  their  own 
land  (2  Kings  iii,  25-27).  B.C.  cir.  891.— Kitto ;  Smith. 
See  jMoAiiiTE. 

The  exploits  of  "Mesha,  son  [i.e.  votary]  of  Che- 
mosh,  king  of  Moab,"  are  recorded  in  the  Phoenician 
inscrii)tion  lately  discovered  by  M.  Ganneau  on  a  block 
of  black  basalt  at  Dibon  in  Moab  (see  Quin-tcrbj  State- 
ment, No.  5,  of  "  The  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,"  Lond. 
1870) ;  which,  according  to  the  decipherment  given  by 
him  in  the  Revue  Archeologique  (Jan.  and  June,  1870), 
is  as  below  (see  the  Weslei/ari  Magazine,  April,  1870). 
Prof.  Neubauer  has  published  the  text  in  modern  He- 
brew characters  in  Griitz's  Monaischrift,  and  I'rof.  J. 
Derenbourg  a  translation  in  the  Revue  Israelite  (April  8, 
1870),  substantially  as  below.  See  also  the  Church  Ga- 
zette, N.  Y.  1871,  No.  6.  Several  other  commentaries 
have  been  published  upon  it,  especially  by  Dr.  Deutsch 
of  the  British  Museum.  See  also  Niildeke,  Inschrift  Jes 
Mesa  (Kiel,  1870);  Schlottman,  Sicf/essdule  Mesa's 
(Halle,  1870) ;  De  Costa,  The  Moabite  Stone  (N.  Y.  1871). 
The  fullest  exhibit,  together  with  tlie  literature  of  the 
subject,  is  that  of  Dr.  Ginsburg  (2d  ed.  Lond.  1871). 

1.  I,  Meshn,  son  of  Chemosh, .  .  .  King  of  Moab,  [son] 

2.  of  Yabui  .  .  .  My  fatlier  reigned  over  Moab  (thirty 
years),  and  I  reigned  " 

3.  after  him;  1  made  this  altar  for  Chemosh  at  Karhali 
on  account 

4.  of  the  a--!  iiiii'  i'  I''  'ave  me  in  all  battles,  and  be- 
cause he  mai'"   ■  111  against  my  enemies  the  men 

5.  of  the  Nil  ;  I  m  1.  who  oppressed  Moab  a  long 
time,  for  Chrm.-ii  w.i-  ,iii_'ry  against 

f>.  his  land.  His  sun  succeeded  him,  and  he  also  said,  I 
will  oppress  Moab.  In  my  davs  he  (Chemosh)  said,  Ll 
will  go] 

7.  and  appear  (be  favorable)  to  Moab  and  his  temple; 
then  Israel  wasted  continually.    Omvi  took  [the  plain  of] 

S.  Mahdeba  and  dwelt  in  it .  .  .  bnilt  forty  .  .  .  [and 
dwelt] 

9.  Chemosh  there  in  my  days.  I  bnilt  Baal-Meon  and 
made  (sacrifices)  there  .  .  .  and  I  [built] 

10.  Kiiyathan.  The  men  of  Gad  [dwelt]  in  [this]  land 
from  early  times,  and  there  built  the  Kin^ 

11.  (if  Israel  [Yaa/.er] ;  I  besieged  the  city,  took  it,  and 
killed  all  I  wh. I  dwelt] 

12.  in  the  city,  to  the  gratification  of  Chemosh  and 
Moab  :  I  niadc^  captive  there  .  .  . 

13.  [and  broii'.'lit]  it  to  Chemosh  at  Keriyoth.  I  re- 
maineil  heic  with  the  chiefs  and  [llie  soldiers  until] 

14.  the  next  (lav.  Then  Clicniosh  bade  me  go  and  take 
Nebo  from  Isiael".    [I  arose  and] 

l.*}.  went  in  the  night  and  fought  against  it  from  the 
break  of  day  till  noon  :  I 

16.  took  it,  killed  all,  seven  thousand  ...  [to  please 
Astor]. 

IT.  ...  for  Chemosh  devoted  to  Astor.  ...  I  took  from 
there  all 

15.  the  vessels  of  Jehovah,  and  [ofTcred]  them  to  Che- 
mosh.    And  the  Kuvj:  of  Israel  l^ilt 

10.  Yaluiz,  and  dwell  ihere,  when  I  made  war  upon 
him.     Chemosh  drove  him  <ml  from  thence;  I 

20.  took  fioin  Moab  two  hiindied  men,  all  chiefs,  trans- 
ferred them  to  ^   ihi-     nll'cgan 

21.  to  niak'  V  ,  I  1  Dibon.  I  built  Kirhah,  Ha- 
math-ha-Yi' ,'  ,  :.   .     ,  ii     i.iih. 

22.  II . .  . ;  1      1 -:•!  their  gates  and  their  towers;  I 


23.  bnilt  the  palace,  and  I  made  aqueducts  (?)  in  the  in- 
terior 

24.  of  the  town.  There  were  no  cisterns  in  the  interior 
of  the  town  of  Kirhah,  and  I  said  to  all  the  people,  Make 

25.  every  one  a  cistern  in  his  house.  And  I  made  a 
ditch  round  Kirhah  with  [the  men] 

20.  of  Israel.  I  built  (Aro)er,  and  I  made  the  passage 
over  the  Aruon. 

27.  I  built  Beth-Bamoth,  which  had  been  overthrown, 
and  Bezer,  which  had  been  destroyed. 

2S.  I  fortified  Dibon  to  hold  it  in  subjection,  and  I  con- 
structed 

211.  fortresses  in  the  towns  which  I  added  to  [my]  land. 
I  built 

:w.  .  .  .  Beth-Diblathan,  Beth-Baal-Meon,  and  trans- 
ported thither  [Moabites] 

31.  [in  Older  to  take  possession  of]  the  laud.  At  Iloro- 
uan  dwelt  [the  children  of  Keuhen] .  .  . 

32.  Chemosh  told  me,  Go,  fight  against  Horonau  [I 
fought  against  it  and  took  it], 

33.  [and  there  dwelt]  Chemosh  in  my  days  . . . 

34.  ... 

Me'shach  (Heb.  or  Chald.  Meyshah',  "'^*'^p,  of 
foreign  etymology;  Sept.  MiffOK  v.  r.  M((T«x,Yulg.  Mi- 
such),  the  title  given  b\'  the  Babylonian  court  to  Mi- 
CH.\EL  (q.  v.),  one  of  the  Hebrew  youths  in  training  for 
the  ranli  of  magi  (Dan.  i,  7 ;  ii,  49 ;  iii,  12-30).  "  Ge- 
senlus  resolves  the  name  into  the  Persic  miz-shah, '  the 
f/uest  of  tho  shah'  {Thesaur.s.v.');  Hitzig  {Exer/et.Ihlb. 
ad  loc.)  and  Fiirst  (/leb.-Lex.  s.  v.)  refer  it  to  the  San- 
scrit Meshah,  'a  ram,''  and  regard  it  as  a  name  of  the 
sun-god.  The  changing  of  the  names  of  persons  taken 
into  a  familj'  as  servants  or  slaves  was  common  in  an- 
cient times  among  both  the  Orientals  and  the  Greeks 
(Jahn,  A  rchdoL  pt.  i,  vol.  ii,  p.  280 ;  Theodoret  on  Dan. 
i,  7:  Chrj-sostom,  Opj).  v,  280;  Hiivernick,  Comm.  iib. 
Bun.  p.  30)"  (Kitto).  '•  That  Mcshach  was  the  name 
of  some  god  of  the  Chaldaeans  is  extremely  probable, 
from  the  fact  that  Daniel,  who  had  the  name  of  Bclte- 
shazzar,  was  so  called  after  the  god  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
(Dan.  iv,  8),  and  that  Abednego  was  named  after  Nego, 
or  Nebo,  the  ChakUean  name  for  the  planet  Mercury" 
(Smitli).     See  DANiiiL. 

Me'shech  (Heb.  Me'shel;  T\'^/g,  a  draicing  out,  as 
in  Psa.  cxxvi,  G;  or  possession,  as  in  Job  xxviii,  18; 
Sept.  MofTtJX,  Yulg.  Mosoch ;  a  pronunciation  which  the 
Samaritan  codex  also  exhibits,  TjVdi^ ;  but  in  Ezek. 
xxxviii,  2,  3;  xxxix,  1,  Sept,  v.  r.  'SloaitK  and  :\Ikj<')X'  ; 
in  Ezck.  xxvii,  13,  ra  TrapaTtivovTa ;  in  Psa.  cxx,  5, 
Sept.  i-/iai,-()i-)'s)i,'Vu\'^.prii!iiiH/alii.'!  m/,  Auth.Yers.  "^le- 
s(.h-|.  the  sixth  son  olMapheth,  B.C.  cir.  2500  (Gen.  x, 
•_'  1.  and  roiiiider  of  a  tribe  mentioned  among  his  descend- 
ants (1  Cliron.  i,  5),  and  later  (Ezek.  xxvii,  13)  as  en- 
gaged in  traffic  with  Tyre,  in  connection  with  Gog  (Ezek. 
xxxviii,  2, 3 ;  xxxix,  1).  In  nearly  ever}'  instance  they 
are  coupled  with  Tubal  or  the  Tibareni  as  neiglibors 
((Jen.  X,  2 ;  Ezek.  xxvii,  13 ;  xxxii,  2(J ;  xxxviii,  2,  3 ; 
xxxix,  1:  so  also  Herodotus,  iii,  94;  vii,  78;  comp. 
Ilengstenberg,  Moses,  p.  206;  ^Yilkinson,  i,  378  sq.); 
and  from  one  passage  at  least  (Ezek.  xxxii,  26)  they 
appear  to  have  lived  near  Assyria  and  I";iymais.  They 
are  without  doubt  the  same  ^vith  the  Moschi  (Bochart, 
Phaleg,  iii,  12),  a  barbarous  people  of  Asia,  inhabiting 
what  were  known  as  the  JNIoschian  Mountains  (Ptol.  v, 
6, 1 ;  13, 5),  between  the  Black  and  Caspian  seas  (Strabo, 
xi,  344,  378,  498  sq.;  Pliny,  vi,  11),  in  the  later  Iberia 
(comp.  Josephus,  Ant.  i,  6, 1),  who  are  named  by  ancient 
authors  as  forming  a  single  deitartnicnt  of  the  Persian 
empire  under  a  separate  jurisdiction  with  the  Tibare- 
nians  (Ilerod.  iii,  94;  vii,  78).  In  contirmation  of  the 
trade  alluded  to  in  Ezek.  xxvii,  13,  Beineggs  remarks 
{Beschreib.  dcs  Caucas.  i,  G;  ii,  Gl)  that  the  IVIoschiau 
Mountains  contain  rich  copper-mines,  and  this  region 
has  always  been  noted  for  the  export  of  slaves,  espe- 
cially females,  whose  beauty  usually  commands  a  ready 
market  for  the  Turkish  harems  (.see  Kosenm tiller.  .1/- 
ttrth.  I,  i.  248  s(|.).  In  Psa.  cxx,  5,  the  name  occurs  in 
ccmjiection  with  Kcdar  as  a  synonyme  for  foreigners  or 
barbarians  (Michaclis,  Siippl.  p.  1560~),  like  the  modern 
phrase  "Turks  and  Hottentots." — AViner,  ii,  86.  The 
same  name,  but  in  a  plural  form,  appears,  according  to 


MESHED-ALI 


127 


MESHULLAM 


some,  in  Isa.  Ixvi,  19  (OliJp  ''?P'2)  Sept.  Moffox,Vulg. 
tendentes  saffittam,  Auth.YeTS.  "that  draw  the  bow"), 
but  it  there  is  rather  an  appellation  of  the  archers 
(comp.  Jer.  xlvi,  9) ;  also,  but  with  still  less  probability, 
in  Jer.  v,  8  (D'^SIL*'?,  Sept.  ^7]\vnavHg,Vu\g.  einissarii, 
Auth.  Vers.  "  fed").  "  The  Colchian  tribes,  the  Chalybes 
more  especially,  were  skilled  in  working  metals,  and  hence 
arose  the  trade  in  the  "vessels  of  brass'  with  Tyre;  nor 
is  it  at  all  improbable  that  slaves  were  largely  exported 
thence  as  now  from  the  neighboring  district  of  Georgia. 
Although  the  Moschi  were  a  comparatively  nnimpor- 
tant  race  in  classical  times,  they  had  previously  been 
one  of  the  most  powerful  nations  of  Western  Asia.  The 
Assyrian  monarchs  were  engaged  in  frequent  wars  with 
them,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  they  had  occupied 
the  whole  of  the  district  afterwards  named  Cappadocia. 
In  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  the  name  appears  under 
the  form  of  Mitskai:  a  somewhat  similar  name,  Ma- 
shoas/i,  appears  in  an  Egyptian  inscription  which  com- 
memorates the  achievements  of  the  third  Kameses 
(Wilkinson,  Anc.  E(j.  i,  398,  Abridg.).  The  subsequent 
history  of  Meshech  is  unknown ;  Knobel's  attempt  to 
connect  them  with  the  Ligurians  {VOlkertaf.  p.  119, 
etc.)  is  devoid  of  all  solid  ground"  (Smith).  "The 
names  of  the  Moschians  and  Tybarenians  are  also  joined 
frequently  on  the  Assyrian  inscriptions  (Rawlinson's 
Jlcrodotits,  i,  Gol ;  comp.  Pliny,  vi,  4).  The  primitive 
seat  of  the  Moschi  appears  to  have  been  among  the 
Caucasus  Mountains,  on  the  south-eastern  shores  of  the 
Black  Sea,  immediately  north  of  Armenia  (Strabo,  xi, 
p.  498  sq.) ;  and,  according  to  Strabo,  a  part  of  the  great 
chain  or  group  of  mountains  took  their  name  (xi,  p.  521). 
The  Jloschi  were,  however,  a  wild  and  warlike  race,  and 
extended  their  depredations  and  conquests  far  bej-ond 
the  confines  of  their  native  hills.  Cappadocia  appears 
to  have 'been,  at  least  in  part,  occupied  by  them  (Jose- 
phus,  .4?^^  i,  6,1),  and  probably  from  them  its  capital 
city  took  its  name  Mazaha  (Strabo,  xii,  p.  538;  Eaw- 
linsdn's  Ifi  roJotKs,  iv,  "222).  In  the  time  of  the  Hebrew 
prophets  their  power  was  felt  even  in  Syria  and  Egypt 
in  conjunction  with  their  Scythic  allies,  Gog  and  Ma- 
gog, under  whose  command  they  had  apparently  placed 
themselves.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  Ezekiel's 
description  of  their  equipments — '  bucklers,  small  shields 
("S'S),  and  swords'  (Ezelv.  xxxviii,  1-5) — corresponds 
with  that  of  Herodotus  (vii,  78).  During  the  ascend- 
ency of  the  Bab\'lonians  and  Persians  in  Western  Asia 
the  Moschi  were  subdued;  but  it  seems  probable  that  a 
large  number  of  them  crossed  the  Caucasus  range  and 
spread  over  the  northern  steppes,  mingling  with  the 
Scythians.  There  they  became  known  as  Jlimkoi^i,  and 
gave  that  name  to  the  Russian  nation,  and  its  ancient 
capital,  by  which  they  are  still  universally  known 
throughout  the  East  (Rawlinson's  Herod,  iv,  222)"  (Kit- 
to).     See  EriiNOLOGY. 

Meshed-Ali  and  Meshed-Hossein  is  the 
name  of  a  jMohannnedan  cemetery  situated  near  the 
ruins  of  IJaliylim,  which  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
places  of  pilgrimage  of  the  Shiit;es.  Many  thousands 
of  corpses  are  brought  thither  during  the  year  for  inter- 
ment from  all  parts  of  the  East. 

Meshelemi'ah  (Heb.  Meshelemyah' ,  n^Tsbdp, 
friendship  of  Jehovah,  1  Chron.  ix,  21 ;  Sept.  MofroAXa/t 
V.  r.  MoiToXXajtti,  Vulg.  Mosollamia  ;  also,  in  the  pro- 
longed form,  Meshelemya'hu,  W^p^a^,  1  Chron.  xxvi, 
1;  MoaoWa^  v.  r.  MofffXAfyuin ;  ver.  2,  'McwiWa^ua 
V.  r.  MoatWafiia;  ver. 9,  MfffoAAf/ti'a  v.  r.  Moo-fAXf/a'a; 
Vulg.  Mesellemiu),  a  Levite  of  the  Korhite  branch, 
who,  with  his  seven  sons  and  ten  other  relatives,  was 
appointed  by  David  warden  of  the  east  gate  of  the  Tem- 
ple ;  called  Shelejiiah  in  1  Chron.  xxvi,  14;  and  ap- 
parently also  SiiALLUJL  in  1  Chron.  ix,  19.  B.C.  1014. 
"As  we  learn  from  ver.  9  that  he  had  eighteen  strong 
men  of  his  sons  and  brethren  under  him,  we  may  con- 
clude that  all  his  sons  except  Zechariah  the  first-born 


(ver.  14)  served  with  him,  and  therefore  Elioenai  like- 
wise. There  were  six  Levites  daily  on  guard  at  the 
east  gate,  whose  turn  would  therefore  come  every  third 
day"  (Smith). 

Meshez'abeel  (Heb.  Mesheyzahel',  ^X^niaiD, 
whose  deliverer  is  God;  Sept.  Ma'Caf.ii'j'X,  MiawZilSi/X, 
and  Barxi]i^d  v.  r.  Maff£^£t»;A  ;  Vulg.  Mesezehel  and  Me- 
sizehel),  one  of  the  chief  Israelites  that  subscribed  the 
sacred  covenant  after  the  captivity,  B.C.  cir.  410  (Neh. 
X,  21) ;  apparently  the  same  with  the  father  of  Petha- 
hiah  the  Zerahite  of  Judah,  which  latter  had  pre- 
viously (B.C.  cir.  440)  assisted  in  the  administration  of 
civil  affairs  (Neh.  xi,  24) ;  and  perhaps  the  same  with 
the  father  of  Berechiah  and  grandfather  of  INIeshullam, 
which  last  had  (B.C.  446)  assisted  in  repairing  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem  (Neh.  iii,  4), 

Meshi.     See  Silk. 

Meshil'lemith  (1  Chron.  ix,  12).     See  Meshil- 

LEJIOTII. 

Meshil'lemoth  (Heb.  Meshillemoth' ,  r\\-o\'^-q^ 
7-equitals ;  X'ulg.  Mosollumoth),  the  name  of  two  men, 

1.  (Sept.  XI  orroAAa/twS  v.  r.  Mo(toA«^w.&.)  The  fa- 
ther of  the  chief  Ephraimite  Berechiah,  which  latter 
was  one  of  those  who  opposed  the  reduction  of  their 
captive  brethren  of  Judah  to  slavery  (2  Chron.  xxviii, 
12).     B.C.  ante  738. 

2.  (Sept.  Mfffrtpt^iS'.)  A  priest,  son  of  Immer  and 
father  of  Ahasai  (Neh.  xi,  13)  ;  doubtless  the  same 
with  the  priest  Meshillemith  (Heb.  AleshiUemith'., 
r''732'JT2,  retribution;  Sept.  Mo(ToAA«juai3-  v.  r.  MafftX- 
pibSr,  Vulg.  Mosollainith),  the  son  of  Immer  and  father 
of  MeshuUam  (1  Chron.  ix,  12).     B,C.  long  ante  440. 

Mesho'bab  (Heb.  Meshobah',  naidp,  returned; 
Sept.  M£ffw/3n/3),  one  of  the  chief  Simeonites,  whose  en- 
larged family  induced  him  to  migrate  to  Gedor  in  the 
time  of  Hezekiah  (1  Chron.  iv,  34).    B.C.  cir.  711. 

Meshul'lam  (Heb.  MeshuUam',  Cibdp,  befriend- 
ed; Sept.  usually  MoaoXAa/i),  the  name  of  several  per- 
sons in  the  later  periods  of  Jewish  history. 

1.  One  of  the  chief  Gadites  resident  in  Bashan  in  the 
time  of  .lotham's  viceroyship  (1  Chron.  v,  13).    B.C.  781. 

2.  The  father  of  Azaliah  and  grandfather  of  Sha- 
phan,  which  last  v/as  the  scribe  sent  by  Josiah  to  di- 
rect the  contributions  for  repairing  the  Temple  (2  Kings 
xxiii,  3).    B.C.  considerably  ante  623. 

3.  A  priest,  son  of  Zadok  and  father  of  Hilkiah  (1 
Chron.  ix,  11;  Neh.  xi,  11).  Probably  the  same  as 
Shalluji  (q.  v.),  the  high-priest  (1  Chron.  vi,  13 ;  Ezra 
vii,  1). 

4.  A  Levite  of  the  family  of  Kohath,  one  of  the 
overseers  of  the  Temple  repairs  undertaken  by  Josiah 
(2  Chron.  xxxiv,  12).    B.C.  623. 

5.  One  of  the  chief  Benjamites  of  the  family  of  El- 
paal  resident  at  Jerusalem  (I  Chron.  viii,  17).  B.C.  ante 
589.  He  is  perhaps  the  Benjamite  (son  of  Hodaviah, 
and  grandson  of  Hasenuah)  whose  son  (or  descendant) 
Sallu  resided  at  Jerusalem  after  the  captivity  (1  Chron. 
ix,  7) ;  but  this  person  seems  elsewhere  to  be  called 
the  son  of  Joel  (Neh.  xi,  7). 

6.  The  eldest  of  the  children  of  Zerubbabel  (1  Chron. 
iii,  19).    B.C.  cir.  536. 

7.  A  chief  priest,  son  of  Ezra,  contemporary  with  Joi- 
akim  (Neh.  xii,  13).    B.C.  post  536. 

8.  A  chief  priest,  son  of  Ginnethon,  contemporary 
Avith  Joiakim  (Neh.  xii,  16).    B.C.  post  536. 

9.  One  of  the  leading  Levites  sent  for  by  Ezra  to  ac- 
company his  party  to  Jerusalem  (Ezra  viii,  16),  B.C. 
459,  He  appears  to  be  the  same  with  one  of  tliose  who 
assisted  in  the  investigation  concerning  the  foreign 
marriages  of  those  who  had  returned  (Ezra  x,  15),  He 
was  perhaps  the  same  with  one  of  the  Temple  wardens, 
as  afterwards  arranged  (Neh,  xii,  25).  B.C.  cir.  440. 
This  last  is  also  called  Mesiielemiah  (1  Chron.  xxvi,  1), 
Shelemiah  (1  Chron.  xxvi,  14),  and  Shallum  (Neh. 
vii,  45). 


MESHULLEMETH 


128 


MESMERISM 


10.  An  Israelite,  of  the  "  sons"  (or  residents)  of  Bani, 
■who  divorced  his  Gentile  wife  after  the  exile  (Ezra  x, 
29).    B.C.  459. 

11.  A  priest,  son  of  Meshillemith  and  father  of  Jah- 
zerah  (I  Chroii.  Lx,  12  ;  comp.  Neh.  xi,  13).  B.C.  long 
ante  440. 

12.  The  son  of  Berechiah  and  grandson  of  Mesheza- 
beel ;  he  repaired  two  portions  of  the  walls  of  Jerusa- 
lem after  the  captivity  (Neh.  iii,  4,  30).  B.C.  446.  It 
was  his  daughter  that  Tobiah's  son  johauan  married 
(Neh.  vi,  18). 

13.  The  son  of  Besodeiah,  who,  in  connection  with 
Jehoiada,  rejiaired  the  "  old  gate"  of  Jerusalem  after  the 
exUe  (Neh.  iii,  G).    B.C.  446. 

14.  One  of  the  Jewish  leaders  who  made  the  tour 
of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  on  their  completion  after  the 
captiwty  (Neh.  xii,  33).    B.C.  446. 

15.  A  chief  Benjamite  (son  of  Shcphathiah),  who 
dwelt  at  Jerusalem  after  the  captivity  (1  Chron.  ix,  8). 
B.C.  cir.  440. 

16.  One  of  the  principal  Israelites  who  supported 
Ezra  on  the  left  while  expounding  the  law  to  the  people 
(Neh.  viii,  4).  B.C.  cir.  410.  He  may  have  been  iden- 
tical with  No.  9, 12, 13, 14,  or  1.5.  He  is  probably  the 
same  with  one  of  those  who  subscribed  the  sacred  cov- 
enant on  the  same  occasion  (Neh.  x,  20). 

17.  One  of  the  priests  Avho  joined  in  Nehemiah's 
solemn  bond  of  allegiance  to  Jehovah  (Neh.  x,  7).  B.C. 
cir.  410.  He  is  perhaps  the  same  with  either  No.  6  or 
No.  7. 

Meshul'lemeth  (Ileb.  Meshulk'meth,  ni2^pp, 
friend;  Sept.  :\I  f  (To\\nju,Vulg.  Messalemetli),  the  daugh- 
ter of  Ilaruz  of  .lotljab ;  she  was  the  mother  of  king 
Amon,  and  ciiiiMfiiicnily  ilie  wife  of  Mauasseh,  whom 
she  appears  in  have  Miixived  (2  Kings  xxi,  19).  Her 
character  m;i\-  lie  iiilcrrcl  from  the  idolatry  of  her  son 
as  well  as  of  her  Imsband.     B.C.  664-642. 

Mesitys  (^tairijc,  i.  e.  mediator)  was  the  name 
given  to  a  presbyter  while  engaged  in  discharging  the 
functions  of  the  Eucharist.  This  was  considered  by  the 
ancient  Church  as  the  highest  point  of  a  presbyter's 
dignity  and  othcc.  The  appellation  was  very  properly 
censured  by  Augustine  as  derogating  from  tlie  dignity 
and  office  of  the  true  and  only  Mediator  of  the  Christian 
covenant  (Contr.  I'urmen.  lib.  ii,  c.  8 ;  comp.  l)e  Civ.  Dei, 
lib.  ix,  c.  lo).  This  word  also  denoted  the  middle  rank 
occupied  by  the  presbyter  between  the  bishop  and  dea- 
con.    Sec  liiddlc,  Christian  Antiquities  (see  Index). 

Mesmer,  Fkanz  (according  to  others,  Fuikdiuch 
Anton  ),  the  founder  of  the  doctrine  of  animal  magnet- 
ism, or,  as  it  is  more  generally  termed,  mesmerism,  was 
born  at  a  village  near  the  Bodensee  Jlay  23, 1733.  He 
studied  mathematics  and  natural  science  at  the  Jesuit 
school  in  Dillingen,  and,  later,  medicine  at  the  University 
of  Vienna,  and  there  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medi- 
cine in  1766.  About  1772  he  commenced,  assisted  by 
father  Hell,  to  investigate  the  curative  powers  of  the 
magnet,  and  was  led  to  adopt  the  opinion  that  there 
exists  a  power  similar  to  magnetism,  which  exercises 
an  extraordinary  influence  on  the  human  body.  This 
he  called  animal  mar/netism,  and  published  an  account 
of  his  discovery,  and  of  its  medicinal  value,  in  1775 : 
Precis  liixtoriqve  et  faits  rehilifs  an  maf/iii'tisme  ani- 
mul ;  and  in  1776,  in  liis  thesis,  On  the  lujluence  of  the 
Planets  on  the  Unman  Bodij.  Honors  were  conferred 
upon  him  in  (iermany.  In  1778  he  "went  to  Paris, 
where  he  attracted  much  attention.  His  system  ob- 
tahieil  the  sujiport  of  members  of  the  medical  jirofes- 
sion,  as  well  as  of  otliers;  but  he  refused  two  offers,  one 
of  30,000  livrcs,  and  the  other  of  340.000  livrcs,  to  re- 
veal Ills  secret;  and  this,  combined  witli  other  circum- 
stances, gave  rise  to  suspicion,  and  iinUiced  the  French 
government  to  api)oint  a  commission,  composed  of  i)liy- 
sicians  and  naturalists,  among  tliem  Bailly,  our  own 
Frankhn,  and  Lavoisier,  whose  report  was  unfavorable 
to  him.     He  now  fell  into  disrepute,  and  after  a  visit  to 


England,  retired  to  Meersburg,  near  his  native  place, 
where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  complete  obscuri- 
ty.    He  died  ^larch  5, 1815.     See  Mesmekism. 

Mesmerism.  I'nder  this  lieading  we  propose  to 
consider  the  various  phenomena  which  have  at  diflferent 
times  been  presented  for  public  consideration  under  the 
names  of  Jlesnierism,  A  nimal  Magnetism,  Mat/netic 
Siimnamhulism,  Clairroyance,  etc.,  etc.  The  nature  of 
this  Cyclopcedia  of  course  limits  us  in  the  consideration 
of  this  subject  from  a  theological  stand-point. 

Animal  magnetism  is  a  supposed  influence  or  emana- 
tion by  means  of  which  one  person  can  act  upon  anoth- 
er, producing  wonderful  effects  upon  his  body,  and  con- 
trolling his  actions  and  thoughts.  It  was  fancied  to 
have  some  analogy  to  the  magnetism  of  the  loadstone, 
and  hence  its  name.  The  term  has  been  used  to  group 
together  a  multitude  of  manifestations  deemed  to  be 
of  a  wondorfid  kind,  which  have  given  rise  to  an 
amoimt  of  delusion  and  credulity  hardly  exemplified  on 
any  other  subject.  Elect ro-biologj',  odylism,  table-turn- 
ing, spirit-rapping,  table-talking,  spiritism,  have  been 
classed  as  only  modifications  of  the  same  phenomena. 
For  the  sake  of  securing  a  thorough  review  of  the  va- 
rious phenomena  which  mesmerism,  so  called,  or  better, 
animal  magnetism,  has  been  conceived  to  produce  in 
those  who  were  brought  under  its  influence,  we  divide 
the  subject  into  two  classes:  cases  which  arc  effected 
while  the  person  operated  upon  remains  awake,  and 
those  which  take  place  while  the  patient  is  in  a  state 
of  sleep,  or  in  a  state  resembling  it.  These  two  classes 
of  phenomena,  moreover,  belong  to  difiiercnt  periods  of 
the  history  of  mesmerism.  To  those  of  the  first  class 
chiefly  the  early  practitioners  of  this  mysterious  art  con- 
fined their  pretensions,  and  it  was  onlj'  at  a  later  period 
that  the  magnetizers  laid  claim  to  the  power  of  pro- 
ducing those  wonderful  manifestations  included  under 
the  second  class. 

Afesnierism  Proper. — Anthony  Blesmer,  whose  per- 
sonal historj'  we  have  detailed  above,  is  supposed  to 
be  the  first  in  modern  times  who  claimed  to  have  dis- 
covered the  i)roccss  of  healing  physical  derangements 
by  the  application  of  animal  magnetism,  as  already 
defined.  Many  were  the  cures  pretended  to  be  wrought 
by  Mesmer  and  his  disciples,  until  he  was  suddenly 
checked  in  his  auspicious  career  by  the  unfavorable  re- 
port of  the  committee  which  the  French  government 
appointed  in  1785.  '-This  pretended  agent,"'  said  they, 
"is  not  magnetism;  for  on  examining  the  grand  reser- 
voir of  the  fluid  V>y  a  needle  and  electrometer,  neither 
magnetism  nor  electricity  could  be  detected.  We  tried 
it  upon  ourselves  and  others  without  eflect.  On  blind- 
folding those  who  ])rofessed  great  susceptibility  of  its 
influence,  all  its  ordinary  eifects  were  (iroduced  when 
nothing  was  done,  but  they  imagined  they  were  mag- 
netized; while  none  of  its  effects  were  produced  when 
they  were  really  magnetized,  but  imagined  nothing  was 
done.  So  also  when  lirought  under  a  magnetized  tree ; 
nothing  happened  if  they  thought  they  were  at  a  dis- 
tance from  it,  while  they  immediately  went  into  violent 
convulsions  when  they  thought  they  were  near  the  tree, 
though  really  not  so.  The  effects,  therefore,"  say  the 
connnissioners,  "are  purely  imaginary;  and  although 
they  have  wrought  some  cures,  they  are  not  with- 
out evil  results,  for  the  convulsions  sometimes  spread 
among  the  feeble  of  mind  and  body,  and  especially 
among  women.  And.  finally,  there  are  parts  of  the  oper- 
ations wliich  may  readily  be  turned  to  vicious  jiurposes, 
and  in  fact  immoral  practices  have  already  actually 
grown  out  of  tliem." 

Mesmerism  Modified.— Jiat  even  long  before  the  sup- 
posed discovery  of  Mesmer  had  been  subjected  to  the 
test  of  scientific  investigation,  mesmerism  had  entered 
on  a  new  pha.se,  and  assumed  a  form  dift'ering  widely  in 
many  respects  from  tliat  wliich  it  obtained  from  the 
hands  of  its  author.  We  allude  to  what  is  scientifically 
termed  Magmtic  Summimhidism,  and  which  was  tirst 
brought  before  the  public  for  consideration  by  one  of 


MESMERISM 


129 


MESMERISM 


Mesmer's  pupils,  the  marquis  de  Puysegur.  In  the 
hands  of  Mesmer  animal  magnetism  was  simply  a  cura- 
tive agent;  in  the  hands  of  Puysegur,  however,  we  find 
it  not  only  to  be  a  curative  means,  but  to  confer  the 
power  of  detecting  the  morbid  condition  of  parts,  both 
in  the  person  operated  on  and  in  others,  and  the  instinc- 
tive knowledge  of  the  remedies  required  to  effect  a  cure. 
With  this  important  advance,  the  mesmeric  system 
was  after  this  time  advocated  by  Mesmer  himself,  and 
hence  the  mistake  on  the  part  of  some  that  Mesmer  was 
acquainted  with  the  phenomena  of  somnambulism  and 
had  discoursed  upon  them  from  the  very  first  during  his 
stay  in  Paris.  But  whether  De  Puysegur  or  Mesmer 
be  the  discoverer  of  magnetic  somnambulism,  certain  it 
is  that  if  this  discovery  had  not  been  made,  animal  mag- 
netism would  have  found  its  resting-place  in  the  grave 
of  Mesmer.  Remodelled  by  this  valuable  addition,  new 
life  was  infused  into  the  expiring  sj'stem ;  "  a  life  so  vig- 
orous, indeed,  that  it  has  been  sufficient  to  keep  it  alive 
till  the  present  time." 

The  art  of  inducing  the  magnetic  state,  as  practiced 
by  its  discoverer,  Mesmer,  involved  the  use  of  appara- 
tus— the  baquet,  or  magnetic  tub,  iron  rods,  etc.;  but  the 
means  which  De  Puysegur  first  used,  and  which  became 
the  more  common,  are  passes  made  by  the  hands  of 
the  raagnetizer  from  the  head  of  the  "  subject"  or  pa- 
tient downward,  or  simply  making  him  fix  his  eyes  on 
the  operator.  "  Ordinarily,"  we  are  told,  "  the  magnet- 
izer  and  the  patient  are  seated  opposite  to  each  other; 
the  former,  with  each  hand,  lays  hold  of  the  opposite 
hand  of  the  latter,  with  the  balls  of  the  thumbs  resting 
against  each  other.  Thus  they  sit  for  five  or  ten  min- 
utes, or  until  the  influence  begins  to  be  felt.  The  mag- 
netizer  then  withdraws  his  hands,  and  makes  slow  pass- 
es with  open  hands  and  outspread  fingers  over  the 
patient  from  the  head  to  the  foot,  turning  the  hands 
away  while  )noving  them  upward,  and  while  making 
the  down^vard  passes  keeping  the  points  of  the  fingers 
within  an  inch  or  two  of  the  patient's  clothing.  After 
making  a  dozen  or  two  of  such  passes,  the  magnetizer 
resumes  his  former  position.  During  the  whole  of  this 
process  he  keeps  his  attention  on  the  patient,  and  exer- 
cises his  will  in  silent  commands  that  he  shall  become 
somnambulic.  The  patient  should  be  still,  quiet,  and 
resigned.  Some  persons  can  be  mesmerized  within  a 
few  minutes ;  others  can  not  be  affected  by  trials  of  an 
hour  daily  for  weeks ;  but  after  the  experiment  has  once 
succeeded,  it  can  be  more  easily  repeated.  The  patient 
becomes  more  susceptible,  and  the  magnetizer  more 
powerfid,  by  every  successful  trial.  The  patient  who 
could  not,  at  first,  be  thrown  into  the  mesmeric  sleep  in 
less  than  an  hour  of  constant  contact  with  the  operator, 
ma}'  at  last  be  magnetized  in  a  few  minutes  or  seconds, 
without  contact,  bv  the  mere  outstretched  hand,  glance, 
or  even  will  of  the  mesmerist."  According  to  the  mes- 
meric theory,  the  nervous  energy  of  the  operator  has 
overpowered  that  of  the  subject,  as  a  powerful  magnet 
does  a  weak  one,  and  the  two  are  in  rapport,  as  it  is 
termed.  In  some  cases  the  mesmeric  trance  assumes 
the  form  of  clairvoyance. 

The  various  stages  of  the  magnetic  influence  mes- 
merizers  distinguish  as  six  different  classes.  "  The  first 
stage  is  that  of  waking  magnetization.  The  patient 
feels  a  singular  influence  pervading  his  body,  frequently 
a  pricking,  somewhat  like  that  felt  in  a  limb  asleep. 
Sometimes  there  is  an  increase  of  temperature  and  sweat. 
The  second  stage  is  that  of  drowsiness.  The  pidse  be- 
comes fuller,  the  breathing  slower;  there  is  a  feeling  as 
though  warmth  were  radiating  from  the  stomach  ;  there 
is  a  heavy  pressure  on  the  eyelids,  which  close  against 
the  will  of- the  patient,  and  he  is  unable  to  open  them; 
but  still  he  retains  his  normal  consciousness  and  sensa- 
tion. The  third  stage  is  that  of  coma,  or  senseless  sleep, 
wherein  he  is  insensible  to  the  loudest  noises,  and  all 
the  nerves  of  sensation  are  as  if  benumbed.  The  fourth 
stage  is  that  of  magnetic  somnambulism.  The  patient 
awakes  from  the  third  stage  into  a  new  sphere  of  exist- 
VI.— I 


ence,  and  as  another  person.  He  has  consciousness  and 
sensation,  but  they  differ  greatly  from  those  of  his  nor- 
mal condition.  He  hears  oidy  the  voice  of  his  magnet- 
izer, or  of  some  person  in  contact  with  him.  The  mag- 
netizer can  make  his  muscles  rigid  in  almost  any  posi- 
tion, and  has  the  power  of  governing  his  physical  mo- 
tions. His  oAvn  senses  of  touch,  taste,  and  smell  appear 
to  be  dormant,  but  he  perceives  all  the  impressions  pro- 
duced on  those  senses  in  the  magnetizer's  frame.  The 
fifth  stage  is  that  of  clairvoyance.  This  is  a  heightened 
condition  of  the  fourth  stage.  The  patient  has  means 
of  perception  unknown  to  man  in  his  normal  state,  and 
so  singular  that  the  assertion  of  their  possession,  meas- 
lured  by  the  general  experience  of  the  race,  appears  to 
be  an  impudent  falsehood  or  imposture.  The  somnam- 
bulist can  see  with  his  eyes  closed  and  bandaged ;  he 
can  then  even  see  what  waking  men  in  his  place  can 
not  see  with  their  eyes  open.  He  can  read  the  contents 
of  letters  unopened ;  he  can  see  through  clothing,  wood 
and  metal  boxes,  and  walls  of  brick  or  stone ;  he  can 
tell  what  is  going  on  in  the  room  above  him  or  in  the 
room  below.  Sometimes  the  sense  of  sight,  or  a  faculty 
capable  of  perceiving  things  which  the  normal  man 
perceives  only  by  means  of  the  organ  of  vision,  seems 
to  reside  in  the  forehead,  in  the  back-head,  in  the  fingers, 
or  in  the  knuckles  of  the  hand.  Thus  the  clairvoyant 
will  sometimes  move  about  holding  his  fist  in  front  of 
him  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  where  he  is  going.  How 
this  means  of  perception  can  exist  apart  from  the  organs 
of  vision,  why  it  exists  in  one  part  of  the  body  more  than 
another,  and  why  one  should  have  it  in  the  hand,  an- 
other in  the  forehead,  and  a  third  in  the  back-head,  are 
questions  very  proper  to  be  asked,  but  to  which  there  is 
no  satisfactorj'  answer. . . .  The  clairvoyant  not  only  sees 
things  outside  of  his  body,  but  even  in  it.  His  whole 
physical  frame  is  transparent  to  him ;  he  looks  through 
and  sees  all  the  functions  of  life  as  though  they  were 
going  on  in  a  glass  case.  He  can  see  through  the 
bodies  of  others  placed  in  magnetic  connection  with 
him  in  the  same  way.  Frequently  he  will  describe, 
with  the  accuracy  of  high  anatomical,  physiological, 
and  pathological  knowledge,  the  operations  of  healthy 
and  diseased  organs ;  and  will  even  prescribe  remedies 
for  disease."  While  in  this  state  the  functions  of  the 
body  are  liable  to  be  much  affected — the  pulsations  of 
the  heart  and  the  respirations  are  quickened  or  retarded, 
and  the  secretions  altered,  and  that  chiefly  at  the  will 
of  the  operator.  At  his  direction  the  limbs  are  made 
rigid,  or  become  endowed  with  unnatural  strength ;  one 
liquid  tastes  as  any  other,  and  is  hot  or  cold,  sweet  or 
bitter,  as  the  subject  is  told;  in  short,  every  thought, 
sensation,  and  movement  of  the  subject  obeys  (he  behest  of 
the  mesmerizer,  if  we  may  take  the  word  of  mesmerists 
for  the  subject's  experience.  The  sixth  and  last  stage, 
finally,  the  mesmerists  claim  to  be  that  of  "  perfect 
clairvoyance,"  and  a  far  more  exalted  position  than  the 
fifth.  "The  perfect  clairv-oyant,"  we  are  told,  "sees 
what  is  going  on  at  a  distance  of  hundreds  of  miles, 
reads  the  thoughts  of  all  persons  about  him,  reads  the 
past,  and  can  truly  foretell  the  future.  His  soul  dwells 
in  light  and  delight ;  he  often  regrets  that  he  cannot 
continue  in  that  state  forever;  he  shudders  at  the  ne- 
cessity of  being  brought  down  into  the  dull,  tiresome, 
base  world  of  normal  life."  Between  these  different 
stages  of  the  mesmeric  condition,  as  here  described,  n6 
precise  line  can  be  drawn.  The  transition  from  one 
stage  to  the  other  is  gradual,  and  generally  impercepti- 
ble at  the  time.  Thus  many  of  the  characteristics  of 
the  clairvoyant  stage  belong  also  to  the  somnambulic 
stage,  in  which  they  are,  indeed,  most  frequently  ob- 
served. 

These  are  the  phenomena  alleged  by  mesmerists.  To 
say  that  they  are  not  true  statements,  or  to  decide  which 
only  are  true,  if  any  there  be  that  are  false,  does  not  lie 
within  our  domain  as  encyclopaedists,  but  it  may  be  well 
enough  to  state  here  that  physiologists,  physicians,  and 
savans  are  pretty  well  agreed  that  the  notion  of  a  force 


MESMERISM 


130 


JklESMERISM 


of  any  kind  whatever  proceeding  in  such  cases  from  a 
person,  or  I'rom  a  magnotizinj;  aijparatus,  is  a  delusion. 
The  effects,  whatever  they  are,  must  have  their  cause 
somewhere  else.  ^Vhere  it  is  to  be  looked  for  was  al- 
ready indicated  in  the  earliest  days  of  mesmerism  by 
the  committee  appointed  by  the  French  government, 
who  closed  their  report  by  saying,  '•  the  effects  actmiUn 
produced  tcere  produced  pureli/  bij  the  imaf;i)uitioii." 
This  part  of  the  science  of  human  nature  —  the  rctlex 
action  of  the  mental  upon  the  jyhysical — had  not  then, 
hovvever,bcensufhcicntly  stuiliid.  and  is  not  now  widely 
enough  known  to  render  tlic  cini.liisinii  of  the  reporters 
a  satisfactory  explanation  ot  ihc-  pluiK.incna;  and  the 
fallacies  of  mesmerism,  though  subjected  to  many  sim- 
ilar exposures  (Dr.  Falkoner,  of  Hath,  e.  g.,  annihilated 
the  patent  metallic  tractors  of  I'erkiu  by  making  wooden 
ones  exactly  like  them,  which  produced  exactly  the 
same  effects),  have  constantly  revivetl  in  some  shape  or 
other.  One  chief  cause  of  the  inveteracy  of  the  delusion 
is  that  the  ojjponents  of  mesmerism  do  not  distinguish 
between  denying  tlie  theory  of  the  mesmerists  and  the 
facts  which  that  theory  pretends  to  explain,  and  have 
been  too  ready  to  ascribe  the  whole  to  delusion  and 
fraud.  It  thus  happens  that  the  most  sceptical  often 
become  all  of  a  sudden  the  most  credulous.  Finding 
that  things  do  actually  happen  which  they  cannot  ex- 
plain, and  had  been  accustomed  to  denounce  as  impos- 
tures, they  rush  to  the  other  extreme,  and  embrace  not 
only  the  facts  but  the  theory,  and  call  this,  too,  believ- 
ing the  evidence  of  their  senses.  Now  the  reality  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  manifestations  appealed  to  by 
the  mesmerist  must  be  admitted,  though  we  deny  his 
explanation  of  them ;  and  even  where  their  reality  must 
be  denied,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  mesmerist  is  not 
sincere  in  believing  them ;  there  is  only  greater  room 
than  in  any  other  case  for  suspecting  that  he  has  de- 
ceived himself. 

The  lirst  to  give  a  rcalh^  scientific  direction  to  the 
investigation  of  appearances  of  this  class  was  Mr.  Braid, 
a  surgfon  in  ^Manchester,  who  detaclies  them  altogether 
from  the  semblance  of  power  exerted  by  one  individual 
over  another,  or  by  metallic  disks  or  magnets,  and  traces 
the  wliole  to  the  brain  of  the  subject,  acted  on  by  surj- 
f/estion,  a  principle  long  known  to  psychologists,  though 
never  yet  made  so  prominent  as  it  ought  to  be.  The 
subject  has  been  ably  handled  in  a  paper  in  the  Quai- 
terly  Review  for  September,  1853  (said  to  be  by  Dr.  Car- 
penter). The  reviewer  traces  tlic  operation  of  this 
principle  through  the  most  ordinary  actions,  which  no 
one  thinks  wonderful,  up  to  the  most  miraculous  of  the 
so-called  "  spiritual"  manifestations.  Ideas  become  as- 
sociated in  our  minds  bj'  habit  or  otherwise,  and  one 
being  awakened  brings  on  another,  thus  forming  a  train 
of  thought;  this  is  internal  suggestion.  Hut  impressions 
from  without  originate  and  modify  those  trains,  consti- 
tuting external  suggestion.  While  awake  and  in  a  nor- 
mal condition,  the  vill  interferes  with  and  directs  these 
trains  of  thought,  selecting  some  ideas  to  be  dwelt  upon, 
and  comparing  tlicm  with  others  and  with  present  im- 
pressions. A  comparative  inactivity  of  this  selecting 
and  comparing  faculty,  leaving  the  flow  of  ideas  to  its 
spontaneous  activity,  produces  the  state  of  mind  called 
7-everie  or  abstraction.  In  dreaming  and  somnambulism, 
the  will  and  judgment  seem  completely  suspended  ;  and 
under  internal  suggestions  the  mind  becomes  a  mere 
automaton,  while  external  suggestions,  if  they  act  at  all, 
act  as  ujion  a  machine.  These  are  well-known  facts  of 
the  human  constitution,  and  iude])cndent  of  mesmerism, 
though  their  bearing  upon  it  is  obvious.  Another  fact 
of  like  bearing  is  the  effect  of  concentrated  attention  on 
any  object  of  thought  in  intensifying  the  impression  rc- 
oeiveiL  This  may  proceed  so  far,  in  morbid  states  of 
the  nervous  system,  that  an  idea  or  revived  sensation 
assumes  the  vividness  of  a  present  impression,  and  over- 
powers the  evidence  of  tlie  senses.  Ideas  thus  become 
dominant,  overriding  the  impressions  of  the  outer  world, 
and  carrying  themselves  out  into  action  independently 


of  the  will,  and  even  trilhoul  the  consciousness  of  the  in- 
dividual. These  dominant  ideas  play  a  greater  part  in 
human  actions  and  beliefs  than  most  are  aware  of. 
"Expectant  attention"  acts  powerfully  on  the  bodily 
organs,  and  often  makes  the  individual  see  and  hear 
what  l)e  expects  to  see  and  hear,  and,  without  his  con- 
sciousness, moves  his  muscles  to  bring  it  about.  These, 
too,  are  recognised  facts  in  the  sciences  of  physiology 
and  psychology.  See  Carpenter's  Human  I'hijsiology 
and  Dr.  Holland's  Chapters  on  Menial  I'hijsioloffy. 

In  the  Illustrations  of  Modern  Mesmerism,  trom  Per- 
sonal Observation,  published  by  Dr.  (the  late  Sir  John) 
Forbes  in  1845,  we  have  in  small  compass  a  complete 
exposure  of  the  pretended  clairvoyant  powers  of  some 
of  the  most  notorious  persons  of  this  class.  In  the  pref- 
ace he  states  that  he  only  professes,  by  a  simple  narra- 
tive of  facts,  to  illustrate  the  actual  pretensions  and  per- 
formances of  the  mesmerists  of  the  present  day,  and  to 
show  on  what  sandy  foundations  the  popular  belief  in 
their  marvels  rests.  He  exjiresscs  the  modest  hope  that 
what  is  contained  in  this  little  book  may  teach  a  useful 
lesson  to  those  nuinerous  unscientific  persons  who  are  ac- 
customed to  attend  mesmeric  exhibitions,  public  or  pri- 
vate, from  motives  of  rational  curiosity,  or  with  the  com- 
mendable object  of  investigating  what  seem  to  be  impor- 
tant truths.  He  believes  that  such  persons  must  now 
feel  convinced  that  no  reliance  whatever  is  to  be  placed 
on  the  results  presented  at  such  exhibitions  as  evinc- 
ing the  truth  and  powers  of  mesmerism.  He  found 
that  it  was  impossible  for  the  ordinary  visitor  at  these 
exhibitions  to  discriminate  the  true  from  the  false,  and 
that  the  coarsest  juggling  might  pass  with  the  trusting 
spectator,  seated  at  a  distance  from  the  scene  of  action, 
for  mysterious  and  awful  truths.  ]\Icsmerism  or  clair- 
voyance may  be  true  or  false,  and  he  professes  fo  be 
ready  to  believe  them  on  obtaining  suflicicnt  proof  of 
their  reality.  If,  however,  we  find  the  most  eminent, 
and  apparentU'  the  most  trustworthy  of  the  clair^'oy- 
ants,  not  only  uniformly  unsuccessful  when  the  neces- 
sary precautions  are  taken  to  test  their  powers,  but  act- 
uall}-  detected,  and  confessing  with  shame  that  they 
have  been  guilty  of  the  grossest  imposture  and  deceit — 
where  are  we  to  look  for  the  means  of  establishing  the 
truths  of  this  mysterious  science?  If  we  were  to  be- 
lieve a  fiftieth  part  of  the  pretensions  put  forth  in  the 
works  and  lectures  of  professional  mesmerists,  it  would 
be  the  easiest  matter  in  the  world  to  carry  off  the  prizes 
offered  to  any  one  who  coiUd  read  writing  contained  in 
an  envelope  so  secured  that  it  could  not  be  read  in  the 
ordinary  way.  If  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  see  what  is 
going  on  in  the  arctic  regions,  it  cannot  surely  be  diffi- 
cult to  sec  what  is  contained  in  a  deal-box.  In  July, 
1830,  M.  I5ourdin,  a  member  of  the  French  academy  of 
science  and  medicine,  as  one  of  a  commission  of  that 
celebrated  body,  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  merits  of 
clairvoyance,  made  the  following  offer  to  the  mesmer- 
ists :  '•  I5ring  us  a  person  magnetized  or  not  magnetized, 
asleep  or  awake;  let  that  jierson  read  with  the  eyes 
open,  through  an  opaque  substance,  such  as  tissue  of 
cotton,  linen,  or  silk,  placed  at  six  inches  from  the  face, 
or  re.id  even  through  a  simple  sheet  of  paper,  and  that 
person  shall  have  3(J()0  francs."  A'o  candidate  appeared. 
{Iiull.de  I'Acad.  iii,  1  r23.)  If  such  a  power  as  seeing 
in  any  other  way  than  by  the  organ  of  vi>ion  really 
existed,  as  w.ts  vaunted  to  be  possessed  by  so  many  per- 
sons both  before  the  prize  was  offered  and  since,  surely 
some  one  of  the  clairvoyants  woidd  have  come  forward 
and  establislicd  a  just  claim  to  the  prize,  but,  as  none 
appeared,  we  may  conclude  with  safety  that  both  then 
and  now  no  such  marvellous  power  exists  or  is  developed 
in  the  human  constitution. 

So  signal  and  repeated  were  the  failures  of  the 
magnetists  to  establish  the  truth  of  their  doctrines  in 
France,  that  the  whole  subject  seems  to  have  fallen 
into  merited  contempt  and  oblivion.  In  more  recent 
times  the  exciting  ])henomena  of  sjiirit-rapping  liave 
superseded  those  of  somnambulism,  and  spiritual  media 


MESMERISM 


131 


MESOPOTAMIA 


have  of  late  too  much  occupied  the  public  attention  to 
leave  any  room  for  those  who  can  boast  no  higlier  pow'- 
ers  than  those  of  which  magnetic  clairvoyants  claim  the 
possession. 

Our  limits  do  not  permit  us  to  pursue  the  subject  at 
greater  length.  See  Spiritism.  We  must  content  our- 
selves with  stating  briefly  the  following  general  conclu- 
sions advanced  by  the  Encydopcedia  Britannica :  1.  That 
it  has  not  been  proved  that  there  is  any  magnetic  influ- 
ence, or  nervous  fluid,  which  passes  from  the  operator  to 
the  person  operated  on,  and  produces  in  him  the  various 
phenomena  of  magnetic  somnambulism.  '2.  That  it  has 
been  proved  that  all  the  phenomena  recorded,  which 
have  received  sufficient  scientific  scrutiny  to  convince 
men  of  their  truth  and  reality,  can  be  accounted  for  on 
ordinary  principles,  without  the  aid  of  mesmerism.  3. 
That  the  lower  phenomena — such  as  sleep,  diminished 
or  exalted  sensibility,  loss  of  voluntary  motion,  muscu- 
lar rigidity,  and  the  like,  can  be  produced  by  persons 
acting  on  themselves  by  means  of  fixed  staring  at  ob- 
jects, which  are  incapable  of  giving  out  any  nervous 
or  magnetic  influence.  4.  That  the  evidence  which  can 
be  obtained  of  the  reality  of  the  existence  of  magnetic 
somnambulism,  in  any  case,  is  inconclusive ;  that  it  is 
possible  that  the  person  supposed  to  be  in  such  a  state 
may  really  be  awake,  and  simply  feigning  sleep ;  and 
that  in  many  cases  there  is  the  most  conclusive  ev- 
idence that  the  persons  pretending  to  be  so  affected  are 
impostors,  while  in  other  cases,  in  which  no  intention  to 
deceive  may  have  existed,  the  patients  have  acted  un- 
der a  peculiar  state  of  mind,  to  which  only  the  weak 
and  nervous  are  liable.  5.  That  though  numerous  cases 
of  surgical  operations  are  recorded  in  which  the  patients 
are  reported  not  to  have  felt  pain,  it  is  probable  that 
some  at  least  may  have  really  experienced  painful  sen- 
sations without  giving  any  outward  expression  of  their 
sensations ;  that  we  have  no  evidence  or  means  of  know- 
ing, except  from  their  own  testimony,  that  they  did  not 
really  feel  pain,  but  that  it  is  very  probable  tliat  in  some 
cases,  from  a  peculiar  state  of  the  mind  acting  upon  the 
nervous  system,  the  patients  were  really  rendered  un- 
conscious of  pain.  6.  That  it  does  not  appear  from  ex- 
periment that  immunity  from  pain  in  operations  can  be 
induced,  in  any  but  exceptional  cases,  in  Europeans; 
though  it  appears,  from  the  experience  of  Dr.  Esdaile, 
that  it  can  be  produced  with  comparative  facility  in  the 
natives  of  India.  7.  That  the  higher  phenomena  of 
clairvoyance,  pre-vision,  intro-vision,  and  retro-vision, 
do  not  rest  on  adequate  and  satisfactory  evidence.  That 
it  has  never  been  proved  in  a  single  instance,  when  the 
necessarj'  precautions  have  been  taken,  that  a  person 
could  read  or  see  objects  through  opaque  substances; 
and  tliat  the  alleged  instances  of  the  possession  of  such 
a  power,  when  put  to  the  test,  have  proved  imiformh' 
unsuccessful,  and  have  amounted  to  notliing  more  tlian 
attempts  at  vague  guessing.  That  it  li;is  been  proved 
in  some  cases  that  the  persons  pretending  to  know 
events  which  happened  at  a  distance  were  fuUy  ac- 
quainted with  tlie  events  through  ordinary  channels  of 
inlbrmation.  Tliat  the  description  of  events  pretended 
to  have  been  discovered  by  means  of  clairvoyance  has 
nut  been  in  accordance  with  the  truth,  unless  it  has  been 
possible  for  the  patient  to  employ  the  usual  means  of 
discovering  them ;  and  that  in  most  instances  there  are 
observed  the  most  manifest  attempts,  on  the  part  of  their 
friends,  to  assist  clairvoyants  by  suggestions  and  leading 
questions.  That  the  attempts  to  describe  what  is  going 
on  in  the  interior  of  their  own  bodies,  to  diagnose  dis- 
eases in  themselves  or  others,  and  to  prescribe  remedies 
for  the  cure  of  the  diseases  which  they  pretend  to  dis- 
cover, have  been  complete  failures,  and  mere  repetitions 
of  such  notions  of  anatomy,  of  disease,  and  of  treatment, 
as  they  may  have  acquired  by  casual  reading,  conver- 
sation, or  more  careful  study.  8.  That  there  is  no  re- 
corded instance,  worthy  of  credit,  of  transference  of  the 
senses  —  that  is,  of  persons  being  able  to  read,  taste, 
smell,  or  hear,  by  the  fingers,  stomach,  or  any  other  part 


of  the  body,  other  than  the  organs  by  which  these  func- 
tions are  naturally  performed — and  that  pretended  in- 
stances of  the  possession  of  such  powers  have  been  proved 
to  be  cases  of  fraud  and  wilful  imposition.  9.  That  phre- 
no-mesmerism  does  not  prove  the  truth  of  phrenology, 
or  throw  any  light  upon  the  doctrine  that  the  faculties 
of  the  mind  have  a  local  seat  in  special  parts  of  the 
brain,  which  can  be  tied  up  and  let  loose — mesmerized 
or  de-mesmerized  —  at  pleasure;  and  that  the  experi- 
ments designed  to  prove  the  excitement  of  the  so-called 
phrenological  organs  by  magnetic  operations  have  all 
resulted  in  manifest  failures  or  impositions  when  prop- 
erly tested.  10.  That  the  phenomena  described  by  dif- 
ferent authors,  under  the  various  designations  of  animal 
magnetism,  magnetic  somnambulism,  hypnotism,  odyle, 
and  electro-biology,  are  identical  in  their  nature,  and 
can  be  explained,  in  so  far  as  they  possess  any  truth  or 
scientific  value,  upon  recognised  physiological  princi- 
ples. That  the  whole  subject  has  been  systematically 
obscured  by  its  cultivators  with  a  cloud  of  mystery, 
which  has  given  rise  to  difficulties,  and  placed  impedi- 
ments in  the  way  of  rational  and  scientific  investigation. 
That  the  real  phenomena  which  not  unfrequently  occur 
in  the  weak  and  nervous  subjects  of  magnetic  opera- 
tions are  in  themselves  very  remarkable,  but  that  they 
are  not  different  from  phenomena  which  occur  sponta- 
neously ;  and  that  they  are  to  be  explained  by  tlie  re- 
ciprocal influence  exerted  by  the  mind  and  the  nervous 
system  upon  each  other,  and  by  the  unnatural  influence 
thus  induced  of  the  nervous  ujjon  the  muscular  systems. 
See  Thouret,  Recheixhes  et  JJoutes  sur  le  Magneiisme  an- 
imal (1784) ;  Eschmayer,  Veisuch  iiher  die  scheinhare 
Maffik  des  Magnetismus  (Stuttg.  and  Tub.  1816,  8vo) ; 
Theorie  du  Mesmerisme  (Paris,  1818,  8vo) ;  Jozwik,  Sia- 
le  Magneiisme  animal  ( 1832 )  ;  Townshend,  Facts  in. 
Mesmerism  (Lond.  1853) ;  iil.  Mesmerism  Proved  True 
(Lond.  1857);  Sandys,  ^fesmerism  and  its  Oj^ponents ; 
Amer.  Bih.  Nipositon/,  '2d  Sen  i,  362;  Brit.  Qu.  Rev.  ii, 
102  ;  r/iri.<t.  Knimiiur.  i.  496  ;  li,  395;  For.  Qu.  Ret:  v, 
96;  xii,  413;  Xor/h  Brit.  Rev.  xiii,  1;  xv,  69;  Lo?id. 
Qu.  Rev.  Ixi,  151 ;  1871,  Oct.  art.  i;  Blackw.  Mag.  Ivii, 
219;  Ixx,  70  sq. ;  New -Engl,  iv,  443;  Bib.  Sacra,  i, 
333. 

Mesobaiah.     See  Mesobaite. 

Meso'baite  (Yleb.  Metsobayali',  il^'^^l'O^  garrison 
of  Jehovah,  being  apparently  the  name  of  the  place  it- 
self, used  for  a  gentile,  the  preceding  noun  being  re- 
garded as  in  the  construct ;  Sept.  Mfrrcj/Jirt  v.  r.  Mfo'a- 
(Siia,  Yulg.  Masobia),  a  dcNi-nation  of  Jasiel,  the  last 
named  of  David's  body-guard  ( 1  (  liron.  xi,  47),  proba- 
bly meaning  oj'  Mesobaiah,  aj  being  his  place  of  resi- 
dence ;  but,  no  other  clue  being  given  to  its  locality 
there  is  no  room  even  to  conjecture  its  position.  Pos- 
sibly it  is  rather  the  name  of  a  person  from  whom  he 
was  descended;  but  the  form  and  construction  are  equal- 
ly difficult  as  a  patronymic.  Perhaps  we  should  point 
n^nkSSln,  and  thus  refer  to  ZoBAii  as  the  place  of  his 
nationality.  Kennicott's  conclusion  {Disseiialion,  p. 
233,  234)  is  that  originally  the  word  was  "  the  Metso- 
baites"  (C^-il^in),  and  applied  to  the  three  names  pre- 
ceding it. 

Mesopota'mia  (MfffOTrora/u'o,  Acts  ii,  9;  vii.  2; 
so  called  as  lying  between  the  ricers ;  see  Tzchucke,  Mt  fa, 
iii,  335  sq. ;  the  Akam,  Dj!S!,  of  the  Hebrews,  usually 
rendered  "Aram,"  or  "Syria,"  in  the  Auth.  Vers.),  the 
Greek  and  Roman  name  for  the  entire  region  lying  be- 
tween the  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and  bounded  on 
the  north  by  Mt.  Taurus,  and  by  Mt.  Masius  on  the 
north-east  (Ptol.  v,  18;  Plin_v,  v,  13;,  vi,,9;  Philostr. 
Apol.  i,  20).  It  never  formed  a  distinct  state,  and  the 
Greek  name,  which  does  not  appear  to  extend  back  be- 
yond the  time  of  Alexander  (comp.  Arrian,  Alex,  vii,  7; 
Tacit.  Annal.  vi,  37),  applies  rather  to  its  natural  than 
political  geography,  but  was  generally  employed  by 
the  Romans,  who  (under  the  emperors)  joined  it  with 


]VIESOPOTAMIA 


132 


MESOPOTAMIA 


I  1  S'h'^^'l-  _ 

^J:  2>  XT  H  Jt  Ji  ^^  ^         I'     ■/';   v4-»a^ 


Xnglisli  HEles 


Lonp.  K.40  from  Grconiriph- 


Map  of  Mesopotamia. 


Syria  (Jlela,  i,  11,  1 ;  Pliny,  vi,  13) ;  and  hence  it  ap- 
pears in  Acts  ii,  9.  In  the  Old-Test,  geography  it  is  des- 
ignated as  a  part  of  Aramsea,  under  the  names  Padan- 
Aham  (Cns  1'ia,  the  plain  of  Aram,  Gen.  xxv,  20  ; 
xxi,18;  xxxiii,18;  comi).  the  Jield  of  A  i-am,^"^^  ""O'"^, 
Hos.  xii,  12  ;  and  so  cavipi  Mesopotamm,  Curt,  iii,  2, 3 ; 
iv,  9,  6)  and  Aram-Naharaim  (B7~r!!3  t'nX,  Aram 
of  the  ttco  rivers,  Gen.  xxiv,  10;  Dent,  xxiii,  5),  for 
whicli  the  Sept.  has  Mesopotamia,  or  Mesopotamia  of 
Si/rin;  the  Syriac  renders  house  of  the  rivers  (Pesliito 
at  Acts  ii,  9 ;  vii,  2 ;  see  Assenoani,  Bihlioth.  Orient,  i, 
462),  and  the  Arabs  call  it  the  island  (i.  e.  peninsida :  see 
Abulfeda,  Tab.  Mesopot.  ed.  Paulus  ;  and  Tuch,  A  biil- 
fed.  desa-iptionis  Mesopot.  spec.  [Hal.  1830]).  In  this 
early -inhabited  land,  the  northern  portion  of  wliich 
was  an  uncommonly  fertile  plateau,  rich  in  fat  cattle 
(.Strabo,  xvi,  747),  and  not  destitute  of  forests  (Dio  Cass. 
Ixviii,  26 ;  Ixxv,  9),  dwelt  the  nomade  ancestors  of  the 
Hebrews  (Gen.  xi ;  comp.  Acts  vii,  2),  From  hence 
Isaac  obtained  his  wife  Kcbecca  (Gen.  xxiv,  10, 19;  xxv, 
20) ;  here  Jacob  served  as  a  herdsman  for  Kachel  ((Jen. 
xxviii  sq.),  and  here  most  of  his  sons  were  born  (Gen. 
XXXV,  26;  xlvi,  15).  The  principal  cities,  situated  not 
only  on  the  two  main  rivers,  but  also  along  their  tril)u- 
taries,  the  Chaboras  (Habor)  and  Mygdonius,  were  Xi- 
sibis,  Edessa,  Cana;  (Haran),  and  Circcsium  (Carche- 
mesh) ;  in  the  interior  were  onh'  villages  (Philostr. 
ApoU.  i,  20).  The  inhabitants  were  of  Syrian  origin 
(Strabo,  xvi,  737),  and  spoke  a  dialect  of  the  Arama-an 
(Strabo,  ii,  84;  comp.  Gen.  xxxi,  47).  Southern  IMeso- 
potamia,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  flat,  uncultivated,  and 
poorly-irrigated  steppe,  a  resort  of  lions  (Ammin.  Marc, 
xviii,  7),  ostriches,  and  (formerly)  wild  asses,  and  roam- 
ed over  by  predatory  hordes  of  Arabs  (see  Strabo,  xvi, 
747,  748;  comp.  Xenoph.  Anab.  i,  5,  1).  Only  on  the 
banks  of  the  two  principal  rivers  is  it  susceptible  of 
much  tillage.  Yet  through  this  barren  tract  from  the 
earliest  ages  passed  the  great  caravan  route  for  com- 
merce from  the  shore  of  tlie  Euplirates  to  Seleucia  and 
Babylon  (Strabo,  xvi,  748),  as  it  still  does  to  Bagdad.  Sec 
generally  Cellar.  Notit.  ii,  602  sq. ;  Olivier,  Voyaye,  iv, 
ch.  xiv,  p. 372  sq. ;  Ainsworth,  liesearches ;  Heercn.  Ideen, 
I,  i,  183  sq.;  Bitter,  /wyM.  xi,  pi.  36  [1844]  ;  Forbiger, 
Handb.  ii,  625  sq. ;  Southgate's  Tour  ;  Buckingham's 
Travels  ;  Layard's  Nineveh  and  Bab,  ch,  xi-xv. 


Of  the  history  of  this  whole  countrj'  we  have  but 
little  information  till  the  time  of  the  Persian  rule. 
"According  to  the  Assyrian  inscriptions,  Mesopotamia 
was  inhabited  in  the  early  times  of  the  empire  (B.C. 
1200-1100)  by  a  vast  number  of  petty  tribes,  efich  un- 
der its  own  prince,  and  all  quite  independent  of  one 
another.  The  Assyrian  monarchs  contended  with  these 
chiefs  at  great  advantage,  and  by  the  time  of  Jehu 
(B.C.  880)  had  fully  established  their  dominion  over 
them.  The  tribes  were  all  called  '  tribes  of  the  Nai- 
ri,'  a  term  wliich  some  compare  with  the  Saharaim 
of  the  Jews,  and  tran>late  '  tribes  of  the  stream^ 
lands.'  But  this  identilication  is  verj-  uncertain.  It 
ajijiears,  however,  in  close  accordance  with  Scripture, 
iirst,  that  IMesopotamia  was  independent  of  Assyria  till 
after  the  time  of  David;  secondly,  that  the  !Mesopota- 
mians  were  warlike,  and  used  chariots  in  battle;  and, 
thirdly,  that  not  long  after  the  time  of  David  they  lost 
their  independence,  their  country  being  absorbed  by 
Assyria,  of  which  it  was  thenceforth  commonly  reck- 
oned a  i)art"  (Smith).  The  ]\Iesopotamian  king  Chu- 
shan-Kishathaim,  who  for  eight  years  (B.C.  1575-1567) 
held  the  (trans-Jordanic)  tribes  of  Israel  in  subjection 
(Judg.  iii.  8, 10),  was  probably  only  the  petty  chieftain 
of  one  of  the  principalities  nearest  the  Euiihrates.  In 
the  time  of  David  (B.C.  1040)  the  kings  of  Syria-Zoba 
appear  to  have  had  dominion  over  the  Mesopotamian 
clans  (2  Sam.  x,  16).  Sec  Zobaii.  In  the  beginning 
of  tlie  8th  centur}-  B.C.,  Shalmaneser  of  Assyria  had 
brought  the  difTerent  states  of  IMesopotamia  under  his 
sway  (2  Kings  xix,  13) ;  and  in  afler-times  the  ^Icsopo- 
tamians  shared  the  conquest  of  the  other  Asiatic  na- 
tions under  the  successive  empires  of  the  Baliylonians, 
Persians,  and  Macedonians.  After  Alexander's  death, 
tliis  country  fell  under  the  Syrian  rule  of  the  Seleucidae 
(comp.  .Ie)sephus,  Ant.  xii.  3.  4);  and  after  the  fall  of 
this  dynasty  it  iiecame  the  arena  for  the  Pariliian,  Ar- 
menian, and  tinally  the  Koman  arms.  In  Xew-Test. times 
many  Jews  had  settled  in  Jlesopotamia  (Josephus,  Ant, 
xii,  3,  4;  comp.  Acts  ii,  9\— 'Winer,  ii.  86.  The  Ro- 
mans under  LiicuUus  and  Pompey  began  to  disturb  Mes- 
opotamia ;  and,  somewhat  later,  Crassus  was  there  de- 
feated and  slain.  Trajan  wrested  the  whole  province, 
with  several  adjacent  territories,  from  the  Parthians; 
and  although  Hadrian  had  to  relinquish  these  con- 
quests, Lucius  Ycriis  and  Severus  again  subdued  Meso- 


MESORION 


133 


MESS  JOHNS 


potamia,  and  it  remained  a  Roman  province  until  the 
end  of  tlie  4th  century.  On  the  death  of  Julian,  Jovian 
found  himself  obliged  to  abandon  the  greater  part  of  the 
country  to  the  Persians,  the  Romans  only  retaining  so 
much  of  Western  Mesopotamia  as  was  enclosed  by  the 
Chaboras  and  Euphrates,  and  on  the  north  by  the  Mons 
Masius  (see  Smith's  Diet,  of  Class.  Geog.  s.  v.).  When 
the  Sassanian  dynasty  in  Persia  was  overthrown  by  the 
Arabs,  towards  "the  middle  of  the  7th  century,  Mesopo- 
tamia came  under  the  dominion  of  the  caliphs.  Since 
the  year  1516  it  has  formed  an  integral  part  of  the  Ot- 
toman empire.     See  Syria. 

Mesorion  {fitawpioii)  is  the  technical  term  for  an 
intermediate  office  in  the  Greek  Church  after  Proton, 
Triton,  Ekton,  Eiinaton;  but  omitted  after  Liichnikon 
and  Hesperinon,  Apodeipnon,  Mesonuktion  (matins),  and 
Orthron  (lauds).     See  Canonical  Houes. 

Mespelbrunn,  Johann  Eciiter  von,  an  eminent 
German  theologian,  of  princely  birth,  was  born  at  Mes- 
pelbrunn, near  Mayence,  March  18,  1545.  In  1555, 
when  but  ten  years  old,  he  obtained  a  canonicate  in 
Wiirzburg,  and  in  1559  one  in  Mayence.  He  studied 
at  Mayence,  Cologne,  Louvain,  Douay,  Paris,  and  Pavia; 
became  prebendary  of  Wiirzburg  in  1569,  and  soon  after 
dean  of  the  cathedral,  and  finally  prince  bishop  of  Wiirz- 
burg, Dec.  1,  1573.  He  was  ambitious  of  honors  and 
consideration,  but  aimed  at  the  same  time  at  the  moral 
and  religious  improvement  of  his  diocese.  The  emperor 
Rudolph  H  often  employed  him,  particularly  in  1578-79, 
to  quell  the  disturbances  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands, 
and  as  envoy  on  affairs  of  state ;  in  this  capacity  Echter 
was  one  of  the  prime  motors  of  the  Ligue.  Yet  in  a 
difficulty  he  had  with  the  abbot  of  Fulda  concerning 
that  abbey,  both  the  pope  and,  in  1602,  the  emperor  de- 
cided against  him.  In  order  to  check  the  progress  of 
the  evangelical  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  in  Wiirz- 
burg, he  occupied  himself  zealously  with  the  interior  af- 
fairs of  his  diocese,  and  endeavored  to  reform  its  Church. 
In  1576  he  took  part  in  the  Diet  of  Regensburg,  and  in 
1582  in  that  of  Augsburg.  He  improved  the  system  of 
education,  organized  several  public  schools,  and  in  1582 
founded  the  University  of  Wiirzburg.  The  chairs  of 
philosophy  and  theology  he  filled  with  Jesuits,  and 
founded  three  colleges,  which  were  afterwards  united 
into  one  under  the  name  of  Seminary  of  St.  Kilian.  On 
the  other  hand  he  deposed  and  exiled  all  the  evangelical 
ministers  and  preachers,  and  even  the  civil  officers  of  his 
diocese  who  favored  the  principles  of  the  Reformation, 
whenever  an  occasion  presented.  He  sought  to  retain 
the  people  in  their  allegiance  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  by  means  of  preaching  and  visiting  tours,  while 
he  tried  to  reform  the  immorality  of  the  clergy,  and  to 
restore  them  to  a  better  standing.  With  this  view  he 
wrote  his  Constitiitiones pro  cultii  divino,  statuta  ruralia 
2)ro  Clero  (IbSi;  in  German,  1589) ;  several  A  ntipkonieii 
n.  Psalterien  (1602),  and  a  Missal.  He  also  founded 
the  Jidius  Hospital  at  Wiirzburg.  He  died  Sept.  13, 
1617.  See  J.  N.  Buchinger,  J.  Echter  v.  Mespelbrunn 
(Wilrzb.  1843).    (J.H.W.) 

Mesplede,  Louis,  a  French  canonist,  was  born  at 
Cahors  about  1601.  He  became  a  Dominican  monk, 
\va3  made  a  prior,  and  then  a  provincial  of  Langnedoc  ; 
but  in  the  latter  capacity  he  had  to  contend  with  many 
difficulties,  and  failed  in  his  efforts  to  bring  about  a  gen- 
eral reform  of  the  order  to  which  he  belonged.  He  died 
at  Cahors  in  1663.  The  following  works  of  his,  written 
in  tolerably  good  Latin,  deserve  our  notice:  Qumrela 
apologetica  provincial  Occiianice  Ordinis  Prcedicatorum 
(Cahors,  1624,  4to) : — Catalaunia  Gallia  vindicata,  ad- 
versns  Hispaniurum  scriptorum  imj)0Sturas  (Paris,  1643, 
8vo) : — ■  Notitia  antiqui  status  Ordinis  Prcedicatorum 
(Paris,  1643, 8vo;  reprinted  in  Cahors,  1644,  with  appen- 
dices, under  the  title  Commonitorium  de  Ordinis  Prce- 
dicatorum Renouatione).  See  Echard  et  Quetif,  Script. 
Ord.  Pradicat ;  Bayle,  Diet.  Crit.  s.  v. ;  Hoefer,  Nouv. 
Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 


Mesrop,  also  called  Mashtoz,  the  noted  translator  of 
the  Armenian  version  of  the  Bible,  was  born  in  the  lat- 
ter half  of  the  4th  century  in  a  small  village  of  the  prov- 
ince Taron.  He  was  at  first  secretary  of  the  Armenian 
patriarch  Nerses  the  Great,  and  afterwards  became  his 
minister  of  ecclesiastical  affairs.  After  filling  this  posi- 
tion seven  years,  he  went  into  a  convent,  but,  failing  to 
find  any  satisfaction  there,  he  went  into  a  desert,  where 
he  gathered  about  him  a  number  of  young  men  as 
scholars.  Under  the  government  of  the  patriarch 
Isaak  (Sa'ak)  the  Great  (A.D.  390-440)  Mesrop  was 
commissioned  to  preach  as  missionary,  for  which  po- 
sition he  was  especially  fitted  by  his  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  foreign  languages.  He  now  found  need  of  an 
Armenian  version  of  the  Scriptures,  the  version  of  the 
clergy  being  in  the  S^Tiac,  a  language  but  little  imder- 
stood  by  the  populace.  After  having  spent  several 
years  in  the  arduous  task,  and  that  with  but  little  show 
of  success,  he  resolved  to  throw  himself  upon  the  mercy 
of  his  Lord  and  God,  and  seek  at  his  hands  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  required  for  the  successful  accomplish- 
ment of  his  undertaking.  Nor  did  he  wait  long  for 
answer  to  his  prayer.  While  sojourning  at  Samosata, 
we  are  toki,  he  was  led  to  see  the  different  types  en- 
graved in  a  rock,  and  that  he  could  remember  every 
single  letter  so  plainly  that  he  was  able  to  describe  them 
to  the  distinguished  calligraph  Rufanus,  who  finally 
composed  the  desired  alphabet.  He  immediately  com- 
menced the  gigantic  work  of  translating  the  Bible  from 
the  Greek  into  the  Armenian,  a  version  which  was  in- 
troduced afterwards  into  that  part  of  Armenia  governed 
by  his  king  Yramshapuh.  By  request  of  other  sover- 
eigns, he  made  also  translations  for  the  Georgian  and 
Albanian  countries.  A  change  in  the  government 
obliged  him  to  quit  Persian  territorj-,  and  he  sought  a 
new  home  in  Grecian  Armenia,  where  he  continued  his 
activity  under  the  special  protection  of  the  emperor 
Theodosius  of  Constantinople  and  the  patriarch  Atticus. 
In  spite  of  the  severe  crusades  against  the  members  of 
the  new  religion,  he  continued  to  inspire  his  scholars 
and  friends  with  confidence  in  their  final  success,  and 
defeated  several  times  the  various  attempts  to  introduce 
idolatry  in  the  practices  of  a  pure  Catholic  religion. 
One  of  his  later  great  works  was  the  translation  of  the 
liturgical  books  of  the  Greeks  into  the  modern  Armenian 
language.  After  the  death  of  his  old  companion  Isaak  I, 
Mesrop  was  elected  patriarch  of  Armenia,  but  he  died 
the  next  j'ear,  February  19,441.  A  critical  edition  of 
Mesrop's  translation  of  the  Bible  appeared  in  Venice  in 
1805,  in  four  volumes.  As  an  energetic  and  scientific 
man,  Mesrop  ranks  among  the  most  important  combat- 
ants of  the  Christian  religion  in  the  early  centuries, 
when  the  communication  of  the  new  religion  met  especi- 
ally with  great  obstacles  in  the  East  for  want  of  written 
languages.  Mesrop  furthered  literature  among  his 
countrymen  not  only  by  his  own  literary  productions, 
but  by  founding  "  a  whole  school  of  remarkable  thinkers 
and  writers,  that  created  what  is  called  '  the  golden  pe- 
riod' for  the  enlightenment  of  ancient  Armenia"  (Malan). 
See  Naumann,  Versuch  einer  Gesch.  d.  A  rrnenischen  Lit. 
(Leips.1836,  8vo);  Quadro  della  storia  letteraria  di  A?- 
menia  estesa  da  ifons  Placido  Tukias  Somal.  etc.  (Ven. 
1829),  p.  14  sq. ;  Quadro  delle  opere  di  vari  autori  anti- 
camente  tradotte  in  A  rmeno  (Ven.  1825),  p.  7-9;  Goriund, 
Life  of  St.  Mesrop;  Malan,  Life  and  Times  of  Gregory 
the  Llluminator,  etc.  (Lond.  18*68,  8vo),  p.  28  sq.  See 
Armknian  Version.     (J.  H.AV.) 

Mess  (rxilJia,  maseth',  a  lifting  vp,  as  of  the  hands, 
Psa.  cxli,  2;  ox' oi  flame,  Judg.  xx,  38,  40;  so  of  a  sign, 
Jer.  vi,  1;  hence  an  oracle  or  "burden,"  Lam.  ii,  14), 
properly  a  gift  ("  oblation,"  "  reward,"  etc.,  Esth.  ii,  18 ; 
Jer.  xl,  5 ;  Amos  v,  11) ;  also  tribute  ("oblation,"  "collec- 
tion," 2  Chron.  xxiv,  6,  9 ;  Ezek.  xx,  40) ;  specially  a 
portion  of  food  to  a  guest  (Gen.  xliii,  34 ;  2  Sam.  xi,  8). 
See  Eating. 

Mess  Johns,  in  the  Church  of  England,  is,  accord- 


MESSAGE 


134 


MESSER 


ing  to  Broughton  {Bibliotheca  IJist.  Sac.  s.  v.),  a  name 
given  last  century  to  a  certain  class  of  chaplains  kept 
by  the  nobility  and  families  of  higher  rank,  who  were 
generally  expected  to  rise  from  table  after  the  second 
course,  and  were  in  little  better  esteem  than  menials. 
In  Scotland,  Eadie  (L'ccles.  Ci/clup.  s.  v.)  informs  us,  the 
name  of  J/(W,s-  or  Mess  John  was  given  to  Presbyterian 
ministers,  not  from  any  connection  with  the  mass,  or  be- 
cause they  succeeded  mass-priests,  but  probably  because 
they  were  called  Mr.  or  Messrs.,  the  title  " )-eve?eiid" 
not  being  applied  to  them. 

Message  (prop,  for  n^2X?^,  Ilag.  i,  13;  ayyiXio, 
1  John  ill,  11;  elsewhere  "'^'^,  a  word;  'nrayyt\ia,  a 
jtromkc ;  TrpiajSiia,  an  embcissi/).     See  Messkngku. 

Messalians  (from  Chald.  '■plp:^^),  or  Elciiites 
(from  evxa^ai,  to  pi-ai/)  is  the  name  borne  by  two  lie- 
retical  sects  of  Christian  mendicants.  (1.)  An  ancient 
sect,  composed  of  roaming  mendicant  monks,  flour- 
ished in  Mesopotamia  and  Syria  towards  the  end  of  the 
4th  century  (dating  from  3(50)  as  a  distinct  body,  al- 
though tlieir  doctrine  and  discipline  subsisted  in  Syria, 
Egypt,  and  other  countries  before  the  birth  of  Christ. 
Tiu-y  were  a  sort  of  mystics,  who  believed  that  two 
souls  exist  in  man,  the  one  good,  the  other  evil.  Tliey 
were  anxious  to  expel  the  evil  soul,  and  hasten  the  re- 
turn of  the  good  Spirit  of  God,  by  contem|)lation  and 
prayer,  believing  tliat  only  prayer  could  save  them, 
and  therefore  taught  the  duty  of  every  Christian  to 
make  life  a  period  of  unintermitted  prayer.  They  de- 
spised all  pliysical  labor,  moral  law,  and  the  sacra- 
ments, and  embraced  many  opinions  nearly  resembling 
the  Manicliivan  doctrine,  derived  from  Oriental  phi- 
losophy. When  their  heretic  principles  became  fully 
known  towards  the  end  of  the  4th  century,  the  perse- 
cution of  both  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  authority  fell 
upon  them  ;  yet  they  perpetuated  themselves  to  the 
7th  century,  and  rcajjpeared  in  the  Bogomiles  and  Mes- 
salians (2)  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

(2.)  Another  sect  of  this  name  arose  in  the  12th  cen- 
tury, in  which  there  appears  a  revival  or  extension  of 
the  ojiinions  held  by  those  of  tlie  same  name  in  the 
4th  century.  They  arc  charged  with  holding  heterodox 
views  respecting  the  Trinity.  They  rejected  marriage, 
abstained  from  animal  food,  treated  with  contempt  the 
sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the 
various  ordinances  of  external  worshi]),  placing  the  es- 
sence of  religion  in  prayer,  and  maintaining  the  eliica- 
cy  of  perpetual  supplications  to  the  Supreme  Being  for 
expelling  the  "evil  genius  which  dwells  in  the  breast 
of  every  mortal.  The  term  Kuchite,  or  Messaliun,  be- 
came an  invidious  appellation  for  persons  of  piety  in 
the  Eastern  churches,  just  as  the  terms  Albigenses,Wal- 
dcnses,  and  Bogomiles  were  used  subsequently  to  des- 
ignate all  enemies  of  the  Koman  jiontiff. — Xeander,  Cli. 
JIht.  iii,  fjsy ;  Ilaweis,  Ch.  Hist,  ii,  222 ;  IMoslieim,  Ch. 
J/ist.  liU.  iii.  ch.  xii;  pt.  ii,  ch.  v;  Schaff,  C/i.  IJist.  ii,  IDi) 
s(i.     (.l.ll.W.) 

Messemakers,  ENOELUEitT  (Latin,  Cnilrijlci'.i),  a 
Bcli,^i:ni  ihcologian.wasborn  at  Ximeguo  about  theopen- 
iui;  lit  the  l.itli  century.  He  joined  the  Dominican 
friars,  became  a  doctor  of  theology,  probably  at  Cologne, 
and  in  1  KJo  undertook  to  establish  a  convent  in  ZwoUe. 
of  which  he  was  appointed  the  lirst  friar.  lie  died 
about  1  !;>2.  Among  other  works,  he  wrote  Kjmtola 
ikcluratorid  jirivilrr/iornm  F.  /•'.  Mendicantiiim  contra 
curatos  juiroc/iales  et  Epistola  de  simonia  rilamla  in  rc- 
ceptiune  noricioritm  (Nimi-gue,  1479,  4to;  Cologne,  1497, 
8vo;  Paris,  1507,  Xvo  ;  Delft,  1508,  IGmo) -.  —  Carmen 
de  Pane:  —  Manuide  Confessorum  metriciim  (Cologne, 
1497,  4to).  See  De  Jonghe,  Dcsolata  JJataria  Domin- 
icanu,  p.  18G-87  ;  llartzheim,  Prodj-oiniis  I/ist.  unire?s. 
Colonicnsis,  vol.  ii. — Hoefer,  Xour.  Jiiog.  Ginerule,  s.  v. 

Messenger  ([)roperly  TiXSw,  malah'  [see  Mai.a- 
CiuJ,  ayytKoc,,  both  words  often  rendered  unr/d  [q.  v.]  ; 


in  a  more  general  sense  'T'S,  ai:oaTo\oc,  Prov.  xxv,  13 ; 
Isa.  Ivii,  9  [see  Apostle]  ;  in  a  special  sense  for  forma 
of  "1  w3, '"  convey  good  neu-s  [see  Gospel]  ;  also  vaguely 
for  n53,  to  tell;  ITl^,  to  command).  It  is  a  practice  in 
the  East  to  employ  messengers  who  run  on  foot  to  con- 
vey despatches  (Job  i,  14),  and  these  men  sometimes 
go  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  less  than  twenty-four 
hours.  See  Foot.max.  Such  messengers  were  sent 
by  Joab  to  acquaint  David  with  the  fate  of  his  son  Ab- 
salom. Ahimaaz  went  with  such  speed  that  he  outran 
Cushi,  and  was  the  first  to  appear  before  the  king,  who 
sat  at  the  gate  of  Mahanaim,  anxiously  awaiting  tid- 
ings from  the  battle  (2  Kings  ix,  18).  The  common 
pace  of  travelling  in  the  East  is  very  slow.  Camels  go 
little  more  than  two  miles  an  hour;  but  dromedaries 
arc  often  used  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  messages  in 
haste,  especially  to  a  distance,  as  they  arc  said  to  out- 
run the  swiftest  horses.  To  this  practice  Job  alludes 
when  he  says,  "ily  days  are  swifter  than  a  post"  (ix, 
25).  Instead  of  passing  awaj'  with  a  slowness  of  mo- 
tion like  that  of  a  caravan,  my  days  of  prosperity  have 
disai)|)eared  with  a  sAviftness  like  that  of  a  messenger 
carrying  despatches. 

Messer,  Asa,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  a  noted  American  edu- 
cator and  Baptist  minister,  was  born  in  Methuen,Mass., 
in  17G9.  He  studied  at  Brown  University,  where  he 
graduated  in  1790.  The  next  year  he  became  a  tutor 
in  that  institution  ;  a  professor  of  languages  in  179G, 
of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy  in  1799,  and 
president  in  1802,  which  latter  position  he  held  until 
I.s2t5.  Having  been  licensed  in  1792,  and  ordained  in 
1801,  he  i)reached  occasionally,  both  while  professor  and 
president,  for  congregations  of  dift'erent  denominations. 
After  retiring  from  the  presidency,  he  was  elected  to 
several  civil  offices  of  trust  by  the  citizens  of  Provi- 
dence. He  died  Oct.  II,  183G,  Dr.  Messer  published  a 
number  of  discourses  and  orations, — Sprague,  Annuls  of 
the  Amer,  Pulpit,  vi,  326. 

Messer,  Leon,  also  called  Mestue  Leox,  Leone 
Hehi£EI),  "was  the  oldest  son  of  the  famous  statesman, 
philosopher,  theologian,  and  commentator.  Don  Isaac 
b.-Jehudah  Abrabancl  (q.v.),  whose  full  name  was  Don 
Jehuda  Leon  b.-Isauk  Abravand.  He  is  better  known 
as  Leo  Ilebrceus.  Leon  Messer  was  born  at  Lisbon 
near  the  close  of  the  loth  century.  When  the  Jews 
were  expelled  from  Spain  in  1492,  he  accompanied  his 
father  in  all  his  peregrinations,  and  finally  settled  at 
Genoa,  where  he  practiced  medicine  with  great  repute, 
for  which  cause  he  was  also  called  '"^ledico  Hcbreo." 
He  was  a  profound  philosopher,  and  an  excellent  ]ioet. 
His  PhthM/raphij,  or  JJialof/h I  di  A  more  (Home,  1535; 
Venice,  1007 ).  contains  disquisitions  on  the  doctrines  of 
Neo-Platonism,  the  symbols  of  mythology,  the  Hebrew 
Kabala,  and  the  Arabian  philosophy.  It  exists  in  French, 
Spanish,  and  Latin  translations,  all  made  in  the  ICth 
century.  He  also  wrote  some  poems  in  honor  of  his  fa- 
ther, an  elegy  on  his  death,  and  a  poem  of  ISO  stanzas 
descriptive  of  the  vicissitudes  of  his  life,  and  containing 
,  exhortations  to  his  son.  He  was  also  a  gocnl  mathe- 
j  matician,  and  an  amateur  in  music.  The  date  of  his 
death  is  not  known.  Conip.  EUrst,  Pibtioth.  .Iiid.  ii,  230 
',  S(i. ;  Lindo,  History  of  the  ,/etrs  o/'.S'yjdW  and  Portnf/al, 
p.  2t)8  sq. ;  Vhm,, Scphardim,  p.  418;  Etheridge, /w/mrf. 
to  J/ebr.  Lit.  p.  449  sq. ;  Da  Costa,  L-ni( I  and  the  Ceutiles, 
p.  377;  Ueberweg,  History  of  J'hiloscphy  (transl.  by  C. 
Jlorris,  N,  Y.  1872),  p.  428 ;  JIunk,  L'sqnisse  hi^toriqiie  de 
la  philosophie  chez  les  Juifs  ((Jerm.  transl.  by  B.  Beer, 
Leipsic,  1852),  p.  37, 84  sq. ;  Zunz,  Literaturgesch.  d.  Syn- 
agog,  J'oesie,  p.  524 ;  Geschichte  tind  Literatur,  p.  250, 
31G;  Ticknor,  Hist,  of  Spani.ih  Literature  (Am.  ed.),  iii, 
189,  I9(J,  note ;  Jost,  Oesrhichte  d. .hid.  u.  s.  gikt,n.  iii,  117; 
Griitz,  Ge.tcli.  d.  Jud.  vol.  viii ;  but  especially  Delitzsch's 
lucid  treatise  in  the  L.  P.  d.  Orients,  1840,  c.  81  sq.,  Leo 
der  Jlebriier:  Churacteristik  seines  Zeitalters,  seiner liich- 
fung  und  seiner  ]\'erke.     (B.  P.) 


MESSIAH 


135 


MESSIAH 


Messi''ah,  the  special  title  of  the  Saviour  promised 
to  the  world  through  the  Jewish  race.  We  have  space 
for  the  discussion  of  a  few  points  only  of  this  extensive 
theme,  in  treating  of  which  we  partly  avail  ourselves 
of  the  matter  furnished  in  Kitto's  and  Smith's  Diction- 
aries.    See  Redeemek. 

I.  Official  Import  of  the  Name. — The  Hebrew  word 
JT^'d^,  Mashi'acli,  is  in  every  instance  of  its  use  (thir- 
ty-nine times)  rendered  in  the  Sept.  by  the  suitable 
term  Xpiaroc,  which  becomes  so  illustrious  in  the  N.  T. 
as  the  oiBciai  designation  of  the  Holy  Saviour.  It  is  a 
verbal  noun  (see  Simonis  Arcanum  Form.  Heir.  Ling. 
p.  92  sq.),  derived  from  n^'2,  and  has  much  the  same 
meaning  as  the  participle  n^lIJ'Q  (2  Sam.  iii,  39,  and  oc- 
casionally in  the  Pentateuch),  i.  e.  Anointed.  The  prev- 
alent and  all  but  universal  (Isa.  xxi,  5  and  Jer.  xxii, 
14  being  perhaps  the  sole  exceptions)  sense  of  the  root 
ri'wj  points  to  the  consecration  of  objects  to  sacred 
purposes  by  means  of  anointing-oil.  Inanimate  objects 
(such  as  the  tabernacle,  altar,  laver,  etc.)  are  included 
under  the  use  of  the  verb ;  but  the  noun  H'^'d^  is  ap- 
plied only  to  animate  objects.  There  is,  however,  some 
doubt  as  to  2  Sam.  i,  21— •|'2T;;3  0"'^^  1^3  bsixd  '.^ri 
— where,  according  to  some  (Maurer,Gesenius,Fiirst;  see 
also  Corn,  h  Lapide,  ad  loc),  the  phrase,  "  not  anointed 
with  oil,"  is  applied  to  the  shield  (comp.  Isa.  xxi,  5). 
The  majority  of  commentators  refer  it  to  Suvl,  "  as  if 
he  had  not  been  anointed  with  oil."  So  the  A.  V.,  which 
seerns  to  follow  the  Vulgate.  This  version,  however 
{quasi  non  esset  imctus  oleo),  is  really  as  inexplicit  as 
the  original,  admitting  the  application  of  "anointed"  to 
either  the  king  or  his  shield.  This  double  sense  is 
avoided  by  the  Septuagint  {Ovpecc  Sooi'X  oix  txpia^'] 
iv  tXai(ij),  which  assigns  the  anointing,  as  an  epithet,  to 
the  shield.  The  Targum  of  Jonathan  refers  the  H'^'d^ 
to  Saul,  but  drops  the  negative.  To  us  the  unvarying 
use  of  the  wonl,  as  a  human  epithet,  in  all  the  other 
(thirty-eight)  passages,  two  of  them  occurring  in  the 
very  context  of  the  disputed  place  (2  Sam.  i,  14,  16), 
settles  the  point  in  favor  of  our  A.  V.,  as  if  thfe  king  had 
fallen  on  the  fatal  field  of  Gilboa  like  one  of  the  com- 
mon soldiers,  "  not  as  one  who  had  been  anointed  Avith 
oil."     See  Anointing. 

The  official  persons  ("the  Christs  of  the  O.T.:"  Pe- 
Towne.  Coherence  of  0.  ami  A\  T.)  -who  were  consecrated 
with  oil  were  priests  (Exod.  xxviii,  41 ;  Levit.  iv,  3,  5, 
16;  Numb,  xxxv,  35),  lings  (1  Sam.  ix,  16;  xvi,  3;  2 
Sam.  xii,  7 ;  1  Kings  i,  34),  and  proj^hets  (1  Kings  xix, 
16).  The  great  Antitype,  the  Christ  of  the  N.  T.,  em- 
braced and  exhausted  in  himself  these  several  offices, 
which,  in  fact,  were  shadows  of  his  threefold  functions 
as  the  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King  of  his  people.  It  is  the 
pre-eminence  which  this  combination  of  anointed  of- 
fices gave  him  that  seems  to  be  pointed  at  in  Psa.  xlv, 
8,  where  the  great  IMessiah  is  anointed  "  above  his  fel- 
lows ;"  above  the  Christs  of  old,  whether  of  onl}^  one 
function,  as  the  priest  Aaron,  or  the  prophet  Elisha,  or 
the  king  Saul ;  or  of  two  functions,  as  Melchizedek  the 
priest  and  king,  or  Moses  the  priest  and  prophet,  or  Da- 
vid the  king  and  prophet.  In  our  Saviour  Christ  is 
uniquely  found  the  triple  comprehension,  the  recapitu- 
lation in  himself  of  the  three  offices  (see  Eusebius,  Bist. 
Eccles.  i,  3,  vol.  i,  p.  24,  by  Burton  [Oxon.  1848]).  But 
not  only  were  the  ancient  offices  typical,  the  material  of 
consecration  had  also  its  antitype  in  the  Holy  Ghost 
(CjTil  of  Jerusalem,  Catech.  Ilium,  x,  99;  Cutech.  Nfo0. 
p.  202,  203 ;  Basil,  contra  Eunom.  v  ;  Chrysostom  on  Psa. 
xlv ;  Theodoret,  Epit.  divin.  Decret.  xi,  p.  279  ;  Theophy- 
lact  on  Matt,  i ;  CEcumenius  on  Rom.  i,  etc.).  The 
prophecy  of  Isa.  Ixi,  1  ('•  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  Jeho- 
vah is  upon  me.  because  Jehovah  hath  anointed  me") 
was  expressly  claimed  by  Jesus  for  fulfilment  in  the 
synagogue  at  Nazareth  (Luke  iv,  16-21)  on  his  return 
to  Galilee  "m  the  power  of  the  Spirit"  (ver.  14),  which 


he  had  plenarily  received  at  his  recent  baptism  (ver.  1), 
and  by  which  he  was  subsequently  led  into  the  wil- 
derness (ver.  1).  This  anointing  of  our  Lord  to  his  Mes- 
sianic functiotis  is  referred  to  in  a  general  sense  in  such 
passages  as  Isa.  xi,  2  and  Acts  x,  38.  But  from  the 
more  specific  statement  of  Peter  (Acts  ii,  36),  it  would 
appear  that  it  was  not  before  his  resurrection  and  con- 
sequent ascension  that  Christ  was  fully  inducted  into 
his  Messianic  dignities.  "He  was  anointed  to  his  pro- 
phetical office  at  his  baptism ;  but  thereb}-  rather  in- 
itiated to  be,  than  actually  made  Christ  and  Lord.  Unto 
these  two  offices  of  everlasting  Priest  and  everlasting 
King  he  was  not  actually  anointed,  or  fully  consecrated, 
until  his  resurrection  from  the  dead"  (dean  Jackson, 
Works,  vii,  368).  As  often  as  the  evangelists  style  him 
Christ  before  his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  it  is  by 
way  of  anticij)ation  (ibid.  p.  296).  On  this  point,  in- 
deed, the  grammatical  note  of  (iersdorf  (Sprachchar.  i, 
39,  272),  as  quoted  by  Winer  {Gram,  des  N.  T.  sprachiJ. 
iii,  18,  p.  107  :  Clark,  p.  130),  is  interesting  :  "  The  four 
evangelists  almost  always  write  o  Xptarui;  [the  ex- 
pected Messiah,  like  6  tpxeipevoQ^,  while  Paul  and  Pe- 
ter employ  Xpioroc,  as  the  appellation  had  become 
more  of  a  proper  name.  In  the  epistles  of  Paul  and  Pe- 
ter, however,  the  word  has  the  article  when  a  gov- 
erning noun  precedes"  (for  extremely  elaborate  tables, 
containing  every  combination  of  the  sacred  names  of 
Christ  in  the  N.T.,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  last  edi- 
tion of  bishop  Middleton's  Doctrine  of  the  Greek  A  Hi- 
de, by  H.  J.  Rose,  B.D.,  App.  ii,  p.  486-496).  Twice 
only  in  the  N.  T.  does  the  Hebrew  form  of  it  (INIessias) 
occur,  in  John  i,  41  and  iv,  25  ;  and  twice  only  in  the 
O.T.  have  our  translators  retained  the  same  form  (IMes- 
siah), in  Dan.  ix,  25  and  26.  In  these  passages,  both  in 
the  Greek  of  the  evangelist  [Mtauiac,  or  (as  (iriesbach 
preferred  to  read)  Mtoiac,  more  closely  like  the  orig- 
inal] and  in  the  Hebrew  of  the  prophet  [H'^'^'C],  there 
is  an  absence  of  the  article — the  word  having,  in  fact, 
grown  out  of  its  appellative  state,  which  so  oltcn  occurs 
in  the  earlier  books,  into  a  proper  name ;  thus  resem- 
bling the  course  of  the  Xpiaroq  of  the  Christian  Script- 
ures.    See  Christ. 

II.  The  gradual  Growth  of  the  Messianic  Revelation. 
— 1.  First  or  Patriarchal  Period. — (1.)  In  the  primeval 
promise  (Gen.  iii,  15)  lies  the  germ  of  a  universal  bless- 
ing. The  tempter  came  to  the  woman  in  the  guise  of  a 
serpent,  and  the  curse  thus  pronounced  has  a  reference 
both  to  the  serpent  which  was  the  instrument,  and  to 
the  tempter  that  employed  it;  to  the  natural  terror  and 
enmity  of  man  against  the  serpent,  and  to  the  conflict 
between  mankind  redeemed  by  Christ  its  Head,  and  Sa- 
tan that  deceived  mankind.  Many  interpreters  would 
understand  by  the  seed  of  the  woman  the  Jlessiah  only ; 
but  it  is  easier  to  think  with  Calvin  that  mankind,  after 
they  are  gathered  into  one  army  bj^  Jesus  the  Christ, 
the  Head  of  the  Church,  are  to  achieve  a  victorj-  over 
evil.  The  Messianic  character  of  this  prophecy  has 
been  much  questioned  by  those  who  see  in  tlie  history 
of  the  fall  nothing  but  a  fable :  to  those  who  accept  it 
as  true,  this  passage  is  the  primitive  germ  of  the  Gospel, 
"  The  seed  of  the  woman,"  the  vagueness  and  obscurity 
of  which  phrase  was  so  suited  to  the  period  of  the  pro- 
tevangelium,  is  cleared  in  the  light  of  the  N.  T.  (see 
Gal.  iv,  4,  where  the  yevo^itvov  tK  yvvatKog  explains 
the  original  il""lt).  The  deliverance  intimated  was  no 
doubt  understood  by  our  first  parents  to  be  universal, 
like  the  injury-  sustained,  and  it  is  no  absurdity  to  sup- 
pose that  the  promise  was  cheiished  afterwards  by 
thoughtfiil  Gentiles  as  well  as  believing  Jews;  but  to 
the  latter  it  was  subsequently  shaped  into  increasing 
precision  by  supplementary  revelations,  while  to  the  for- 
mer it  never  lost  its  formal  vagueness  and  obscurity. 
The  O.  T.  gives  us  occasional  gleams  of  the  glorious  pri- 
meval light  as  it  struggled  with  the  gross  traditions  of 
the  heathen.  The  nearer  to  Israel  the  clearer  the  light ; 
as  in  the  cases  of  the  Abimelechs  (Gen.  xx,  6 ;  xxvi, 


MESSIAH 


136 


MESSIAH 


28),  and  Jlelchizcdek  (Gen.  xiv,  18),  and  Job  (xix,  25),  1  nibd-1b,  "  Prince  of  Peace,"  of  Isa.  ix,  5  [6] ;  and  the 

and  Balaam  (Xiimb.  xxiv.  17),  and  the  mafti  (Matt,  ii),  !  _,i, J;  fc.',.r,M  ■  .,/•-.»•.. 

,  ,,      ..    ^    •,  /,  ,      •     .1-  ,  ^  1  Di5T13  HT, ''lliis  man  IS  peace,   of  Micah  V,  4:  and  the 

and  the  Samaritan  woman  (John  iv,  2o;  and  see,  on  |  t     •■'  i         >  >     »  <»  "  i"^ 

the  Cliristology  of  the  Samaritans,  Westcott's  Introduc-  \  015"'^  "i?7j  "t''e  peace-speaker,"  of  Zech.  ix,  10;  and 
tlon,  p.  1-18,  149).  But  even  at  a  distance  from  Israel  i  the  Elpijvr)  t'lfiwr,  '"our  peace,"  of  Paul,  Eph.  ii,  14— in 
the  light  still  flickered  to  the  last,  as  "the  unconscious  a  word,  our  ISIessiah,  Jesus  Clirist.  This,  then,  is  the 
prophecies  of  heathendom"  show,  as  archbishop  Trench  [  first  case  in  which  the  promises  distinctlj-  centre  in  one 
happily  designates— though  in  a  somewhat  different  i  person ;  and  he  is  to  be  the  man  of  peace ;  he  is  to  wield 
sense— the  yearnings  of  the  Gentiles  after  a  deliverer  and  retain  the  government,  and  the  nations  shall  look 
{llulsean  Lectures  for  1840;  see  also  bishop  Ilorsley's  up  to  him  and  obey  him.  Sec  Shiloh. 
Uissert.  on  the  Messianic  Prophecies  dispersed  umoti(j  the\  2.  Mosaic  Period. —  (1.)  The  next  passage  usually 
J/eathen,  in  Hermons,  ed.  1829,  ii,  203-318;  and  comp.  quoted  is  the  propliecy  of  Balaam  (Numb,  xxiv,  17-19). 
Virgil's  well-known  eclogue  Pidlio,  and  the  expectations  Tlie  star  points  indeed  to  the  glory,  as  the  sceptre  de- 
mentioned  by  Suetonius,  \'it.  Vespasian,  iv,  8,  and  Taci-  notes  the  power,  of  a  king.  Onkelos  and  Jonathan 
tus,  /list.  V,  9, 13,  and  the  Sibylline  oracles,  discussed  by  (pseudo)  see  here  tlie  Jlessiah.  But  it  is  doubtful 
Horsley  [ut  siip.^,  with  a  strong  leaning  to  their  au-  whether  the  prophecy  is  not  fulfilled  in  David  (2  Sam. 
thenticity).  See  below,  §  iv,  1  (3).  But  although  the  |  viii,  2,  14) ;  and  though  David  is  himself  a  type  of 
promise  was  absolutely  inticlliiiir  lo  I  lie  first  father  of    Christ,  the  direct  Messianic  application  of  this  place  is 


man  (on  which  see  bishop  lliii>l(\ ,  .S'  n/niu  xvi,  p.  234, 
235,  comp.  with  Faber's  Pnqilidii-al  Jtissirt.  vii,  4  and 
o),  additional  light  was  given,  after  the  deluge,  to  the 
second  father  of  the  human  race. 

(2.)  To  Noah  was  vouchsafed  a  special  reservation 


bj'  no  means  certain. 

(2.)  Tlie  prophecy  of  Moses  (Deut.  xviii,  18),  "I  will 
raise  them  up  a  prophet  from  among  their  brethren,  like 
unto  thee,  and  will  put  my  words  in  his  mouth ;  and  he 
shall  speak  unto  them  all  that  I  shall  command  him," 


of  blessing  for  one  of  his  sons  in  preference  to  the  other  claims  attention.  Does  this  refer  to  the  Messiah?  The 
two,  and — as  if  words  failed  him— he  exclaimed,  "Bless-  [  reference  to  Moses  in  John  v,  45-47 — ••  He  wrote  of  me" 
ed  be  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Shem  1"  (Gen.  ix,  20).  Not  — seems  to  point  to  this  passage ;  for  it  is  a  cold  and 
that  at  any  time  God  meant  to  coiijine  a  monopoly  of  i  forced  interpretation  to  refer  it  to  the  whole  types  and 
blessing  to  the  individual  selected  as  the  special  depos-  symbols  of  the  Jlosaic  law.  On  tlie  other  hand,  many 
itary  thereof.  In  the  present  instance  Japheth,  in  the  critics  would  fain  find  here  the  divine  institution  of  the 
next  verse,  is  associated  with  his  brother  for  at  least ,  whole  prophetic  onler,  which,  if  not  here,  does  not  occur 
some  secondary  advantage :  "  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  '.  at  all.  Hciigsiinlxrg  thinks  that  it  docs  promise  that 
and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem."  Instead  of  j  an  order  df  |iin|,li(  is  should  be  sent,  but  that  the  singu- 
blessing  Shem,  as  he  had  cursed  Canaan,  he  carries  up  lar  is  usi  a  wiili  clir.ct  reference  to  the  greatest  of  the 
the  blessing  to  the  great  fountain  of  the  blessings  that  j  prophets,  (luisi  liiinsclt,  without  whom  the  words  would 


were  to  follow  Shem, 

(3.)  The  principle  of  limitation  goes  on.  One  of 
Shem's  descendants  has  three  sons.  Only  one  of  these 
is  selected  as  the  pecidiar  treasurer  of  the  divine  favor. 
But  not  for  himself  alone  was  Abraham  chosen.  As  in 
Shem's  instance,  so  here  again  Abraham  was  to  be  the 


not  have  been  fulfilled.  "  The  spirit  of  Christ  spoke  in 
the  prophets,  and  Christ  is  in  a  sense  the  only  prophet" 
(1  Pet.  i,  11).  Jews  in  earlier  times  might  liavc  been 
excused  for  referring  the  words  to  this  or  that  present 
prophet;  but  the  Jews  whom  the  Lord  rebukes  (.)ohu  v) 
were  inexcusable;  for,  having  the  words  before  them, 


centre  of  blessing  to  even  a  larger  scope.     IMore  than    and  the  works  of  Christ  as  well,  they  should  have  known 
once  was  he  assured  of  tliis:  "  In  thy  seed  ["in  thee,"    that  no  prophet  had  so  fulfilled  the"  words  as  he  had. 
xii,  3]  shall  aU  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed"  j       (3.)  The  passages  in  the  Pentateuch  which  relate  to 
(Gen.  xxii,  18 ).    The  Jlessianic  purport  of  this  repeated  \  "  the  Angel  of  the  Lord"  have  been  thought  by  many 
promise  cannot  be  doubted  after  Christ's  own  statement    to  bear  reference  to  the  Messiah. 


(John  viii,  50)  and  Paid's  comment  (Gal.  iii,  10).  The 
promise  is  still  indefinite,  but  it  tends  to  the  undoing 
of  the  curse  of  Adam  by  a  blessing  to  all  the  earth 
through  the  seed  of  Abraham,  as  death  had  come  on  the 
whole  earth  through  Adam.  When  our  Lord  says 
"Your  father  Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my  day,  and  he 
saw  it  and  was  glad"  (John  viii,  50),  we  are  to  under- 
stand that  this  promise  of  a  real  blessing  and  restoration 
to  come  hereafter  was  understood  in  a  spiritual  sense,  as 
a  leading  back  to  God,  as  a  coming  nearer  to  him,  from 
whom  the  promise  came;  and  he  desired  with  hope  and 


3.  Period  of  David. — Here  another  advance  is  found 
in  prophetic  limitation.  Jacob  had  only  specified  the 
tribe,  now  the  jiarticuiar  family  is  indicated  from 
which  Messiah  was  to  spring.  From  the  great  promise 
made  to  David  (2  Sam.  vii,  11-10),  and  so  frequently 
referred  to  afterwards  (I  Kings  xi,  34,  38;  Psa.  Ixxxix, 
30-37 ;  Isa.  Iv,  3 ;  Acts  xiii,  34),  and  described  by  the 
siceet  psalmist  of  Israel  himseU  as  "an  everlasting  cov- 
enant ordered  in  all  things,  and  sure"  (2  Sam.  xxiii,  5), 
arose  that  concentrated  expectation  of  the  Messiah  ex- 
pressed bv  the  popular  phrase  Son  of  David,  of  which 


rejoicing  (ygestivit  cum  desiderio,"  Bengel)  to  behold    we  hear  so  much  in  the  N.  T.  (comp.  Matt,  ix,  27;  xii, 


the  day  of  it, 

(4.)  In  Abraham's  son— the  father  of  twin  sons— 
we  meet  with  another  limitation;  Jacob  not  only  se- 
cures the  traditional  blessing  to  himself,  but  is  inspired 
to  concentrate.it  at  his  death  on  Judah,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  eleven  other  members  of  his  family.  "Ju- 
dah, thou  art  he  whom  thy  brothers  (iraise.  '.  .  .  The 


23;  xxi,  9;  xxii,  42;  Mark  x,  47,  48;  xi,  10;  Luke  i, 
32;  xviii,  38,  39;  John  vii,  42;  Iiom.  i,  3;  Kev.  xxii, 
10;  with  Jer.  xxiii,  5). 

In  the  promises  of  a  kingdom  to  David  and  his  house 
"  forever"  (2  Sam.  vii,  13),  there  is  more  than  could  be 
fulfilled  save  l)y  the  eternal  kingdom  in  which  that  of 
David  merged;  and  David's  last  words  dwell  on  this 


sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  j  promise  of  an  everlasting  throne  (2  Sam.  xxiii).  I'as- 
between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come"  ((Jen.  xlix,  8,  10;  |  sages  in  the  Psalms  are  numerous  which  are  ajiplied  to 
see  Pcrowue's  J'Jssai/,  p. 20, 188 ;  Delitzscli, ad  loc. ;  bishop    the  Messiah  in  the  N,  T. :  such  are  Psa.  ii,  xvi,  xxii,  xl. 


Pearson,  Creed,  art.  ii ;  Hengstenberg,  Christol.  i,  59, 00; 
Davison,  On  Prophecy,  p.  100 ;  DiiUinger,  Gentile  and 
Jew  in  the  Courts  of  the  Temple  of  Christ,  translated  by 
Darnell,  ii,  392.     Onkelos  and  Kaschi,  it  mav  be  worth 


ex.  Other  psalms  (pioted  in  the  N.  T.  appear  to  refer 
to  the  actual  history  of  another  king;  but  only  those 
who  deny  tlie  existence  of  types  and  prophecy  will  con- 
sider this  as  an  evidence  against  an  ulterior  allusion  to 


while  to  add,  make  Shdoh  here  to  refer  to  the  Messiah,  I  Messiali ;  such  psalms  are  xlv.  Ixviii,  Ixix,  Ixxii.  The 
as  do  D.  is.imchi  and  Abendana).  To  us  the  Messianic  j  advance  in  clearness  in  this  period  is  great.  The  name 
interpretation,  of  the  passage  seems  to  be  called  for  by  '  of  Anointed,  i.  e.  King,  comes  in,  and  the  ilessiah  is  to 
the  principle  of  i)eri(.dical  limitation,  which  amounts  to  '  come  of  the  lineage  of  David.  He  is  described  in  his 
a  law  in  tiie  Christological  Scriptures.  \\'e  accept  the  exaltation,  with  liis  great  kingdom  that  shall  be  spirit- 
conclusion,  therefore,  that  the  n  piD  of  this  verse  is  the  I  ual  rather  than  temporal  (  Psa.  ii,  xxi,  xl,  ex).     lu 


MESSIAH 


137 


MESSIAH 


other  places  he  is  seen  in  suffering  and  humiliation 
(Psa.  xxii,  xvi,  xl). 

Having  now  confined  the  Messiah's  descent  to  the  fam- 
ily- of  the  iUiistrious  king  who  was  "  the  man  after  God's 
own  lieart,"  prophecy  will  await  God's  own  express 
identification  of  the  individual  (see  it  given  in  Matt,  iii, 
17  ;  xvii,  5 ;  Mark  i,  11 ;  ix,  7  ;  Luke  iii,  22 ;  ix,  35 ;  and 
referred  to  in  2  Pet,  i,  17).  But  it  will  not  idly  wait. 
It  has  other  particulars  to  announce,  to  give  point  and 
precision  to  a  nation's  hopes. 

4.  Period  of  Propheiism.— After  the  time  of  David 
the  predictions  of  the  INIessiah  ceased  for  a  time,  until 
those  propliets  arose  whose  works  we  possess  in  the 
canon  of  Scripture.  They  nowhere  give  us  an  exact  and 
complete  account  of  the  nature  of  the  Messiah ;  but  dif- 
ferent aspects  of  the  truth  are  produced  by  the  various 
needs  of  the  people,  and  so  they  are  led  to  speak  of  him 
now  as  a  Conqueror,  or  a  Judge,  or  a  Redeemer  from 
sin ;  it  is  from  the  study  of  the  whole  of  them  that  we 
gain  a  clear  and  complete  image  of  his  person  and  king- 
dom. This  third  period  lasts  from  the  reign  of  Uzziah 
to  the  Babylonian  captivity.  The  Messiah  is  a  King 
and  Ruler  "of  David's  house,  who  shall  come  to  reform 
and  restore  the  Jewish  nation  and  purify  the  Church, 
as  in  Isa.  xi,  xl-lxvi.  The  blessings  of  the  restoration, 
however,  will  not  be  confined  to  Jews;  the  heathen  are 
made  to  share  them  fidly  (Isa.  ii,  Ixvi).  Whatever  the- 
ories have  been  attempted  about  Isa.  liii,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  the  most  natural  is  the  received  interpre- 
tation that  it  refers  to  the  suffering  Redeemer ;  and  so 
in  the  N.  T.  it  is  always  considered  to  do.  The  passage  of 
Mic.  v,  2  (comp.  Matt,  ii,  6)  left  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of 
the  Sanhedrim  as  to  the  birthplace  of  the  Messiah.  The 
lineage  of  David  is  again  alluded  to  in  Zech.  xii,  10-14. 
The  time  of  the  second  Temple  is  fixed  by  Hagg.  ii,  9 
fur  INIessiah's  coming;  and  the  coming  of  the  Forerun- 
ner and  of  the  Anointed  is  clearly  revealed  in  Mai.  iii, 
1 ;  iv,  5,  G. 

All  the  more  important  events  of  the  coming  Re- 
deemer's life  and  death,  and  subsequent  kingdom  and 
exaltation,  were  foretold.  Bethlehem  was  to  be  his 
birthplace  (Mic.v^,  2;  comp.  with  Matt,  ii,  1-6) ;  Galilee 
his  country  (Isa.  ix,  1,  2;  comp.  with  Matt,  iv,  14-16); 
a  virgin  his  mother  (Isa.  vii,  14;  comp.  with  Matt,  i, 
23) ;  he  was  to  preach  glad  tidings  to  the  meek  and  to 
bind  up  the  broken-hearted  (Isa.  Ixi,  1;  comp.  with 
Luke  iv,  17-21) ;  though  her  king,  he  was  to  come  to 
the  daughter  of  Zion,  just  and  having  salvation,  lowly 
and  riding  \ipon  an  ass,  and  upon  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an 
ass  (Zech.  ix,  9;  comp.  with  John  xii,  14, 15) ;  he  was 
to  be  despised  and  rejected  of  men;  was  to  be  led  like 
a  lamb  to  the  slaughter  (Isa.  liii,  3,  7 ;  comp.  with  Psa. 
xxii,  6  ;  John  i,  11 ;  xviii,  40;  Mark  xiv,  61  and  xv,  5) ; 
Ids  garments  were  to  be  parted,  and  lots  cast  upon  his 
vesture  (Psa.  xxii,  18;  comp.  with  John  xix,  23,  24) ; 
his  hands  and  feet  were  to  be  pierced  (Psa.  xxii,  16; 
comp.  with  Luke  xxiii,  33,  and  John  xx,  25) ;  he  was  to 
have  vinegar  given  to  him  to  drink  (Psa.  Ixix,  21 ; 
comp.  with  Matt,  xxvii,  34,  38) ;  he  was  to  pour  out  his 
soul  unto  death;  was  to  be  numbered  with  the  trans- 
gressors; and  his  grave,  though  intended  to  be  with 
wicked  men  (see  this  translation  in  Mason  and  Ber- 
nard's Ilebr.  Gram,  ii,  305),  Avas  in  reality  destined  to  be 
with  a  rich  man  (Isa.  liii,  9 ;  comp.  with  Matt,  xxvii, 
57,  58) ;  his  soul  was  not  to  be  left  in  hell,  nor  his  ilesli 
to  see  corruption  (Psa.  xvi,  10;  comp.  with  Acts  ii,  31, 
and  xiii,  34-36) ;  he  was  to  sit  on  the  right  hand  of  Je- 
hovah till  his  foes  were  made  his  footstool  (Psa.  ex,  1 ; 
comp.  with  1  Pet,  iii,  22;  Heb.  i,  3;  Mark  xvi,  19,  and 
1  Cor.  XV,  25) ;  his  kingdom  was  to  spread  until  ulti- 
mately "  the  kingdom  and  dominion,  and  the  greatness 
of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole  heaven,  should  be  given 
to  the  saints  of  the  Most  High"  (Dan.  vii,  27 ;  see  Pe- 
rowne,  Coherence,  p.  29,  30).  Slight  as  is  this  sketch  of 
the  prophetic  announcements  with  which  God  was 
pleased  to  sustain  human  hope  amid  human  misery, 
"as  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place"  (2  Pet.  i,  19), 


"  shining  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day"  (Prov. 
iv,  18),  it  is  yet  enough  to  suggest  to  us  how  great  must 
have  been  the  longing  for  their  Deliverer  which  such 
persistent  and  progressive  promises  were  likely  to  ex- 
cite in  the  hearts  of  faithful  men  and  women. 

The  expectation  of  a  golden  age  that  should  return 
upon  the  earth  was,  as  we  have  seen,  common  in  hea- 
then nations  (Hesiod,  Works  and  Days,  p.  109 ;  Ovid, 
Met.  i,  89;  Virgil,  Ed.  iv;  and  passages  in  Eusebius, 
Prcep.Ev.  i,  7;  xii,  13).  It  was  doubtless  inspired  by 
some  light  that  had  reached  them  from  the  Jewish  rev- 
elation. This  hope  the  Jews  also  shared,  but  with  them 
it  was  associated  with  the  coming  of  a  particular  per- 
son, the  Messiah.  It  has  been  asserted  that  in  him  the 
Jews  looked  for  an  earthly  king,  and  that  the  existence 
of  the  hope  of  a  Messiah  may  thus  be  accounted  for  on 
natural  grounds  and  without  a  divine  revelation.  But 
the  prophecies  refute  this:  they  hold  out  not  a  King 
only,  but  a  Prophet  and  a  Priest,  whose  business  it  should 
be  to  set  the  people  free  from  sin,  and  to  teach  them  the 
ways  of  God,  as  in  Psa.  xxii,  xl,  ex;  Isa.  ii,  xi,  liii.  In 
these  and  other  places,  too,  the  power  of  the  coming 
One  reaches  beyond  the  Jews  and  embraces  all  the  Gen- 
tiles, which  is  contrary  to  the  exclusive  notions  of  Ju- 
daism. A  fair  consideration  of  all  the  passages  will  con- 
vince us  that  the  growth  of  the  Messianic  idea  in  the 
prophecies  is  owing  to  revelation  from  God.  The  wit- 
ness of  the  N.  T.  to  the  O.-T.  prophecies  can  bear  no 
other  meaning;  it  is  summed  up  in  the  above-cited 
words  of  Peter  (2  Pet.  i,  19-21 ;  comp.  the  elaborate  es- 
say on  this  text  in  Knapp's  Opusciilu,  vol.  i).  Our  Lord 
affirms  that  there  are  prophecies  of  the  Messiah  in  the 
O.  T.,  and  that  they  are  fulfilled  in  him  (Matt,  xxvi,  54 ; 
Mark  ix,  12;  Luke  xviii,  31-33;  xxii,  37;  xxiv,  27; 
John  V,  39,  46),  The  apostles  preach  the  same  truth  in 
Acts  ii,  16,  25  ;  viii,  28-35;  x,43;  xiii,  23,32;  xxvi,  22, 
23;  1  Pet.  i,  11,  and  in  many  passages  of  Paid.  Even 
if  internal  evidence  did  not  prove  that  the  prophecies 
were  much  more  than  vague  longings  after  better  times, 
the  N.  T.  proclaims  everywhere  that  although  the  Gos- 
pel was  the  sun,  and  O.-T.  prophecy  the  dim  light  of  a 
candle,  yet  both  were  light,  and  both  assisted  those  who 
heeded  them  to  see  aright;  and  that  the  prophets  in- 
terpreted, not  the  private  longings  of  their  own  hearts, 
but  the  will  of  God,  in  speaking  as  they  did  (see  Knapp's 
Essay  for  this  explanation)  of  the  coming  kingdom. 

5.  The  period  after  the  close  of  the  canon  of  the  O.  T. 
is  known  to  us  in  a  great  measure  from  allusions  in  the 
N.  T.  to  the  expectation  of  the  Jews.  From  such  pas- 
sages as  Psa.  ii,  2,  6,  8 ;  Jer.  xxiii,  5,  6 ;  Zech.  ix,  9,  the 
Pharisees,  and  those  of  the  Jews  who  expected  the  Mes- 
siah at  all,  looked  for  a  temporal  prince  only.  The 
apostles  themselves  were  infected  with  this  opinion  till 
after  the  resurrection  (Matt,  xx,  20,  21 ;  Luke  xxiv,  21 ; 
Acts  i,  6).  Gleams  of  a  purer  faith  appear  (Luke  ii,  30 ; 
xxiii,  42;  John  iv,  25).  On  the  other  hand,  there  was 
a  sceptical  school  which  had  discarded  the  expectation 
altogether.  No  mention  of  the  Messiah  appears  in  the 
Book  of  Wisdom,  nor  in  the  writings  of  Philo ;  and  Jo- 
sephus  avoids  the  doctrine.  Intercourse  with  heathens 
had  made  some  Jews  ashamed  of  their  fathers'  faith. 

It  is  quite  consistent  with  the  prospects  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  prophecies  were  calculated  to  raise,  that 
we  are  informed  by  Luke  of  the  existence  of  what  seems 
to  have  been  a  considerable  number  of  persons  "that, 
looked  for  redemption  in  Israel"  (ii,  38).  The  demean- 
or of  these  believers  vtas  exhibited  in  a  close  and  con- 
scientious adherence  to  the  law  of  Moses,  which  was,  in 
its  statutes  and  ordinances,  at  once  the  rule  of  pious  life 
and  the  schoolmaster  to  guide  men  to  their  Messiah 
(Gal.  iii,  24).  As  examples  of  these  "just  and  devout" 
persons,  the  evangelist  presents  us  with  a  few  short  but 
beautiful  sketches  in  his  first  and  second  chapters.  Be- 
sides the  blessed  Mary  and  faitliful  Joseph,  there  are 
Zacharias  and  Elisabeth,  Simeon  and  Anna — pictures 
of  holiness  to  be  met  with  among  men  and  women,  mar- 
ried and  unmarried,  whose  piety  was  strongly  toned 


MESSIAH 


138 


MESSIAH 


with  this  eminent  feature,  which  is  expressly  attributed 
to  one  of  them,  "  waiting  for  the  consolation  of  Israel" 
(comp.  Luke  i,  G  with  ii,  '25,  and  37,  38).  Such  hopes, 
stimulated  by  a  profound  and  far-sighted  faith,  were 
exhibited  at  the  birtli  and  infancy  of  the  Jlessiah  Jesus 
by  these  expectant  Jews;  and  they  were  not  alone. 
Gentiles  displayed  a  not  less  marvellous  faith,  when 
"  the  wise  men  from  the  East"  did  homage  to  the  babe 
of  IJethlehem,  umleterred  by  the  disguise  of  humiliation 
witli  wliich  tlie  Messiah's  glory  was  to  the  human  eye 
obscured  (Matt,  ii,  2,  11).  But  at  his  death,  no  less 
than  at  his  birtli,  under  a  still  darker  veil  of  ignominy, 
similar  acknowledgments  of  faith  in  his  Messiahship 
were  exhibited.  Mark  mentions  it  as  one  of  the  points 
in  the  character  of  Joseph  of  Ariraathaja  that  he  "  wait- 
ed for  the  kingdom  of  God;"  and  it  would  seem  that 
this  faith  urged  him  to  that  holy  "■  boldness"  of  using 
his  influence  with  Pilate  to  rescue  the  body  of  Jesus, 
and  commit  it  to  an  honorable  tomb,  as  if  he  realized 
the  truth  of  Isaiaii's  great  prophecy,  and  saw  in  the  Cru- 
ciKcd  no  less  than  tiie  Messiah  himself  (Mark  xv,43).  To 
a  like  faith  must  be  imputed  the  remarkable  confession 
of  the  repentant  thief  upon  the  cross  (Luke  xxiii,  42) — 
a  faith  which  brouglit  even  the  Gentile  centurion  who 
superintended  the  execution  of  Jesus  to  the  conviction 
that  the  expiring  sufferer  was  not  only  innocent  (Luke 
xxiii,  47),  but  even  "the  Son  of  God"  (Matt,  xxvii,  54, 
and  Mark  xv,  39).  This  conjunction  of  Gentile  faith 
with  that  of  Hebrews  is  most  interesting,  and,  indeed, 
consistent  with  the  progress  of  the  promise.  We  have 
seen  above  how,  in  the  earliest  stages  of  the  revelation. 
Gentile  interests  were  not  overlooked.  Abraham,  who 
saw  the  Messiah's  day  (John  viii,  5C),  was  repeatedly 
assured  of  the  share  which  all  nations  were  destined  to 
have  in  the  blessings  of  liis  death  ((ien.  xii,  3 ;  xxii,  18 ; 
Acts  iii,  25).  Nor  was  the  breadth  of  the  promise  after- 
wards narrowed.  Moses  called  '•  the  nations"  to  rejoice 
with  the  chosen  people  (Deut.  xxxii,  43).  Isaiah  pro- 
claimed the  Messiali  expressly  as  "  the  light  of  the  Gen- 
tiles" (xlii,  G ;  xlix,  G) ;  Haggai  foretold  his  coming  as 
"  the  desire  of  all  nations"  (ii,  7) ;  and  when  he  came 
at  last,  holy  Simeon  inaugurated  his  life  on  earth  under 
the  title  of  "  a  light  to  lighten  the  (icntiles"  (Luke  ii, 
32).  When  his  Gospel  was  beghniing  to  run  its  free 
course,  the  two  missionaries  for  the  heathen  quoted  this 
great  prophetic  note  as  the  warrant  of  their  ministry : 
"I  have  set  thee  to  be  a  light  of  the  Gentiles,  that  thou 
shouldest  be  for  salvation  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth" 
(Acts  xiii,  47).  Plain,  however,  as  was  the  general 
scope  of  the  JMessianic  prophecies,  there  were  features 
in  it  which  the  Jewish  nation  failed  to  perceive.  Fram- 
ing their  ideal  not  so  much  from  their  Scriptures  as 
from  their  desires,  and  impatient  of  a  hated  heathen 
yoke,  they  longeii  for  an  avenging  JMessiah  who  sliould 
inflict  upon  their  oppressors  retaliation  for  many  wrongs. 
This  wish  colored  all  tlieir  national  hopes;  and  it  sliould 
be  borne  in  mind  by  the  student  of  the  Gospels,  on  wliich 
it  throws  much  light.  Not  only  was  the  more  religious 
class,  such  as  Christ's  own  apostles  and  pupils,  afli^cted 
by  this  thought  of  an  external  kingdom,  even  so  late  as 
his  last  journey  to  Jerusalem  (3Iark  x,37) ;  but  the  un- 
discriminating  crowtls,  who  would  have  forcibly  made 
him  king  (John  vi,  15)— so  strongly  did  his  miracles 
attest  his  Messianic  mission  even  in  their  view  (vcr.  14) 
—and  who  afterwards  followed  him  to  the  capital  and 
shouted  liosannas  to  his  praise,  most  abruptly  withdrew 
their  popular  favor  from  him  and  joined  in  his  destruc- 
tion, because  he  gave  them  no  signs  of  an  earthly  em- 
pire or  of  [xilitical  emanciiiation.  Christ's  kingdom  was 
"not  of  this  world"  — a  proinisition  wliich,  although 
containing  tlie  very  essence  of  Christianity,  offended  the 
Jewish  people  wlicn  Jesus  presented  himself  as  their  ! 
veritable  ]Messiali,  and  led  to  their  rejection  of  him. 
Moreover,  liis  lowly  condition,  sufferings,  and  death, 
have  been  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  their  recog- 
nition of-him  ever  since.     See  Savioi;i{. 

III.  Jewish  Views  resjyecting  the  Messiah. — "  Even  in 


j  the  first  prediction  of  the  woman's  seed  bruising  the 
j  serpent's  head,  there  is  the  idea  of  a  painful  struggle 
[  and  of  a  victory,  which  leaves  the  mark  of  suffering 
upon  the  Conqueror"  (Smith's  Messianic  Prnphecies  of 
i  Isaiuh  [18G2],  p.  1G4).  This  thouglit  has  tinged  the 
sentiments  of  all  orthodox  believers  since,  although  it 
[  has  often  been  obscured  by  the  brilliant  fancy  of  ambi- 
tion.    Sec  Sox  or  Man. 

1.  Karly  Jevisk  Opininns. — The  portrait  of  an  af- 
flicted and  suffering  Messiah  is  too  minutely  sketched 
by  the  Psalmist  (Psa.  xxii,  xlii,  xliii,  Ixix »,  by  Isaiah 
(ch.  liii),  l)y  Zechariah  (ch.  xi-xiii),  and  Daniel  (ix,  24- 
27),  to  be  ignored  even  by  reluctant  Jews;  and  strange 
is  the  embarrassment  observable  in  Talmudic  Judaism 
to  obviate  the  advantage  which  accrues  to  Christianity 
from  its  tenure  of  this  unpalatable  doctrine.  Long  ago 
did  Trv^iho,  Justin  Martyr's  Jew,  own  the  force  of  the 
prophetic  Scriptures,  which  delineated  jNIessiah  as  "a 
man  of  sorrows"  (Justin.  Dial.  89).  In  later  times,  after 
the  Talmud  of  Babylon  (7th  century)  became  influen- 
tial, the  doctrine  of  two  Messiahs  was  held  among  the 
Je\ys.  For  several  centuries  it  was  their  current  belief 
I  hat  M(>>i;ih  litn-Dnrld  was  referred  to  in  all  the  proph- 
icii  -  w  liiili  >ii()ke  of  glory  and  triumph,  while  on  Mes- 
siah Iiiu-.lnsipli  (irK|iliraim  fell  all  the  predicted  woes 
and  sufferings.  By  this  expedient  they  both  gratifled 
tlieir  traditional  idea  which  exonerated  their  cliief  Mes- 
siah, of  David's  illustrious  race,  from  all  humiliation, 
and  likewise  saved  their  nominal  deference  to  the  in- 
spired prophets  who  had  written  of  the  sorrows  of  Mes- 
siah. (For  a  popular  sketch  of  this  opinion  of  two 
Messiahs,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Smith's  sermons  On 
the  Messianic  Prophecies  of  Isaiah,  p.  177-181 ;  see  also 
Buxtprf's  Lexicon  Talmud,  s.  v.  IT^'w^^  p.  1126,  1127, 
and  s.  V.  O^IP'^TS'^X;  Eisenmenger's  Kntdecktes  Juden- 
thum,  ii,  720-750;  Otho's  Lexicon  Jtahhin.;  Schiittgen, 
IJorce  Ilth.  et  Rabbin,  ii,  1-778.)  All  the  references  to 
a  suffering  jMessiah  made  by  great  writers,  such  as  Ra- 
slii,  Ibn-Esra,  and  D.  Kimchi,  are  to  "Messiah  Ben- Jo- 
seph ;"  wTiilc  of  the  more  than  seventy  quoir.tions  cited 
by  Buxtorf  from  the  Targums,  including  Onkelos,  not 
one  refers  to  the  iNIessiah  as  sufferinr/.  This  early  Tar- 
gumistic  literature  (as  distinguished  from  the  latter  I.'ab- 
biiiical)  dwells  on  the  glories,  triumiihs,  and  piiwer  of  a 
conquering  INIessiah.  However  absurd  this  distortion 
was,  it  was  yet  felt  to  be  too  great  a  homage  to  the 
plain  interpretation  of  the  prophetic  Scriptures  as  given 
by  Christian  writers,  who  showed  to  the  votaries  of  the 
Talmud  that  their  earlier  authors  had  applied  to  the 
Son  of  David  the  very  passages  which  they  were  for  re- 
ferring to  the  Son  of  Jose|)h.  From  tlie  tenth  and  elev- 
enth centuries,  therefore,  other  interpretations  have 
been  songlit  for.  jNIaimonidcs  omits  the  whole  story  of 
^Messiah  Ben-Joseph  in  his  account  of  the  jMessiah  ;  see 
Pococke,  Append,  on  Malarhi.  The  Messiah  has  been 
withdrawn  al/o//etherfrom  the.  reach  of  all  predicted  suf- 
ferings. Such  passages  as  Isa.  liii,  have  lieen  and  still 
are  applied  to  some  persecuted  servant  of  (iod,  Jeremi- 
ah especially,  or  to  the  aggregate  Jewish  nation.  This 
anti-Messianic  exegesis  is  ju-evalent  among  the  Neolo- 
gians  of  Germany  and  France,  and  their  "free-hand- 
ling" disci|)les  of  the  I^iglish  school  (sec  Dr.  Kowland 
Williams,  Kssatjs  andlicriews,  p.  71-75  [edit.  2]).  Thus 
Jewish  sentiment  has  either  reverted  to  that  low  stund- 
ard  of  mere  worldly  expectation  which  recognises  no 
humiliation  in  JMessiah,  but  only  a  career  of  unmixed 
triumph  and  glory,  or  else  has  collapsed  in  a  disappoint- 
ment and  despair  which  forbid  all  speculation  of  a 
^lessiah  whatever  (  lusenmenger,  Kntdtcktes  Judmth.  i, 
G77).  Jewish  despair  does  not  often  resolve  itself  into 
Christian  hope.  Here  and  there  affecting  inst.inces 
of  tlie  genuine  change  occur,  such  as  the  two  men- 
tioned by  bishop  Tliirlwall  {l{<ply  to  ]>r.  W.'s  earuesllij 
respectful  letter,  p.  78) ;  in  tliQ  second  of  whicli— that  of 
Isaac  da  Costa— conversion  arose  from  liis  thoughtful 
reflections  on  the  present  dispersion  of  the  Jewish  race 


MESSIAH 


139 


MESSIAH 


for  its  sins.  His  acceptance  of  Jesus  as  the  Messiah 
solved  all  enigmas  to  him,  and  enabled  him  to  esti- 
mate the  importance  of  such  prophetic  promises  as  are 
yet  unlultilled  to  Israel.  But  the  normal  state  of  Jew- 
ish Messianic  opinion  is  that  sickness  of  heart  which 
comes  from  deferred  hopes.  This  despair  produces  an 
abasement  of  faith  and  a  lowering  of  religious  tone,  or 
else  finds  occasional  relief  in  looking  out  after  pretended 
Messiahs.  Upwards  of  thirty  cases  of  these  have  deluded 
the  nation  in  its  scattered  state  suice  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem.  See  Messiahs,  False.  The  havoc  of  life 
and  reputation  caused  by  these  attempts  has  tended 
more  than  any  thing  else  to  the  discouragement  of  Mes- 
sianic hopes  among  the  modern  Jews.  Foremost  in  the 
unhappy  catalogue  of  these  fanatics  stands  the  formi- 
diible  rebellion  under  Bar-Cocheba,  in  the  2d  century. 
Eabbi  Akiba,  "  the  second  Moses,"  the  great  light  of  the 
day  in  Jewry,  declared  before  the  Sanhedrim  that  Bar- 
Cocheba  was  the  Messiah.  Kabbi  Jochanan  alone  made 
opposition,  and  said,  '■  Grass,  O  Akiba,  will  grow  out  of 
thy  jaws,  and  yet  the  Son  of  David  not  have  come." 
AVe  know  not  what  was  the  fate  of  Bar-Cocheba  (or 
Bar-Coseba,  "the  son  of  lying,"  as  his  disappointed 
dupes  at  length  called  him),  but  the  gray-headed  Akiba 
■was  taken  by  the  Romans  and  executed.  More  are  said 
to  have  perished  in  this  attempt  than  in  the  previous 
war  of  Titus.  Embarrassing  as  all  these  failures  are  to 
the  Jews,  they  only  add  one  more  to  the  many  proofs  of 
the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  expressly 
foretold  these  delusions  of  "false  Christs"  (Matt,  xxiv, 
2-i;  Mark  xiii,  22),  as  oiie  class  of  retributions  which 
should  avenge  «n  Israel  the  guilt  of  his  own  rejection. 
Not  only,  however,  from  the  lowliness  and  suffering  of 
the  Christian  Messiah,  but  in  a  still  greater  degree  from 
his  exalted  character,  there  arises  a  difficulty  of  faith 
to  the  Jewish  objection.  The  divinity  of  nature  which 
Jesus  claimed  is  perhaps  the  greatest  doctrinal  obstacle 
to  his  reception  among  the  Jews..  See  (ifrorer,  Gesch. 
d.  Urchristenihnms  (Stuttg.  1838) ;  Solani,  Crotjances 
Messiuniques  (Strasb.  18G4).     See  Son  of  God. 

2.  Modern  Jewish  Vieivs. — The  hope  of  a  Messiah — 
the  bounteous  benefactor  and  inaugurator  of  a  glorious 
reign  on  earth,  firmly  establishing  forever  and  ever  the 
greatness  of  Abraham's  descendants — had  prevailed  even 
among  the  cliildren  of  Israel,  but  it  required  the  days 
of  trial  and  tribulation,  such  as  came  in  the  days  of  the 
exile,  to  create  a  yearning  for  the  appearance  of  the 
King,  the  Conqueror,  the  God  of  Israel.  "Within  the 
domains  of  a  foreign  ruler,  and  subject  to  his  rule,  the 
Messiah  became  an  ever-present  being  to  the  thoughts 
and  to  the  visions  of  the  Jews;  and  yet  Avhen  at  last 
the  Son  of  man  came  to  his  own,  his  own  knew  him  not. 
But  though  they  rejected  him  of  whom  jMoses  and  the 
prophets  wrote,  the  faith  in  a  Restorer  of  Israel  for  many 
centuries  continued  to  knit  together  the  nation  in  their 
dispersed  condition.  Of  late  only  a  change  has  come 
over  them,  and  the  Jewish  camp  may  be  truly  said  to 
have  divided  into  three  distinct  branches:  (1)  the  ex- 
treme right,  (2)  the  extreme  left,  and  (3)  the  centre. 

(1)  The  Jews  belonging  to  the  first  class  are  those 
■who  remain  either  («)  orthodox  in  their  adherence  to 
the  liberal  interpretation  of  the  Bible  and  tradition,  or 
(i)  who,  though  accepting  both  Bible  and  tradition,  fa- 
vor a  liberal  construction  of  the  traditional  usages.  This 
class  of  Jews  continue  to  look  for  a  personal  reign  of 
Messiah,  and  their  restoration  to  the  land  of  their  fore- 
fathers. Their  number  is  daily  decreasing,  however, 
and  the  time  promises  to  be  soon  when  they  shall  be 
counted  among  the  things  that  were. 

(2)  To  the  second  class  belong  those  Jews  generalh' 
denominated  Reformed.  They  would  sweep  away  Tal- 
mudism  and  the  ceremonial  law,  claiming  a  complete 
emancipation  from  religious  thraldom  as  their  indefeasi- 
ble right.  They  question  the  propriety  of  interpreting 
the  prophets  as  predicting  a  personal  jNIessiah,  and  deny 
the  possibility  of  a  restoration  of  Israel  as  a  nation  of 
political  entity.     In  ISiO  they  for  the  first  time  gave 


public  expression  to  their  belief  in  a  meeting  at  Frank- 
fort, when  they  declared  that  "  a  Messiah  who  is  to  lead 
back  to  Palestine  is  neither  expected  nor  desired  by  the 
associated,  and  they  acknowledge  that  alone  to  be  their 
country  to  which  they  belong  by  birth  or  civil  relation." 
In  18G9  a  meeting  of  the  educated  Jews  of  Germany 
was  held  in  the  city  of  Leipsic,  at  which  eighty-four 
different  Jewish  congregations  were  represented.  Twen- 
ty-four of  the  attendants  -were  rabbis  of  high  repute ; 
the  lay  members  men  who  had  secured  the  highest 
places  in  the  gift  of  the  nation,  among  them  the  late 
Dr.  Filrst,  then  professor  at  the  University  of  Leipsic, 
the  learned  Lazarus,  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  etc. 
In  1840  the  gathering  had  been  composed  of  a  handful 
of  rationalistic  Jews ;  in  18G9  the  meeting  at  Leipsic  was 
attended  by  Israel's  ablest  and  most  devoted  adherents. 
Yet  these  men  rejeded  the  belief  in  Israel's  restoration, 
and  passed  the  following  resolution:  "Those  portions 
of  our  prayers  which  refer  to  the  re-establishment  of  the 
annual  sacrifices  at  the  IMessianic  period,  or  to  the  return 
of  the  Jews  to  Jerusalem,  must  be  modified."  How 
widespread  the  opinion  represented  at  this  meeting 
may  be  best  judged  if  such  a  conservative  journal  as  the 
London  Jewish  Chronicle  is  led  to  comment  that  "Al- 
though every  Jew  is  bound  to  believe  in  a  INIessiah,  the 
question  -whether  that  expression  indicates  a  person  or 
a  time,  and  whether  he  or  it  has  arrived  or  not,  is,  ac- 
cording to  the  Talmud,  an  open  question." 

(3)  The  main  portion  of  modern  Judaism  consists  of 
the  moderate  party,  embracing  those  Jews  who  seek  to 
develop  a  higher  spirituality  from  the  old  form  of  Ju- 
daism. With  them  the  ceremonial  law  is  valuable  only 
as  a  hedge  to  keep  the  people  apart  from  other  forms  of 
religion  till  the  times  are  fulfilled.  Like  Kimchi,  Abra- 
banel,  and  other  Jewish  commentators,  they  apply  the 
oracle  in  Isa.  xi,  1-10  to  the  age  of  the  Messiah,  whose 
advent  they  place  at  the  verj'  time  when  the  final  gath- 
ering of  the  Jewish  people  is  to  be  accomplished.  "  The 
one,"  says  the  Rev.  Prof.  INIarks  {Jiicish  Mess(nf,'(i; 
January,  1872),  "is  to  be  immediately  consequent  upon 
the  other;  or,  rather,  they  are  prophesied  as  synchro- 
nous events."  Denjing  the  accuracy  of  Christian  in- 
terpretation, which  refers  the  11th  chapter  to  the  first, 
ami  the  r2th  chapter  to  the  coming  of  Christ  in  the 
final  day,  they  insist  that  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  teach 
only  07ie  Messianic  appearance,  and  that  chapter  11  war- 
rants no  distinction  in  point  of  time  between  "the  clear- 
ly-defined occurrences  which  are  to  mark  Messiah's  ad- 
vent ;"  "  and,"  continues  Prof. Marks,  "  so  far  from  repre- 
senting the  complete  regeneration  of  the  moral  world  as 
the  result  of  many  centuries  after  the  promised  Messiah 
shall  have  appeared,  the  prophet  of  the  text  mentions 
the  universal  jJeace  and  harmony  that  shall pruail,  as 
well  as  the  infjatherin;/  of  the  dispersed  of  Jiidah  and  of 
Israel,  as  the  especial  events  which  are  to  characterize 
the  inauguration  of  the  Messianic  age.  The  promised 
regenerator  of  mankind  is  to  he  hnomi  hy  the  accomplish- 
ment of  these  his  ajipointed  tasks  f  and  no  one,  according 
to  the  Jewish  view  of  prophetic  Scripture,  is  entitled  to 
the  name  of  '  the  Messiah'  who  does  not  vindicate  his 
claim  to  that  high  office  by  means  of  the  fulfilment  of 
the  conditions  which  the  word  of  inspiration  has  as- 
signed to  his  coming." 

As  is  well  known,  the  Jews  looked  for  a  Messiah  in 
the  days  of  our  Saviour.  For  centuries  after  the  wliqle 
nation  -n'as  incessantly  on  the  watch :  their  prosperity 
seemed  the  harbinger  of  his  coming;  their  darkest  ca- 
lamities, they  believed,  gathered  them  only  to  display, 
with  the  force  of  stronger  contrast,  the  mercy  of  their 
God  and  the  glory  of  their  Redeemer.  Calculation  upon 
calculation  failed,  until  at  last,  their  courage  threaten- 
ing desertion,  the  rabbinical  interdict  was  sent  forth  to  re- 
press the  dangerous  curiosity  which,'often  baffled,  would 
still  penetrate  the  secrets  of  futurity.  "  Cursed  is  he 
who  calculates  the  time  of  the  Messiah's  coming"  was 
the  daily  message  to  the  faithfid  of  the  synagogue  ;  and 
at  last  it  was  declared  that  "No  mdicatiou  is  given 


MESSIAH 


140 


MESSIAH 


T/ith  regard  to  the  particular  epoch  at  which  the  proph- 
ecy of  the  11th  chapter  (of  Isaiah)  is  to  be  accom- 
plisheii,"  but  that  the  inspired  messenger  of  God  has 
iurnislied  means  of  determining  by  the  evidence  of  our 
senses  the  dijitiiiclice  siyiin  by  which  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah  is  to  be  marked,  viz.  (1)  the  arrival  of  the 
golden  wje  (ver.  7,  8,  9) ;  (2)  the  rallying  of  the  nations, 
unsought  and  uninvited,  around  the  Messianic  banner 
(ver.  10);  and  (3)  the  second  ingathering  of  the  whole 
of  the  Jewish  people,  including  the  tribes  of  Judah  and 
Benjamin,  as  well  as  those  which  composed  the  kingdom 
of  Samaria,  and  are  popularly  spoken  of  as  "  the  lost 
tribes"  (ver.  11  and  12.  Compare  on  this  point  Lindo, 
The  ConcUiaior  of  li,  Manassek  ben-Israel  [Lond.  1842, 
2  vols.  8vo],  ii,  143).  "As  Jews,  we,"  they  say,  "main- 
tain that  tiie  promised  Messiah  has  not  yet  appeared, 
and  that  the  world  has  never  witnessed  such  a  moral 
picture  as  the  prophets  predict  of  the  Messianic  age." 
And  yet  they  are  obliged  themselves  to  confess  that 
"  Various  opinions  prevail  [among  them]  with  respect 
to  what  is  to  be  precMy  understood  by  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah.  Some  hold  that  it  implies  the  birth  of  a  par- 
ticular personage;  others,  that  it  describes  the  conjunc- 
tion of  certain  events  which  are  to  act  with  extraordi- 
nary moral  power  on  the  world  at  large.  But  what  it 
does  especially  behoove  us  to  bear  in  mind  is,  first,  that 
the  prophets  identify  the  iMessianic  advent  with  an  age 
when  brute  force  shall  have  come  to  an  end,  when  war- 
fare and  strife  shall  have  disappeared  from  the  earth, 
and  when  love  shall  have  become  the  sole  governing 
principle  of  humanity;  and,  secondly,  that  this  impor- 
tant work  of  tlie  regeneration  of  mankind  is  to  be 
brought  about  by  the  instrumentality  of  the  Jewish 
peojile,  if  not  by  some  remarkable  individual  born  of  that 
race." 

Jesus  the  Christ  they  refuse  to  recognise  as  that  "  re- 
markable individual,"  "  because,"  as  one  of  their  number 
has  declared,  "  we  do  not  find  in  the  jjresent  compara- 
tively imperfect  stage  of  human  progress  the  realization 
of  that  blessed  condition  of  mankind  which  the  prophet 
Isaiah  associates  with  the  <era  when  Messiah  is  to  ap- 
pear. And  as  our  Ilebreio  Scriptures  speak  of  one 
Messianic  advent  only,  and  not  of  two  advents  (even 
those  in  the  synagogue  who  speak  of  a  Messiah  from 
the  house  of  Joseph  concurrently  with  one  from  the 
house  of  David  make  their  advent  synchronous) ;  ami 
as  the  inspired  Book  does  not  pn  ni-li  Mi  .^.^iuli's  kiiiiiilnin 
as  a  matter  of  faith,  but  distimthj  idmliiii^  ii  n-lth  inci- 
ters of  fact  which  are  to  be  made  evident  tn  tin  .<ii/.<,y. 
■w.e  cling  to  the  plain  inference  to  be  drawn  f nun  tin  h.ii 
of  the  Bible,  and  we  deny  that  Messiah  has  yil  a/i/ii  nml. 
and  upon  the  following  grounds :  First.  Because  of  tlie 
three  distinctive  facts  which  the  inspired  seer  of  Judah 
inseparably  connects  with  the  advent  of  the  Messiah, 
vi/.  the  cessation  of  war  and  the  uninterrupted  reign  of 
peace,  tlie  ])revalence  of  a  ])erfect  concord  of  opinion  on 
all  matters  Ijearing  upon  the  worship  of  the  one  and 
only  (iod,  and  I  lie  ingathering  of  the  remnant  of  Judah 
and  of  tlie  dispersed  ten  tribes  of  Israel — not  one  has, 
lip  to  the  ]ireseiir  lime,  been  accomplished.  Second. 
\Vc  dissent  from  the  iiroposition  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
is  the  [Messiah  announced  by  the  prophets,  because  the 
Cliurch  which  lie  founded,  and  which  his  successors  de- 
veloped, has  offered,  during  a  succession  of  centuries,  a 
most  singular  contrast  to  what  is  described  by  the  lie- 
brew  Scriptures  as  the  immediate  consequence  of  Jles- 
siah's  advent,  and  of  his  glorious  kingdom.  Tlie  prophet 
Isaiah  declares  that  when  the  Messiah  appears,  peace, 
love,  and  union  will  be  permanently  established;  and 
every  candid  man  must  admit  that  the  worhl  has  not 
yet  realized  the  accomplishment  of  this  projihecy. 
Again,  in  the  days  of  Messiah,  all  men,  as  Scripture 
saith, '  are  to  serve  (iod  with  one  accord ;'  and  yet  it  is 
very  certain  that  since  the  appearance  of  him  whom  our 
Christian  brethren  believe  to  bo  ^lessiah,  mankind  has 
been  split  into  more  hostile  divisions  on  the  grounds  of 
religious  belief,  and  more  antagonistic  sects  have  sprung 


up,  than  in  any  historic  age  before  Christianity  was 
preached."  For  the  articles  of  confession,  see  the  arti- 
cle Judaism,  iv,  1057,  col.  1  (9  and  12),  1058,  and  espe- 
cially those  portions  in  Conservative  and  Reformed  Ju- 
.  DAis.M ;  also  Restoration  of  the  Jews. 
:  IV.  Proof  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus. — This  discus- 
[  sion  resolves  itself  into  two  questions.  See  Jesus 
Cnaisr. 

I  1.  The  promised  Messiah  has  already  come.  To  prove 
,  this  assertion,  we  shall  contine  our  remarks  to  three 
j  prophecies.  (1.)  The  first  is  the  passage  above  com- 
mented on,  occurring  in  Gen.  xlix,  8, 10,  where  Jacob  is 
giving  his  sons  his  parting  benediction,  etc.  ^^■hen  he 
comes  to  Judah,  he  says  :  "The  sceptre  shall  not  de- 
part from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between  his  feet, 
until  Shiloh  come ;  and  unto  him  shall  the  obedience 
of  the  people  be."  It  is  evident  that  by  Judah  is  here 
meant,  not  the  jmson,  but  the  tribe ;  for  Judah  died 
in  Egypt,  without  any  pre-eminence.  By  sceptre  and 
lawgiver  are  obviously  intended  the  legislative  and  rul- 
'  ing  power,  which  did,  in  the  course  of  time,  commence 
in  David,  and  which  for  centuries  aftenvards  was  con- 
tinued in  his  descendants.  Whatever  variety  the  form 
of  government — whether  monarchical  or  aristocrat  ical — 
might  have  assumed,  the  law  and  polity  were  still  the 
scune.  This  prediction  all  the  ancient  Jews  referred  to 
the  Messiah.  Ben-Uzziel  renders  it,  "  Until  the  time 
when  the  king  Messiah  shall  come."  The  Targum  of 
Onkelos  speaks  to  the  same  effect,  and  that  of  Jerusa- 
lem paraphrases  it  thus :  "  Kings  shall  not  cease  from 
the  house  of  Judah,  nor  doctors  that  teach  the  law 
from  his  children,  until  that  the  king  Messiah  do  come, 
whose  the  kingdom  is;  and  all  nations  of  the  earth 
shall  be  subject  unto  him."  Now  that  the  sceptre  has 
departed  from  Judah,  and,  consequently,  that  the  Mes- 
siah has  come,  we  argue  from  the  acknowledgments  of 
some  most  learned  Jews  themselves.  Kimchi  thus  com- 
ments on  Hosea :  "  These  are  the  days  of  our  captiv- 
ity, wherein  we  have  neither  king  nor  prince  in  Israel; 
but  we  are  in  the  power  of  the  Gentiles,  and  under  their 
kings  and  princes."  Again,  Abarbanel,  commenting  on 
Isa.  liii,  says  that  it  is  a  great  part  of  their  misery 
in  their  captivity  that  thej-  have  neither  kingdom  nor 
rule,  nor  a  scejttre  of  judgment !  The.  7;?-((/.-v'  time 
when  all  authority  departed  from  Judah  is  disputed. 
Some  date  its  dejjarture  from  the  time  when  Herod,  an 
Muiiia'an,  set  aside  the  IMaccabees  and  Sanliedrim. 
'riiereupon  the  Jews  are  said  to  have  shaved  their 
heads,  put  on  sackcloth,  and  cried,  "Woe  to  us,  because 
the  sceptre  is  departed  from  Judah,  and  a  lawgiver  from 
beneath  his  feet !"  Others  think  that  it  was  when 
Vespasian  and  Titus  destroyed  Jerusalem  and  the  Tim- 
ple  that  the  Jews  lost  the  last  vestige  of  authority. 
If,  therefore,  the  sceptre  has  departed  from  Judah — and 
who  can  question  it  who  looks  at  the  broken-up,  scat- 
tered, and  lost  state  of  that  tribe  for  ages'? — the  conclu- 
sion is  clearly  irresistible  that  the  Messiah  must  have 
long  since  come!  To  avoid  the  force  of  this  conclusion 
the  Jews  now  say  that  the  1220,  she'bet,  yvhich  we  ren- 
der sceptre,  may  be  translated  rod,  and  metaphorically 
signifies,  in  the  above  passage,  aftiction.  That  the 
word  cannot  bear  this  meaning  here  is  evident,  because, 
for  a  long  while  after  the  projjhecy  was  uttered,  espe- 
cially in  the  reigns  of  David  and  Solomon,  the  tribe  of 
Judah  was  in  a  most  prosperous  state.     See  ScErTUK, 

(2.)  The  next  proof  that  the  Messiah  has  long  since 
come  we  adduce  from  Dan.  ix,  25,  20,  27.  It  is  evident 
that  the  true  Jlessiah  is  here  spoken  of.  He  is  twice 
designateil  by  the  \ery  name.  If  we  consider  wliat  the 
work  is  which  lie  is  here  said  to  accomplish,  we  shall 
have  a  full  confirmation  of  this.  Who  but  he  could 
finish  and  take  away  transgression,  make  reconciliation 
for  ini(|uity,  bring  in  everlasting  righteousness,  seal  up 
the  vision  and  prophecy,  confirm  tlie  covenants  with 
many,  and  cause  to  cease  the  sacrifice  and  oblation? 
Indeed,  there  is  a  saying  extant  in  the  Talmud,  as  the 


MESSIAH 


141 


MESSIAH 


tradition  of  former  times,  "  In  Daniel  is  delivered  to  us 
the  end  of  the  Messiah,"  i.  e.  the  term  wlierein  he  ought 
to  come,  as  it  is  explained  by  Jarchi.  Grotius  {De  Ve- 
ritat.  v)  speaks  of  a  Jew,  K.  Berachia,  who  lived  fifty 
years  before  our  Lord,  and  who  declared  that  the  time 
fixed  by  Daniel  could  not  go  beyond  fifty  years !  If 
then  it  be  the  ti-ue  Messiah  who  is  described  in  the 
above  pro]5hecy,  it  remains  for  us  to  see  how  the  time 
predicted  for  his  coming  has  long  since  transpired.  This 
is  expressly  said  to  be  seventy  weeks  from  the  going 
forth  of  the  commandment  to  restore  and  build  Jerusa- 
lem. That  by  seventy  weeks  are  to  be  understood  sev- 
enty S3vens  of  years,  a  day  being  put  for  a  year,  and 
a  wee'v  for  seven  years,  making  up  490  years,  is  allowed 
by  Kimohi,  Jarchi,  rabbi  Saadias,  and  other  learned 
Jews,  as  well  as  by  many  Christian  commentators.  It 
is  clear  that  these  seventy  weeks  cannot  consist  of 
weeks  of  days,  for  all  put  together  make  but  one  year, 
four  months,  and  odd  days — a  space  of  time  too  short  to 
crowd  so  many  various  events  into  as  are  here  specified; 
nor  can  any  such  time  be  assigned  between  the  two  cap- 
tivities, wherein  like  events  did  happen  (see  Prideaux, 
Connect,  lib.  v,  pt.  1).  This  period  of  time  then  must 
have  long  since  elapsed,  whether  we  date  its  commence- 
ment from  the  first  decree  of  Cyrus  (Ezra  i,  1,  2),  the 
second  of  Darius  Hystaspes  (vi,  15),  or  that  of  Arta- 
xerxes  (viii,  1).  See  Grotius,  Be  Veritat.  v ;  Josephus, 
War,  vii,  12, 13.     See  Seventy  Weeks. 

(3.)  We  can  only  barely  allude  to  one  remarkable 
prediction  more,  which  fixes  the  time  of  the  Messiah's 
advent,  viz.  Hag.  ii,  7-9  :  '•  I  will  shake  all  nations,  and 
the  desire  of  all  nations  shall  come  :  and  I  will  fiU  this 
house  with  glory,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  The  silver 
is  mine,  and  the  gold  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 
Tlie  glory  of  this  latter  house  sliall  be  greater  than  of 
the  former,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts."  The  glory  here 
spoken  of  must  be  in  reference  to  the  Messiah,  or  on 
some  other  account.  It  could  not  have  been  said  that 
the  second  Tenijile  exceeded  in  glory  the  former  one ; 
for  in  many  particulars,  according  to  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  Jews  themselves,  it  was  far  inferior,  both  as 
a  building  (Ezra  iii,  3,  12)  and  in  respect  of  the  sym- 
bols and  tokens  of  God's  special  favor  being  wanting 
(see  Kimchi  and  R.  Salomon  on  Hag.  i,  8).  The  prom- 
ised glory,  therefore,  must  refer  to  the  coming  and 
presence  of  him  who  was  promised  to  the  world  before 
there  was  any  nation  of  the  Jews ;  and  who  is  aptly 
called  the  '^Desire  of  all  nations."  This  view  is  amp- 
ly confirmed  by  the  prophet  Malachi  (iii,  1).  Since, 
then,  the  very  Temple  into  which  the  Saviour  was  to 
enter  has  for  ages  been  destroyed,  He  must,  if  the  integ- 
rity of  this  prophecy  be  preserved,  have  come.  Nor  is 
tlie  force  of  this  passage  for  our  present  purpose  greatly 
diminished  if  we  take  the  interpretation  of  many,  that 
iTl'Sn,  "desire,"  here,  being  fern.,  cannot  directly  refer 
to  the  Messiah  personally ;  for  in  any  case  the  prophecy 
refers  to  some  glorification,  at  the  time  future,  of  the 
then  existing  Temple;  and  as  that  Temple  has  now  ut- 
terly passed  away,  its  fullilment  cannot  be  looked  for 
under  any  Messiah  yet  to  come.     See  Desire. 

That  there  was,  at  the  time  of  our  Lord's  birth,  a 
great  expectation  of  the  Messiah,  both  among  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  may  be  seen  from  three  celebrated  historians, 
as  well  as  from  the  sacred  Scriptures.  Tacitus  {Hist.  c. 
13)  says :  "  Pluribus  persuasio  inerat,  antiquis  sacerdo- 
tum  literaris  contineri,  eo  ipso  tempore  fore  ut  valesce- 
ret  Oriens,  profectique  Judaea  rerum  potirentur."  Again, 
Suetonius  (in  Vespas.  4)  says:  " Percrebruerat  Oriente 
toto  vetus  et  constans  opinio,  esse  in  fatis  ut  eo  tempore 
Judaji  profecti  rerum  potirentur."  Josephus,  not  being 
able  to  find  any  calculation  by  which  to  protract  the 
general  expectation  of  the  ^Messiah.  a|>plies  it  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  to  Vespasian  (ir((r,vii.ol) :  "That  which 
chiefly  excited  the  Jews  to  war  was  an  ambiguous 
prophecy,  which  was  also  found  in  the  sacred  books, 
that  at  that  time  some  one  within  their  country  should 


arise  who  would  obtain  the  empire  of  the  whole  world." 
We  are,  moreover,  informed  again  by  Suetonius  {Octav. 
94),  that,  upon  the  conception  of  Augustus,  it  was  gen- 
erally thought  that  Nature  was  then  in  labor  to  bring 
forth  a  king  who  would  rule  the  Romans.  Some  sup- 
pose that  the  words  of  Virgil  {Eclog.  iv)  point  at  our 
Saviour,  but  they  were  intended  by  him  to  apply  to 
the  son  of  PoUio.  We  may  just  add  that  as  there  was 
a  general  expectation  of  the  Messiah  at  this  time,  so 
there  were  many  impostors  who  drew  after  them  many 
followers  (Josephus,  Ant.  xx,  2,  6;  War,  Ivii,  31).  See 
also  a  full  account  of  the  false  Christs  who  appeared  by 
John  a  Lent,  Schediasm.  c.  2 ;  Maimonides,  Ep.  ad  Ju- 
dceos  MarsiHenses ;  Christ  prophesies  of  such  persons 
(Matt,  xxiv,  24,  29). 

2.  The  limits  of  this  article  will  admit  of  our  oniy 
touching  upon  the  proofs  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and 
none  other,  is  the  very  Messiah  that  was  to  come.  (1.) 
What  was  predicted  of  the  Messiah  was  fulfilled  in  Je- 
sus. Was  the  Messiah  to  be  of  the  seed  of  the  woman 
(Gen.  iii,  15),  and  this  woman  a  virgin?  (Isa.  vii,  14). 
So  we  are  told  (Gal.  iv,  4 ;  Matt,  i,  18,  and  22,  23)  that 
Jesus  was  made  of  a  woman,  and  born  of  a  virgin.  Was 
it  predicted  that  he  (Messiah)  should  be  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  of  the  family  of  Jesse,  and  of  the  house  of  David? 
(Mic.  V,  2 ;  Gen.  xlix,  10 ;  Isa.  xi,  10 ;  Jer.  xxiii,  5). 
This  was  fulfiUed  in  Jesus  (Luke  i,  27,  69 ;  Matt,  i,  1). 
See  Genealogy  of  Christ.  (2.)  If  the  Messiah  was 
to  be  a  prophet  like  unto  Moses,  so  was  Jesus  also  (Isa. 
xviii;  John  vi,  14).  If  the  Messiah  was  to  appear  in 
the  second  Temjale,  so  did  Jesus  (Hag.  ii,  7,  9 ;  John 
xviii,  20).  (3.)  The  Messiah  was  to  work  miracles  (Isa. 
XXXV,  5,  G;  comp.  Matt,  xi,  4,  5).  See  Miracle. 
(4.)  If  the  Messiah  was  to  suffer  and  die  (Isa.  liii),  we 
find  that  Jesus  died  in  the  same  manner,  at  the  very 
time,  and  under  the  identical  circumstances,  which  were 
predicted  of  him.  The  very  man  who  betrayed  him, 
the  price  for  which  he  was  sold,  the  indignities  he  was 
to  receive  in  his  last  moments,  the  parting  of  his  gar- 
ments, and  his  last  words,  etc.,  were  all  foretold  of  the 
Messiali,  and  accomplished  in  Jesus!  (5.)  Was  the 
Messiah  to  rise  from  the  dead  ?  So  did  Jesus.  H«w 
stupendous  and  adorable  is  the  providence  of  God,  who, 
through  so  many  apparent  contingencies,  brought  such 
things  to  pass !  See  Kidder,  Demonstration  of  the  Mes- 
siah (Lond.  1726,  fol.) ;  Olearius,  Jesus  d.  wahre  Messias 
(Leips.  1714, 1737);  WCau\,  Messiahship  of  Jesus  (War- 
burton  Led.  1852);  Black,  Messiahs  and  anti-Messiahs 
(Lond.  1853) ;  Browne,  Messiah  as  foretold  and  expected 
(Lond.  1862) ;  Higginson,  Hebrew  Messianic  Hope  and 
Christian  Reality  (Lond.  1871).  Comp.  also  IVIalcolm's 
Theological  Index,  s.  v. ;  Volbeding's  Index  Programma- 
tum,  p.  38  sq. ;  Hase's  Leben  Jesu,  p.  86 ;  and  Danz, 
Wurterhuch,  p.  855  sq.     See  Christology. 

MESSIAHS,  False.  Jesus  warned  his  disciples 
that  false  Christs  should  arise  (Matt,  xxiv,  24),  and  the 
event  has  verified  the  prediction.  No  less  than  twenty- 
four  such  impostors  have  been  enumerated  as  having 
appeared  in  different  places  and  at  different  times;  and 
even  this  does  not  exhaust  the  list.  One  by  the  name 
of  Simeon  was  the  first  of  any  note  who  made  a  noise  in 
the  world.  Being  dissatisfied  with  the  state  of  things 
under  Hadrian,  he  set  himself  up  as  the  head  of  the  Jew- 
ish nation,  and  proclaimed  himself  their  long-expect*d 
jVIessiah.  He  was  one  of  those  banditti  that  infested 
Jud^a,  and  committed  all  kinds  of  violence  against  the 
Romans ;  and  had  become  so  powerful  that  he  was  chos- 
en king  of  the  Jews,  and  bA'  them  acknowledged  their 
Messiah.  However,  to  facilitate  the  success  of  this  bold 
enterprise,  he  assumed  the  name  of  Bar-Cocheba  (q.  v.), 
alluding  to  the  star  foretold  by  Balaam;  for  he  pre- 
tended to  be  the  star  sent  by  lieaven  to  restore  his  na- 
tion to  its  ancient  liberty  and  glory.  This  epithet  was 
changed  by  his  enemies  into  that  of  Bar-Cozeba,  i.  e. 
son  of  a  lie.  He  chose  a  forerimner,  raised  an  army, 
was  anointed  king,  coined  money  inscribed  with  his 
own  name,  and  proclaimed  himself  Messiah  and  prince 


MESSIAH 


14! 


MESSIAH 


of  the  Jewish  nation.  Hadrian  raised  an  army,  and  sent 
it  against  liim :  he  retired  into  a  town  called  Bither, 
■where  he  was  besieged.  Bar-Cocheba  seems  to  have 
been  killed  in  the  siege,  the  city  was  taken,  and  a  dread- 
ful havoc  succeeded.  The  Jews  themselves  allow  that 
during  this  short  war  against  the  Komans  in  defence  of 
this  false  Messiah  they  lost  five  or  six  hundred  thousand 
souls.  This  was  in  the  tirst  half  of  the  2d  century.  In  the 
reign  of  Theodosius  the  Younger,  A.D.  434,  another  im- 
jiostor  arose,  called  Moses  Cretensis.  He  pretended  to 
be  a  second  Moses,  sent  to  deliver  the  Jews  who  dwelt 
in  Crete,  and  promised  to  divide  the  sea  and  give  them 
a  safe  passage  through  it.  Their  delusion  jiroved  so 
strong  and  iniiversal  that  they  neglected  their  lands, 
houses,  and  other  concerns,  and  took  only  so  much  with 
them  as  they  could  conveniently  carry.  On  the  day 
appointed,  this  false  Moses,  having  led  them  to  the 
top  of  a  rock,  men,  women,  and  children  threw  them- 
selves headlong  down  into  the  sea,  without  the  least 
hesitation  or  reluctance,  till  so  great  a  number  of  them 
were  drowned  as  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  rest,  and  make 
them  sensible  of  the  cheat.  They  then  began  to  look 
for  their  pretended  leader,  but  he  had  disappeared,  and 
escaped  out  of  their  hands. 

In  the  reign  of  Justin,  about  A.D.  520,  another  im- 
postor appeared,  who  called  himself  the  son  of  Moses. 
His  name  was  Dunaan,  He  entered  into  a  city  of  Ara- 
bia Felix,  and  there  he  greatlj-  oppressed  the  Christians ; 
but  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  put  to  death  by  Elesban, 
an  Ethiopian  general.  The  Jews  and  Samaritans  re- 
belled against  the  emperor  Justinian,  A.D.  529,  and  set 
up  one  Julian  for  their  king,  and  accounted  him  the 
Messiah.  The  emperor  sent  an  army  against  them, 
killed  great  numbers  of  them,  took  their  pretended  Mes- 
siah prisoner,  and  immediately  put  him  to  death.  In 
the  time  of  Leo  the  Isaurian,  about  A.D.  721,  arose  an- 
other false  Messiah  in  Spain:  his  name  was  Serentis. 
He  drew  great  numbers  after  him,  to  their  no  small  loss 
and  disappointment;  but  all  his  pretensions  came  to 
nothing. 

The  12th  century  was  particularly  fruitful  in  pro- 
ducing Messiahs.  About  1137  there  appeared  one  in 
France,  who  was  put  to  death,  and  numbers  of  those 
who  followed  him.  In  A.D.  1 138  the  Persians  were  dis- 
turijed  with  a  Jew  who  called  liimsclf  the  IMessiah. 
He  ((lUccted  a  vast  army;  but  he,  too,  was  put  to  death, 
aiKl  Ills  followers  were  treated  with  great  inhumanity. 
A  I'lilse  .Messiah stirred  up  the  Jews  at  Cordova,  in  Spain, 
A.D.  1157.  The  wiser  and  better  part  looked  upon  him 
as  a  madman,  but  the  great  body  of  the  Jewish  na- 
tion l)elievc(l  in  him.  On  this  occasion  nearly  all  the 
.lews  in  Spain  were  destroyed.  Another  false  Messiah 
who  arose  in  the  kingdom  of  Fez,  A.D.  11()7,  under  the 
name  of  JJcivid  Ahui  (Alroy),  brought  great  troubles 
and  persecutions  upon  the  Jews  that  were  scattered 
throughout  tliat  country.  Disraeli  has  taken  this  his- 
torical event  as  the  jilot  of  his  A  Iroy.  In  the  same  j-ear 
an  Arabian  professed  to  be  the  Messiah,  and  pretended 
to  work  miracles.  When  search  was  made  for  him,  his 
followers  tied,  and  he  was  brought  before  the  Arabian 
king.  Being  questioned  by  him,  he  replied  that  he  was 
a  |)rophet  sent  from  God.  The  king  then  asked  him 
what  sign  he  could  show  to  confirm  his  mission.  "  Cut 
off  my  head,"  said  he, "and  I  will  return  to  life  again." 
The  king  took  him  at  his  word,  promising  to  believe  him 
if  his  prediction  was  accomplished.  The  pot)r  wretch, 
however,  never  came  to  life  again,  and  the  cheat  was 
sulKeiently  discovered.  Those  who  had  been  deluded 
by  him  were  grievously  punished,  and  the  nation  was 
condemned  to  a  very  heavy  line.  Not  long  after  this,  a 
Jew  who  dwelt  beyond  the  Euphrates  called  himself  the 
Messiah,  and  drew  vast  multitudes  of  jieoplc  about  him. 
He  gave  this  for  a  sign  of  it,  that  he  had  been  leprous, 
and  had  been  cured  in  the  course  of  one  night.  He,  like 
tlie  rest,  perished,  and  brought  great  persecution  on  his 
countrymen.  A  magician  and  false  Christ  arose  in  Per- 
sia, A.D.  1171,  who  seduced  many  of  the  common  peo- 


ple, and  brought  the  Jews  into  great  tribulation  (see 
Maimonides,  Kjnstol.  ad  Judaeos  in  MassiUa  agentes). 
Another  of  these  impostors,  a  great  cabalist,  arose,  A.D. 
1 170,  in  Jloravia,  who  was  called  Darid  A  Imasser.  He 
pretended  he  could  make  himself  invisible ;  but  he  was 
soon  taken  and  put  to  death,  and  a  heavy  fine  laid  upon 
the  Jews.  A  famous  cheat  and  rebel  exerted  liimself  in 
Persia,  A.D.  1 199,  called  David  el-David.  He  was  a  man 
of  learnhig,  a  great  magician,  and  pretended  to  be  the 
Messiah.  He  raised  an  army  against  the  king,  but  was 
taken  and  imprisoned;  and,  having  made  his  escape, 
was  afterwards  retaken  and  beheaded.  Vast  numbers 
of  the  Jews  were  butchered  for  taking  part  with  this 
impostor. 

In  the  13th  and  14th  centuries  the  Messiah  imposi- 
tion had  come  to  a  comparative  stand-still.  It  is  true 
the  most  learned  of  the  rabbis,  the  celebrated  Saadia, 
Abraham  Ibn-Chija,  Nachman,  and  (iersoni,  had  taken 
upon  themselves  to  calculate  the  time  of  the  actual 
coming  of  the  veritable  deliverer,  and  had  fixed  ujion 
1358  as  the  Messiah  year;  but  no  one  came  forward 
and  sought  to  impose  himself  upon  the  waiting  multi- 
tude. Towards  the  close  of  the  15tli  century,  however, 
the  opportunity  was  renewed  by  the  terrible  fate  of  the 
Jews,  especially  in  the  Iberian  peninsula,  where  for  so 
many  years  they  had  enjoyed  a  haven  of  rest.  On  the 
Continent  the  Jews  had  suffered  from  the  very  start  of 
the  Crusading  movement,  but  in  the  Iberian  peninsula 
they  had  found  a  pleasant  home  and  a  quiet  retreat,  fre- 
quently even  positions  of  power  and  of  honor.  Gradu- 
ally, however,  their  position  was  undermined.  First 
the  Church  of  Rome  trained  men  as  polemics  against 
the  Jews.  Later  it  was  determined  to  make  converts 
of  them  at  any  price,  and  if  they  could  not  be  secured 
peacefully,  to  subject  them  to  bloody  persecution.  This 
policy  vias  inaugurated  at  Seville  in  1301-92,  and  soon 
spread  over  the  peninsida.  Escape  was  difficult,  and,  if 
made,  hardly  augured  a  brighter  future  in  other  lands; 
and  thus  reasoning,  they  remained,  and  some  200,000 
Jews  were  made  to  accept  baptism  at  the  point  of  the 
sword.  This  event  forms  the  saddest  turning-point  in 
.Jewish  history.  I'ersocution  upon  persecution  followed. 
The  Jew,  finding  no  alternative,  was  forced  to  jilay  the 
part  of  the  hyjiocrite,  and,  while  pressing  the  cross  to 
his  lips,  vowed  in  his  heart  more  faithful  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  Israel.  The  gloomiest  day  came  with  the 
date  of  America's  discovery.  The  year  that  shed  new 
light  upon  Europe  shrouded  the  Jew  in  darkness,  and 
forms  at  the  same  time  the  grandest  and  tlie  most  melan- 
choly hour  of  modern  history.  But  though  at  lirst  many 
had  been  made  converts  in  the  hours  of  oppression,  they 
gradually  came  to  believe  in  the  vital  truths  of  Christi- 
anity ;  and  though  the  examples  before  them  were  not 
promotive  of  a  true  Christian  life,  the  fact  that  no  de- 
liverer had  come  to  Israel  in  the  most  trying  liour 
made  them  not  only  faint  but  wavering,  antl  there 
seemed  danger  that,  if  not  soon  inspired  with  new  hope, 
the  last  day  had  come  for  the  Jewish  race.  There  re- 
mained, it  is  true,  a  small  remnant  that  had  continued 
thus  far  in  open  defiance  to  all  demands  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  valiantly  contended  for  liberty  of  conscience. 
But  even  these  successive  trials  had  broken  their  cour- 
age, and  had  robbed  them  of  the  prospect  of  a  more  au- 
spicious future.  Not  only  the  uneducated,  but  even  the 
learned  and  the  devoted,  were  yielding  up  the  long 
cherished  Jlcssianic  ho]ie,  as  a  sweet  dream,  an  idle 
fancy,  whidi  lacked  all  chance  of  reality.  The  Jewish 
race,  they  declared,  was  bom  to  suffer  forever,  and  the 
day  would  never  come  for  deliverance  from  ojipression ; 
never  should  they  see  a  day  of  freedom  and  indepen- 
dence. This  hopeless  and  hapless  condition  of  his  coun- 
trymen determined  the  learned  Jewish  rabbi  Abrabanel 
(q.  V.)  to  employ  his  i)cn  in  defence  of  the  O.-T.  Script- 
ures, and  of  .Jewish  interpretation.  Aware  that  if  tliis 
spirit  of  discontent  and  unbelief  were  suffered  to  grow  it 
would  result  in  tlie  ultimate  defunction  of  the  Jewish 
ranks,  he  essayed  to  combat  it  by  inspiring  them  anew 


MESSIAH 


143 


MESSIAH 


with  the  prospects  of  an  early  dehvery  from  oppression, 
and  the  dawn  of  a  happy  change.  Though  hoary  with 
age,  he  -(vrote  with  trembUng  hands  book  after  book  to 
explain  the  principal  jNIessianic  passages  of  the  O.  T., 
especially  those  of  Daniel,  and  argued  that  Israel  could 
safely  depend  upon  a  glorious  future,  and  that  the  day 
of  the  Messiah  was  near  at  hand.  He  even  went  so  far 
as  to  determine  the  date,  and  fixed  upon  1503  as  the 
year  of  their  delivery.  As  a  leader  in  Israel,  Abraba- 
nel's  word  commanded  attention,  and  the  wretched  peo- 
ple were  encouraged  to  take  new  hope. 

At  such  a  moment  there  was  room  for  imposition,  and 
it  came  immediately  with  the  very  opening  of  the  IGth 
century.  Enthusiasts  declared  that  the  time  had  ar- 
rived for  removal  to  the  Holy  Land,  to  anticipate  the 
change  so  near  at  hand.  One  German  rabbi,  Ascher 
Liimmlein  (or  Liimmlin),  a  resident  within  the  Austrian 
dominions,  actually  gave  himself  out  as  the  forerunner 
of  the  approaching  INIessiah,  and,  as  pseudo-John,  about 
A.D.  1502,  called  the  people  to  repentance,  and  urged  an 
immediate  removal  to  the  East.  He  pulled  down  his  own 
house,  presaging  that  by  another  year- he  and  his  breth- 
ren who  would  follow  him  should  live  in  peace  under  the 
reign  of  the  "  King  of  the  Jews."  Liimmlein  lived  near 
Venice,  but  his  admonitions  travelled  all  through  Ger- 
many, Italy,  Spain,  and  France.  Every^v'here  his  cause 
made  converts;  even  Christians  are  said  to  have  be- 
lieved in  his  mission  (see  Grittz,  Gesck.  d.  Jiiden,  ix,  243). 
But  the  prophet  died  suddenly,  and  all  hopes  lay  pros- 
trate in  the  dust.  The  agony  of  the  people,  so  basely 
deceived,  lacks  description.  A  few  flocked  to  the  cross 
of  Christ,  and  in  this  their  most  trying  hour  declared 
that  Jesus  was  the  Christ;  but  the  greater  number,  with 
that  stubbornness  characteristic  of  the  Shemitic  race, 
yet  refused  to  look  for  help  from  the  (/reat  Physician. 

The  Messiah-hope  still  lingered,  however  fainth^,  in 
the  heart  of  the  Jew,  jiarticularly  in  the  Iberian  penin- 
sula, where  he  now  suffered  most ;  and  it  was  not  long 
before  a  new  impostor  arose  to  abuse  the  confidence  of 
his  much  dejected  brethren.  This  time  the  pretender 
played  his  part  more  acutely,  and  it  was  some  time  be- 
fore his  deception  was  discovered.  During  the  eventful 
reigu  of  Charles  V  a  person  suddenly  turned  up  at  the 
court  of  the  king  of  Portugal,  who,  calling  himself  Ba- 
vil  Keubeni,  declared  that  he  had  come  from  India  as 
ambassador  of  his  brother,  the  king  of  the  Jews,  to 
propose  an  alliance  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land 
from  the  Mussulman.  He  had  so  carefully  prepared 
himself  for  his  role  that  he  appeared  natural,  and  his 
story  apparently  bore  truth  upon  its  face.  He  readily 
found  I'riends  both  among  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  he 
was  favorably  received  wherever  he  went.  To  persuade 
the  Iberian  government  of  tlie  verity  of  his  mission,  he 
had  brought  papers  confirming  his  claims;  and  he  kept 
at  such  a  respectful  distance  from  the  Jews  that  tliey 
became  doubly  anxious  to  approach  him.  Those  who 
had  been  forcibly  converted  to  Christianity  fairly  wor- 
shipped the  ground  he  had  stood  upon ;  and  great  was 
the  joy  among  the  Jews  of  Italy  when  David  found  favor 
in  the  eyes  of  Clement  VII  (1523-3-4),  and  gained  dis- 
tinctions at  the  papal  court.  In  the  midst  of  his  successes 
he  was  joined  by  one  Solomon  Molcho  (q.  v.),  a  Portu- 
guese New-Christian,  who  openly  apostatized  to  Juda- 
ism, and  set  up  as  the  prophet  of  the  movement.  He  sub- 
mitted to  circumcision,  and  in  many  other  ways  sought 
to  prove  his  sincerity.  At  first  he  travelled  with  David, 
but,  anxious  to  visit  the  Holy  Land,  he  parted  with  the 
prince  and  set  out  for  the  East.  On  his  return  he  visited 
Clement  VII,  and  found  even  greater  favor  with  the  pope 
than  David.  Indeed,  Molcho  enjoyed  Clement's  protec- 
tion thereafter,  and,  though  an  apostate,  he  was  suffered 
to  pour  out  his  apocalyptic  rhapsodies  without  restraint. 
But  he  finally  came  to  a  woful  end.  He  had  met  David 
again,  and  together  tliey  had  gone  to  Ratisbon,  the  seat 
of  Charles  V,  to  convert  the  emperor.  Charles  was  liard- 
hearted,  and  both  David  and  Solomon  were  thrown  into 
prison ;  the  former  escaping,  we  hardly  know  how,  the 


latter  expiating  his  daring  at  the  stake.  This  put  an 
end  to  the  INIessiah  promises  of  the  16th  century. 

In  the  17th  century  the  first  false  Christ  arose  in  the 
East  Indies,  A.D.  1615,  and  was  largely  followed  by  the 
Portuguese  Jews  who  are  scattered  over  that  countrj*. 
Another  in  the  Low  Countries  declared  himself  to  be  the 
Messiah  of  the  family  of  David,  and  of  the  line  of  Na- 
than, A.D.  1624.  He  promised  to  destroy  Pome,  and  to 
overthrow  the  kingdom  of  Antichrist  and  the  Turkish 
empire. 

The  year  1666  was  a  year  of  great  expectation,  and 
some  Avonderful  thing  was  looked  for  by  many.  This 
was  a  fit  time  for  an  impostor  to  set  up,  and  accordingly 
lying  reports  were  carried  about.  It  was  said  that 
great  multitudes  marched  from  unknown  parts  to  the 
remote  deserts  of  Arabia,  and  they  were  supposed  to  be 
the  ten  tribes  of  Israel,  who  had  been  dispersed  for  many 
ages ;  that  a  ship  had  arrived  in  the  north  part  of  Scot- 
land with  sails  and  cordage  of  silk ;  that  the  mariners 
spoke  nothing  but  Hebrew ;  that  on  the  sails  was  this 
motto,  "  The  Twelve  Tribes  of  Israel."  The  auspicious 
moment- was  embraced  to  advantage  hy  one  Sahhathai 
Zebi  (q.  v.),  the  greatest  of  all  Jewish  pretenders,  who 
made  a  great  noise,  and  gained  a  great  number  of  pros- 
elytes. He  was  born  at  Aleppo,  and  imposed  on  the 
Jews  for  a  considerable  time  with  great  success  as  "  King 
of  the  kings  of  the  earth ;"  but  wlien  the  Turkish  gov- 
ernment, under  whose  protection  he  lived,  questioned 
his  wholesome  influence  on  the  people,  he  forsook  the 
Jews  and  turned  jMohammedan  for  the  sake  of  saving  his 
life,  which  he  believed  in  danger — a  presentiment  that 
proved  but  too  true,  for  he  \vas  finally  beheaded.  Sab- 
bathai  Zebi's  influence  is  still  incalculable ;  he  demands 
so  much  notice  at  our  hands  that  we  refer  our  readers 
to  the  special  article  under  his  name.  Suffice  it  to  say 
here  that  this  man  formed  a  considerable  sect,  wliich— 
notwithstanding  that  the  conduct  of  its  founder  might, 
one  would  suppose,  have  disabused  the  most  blind  and 
fanatic  enthusiasm — long  existed,  and  stiU  continues  to 
exist. 

Another  false  Christ  that  made  any  considerable  num- 
ber of  converts  was  one  rabbi  Mordecai,  a  Jew  of 
Germany :  he  appeared  A.D.  1682.  It  was  not  long  be- 
fore he  was  found  out  to  be  an  impostor,  and  was  obliged 
to  flee  from  Italy  to  Poland  to  save  his  life :  what  be- 
came of  him  afterwards  does  not  seem  to  be  recorded. 
About  the  middle  of  the  18th  century  an  extraordinary 
adventurer,  named  Frank,  by  birth  a  Polish  Jew,  and  by 
profession,  in  his  younger  days,  a  distiller  of  brand}', 
suddenly  came  to  the  front,  and  revived  the  expiring 
Sabbathaic  party  by  the  propagation  of  a  new  creed, 
which  leaned  towards  Christianity,  while  it  was  really 
neither  that  nor  Judaism.  This  lofty  eclectic  rejected 
the  Talmud,  but  insisted  on  a  hidden  sense  in  the  Script- 
ures. He  admitted  the  trinity  and  the  incarnation  of 
the  Deity,  but  preserved  an  artful  ambiguitj'  as  to  the 
person  in  whom  the  Deify  was  incarnate.  He  was  liim- 
self  a  believer  in  Sabbathai  Zebi.  and  yet  he  dared  not  to 
speak  out  against  Christ;  consequently  he  preferred  to 
leave  the  question  unsettled,  until  his  connection  with 
the  Christian  world  seemed  to  demand  a  more  decided 
confession,  when  he  openly  embraced  Christianity  as  a 
member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  In  his  last 
years  he  flourished  as  '•  baron"  Frank,  and  his  followers 
dared  even  to  presume  that  he  was  of  roj'al  lineage,  and 
closely  related  to  the  reigning  house  of  Russia.  The 
extent  of  his  influence  may  be  fairly  estimated  by  our 
readers  when  we  tell  them  that  800  persons  attended  his 
funeral.  A  cross  was  set  up  over  his  tomb.  For  some 
time  a  daughter  whom  he  had  left  guided  his  followers ; 
but  these  gradually  dispersed,  and,  deprived  of  pecuni- 
ary aid,  the  family  of  Frank  gave  to  the  world  a  work 
written  by  him  many  years  before  his  decease,  counsel- 
ling the  Jews  to  embrace  the  Christian  religion.  See 
Fkank,  Jacob.  Frank  evidently  preferred  to  continue 
the  work  of  Sabbathai  Zebi  rather  than  declare  himself 
a  Messiah.     He  frequently  declared  that  his  missioa 


MESSIAH 


144 


MESSINA 


was  to  unite  together  all  religions,  sects,  and  confessions. 
Among  the  paradoxical  opinions  he  is  said  to  have  ad- 
vanced was  the  idea  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  still 
upon  earth,  and  that  he  would  soon  again  send  forth 
^■elve  apostles  to  publish  the  (iospel.  All  that  now 
remains  of  the  Frankists  is  contained  within  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  of  I'oland ;  tlicy  are  therefore  virtually 
Christians,  thougli  distinguishing  themselves  by  marked 
remains  of  Judaism.  Some  consider  that  they  still  re- 
tain in  secret  a  belief  in  the  religion  of  the  synagogue. 
They  are  found  in  I'oland,  especially  at  "Warsaw,  dis- 
persed among  all,  even  the  highest,  classes  of  society, 
chiefly  in  the  profession  of  law  and  medicine.  They 
are  said  to  have  taken  a  considerable  share  in  the  Avar 
of  insurrection  against  Russia  in  the  year  1830;  it  has 
even  been  said  that  the  chief  of  the  Frankists  was  a 
member  of  the  Diet  of  Poland,  and  afterwards  obliged 
to  take  refuge  as  an  exile  in  France.  But  little  is 
known  of  them  at  jiresent,  as  they  mix  so  largely  with 
the  Christians  as  such. 

In  our  own  day  the  IMessiah  question  is  again  en- 
livened b)'  the  appearance  of  new  claimants.  One  of 
these  lately  made  his  debut  in  the  far  East,  at  Sana,  in 
tiie  kingdom  of  Yemen,  and  created  much  excitement, 
which  lias  scarcely  subsided  yet.  The  well-known 
Eastern  traveller,  baron  De  Maltzahn,  furnishes  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  this  modern  IMessiah  of  the  Orient : 
The  pretender,  of  a  fascinating  exterior,  remarkably 
brilliant  eyes,  and  a  melodious  voice,  after  studying  the 
mysteries  of  the  great  cabalistical  work,  the  Zohar, 
withdrew  from  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men,  and 
eventually  retired  into  a  desert,  where  he  submitted  to 
bodily  mortifications  and  self-denial.  He  soon  became 
distinguished  as  a  worker  of  miracles,  and  as  such  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  superstitious  Bedouins. 
These,  seeking  to  obtain  his  good  graces,  brought  vari- 
ous descriptions  of  food,  and  were  pleased  that  he  con- 
descended to  accept  their  offerings.  The  increase  of 
their  flocks  and  of  their  household,  and  even  their 
success  in  the  attack  upon  hostile  troops,  were  attrib- 
uted to  the  power  pecidiar  to  this  worker  of  mar- 
vels. His  reputation  spread  far  and  wide  among  the 
Arabian  population,  and  many  incredible  stories  were 
circulated  about  tliis  "wise  man."  It  was  said  of  him 
that  his  face  had  the  splendor  of  the  sun ;  that  the 
name,  "Son  of  David,"  was  engraved  upon  his  hand; 
that  he  possessed  the  valuable  power  of  discovering  treas- 
ures; that  he  was  invulnerable,  etc.  His  Jewish  com- 
patriots, not  pleased  with  the  connection  between  their 
favorite  scholar  and  the  members  of  a  strange  religion. 
were  about  to  bring  him  back  to  his  own  Y>e<>ple,  wlien 
a  sudden  calamity  gave  the  position  of  this  man  a  new 
turn.  An  epidemic  broke  out  among  the  flocks  of  the 
Bedouins,  who  in  consequence  of  this  calamity  were  in 
a  short  time  reduced  to  extreme  want.  These  changes 
in  the  fortune  of  the  Arabs  were  assigned  to  the  secret 
influence  of  the  mysterious  man.  It  was  then  remem- 
bered that  he  was  a  Jew,  and  he  all  at  once  became  the 
object  of  bitter  hatred.  The  recluse  had  meanwhile 
quilted  his  solitude  and  returned  to  his  native  place. 
Here  he  was  declared,  chiefly  by  the  Arabs,  to  be  a 
Messiah,  and  he  became  a  dreaded  and  unapproachable 
power  even  in  the  eyes  of  his  fiercest  enemies.  His 
Jewish  countrymen  were  in  expectation  that  he  would 
crush  the  Arabs  and  lead  his  own  brethren  to  the  Holy 
Land.  His  healed  imagination  accepted  tlic  messianic 
part  which  the  delusion  of  the  people  had  conferred  upon 
iiim;  and  lie  behehl  in  the  opinion  of  tlie  midtitude  an 
cvidiiicf  of  his  high  mission.  He  received  everywhere 
niuniliceiit  presents,  lived  in  a  princely  style,  was  rev- 
erenced liy  his  own  people,  and  dreaded  by  the  Moslems, 
until  some  daring  Arabs  linally  waylaid  and  killed  him, 
and  thus  proved  that  he  was  vulnerable.  But  supersti- 
tion is  more  invulnerable  than  false  Jlessiahs.  A  ri 
Shocher  (such  was  bis  name)  is  not  considered  as  dead 
by  his  followers.  He  apjicared  after  the  murder,  they 
say,  uuder  another  form,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sana, 


and  proclaimed  that,  at  a  later  time,  he  would 
again  his  former  shape.  The  government  has  taken 
steps  to  seize  him,  but  he  has  since  disappeared,  and  his 
present  whereabouts  are  unknown. 

Very  recently  "  a  new  Messiah,"  writes  the  Frcmden- 
hlatt  (August,  1872),  "  has  made  his  appearance,  and  he 
has  been  graciously  pleased  to  address  his  first  otlicial 
communication  to  the  Jewish  congregation  of  Berlin. 
The  royal '  whom  it  may  concern'  bore  a  seal  which  had 
on  it  tlie  crown  of  Israel,  the  shield  of  David,  and  the 
following  words  as  motto:  '/,o  btchail  relo  behoach  ki 
im  beruchi,  amur  Adonui  Zebaol/i — not  with  power,  nor 
with  force,  but  with  my  Spirit,  says  the  L<jrd  Zebaoth.' 
The  congregation  is  commanded  to  cause  to  be  pro- 
claimed in  the  synagogue  the  commemoration  day  of  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  that  thenceforth  that  day  shall 
be  celebrated  no  longer  as  a  day  of  mourning,  but  as  a 
day  of  joy  and  jubilation,  because  he, '  Jtkiithhl,  king  of 
Israel,'  has  come,  and  is  about  to  assume  the  throne  of 
his  empire  as  the  veritable  Messiah.  Should  they  re- 
fuse to  carry  out  his  behest,  he  will  pour  out  the  vial  of 
his  anger  on  the  unljelievers,  and  the  infidels  will  fall 
under  the  ban  of  excommunication,  on  his  entering  Ber- 
lin. The  communication  is  accompanied  by  a  memo- 
rial containing  the  rules  of  government  which  '  Jeku- 
thiel,  the  king  of  Israel,'  prescribes  for  the  government 
of  his  people,  and  a  copy  of  the  diplomatic  notes  which 
his  royal  majesty  has  caused  to  be  transmitted  to  the 
Porte  and  the  other  great  powers  for  a  peaceable  cession 
of  Palestine  and  Sj'ria."  Although  a  year  has  ))assed 
since  he  issued  his  address,  nothing  has  been  heard  of 
his  entry  into  the  new  capital  of  the  German  emy>ire. 

See  Biixtorf,  Lex.  C/uikl.  Talm.  et  Rabbin.  (Basle, 
1G40,  fol.),  coll.  1267  sq. ;  id.  Stpiofioga  Juduka,  ch. 
i;  Hulsius,  Tlieol.  .fiid.  (Bredw,  1053,  4to) ;  Pocock, 
Theol.  Works,  i,  159  sq. ;  Johannes  i\  Lent,  Hist,  of 
False  Messiahs  (in  Ugolini's  Thesaurus,  entitled  De 
Pseudo-Messiis') ;  Eisenmenger,  Kntdecktes  Judenlhum 
(Kiinigsb.  1711,  2  vols.  4to),  ii,  647  sq.,  a  book  to  be 
read  very  guardedly;  5on\n,Retnarks  on  Eccl.  Hist. in, 
330 ;  .Birch,  De  Messia  (Havn.  1789) ;  Harris,  Sermons 
on  the  Messiah  ;  Simpson,  Key  to  the  Pi'ophecies,  sec.  9; 
Maclaurin,  On  the  Prophecies  relating  to  the  Messiah ; 
Fuller,  Jesus  the  true  Messiah;  Stehelin,  Traditions  of 
the  Jews  (Lond.  1751-52,  fol.) ;  De  Rossi,  Delia  rana  as- 
pettazione  deyli  Kbrei  dd  loro  lie  Messia  (Parma,  1773, 
4to);  Bertholdt,r7;;/.s7(//<«//a  Jud.  Jesu  apostolonnnque 
yEtate  (Erlangen,  1811)  —  convenient  but  superficial; 
Lange,  Life  of  Christ  (see  Index);  Liddon,  Dirinity  of 
Christ,  p.  69,"  77,  91 ;  Alger,  IJist.  Fut.  Life,  p.  169,  219, 
353 ;  Sadler,  Emanuel,  p.  97  sq. ;  IMilman,  Hist,  of  the 
Jews,  ii,  432  sq. ;  iii,  366 ;  Allen,  Mod.  Judaism,  \\  253 
sq. ;  Young,  Christolof/y  of  the  Turyums  (Edinb.  1853) ; 
Just,  Gesch.  der  Jsraeliten,  vol.  viii ;  Griitz,  Gesch.  der 
Juden  (see  Index  in  vol.  vi,  vii,  viii,  and  x);  Michel 
Nicolas,  Des  doctrines  rel.  des  Juifs pendant  lis  deux  sie- 
cles  anterieurs  a  Vere  Chretienne  (Paris,  1860,  8vo),  p. 
266  sq.  i  h&ngcn,  J udenth.  zur  Zt it  Christi  (Frcib.  1866), 
p.  391  s(|. ;  (irau,  Semiten  vnd  Jndoyermaucn  (2tl  ed. 
Stuttg.  1867,  sm.  8vo),  Introd.  and  chap,  v;  Rule,  Ka- 
raites (Lond.  1870,  12mo),  p.  132  sq. ;  Jouni.  Sac.  Lit, 
1873,  Jan.  art.  viii;  Jahrb.  deutsch.  Theol.  1867,  ii,  340 
sq. ;  Chiislian  Examiner,  1869,  p.  96;  Enyl.  Rer.  \iii, 
182;  Christian  Monthly,  1844,  Nov.  p.  581;  Aational 
Rei:  April,  1863,  p.  466  sq.;  1864,  p.  554  sq.;  Old  and 
Xeu;  1870,  Ajiril,  p.  545;  Neic-Enylandir,  v,  360  sq.;  x, 
102  sq.;  Jiiblioth.  Sac.  xi,  609  sq. ;  Hamburger,  Real- 
Encyklop.f.  hibel  u.  Talmud,  art.  Jlessias.     (J.  II.  W.) 

Messi'as  (Mffffriat,),  the  Gnecizcd  form  (John  i, 
41 ;  iv,  25)  of  the  Heb.  thle  Messiah  (q.  v.),  translated 
Christ. 

Messina,  Axtoxeixa  da,  an  Italian  painter,  was 
born  at  Messina  some  time  between  1414  and  1426; 
studied  in  the  Xelherlands  in  the  school  of  Joliann  van 
Eyck,  where  be  learned  the  secret  of  the  i)reiiaration 
and  use  of  oil-colors,  and  spread  the  knowledge  of  it 


MESTREZAT 


145 


METAL 


afterwards  among  the  Venetians.  Authors  differ  wide- 
ly as  to  this  artist,  and  very  little  is  known  of  his  life. 
His  principal  works  are  the  head  oi  Sf.  Sebastian  and  a 
Mtt'liiiiiiii  11/"/  Child,  in  the  Berlin  Jluseum.  A  Christ 
boinul  to  II  I'illiir  is  in  the  Manfrini  Gallery  at  Venice, 
and  a  Dend  Christ,  with  three  weeping  angels,  in  the 
Imperial  Gallery  of  Vienna.  A  Crucijixion,  with  the 
Virgin  and  St.  John,  is  in  the  Antwerp  Museum ;  and 
in  the  Academy  of  Venice  is  a  Weeping  Nun.  Two  altar- 
pieces  by  him  are  recorded,  which  were  painted  for  the 
two  churches  of  the  -Dominante,  besides  several  ]\Ia- 
donnas  and  sacred  subjects  for  individuals.  He  died 
about  1490.  See  Vasari,  Lives  of  the  Painters,  transl.  by 
Foster  (London,  1850,  5  vols.  8vo),  ii,  55  ;  Spooner,  Bio- 
graphical History  of  the  Fine  Arts  (N.  Y.  18G5,  2  vols. 
8vo),  vol.  ii,  s.v. 

Mestrezat,  Jean,  a  distinguished  French  Prot- 
estant theologian,  was  born  at  Geneva  in  1592.  He 
studied  theology  at  Saumur,  and  was  in  1615  appoint- 
ed pastor  at  Charenton,  near  Paris,  which  position  he 
held  until  his  death,  May  2, 1657.  He  took  part  in  the 
national  synod  held  at  Charenton  in  1623,  and  presided 
over  that  of  1631.  Among  the  important  events  of  his 
life,  we  must  mention  three  public  conferences  he  held, 
the  first  with  P.  Veron,  a  Jesuit,  the  great  polemic  of 
his  order ;  the  second  with  P.  Eegourd,  in  the  presence 
of  Anne  of  Austria ;  and  the  third  with  abbot  De  Retz 
(afterwards  cardinal),  who  relates  the  most  striking  feat- 
ures of  it  in  his  Meinoires.  Mestrezat  was  distinguished 
for  his  inflexible  firmness  of  purpose.  It  is  said  that  he 
once  defended  the  cause  of  Protestantism  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  cardinal  De  Richelieu  with  so  much  vivacity 
that  that  prelate  could  not  help  remarking,  "  Here  is 
the  most  daring  minister  in  France."  Like  his  col- 
league Daille  (q.  v.),  he  inclined  towards  the  views  of 
the  theologians  of  Saumur  concerning  hypothetical  uni- 
versalism.  His  most  important  works  are :  De  la  Com- 
muuiim  de  Jesus  Christ  au  sacrement  de  V Eucharistie, 
contre  les  Cardinaux  Bellai-min  et  Du  Peri'on  (Sedan, 
162-4, 8vo)  : — Traite  de  VEcriture  Sainte,  contre  le  Jesuite 
Regourd  et  le  Cardinal  Du  Perron  (Gen.  1642,  8vo) : — 
Traite  de  VEglise  (Gen.  1649,  4to) :  —  Sermons  sur  la 
venue  et  hi  nuissanre  de  Jesus  Christ  au  mond^  (Gen.  1649, 
8vo) : — '^rniuins  sur  les  chapitres  XII  <t  Xllfde  UEpi- 
ire  au.v  Ifrhnux  ((icn.  1655,  8vo) : — Mugt  sermons  sur 
dirers  te.rtes  (Sedan,  1625, 12mo;  Gen.  1658,  8vo).  See 
Meinoir<s  du  Conlinal  de  Retz  (Petitot's  collection), 
xliv,  130;  Bayle,  Diet.  Hist.;  Senebier,  Hist.  Litt.  de 
Geneve;  llaag, La F?-ance Protest. \-ii,-iOO;  Andre, Essai 
sur  les  (Buvres  de  J.  Mestrezat  (Strasb.  1847) ;  Hoefer, 
Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  xxxv,  184;  Herzog,  Real-Encgkl. 
ix,  443 ;  A.Vinct,  I/isf.  de  la  Predication,  p.  143.  (J.  N.  P.) 

Mestrezat,  Philippe,  a  Reformed  theologian, 
son  of  Jean,  was  born  at  Geneva.  In  1641  he  was  a 
professor  of  pliilosophy  in  his  native  city;  in  1644  the 
pastor  of  a  church;  and  in  1649  a  professor  of  theology. 
He  acquired  the  reputation  of  being  an  original  think- 
er and  a  good  preacher.  He  died  at  Geneva  in  1690. 
He  publislied  many  dissertations,  among  which  may 
be  mentioned:  De  UnionePcrsonaruin  in  Christo  (Gen. 
1682,  4to)  : — De  Communicatione  idioiiKitum  toti  Christo 
facta  (ibid.  1675,  4to)  : — De  Tolennitin  fnitrum  dissi- 
dentium  in  prcBterfundamentalibus  (1G63,  4to)  : — Qucss- 
tionum  /ihilosophico-theologicaruni  de  libero  arbiti-io  De- 
cas  (1655,  4to).  See  Senebier,  Hist.  Litter,  de  Geneve; 
Hoefer,  Xouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Metabolism  (from  fierajSdXXw,  to  change)  is  a 
term  coined  by  the  German  theologian  Ruckert  to  de- 
scribe the  doctrinal  views  of  the  Christian  fathers  Ig- 
natius, Justin,  and  Irenreus  on  the  Lord's  Supper.  They 
stand  midway  between  strict  transubstantiation  and  the 
merely  symbolical  view,  and  hold  fast  to  an  objective 
union  of  the  sensible  with  the  supersensible.  See 
Lord's  Supper;  Zwingle. 

Metagnostics  is  a  synonyme  oi  metaphysics  (q.v.) 

(from  f.uTa,  beyond,  and  yvihciiQ,  knowledge),  because  it 

VI.— K 


transcends  common  knowledge.  This  name,  of  course, 
might  be  given  to  the  whole  system  of  philosophy. 

Metal,  a  term  that  nowhere  occurs  in  the  Auth.Ver., 
although  the  various  metals  and  operations  with  them 
are  frequently  referred  to.  In  the  following  article,  we 
chiefly  make  use  of  those  in  Kitto's  and  Smith's  dic- 
tionaries. 

The  mountains  of  Palestine  contained  metals,  nor 
were  the  Hebrews  ignorant  of  the  fact  (Deut.  viii,  9) ; 
but  they  do  not  appear  to  have  understood  the  art  of 
mining,  unless  indeed  the  numerous  allusions  apparent- 
ly to  mining  operations  in  Job  xxviii  are  an  evidence 
that  these  were  carried  on  in  the  period  of  the  mon- 
archy. See  Mine.  They  therefore  obtained  from  oth- 
ers the  superior  as  well  as  the  inferior  metals,  and 
worked  them  up.  They  received  also  metal  utensils 
ready  made,  or  metal  in  plates  (Jer.  x,  9),  from  neigh- 
boring and  distant  countries  of  Asia  and  Europe.  The 
Hebrews,  in  common  with  other  ancient  nations,  were 
acquainted  with  nearly  all  the  metals  known  to  mod- 
ern metallurgy,  whether  as  the  products  of  their  own 
soil  or  the  results  of  intercourse  with  foreigners.  The 
trade  in  these  metals  was  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the 
Phoenicians  (Ezek.  xxvii,  7),  who  obtained  them  from 
their  colonies,  principally  those  in  Spain  (Jer.  x,  9; 
Ezek.  xxvii,  12).  Some  also  came  from  Arabia  (Ezek. 
xxvii,  19),  and  some  apparently  from  the  country  of  the 
Caucasus  (Ezek.  xxvii,  13). 

I.  One  of  the  earliest  geographical  definitions  is  the 
one  describing  the  country  of  Havilah  as  the  land 
which  abounded  in  gold,  and  the  gold  of  which  Avas 
good  (Gen.  ii,  11, 12).  The  first  artist  in  metals  was  a 
Cainite,  Tubal-cain,  the  son  of  Lamech,  the  forger  or 
sharpener  of  every  instrument  of  copper  (A.  V.  "  brass") 
and  iron  (Gen.  iv,  22).  "  Abraham  was  very  rich  in  cattle, 
in  silver,  and  in  gold"  (Gen.  xiii,  2) ;  silver,  as  will  be 
shown  hereafter,  being  the  medium  of  commerce,  while 
gold  existed  in  the  shape  of  ornaments  during  the  pa- 
triarchal ages.  The  vast  quantity  of  silver  and  gold 
used  in  the  Temple  in  the  time  of  Solomon,  and  oth- 
erwise possessed  by  the  Jews  during  the  flourishing 
time  of  the  nation,  is  very  remarkable,  under  what- 
ever interpretation  we  regard  such  texts  as  1  Chron. 
xxii,  14 ;  xxix,  4,  etc.  In  like  manner,  we  find  among 
other  ancient  Asiatic  nations,  and  also  among  the  Ro- 
mans, extraordinary  wealth  in  gold  and  silver  vessels 
and  ornaments  of  jewelry.  As  all  the  accounts,  received 
from  sources  so  various,  cannot  be  founded  on  exagger- 
ation, we  may  rest  assured  that  the  precious  metals 
were  in  those  ancient  times  obtained  abundantly  from 
mines — gold  from  Africa,  India,  and  perhaps  even  then 
from  Northern  Asia ;  and  silver  principally  from  Spain. 

Tin  is  first  mentioned  among  the  spoils  of  the  Mid- 
ianites  which  were  taken  when  Balaam  was  slain 
(Numb,  xxxi,  22),  and  lead  is  used  to  heighten  the  im- 
agery of  Moses's  triumphal  song  (Exod.  xv,  10). 

Whether  the  ancient  Hebrews  were  acquainted  with 
steel,  properly  so  called,  is  uncertain ;  the  words  so  ren- 
dered in  the  A.  V.  (2  Sam.  xxii,  35 ;  Job  xx,  24 ;  Psa. 
xviii,  34;  Jer.  xv,  12)  are  in  all  other  passages  trans- 
lated bi-ass,  and  would  be  more  correctly  copper.  The 
"northern  iron"  of  Jer.  xv,  12  is  believed  by  commenta- 
tors to  be  iron  hardened  and  tempered  by  some  pecul- 
iar process,  so  as  more  nearly  to  correspond  to  what  we 
call  steel  (q.  v.) ;  and  the  "  flaming  torches"  of  Nah.  ii, 
3  are  probably  the  flashing  steel  scythes  of  the  war- 
chariots  which  should  come  against  Nineveh. 

Besides  the  simple  metals,  it  is  supposed  that  the 
Hebrews  used  the  mixture  of  copper  and  tin  known 
as  bronze,  and  probably  in  all  cases  in  which  copper  is 
mentioned  as  in  any  way  manufactured,  bronze  is  to  be 
understood  as  the  metal  indicated.  But  Avith  regard  to 
the  chashmal  (A.  V.  "  amber")  of  Ezek.  i,  4,  27  ;  viii,  2, 
rendered  by  the  Sept.  i]XiKTf)ov,  and  the  Vulg.  electrum, 
by  which  our  translators  were  misled,  there  is  consider- 
able difhculty.  Whatever  be  the  meaning  of  chashmal, 
for  which  no  satisfactory  etymology  has  been  proposed, 


IVIETAL 


14G 


METAL 


there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  by  t/XiKrpov  the  Sept.  | 
translators  intended,  not  the  fossil  resin  known  by  that 
name  to  the  (ireeks  and  to  us  as  "  amber,"  but  the  i 
metal  so  called,  which  consisted  of  a  mixture  of  four 
parts  of  gold  with  one  of  silver,  described  by  Pliny 
(xxxiii,  23)  as  more  brilliant  tlian  silver  by  lamp-light.  , 
There  is  the  same  difficulty  attending  the  x^^i^oXi- 
jSavov  (Key.  i,  15;  ii,  1«;  A.V.  '-fine  brass"),  which  has 
hitherto  successfully  resisted  all  the  efforts  of  commen-  j 
tators,  but  which  is  explained  by  Suidas  as  a  kind  of 
electron  more  precious  than  gold.  That  it  was  a  mixed 
metal  of  great  brilliancy  is  extremely  probable,  but  it 
has  hitherto  been  impossible  to  identify  it.  Whether 
it  was  the  same  as  that  precious  compound  known  ! 
among  the  ancients  as  Corinthian  brass  is  uncertain,  but  i 
it  is  likely  that  in  later  times  the  Jews  possessed  splen- 
did vessels  of  the  costly  compound  known  by  that  name. 
Indeeii.  this  is  distinctly  affirmed  by  Josephus  {Life,  p. 
lo).     See  BuAss. 

In  addition  to  the  metals  actually  mentioned  in  the 
Bible,  it  has  been  supposed  that  merciiri/  is  alluded  to 
in  Numb,  xxxi,  23  as  "  the  water  of  separation,"  being 
"  looked  upon  as  the  mother  liy  wliicli  all  the  metals 
were  fructified,  purified,  and  brought  forth,"  and  on  this  j 
account  kept  secret,  and  only  mysteriously  hinted  at  ] 
(Napier,  Metal,  of  the  Jiible,  jntrod.  p.  6).  Mr.  Napier 
adds,  '•  There  is  not  the  slightest  foundation  for  this  sup- 
position." 

With  the  exception  of  iron,  gold  is  the  most  widely 
difTused  of  all  metals.  Almost  every  country  in  the 
world  has  in  its  turn  yielded  a  certain  supply ;  and  as  it 
is  found  most  frequently  in  alluvial  soil,  among  the 
debris  of  rocks  washed  down  by  the  torrents,  it  was 
known  at  a  very  early  period,  and  was  procured  with 
little  difficulty.  '  Tlie  existence  of  gold  and  the  preva- 
lence of  gold  ornaments  in  early  times  are  no  proof  of  a 
high  state  of  civilization,  but  rather  the  reverse,  (iold 
was  undoubtedly  used  before  the  art  of  working  iron  or 
copper  was  discovered.  We  have  no  intlications  of  gold 
streams  or  mines  in  Palestine.  The  Hebrews  obtained 
their  principal  supply  from  the  soutli  of  Arabia,  and  tlie 
commerce  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  ships  of  Hiram, 
king  of  Tyre,  brought  it  for  Solomon  (1  Kings  ix,  11 ;  x, 
ll)j  and  at  a  later  period,  when  the  Hebrew  monarch 
had  eciuipped  a  fleet  and  manned  it  witli  Tyrian  sailors, 
the  chief  of  their  freight  was  the  gold  of  Ophir  (1  Kings 
ix,  27,  28).  It  was  brought  thence  in  the  ships  of  Tar- 
shish  (1  Kings  xxii,  48),  the  Indiamen  of  the  ancient 
world;  and  I'arvaim  (2  Chron.  iii,  6),  Kaamah  (Ezck. 
xxvii,22),Sheba  (1  Kings x, 2, 10;  Psa.  Ixxii,  15;  Isa.lx, 
6 ;  Ezek.  xxvii,  22),  and  Uphaz  (Jer.  x,  9),  were  other 
sources  of  gold  for  the  markets  of  I'alestine  and  Tyre.  It 
was  probably  brought  in  the  form  of  ingots  (Josh,  vii,  21 ; 
A.  V.  "  wedge,"  lit.  "  tongue"),  and  was  rapidly  convert- 
ed into  articles  of  ornament  and  use.  Ear-rings,  or  rather 
nose-rings,  were  made  of  it — those  given  to  Rebecca  were 
half  a  shekel  ( \  »■/.^  in  weight  ((Jen.  xxiv,  22)— bracelets 
(Gen.  xxiv,  2-.'),  chains  (Gen.  xli,  42),  signets  (Exod. 
XXXV,  22),  biiUii;  or  f-iihcrical  ornaments  suspended  from 
the  neck  (Exod.  xxxv,22),  and  chains  for  the  legs  (Numb. 
xxxi,  50 ;  comp.  Isa.  iii,  18 ;  Pliny,  xxxiii,  12).  It  was 
used  in  embroidery  (Exod.  xxxix,  3 ;  2  Sam. i,  24 ;  Plinj-, 
viii,  74) ;  the  decorations  and  furniture  of  the  Tabernacle 
were  enriched  with  flic  gold  of  the  ornaments  Avhich  the 
Hebrews  willingly  otVered  (Exod.  xxxv-xl);  the  same 
precious  metal  was  lavished  u|K)n  the  Tem])le  (1  Kings 
vi,  vii);  Solomon's  throne  was  overlaid  with  gold  (1 
Kings  X,  18),  his  drinking-cups  and  tlie  vessels  of  the 
house  of  the  forest  of  Lebanon  were  of  pure  gold  (1 
Kings  X,  21),  and  the  neighboring  princes  brought  him 
as  presents  vessels  of  gold  and  silver  (1  Kings  x,  25). 
So  pleniiful  indeed  was  the  supply  of  the  precious  met- 
als during  his  reign  that  silver  was  esteemed  of  little 
worth  (1  Kings  x,  21,  27).  (iold  and  silver  were  de- 
voted to  the  fashioning  of  idolatrous  images  (Exod.  xx, 
23;  xxxii.  4;  Deut.  xxix,  17;  1  Kings  xii,  28).  The 
crown  on  the  head  of  Malcham  (A,  V.  "  their  king"), 


the  idol  of  the  Ammonites  at  Kabbah,  weighed  a  talent 
of  gold,  that  is,  125  lbs.  troy,  a  weiglit  so  great  that  it 
coidd  not  have  been  worn  by  David  among  the  ordinary 
insignia  of  royalty  (2  Sam.  xii,  30).     The  great  abun- 
dance of  gold  in  early  times  is  indicated  by  its  entering 
into  the  composition  of  every  article  of  ornament  and 
almost  all  of  domestic  use.     Among  the  sjioils  of  the 
Midianites  taken  by  the  Israelites,  in  their  bloodless 
victorj-^  when  Balaam  was  slain,  were  ear-rings  and  jew- 
els to  the  amount  of  10,750  shekels  in  gold  (Numb. xxxi, 
48-54),  equal  in  value  to  more  than  61.50,000.     1700 
shekels  of  gold  (worth  more  than  815.000)  in  nose  jew- 
els (A.  V. "  ear-rings")  alone  were  taken  by  Gideon^ 
army  from  the  slaughtered  ISIidianites  (Judg.  viii,  26). 
These  numbers,  though  large,  are  not  incredibly  great, 
when  we  consider  that  the  country  of  the  ^lidianites 
was  at  that  time  rich  in  gold  streams,  which  have  since 
been  exhausted,  and  that,  like  the  Malays  of  tlie  pres- 
ent day  and  the  Peruvians  of  the  time  of  Pizarro,  they 
carried  most  of  their  wealth  about  them.     But  the 
amount  of  treasure  accumulated  by  David  from  spoils 
taken  in  war  is  so  enormous  that  we  are  tempted  to 
conclude  tlie  numbers  exaggerated.     From   the  gold 
shields  of  Iladadezer's  army  of  Syrians  and  other  sources 
he  had  collected,  according  to  tlie  chronicler  (1  Chron. 
xxii,  1  h.  KiD.tiitii  l;ilfiil^(>r  l:oM.  and  l.niid.di  10  talents  of 
sil\cr;   tn  [\\r»-  inu-i   )»•  .■i.Mi.l  \n<  own  cintritiution  of 
3(101)  taleiiis  of  gold  ami  7000  of -ilvcr  (  1   ( 'liron.  xxix, 
2-4 ),  and  the  additional  ofteriiigs  of  the  people,  the  total 
value  of  which,  estimating  the  weight  of  a  talent  to  be 
125  lbs,  troy,  gold  at  73.«.  per  oz.,  and  silver  at  4«.4irf. 
per  oz.,  is  reckoned  by  Mr.  Napier  to  be  £tt39,929,G87. 
Some  idea  of  the  largeness  of  this  sum  may  be  formed  by 
considering  that  in  1855  the  total  amount  of  gold  in  use 
in  the  world  was  calculated  to  be  about  .*4, 100,000,000. 
Undoubtedly  the  quantity  of  the  precious  metals  pos- 
sessed  by   the    Israelites  might  be  greater  in  conse- 
quence of  their  commercial  intercourse  with  the  Pha-ni- 
cians,  who  were  masters  of  the  sea;  but  in  the  time  of 
David  they  were  a  nation  struggling  for  political  exist- 
ence, surrounded  by  powerful  enemies,  and  witliout  the 
leisure  necessary  for  developing  their  commercial  capa- 
bilities.    The  numbers  given  by  Josei)hus  (.1  nt.  vii,  14, 
2)  are  only  one  tenth  of  those  in  the  text,  but  the  sum, 
oven  when  thus  reduced,  is  still  enormous.     But  though 
gold  was  thus  common,  silver  appears  to  have  been  the 
ordinary  medium  of  commerce.     The  first  commercial 
transaction  of  which  we  possess  the  details  was  the  pur- 
chase of  Ephron's  field  by  Abraliam  for  400  shekels  of 
silver  (Gen.  xxiii,  IG);  slaves  were  bought  with  silver 
(Gen.  xvii,  12);  silver  was  the  money  paid  bj-  Abime- 
lech  as  a  compensation  to  Abraham  (Gen.  xx,  IG);  Jo- 
seph was  sold  to  the  Ishmaelite  merchants  for  twenty 
pieces  of  silver  (Gen.  xxxvii,  28) ;  and  generally  in  the 
Old  Testament,  '"money"  in  the  A.  A',  is  literally  silver. 
The  first  payment  in  gold  is  mentioned  in  1  Cliron.  xxi, 
25,  where  l)avid  buys  the  threshing-floor  of  Oman,  or 
Araunah,  the  Jebusite,  for  "  six  hundred  shekels  of  gold 
by  weight."    But  in  the  parallel  narrative  of  the  transac- 
tion in  2  Sam,  xxiv,  24,  the  price  paid  for  the  threshing- 
floor  and  the  oxen  is  fifty  shekels  of  silver.     An  attempt 
has  been  made  by  Keil  to  reconcile  these  two  jiassages, 
by  supposing  that  in  the  fornur  the  ]iiircliase  referred  to 
was  that  of  the  entire  hill  on  which  the  threshing-floor 
stood,  and  in  the  latter  that  of  the  threshing-floor  itself. 
But  the  dose  resemblance  between  the  two  narratives 
renders  it  difficult  to  accept  this  explanation,  and  to  im- 
agine that  two  different  circumstances  are  described. 
Tliat  there  is  a  discrepancy  between  the  numbers  in  2 
Sam.xxiv,9and  1  Chron.xxi,5isa<lmittcd,and  it  seems 
impossible  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  present  case 
is  but  another  instance  of  the  same  kind,     Willi  this 
one  exception  there  is  no  case  in  tlie  O,  '1',  in  which 
gold  is  alluded  to  as  a  medium  of  commerce:  the  He- 
brew coinage  may  have  been  partly  gold,  but  we  have  no 
proof  of  it.     See  Gold. 

Silver  was  brought  into  Palestine  in  the  form  of 


METAL 


147 


METAL 


plates  from  Tarshish,  with  gold  and  ivory  (I  Kings  x, 
22 ;  2  Chron.  ix,  21 ;  Jer.  x,  9).  The  accumulation  of 
■wealth  in  the  reign  of  Solomon  was  so  great  that  silver 
was  but  Uttle  esteemed :  "  the  king  made  silver  to  be  hi 
Jerusalem  as  stones"  (1  Kings  x,  21,  27).  With  the 
treasures  which  were  brought  out  of  Egypt,  not  only 
the  ornaments,  but  the  ordinary  metal-work  of  the  Tab- 
ernacle was  made.  Silver  was  employed  for  the  sockets 
of  the  boards  (Exod.  xxvi,  lil;  xxxvi,  24),  and  for  the 
hooks  of  the  pillars  and  their  liUets  (Exod.  xxxviii,  10). 
The  capitals  of  the  pillars  were  overlaid  with  it  (Exod. 
xxxviii,  17);  the  chargers  and  bowls  oifered  by  the 
princes  at  the  dedication  of  the  Tabernacle  (Numb,  vii, 
13,  etc.),  the  trumpets  for  marshalling  the  host  (Numb. 
X,  2),  and  some  of  the  candlesticks  and  tables  for  the 
Temple,  were  of  silver  (1  Chron.  xxviii,  15, 10).  It  was 
used  for  the  setting  of  gold  ornaments  (Prov.  xxv,  11) 
and  other  decorations  (Cant,  i,  11),  and  for  the  pillars  of 
Solomons  gorgeous  chariot  or  palanquin  (Cant. iii,  10). 
See  Silver. 

From  a  comparison  of  the  different  amounts  of  gold 
and  silver  collected  by  David,  it  appears  that  the  pro- 
portion of  the  former  to  the  latter  was  1  to  9  nearly. 
Three  hundred  talents  of  silver  and  thirty  talents  of  gold 
were  demanded  of  Hezekiah  by  Sennacherib  (2  Kings 
xviii,  14 ) :  but  later,  when  Pharaoh-nechoh  took  Jeho- 
ahaz  prisoner,  he  imposed  upon  the  land  a  tribute  of  100 
talents  of  silver,  and  only  one  talent  of  gold  (2  Kings 
xxili,  33).  The  difference  in  the  proportion  of  gold  to 
silver  in  these  two  cases  is  very  remarkable,  and  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  explained.     See  Monev. 

Brass,  or  more  properly  copper,  was  a  native  product 
of  Palestine,  "  a  land  whose  stones  are  iron,  and  out  of 
whose  hills  thou  mayest  dig  copper''  (Deut.  viii,  9 ;  Job 
xxviii,  2).  It  was  so  plentiful  in  the  days  of  Solomon 
that  the  quantity  employed  in  the  Temple  could  not  be 
estimated,  it  was  so  great  (1  Kings  vii,  47).  Much  of 
the  copper  which  David  had  prepared  for  this  work  was 
taken  from  the  Syrians  after  the  defeat  of  Hadadezer 
(2  Sam.  viii,  8),  and  more  was  presented  by  Toi,  king  of 
Hamath.  The  market  of  Tyre  was  supplied  with  ves- 
sels of  the  same  metal  by  the  merchants  of  Javan,  Tubal, 
and  Meshech  (Ezek.  xxvii,  13).  There  is  strong  reason 
to  believe  that  brass,  a  mixture  of  copper  and  zinc,  was 
unknown  to  the  ancients.  To  the  latter  metal  no  allu- 
sion is  found.  But  tin  was  well  known,  and  from  the  dif- 
ficulty which  attends  the  toughening  of  pure  copper  so 
as  to  render  it  fit  for  hammering,  it  is  probable  that  the 
mode  of  deoxidizing  copper  by  the  admixture  of  small 
quantities  of  tin  had  been  early  discovered.  "We  are 
inclined  to  think,"  says  Mr.  Napier,  "  that  Moses  used 
no  copper  vessels  for  domestic  purposes,  but  bronze,  the 
use  of  which  is  less  objectionable.  Bronze,  not  being  so 
subject  to  tarnish,  takes  on  a  finer  polish,  and  being 
much  more  easily  melted  and  cast,  it  probably  was 
more  extensively  used  than  copper  alone.  These  prac- 
tical considerations,  and  the  fact  that  almost  all  the 
antique  castings  and  other  articles  in  metal  which  are 
preserved  from  these  ancient  times  are  composed  of 
bronze,  prove  in  our  ojiinion  that  where  the  word  '  brass' 
occurs  in  Scripture,  except  where  it  refers  to  an  ore,  such 
as  Job  xxviii,  2  and  Deut.  viii,  9,  it  should  be  translated 
bronze"  {Mctuls  of  the  Bible,  p.  66).  Arms  (2  Sam.  xxi, 
16 ;  Job  XX,  24;  Psa.  xviii,  34)  and  armor  (1  Sam.  xvii, 
5,  6, 38)  were  made  of  this  metal,  which  was  capable  of 
being  so  wrought  as  to  admit  of  a  keen  and  hard  edge. 
The  Egyptians  employed  it  in  cutting  the  hardest  gran- 
ite. The  Mexicans,  before  the  discovery  of  iron,  "  found 
a  substitute  in  an  alloy  of  tin  and  copper;  and  with 
tools  made  of  this  bronze  they  could  cut  not  only  metals, 
but,  with  the  aid  of  silicious  dust,  the  hardest  substances, 
as  basalt,  porphjTy,  amethysts,  and  emeralds"  (Prescott, 
Cunq.  of  Mr.rico,  ch.  v).  The  great  skill  attained  by 
the  Egyptians  in  working  metals  at  a  very  early  period 
throws  light  upon  the  remarkable  facility  with  which 
the  Israelites,  during  their  wanderings  in  the  desert, 
elaborated  the  works  of  art  connected  with  the  structure 


of  the  Tabernacle,  for  which  great  acquaintance  with 
metals  was  requisite.  In  the  troublous  times  which  fol- 
lowed their  entrance  into  Palestine  this  knowledge 
seems  to  have  been  lost,  for  when  the  Temple  was  built 
the  metal-workers  employed  were  Phoenicians.  See 
Copper. 

Iron,  like  copper,  was  found  in  the  hills  of  Palestine, 
The  "  iron  mountain"  in  the  trans-Jordanic  region  is  de- 
scribed by  Josephus  ( War,  iv,  8,  2),  and  was  remarka- 
ble for  producing  a  particular  kind  of  palm  (Mishna, 
Succa,  ed.  Dachs,  p.  182).  Iron  mines  are  still  worked 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Kefr  Huneh  in  the  S.  of  the  valley 
Zaharani;  smelting-works  are  found  at  Shemuster,  three 
hours  W.  of  Baalbek,  and  others  in  the  oak-woods  at 
Masbek  (Kitter,  Erdkumle,  xvii,  73, 201) ;  but  the  method 
employed  is  the  simplest  possible,  like  that  of  the  old 
Samothracians,  and  the  iron  so  obtained  is  chiefly  used 
for  horse-shoes.     See  Iron. 

Tin  and  lead  were  both  known  at  a  very  early  period, 
though  there  is  no  distinct  trace  of  them  in  Palestine. 
The  former  was  among  the  spoils  of  the  Midianites 
(Numb,  xxxi,  22),  who  might  have  obtained  it  in  their 
intercourse  with  the  Phoenician  merchants  (comp.  Gen. 
xxxvii,  25,  36),  who  themselves  procured  it  from  Tar- 
shish (Ezek.  xxvii,  12)  and  the  tin  countries  of  the  West. 
The  allusions  to  it  in  the  Old  Testament  principally 
point  to  its  admixture  with  the  ores  of  the  precious 
metals  (Isa.  i,  25 ;  Ezek.  xxii,  18,  20).  It  must  have  oc- 
curred in  the  composition  of  bronze :  the  Assyrian  bowls 
and  dishes  in  the  British  Museum  are  found  to  contain 
one  part  of  tin  to  ten  of  copper.  "  The  tin  was  probably 
obtained  from  Phoenicia,  and  consequently  that  used  in 
the  bronzes  in  the  British  ]\Iuseum  may  actually  have 
been  exported,  nearly  three  thousand  years  ago,  from 
the  British  Isles"  (Layard,  Nin.  and  Bab.  p.  191).  See 
Lead;  Tix. 

Antimony  (2  Kings  ix,  30  ;  Jer.  iv,  30;  A.  V.  "paint- 
ing"), in  the  form  of  powder,  was  used  by  the  Hebrew 
women,  like  the  kohl  of  the  Arabs,  for  coloring  their  eye- 
lids and  eyebrows.     See  Paint. 

III.  As  "above  stated,  the  invention  of  the  metallurgic 
arts  is  in  Scripture  ascribed  to  Tubal-cain  (Gen.  iv,  22). 
In  later  times  the  manufacture  of  useful  utensils  and  im- 
plements in  metals  seems  to  have  been  carried  on  to  a 
considerable  extent  among  the  Israelites,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  frequent  allusions  to  them  by  the  poets 
and  prophets.  But  it  does  not  appear  that,  in  the  finer 
and  more  elaborate  branches  of  this  great  art,  they  made 
much,  if  any,  progress  during  the  flourishing  times  of 
their  commonwealth ;  and  it  will  be  remembered  that 
Solomon  Avas  obliged  to  obtain  assistance  from  the  Phoe- 
nicians in  executing  the  metal  work  of  the  Temple  (1 
Kings  vii,  13).  Among  the  ancient  Egyptians  the  op- 
erations of  metallurgy  were  carried  to  great  perfection, 
as  the  delineations  extant  upon  the  monuments  still  tes- 
tify (see  Wilkinson,  ii,  133  sq.).  The  Assyrians  like- 
wise had  made  great  proficiency  in  the  same  art  (see 
Layard's  Nineveh,  ii,  315  sq. ;  Nin.  and  Bah.  p.  191  sq.). 

The  Hebrew  workers  in  iron,  and  especially  such  as 
made  arms,  were  frequently  carried  away  by  the  differ- 
ent conquerors  of  the  Israelites  (1  Sam.  xiii,  19 ;  2  Kings 
xxiv,  14, 15;  Jer.  xxiv,  1 ;  xxix,2);  which  is  one  cir- 
cumstance among  others  to  show  the  high  estimation 
in  which  this  branch  of  handicraft  was  anciently  held. 

The  following  are  the  metallic  manufactures  named 
in  the  Old  Testament :  Of  iron,  axes  (Deut.  xix,  5-2 ; 
2  Kings  vi,  5) ;  saws  (2  Sam.  xii,  31) ;  stone-cutters' 
tools  (Deut.  xxvii,  5) ;  sauce-pans  (Ezek.  iv,  3) ;  bolts, 
chains,  knives,  etc.,  but  especially  weapons  of  war  (1 
Sam.  xvii,  7 ;  1  Mace,  vi,  33).  Bedsteads  even  were 
sometimes  made  of  iron  (Deut.  iii,  11);  "chariots  of 
iron,"  i.  e.  war-chariots,  are  noticed  frequently.  Of  cop- 
per we  find  vessels  of  all  kinds  (Lev.  vi,  28 ;  Numb,  xvi, 
39;  2  Chron.  iv,  16;  Ezek.  viii,  27);  and  also  weapons  of 
war,  principally  helmets,  cuirasses,  shields,  spears  (1  Sam. 
xvii,  5;  vi,38;  2  Sam.  xxi,  16)  ;  also  chains  (Judg.  xvi, 
21) ;  and  even  mirrors  (Exod.  xxxviii,  8).     Gold  and 


METALLURGY 


148 


METAPHRASTES 


silver  furnished  articles  of  ornament,  also  vessels,  such 
as  cups,  goblets,  etc.  The  holy  vessels  of  the  Temple 
were  mostly  of  gold  (lizra  v,  14).  Idolaters  had  idols 
and  other  sacred  objects  of  silver  (Exod.  xx,  20 ;  Isa.  ii, 
20 ;  Acts  xvii,  2'J :  xix,  24).  Lead  is  mentioned  as  be- 
ing used  for  weights,  and  for  plumb-lines  in  measuring 
(Amos  vii,  7 ;  Zech,  v,  H).  .Some  of  the  tools  of  work- 
ers iu  metal  are  also  mentioned :  SI'S,  pa'am,  the  anvil 
(Isa.  xli,  7);  (13)3^,  mukkuhuh',  the  hammer  for  car- 
penters (Isa.  xliv,  12);  "Q^^^^  pattish',  tha  stone-ham- 
mer (Isa.  xli,  7);  E^np  712^  tiiul  kachim',  the  pincers  ; 
HSp.  mappu'ach,  the  belloics  (Jer.  vi,  29) :  !r]n^^, 
mutzreph',  the  crucible  (Prov.  xvii,  3) ;  ~13j  kiir,  the 
meltimj -furnace  (Ezek.  xxii,  18).  See  each  of  these 
articles  in  alphabetical  order. 

There  are  also  allusions  to  various  operations  con- 
nected with  the  preparation  of  metals.  (1.)  The  smelt- 
ing of  metal  was  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  rendering 
it  fluid,  but  in  order  to  separate  and  purify  the  richer 
metal  when  mixed  with  baser  minerals,  as  silver  from 
lead,  etc.  (Isa.  i,  25;  comp.  I'iiny,  Hist.  Nat.  xxxvii,  47  ; 
Ezek.  xxii,  18-20).  The  dross  separated  by  this  process 
is  called  D'^S'^p.sjyjwj',  although  this  word  also  applies 
to  metal  not  yet  purified  from  its  dross.  For  the  actual 
or  ehemiciil  separation  other  materials  were  mixed  in 
the  smelting,  such  as  alkaline  salts,  "il's,  lor  (Isa.  i,  26), 
and  lead  (Jer.  vi,  29 ;  comp.  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  xxxiii,  31 ). 
(2.)  The  casting  of  images  (Exod.  xxv,  12 ;  xxvi,  37 ; 
Isa.  xl,  19),  which  are  always  of  gold,  silver,  or  copper. 
The  casting  of  iron  is  not  mentioned,  and  was  perhaps 
unknown  to  the  ancients  (Ilausmann,  in  Commentatt. 
Soc.  Gatt.  iv,  53  scj.;  Midler,  Archavl.  p.  371).  (3.) 
The  hammering  of  metal,  and  making  it  into  broad 
sheets  (Numb,  xvi,  38;  Isa.  xliv,  12 ;  Jer.  x).  (4.)  Sol- 
dering and  welding  parts  of  metal  together  (Isa.  xli,  7). 
(5.)  Smoothing  and  polishing  metals  (1  Kings  vii,  45). 
(G.)  Overlaying  with  plates  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  cop- 
jier  (Exod.  xxv,  11-24;  1  Kings  vi,  20;  2  Chron.  ii),5; 
comp.  Isa.  xl,  19).  Tlie  execution  of  these  different 
metallurgic  operations  appears  to  have  formed  three  dis- 
tinct branches  of  handicraft  before  the  exile;  for  we 
read  of  the  blacksmith,  by  the  name  of  the  "  worker  in 
iron"  (bna  d'i'n,  isa.  xliv,  12) ;  the  brass-founder  (1 
Kings  vii,  14);  and  the  gold  and  silver  smith  (Judg. 
xvii,  4 ;  Mai.  iii,  2).     See  jMkciianic. 

See  generally,  Bellermann,  Ilamlh.  i,  221  sq. ;  De 
"Wette,  Archdol.  p.  130  sq.;  Eaber,  Archdol.  i,  394  sq. ; 
Link,  Urwelt,  i,  435  sq. ;  Winer,  Realw.  s.  v.  Metalle. 
See  further  under  IMixi:. 

Metallurgy.     See  :\Ikt.\i.;  Mink. 

Metamorphoses  ((ir.  iitrai.n'<pcj)io(jir,  change  of 
form)  denoted,  in  the  mythology  of  the  ancients,  those 
transformations  of  human  beings  into  beasts,  stones, 
trees,  and  even  into  fire,  water,  etc.,  in  fables  of  which 
that  mythology  abounded.  The  origin  and  significance 
of  such  fables  it  is  often  impossible  to  determine.  Some 
of  lliem  probably  originated  in  observation  of  the  won- 
derful transformations  of  nature ;  some  in  a  misappre- 
hension of  the  metaphors  employed  by  the  older  poets; 
and  some  perhaps  in  mere  superstition  and  love  of  the 
marvellous.  The  wild  imagination  of  the  OriciUals 
filled  their  mythologies  witli  metamorphoses  in  the 
greatest  number;  and  tlie  classic  mythology  approadi- 
es  to  them  in  this  res])ect.  The  media?val  days  of  Eu- 
rope, especially  of  (iermany,  gave  forth  the  fairy  tales 
and  other  forms  of  folk-lore,  wonderfully  rich  in  meta- 
morphoses.    See  ^Iytiioi.()<;v. 

Metaphor  ((Jr.  /(tm^oprr,  a  tran.iference),  a  fig- 
ure of  speech  by  means  of  which  one  thing  is  ])Ut  for 
another  which  it  only  resembles.  It  differs  from  other 
comparisons,  e.  g.  simile,  etc.,  iu  consisting  of  a  sinr/le 
tcoi-d.  Thus  the  Psalmist  speaks  of  (iod's  law  as  being 
"a  light  to  his  feet  and  a  lani])  to  his  path."  The  met- 
aphor is  therefore  a  kind  of  comparison,  in  which  the 


speaker  or  wTiter,  casting  aside  the  circumlocution  of 
the  ordinary  similitude,  seeks  to  attain  his  end  at  once 
by  boldly  identifying  liis  illustration  with  the  thuig  11- 
lustrateil.  It  is  thus  of  necessity,  when  well  conceived 
and  expressed,  graphic  and  striking  in  the  highest  de- 
gree, and  has  been  a  favorite  figure  with  poets  and 
orators,  and  the  makers  of  proverbs,  in  all  ages.  Even 
iu  ordinary  language  the  meanings  of  words  are  in  great 
part  iiietMplnirs:  as  when  we  speak  of  an  acute  intellect 
or  a  b(i/(/  pnjniontory. 

Metaphrastes,  Simkon,  a  Byzantine  writer  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  acquired  great  reputation  by  his  compila- 
tion of  the  lives  of  many  saints  and  martyrs.  Very  lit- 
tle is  known  of  his  individual  ])istory.  It  appears,  how- 
ever, to  be  proved  that  he  lived  at  Constantinople,  and 
there  filled  an  official  position.  The  name  JIetaj)hrasteB 
was  given  him  on  account  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
commented  and  paraphrased  {tfurtippaai)  the  mate- 
rials for  his  biographical  work.  The  greatest  variety 
of  opinion  prevails  as  to  the  time  when  he  lived :  Blon- 
dell,  Vossius,  Ceillier,  Baronius,  Simlcr,  Volaterra,  Alla- 
tius.  Cave,  Oudin,  I-'abricius,  all  give  different  dates, 
varying  from  the  9th  to  the  i4tl»  century.  It  even  ap- 
pears uncertain  whether  there  may  not  have  existed 
two  men  of  that  name  at  different  times.  The  more 
ancient  date  is  that  of  Leo  Allatius,  who  in  his  work 
iJe  Simeonum  Scrijitis  (Par.  10t)4,  p.  49  sq.)  enters  into 
deep  researches  concerning  Metai)hrastes,  the  result  of 
whicli  is  adopted  by  Cave  {JJistor.  Litter.  [Lond.  1G88], 
p.  .573)  and  Fabricius  (/jVW.  6'r.  vi,  509 ;  in  ed.  Had.  x, 
180  sq.).  His  conclusions  were  opjiosed  by  Oudin  in 
his  Dissertatio  de  cetate  et  scriptis  Xim.  Met.  (Comment. 
ii,  1300  sq.).  From  various  passages  in  works  undoubt- 
edly written  by  Metaphrastes,  it  appears  to  be  prettj'  well 
established  that  he  lived  during  the  reign  of  the  emperor 
Leo  VI  (Philosophus),  and  was  sent  as  ambassador  to 
the  Arabs  of  Crete  in  902,  and  in  904  to  those  who  had 
conquered  Thessalonica,  whom  he  i)ersua(led  not  to  de- 
stroy that  city,  as  they  originally  intended.  It  seems 
also  well  established  that  he  was  still  alive  in  the  time 
of  the  emperor  Constantine  VII  (Porphyrogenitus). 
His  principal  works  are:  Vitw  iSanctojum,  undertaken, 
it  is  said,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  emperor  Constantine. 
This  assertion,  however,  has  often  been  contradicted. 
The  work  is  not  original ;  Jletaphrastes  only  arranged 
and  paraphrased,  in  very  good  style  for  the  times,  vari- 
ous biographies  whicli  existed  previously  in  the  libra- 
ries of  churches  and  convents.  He  omitted  many  de- 
tails which  he  considered  useless  or  unjjroved,  and  sub- 
stituted others  which  he  looked  upon  as  more  important 
or  authentic.  He  has  been  accused  of  having  by  these 
modilications  destroyed  the  simplicity  of  the  ancient 
biograjjliies.  His  own  work  has  undergone  many  alter- 
ations and  additions,  as  well  as  curtailment,  so  that,  ac- 
cording to  Fabricius,  out  of  539  biographies  generally 
ascribed  to  him,  only  122  are  undoubtedly  genuine. 
Cave,  on  the  other  hand,  maintains  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  417  manuscript  biographies  extant  in  the 
various  libraries  of  Europe  are  the  work  of  Jleta- 
phrastes.  Agapius,  a  monk,  gave  an  extract  of  them 
under  the  title  Liber  dictus  Paraclitus,  sen  iltustrium 
sanctorum  vita"  desumjitw  ex  Simeone  jtfctaphraste  (Ven- 
ice, 1541, 4to).  The  most  imiiortant  among  these  biog- 
raphies were  published,  in  (ireek  and  Latin,  in  the  Bol- 
landists'  Acta  iSanctorum  : — Annalis.  commencing  with 
the  emperor  Leo  the  Armenian  (813-82(0,  and  ending 
with  Homainis.  the  son  of  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus 
(959-9G3).  It  is  evident  that  Jletaphrastes,  who  was 
already  an  ambassador  in  902.  coidd  not  have  been  the 
historian  of  events  which  occurred  sixty  years  later. 
Some  critics  consetiuenily  consider  the  later  part  of  the 
Annates  to  have  been  written  by  another  ^Metaphrastes, 
while  Baronius  thinks  that  the  whole  work  was  com- 
jiosed  by  a  writer  living  in  the  Pith  centun,-.  These 
Annalis,  wliiih  are  of  great  historical  value,  were  pub- 
lished with  a  Latin  translation  by  Combetis  in  his  //ist. 
Byzantime  Scriptores  post  Theophanem.  of  which  the 


METAPHYSICS 


149 


METAPHYSICS 


edition  by  Immanuel  Bekker  (Bonn,  1838,  8vo)  is  a 
carefiilh'- revised  reprint: — Epistolm  IX,  published  in 
Greek  and  Latin  by  Leo  Allatius,  Diatriba  de  Simeoni- 
bits ;  Carmina  pia  duo  poUiica,  in  Allatius ;  and  in  Lec- 
tins, Po'ef(B  Grceci  veieres  (Geneva,  IGl-l,  fol.) : — Sermo  in 
Diem  Sahbati  sancti,  in  Latin  only,  by  Combetis,  Bib- 
lioth.  Concionator.  vol.  iii : — Ei'g  tuv  -S'pijvov  t>)c  VTrtp- 
ay'iuQ  ^toTOKov,  etc.,  in  Greek  and  Latin  by  Allatius ; 
several  hymns,  or  canons,  still  in  use  in  the  Greek 
Church  -.—'Yl^iKoi  \6yoi,  an  extract  from  the  works  of 
St.  Basil,  and  published  in  Greek  and  Latin  by  Morel 
(Paris,  155C,  8vo).  See  Fabricius,  Biblioth.  Grceca,  vii, 
683  ;  X,  180 ;  Cave,  Ilistoire  Litt. ;  Hankius,  Scriptores 
Bi/zant.  ch.  xxiv :  Oudin,  Dissert,  de  uEtate  et  Scriptis 
Simeonis  Metuphrastis,  in  his  Coniment.de  script,  cedes.; 
B.ironius,  .1  nnales  ad  ann.  859. — Herzog,  Real-Encykl. 
ix,  44(; ;  lloefer,  Xoui:  Biocj.  Gen.  xxxv,  188 ;  Smith,  Diet. 
of  Or.  mill  R.nn.  ]Sio;j.  and  MylhoL  ii,  1055.     (J.  N.  P.) 

Metaphysics,  in  its  strictest  sense,  is  applied,  as 
a  term,  to  that  department  of  philosopkt/  which  has  for 
its  object  the  investigation  of  existences  out  of  our- 
selves— "  that  knowledge  of  causes  and  principles  which 
we  should  carry  with  us  into  every  department  of  in- 
([uiry."  Liasmuch  as  mind  cannot  properly  know  what 
is  not  in  contact  with  itself,  the  question,  "  What  is  the 
nature  of  our  knowledge  of  the  external  world?"  has 
been  asked  by  philosophers,  and  answered  in  various 
ways ;  and  this  is  the  great  question  of  metaphysics,  if 
the  term  is  applied  in  a  strictly  historical  sense.  Among 
modern  writers  of  note  in  the  field  of  philosophy,  Prof. 
Ferrier,  in  his  Inslilules  of  Metaphysics  (Edinb.  and 
Loud.  1854,  12mo),  accordingly  occupies  himself  solely 
with  the  questions  connected  with  knowledge,  or  the 
nature  of  our  perception  of  an  external  world ;  his  ex- 
planatory title  is.  The  Theory  of  Knowing  and  Being. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  lately-deceased  Scotch  philoso- 
pher Mansel,  in  his  article  Metaphysics  {Cyclopcedia 
Britannica,  8th  ed.  vol.  xiv,  s.  v.),  divided  the  subject 
into  two  parts — "Psychology,  or  the  science  of  the  facts 
of  consciousness  [which  expresses  the  science  of  mind 
generally]  as  such ;  and  Ontology,  or  the  science  of  the 
same  facts  considered  in  their  relation  to  realities  exist- 
ing without  the  mind" — that  is,  the  problem  of  percep- 
tion or  metaphysics  in  the  narrower  sense.  "  Meta- 
physics," says  the  writer  of  the  article  on  that  subject 
in  the  Edinburgh  Cyclopcedia,  "have  been  called  the 
Eirst  philosophy,  or  the  Science  of  Sciences,  as  their  ob- 
ject is  to  explain  the  principles  and  causes  of  all  things 
existing,  and  to  supply  the  defects  of  inferior  sciences, 
which  do  not  demonstrate,  or  sufficiently  explain,  their 
principles."  Here  we  have  a  stiU  further  departure 
from  our  first  and  somewhat  circumscribed  sphere  to 
the  vast  expanse  of  the  department  itself  known  as  jM- 
losophy.  Of  the  above  two  branches  of  philosophy  or 
metaphysics, 7w^c/(ofo(7y(q.v.)  investigates  the  faculties 
and  operations  of  the  humah  mind,  while  ontology  (q.  v.) 
seeks  to  develop  the  nature  and  laws  of  real  existence. 
The  former  deals  with  the  phenomena  of  consciousness, 
the  constitution  of  the  mind,  the  laws  of  thought;  the 
latter  with  the  essential  characteristics  of  being  per  se, 
the  constitution  of  the  universe,  the  laws  of  things. 
The  former  is  descriptive,  and  the  latter  scientific  meta- 
physics. "Metaphysics,"  says  Sir  William  Hamilton 
{Lect.  vii,  p.  85),  "  in  whatever  latitude  the  term  be 
taken,  is  a  science,  or  complement  of  sciences,  exclu- 
sively occupied  with  mind.  Now  the  philosophy  of 
mind— psychology  or  metaphysics,  in  the  widest  signifi- 
cation of  the  terms— is  threefold,  for  the  object  it  im- 
mediately proposes  for  consideration  may  be  either,  1, 
Phenomena  in  general ;  or,  2,  Laws ;  or,  3,  Inferences  and 
Pesidls.  .  .  .  Tlie  whole  of  philosophy  is  the  answer  to 
these  three  questions:  1.  What  are  the  facts  or  phenom- 
ena to  be  observed?  2.  What  are  the  laws  which  reg- 
ulate these  facts,  or  under  which  these  ])henomena  ap- 
pear? 3.  What  are  the  real  results,  not  immediately 
manifested,  which  these  facts  or  phenomena  warrant  us 
in  drawing  ?" 


The  great  authority  which  Aristotle  enjoyed  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  the  Uttle  actual  knowledge  respect- 
ing the  laws  of  existence,  induced  his  followers  to  form 
from  his  philosophical  fragments  a  system,  which  served 
as  a  canon  for  the  philosophy  of  the  time.  The  oldest 
commentators  of  Aristotle  had  directed  their  endeavors 
to  this  point;  but  metaphysics,  as  an  independent  sci- 
ence, was  developed  by  the  schoolmen  of  the  Middle 
Ages  (Thomas  Aquinas,  Duns  Scotus,  William  Occam, 
and  others).  In  the  17th  centurj-,  however,  the  meta- 
physics of  the  schoolmen  was  undermined  by  the  intro- 
duction of  a  critical  spirit  of  investigation.  Lord  Ba- 
con, More,  Hobbes,  appeared  in  England ;  Th.  Campa- 
nella,  in  Italy ;  Des  Cartes,  in  France,  as  adversaries  of 
the  Aristotelian  school-philosophy.  For  details,  see  Phi- 
losophy. 

As  regards  the  origin  of  the  name,  the  most  recent 
discussions  appear,  on  the  whole,  to  confirm  the  com- 
monly-received opinion,  according  to  which  the  term 
Metaphysics,  though  originally  employed  to  designate 
a  treatise  of  Aristotle,  was  probably  unknown  to  that 
philosopher  himself.  It  is  true  that  the  oldest  and  best 
of  the  extant  commentators  on  Aristotle  refers  the  in- 
scription of  the  treatise  to  the  Stagyrite  (Alexander,  in 
Arist.  Mefh.  p.  127,  ed.  Bonitz) ;  but  in  the  extant  writ- 
ings of  Aristotle  himself,  though  the  work  and  its  sub- 
ject are  frequently  referred  to  under  the  titles  of  the 
Ei?-st  Philosophy,  or  Theology,  or  Wisdom  (Asclcpius, 
apud  Brandis  Scholia,  p.  519,  b.  19 ;  Bonitz,  in  A  7-ist. 
Metaph.  p.  5),  no  authority  is  found  for  the  latter  and 
more  popular  appellation.  On  the  whole,  the  weight 
of  evidence  appears  to  be  in  favor  of  the  supposition 
which  attributes  the  inscription  ra  iktci  tci  ^vaiKc'i  to 
Andronicus  Ehodius,  the  first  editor  of  Aristotle's  col- 
lected works.  The  title,  as  given  to  the  writings  on 
the  first  philosophy,  probably  indicates  only  their  place 
in  the  collection,  as  coming  after  the  'physical  treatises 
of  the  author  (comp.  Bonitz  ad  Arist,  Aletaph.  p.  3,  5). 
In  this  respect  the  term  Metaphysics  has  been  aptly 
compared  to  that  of  Postils ;  both  names  signifying 
nothing  more  than  the  fact  of  something  else  having 
preceded.  Shakespeare  used  metaphysical  as  synony- 
mous with  suj)ernatui-al, 

"Fate  and  metaphysical  nid  doth  seem 
To  have  thee  crowned." — Macbeth,  Act  1,  Scene  3. 

Clemens  Alexandrinus  (^Strom.  i)  considered  metapihys- 
ical  as  equivalent  to  sup>ernatural ;  and  is  supported  by 
the  Greek  commentator  Philoponus.  But  if  //tra  be 
interpreted,  as  it  may,  to  mean  along  with,  then  meta- 
physics, or  metaphysical  philosophy,  will  be  that  phi- 
losophy which  we  should  take  alo7ig  with  us  into  phys- 
ics, and  into  every  other  philosophy— that  knowledge 
of  causes  and  principles  which  we  should  carry  with 
us  into  every  department  of  inquiry.  Aristotle  called 
it  the  governing  philosophy,  which  gives  laws  to  all, 
but  receives  laws  from  none  (Metap/iys.  lib.  i,  cap.  2). 
Lord  Bacon  {Advancement  of  Learning,  bk.  ii)  has  lim- 
ited its  sphere,  when  he  says,  "  The  one  part  (of  philos- 
ophy), which  is  physics,  inquireth  and  handleth  the  ma- 
terial and  efficient  causes;  and  the  other,  which  is  meta- 
physics, handleth  the  formal  and  fnal  cause."  But  all 
causes  are  considered  by  Aristotle  in  his  Avritings  which 
have  been  entitled  Jfefaphysics.  "Aristotle,"  says 
Schwegler  {Hist,  of  Philos.  p.  112),  "held  that  every, 
science  must  have  for  investigation  a  determined  prov- 
ince and  separate  form  of  being,  but  that  none  of  these 
sciences  reaches  the  conception  of  being  itself.  Hence 
there  is  needed  a  science  which  should  investigate  that 
which  the  other  sciences  take  up  hypothetically,  or 
through  experience.  This  is  done  by  the  first  philoso- 
phy, which  has  to  do  with  being  as  such,  Avhile  the 
other  sciences  relate  only  to  determined  and  concrete 
being.  The  metaphysics,  which  is  this  science  of  being 
and  its  primitive  grounds,  is  the  frst  philosophy,  since 
it  is  presupposed  by  every  other  discipline.  Thus,  says 
Aristotle,  if  there  were  only  a  physical  substance,  then 


METASTASIO 


150 


METII 


-would  physics  be  the  first  and  the  only  philosophy ;  but 
if  tliere  be  an  immaterial  and  unmoved  essence  which 
is  the  ground  of  all  being,  then  must  there  be  also  an 
antecedent,  and,  because  it  is  antecedent,  a  universal 
philosophy.  The  lirst  ground  of  all  being  is  God,  whence 
Aristotle  occasionally  gives  to  the  tirst  philosophy  the 
name  of  theology."  "  The  aim  of  metaphysics,"  says 
D'Alembert  (^Melanges,  iv,  143),  "is  to  examine  the  gen- 
eration of  our  ideas,  and  to  show  that  they  come  from 
sensatioiis."  This  is  the  ideology  of  Condillac  and  De 
Trace.  "Metaphysics,"  says  Stewart  (Dissert,  pt.  ii,  p. 
475),  "  was  a  word  formerly  appropriated  to  the  ontol- 
ogy and  pneumatology  of  the  schools,  but  now  under- 
stood as  equally  apphcable  to  all  those  inquiries  which 
have  for  their  object  to  trace  the  various  branches  of 
human  knowledge  to  their  lirst  principles  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  human  mind ;"  and  in  the  Preface  to  the 
same  Dissertation  he  sa\-s  that  by  metaphysics  he  mi- 
derstands  the  "  inductive  philosophy  of  tlie  human 
mind."     For  literature,  see  rniLOSoi'UV.    (J.  H.W.) 

Metastasio,  Pietko  Bonaventuka,  an  eminent 
Italian  poet,  deserves  our  notice  as  the  author  of  several 
sacred  dramas,  oratorios,  etc.  He  was  born  at  Rome  in 
1698,  and  was  originally  named  Tkapassi.  He  mani- 
fested at  an  early  age  extraordinary  talents  for  improv- 
isation on  any  subject.  Having  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  celebrated  jurist  Gravina.  he  was  adopted  by  him, 
and  his  name  was  changed  to  ^l(tM-.ia>iii  (  a  ••  changing"), 
in  allusion  to  his  adoption.  Hi-  luiirrarinr  died  in  1718, 
leaving  his  property  to  jM(i.i>.iasii).  wlio  now  devoted 
himself  principally  to  literary  pursuits  and  the  publica- 
tion of  his  different  poetical  productions.  In  1729  he 
was  invited  to  Vienna  to  become  jioet  laureate,  and 
nourished  at  the  Austrian  capiial  nniil  liis  death  in  1782. 
The  genius  of  Metastasio  is  ciilo^i/iil  liy  Voltaire  and 
La  Harpe,  the  former  of  whom  ((iiiiiiaii's  some  of  his 
scenes  to  the  most  sublime  of  the  (ireek  jioets.  Kous- 
seau,  in  his  Xvurelle  IlUoise,  pronounces  him  "  the  only 
poet  of  the  heart,  the  only  genius  who  can  move  by  the 
charm  of  poetic  and  musical  harmony ;"  and  Schlegel 
observes  that  his  purity  of  diction,  grace,  and  delicacy 
liave  rendered  him,  in  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen,  a 
classic  author — the  Racine  of  Italy.  Of  Metastasio's 
seven  sacred  dramas,  or  oratorios,  La  Passione,  La  Morte 
fVAbel,  and  Isacco,  are  best  known;  but  all  of  them, 
Calsabigi  justly  obser\'es,  are  as  perfect  as  this  kind  of 
composition  will  allow.  See  Biirncy,  Memoirs  q/' Me- 
tastasio (1796, 3  vols.) ;  Torcia,  Elogio  del  A  bbate.  P.  Me- 
tastasio (1782);  Hiller,  Ueber  P.  Metastasio  unci  seine 
Werke  (1786);  Altanesi,  FtVrt  di  P.  Metastasio  (1787); 
Lires  of  the  Italian  Poets,  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Slebbing 
(London,  1X31).     (J.  H.W.) 

Metcalfe,  Wir.i.iAM,  M.D.,  a  prominent  minister  of 
the  lJil)Ie-Christian  Churcii,  was  born  in  the  parish  of 
Orton,  Westmoreland,  England,  :March  11,  1788.  He 
became  a  tlisciple  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cowherd,  a  noted 
minister  of  the  Swedenborgian  Church,  who  in  1809 
organized  the  Bible -Christian  Ciuirch.  j\Ietcalfe  in 
1811  was  ordained  as  a  minister  of  this  Church  by  Dr. 
Cowherd,  and  in  1817,  with  a.  small  company  of  his 
fellow-believers,  innnigrated  to  Philadeli)hia,  where  he 
continued  iiis  ministerial  labors  till  the  day  of  his  death 
in  1)S62.  According  to  his  bic)gra|)her,  tlie  specilic  work 
of  Mr.  Jletcalfe's  life  was  "  that  of  sowing  the  seeds  and 
cultivating  the  princi])les  of  temperance  and  vegetarian- 
ism, and  permanently  establishing  the  Bible-Christian 
Church  in  tliis  country."  The  Bible-Christian  Church 
in  England  founded  its  doctrinal  basis  mainly  upon  the 
writings  df  Swedenborg.  It  propoinided  views  upon 
two  subjects,  however,  which  have  never  been  generally 
received  in  the  \ew  Jenisiditn  Cliurcli,  as  the  Sweden- 
borgians  prefer  to  call  themselves.  It  incidcated  tlie  duty 
of  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  bev- 
erage, and  from  the  use  of  animal  food.  These  two  re- 
quirements were  made  conditions  of  Church  member- 
ship, more  particularly  by  3Ir.  Metcalfe.     He  was  one 


of  the  original  members  of  the  American  "  Vegetarian 
Society,"  and  was  one  of  its  most  earnest  supporters. 
On  the  death  of  Dr.  William  A.  Alcott,  the  tirst  presi- 
dent of  the  society,  in  1859,  Dr.  ^letcalfe  was  elected  his 
successor.  He  rendered  efficient  service  also  in  the 
cause  of  temperance,  and  may  be  termed  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  tlic  movement  in  this  country.  "As  a  preach- 
er," we  are  told  by  his  biographer, "  he  was  not  what  is 
called  an  orator,  l)ut  his  delivery  was  easy,  plain,  dis- 
tinct, and  impressive.  His  action  was  moderate  and 
graceful.  He  was  never  boisterous,  never  sensational, 
and  seldom  allowed  his  imagination  to  display  its  pow- 
ers in  the  pulpit.  His  sermons  were  suggestive  and  in- 
structive, always  including  some  teaching  on  practical, 
every-day  duties.  He  sought  all  fields  for  the  illustra- 
tion of  Bible  truths,  especially  availing  himself  of  the 
lights  of  modern  science  and  of  ancient  history  in  the 
elucidation  of  his  subject."  Seventeen  of  his  Discourses 
were  lately  iiiii)lisheil  by  his  son  Joseph,  under  the  title 
Out  ofilo'ci,„i,h  h,in  ;h,-  I.;,,ht  (Phila.  1872, 12mo).  See 
Xew  J,rn.<,il,  i„  .)/,  ss,  I,./,  r.  ( »ot.  23. 1872;  Memoir  of  the 
Per.  ]Vi//iaiN  M.tculjh  M.JJ.,  by  his  son  Joseph  (PhUa. 
1866,  12ino,). 

Metel  (Lat.  MeteUus),  IIuguks,  a  French  canon, 
was  born  at  Toul,  in  Lorraine,  about  1080.  He  was  the 
offspring  of  wealthy  parents.  While  yet  a  child  he  lost 
his  father,  and  was  indebted  to  the  solicitude  of  his 
mother  for  a  liberal  education.  He  studied  theology  at 
Laon  under  the  celebrated  teacher  Anselm,  and  embraced 
Christianity  at  Toul  about  1118,  when  he  was  entered  a 
member  of  the  regular  canons  in  the  abbey  of  Saint- 
Leon.  He  remained  in  that  institution  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  near  1157.  Fifty-five  noted  epistles 
bear  his  authorship.  The  first  of  them  is  addressed  to 
St.  Bernard,  whom  Hugnes  Metel  calls  a  ^' clarissima 
laiiipas,"  while  to  himself  he  attributes  the  humbler 
qualifications  oi't/nomldnt  iiii<ii<ii-niJii.<,  nunc  c/'iicis  Christi 
bajnlns.     See  Calnict.  ///x/'<// «    (A    la  Lorraine,!,  CKyii; 

i  Fortin  d'Urban.  //i.</,un    ,f  (Knir<u/es  de  Iluyues  Metel 

,  (Paris,  IKJ'.i,  Svo). 

Metenip.sychosis.     See  Ti:ansmtoratiox. 

I      Mete'ius  (MiTiipovg  v.  r.  Ba.mj/ooi'c.Vulg.  omits), 

1  given  (1  Esdr.v,  17)  among  those  whose  "sons"  returned 
from  the  captivity  with  Zernbbabel:  but  the  Heb.  lists 
(Ezra  ii ;  Xeb.  vii)  have  no  corresponding  name. 

Mete-yard  (nT3,  »^^(/(/«/^',  Lev.  xix,  35;  measure 
simply,  as  elsewliere  rendered). 

Meth,  EzECiiiET.,  a  noted  leader  of  a  mystic  sect  t 
who  at  the  l)oginning  of  the  17th  century  created  great 
excitement  in  Thnringia.  Jleth  was  practicing  medi- 
cine in  the  city  of  Langensalza,  Thnringia,  when  his 
uncle,  a  merchant  in  the  same  town,  who  had  become 
an  enthusiastic  mystic,  presented  him  with  his  pecul- 
iar conceptions  of  Christian  fellowship  and  responsibil- 
ity. Jleth  was  readih'  won  in  favor  of  the  lieretical 
doctrines,  and  became  one  of  the  leaders  of  a  sect  which 
soon  became  numerous.  He  afterwards  moved  to  Leip- 
sic,  where  he  died  in  1610.  Stiefel  and  ]Meth  found  their 
first  followers  among  their  own  relatives  and  friends  at 
Langensalza  and  Erfurt.  They  also  gained  access  to 
the  house  of  count  Hans  Ludwig  de  Gleichen,  whose 
wife,  the  countess  Juliana,  became  so  ensnared  in  their 
mystic  doctrines  that  she  was  finally  excluded  from  the 
Lord's  table.  But  matters  did  not  rest  here.  She  im- 
agined she  was  a  second  A'iriiin  !Mary,  and  was  to  give 
birth  to  the  new  Messiah.  Slie  therefore  separated  her- 
self from  tlie  count,  anil  to  the  day  of  her  death  (Jidy 
28, 1633)  remained  steadfast  in  her  hopes  that  she  woidd 
bring  forth  tlie  ^Messiah.  The  authorities  tried  in  va- 
rious ways  to  bring  these  enthusiasts  to  their  senses,  but 
kindness  as  well  as  punishment  proved  in  vain,  imtil  at 
last  Stiefel  died— Sticfd  who  h.ad  been  considered  im- 

•  mortal  by  ^Meth  and  all  his  followers.     A  change  took 

I  place  in  Stiefel's  mind,  and  he  is  said  to  have  died  a 

I  truly  converted  Christian. 

I      The  doctrines  of  Stiefel  and  Jlcth  were  for  the  most 


METHEG 


151 


METHODISM 


part  identical  with  the  mysticism  of  the  Anabaptists 
and  of  Schwenkfeld,  as  specified  and  condemned  in  the 
Formula  of  Concord.  Only  Christ,  the  living  'Word,  is 
recognised,  while  the  revealed  Word,  i.  e.  the  Bible,  is 
despised,  the  ministry,  with  all  its  officers,  rejected,  and 
tlie  sacraments — baptism  and  communion — are  declared 
works  of  witchcraft.  They  further  taught  that  as  the 
law  of  God  has  been  fulfilled  by  Christ,  the  true  Church 
can  neither  sin  nor  err;  that  no  resurrection  can  take 
place,  nor  eternal  life  be  hoped  for,  as  all  true  Christians 
are  already  dead  to  the  world,  and  feel  the  promised 
joys  of  eternity  in  their  lives,  to  the  fullest  extent  pos- 
sible. See  Arnold,  Kirchen  u.  Keizer  Hisiorie  (see  In- 
dex).    See  Stiefel. 

Metheg.     See  Metheg-amxiaii. 

Me'tlieg-ani'mah  {Heh.me'theff  Iia-ammah',  i.t^^>2 
n^xn,  bridk'  [as  in  2  Kings  xix,  28,  etc.]  of  the  mother 
[i.  e.  mother-city  =  DX,  in  2  Sam.  xx,  19] ;  Sept.  i) 
a p uj p lai-ii VI I, \ulg.f7-enum  ?nJ«^i), a  figurative  term  for  a 
cliief  city,  occurring  in  the  statement  (2  Sam.  viii,  1), 
"  David  took  the  bit  of  the  metropolis  (Auth.  Yers. '  Me- 
theg-Ammah')  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Philistines,"  i.  e. 
he  subdued  their  capital  or  strongest  town,  meaning 
Gatii,  as  is  ex])ressly  affirmed  in  the  parallel  passage 
(1  Chron.  xviii,  1).  Other  interpretations  may  be  seen 
in  Glassii  Ph'dol.  Sacr.  ed.  Dathc,  p.  783.  Gesenius 
{Thes.  Ileb.  p.  113)  compares  the  Arabic  proverb, "  I  give 
thee  not  my  bridle,"  i.  e.  I  do  not  submit  to  thee  (see 
Sohultens  ad  Job,  xx,  11;  and  Hariri  Cons,  iv ;  Hist. 
Taiiurl.  p.  243 ;  Vit.  Tim.  i,  50).  On  the  other  hand, 
Ewald  {Gesc/i.  iii,  190)  less  naturally  takes  Ammah  as 
meaning  the  "  forearm,"  and  treats  the  words  as  a  meta- 
phor to  express  the  perfect  manner  in  which  David  had 
smitten  and  humbled  his  foes,  had  torn  the  bridle  from 
their  arm,  and  thus  broken  forever  the  dominion  with 
which  they  curbed  Israel,  as  a  rider  manages  his  horse 
by  the  rein  held  fast  on  his  arm.  He  objects  to  the 
other  interpretation  that  Gath  had  its  own  king  still  in 
the  days  of  Solomon;  but  it  may  be  replied  that  the 
king  in  Solomon's  time  may  have  been,  and  probably 
was,  tributary  to  Israel,  as  the  kings  '"on  this  side  the 
Euphrates"  (1  Kings  iv,  24)  were.  It  is  an  obvious 
objection  to  Ewald's  interpretation,  that  to  control  his 
horse  a  rider  must  hold  the  bridle,  not  on  his  arm,  but 
fast  in  his  hand. 

Mether.     See  Mithrite. 

Methoar.     See  Remmox-jietiioar. 

Methodism,  as  a  distinctive  form  of  Church  life 
and  polity,  dates  from  the  revival  of  religion  in  England 
under  the  labors  of  the  brothers  Wesley  and  of  White- 
field.     See  these  names  respectively. 

I.  Oriffin. — in  November,  1729,  the  Wesleys,  White- 
field,  and  their  associates— about  a  dozen  young  men, 
students  at  Oxford  University — formed  themselves  into 
a  society  for  purposes  of  mutual  moral  improvement. 
They  had  a  sincere  desire  to  please  God ;  and,  by  dili- 
gence, self-denial,  and  active  bencvuUiicf,  tliey  sought  to 
know  and  do  his  will.  By  instru(  liiii;  the  <liildren  of  the 
neglected  poor,  by  visiting  the  sick  and  ihc  inmates  of 
prisons  and  almshouses,  by  a  strict  observance  of  the 
fasts  ordained  by  the  Church,  and  by  scrupulous  exact- 
ness in  their  attendance  upon  public  worship,  they  be- 
came objects  of  general  notice.  Many  grave  men  thought 
them  righteous  overmuch,  and  attempted  to  dissuade 
them  from  an  excess  of  piety;  while  profane  wits  treat- 
ed them  with  sarcasm  and  contempt.  Nothing  could 
save  from  ridicule  men  who  in  that  age  and  in  such  a 
place  professed  to  make  religion  the  great  business  of 
life.  Hence  by  their  fellow-students  they  were  called 
in  turn,  Sacramentarians,  Bible-bigots,  Bible-moths,  The 
Godly  Club.  One,  a  student  of  Christ-Church  College, 
with  greater  reverence  than  his  fellows,  and  more  learn- 
ing, observed,  in  reference  to  their  methodical  manner 
of  life,  that  a  new  sect  of  Methodists  had  sprung  up, 
alluding  to  the  ancient  school  of  physicians  known  by 
that  name.    The  appellation  obtained  currency,  and,  al- 


though the  word  is  still  sometimes  used  reproachfully 
as  expressive  of  enthusiasm,  or  undue  religious  strict- 
ness, it  has  become  the  acknowledged  name  of  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  rapidly  increasing  evangelical 
Christian  denominations  (comp.  Tyerman,  The  Oxford 
Methodists,  N.  Y.,  Harpers,  1873,  8vo). 

From  this  time  Methodism  may  be  said  to  have 
started.  In  1739  the  first  Methodist  "meeting-house" 
in  England  was  built  at  Kingswood.  "  Wesley's  idea  at 
this  time,  and  for  many  years  afterwards,"  says  Skeats 
{Hist,  of  the  Free  Churches  of  England,  p.  363),  "was 
merely  to  revive  the  state  of  religion  in  the  Church ; 
but  he  knew  enough  of  the  condition  of  society  in  Eng- 
land, and  of  human  nature,  to  be  aware  that  unless  those 
who  had  been  brought  under  the  awakening  influence 
of  the  Gospel  met  together,  and  assisted  each  other  in 
keeping  alive  the  fire  which  had  been  lit  in  their  hearts, 
it  must,  in  many  instances,  seriously  diminish,  if  not  al- 
together die  out."  Originally,  therefore,  it  was  no  part 
of  the  design  of  Wesley  and  his  associates  to  found  a 
new  religious  sect,  lie  considered  them  all  members 
of  the  Church  of  England — zealous  for  her  welfare,  and 
loyal  to  her  legitimate  authorities.  For  a  fidl  discussion 
of  this  point,  see  tlie  article  Wesley.  They  were  all  te- 
nacious of  her  order,  and  great  sticklers  for  what  they 
deemed  decency  and  decorum.  One  of  them  tells  us, 
"I  should  have  thought  the  saving  of  souls  almost  a 
sin  if  it  had  not  been  done  in  a  church ;"  and  such  was 
the  sentiment  of  John  Weslej',  when,  to  his  horror,  he 
first  heard  that  his  bosom  friend,  Whitefield,  had  at- 
tempted to  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  open  air.  This  was 
in  the  year  1739,  on  Saturday,  the  17th  of  February.  The 
discourse  was  addressed  to  the  colliers  at  Kingswood, 
near  the  city  of  Bristol.  "  I  thought,"  said  Whitefield, 
"that  it  might  be  doing  the  service  of  my  Creator,  who 
had  a  mountain  for  his  pulpit,  and  the  heavens  for  a 
sounding-board ;  and  who,  when  his  Gospel  was  reject- 
ed by  the  Jews,  sent  his  servants  into  the  highways 
and  hedges."  In  a  little  while  John  Wesley  was  in- 
duced to  follow  his  example.  Being  providentially  at 
Bristol,  and  a  great  assembly  (estimated  at  3000)  hav- 
ing come  together  at  a  place  called  Race  Green,  "I 
submitted,"  he  says,  "  to  be  more  vile,  and  proclaimed 
in  the  highwaj^s  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation."  This 
was  Wesley's  first  attempt  in  England.  He  had  pre- 
viously preached  in  the  open  air  while  in  this  country 
as  a  missionary  to  the  Indians  in  Georgia,  but  he  had 
no  intention  of  resuming  the  practice  in  England,  till  he 
was  stimulated  by  the  example  and  urgent  advice  of 
his  friend.  His  brother  Charles  was  even  more  opposed 
to  this  departure  from  Church  usages,  and  this  appar- 
ent breach  of  ecclesiastical  order.  He  had  confined 
himself  to  the  usual  labors  of  the  ministry  in  such  pul- 
pits as  were  opened  to  him,  preaching  the  Gospel  with 
earnestness  and  simplicity,  more  especially  in  London, 
where  he  also  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  the  felons  in 
Newgate,  not  a  few  of  whom  were  brought  through 
his  instrumentality  to  repentance  and  faith  in  Christ. 
Being  strenuouslj'  urged  by  Whitefield,  he  at  length  con- 
sented to  make  one  effort.  "I  prayed,"  he  says,  "and 
went  forth  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  found  near 
a  thousand  heljiless  sinners  waiting  for  the  Word  in 
Moorfields.  I  invited  them  in  my  Master's  -words,  as 
well  as  name, '  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  \vill  give  you  rest.'  The  Lord  w,as 
with  me,  even  me,  the  meanest  of  his  messengers,  ac- 
cording to  his  promise.  .  .  .  My  load  was  gone,  and  all 
my  doubts  and  scruples.  God  shone  on  my  path,  and  I 
knew  this  was  his  will  concerning  me."  Thenceforth,  in 
various  parts  of  the  kingdom,  they  continued  to  preach 
the  Gospel  in  the  open  air  as  opportunity  was  afford- 
ed. Immense  crowds  thronged  everywhere  to  hear 
the  Word,  and  multitudes  were  converted  from  the  error 
of  their  way.  As  a  consequence  of  this  violation  of 
ecclesiastical  order,  and  more  especially  because  of  the 
earnest  and  energetic  style  of  the  preachers,  most  of 
the  pulpits  of  the  Established  Church  were  soon  closed 


METHODISM 


152 


METHODISM 


against  them.  Many  dignitaries  of  the  Church  were 
above  measure  enraged  at  this  new  wat/.  and  zealous 
in  opposing  it.  ''  Some  clergymen,"  says  Wesley,  '•  ob- 
jected to  this  "new  doctrine.'  salvation  by  laith;  and, 
because  of  my  unfashionable  doctrine,  I  was  excluded 
from  one  and  another  church,  and  at  length  shut  out  of 
all."  In  many  places,  too,  AVesley  and  his  associates 
were  treated  as  disturbers  of  the  peace,  and  subjected  to 
annoyance  and  persecution.  They  were  reviled,  mob- 
l)ed,  imprisoned.  They  bore  everything  with  patience. 
'•  Not  daring  to  be  silent,"  says  Wesley,  "  it  remained 
only  to  preach  in  the  open  air;  which  I  did  at  first  not 
out  of  choice,  but  necessity.  I  have  since  seen  abun- 
dant reason  to  adore  the  wise  providence  of  God  here- 
in, making  a  way  for  myriads  of  people  who  never 
troubled  any  church,  nor  were  likely  so  to  do,  to  hear 
that  ^\'urd  wliich  they  soon  found  to  be  the  power  of 
God  luito  salvation." 

The  result  of  these  labors  was  not  oidy  the  conver- 
sion of  many  souls,  but  the  formation  of  religious  socie- 
ties. The  young  converts,  neglected,  and  in  many  in- 
stances treated  contemptuously  by  the  established  clergy, 
were  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd.  They  naturally 
lunged  for  the  fellowship  of  kindred  spirits.  At  their  own 
nMUKsl.  they  were  united  together  for  mutual  comfort 
and  cdilieation.  Wesley  gives  the  following  account  of 
the  origin  of  what  was  then  called  simply  '"the  United 
Society."  The  rules  wliich  were  drawn  up  for  them  are 
to  the  present  day  rt<ci-nisi(l.  with  two  or  three  very 
slight  alterations. ";is  i  hr  (,,  „■  ml  Rnh-a  of  all  branches  of 
the  great  ]Methoili>t  laniily  in  England,  in  the  United 
States,  and  elsewhere : 

"1.  In  the  latter  end  of  the  year  IT.'i!)  eight  or  ten  per- 
sons came  to  me  in  London,  wlio  apjieared  to  be  deeply 
convinced  of  sin,  and  earnestly  {jroaniiiL:  for  redenijjtion. 
They  desired  (as  did  two  or  three  more  the  next  day)  that 
I  Avoidd  spend  some  time  with  them  iu  jjrajcr,  and  "advise 
them  how  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  which  they  s-aw 
continnally  hanging  over  their  heads.  That  we  niii^ht 
have  more  time  for  this  great  work,  I  appointed  a  day 
when  tliey  niiy:ht  all  come  together;  whicli,  from  thence- 
forward, tliey  did  every  week,  viz.  on  Tliinsday  in  the 
eveniiii;.  To  these,  and  as  many  niori!  as  desired  to  join 
with  tlieni  (for  their  number  increaseil  daily),  I  fjave  those 
advices  from  time  to  time  which  I  jiulu'ed  most  needful 
for  Iliein:  and  we  alway.s  concluded  our  meetings  with 
prayer  suitable  to  their  several  necessities. 

"•2.  This  was  the  rise  of  the  United  Society,  first  iu 
London,  and  then  in  other  places.  Sucli  a  society  is  no 
other  than  'a  company  of  men  having'  the  form  and  se.k- 
ing  the  power  of  trodliness ;  iniited  in  order  to  |ii:iv  I  i- 
gether,  to  receive  tlie  word  of  e.xliortation,  and  to  w'alrh 
over  one  another  in  love,  Iliat  they  may  help  eacli  otlicr 
to  work  out  their  salvation.' 

"3.  Tliat  it  may  the  more  easily  he  discerned  whether 
they  are  indeed  working  out  their'own  salvation,  each  so- 

cieiv  is  divided  into  smaller  e iKinies,  called  classe.*,  ac- 

cordini:  to  ilieir  respective  plai  e:,  ol'  abode.  There  are 
about  twelve  persons  in  (s.rv  rl:i>s;  one  of  whom  is 
Btyled  the  Leader.     It  is  Ids  liu^iiiess, 

"(L)  To  see  each  person  in  Ins  class  once  a  week,  at 
least,  in  order 

"To  inquire  how  their  souls  prosper; 

"To  advise,  reprove,  comfort,  or  exhort,  as  occasion 
may  require ; 

"To  receive  what  they  are  willing  to  give  towards  the 
support  of  the  Gospel ; 

"(2.)  To  meet  the  ministers  and  the  stewards  of  the  so- 
ciety once  a  week,  in  order 

"To  inform  the  minister  of  any  that  are  sick,  or  of  any 
that  walk  disorderly,  and  will  not  be  reproved ; 

"To  pay  to  the  stewards  what  they  have  received  of 
their  several  classes  in  the  week  preceding;  and 

"To  show  their  account  of  what  each  person  has  con- 
tributed. 

"4.  There  is  one  only  condition  i)reviouslv  required  of 
those  who  (le-ire  aduussioii  into  these  societies;  viz.  'a 
desire  to  lUe  from  the  wrath  to  eouie,  and  bo  saved  from 
their  sin:-.'  Hut  wlierever  this  is  really  fixed  in  the  soul, 
it  will  he  shown  by  its  fruits.  It  is  therefme  expected  of 
all  who  continue  therein  that  they  should  continue  to  evi- 
dence their  desiie  of  salvation, 

"First,  hy  doing  no  harm,  by  avoiding  evil  in  every 
kind ;  especially  that  which  is  most  generally  practicecl. 
Such  as  . 

"The  taking  the  name  of  God  in  vain  ; 

"Theprofaniii<:  the  ilav  of  the  Lord,  eitlier  by  doing  or- 

"Drunkenness;  buying  or  selling  spirituous  liqnors  ; 
or  drinking  theiu,  unless  in  cases  of  extreme  necessity; 


the 


"Fighting,  quarrelling,  brawling;  brother  going  to  law 
with  brother;  returning  evil  for  evil,  or  raihng  fur  rail- 
ing; the  using  many  words  in  buying  or  selling; 

"The  buying  or  selling  uncustomed  goods  ; 

"The  giving  or  taking  things  ou  usury,  viz.  unlawful 
interest; 

"  Uncharitable  or  unprofitable  conversation  ;  particular- 
ly speaking  evil  of  magistrates  or  of  ministers  ; 

"Doing  to  others  as  we  would  not  they  bhould  do  unto 
us; 

"Doing  what  we  know  is  not  for  the  glory  of  God  :  as, 

"  The  putting  ou  of  gold  and  costly  apparel ; 

"The  taking  such  diversions  as  cannot  be  used  in 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus ; 

"The  singing  those  songs  or  reading  those  hooks  which 
do  not  leuil  lo  tlie  knowledge  or  love  of  God  ; 

"  Softness,  and  needless  self-indulgence; 

"  Laying  up  treasure  upon  earth  ; 

"Dorr()\yiiej  without  a  probability  of  paying;  or  taking 
up  goods  without  a  probaliility  <if  fiayiiig  "for  them. 

"5.  It  is  exiK'cied  of  all  who  couiimu'  in  these  societies, 
that  they  should  continue  to  evidence  their  desire  of  sal- 
vation, 

"Secondly,  by  doing  good,  by  being  in  every  kind  mer- 
ciful after  their  power,  as  they  have  opportunity ;  doing 
good  of  every  possible  sort,  and  as  far  as  is  possi"ble  to  all 
men: 

"  To  their  bodies,  of  the  ability  that  God  giveth,  by  giv- 
ing food  to  the  hungry,  by  clothing  the  naked,  by  helping 
or  visiting  them  that  are  sick  or  in  prison  ; 

"To  their  souls, hy  iiistrncting,  reproving,  or  exhorting 
all  we  have  any  intercourse  with;  trampling  under  foot 
that  enthusiastic  doctrine  of  devils,  that  'we  are  not  to 
do  good,  unless  our  hearts  be  free  to  it.' 

"By  doing  good,  especially  lo  thein  that  are  of. the 
household  of  faith,  or  groaning  so  to  be  ;  employing  them 
preferably  to  others,  buying  one  of  another,  helping  each 
other  in  business;  and  so  much  the  more,  because  the 
world  will  love  its  own,  and  them  only. 

"  By  all  possible  diligence  and  frugalit}-,  that  the  Gospel 
be  not  blamed. 

"By  running  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  hefore 
them,"denyiug  themselves,  and  taking  up  their  cross  daily ; 
submitting  to  bear  the  reproach  of  Christ;  to  be  as  the 
filth  and  oftscouring  of  tlic  world;  and  looking  that  men 
should  say  all  manner  of  evil  of  them  falsely,  for  the  Lord's 
sake. 

"6.  It  is  expected  of  all  who  desire  to  continue  in  these 
societies  that  they  should  continue  to  evidence  their  de- 
sire of  salvation, 

"Thirdly,  by  attending  upon  all  the  ordinances  of  God: 
such  are 

"The  public  worship  of  God; 

"  The  ministry  of  the  word,  either  read  or  expounded; 

"The  supper  of  the  Lord  ; 

"Family  and  private  prayer  ; 

"  Searching  the  Scriptures;  and 

"  Fasting  or  abstinence. 

"T.  These  arc  the  general  rules  of  our  societies:  all 
which  we  are  taU'.'ht  of  God  to  observe,  even  iu  his  writ- 
ten Wdid  I  he  ,>nlv  rule,  and  the  sulhcieiit  rule,  both  of 
om-  r.iiih  and  practice.  And  all  Iliese  we  know  Ids  Spirit 
\\rites  on  every  truly  awakened  heart.  If  there  be  any 
among  us  who  observe  them  tiot,  who  habitually  break 
any  of  them,  let  It  be  made  known  unto  them  who  watch 
over  that  soid,  as  they  that  must  give  an  account.  We 
will  admonish  him  of  "the  error  of  his  ways:  we  will  bear 
with  him  for  a  season.  But  then,  if  he  repent  not,  he  hath 
no  more  place  among  us.  We  have  delivered  our  own 
souls." 

The  ''societies"  thus  formed  increased  .so  rajddly  that 
very  soon  there  arose  a  necessity  for  additional  minis- 
terial service.  As  the  leaders  in  this  wonderful  revival 
of  religion  had  been  led  providentially  into  the  jiractice 
of  field-iireaching,  and  into  the  formation  of  religious 
societies,  so  they  were  iiulnced  in  the  same  manner  to 
accept  the  assistance  of  preachers  who  had  not  been  ed- 
ucated for  the  ministry,  nor  ordained  to  that  service. 
This  was  at  that  time  regarded  by  many  as  the  most 
heinous  of  their  offences.  The  Wesleys  themselves  at 
first  hesitated  at  what  seemed  so  monstrous  an  imiova- 
tion;  and  the  elder  brother,  when  he  lirst  heard  that  a 
layman  had  taken  a  text  and  jireached  a  sermon,  has- 
tened to  London  to  put  a  stop  to  the  irregularity.  The 
man,  Thomas  Maxtield  by  name,  bad  Iteen  left  in  charge 
of  the  little  (lock  during  the  absence  of  the  ordained 
ministers,  had  prayed  with  them,  read  to  them  passages 
of  Scripture,  attempted  an  exposition  of  a  verse  or  two, 
and  found  himself  preaching  almost  before  he  was  aware 
of  it.  Happily  for  the  interesi.s  of  the  new  sect,  and 
happily,  too.  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  Wesley  was  met  by 
his  mother  before  be  had  time  to  censure  the  young 
preacher,  or  publicly  to  denoiuice  this  iiuiovation.    Mrs. 


METHODISM 


153 


METHODISM 


Wesley,  the  widow  of  a  stanch  minister  of  the  Establish- 
ed Church,  had  been  educated  in  its  doctrines,  and  she 
revered  its  prelatical  assumptions.  But  she  had  heard 
the  young  man  preach  several  times.  On  the  arrival 
of  her  son,  seeing  that  his  countenance  was  expressive 
of  dissatisfaction,  she  inquired  the  cause.  "Thomas 
Maxtield,"  said  he,  abruptly,  '"has  turned  preacher,  I 
find."  She  looked  attentively  at  him,  and  replied, 
"  John,  you  know  what  my  sentiments  have  been.  You 
cannot  suspect  me  of  readily  favoring  anything  of  this 
kind;  but  take  care  what  you  do  with  respect  to  that 
young  man,  for  he  is  as  surely  called  of  God  to  preach 
"as  you  are."  Her  advice  was  followed,  and  the  result 
justitied  her  opinion.  Wesley  recognised  the  validity 
of  the  young  man's  call;  and  thereafter  it  became  a  set- 
tled conviction  with  him,  as  it  is  with  his  followers  to 
this  day,  that  a  warrant  to  preach  the  Gospel  does  not 
of  necessity  come  only  through  one  channel.  In  process 
of  time,  as  instances  of  this  kind  increased,  it  became 
necessary  to  devise  some  criterion  by  which  to  test  those 
Mho  professed  to  believe  themselves  called  of  God  to 
preach.  This  was  a  subject  to  which  John  Wesley  early 
turned  his  attention ;  and  the  question,  with  his  answer, 
continues  to  the  present  day  to  be  incorporated  among 
tlie  rules  recognised  by  all  Wesleyan  IMethodists.  We 
say  jrei%aH  Methodists  because,  previous  to  the  preach- 
ing of  ]\Iaxtield,  Whitelield  had  separated  himself  from 
his  associates,  and  thenceforward  became  known  as  the 
leader  of  the  Calvinistic  division  of  Methodism.  The 
question  and  answer  were  in  the  following  words : 

"  Qvettt.  How  shall  we  try  those  who  profess  to  he 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  preach  ? 

"  A  ii.s.'l.  Let  tlie  following  questions  be  asked,  namely : 
Do  they  know  God  as  a  pardoning  God?  Have  they  the 
love  of  God  avoiding  in  them  ?  Dolhey  desire  nothing  but 
God  ?     And  are  thev  holv  in  all  manner  of  conversation  ? 

"■-'.  Have  they  tlie  uifis  (as  well  as  the  grace)  fur  the 
work?  Have  tliey  (in  some  tolerable  degree)  a  clear, 
sound  understanding,  a  right  judgment  in  the  things  of 
God,  a  just  conception  of  salvation  by  faith?  And  has 
God  given  them  any  degree  of  utterance  ?  Do  they  speak 
justly,  readilv,  clearly? 

"3.  Have  they  fruit?  Are  any  truly  convinced  of  sin, 
and  converted  to  God  by  their  })reaching? 

"As  long  as  these  three  marks  concur  in  any  one,  we 
believe  he'is  called  of  God  to  preach.  These  we  receive 
as  sufficient  proof  that  he  is  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

From  the  time  of  Maxfield's  admission  as  a  preacher, 
many  others  of  similar  piety  and  gifts  offered  their  ser- 
vices and  were  accepted.  As  the  work  went  on,  and 
additions  were  made  to  the  "  societies"  in  all  parts  of  the 
kingdom,  the  demand  for  preachers  increased.  Wesley 
had  always  thought  that  preachers  would  be  supplied 
from  the  pidpits  of  the  Established  Church,  but,  disap- 
pointed in  this,  he  came  to  favor  the  admission  of  those 
who,  although  not  episcopally  ordained,  were  wholly 
devoted  to  the  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  and  gladly 
recognised  them  as  ministers  of  Christ.  The  employ- 
ment of  this  class  of  auxiliaries  constantly  increasing, 
finally  led  to  a  meeting,  held  annually  thereafter,  and 
known  as  "  the  Conference"  (q.  v.").  The  first  of  these 
assemblies  was  held  in  1744,  and  from  this  year  Meth- 
odism began  to  assume  the  appearance  of  an  organized 
system.  It  was  in  1744  that  the  brothers  John  and 
Charles  Wesley,  with  two  or  three  other  regularly-or- 
dained clergymen,  met  with  such  of  the  "  preachers"  as 
could  conveniently  attend,  to  clothe  Jlethodism  with 
the  conventional  forms  of  established  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment. Of  course  neither  John  nor  Charles  could 
brook  the  idea  of  becoming  Dissenters,  and  Methodism 
was  organized  as  an  independent  Church  body  only  af- 
ter the  death  of  John  Wesley.  See  Weslp:yans.  To 
all  intents  and  purposes  the  Church  was  organized  at 
this  first  Conference  in  1744,  and  yet  by  this  very  body 
one  of  the  questions  asked  was,  "Are  we  Dissenters'?" 
and  its  answer  an  emphatic  "  A'o."  "Although  we  call 
sinners  to  repentance  in  all  places  of  God's  dominion,  and 
although  we  frequently  use  extemporary  prayer,  and 
unite  together  in  a  religious  society,  yet  we  are  not  Dis- 
senters in  the  only  sense  which  our  law  acknowledges, 


viz.  those  who  renounce  the  service  of  the  Church.  We 
do  not,  we  dare  not,  separate  from  it.  We  are  not  se- 
ceders,  nor  do  we  bear  any  resemblance  to  them.  We 
set  out  upon  quite  opposite  principles.  The  seceders 
laid  the  very  foundation  of  their  work  in  judging  and 
condemning'  others.  We  laid  the  foundation  of  our 
work  in  judging  and  condemning  ourselves.  They  be- 
gin everywhere  with  showing  their  hearers  how  fallen 
the  Church  and  its  ministers  are ;  we  begin  everywhere 
with  showing  our  hearers  how  fallen  they  are  them- 
selves" (Coke,  Life  of  Wesley,  p.  287).  "  jNIonday,  Jime 
25,  and  the  five  following  days,"  says  the  leader  of  this 
little  band,  "we  spent  in  conference  with  our  preachers, 
seriously  considering  by  what  means  we  might  the  most 
eflfectuallj'  save  our  own  souls  and  them  that  heard  its, 
and  the  result  of  our  consultations  we  set  down  to  be  the 
rule  of  our  future  practice."  Already  had  the  larger 
portion  of  England  been  divided  into  "circuits,"  to  each 
of  which  several  preachers  ^vere  sent  for  one  or  two 
years.  A  part  of  the  work  of  each  annual  assembh'  was 
to  arrange  these  appointments  and  changes.  At  the 
early  Conferences  various  theological  questions  were  dis- 
cussed with  reference  to  the  agreement  of  all  the  par- 
ties in  a  common  standard;  and  when  this  was  settled, 
and  the  doctrinal  discussions  were  discontinued,  new 
regulations  of  another  kind  were  from  year  to  year 
adopted,  as  the  state  of  the  societies,  and  the  enlarging 
opportunities  of  doing  good,  seemed  to  require.  The 
first  indication  of  a  desire  to  see  a  separate  establish- 
ment was  given  by  John  Wesley  in  1784,  when  he  or- 
dained Coke  (q.  v.)  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Church  in 
this  country.  See  Mkthodist  Episcopal  Church. 
On  neither  side  of  the  ocean  had  adherents  of  Wesley 
hitherto  organized  as  a  Church.  They  were  simply 
up  to  this  time  non-ecclesiastical  religious  societies,  en- 
tirely voluntary  on  the  part  of  the  members,  and  all 
governed  by  a  common  discipline,  of  which  their  found- 
er was  the  sole  dictator  and  the  chief  executor.  Yet 
even  this  step  to  provide  for  the  Methodists  in  Amer- 
ica a  separate  ecclesiastical  organization  does  not  clear- 
ly reveal  whether  Wesley  changed  his  mind  as  to  his* 
former  relation  and  that  of  his  adherents  within  the 
Anglican  rule  to  the  Church  of  England.  Says  Dr. 
Curry,  of  the  Christian  Ad'-ocute  (N.  Y.,May  25, 1871), 
"  No  fact  respecting  the  history  of  John  Wesley  is  more 
clearly  manifest  than  that  he  ^vas  always  a  strenuous 
supporter  of  the  authority  of  the  Established  Church 
of  England.  He  jealously  regarded  the  exclusive  ec- 
clesiastical authority  of  that  Church  in  all  that  he  did 
as  an  evangelist,  and  seemed  always  determined  that 
while  he  lived  and  ruled — and  it  was  always  under- 
stood that  he  would  rule  as  long  as  he  lived— nothing 
should  be  tolerated  in  his  societies  at  all  repugnant  to 
the  sole  and  exclusive  ecclesiastical  authority  of  the 
Established  Church.  This  rule  was  applied  to  his  so- 
cieties in  America  before  the  Kevolution  just  as  strictly 
as  to  those  in  England.  But  the  political  separation  of 
America  from  Great  Britain,  as  it  also  ended  the  au- 
thority of  the  English  Church  in  this  country,  made  it 
lawful,  according  to  his  theory  of  the  case,  for  the  :Meth- 
odist  societies  in  America  to  become  regidarly  organized 
churches." 

II.  The  theological  doctrines  of  Wesleyan  IMethodism 
are,  with  perhaps  two  or  three  modifications,  the  same  aa 
those  which,  by  common  consent,  are  at  present  deemed  ' 
evangelical.  'I'he  articles  of  religion  drawit  up  by  Wes- 
ley for  his  immediate  followers,  and  substantially  adopted 
by  all  Methodist  bodies  since,  are  but  slightly  modified 
from  those  of  the  Established  Church  of  England.  They 
were  originally  prepared  for  the  churches  in  the  States. 
See  Articles,  Twesty-five.  The  sermons  of  John 
Wesley,  and  his  notes  on  the  New  Testament,  are  rec- 
ognised by  his  followers  in  Great  Britain  and  America 
as  the  standard  of  Methodism,  and  as  the  basis  of  their 
theological  creed.  The  unity  of  the  Godhead,  and  the 
coequal  divinity  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost;  the  death,  resurrection,  ascension,  and  interces- 


METHODISM 


154 


METHODISM 


sion  of  Jesus  Christ ;  salvation  by  faith ;  the  sufficiency 
and  divine  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures;  a  final  day 
of  jnilj^inent,  and  the  eternity  of  future  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments, are  doctrines  held  in  common  with  other  evan- 
f^elical  branches  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Maintaining 
man's  total  depravity  throuf^h  the  fall  of  xVdam,  and  his 
utter  inability,  unless  aided  by  divine  grace,  to  take  one 
step  towards  his  recovery,  Methodists  hold  that  this  grace 
is  free,  extending  itself  equally,  by  virtue  of  the  atone- 
ment, to  all  the  children  of  men.  Hence  they  deny  the 
doctrine  of  special  election,  with  its  counterpart,  repro- 
bation, as  taught  in  Calvinistic  formularies,  and  main- 
tain, in  opi)osition  to  those  who  hold  to  a  limited  atone- 
ment, that  Jesus  Christ,  "  by  his  oblation  of  liimself 
once  oflercd,  made  a  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  sacrifice, 
oblation,  and  satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world." 
They  recognise  two  sacraments  as  ordained  by  Clirist — 
15ai)tisin  and  tiie  Lord's  Supper.  Infant  children  and 
believing  adults  liave  a  riglit  to  the  former;  and  peni- 
tent seekers  of  salvation,  as  well  as  professing  Chris- 
tians, are  invited  to  partake  of  the  latter,  Iwth  being 
regarded  not  only  as  "badges  or  tokens  of  Christian 
men's  profession,  but  as  certain  signs  of  grace  and  God's 
good  will  towards  us,  by  the  which  he  doth  work  invis- 
ibly in  us,  and  doth  not  only  quicken, but  also  strengthen 
and  confirm  our  faith  in  him."  As  to  the  mode  of  bap- 
tism, so  that  the  ceremony  be  performed  by  an  author- 
ized minister  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  it  is  optional  whether  the  water  be  ap- 
jilied  by  sprinkling  or  pouring,  or  by  the  immersion  of 
the  candidate ;  and  although  kneeling  is  the  usual  mode 
of  receiving  the  elements  at  the  Lord's  table,  those  wlio 
prefer  may  partake  of  them  in  a  standing  or  sitting  post- 
ure. They  deny  the  doctrine  usually  styled  the  "  per- 
severance of  the  saints,"  believing  that  a  true  child  of 
God  may  fall  from  grace  and  finally  perish ;  but  they 
hold  the  doctrine  of  assurance,  in  the  sense  that  it  is 
the  privilege  of  the  justified  sinner  now  to  know  his 
sins  forgiven.  The  Holy  Spirit,  they  teach,  bears  wit- 
iirss  of  I  lie  fact  of  present  pardon  and  aeceptancc;  but 
tlii-  i<  deemed  to  be  the  privilege  of  believers,  not  the 
indi^lHiisable  evidence  of  regeneration.  "It  does  not 
follow,'  says  Wesley,  "that  all  who  do  not  know  their 
sins  forgiven  are  children  of  the  devil."  iMelhodism 
teaclies  also  that  it  is  the  privilege  of  believers  in  this 
life  to  reach  fliat  maturity  of  grace,  and  that  conformity 
to  t]u>  divine  nature,  which  cleanses  the  heart  from  sin. 
and  fills  it  with  love  to  God  and  man — the  being  filled, 
as  Paul  phrases  it,  with  all  the  fulness  of  (iod.  This 
tliey  call  Christian  perfection,  a  state  which  they  de- 
clare to  be  attainable  through  faith  in  Christ.  Wesley 
says  on  this  subject,  and  none  of  his  authorized  follow- 
ers have  gone  beyond  him,  "Christian  perfection  implies 
the  being  so  crucified  with  Christ  as  to  be  able  to  testify, 
'  I  live  not,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me.'  It  does  not  imply 
an  exemption  from  ignorance  or  mistake,  infirmities  or 
temptations.  I  believe,"  he  adds,  "there  is  no  such  per- 
fection in  this  life  as  excludes  these  involuntary  trans- 
gressions, whicli  I  apprehend  to  be  naturally  consequent 
on  tlie  ignorance  an(l  mistakes  inseparable  from  mortal- 
ity. Tiierefore  'sinless  perfection'  is  a  plirase  I  never 
use,  lest  I  should  seem  to  contradict  myself.  I  believe 
a  person  tilled  with  the  love  of  (iod  is  still  liaiilf  lo  ilicsc 
involuntary  transgressions.  Such  transgro-i.ins  y..u 
may  call  sins,  if  you  please:  I  do  not.  for  the  rc,i>oiis 
above  inculioned."  This  doctrine  Wesley  calls  "the 
grand  dcposiinm  whicli  (Jod  has  given  to  the  people 
called  Mcihodists;"  and  he  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that 
God  raised  them  up  chiefly  to  preach,  and  exemplify, 
and  propagate  it.     Sec  Wi;slf,yanism. 

III.  As  to  Ike  rjofernment  and  usdfjcK  of  J\felliodism, 
they  are  similar,  but  not  entirely  uniform,  in  all  its 
branches  and  divisions.  In  the  parent  body,  the  Wes- 
leyan  Methodists  of  Ijigland,  the  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment is  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  ministry.  "The 
Conference,"  originally  instituted,  as  we  have  seen,  by 
Wesley,  has  the  power  of  making  rules  and  regulations 


for  the  government  of  the  body.  This  power  is,  how- 
ever, restricted  within  certain  limits  prescribed  in  v.hat 
is  known  as  "the  deed  of  declaration,"  executed  by  John 
Wesley  a  little  while  before  his  death,  and  enrolled  in  the 
archives  of  the  high  court  of  chancer}-  in  1794.  IJy  the 
provisions  of  this  deed,  the  Conference  consists  of  one 
hundred  ministers,  who  were  originally  named  therein, 
and  to  whom  and  to  their  successors  was  committed  the 
duty  of  filling  vacancies  as  they  occur.  The  Conference, 
by  the  deed  of  declaration,  is  to  meet  annually,  and  to 
contiinie  in  session  not  less  than  five  days  nor  more  than 
three  weeks.  Other  minbters  attend  and  take  part  in 
the  discussions,  but  the  legal  body  consists  of  the  "  hun- 
dred" only.  Their  first  business,  after  tilling  vacancies, 
is  the  election  from  their  own  number  of  a  president, 
who  holds  liis  office  for  one  year,  but  is  eligible  to  a  re- 
election after  an  interval  of  eight  years.  Any  member 
of  the  "  legal  hundred"  absenting  himself  without  leave 
from  two  successive  Conferences,  and  not  aiipearing  on 
the  first  day  of  the  third,  forfeits  his  seat.  The  Confer- 
ence admits  jireachers  on  trial;  receives  them  into  full 
membership  by  ordination;  examines  and  scrutinizes 
the  character  of  every  minister  in  the  connection,  and 
has  power  to  try  those  against  whom  any  charge  is 
brought,  and  to  censure,  suspend,  or  excommunicate,  if 
necessary.  Hy  the  Conference  the  proceedings  of  sub- 
ordinate bodies  are  finally  reviewed,  and  the  state  and 
prospects  of  the  Church  at  large  are  considered,  and  reg- 
ulations enacted  for  its  increasing  efficiency.  The  most 
important  of  these  subordinate  judicatories  is  "  the  dis- 
trict meeting,"  which  is  composed  of  ministers  and  lay- 
men "  residing  within  a  district  of  countrj'  embracing 
from  ten  to  twenty  or  more  circuits" — a  circuit  being  the 
prescribed  field  of  labor  for  two,  three,  or,  in  some  cases, 
four  ministers.  The  district  meeting  has  authority: 
1.  To  examine  candidates  for  the  ministry;  and  with- 
out their  recommendation  no  candidate  can  come  before 
the  Annual  Conference.  2.  To  try  and  suspend  minis- 
ters who  are  found  immoral,  erroneous  in  doctrine,  un- 
faithful to  their  ordination  vows,  or  deficient  in  aliility 
for  the  work  they  have  undertaken,  3,  To  deciilc  pre- 
liminary (juesfions  concerning  the  building  of  chapels. 
4.  To  review  the  demands  from  the  less  wealthy  church- 
es, which  draw  upon  the  public  funds  of  the  connection 
for  aid  in  supporting  their  ministers.  5.  To  elect  a 
representative,  who  is  thus  made  a  member  of  a  com- 
mittee appointed  to  sit  previously  to  the  meeting  of 
"the  Conference,"  in  order  to  prepare  a  draft  of  the  sta- 
tions of  all  the  ministers  for  the  ensuing  year;  regard 
being  had  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  in  the  allocation 
of  individual  pastors.  The  judgment  of  this  "station- 
ing committee"  is  conclusive  until  Conference,  to  which 
an  appeal  is  allowed  in  all  cases,  either  from  ministers 
or  people.  But  the  appointments  are  made  for  one  year 
only,  and  no  preacher  can  be  appointed  to  tlie  same 
charge  more  than  three  years  successively.  In  the  Dis- 
trict Conference  laymen  take  part,  equally  with  minis- 
ters, in  all  that  afTects  the  general  welfare  of  the  body; 
I  and  the  lay  influence  predominates  still  more  in  "the 
I  (juarterly  meeting,"  which  is  held,  as  its  name  indicates, 
!  every  three  months  on  every  circuit.  All  local jmiich- 
trs,  a  numerous  and  influential  body  of  men,  who  ]ireach 
on  Siuidays,  and  follow  some  secular  employments  for  a 
livelihood;  s/** (ro? y/.<,  whose  duty  it  is  to  attend  more 
isi)icially  to  the  temporalities  of  the  society ;  chiss-lead- 
I  era,  of  whom  mention  is  made  above  in  the  general 
j  rules,  are  members  of  the  quarterly  meeting,  at  which 
candidates  for  the  s.acred  office  are  first  proposed,  and,  if 
rejected  by  their  fellow-members,  they  have  no  appeal 
to  another  trilnnial.  A  similar  balance  of  power  is 
maintained  in  the  "leaders'  meeting."  which  is  lield 
monthly,  in  regard  to  various  affairs  of  the  particular 
society  to  which  it  belongs.  Many  of  these  meetings 
are  attended  by  one  minister  only,  or,  at  the  most,  by 
two  or  three,  while  the  lay  members  are  very  numer- 
ous. No  leader,  or  other  society  officer,  is  appointed 
but  with  the  concurrence  of  a  leaders'  meeting;  no  stew- 


METHODISM 


155 


METHODISM 


ard  without  that  of  the  quarterly  meeting.  Among  | 
the  usages  peculiar  to  Methodism  we  have  already  no- 
ticed "  the  class-meeting,"  at  which,  although  chietly 
designed  for  spiritual  instruction  and  improvement,  it  is 
expected  that  weekly  contributions  shall  be  made  for 
the  support  of  the  ministry;  and  in  which  it  is  necessary 
for  all  wlio  desire  to  become  Methodists  to  undergo  a 
period  of  probation  of  three  among  the  Methodists  of 
England,  and  of  six  months  among  those  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  (in  the  Church  South  there  is 
no  probatiouship),  and  attendance  upon  which  thereafter 
is  a  term  of  membership.  There  is  also  in  England  what 
is  known  as  the  band-meeting,  which  ditfers  from  the 
class-meeting  in  that  it  is  a  voluntary  association,  and 
does  not  allow  males  and  females  to  meet  together,  nor 
the  married  to  belong  to  the  same  "band"  with  the 
single.  The  love-feast  is  a  meeting  held  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  preacher,  quarterly  or  oftener ;  and  the  watch- 
night  is  a  meeting  for  prayer,  preaching,  and  mutual 
exhortation,  held  at  first  frequently,  but  now  only  on 
the  last  night  of  the  year,  and  continuing  until  after 
midnight.  John  Wesley  is  claimed  to  have  been  the 
originator  of  religious  tracts  for  gratuitous  distribution, 
and  of  cheap  volumes  for  the  dissemination  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity.  His  followers  have  continued 
the  system  of  publishing,  and  from  "  the  Book-room"  in 
London  still  emanate  religious  publications,  tracts,  and 
periodicals,  the  profits  arising  from  the  sale  of  which 
are  applied  to  connectional  purposes.  For  further  de- 
tails, see  Wesleyaxs. 

The  duties  of  a  Methodist  minister  were  thus  defined 
by  Mr.  Wesley,  and  they  have  since  remained  substan- 
tially in  all  branches  of  the  denomination  (see  Disci- 
pline, etc.,  §  138  sq.) :  "  Q.  What  is  the  ofHce  of  a  Chris- 
tian minister  ?  A .  To  watch  over  souls,  as  he  that  must 
give  an  account.  To  feed  and  guide  the  tlock.  Q.  How 
shall  he  be  fully  <iualified  for  his  great  work?  A.  By 
walking  closely  with  God,  and  having  his  work  greatly 
at  heart;  by  understanding  and  loving  every  branch  of 
our  discipline,  and  by  carefully  and  constantly  observ- 
ing the  twelve  rules  of  a  helper,  viz.:  1.  Be  diligent; 
never  be  unemployed;  never  be  trifiingly  employed; 
never  while  away  time,  nor  spend  more  time  at  any 
place  than  is  strictly  necessary.  2.  Be  serious ;  let 
your  motto  be,  Holiness  to  the  Lord;  avoid  all  light- 
ness, jesting,  and  foolish  talking.  3.  Converse  sparingly 
and  cautiously  with  women,  particularly  with  young 
women.  4.  Take  no  step  towards  marriage  without 
solemn  prayer  to  God,  and  consulting  with  your  breth- 
ren. 5.  Believe  evil  of  no  one;  unless  fully  proved, 
take  heed  how  you  credit  it :  put  the  best  construction 
you  can  on  everything — you  know  the  judge  is  always 
supposed  to  be  on  the  prisoner's  side.  6.  Speak  evil  of 
no  one,  else  your  word  especially  would  eat  as  doth  a 
canker;  keep  your  thoughts  within  your  own  breast 
till  you  come  to  the  person  concerned.  7.  Tell  every 
one  what  you  think  wrong  in  him,  lovingly  and  plainly, 
and  as  soon  as  may  be,  else  it  will  fester  in  your  own 
heart ;  make  all  haste  to  cast  the  fire  out  of  your  bosom. 
8.  Do  not  aifect  the  gentleman ;  a  preacher  of  the  Gos- 
pel is  the  servant  of  all.  9.  Be  ashamed  of  nothing  but 
sin ;  no,  not  of  cleaning  your  own  shoes  when  necessarj-. 
10.  Be  punctual;  do  everything  exactlj^  at  the  time; 
and  do  not  mend  our  rules,  but  keep  them,  and  that  for 
conscience'  sake.  11.  You  have  nothing  to  do  but  to 
save  souls,  and  therefore  spend  and  be  spent  in  this 
work ;  and  go  always,  not  only  to  those  who  want  you, 
but  to  those  who  want  you  most.  12.  Act  in  all  things, 
not  according  to  your  own  will,  but  as  a  son  in  the  Gos- 
pel, and  in  union  with  your  brethren.  As  such,  it  is 
your  part  to  employ  your  time  as  our  rules  direct; 
partly  in  preaching  and  visiting  from  house  to  house ; 
partly  in  reading,  meditation,  and  prayer.  Above  all, 
if  you  labor  with  us  in"  our  Lord's  vineyard,  it  is  needful 
that  you  should  do  that  part  of  the  work  which  the 
Conference  shall  advise,  at  those  times  and  places  which 
they  shall  judge  most  for  his  glory.    Observe :  It  is  not 


your  business  to  preach  so  many  times,  and  to  take  care 
merely  of  this  and  that  society,  but  to  save  as  many 
souls  as  you  can;  to  bring  as  manj^  sinners  as  you  pos- 
sibly can  to  repentance ;  and  with  all  your  power  to 
build  them  up  in  that  holiness  without  which  they  can- 
not see  the  Lord;  and,  remember,  a  ]\fethodist preacher 
is  to  mind  every  point,  great  and  small,  in  the  Methodist' 
discijjline ;  therefore  you  will  need  all  the  grace  and  all 
the  sense  you  have,  and  to  have  all  your  wits  about 
you."     See  Itinerancy. 

The  latest  writer  on  INIethodism  (the  Eev.  L.  Tyer- 
man,  Life  and  Times  of  John  Wesley)  who  dares  to  hold 
that  it  is  "  the  greatest  fact  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,"  thus  comments  upon  the  present  condition 
of  the  parent  body  of  IMethodism,  the  Weskyan  Meth- 
odist Church  (q.v.) :  "The  'Methodist,'  or  parent  'Con- 
ference,' employs  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  1782  reg- 
ular ministers.  Besides  these,  there  were,  in  18G4,  in 
England  only,  11,80-4  lay  preacliers,  preaching  8754  ser- 
mons every  Sabbath-day.  In  the  same  year,  the  num- 
ber of  preaching-places  in  England  only  was  071 8,  and 
the  number  of  sermons  preached  weekly,  by  ministers 
and  lay  preachers  combined,  was  13,852.  To  these  must 
be  added  the  lay  preachers,  preaching-places,  etc.,  in 
Wales,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Shetland,  and  the  Channel  Isl- 
ands. The  number  of  Church  members  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  is  305,285,  with  21,223  on  trial;  and,  calcu- 
lating that  the  hearers  are  three  times  as  numerous  as 
the  Church  members,  there  are  considerably  more  than 
a  million  persons  in  the  United  Kingdom  who  are  attend- 
ants upon  the  religious  services  ofthepare?it  Conference 
of  '  the  people  called  Methodists.'  Some  idea  of  their 
chapel  and  school  property  may  be  formed  from  the  fact 
that,  during  the  last  seven  years,  there  has  been  expend- 
ed, in  Great  Britain  only,  in  new  erections  and  in  reducing 
debts  on  existing  buildings,  £1,672,541 ;  and  towards  that 
amount  of  expenditure  there  has  been  actually  raised  and 
paid  (exclusive  of  all  connectional  collections,  loans,  and 
drafts)  the  sum  of  £1,284,498.  During  the  ten  years 
from  1859  to  1868,  inclusive,  there  was  raised  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  foreign  missions  of  the  connection  £1,408.235; 
and  if  to  this  there  be  added  the  amount  of  the  Jul)ilee 
Fund,  we  find  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  sterling 
contributed  during  the  decade  for  the  sustenance  and 
extension  of  the  JNIethodist  work  in  foreign  lands.  The 
missions  now  referred  to  are  carried  on  in  Ireland, 
France,  Switzerland,  German}',  Italy,  Gibraltar,  India, 
Ceylon,  China,  South  and  West  Africa,  the  West  Indies, 
Canada,  Eastern  British  America,  Australia,  and  Poly- 
nesia. In  these  distant  places  the  committee  having 
the  management  of  the  missions  emploj'  3798  paid 
agents,  including  994  who  are  regularly  ordained,  and 
are  wholly  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  Christian  minis- 
trj'.  Besides  these,  there  are  about  20,000  agents  of  the 
society  (as  lay  preachers,  etc.)  who  are  rendering  im- 
portant service  gratuitously,  while  the  number  of  Church 
members  is  154,187,  and  the  number  of  attendants  upon 
the  religious  services  more  than  half  a  million.  Space 
prevents  a  reference  to  the  other  institutions  and  funds 
of  British  Methodism,  except  to  add  that,  besides  174,721 
children  in  the  mission  schools,  the  parent  connection 
1  has  in  Great  Britain  698  day-schools,  efficiently  con- 
j  ducted  bj'  1532  certificated,  assistant,  and  pupil  leach- 
ers,  and  containing  119,070  scholars;  also  5328  Sunday- 
schools,  containing  601,801  scholars,  taught  by  103,441 
persons  who  render  their  services  gratuitously ;  and  that 
the  total  number  of  publications  printed  and  issued  by 
the  English  Book  Committee  only,  during  tlie  year  end- 
ing June,  1866,  was  four  millions  one  hundred  and  twen- 
tj'-two  thousand  eight  hundred,  of  which  nearly  two 
millions  were  periodicals,  and  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
million  were  hymn-books." 

IV.  Subdivisions.— The  different  branches  of  the  great 
Methodistic  body  are  as  follows : 

1.  The  Wesleyan  Methodists,  or  main  and  original 
body  of  the  Methodists  in  Great  Britain,  often  spoken 
of  above.     See  Wesleyans. 


METHODISM 


156 


METHODISM 


2.  The  Calvin'istic  Methodists  date  from  a  dis- 
pute between  Wliitefield  and  the  Wesleys  on  doctrinal 
I)iiiiits.  The  former,  with  his  assuiiatrs.  uinUr  the  spe- 
cial patronage  of  the  countess  <]!"  iluiiiiii-dMii.  and  great- 
ly aided  by  her  liberal  contribiiiiiui-.  ..r-ani/cil  .societies 
and  built  chapels  in  various  parts  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  Wales.  For  their  particidar  doctrinal  tenets,  see 
Calvinism.  After  tlie  death  of  Whitelield  they  were 
divided  into  three  separate  sects.  (1.)  The  first  was 
known  as  IakI;/  Jluiiliiir/don's  Connection, ■which  observed 
strictly  the  liturgical  forms  of  the  English  Established 
Cinirch,  with  a  settled  pastorate  instead  of  an  itinerant 
ministry.  They  have  not  increased  with  much  rapidity 
since  her  death,  having  at  the  present  time  less  than  a 
hundred  ministers,  and  between  sixty  and  seventy  cha])- 
els.  They  have  maintained  from  the  beginning  a  the- 
ological school  for  the  education  of  ministers,  now  known 
as  Cheshunt  College,  in  Hertfordshire,  England.  See 
Iluxrixunox.  iVlthough  the  name  "connection"  con- 
tiiHies  to  be  used,  the  Congregational  polity  is  practi- 
cally adopted ;  and,  of  late  years,  several  of  the  congre- 
gations have  become,  in  name  as  well  as  virtually,  Con- 
gregational Churches.  The  number  of  chajjcls,  men- 
tioned in  the  census  of  1851,  as  belonging  to  this  con- 
nection, was  109,  containing  accommodations  for  38,727 
persons,  and  the  attendance  on  the  census  Saturday  was 
10,151.  (2.)  The  second  of  these  divisions  was  called  I 
tlie  Tabernacle  Connection,  or  Whitejicld  Metho(li.iti<. 
They  had  no  connectional  bond  after  the  death  of  their 
founder,  and  each  separate  society  regarding  itself  as  in- 
dci)cndent,  they  are  now  lost  as  a  distinctive  sect,  and 
foiuiil  only  among  the  churches  known  as  ( 'imgrcgal  ion- 
alist  or  Independent.  (.3.)  The  Welsh  C<i!rliu.<t!r  M<lh- 
(>(lis/.i,  the  third  of  these  branches,  was  (irgani/od  in 
1743.  They  have  continued  to  increase  and  prosper  un- 
til the  present  day,  being  confined,  however,  mostly  to 
the  ])rincipality  ofWales,  where  thej'at  present  number 
about  GO.OOO  communicants.  In  the  United  States  there 
are  about  4000  members  of  this  denomination,  with  four 
annual  Conferences,  one  in  each  of  the  states  of  New 
York,  Pennsj'lv^ania,  Ohio,  and  Wisconsin.  The  mem- 
bers are  mostly  Welsh,  or  of  Welsh  descent,  and  their 
religious  services  are  generally  celebrated  in  the  Welsh 
language. 

3.  The  Wesleyan  jNIetiiodist  New  Connection 
was  the  result  of  the  first  secession  from  the  [larent  bodj' 
after  the  death  of  Wesley.  It  originated  in  1797,  under 
the  leadership  of  Alexander  Kilham,  after  whom  they 
are  siinu-limrs  called  Kil/i'iniiti-s  (q.v.).  He  had  been  a 
]irca;lKr  anions;  the  Wcsleyans,  and  was  expelled  from 
llie  Coiircnui'c  in  17'.H).  His  olfenco  was  a  publication 
in  winch  he  criticised  severely  the  then  present  order 
of  things,  and  submitted  proposals  for  what  he  deemed 
reform.  In  accordance  with  his  sentiments  a  secession 
Ciinivli  was  orgifnized,  and  the  New  Connection  sprang 
into  existence  with  about  5000  members.  Their  Con- 
ference is  constituted  upon  the  representative  system, 
laymen  having  an  eipial  voice  with  the  clergy  in  the 
govenmient  of  the  Church,  while  in  doctrine  and  gen- 
eral usage  they  differ  not  at  all  from  the  old  connection. 
Their  history  has  not  been  marked  by  any  great  success. 
Tiuy  have  a  few  chapels  in  Ireland,  and  in  Canada 
tliere  are  from  8000  to  10,000  members.  Of  late  years 
they  have  decreased  in  the  immber  of  membership.  In 
1874  the  l)ndy  contained  33,563  members. 

4.  TiiK  Uand-Kooji  JIetiioihsts  originated  in  "Man- 
chcster  in  I8()(i.  The  name  is  derived  from  the  /iaiid 
Room  in  North  Street,  ^Manchester,  where  a  class  of  over- 
zealous  revivalists  used  to  gather,  and,  contrary  to  the 
rules  of  the  Connection,  admitted  parties  not  members, 
riiey  were  also  guilty  of  acting  independently  of  leaders' 
me,  lings,  and  when  remonstrated  with,  withdrew  and 
forjoid  an  independent  body.  Tlie  Uand-Hoom  Meth- 
odists still  exist;  but  are  now  called  The  United  Free 
(j().<lhl  t'hurches.  They  diflFer  from  the  "parent"  body 
in  having  no  paid  ministers.  They  have,  however,  an- 
nual confereuces. 


5.  The  Primitive  Methodists  are,  next  to  the  Wes- 
leyans,  the  largest  jMethodist  body  in  England.  They 
date  from  the  year  1810.  A  few  regidar  Wesleyan 
preachers  introduced,  on  their  circuits,  the  American 
practice  of  holding  camp-meetings.  These  were  disap- 
])roved  by  the  Conference,  and  denounced  as  "highly 
improper."  Other  tpiestions  entered  into  the  contro- 
vers\-,  and  the  result  was  the  formation  of  the  new  sect. 
Their  discipline  and  theology  are  strictly  Wesleyan,  but 
they  go  beyond  any  other  denomination  in  committing 
the  duty  of  Church  government  to  the  laity.  Their 
Conference  is  comjwsed  of  one  third  preachers  and  two 
thirds  laymen.  From  the  stir  they  make  in  their  re- 
ligious services,  they  liave  been  called  Ranters.  They 
allow  women  to  j)reach.  They  have  several  missions 
in  foreign  lands,  and  in  England  and  Wales,  according 
to  the  last  official  report  of  1874,  the  connection  had 
104,772  members.  In  the  United  States,  also,  they  have 
secured  a  footing;  they  here  count  a  membership  of 
some  2000.     See  Primitive  Methodists. 

6.  The  Brvanites,  or  Biiu.e  Christians,  are  a  sect 
of  Methodists  very  similar  to  the  preceding.  They  date 
from  1815.  Their  leader  was  a  Wesleyan  local  preacher 
of  considerable  talent,  by  the  name  of  O'Bryan  (q.  v.). 
Among  them,  as  among  the  Primitive  Methodists,  fe- 
males are  regularls  licensed  to  preach  in  public.  They 
principally  exist  in  (  oiinvall  and  the  West  of  England, 
but  also  have  njis-imi  siaiions  in  the  Channel  Islands, 
the  United  States.  Canada,  Prince  Edv.ard's  Island,  and 
Australia.  They  had,  according  to  their  report  of  1873, 
20,427  fidl  and  accredited  Church  members. 

7.  The  Primitivi.  Mi  i srs  of  Irelaxd.     This 

body  of  Primitive  31ei  hodi-is  is  cif  later  origin  than  that 
of  England,  and  is  eniin  ly  imU  pendent  of  the  other  or- 
ganization of  like  name.  The  Primitiue  Methodists  of 
Ireland  date  from  1810.  The  English  Conference  in  1 795 
granted  to  the  members  the  privilege  of  receiving  from 
their  own  ministers,  under  certain  guards  and  restric- 
tions, the  sacraments.  The  Irish  Conference  thereupon, 
in  the  following  j'ear,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  among 
them  "it  was  not  expedient;"  but  in  1810,  after  the 
subject  had  been  freely  discussed  by  the  people,  and 
numerous  petitions  asking  that  it  might  be  adminis- 
tered were  brought  before  the  Conference,  the  request 
was  granted  by  a  majority  of  sixty-two  against  twenty- 
six.  The  minority,  with  the  Ifev.  Adam  Averell,  one 
of  their  most  influential  ministers,  at  their  head,  sepa- 
rated, and  took  with  them  about  ten  thousand  members, 
fidl  one  third  of  the  whole.  (It  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  the  .secession  in  1797  [see  3]  Avas  the  result  of  the 
«o«-com|diance  of  the  English  Conference  with  the 
wishes  of  the  people  to  have  the  sacrament  from  their 
own  ministers.)  The  oidy  ditTerence  between  the  Irish 
Primitive  IMethodists  and  the  Wesleyans  remains  to 
this  day  the  liberty  of  members  in  the  former  body  to 
partake  of  the  sacraments  in  the  churches.  The  preach- 
ers are  regarded  simply  as  laymen,  because  of  the  failure 
of  this  secession  among  them.  The  leal  lay  members, 
however,  have  also  a  voice  in  the  government  of  the 
societies.'  In  18G1  the  Irish  Primitive  Methodists  num- 
bered 14,247  members.     See  Primitive  Methodists. 

8.  The  United  Methodist  Free  Chirch  is  a  union, 
recently  formed,  of  three  different  divisions  of  seceders 
from  Wesleyan  Methodism. 

(«)  The  PiJorESTANT  Methodists,  who  organized 
into  a  distinct  body  in  1828,  then  coiniting  28  local 
preachers,  .50  leaders,  and  ujiwards  of  1000  members,  se- 
ceders from  the  Leeds  societies,  because  of  the  opposi- 
tion to  the  introduction  of  an  organ. 

{b)  The  Wesi.evan  JIethodist  Association,  which 
was  organized  in  1835,  under  the  leadership  of  Samuel 
Warren,  one  of  the  opponents  (in  1834)  to  the  i)rop<)sed 
establishment  of  a  theological  institution,  to  be  presided 
over  by  Dr.  Jabez  Punting.  The  Leeds  seceders  joined 
the  Associationists  in  1828;  both  amalgamated  with  the 
Free  Methodists  in  1857.  See  United  Methodist 
Free  Chukcii. 


METHODISM 


157 


METHODISM 


(c)  The  Rkformers,  who  were  organized  into  a  body 
in  1849.  At  the  Manchester  Conference  held  in  that 
vear,  six  members,  suspected  of  private  intrigue  with 
members  of  the  Wesleyan  IMethodist  Association  (see 
h),  were  placed  at  the  bar,  without  having  received  any 
regular  notice  of  the  charges  to  be  preferred  against 
them,  as  required  by  the  standing  laws  and  usages  of 
the  connection,  and  without  a  trial,  without  any  evi- 
dence that  they  had  violated  any  law,  human  or  divine, 
three  of  them  were  reprimanded  and  three  were  ex- 
pelled. The  act  excited  the  astonishment  of  the  na- 
tion, convulsed  the  connection,  and  led  to  the  loss  of  one 
hundred  thousand  members.  Many  of  them,  after  a 
while,  for  want  of  ministers  and  suitable  places  of  wor- 
ship, returned  to  the  old  body,  but  others  formed  them- 
selves into  a  distinctive  body  styled  the  Reformed 
Methodists.  These  amalgamated  bodies  differ  from  the 
"  parent"  body  only  in  Church  government  and  usages. 
One  of  their  professed  objects  is  the  reformation  of  the 
body  from  which  they  are  separated.  Their  annual  as- 
sembly admits  lay  representatives,  circuits  with  less  than 
500  n^embers  sending  one;  less  than  1000,  two;  and 
more  than  1000,  three  delegates.  Each  circuit  governs 
itself  by  its  local  courts,  without  any  interference  as  to 
the  management  of  its  internal  affairs.  At  their  Annual 
Assembly,  held  at  Bristol,  England,  in  August,  1872, 
they  reported  66,907  members. 

9.  The  Wesleyan  Kefokm  Union  is  a  body  com- 
posed of  those  of  the  seceders  of  1849  (see  7  [c])  who 
refused  to  amalgamate  with  the  United  Methodist  Free 
Church.  In  1868  it  mtmbered  nearly  a  thousand  Church 
members. 

The  above  comprise  all  the  Methodist  branches  now 
existing  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  Some  others 
have  occasionally  sprung  up,  such  as  the  Tent  Method- 
ists, the  Independent  Methodists,  etc.,  but  they  are  now 
either  extinct  or  incorporated  with  other  churches. 

10.  In  the  United  States,  the  main  IkkIv  dl'  Wesley's 
followers  are  incorporated  in  theMETiiooisr  IIi'iscoi'Al 
Chukch,  which  was  formally  organiztnl  in  17iS4.  Pre- 
vious to  that  time  local  preachers  from  England,  prom- 
inent among  whom  were  Philip  Embury  and  an  officer 
in  the  British  army  by  the  name  of  Webb,  had  preach- 
ed in  New  York  and  other  places,  and  organized  so- 
cieties on  the  English  model.  In  17G9  the  first  regular 
itinerant  Methodist  preachers,  Boardman  and  Pilmoor, 
were  sent  over  by  Mr.  Wesley.  The  former  took  his 
station  in  New  York,  the  latter  in  Philadelphia — occa- 
sionally changing  with  each  other,  and  often  making 
short  excursions  into  the  country.  They  were  verj'  suc- 
cessful in  their  labors ;  and,  by  their  instrumentality, 
not  only  were  multitudes  converted,  but  quite  a  number 
of  lay  preachers  were  received  and  employed.  At  the 
English  Wesleyan  Conference  of  1771,  Francis  Asbury 
antl  Richard  Wright  volunteered  to  come  to  America 
as  missionaries.  They  landed  in  Philadelphia  in  the 
month  of  October  of  that  year,  and  were  received  by  the 
societies  with  great  cordiality.  In  the  year  1773  two 
additional  missionaries,  Raidiin  and  Shadford,  were  sent 
over,  and  the  first  American  "  Conference"  was  held  at 
Philadelphia  in  July  of  that  year.  The  number  of 
members  in  the  society  was  stated  to  be  IIGO;  and  res- 
olutions were  adopted  recommending  continued  conform- 
ity to  the  discipline  and  doctrines  of  the  English  Meth- 
odists. From  that  time,  all  through  the  stormy  sea- 
son of  the  Revolutionary  War,  success  seems  to  have 
attended  their  efforts,  so  that,  at  the  Conference  of  1784, 
there  were  reported  to  be  about  15,000  members  in  the 
connection.  In  this  year  Wesley,  for  the  first  time,  per- 
formed the  solemn  rite  of  ordination  by  setting  apart 
two  men  as  elders  for  the  Hock  in  America,  and  by 
consecrating  to  the  episcopal  office  Dr.  Thomas  Coke,  at 
that  time  a  presbyter  in  the  Church  of  England.  The 
doctor  and  liis  two  associates  immediately  thereafter 
saileil  for  America,  and  were  present  at  the  Conference 
in  Baltimore,  at  which  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
was  organized.     The  first  act  of  that  Conference  was 


the  ratification  with  entire  unanimity  of  Coke's  ordi- 
nation, and  the  election  of  one  of  their  own  number, 
Francis  Asbury,  to  the  same  office.  The  Conference  also 
received  Wesley's  abridgment  of  the  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England,  which  continue  to  be  their  standard 
of  doctrine  to  the  present  day,  and  also  an  abridgment- 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  prepared  by  the  same 
hand,  and  sent  over  with  the  recommendation  that  it 
should  be  used  in  the  Methodist  chapels.  This  was 
done  in  some  of  the  large  cities  for  a  season,  but  soon 
fell  into  disuse,  with  the  exception  of  the  sacramental 
services  and  the  forms  of  ordinations,  which  are  still  re- 
tained and  used.  The  bishops  are  elected  by  a  General 
Conference,  which  meets  even,'  four  years,  and  is  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  the  several  Annual  Conferences 
in  the  ratio  of  one  delegate  for  a  certain  number  of 
members,  which  has  been  changed  from  time  to  time 
according  to  the  increase  of  the  general  body.  The  ra- 
tio fixed  by  the  General  Conference  of  1872  as  a  basis 
of  future  representation  is  one  delegate  for  every  forty- 
five  members  of  an  Annual  Conference.  At  the  same 
Conference  lay  members,  in  the  ratio  of  two  for  every 
Annual  Conference,  were  also  admitted.  The  bishops, 
like  the  preachers,  are  itinerant;  and  it  is*specially  en- 
acted that  if  one  of  them  ceases  from  travelling  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  General  Conference,  he  shall  not 
thereafter  exercise  the  episcopal  office.  His  powers  are 
similar  to  those  of  the  president  of  the  English  Confer- 
ence, with  the  additional  duty  of  fixing  the  appoint- 
ments of  the  preachers,  deciding  all  questions  of  law  in 
an  Annual  Conference,  and  ordaining  bishops,  elders, 
and  deacons.  The  limit  of  three  years,  beyond  which 
the  preachers  of  the  British  Wesleyan  Connection  may 
not  continue  in  the  same  place,  is  now  also  the  rule  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States ; 
and  to  this  is  added  the  regulation  that  they  may  not 
be  returned  to  the  same  place  more  than  three  years  in 
six.  Presiding  elders  in  this  branch  of  the  Church  oc- 
cupy a  position  very  similar  to  that  of  the  chairmen 
of  districts  in  England,  except  that  they  have  no  sepa- 
rate pastoral  charge.  They  are  appointed  by  the  bish- 
ops, and  may  remain  four  years  on  the  same-  dis- 
trict. They  form  a  kind  of  advisory  committee  in  as- 
sisting the  bishops  to  fix  the  appointments  of  the 
preachers.  The  "  I3ook  Concern,"  situated  in  New  York, 
with  a  branch  at  Cincinnati,  and  depositories  in  various 
other  cities,  has  a  capital  of  more  than  a  million  of  dol- 
lars, and  is  one  of  the  largest  publishing  houses  in  the 
world.  Under  the  patronage  and  control  of  the  Church 
are  weekly  papers  published  in  New  York,  Syracuse 
(N.  Y.).  Pittsburgh  (Pa.),  Cincinnati  (0.),  Chicago  (111.), 
St. Louis  (Mo.),  San  Francisco  (Cal.),  Portland  (( )n'-on), 
and  Atlanta  (Ga.).  They  publish  also  several  iUnst  rated 
papers  for  Sunday-schools,  one  of  a  similar  kind  I'm-  tlie 
Tract  Society,  a  monthly  Sunday-school  journal,  a 
monthly  magazine  in  English,  another  in  German,  and  a 
quarterly  review.    See  IMethodist  Episcopai.  Ciup.ch. 

1 1.  The  IMethodist  Episcopai-  Church,  South,  pro- 
jected at  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  1845,  was  formally  organ- 
ized by  delegates  from  Conferences  within  the  slave- 
holding  states  in  JMay,  1846.  In  doctrine,  discipline, 
and  general  usages,  it  is  the  same  as  the  preceding.  -The 
same  is  true  of  its  forms  of  worship  and  usages.  But 
while  the  Church  North  made  open  declaration  against 
the  institution  of  slavery,  the  Church  South  ignored  the 
subject.  Now  that  the  institution  is  abolished  in  the 
United  Stites,  the  two  bodies  can  hardly  be  said  to  dif- 
fer. The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  has  a 
flourishing  publishing  house  (at  Nashville,  Tenn.),  and 
issues  several  periodicals.  See  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. 

12.  The  Methodist  Protestant  Church  was  or- 
ganized in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  in  the  year  1830, 
by  a  convention  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  cler- 
ical and  lay  delegates  from  various  states  of  the  Union. 
The  convention  continued  in  session  three  weeks,  and 
adopted  a  "  Constitution"  for  the  new  association.    Its 


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158 


METHODISM 


fundamental  doctrines,  and  most  of  its  usages,  are  the  | 
same  as  those  of  the  Episcopal  Methodists,  the  body  1 
from  which  it  seceded.  Following  tlie  example  of  the 
Britisli  Wesleyans,  the  episcopal  olfice  is  denied,  and  a 
president  called  to  rule  over  each  Amiual  Conference, 
elected  by  the  ballot  of  that  body.  The  laity  is  admit- 
ted to  an  equal  participation  with  the  clergy  in  all 
Church  legislation  and  governmejit.  The  General  Con- 
ference, wliich  meets  every  four  years,  consists  of  an 
equal  number  of  ministers  and  laymen,  who  are  elected 
by  the  Ainnial  Conferences.  The  slavery  question  di- 
vided tlie  Metlindist  Protestant  Church  into  two  bodies 
— tlie  Methiiditt  J'roti'stant  Church  of  the  North-wtstern 
J^httes  and  the  Methodist  Protestants  of  the  Southern 
Slates.  The  head-ciuarters  of  the  former  were  estab- 
lished at  Springtield,  Ohio;  those  of  the  latter  at  Balti- 
more, ^Id.  Their  members  were  found  only  in  certain 
jiarts  of  the  United  States.  Their  greatest  strength  is 
in  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  in  some  portions  of  Ohio 
and  IVniisylvania.  Of  late  years,  a  union  of  all  non- 
episcopal  Mctliodists  having  been  proposed,  tlie  Protes- 
tant Mctliodists  North  changed  their  official  name  to 
Th,-M<th„dist  Church.  The  Wesleyau  Methodist  Church 
was  one  of  the  churches  expected  to  be  nurgccl  into 
tliis  iicwly-constitnted  body,  but  hitherto  all  etlbrts  at 
niiioii  have  failed,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  immediate 
prospect  of  their  amalgamation.  The  Mdhodist  t  'hiirch 
numbers  about  75,000  members ;  altogether  the  ^Meihod- 
ist  Protestants  count  about  140,000.  The  head-quar- 
ters of  the  Church  South  remain  at  Baltimore,  Md. ; 
those  of  The  Methodist  Church  have  been  removed  from 
Springfield,  Ohio,  to  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  See  Mkthodist 
Protestant  Ciiuuch;  Methodists.  The. 

13.  The  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  was  formed 
by  a  convention  of  clerical  and  lay  delegates  which  met 
in  the  city  of  Utica,  N.  Y.,  m  1843.  The  principal  part 
of  the  delegates  in  attendance  were  ministers  or  mem- 
bers of  the  :Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  main 
reason  for  the  establishment  of  the  new  body  was  their 
hostility  to  slavery.  At  their  organization  as  a  Church 
they  adopted  a  Discipline  and  plan  of  Church  govern- 
ment, and  divided  the  connection  into  six  Annual  Con- 
ferences, having  about  300  ministers  and  preachers  (most- 
ly local),  and  a  reported  membership  of  about  GOOO. 
Their  Articles  of  Faith  are  the  same  as  those  of  the 
ISIeihodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  their  General  Pules 
are  similar,  with  the  exception  that  they  are  more 
stringent  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  They  discard  epis- 
copacy and  presiding  elders,  but,  like  the  English  Wes- 
leyans, they  have  chairmen  of  districts,  and  elect  the 
presidents  of  their  Annual  Conferences  at  each  succes- 
sive session.  Ministers  are  appointed  to  their  respective 
fields  of  labor  by  a  stationing  committee,  the  decisions 
of  said  committee  being  subject  to  approval  by  the  Con- 
ference. Societies  and  churches  are  permitted  to  nego- 
tiate beforehand  with  any  minister  for  his  services; 
but  sucli  engagements,  if  made,  must  receive  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  Conference.  Both  (ieneral  and  Annual  Con- 
ferences are  composed  fif  ministers  and  lay  delegates, 
the  local  preachers  also  having  a  representation. 

14.  The  African  Methodist  F^riscorAi-  CniRcii 
was  formed  by  a  party  of  colored  members,  under  the 
leadc  rship  of  Pichard  Allen,  hence  sometimes  called  .4/- 
liuitis,  who  seceded  from  their  white  brethren  at  Phila- 
delphia ill  1810.  They  adopted,  in  the  main,  the  doc- 
trines anil  usages  of  the  body  from  which  they  seceded. 
Mr.  Allen  was  elected  to  the  office  of  bishoj).  aiul  ordained 
by  four  elders  of  their  Church,  assisted  by  a  colored  pres- 
l)yter  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  denomination.  They 
are  found  in  various  parts  of  the  states  of  Pennsylvania, 
New  York.  Xew .hrsey.  Delaware,  and  ^laryland.  There 
are  also  souie  in  the  Western  States,  and  a  few  in  Upper 
Canada,  their  congregations  l)eing  largest  and  most  in- 
fluential in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  The  Methodist 
Aliixnnic  of  1873  assigns  them  7  bishops,  GOO  preachers, 
and  'iOO.OOO  members. 

15.  The  Ai'-RicAN  Methodist  Episcopal  (Zion) 


Church  was  formed  by  another  secession  of  colored 
members  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1819.  They  elect 
annually  one  of  their  elders  as  general  superintendent, 
but  do  not  ordain  or  set  him  apart  to  that  office  by  the 
imposition  of  hands.  The  MethodUt  Almanac  of  1873 
credits  them  with  7  bishops,  694  preachers,  and  104,000 
members. 

10.  The  United  Brethren  in  Christ  is  the  desig- 
nation of  a  body  of  Christians,  sometimes  called  German 
Methodists.  They  must  not  be  confounded  with  the 
Moravians,  or  Unitas  Fratrum,  who  are  sometimes  called 
the  United  Brethren.  "  The  United  Brethren  in  Christ," 
although  mostly  consisting  of  Germans  and  tlieir  imme- 
diate descendants,  are  of  American  origin,  and  date  as  a 
distinct  sect  from  the  year  1800,  when  their  first  Annual 
Conference  was  held.  F"rom  that  time  they  have  con- 
tinued to  increase  in  Pennsylvania,  ilaryland,  Virginia, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  other  portions  of  the  United  States. 
They  have  four  bishops,  nine  Annual  Conferences,  and 
a  General  Conference,  which  meets  ever\'  fourth  year. 
In  doctrines  and  Church  government  they  are,  with  few 
unimportant  variations,  the  same  as  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copalians. 

17.  The  Evangelical  Association  are  in  doctrine 
and  Church  government  nearly  allied  to  the  Ivpisco- 
pal  IMethodists.  They  date  from  the  year  1800,  and 
are  sometimes  called  -4  Ibric/hts,  after  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  sect.  They  elect  bishops  from  the  body  of  the 
elders,  and  have  several  Annual  Conferences,  and  a 
General  Conference,  the  supreme  law-making  authority, 
which  meets  ()uadrcnnially.  The  members  are  mostly 
Germans  or  of  German  descent,  and  are  numerous  only 
in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Illinois.  The  Methodht  A  l- 
manac  of  1873  reports  1  bishop,  623  preachers,  428  local 
preachers,  and  78,716  members. 

18.  The  Free  Methodist  Church  was  organized  by 
former  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Aug.  23, 18(50.  The  main  occasion  for  the  establishment 
of  this  body  was  the  expulsion  of  two  ministers  from  the 
(Jenesee  Conference.  The  Free  Methodists  rigidly  en- 
force the  rule  for  simplicity  of  dress  ;  the  ]irivilege  of  free 
seats  in  all  houses  of  worship ;  congregational  singing, 
without  the  aid  of  choir  or  musical  instrument ;  extem- 
poraneous preaching.  In  doctrine  they  are  one  with 
other  Jlethodist  bodies,  but  adhere  strictly  to  Wesley's 
\'iews  on  sanctif  cation,  and  teach  everlastinij  torment. 
They  have  abandoned  the  episcopacy,  but  have  one  su- 
perintejident,  who  is  elected  everj'  four  years  at  the  meet- 
ing of  their  General  Conference.  They  report,  in  1872. 165 
preachers  and  71.')5  members.     See  Methodists,  Free. 

19.  The  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
IN  Ameiuca  was  organized  by  order  of  the  General 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
December  IG,  1870.  The  new  Church  consists  of  the 
colored  preachers  and  members  heretofore  belonging  to 
the  ]\Iethodist  I-Ipiscopal  Church,  South.  Two  bishops 
were  elected — Pev.  WiUiam  II.  Allies,  of  Kentucky,  and 
I!ev.  P.  II.  Vandcrhorst,  of  Georgia.  The  Christian  In- 
dex, edited  by  Pev.  Samuel  Watson,  at  Jlemphis,  Tenn., 
was  adojited  as  the  organ  of  the  new  Churcli,  and  Pev. 
L.  J.  Scurlock  was  elected  assistant  editor  and  book 
agent.  The  structure  of  the  new  Church,  counting 
about  13.0(10  members,  conforms  in  all  essential  jiarticu- 
lars  to  that  of  the  Methodist  ICpiscojial  Church,  Soiiih, 
viz.  in  doctrine,  discipline,  and  economy,  but  is  entirely 
independent  of  that  organization,  though  in  sympathy 
with  and  fostered  by  it.  White  people  are  not  admitted 
to  membership. 

There  are  a  few  other  minor  subdivisions  of  the 
Jlethodist  family,  e.  g.  the  Independent  (or  Congrega- 
tional) ^lethodist  Church,  the  names  and  statistics  of 
which  are  given  in  the  talndar  summary  below.  In 
connection  with  one  or  other  of  the  larger  bodies,  ^Melh- 
odists  are  found  not  only  in  England  and  North  Amer- 
ica, but  they  have  ''Conferences"  in  France,  Germany, 
Africa,  and  Australia.  They  have  missionary  stations 
(for  more  particulars  conceruinj;  which,  sec  section  VI). 


METHODISM 


159 


METHODISM 


20.  Defunct  Methodist  Bodies.  —  Of  these,  the  most 
important  are : 

(«)  The  Kkforjied  Methodist  Church.  This 
bod\^,  which  is  now  merged  into  the  Wesleyan  Method- 
ist Church  (see  13),  originated  in  a  secession  from  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  181-1.  The  seceders 
considered  themselves  restricted  under  the  episcopal 
form  of  government,  and,  with  a  view  to  obtain  redress 
of  their  grievances,  petitioned  the  General  Conference. 
Their  representations  met  with  no  favorable  reception, 
and  in  consequence  they  withdrew  from  the  member- 
ship of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Their  formal 
separation  from  that  body  took  place  Jan.  16, 181-1.  In 
the  leading  doctrines  of  Christianity  they  agreed  with 
the  Church  which  they  left ;  but  as  to  the  government 
of  the  Church,  they  conducted  their  affairs  on  the  Con- 
gregational principle.  They  held  peculiar  views  re- 
garding the  efficacy  of  faith.  They  believed  that  all 
blessings  given  in  answer  to  prayer  are  in  consequence 
of  faith ;  and  in  cases  of  sickness  and  distress,  faith  ex- 
ercised is  the  restoring  principle.  They  also  taught 
moral  perfection  in  the  present  state.  They  admitted 
to  membership  all  who  simply  exhibited  clear  evidence 
that  their  sins  were  forgiven,  and  that  their  hearts  were 
renewed.  They  held  that  subscription  to  any  record 
of  Christian  principles  is  altogether  unnecessary.  In 
1818  they  spread  in  Upper  Canada,  and  there  made 
great  progress.  For  some  time  after  the  organization 
of  the  Wesleyan  IMethodist  Church  they  united  with 
that  body  in  publishing  a  magazine — a  circumstance 
which  ultimately  led  to  a  union  between  the  two 
bodies. 

(6)  The  Methodist  Society,  a  body  which  origina- 
ted in  a  secession  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  New  York  in  1820,  in  consequence  of  wliat  was 
deemed  an  undue  interference  on  the  part  of  the  ruling 
preacher  with  the  temporalities  of  the  Church.  In 
Church  doctrine  the  new  body  adhered  to  the  rules  of 
the  '-parent"  society,  but  in  the  gov-ernment  of  the 
Cluirch  there  was  a  considerable  difference.  1.  No 
bishop  was  allowed,  but  a  president  of  each  Annual  Con- 
ference was  chosen  yearly  by  ballot  from  the  members 
thereof.  2.  All  ordained  ministers,  whether  travelling 
or  not,  were  allowed  a  seat  in  the  Annual  Conference. 
"  The  property  of  the  societies  to  be  vested  in  trustees 
of  their  own  choice,  and  the  minister  to  have  no  over- 
sight of  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  Church."    After  the 


organization  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  (see  12), 
the  Methodist  Society  was  merged  in  the  former. 

21.  Methodists  in  Canada  and  other  British  Dominions 
in  A  merica, — A  little  more  than  sixty  years  ago  Meth- 
odism was  for  the  first  time  represented  in  those  parts  by 
William  Losee,  whom  the  sainted  Asbury  had  appointed 
as  a  worker  of  the  Gospel,  "  to  range  at  large."  The 
work  has  prospered  there  as  elsewhere,  and  there  are 
now  five  large  bodies,  presided  over  by  no  less  than 
900  itinerant  ministers.  Four  of  these  large  bodies, 
viz.  the  Wesley ans,  Primitives,  Neio  Connectionists,  and 
Bible  Christians,  are  either  an  offspring  of  like  associa- 
tions in  the  United  Kingdom,  or  in  intimate  relations  at 
present.*  But  the  fifth  of  them  is  an  independent  or- 
ganization, like  the  great  Methodist  body  of  the  United 
States,  from  which  it  sprang,  and  after  wliich  it  is  named 
the  Methodist  £piscop(d  Church  of  Canada,  dating  its 
origin  as  a  separate  body  in  1828.  The  Canada  Wesley- 
ans,  though  adhering  to  the  polity  of  the  English  Wes- 
leyans,  are  now  agitating  the  adoption  of  lay-represen- 
tation, in  order  to  effect  a  union  of  all  the  Jlethodist 
bodies  in  Canada ;  their  aggregate  membership  amounts 
at  present  to  a  little  over  100,000,  their  preachers  to 
over  GOO  in  all  the  different  bodies.  See  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Canada;  Wesleyan  Meth- 
odists; Primitive  Methodists;  New-Connection 
Methodists;  etc. 

V.  A(igre(]ate. — Not  reckoning  the  Band-Room  Meth- 
odists, nor  the  countess  of  Huntingdon's  Connection,  and 
making  a  moderate  estimate  of  the  Sunday-school  schol- 
ars belonging  to  the  W^elsh  Calvinistic  Methodists  and 
to  the  Primitive  IMethodists  in  Ireland,  we  arrive  at  the 
results  given  in  the  table  below.  Ileckoning  two  addi- 
tional hearers  for  each  Church  member  and  Sunday- 
school  scholar,  we  make  a  total  of  more  than  twelve 
millions  of  persons  receiving  Methodist  instruction,  and 
from  week  to  week  meeting  together  in  Methodist  build- 
ings for  the  purpose  of  worshipping  Almighty  God. 
The  statement  is  startling,  but  the  statistics  given  en- 
title it  to  the  fullest  consideration. 

But  rightly  to  estimate  the  results  of  Methodism  dur- 
ing the  last  hundred  and  thirty  years,  there  are  other 
facts  to  be  remembered. 

"  Who  will  deny,  for  instance,  that  Methodism  has 


*  The  Canada  Wesleyan  CImrch  was  not  only  founded 
by,  but  for  many  years  belonged  to  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal CImrch  of  the  United  States. 


GREAT  BRITAIN   AND   IRELAND. 


Denomination. 

D.iie  of 
Organization. 

Number  of 
Ministers. 

Number  of 

Church 
Members. 

Number  of 

Sunday-school 

Scholars. 

Wesleyan  Methodists 

1T39 

ITOT 

ISIO 

1S1C> 

1S15 

lS-iS-i9 

1849 

3,1.57 
207 
2G0 
943 
S5 
2.'>4 
312 
20 

557,995 

5S.577 
35;  706 
161,229 
14,247 
20,241 
68,063 
9.393 

776,522 
about  80,000 
about  50,000 

258,857 

about  20,000 

44,  •.'■21 

152,315 
18.475 

New- Connection  Methodists 

Primitive  Methodists       

Pi-i luiti ve  (Iiehuul)  Methodists 

Bii)le  ( •Iiii>ti;ins 

United  :\reth(Hlist  Free  Cliin-ches 

Totals 

■5,238 

931,450 

1,400,390 

Denomination. 

Date  of 
Org;,anization. 

Number  of 
Ministers. 

Number  of 

Church 
Members. 

Number  of 

Sunday-school 

Scholars. 

1784 

1808 

1800 

ISOO 

1816 

1819 

1828 

18.54  ? 

1828 

1830 

1843 

1S44 

1S60 

10,742 
624 

'632 
600 
694 

'iii 

228 

423 

about  250 

2,S5S 

about  90 

about  20 

17,308 

1,458,441 
75,000 

78,710 

20,000 

164,000 

09,597 

16,118 

21,103 

60,000 

20,000 

600,9(10 

6,000 

2.000 

2,.591,875 

1,267,742 

6!Ui2 
18,706 

300,523 
1,656,143 

Methodist  Church  (Non-Episcopal) 

United  Brethren 

African  Methodist  Episcopal  (Zion) 

Canada  Wesleyans 

Eastern  British  American  Wesleyan  Methodi.'-ts 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Canada 

Methodist  Protest  ants.  South 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South  (in  1871)t 

Free  Methodists 

Primitive  Methodists 

Totals 

■  This  does  not  include  t 


I  membership  now  separately  organized  as  the  Colored  MeUtodisi  Episcopal  Church,  South, 


METHODISM 


160 


METHODISM 


exercised  a  potent  and  beneficial  influence  upon  other 
■  churelies :  Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  Independent,  and 
Ba])tist  churches  have  all  been  largely  indebted  to 
Methodism,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  for  many  of  the 
best  ministers  and  agents  they  have  ever  had.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that,  during  SVesley's  life-time,  of  the 
C'.H)  men  who  acted  under  him  as  itinerant  preachers, 
24'J  relinquished  the  itiiierant  ministry.  These  249  ?•<■- 
tirers  included  not  a  few  of  the  most  intelligent,  ener- 
getic, pious,  and  useful  preachers  that  Wesley  had. 
tjome  left  him  on  the  ground  of  health ;  others  began 
business,  because  as  itinerant  preachers  they  were  una- 
ble to  support  their  wives  and  families;  but  a  large  pro- 
portion became  ordained  ministers  in  other  churches. 
In  some  instances,  the  labors  of  these  men,  and  tlieir 
brother  ^lethodists,  led  to  marvellous  residts.  To  give 
but  one  example :  David  Taylor,  originally  a  servant 
of  lady  Himtingdon,  was  one  of  Wesley's  first  preachers, 
but  afterwards  left  the  work.  Taylor,  however,  was  the 
means  of  converting  Samuel  Deacon,  an  agricultural  la- 
borer; and  the  two  combined  were  the  instruments,  in 
the  hands  of  (iod,  in  raising  up  a  number  of  churches 
in  Yorkshire  and  the  midland  counties,  which,  in  1770, 
were  organized  into  the  New  Connection  of  General 
Baptists;  and  tliat  connection  seventy  years  after- 
■wards,  in  1810,  comprised  113  churches,  having  11,358 
members,  a  foreign  missionary  society,  and  two  theo- 
logical academies"  {^[«thodist  Miif/azine  [185G],  p. 335). 

Simday-schools  arc  bow  an  important  appendage  of 
every  church,  and  have  been  a  benefit  to  millions  of 
immortal  souls;  but  it  deserves  to  be  mentioned  that 
Hannah  Ball,  a  young  Methodist  lady,  had  a  Methodist 
Siniday-school  at  High  Wycombe  fourteen  years  before 
I-iobert  IJaikes  began  his  at  Gloucester;  and  that  So- 
phia Cooke,  another  j\Iethodist,  who  afterwards  became 
the  wife  of  Samuel  Uradburn,  was  the  first  who  suggest- 
ed to  Kr.ikes  the  Sunday-school  idea,  and  actually 
marched  with  him,  at  the  head  of  his  troop  of  ragged 
urchins,  the  first  Sunday  they  were  taken  to  the  parish 
church. 

Tlie  first  British  Bible  Society  that  existed,  "The 
Naval  and  Jlilitary,"  was  projected  by  George  Cussons, 
and  organi/,('(l  liy  a  small  number  of  his  IMethodist  com- 
panions. The  I^dudon  Missionary  Society  (iriginatcd  in 
an  ai)]i('al  from  ^Iclvillc  Morne,  wlio  for  some  years  was 
one  of  Wesley's  itinerant  preachers,  and  then  became 
the  successor  of  Fletcher  as  vicar  of  Madeley.  The 
Church  j\Iissionary  Society  was  started  by  John  Venn, 
the  son  of  Henry  Yeim,  tlie  Methodist  clergyman.  The 
first  Tract  Society  was  formed  by  John  Wesley  and 
Thomas  Coke  in  1782,  seventeen  years  before  the  or- 
ganization of  the  present  great  Religious  Tract  Society 
in  Paternoster  Bow — a  society,  by  the  way,  which  was 
instituted  chietiy  by  Rowland  Hill,  and  two  or  three 
other  Cilvinislic  ]\Icthodist3.  It  is  believed  that  the 
first  Dispensary  ihaK  the  world  ever  had  was  foinided 
Ity  Wesley  himself  in  connection  with  the  old  Poundery, 
in  Moorfields.  The  Strangers'  Friend  Society,  paying 
every  year  from  forty  to  fifty  thousand  visits  to  the 
sick  poor  of  I^)ndon,  and  relieving  them  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, is  an  institution  to  which  Methodism  gave  birth 
in  178.-). 

Building  churches  is  one  of  the  great  features  of  the 
age.  rnfortiniately,  England  has  had  no  religious  wor- 
ship census  since  1851;  but  even  then,  according  to  the 
tables  of  Horace  Jlann,  IVIcthodism  had,  in  ICngland 
and  Wales  oidy,  1 1,835  places  of  worship,  with  2,2.'!1.017 
sittings.  In  America,  according  to  the  census  of  ]8(;o, 
j\Iethodism  nine  years  ago  provided  church  accommoda- 
tion for  (>,2.")0,79'.),  wliich  was  two  an<l  a  (piarter  millions 
more  than  was  provided  by  any  other  Church  what- 
ever. 

The  public  press  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  institu- 
tions of  the  day.  England  has  four  Methodist  newspa- 
pers; Ireland,  one;  France,  one;  Germany,  one;  India, 
one;  China,  one;  Australia,  two;  Canada  and  British 
America,  five;  and  the  United  States  about  fifty. 


VI.  Ouf growth  in  Missionary  Labors.  1.  Tn  English, 
or  chiefly  so. — Methodism  was  from  its  very  inception  a 
missionary  movement,  domestic  and  foreign.  It  initi- 
ated, so  to  speak,  both  the  spirit  and  plan  of  modern 
English  mission  work.  Protestant  England  had  mani- 
fested but  a  faint  interest  in  this  species  of  Christian  la- 
bor until  the  birth  of  ;Methodism,  and  tlie  spirit  of  life 
may  be  said  to  have  been  breathed  into  English  nnssion- 
ary  societies  by  iSIcthodism.  Nor  need  this  astonish  us. 
The  Church  of  F^ngland  recognised  as  its  field  the  terri- 
tory lield  by  the  Anglican  throne ;  cold  and  almost  life- 
less at  home,  the  residents  in  the  colonics  and  other  de- 
pendencies received  but  little  religious  care.  Methodism, 
the  outgrowth  of  a  reawakened  zeal  for  holy  living,  sought 
its  fields  not  only  in  England  and  Ireland,  but  manifested 
early  a  strong  desire  for  the  spread  of  the  Gosjiel  into  all 
parts.  To  this  end  Dr.  Thomas  Coke,  in  178(>,  issued 
"An  Address  to  the  Pious  and  Benevolent,  proposing  an 
Annual  Subscription  for  tlie  Support  of  ilissionarics  in 
the  Highlands  and  adjacent  Islands  of  Scotland,  the 
Isles  of  Jersey,  (iuernsey,  and  Newfoundland,  the  West 
Indies,  and  the  I'rovinces  of  Nova  Scotia  and  (Quebec;" 
and  in  the  year  following  the  Wcsleyan  missions  bore 
the  distinctive  title  of  "Missions  established  by  the 
Methodist  Society."  Even  before  this  organization  had 
been  effected,  missionary  labors  were  put  forth  in  behalf 
of  the  residents  of  the  West  Indies.  In  1791  ^It  lliodif  m 
reached  out  its  hand  after  France,  and  its  great  schemes 
to  Christianize  Africa  were  brought  to  trial  as  early  as 
1811.  In  Asia  labor  was  commenced  in  1814;  in  Aus- 
tralasia in  1815;  in  Polynesia  in  1822;  until,  from  the 
first  call  of  Wesley  for  American  evangelists,  in  the 
Conference  of  1769,  down  to  our  day,  we  see  the  grand 
enterprise  reaching  to  the  shores  of  Sweden,  to  Germa- 
ny, France,  and  the  Upper  Alps;  to  Gibraltar  and  Jlal- 
ta ;  to  the  banks  of  the  Gambia,  to  Sierra  Leone,  and 
to  the  (iold  Coast;  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope;  to  Cey- 
lon, to  India,  and  to  China;  to  the  colonists  and  ab- 
original trii)es  of  Australia ;  to  New  Zealand,  and  the 
Friendly  and  Fiji  Islands;  to  the  islands  of  the  western 
as  well  as  of  the  southern  hemisi)here;  and  from  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  Puget's  Sound  (comp.  Alder, 
Wcshyan  Mhsions  [Loud.  1842],  p.  4).  From  1803  to 
the  present  time  AVesleyan  Methodism  has  contributed 
more  than  twenty  millions  of  dollars  for  foreign  evan- 
gelization. In  England  the  Wesleyan  Society  to-day 
enrolls  more  communicants  in  its  mission  churches  than 
all  other  British  missionary  societies  comliined.  The 
historian  of  religion  during  the  last  and  present  centu- 
ries would  find  it  dilHcult  to  point  to  a  more  magnificent 
monument  of  Christianity. 

Methodist  missions  may,  however,  be  said  to  have 
had  their  origin  long  before  the  founding  of  a  society 
for  the  specific  purpose  of  spreading  its  doctrines  in  for- 
eign parts.  "From  its  very  beginning,"  says  Stevens 
(//i.</.  of  Methodism,  iii,  312),  "  jNIethodism  was  charac- 
terized by  a  zealous  spirit  of  propagandism.  It  was  es- 
sentially missionary.  Its  introduction  into  the  West 
Indies  by  (Jilhert  in  17G0,  and  into  Nova  Scotia  by 
Cougblan  in  17(55;  the  appointment  of  Pilmoor  and 
Boardmau  to  America  in  17G9,  and  its  commencement 
at  New  York  at  least  three  years  before  this  date;  the 
formation  successively  of  its  Irish,  Welsh,  and  English 
domestic  missions,  and  the  organization  of  a  missionary 
'institution'  at  least  two  years  before  the  first  of  what 
are  called  modern  missionary  societies,  attest  its  char- 
acter as  an  energetic  system  of  evangelization."  But 
these  wide  developments  of  missionary  energy,  grand 
as  some  of  tlum  are  in  their  historical  importance, 
were  but  initiatory  to  that  denominalioii.nl  missionary 
system  which  arose  from  Coke's  project  of  an  Asiatic 
mission  (in  178t)),  to  be  headed  by  himself  in  ]ierson, 
requiring  his  life  as  a  sacrifice,  and  thus  constituting 
him.  above  the  mere  fact  of  being  first  bisliop  of  Amer- 
ican Methodism,  and  the  first  Protestant  bishop  <.f  the 
New  World,  as  the  representative  character  of  jlcthod- 
ist  missions. 


METHODISM 


161 


METHODISM 


American  Methodism  has  been  aptly  termed  by  Dr. 
Abel  Stevens  {Centenary  of  A  mer.  Meth.  p.  187)  "  a  mis- 
sionary scheme,"  for  it  was  clearly  "the  great  home 
mission  enterprise  of  the  North  American  continent." 
The  independent  establishment  of  the  colonies  as  a  re- 
public in  1776  largely  altered  the  relation  to  England, 
and  the  missionary  body  gradually  ripened  into  a 
Church  organization,  from  which,  in  turn,  went  out 
enterprises.  The  year  1819  is  memorable  in  the  history 
of  American  Methodism  as  the  epoch  of  the  formal  or- 
ganization of  its  missionary  work.  But  these  early  la- 
bors were  confined  to  the  "home"  fields,  and  aimed 
mainly  at  the  conversion  of  the  aborigines  and  slaves. 
It  was  some  thirteen  years  later,  during  the  session  of 
the  (General  Conference  of  1832,  that  foreign  missions 
were  decided  upon,  and  American  INIethodism  commis- 
sioned its  Gospel  harbingers  to  carry  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus  to  the  dark  nations  of  South  Africa,  the  Kom- 
ish  adherents  of  Mexico,  and  of  South  America.  We 
give  below  some  of  the  details  of  this  great  work  in 
particular  fields.  Besides  its  very  extensive  domestic 
work,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  now  missions 
in  China,  India,  Africa,  Bulgaria,  Germany,  Switzerland, 
Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  and  South  America.  Its 
missions,  foreign  and  domestic,  in  the  centenary  year 
(1866)  numbered  1059  circuits  and  stations,  1128  paid 
laborers  (preachers  and  assistants),  and  105,675  commu- 
nicants. The  funds  contributed  to  its  treasury,  from  the 
beginning  down  to  1865,  amounted  to  about  $6,000,000. 
About  350  of  the  missionaries  were  in  186(5  reported  to 
preach  in  the  German  and  Scandinavian  languages,  and 
more  than  30,000  of  the  communicants  of  German  and 
Scandinavian  origin. 

"American,  like  British  Methodism,"  says  Stevens 
(Centenary  of  A  mer.  Meth.  p.  199),  "has  become  thor- 
oughly imbued  with  the  apostolic  idea  of  foreign  and 
universal  evangelization.  With  both  bodies  it  is  no 
longer  an  incidental  or  secondary  attribute,  but  is  in- 
wrought into  their  organic  ecclesiastical  systems.  It 
has  deepened  and  widened  till  it  has  become  the  great 
characteristic  of  modern  Methodism,  raising  it  from  a 
revival  of  vital  Protestantism,  chiefly  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  to  a  world-wide  system  of  Christianization, 
which  has  reacted  on  all  the  great  interests  of  its  Anglo- 
Saxon  field,  has  energized  and  ennobled  most  of  its  other 
characteristics,  and  would  seem  to  pledge  to  it  a  miiver-  ! 
sal  and  perpetual  sway  in  the  earth.  Taken  in  connec- 
tion with  the  London  and  Church  Missionary  societies, 
the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  the  London  Tract 
Society,  to  all  of  which  Methodism  gave  the  originating 
impulse,  and  the  Sunday-school  institution,  which  it 
was  the  first  to  adopt  as  an  agency  of  the  Church,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  it  has  been  transforming  the 
character  of  English  Protestantism  and  the  moral  pros- 
pects of  the  world.  Its  missionary  development  has 
preserved  its  primitive  energy.  According  to  the  usual 
history  of  religious  bodies,  if  not  indeed  by  a  law  of  the 
human  mind,  its  early  heroic  character  would  have 
passed  away  by  its  domestic  success  and  the  cessation 
of  the  novelty  and  trials  of  its  early  circumstances;  but 
by  throwing  itself  out  upon  all  the  world,  and  especially 
upon  the  worst  citadels  of  paganism,  it  has  perpetuated 
its  original  militant  spirit,  and  opened  for  itself  a  heroic 
career,  which  need  end  only  with  the  universal  triumph 
of  Christianity.  English  Methodism  was  considered,  at 
the  death  of  its  founder,  a  marvellous  fact  in  British 
history;  but  to-day  (1866)  the  Wesleyan  missions  alone 
comprise  more  than  twice  the  number  of  the  regular 
preachers  enrolled  in  the  English  Minutes  in  the  year 
of  Wesley's  death,  and  nearly  twice  as  many  communi- 
cants as  the  Minutes  then  reported  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  which  had  been  reached  by  Methodism.  The 
latest  (1865)  reported  number  of  missionary  communi- 
cants in  the  Jlethodist  Episcopal  Church  equals  nearly 
one  half  the  whole  membership  of  the  Church  in  1819, 
the  year  in  which  the  Missionary  Society  was  founded, 
and  is  nearly  double  the  membership  with  which  the 
VI.-L 


denomination  closed  the  last  century,  after  more  than 
thirty  years  of  labors  and  struggles." 

2.  Methodism  among  the  French.  —  In  the  year  1790 
Methodism  was  introduced  among  the  French  by  Eng- 
lish Wesleyan  preachers,  and  in  1791  Dr.  Coke  ordained  in 
a  small  village  of  Normandy  the  first  French  Methodist 
preacher.  The  work  was  successful,  and  a  society  of  ' 
100  members  had  been  gathered  when  the  storm  of  the 
Revolution  prevented  further  progress,  and  in  1817  the 
work  had  to  be  begun  anew.  In  1819  Methodism  was 
introduced  into  the  south  of  France  by  Charles  Cook, 
whose  labors  were  eminently  successful  among  the  Prot- 
estants, who  were  then  in  such  a  state  of  ignorance  and 
religious  indifference  that,  out  of  some  400  ministers, 
not  ten  could  be  found  who  knew  and  preached  the 
Gospel.  Revivals  ensued,  classes  were  formed,  societies 
were  organized,  preachers  were  raised,  and  in  181-i  there 
was  in  France  a  Church  of  nearly  1500  members,  with 
21  travelling  preachers.  During  the  progress  of  the 
work  the  other  churches  had  profited,  however,  by  the 
reviving  influence,  and  Methodism,  being  regarded  as  a 
"  foreign  importation,"  began  gradually  to  lose  in  mem- 
bership, so  that  by  1852  there  were  only  900  actual  ad- 
herents to  the  Methodist  Church,  notwithstanding  that 
the  work  of  evangelization  had  progressed  as  usual. 
These  circumstances  prompted  the  Wesleyans  to  counsel 
the  independent  establishment  of  French  Methodism  in 
a  distinct  French  Church,  dependent  upon  the  "  parent 
body"  for  an  annual  stipend  only.  The  first  French 
Conference  was  held  at  Nismes  in  1852.  I"rom  that  mo- 
ment the  tide  turned  again  in  favor  of  Methodism ;  and, 
notwithstanding  the  organization  of  other  churches, 
some  of  which,  it  must  be  owned,  have  grown  more 
rapidly,  the  Conference  of  1870  reported  2216  members, 
184  chapels  and  preaching-rooms,  53  Sunday-schools, 
2539  Sunday-scholars,  101  local  preachers,  and  30  minis- 
ters, and  some  9000  regular  hearers  at  the  public  ser- 
vices. The  official  title  of  tlic  ^Mcthddist  body  in  France 
is  The  EcangeUcal  M(thn,ll<f  rlii:r<-h  of  France  and 
Switzerland.  The  French  ;\li'tli(j(lists  sustain  a  publish- 
ing-house at  Paris,  and  issue  a  ;veekly  paper,  entitled 
L' Evangelist.  The  "Methodist  Episcopal  Church"  sus- 
tains one  missionary  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris,  but  he  is  a 
member  of  the  Swiss  Mission  Conference,  and  his  labors 
are  intended  to  benefit  only  the  German  residents  of  the 
French  metropolis. 

?}.  Afif/inilism  among  the  Germans. — The  Germans 
were  lust  1  in  night  into  direct  contact  with  the  Methodists 
in  the  United  States  of  America.  The  United  Breth- 
ren, who  have  always  been  in  close  communion  with  the 
Methodists,  may  really  be  said  to  have  paved  the  way 
for  the  success  of  the  work  among  the  Germans.  The 
labors  of  the  Rev.  William  Otterbein,  the  founder  of  the 
United  Brethren  Church,  and  a  warm  personal  friend 
of  bishop  Asbury,  were  thorough!}''  Methodistic,  and  the 
United  Brethren  Church  was  for  many  years  considered 
by  the  Methodists  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  their  own 
Church,  having  a  special  mission  to  labor  and  spread 
tlie  doctrines  of  Methodism  among  the  Germans.  Turn- 
ing their  attention  to  the  young  generation  and  its 
wants,  the  United  Brethren  came  to  drop  the  tongue  of 
the  Fatherland,  and  thus  alienated  themselves  from  the 
field  which  jNIethodism  anxiously  sought  to  supply.  A 
helper  offered  in  the  hour  of  need  in  the  person  of  Jacob 
Albright,  who,  having  been  converted,  and  feeling  him- 
self called  of  God  to  preach  the  Gospel  among  the  Ger- 
mans of  Pennsylvania,  prayed  for  the  sympathies  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  his  project.  Failing  to 
secure  the  aid  asked  for,  he  finally  struck  out  for  him- 
self, organized  the  converts  God  had  given  him  into  & 
Church,  which  he  called  the  Evangelical  Association,  a 
work  that  has  since  been  owned  of  God  to  the  salvation 
of  thousands  upon  thousands  of  Germans  throughout 
the  land.  The  Evangelical  brethren  have  always 
claimed  to  be  Methodists,  are  known  as  such  among  the 
Germans,  and  were  in  former  years  verj'  much  in  the 
habit  of  stylmg  themselves  "  The  Evangelical  Assooia- 


METHODISM 


162 


METHODISM 


tion,  commonly  called  Albrights,  or  Albright  IMethod- 
ists."  With  but  slight  moditication,  they  have  adopted 
the  Metliodist  Discipline  and  Methodist  usages.  In  the 
matter  of  doctrine  they  are  ^Methodistic  tliroughout, 
laying  peculiar  emphasis  upon  those  experimental  doc- 
trines of  Christianit}^ — reiientancc,  faith,  regeneration 
and  adoption,  growth  in  grace,  and  the  duty  and  privi- 
lege of  entire  sanctilication.  Wesley,  Watson,  and  Clarke 
are  their  standard  authorities.  They  lay  claim  to  the 
fathers  of  ^lethodism,  thus  priding  themselves  in  a 
common  origin  with  ^lethodists.  At  a  very  early  date 
of  their  hisinry.  when  tliey  numbered  but  a  few  hundred 
meml)ers.  iljiy  prii]iused  organic  union  with  the  ^letli- 
odist  Kpiscoiial  Clinrch  upon  the  sole  condition  of  being 
permitted  to  use  the  German  language  in  the  ])ublic 
worship  of  their  congregations,  and  of  laboring  exclu- 
sively among  the  Germans.  Strange  as  it  may  now 
seem,  the  otler  was  rejected,  under  the  erroneous  im- 
pression which  then  prevailed  that  the  German  lan- 
guage would  necessarily  die  out  in  a  generation  or  so. 
Of  course  emigration  had  not  then  attained  its  present 
gigantic  dimensions,  nor  were  there  any  indications  of 
results  in  this  direction  such  as  we  witness  in  our  day. 
Efi'orts  looking  to  organic  union  between  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  and  the  Evangelical  Association  have 
since  been  renewed. 

In  l^oG  the  conversion  and  call  to  the  ministry  of  Wil- 
liam Nast,  a  highly-educated  German,  a  graduate  of  Tii- 
bingen  University,  moved  the  leading  men  in  the  Meth- 
odist Church  to  establish  a  domestic  mission  among  the 
Germans,  and  it  was  intrusted  to  the  newly-made  con- 
vert. He  travelled  extensively  through  Ohio  and  Penn- 
sylvania, and  was  eminently  successful  in  impressing 
his  countrymen  with  the  need  of  a  "higher"  life.  The 
j)rogress  of  forming  a  congregation,  however,  was  verj' 
sli^w.  Thus  after  a  whole  year's  labor  at  Cincinnati, 
among  its  thousands  of  Germans,  subjected  to  the  gross- 
est insults,  and  in  constant  danger  of  bodily  harm, 
preaching  in  the  streets  and  market-places,  distributing 
tracts  and  talking  about  Jesus  and  his  salvation  in  the 
beer  saloons  and  the  tenement  houses,  he  went  up  to 
Conference  and  reported  the  receptit)n  of  three  members, 
all  told.  Hut  the  final  result  was,  after  all,  great  and 
glorious.  The  influence  of  Nast's  examj)le  gradually 
spread  among  the  Germans,  and  converts  came  in  inim- 
bers.  From  the  little  congregation,  in  the  old  Burke 
cha])el  on  Vine  Street,  in  Cincinnati,  Methodism  has 
made  its  inroads  among  the  Germans  of  the  United 
States  with  such  a  force  that  this  branch  of  the  Church 
now  presents  the  results  given  in  the  tables  below. 

The  (Jcrman  Methodists  now  possess  two  colleges — 
one  in  Berca.  Oiiio,  and  one  in  Warrenton,  !Mo. ;  one 
Normal  Scliool  in  (ialena.  111.;  and  a  "I\Iission  House" 
at  New  York.     They  have  also  two  orphan  asylums — 


one  in  Berea,  Ohio,  with  sixty-five  orphans,  and  one  in 
Warrenton,  Mo.,  with  thirty-five  orphans;  the  running 
expenses  of  these  oqihan  asylums  amount  to  nearly 
814,000  per  year,  which  sum  is  contributed  by  Ger- 
man ;Methodists.  The  value  of  the  property  of  these 
institutions  is  over  6'-">0.000,  besides  an  endowment  fund 
of  e.'w.OOO  of  the  <nrman  Wallace  College  at  Berea, 
Oliio.  The  circulation  of  their  olhcial  organ,  the  Clinst- 
liche  Apolofjctf,  is  lo,0()0,  and  of  the  Soiiiiltir/-  vnd  Schul- 
Glocke  (their  Sunday-school  paper)  2G,0U0.  Very  re- 
cently a  religious  (Jerman  monthly  family  magazine  has 
been  started,  and  it  promises  to  be  a  success.  The  Ger- 
mans of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  issue 
an  official  organ  weekly,  and  a  Sunday-school  paper. 

German  Methodists  returning  to  their  native  country 
impressed  the  (ierman  mind  with  the  value  of  experi- 
mental religion,  and  in  1849  a  mission  was  established 
in  Germany  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Its 
first  superintendent  and  most  efficient  worker  was  the 
Kev.  L.  S.  Jacoby,  D.U.,  himself  a  German.  But  long 
before  any  efTort  had  been  made  to  establish  missions  in 
that  country  Methodism  was  already  known  there.  Wes- 
ley had  spent  in  1738  nearly  three  months  in  Germany 
and  Holland,  and  again  in  1783  and  178C  shorter  periods 
in  the  latter  country,  where  he  became  acquainted  with 
some  of  the  most  godly  and  learned  men  in  those  two 

j  centres  of  Protestant  Christianity  and  enlightenment. 
The  friendship  of  the  Moravians  contributed  to  make 
his  name  and  doings  still  more  widely  known  there. 
Nor  was  the  German  press  silent  while  such  a  revival 

'  was  going  on  in  England.  Dr.  Burckhardt,  a  godly 
minister,  of  I  hi-  Saxdv  <  liiipel.in  the  Strand,  and  an  ad- 


mirer of 


Nuremberg  a  Com- 


plete  I/islon/  nj'tln  M,  iIkhUsIs  in  Kinjhtnd,  which  reached 
a  second  edition  in  1795.  Wesley's  sermons  were  trans- 
lated into  German  by  Lutheran  ministers,  several  of 
whom  visited  England  and  became  greatly  interested  in 
Methodism.  Since  then  Methodist  literature  has  mul- 
tiplied in  Germany,  imtil  it  would  make  up  quite  a  for- 

j  midable  list  both  for  and  against  the  Methodists. 

The  first  Methodists  who  established  themselves  on 
German  soil  were  the  converts  of  a  German  named  Al- 
brecht,  or  Albright,  who,  having  embraced  the  Method- 
ist doctrines  in  America,  was  pressed  in  spirit  to  engage 
actively  in  caring  for  the  religious  wants  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen  in  the  United  States.  The  work  which  he 
first  organized,  about  the  hegimnng  of  the  centuiy,  has 
grown  into  vast  proportions,  under  the  name  of  the 
"Evangelical  Association,"  noticed  above.  After  hav- 
ing extended  to  thousands  of  the  (icrmans  of  America, 

I  the  Albrecht  Methodists,  as  they  are  called  abroad,  be- 
gan to  extend  tlieir  efforts  towards  the  Germans  in  Eu- 
rope.   Tliey  held  their  sixtieth  Conference  in  1872  at 

i  St rasburg,  where  they  commenced  a  work  several  years 


STATISTICS  OF  THE  GERMAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.' 


Conferences. 

SliMion- 
aries. 

Members. 

Proba- 

Local 
Preachers. 

Churchei. 

Probable 
Value. 

Parson- 
ages. 

Probable 
Value. 

Missionary 
Colleclions. 

California. 

6 

3-2 
24 
27 
2 
31 
25 
14 

197 
9,564 
4,166 
2,T66 
72 
3,627 
8(156 

302 

33 

1.220 

983 

51  ;• 

717 

1,237 

16 

1 
94 
44 
24 

42 
141 

4 
163 

74 
34 

67 
154 

$  3.\500 
551,200 
2.S3,400 
SS3,300 

105,950 
386,100 

4 
60 
40 
18 

33 
64 

,*     4,750 
103,750 
82,150 
04,600 

27',480 
69.075 

$    214  25 
0,933  34 
2,120  86 
3,264  63 

2,664'60 
0,054  05 

Central  German 

Chica"'o  German 

Louisiaua  German 

North-west  German 

South-west  (supposed).... 
Texas 

Total 

161 

28,750 

4,742 

346 

496 

$l,t.l»a,450 

219 

$3iil,S05  1  *21,131  h  1 

•  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  sn|)port9  a  j  The  annual  statistics  covering  my  operations  in  the  Bal- 
ission   for  Die   Gerninns   within  its   boundnries.     This  '  tiniore  Conference   nie   as   follows:   Local  preachers,  2; 


miRS) 

field  ol"  labor  was  ontered  by 
Cluircli,  Siiiilli,  inmu'diatclv  upon  ils 
SiippfliilciiilciitsHic  ^.•tall:^■tl)vlll(•( 
in  Texas  Louisiana,  Maryland,  and 
centlv  a  (ierman  con urfira lion  has  b 
pbis,■T('nnc.-^co.  The  Itev.  E.  N 
of  the  (Jerman  mission  in  the  Balliin 
fercnces.  reports  in  1S73  a  trift'lunl  i 
"Tlie  woik,"he  savs,  "extends  no 
\m\'s.  lliihmond,  Haltimore,  and  II 
missiimarios  in  the  field  besides  mvs 


engaged  in  the  duties  of  aggressive  missionary  labor.  . 


he  Metliodi-t  Kpisropal  '  members,  32  :  infants  baptized,  12  ;  Sunday-schools,'. 

ils  ortraiii/Mli'm  in  I-IC.  '  pcrintcndcnis,  :? :  teachers,  l(i ;  scholars,  17S :  volumes  in 

...lint:     library.  2111."    'I'lie  M issionary  Iteport  for  IS'il  furnishes 

i\    re-     no  oU'icr  statistics  of  the  (Jcniian  work,  but  the  secretary 

been  >iarliil  in  Mem-     prefaces  tlie  reixnts  from  the  snperintciulciits  {under  date 

Bloi.'L',  sn|jciinleii(Uiil     of  June  1)  with  the  remark  that  '-a  very  important  qnes- 

nore  an<l  ViiL'inia  Con-  I  tlon   will  be   nu'ilii'ed   at   the   next   General   Confeienre 

h.  I  [Mav,  1S74]— that  of  erecting  the  (iennans  into  a  separ.ile 

■s-     Conference."     .\  (Jerman  paper  I'lr  the  members  in  this 

iir    field   is   published  by   the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 

ly  i  South,  under  the  editorial  guidance  of  the  Kev.  J.  A.  B. 

.".  1  AUrens,  at  New  Orleans,  Louisiaua. 


d  h.^altlifiil  -rowi 
to  Norfolk.  I'cte 
>kstown.  with  fc 
f,  who  arc  zealou: 


METHODISM 


163 


METHODISM 


since.  They  have  in  all  Germany  3071  Church  mem- 
bers, 59  Sunday-schools  with  3030  scholars,  and  24  itin- 
erant preachers.  They  have  two  periodicals,  and  have 
lately  extended  their  tield  to  Switzerland. 

This  work  was  strengthened  by  the  establishment  of 
a  mission  from  the  Wesleyans  of  England.  A  German 
layman  of  the  name  of  Muller  had  been  converted  in 
London,  and  had  become  an  exhorter  and  class-leader. 
Upon  his  return  to  Wiirtemberg,  his  native  place,  after 
an  absence  of  fourteen  years,  he  could  not  conceal  from 
his  family  the  change  which  had  been  wrought  in  his 
heart,  and  he  soon  began  to  hold  meetings  from  village 
to  village.  A  revival  took  place,  and  the  jjersons  con- 
verted organized  themselves  in  classes.  Muller,  finding 
himself  in  a  work  that  demanded  all  his  ability,  gave  up 
his  secular  business  and  devoted  himself  to  the  evangel- 
ization of  his  fellow-countrymen.  This  work,  begun  in 
1831,  has  resulted  in  the  founding  of  a  number  of  small 
churches,  which  comprise  (in  1873)  a  membership  of  7026, 
and  6778  Sunday-school  scholars,  with  101  travelling  and 
local  ministers;  and  has  extended  from  Wiirtemburg 
into  the  duchy  of  Baden  and  to  the  borders  of  Austria. 

But  the  grandest  and  most  enterprising  of  the  branches 
of  German  Methodism  is  unquestionably  that  of  the 
American  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which,  as  we 
have  seen  above,  took  its  rise  from  the  work  among  the 
German  emigrants  in  the  United  States.  In  1862  this 
missionary  field  was  constituted  into  an  Annual  Confer- 
ence, and  it  now  covers  all  the  German-speaking  people 
in  (Germany,  Switzerland,  and  France,  divided  into  seven 
districts :  Bremen,  Berlin,  Frankfort,  Ludwigshaven, 
Carlsruhe,  Zurich,  and  Basle,  which  comprise  more  than 
sixty  circuits  or  stations,  with  (in  1872)  73  travelling 
ministers,  386  places  of  worship,  229  Sunday-schools 


with  10,071  scholars,  6230  Church  members,  and  1369 
probationers.  This  mission  is  thoroughly  organized.  It 
has  a  book  publishing-house^,  which  issues,  besides  a  va- 
riety of  treatises  or  books,  every  fortnight  the  Evangelist 
and  Khukr-Freund ;  every  month  the  Missionar-Samm- 
ler  and  Monatlicher  Bote ;  and  every  quarter  thelFac^^er- 
Stimmen,  It  has  also  a  theological  college,  which  has 
had  as  its  professors  Dr.  Warren,  of  Boston  University, 
and  Dr.  Hurst,  of  Drew  Theological  Seminarj-.  Its  pres- 
ent instructors  are  Dr.  Sulzberger  and  L.  Nippert.  It  had 
had  an  existence  of  fourteen  years,  when,  by  the  timely 
and  princely  gift  of  John  T.  Martin,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
the  present  commodious  and  substantial  Iniilding,  four 
stories  high,  standing  on  a  lot  one  hundred  by  tive  hun- 
dred feet,  was  erected,  free  of  debt,  at  Frankfort-on-the- 
j\Iain.  The  property  is  estimated  at  about  $30,000. 
The  following  branches  are  taught:  Greek,  Latin,  Eng- 
lish, German,  Hebrew,  geography,  arithmetic,  music, 
homiletics,  dogmatics,  discipline  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  history  of  Methodism,  Church  history, 
profane  history,  literatu*e,  archseology,  exegesis.  There 
are  at  present  twelve  young  men  in  this  school  prepar- 
ing for  the  ministry.  Sixty  or  seventy  ministers  have 
already  gone  forth  in  the  course  of  twelve  A'ears.  About 
fifty-four  labor  in  Germany,  and  others  have  come  to 
America  and  are  laboring  here. 

4.  Methodism  among  the  Scandinavians.  —  The  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  has  also  done  immense  service 
to  the  cause  of  personal  religion  by  its  missionary  efforts 
among  the  Scandinavians,  with  whom  the  Church  was 
brought  face  to  face  in  this  country.  As  early  as  1845 
these  labors  Avere  commenced,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Home  Missionary  Societj'.  The  work  has  grown  until 
it  presents  this  imposing  array : 


STATISTICS  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  MISSIONS  OF  THE  METH.  EP.  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Conferences. 

J 

1 

a 

1 
1 

i 

1 

i 

1 

i 
1 

1 
1 

i 

i 

1 

II 

Swedish— Central  Illinois 

Erie 

23 

1 

1 
2 

2,200 
120 
312 
204 

405 

6 

110 

65 

22 
1 
8 
4 

20 
2 
6 

2 

$64,800 
5,000 
8,000 
41,000 

12 
5 

$12,000 

sjooo 

175  00 
117  00 

New  York 

East  Maine* 

Total,  Swedish 

27 
10 

12 

2,s;i6 

433 

805 

586 

84 

90 

35 

T 

io 

30 
G 

12 

$118,800 
8,350 

4g;766 

17 
4 

$15,000 
2,450 

ib;456 

$1,.545  20 
198  00 

sie'oo 

N.  Y.  East* 

Wisconsin 

Total,  Norwegian  and  Danish.. 
Total,  Scandinavian 

22 

1,2.38 

174 

17 

18     1       $55,050 

10 

$12,900 

$714  GO 

49 

4,0T4 

760 

52 

48     1     $173,850 

27 

$27,900 

$2,259  80 

*  To  be  organized. 

STATISTICAL  REPORT  OF  THE  METH.  EP.  CHURCH  MISSIONS  IN  SWEDEN  FOR  THE  YEAR  1872. 


.  04j$IS2  25 


STATISTICAL  REPORT  OF  THE  METH.  EP.  CHURCH  MISSIONS  IN  NORWAY  FOR  1872. 


lucre: 


METHODISM 


164 


METHODISM 


For  the  last  three  years  a  monthly,  called  Missionaren, 
devoted  to  relif^ion,  has  been  i)ubUshed.  A  hymn-book 
has  also  been^  prepared  for  the  members  of  this  branch 
of  the  Methodist  Eyjiscopal  Church. 

Tlie  success  of  tliis  work  at  home  gave  rise  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  mission  to  the  Scandinavians  in  1854. 
It  now  extends  over  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway. 
Its  imix)rtancc  may  be  judged  by  the  last  annual  re- 
jiort.  In  Denmark  there  are  now  301  members,  G  class- 
leaders,  3  exhorters,  2  local  preachers,  20  regular  ap- 
puiiitnicnts.  and  -i  missionaries,  under  the  superintend- 
iiuT  (.1  ihc  I  lev.  Karl  Schon,  at  Copenhagen,  where  the 
niissiuii  |Hi~>(.>ses  a  A'cry  elegant  church.  In  the  other 
two  c()inilri(s  the  reports  are  as  given  in  the  two  pre- 
ceding tables. 

T).  Mctliiidism  in  A  usiralia. — Methodism  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century  found  its  adherents  in  Australia. 
The  lirst  class  was  organiiied  March  6, 1812.  The  tirst 
missionary  to  this  colony  was  Samuel  Leigh,  who  land- 
ed in  1815.  At  tirst  the  labors  of  the  preacher  were 
coidined  to  the  whites,  particularly  the  convicts  who 
liad  been  transported  hither  from  the  mother  country. 
Gradually  the  work  was  extended  to  the  natives  also. 
In  1853  Methodism  had  progressed  so  well  that  the  for- 
mation of  an  independent  Conference  was  counselled  by 
the  home  Church,  and  in  January,  1855,  the  tirst  session 
of  the  Wesleyan  Conference  was  held  at  ilelbournc,  and 
was  presided  over  by  the  Kev.  W.  15.  Boyce,  at  that  time  j 
general  superintendent  of  Methodist  missions  in  Aus- 
tralia, now  secretary  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Soci- 
ety, London.  At  that  time  there  were  some  CO  jireach- 
ers  and  1 1,000  members.  Now  this  bough  of  the  vigorous 
tree  planted  by  John  Wesley  divides  itself  into  three 
branches.  The  first  extends  over  Australia  Proper  and 
Van  Diemen's  Land,  the  Methodist  districts  in  whicli 
adapt  themselves  to  the  colonial  divisions  of  New  South 
Wales,  Victoria,  South  Australia,  Western  Australia,  and 
Tasmania.  These  arc  the  home  districts  of  Methodism 
in  tliat  region,  the  work  in  them  being  missionary  only 
as  regards  a  few  surviving  relics  of  the  feeble  aborigi- 
nes, or  the  swarms  of  immigrant  Chinese.  The  second 
branch  of  Australian  jMethodism  divides  itself  over  New 
Zealand  into  the  two  districts  of  Aucklan<l  and  Welling- 
ton, and  the  work  is  of  a  mixed  character,  embracing 
the  Ijritish  settlers  and  the  JMaori.  The  third  branch 
is  purely  missionary',  and  extends  over  the  Friendly  and 
the  Fiji  Islands.  "  Tliese,"  said  the  Kev.  G.  T.  Perks,  at 
tlie  anniversary  of  the  Wesleyan  JMissionary  Society, 
May  5, 1873,  "  have  been  among  the  most  successful  of 
modern  missions."  See  Fiji  Islands.  "  The  statistics 
of  these  missions  speak  for  themselves:  23  European 
missionaries  labor  in  connection  with  63  native  mission- 
aries, and  90G  native  catecliists,  and  1790  local  preach- 
ers; the  number  of  Church  members  is  33,149.  Tliere 
are  above  133,000  attendants  at  ])ublic  worship  in  802 
chapels  and  in  357  other  preaching-places.  The  work 
of  education  has  not  been  neglected;  1508  day-schools, 
tauglit  by  148  head  teachers,  and  by  2469  subordinate 
masters,  return  53,804  day-scholars,  and  about  the  same 
number  attend  the  Sunday-schools,  in  which  there  are 
3551  teachers."  At  the  lii'teenth  session  of  the  Confer- 
ence in  ]8(;8,  held  at  Sydney,  tlie  reports  from  all  parts 
of  the  work  were  very  encouraging.  Tliere  were  then 
241  preaclicrs  and  57  native  helpers.  The  collective  to- 
tals of  tlie  Australian  connection  were,  in  1868,  30,.590 
members,  with  8953  persons  "on  trial."  Australian 
Metliodism  lias  three  flourishing  high-schools— Newing- 
ton  College,  at  New  South  Wales;  Wesley  College,  at 
Victoria;  and  llorton  College,  in  Tasmania.  Of  late  a 
theological  school  has  been  jirojected. 

6.  Methoilisiii  in  the  West  Indies.  — \n  no  other  mis- 
sionary Held  has  Methodism  met  with  greater  success 
than  among  this  i)i)rti<>n  of  the  globe's  inhabitants.  The 
West  Indies  was,  moreover,  the  tirst  foreign  lield  sought 
by  the  \\'esleyans,  and  its  history  is  closely  linkeil  to 
that  (tf  the  founder,  John  Wesley,  and  his  own  associates. 
One  of  the  natives,  Nathaniel  Gilbert,  from  Antigua, 


came  under  the  influence  of  the  Methodists  while  on  a 
visit  to  England,  and  in  1760  returned  to  his  native 
land  to  preach  their  doctrines  to  bis  countr}-men.  As 
they  were  l)oiind  by  the  heavy  chains  of  slavery,  he  de- 
termined to  bestow  upon  them  the  lilierty  of  the  (iospel. 
When  he  died  two  hundred  had  embraced  the  cause  of 
jNIethodism.  Their  next  leader  was  John  Baxter,  an 
Englishman,  who  had  been  licensed  as  ''local  preacher," 
and  who  had  gone  to  the  West  Indies  as  a  ship-carpen- 
ter. He  ()reached  for  eight  years,  and  did  much  good 
among  the  blacks.  When  the  missionaries  tinally  ar- 
rived, he  was  able  to  turn  over  two  thousand  adherents 
as  the  result  oi  preparatory  labors.  In  1786  the  home 
society  set  aside  one  man  for  the  spread  of  missions  in 
the  West  Indies.  He  was  to  accompany  Dr.  Coke  to 
America,  and  then  be  transferred  to  his  new  tield.  On 
the  way  the  company  suffered  shipwreck,  and  by  mere 
accident  all  landed  at  Antigua,  and,  when  Coke  wit- 
nessed the  glorious  work  begun,  he  left  the  three  mis- 
sionaries by  his  side — Warrencr,  Clarke,  and  Hanimet — 
in  the  country,  and  sailed  alone  to  the  L'nited  States. 
In  1792,  when  Coke  visited  the  West  Indies,  and  held  a 
Conference  at  Antigua,  the  missionaries  reported  20  sta- 
tions, with  12  preachers  and  6500  members.  In  1873 
the  progress  of  Methodism  in  these  parts  was  thus  com- 
mented upon  by  the  Kev.  (i.  T.  Perks,  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Wesleyan  Jlissionary  Society  (Alay  5): 
'•  The  West  Indian  missions  occupy  a  peculiar  position 
in  relation  to  other  missions.  The  colonies  of  Jamaica, 
the  Windward  and  Leeward  Islands,  the  Bahamas.  Brit- 
ish Guiana,  Honduras,  and  Hayti  are  mainly  inhabited 
by  the  descendants  of  the  Africans  emancipated  in  1834. 
The  European  population  is  comparatively  small.  No 
missions  have  had  greater  difliculties  to  contend  against. 
I'^arthquakes,  hurricanes,  the  pestilence,  and  occasional 
tires  have  from  time  to  time  destroyed  life  and  prop- 
erty; the  changes  in  the  commercial  policy  of  the  Brit- 
ish government  operated  for  a  while  most  injuriously  in 
reducing  the  value  of  the  stajiles  of  these  colonies,  and 
in  some  localities  fearful  droughts  reduced  the  jiopula- 
tion  to  poverty  and  starvation.  Our  Maya  mission  to 
Honduras  has  been  disturbed  by  Indian  raids  on  the 
colony;  and  our  societies  in  Kuatan,  an  island  belong- 
ing to  the  republic  of  Honduras,  have  suffered  from  a 
political  revolution,  which  is  no  strange  event  in  the 
Spanish  republics  of  America.  Yet,  in  spite  of  these 
untoward  circumstances,  the  West  Indian  colonies  are 
gradually  improving— agriculturally,  commercially,  and 
socially.  The  great  want  is  an  educated  native  minis- 
try. The  time  since  the  emanci])ation  has  been  but  a 
short  period  in  the  history  of  a  nation,  and  our  moral 
and  educational  agencies  have  not  been  equal  to  the 
task  of  thoroughly  changing  the  character  and  habits 
of  the  people  within  the  lifetime  of  a  generation.  Yet 
over  many  of  our  churches  we  have  great  reason  to  re- 
joice; and,  from  what  has  been  effected  in  their  case,  to 
look  hopefully  in  reference  to  the  future.  In  these  mis- 
sions we  have  97  missionaries,  44,728  members,  and 
28,038  scholars." 

7.  Milhodism  in  India.  —  Next  in  importance  is  the 
missionary  work  in  India.  The  Wesleyans  have  laliored 
there  for  years,  but  their  expenditure  on  tlie  lield.  both 
in  men  and  money,  is  far  inferior  to  tliat  of  llie  Meth- 
odist Ejjiscopal  Church,  which  has,  especially  within  a 
very  recent  period,  met  with  unprecedented  success. 
But  all  Methodists  have  an  eijual  interest  in  the  success 
of  this  missionary  lield,  to  which  the  sainted  Coke  gave 
his  life.  See  Cork.  A\'ork  was  commenced  in  1813  at 
Ceylon.  By  1819  the  imjiression  made  warranted  the 
establishing  of  schools  in  the  princijial  cities  along  the 
western  coast.  In  the  mean  time  missionary  labors  had 
been  commenced  (1817)  on  the  continent  il.-ilf,  with 
head-iiuarters  at  Bombay.  At  the  time  of  the  centen- 
nial of  Methodism  (1839)  the  niisMon  in  India  counted 
21  stations,  43  missionaries  and  helpers,  and  Vim  num- 
bers. At  jiresent  (1873)  the  tield  coveruig  the  'I'ainil 
and  Singhalese  districts,  Calcutta,  Mysore,  and  Madras, 


METHODISM 


166 


METHODISM 


contains  2976  members,  with  13.987  cliildren  in  the 
schools,  guided  by  75  missionaries.  These  statistics 
do  not  give,  however,  an  adequate  impression  of  the 
nature  and  character  of  the  work  itself.  lu  India  and 
Cevlon  the  missionaries  preach  in  the  streets  and  ba- 
zars, as  well  as  in  the  chapels;  they  make  frequent  mis- 
sionary tours  in  their  respective  districts,  to  preach  and 
converse,  and  circulate  books  in  the  villages.  Much 
time  is  necessarily  occupied  in  the  training  of  native 
agents,  and  in  the  charge  of  the  higher  classes  in  the 
schools,  as  well  as  in  the  general  superintendence  of  the 
educational  department  of  this  work. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  sent  its  missiona- 
ries to  these  parts  in  185G.  The  pioneer  operations 
were  confined  to  efforts  for  the  education  of  the  na- 
tives. By  1864  the  work  had  progressed  sufficiently 
to  warrant  the  organization  of  an  Annual  Conference, 
divided  into  three  districts.  Their  statistics  were  in 
1872  reported  by  Dr.  Butler  {Land  of  the  Veda,  p.  528) 
as  follows : 


liam  Taylor,  at  Bombay,  have  added  Western  India  to 
the  missionary  field  of  the  Methodist  Episcopia  Church, 
No  statistics  "have  been  published  authoritatively,  but 
accounts  have  appeared  in  the  newspajiers  of  the  re- 
markable revival  at  Bombay,  Poonah,  and  vicinity.  Six 
itinerants  are  describing  the  Bombay  circuit,  and  they 
do  not  consider  their  work  as  designed  for  the  English 
and  Eurasian  populations  alone,  but  for  people  in  India- 
European,  Eurasian,  IMahratta,  Hindu,  nominally  Chris- 
tian, Pagan,  or  Mohammedan. 

8.  Methodism  amonrj  the  Chinese  andJapanese.—h\  1847 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  opened  operations  in 
China,  and  the  field  has  returned  more  than  it  at  first 
promised.  The  gradual  success  of  the  work  of  this  body 
has  been  given  in  the  article  on  China  (q.  v.).  The 
"  parent"  body— the  Wesleyans— were  introduced  into 
this  field  by  the  voluntary  labors  of  George  Piercy,  a 
preacher,  iii  1851.  Two  years  later  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety of  his  Church  came  to  his  aid  by  sending  two  as- 
sistants.    The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  has 


MISSIONS  OF  THE  METHODIST 

EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  INDIA 

Society  Agents. 

CHURCH. 

2 

i 

1 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Mission           1 
Pbopeuty. 

Amer. 
Miss. 

Native 
Assisfs. 

.e- 

•^ 

i 

Day 
Sch'l. 

Teach- 

Day  Scholars. 

2 

— 

— 

.". 

,• 

MISSIONS. 

:3 

1 

5 

1 

1 
1 

1 

1 

i 

i 

.1 
1 

I 

i 

2 

6 
1 

1 

r, 

1 
1 

1 

1 

5 

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i 

1 

1 
1 

J 

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S 

i 

! 

i 
1 

6 

6 
6 

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3 

ti 

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1 

■JII4 

1  ir. 

c.'.i:; 

1-' 

4nl 

■20r; 
T4 

■2S 
14 

10 

511 

14;) 

407 

1,041 

911 
2,0',l!) 

$47,250 

Bareill  y 

Lncknow 

Moradabad 

A-i   i:.^ 

?''5 

4T  10     762 

TO  ir.  i,<;9-.' 

",'  ?>    S 

7  (;  5 

Total 

IS 

l..|« 

31  4H 

\-a:hA\ 

.ViO 

l,0tlT 

11 

nyi 

TS&lMVb 

;;(ii 

JU 

40 

i,>Si4o,;i,rjS4 

1,U67 

4,0&1 

17il4,21 

$.o.l-.'o 

"  Four  male  and  five  female  missionaries  left  for  India 
in  October  last;  these  are  inclniled  in  the  above  totals. 
There  are  541  members,  Wh\  pvdli.'irKmi'rs,  l:Vi  non-com- 
municant adherents  (regular  altcinlaiils  on  worship), 
with  1178  Sabbath-schoiars,  and  thy  86  native  helpers, 
making  a  Christian  community  of  3066  souls  under  the 
charge  of  the  India  Conference  in  Oude  and  Rohilcund, 
all  won  for  Christ  since  the  Great  Rebellion  closed.  In 
the  34  Sunday-schools  there  are  107  ofHcers  and  teach- 
ers, 1177  scholars,  and  1088  volumes  in  the  libraries; 
conversions  during  last  year,  56.  In  the  45  vernacular 
day-schools  for  boys  there  are  1437  pupils;  in  the  25 
Anglo  -  vernacidar  boys'  schools,  1968  scholars;  in  the 
46  vernacular  day-schools  for  girls,  915  pupils;  in  the 
Anglo-vernacular  schools,  142  girls :  being  a  total  of 
116  schools,  234  teachers,  and  4462  scholars,  including 
138  orphan  boys  and  142  orphan  girls — the  entire  ex- 
pense of  which,  including  the  two  orphanages,  was 
$29,423  for  the  past  year,  the  whole  of  which  was  con- 
tributed by  friends  in  Iiulia  and  the  Ladies'  Missionary 
Society  of  the  :\[(.thiiilist  i;|iiscopal  Church,  with  the 
American  patrons  uf  the  orjihan  children." 

Medical  instruction  is  allbrded  by  some  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  the  natives  have  by  this  means  been 
largely  interested  in  Christian  work  and  life.  A  Bibli- 
cal institute  for  the  training  of  native  helpers  is  sup- 
ported under  the  name  of  the  "  India  Conference  Theo- 
logical Seminary."  The  school  was  commenced  April 
15, 1872.  The  number  of  j'oung  men  in  attendance  has 
been  sixteen,  of  whom  thirteen  have  received  scholar- 
ships. Three  local  preachers  attended  during  the  "  hot- 
season  term."  The  following  is  the  course  of  study 
pursued  this  first  year,  viz.:  Old-Testament  Exegesis; 
Church  Catechism,  Nos.  1,  2,  and  .'i ;  Sacred  tJeography ; 
Ecclesiastical  History;  Compcnd  uf  TluMilogy  (Ilcni- 
Ilahi  ka  usul);  Hand-book  of  the  IJilile  (Miftah  ul-Ki- 
tab) ;  Ilomiletics;  the  Persian  and  Arabic  languages. 
The  Rev.  D.  W.  Thomas,  one  of  the  missionaries  in  In- 
dia, has  given  to  this  institution  $20,000,  and  is  now  in 
the  United  States  to  increase  the  endowment,  in  order 
to  make  the  school  self-supporting. 

Very  recently  the  successful  labors  of  the  Rev.  Wil- 


also  an  interest  in  this  field.  The  Wesleyans  support; 
at  present  in  the  Canton  and  Wuchang  districts  11  mis- 
sionaries, with  178  members,  and  386  children  in  the 
schools.  Work  has  recently  been  commenced  by  them 
at  Kwang-chi,-with  prospects  of  success.  They  also  sup- 
port medical  institutions.  The  great  coolie  traflic  moved 
the  estabhshment  of  a  Chinese  mission  in  Australia,  and 
it  is  prospering.  The  mission  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  in  1872  reported  its  condition  in  China  to  be 
as  follows :  Missionaries  in  the  field,  4 ;  assistant  mission- 
aries, 2;  missionaries  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  (a  body  lately  formed  as  auxiliary  to  the  regu- 
lar Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church),  3;  native  preachers  (past  year),  65;  adults 
baptized  the  past  year,  263 ;  children  baptized  the  past 
year,  75 ;  total  baptisms  during  the  year,  338 ;  members 
"in  full  connection,  1095;  probationers,  710;  baptized 
children,  297 ;  total  members,  probationers,  and  baptized 
children,  2102;  increase,  192;  Sunday-school  scholars, 
869.  A  Biblical  institute  for  the  training  of  native  help- 
ers is  supported.  A  Christian  native  teacher  is  em- 
ployed, and  each  American  missionary  devotes  part  of 
one  day  every  week  to  giving  instruction  in  some  spe- 
cial part  in  the  course  of  study.  There  is  a  press  con- 
nected with  the  mission,  and  last  year  one  million  and 
a  half  of  pages  of  tracts  were  printed  and  distributed. 
The  property  of  the  mission  is  valued  at  $50,000.  The 
mission  has  also  two  boarding-schools,  one  for  boys  and 
another  for  girls ;  a  day-school,  with  75  scholars ;  and  a 
foundling  asylum,  with"  30  inmates.  The  Woman's  For- 
eign Missionary  Society  has  greatly  aided  the  work  in 
these  parts  within  the"  past  two  years  by  the  employ- 
ment of  deaconesses. 

The  influx  of  Chinese  on  our  Pacific  coast  aroused 
the  interest  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  in 
1867  a  home  mission  was  inaugurated  for  their  con- 
version. The  present  status  of  this  field  of  labor  is  as 
follows:  Missionaries,  2;  members,  9;  1  church,  value 
$20,000;  1  parsonage,  value  $1000;  missionary  collec- 
tions, $40;  missions,  1;  money,  $3500.  The  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  South,  has  also  very  recently  com- 
menced operations  there. 


METHODISM 


166 


METHODISM 


Near  the  close  of  last  year  a. Methodist  mission  was 
establislieil  at  Japan  under  the  auspices  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church.  Dr.  Maclay,  formerly  superin- 
toiideiit  of  the  mission  in  Cliina,  lias  supervision,  and  he 
hopes  to  nialie  this  new  effort  a  glorious  success.  Al- 
ready a  native  of  influence  and  rank  in  the  empire  has 
espoused  this  cause,  and  is  now  preaching. 

y.  Mcllwdism  ill  AJ'iica.  —  Dr.  Coke  was  early  drawn 
towards  this  field  of  missionary  labor.  But  all  efforts 
jirovetl  unsuccessful  until  IKll,  when  a  ]\Ietliodist  mis- 
sion was  established  at  Sierra  Leone,  commencing  its 
labor  with  a  membersliip  of  1 10,  and  three  local  preach- 
<'rs,  who  had  fostered  the  work  for  some  time,  (iradu- 
ally  the  mission  extended  to  the  Gambia  districts.  In 
these  parts  of  Western  Africa  the  natives  are  in  process 
of  training,  under  the  Christianizing  influences  of  the 
Wesleyans,  to  benefit  them  by  the  civilization  wliich  too 
often  has  been  made  a  means  of  degradation  to  tlieir  race. 
The  majority  of  the  ministers  in  Africa  are  natives,  edu- 
catid  and  trained  for  their  work.  Twenty-one  mission- 
ariis  laljor  in  this  field,  which  has  8974  Church  mem- 
birs.  '•  In  tlie  Cape  Colony,  the  Orange  Free  State, 
Traiis-VaalKe])ubIic,and  Natal,  the  native  and  European 
populations  are  so  mingled  that  it  is  impossible  to  sep- 
arate the  returns  of  the  colonial  work  from  those  of  the 
missions  in  Kaftirland  and  in  the  Bechuana  country. 
The  early  history  of  the  mission  is  identified  with  the 
names  of  Barnabas  and  William  Shaw,  the  latter,  the 
honored  fatlier  of  the  Kaffir  mission,  is  no  longer  among 
us,  but  his  work  survives.  These  missions  have  been, 
since  their  bcgiiniing,  tried  by  native  wars,  and  by  the 
inisettlement  of  the  population  occasioned  by  emigra- 
tion, and  by  the  discovery  of  the  diamond  fields;  but 
the  work  is  rapidh'  advancing.  A  large  number  of  the 
Kaffir  ])opulation  have  been  brought  under  Christian 
influence ;  thousands  of  scholars  have  been  trained  to 
read  the  Word  of  (Jod  in  their  own  tongue,  and  many 
able  native  ministers  have  been  raised  up.  The  diffi- 
culty now  is  to  meet  the  eidarged  educational  wants 
and  re(|iiirements  of  the  native  people.  In  these  mis- 
sions x'>  ministers  labor;  the  number  of  (,'hurch  mem- 
bers is  i;>,7|s,  and  the  scholars  reported  are  13,821" 
(IVrks.  in  his  address  alrc'ady  <iuot'jd). 

The  .Methodist  Episcopal  Church  established  a  mis- 
sion ill  Lilicria  in  ls:!-_>.  By  IKjO  the  formation  of  an 
Animal  ConfiTence  became  necessary,  and  at  present  a 
bishop  ]iresides  over  this  field.  We  have  the  following 
summary  of  statistics  for  1871:  Members,  20Go;  deaths, 
6.5;  jirobatioiiers,  174;  local  preachers,  37 ;  baptisms — 
adidts,  (;2,  children,  89;  churches,  31,  of  the  probable 
value  of  !i!l3.710;  parsonages,  G,  of  the  probable  value 
of  $11,500;  Sabbath-schools,  25;  officers  and  teachers, 
201;  scholars,  1309;  day-schools,  15;  scholars  in  day- 
schools,  4.50;  volumes  in  libraries,  1127;  collections  for 
the  support  of  the  Gospel,  $783.     See  Libkhia. 

The  Conference,  at  its  last  session,  expressed  its  deep 
sense  of  the  need  of  a  more  thorough  training  of  men 
for  the  holy  miuistry,  and  took  incipient  steps  towards 
the  establishment  of  a  Biblical  institute.  Measures  have 
al.so  been  taken  for  the  establishment  of  a  mission  in  the 
Kong  mountains,  north  and  east  of  Liberia  and  Sierra 
Leone,  wliere  dwell  the  ilandingoes,  perha|)s  the  most 
cultivated  tribe  on  the  western  coast  of  Al'rica.  See 
Mani)1n<;o.  Ten  thousand  doUars  have  been  approj)ri 
ated  for  this  work. 

10.  Afcl/iodisni  ill  Italy,  Spain,  and  PDi/iir/al.  —  For 
some  time  the  Wesleyans  have  siipjiorted  missionaries 
in  each  of  these  coimtries.  Late  events  have  given  a 
new  imjietus  to  the  work,  and  it  promises  to  yield  fruit 
in  abundance.  Besides  two  English  ministers,  seven- 
teen Italians  are  preaching  Methodist  doctrines.  At 
liotne  the  Wesleyans  are  now  in  possession  of  suitable 
buildings  for  preaching  and  educational  purposes,  and 
at  Najiles  the  new  chapel  and  schools  are  advancing  to- 
wards completion,  while  their  educational  establishment 
at  Padua  is  in  efficient  operation. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1871  decided  to 


establish  a  mission  in  that  country,  and  placed  the  Rev. 
Dr.  A'ernon  in  charge.  Bologna  has  been  selected  as 
head-quarters. 

In  .Spain,  Methodism  supported  for  years  a  mission  at 
Gibraltar,  the  only  spot  available  until  the  new  order  of 
things  developed.  At  present  there  are  stations  at 
Barcelona  and  Port  Mahon  (in  the  island  of  Minorca), 
and  in  Portugal  at  Oporto. 

1 1 .  Methodism  in  iSouth  A  merica  and  Mexico.  —  In 
183(5  missionary  work  was  commenced  in  South  Amer- 
ica, but  the  success  of  the  mission  has  not  yet  been  fairly 
established.  There  are  connected  with  this  work  10 
ordained  preachers  and  3  assistants,  with  130  members. 
The  Sunday-school  numbers  170  teachers  and  scholars, 
and  the  day-school  over  100  scholars.  About  half  of 
these  are  charity  scholars. 

In  November,  1872,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
organized  a  mission  for  Mexico,  under  tiie  superintend- 
ence of  the  Kev.  William  Butler,  D.D.,  formerly  super- 
intendent of  her  work  in  India.  The  enterprise  is  too 
recent  to  enable  us  to  say  much  about  it. 

12.  In  Biil;iariu  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  es- 
tablished a  mission  in  1857.  Connected  with  it  are  two 
ordained  ])reaehers,  one  at  Constantinople  and  the  other 
at  Tultcha.  These  missionaries  are  engageil  in  preach- 
ing the  (Josiiel,  scattering  religious  reading,  and  trans- 
lating the  New  Testament  into  the  Bulgarian  tongue. 
The  appropriation  is  87841. 

13.  liecapitiddlidn. — The  number  of  ^Methodists  out- 
side of  England  and  America,  according  to  the  best  in- 
formation we  can  obtain,  was  in  18GG  as  follows : 

Australia 42,194 

West  Indies 41,592 

Ireland 20,000 

Africa 19,403 

British  Provinces l.'i,29T 

Germany  and  Switzerland 7,(;20 

France 1,8S4 

Ceylon 1,061 

Norway 1,200 

India 1,000 

China 336 

South  America 193 

Turkey IS 

Total 101,515 

The  whole  number  of  Methodists  in  the  world  would 
therefore  figure  at  the  present  time  about  as  follows : 

Tnited  States  and  Canada 2,591,875 

(ircat  Hiitain  and  Ireland 931,4.50 

All  others 270,675 

Total 4,000,000 

VII.  Literature. — The  sources  for  the  history  and  doc- 
trine of  the  ]\Iethodists  are  as  follows:  H'or/*-  of  John 
Wesley  (first  complete  edition,  Bristol,  1771-74, 32  small 
volumes,  fidl  of  typographical  errors;  2d  ed.  1809-13, 
10  vols.  8vo,  with  a  register,  also  containing  errors;  a 
critical  edition  was  prepared  by  Thomas  Jackson  and 
published,  London,  1831, 14  vols."8vo ;  N.  Y.  1831, 7  vols. 
8vo);  Memoirs  of  the  late  John  Wesley,  uith  a  lieriew 
of  his  Life  and  WritinffS,  and  a  llistoiy  of  Methodism 
from  its  Commencement  in  1729  to  the  present  Time, 
by  John  Ilampson,  A.B.  (Sunderland,  1791,  3  vols. 
12mo;  translated  into  German,  with  remarks  and  ad- 
ditions by  Niemeyer.  Halle.  1793,  2  vols.);  Burkhardt, 
Complete  History  of  the  Methodists  in  Kni/land  (Niirnb. 
1795,  2  vols.^;  Life  of  the  liev.  John  Weshy,  .I..1/.,  in- 
cludiny  an  .1  ccoiint  of  the  yreat  Reviitd  of  Rdiyion  in 
Kiirope  and  .  I  merica.  of  which  he  was  thefrst  and  chief 
Instrument,  by  Dr.  C^>ke  and  ISIr.  Moore  (Lond.  1792, 
8vo)  ;  Life  of  John  Wesley,  collected  from  his  prirate 
Papers  and  printed  Works,  and  vritlen  at  the  lieqmst  of 
his  Executors;  to  irhich  is  prejixed  some  Account  of  his 
Ancestors  and  Relations;  vith  the  Life  of  Charles  Wes- 
ley, collected  from  his  prirate  Journal,  and  nerer  before 
publuthed —  the  vhole  formiiif/  a  Jliston/  of  Methodism, 
in  which  the  Principles  and  Kconomy  of  Methodism  are 
unfolded  (chiefiv  from  a  London  edition  published  by 
jdhn  Whilehead.  M.D..  Dublin,  1805,  2  vols.  8vo).  Fo'r 
the  sources  of  these  biographies,  see  Currj",  Remarks,  in 


METHODISM 


167 


METHODISM 


the  addition  to  his  revision  of  Southey's  edition,  i,  405, 
406  ;  Sermom  bi/  Charles  Wesley,  with  a  Memoir  of  the 
Author  (Lond.  1810);  Journals  of  Charles  Wesley,  to 
which  are  appended  Selections  from  his  Correspondence 
and  Poetry,  with  an  Introduction  and  Notes  by  the  Rev. 
T.  Jackson  (Lond.  2  vols.  8vo) ;  Thomas  Jackson,  J/e- 
moirs  of  Charles  Wesley,  comprising  Notices  of  his  Po- 
etry, of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  Methodism,  and  ofcon- 
temporari/  En  iit.-<  (imlCharacters  (Lond.  8vo)  ;  William 
Myles,  (,'///•',//, )/..v/r7//  History  of  the  People  called  Meth- 
odists, <f  till'  C'li/iiir/iiiii  of  the  late  Per.  John  Wesley, 
from  their  Pise  in  the  Year  1729  to  their  last  Conference 
m  the  Year  1802  (Loud.  1803,  12mo) ;  Life  of  Wesley, 
and  Pise  and  Progress  of  Methodlsm,hy  Robert  Southey, 
Esq.,  LL.D.,  with  Notes  by  the  late  Samuel  Taylor  Cole- 
ridge, Esq.;  and  Remarks  on  the  Life  and  Character  of 
John  Wesley,  by  the  late  Alexander  Knox,  Esq.,  edited 
by  the  Rev.  Charles  C.  Southej',  jM.A.  (2d  American  edi- 
tion, with  Notes,  etc.,  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Curry,  D.D.. 

2  vols.  l-_'mo,  N.  Y.  IK  17) ;  Richard  Watson,  Observatiom 
on  Suiiih.ifs  IJU  "/'  ir-s'.  V  (Lond.  1820);  R.Watson, 
Lif  of  th  i:/r..In!,n  ir.xA//  (Loud.  18.S1);  A.  Clarke, 
Memoirs  tfihe  Wesley  Family  (Lond.  and  N.Y.)  ;  Wm. 
C.  Larrabee,  Wesley  and  his  Coadjutors  (N.  Y.  2  vols. 
16mo) ;  E.  Janes,  Wesley  his  own  Historian  (N.Y.  1872, 
r2mo);  the  Rev.  L.  Tyerman, /^i/e  and  Times  of  JiJnt 
Wesley,  Founder  of  the  Methodists  (Lond.  and  N.Y.  187-_'. 

3  vols.  8vo)  ;  and  by  the  same  author.  The  Oxford  Meth- 
odists (Lond.  and  N.  Y.  1873,  8vo) ;  Complete  Works  of 
John  Fletcher  (Lond.  1815,  10  vols.  8vo;  N.  Y.  1831,  4 
vols.  8\'o) ;  Joseph  Benson,  Life  of  the  Rev.  John  Wil- 
liam de  la  Flechere  (Fletcher),  compiled  from  the  Nar- 
rative of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wesley,  the  biographical  Notes 
of  the  Rev.  j\Ir.  Gilpin,  from  his  own  Letters,  and  other 
authentic  Documents  (Lond.  1817, 8 vo;  in  German,  with 
a  Preface  bv  A.  Tholuck,  Berlin,  1833) ;  Samuel  Drew, 
Life  of  the  Per.  Thomas  Coke.  LL.D..  including  in  Detail 
h!.^  rmin„.<  Tn,nf.<  ,n/d  r.r/nmn/inan,  Mhshni.ini  K.ver- 
thni.<  in  r.inf'iml.  Ir.hiu,!.  Aui.rira.  ,,,„/  thr  W,.<i  Indies, 
■with  unAccuiud  of  his  Death  (^Lond.  lS17,Svu;  N.  Y.  1847, 
12mo) ;  Extracts  of  the  Journals  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Coke's 
Five  Visits  to  A  merica  (Lond.  1793, 12mo) ;  Stevenson,  C«7?/ 
Road  Chapel,  Lomhm  (Lond.  1863, 12mo) ;  Annual  Min- 
utes of  thv  .1/r///,v/;.v/  r,>,f,  r,nce,from  the  First  held  in 
London  hy  ll,,  hii,  /,',  r..l,,!iii  Wi:sley,in  the  Year  17 Ai  (sev- 
eral vols.);  Aniiininn.  Magazine,  from  1778,  now  styled 
Weslryan  .'ifrthodist  Magazine  (Lond.);  London  Quarter- 
ly Per  icn;  since  l."^."i:) ;  the  great  ecclesiastical  weeklies — 
Watchman,  Wesli yun  Tintcs.  etc.  See  also  Gillie,  Life 
of  the  Rev.  George  \Vh;i,f,hl  (Lond.  1813)  ;  Philip,  Life 
of  White  field ;  Lif  awl  Tinns  of  the  Countess  of  Hunt- 
ingdon (Lond.  2  vols.)  ;  :Mudge,  Lady  Huntingdon  Por- 
trayed (N.  Y'.  1857) ;  Lives  of  Early  Methodist  Preach- 
ers, edited  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Jackson  (Lond.  1839,  2 
vols.  12mo);  and  numerous  biographies  from  the  time 
of  the  origin  of  Methodism. 

Sources  for  the  history  of  the  jNIethodist  Episcopal 
Church  especially:  Jonrnnl.^  if  tin'  Hir.  Francis  Asbury, 
Bishop  of  the  Methodist  l-:/iisi;>ji,i/  Church  (new  ed.,  N. 
Y'.  1854.  3  vols.  12mo) ;  J/;,/,//,,s-  „/■  /lie  Annual  Confer- 
ences ofih,'  MHl„>dhl  l-.pi.^cnpnU'hnrch  (N.Y.  29  vols. 
8vo);  Jnnrnith  of  ihr  (;,n,ndConfrence  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  (X.  Y.  12  vols.  8vo)  ;  Methodist 
Quarterly  Review  (N.  Y.  54  vols.) ;  A.  Stevens,  Memo- 
rials  of  the  Introduction  of  Methodism  info  the  Eastern 
States  (N.  Y".  2  vols.) ;  J.  B.  Finley,  Sketches  of  West- 
ern Methodism  (N.  Y.  12mo) ;  and  similar  researches  by 
Peck,  Raybold,  and  others;  Wake\y,  Lost  Chapters  re- 
covered from  the  Early  History  of  A  merican  Methodism ; 
id.  Heroes  of  Methodism  (N.Y."l2mo);  Coles,  Heroines 
of  Methodism  (N.  Y\  12mo) ;  Stevens,  Women  of  Meth- 
odism (N.  Y^  12mo)  ;  Rev.  W.  Reddy,  Inside  Views  of 
Methodism,  (N.  Y.  18mo)  ;  W.  P.  Strickland,  History  of 
Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (N.  Y.  12mo) ; 
Bishop  Thomson,  Our  Oriental  Missions  (N.  Y.  2  vols. 
IGmo) ;  W.  C.  Smith,  Pillars  in  the  Temple,  or  Lives  of 
Deceased  Laymen  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


(N.Y.  16mo);  Deems,  Annals  of  Southern  Methodism; 
Miller.  Experience  of  German  Meth.  Preachers  (Cincin' 
nati,  1859) ;  Strickland,  Life  of  Bishop  A^hnry;  u\.  Pio- 
neers of  the  West  (N.YM2mo);  Stt'\riis.  /,//;■  and  Times 
of  Nathan  Bangs  (N.Y.  1863) ;  id.  <s7/,  t,l„  .<  and  Incidents 
(N.  Y.  18mo);  Larrabee,  Asbury  and  his  Coadjutors;  Life  ■ 
and  Letters  of  Bishop  Ilamline  (N.Y.  12mo) ;  Sandford, 
Wesley's  J^Iissionai'ies  to  A  merica ;  G.  Peck,  Episcopacy 
and  Slavery. 

Collective  histories  of  Methodism  :  the  best  univer- 
sal history  of  Methodism  which  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  has  ever  produced  is  Dr.  Abel  Stevens's 
History  of  the  Religious  Movement  of  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury called  Methodism,  considered  in  its  different  denom- 
inational Forms,  and  in  its  Relation  to  British  and  A  mer- 
ican Protestantism  (N.Y.  and  Lond.  1858-61,  3  vols.  8vo 
and  12mo).  The  best  history  which  was  ever  written 
in  England  is  by  Dr.  George  Smith :  History  oj'  Meth- 
odism— vol.  i,  Wesley  and  his  Times;  vol.  ii,  The  Middle 
Age  of  Methodism;  vol.  iii,  Modem  Methodism  (Lond. 
1857-62,  3  vols.  8vo).  Earlier  works:  Jackson,  Ceiite- 
nary  of  Wesleyan  Methodism  (Lond.  1839) ;  Jonathan 
Grovither,  Portraiture  nf  Methodism,  or  the  History  of 
the  Wesleyan  Metho<li.<t.<..<hoiriti(i  tin  Ir  Wise,  Progress,  and 
present  State;  Bio<inipliir(il  SL; /,■//, .<  of  some  of  their 
most  ,mh,vi,t  Minis/,  rs.-  /h,  l)or/rii„s  /hr  M,tl,odists  be- 
ll, r,  ,u„l  /,  'I,-/,  fil/i/  ,!n,l  ,j'/,li,-il/y  s/a/,,/.-  vi/l,  /!„■  irhole 
Phil,  ,f  th,ir'  Dis.iplin,.  ii„-ln.liioi  th,  ir  original  L'n/rs 
and  subsequent  Regulations.  A  Iso  a  Defence  of  Method- 
ism (Lond.  1815,  8vo).  Concerning  the  history  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  especially :  Nathan  Bangs, 
Hist,  of  the  M,1h.  Episc.  Church  from  the  Year  1766  to 
1840  (N.Y.  is:;'.i-ll.  1  vols.  12mo) ;  A.  Stevens,  Hist,  of 
the  Meth.  Epis,:  ( Ininh  (N.Y.  1865-67,  4  vols.  8vo  and 
12mo)  ;  Lee,  Hist,  of  the  Methodists;  Strickland,  Hist, 
of  the  J\Iissions  of  the  M.  E.  Church  (1st  ed.  Cincinnati, 
1849);  Gosa,  Statistical  Bisf.  of  Methodism  (N.Y.  1866, 
18mo) ;  R.  Emory,  Hist,  of  the  Discipline  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  revised  and  brought  down  to  1856  by  W.  P. 
Strickland  (1st  ed.  N.  Y.  1843) ;  Charles  Elliott,  Hist,  of 
the  great  Secession  from  the  M.  E.  Church  in  the  Year 
1845,  eventuating  in  the  Organization  of  the  new  Church, 
entitled  the  M.  E.  Church  South  (Cincinnati,  1855,  8vo) ; 
Hist,  of  the  M.  E.  Church  in  the  South-west  from  1844  to 
1864,  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  edited 
and  revised  by  the  Rev.  Leroy  Vernon,  D.D.  (St.  Louis, 
j\Io.,  1872, 12mo).  On  Canada :  G.  F.  Play  ter,  Hist,  of 
Methodism  in  Canada  (Toronto,  1862,  12mo) ;  Gorrie, 
Lives  of  Eminent  Methodist  Ministers;  etc. 

Books  on  IMethodism.  (a.)  Polemical  books.  In- 
numerable anti-Methodistic  works  have  been  published 
since  the  days  of  Wesley.  A  list  of  277  such  books, 
which,  however,  are  now  almost  forgotten,  is  given  in 
alphabetic  order  by  H.  D.  Decanver:  Catalogue  of 
Works  in  Refutation  oJ'  M' thoilism.  from  its  Origin  in 
172'3  to  the pi-esent  Time' (VU\\:\.  lsli;i.'  {/,.)  Philosupliical 
(pragmatical)  studies:  Isaac  Taylcir,  Wishy  and  Mi  tloid- 
■ism  (Lond.  1851) — Introduction;  \, Founders  oJ' Method- 
ism ;  2,  Substance  of  Methodism ;  3,  Form  of  Methodism ; 
4,  Methodism  of  the  Future.  IMr.  Taylor,  a  copious  Cal- 
vinistic  writer  of  tlic  Anulicnn  ( 'liiirch,  was  once  a  Dis- 
senter: 1'..  V.'\\\\{.M,tli,,ilis,„  Sii,;;  ss/'iil.imd  the  Inte7-nal 
Causes  of  its  Succiss  ( N.  Y.  1859).  (c.)  ^lore  or  less  apol- 
ogetic are,  James  Porter,  Compendium  of  Methodism,  em- 
bracing the  History  and  present  Condition  of  its  various 
Branches  in  all  Cniinfrirs.vifh  a  Dr  fence  of  its  Doctrinal, 
Gonriini,  ii/ol.  ,,n,l  I'm,!,  „ii,il  P,  ,iili,irities  (N.  Y.  1851 ; 
16th  cd.  isco.  li'uio  ) ;  ( .rcr-v  Smith.  The  Polity  of  Wes- 
leyan Methodism  exhibited  and  defended  (Lond.  1852, 
12rao) ;  P.  D.  Gorrie,  Episcopal  Methodism  as  it  was  and 
is  (Auburn,  N.  Y.  1852, 12mo) ;  Bishop  Emory,  Defence  of 
our  Fathers  (N.Y.  8vo)  ;  T.  E.  Bond,  Economy  of  Meth- 
odism (N.Y^8vo);  J.  Dixon,  Methodism  in  its  Economy 
(Lond.  and  N.  Y'.  18mo) ;  N.  Bangs,  Responsibilities  of 
the  M.E.  Church  (N.Y.  18mo) ;  A..Stevens.Church  Pol- 
ity (N.Y.  12mo);  Moms,  Church  Polity  (N.Y.  12mo); 
L.  S.  Jacobv,  Ilandbuch  des  Methodismus,  embracing  its 


METHODISM 


168     METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH 


histon',  doctrine,  government,  and  peculiar  ceremonies 
(Bremen,  1«53,  l"imo) ;  Thomas  Jackson,  Wesleyan  Meth- 
odism a  lievivul  o/ Apostolical  Chi-istianity,  a  centenary- 
sermon  (Lond.  and  N.  Y.  1839) ;  Dixon,  Methodism  in 
its  Orif/in,  Economy,  and  present  Position  (Lond.  and  N. 
y.  1843, 18mo);  Wise,  I'npular  Ohjeclioius  to  Methodism 
Considered  and  Answered  (Boston,  1856,  I'imo);  Kigg, 
Essay  on  the  Principles  of  Methodism  (Lond.);  Shrews- 
burv.  Methodis/n  Scriptural  (Lond.) ;  Thomas  Bond.  The 
Economy  of  Methodism  Illustrated  and  Defended  (^N.  Y. 
8vo);  Jackson, /-e//t-r  to  Dr.  Pusey,  being  a  Vindication 
of  the  Tenets  and  Character  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists 
against  his  Misrepresentations  and  Censures  (Lond.  and 
N.  Y.) ;  Y.  Hodgson,  Ecclesiastical  Polity  <f  Methodism 
Defended  (Lond.  and  N.  Y.);  llenkle, Primary  Platform 
(</J/(-M(«//.-.m  (Louisville,  Ky.,  1851);  F.  J.  Johson,  .1  ;/«'/•- 
ica  and  A  tnerican  Methodism  (X.  Y.  1857,  Vlmo) ;  Strick- 
land, (icnins  (Old  Mission  of  Methodism  (X.  Y.  1851) ;  'J'ur- 
ner,  ( 'onslitulion  of  Methodism  (Lund.  I'Jnio) ;  W.  J.  Sass- 
nctt,  Progress,  considered  irilh  partii-ulnr  Hfrt  iicr  In  the 
M.  E.  Cliurch,Soulh  (Xashvillc  is.".."..  r_'in(i; :  X.  Bangs, 
J'resent  State,  Prospects,  ami  /.'r.^jimrloiUi;,  .<  ,fih,  M.  K. 
Church  (N.  Y,  1850) ;  John  Bake. veil,  Admonitory  Coun- 
sels to  a  Methodist,  etc.  (N.  Y.  18mo) ;  Bishop  Baker, 
Guide  in  the  A  dministration  of  the  Discipline  of  the  M.  E. 
Church  (N.  Y'.  16mo) ;  Hawley,  Manual  of  Methodism 
(N.  Y.  l-2mo). 

Among  the  earlier  apologetical  works  of  jMethod 
ism,  Fletcher's  Checks  to  Antinomianism,  covering  the 
lirst  t^vo  volumes  of  his  whole  works  (see  below),  ranks 
deservedly  as  the  ablest  and  most  learned  defence  of 
Arminianism ;  and,  indeed,  it  proved  (juite  a  polemic 
against  Calvinism.  The  same  writer  furnished  o-,,e  of 
the  best  polemics  against  Sociiiianism,  prcoked  by 
I'riestley.  The  ablest  treatise  on  systematic  theology, 
from  a  jMethodistic  stand-point,  was  furnished  by  Dr. 
Kicluuil  Watson  in  his  Theological  Institutes,  a  work 
which  to  this  day  remains  the  text-book  of  Methodist 
students  in  divinity.  An  elaborate  Analysis  was  pre- 
pared for  it  by  the  late  senior  editor  of  this  Cyclopedia, 
the  Ucv.  Dr.  John  M'Clintock.  Editions  innumerable 
have  been  published  of  tlie  I?istitutes,  ^vith  the  Analy- 
sis, hulh  in  this -country  and  in  England  (1st  edition 
Lond.  182-2-1828,  in  G  parts;  N.  Y'.  2  vols.  8vo;  Nash- 
ville. Tenn.,  1  vol.  8vo).  There  is  also  a  compilation  of 
jMcthnilist  doctrines,  entitled  Wesleyana:  a  System  of 
, t  '<  sh  linn  Theology  (N.  Y.  12mo).  See  also  Meth.  Qu.  Rev. 
1853,.Jan.  p.  136  sq.;  North.  A  met:  Rev.  1865,  April,  p.  593 
sq. ;  Wesleyan  Meth. Magazine,  lSGG,Fch. ;  Cood  Words, 
18G6,  Jan.";  Lond.  Qu.  Rev.  Oct.  1872;  D.  D.  Whedon,  in 
the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  April,  1862;  J.  T.  Peck,  in  the 
Meth.  Qu.  Rev.  April,  1870 ;  J.  Porter,  in  the  Meth.  Qu. 
Rev.  Ajiril,  1871 ;  D.  A.  Whedon,  in  the  Meth.  Qu.  Rev. 
Jan.  l.sd.H,  and  April,  1870;  D.  D.  Whedon,  in  the  Meth. 
Qu.  R'v.  IHiiO,  p.  124,  276, 312, 443 ;  1872,  April  and  Oct. 
art.  ill ;  1873,  Jan.  p.  138  sq.;  Lond.  Rev.  Oct.  1854.  art. 
v;  \<irlh  Jiril.Rev.  1852,  Feb.;  Ch.  Examiner,  vol.  iv; 
North  lirit.  Rev.  xxxii,  269;  Newell  Culver.  Methodism 
Eorty  Years  Ago  aiul  Noio  (N.Y',  1873,  18mo) ;  ^lalcom. 
Theological  Index,  s.  v. ;  and  the  excellent  Catalogue  of 
the  lioston  Library  (2d  or  consolidated  edition,  July, 
1X73).  Dr.  Abel  Stevens,  in  his  Hist,  of  Methodism, 
reckons  that  at  least  1500  titles  would  be  refpiircd  to 
make  up  a  fair  bibliography  of  Jlethodism.  'i'lie  l!cv. 
William  F.Warren,  D.D.,  in  \\\»  Systematische  Theologie 
einheitlich  behamlelt  (Bremen,  1865,  8vo),  besides  giving 
the  position  of  Jlethodism  in  systematic  theology  some- 
what in  detail,  has  furnished  a  very  elaborate  compila- 
tion of  Methodist  literature,  which  is  (piite  complete  up 
to  the  time  of  the  publication  of  his  book;  it  covers  p. 
168-186.  In  ICngland,  Dr.  Osl)orn  prepared  a  treatise 
on  the  literature  of  the  Wesleyans  (Lond.  18()8,  8vo). 
Very  recently  a  work  was  commenced  In'  the  Hev.  Dr. 
Sidzberger,  of  Frankfort-on-tbe-^Iain,  which  is  intend- 
ed to  be  a  full  treatment  of  Methodist  doctrinal  theol- 
ogy for  the  use,  especially,  of  German  students.  Vol.  i 
appeared  iu  1873. 


Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  The,  is  the 
official  title  of  the  largest  body  of  Methodists  in  the 
United  States,  with  branches  in  difl'erent  parts  of  the 
world. 

L  Organization. — This  title  was  assumed  by  the  Amer- 
ican Methodists  as  a  distinct  body  at  what  is  historically 
known  as  the  "ChristmasConference,"  whichcommenced 
its  session  on  Friday,  Dec.  24,  1784,  and  was  continued 
through  Christmas  week,  and  until  the  second  day  of  the 
new  year.  Previous  to  this  period  the  American  ^Meth- 
odistshad  constituted  sociWjVs,  like  those  in  (ireat  Brit- 
ain, in  connection  with  and  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Kev.  John  Wesley,  whom  they  all  alike  reverenced  and 
obeyed  as  their  spiritual  father  and  head.  The  first 
Methodist  service  in  America  is  believed  to  have  been 
held  in  the  year  1766,  in  the  city  of  New  Y'ork,  by 
Philip  Embury,  an  Irish  immigrant  and  local  preacher, 
a  caqjenter  by  trade,  who  was  moved  thereto  by  the 
stirring  appeals  oi'  Barbara  Heck,  an  Irishwoman,  whose 
name  is  illustrious  in  tlie  annals  of  the  denomination. 
Thomas  Webb,  a  captain  in  the  British  army,  who  was 
then  staying  in  America,  Robert  Strawbridge,  and  Rob- 
ert Williams,  all  local  preachers,  were,  with  Emburj', 
the  prosecutors  of  the  work  thus  begun,  until,  in  the 
autumn  of  1769,  Richard  Boardraan  and  Joseph  Pilmoor 
arrived  at  Philadelphia  as  missionaries  sent  out  by  3Ir, 
W'esley.  Seven  others  afterwards  came;  but  the  entire 
service  of  all  Wesley's  missionaries  in  the  colonies  was 
less  than  twenty-eight  years,  leaving  out  of  the  account 
Francis  Asbury,  who  alone  of  them  remained  in  the 
country  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  who  be- 
came the  apostle  and  bishoj)  of  the  Church.  Tliough 
several  of  them  were  not  fortunate  in  their  associations 
with  their  American  brethren,  two  soon  becoming  Pres- 
byterians, a  third,  by  his  active  Toryism,  causing  grave 
scandal  and  even  persecution,  and  none,  except  Asbury, 
staying  long,  they,  as  a  whole,  by  their  labors,  zeal,  and 
adherence  to  the  well-proved  Wesleyan  discipline,  were 
instrumental  in  settling  the  cause  upon  a  firm  basis,  and 
raising  up  scores  of  native  preachers  to  carry  on  the 
work. 

Tlie  first  Conference,  held  in  1773.  presided  over  by 
Rankin  as  superintendent,  consisted  of  ten  members,  all 
Fairopeans,  with  an  aggregate  in  the  societies  of  1160. 
In  May,  1784.  eleven  years  later,  notwithstanding  all 
the  adverse  influences  of  the  war,  they  numbered  14,988 
members,  several  hundred  local  preachers  and  exhort- 
ers,  84  itinerant  preachers,  with  more  than  sixty  chap- 
els, and  probably  not  less  than  200,000  attendants  upon 
their  worship.  By  the  system  of  itinerancy,  which 
had  been  rigidly  enforced  during  this  period,  Method- 
ism had  been  jjrevcnted  from  localizing  itself,  and  had 
established  organized  societies  in  every  state  of  the 
Union  outside  of  New  F'ngland,  become  the  dominant, 
popular,  religious  power  in  ^laryland  and  Delaware,  and 
at  several  points  planted  its  staiulard  beyond  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  Though  tints  widely  spread,  nearly  nine  tenths 
of  itsmembershii)  were  south  of  JIason  and  Dixon's  line, 
and  of  these  a  large  proportion  were  in  the  ^liddle  States, 
where  the  Anglican,  or  the  ICnglish  Established  Church, 
once  so  nourishing,  had  become  nearly  extinct. 

Most  of  the  IMethodists  of  1784  were  without  the  .sac- 
raments; for  the  I-jiglish  clergy  upon  whom  they  had 
generally  depended  liad,  with  lew  exceptions,  either  left 
the  country  or  forsaken  their  parishes.  Thousands  had 
been  received  into  the  societies  witlunit  baptism;  (heir 
children  were  growing  up  without  that  sacred  rite  :  and 
preachers  were  ministering  in  their  pulpits  who  had 
never  even  partaken  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  grow- 
ing necessity  for  some  ]irovision  for  the  administration 
of  the  sacraments  had  led  to  so  serious  thought  and  dis- 
cussion in  successive  Conferences  that  the  regular  ses- 
sion of  1779,  deeming  the  exigency  sufficient  to  warrant 
a  departure  from  ecclesiastical  ns.age,  constituted  four 
of  their  number  a  presl)ytery.  who  with  solemn  forms 
proceeded  to  ordain  one  anotlier.  and  afterwards  others 
I  of  their  brethren.    At  the  end  of  a  year  the  sacramental 


METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH     1G9     METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH 


party  yielded  to  the  minority  for  peace'  sake ;  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  sacraments  was  suspended ;  and  it 
was  agreed  to  seek  tlie  counsel  of  Wesley,  and  abide 
by  his  judgment.  He  advised  them  to  '"continue  on 
the  old  plan  until  further  direction."  Wesley  found  for 
his  American  societies  no  way  of  relief  until  subsequent 
to  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  Then,  after  long  and  ma- 
ture thought,  and  consultation  with  his  frienils,  among 
whom  was  Fletcher,  the  saintly  vicar  of  JNIadeley,  he 
resolved  to  use  the  power  which  he  believed  himself 
as  a  i)resbyter  to  possess,  and  ordain  a  ministry  that 
should  meet  the  demands  of  the  thousands  who  sought 
aid  from  him  as  their  spiritual  founder.  He  proposed 
to  the  Kev.  Thomas  Coke,  LL.D.,  to  receive  ordination 
at  his  hands  as  their  superintendent,  to  which  Coke, 
wliose  sympathies  were  profoundly  stirred  in  their  be- 
half, consented,  when  study  and  reflection  had  con- 
vinced him  of  Wesley's  power  to  ordain  to  the  Episco- 
pal office.  It  was  also  arranged  that  two  of  the  English 
preachers  should  be  ordained  to  accompany  him  as  el- 
ders. Accordingly',  on  the  first  day  of  September,  178-1, 
at  Bristol,  using  the  convenient  and  solemn  forms  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and,  assisted  by  Dr.  Coke  and  the 
Kev.  Thomas  Creighton,  a  presbyter  of  the  English 
Church,  Wesley  ordained  Richard  Whatcoat  and  Thom- 
as Vasey  to  the  office  of  deacon.  On  the  next  day  he 
ordained  them  elders,  and,  assisted  by  Creighton  and 
Whatcoat,  he  also  ordained  Coke  superintendent,  or  bish- 
op, as  this  officer  was  afterwards  called.  He  then  sent 
them  upon  their  mission,  with  instructions  to  organize 
the  societies  into  a  distinct  Church,  and  to  ordain  As- 
bury  joint  superintendent  with  Coke.  To  facilitate  their 
work,  he  furnished  them  with  a  "  Sunday  Service,"  or 
hturgy,  a  collection  of  psalms  and  hymns,  and  also  "  The 
Articles  of  Religion."  Upon  their  arrival  in  America,  a 
special  conference  or  convention  of  the  itinerant  preach- 
ers was  summoned,  and  on  the  24th  of  December  sixty 
of  them  assembled  in  the  Lovely  Lane  Chapel,  in  the 
city  of  Baltimore.  Dr.  Coke  took  the  chair,  and  pre- 
sented the  following  letter  from  Wesley,  written  eight 
days  after  the  ordinations,  and  tersely  stating  the 
grounds  of  what  he  had  done  and  advised : 

'To  Dr.  Coke,  Mr.  Asbunj,  and  our  Brethren  in  North 
America: 

"  By  a  very  uncommou  train  of  providences,  many  of 
the  provinces  of  North  America  are  totally  disjoined 
from  their  mother  country,  and  erected  into  independent 
states.  The  English  government  has  no  authority  over 
them,  either  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  any  more  than  over  the 
states  of  Holland.  A  civil  authority  is  exercised  over 
thi'iii,  |):irt]y  by  the  CouLrrcss  and  partly  by  the  provincial 
assrnil)lic-;  ;  luit  no  one  either  exercises  or  claims  any  ec- 
cle>i:i-tii  il  iiiithijrity  at  all.  In  this  peculiar  situation, 
some  thoLi-iands  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  states  desire 
my  advice  :  and,  in  compliance  with  their  desire,  I  have 
drawn  up  a  little  sketch. 

"Lord  King's  Account  of  the  Primitive  Church  con- 
vinced me,  many  years  ago,  that  bishops  and  presbyters 
are  the  same  order,  and  consequently  liave  the  same  ri;;ht 
to  ordain.  For  many  years  I  have  been  importuned,  from 
time  to  time,  to  exercise  this  right,  by  ordaining  part  of 
our  travellins;  preachers.  But  I  have  still  refused,  not  only 
for  peace'  sake,  but  because  I  was  determined  as  little  as 
possible  to  violate  the  established  order  of  the  National 
Church,  to  which  I  belonged. 

"  But  the  case  is  widely  different  between  England  and 
North  America.  Here  there  are  bishops  who  have  a  lesjal 
jurisdiction.  In  America  there  are  none,  neither  any 
parish  ministers  ;  so  that  for  some  hundred  miles  togeth- 
er there  is  none  either  to  baptize  or  to  administer  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Here,  therefore,  my  scruples  are  at  au  end, 
and  I  conceive  myself  at  full  liberty,  as  I  violate  no  or- 
der and  invade  no  man's  right,  by  appointing  and  send- 
ing laborers  into  the  harvest. 

"I  have  accordingly  appointed  Dr.  Coke  and  Mr.  Fran- 
cis Asbury  to  be  joint  superintendents  over  onr  brethren 
in  North  America,  as  also  Richard  Whatcoat  and  Thom- 
as V.i<i\v  to  at  as  elders  among  them,  by  baptizing  and 
iiiiiiiscmi.'  the  Lord's  Supper.  And  I  have  prepared  a 
litur-y.  little  dil^'ering  from  that  of  the  Church  of  England 
(I  think,  the  best  constituted  national  Church  in  the 
world),  which  I  advise  all  the  travellinu'  preaeliers  to  use 
on  the  Lord's  day  *fl  all  the  con-rei^ations,  reading  the 
litany  only  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridavs,  and  iirayiiig  ex- 
tempore on  all  other  davs.  I  also  advise  the  elders  to  ad- 
mmister  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  on  every  Lord's  day. 

"If  any  oue  will  point  out  a  more  rational  and  script- 


ural way  of  feeding  aud  guiding  those  poor  sheep  in  the 
wilderness,  I  will  gladly  embrace  it.  At  present  I  cannot 
see  any  better  method  than  that  I  have  taken. 

"It  has  indeed  been  proposed  to  desire  the  English 
bishops  to  ordain  part  of  our  preachers  for  America ;  but 
to  this  I  object :  (1.)  I  desired  the  bishop  of  Loudon  to  or- 
dain only  one  ;  but  could  not  prevail.  ('2.)  If  they  consent- 
ed, we  know  the  slowuess  of  their  proceedings;  but  the 
matter  admits  of  no  delay.  (3.)  If  they  would  ordain 
them  now,  they  would  likewise  expect  to  govern  them; 
and  how  grievously  would  this  entangle  us  !  (4.)  As  our 
American  brethren  are  now  totally  disentans^led  both 
from  the  state  aud  from  the  English  hierarchy,  we  dare 
not  entangle  them  again,  either  with  the  oue  or  the  oth- 
er. They  are  uow  at  full  liberty  simply  to  follow  the 
Scriptures  aud  the  Primitive  Church.  And  we  judge  it 
best  that  they  should  stand  fast  in  that  liberty  wherewith 
God  has  so  strangely  made  them  free." 

After  the  reading  and  consideration  of  this  document, 
it  was,  without  a  single  dissenting  voice,  regularly  and 
formally  "  agreed  to  form  a  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
in  which  the  liturgy  (as  presented  by  the  Rev.  John 
Wesley)  should  be  read,  and  the  sacraments  be  adminis- 
tered by  a  superintendent,  elders,  and  deacons,  who  shall 
be  ordained  by  a  presbytery,  using  the  Episcopal  form, 
as  prescribed  in  the  Kev.  ]\Ir.  Wesley's  Prayer-book ;"  or, 
in  the  language  of  the  Minutes  of  the  Conference,  "  fol- 
lowing the  counsel  of  Mr.  John  Wesley,  who  recom- 
mended the  Episcopal  mode  of  government,  we  thought 
it  best  to  become  an  Episcopal  Church,  making  the 
Episcopal  office  elective,  and  the  elected  superintendent, 
or  bishop,  amenable  to  the  body  of  ministers  and  preach- 
ers." Asbury  refused  the  high  office  to  which  Wesley 
had  appointed  him  unless  it  were  ratified  by  the  Con- 
ference, and,  in  accordance  with  the  act  of  organizal  ion, 
both  he  and  Coke  were  formally  and  unanimously  elect- 
ed superintendents.  On  the  second  day  of  the  session, 
Asbury  was  ordained  deacon,  elder  on  the  third,  and 
superintendent  on  the  fourth.  Coke  being  assisted  by 
Whatcoat  and  Vase}'  in  the  services,  and  also  in  the  last 
by  Otterbein,  a  personal  friend  of  Asbury,  and  a  minis- 
ter in  the  (ierman  Reformed  Church.  The  "Sunday 
Service"  and  "  Articles"  prepared  by  Wesley  were  adopt- 
ed; the  Rules  and  Discipline  were  revised  and  adapted 
to  the  new  order  of  things;  the  establishment  of  a  col- 
lege was  resolved  upon ;  twelve  preachers  were  ordained 
elders,  and  one  deacon,  and  the  -(vork  of  the  Conference 
was  done. 

DifTerent  views  have  been  taken  of  these  transactions, 
though  not  among  Methodists.  On  the  one  hand  it  is 
held  that  Wesley  did  not  ordain  Coke  as  bishop,  but  to 
an  undefined  superintendency ;  that  he  foinid  fault  with 
Asbury  for  assuming  to  be  a  bishop ;  that  he  did  not  in- 
tend the  separation  of  his  societies  from  the  Church  of 
England,  or  an  authority  by  his  ordinations  to  admin- 
ister the  sacraments.  The  view  taken  by  INIethodist 
writers  may  be  stated  as  follows:  1.  Wesley's  letter, 
above  quoted,  shows  his  understanding  of  the  condition 
of  those  in  whose  behalf  he  acted.  Their  one  great  de- 
mand was  some  provision  for  the  sacraments,  and  this  he 
proposed  to  answer,  not  only  for  the  time  being,  but  in 
perpetuity  forever.  The  Church  of  England  had  ceased 
to  exist  in  the  United  States,  so  that  he  violated  no  law 
or  regulation  of  that  Church  in  what  he  might  do  for 
America.  He  provided  for  no  separation,  for  there  was 
nothing  left  to  separate  from.  By  the  terms  of  the  let- 
ter, Whatcoat  and  Vasey,  whoin  he  ordained,  were  to 
administer  the  sacraments,  as  they  proceeded  to  do  im- 
mediately after  their  arrival.  He  intended  the  afep 
taken  to  obviate  forever  all  necessity  for  any  connection 
of  American  Methotlism  with  the  English  hierarchy. 
The  liturgy  which  he  prepared,  with  the  forms  used  in 
the  English  Church  for  ordinations  to  the  three  distinct 
offices  of  the  ministry,  indicates  his  intent  that  the  three 
offices  should  be  perpetuated  in  the  jNIethodist  Episcopal 
Church.  To  him  the  name  was  not  important,  but  the 
function  was.  He  therefore  said  "superintendent"  and 
"  elder,"  instead  of  bishop  and  presbyter — more  modest 
titles,  perhaps,  but  the  same  in  import;  and  any  newly- 
elected  superintendent  was  to  be  presented  to  the  super- 
intendent "  to  be  ordained."      2.  For  forty  years  3Ir. 


METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH     170     METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH 


Wesley  had  believed  that  bishops  and  presbj-ters  consti- 
tuted but  one  order,  with  the  same  right  to  ordain.  He 
know  that  for  two  centuries  the  succession  of  Ijishops  in 
the  Church  of  Alexandria  was  preserved  throu>j;h  ordi- 
nation by  jiresbyters  alone.  '•  I  iirmly  believe,"  he  said, 
'•  I  am  a  scriptural  t;ri<Tic()7ror,  as  much  as  any  man  in 
]Cnj,'land  or  in  Kurojie;  for  the  uninterrupted  succession 
I  know  to  be  a  fable  wliich  no  man  ever  did  or  can 
prove;"  but  he  also  held  that  "neither  Christ  nor  his 
apostles  prescribe  any  particular  form  of  Church  gov- 
ernment." He  was  a  true  bishop  of  the  flock  which 
(jod  had  given  to  his  care.  He  had  hitherto  refused 
"  to  exercise  this  right"  of  ordaining,  because  he  would 
not  come  into  needless  conflict  with  the  order  of  the 
English  Church  to  which  he  belonged.  Hut  after  the 
Kcvolution,  his  ordaining  for  America  woidd  violate  no 
law  of  the  Church  ;  and  when  the  necessity  was  clearly 
apiiareiit,  his  hesitation  ceased.  '•There  does  not  ap- 
liear,"  he  said,  "  any  other  way  of  supplying  them  with 
ministers."  Having  formed  his  purpose,  in  February, 
17^4,  he  invited  Dr.  Coke  to  his  study  in  City  Koad,  laid 
the  case  before  him,  and  proposed  to  ordain  and  send 
liim  to  America.  Coke  was  startled  at  first,  doubting 
M'esley's  right  to  ordain  him,  though  why,  if  the  ordi- 
nation were  not  to  the  office  of  bishop,  the  next  higher 
to  that  which  he  already  held,  is  inexplicable.  He 
finally  assented,  and  wrote,  "The  power  of  ordaining 
others  should  be  received  by  me  from  you,  by  the  im- 
jiosition  of  your  hands."  3.  History  records  no  other 
)ilan  as  proposed  tlian  that  of  an  Episcopal  organization. 
Tliis  is  what  was  laid  before  the  few  preachers  called 
for  counsel  immediately  after  Coke's  arrival  in  Amer- 
ica. The  title  assumed  by  the  Church  is  "  Episcopal." 
The  Minutes  of  the  organization  say  that  this  was 
done,  '•  following  the  counsels  of  Mr.  John  Wesley,  who 
recommended  the  Episcopal  mode  of  Church  govern- 
ment, making  the  Episcopal  office  elective,  and  tlie 
elected  superintendent,  or  bishop,  amenable  to  the  body 
of  ministers  and  preachers;"  and  he  had  no  reproof 
for  the  statement  or  the  title,  though  the  document  was 
lirintcd  under  his  eye.  The  Minutes  of  1780  say  of  him  : 
'■  i'referring  the  Episcopal  mode  of  Church  government, 
ho  set  apart  Thomas  (,'oke  for  the  Episcopal  office,  and 
having  delivered  to  him  letters  of  Episcopal  orders,  di- 
rected him  to  set  apart  Francis  Asbury  for  the  same 
ICpiscojial  office,  in  consetpience  of  which  the  said  Fran- 
cis Asbury  was  solemnly  set  apart  for  the  said  Episcopal 
ollice,"  which  statements  A\'esley  never  disputed,  and 
none  of  these  things  did  he  condemn.  If  Coke  and  the 
Jlelhodists  of  that  day  misunderstood  or  exceeded  his 
intentions  and  acts,  that  he  took  no  pains  to  correct  their 
error  is  the  strangest  and  most  unaccountable  thing  of 
all.  4.  The  language  of  Charles  Wesley  is  to  the  point. 
He  certainly  knew  what  was  done,  and  the  intention  in 
doing  it.  He  says  that  his  brother  "assumed  the  Epis- 
copal character,  ordained  elders,  consecrated  a  bishop,  and 
sent  him  to  ordain  our  lay  preachers  in  America."  He 
wrote  bitterly  to  his  brother  .lohn  of  Coke's  "Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  IJaltimore,"  of  the  readiness  of  the 
London  ])reachers  to  receive  orders  from  him,  of  Coke's 
aniliiiion  and  raslniess.  Coke  distinctly  said,  after  his 
return  to  England,  that "  he  had  done  nothing  but  under 
the  direction  of  I\[r.  Wesley;"  and  Wesley  replied  to 
Charles  that  Coke  "  has  done  nothing  rashly."  Silence 
in  such  circumstances  becomes  assent.  5.  Wesley,  then, 
intended  an  Episcopal  Church.  15ut  an  Episcopal 
Church  must  have  an  Episco])acy,  autl  therefore  an 
tTriffKoTTor,  bishop,  or  superintendent,  names  alike  in  sig- 
nification. He  preferred  the  latter,  as  did  Coke,  wJio 
spoke  in  his  sermon  at  Asbury 's  ordination  of  "  our  liish- 
ops,  or  superintendents,  as  we  rather  call  them."  When 
it  began  to  be  a]>plied  as  a  personal  title  to  the  incum- 
bents of  the  otfice,  Wesley  wrote,  "  How  can  you,  how 
dare  you,  suffer  yourself  to  l)c  called  bishop?"  though 
lie  well  knew  that  an  Episcojial  Church  must  have  its 
bishop.  To  the  title,  not  to  the  thing,  he  did  oltject, 
and  most  strongly,  for  as  it  met  him  in  England,  its 


pomp  and  pretentiousness  were  far  removed  from  that 
character  of  simplicity  which  he  had  so  laijoriously 
stamped  upon  Methodism.  "I  study  to  be  little,"  he 
truly  said  in  the  same  letter;  but  when  he  added,  "  Voii 
stutly  to  be  great,"  he  took  counsel  of  his  fears,  and 
showed  how  little  he  knew  the  real  character  of  Asbury, 
to  whom  he  was  writing,  'i'he  truth  is,  he  made  a  bishop, 
and  called  him  superintendent.  American  Methodists 
early  saw  fit  to  sometimes  use  the  other  word.  C.  "  The 
eldership  is  by  scriptural  precedent,  and  by  the  natural 
course  of  things,  as  embodying  the  mass  of  the  mature 
ministry,  the  main  body  and  trunk  of  the  ministerial 
strength  and  power.  As  such  it  is  naturally  and  crudely 
the  undeveloped  one  order.  Just  as,  naturally,  and  by  sa- 
cred precedent  and  expediency,  it  resen-es  tiie  diaconate 
order  as  its  preparatory  pupilage,  so  it  flowers  up  into 
the  Episcojiacy  as  its  concentrated  representative  order. 
Fundamentally,  there  may  thus  be  one  order;  subsidia- 
rily, a  second  order;  and  derivatively,  yet  superior  in 
function,  a  third  order.  The  ordership  and  organic  per- 
manence is  constituted  in  all  three  cases,  according  to 
sacred  precedent,  by  ordination.  The  highest  of  the 
three  orders  is  especially,  as  it  happens,  perpetuated  by 
a  series  of  ordaining  hands,  passing  from  i)redccessor  to 
successor,  bishop  authenticating  bishop,  as  elder  does 
not  authenticate  elder,  or  deacon,  deacon.  Hence, 
though,  as  derivative,  it  is  in  origin  less  an  order,  and  an 
inferior  order,  yet,  as  constituted,  it  becomes  more  dis- 
tinctively an  order  than  either  of  the  other  two.  The 
New  Testament  furnishes,  indeed,  no  decisive  precedent 
of  an  ordained  and  permanently  fixed  superpresbytcrial 
order;  but  it  does  furnish  classes  and  instances  of  men 
exercising  superpresbytcrial  authority,  so  that  pure  and 
perfect  parity  of  office  is  not  divinely  enjoined.  Such 
classes  and  cases  are  the  apostles,  perhaps  the  evange- 
lists, St,  James  of  Jerusalem,  and  Timothy  and  Titus. 
.  .  .  Wesley  held   that  the  episcopate  and  eldership 

I  were  so  one  order  that  the  7)o«e/- constituting  an  F^pisco- 

i  ])al  order  inhered  in  the  eldership;  but  he  did  not  be- 
lieve that  there  lay  in  the  eldership  a  7-ir//it  to  exercise 
that  power  without  a  true  providential  and  divine  call. 
Hence,  in  his  Episcopal  diploma  given  to  Coke,  he  an- 

[  iiouiices,  '  I,  John  Wesley,  t/iiiik   myself  proridtniiaUy 

\  CAi.i.Ki)  at  this  time  to  set  apart,'  etc."  (U.  D.  Whe- 
don,  Meth.  Quar.  Rer.  Oct.  1871,  p.  G7G.) 

H.  Doctrines. — 1.  The  "-1  r//V/es  of  ReUf/ion"'  prep.ared 
by  Wesley  for  the  new  Church,  twenty-four  in  number, 
are  an  abridgment  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England.  Fifteen  of  the  latter  are  entirely 
omitted,    and    several    others    considerably   amended. 

j  While  all  traces  of  Calvinism,  as  well  as  of  Komish 
leanings,  are  carefully  eliminated,  there  is  no  insertion 
of  Wesley's  Arminianism,  or  of  his  doctrines  of  the 
"Witness  of  the  Spirit"  and  "Christian  Perfcclion." 
Several  important  protests  against  Pelagian,  Koinish, 
and  other  errors,  are  retained,  as  are  also,  in  substance, 
those  articles  which  are  in  accordance  with  the  senti- 
ments of  the  universal  Church.  Cn  the  Triiiily,  the 
person  and  work  of  Christ,  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Script- 
ure canon,  original  sin,  free  will,  justilicaiiim  by  faith, 
vicarious  atonement,  and  good  works,  they  sjjcak  clearly 
and  in  the  most  ()rthodox  language.  The  design  was 
to  provide  a  broad  and  liberal  plaiform  upon  which  the 
great  body  of  Christians  who  hold  the  essentials  of 

j  Christianity  might  stand  together  in  love  and  charity. 

j  With  a  few  verbal  changes,  and  the  inserfi4>n  of  one 
new  article  (the  twenty-third),  they  stand  as  they  were 
adopted  in  1781;  and  from  the  year  18:)'2  it  has  been 

i  placed  beyond  the  power  of  the  Church  to  "revoke,  al- 
ter, or  change"  them.     See  Ahtici.ks,  Twi;nty-fivk, 

I  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

I  2.  The  theolofiii  of  the'Ciiurch  is  thoroughly  Armin- 
ian,  as  it  has  been  from  the  beHnning.  In  this  it 
agrees  with  iniiversal  Wesleyan  Methodism.     It  has 

j  been  stoutly  and  bitterly  accused  of  rdagianism  by 

I  those  who  formed  their  estimate  of  Arminianism  from 
the  writings  of  men  who  received  a  part  only  of  that 


METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH     171     METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH 


system,  and  incorporated  with  it  other  and  objectiona- 
ble principles,  rather  than  from  a  familiarity  with  the 
views  of  Arminius  himself.  The  articles  on  •'  Original 
Sin"  and  "  Free  Will"  should  forever  have  saved  it  from 
that  reproach.  Wesley's  doctrinal  sermons,  Notes  on 
the  New  Testament,  and  other  writings,  have  been  its 
standards  of  Arminian  orthodoxy,  while  the  rigid  exam- 
ination to  which  all  candidates  for  the  ministry  are  sub- 
jected is  its  chief  security  that  only  what  is  deemed 
correct  and  sound  in  doctrine  shall  be  preached  in  its 
pulpits. 

3.  Wesley's  doctrine  of  the  "  Witness  of  the  Spirit," 
known  to  many  by  the  term  "Assurance,"  holds  an  im- 
portant place  in  the  system  of  the  Church.  He  defines 
it  as  "  an  inward  impression  on  the  soul,  whereby  the 
Spirit  of  God  immediately  and  directly  witnesses  to  my 
spirit  that  I  am  a  child  of  Goil ;  that  Jesus  Christ  hatli 
loved  me,  and  given  himself  for  me ;  that  all  my  sins 
are  blotted  out,  and  I,  even  I,  am  reconciled  to  (iod;" 
and  to  effect  this  persuasion,  he  supposes  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  "  works  upon  the  soul  by  his  immediate  influence, 
and  by  a  strong  though  inexplicable  operation."  The 
possession  of  this  assurance  is  taught  to  be  the  privilege 
of  all  believers,  and  penitents  are  diligently  instructed 
not  to  rest  until  it  is  received;  while  it  is  a  constant 
theme  in  the  pulpit  and  the  social  meeting.  Such  is 
the  emphasis  practically  placed  upon  it. 

4.  Sanctilication,  or  "  Christian  Perfection,"  as  Wes- 
ley preferred  to  style  it,  is  a  doctrine  of  all  Methodism, 
and  is  firmly  held  by  the  Church.  It  teaches  no  state 
attainable  in  this  life  like  that  of  the  angels,  or  of  Adam 
in  Paradise,  or  in  which  there  is  an  exemption  from 
mistakes,  ignorance,  intirmities,  or  temptations;  and, 
positively,  that  all  saints  may  by  faith  be  so  filled  with 
the  love  of  (Jod  that  all  the  powers  of  the  soul  shall  be 
recovered  from  the  abnormal,  perverted,  sinful  condi- 
tion, and,  together  with  the  outward  conduct,  be  con- 
trolled in  entire  harmony  with  love.     See  Misthodisji. 

IH.  Government.  —  1.  The  General  Conference,  the 
highest  of  the  five  judicatories  of  the  Church,  assembles 
on  the  first  day  of  May  in  every  fourth  year,  and  is  the 
only  legislative  body  of  the  denomination.  As  in  the 
Christmas  Conference,  it  was  for  many  years,  construc- 
tively at  least,  an  assembly  of  the  whole  ministry;  but 
their  increasing  number,  the  impossibility  of  a  general 
attendance  from  the  constantly-extending  field,  and  the 
felt  necessity  of  settling  the  doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical 
systems  upon  a  basis  less  easily  changed,  led  to  the  ar- 
rangement, in  1808,  that  thenceforth  it  should  be  com- 
posed of  ministerial  delegates  from  the  several  Annual 
Conferences,  acting  under  certain  clearly-defined  restric- 
tions. These  restrictive  rules,  or  articles,  as  they  are 
termed,  have  been  modified  from  time  to  time,  though 
the  most  important  change  was  effected  in  1872,  pro- 
viding for  the  introduction  of  laymen  into  the  body, 
with  equal  powers  with  the  clergy.  The  General  Con- 
ference now  (1873)  consists  of  one  minister  for  every 
forty-five  members  of  each  Annual  Conference,  chosen 
by  the  clergy,  and  two  laymen,  chosen  by  lay  electors 
from  the  several  Quarterly  Conferences  within  the  same 
territor3\  The  regulations  defining  its  functions  are  as 
follows :  "  Tlie  General  Conference  shall  have  full  pow- 
ers to  make  rules  and  regulations  for  our  Church,  under 
the  following  limitations  and  restrictions,  namely : 

"I.  The  General  Conference  shall  not  alter,  revoke,  or 
change  our  Articles  of  Religion,  nor  establish  any  new 
standards  or  rules  of  doctrine  contrary  to  our  present  ex- 
isting and  established  standards  of  doctrine. 

"II.  They  shall  not  allow  of  niore  than  one  ministerial 
representative  for  every  fDurtcen  niCTnljers  of  the  Annual 
Conference,  nor  allow  of  a  less  niiniher  than  one  for  everv 
forty-live,  nor  more  than  two  lav  (U4eo;ates  fur  anv  Auuna'l 
Conference;  provided,  nevertheless,  fh.U  when  there  shall 
be  in  any  Annual  Conference  a  finction  of  two  thirds  the 
number  which  shall  be  tixed  for  the  ratio  of  rejiresenta- 
tiou,  such  Annual  Conference  shall  be  entitled  to  an  ad- 
ditional delegate  for  such  fraction  ;  and  provided,  also, 
that  no  Confeieuce  shall  be  denied  the  privilege  of  one 
delegate. 

"  III.  They  shall  not  change  or  alter  any  part  or  rule  of 
our  goverunieut,  so  as  to  do  away  Episcopacy,  or  destroy 


the  plan  of  our  itinerant  general  superiuteudeucy ;  but 
may  appoint  a  missionary  bit^hop  or  superintendent  for 
any  of  our  foreign  missions,  limiting  his  jurisdiction  to 
the  same  respectively. 

"  IV.  They  shall  not  revoke  or  change  the  General  Rules 
of  the  united  societies. 

"  V.  They  shall  not  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  min- 
isters or  preachers  of  trial  by  a  committee,  and  of  an  ap-  . 
peal ;  neither  shall  they  do  away  the  privileges  of  our 
members  of  trial  before  the  society,  or  by  a  committee, 
and  of  an  appeal. 

"VI.  They  shall  not  appropriate  the  produce  of  the 
Book  Concern,  nor  of  the  Charter  Fund,  to  any  purpose 
other  than  for  the  benefit  of  the  travelling,  supernumera- 
ry, superannuated,  and  worn-out  preachers,  tlieir  wives, 
widows,  and  iliilrtrcn. 

J'r<n-i,i,;l.  11'  \i  1  theless,  that  upon  the  concurrent  recom- 
mendaiion  (4'  ihice  fourths  of  all  the  members  of  the  sev- 
eral Annual  Conferences  who  shall  he  present  aiid  vote 
on  such  recommendation,  then  a  majority  of  i«  o  ihird^  of 
the  General  Conference  sncceedinu'  shall  sullirt"  to  alter 
any  of  the  above  restrictions  excepting  the  lust  aitirle; 
and  also,  whenever  such  alteration  or  altiaation-^  shall 
have  been  first  recommended  by  two  thirds  of  tlie  ( Jem  ral 
Conference,  so  soon  as  three  fourths  of  the  nunibcrs  of 
all  the  Annual  Conferences  shall  have  coni-tined  as  afore- 
said, such  alteration  or  alterations  shall  take  efl'ect." 

These  Restrictive  Rules,  together  with  the  Articles 
ofRelir/ion  and  the  General  Rules  [see  jMETHODisji],are 
commonly  held  to  be  the  Constitution  of  the  Church. 
They  make  the  General  Conference  supreme  in  author- 
ity', with  entire  supervision  over  all  the  interests  and 
Avork  of  the  denomination,  and  the  bond  of  the  whole 
connectional  system.  It  elects  the  bishops  and  other 
general  officers ;  the  bishops,  who  are  its  presiding  offi- 
cers, but  not  members  of  tlie  body,  are  subject  to  its 
direction,  and  answerable  to  it  for  their  moral  as  well  as 
official  conduct. 

2.  The  Judicial  Conference  is  instituted  for  the  trial 
of  bishops  who  may  be  accused  of  wrong-doing,  and  of 
appeals  of  convicted  members  of  an  Annual  Conference. 
The  Annual  Conferences  severally  elect  annually  seven 
'•  Triers  of  Appeals."  In  case  of  an  appeal,  the  triers 
from  three  Conferences  contiguous  to  that  whose  deci- 
sion is  apjiealed  from,  constitute  the  Judicial  Conference, 
whose  action  is  final,  except  that  all  decisions  of  ques- 
tions of  law  are  reviewed  by  the  General  Conference. 
For  the  trial  of  an  accused  bishop,  the  triers  from  five 
neighboring  Conferences  are  necessary. 

3.  The  A  ni.ual  Conference  is  composed  wholly  of  trav- 
elling preachers.  It  selects  the  place  of  its  sessions,  the 
bishops  appointing  the  time,  and  presiding.  It  pos- 
sesses no  legislative  power:  its  functions  are  purely  ad- 
ministrative. It  holds  the  power  of  discipline  over  its 
own  members,  inquiring  annually  into  the  Christian 
character  and  ministerial  efficiency  of  each  by  name. 
It  gathers  the  ecclesiastical  statistics  of  its  several  soci- 
eties, though  its  jurisdiction  is  over  the  ministers,  rather 
than  over  the  churches.  The  proceedings  and  action 
of  this  body,  as  recorded  in  its  journal,  are  reviewed  by 
the  General  Conference,  to  which  it  is  subject. 

4.  The  District  Conference  embraces  the  chiu-ches  of 
a  presiding  elder's  district,  and  is  composed  of  the  pas- 
tors, local  preachers,  exhorters,  and  one  steward  and 
Sunday-school  superintendent  from  each  pastoral  charge. 
It  licenses  local  preachers,  recommends  them  to  the  An- 
nual Conference  for  orders  or  for  admission  on  trial,  and 
holds  jurisdiction  over  them;  it  is  also  charged  with 
a  general  supervision  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual  af- 
fairs of  the  district.  Specifically,  it  inquires  into  the 
work  of  Sunday-schools,  forms  plans  for  the  occupation 
of  new  fields  within  its  territory,  and  promotes  atten- 
tion to  the  charities  of  the  Church. 

5.  The  Quarterly  Conference  is  limited  to  a  single  pas- 
toral charge,  over  which  it  exercises  entire  supervision, 
subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  Discipline.  Its  mem- 
bers are  the  pastor,  local  preachers,  exhorters,  stewards, 
and  class-leaders,  together  with  the  trustees  and  Sun- 
day-school superintendent,  if  members  of  the  Church. 
Besides  the  functions  of  the  District  Conference,  which 
devolve  upon  it  where  no  District  Conference  is  held,  it 
inquires  carefully  into  the  condition  and  work  of  every 
department  of  tlie  local  society. 


METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH     172     METHODIST  EPISC.  CHUIiCH 


G.  The  Leaders'  and  Stewards'  Meetiiifj,  presided  over 
bv  tlie  pastor,  and  consisting;  of  all  tlic  class-leaders  and 
stewards  of  his  charge,  is  usually  held  moiitlily,  for  the 
purpose  of  inquiring  after  the  sick,  needy,  and  any  that, 
by  neglect  of  the  means  of  grace  or  by  incorrect  life, 
may  need  the  admonitions  of  good  discipline.  The 
meeting  recommends  jirobatiouers  for  reception  into  the 
Church,  as  also  candidates  for  license  to  exhort  or  preach. 
See  Leadeks'  Meetings. 

7.  The  legislation  of  178-1  gave  new  force  to  the  es- 
sential features  which  Kankin  and  Asbury,  who  had  been 
trained  iu  the  school  and  under  the  eye  of  Wesley,  had 
stamped  upon  the  American  societies.  I-^vangelization 
and  suijervision,  the  former  to  extend  the  work,  the  lat- 
ter to  secure  and  build  up  what  had  been  won,  were 
fuiulameiital  in  the  methods  then  adopted,  as  they  were 
in  the  measures  of  Wesley.  The  bishops  were  chief 
evauLti'lisis,  almost  plenary  in  power,  yet  sharing  with 
the  liuiiil)le.st  iu  fare  and  labor,  insi)ecting  the  local  so- 
cieticis  and  classes,  meeting  leaders  and  trustees,  and 
holding  themselves  responsible  for  even  the  details  of  the 
work  throughout  the  denomination.  The  ])r<'acher  in 
charge  of  a  circuit  was  the  bishop's  •■,i^>i-i,nii.'  and  the 
other  preachers  of  the  circuit  wen- 1  hi'  .i-^i-iam's  ••help- 
ers," and  under  his  direction.  In  still  <  lox  r  (  uuiact  with 
the  membership  was  the  class-leader,  ajjpointed  by  the 
assistant,  and  iu  his  subordinate  sphere  of  pastorship 
aiding  him  by  watching  over  the  little  band  while  he 
might  be  in  other  parts  of  the  circuit.  This  "  military 
regimen,"  as  the  historian  of  the  Church  has  styled  it, 
very  remote  from  a  democrac\%  which,  indeed,  it  never 
pretended  to  be,  gave  surprising  vigor  to  all  the  move- 
ments of  the  system.  In  all  the  modifications  which 
have  been  from  time  to  time  effected,  and  the  numerous 
Ihnitations  of  power  which  the  ministry  have  imposed 
upon  themselves,  these  features  of  evangelization  and 
super\ision  have  l)((n  st(  .idily  maintained.  The  bish- 
op presides  iu  the  (diir.  n  iin- :  forms  the  districts  ac- 
cording t.i  Ills  judgninu  ;  ai.pciiiiis  the  preachers  to  their 
li;lds.  .illowing  none  to  romaiu  more  than  three  years 
in  succession  in  the  same  charge,  except  the  presiding 
elders,  who  may  remain  four  years,  and  a  few  others 
specially  designated;  ordains;  travels  through  the  con- 
nection at  large,  and  oversees,  in  accorilauce  with  the 
prescribed  regulations  of  the  (Jeneral  Conference,  to 
which  he  is  subject,  the  spiritual  and  temporal  business 
of  the  Cluirch.  The  bishops  are  not  diocesan,  but  have 
a  joint  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  Church,  constituting 
on  "itinerant  general  superintendency."  The  arrange- 
ment and  division  of  their  work  is  auinially  made  by 
themselves,  giving  to  each  his  portion  (though  their 
respective  residences  are  assigned  by  the  (Jeneral  Con- 
ference),and  for  its  faithful  and  orderly  performance  they 
are  responsible  to  the  General  Conference.  See  Ei'is- 
corAcv ;  Itinehancy. 

8.  Ordinations  of  preachers  were  at  first  designed  sim- 
ply to  supply  the  sacraments  to  the  societies,  and  soon 
an  elder  came  for  this  purpose  to  be  placed  in  charge  of 
a  district  containiug  several  circuits.  Thus  originated 
the  office  of  presiding  elder,  a  sub-episcopate,  with  du- 
ties of  oversight  and  administration  indispensal>le  in 
the  system  of  the  Church.  Their  constant  travel  throiigli 
tlu'ir  districts,  their  presidency  in  the  Quarterly  Con- 
ferences, and  familiarity  with  both  churches  and  pas- 
tors, enabled  the  presiding  elders  to  give  the  bishop  the 
information  and  counsel  necessary  for  the  best  adjust- 
ment of  tlie  apjiointments.  In  this  work  usage  has 
made  them  his  advisers,  or,  in  more  popular  phrase,  his 
"caiiinet,"  though  without  authority  of  law.  The  wis-^ 
dom  of  tlie  Church  has  judged  it  iiest  that  the  sole  re- 
sponsibility of  the  appointments  shall  be  with  the  Kpis- 
copacy. 

9.  Admission  into  an  Aimual  Conference  is  preceded 
by  a  two  years'  probation  iu  the  itinerant  work,  and  a 
ri^id  examination  in  a  presrribcd  course  of  study  ;  and 
all  preachers  thus  admitted  as  members  are  ordained  j 
deacons,  and  in  two  years  more,  on  the  completion  of  I 


the  required  studies,  they  are  ordained  elders.  It  de- 
volves upon  the  former  to  "  administer  baptism,  solem- 
nize matrimony,  assist  the  elder  in  administering  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  to  do  all  the  duties  of  a  travelling 
preacher;"'  and  upon  the  latter,  iu  addition  to  these,  to 
"administer  the  Lord's  Supper"  and  to  ••conduct  divine 
worship."  Hut  an  eliler,  deacon,  or  preacher  may  be  in 
charge  of  a  circuit  or  station,  with  no  difference  in  func- 
tion except  in  the  matter  of  the  sacraments.  He  is 
the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  local  society,  charged 
to  "take  care"  of  its  interests  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  the  Discipline,  and  is  responsible  to  the 
Annual  Conference  both  for  the  proper  discharge  of  his 
duties  and  for  his  moral  conduct.  While  he  is  the  pas- 
tor of  the  flock,  sub-pastors,  denominated  class-leaders, 
are  charged  with  the  oversight  of  small  bodies  of  the 
membership,  whom  they  are  to  meet  weekly  "  for  social 
and  religious  worship,  for  instruction,  encouragement, 
and  admonition."  The  local  preachers,  without  a  share 
in  the  government  of  the  Church,  except  in  the  District 
and  (Quarterly  CoidVrences.  constitute  a  lay  ministry, 
a  corps  of  self-suiiporting  evangelists,  numerically  larger 
than  the  travelling  preachers,  which  has  been  of  great 
efficiency.  See  Lav  Ministry.  All  churches  and  par- 
sonages are  the  property  of  the  local  society,  held  by 
trustees  chosen  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  the  state 
or  territory  wherever  a  specific  mode  is  required,  and 
otherwise  by  the  Quarterly  Conference. 

10.  Admission  to  membership  in  the  Church  is  pre- 
ceded by  a  probation  of  at  least  six  months,  during 
which  period  the  candidate  has  opportunity  for  acquir- 
ing that  familiarity  with  the  Church,  its  doctrines, 
rules,  and  usages,  which  enables  him  to  intelligently  as- 
sume the  obligations  of  a  member  therein.  The  one 
preliminary  condition  for  reception  on  trial  is  "a  desire 
to  fite  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  to  be  saved  from 
their  sins,"  which  is  expected  to  show  itself  by  such 
frints  as  are  specified  in  the  General  Rules.  Genuine 
spiritual  life  is  more  carefully  sought  than  rigid  dog- 
matic orthodoxy,  the  only  test  of  the  latter  sort  being 
"the  doctrines  of  holy  Scripture,  as  set  forth  in  the  Ar- 
ticles of  lieligion,"  which,  as  shown  above,  embrace  lit- 
tle more  than  the  fundamentals  of  Christian  doctrine  as 
accepted  by  evangelical  churches.  The  probationer, 
having  been  previously  baptized,  and  also  recommended 
by  the  Leaders'  and  Stewards'  fleeting,  or  by  his  leader 
if  there  is  no  such  meeting,  ma}'  be  received  into  the 
Church  upon  giving  assurance  in  jiresence  of  the  Church 
of  his  doctrinal  belief  as  just  expressed,  his  purpose  to 
observe  and  keep  the  rules  of  the  Church,  and  to  con- 
tribute of  his  worldly  goods,  according  to  his  ability,  for 
the  support  of  its  institutions.  Nevertheless,  persons 
coming  frenn  other  orthodox  churches  are  received  at 
once  into  full  fellowship  without  the  usual  probation. 

IV.  I/is/ori/  and  J'ror/ress. — LTnder  this  head  we  pro- 
pose to  give  a  rafiid  sketch  of  the  work  performed  by 
the  Methodist  Kjjiscopal  Church  and  its  gradual  growth, 
noting,  as  we  pass,  its  relations  to  public  questions,  its 
changes  of  internal  economy,  and  the  principal  contro- 
versies that  have  grown  up  from  time  to  time,  with  their 
effects. 

1.  Pioneer  Work. — "Methodism  presented  itself  to 
the  new  nation,"  says  Stevens,  "an  Ejiiscopal  Churcli, 
with  all  the  necessary  functions  and  functionaries  of 
sucli  a  body;  the  only  one,  of  Protestant  denomination, 
now  in  the  nation,  for  the  ccdonial  fragments  of  the  Kng- 
lish  Establishment  had  not  yet  been  reorganized."  l^d 
by  Coke  and  Asl)iiry,  the  little  band  of  itinerants  went 
forth  to  their  self-sacrilicing  toils  with  a  new  sense  of 
consolidation  and  certainty,  and  feeling  in  their  souls, 
as  they  saiil,  that  they  were  "raised  up  to  reform  the 
continent,  and  to  spread  scri])tural  holiness  over  these 
lands."  Under  the  new  .system,  the  eucharist  was  im- 
mediately administered  to  thousands  of  disciples  who 
had  never  partaken  of  it,  and  large  numbers  of  both 
adidts  and  children  were  baptized,  scores  of  the  latter  re- 
ceiving the  rite  at  a  single  meeting.     The  work  ex- 


METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH     ns    METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH 


tended  in  every  direction.  The  post  of  hardship  and 
severity  was  the  post  of  honor.  Going  in  the  true  spirit 
of  evangelists,  with  the  conviction  that  they  had  "noth- 
ing to  do  but  to  save  souls,"  they  not  only  held  and 
strengthened  the  fields  already  won,  but  pressed  on  to 
the  regions  beyond,  continually  forming  new  circuits, 
and  proclaiming  their  message  wherever  men  would 

hear in  churches,  in  barns  and  log-cabins,  in  the  forest 

and  highway.  They  crossed  the  mountains,  and  Icept 
pace  with  the  constantly-advancing  frontier;  they  pen- 
etrated Canada,  and  established  themselves  in  New 
England  and  Nova  Scotia,  (iown,  and  band,  and  prayer- 
book  were  too  cumbersome  for  their  use,  and  were  soon 
laid  aside.  The  system  was  providentialh'  adapted  to 
self-propagation.  "  Its  class  and  prayer  meetings  train- 
ed most,  if  not  all,  the  laity  to  practical  missionary  la- 
bor, and  three  or  four  of  them,  meeting  in  anj"-  distant 
part  of  the  earth  by  the  emigrations  of  these  times,  were 
prepared  immediately  to  become  the  nucleus  of  a  Church. 
The  lay  or  local  ministry,  borne  on  by  the  tide  of  popu- 
lation, were  almost  everywhere  found,  prior  to  the  arri- 
val of  regular  preachers,  ready  to  sustain  religious  serv- 
ices— the  pioneers  of  the  Church  in  every  new  tield." 
Such  was  their  success  that  in  sixteen  years,  at  the  end 
of  the  century,  their  15,000  members  had  become  64,894, 
and  the  84  itinerants  had  increased  to  287,  not  counting 
the  scores  who  had  fallen  out  of  their  ranks  from  pure 
physical  inability  to  endure  the  terrible  severit}"^  of  the 
system,  but  were  still  working  nobly  in  their  local 
sphere.  Bishop  Coke's  stay  in  the  country  at  his  tirst 
visit  was  but  five  months,  a  fair  type  of  his  subsequent 
visits.  After  1787  his  Episcopal  work  was  limited  to 
ordinations,  presiding  in  Conference  when  present,  itin- 
erating tlirough  the  country,  and  preaching,  the  sta- 
tioning of  the  preachers  being  left  with  bishop  As- 
bury. 

Cokethrew  himself  with  zeal  into  the  work  of  raising 
funds  for  the  college  at  Abingdon,  Md.,  whose  corner- 
stone Asbury  laid  tliree  days  after  his  first  departure  for 
Euro])e.  In  1789  he  stood  Avith  Asbury  in  the  presence 
of  ^\'ashington,  presenting  to  him,  in  behalf  of  the 
Church,  a  congratulatory  address  upon  his  inauguration 
as  president,  approving  the  recently -adopted  Federal 
Constitution,  and  professing  allegiance  to  the  govern- 
ment. The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  the  first 
ecclesiastical  body  to  recognise  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and,  in  its  article  afterwards  adopted,  it 
declared  its  faith  that  they  are  a  "  sovereign  and  inde- 
pendent nation,"  rather  than  a  confederacy  of  sovereign 
states.  Coke's  indefatigable  labors  in  travelling  and 
preaching  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  education,  and  for 
the  emancipation  of  slaves,  sliow  him  worthy  of  his 
high  position.  Yet  Asbury  was  the  chief  apostle  of  the 
Church,  giving  it  his  entire  energies,  becoming  an  ex- 
ample to  his  brethren  in  labors  and  sacrifices,  and  care- 
fully attending  to  even  the  most  minute  and  local  details, 
meeting  classes,  trustees,  and  often  visiting  pastorally 
from  house  to  house.  He  instituted  in  1786,  in  Vir- 
ginia, the  first  Sunday-school  in  America,  and  four  years 
later  the  Conference  ordered  Sunday-schools  to  be  es- 
tablished for  the  instruction  of  poor  children,  white  and 
black,  in  "  learning  and  piety,"  being  the  first  American 
Church  to  recognise  this  institution.  Official  attention 
was  given  as  early  as  1788  to  the  publication  of  books, 
a  "book  steward"  being  appointed;  and  a  borrowed 
capital  of  six  hundred  dollars  became  the  foiuidation 
of  the  future  "  Book  Concern."  Additional  legislation 
from  time  to  time,  as  necessity  demanded,  gave  greater 
efficiency  and  solidity  to  the  body,  but  innovations  upon 
weU-tried  methods  found  no  favor. 

2.  Early  Secessions. — As  early  as  1792,  .James  O'Kelly 
introduced  into  the  Conference  a  resolution  permitting 
a  preacher  who  might  feel  aggrieved  by  the  ajjpoint- 
ment  assigned  him,  to  "  appeal  to  the  Conference  and 
state  his  objections,"  and  requiring  the  bishop,  if  his 
objections  were  found  valid,  to  appoint  him  to  another 
circuit.    The  proposition  was  lost  by  a  large  majority; 


but  the  defeat  cost  the  Church  the  secession  of  the 
mover  with  a  few  other  preachers  and  a  large  number 
of  members,  who  ultimately  styled  themselves  "  the 
Christian  Church." 

Attempts  were  made  in  1800  to  make  the  presiding 
fcJilership  elective  in  the  Annual  Conferences,  to  intro- 
duce the  English  method  of  making  the  appointments 
by  requiring  them  to  be  read  in  open  session, "  to  hear 
what  the  Conference  may  have  to  say  on  each  station," 
and  to  aid  the  bishop  in  making  the  appointments  by  a 
committee  of  preachers  chosen  by  the  Conference  for  the 
purpose ;  but  they  signally  failed,  though  some  of  them 
were  revived  in  subsequent  years. 

3.  Earli/  Emancipation  Movements. — The  most  vexing 
question  of  those  early,  as  well  as  of  later  times,  was 
that  of  slaveri/.  The  Methodist  preachers  of  those  days 
were  thoroughly  hostile  to  the  institution.  At  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Church  they  pronounced  it  "  contrary 
to  the  golden  law  of  (iod  ami  the  unalienable  rights  of 
mankind,  as  well  as  every  principle  of  the  Revolution ;" 
and  their  enactments  required  aU  members  holding  slaves 
to  set  them  free,  wherever  it  could  be  legally  done,  and 
forbade  all  future  admission  of  slaveholders  into  the 
Churcli  or  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  while  all  who  might 
buy  or  sell  slaves  were  "  immeiliately  to  be  expelled,  un- 
less they  buy  them  on  purpose  to  free  them."*  Could 
they  have  looked  forward  a  century,  and  seen  that  either 
tlie  Gospel  or  the  sword  must  solve  the  problem  of  slav- 
ery, these  men  who  believed  themselves  divinely  sent 
to  "  reform  the  continent,"  would  surely,  with  their 
clear  convictions  on  the  subject,  not  have  failed  to  dis- 
cern that  it  was  a  part  of  their  mission  to  destroy  the 
great  crime  of  the  nation,  and  they  would  doubtless 
have  maintained  the  high  ground  they  had  so  firmly 
taken.  But  they  compromised  with  the  evil  because 
of  the  great  embarrassments  attending  the  execution 
of  their  rules,  which  in  six  months  were  suspended, 
never  again  to  be  enforced.  Yet  the  Clnirch  was  always 
anti-slavery.  Its  preachers,  holding  "  the  power  of  the 
keys,"  effected  the  liberation  of  thousands  of  slaves 
kept  by  those  who  sought  admission  into  its  fold.  The 
Discipline  never  ceased  to  pronounce  a  condemnation 
upon  the  system ;  and,  from  1804,  it  perpetually  aslvcd, 
"  What  shall  be  done  for  the  extirpation  of  the  evil  of 
sla^'ery  V"  while  successive  General  Conferences  sought 
by  legislation,  addresses  to  the  Church,  and  measures 
for  memorials  to  the  state  Legislatures,  to  remove  and 
abolish  it. 

4.  Completed  Organization. — The  absences  of  Dr.  Coke 
in  Europe  rendering  an  additional  bishop  necessary, 
Richard  Whatcoat  was  elected  to  that  office  in  1800,  as 
was  William  M'Kendree  in  1808,  the  first  native  Amer- 
ican elevated  to  the  episcopate. 

The  latter  year  is  the  epoch  of  the  plan  of  a  delegated 
General  Conference,  adopted  to  "preserve,  strengthen, 
and  perpetuate  the  union  of  the  connection,"  and  to 
render  "  the  doctrine,  form  of  government,  and  General 
Rules,  sacred  and  inviolable."  The  "  Council"  devised 
by  the  bishops,  composed  of  themselves  and  the  presid- 
ing elders,  had  proved  abortive  after  two  trials,  and  the 
General  Conference,  as  then  constituted,  practically 
placed  the  doctrinal  and  administrative  systems  of  the 
denomination  in  the  power  of  the  more  centrally  located 
ministers.  The  new  plan  was  conservative  of  every 
fundamental  principle  of  the  Church,  and  at  the  same 

*The  General  Rule  on  Shivery  certainly  existed  iu  May, 
17S7,  and  was  pruhablti  written  by  Wetiley,  broufrht  over 
by  Coke,  and  adopted  bv  the  Christmas  Conference.  El- 
liott so  holds  witliout  the  "probablv."  Neither  Articles 
nor  Rules  weie  luiiited  in  the  Discipline  till  ITSO,  nor  the 
Articles  till  ITim.  In  17^:9  was  issued  the  "fifth  edition" 
of  the  "Discipline,"  "considered  and  approved"  iu  li84. 
That,  of]T!)2  was  "refWfif  and  approved."  But  the  edition 
of  ITS'.)  has  the  Rule  mi  Slavery  with  Wesley's  rules,  and 
is  dated  "May  27,1787."  In  1785  Asbury  and  Dickens 
changed  "the  order  and  arranirenient"  of  the  Discipline. 
April  25,  17SG,  Asbury  read  it  in  manuscrijit  arranged  In 
"sections  ;"  but  it  was  not  published  till  IMay,  liSi,  when 
it  had  received  the  sanction  of  Coke,  who  had  been  absent 
from  June,  17S5,  to  March.  17S7. 


METHODIST  EPISC,  CHURCPI     174    METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH 


time  gave  to  the  remotest  Conference  equal  power  with  | 
the  most  central,  in  proportion  to  its  number  of  minis- 
ters.    The  first  session,  held  in  1812,  was  composed  of  , 
90  members,  representing  G88  preachers,  and  a  member-  [ 
ship  of  195,357;  the  sixteenth,  held  in  1872,  was  com-  I 
posed  of  421  members,  292  clerical  and  129  lay,  repre- 
senting, according  to  the  Jlinutcs  of  1871,  9G99  travel- 
ling preachers,   11,382   local  preachers,  and   1,421,323 
members  and  probationers.     Taking  a  fresh  departure 
with  the  adoption  of  this  measure,  the  Church  pressed 
forwards  in  its  practical  work  with  added  zeal. 

5.  J)enominulionul  Insliiutions.  —  The  Book  Concern, 
already  (in  1804)  removed  from  Philadelphia  to  New 
York,  multiplied  its  publications,  and  scattered  a  vigor- 
ous Jlethodist  literature  through  the  circuits  by  the 
agency  of  the  preachers.  They  were  too  busy  to  make 
books,  but  they  could  sell  them,  and  thus  educate  a  peo- 
ple trained  in  the  truth  as  they  received  it.  In  1818 
the  Methodist  Mtirjazine  was  started — the  beginning  of 
the  periodical  literature  of  the  denomination.  It  is 
now  known  as  the  Mct/iodist  Qiutrterly  Rcrieir,  one  of 
the  ablest  of  the  (luartcrlios,  with  tlie  largest  circulation 
of  all.  The  first  weekly,  Tim  <  'hrisliiin  .1  dcocate,  was  is- 
sued in  182(),  thougli  /.ion'.-;  Ih nihl.  under  the  auspices 
of  New  Euglanti  Meljiiidists,  ]ircc(ilt'd  it  nearly  four 
years,  and  in  its  second  lialf-century  it  is  full  of  beauty 
and  jiower.  A  second  luiblisliiim-house  was  established 
in  1820  in  Cincinnati ;  and  depositories  are  located  in 
several  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  country.  The  in- 
crease of  the  business  led  in  1833  to  a  removal  from 
Crosby  Street,  in  New  York,  where  it  had  been  carried 
on  for  nine  years,  to  Mulberry  Street.  The  whole  es- 
tablishment was  swe[)t  away  by  fire  early  in  1836,  at  a 
loss  of  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  million.  New  and  better 
buildings  soon  rose  on  the  same  spot,  which,  with  their 
subsequent  additions,  have  been  used  as  a  manufactory 
of  the  house  since  the  date  of  the  removal  of  the  princi- 
pal t)ffice  to  its  present  location  (805  Broadway),  pro- 
cured for  it  and  the  ISlissionary  Society  at  the  cost  of 
about  a  million  dollars.  Its  entire  capital  in  1873  was 
$1,052,448.  There  is  also  a  "  Western  Methodist  Book 
Concern,"  with  a  capital  of  S!4(J7,419. 

To  the  relief  of  worn-out  and  needy  preachers,  and 
the  widows  and  orphans  of  preachers,  the  der.omination 
has  always  been  attentive.  At  first,  in  1784,  the  preach- 
ers themselves  instituted  a  '•  Treachcrs'  Fund,"  each 
paying  out  of  his  poverty  a  specilied  sum  aninially  into 
its  treasury.  It  was  afterwards  merged  in  the  "Char- 
tered Fund,"  instituted  in  1790  for  the  same  purposes. 
Tills  fund  has  never  been  a  favorite  charity ;  it  amounts 
to  only  about  $40,000,  and  its  dividends  to  the  Confer- 
ences have,  of  course,  always  been  small.  IMany  of  the 
Annual  Conferences  hold  trust  fimds,  whose  proceeds  are 
devoted  to  the  same  end.  Surplus  profits  of  the  Book 
Concern  were  for  many  years  employed  for  their  relief, 
but  the  chief  reliance  is  on  the  annual  contributions  of 
the  congregations,  amounting  now  yearly  to  5*150,000. 

The  missionary  work  of  the  Church  took  an  organ- 
ized form  in  1819,  when  its  Missionary  Society  was  in- 
stituted. Jlethodism  was  itself  a  missionary  system, 
"  the  great  home-mission  enterprise  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican continent,  and  its  domestic  work,  demanded  all  its 
resources  of  men  and  money."  The  Conference  of  1784 
ordereil  an  annual  eoUeclion  in  everj'  iirincipal  congre- 
gation to  jirovide  a  fund  for  '-carrying  on  the  wliole 
work  of  Cod,"  chietly  for  the  expenses  of  preachers  sent 
to  new  or  feeble  fields.  Missionaries  were  early  sent 
among  the  slaves  and  Iiidiaiis,  and  the  constant  exten- 
sion of  the  Ciuirch,  wlutlier  in  the  older  states  or  on 
the  ever-advancing  froniicr,  has  been  a  missionari-  ' 
movement.  The  society,  org.iniz(  d  [primarily  to  aid  the 
home-mission  work,  grouixd  wiili  it  the  foreign  field; 
and  now,  besides  more  than  2(iil(t  missionaries  in  the 
English-speaking  Conferences.  101  in  the  (Jerman  Con- 
ferences, and  90  among  the  Indians  and  other  peoples 
of  foreign  Idrth  in  the  I'liited  States,  supported  in  whole 
or  in  part  by  the  society,  its  foreign  missionaries,  in- 


cluding native  preachers  and  teachers,  number  679,  and 
are  scattered  in  Africa,  South  America,  China,  India, 
Japan,  (iermany,  Switzerland,  Denmark,  Nor^vay,  Swe- 
den, Bulgaria,  Italy,  and  Slexico.  Its  receipts  in  1872 
amounted  to  $661,056  60.  It  is  supplemented  by  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and  by  other  or- 
ganizations of  a  quasi  missionary  character,  equally 
with  it  under  the  control  of  the  General  Conference,  its 
Sunday-school  Union,  its  Tract,  Freedman's  Aid,  and 
Church  Extension  societies. 

The  educational  movements  of  the  Church  began 
with  the  Church  itself.  John  Dickens,  afterwards  the 
first  book  agent,  suggested  to  Asbury  the  plan  of  an 
academic  institution  as  early  as  1780,  and  at  their  first 
meeting  the  latter  subinitted  it  to  Coke,  who  heartily 
approved  it.  It  was  laid  before  the  Christmas  Confer- 
ence, which  agreed  upon  measures  to  establish  a  college. 
Five  tliousand  dollars — a  large  sum  for  those  days — were 
raised  for  it  liefore  the  building  was  begun;  its  founda- 
tions were  laid  at  Abingdon,  ]Md.,  in  the  following  June, 
and  in  the  last  month  of  1787  it  was  solemnly  dedi- 
cated under  the  name  of  Cokesburj'  College.  The  cur- 
riculum embraced  "English,  Latin,  (Jreek,  logic,  rhet- 
oric, history,  geography,  natural  philosophy,  and  as- 
tronomy, and,  when  the  finances  will  admit  of  it,  Hebrew, 
French,  and  German."  IMore  than  seventy  students 
were  at  one  time  within  its  halls.  I'nfortunately  it  was 
burned  down  in  1795:  "a  sacrifice  of  £10,000  in  about 
ten  years,"  says  Asburj-.  A  new  edifice  was  soon  pro- 
vided in  Baltimore,  and  the  college  reopened  with  fair 
prospects,  but  in  a  year  it  also  was  lost  by  fire.  An- 
other college  was  projected  in  (Jcorgia  in  1789,  and  sev- 
eral academies  were  opened  before  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury. The  disastrous  fate  of  Cokesbury  led  Asbury  to 
think  the  Lord  had  "  not  called  Jlethodists  to  build  col- 
leges," a  saying  of  his  that  has  been  most  sadly  per- 
verted. He  would  have  had  the  same  thing,  but  would 
have  called  it  a  "school,"  and  not  a  "college,"  and  he 
would  place  one  in  every  Conference.  He  actually 
framed  a  scheme  to  bring  "  two  thousand  children  under 
the  best  plan  of  education  ever  known  in  this  country." 
In  1818  a  second  attempt  was  made  to  establish  a  col- 
lege in  Baltimore,  but  without  success.  The  educational 
plans  of  the  early  ^Methodists  were  simply  broader  than 
their  financial  ability.  At  no  time  has  the  slander 
been  just  that  they  were  enemies  to  educaiion.  In 
1817  an  academy  was  opened  in  Newmarket,  N.  H., 
since  removed  to  Wilbraham,  Mass.;  and  in  1819  an- 
other in  New  York  City.  In  1820  the  (ieneral  Confer- 
ence took  up  the  subject,  and  recommended  that  each 
Annual  Conference  establish  as  soon  as  practicable  a  lit- 
erary institution  under  its  own  control.  This  action 
was  followed  by  new  efforts.  Several  Conference  semi- 
naries were  soon  opened,  and,  to  meet  the  increasing  de- 
mand for  higher  education,  within  twelve  years  no  less 
than  five  colleges  were  put  in  successful  operation.  The- 
ological schools  are  of  a  later  date,  and  assumed  at  first 
the  modest  title  of  "  Biblical  Institute."  The  first,  pro- 
jected in  1839,  after  various  fortunes,  was  located  at 
Concord,  N.  H.,  in  1847;  in  1867  it  removed  to  Boston, 
and  in  1871  became  the  school  of  theology  in  the  Bos- 
ton University.  The  Garrett  Biblical  Institute,  at  Ev- 
anston.  111.,  founded  in  1855,  received  an  endowment  of 
.*3(l(>.(l(l0  and  its  name  from  a  liberal  Methodist  lady  of 
Chicago.  Tlie  Drew  Theological  Seminary  was  orig- 
inated in  the  Ccntenarj'  movement  at  JIaiiison,  N.  J., 
through  tlie  munificence  of  the  gentleman  whose  name 
it  bear.s.  There  is  also  a  mission  institute  at  Frankfort- 
on-the-Main,  in  tiermany,  nameil  Martin  Iimlilii/c.  after 
the  gentleman  whose  munificence  mainly  endowed  the 
school;  and  there  are  similar  sdiools  in  India,  and  at 
two  or  three  points  in  the  Soiilliern  States.  By  the 
close  of  the  centennial  year  of  American  Jlethodism, 
"  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  alone  re|iorte(i  no  less 
than  25  colleges  (including  theological  schools),  having 
158  instructors,  5345  students,  al>out  84.0(10,000  in  en- 
dowments and  other  property,  and  105,531  volumes  in 


METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH     175     METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH 


their  libraries.  It  reports  also  77  academies,  with  556 
instructors,  and  17,7G1  students,  10,402  of  whom  are  fe- 
males, making  an  aggregate  of  102  institutions,  with 
71-4  instructors,  and  23,100  students.  Tlie  Southern 
division  of  the  denomination  [the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South]  reported  before  the  Rebellion  12  colleges 
and  77  academies,  with  8000  students,  making  an  ag- 
gregate for  the  two  bodies  of  191  institutions  and  31,100 
students"  (Stevens's  Hist,  of  Am.  Meth.  p.  540).  In  the 
thank-offerings  of  the  Centenary,  education  was  made  a 
prominent  object  of  the  contributions  of  the  people. 

6.  Later  Dinsions. — Various  causes  have  operated  to 
prevent  the  continued  unity  of  the  denomination  whose 
origin  and  progress  are  here  traced,  but  it  should  be 
noted  that  no  division  has  ever  occurred  on  doctrinal 
grounds.  The  separation  of  O'Kelly  and  his  friends,  as 
already  stated,  took  place  in  1792,  because  the  Confer- 
ence refused  to  restrict  the  power  of  the  bishops  in  the 
appointments  of  ministers  to  their  iields  of  labor.  In 
1810  the  colored  members  of  Philadelphia  and  its  vicin- 
ity withdrew  and  organized  the  "African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church ;"  and  in  1S20  a  secession  in  New 
York  City  originated  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church.    They  are  large  and  useful  bodies. 

Embarrassments  arose  in  Canada  after  the  War  of 
1812,  through  jealousies  of  the  Conference,  because  of 
its  connection  with  a  foreign  ecclesiastical  body,  which 
finally  became  so  severe  that  in  1828  the  General  Con- 
ference was  formally  requested  to  set  off  the  Canada 
Conference  as  a  distinct  Church.  The  General  Confer- 
ence, after  full  deliberation,  held  that  it  had  no  power  to 
divide  the  Church,  as  it  was  constituted  to  preserve,  not 
to  destroy,  its  unity.  Deeming  the  case  to  be  one  of 
necessity,  it  consented  to  the  voluntary  withdrawal  of 
the  Canada  brethren;  allowed  the  bishops,  if  recjuested, 
to  ordain  the  bishop  whom  the  separating  Conference 
might  elect;  and  jmiposed  to  the  Annual  Conferences 
such  a  ehaiii;c  in  ilie  Restrictive  Rules  as  would  permit 
a.  pro  ratii  ilivi^idu  with  them  of  the  common  property 
in  the  Book  Concern.  The  requisite  vote  not  being  ob- 
tained, the  property  was  not  divided;  but  a  satisfactory 
arrangement  was  effected  through  heavy  discounts  in 
sales  of  books,  giving  what  was  on  all  hands  consitlered 
a  full  equivalent.  The  Canada  Conference  separated  it- 
self from  the  Church;  but  between  the  two  sections  the 
most  friendly  relations  have  ever  subsisted. 

The  circumstances  which  led  in  1830  to  another  se- 
cession, and  the  formation  of  the  "Methodist  Protestant 
Church,"  were  of  a  more  serious  sort.  The  subject  of 
lay  representation  in  the  General  Conference,  though 
from  an  early  day  deemed  by  a  few  to  be  important,  be- 
gan about  1820  to  agitate  the  Church.  The  measures 
of  the  "Reformers,"  as  the  friends  of  the  movement 
styled  themselves,  were  unfortunate,  leading  not  only  to 
a  most  acrimonious  controversy,  but  to  such  disorders 
as  rendered  necessary  ecclesiastical  trials  and  expul- 
sions. Out  of  the  controversy  arose  Emory's  masterlj' 
prodiictiDU,  "The  Defence  of  Our  Fathers."  The  sub- 
ject came  iieforo  the  General  Conference  by  petitions 
and  memorials,  and  received  the  fullest  attention.  The 
report  refusing  the  radical  change  asked  for,  written  by 
Dr.  Thomas  E.  Bond,  a  local  preacher,  and  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  body,  and  presented  by  Dr.  Emory,  was  unan- 
imously adopted.  "The  great  body  of  our  ministers, 
both  travelling  and  local,  as  well  as  of  our  members— 
perhaps  not  much,  if  any,  short  of  one  hundred  to  one- 
oppose  their  wishes,"  says  the  report ;  and  Bangs  thought 
that  "nine  tenths  of  our  people  were  decidedly  opposed 
to  the  innovation."  The  result  was  a  new  denomina- 
tion, starting  with  83  preachers  and  5000  members,  and 
a  long  and  bitter  controversy  that  finallv  died  of  ex- 
haustion. 

The  subject  of  slavery,  which  for  many  years  agi- 
tated the  whole  country,  and  finally  plunged  it  into  a 
civil  war,  could  not  fail,  in  the  progress  of  events,  to 
involve  in  its  complications  a  Church  which  constantly 
put  slavery  under  its  ban,  but  did  not  make  absolute 


non-slaveholding  a  test  of  membership.  Two  important 
secessions  resulted — one  in  the  North,  the  other  in  the 
South.  One  of  the  General  Rules — the  moral  code  of 
the  Church  from  the  beginning — forbade  "  the  buying 
or  selling  of  men,  women,  or  children,  with  an  intention 
to  enslave  them."  The  legislation  of  the  Church  was 
steadily  adverse  to  the  institution,  though  always  em- 
barrassed by  the  obstacles  which  the  civil  laws  [)laced 
in  the  way  of  a  legal  emancipation.  The  prohibition, 
however,  of  buying  or  selling  slaves  with  any  other  in- 
tent than  their  freedom,  remained  unchanged.  More- 
over, from  the  year  1800,  the  Discipline  provided  that 
"when  any  travelling  preacher  becomes  an  owner  of 
a  slave  or  slaves  by  any  means,  he  shall  forfeit  his  min- 
isterial character  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
unless  he  execute,  if  it  be  practicable,  a  legal  emancipa- 
tion of  such  slaves,  conformably  to  the  laws  of  the  state 
in  which  he  lives;"  from  181G,  that  "no  slaveholder 
shall  be  eligible  to  any  official  station  in  our  Church 
hereafter,  where  the  laws  of  the  state  in  which  he  lives 
will  admit  of  emancipation,  and  permit  the  liberated 
slave  to  enjoy  freedom;"  and  from  1824  it  contained  pro- 
visions Idv  the  religious  instruction  of  slaves,  and  con- 
cerniii;;-  colmril  local  preachers.  These  regulations  were 
in  force  at  the  conmiencement  of  the  "abolition  move- 
ment," and  continued  unchanged  until  1800,  when  the 
formula  in  the  Discipline  declares  that  "  the  buying,  sell- 
ing, or  holding  of  human  beings,  to  be  used  as  chattels, 
is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and  nature,  and  incon- 
sistent with  the  golden  rule ;"  and  both  preachers  and 
people  are  admonished  to  "  keep  themselves  pure  from 
this  great  evil,  and  to  seek  its  extirpation  by  all  lawful 
and  Christian  means."  The  discussions  in  Great  Brit- 
ain from  the  year  1823,  that  resulted  in  emancipation  in 
all  the  British  colonies  in  1834,  drew  attention  to  the 
system  of  slavery  as  it  existed  in  the  United  States, 
which  was  not  greatly  unlike  that  of  the  West  Indies. 
Philanthropic  men  became  aroused  by  numerous  well- 
authenticated  facts  of  the  wicked  and  inhuman  treat- 
ment of  slaves.  They  were  led  to  examine  the  system 
of  chattel  slavery  and  its  practical  workings,  and  found 
them  so  adverse  to  the  right  to  himself  of  every  person 
of  full  age  and  sane  mind,  except  for  the  commission'of 
crime,  that  they  pronounced  slaveholding  to  be  a  crime 
in  God's  sight,  and  immediate,  unconditional  emanci- 
pation a  duty.  Leading  ministers,  chiefly  in  New  Eng- 
land at  first,  espoused  these  views,  and  advocated  them 
in  the  pulpit,  at  camp-meetings,  in  conventions,  through 
the  press,  and  by  all  those  means  that  could  act  upon 
the  public  mind.  In  the  controversies  that  followed,  in 
which  some  of  the  most  able  pens  of  the  denomination 
were  engaged,  the  question  was  examined  in  all  its  as- 
pects. The  subject  was  introduced  into  Quarterly  and 
Annual  Conferences,  and  ultimately  became  involved 
with  questions  of  Conference  rights.  Episcopal  preroga- 
tives, and  the  rights  of  the  laity.  The  General  Confer- 
ence of  1830  passed  a  vote  of  censure  upon  two  of  its 
members  who  had  attended  and  spoken  at  an  anti-slav- 
ery meeting  in  Cincinnati,  where  the  session  was  held, 
(a  resolution  which  in  1868,  so  greatly  had  opinion 
changed  with  events,  it  rescinded  and  pronomiced  void), 
and  exhorted  the  "members  and  friends"  of  the  Church 
"  to  abstain  from  all  abolition  movements  and  associa- 
tions, and  to  refrain  from  patronizing  any  of  their  pub- 
lications." But  Methodism  had  not  overlooked  the  wel- 
fare of  the  slave.  At  the  culmination  of  these  troubles, 
a  hundred  thousand  colored  persons,  mostly  slaves,  were 
enrolled  as  members  of  the  Church,  amounting  to  one 
tenth  of  the  whole.  But  many  apologies  for  quietness 
and  tolerance  of  the  legal  relation  of  master  v.ere  nulli- 
fied by  a  resolution  of  the  Georgia  Conference,  "  that 
slavery,  as  it  exists  in  the  United  States,  is  not  a  moral 
evil."  At  length,  the  General  Conference  of  1840  hav- 
ing found  it  "  inexpedient  to  express  any  opinion,  or  to 
adopt  an}'  measures  additional  to  those  already  in  the 
Discipline,"  many  began  to  abandon  all  hope  of  seeing 
the  Church  purged  of  slaverj',  and  to  regard  withdrawal 


METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH     ITG    METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH 


as  necessary  to  free  themselves  from  the  giiilt  of  con- 
nection with  it.  Others,  who  had  been  prominent  in 
the  anti-slavery  ranks,  and  had  advocated  such  modifi- 
cations in  the  law  of  the  Church  as  would  prevent  the 
holduig  of  slaves  as  chattels,  maintained  that  the  Dis- 
cipline was  against  slavery,  and  that  secession  was  jiot 
an  anti-slavery  measure.  They  preferred  to  fight  the 
battle  within  the  Church.  Hut  Orange  Scott,  Jotham 
Horton,  Luther  Lee,  and  others,  felt  impelled  liy  their 
consciences  to  withdraw.  At  a  convention  held  at  Utica, 
N.  Y.,  in  1S4;J,  they  organized  the  "  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Connection."  This  Avas  but  the  beginning  of  a  strug- 
gle in  which  churches  were  rent  in  twain  through  most 
of  tho  Xorthorn  States.  The  organization  thus  formed 
luimbered  at  one  period  a  considerable  number  of  preach- 
ers and  members ;  but  time  and  events  have  produced 
such  changes  that  many  of  its  first  leaders  and  warm- 
est friends  have  returned  to  the  old  Church  in  the 
belief  that  the  denomination  has  accomplished  its  mis- 
sion. 

But  a  severer  convulsion  was  preparing  in  the  South. 
The  discriminations  of  the  Discipline  against  slavchold- 
ing  had  come  to  be  distasteful  to  a  generation  that  held 
views  on  slavery  widely  different  from  those  of  the  fa- 
thers, though  six  Conferences,  lying  wholly  or  partly  in 
slave  states,  the  Baltimore  being  one,  rigidly  enforced 
the  old  rule  requiring  ministers  to  emancipate  the  slaves 
of  whom  they  might  become  owners  by  inheritance, 
marriage,  or  any  other  means,  wherever  the  civil  law 
allowed  it,  and  never  permitted  slaveholders  in  their 
ranlis.  It  was  also  the  ancient  and  settled  policy  and 
constant  usage  to  jilace  no  slaveholder  in  the  Episcojia- 
cy;  and  in  18.'}2  James  O.Andrew  was  put  in  nomina- 
tion for  that  high  ortice  by  Southern  delegates,  because, 
thougli  of  tlic  South,  he  was  free  from  all  ])ersonal  con- 
nection with  slavery,  and  was  elected.  This  was  upon 
the  principle  that  a  bishop,  in  a  system  of  general  super- 
intendency  which  gave  him  equal  jurisdiction  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  Soutii  Carolina,  mu.-t  be  free  from  what- 
ever would  i)revent  the  exercise  of  his  functions  with 
acceptance  in  any  part  of  the  Church.  A  slaveholding 
bishop  could  never  have  presided  in  the  Xorthcrn  Con- 
ferences, and  the  election  of  one  would  be  an  infraction 
of  the  law  forbidding  the  General  Coid'erence  to  "  de- 
stroy the  i>lan  of  our  itinerant  general  superintendency." 
The  increasing  restiveness  under  this  exclusion  from  the 
highest  olHce  of  the  Church  led  to  an  attempt  by  South- 
ern delegates,  in  18.3(>,  to  elect  to  it  a  slaveholder,  and, 
upon  its  failure,  to  great  agitation  and  threats  of  seces- 
sion, if  what  was  termed  "  this  proscriptive  system" 
should  not  be  abandoned.  The  renewal  of  the  effort  in 
1844  was  fully  determined  upon,  and  the  purpose  of  re- 
sistance on  tlie  part  of  the  Northern  Conferences  was 
C(iually  firm,  when  the  marriage  of  bishop  Andrew,  in 
January  of  that  year,  with  a  lady  who  was  the  owner 
of  slaves,  suddenly  gave  the  friends  of  the  movement 
precisely  wliat  they  wanted,  but  could  not  have  obtained 
by  the  sulTrages  of  the  (leneral  Conference — a  slavehold- 
ing bishoj).  That  trouljle  was  ahead  was  evident,  and 
the  Southern  ministry  l)t'camc  at  once  a  unit  in  sustain- 
ing him.  It  could  not  be  expected  that  the  Cinirch 
would  quietly  submit  to  the  revolutionizing  of  its  an- 
cient policy  liy  a  marriage;  and  nothing  could  have 
more  astouiuiod  the  Northern  delegates  to  the  (ieneral 
Conference  of  1844  than  the  intelligence,  which  met 
them  upon  their  arrival  in  New  York,  the  ])lacc  of  the 
session,  that  slaveholding  was  already  intrenched  in  the 
Episcopacy.  ICarly  in  the  session  an  appeal  of  the  Kev. 
Francis  A.  Harding  from  the  action  of  the  Baltimore 
Conference  was  presented.  That  gentleman  having 
become  by  marriage  the  owner  of  five  slaves,  the  Con- 
ference, in  pursuance  of  its  old  ])urpose  to  "not  tol- 
erate slavery  in  any  of  its  members,"  required  him  to 
legally  emanci])ate  them  within  the  year,  and,  upon  his 
refusal,  suspended  him  from  I  lie  ministry.  The  (ien- 
eral Conference,  after  a  full  hearing  of  the  case,  it  be- 
ing clear  that  emancipation  could  be  legally  effected  in 


Maryland,  affirmed  the  decision  of  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference by  a  vote  of  117  to  bd.  That  body,  though  few 
were  '"abolitionists,"  certaiidy  was  in  no  mood  to  yield 
further  to  the  encroachments  of  slaverj-;  and  it  was 
equally  evident  that  should  bisiiop  Andrew  be  touched, 
secession  would  ensue.  His  voluntary  resignation  could 
have  saved  both  the  South  and  the  Church  ;  and  this 
step  he  promptly  resolved  to  take,  but  he  was  overruled 
by  the  Southern  dele<;ates.  They  preferred  disruption  to 
a  non-slaveholding  Episcopacy.  The  committee  on  the 
Episcopacy  was  instructed  to  ascertain  and  report  the 
facts  in  relation  to  the  bishop's  alleged  connection  with 
slaverv,  when  it  was  found  that,  besides  the  legal  own- 
ership of  several  others,  he  had  married  a  lady  owning 
slaves,  and  had  secured  them  to  her  by  a  deed  of  trust, 
thus  putting  their  freedom  out  of  his  power.  A  resolu- 
tion, with  a  preamble  reciting  the  facts,  was  promptly 
oifered  by  ;Mr.  (iriffith.  a  delegate  fnjm  Baltimore,  affec- 
tionately requesting  him  to  resign  his  ofiice;  but  the 
final  action,  after  ten  days'  debate,  was  the  adoption  of 
the  following  substitute  bj'  a  vote  of  111  yeas  and  69 
nays : 

"Wherean,  The  Discipline  of  our  Church  forbids  the  do- 
ing anything  calculsitcd  to  destroy  our  itinerant  general 
suijeriutciuicnty ;  and  whereas  bishop  Andrew  has  be- 
come coiiiieiied  with  slavery  by  marriage  and  otherwise, 
ami  tills  ;u'.  li;iviiig  drawn  after  it  circninstances  which,  iu 
the  e>tini;iiinn  of  theCicneral  Conference,  will  greatly  em- 
barrass the  exercise  of  his  office  as  an  itinerant  general 
superiutendeut,  if  not  iu  some  places  entirely  prevent  it ; 
therefore, 

''Jiesolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  General  Confer- 
ence that  he  desist  from  ihe  exercise  of  his  office  so  long 
as  this  impediment  remains." 

Evidently  this  was  the  mildest  action  possible  with- 
out the  abandonment  of  the  established  princiidcs  and 
usage  of  the  Church.  It  left  him  still  a  bisliop,  free  to 
choose  his  own  course,  and  with  unquestioned  right  to 
the  fidl  exercise  of  his  powers  the  hour  the  '•  impedi- 
ment" should  be  removed ;  and  private  individuals  vaiu- 
1}'  opened  the  way  for  his  relief  by  offering  to  bind 
themselves  to  purchase  all  his  slaves  and  their  comiec- 
tions,  and  set  them  free.  The  Southern  delegates  took 
no  steps  from  first  to  last  towards  an  amicable  settle- 
ment of  the  difficulty;  and  ac(iuiescencc  in  the  doctrine 
of  a  non-slaveholding  bishop  or  separation  from  the 
Church  were  the  only  alternatives  left.  All  their  meas- 
ures were  in  the  latter  direction.  First,  Dr.  Cajiers  ]iro- 
posed  a  plan  of  two  independent  (ieneral  ConlVrt iices, 
with  a  joint  interest  in  the  Book  Concern  and  the  ^lis- 
sionary  Society.  This,  being  in  reality  a  division  of 
the  Church,  was  held  impossible.  Then,  as  a  second 
stej),  the  following  <leclaration  was  presented,  signed  by 
fifty-one  delegates  from  the  thirteen  slaveholding  Con- 
ferences, and  one  from  Illinois : 

"The  dell-  ':ite'^  nf  the  Conferenres  in  the  slaveholding 
states  tnkr  !r:i\r  |..  ,,.l.n.^  u,  ilic  (Jciioral  Coiircrciice  of 
llio:Mellio,ii-i  I'l  i^rn,  ,,1  (  hnr.li.lhat  llic  contimiecl  aLMta- 
tioii  .111  111''  Mil.it'.i  (  I'  >l;i\riv  ;uiil  abdiiiioii  in  a  iiorlion 
(if  Ihe  Cluiirh:  Uic  tVci|iiciil  action  on  lliat  siibject  in  the 
(Joiicral  ('oiiliTciicc;  and  esiicciallv  Ilic  exIia-JiKiii'ial  l)ro- 

iirday  h»>-t.  Tii  the  virtual  sii>-|iciisi(iii  cf  liiin  tYdiii  li;s  (  fflce 
as  sui)priiit<MHU'iit.  Jiuist  iir.Hlnce  il  stale  of  tliii;u-s  in  the 
South  which  rciidcis  a  roiitiiuiancc  of  the  juri-diclion  of 
this  (u'licral  Coiileiciu  e  ovi'r  tlie^e  (■.uilcrciici's  iiicon- 
sistoiit  with  tlie  mcccss  of  the  nlini^tl•y  in  the  slavchold- 
I  iug  states." 

This  paper  was  at  once  referred  to  a  committee  of 
!  nine,  who  were  afterwards  instructed  (according  to  tlie 
Journal,  in  case  they  couhl  not  frame  an  ''amicable 
I  adjustment  of  the  didicidtics  now  existing  in  the  Church 
I  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  to  devise,  if  jiossible,  a  consti- 
tutional plan  for  a  mutual  and  friendly  division  of  the 
Church."     But  ^Ir.  I lamline  (afterwards  bishop),  one 
I  of  the  committee,  refused  to  go  out  with  such  instruc- 
,  tioiis.     '•  Being  urged  to  go.  lie  said. '  I  will  not  go  out 
with  instructions  to  devise  a  ]>lan  to  divide  Ihe  Church.' 
'Then  will  brotiier  I  lamline  go  if  the  instructions  be  so 
!  changed  as  simply  li>  read,  if  the  South  should  sejiaratc, 
I  to  make  jirovision  in  such  a  contingency  to  meet  tho 
I  emergency  with  Christian  kindness  and  the  strictest 


METHODIST  EPLSC.  CHURCH    177     METHODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH 


equity  ?'  Mr.  Hamline  said,  '  I  will  go  out  with  such 
instructions' "  (Hamline's  Life  and  Letters,  p.  165).  The 
instructions  were  modified  accordingly.  On  the  next 
day  a  protest  against  the  action  of  the  majority  was 
read,  aflirming  in  stronger  terms  the  position  of  the 
Declaration,  which  was  followed  some  days  later  by  a 
Keply.  Whether,  after  this  formal  notice  of  the  coming 
separation,  it  would  not  have  been  the  wiser  to  allow 
events  to  take  their  course,  is  an  open  question.  The 
protesting  delegates,  about  to  renounce  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  General  Conference,  could  claim  nothing,  as  of 
right,  at  its  hands ;  and  it  was  certainly  an  act  of  the 
highest  magnanimity  on  the  part  of  the  two-thirds'  ma- 
jority to  prescribe  for  itself  beforehand  a  law  of  most 
liberal  treatment  of  the  withdrawing  Conferences,  and 
to  provide  for  the  conditional  division  with  them  of  the 
property  of  the  Church.  Yet  this  ;vas  done  in  the  re- 
port of  the  committee  on  the  Declaration.  (See  the 
pap3r  quoted  in  full  under  Methodist  Episcopal 
CiiLitCH.  South.)  This  document  was  adopted  with 
great  unanimity.  An  analysis  of  it  shows  that  (1)  it  is 
based  upon  one  fundamental  condition,  namely,  a  ne- 
cessity to  be  found  by  the  slaveholding  Conferences  for 
a  distinct  ecclesiastical  connection,  produced  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  (ieneral  Conference.  Ql)  It  assumes  that 
such  distinct  organization,  if  formed  at  all,  will  come 
into  being  by  the  action  of  those  Conferences,  and  upon 
their  own  responsibility.  (3)  It  does  not  arrange  a  di- 
visiou  of  the  Church.  For  this  the  General  Conference 
had  no  power,  as  was  agreed  in  the  Committee;  and 
that  it  did  not  and  could  not  divide  the  Church  was  as 
freely  asserted  by  Southern  as  by  Northern  delegates, 
both  during  and  after  the  debate.  The  term  "  division" 
does  occur,  but  solely  with  reference  to  property.  (4) 
It  is  not  a  "  plan  of  separation,"  as  it  afterwards  came  to 
be  styled,  for  it  does  not  authorize,  direct,  or  sanction 
any  step  of  the  withdrawing  party;  but  is  purely  an 
enactment  of  the  rules  to  be  observed  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  case  a  '-not  improbable  contin- 
gency" becomes,  by  the  sole  action  of  the  South,  an  ac- 
complished fact.  (5)  To  avoid  the  strife  and  bitterness 
that  so  generally  attend  a  disruption,  it  enacts  that,  in 
case  a  new  Church  is  formed,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  shall  exercise  no  jurisdiction  beyond  certain 
limits,  if  the  Church  South  shall  act  upon  the  same 
friendly  principle.  The  Church  simply  lays  down  for 
itself  the  rule  of  non-interference.  (G)  Nine  of  the 
twelve  resolutions  relate  entirely  to  property,  which, 
even  if  a  Southern  Church  should  be  formed,  can  have 
no  force  whatever  without  tlie  three-fourths'  concurrent 
vote  of  the  Annual  Conferences  for  the  proposed  change 
of  the  Kestrictive  Rule.  All  this  was  well  miderstood 
at  the  time. 

By  this  eminently  Christian  enactment  the  General 
Conference  made  provision  for  peace  and  quiet  in  view 
of  the  threatened  withdra\val  of  a  large  and  powerful 
portion  of  the  Church.  History  must,  however,  record 
that  the  Southern  delegates,  at  a  meeting  held  on  the 
day  following  the  adjournment,  and  without  waiting 
for  the  "  necessity"  to  develop  itself,  and  to  be  found  by 
the  Conferences,  called  a  convention  of  delegates  from 
the  slaveholding  Conferences,  with  a  defined  ratio  of 
representation,  to  assemble  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  on  May  1, 
1845,  invited  bishop  Andrew  to  attend  and  preside  in 
their  Conferences,  and  also  issued  an  address  to  the  min- 
isters and  members  in  the  South,  stating  what  they 
term  "the  facts  and  reasons  connected  with  the  pro- 
posed separation  of  the  Southern  Conferences  into  a  dis- 
tinct organization."  This  precipitated  and  virtually 
decided  tlie  question  of  separation.  In  the  controver- 
sies that  followed  this  summary  proceeding,  the  whole 
Church  was  stirred.  The  various  questions  involved 
were  discussed  in  public  meetings,  in  Quarterly  and 
Annual  Conferences,  in  Church  periodicals  and  pam- 
phlets. Bishop  Souk',  the  senior  bishop  of  the  Church, 
in  September  called  bishop  Andrew  into  the  field,  to 
attend  with  himself  the  Conferences,  in  contravention 

yi.— M 


of  the  expressed  judgment  of  the  General  Conference. 
The  slaveholding  Conferences  appointed  delegates  to 
the  proposed  convention,  although  several  of  them  had 
not  found  the  '■  necessity"  for  a  separate  organization. 
The  recommendation  to  change  the  sixth  Kestrictive 
Rule  failed  by  2G9  votes  to  receive  the  concurrence  of 
the  Annual  Conferences.  The  Louisville  Convention 
met  May  1, 1845;  bishops  Soule  and  Andrew  were  in  at- 
tendance, and  upon  invitation  presided  over  its  deliber- 
ations. On  May  17  the  new  Church  was  organized  by 
the  adoption  of  the  following  resolution,  whose  language 
may  seem  singular  to  the  curious  reader  who  remembers 
that  what  is  styled  the  "  provisional  plan  of  separation" 
gave  no  direction,  authority,  or  consent  for  the  assem- 
bling or  action  of  the  convention,  and  that  the  provi- 
sions referred  to  relate  solely  to  the  action  of  the  Church 
separated  from,  and  not  at  all  to  the  action  of  the  par- 
ties separating : 

"Be  it  resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual 
Confei-ences  of  the  Methodist  Episcoi.al  Chuifh  in  the 
slaveholding  states,  in  general  riiii\  luiion  a-M'nil)lcd, 
That  it  is  riglit,  expedient,  and  ueces-.uy  in  cicrt  the  An- 
nual Confeiences  represented  in  tlii-^  ('ouMMiiidii  into  n 
distinct  ecclesiastical  connection,  separate  I'mni  ilie  jai-is- 
diction  of  tlie  General  Conference  of  llie  ,Mcilii,il;st  l^^pis- 
copal  Chni-ch,  as  at  present  constituted:  and  aicoidiiiLjly 
we,  the  delegates  of  said  Annual  Confeieiicrs  artinj,'  un- 
der the  ■pr()vi>i(iiial  plan  (if  separation  ailopteil  by  the 
General  ConlVivne.'  .iri^ll,  il..  -solemnly  i/,v/,nv  ilie  juris- 
diction hitlierlo  c  xeiiiseil  o\i  !■  saiil  Annual  L'onlevences 
by  llio  General  Cniirerence  ot  tlie  Metliodist  Ki>iscopal 
Chnrel;  ,//'//./;  e/.s.s,, //■,./,■  aiul  that  said  Annual  Confei- 
ences -hall  l,e,  and  iliey  hereby  are,  coj(s<2?itte?  a  separate 

ecclesia-t:eal   rnnneiii under  tlie  provisional  plan  of 

separation  anav-aid,  and  l.aseil  upon  the  Discipline  of  the 
Methoilist  l';pi-i'(.pal('hureli,eonipr(di(ai(lini,Mlie  doctrines 
aud  entire  lU'iral,  ei  elc-ia-Ueal,  and  eanonical  rules  and 
regulatiniis  (j1'  said  l)is;ipline,  except,  only  in  so  far  as  ver- 
bal alterations  mav  W  necessary  to  a  distinct  orjjauiza- 
tion,  and  t  i  be  known  by  the  style  and  title  of 'Tue  Meth- 
odist EiaseieAi.  Ciiciuai,  Sodtu.'" 

By  this  secession  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  lost 
1345  travelling  and  316G  local  preachers,  and  495,288 
members.  Bishop  Andrew  at  once  gave  in  his  adhesion 
to  the  new  Church,  and  bishop  Soule  followed  him  at  its 
first  General  Conference  in  Maj',  1846. 

Troubles  soon  occurred  upon  the  border  line  of  the 
two  churches.  The  Southern  General  Conference  took 
summary  possession  of  the  newspapers  within  its  terri- 
tory, and  of  the  Charleston  Book  Depository,  with  their 
books,  notes,  presses,  etc.,  all  of  which  belonged  to  the 
Book  Concern.  The  understanding  in  relation  to  boun- 
daries was  not  kept.  Though  the  rule  had  not  been 
changed,  a  pro  rata  division  of  the  Book  Concern  was 
demanded  on  pain  of  a  suit  at  law.  In  this  state  of  af- 
fairs, the  General  Conference  of  1848  was  met  by  the  Kev. 
Dr.  Lovick  Pierce,  as  delegate  from  the  Church  South, 
bearing  the  "  Christian  salutations"  of  that  body,  and 
proposing  fraternal  relations  between  the  two  churches; 
but  the  existing  difficulties  were  so  evidently  incompat- 
ible with  the  proposed  fraternity,  that  it  could  not  "  at 
present"  be  entered  into,  though  all  personal  courtesies, 
with  an  invitation  to  a  seat  within  the  bar,  were  tendered 
to  Dr.  I'ierce.  As  the  report  on  the  Declaration  was  an 
enactment  of  the  General  Conference,  it  was,  like  any 
other  enactment,  repealable  at  its  pleasure;  and  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  its  wisdom  it  said,  "  Having  found,  upon  clear 
and  incontestable  evidence,  that  the  three  fundamental 
conditions  of  said  proposed  plan  have  severally  failed, 
and  the  failure  of  either  of  them  separately  being  suip- 
cient  to  render  it  null  and  void,  and  having  ft)und  the 
practical  working  of  said  plan  incompatible  with  certain 
great  constitutional  principles  elsewhere  asserted,  we 
have  found  and  declared  the  whole  and  every  part  of 
said  provisional  plan  to  be  null  and  void."  But  in  its 
desire  to  amicably  adjust  the  claims  made  by  the  Church 
South  upon  the  funds  of  the  Book  Concern,  it  authorized 
the  book  agents  to  offer  to  submit  them  to  disinterested 
arbiters,  provided  eminent  counsel  learned  in  the  law 
should  advise  them  that  it  could  be  legally  done  :  other- 
wise, and  in  case  a  suit  at  law  should  be  commenced,  to 
propose  an  arbitration  under  authority  of  the  court;  and 


METPIODIST  EPISC.  CHURCH    178     M.  E.  CHURCH  IX  CAXADA 


in  case  they  coidd  not  oflFer  arbitration,  and  no  suit  I 
should  be  commenced,  it  was  recommended  to  the  An-  ] 
nual  Conferences  to  "  so  far  suspend  the  sixth  Kestrictive  j 
Article  of  the  Discipline  as  to  authorize  the  book  agents  j 
at  New  York  and  Cincinnati  to  submit  said  claim  to  ar- 
bitration." This  was  going  to  the  utmost  limit  of  its 
power.  The  ijuestion  of  the  suspension  of  the  sixth  ar- 
ticle was  midway  iu  its  progress  through  the  Annual 
Conferences  when  it  was  arrested  by  the  commencement 
of  suits  in  the  civil  courts.  The  case  iu  New  York 
came  to  a  hearing  before  judge  Nelson,  but  before  the 
issuing  of  the  linal  decree  the  matter  was  amicably  ad- 
justed through  the  friendly  otHces  of  judge  M'Lean. 
The  Cincinnati  case  resulted  in  favor  of  the  defendants 
in  the  Circuit  Court;  but  on  a  hearing  of  the  appeal  by 
the  Supreme  Court,  to  which  it  was  carried  by  the 
Southern  commissioners,  the  decision  of  the  court  below 
was  reversed,  on  the  alleged  ground  that  the  General 
Conference  had  full  power  to  divide  the  Church,  and 
that  that  body  did,  in  the  adoption  of  the  report  on  the 
Declaration,  actually  divide  the  Church,  when  the  divi- 
sion of  the  property  follows,  as  a  matter  of  course.  The 
Church  at  once  obeyed  the  decision ;  but  no  intelligent 
minister  or  member  of  the  denomination  has  ever  accept- 
ed the  exposition  given  by  the  Supreme  Court,  through 
the  lips  of  judge  Nelson,  of  the  law  of  the  Church,  the 
facts  of  its  Idstory,  or  the  action  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1844.  The  relations  between  the  two  churches 
have  not  as  yet  become  cordial.  The  bishops  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1809  made  some  advances 
towards  a  reunion,  which  were  ungraciously  received; 
but  the  (ieneral  Conference  of  1872  onkrcd  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  delegation  of  two  ministers  and  one  layman 
to  convey  its  greetings  to  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Church  South  at  its  next  ejisuing  session. 

Aside  from  these  troubles,  and  others  growing  out  of 
the  increasing  intensity  of  the  conflict  between  freedom 
and  slavery,  the  work  of  the  Church  was  vigorously  and 
successfully  pressed.  It  stood  arrayed  with  its  full 
moral  power  on  the  side  of  the  Union  in  the  war  pro- 
voked by  slavery,  and  more  than  a  hundreil  thousand 
of  its  mcmi)ers  gave  themselves  to  the  armies  of  their 
country.  Before  the  close  of  the  war  it  entered  upon 
j)rcparatio.is  for  the  celebration  of  the  centenary  of 
Methodism  in  America,  by  all  the  churches  and  people, 
"  with  devout  thanksgiving,  by  special  religious  services 
and  liberal  thank-offerings,"  setting  apart  the  month  of 
October,  1800,  for  that  purpose.  The  Church  had  at- 
tained by  the  end  of  the  century,  notwithstanding  its 
losses  by  the  several  secessions,  more  than  a  million  of 
members,  and  it  was  hoped  that  "  not  less  than  two  mill- 
ions of  dollars"  would  be  contributed  to  render  its  agen- 
cies more  efficient  in  the  future.  Appropriate  services 
were  held  throughout  the  Church,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  joyfid  month  the  aggregate  contributions  amounted 
to  *8,'7(i'.t,4'.l8  ol). 

7.  An  inijjortant  organic  change  in  the  economy  of 
the  Cliurch  was  effected  in  1872  by  the  introduction  of 
laymen  into  the  (iencral  Conference.  In  18()()  that  body 
expressed  its  approval  of  the  measure  "  when  it  shall  be 
ascertained  that  the  Church  desires  it,"  and  also  pro- 
vided for  the  submission  of  the  question  to  the  votes  of 
both  the  ministry  and  members.  The  result  showed  a 
large  majority  against  the  proposed  change.  Never- 
theless, while  the  General  Conference  felt  precluded  by 
this  expression  of  the  popular  will  from  adopting  it,  it 
reaffirmed  in  18()4  its  apjiroval  of  it  upon  the  same  con- 
dition as  before.  At  its  next  ses-sion  it  took  up  the  sub- 
ject anew,  recommending  a  delinite  plan  to  the  consid- 
eration of  the  Church,  ordering  the  submission  afresh 
of  the  question  of  lay  delegation  to  the  vote  of  the  laity, 
and  proposing  to  the  Annual  Conferences  the  requisite 
alterations  in  the  second  Kestrictive  liule.  A  large  ma- 
jority of  the  former,  and  more  than  the  necessary  three- 
fourths  vote  in  the  latter,  having  been  obtained  in  favor 
of  the  change,  the  General  Conference,  with  the  assent 
of  281)  out  of  its  202  members,  concurred  in  the  same. 


The  lay  delegates,  who  had  been  provisionally  elected 
in  anticipation  of  this  action,  v.ere  at  once  admitted  to 
their  seats.  It  is  provided  that  '"the  ministerial  and 
lay  delegates  shall  sit  and  deliberate  together  as  one 
body,  but  they  shall  vote  separately  whenever  such 
separate  vote  shall  be  demanded  by  one  third  of  either 
order;  and  in  such  cases  the  concurrent  vote  of  both  or- 
ders shall  be  necessary  to  complete  an  action." 

8.  The  Hoard  of  Hishops,  including  the  missionary 
bishop  Roberts,  whose  jurisiliction  is  restricted  to  Afri- 
ca, is  fourteen  in  number.  It  had  become  so  diminished 
by  death  that  the  General  Conference  of  1872  added 
eight  to  the  superiutendency,  assigning  them  residences 
in  specified  localities.  The  following  list  contains  the 
names  of  all  who  Lave  held  the  office,  with  the  year  of 
their  ordination,  and  other  facts : 

Thomas  Coke 1TS4.— Died  at  sea,  May  3, 1814,  aged 

CO. 
Francis  Asbury 1TS4.— Died  in  Virginia,  March  31, 

1S16,  aged  70. 
RichardWhatcoat.  ...1800.— Died    in   Delaware,  Jidy  5, 

ISOG,  aged  71. 
William M'Keudree..lSOS.— Died  iu  Tennessee,  March  5, 

1S35,  aped  77. 
Enoch  George 1S16.— Died  in  Virginia,  August  23, 

1S2S,  aged  CO. 
RobertR.  Roberts  ...1810.— Died  in  Indiana,  March  28, 

1S43,  ased  64. 
Joshua  Sonle 1S24.— Eut.  M.  E.  Ch.  South,  1S46; 

died  March  C,  1807,  nged  85. 
Elijah  Hedding 1824.- Died  in  rouphkeepsie,  April 

9, 1S52,  aged  72. 
James  O.Andrew....  1832.— Bp.  M.  E.  Ch.  South,  1845; 

died  March  2, 1871,  aged  77. 
John  Emory 1832.- Died  in  Maryland,  Dec.  10, 

1835,  aged  46. 
Beverly  Wangh 1836.- Died   in  Maryland,   Feb.  9, 

1858,  aged  69. 

Thomas  A.  Morris 1S36.— Residence,  SprinL'field,  Ohio. 

Leouidas  L.  Hamliue.  1844. —Resigned,  185-.' :  died  iu  Iowa, 

March  22, 1SC5,:i.<:ed  07. 

Edmund  S.  Janes 1844.- Residence,  New  York  City. 

Levi  Scott 1852.- Residence,  Odessn,  Del. 

Matthew  Simpson 1852.- Residence,  Philjidelphia. 

Osmon  C.  Baker. 1852.— Died  in  Concord.  N.  II.,  Dec 

20, 1871,:iged.^S. 

Edward  R.  Ames 18.52.— Residi-nce,  Baltiniore. 

Francis  Burns 1S5S.— Miss.  Bp.  to  Liberia  -,  died  in 

Baltimore,  A))ril  18,  lso:i. 
Davis  W.  Clark 1864.— Died  in  Cincinnati,  M;iy  23, 

1871,  aired  59. 
Edward  Thomson 1864.— Died    in   Wheeling,  \V.  Va., 

March  22, 1870,  Hired  59. 
Calvin  Kingsley 1864.— Died   iu  Beirut,  Syria,  April 

0, 1870,  aired  57. 

John  W.  Roberts 18GG.— Residence,  Monrovia,  Africa. 

Thomiis  Bdwm.in 1ST2.— 1i.-"'<'m<-.>.  '^f.  T.o^iis. 

Willinm  L.  lL.rris....ls7-.     I:,-    ,  i    -  ,  i  ^v   ;;,,. 

Randolpli  S.  Foster.. 1S7-J.     Kv    .;.i    ...    ati. 

Isa;ic  W.Wilev InT-J.      i;. !■     '    :!. 

Slcplu'ii  M.Merrill. ..ls72.-l,'c-:ii  ,        ■■  ■    I'.n'. 
i;il\vni(l(;.  Andrews. .1872.— Kesiii.  :    -   I'  -  M.  iiios.Iowa. 

Cillirit  IlMven 1S72.— lU-i.  .         ,\  i.(.;i. 

J.'ssc  T.  reck 1S72.— Rcsi.l.  1  >  •  .  ^.i.  li  :in<isco. 

Y.  iS/atistics. — There  are  in  the  denomination  70  An- 
nual Conferences,  whose  statistics  show  in  1872  10,242 
travelling  preachers,  11,904  local  preachers,  1,458,441 
members  and  ])robationcr.«,  17,471  Sunday-schools,  with 
1,278.,"j59  scholars  and  19o,09I  officers  and  teachers,  and 
14,(108  churches  and  4484  parsonages,  valued  together 
at  6^^8,575,877.  The  baptisms  for  the  year  were  53,459 
children  and  61,311  adults.  The  benevolent  contribu- 
tions for  the  year  were,  for  the  Jlissionary  Society, 
tG71,000  21;  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
.$18,755  34;  Church  Extension  Society,  694,572  03; 
Tract  Society,  #21,585  07;  Sunday-school  Union, 
f  22,074  15:  American  Bible  Society,  $'42,528  35;  Freed- 
man's  Aid  Society,  $12,048  97;  Education,  60,000  42; 
and  for  necessitous  ministers.  .*1.")0,140  02 — making  an 
aggregate  of  8 1,039,900  30.   See:Mi:riioi>isM.    (D.  A.W.) 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Canada. 

The  first  Canadian  iMclhodist  Society,  as  nearly  r.s 
can  \n-  asiertaiudl.  was  formed  in  the  township  of  Au- 
gusta, in  Upper  Canada  (now  <lntario\  in  1778.  Its 
first  memi)ers  were  some  (tf  the  parties  who  bad  consti- 
tuted the  first  ^lethodist  Society  in  New  York.  See 
Mktiiouist  Ei'istoi'AL  CiiLKCii.     rromiucut  nan:es 


M.  E.  CHURCH  IN  CANADA      179      M.  E.  CHURCH  IN  CANADA 


were  those  of  Paul  and  Barbara  Heck,  their  three  sons, 
John,  Jacob,  and  Samuel;  John  and  Catharine  Law- 
rence— Mrs.  Lawrence  had  been  the  wido^v  of  Philip 
Embury;  and  Samuel  Embury,  a  son  of  Philip  Embur\-. 
Besides  these,  it  was  joined  by  such  others  of  the  scat- 
tered settlers  of  Augusta  as  wished  to  unite  with  them 
in  Christian  fellowship.  Samuel  Embury  was  the  class- 
leader.  About  two  years  after  the  organization  of  this 
society,  viz.  in  1780,  Mr.  Tuffey,  a  Methodist  local 
preacher  from  England,  then  connected  with  a  regiment 
stationed  at  Quebec,  preached  to  his  comrades  and  to 
the  towns-people;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  at- 
tempted to  form  any  regular  class. 

iViethodism  was  introduced  into  the  country  about 
-Niagara  and  westward  by  the  Kev.  George  Neal,  who 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania  Feb.  28, 1751.  He  was  con- 
verted under  the  ministry  of  tlie  Rev.  Hope  Hull.  Mr. 
Neal  became  a  local  preacher,  and  went  into  Canada  in 
1786.  He  settled  in  the  Niagara  District,  taught  school 
during  the  week,  and  preached  to  the  people  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  frequently  on  week-day  evenings.  Fol- 
lowing the  illustrious  examples  of  Nelson,  in  England, 
■\Villiams,  in  Ireland,  and  Embury,  in  New  York,  Neal 
collected  together  those  who  had  been  converted  through 
his  instrumentality,  and  formed  a  society  in  the  town- 
ship of  Stamford  in  1790,  appointing  Christian  Warner 
the  class-leader,  an  otHce  which  he  continued  to  till  until 
his  death,  March  21, 1833.  This  class,  collected  with- 
out the  intervention  of  any  travelling  preacher,  as  -was 
also  the  above  class  in  Augusta,  embraced  among  its 
members  a  number  who  afterwards  distinguished  them- 
selves as  pillars  in  the  Church  of  God  (Hist,  of  the  M. 
E.  Church  in  Canada,  p.  34).  The  ministrations  of  Mr. 
Neal  were  approved  by  his  brethren  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  and  he  was  therefore  ordained  dea- 
con by  bishop  Asbury  July  23, 1810,  at  the  Annual  Con- 
ference held  that  vear  at  Lyons,  in  the  State  of  New 
York. 

The  Rev.  William  Losee  was  the  first  itinerant  Meth- 
odist preacher  on  Canadian  soil.  In  1789  or  the  be- 
ginning of  1790  he  was  visiting  some  of  his  friends  and 
relatives  near  Kingston,  Upper  Canada.  Being  zealous 
in  the  Master's  work,  he  improved  his  visit  by  preach- 
ing whenever  opportunity  offered.  The  people  hea.rd 
him  gladly,  and,  having  been  edified  by  his  labors,  they 
sent  a  petition  to  the  New  York  Conference,  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  requesting  that  body  to  send  Losee 
among  them,  and  he  was  appointed.  The  first  class 
was  organized  Feb.  20,  1791 ;  the  second  Jlarch  2  of 
the  same  year — the  very  day  on  which  John  Wesley 
died.  From  this  year  the  Methodist  societies  and  con- 
gregations were  regularly  supplied  with  missionaries 
from  the  Church  in  the  United  States.  The  ministers 
in  what  was  then  a  wilderness  endured  great  privations, 
and  encountered  formidable  dangers ;  but  tliey  were  in- 
defatigable in  their  labors,  through  zeal  for  God  and  for 
the  salvation  of  the  people. 

Early  Methodism  in  Canada,  as  well  as  in  Europe 
and  the  United  States,  had  to  contend  with  great  oppo- 
sition. Its  most  formidable  foes  were  those  who  were 
determined  upon  the  aggrandizement  and  dominancy 
of  what  they  called  the  Established  Church,  although 
no  such  thing  as  a  Church  establishment  had  been  con- 
stituted in  those  provinces  by  legal  enactment.  These 
would-be  adherents  of  the  Church  of  England  were  vio- 
lent in  their  hostility  to  Methodism,  as  were  also  the 
members  of  some  other  Protestant  churches,  to  say  noth- 
ing about  the  Roman  Catholics.  An  instance  of  the  in- 
tolerant spirit  manifested  towards  the  early  IMethodist 
preachers  is  presented  by  the  following  facts.  In  1788 
Mr.  James  M'Carty,  an  adherent  of  Mr.  Whitefield,  went 
from  the  United  States  and  settled  in  Earnestown,  near 
the  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Qninte.  Feeling  it  to  be  his  duty 
to  preach  the  Gospel  to  his  neighbors,  he  collected  them 
together  in  their  little  log-cabins,  and  dispensed  to  them 
the  Word  of  Life.  He  was  interfered  with  by  parties 
from  Kingston,  who,  clothed  with  a  little  brief  author- 


ity, caused  him  to  be  dragged  from  the  place  of  worship, 
from  his  peaceful  and  happj^  home,  and  from  the  bosom 
of  his  family.  They  cast  him  into  prison,  and,  after 
giving  him  some  sort  of  a  trial,  sentenced  him  to  ban- 
ishment from  the  country.  He  was  taken  away  from 
Kingston  by  his  persecutors,  and  his  family  saw  his 
face  no  more.  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  murdered. 
Mr.  Neal  was  likewise  ordered  to  leave  the  country; 
but  the  hand  of  God  interposed,  and  finally  he  w-as  al- 
lowed to  remain,  and  to  continue  his  Christian  labors. 
The  spirit  of  intolerance  continued  for  many  years, 
though,  as  time  advanced,  it  manifested  itself  in  some- 
what less  violent  forms.  Lawsuits  were  entered  against 
some  of  the  early  preachers  for  celebrating  marriage  be- 
tween the  members  of  their  own  congregations,  and 
they  were  ordered  into  exile  on  this  account.  But  none 
of  these  things  moved  the  devoted  men  who  were  sent 
by  bishop  Asbury  and  the  New  York  and  Genesee  con- 
ferences. Steady  to  their  purpose,  namely,  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  cause  of  Christ,  their  watchword  was 
"  Onward !"  At  the  commencement  of  this  century, 
about  ten  years  after  Mr.  Losee  first  entered  Canada,  the 
work  stood  as  follows :  1  district,  4  circuits,  7  preachers, 
and  936  members. 

During  the  next  decade  the  increase  in  Church  mem- 
bership was  still  more  encouraging.  The  privations  of 
the  preachers  were  nearly  the  same,  and  their  labors,  if 
possible,  still  more  arduous,  because  they  had  to  extend 
their  work  yet  further  into  the  forest.  Thej'  had  to 
ford  dangerous  streams,  plod  through  deep  swamps,  and 
often  camp  out  during  the  night  in  the  dreary  woods, 
with  their  saddle-bags  for  a  pillow,  the  canopy  of  heaven 
and  the  foliage  of  the  trees  for  covering,  the  faithful 
horse  standing  sentinel  near  his  master,  suffering  with 
him  from  cold  and  hunger.  Many  a  long  and  dismal 
night  was  thus  spent  hy  these  self-sacrificing  men, 
sometimes  aroiised  from  their  brief  repose  by  the  screech- 
ing of  owls,  the  howling  of  wolves,  or  the  war-whoop 
of  the  savage.  But  the  great  desire  of  their  hearts  was 
realized^ the  success  of  the  Gospel  cause.  In  1810 
there  were  2  districts,  15  circuits,  19  preachers,  and  2795 
members.  The  Upper  Canada  district  was  placed  under 
the  direction  of  the  Genesee  Annual  Conference  in  l8lO, 
and  the  Lower  Canada  district  in  1811. 

(Jreat  success  attended  the  preaching  of  the  Word, 
and  the  connection  continued  to  prosper  until  the  occur- 
rence of  the  unhappy  War  of  1812.  Several  of  the 
preachers  appointed  to  Canadian  circuits  were  prevented 
from  entering  upon  their  charges  because  the  Canadian 
government  had  issued  a  proclamation  ordering  all 
Americans  to  leave  the  country  before  the  3d  of  July. 
A  few  of  the  preachers  already  resident  determined  to 
risk  the  danger  of  remaining ;  others  Avere  British-born 
subjects,  and  these,  with  the  assistance  of  local  preach- 
ers, supplied  the  work.  During  the  unhappy  conflict, 
the  societies  sustained  great  loss,  as  will  a]ipear  from  the 
statistics  of  the  Church  at  the  Genesee  Conference  of 
1815,  which  was  held  shortly  after  peace  was  declared. 
The  Canada  work  was  reported  at  that  Conference  as 
follows:  2  districts,  9  circuits,  14  preachers,  and  1765 
members — a  decrease  since  1810  of  1030  members.  The 
war-cloud  having  passed  over,  and  the  sunshine  of  peace 
once  more  shedding  its  benign  rays  upon  both  countries, 
the  Genesee  Conference  resumed  its  care  of  the  Canadian 
Church.  But,  though  the  two  nations  continued  at 
peace,  the  Methodist  societies  Avere  doomed  to  be  agita- 
ted and  divided  by  men  sent  out  by  the  Enghsh  Meth- 
odists as  missionaries.  The  bitterness  and  heartburn- 
ings which  were  produced  bj'  the  rivalry  that  ensued 
retarded  to  some  extent  the  advancement  of  the  cause 
in  certain  localities;  but  in  the  greater  part  of  their 
field  the  American  Jlethodists  steadily  increased  in 
numbers,  influence,  and  spirituality. 

The  year  1817  was  distinguished  for  the  most  re- 
markable revival  influence  that  had  yet  been  witnessed 
in  Canada.  The  Genesee  Annual  Conference  that  year 
was  held  in  Elizabethtown,  Upper  Canada,  commencing 


M.  E.  CHURCH  IN  CAXADA      180      M.  E.  CHURCH  IX  CANADA 


June  21,  bishop  George  presiding.  An  Annual  Confer-  ] 
ence  was  a  new  thing  in  Canada,  anil  therefore  great 
crowds  of  people  attended  the  ministry  of  the  Word,  j 
especially  on  the  Sabbath.  The  number  of  preachers  ^ 
present  was  large,  and  all  were  anxious  to  build  up  the 
walls  of  Zion.  lieligious  services  commenced  at  eight 
o'clock  on  Sabbath  morning,  and  the  Lord  manifested  j 
himself  with  power.  Many  were  seeking  redemption  : 
before  the  hour  had  arrived  at  which  the  bishop  was  to 
preach,  so  that  when  he  entered  the  house  the  congre- 
gation was  aglow  with  the  lire  of  divine  love.  II un-  | 
dreds  were  present.  Tlie  bishop  preached  one  of  his 
most  able  and  impressive  sermons,  and  the  discourse  had 
a  powerfid  effect  upon  liis  hearers.  The  services  con- 
tinued all  day  with  but  little  intermission,  and  it  was 
not  until  late  in  the  evening  that  the  people  dispersed. 
It  is  believed  that  more  than  one  hundred  souls  were 
brought  to  Christ  at  this  Conference.  But  the  work  of 
reformation  did  not  end  there.  The  preachers  went 
from  the  Conference  refreshed  and  strengthened,  preach- 
ing with  great  effect  Christ,  the  power  of  God,  and  the 
wisdom  of  God.  On  all  the  circuits  the  ^\^)rd  prevailed 
mightily,  sinners  were  converted,  and  believers  quick- 
ened. For  more  than  three  years  there  were  constant 
additions  to  the  Church  throughout  the  Canadian  work ; 
and  in  some  instances  the  revival  influence  extended  to 
the  border  circuits  in  the  United  States.  In  1820  the  | 
Genesee  Conference  was  again  held  in  Canada.  The 
church  in  which  it  assembled  was  at  the  west  end  of 
'•  Lundy's  Lane,"  near  the  spot  where  six  years  previous- 
ly the  British  and  American  soldiers  had  met  in  deadly 
conflict.  How  great  the  change  now.  Americans  and 
Canadians,  actuated  by  the  love  of  Christ,  uniteil  har- 
moniously in  council  and  effort  to  build  up  the  walls  of 
Zion,  and  rejoiced  together  in  the  triumplis  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  peace.  Tliere  were  about  one  hundred  ]ireachers 
present  at  the  Conference.  Bishop  George  presided,  still 
exerting  the  same  holy  influence  upon  preachers  and 
people  as  in  1817.  Thirty  preachers  were  ordained  at 
this  Conference.  Some  of  this  nmnber  were  local 
preachers  residing  in  Canada.  Tiie  state  of  the  work 
in  1820  was  2  districts,  17  circuits,  28  preachers,  47  local 
preachers,  05  exhorters,  and  5557  members. 

In  the  same  year  a  settlement  was  effected  between 
the  General  Conference  and  the  English  Conference,  by 
which  it  was  agreed  that  the  jNIethodist  Ei>isc()pal 
Church  should  withdraw  its  ministers  from  Lower  Can- 
ada, and  give  up  that  province,  with  all  its  Church  prop- 
erty therein,  to  the  management  of  the  English  Con- 
ference ;  and  that  the  English  Conference  should  in  like 
maimer  withdraw  its  missionaries  from  Upper  Canada, 
and  give  up  that  province,  with  all  its  Church  proi)erty 
therein,  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (comp.  J/is- 
tory  of  the  Methodist  Ejmcojnil  Church  in  Canada,  p. 
127-154).  The  rival  interest  having  been  withdrawn 
from  Upper  Canada — with  the  exception  of  Kingston, 
where  tlie  English  Conference  continued  to  keep  one 
of  its  missionaries — the  societies  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  once  more  in  the  enjoyment  of  peace,  soon 
recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  recent  agitations,  and 
were  greatly  prosjiered  in  sjiiritiial  things.  So  rapidly 
bad  the  work  extended,  tliat  in  1824  the  General  Con- 
ference held  in  Baltimore  consented  to  the  establish- 
ment of  an  Annual  Conference  for  Canada. 

The  Canada  Conference  was  organized  at  llallowell, 
Upper  Canada,  August  25,  1824.  Bishojjs  (Jeorge  and 
Ilcdding  were  i)rcsent,and  presided  in  turn.  The  preacli- 
ers  numbered,  including  the  two  bishops  and  those  on 
trial,  thirty-three  persons.  This  was  a  small  number 
compareil  with  the  numi)ers  who  met  at  Elizabethtown 
in  1817,  or  at  Lundy's  Lane  in  1820.  For  four  years 
longer  the  bishops  went  into  Canaila  and  j>resided  at 
the  st>ssions  of  the  Canada  Conference,  appointing  the 
preachers  to  the  several  charges,  both  jireachers  and  so- 
cieties cheerfully  accepting  such  appointments.  The 
work  continued  to  extend  and  )m)S|)er,  and  Methodism 
was  fast  becoming  a  power  in  the  land.     But  the  good 


it  was  accomplishing  among  the  people,  instead  of  re- 
moving tiie  prejudices  of  its  opponents,  only  tended  to 
infuse  fear  of  its  great  and  growing  influence  among 
the  advocates  of  a  State  Church.  Among  the  Method- 
ists, also,  there  were  some  who  advocated  the  inilepen- 
denl  establishment  of  the  Canadian  Methodist  E|iisciipal 
Church,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  secure  to  the  Ca- 
nadian Methodists  greater  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
Prominent  among  these  was  the  Bev.  II.  Kyan,  who  had 
been  agitating  for  a  separation  of  the  societies  in  Can- 
ada from  the  parent  Church  in  the  L'nited  States  since 
1820.  The  scheme  was  presented  to  the  people  on  na- 
tional and  ])atriotic  grounds,  and  the  (ieneral  Conference 
was  memorialized  on  the  subject,  and  at  its  session  held 
at  Pittsburgh,  May,  1828,  the  request  was  granted.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  Canadian  jNIcthodists  were  on  October  2, 
1828,  organized  into  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
Canada.  In  1828  there  were  3  districts,  48  travelling 
preachers,  7  superannuated  preachers,  and  32  circuits, 
with  a  membership  of  9C78.  The  uicrease  for  the  j-ear 
was  1033. 

From  1828  until  1832  the  infant  Church  in  Canada 
had  unprecedented  success,  considering  the  opposition  it 
met  with  from  the  liev.  H.  Ilyau  and  his  followers,  who 
separated  themselves  from  the  connection  in  1829,  and 
organized  another  i)ody.  The  provisional  government 
was  (piite  as  hostile  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Canada  after  1828  as  it  had  been  before  its  separation 
from  the  parent  body.  Parliament  vindicated  the  rights 
of  the  preachers  and  Church,  but  the  executive  was  not 
only  confederated  with  the  Church  and  State  party  in 
the  country  to  cripple  the  energies  of  the  original  ]\Ieth- 
odists  of  the  province,  but  was  intriguing  witli  the  Eng- 
glish  Weslej'an  Jlissionarj'  Committee  to  induce  that 
body — in  violation  of  the  settlement  of  1820— to  send 
thei?  agents  again  into  the  country  to  form  rival  socie- 
ties, large  sums  of  money  from  the  public  revenue  being 
promised  if  these  missionaries  would  come.  The  scheme 
of  the  executive  was  successful,  and  Dr.  Alder  was  sent 
out  by  the  Missionary  Committee  to  commence  opera- 
tions in  Upi)er  Canada  in  1832.  It  was  to  avoid  a  col- 
lision with  these  agents  of  the  English  Conference,  and 
also  in  evident  anticipation  of  large  tinancial  supplies, 
that  the  great  majority  of  the  preachers  consented  to 
revolutionize  the  newly-organized  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  Canada,  and  to  become  a  mere  dependency 
of  the  English  Conference. 

This  unconstitutional  movement  was  resisted  by  some 
of  the  preachers,  and  by  hundreds  of  the  members. 
Despite  remonstrance,  however,  the  Canada  Conference 
consummated  ils  iniion  with  tiie  English  body,  faking 
with  it  most  of  the  Church  property,  nearly  all  the 
preachers,  and  the  jirincijial  part  of  the  membership. 
Some  of  the  former,  and  hinidreds  of  the  latter,  disap- 
proving of  the  proceedings  of  the  Conference,  yet  sub- 
mitted from  hopelessness  of  successful  resistance.  A 
respectable  minority  protested  against  the  action  of 
the  Conference,  maintaining  that  the  discipline  of  the 
Church  did  not  vest  in  the  Conference  the  powers  as- 
sumed by  it  in  that  action,  ajul  that  therefore  the  ac- 
tion was  null  and  void.  Thej'  also  maintained  that  if 
the  General  Conference  had  possessed  the  powers  it 
claimed,  its  action  was  nevertheless  null  and  void,  be- 
cause persons  were  allowed  to  take  part  in  its  proceed- 
ings who,  according  to  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  were 
not  meml)ers  of  the  General  Conference.  The  protes- 
tants  further  claimed  that,  having  joined  an  I-jiiscopal 
Church,  they  coidd  not  without  tlieir  own  consent  be 
made  members  of  a  non-lCpiscopal  Church;  neither 
could  they,  without  fault  of  their  own,  be  tleprivcd  of 
their  membershi])  in  the  Church  they  had  joined;  that 
tiiey  therefore  weri'  still  members  of  tiie  Methodist  ILjiis- 
cojial  Church  in  Canada,  and  that  said  Church  remained 
in  its  constitution  and  government  intact — the  action 
of  the  Conference  amounting  to  nothing  more  than  the 
I  withdrawal  of  the  Conference  and  those  who  followed  it 
:  from  the  Church. 


M.  E,  CHURCH  IN  CANADA   181 


M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH 


Those  preachers,  travelling  and  local,  who  continued 
to  adhere  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  therefore 
exerted  themselves  to  collect  together  the  scattered 
remnants  remaining  faithful  to  the  old  Church.  The 
winter  of  1833-3-i  was  spent  in  tliis  particular  work — no 
easy  task,  because  of  the  extent  of  country  which  had  to 
be  traversed ;  but  the  few  preachers  who  adhered  to  the 
original  Church  organization  were  indefatigable  in  their 
ell'orts  to  rebuild  the  broken-down  walls  of  their  beloved 
Zion.  The  Conference  assembled  at  Yonge  Street  in 
June,  1834,  when  it  was  ascertained  that  only  fourteen 
jireachers  could  be  calculated  upon  who  were  prepared 
to  take  work  the  ensuing  year;  with  a  membership  of 
1 100 — a  decrease  during  eight  months  of  13,899.  Tliese 
statistics,  however,  did  not  represent  the  true  status  of 
the  Church,  for  many  more  of  the  people  returned  to 
the  old  fold  as  soon  as  thej'  found  that  there  was  suffi- 
cient vitality  left  in  it  to  reconstruct  and  carry  on  the 
work  of  God  in  the  land.  Ten  years  after  tlie  disrup- 
tion of  1833,  viz.  in  1843,  there  were  seventy  effective 
ministers  and  preachers  supplying  circuits  and  stations 
in  Upper  Canada,  besides  superannuated  and  supernume- 
rary preachers,  and  a  goodly  staff  of  local  preachers,  who 
were  doing  efficient  service  in  the  Master's  vineyard. 
The  membership  had  increased  to  8880,  and  there  had 
been  a  corresponding  increase  of  Church  property.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  at  the  union  in  1833  the 
Church  had  lost  almost  all  its  connectional  property, 
and  this  made  the  subsequent  increase  the  more  marked. 

In  January,  1845,  the  Canada  Christian  Advocate,  a 
Aveekly  paper,  was  established  to  supply  the  place  in 
Church  literature  formerly  occupied  by  the  Christum 
Guardian.  This  medium  of  communication  drev,r  the 
societies  and  preachers  more  closely  together,  and  ena- 
bled all  better  to  understand  the  true  position  of  the 
Church,  and  the  worlt  accomplished  through  its  agency. 
It  is  still  the  weekly  official  paper. 

The  connection  has  now  a  book-room  and  publishing- 
house,  located  in  the  thriving  and  beautiful  city  of 
Hamilton,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario.  The  class  of 
publications  and  papers  sent  out  from  it  very  greatly 
benelits  the  Church,  and  assists  in  advancing  the  cause 
of  Christ  through  the  country  generally. 

There  are  two  colleges  under  the  direction  and  con- 
trol of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Canada,  viz. 
Albert  College,  vested  with  university  powers,  and  Alex- 
andra College,  for  the  education  of  young  ladies.  These 
educational  establishments  are  located  in  Eelleville,  in  a 
healtliy  sitiiatidn,  surrounded  by  pleasing  scenery,  and 
in  full  vivw  ul  the  pure  and  placid  waters  of  the  Bay  of 
(iuiuU',  about  iifty  miles  west  from  Kingston.  Under 
the  able  management  of  the  president,  Ke v.  A.  Carman, 
JI.A.,  these  institutions  are  prospering,  and  are  exerting 
an  influence  for  good  in  the  country. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Canada  is  com- 
posed of  three  Annual  Conferences,  with  a  delegated 
(ieneral  Conference  which  meets  every  fourth  year,  and 
has  the  same  legislative  powers  as  the  parent  body  in 
the  United  States.  The  present  position  of  the  Church, 
therefore,  is :  One  General  Conference,  three  Annual  Con- 
ferences—Niagara, Ontario,  and  Bay  of  Quinte— ten  ex- 
tensive districts,  145  circuits  and  stations,  228  travelling- 
preachers,  225  local  preachers,  21,818  members,  with 
Church  property  amounting  to  $2,149,776.  Great  at- 
tention is  given  to  the  Sabbath-school  work.  As  nearly 
as  can  be  cstiinatrd.  from  ri'|ioris  at  liniid,  there  are  no't 
far  from  oO.ood  chlMrcii  in  the  Siuii1;iv-m1],.(,1s. 

The  polity  of  the  .MrthoiHst  F,|.is.Mpal  ( 'liiirch  in  Can- 
ada is  like  that  of  the  :\Iethodist  Episcopal  Cluirch  in  the 
United  States:  the  bishop  taking  the  general  oversight 
of  the  connection,  presiding  at  the  Conferences,  and  pro- 
ceeding in  almost  every  respect  in  a  similar  manner  to 
that  of  the  bishops  of  the  parent  body.  The  late  incum- 
bent of  the  bishopric,  the  Kev.  J.Kiciiardson.D.D.jYork- 
ville,  Ontario,  died  in  1874.  See  Webster,  Hist.  M.  Kjns. 
Ch.,  Canada  ;  Math.  Qti.  Rcr.  18(;3,  Jan.  p.  169  sq. ;  1863, 
Apr.  p.  204 ;  1808,  Apr.  p.  264 ;  187 1 ,  Jan.  p.  173,    (T.  W.) 


Methodist   Episcopal   Church,  South.  — 

I.  Early  JJistor//. — In  the  year  1766  I'hilip  Embury  and 
Captain  Thomas  Webb,  IMethodist  local  preachers,  be- 
gan to  preach  in  New  York,  and  in  the  same  year  Kob- 
ert  Strawbridge,  also  a  local  preacher,  in  Maryland.  In 
1769  Richard  Boardman  and  Joseph  Pilmoor  were  sent 
over  to  America  as  missionaries  by  the  Rev.  John  Wes- 
ley; and  they  were  followed  in  1771  by  Francis  Asbury 
and  Richard  Wright.  In  1772  Asbury  was  made  gen- 
eral assistant,  that  is,  superintendent,  under  Wesley,  of 
the  Methodist  societies  in  America.  They  were  all  con- 
nected with  the  Colonial  Church  of  England,  until  that 
Church  was  disbanded  after  the  Revolution.  As  they 
had  no  ordained  ministers,  and  the  English  bishops 
would  not  ordain  any  for  them,  though  importuned  to 
do  so  by  Wesley,  he  undertook  to  ordain  some  for  them 
himself,  and  to  organize  his  societies  into  a  regular 
Episcopal  Church,  to  take  the  place,  so  far  as  the  Meth- 
odists were  concerned,  of  the  old  Colonial  Church.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  as  it  was  styled, 
was  organized  in  1784.  The  Rev.  John  Wesley,  M.A., 
consecrated  the  Rev.  Thomas  Coke,  LL.D.,  who  was,  like 
himself,  a  presbyter  of  the  Church  of  England,  to  the 
office  of  superintendent,  or  bishop,  of  the  new  organiza- 
tion— other  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  assist- 
ing in  the  consecration.  Richard  Whatcoat  and  Thom- 
as Vasey  were  at  the  same  time  ordained  elders,  or 
presbyters,  for  the  American  Church.  Conferences  of 
the  preachers  had  been  held  annually  from  the  year 
1773 ;  but  now  a  special  Conference  was  convened  in  Bal- 
timore, and  bishop  Coke  consecrated  Francis  Asbury  as 
bishop,  and  several  elders  and  deacons  were  ordained 
at  the  same  time.  The  Conference  gave  its  suffrage  to 
all  tliese  appointments.  Wesley  and  his  associates  pro- 
ceeded upon  the  true  principle  that  the  Episcopacy  is 
derived  from  the  Presbytery  of  the  Church,  so  far  as  it 
differs  from  the  latter — in  this  respect  reverting  to  the 
ancient  regimen  which  recognised  the  bishop  as  primus 
inter  pa7-es.  Certain  functions  of  government  are  ordi- 
narily restricted  to  the  Episcopacy  to  prevent  schism 
and  confusion,  but  with  no  idea  of  a  jvs  divinum — as  if 
bishops  were,  by  God's  ordinance,  a  third  order  in  the 
ministry,  and  that  there  can  be  no  Church  without  one 
of  them.  Thus  the  American  Methodists  became  truly 
Episcopal,  without  any  tincture  of  either  Romish,  Ori- 
ental, or  Anglican  prelacy — that,  indeed,  being  preclud- 
ed by  the  repudiation  of  the  dogma  of  uninterrupted 
apostolical  succession.  The  Church  being  thus  organ- 
ized with  a  Liturgy  and  Confession  of  Faith,  judiciously 
abridged  by  Mr.  Wesley  from  the  Prayer-book  and 
Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  a 
Discipline  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  the  parent 
Wesleyan  body  in  England,  went  forward  with  aston- 
ishing success,  extending  all  over  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada.  As  the  exigencies  required, 
new  bishops  were  consecrated,  and  various  modifications 
took  place  in  the  discipline  of  the  Church.  In  1792  it 
was  ordered  that  all  the  travelling  preachers  in  full  con- 
nection should  attend  the  General  Conference ;  in  1800 
this  was  restricted  to  all  who  had  travelled  four  years ; 
in  1804  this  was  explained  to  mean  "from  the  time 
they  were  received  on  trial  by  an  Annual  Conference." 
But  as  their  number  multiplied,  a  delegated  General 
Conference  was  organized  to  meet  quadrennially— the 
first  meeting  being  in  1812.  The  ratio  of  representation 
was  one  delegate  to  every  five  travelling  preachers  in 
full  connection.  This  ratio  has  been  repeatedlv  altered, 
in  view  of  the  constant  increase  of  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences. The  General  Conference  was  bound  by  the  fol- 
lowing restrictive  rules :  "  The  General  Conference  shall 
have  full  powers  to  make  rules  and  regulations  for  our 
Church,  under  the  following  limitations  and  restric- 
tions, namely:  1.  The  General  Conference  shall  not  re- 
voke, alter,  or  change  our  articles  of  religion,  nor  estab- 
lish any  new  standards  or  rules  of  doctrine  contrary  to 
our  present  existing  and  established  standards  of  doc- 
trine.   2.  They  shall  not  allow  of  more  than  one  repre- 


M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH 


182 


M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH 


sentative  for  every  five  members  of  the  Annual  Con- 
ference, nor  allow  of  a  less  number  than  one  lor  every 
seven.  3.  They  shall  not  change  or  alter  any  part  or 
rule  of  our  government,  so  as  to  do  away  I-^piscopacy,  or 
destroy  the  plan  of  our  general  supcrintendency.  4. 
They  "shall  not  revoke  or  change  the  (ieneral  liules  of 
the  United  Societies.  5.  They  shall  not  do  away  the 
privileges  of  our  ministers  or  preachers  of  trial  by  a  com- 
mittee, and  of  an  appeal;  neither  shall  they  do  away 
the  privileges  of  our  members  of  trial  before  the  society, 
or  by  a  committee,  and  of  an  appeal.  6.  They  shall  not 
appropriate  the  produce  of  the  Eook  Concern,  nor  of 
the  Chartered  Fund,  to  any  purpose  other  than  for  the 
bcnetit  of  tlie  travelling,  supernumerary,  superannuated, 
and  worn-out  preachers,  their  wives,  widows,  and  chil- 
dren. Provided,  nevertheless,  that  upon  the  joint  rec- 
ommendation of  all  the  Annual  Conferences,  then  a  ma- 
jority of  two  thirds  of  the  General  Conference  succeed- 
ing sliall  suffice  to  alter  any  of  the  above  restrictions." 
In  1832  the  proviso  was  changed  thus :  '•Provided,  nev- 
ertheless, that  upon  the  concurrent  recommendation  of 
three  fourths  of  all  the  members  of  tlie  several  Annual 
Conferences  who  shall  be  present  and  vote  on  such  rec- 
ommendation, then  a  majority  of  two  thirds  of  the 
General  Conference  succeeding  shall  suHice  to  alter  any 
of  the  above  restrictions  excepting  the  first  article;  and 
also,  whenever  sucli  alteration  or  alterations  shall  have 
been  first  recommended  by  two  thirils  of  the  General 
Conference,  so  soon  as  three  fourths  of  the  members  ol' 
all  the  Annual  Conferences  shall  have  concurred  as  afore- 
said, such  alteration  or  alterations  shall  take  eifect." 

II.  The  Slavery  Question. — From  the  beginning  the 
American  Methodists  legislated  on  the  subject  of  negro 
slavery— at  first  (1780)  advising  the  members  holding 
slaves  to  emancipate  them ;  then  (1783)  warning  local 
jireachers  that  it  may  be  necessary  to  suspend  them  if 
tliey  did  not  in  one  year  emancipate  their  slaves,  if  they 
held  them  -'contrary  to  the  laws  which  authorize  their 
freedom  in  any  of  the  United  States;"  then  (1784)  or- 
dering that  those  who  bouglit  negroes  to  hold  them  as 
slaves,  being  previously  warned,  shoidd  be  expelled ; 
and  forbidding  them  to  sell  them  on  any  consideration ; 
and  suspending  the  local  preachers  in  Maryland,  Dela- 
ware, Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey  who  refused  to 
emancipate  them,  but  "trying  those  in  Virginia  another 
year."  All  this  was  before  the  Church  was  organized. 
At  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  Church,  the  I'ol- 
lowing  rules  were  adopted : 

"  Quest.  A\.  Are  there  any  directions  to  he  given  con- 
cerning the  negroes?  Anx.  Let  every  pioMcher,  ns  often 
as  poe'sible,  meet  them  in  class;  ancl'lci  \\w  assistant  al- 
ways appoint  a  proper  white  poisoi)  as  tlicir  Icadei-.  I-ci 
the  assistants  also  make  a  rof^ular  return  to  the  Confer- 
ence of  the  niunber  of  negroes  in  society  in  their  respec- 
tive circuits. 

"Q»«?.^■^  42.  What  methods  can  we  take  to  extirpate 
slavery?  Ann.  We  are  deeply  ccniscions  of  the  imjiropri- 
ety  of  making  new  teiius  ulCDininiiiiion  for  a  religions 
pociety  already  eslablislicil,  excepting  on  the  most  press- 
ing occasiou  ;  and  such  we  csu'cni  tlie  i)rMctice  of  holding 
our  fellow-creatures  in  slavery.  \Vc  view  il,  as  contrary 
to  the  gnldeii  law  of  Ond,  on  which  liaiiu'  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets,  aiul  the  inalienable  rijrlils  of  mankind,  as 
well  as  every  piinciiile  of  the  IJovoUition,  to  hold  in  llie 
deepest  dchascniiMit,  in  a  mnw  abject  slavciy  than  is  per- 
haps to  be  fonnd  in  any  i)ait  (^f  the  woild  except  Amer- 
ica, so  many  souls  that  arc  all  capable  of  ihc  )mat;e  of 
God.  We  therefore  think  it  our  innst  bounden  duty  to 
take  Immediately  some  eflcelual  niethdd  ti)  exlirpale  Ibis 
abomination  from  anioliL,'  us  ;  :\\n\  fur  that  puiposc  we  add 
the  following  to  the  rules  of  our  society,  vi/.  :  1.  Every 
member  of  our  society  who  has  slaves  in  his  possession 
shall,  within  twelve  m'onlhs  after  noliie  given  to  him  by 
the  assistant  vwliidi  notice  tlie  assistants  are  reipiired  im- 
mediately, and  without  any  delay,  to  givt'  in  tlieir  resjiec- 
tive  circiiits),  le^rally  execute  and  record  an  instrument 
■whereby  he  emancipates  and  sets  free  every  slave  in  hie 
possession  who  is  between  the  ages  of  forty  and  forty-five 
immediately,  or  at  furthest  when  they  arrive  at  the  age 
of  forty-five:  and  every  slave  who  is  between  the  ages 
of  twenty-five  and  forty  immediately,  or  at  furthest  at 
the  expiration  of  five  ycais  from  the' date  of  the  said  in- 
Ktninient;  and  every  slave  who  is  between  the  aL'es  of 
Iwentv  and  twenty-tive  immediately,  or  at  finthest  when 
they  arrive  at  the  age  of  thirty ;  aiid  every  slave  under 


the  age  of  twenty,  as  soon  as  they  arrive  at  the  age  of 
twenty-tive,  at  furthest;  and  eveiy  infant  Ixirn  in  slavery 
after  the  above-mentioned  rules  arc  complied  with, imme- 
diately on  its  birth.  2.  Every  assistaut  shall  keep  a  jour- 
nal, in  which  he  shall  legida'rly  minute  down  the  names 
and  ages  of  all  the  slaves  belonging  to  all  the  masters  iu 
his  resiiective  circuit,  and  also  the  date  of  evei^-  instru- 
ment executed  and  recorded  for  the  manumission  of  the 
slaves,  with  the  name  of  the  court,  book,  and  folio  in 
which  the  said  instruments  respectively  shall  have  been 
recorded;  which  journal  shall  be  handed  down  in  each  cir- 
cuit to  the  succeeding  assistants.  3.  In  consideration  that 
these  rules  form  a  new  term  of  conmuuiion,  every  person 
concerned,  who  will  not  comply  with  them,  shall  have  lib- 
erty (juietly  to  withdraw  himself  from  our  society  within 
the  twelve"  months  succeeding  the  notice  given  :is  afore- 
said: otherwise  the  assistant  shall  exclude  him  in  the  so- 
ciety. 4.  No  person  so  voluntaiily  withdrawn,  or  so  ex- 
cluded, shall  ever  partake  of  the  Supper  of  the  Lot  d  with 
the  Methodists  till  he  complies  with  the  above  requisi- 
tions. 5.  No  person  holdint:  slaves  shall,  in  future,  be  ad- 
milted  into  society  or  to  the  Lord's  Supper  till  he  pre- 
viously complies  with  these  rules  concerning  shivery. 
N.B. — These  rules  are  to  affect  the  members  of  our  soci- 
ety no  further  than  ns  they  are  consistent  with  the  laws 
of  the  slates  in  which  they  reside.  And  rcsiiecting  our 
brethren  in  Virghiia  that  are  concerned, and  alter  due  con- 
sideration of  their  peculiar  circumstances,  we  allow  them 
two  years  from  the  notice  given  to  consider  the  expe- 
dience of  com|)liance  or  non-compliance  with  these  rules. 
"■Qnetit.ii.  What  shall  be  done  with  those  who  buy  or 
sell  slaves,  or  give  them  away?  An-t.  They  are  inmie- 
diately  to  be  expelled,  unless  they  buy  them  ou  purpose 
to  free  them." 

In  1785  these  rules  were  suspended,  as  it  was  thought 
they  "would  do  harm,"  though  still  the  destruction  of 
slaverj'  was  to  be  sought  "by  all  wbe  and  prudent 
means."  In  1796  the  following  section  was  inserted  in 
the  Discipline : 

"  Qttext.  What  regulations  shall  be  made  for  the  extir- 
pation of  the  crying  evil  of  African  slavery?  ^-Ids.  l.We 
declare  that  we  are  more  than  ever  convinced  of  the  great 
evil  of  the  African  slavery  which  still  exists  iu  these  United 
Stales,  and  do  most  earnestly  recommend  to  the  Yearly 
i  CcinlcKiK  ('-.  ((uaiterly  meetings,  and  to  those  who  have 
the  o'.(r-i::lii  c  1  (li-uiits  and  circuits,  to  be  exceedingly 
canii'ii-  wlial  inr.-ons  they  admit  to  oflicial  stati(nis  iu 
(iur  Chuicli ;  and  iu  the  case  of  future  admission  to  oflicial 
stations,  to  require  such  security  of  those  who  hold  slaves 
for  the  emancipation  of  them,  immediately  or  gradually, 
as  the  laws  of  the  stales  respectively,  and  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  will  admit;  and  we  do  fully  authorize 
all  the  Yearly  Conferences  to  make  whalcver  regulations 
they  judi:e  pi'oper,  in  the  present  case,  respecting  the  ad- 
mission of  |)ersons  to  ollicial  stations  in  our  Church.  2. 
No  slaveholder  shall  be  received  into  society  till  the 
preacher  who  lias  the  oversight  of  the  circuit  has  spoken 
to  him  freely  and  faithfully  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  3. 
Every  member  of  the  society  who  sells  a  slave  shall  im- 
mediately, after  full  proof,  be  excluded  the  society.  And 
if  any  member  of  our  society  purchase  a  slave,  tl'.e  ensu- 
ing quartcily  meeting  shall  determine  on  the  number  of 
years  in  which  the  slave  so  purchased  would  work  out  the 
piiec  of  his  purchase.  And  the  person  so  purchasing 
sliall,  immediately  after  such  determination,  execute  a  le- 
gal instrunieiit  foV  the  manumission  of  such  slave  at  the 
expiration  of  the  term  determined  by  the  quarterly  meet- 
iiiL'.  And  ill  default  of  his  cxecutini:  such  instrument  of 
manumission,  or  on  his  iclnsal  to  submit  his  case  to  the 
jU'lL'tneiit  of  the  quarteilv  incctiiig,  such  member  shall  be 
excluded  the  snciciv.  /■/..r/-.'M/ «/«),  that  in  theca-eofa 
female  slave  it  slmil  !"•  iiiMiieil  in  the  aforesaid  instru- 
ment of  manumi--iMii  lli.il  all  her  children  who  shall  be 
born  during  the  \ears  <  fli.r  >ervit!ide  shall  be  ficc  at  the 
followin-  times,  "namely  :  every  female  child  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one.  and  every  male  child  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
tive.  '.Wrt'illii-lcKs,  if  tlic  member  of  our  society  executing 
the  said  iiisti  iimenl  id' nianuinission  judge  it  proper,  lie 
m.iv  lix  the  times  of  nianuinission  of  the  children  of  the 
feiiialc  slaves  before  mentioned  at  an  earlier  age  than  that 
which  is  prescribed  above.  4.  The  preachers  and  other 
members  of  our  society  are  requested  to  consider  the  sub- 
ject of  iicL'ro  slavery  with  dee|)  attention  till  the  ensuinjj 
(ieneral  I'oiiference ;  and  that  they  imjiart  to  the  (ieneral 
Coufeicnce,  throuirh  the  niedhiin"  of  the  Yearly  C-nfer- 
eiici's,  iM-otherwisi\  ;iny  im;  ..  I  i  i  i  In  iiLrhts  upoii  the  sub- 
ject, that  the  I'onfe.eii^  .  :  ,  .  :  i!l  li-ht.  in  order  to 
tak<' further  stejis  Iowa' I  .;  iii;,' this  enormous 
evil  from  that  jiart  of  tin  i  an  ii  ,  ,  (,,nl  lo  which  \\c  are 
united." 

In  1800  the  following  new  paragraphs  were  inserted: 
",'5.  Wlieu  anv  travelling  preacher  becomes  an  owner  of 
i  a  slave  or  slaves  by  any  means,  he  shall  forfeit  his  niiiiis- 
}  lerial  character  in  our'ciuirch,  unless  he  execute,  if  it  be 
'  practicable,  a  legal  emancipation  of  such  slaves,  conform- 
I  ably  to  the  laws  of  the  state  in  which  he  lives.  «.  The 
I  Auiiual  Confcreuces  are  directed  to  draw  up  addresses  for 


M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH 


183 


M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH 


the  cradaal  emancipation  of  the  slaves  to  the  legislatures  I 
of  those  stales  iu  which  no  ijeneral  laws  have  beeu  passed  [ 
for  tluU purpose.  These  addres^es  shall  ui'j.e,  in  the  most 
respectful  but  pointed  manner,  the  n(.T(.->iiy  of  a  law  for 
the  .'radual  emancipation  of  tlie  slave.-;  ])rni)er  comrait- 
teesshallbe  appointed  bv  the  Annual  Conleiences,  out  of 
the  most  respectable  of  ..ur  fiicnds,  for  the  conducting  of 
the  business;  and  the  presiding  elders,  elders,  deacons, 
and  travelling  preachers,  shall  secure  as  many  proper  sig- 
natures as  possible  to  the  addresses,  and  give  all  the  as- 
sistance iu  their  power  iu  every  resjiect  to  aid  the  com- 
mittees, aud  to  further  this  blessed  undertaking.  Let  this 
he  continued  from  year  to  year  till  the  desired  eud  be  ac- 
complished." 

In  1804  the  following  alterations  were  made :  the  ques- 
tion reads,  "What  shall  be  done  for  the  extirpation  of  the 
evil  of  slavery?"  In  paragraph  1  (179G),insteadof  "more 
than  ever  convinced,"  it  reads,  "  as  much  as  ever  con- 
vinced;" and  instead  of  "the  African  slavery  which  still 
exists  in  these  United  States,"  it  reads  simply  "  slavery." 
In  paragraph  4  (3  of  1796),  respecting  the  selling  of  a 
slave,  before  the  words  "shall  immediately,"  the  follow- 
ing clause  is  inserted:  "Except  at  the  request  of  the 
slave,  in  cases  of  mercv  and  humanity,  agreeably  to  the 
judgment  of  a  committee  of  the  male  members  of  the 
society,  appointed  by  the  preacher  who  has  the  charge 
of  the  circuit."  This  new  proviso  was  inserted :  "  Pro- 
vided  also,  that  if  a  member  of  our  society  shall  buy  a 
slave  with  a  certificate  of  future  emancipation,  the  terms 
of  emancipation  shall,  notwithstanding,  be  subject  to  the 
decision  of  the  Quarterly-meeting  Conference."  All  after 
"  nevertheless"  was  stricken  out,  and  the  following  sub- 
stituted :  "  The  members  of  our  societies  in  the  states  of 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Tennessee 
shall  be  exempted  from  the  operation  of  the  above  rules." 
The  paragraphs  about  considering  the  subject  of  slavery 
and  petitioning  legislatures  were  cancelled,  and  this  was 
added :  "  G.  Let  the  preachers,  from  time  to  time,  as  occa- 
sion serves,  admonish  and  exhort  all  slaves  to  render 
due  respect  and  obedience  to  the  commantls  and  inter- 
ests of  their  respective  masters."  In  1808  it  was  ordered 
that  "  no  slaveholder  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  an 
elder,  where  the  laws  will  admit  of  emancipation,  and 
permit  the  liberated  slave  to  enjoj'  freedom;"  but  all 
that  related  to  slaveholding  among  private  members, 
and  paragraph  5  of  1804,  were  cancelled,  and  the  follow- 
ing substituted:  "3.  The  General  Conference  authorizes 
each  Annual  Conference  to  form  their  own  regulations 
relative  to  buying  and  selling  slaves."  In  1812  this 
was  altered  thus :  "3.  Whereas  the  laws  of  some  of  the 
states  do  not  admit  of  emancipating  of  slaves  without  a 
special  act  of  the  legislature,  the  General  Conference 
authorizes  each  Annual  Conference  to  form  their  own 
regulations  relative  to  biu'ing  and  selling  slaves."  In 
1816  paragraph  1  of  1796  was  altered  thus:  "  l.We  de- 
clare that  we  are  as  much  as  ever  convinced  of  the  great 
evil  of  slavery ;  therefore  no  slaveholder  shall  be  eligi- 
ble to  any  official  station  in  our  Church  hereafter,  where 
the  laws  of  the  state  in  which  he  lives  will  atlmit  of 
emancipation,  and  permit  the  liberated  slave  to  enjoy 
freedom."  In  1820  the  paragraph  leaving  it  to  the  An- 
nual Conferences  "  to  form  their  own  regulations  about 
buying  and  selling  slaves"  was  cancelled.  In  1824  the 
following  paragraphs  were  added :  "  4.  All  our  preach- 
ers shall  prudently  enforce  upon  our  members  the  neces- 
sity of  teaching  their  slaves  to  read  the  Word  of  God ; 
and  to  allow  them  time  to  attend  upon  the  public  wor- 
ship of  God  on  our  regular  days  of  divine  service.  5. 
Our  colored  preachers  and  official  members  shall  have 
all  the  privileges  which  are  usual  to  others  in  the  Dis- 
trict and  Quarterly  Conferences,  where  the  usages  of  the 
country  do  not  forbid  it.  And  the  presiding  elder  may 
hold  for  them  a  separate  District  Conference,  where  the 
number  of  colored  local  preachers  will  justify  it.  6. 
The  Annual  Conferences  may  employ  colored  preachers 
to  travel  and  preach  where  their  services  are  judged 
necessary ;  proviiled  that  no  one  shall  be  so  employed 
without  having  been  recommended  according  to  the 
Form  of  Discipline." 

The  General  Kules  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Wesley  for  the 


Methodist  societies  in  England  were  not  placed  in  the 
Discipline  at  the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  in  America  in  1784.  They  were 
inserted,  with  some  alterations,  by  bishops  Coke  and 
Asbury  in  1789.  The  bishops  took  the  liberty  of  inter- 
polating the  rule  forbidding  "  the  buying  or  selling  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  men  with  an  intention  to  enslave 
them."*  In  1792  it  was  altered  thus :  "  The  buying  or 
selling  of  men,  women,  or  children,  with  an  intention  to 
enslave  them."  In  1808  thus :  "  The  buying  and  sell- 
ing of  men,  women,  and  children,  with  an  intention  to 
enslave  them."  In  view  of  the  time  and  manner  of  its 
introduction,  and  its  peculiar  phraseologj',  this  rule  was 
considered  to  refer  to  the  African  slave-trade,  and  not 
to  the  transfer  of  those  already  in  slavery  from  one  per- 
son to  another;  hence  it  met  with  but  little  opposition 
in  the  South,  which  denounced  that  odious  traffic.  The 
later  General  Conferences,  down  to  that  of  1840,  were 
conservative  on  this  subject,  and  this  latter  affirmed  the 
right  of  local  preachers  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  who 
held  slaves  to  ordination,  from  which  they  had  beeu 
debarred  by  the  Baltimore  Conference.  As  the  South- 
ern States"  did  not  allow  the  emancipation  of  slaves 
without  expatriation,  both  ministers  and  members  held 
them  without  violation  of  the  Discipline.  As  slavery 
was  a  civil  and  social  institution,  it  was  impossible  for 
the  Church  to  exist  in  the  South  without  this  permis-^ 
sion.  In  this  respect  the  J.Iethodist  Episcopal  Church 
only  imitated  the  Apostolic  and  Primitive  Church, 
which  allowed  of  slavery  among  both  the  membership 
and  ministry,  and  made  laws  for  the  regulation  of  the 
same.  Mr.  Wesley  pursued  the  same  course  in  the  AVest 
Indies,  licensing  Mr.  Gilbert,  a  slaveholder,  to  preach, 
and  baptizing  his  slaves.  The  British  Conference  tlid 
so  too,  charging  its  ministers  in  the  West  Indies  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  institution  of  slavery,  as  that 
was  a  matter  belonging  to  the  legislature,  but  to  preach 
the  Gospel  alike  to  master  and  slave.  Thus,  after  a 
tortuous  legislation  on  tlie  vexed  question,  which  scarce- 
ly knows  a  parallel  in  Church  history,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  America  appears  to  have  been  set- 
tling down  upon  a  satisfactory  and  permanent  br.sis. 

III.  The  Sepm-ation.— But  when  the  General  Confer- 
ence met  in  1844,  in  New  York,  the  Rev.  Francis  A. 
Harding,  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  appealed  to  it 
from  the  decision  of  that  Conference,  which  had  sus- 
pended him  from  the  ministry  for  not  manumitting 
slaves  belonging  to  his  wife.  The  General  Conference 
confirmed  the  decision  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  de- 
spite the  laws  of  Maryland  and  of  the  Discipline.  It 
was  ascertained,  too,  that  one  of  the  bishops,  .James  Os- 
good Andrew,  residing  in  Georgia,  had  become  con- 
nected with  slavery.  Neither  he  nor  IMr.  Harding  had 
either  bought  or  sold  a  slave.  Bishop  Andrew  was  le- 
gally  in  possession  of  a  slave,  bequeathed  him  by  a  lady, 
and  whom  he  would  liberate  at  any  time,  but  she  would 
not  receive  her  freedom ;  also  a  boy,  left  by  his  former 
wife  to  his  daughter  without  will;  him,  too,  he  would 
willingly  manumit  if  he  could  do  so  by  the  laws  of 
Georgia;  also  slaves  legally  his  by  his  second  marriage, 
whom  he  coidd  not  own,  "but  secured  them  by  deed  to 
his  wife,  to  whom  they  belonged— the  law  not  allowing 
their  emancipation.  But  after  a  lengthened,  excited, 
and  very  able  discussion  of  the  question  on  both  sides, 
the  General  Conference  adopted  the  following  prearajjle 
and  resolution :  "  Whereas,  the  Discipline  of  the  Church 
forbids  the  doing  anything  calculated  to  destroy  our 
itinerant  and  general  superintendency ;  and  whereas, 
bishop  Andrew  has  become  connected  with  slavery,  by 
marriage  and  otherwise,  and  this  act  having  dra^vn  after 
it  circumstances  which,  in  the  estimation  of  the  General 
Conference,  will  greatly  embarrass  the  exercise  of  his 
office  as  an  itinerant  general  superintendent,  if  not,  in 
some  places,  entirely  prevent  it ;  therefore,  Resolved^ 
That  it  is  the  sense  "of  this  General  Conference  that  he 


*  [See,  however,  foot-note  on  p.  173  of  the  art.  MetuoD' 

1ST  El'lBCOrAL  CUUKOU.— En.] 


M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH    184    M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH 


desist  from  the  exercise  of  this  office  so  long  as  this  im- 
pediment remains."  The  vote  stooil  111  for  and  G9 
af^aiiist — all  in  the  atHrmativc,  except  one  (and  he  a 
Kortlierner),  being  from  Northern  Conferences,  the  Bal- 
timore Conference  being  e(|ually  divided:  several  from 
the  Northern  Conferences,  however,  voted  in  the  nega- 
tive. The  bishops  had  reijiiested  the  General  Confer- 
ence to  suspend  action  in  tlie  premises,  suggesting  that 
arrangements  might  be  made  to  retain  bishop  Andrew 
in  oiHce,  as  his  services  would  be  "  welcome  and  cordial"' 
in  the  .South.  Resolutions  declaring  the  action  in  the 
case  of  bishop  Andrew,  to  be  advisory  only,  and  not  to  be 
considered  in  the  light  of  a  judicial  mandate,  and  post- 
poning its  final  disposition,  according  to  the  suggestion 
of  the  bishops,  were  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  75  to  08 
— the  South,  of  course,  voting  in  the  negative.  Kesolu- 
tions  proposing  two  General  Conferences  were  referred 
to  a  committee,  which  could  not  agree  on  a  report.  The 
Southern  delegates  then  preseiUed  the  followiiig  "  Dec- 
laration:"' "The  delegates  of  the  Conferences  in  the 
slaveholding  states  take  leave  to  dcchire  to  the  General 
Conference  of  the  ^Methodist  Episcoi)al  Church  that  the 
continued  agitation  on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  aboli- 
tion in  a  portion  of  the  Church,  the  frccjucnt  action  on 
that  subject  in  tlie  (ieneral  Conference,  and  especially 
the  extra-judicial  iiroceedipgs  against  bishop  Andrew, 
whiih  resulted  on  Saturday  last  in  the  virtual  suspen- 
sion of  him  from  his  oflice  as  superintendent,  must  pro- 
(hice  a  state  of  things  in  the  South  which  renders  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  Conference 
over  these  Conferences  inconsistent  with  the  success  of 
tlie  ministry  in  the  slaveholding  states."  This  decla- 
ration was  referred  to  a  committee  of  nine,  composed  of 
Northern  and  Southern  delegates,  with  instructions  to 
devise  a  constitutional  jilan  for  a  mutual  and  friendly 
division  of  the  Church,  provided  the  difficulties  could 
not  be  otherwise  adjusted.  The  minority,  through  Dr. 
Bascom,  presented  an  elaborate  protest  against  the  ac- 
tion of  the  majority  in  the  case  of  bishop  Andrew,  char- 
acterizing it  as  extra-judicial  and  luicoiistilutional— the 
Episcopacy  being  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  a  bishop  cannot  be  subjected  by  a 
delegated  Conference  to  any  official  disability  without 
formal  jiresentation  of  a  charge  of  the  violation  of  law, 
and  convi<'lion  on  trial,  and  no  law  concerning  slavery 
had  been  violated  by  iiishop  Andrew;  the  action  there- 
foTe  in  bis  case  was  unconstitutional,  and  would  estab- 
lish a  dangerous  precedent,  subversive  of  the  union  and 
stability  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  This 
jirotest  was  allowed  to  go  on  the  Journal,  and  a  reply 
was  made  to  it  on  the  i)art  of  the  majority.  Kesolu- 
tions  were  adopted  allowing  bishop  Andrew's  name  to 
remain  in  tlie  Minutes,  Hymn-book,  and  Discipline  as 
formerly:  allowing  him  and  his  famih'  a  support;  and 
leaving  to  him  to  decide  what  work  he  would  do,  if  any, 
in  view  of  the  action  of  the  Conference — the  third  reso- 
lution being  adopted  by  a  vote  of  103  to  07.  The  com- 
mittee of  nine  made  their  report  on  a  ])lan  of  separation, 
whicli.  after'disciission  anil  amendment,  and  earnest  ad- 
vocacy liy  Drs.  Olin.  Ilamline,  Hangs,  Elliott,  and  other 
Northern  delegates,  was  adojitcd  by  a  nearly  imanimous 
vote.  The  leaders  of  the  North  considered  that  the 
Conference  was  shut  up  to  this  course,  as  they  affirmed 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  bishop  Andrew  could  not 
preside  in  some  of  the  Northern  (Jonferenees,  and  they 
believed  that  if  he  were  suspended,  and  the  Southern 
Church  sidiniitted  to  it.  ^lethodism  could  not  prosper  in 
the  South.  Ilimdreds  nf  thousands  of  negroes  were 
supplied  with  the  (iospel  by  the  Southern  Church,  and 
access  to  them,  especially  on  the  plantations,  woidd  be 
debarred  if  the  measure  in  (piestion  were  submitted  to 
by  the  South.  Division.  tJKrefore,  was  inevitable.  It 
was  accom|)lished  in  the  spirit  of  candor  and  charity — 
and  the  rather  as  the  Connection  was  getting  too  large, 
as  Dr,  l^iliott  said,  for  one  (Jeneral-Confcrcnce  jurisdic- 
tion. The  following  is  the  I'lun  of  tiipuraiiun: 
"The  select  comiuiitce  of  nine  to  consider  and  report 


on  the  declaration  of  the  delegates  from  the  Conferences 
of  tlie  slaveholding  stales,  be^;  leave  to  submit  tbe  follow- 
ing report : 

'•Whereas,  a  declaration  has  been  presented  to  this  Gen- 
eral Conference  with  the  siguaiuies  of  ri/tij-one  delegates 
of  the  body,  from  thirteen  Annual  Coul'eiences  in  the 
slaveholding  stales,  representing  that,  for  various  reasons 
enumenited,  the  objects  and  purposes  of  the  Christian 
niinisiry  and  Church  organization  cannot  be  successfully 
accomplished  by  tliera  iTudcr  the  jln■i^diction  cf  this  Gen- 
\  eral  Coiifeience  as  now  constituted  ;  iiiid  whereas,  in  the 
I  event  of  a  separation,  a  contingency  to  which  the  decla- 
riiiion  asks  attention  as  not  improbable,  we  esteem  it  the 
1  duty  of  this  Ceiier:il  Conference  to  meet  the  emergency 
j  with  Cliristiaii  kindness  and  the  strictest  cquitv.  ihere- 
j  fore,  lU-sidrKi,  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Con- 
ferences in  (ieneral  Conference  assembled, 

"1.  That  should  the  Annual  Conferences  in  the  slave- 
holding  states  tiud  it  necessary  to  unite  in  a  distinct  ec- 
clesiastical connection,  the  following  rule  shall  be  ob- 
served with  regard  to  the  norihern  boniidary  of  such  con- 
nection :  All  itie  societies,  ^tillions,  and  Conferences  ad- 
hering to  the  Cliureli  in  tlu'  South,  by  a  vote  of  a  majority 
of  the  members  of  said  societies,  stations,  and  Confer- 
ences, shall  remain  under  the  unmolested  pastoral  care  of 
the  Soul  hern  Church;  and  the  miuieteis  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  shall  in  no  wise  attemjit  to  organize 
churches  or  societies  within  the  limits  of  the  Church 
Soiiili,  nor  sludl  they  iitiempt  to  exercise  any  pastoral 
oversiL'lil  tliciciii;  it  being  uiulersto<'.d  that  the  ministry 
of  ilie  Soulli  recipiocMlly  ubscrve  the  same  rule  in  relation 
to  stations,  societies,  and  Coi.lVreiHes  iidlierinLr  by  a  vote 
of  a  majority  to  the  .Mctli(;(li>t  l•;pi^(■l■ll.■ll  (  linrcli :  provided, 
also,  that  this  rule  sb;ill  upl'lv  "hIv  Io  s.cietles,  btalions, 
and  Conferences  bordcriiig  on  the  line  ofdivisioii,  and  not 
to  interior  charges,  which  shall  in  all  cases  be  left  to  the 
care  of  that  Church  within  whose  territory  they  are  situ- 
ated. 

"2.  That  ministers,  local  and  travelling,  of  every  grade 
and  oflice  in  tbe  Jleihodist  Episcopal  Church,  may,  as 
they  prefer,  remain  in  that  Church,  or,  without  blame,  at- 
tach themselves  to  the  Chr.nli  South. 

".3.  Renolved, hy  il  .  ,^  ',  ^  :,  -^  .  f  nl!  the  Annu.il  Confer- 
ences in  General"  t"!  ii  i  -  i  >  i  ■.lubled,  'I'liat  we  recom- 
mend to  all  theAiiiii:i;  i  -  .  iM(  sat  tl'cir first  approach- 
ing sessions  to  autlmii;-,'  a  ,  |;:h!l'c  of  tile  sixth  Resiriclive 
'  Article,  so  that  the  first  clause  shall  read  thus :  '  They  shall 
not  appropriate  the  produce  of  the  Book  Concern,  nor  of 
the  Chartered  Fund,  to  any  oilier  imrpote  other  than 
for  the  henetit  cf  the  travelling,  snpermimerary,  superan- 
nuated, and  worn-out  jneachers,  their  wives,  widows,  and 
children,  and  to  such  other  purposes  as  may  be  determined 
upon  by  the  votes  of  two  thirds  of  the  members  of  the 
General  Conference.' 

"4.  Tlmt  whenever  the  Annual  Conferences,  by  a  vote 
of  three  fourths  of  all  their  members  voting  on  the  third 
resohiiion.  shall  have  concurred  in  the  recommendation 
to  aller  the  sixth  Restrictive  Article,  the  aL'ents  at  New 
York  and  Ciiuliiiiati  shall,  and  they  aie  hereliy  aulhor- 
izcd  and  diiecied  to  deli\er  over  to  any  authorized  agent 
or  apiiointee  of  the  Churcli  South,  (sh("iul(l  one  lie  organ- 
i'/.ed),  all  notes  and  book  accounts  against  the  niinisiers, 
Church  members,  or  citizens  within  ils  boundaries,  with 
atithority  to  collect  the  same  for  the  sole  use  of  the  S(  uih- 
ern  Church  ;  and  that  said  agents  also  c<nivey  to  the  afore- 
said agent  or  ai)poiutce  of  the  South  all  the  real  estate, 
and  assign  to  him  all  the  properly,  including  i)ies>cs, 
stock,  and  nil  riirht  and  interest  connected  wiih  the  piiiit- 
im:  establishments  at  Charleston,  Richmond,  and  Nash- 
viilc,  which  now  behnigto  the  Methodist  Kpisrojial  Church. 
'•.\  That  when  the  Annual  Coiifeieuces  shall  have  a))- 
proved  lheat"ore.-a:d  change  in  the  sixlh  Restrictive  Arti- 
cle, Iheic  shall  te  Iransfeiied  to  Ihe  above  agenis  of  the 
Sonlheru  Church  so  nnuh  of  the  caiiital  ami  i)roduce  of 
the  Methodist  I'ook  Ccjiu  eni  as  will,  with  the  noles,  hook 
accounts,  jiresM's,  etc.,  nuiilioned  in  Ihe  last  resolution, 
bear  the  same  i)roportion  to  Ihe  whole  jiropcriy  of  said 
Concern  that  Ihe  travelliiii:  jireac  hers  in  the  Sonlheru 
Church  shall  bear  to  all  Ihe  travelling  miiiislers  of  ihe 
Metbodist  Kpi-cojial  Church,  Ihe  division  to  be  made  on 
Hie  la-i-  ni  iiic  number  of  Iravelliug  preachers  in  the 
forllicM,,,!,,;:  Minutes. 

'Mi.  'I'liai  Ihe  above  transfer  shall  he  in  the  form  of  an- 
nual pavmeiiis  of  .t?."),!!!!!)  per  annum,  and  siiecificallv  in 
stock  of  the  Book  Ccuuern,  and  in  Southern  nolcs  and  ac- 
counts due  Ih.e  establi.-bnieiit,  and  acciuili'.'  after  the  liist 
tiansler  menlioned  above;  and  until  the  iiayinenis  are 
made  the  Sonlheru  Church  shall  share  in  all  the  net  prof- 
its of  Ihe  l!o<d<  Concern  in  Ihe  proportiiu)  that  the  amount 
due  ihem,  or  in  arrears,  bears  to  all  the  property  of  the 
Concern. 

"7.  That  Nathan  Bangs,  (ieorge  Teck,  and  James  B. 
Finlev  be,  ami  ihev  aie  hereby  aiipoiiiled  commissioners 
to  act"  in  coiueit  with  the  same  number  of  commissior.erM 
apiioinied  bv  llie  Sonlheru  organization  (sin  nlil  one  l.e 
formedl.to  estimate  ihe  ann  unl  which  will  fall  due  to  the 
South  bv  Ihe  pieceding  rule,  and  to  have  full  powers  to 
carrv  into  edVct  the  whole  anangenieiils  proixised  with 
re<ra"rd  to  the  division  of  iimiicrly,  should  the  separation 
take  place.    And  if  by  anv  means  a  vacancy  occur  in  this 


M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH 


185 


M.  E.  CHURCH,  SOUTH 


Bo:ira  of  Commissioners,  the  Book  Committee  at  New 
York  f^hall  till  said  vacancy.  ,  ,     „       .         ^u       u 

"S  That  whenever  any  agents  of  the  Southern  Church 
are  clothed  with  legal  authority  or  corporate  power  to  act 
in  the  premises,  the  agents  at  New  York  are  hereby  au- 
thorized and  directed  to  act  in  concert  with  said  Southern 
a"0Mts,  s.)  as  to  u'ive  the  provisions  of  these  resolutions  a 
it^'illv'liiiKliiiu'  tWrce. 

'"•;i."That  all  the  property  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Chiir.li  in  meeting-houses,  parsonages,  colleges,  schools, 
Conference  I'tmds,  cemeteries,  and  of  every  kiud  within 
tlie  limits  of  the  Southern  organization,  shall  be  torever 
free  from  any  claim  set  np  on  the  part  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  so  far  as  this  resolution  can  be  of  force 
in  the  premises.  ,     ,    „  ■ 

"10  That  the  Church  so  formed  m  the  South  shall  have 
a  common  right  to  use  all  the  copyrights  iu  possession  of 
the  Book  Concerns  at  New  York  and  Ciucmuati  at  the 
time  of  the  settlement  by  the  commissioners. 

"11.  That  the  book  agents  at  New  York  be  directed  to 
make  sucli  compensation  to  the  Coul'erences  South  for 
their  dividend  from  the  Chartered  Fund  as  the  commis- 
sioners above  provided  for  shall  agree  upon. 

"  12.  That  the  bishops  be  respectfully  requested  to  lay 
that  part  of  this  report  requiring  the  action  of  the  An- 
nual Conferences  before  them  as  soon  as  possible,  begin- 
ning with  the  New  York  Conference." 

The  Southern  delegates  sent  out  an  address  to  their 
constituents,  showing  what  they  had  done,  and  conn- 
selling  moderation  and  forbearance.  Thej'  called  for  a 
convention  of  the  Annual  Conferences — in  the  ratio  of 
one  to  eleven  of  their  members — to  meet  in  Louisville, 
Ky.,  jMay  1, 1845.  Meanwhile  the  Church  in  the  South, 
in  Quarterly  and  Annual  Conferences,  took  action  in  the 
premises,  and  declared  in  favor  of  the  plan  of  separation 
with  a  very  near  approach  to  unanimity.  The  conven- 
tion met  in  Louisville  at  the  appointed  time,  bishops 
tjoide,  Andrew,  and  Morris  being  present.  The  bish- 
ops were  invited  to  preside,  and  the  two  former  did  so. 
Tlie  convention,  acting  under  the  plan  of  separation,  de- 
clared tlie  Southern  Conferences  there  represented  a  dis- 
tinct connection,  under  the  style  of  "  The  Methodist 
Kpiscopul  Church,  South"  and  made  provision  for  the 
holding  of  its  first  General  Conference  in  Petersburg, 
Ya.,  May,  184G.  Bishops  Soule  and  Andrew  were  re- 
quested to  become  regidar  and  constitutional  bishops 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South ;  the  latter 
complied  with  the  request,  but  the  former,  in  view  of 
outstanding  eiigagements,  postponed  doing  so  till  the 
session  of  the  General  Conference.  The  action  of  the 
convention  Avas  nearly  unanimous,  and  it  gave  great 
satisfaction  throughout  the  South.  Bishop  Soule  gave 
in  his  formal  adherence  at  the  General  Conference  in 
Petersburg ;  two  other  bishops  were  consecrated,  viz. 
AV'illiam  Capers,  D.D.,  aiid  Robert  Paine,  D.D. ;  the  Dis- 
cipline was  revised;  missions,  etc.,  were  projected; 
Henry  B.  Bascom,  Alexander  L.  P.  Green,  and  Charles 
B.  Parsons  were  appointed  commissioners,  and  John 
Early  agent  and  appointee,  according  to  the  provisions 
of  the  plan  of  separation;  editors,  etc.,  were  chosen, 
and  all  the  operations  of  the  Church  went  on  as  though 
no  separation  had  taken  place.  Lovick  Pierce,  D.D.,  was 
commissioned  to  attend  the  session  of  the  Northern  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  1848,  to  tender  to  that  body  the 
Christian  regards  <ind  fraternal  salutations  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episciipal  Church, 
South;  but  he  was  not  received  in  his  official  capacity. 
A  Change  had  come  over  the  Northern  Church,  and  the 
General  Conference  repudiated  the  plan  of  separation. 
The  Church-property  question  had  to  be  settled  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  which  decided  in 
favor  of  the  South.  The  property  was  divided  accord- 
ing to  the  provisions  of  the  plan.  A  publishing-house 
was  established  in  Nashville ;  a  quarterly  review, 
•vveekh'  papers,  Sunday-school  papers,  books,  tracts,  etc., 
were  published ;  and  all  things  progressed  prosperous- 
ly till  the  war  interfered  with  the  operations  of  the 
Church,  and  sadly  crippled  its  institutions.  Much  of 
its  property  was  appropriated  by  others  during  the  mili- 
tary occupancy  of  the  South;  but  most  of  it  has  been 
restored,  and  it  is  hoped  all  the  rest  will  soon  be.  Tenta- 
tive movements  have  been  made  by  some  in  the  North- 
ern Church  for  reunion ;  but  as  that  is  deemed  inexpe- 


dient and  impracticable,  the  Northern  General  Confor- 
ence  of  1872  empowered  the  bishops  to  send  a  deputa- 
tion to  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South,  in  1874,  to  see  if  fraternal  intercourse 
cannot  be  established  between  the  two  connections.  It 
is  hoped  that  this  will  take  place  on  a  basis  honorable  . 
to  both  parties.  The  fraternal  messenger  sent  to  the 
Northern  Conference  in  1848,  assured  that  body  that 
the  jMethodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  was  always 
ready  for  fraternization  on  the  basis  of  the  plan  of  sep- 
aration. 

in.  Present  Condition. — The  Church  has  been  rapidly 
recovering  from  the  sad  effects  of  the  war.  At  the  time 
of  the  separation,  in  1844,  there  were  about  450,000  com- 
municants in  the  Southern  Church.  In  1860  there  were 
757,205,  of  whom  207,760  were  colored  members.  These 
figures  were  greatly  reduced  during  the  war.  In  1872 
the  number  of  communicants  was  054,159,  of  whom 
only  3557  were  colored.  There  were  3232  travelling 
and  5134  local  preachers — all  embraced  in  the  foregoing 
figures.  Most  of  the  colored  members  had  j-iiied  other 
colored  bodies  of  Methodists.  Many  of  them  arc  con- 
nected with  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
America,  which  was  organized  in  1870  by  the  sanction 
of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  with  a  distinct  connection  in  fraternal 
relation  with  this  Church,  the  bishops  of  the  latter  con- 
secrating as  bishops  two  colored  ministers  chosen  by  a 
colored  General  Conference.  One  of  them  died  in  1872 ; 
but  the  Connection  is  prosperous,  having  a  number  of 
Annual  Conferences,  and  at  a  special  General  Confer-  ' 
ence,  held  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  in  1873,  three  other  bishops 
were  elected.  Their  Disciiiline,  nuifatis  mutandis,  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  Methodi-i  K|iiMH|ial  Church,  South. 
Four  bishops  of  the  Southern  Cliunli  have  died,  in  the 
following  order:  Bascom,  eapi  rs.  Scudr,  and  Andrew. 
The  Episcopal  College  now  consists  of  bishops  Paine, 
Pierce,  Kavanaugh,  Early,  Wightman,  Doggett,  Mar- 
vin, McTyeire,  and  Keener.  There  are  thirty-seven  An- 
nual Conferences,  compose<l  of  travelling  ministers  and 
lay  delegates— four  of  the  latter  (one  of  whom  may  be  a 
local  preacher)  from  every  district.  The  General  Con- 
ference is  constituted  of  an  equal  number  of  ministers 
and  laymen.  District  Conferences  are  held  in  all  the 
districts  once  a  year,  for  the  purpose  of  review,  etc.,  but 
without  legislative  or  judicial  power.  Quarterly  Con- 
ferences are  held  in  all  the  pastoral  charges,  at  which 
exhorters  and  local  preachers  are  licensed,  and  preachers 
are  recommended  to  the  Annual  Conference  for  ordina- 
tion or  admission  into  the  travelling  ministry.  Church 
Conferences  are  ordered  once  a  month,  to  review  all  the 
spiritual  and  temporal  affairs  of  the  pastoral  charges. 
Sunday-schools,  love-feasts,  class-meetings,  and  prayer- 
meetings  enter  into  the  economy  of  the  Church.  The 
General  Conference  ordered  a  revised  edition  of  the  Lit- 
urgy, as  abridged  by  jNIr.  A\'esley  for  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  America,  to  be  published  for  those 
congregations  that  might  desire  to  use  it;  but  few,  if 
any,  do  so.  The  Ritual  is  still  in  use  for  all  occasional 
services,  and  it  has  been  carefully  revised  and  improved, 
as  also  has  been  the  psalmody  of  the  Church.  The 
Sunday-school  cause  has  received  a  great  impulse, 
and  many  valuable  publications  are  issued  to  meet  its 
demands.  Universities,  colleges,  and  academies,  for 
both  sexes,  have  been  multiplying  all  over  the  Connec- 
tion. Jlany  original  Avorks,  which  are  held  in  high  es- 
timation, such  as  histories,  biographies,  sermons,  com- 
mentaries, and  other  works  on  theology,  have  been  is- 
sued from  the  publishing-house  of  the  Church;  and  the 
great  staple  works  of  the  Wesleyan  press  have  been 
carefully  revised  and  re-printed.  The  publishing-house 
was  in  part  destroyed  by  fire  in  February,  18/2,  but  a 
magnificent  edifice,  approaching  completion,  is  to  take 
its  place.  The  missionary  Avork  of  the  Clinrch  ■was 
well-nigh  broken  up  by  the  war;  but  it  is  recuperating 
— except  the  missions  to  the  colored  people,  wliich  were 
considered  the  crowning  glory  of  the  Southern  Method- 


METHODIST  PROT.  CHURCH     186     METHODIST  PROT.  CHURCH 

ist  Cluircli.  The  mission  to  China  has  received  a  great  |  the  official  character  of  its  members,  licenses  jireachers, 
iini)etiis  and  promises  well;  so  do  the  Indian  missions,  recommends  candidates  for  ordination  to  the  Annual 
A  mission  has  been  established  in  Mexico  under  favor-  |  Conference,  etc.  Tliere  are  classes,  leaders,  and  stew- 
able  auspices.  But  the  destitute  portions  of  the  South  ards,  as  in  the  Methodist  Eiiiscopal  Church, 
—destroyed  by  the  war— rcijuire  a  vast  amount  of  mis-  |  The  slavery  question  divided  the  iSIcthodist  Trotes- 
sionarv  work.' and  in  rendering  this  the  Church  is  re-    tant  Church  into  two  bodies— /7/e  Mtthodhl  I'rotestunt 


stricteil,  for  want  of  sufficient  men  and  means,  from  ex- 
tending its  work  in  the  foreign  iMiX.—lJiinplineK,  Gen- 
end  Minutes,  Journals  of  the  General  Conferences  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  North  and  South ;  j 
ICmory's  Ilistorij  of  the  Discipline;  Methodist  Church 
I^ropertij  Case ;  Redford's  JJistory  of  the  Onjanization 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Sec  Meth- 
odism.    (T.  ().  S.) 

Methodist  Protestant  Church  is  the  name 
assumed  by  a  body  of  Christians  who  seceded  from  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1830.  The  primary 
causes  for  this  step  were  opposition  to  the  episcopate, 
and  tlie  decided  refusal  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  min- 
istry to  vest  any  authority  in  the  laity.    I'rom  the  very 


outset  efforts 


t-ere  made  bv  a  minority  in  the  IMethodist 


Church  (f  the  Xorlh-western  States,  and  the  Methodist 
Protestants  of  the  Southern  States.  The  head-quarters 
of  the  former  were  establLshed  at  S|iringlicld.  C)liio; 
those  of  the  latter  at  Baltimore,  ild.  The  numbers  of 
the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  were  at  tliat  time  scat- 
tered mainly  over  the  Border  States  and  certain  parts  of 
the  West ;  their  jjrincipal  strength  has  since  developed 
in  Virginia,  jMaryland,  and  in  some  portions  of  Ohio  and 
Pennsylvania.  Of  late  years  a  union  of  all  non-Epis- 
copal Methodists  having  been  proposed,  the  Protestant 
Methodists  North  changed  their  official  name  to  the  Meth- 
odist Church.  Tlieir  head-quarters  were  lately  removed 
from  Springfield,  Ohio,  to  Pittsburgh,  I'a.  Each  body 
has  a  board  of  foreign  and  domestic  missions  and  a  liook 
Concern — theProtestant  Church  South  at  Baltimore,  !Md.; 


Episcopal  Church  to  secure  the  representation  of  the 

laity  in  the  conferences.     See  Kiliiajiiti:s  ;  Lay  Kkp- 

Kiis'tiNTATiON.     In  1824  a  so-called  Union  Society  was 

founded  at  Baltimore,  ]Md.,  for  the  purpose  of  agitating 

the  question  of  a  change  of  the  Church  govenmient, 

and   a  periodical  was  established  called  The  Mutual 

Hiyhts  of  the  Ministers  and  Members  of  the  Methodist 

Episcopal  Church.    In  the  spring  of  182G  the  Baltimore  ^ 

Union  Society  initiated  a  movement  to  inquire  into  the  i  ferences,  700  preachers,  and  about  7r),000  members,  with 

sxpediencv  o"f  making  a  united  petition  for  a  general    a  Church  property  of  *l,t;()lt,4-2iJ;  and  (2)  the  Jlethod- 


the  Methodists  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  At  the  beginning 
the  IMethodist  Protestant  Church  counted  83  niiuislers 
and  about  ;j(I(I0  members;  and  at  the  seventh  (iencral 
Conference  in  18:)8  there  were  '2000  stationed  ministers, 
1200  churches,  <JO,(l()0  members,  and  61,M0,000  worth 
of  property.  In  tiieir  present  divided  fjrm  they  figure, 
according  to  the  New  York  Ohscrrer  Year-book  of  1873, 
as  follows:  (1)  The  Methodist  Church  counts  28  con- 


exped 

representation  to  the  ticneral  Conference  of  1828.  The 
convention  was  held  in  November,  1827,  and  the  peti- 
tion was  presented,  but  received  an  unfavorable  reply. 
The  Union  Society,  persisting  in  its  efforts,  a  number 
of  individuals  were  expelled  in  Tennessee,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  Baltimore.  This  provoked  many  friends  of  the 
radicals,  and  caused  the  secession  of  considerable  num- 
bers.   A  convention  which  met  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  Nov 


ist  Protestant  Church,  within  25  conferences,  employs 
423  preachers,  and  has  about  70,000  members. 

The  Methodist  Protestants  have  three  colleges :  the 
Western  Maryland,  at  Westminster,  Carroll  County, ;Md.; 
Yadkin  College,  North  Carolina;  and  one  in  West  Vir- 
ginia. The  Methodist  Protestant,  a  weekly  paper,  of 
which  the  Bev.  L.  W.  Bates,  D.D.,  is  the  editor,  jmb- 
lished  at  their  Book  Concern,  is  the  official  organ.    The 


12, 1828.  drew  up  provisional  articles  of  association ;'  and  j  eleventh  General  Conference  of  this  body  is  to  be  held 
on  Nov!  2,  183(1,  another  convention,  composed  of  an    at  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  on  the  first  Eriday  of  May, 


equal  nimiber  of  clerical  and  lay  delegates  from  various 
states  of  the  Union,  assembled  at  the  same  place,  aiul, 
after  a  session  protracted  for  three  weeks,  adopted  a 
Constitution  and  a  Book  of  Discipline,  and  formed  a  new 
society,  under  the  name  of  Methodist  J'mlestant  Church. 
The  Bev.  Francis  Waters,  D.D.,  of  Haltimore,  was  pres- 
ident of  this  convention. 

The  Jletliodist  Protestant  Church  holds  the  same 
doctrinal  views  as  the  parent  body,  and  differs  from 
it  only  in  a  few  points  of  ecclesiastical  government. 
EoUowing  the  example  of  the  British  Weslcyans,  the 
EjMscopal  otHcc  is  abolished,  and  a  president  called  to 
rule  over  each  Annual  Conference,  elected  by  the  ballot 
of  that  body.  The  laity  is  admitted  to  an  equal  par- 
ticipation with  the  clergy  in  all  Church  legislation  and 
government.  The  General  Conference,  which  at  first 
met  every  seventh,  but  now  congregates  every  fourth 
year,  is  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  ministers  and 
laymen,  who  are  elected  by  the  Annual  Conferences  at 
the  ratio  of  one  delegate  of  each  order  from  every  one 
tli()\isand  communicants.  The  General  Conference  has 
authority,  under  certain  restrictions,  to  make  such  rules 
for  tlic  goverimient  of  the  Church  as  may  be  necessary 
to  carry  into  effect  the  laws  of  Christ ;  to  fix  the  com- 
pensation and  duties  of  travelling  miui>ters  and  preach- 
ers, etc.;  to  devise  means  for  raising  money,  aiul  to  reg- 
ulate the  boundaries  of  Aiunial  Conference  districts. 
The  Annual  Conference,  which  consists  of  all  tlic  or- 
dained itinerant  ministers  of  the  district,  has  ])ower  to 
elect  to  orders,  station  ministers,  preachers,  and  mis- 
sionaries ;  make  rules  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  their 
8up|»ort,  and  fix  the  boundaries  of  circuits  and  stations. 
It  elects  its  own  president  yearly.  The  (Quarterly  Con- 
ference is  com|(osed  of  tlie  trustees,  ministers,  preach- 
ers, exhorters,  leaders,  and  stewards  in  tlie  circuit  of 
which  it  is  the  immediate  officijil  meeting.    It  examines 


1874. 

The  IMethodist  Church  issues  a  we(Jdy  newspaper, 
the  Methodist  Pecordei;  edited  by  Alexander  Clark,  and 
published  by  the  Book  Concern  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Also 
a  semi-monthly  Sunday-school  journal,  edited  by  the 
same.  A  new  Hymn-book,  entitled  The  Voice  of  Praise, 
has  just  been  compiled  aiul  published,  which  compares 
favorably  with  that  of  any  other  denomination.  Among 
the  recent  literary  productions  of  the  Church  are  the 
following  wvTks-.'j'ulpit  Echoes,  by  John  Scott,  D.D.; 
Non-  Episcopal  Methodism,  by  T.  H.  Colhouer,  A.M.; 
Wonders  of  the  East,  by  J.  J.  Smith,  D.D. ;  7'he  Impending 
Cotijlict,  by  J.  J.  Smith,  D.IX;  Recollections  of  Itinerant 
Life,  by  George  Brown,  D.U. ;  The  Lady  Preacher;  by 
the  satiie;  'The  Gospel  in  the  Trees,  by  Alexander  Clark, 
A.M.;  Work-day  Christianitij,h\-  Xhc^mQ;  etc.  Adrian 
College,  Adrian,  ]Mich..  is  under  their  control,  and  is  in 
a  most  i)romising  condition.  Its  president  is  George  B. 
^IcElroy.  D.I).  It  admits  both  males  and  females. 
The  Mii.-ionar>-  Board— AVilliam  Collier.  D.D.,  president, 
and  C.  lI.A\iliiains,  corres|)onding  secretary — is  devis- 
ing large  jilans  for  the  West,  and  initiating  foreign 
work.  Tiie  Hoard  of  Ministerial  Education  —  J.  B. 
Walker,  corresponding  secretary— is  doing  a  good  work 
for  young  men  iireparing  for  the  ministry.  Tliere  is  a 
fair' prospect  that  at  an  early  day  an  organic  reunion 
with  the  IMethodist  Protestant  Church  will  be  effected. 
The  initiatory  steps  have  already  been  taken,  and  will 
probably  lead  to  a  imited  IMethodist  Church  of  non- 
ejiiscopal  order.  The  General  Conference  of  the  Mi  tli- 
odist  Church  will  meet  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.. :May  17,  1874, 
See  the  lliscipHne  if  the  Methodist  Church,  ami  y//.>.(v- 
pline  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church;  also  Stevens, 
Hist,  of  Methodism,  iii,  4G3  ;  Bangs,  Hist.  Meth.  Ch.  iii, 
432  .sq. :  Sprague,  Annals  Amer.  Pulpit,  \ol.\ii,  Introd. 
p.  18.     Sec  Mi:.Tiiui>is.M.     (^J.H.W.) 


METHODISTS,  CAMP 


187 


METHODISTS,  FREE 


Methodists,  Camp,  is  a  term  of  reproach  which 
ill  the  days  of  early  JNIethodism  was  fastened  upon  those 
Methodists  in  the  Western  States  of  North  America 
who,  with  a  view  to  promote  revivals  of  religion,  adopted 
camp-meetings,  at  whicli  religious  services  were  con- 
ducted. Now  that  camp-meetings  have  become  popu- 
lar, in  this  country  the  term  is  no  longer  employed. 

Methodists,  Dialectic,  or  Romish,  as  they 
have  also  been  called,  flourished  near  the  middle  of  the 
17th  century.  Tiiey  were  priests  of  the  Church  of 
l\omc,  wlio  attempted,  by  ingenious  sophistry,  to  refute 
the  arguments  employed" against  them  by  the  Protestant 
(Huguenot)  party.  Mosheim  (^Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  iii)  ar- 
ranges these  "  Methodists"  under  two  classes.  Accord- 
ing to  his  classitication,  the  one  party  in  their  contro- 
versies urged  their  opponents  to  adduce  direct  proof  of 
their  doctrines  by  an  appeal  to  the  statements  of  the 
Holy  Scripture.  The  other  party  refused  to  encounter 
the  Protestants  liy  arguing  with  them  on  the  various 
disputed  points.  Imt  sdught  to  overcome  them  by  ad- 
ducing certain  i;r(at  |iiiuciples  involving  the  whole  sub- 
ject. Thus  they  insisted  that  the  Cliurch  which  was 
chargeable  with  changing  or  modifying  its  doctrines 
could  not  have  the  Holy  Spirit  for  its  giiitle. 

In  England  the  term  J/ct/wdist  is  frequently  applied 
to  a  person  who  becomes  religious,  witliout  reference  to 
any  particular  sect  or  party,  and  especially  to  ministers 
of  the  Church  of  England  who  are  evangelical  and  zeal- 
ous in  their  preaching. 

Methodists,  Free  (properly  '-Tiir  Fiskk  :\rETii- 
ODiST  Church").  This  body,  the  young.  sI  of  tin'  ^ktli- 
odist  family,  an  offshoot  of  the  Metlinili^t  Miiismpal 
Church,  dates  its  existence  from  Aug.  ':■'<.  IMHi.  when  it 
was  organized  at  a  convention  held  at  I'ekin,  Niagara 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  composed  of  laymen  and  ministers  who  were 
then  or  had  been  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

I.  Or '((/ill,  <  Ic. — The  causes  for  the  establishment  of 
this  independent  body  were  manifold.  Most  prominent, 
however,  were  a  desire  for  primitive  IMethodist  simplic- 
ity, and  more  faithful  adlierence  to  the  doctrines  and 
usages  of  Wesley  and  his  associates.  Its  organizers 
were  ministers  expelled  from  the  "  jiaiH  iit"  liody  because 
of  their  course  in  opposing  what  tiny  callrd  innovations 
or  departures  from  the  rules  of  tlie  Discijiline.  It  was 
and  is  claimed  by  those  engaged  in  the  Free  Methodist 
movement  that  the  Methodist  Church  has  declined  in 
spirituality  since  their  early  history,  and  that  in  the  rapid 
progress  made  by  the  Church  in  adding  numbers,  acquir- 
ing property,  etc.,  sufficient  care  has  not  been  taken  to 
guard  its  purity,  and  preserve  its  primitive  power  and 
spiritual  efficiency— the  toh  ration  of  many  worldly  prac- 
tices, and  a  departme  from  correct  doctrine  on  several  im- 
portant points.  In  proof  of  this  it  is  asserted  that  widely 
divergent  and  contradictory  teachings  are  heard  from 
the  pul|)it  on  the  doctrine  of  entire  sanctitication  without 
official  rebuke,  some  preachers  claiming  sanctitication  as 
a  work  done  concomitantly  with  justification,  others  re- 
garding it  as  a  result  to  be  reached  by  a  gradual  process 
of  spiritual  growth,  and  yet  others  preaching  it  as  a  sec- 
ond distinct  attainment  to  be  received  instantaneously 
by  faith.  The  Free  Methodists  also  hold  that  hearty  and 
thorough  repentance,  evinced  by  honest  confession,  and 
complete  abandonment  of  all  sin,  is  practically  not 
enough  insisted  on,  and  that  many  are  accepted  as  con- 
verts who  are  not  even  scripturally  awakened ;  that  a 
merely  intellectual  belief,  born  of  human  reason,  is  al- 
lo\\  ed  to  take  the  place  of  the  supernatural  faith  taught 
by  Paul  and  Wesley ;  that  the  direct  witness  of  the 
Spirit  is  not  now  enjoyed  by  multitudes  of  professed 
Methodists;  that  power  over  all  sin  is  not  experienced; 
that  entire  sanctitication  is  even  jirofessedly  a  rare  at- 
tainment; that  the  execution  of  discipline  is  so  neg- 
lected as  to  become  difficidt,  and  in  many  societies  im- 
possible; that  Methodists  generally  have  abandoned 
jdaiuness  of  dress,  and  are  as  fashionably  attired  as  the 
world  itself;  that  they  are  allowed  and  coimtenanced 


in  the  transaction  of  unscriptural  business  enterprises, 
and  transact  lawful  business  on  worldly  principles;  and 
especially  that  secret  and  oath-bouncl  fellowship  with 
societies  composed  in  large  part  of  unsaved  men  is  tol- 
erated and  encouraged;  and  that  the  relaxing  of  the 
rule  requiring  attendance  at  class  is  especially  fatal  to 
spirituality.  It  is  also  further  asserted  that  other  evi- 
dences of  the  spiritual  decline  of  the  Church  are  exhib- 
ited by  the  partial  and  frequent  abandonment  of  the 
free-seat  system  in  its  houses  of  worship ;  and  in  the 
substitution  of  choir  singing  and  instrumental  perform- 
ances for  congregational  praise;  by  the  reading  instead 
of  preaching  of  sermons;  by  the  building  of  extrava- 
gantly costly  churches,  and  resorting  to  improper  modes 
of  Clmrch  support,  such  as  Church  fairs,  picnics,  dona- 
tion parties,  etc. 

The  movement  for  the  organization  of  this  indepen- 
dent body  had  its  commencement  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Genesee  Conference  (N.  Y.)  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  A  number  of  ministers  of  that  body  liad 
written  and  spoken  against  these  alleged  deijarimcs 
from  the  primitive  faith  of  Methodism.  By  tln'  year 
1855  a  state  of  feeling  had  been  engendered  which  re- 
sulted in  acrimonious  disputes,  accusations,  Churth  tri- 
als, etc.,  and  finally,  in  the  year  1858,  in  the  cxjiulsidn 
of  the  Kev.  B.  T.  Roberts  and  the  Kev.  Joseph  Jl-Creery 
on  a  charge  of  contumacy.  Mr.  lioberts  had  been  tried 
the  previous  3'ear  by  his  Conference  for  alleged  "im- 
moral and  unchristian  conduct."  (Said  conduct  con- 
sisted in  publishing  an  article  in  the  Northern  Indepen- 
dent entitled  "New-school  Methodism,"  in  which  the 
writer  set  forth  views  such  as  have  been  recited  above, 
and  wliich  he  offered  to  retract  and  confess  as  publicly 
as  they  had  been  promulgated  if  proved  untrue  or  in- 
correct.) His  article  was  assumed  to  be  slanderous, 
however,  and  he  was  found  guilty,  and  was  sentenced 
to  be  rebuked  b}'  the  bishop.  The  contumacy  charged 
against  him  in  the  following  j'ear  consisted  in  publish- 
ing and  circulating  a  second  edition  of  New-sc/iool 
Methodism,  and  a  pamphlet  signed  by  George  W.  Estes, 
which  gave  a  short  account  of  the  trial  of  the  year 
preceding.  On  this  charge  (which  was  disproved  as 
to  the  ptiblishinf/),  and  on  the  testimony  of  one  ivit- 
ness  (whose  veracity  was  impeached)  as  to  the  circula- 
tion, Mr.  Itoberts,  in  connection  with  one  or  two  col- 
leagues, was  expelled  from  the  Genesee  Conference  and 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  This  proceeding  was 
regarded  as  a  measure  of  high-handed  persecution  by 
many  ministers  and  laymen  of  the  Church,  and  during 
the  ensuing  j'ear  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  promi- 
nent laymen  met  in  convention  at  Albion,  Orleans 
County,  N.Y.,  and  passed  resolutions  expressing  their 
entire  and  unabated  confidence  in  the  expelled  preach- 
ers, and  recommending  them  to  continue  to  labor  for  the 
salvation  of  souls.  This  sympathy  of  the  laymen  was 
shared  by  many  of  the  ministers  of  the  Conference,  and 
this  was  so  publicly  expressed  that  at  the  ensuing  Con- 
ference four  of  them  were  expelled  on  charges  of  "  con- 
tumacy," while  two  others  were  located  for  the  same 
cause.  A  large  number  of  tlie  lay  members  were  also 
excluded  from  the  Church.  The  ensuing  General  Con- 
ference, held  at  Buffalo  in  1860,  was  respectfidly  pe- 
titioned b}'  fifteen  hundred  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  within  the  bounds  of  the  Conference 
from  which  these  expulsions  had  taken  place  to  inves- 
tigate the  judicial  action  of  said  Conference  in  relation 
to  these  matters.  A  committee  was  appointed  for  this 
purpose ;  but  W'as  finally  discharged.  B.  T.  Roberts  had 
appealed  from  both  of  the  decisions  of  the  Conference  in 
his  case.  The  first  only  Avas  entertained,  and  on  tliat, 
•'The  verdict  of  reproof,"  the  appeal  committee  stood 
equally  divided.  The  other  appeal  was  not  entertained. 
Tlius  these  ministers  and  members  were  shut  out  of  the 
Church.  As  they  believed  that  the  causes  which  had  led 
to  their  expulsion  existed  more  or  less  in  all  the  other 
churches  bearing  the  Methodist  name,  they  felt  com- 
pelled to  organize  a  new  denomination,  that  would,  in 


METHODISTS,  FREE 


188 


METHODISTS,  FREE 


thfir  jii(l;:ment,  more  fully  carry  out  the  purposes  and 
designs  of  .Alciliodism.* 

II.  (>/■'/. iiiizdlion,  JJoclrines,  etc. — In  the  formation  of 
thi'  new  (  liurch,  while  everything  calculated  to  sustain 
and  cherish  the  original  spirit  of  Metliodism  has  been 
carefully  retained,  care  has  been  taken  to  incorporate 
into  its  modes  f)f  crovernmcnt  everything  shown  by 
the  prou;rcss  <iC  Mcthndisin  for  a  century  past  to  be  nec- 
essary. Ihc  l'.|u-r(,|,.iry  is  aliandoned.  and  general  sii- 
])criiitcnd(ii(y  Mili>iitiitcd  :  th('  incumbents  of  the  office 
are  elected  every  four  years.  (Quadrennial,  Annual,  and 
(^>uarterly  Conferences  are  retained  as  in  the  parent 
body,  while  the  last  addition  to  the  maciiinery  of  the 
Meiliodist  ICpiscopal  government,  viz.  the  District  Con- 
fcreiuc.  ailiipied  in  1872,  has  been  in  use  among  the 
Free  ^lelhodists  from  their  beginning.  In  all  the  be- 
fore-named Church  courts  a  number  of  laymen,  equal  to 
the  ministry,  are  admitted,  and  their  right  to  speak  and 
vote  is  fully  guaranteed.  The  official  board  is  retained, 
and  there  is  provision  for  annual  meetings  of  all  mem- 
bers of  the  societies  for  the  a])pointment  of  delegates  to 
the  Annual  Conferences,  and  stewards.  Class-meetings 
are  held,  and  attendance  is  a  condition  of  memljership 
in  the  Church.  The  preachers  in  charge  nominate  and 
the  classes  elect  the  class-leaders.  The  office  of  presid- 
ing elder  is  retained,  but  the  name  of  the  officer  is  dis- 
trict  clxitrnutn. 

Tlic  ,niirl(  s  (if  faiih  adopted  are  the  same  p.s  those 
(ilihc  M.ihn  liM  r;|ii~riipal  Church, with  two  additions, 
doi^iK  d  1(1  sciirc  iniiloruiityof  belief,  and  guard  against 
the  iiitniiUutidii  of  errors  on  the  imjiortant  points  to 
which  liny  relate.  The  first  is  on  entire  sanctification, 
and  tiie  lirst  [lart  is  in  the  words  of  John  Wesley,  viz. : 
"  Justilied  persons,  while  they  do  not  outwardly  commit 
sin,  are  nevertheless  conscious  of  sin  still  remaining  in 
the  heart.  They  feel  a  natural  tendency  to  evil,  a 
proneness  to  depart  from  God,  and  cleave  to  the  things 
of  earth.  Those  that  are  sanctified  wholly  are  saved 
from  ail  inward  sin — from  evil  thoughts  and  evil  tem- 
pers. No  wrong  temjier,  none  contrary  to  love  remains 
in  the  soul.  All  their  thoughts,  words,  and  actions  are 
governed  by  pure  love.  Entire  sanctification  takes  place 
8ul)se(picntly  to  justification,  and  is  the  work  of  God 
wrought  instantaneously  upon  the  consecrated,  believing 
."^otd.  After  a  soul  is  cleansed  from  all  sin,  it  is  then 
fully  prepared  to  grow  in  grace"  (Discipline,  "Articles 
of  li'eligion,"  ch.  i,  §  I,  p.  23).  This  doctrine  is  regarded 
{IS  of  so  much  importance  that  no  person  is  admitted  to 
the  Adl  membership  of  the  Church  who  does  not  endorse 
il,  and  ]dedgc  himself  delinilely  to  seek  diligently  the 
experience  thereof.  No  minister  woidd  be  tolerated  in 
the  body  who  could  be  truthfully  regarded  as  out  of 
accordance  in  views  or  teaching  therewith. 

The  second  new  article  of  faith  is  on  future  reward 
and  punishment,  and  reads  as  follows:  "(iod  has  aji- 
pointed  a  day  in  which  he  will  jiulge  the  world  in 
righteousness  by  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  Go.spel. 
'J'he  righteous  shall  have  in  heaven  an  inheritance  in- 

*  III  adherence  to  our  rule  res])ecliii'_'  denomiuatlonnl 
articles,  we  liave  i)ern)itted  our  coiili'ibutor  to  state  his 
case  ill  liis  (iwii  wav.  Jusiice  to  all  parlies  concerned, 
however,  ie<i\iires  ii"s  to  add  that  ^evel•al  of  the  above 
Btaleiiieiils  i-elative  to  ll:e  origin  nf  tlie  C'liurch  in  ques- 
tion are  iiiaile  from  a  partisan  point  of  view,  and  eoii- 
peciueiitlv  fail  to  L'ive  a  fair  represeiilation  of  ihe  trrouiids 
of  coiilr(".ver-v.  This  is  true,  at  least,  in  Ilie  following' 
particulars:  (Ii  'I! ••  in!  .!illi(ailly  ltcw  out  of  a  spir- 
it of  censorion-i  i  li  iliordiiiation  exhiliited  by 
the  parlies  in  (iiK-  ,  n.  i  he  exjiulsion  ofllie  niinis"- 
ters  from  the  Aniiiid  t  ..hlci  ciice  was  in  accordanee  with 
the  re-nlar  firms  of  ee.leMasi  ieal  discipline  ;  and  the  pri- 
vale  nieml.ers  were  drdi.i.cl,  in  acc(n-(lance  wilh  an  epis- 
copal decision,  afler  lliev  had  re.illv  aliandcned  Ih.dr  for- 
liier  coiiiiiiuiii.in.  di  ■|'lic  apicd  l.  ilc  (..ncial  ('(infer- 
ciiee   was  disniissfd.  as  Ih-ikl'   u    -;-i,i,i.,i    1i\    adeonale 


corrujitible,  imdefiled.  and  that  fadeth  not  away.  The 
wicked  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment,  where 
their  worm  dieth  not,  and  their  fire  is  not  quenched" 


{Discipline.  "Articles  of  lieligion,"  ch.  i,  § 


p.  m. 


It  of  seif- 


thev  were  exclnd.'d  acied  in  il:c  -    ..  !.■ 

defence,  and  ils  le-ilimale  am  Imri;  ics  ,,  ere  the  ultimate 

jndL'es  <if  the   iiecessily  and  proiiriely  of  the  course  piir- 

iio.iii<l  caii-eto  complain  of  the  action  taken,  however  se- 
veie  it  might  seem  to  them.— Eu. 


A  noteworthy  ditference  of  polity  exists  between  this 
and  all  other  Methodist  bodies  in  respect  to  admitting 
members  on  probation.  None  are  received  simply  on 
ex|)iessing  "a  desire  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come," 
but  all  are  required  to  give  evidence  of  such  a  desire  by 
confessing  a  "  saving  faith  in  Christ."  In  other  words, 
none  are  added  to  the  Church,  even  on  probation,  unless 
it  is  believed  that  they  "are  saved."  Free  ^Methodists 
claim  that  much  of  the  defection  alleged  to  have  taken 
place  in  the  jSIethodist  Episcojial  and  other  churches  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  multitudes  have  joined  the  Church 
as  seekers  of  salvation,  but  have  gone  no  further  spirit- 
ually. 

It  is  also  definitely  required  of  all  who  join  the  Free 
Methodist  Church  that  thej'  shall  lay  aside  all  superflu- 
ous ornaments  in  dress,  "laying  aside  gold,  pearls,  and 
costly  array"  (Discipline,  ch.  i,  §  3,  f  4).  That  they 
shall  keep  free  from  connection  with  all  societies  requir- 
ing an  oath,  affirmation,  or  promise  of  secresy  as  a  con- 
dition of  membership  therein  (ihid.  ^[  5).  ALso  that 
the}'  shall  refrain  from  the  use  of  all  intoxicating  liquors, 
and  from  the  use  of  tobacco,  except  as  medicine  (iiid.  p. 
31,  %  4). 

III.  l'r<:«iit  Ciiii'liti'in.  etc. — The  progress  of  the  de- 
nomination is  ra|ii(l.  ((msidering  the  bold  stand  it  makes 
against  many  >  usioins  and  usages  quite  popidar  even  in 
the  churches,  and  the  nature  of  the  requirements  made 
of  those  who  become  members.  During  the  first  years 
of  its  history'  it  had  to  encounter  .some  of  the  difhculties 
which  beset  early  Methodism  in  the  form  of  wild  fanat- 
icism and  a  spirit  of  insubordination  to  proper  cliurch 
regulations,  and  it  sufi'ered  considerably  from  the  doings 
and  sayings  of  some  who  were  never  members  of  the 
Church,  but  who,  taking  advantage  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  was  formed,  and  acting  somewhat  in 
connection  with  its  movements,  promidgated  ideas  and 
encouraged  practices  contrary  to  pure  Gospel ;  but  the 
young  denomination  has  had  power  to  shake  off  these 
parasites,  and  free  itself  from  these  incumbrances,  and 
bids  fair  to  march  on  its  way  successfully  in  the  mission 
of  spreading  scriptural  holiness  as  understood  by  Wesley 
and  his  immediate  coadjutors.  The  religions  services 
of  the  Free  IMethodists  are  generally  characterized  by 
the  warmth  and  fervor  so  noticeable  among  early  Meth- 
odists.    Congregational  singing  is  universal. 

The  Free  Methodist  Church  is  at  present  compo.sed 
of  seven  Annual  Conferences,  embracing  portions  of 
nearly  every  Northern  state  in  the  Union.  The  follow- 
ing is  an  abstract  of  statistics  taken  from  the  reports  of 
the  Conferences  for  the  year  ending  September,  1872 : 
Members,  7155;  travelling  preachers,  1 05;  local  preach- 
ers, 159;  Sabbaih-schools,  155;  scholars,  4894 ;  teachers, 
973;  value  of  Cinirch  jirojierty,  $■203,550. 

Two  educational  institutions  have  been  started  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Church,  one  at  North  Chili,  Jlonroe 

I  Comity,  N.  Y.,  the  other  at  Spring  Arbor,  Michigan. 

I  These  are  conducteil  with  strict  reference  to  the  princi- 

1  pies  and  usages  of  the  people  by  whom  they  are  sus- 
tained, and  bid  fair  to  become  successful. 

The  publication  of  a  monthly  magazine  was  com- 
menced by  the  llev.  H.  T.  Koberts  in  the  year  1800,  en- 
titled The  Earnest  Christian,  devoted  to  the  advocacy 
of  Hilile  holiness.  It  has  been  from  the  first  well  sus- 
tained, and,  though  it  is  an  exponent  of  the  principles 
taught  by  Free  Methodists,  is  still  conducted  as  an  in- 
depemleut  enterprise,  anil  regarded  as  an  inisectarian 
publication.  It  has  a  large  circulation  outside  tlie 
Church,  which  siiiiplies  its  chief  iiatronage.  A  weekly 
liaper,  entitled  The  Free  Methodist,  and  edited  by  the 
llev.  Levi  Wood,  w.is  started  in  the  interests  of  the  de- 
nomination Nov,  2,  l.S(;7,  This  also  is  a  private  enter- 
jirise,  though  depending  on  the  patronage  of  the  body 

I  for  support.     It  is  now  published  at  Aurora,  111.,  and  its 


METHODISTS 


189 


METHODIUS 


present  editor  is  the  Rev.  L.  Bailey.    It  has  a  very  large 
circulation. 

At  present  the  labors  of  the  Free  Methodist  Church 
are  confined  to  the  poor  and  comparatively  uneducated 
classes  of  the  community,  and  its  ministers  are  mostly 
drawn  from  them.  It  can  scarcely  claim  much  denom- 
inational literature.  The  Kev.  E.  Bowen,  U.D.,  wrote  a 
history,  entitled  The  Orifjin  of  the  Free  Methodist  Church, 
which  is  rather  a  plain,  straightforward  statement  of 
historical  facts  than  an  attempted  literary  monument. 
The  Kcv.  B.  T.  Roberts,  who  has  from  its  organization 
been  general  superintendent  of  the  body,  having  been 
thrice  re-elected  to  that  position,  graduated  at  Middle- 
town,  Conn.,  and  is  a  writer  of  considerable  power.  His 
editorials,  tracts,  and  essays  display  argumentative  abili- 
tv,  and  the  faculty  of  uttering  truths  concisely.  (N.  S.  G.) 
'  Methodists,  The.    Sec  Methodism. 

Methodius,  St.  (surnamed  also  Eubulas  and  Eubu- 
lliis),  a.  noted  theologian  of  the  Eastern  Church  of  the 
od  century,  one  of  the  "  fathers"  and  '•  martyrs"  of  the 
Clmrch,  flourished  first  as  bishop  of  Olympus  and  Pa- 
tara,  in  Lycia  (hence  also  oftentimes  surnamed  Patu- 
reims),  and  lat^r  presided  over  the  see  of  Tyre,  in  Pal- 
estine. He  is  supposed  to  have  died  early  in  the  4th 
century.  According  to  Suidas,  he  suffered  a  mart^T's 
death  at  Chalcis  ('AvaroX/H-)  during  the  reign  of  Decius 
(•2-19-'251)  and  Valerian.  This  seems  improbable,  how- 
ever, since  Valerian  reigned  after  and  not  contemporarj- 
with  Decius,  and  since  the  chronology  of  the  reign  of 
these  emperors  is  far  from  accurate.  It  seems  pretty 
well  established  now  that  Methodius  was  a  contempora- 
ry of  Porphyry ;  and  if  lie  died  in  a  persecution,  it  was 
probably,  as  Cave  supposes,  in  that  of  A.U.  303,  or,  as 
Fabricius  thinks,  in  that  of  A.D.  311.  The  last-named 
date  is  quite  generally  accepted  as  the  year  of  Metho- 
dius's  decease.  Epiphanius  says  that  "  he  was  a  very 
learned  man,  and  a  strenuous  assertor  of  the  truth." 
Jerome  has  ranked  him  in  his  catalogue  of  Church  writ- 
ers, but  Eusebius  has  not  mentioned  tiim  ;  which  silence 
is  attributed  by  some,  though  merely  upon  conjecture, 
to  Methodius's  having  written  very  sharply  against  Or- 
igen,  who  was  favored  by  Eusebius.  His  principal 
works  arc  Wtpl  'AvnaracrEwt;,  De  Resurrectione,  against 
Origen,  divided  into  two  or  three  parts;  fragments  of 
it  are  to  be  found  in  Epiphanius  {Paiiariuin),  in  Photius 
{Bibliotheca),  and  in  the  works  of  Damascenus : — nf|0( 
TMV  yiviTwv,  De  Creaiis,  in  Photius: — Uipi  Avri'^ov- 
aiou  Kai  iro^fv  tu  KaKc'i,  De  Libera  A  rbitrio.  Leo  Alla- 
tius  gave  the  full  text,  together  with  a  Latin  version, 
but  the  work,  as  contained  in  Combetis's  edition  of  Me- 
thodius, is  not  complete: — Iltpi  TtjQ  ayys\omi.ii]rov 
TTapjtvtiag  Kai  ayviiaq,  De  Angelica  Virrjinitate  et 
Castitate,  written  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue :  it  is  a  cu- 
rious work,  partaking  at  once  of  the  character  of  Plato's 
Banquet  and  of  the  Song  of  Snlomon,  thoroughly  Chris- 
tian in  its  doctrines,  but  very  free  in  its  language.  Pho- 
tius claims  that  it  was  interpolated,  and  contains  traces 
of  Arianism ;  these,  however,  have  disappeared  from  the 
MSS.  at  present  extant,  from  wliich  the  work  was 
first  published  by  Leo  All.itius.  under  the  title  aS'.  Me- 
ihodii,  ejmcopi  et  marti/r/.<.  < 'luiririiim  decern  Virginum 
Leo  Allatius  hactenus  non  eilUum primus  Gmce  vulgnvit, 
Laline  verit ;  notas  et  diatriben  de  ilfethodioi-um  scriptis 
adjecit  (Rome,  1656,  8vo).  About  the  same  time  Possi- 
nus  prepared  another  edition,  which  was  published  at 
Paris  under  the  title  S.  Methodii  Conririum  Virginum 
Greece  et  Latine  nunc primuin  editum.  (1C57,  8vo).  It  is 
also  to  be  found  in  Combefis,  .1  uctuar.  Bibl.  Putr.  (Paris, 
1672) : — Oratio  de  Simeone  et  A7ina,  seu  In  Festum  Oc- 
CU2-SUS  et  Purificationis  B.  Marice,  published  by  Petrus 
Plantinus  (Antwerp,  1598) ;  this  has  by  some  been  con- 
sidered as  the  work  of  a  later  Methodius,  but  this  opinion 
is  contradicted  by  Allatius: — Aoyoc  Trfpi  Mnprvptov, 
Sermo  de  Martyribus: — Ei'c  tu  Bata,  In  Ramos  Pal- 
maruni:  Photius  gives  extracts  of  this  oration,  hut  some 
doubt  ;Methodius  being  its  author:  —  Libri  Adversus 
Porphyriunt,  fragments  of  which  are  given  by  Damas- 


cenus :  —  De  Pgthonissa  contra  Origenem,  lost :  —  Com- 
mentarii  in  Cantica  Canticorum,  of  which  only  fragments 
remain: — Sivuv,  lost:  etc.  Another  work,  De  Reve- 
latione,  sometimes  attributed  to  him,  is  more  likely  from 
a  later  INIethodius.  The  De  Libera  A  rbitrio,  De  Resui- 
rectione,  De  A  ngelica  Virginitute  et  Castitate,  two  homi-  - 
lies,  and  the  extracts  contained  in  Photius,  were  pub- 
lished by  Combefis  in  Greek  and  Latin,  with  notes  (Paris, 
1614,  fol.),  together  with  the  works  of  Amphilochus  and 
Andreas  Cretensis.  Galland  has  collected  the  preserved 
works  supposed  to  be  the  production  of  Methodius,  as 
well  as  all  fragments,  and  published  them  in  his  Biblioth. 
Putr.  vol.  iii.  See  Photius,  Cod.  p.  234-237 ;  jNIai,  Script, 
vet.  nov.  coll.  vii,  1 ;  Cave,  Jlisfor.  Lift. ;  Henschen,  in  the 
Bollandists,  Ada  Sanctornut,  vol.  iv;  Nath.  Lardner, 
Credibility  of  the  Gospel  IJislory,  vol.  v ;  Oudin,  Com- 
ment, de  Scriploribus  eccles.  vol.  i ;  Andrea  Sixt,  Dissert, 
de  Methodio  (Altorf,  1787,  4to) ;  Fabricius,  Bibl.  Grrnca 
(edit,  of  Harless),  vii,  746  et  al. ;  Donaldson,  Hist.  Ch. 
Lit. ;  Milman,  Hist.  Lut.  Christianity  (see Index) ;  Schaff, 
Ch.  Hist,  i,  356  sq.,  511 ;  Neander,  Christ.  Dogmas,  i,  121, 
256 ;  Meth.  Qu.  Rev.  1871,  January,  p.  164. 

Methodius  of  Bohemia,  a  native  of  Thessalonica, 
who  flourished  daring  the  9th  century,  became  distin- 
guished by  his  missionary  zeal,  his  learning,  and  his 
skill  as  a  painter.  He  first  entered  a  convent  at  Con- 
stantinople, and  afterwards  spent  some  time  in  Rome, 
where  he  acquired  that  remarkable  skill  as  an  artist 
which  leads  Le  Beau  {Hist,  du  Bus  Empire,  xiv,  362) 
to  speak  of  him  as  the  most  eminent  painter  of  his  time 
— a  high  compliment,  indeed,  when  we  note  that  among 
his  contemporaries  were  Jlodalulph,  in  France,  Tutilo,  in 
Germany,  and  Lazarus,  in  Constantinople,  all  of  whom 
are  considered  artists  of  great  abiUly.  After  his  return 
to  Constantinople,  he  received  an  invitation  from  Bogo- 
ris,  king  of  Bulgaria,  to  visit  his  court,  and  instruct 
him  and  his  subjects  in  the  prin<i|ilis  of  Christianity. 
This  king's  heart  had  been  softened  inwards  the  Chris- 
tian religion  by  the  infiuence  of  his  Mstri-,  who  had 
shortly  before  returned  from  Constantinople,  whither, 
thirty-eight  j'ears  before,  she  had  been  conveyed  as  a 
captive,  and  where  she  had  been  brought  up  and  edu- 
cated a  Christian.  A  severe  pestilence  oppressed  Bul- 
garia, and  led  Bogoris  formally  to  implore  the  aid  of  his 
sister's  God.  The  plague  was  stayed,  and  the  king  ac- 
knowdedged  the  might  and  goodness  of  the  Christian's 
God  in  hearing  and  answering  his  prayer;  but  still  he 
shrank  from  deserting  entirely  the  faith  of  his  fathers, 
lest  his  subjects  should  revolt  against  him  in  defence  of 
paganism.  At  this  critical  moment  he  bethought  him- 
self of  the  strange  expedient  of  using  the  skilful  pencil 
of  Methodius,  knowing  that  his  people  could  be  more 
readily  affected  by  images  of  terror  than  by  eloquent 
words  of  persuasion.  By  his  advice  INIethodius  painted 
the  last  judgment,  and  so  vividly  represented  the  tor- 
tures of  the  damned  that  the  heart  of  the  king  himself 
was  struck  with  terror,  and  he  sought  to  escape  this  ter- 
rible destiny  by  numbering  himself  among  the  sons  of 
the  Church.  He  was  accordingly  baptized  in  863  or 
864;  and,  though  much  opposition  was  shown,  pagan- 
ism was  rapidly  compelled  to  yield  to  the  Christian  re- 
ligion as  introduced  by  Methodius.  After  working  with 
such  success  in  Bulgaria,  Methodius  was  sent  into  Greek 
Moravia,  where,  in  conjimction  with  his  brother  Cyril 
(q.  v.),  he  accomplished  a  great  work,  his  holy  ze'al 
meeting  with  grand  results.  Christianity  had  already 
found  its  way  to  some  parts  of  the  tribe  by  its  connec- 
tion with  the  Frankish  empire  under  Charlemagne,  but 
the  nation,  as  a  whole,  was  still  devoted  to  paganism. 
Its  ruler,  Radislav  or  Rastices,  had  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  Greek  empire  for  political  purposes.  This  af- 
forded an  opportunity  for  the  sending  forth  of  these  two 
missionary  brothers.  ]\Iethodius  rendered  valuable  as- 
sistance to  his  brother  Cyril  in  his  task  of  inventing  an 
alphabet  for  the  Sclavonic  language,  and  in  the  work  of 
translating  the  Bible,  as  well  as  several  Uturgical  works, 
into  the  language  of  the  people. 


METHODIUS 


190 


METHODOLOGY 


A  schism  breaking  out  liptweon  the  Latin  and  the  ] 
Greek  churches,  the  Moravian  prince  was  inihufd,  by 
political  changes,  to  enter  into  a  closer  relation  with  the 
Gerniau  empire  and  the  "Western  Church.     IVIethodius 
and  Cyril,  in  this  emergency,  proved  themselves  to  be 
men  who  valued  Christianity  more  highly  than  sect. 
They  repaired  to  Kome,  where  they  easily  entered  into 
an  understanding  with  pope  Adrian  I,  so  that  party 
strife  caused  no  delay  in  the  good  work.    Cyril  remained 
in  Kome  as  a  monk,  while  Methodius,  after  acknowledg- 
ing submission  to  the  Romish  Church,  and  giving  a  sat- 
isfactory confession  of  faith,  was  consecrated  archbishop 
of  the  Moravian  Church.     It  was  while  Methodius  was 
laboring  in  jMoravia  that  duke  Borzivoy,  of  Bohemia, 
visited  tiie  court  of  Swatopluk  (871),  and  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  the  Christian  religion,  acknowledged  his 
.  belief  in  it  by  causing  himself,  his  wife,  and  his  attend- 
ants to  be  baptized.     On  his  return  to  Bohemia,  Me- 
thiiilius  acioujpanied  him,  and  for  a  short  time  labored 
sill  riv-liilU  .  cduverting  many,  and  causing  several  con- 
viiiis  Mild  cliiirclies  to  be  erected.     From  this  new  tield 
he  returned  to  IVIoravia,  where  he  remained  until  the 
wars  with  which  the  country  was  then  distracted  obliged 
him  to  transfer  the  field  of  his  labors  to  the  adjacent 
provinces  connected  with  the  German  empire.     The 
clergy  of  Salzburg,  envious  of  his  success,  and  prejudiced 
against  the  Eastern  Church,  complained  to  pope  John 
VIII  that  Methodius  was  attached  to  the  customs  of  the 
Greek  Cliureh,  and  that  he  made  use  of  the  Sclavonic 
language  in  public  worship,  and  accused  him  of  infring- 
ing on  the  see  of  the  archbishop  of  Salzburg.     The 
pope,  though  little  inclined  to   listen  to   accusations 
which  German  bishops  might  make  against  any  prelate 
ordained  at  Home,  could  not  altogctlur  allay  his  suspi- 
cions as  to  the  relations  between  Mahodius  and  the 
Eastern  Cluiich,  especially  at  a  time  when  there  were 
constant  bickerings  between  the  Latin  and  the  Greek 
churches.     I^Icthodius  hastened  to  Kome  in  obedience 
to  the  call  of  the  pope  (879),  and  an  interview  took 
place,  which  resulted  in  a  complete  refutation  of  the 
charges  made  against  him.     The  pope  even  defended 
the  use  of  the  Sclavonic  instead  of  the  Latin  language, 
in  a  letter  written  to  the  Moravian  prince,  in  which  he 
say.'- :  '•  The  alphabet  invented  by  a  certain  philosopher, 
Constantinc  (Cyril),  to  the  end  that  God's  praise  may 
duly  sound  forth  in  it,  we  rightly  commend ;  and  we 
order  that  in  this  language  the  messages  and  works  of 
our  Lord  Christ  be  declared ;  for  we  arc  exhorted  by 
Holy  Scripture  to  praise  the  Lord,  not  in  three  languages 
alone,  but  in  all  tongues  and  nations  (Psa.  cxvii,  and 
Philii).  ii).     And  the  apostles,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
pnnlaiined  in  all  languages  the  great  works  of  (Jod. 
And   the  apostle   Paul  exhorts  us   (1  Cor.  xiv)  that, 
speaking  in  tongues,  we  should  edify  the  Church.     It 
stands  not  at  all  in  contradiction  with  the  faith  to  cele- 
brate the  mass  in  this  language,  to  read  the  (Jospel  or 
lessons  from  the  Scriptures  properly  translated  into  it, 
or  to  rehearse  any  of  the  Church  hymns  in  the  same, 
for  the  God  who"  is  the  author  of  the  three  principal 
languages  created  the  others  also  for  his  own  glory. 
Only  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  greater  solemnity,  that 
in  all  the  Moravian  churches  the  (iospel  should,  in  the 
first  place,  be  publicly  read  in  Latin,  and  then  repeated 
in  the  Sclavonic  language,  so  as  to  be  unilerstood  l)y  the 
people"  (Xeander,  iii,  318).     The  pope  also  formed  the 
Moravians  into  a  separate  diocese,  independent  of  the 
(ierman  Church,  and  confirmed  Methodius  as  their  arch- 
bishop, making  him  directly  responsible  to  himself  in- 
stead of  to  the  (ierman  prelate.     This  led  to  new  dis- 
putes, in  which  the  German  clergy  succeeded  in  inllu- 
encing  the  ^loravian  ])rince  against  ^lelhodius.     One 
of  his  subordinate  bishops,  named  Wicliin,  also  attached 
himself  to  the  German  party.     His  dilliculties  and  con- 
troversies became  so  numerous  that  he  reported  the 
matter  in  detail  to  the  pope,  and  reipiesteii  permission 
to  appear  before  liim  in  person.     .John  VIII   granted 
this  rciiuest,  and,  though  expressing  a  desire  to  hear 


both  sides  of  the  controversy,  assured  him  of  his  kindly 
feelings  towards  him,  and  exhorted  him  not  to  allow 
the  work  to  suffer,  but  to  jirosecute  it  faithfully.  In 
.S.si  Methodius  went  to  Kome,  after  which  time  his  name 
disappears  from  the  records  of  history.  It  cannot  be  de- 
termined whether  he  died  soon  after,  or  whether  the 
hostile  party  in  Moravia  prevented  his  return.  He  was 
canonized  by  the  Church.  The  Greeks  and  Sclavonians 
celebrate  him  on  Jlay  11,  although  in  the  IMartyrolo- 
gium  the  day  is  March  9.  See  F.  X.  Kichter,  Ci/rtll 
mid  Method  der  Slaven  Apostel  (1825) ;  Ginzel,  Gesch. 
der  Slaven  Apostel  (1857) ;  Baxmann,  PoHtik  der  Papste 
(Elberf.  1869),  vol.  ii;  Neander,  Ch.  Hist,  iii,  318  sq.; 
Hardwick,  Ch,  Hist.  Middle  Ages,  p.  Ill  sq.;  Maclear 
Hist,  of  Missions  in  Middle  Ages,  p.  284  sq.    (H.  W.  T.) 

Methoditis  oi'  Constantinople,  a  patriarch  in 
the  Kastern  Cliurch  who  flourished  about  1240,  is  prob- 
ably the  aiitlinr  o{  J)e  Rirehilione,  which  some  attribute 
to  Methodius  Eubulus,  The  Greek  text,  with  a  Latin 
version,  is  contained  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Grcccia 
Orihodoxa,  as  well  as  in  some  of  the  Biblioth.  Patnim. 
He  also  wrote  yfCnigmata,  in  iambic  tristichs,  extant  in 
MS.  See  Fabricius,  Bibl.  Grtec.  vii,  275 ;  Cave,  p.  662 
(ed.  Geneva). — Smith,  Lid.  Greek  and  Rom.  Biog.  s.  v. 

Methodology  (jikdocog  and  Xoyog)  is  the  scien- 
titic  plan  of  investigating  any  department  of  knowledge. 
In  the  science  of  theology,  it  is  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  encyclopedia.  The  one  leads  to  the  other.  A 
clear  insight  into  the  nature  and  connections  of  any 
science  will  lead  to  a  right  mode  of  treating  it;  and  as 
the  complete  knowledge  of  a  science  is  essential  to  a 
good  method,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  a  good  method  is 
the  best  test  and  verilication  of  knowledge.  The  aims 
of  methodiplngy  are  to  furnish  a  i)lan  of  theological 
study,  showing  the  order  in  which  the  topics  should  be 
taken  up,  and  indicating  the  best  methods  of  study,  and 
necessary  books  and  helps  of  all  kinds.  Some  writers 
hold  that  methodology  should  be  treated  and  studied 
entirely  apart  from  encyclopedia.  In  a  strictly  scien- 
tific sense,  this  view  is  correct ;  but,  for  practical  piu-- 
I  poses,  these  two  branches  are  generally  blended  into  one 
connected  whole.  The  whole  treatment  taken  together 
is  therefore  called  by  the  ilouble  name  of  theological 
encyclopedia  and  methodology.  Of  these,  encyclope- 
dia is  the  objective  side,  the  outline  of  the  science  itself; 
methodology  is  the  subjective  side,  having  reference  to 
the  work  of  the  student  of  the  science. 

The  science  of  theological  encyclopedia  and  meth- 
odology is  a  comparatively  recent  study.  The  history 
of  the  science  has  been  so  fully  treated  in  the  article  on 
liNCYCi-orEDiA  (q.  v.),  and  the  methods  of  the  chief 
writers  on  the  subject  so  amjilv  set  forth,  that  we  sim- 
ply refer  to  it.  Since  the  publication  of  that  article, 
liowever,  an  important  work,  J.ectures  by  the  late  .John 
McClintock,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  on  Theological  Enrydopedia 
and  Methodology  (N.  Y.  1873, 1 2mo),  has  appeared,  which 
contains  so  many  new  thoughts  that  we  here  insert  Dr. 
McClintock's  division  of  the  subject.  He  divides  theo- 
logical science  into  the  following  four  departments : 

1.  Koeenctira}  Theology,  which  is  concerned  with  the  rec- 
ords of  revelation. 

2.  Jiistdrical  Tlieoloiiy,  which  is  concerned  with  the  de- 
vclopiiieiit  of  rcvclatiou  in  the  life  and  Ihou^'ht  of  the 
Chnicli.  This  dcHnition  gives  a  twofold  divisiou  of  His- 
torical Theolosry: 

a.  The  Life  of  the  Chnrch  ;  that  is,  Church  Uixtory. 
h.  The  Thought  of  the  Church ;  that  is,  Doctrinal 
Hist  or II. 

3.  SiistciiHxtic  TlicoloKV,  which  is  concerned  with  the 
matter  of  levehilioii— wiih  the  scieiitilic  tieaimeut  of  its 
couteiile;  ni  lUiiii;  a  fomfi'ld  siil)(livisi()n  : 

a.  ApuJinirtics,  or  the  defence  of  Christianity  from 
attacks  from  wiUiout. 

h.  ])i)(i,)iatics,  or  I  lie  scientific  statement  of  doctrines 
as  adin'iticd  hv  the  Chnrch. 

c.  ]:tliics,in-  a  scientitic  statement  of  duty  in  which 
man  stands  to  God. 

(f.  7 •«(<•»» iV-.y,  or  the  vindication  of  doctrme  from  he- 
retical attacks  from  witliiii  the  Church. 

4.  Practical  Tliculoijy,  which  is  concerned  with  tlic  pres- 
ervation of  revelation  and  its  propagation  iu  and  through 


METIIU- 


191 


METRE 


the  Church,  as  the  outward  and  visible  form  of  the  king- 
dom of  Christ  amoug  men.  Here  \vc  have  two  general 
divisions:  .        .  , 

a.  The  Functions  of  the  Church ;  and 

b.  The  Organization  and  Government  of  the  Church. 

This  treatment,  which  has  larg-ely  prevailed  since  the 
16th  century,  rests  upon  the  theory  that  Christianity  is 
a  system  founded  upon  divine  revelation,  and  that  the- 
ology is  really  the  product  of  the  application  of  the 
human  intellect  to  the  contents  of  revelation. 

For  literature,  see  Encyclopedia.  See  also  Jahi- 
huch  Deutscher  Tkeologie,  Oct.  1871,  art.  i. 

Methu-  (*iri'2j  construct-state  of  T'O,  an  adult  man, 
used  like  the  old  English  yb/A) ,  a  frequent  prefix  in 
Heb.  proper  names,  as  those  here  following ;  so  likewise 
in  the  old  Punic  names  Metuastartus,  Methymnatus,  etc. 
(Gesenius,  Momim.  Phcen.  p.  399,  411). 

Methu'sael  (Heb.  Methushdel',  ^K'JWp,  man 
that  is  from  Gixl;  Sept,  MnSot'ffflXn,  Vulg.  Maihusael), 
the  son  of  Mehujael  and  father  of  Lamech,  of  the  fam- 
ily of  Cain  (Gen.  iv,  18).  B.C.  cir.  3770.  The  resem- 
blance of  the  name  to  the  following,  on  which  (with  the 
coincidence  of  the  name  Lamech  in  the  next  genera- 
tion in  both  lines)  some  theories  have  been  formed, 
is  apparent  rather  than  real. 

Methu'selah  (Heb.  Metlmshe'lach,  nblTWia,  man 
ofthQdart;  Sept,  and  N.T.Ma^oncrrtXft  ;  .Josephus,Mn- 
Souo-aAac,  Ant.  J,  3,  3  and  4;  Yulg.  M(i//iiis,i/,i  and 
Mathusale;  Auth.  Vers.  "Mathusala,"  in  Lukr  iii.  :i7), 
the  son  of  Enoch,  and  eighth  of  the  Sethite  antiMlihi- 
vian  patriarchs  (Gen.  v,  21,  22,  25,  26,  27  ;  1  Chron.  i,  3). 
He  was  born  (according  to  the  Heb.  text)  B.C.  3484. 
When  he  had  attained  the  age  of  18"  years,  his  son  La- 
mech was  born,  after  which  be  lived  782  years,  and 
died  (B.C.  2516)  only  a  few  months  before  the  flood,  at 
the  extreme  age  of  969 ;  which,  being  the  greatest  term 
attained  by  any  on  record,  has  caused  his  name  to  be- 
come a  proverb  of  long  life.     See  Longevity. 

Metochita,  Georgius  {VHopyioQ  u  Mfrox'Vj/f),  a 
Greek  theologian,  flourished  in  the  latter  half  of  the  13th 
century.  He  was  the  archdeacon  of  the  Church  at  Con- 
stantinople, the  intimate  friend  and  zealous  partisan  of 
the  emperor  Andronicus,  and  favored  a  union  of  the  Greek 
Church  with  the  Latin.  Under  the  reign  of  Andronicus 
the  Younger  he  was  ostracized  on  account  of  his  religious 
opinions,  and  died  in  exile.  He  was  the  relative,  per- 
haps the  father,  of  Theodorus  Metochita,  with  whom  he 
has  often  been  confounded.  He  wrote  several  works  of 
great  importance  for  their  bearing  on  the  history  of  his 
times;  but  his  literary  style,  although  energetic,  is  rude 
and  well-nigh  barbarous.  His  Refutation  {'Avrippr]- 
(Tic)  of  the  three  Chapters  of  Plamide,  and  his  Rephi  to 
Manuel  Xepos  of  Crete,  were  published  by  Leo  Allatius, 
in  the  Grcecia  Orthodoza,  vol.  ii.  The  same  publisher 
has  given  to  the  public  a  fragment  of  JMetochita's  Bis- 
course  on  the  Union  of  the  Churches,  together  with  a 
portion  of  the  fourth  book  of  his  treatise  On  the  Proces- 
sion of  the  Holy  Ghost,  bound  in  one  volume  with  Dia- 
triba  contra  Hottingerum.  See  Fabricius,  Bibliotheca 
Grceca,  x,  412  ;  Cave,  Jlisf.  Lift.  s.  v. 

Metochita,  Theodorus  (GfoCwpocoMfroYfVTjc), 
a  Greek  theologian,  flourished  in  the  da,ys  of  the  emper- 
or Andronicus  the  Elder,  who  appointed  him  the  chief 
loyothete,  or  chancellor,  of  the  Church  at  Constantinople, 
and  intrusted  him  with  several  missions.  Amid  all  his 
official  tiuties,  Metochita  found  time  to  compose  sun- 
dry works  which  reflect  honor  upon  his  learning.  He 
was  banished  from  the  country  shortly  after  the  usur- 
pation of  power  by  Andronicus  the  Younger,  in  1328. 
The  emperor  was  not  slow  to  recall  him;  but  Metochita 
being  disgusted  with  the  complexion  which  matters 
had  assumed,  retired  into  a  convent,  where  he  died 
about  1332.  His  principal  works  are  Commentaries  (Ua- 
pu(ppa(ji(;')  on  several  treatises  by  Aristotle :  Physica,De 
A  ninia,  I)e  Calo,  De  Ortu  et  Interitu,  De  Memoria  et 
Reminiscentia,  De  Somno  et  Viyilia.    These  commenta- 


ries were  published  in  Latin  by  CJent.  Ilervet  (Basle, 
1550,  4to;  Ravenna,  1614,  4to)  ;  but  the  original  Greek 
text  of  the  Commentaries  has  remained  inedited.  He 
also  wrote  two  books  on  ecclesiastical  history,  and  several 
works  of  a  secular  character,  which  were  never  ])rinted. 
See  Fabricius,  Bibl.  Grceca,  x,  412  sq. ;  C.  F.  de  Boden- 
bourg.  Be  Th.  Metochitm  Scriptis  Notheias  vulgo  insimu- 
latis,  in  the  Miscellan.  Lipsiensia,  vol.  xii. 

Metonymy  (fitrwt'Vfiia,  '^  denominatio  nominis pi'o 
nomine  posita,"  QuinUUian,  8,  6,  23),  a  technical  term  in 
rhetoric  designating  a  ''  trope,  in  which  a  word  is  used 
to  express  a  thing  differing  from  its  original  meaning  in 
kind'^  (E.  D.  Haven,  Rhetoric,  p.  78).  Metonymies  are 
a  little  bolder  than  synecdoches  (q.  v.),  and,  as  Aristotle 
observes,  may  be  employed  either  to  elevate  or  to  de- 
grade the  subject,  according  to  the  design  of  the  au- 
thor. The  substance  may  be  named  for  the  quality,  the 
cause  for  the  effect,  the  precedent  for  the  consequent,  or 
the  reverse,  e.  g.  "Addison  was  smooth,  but  Prescott 
smoother."  Here  Addison  means  the  wi-itings  of  Addi- 
son ;  smooth  means  pleasing  to  the  ear.  Both  words  are 
metonymic.  "Always  respect  old  age' — a  metonymy 
for  aged  people.  Thus,  "  gray  hairs"  may  stand  for  "  old 
age,''  the  name  of  Virgil  for  that  of  liis  writings,  the 
"  head"  for  the  "  intellect,'"  and  the  "  olive-branch"  for 
"peace.'''     Metonymies  may  be  classified  as  follows: 

(1.)  The  sign  for  the  thing  signified,  signum  pro  sig- 
nato.  Sword  for  war;  SipovoQ  for  power  (Luke  i,  32; 
Heb.  i,  8);  avaroXii,  cvani],  for  east  and  west  (Matt, 
ii,  3  ;  Luke  xiii,  29 ;  Psa.  xlvi,  6) ;  red  tape,  for  the  diffi- 
culties in  obtaining  the  completion  of  a  work  that  must 
pass  the  inspection  of  several  officers ;  a  pen  for  litera- 
ture— "  The  pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword." 

(2.)  The  container  for  the  thing  contained,  continens 
pro  contento.  '-The  country  is  jealous  of  the  city." 
'•  The  army  yielded,  but  the  nar-y  resisted ;"  u  KoofioQ, 
world,  for  the  human  beings  contained  in  the  world 
(Matt,  xviii,  7 ;  John  i,  10 ;  iii,  16,  17) ;  o  oIkoq,  the 
house,  for  domestics  (John  iv,  53  ;  Acts  x,  2, 11,  14, 16). 

(3.)  ^4  cause  may  be  put  for  an  effect,  and  an  effect  for 
a  cause.  "  The  savage  desolation  of  war."  Tlie  cause 
of  the  desolation  is  a  savage  spirit ;  here  it  is  transfer- 
red to  the  effect.  In  an  opposite  transference,  we  may 
speak  of  pyule^  death,  joyful  health,  a  proud  testimony. 
This  is  sometimes  called  a  transferi-ed  epithet. 

(4.)  .4  man  may  be  named  for  his  tvorlcs.  Thus  we 
speak  of  "  Shakespeare,"  meaning  his  writings.  "  Black- 
stone,"  meaning  his  works  on  law.  So  the  "  Prophets" 
are  referred  to  (Mark  i,  2;  Luke  xvi,  29;  xxiv,  44; 
Acts  viii,  28),  meaning  their  writings.  This  is  akin  to 
personification  (q.  v.). 

Metre  (Gr.  psrpov)  is,  in  its  most  extensive  signi- 
fication, the  measure  by  which  any  thing  is  determined 
with  exactness  and  due  proportion.  In  its  classical 
sense  the  word  is  used  for  the  subdivision  of  a  verse. 
The  Greeks  measured  some  species  of  verses  (the  dac- 
tylic, choriambic,  antispastic,  Ionic,  etc.)  by  considering 
each  foot  as  a  metre ;  in  others  (the  iambic,  trochaic,  and 
anapaestic),  each  dipodia,  or  two  feet,  formed  a  metre. 
Thus  the  dactylic  hexameter  (the  heroic  verse)  con- 
tained six  dactj'ls  or  spondees ;,  the  iambic,  anapaestic, 
and  trochaic  trimeter,  six  of  those  feet  respectively.  A 
line  is  said  to  be  acatalcctic  -when  the  last  syllable  of 
the  last  foot  is  wanting ;  brachicatalcctic,  when  two  syl- 
lables are  cut  off"  in  the  same  way ;  hypercatalectic, 
when  there  is  one  superfluous  syllable. 

In  religious  poetr_v,  as  adapted  to  music,  metre  de- 
notes the  regular  consecution  in  a  stanza  of  lines  con- 
taining a  certain  number  of  syllables  of  a  given  kind  of 
verse.  The  usual  number  of  lines  is  four,  and  these  may 
be  alike  or  ditferent  in  length.  For  example,  in  what 
is  called  Long  Metre,  each  line  consists  of  four  iambic 
measures;  in  Common  Metre,  the  lines  contain  alter- 
nately four  and  three  iambi,  or  their  prosodiac  equiva- 
lents ;  and  in  Short  Metre  every  Ime  has  three  iambi, 
except  the  third,  which  has  foiu-.     All  other  kinds  are 


METRETES 


192 


METROLOGY 


callc<l  " pcniicular  metres,"  as  G  lines  of  8  syllables  each, 
4  lines  of  7.  6  lines  of  7,  4  lines  of  10,  4  of  G  and  2  of  8, 
8  of  «  and  7  alternately,  etc. 
Metietes.     See  I'litKix. 

Metrical  Psalms  and  Hymns.  Several  of  the 
r.salin.s  were  transliited  into  Enfjlish  metre,  during  the 
latter  part  of  tlie  reign  of  Henry  YIII,  by  Sir  liiomas 
"Wyatt,  anil  printed  in  1549.  This  version,  however,  is 
supposed  to  be  lost.  It  has  been  thought  that  a  refer- 
ence to  some  metrical  psalms  existed  in  the  7th  section 
of  the  1st  Act  of  Uniformity  in  the  reign  of  Edward  YI, 
1549,  authorizing  the  use  of  the  Prayer-book,  where  it 
was  enacted  -  that  it  shall  be  lawful  for  all  men,  as  well 
in  churches,  chapels,  oratories,  or  other  places,  to  use 
openly  any  psalm  or  prayer  taken  out  of  the  Bible  at 
any  due  time;  not  letting  or  omitting  thereby  the  ser- 
vice, or  any  part  thereof,  racntioneil  in  the  said  book." 
But  this  was  several  years  antecedent  to  the  appearance 
of  any  regular  version.  The  metrical  Psalms,  called  the 
"  Old'  Version,"  originated  with  Sternhold,  who  was 
groom  of  the  robes  to  Henry  VIII  and  Edward  VI,  and 
was  continued  by  others  until  1G41.  when  the  revisers 
of  the  Prayer-book  declared  that  '•  singing  of  hymns  in 
metre  is  no  part  of  the  liturgy,"  and  therefore  they  re- 
fused to  consider  them,  as  not  in  their  commission.  See 
Proctor,  On  Commun  Prayer  (see  Index) ;  Cardwell,  Con- 
ferences, s.  v. ;  Bates,  Christ.  A  ntiq.  s.  v. ;  Staunton,  Ec- 
cks.  Diet.  s.  V.     See  l'sAi,Jis,ViiKsiON'.s  of. 

Metrodorus,  a  leading  Epicurean  philosopher,  was, 
according  to  the  best  authorities,  a  native  of  Lampsacns, 
although  some  claim  that  he  was  an  Athenian.  He 
flourished  in  the  second  half  of  the  3d  century  B.C. 
From  his  earliest  connection  with  this  school  of  philoso- 
phy until  his  death,  he  lived  in  daily  and  intimate  in- 
tercourse with  Epicurus,  absenting  himself  only  six 
months  during  the  whole  period.  He  is  regarded  as 
the  founder  of  that  baser  and  more  sensual  form  of  Epi- 
curean philosophy  which  many,  who  sought  for  "  jjleas- 
ure  as  the  chief  good,"  substituted  for  the  intellectual 
enjoyment  adopted  by  Epicurus  as  his  ideal  good.  Ac- 
cording to  Cicero,  he  made  ]-)erfect  happiness  to  consist 
in  having  a  well-constituted  body,  and  knowing  that  it 
would  always  remain  so.  One  of  his  sayings,  as  quoted 
by  AthenaMis,  was  that  "the  belly  is  the  foundation  of 
ail  philosophy."  He  claimed  that  all  pertaining  to  a 
hap))y  life  should  be  tested  and  measured  by  this  organ. 
Metrodorus  became  the  favorite  disciple  of  Epicurus,  and 
may  justly  be  ranked  second  only  to  him  in  importance. 
He"  died  in  277  B.C.,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three,  seven 
years  before  the  death  of  his  master,  who  had  intended 
to  make  him  his  successor.  He  left  two  children,  a  son 
and  daughter,  whom  Epicurus  protected  while  he  was 
living,  and  fur  whom  he  generously  provided  in  his  will. 
^Metrodorus  left  to  the  world  some  of  his  thoughts  in 
the  tangible  form  of  thirteen  volumes,  as  enumerated  by 
Diogenes.  All  these  have  disappeared,  except  some 
fragments  foinul  among  the  Ilerculanean  Papyri;  the 
most  important  of  which  is  a  portion  of  his  treatise 
Ilfpi  Airrcf/TKO',  contained  in  the  sixth  volume  of 
the  Neaixilitan  collection.  For  many  years  the  Epicu- 
reans kept  the  2(11  h  of  each  month  as  a  festal  day  in 
honor  of  their  master  and  of  Metrodorus,  whose  name 
will  ever  be  linked  with  that  of  Epicurus.  Another 
phih)Sopher  of  like  name  flourished  in  C/iios,  in  Greece, 
about  400  B.C.  He  was  the  author  of  a  Treatise  on 
Nature,  which  was  verv  celebrated.  See  Baylo,  I/isl. 
and  Crif.  Dirt.  s.  v. ;  Fabricius,  Biblioth.  Crwca,  iii,  GOG : 
Plinv,  /Jisl.  .\(it.  XXXV,  40  ;  I'lutarch,  Pattlus  yKmilius, 
32.  '(H.W'.T.) 

Metrology,  the  science  of  determining  the  relative 
value  of  measures,  wliether  these  belong  to  pecuniary 
standards  or  to  fixed  (piautities  of  capacity  or  extenl. 
Indeed,  these  three  are  intimately  connected,  for  coins 
can  only  be  accurately  determined  by  weight,  and  the 
bulk  of  solids  or  licpuds  is  ultimately  ascertained  by 
linear  measurements  in  cubic  dimensions,  or  by  a  given 


weight  of  a  certain  substance  of  uniform  density.  Spe- 
cific gra,vity,  therefore,  lies  at  the  b.isis  of  all  quantita- 
tive admeasurements.  In  the  present  article  we  are,  of 
course,  strictly  concerned  only  witli  the  Biblical,  espe- 
cially Hebrew,  weights  and  measures;  but  as  the  value 
of  these  has  come  down  to  us  chiefly  in  (ircek  equiva- 
lents, it  becomes  necessary  to  take  the  latter  also  into 
consideration.  '•  The  Koman  measures  came  from 
(i recce,  the  (irecian  from  Phoenicia,  the  Phcenician  from 
Babylon.  Accordingly  each  system  will  throw  light  on 
the  other,  and  all  may  be  made  to  contribute  something 
to  the  elucidation  of  the  Hebrew  weights  and  measures. 
This  method  of  viewing  the  su!)ject,  and  the  satisfactory 
lessons  which  have  been  hence  deduced,  are  to  be  as- 
cribed to  Bijckh  {Metroloi/ischen  U ntersurhuntjen, '[^crWn, 
1838),  who,  availing  himself  of  the  results  ascertained 
b\'  English,  French,  and  German  scholars,  and  of  the 
peculiar  facilities  afforded  by  a  residence  in  the  midst 
of  the  profound  and  varied  erudition  of  the  Prussian 
capital,  has  succeeded,  by  the  api)lication  of  his  unwear- 
ied industry  and  superior  endowments,  in  showing  that 
the  system  of  weights  and  measures  of  Babylon,  Egypt, 
Palestine,  Phoenicia.  Greece,  Sicily,  and  Italy,  formed 
one  great  whole,  with  the  most  intimate  relationships 
and  connections"  (Kitto^.  To  these  researches  must 
be  added  later  investigations  and  comparisons  by  differ- 
ent antiquarians  as  to  the  value  of  particular  specimens 
of  coins  and  measures  still  extant,  which  sometimes 
considerabh-  modify  the  conclusions  of  Bockh. 

1.  Coins  and  Weif/h(s.  —  1.  Names  of  the  ])rincipal 
Hebrew  Standards. — The  following  are  the  regular  gra- 
dations, beginning  with  the  highest : 

(1.)  The  talent,  "SS,  kikMr,  strictly  a  circle,  hence 
any  round  object;  and  thus  a  circular  piece  of  money. 
It  was  of  two  kinds,  the  talent  of  gold  (1  Kings  ix,  14) 
and  the  talent  of  silver  (2  Kings  v,  22).     See  Talkxt. 

(2.)  The  maneh,  n?"2,  the  Greek  mina,  or  fivu,  strictly 
a  poiiion,  i.  e.  a  subdivision  of  the  "  talent." 

(3.)  The  shekel,  ^J^'J,  Graicized  aiK\oc,  properly  a 
weirjht,  the  usual  unit  of  estimation,  applied  to  coins 
and  weights.  It  likewise  was  of  two  kinds,  the  sacred 
(Lev.  V,  15)  and  the  royal  (2  Sam.  xiv,  26). 

(4.)  The  be/ai,  "1^3,  strictly  a  cleft  or  fraction  (Gen. 
xxiv,  22). 

(5.)  The  geruh,  n~iv.  properly  a  kernel  or  bean,  like 
our  "  grain,"  and  the  Greek  o/3oAor. 

2.  Values  of  these  as  compared  with  each  other. — The 
relation  of  the  talent  to  the  shekel  is  determined  by  the 
statement  in  Exod.  xxx,  13,  that  every  Israelite  above 
twenty  years  of  age  had  to  pay  the  poll-tax  of  half  a 
shekel  as  a  contribution  to  the  sanctuary.  Exod. 
xxxviii,  26  tells  us  that  this  tax  had  to  be  paid  by 
603,550  men.  The  simi  amounted  to  100  talents  and 
1775  shekels  (Exod.  xxxviii,  25),  which  are.  thrrc- 
forc,  equal  to  G03.550  half  shekels,  or  301,775  lull  shek- 
els.   This  gives  for  the  value  of  the  talent  in  shekels, 

3000.     The  relation  of  the  maneh  to 


100 

the  shekel,  and  consequently  to  the  talent,  is  not  so  clear. 
In  Ezek.  xlv,  13.  it  seems  to  have  consisted  of  GO  shek- 
els (20  +  25  +  15^;  but  a  comparison  of  1  Kings  x,  17 
with  2  Chron.  ix,  K!  would  make  it  to  consist  of  100 
shekels  (3  nianehs  =  300  shekels).  Some  explain  these 
discrepancies  by  supposing  that  the  sacred  shekel  was 
double  the  commercial,  or  that  the  talent  and  maneh  of 
gold  were  respectively  double  those  of  silver.  In  this 
uncertainty  it  is  generally  agreed  to  reckon  GO  manehs 
to  the  talent,  and  50  shekels  to  a  manih.  The  beka 
was  a  half-shekel  ( Exod.  xxxviii,  2G) ;  and  the  gcrah 
was  ;,!,-  the  shekel  (Exod.  xxx,  13;  Lev.  xxvii,  25; 
Numb,  iii,  47;  Ezek.  xlv,  20). 

3.  I'alues  of  the  J/ebreio  Wcifjhts  as  determined  hy  a 
Comparison  with  the  Greek  and  /?omon.— Josephus  states 
(Ant.  iii.  6,  7)  that  the  Hebrew  talent  of  gold  contained 
100  mina'  (/ii«(.),  but  whether  by  this  latter  he  means 


METROLOGY 


193 


METROLOGY 


the  Greek  or  the  Hebrew  weight  corresponding  to  that  ] 
term,  is  not  clear.  Again  he  states  (.1  ni.  xiv,  7, 1)  that 
the  gold  raina  {j-iva)  was  equal  to  two  and  a  half  Roman 
pounds  (Xirpcic:).  On  the  presumption  that  the  same 
kind  of  miiia  is  spoken  of  in  both  passages,  the  talent 
would  be  equivalent  to  250  pounds.  On  the  other  hand, 
Epiphanius  (De  Pond,  et  Mens.  Ileb.')  estimates  the  He- 
brew talent  at  125  Roman  pounds.  This  difference,  be- 
ing just  one  half,  leads  to  the  suspicion  that  it  is  con- 
nected with  the  above  variation  in  the  value  of  the 
talent,  maneh,  and  shekel ;  and  this,  in  connection  with 
the  nearer  correspondence  to  the  Greek  measures  of 
similar  name,  renders  the  lower  estimate  the  more  prob- 
able. Taking  the  Roman  pound  (presumed  to  be  equiv- 
alent to  the  Greek  Xirpa)  at  5204  grains  (Smith,  Diet,  of 
Class.  Antiq.  s.  v.  Libra),  we  have  the  Hebrew  talent 
equal  to  650,500  grains,  or  112.79  pounds  troy,  or  92.9 
poimds  avoirdupois.  Once  more,  Josephus  says  the 
gold  shekel  was  equal  to  a  daric  {.\nt.  iii,  8, 10),  a  Per- 
sian coin  in  Greek  circulation,  specimens  of  which  have 
come  down  to  us  weighing  an  average  of  128.5  grains 
(Smith,  ibid.  s.  v.  Daricus).  This  would  yield  a  talent  of 
385,500  grains ;  which  is  much  less,  yet  confirms  the  above 
conclusion  sufficiently  for  an  approximate  equivalent, 
as  it  evidently  was  meant  to  be,  especially  as  the  darics 
extant  have  of  course  lost  considerable  weight  by  time. 
Moreover,  foreign  coin  usually  passes  for  less  than  its 
true  value. 

4.  Absolute  Determination  of  the  Value  of  the  Tlebrero 
Weir/hts. — This  has  been  attempted  by  means  of  the 
coins  that  have  actually  come  down  to  our  time.  The 
heavier  specimens  of  silver  of  the  Maccabroan  mintage 
that  have  been  found  give  an  average  weight  to  the 
shekel  of  220  grains.  See  Shekel.  This  affords  a 
talent  of  GGO,000  grains,  very  nearly  agreeing  with  the 
above  result.  The  copper  coins  of  the  same  period  that 
have  survived  are  on  the  average  much  heavier,  being 
about  double  the  weight,  showing  a  variation  in  the 
standard  for  that  metal  similar  to  that  noticed  above  in 
the  case  of  gold.  Bockh,  by  averaging  the  shekels  of 
every  kind  of  metal,  arrives  at  a  mean  weight  of  274 
grains;  but  this  is  too  high  for  the  preceding  estimates. 
See  Money. 

"  In  the  New  Testament  (Matt,  xvii,  24)  tha  Temple- 
tax  is  a  didrachm ;  from  other  sources  we  know  that 
this  'tribute'  was  half  a  shekel;  and  in  verse  27  the 
state?-  is  payment  of  this  tax  for  two  persons.  Now  the 
stater — a  very  common  silver  Attic  coin,  the  tetradrachm 
— weighed  328.8  Parisian  grains :  thus  considerably  sur- 
passing the  sacred  shekel.  Are  we,  then,  to  hold  the 
stater  of  the  New  Testament  for  an  Attic  tetradrachm  ? 
There  is  reason  in  the  passage  of  Matthew  and  in  early 
writers  for  regarding  the  two  as  the  same.  The  Attic 
tetradrachm  sank  from  its  original  weight  of  328.8  to 
308  and  304.  This  approximation  must  have  gone  on 
increasing,  for  under  the  empire  a  drachm  was  equal  to  a 
Roman  denarius,  which  in  the  time  of  Tiberius  weighed 
69.8  Parisian  grains.  Four  denarii  were  equal  to  279 
Parisian  grains;  so  that,  if  the  denarius  is  regarded  as 
an  Attic  drachm,  the  sacred  shekel  may  be  correctly 
termed  a  tetradrachm.  With  this  Josephus  agrees 
(Ant.  iii,  8,  2),  who  says  that  the  shekel  (aiKKog),  a  He- 
brew coin,  contains  four  Attic  drachms"  (Kitto).  See 
Drachma. 

II.  Measwes  of  Dimension  or  Extent. — These  are  chief- 
ly taken  from  some  natural  standard,  such  as  the  va- 
rious portions  of  forearm  and  hand,  or  the  distance  of 
travel,  etc. ;  so,  among  other  nations,  the  foot,  fathom, 
etc.  In  the  descriptive  portion  of  this  and  the  follow- 
ing section  we  freely  borrow  from  the  article  in  Smith's 
Diet,  of  the  Bible. 

1.  Measures  of  Length.— (I.)  The  principal  of  these 
were  as  follows:  («)  The  "SliS,  etsbd,  or  finger-breadth, 
mentioned  only  in  Jer.  Iii,  21.'  (b)  The  r>^'J>,  tephach, 
or  hand-breadth  (Exod.  xxv,  25;  1  Kings  vii,  26;  2 
Chron.  iv,  5),  applied  metaphoricallv  to  a  short  period 
YL— N 


of  time  in  Psa.  xxxix,  5.  (c)  The  T'l'l,  sereth,  or  span, 
the  distance  between  the  extremities  of  the  thumb  and 
the  little  finger  in  the  extended  hand  (Exod.  xxviii,  16; 
1  Sam.  xvii,  4 ;  P^zek.  xliii,  13),  applied  generally  to  de- 
scribe any  small  measure  in  Isa.  xl,  12.  ((/)  The  rtHX, 
amnuih,  or  cubit,  the  distance  from  the  elbow  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  middle  finger.  This  occurs  verj^  fre- 
quenth'  in  the  Bible  in  relation  to  buildings,  such  as  the 
Ark  (Gen.  vi,  15),  the  Tabernacle  (Exod.  xxvi,  xxvii), 
and  the  Temple  (1  Kings  vi,  2;  Ezek,  xl,  xli),  as  well 
as  in  relation  to  man's  stature  (1  Sam.  xvii,  4;  Matt,  vi, 
27),  and  other  objects  (Esth.  v,  14;  Zecli.  v,  2).  (e) 
The  1^5,  gomed,  lit.  a  rod,  applied  to  Eglon's  dirk  (Judg. 
iii,  16).  Its  length  is  uncertain,  but  it  probably  fell  be- 
low the  cubit,  with  which  it  is  identified  in  the  A.  V. 
{f)  The  nsp,  kaneh,  or  reed  (comp.  our  word  "cane"), 
for  measuring  buildings  on  a  large  scale  (Ezek.  xl,  5-8 ; 
xli,  8;  xlii,  16-19). 

(2.)  Little  information  is  furnished  by  the  Bible  itself 
as  to  the  relative  or  absolute  lengths  described  under 
the  above  terms.  With  the  exception  of  the  notice 
that  the  reed  equals  six  cubits  (Ezek.  xl,  5),  we  have 
no  intimation  that  the  measures  we^e  combined  in  any- 
thing like  a  scale.  We  should,  indeed,  infer  the  reverse 
from  the  circumstance  that  Jeremiah  speaks  of  "  four 
fingers,"  where,  according  to  the  scale,  he  would  have 
said  '•  a  hand-breadth  ;"  that  in  the  description  of  Goli- 
ath's height  (1  Sam.  xvii,  4),  the  expression  "  six  cubits 
and  a  span"  is  used  instead  of  "  six  cubits  and  a  half;" 
and  that  Ezekiel  mentions  "  span"  and  "  half  a  cubit" 
in  close  juxtaposition  (xliii,  13, 17),  as  though  they  bore 
no  relation  to  each  other  either  in  the  ordinary  or  the 
long  cubit.  That  the  denominations  held  a  certain  ratio 
to  each  other,  arising  out  of  the  proportions  of  the  mem- 
bers in  the  body,  could  hardly  escape  notice ;  but  it  does 
not  follow  that  they  were  ever  worked  up  into  an  arti- 
ficial scale.  But  bj'  comparing  together  Exod.  xxv,  10 
with  Josephus  (.4?;^  iii,  6,  5),  we  find  the  span  equal  to 
half  a  cubit;  for  the  length  which  Moses  terms  two  cu- 
bits and  a  half,  Josephus  designates  five  spans.  The  re- 
lation of  tephach  (hand-breadth)  and  etsba  (finger). to 
ammah  (cubit)  appears  from  their  several  names  and 
their  import  in  other  systems.  The  hand-breadth  is 
four  fingers;  the  span  contains  three  times  the  breadth 
of  the  hand,  or  twelve  fingers.  This  is  the  view  which 
the  rabbins  uniformly  take.  We  find  a  similar  system 
among  the  Greeks,  who  reckoned  in  the  cubit  t^^'enty- 
four  fingers,  six  hand-breadths,  and  two  spans.  The 
same  was  the  case  with  the  Egyptians. 

The  most  important  conclusion  usually  drawn  from 
the  Biblical  notices  is  to  the  effect  that  the  cubit,  which 
may  be  regarded  as  the  standard  measure,  was  of  vary- 
ing length,  and  that,  in  order  to  secure  accuracy,  it  was 
neccssarj'  to  define  the  kind  of  cubit  intended,  the  result 
being  that  the  other  denominations,  if  combined  in  a 
scale,  would  vary  in  like  ratio.  Thus  in  Deut.  iii,  11, 
the  cubit  is  specified  to  be  "  after  the  cubit  of  a  man ;" 
in  2  Chron.  iii,  3,  "  after  the  first,"  or,  rather,  "  after  the 
older  (niVdX'l)  measure;"  and  in  Ezek.  xli,  8,  "a  great 
cubit,"  or,  literally,  "  a  cubit  to  the  joint,"  which  is  fur- 
ther defined  in  xl,  5  to  be  "  a  cubit  and  a  hand-breadth." 
These  expressions  involve  one  of  the  most  knotty  points 
of  Hebrew  archasology,  viz.  the  number  and  the  respec- 
tive lengths  of  the  scriptural  cubits.  A  cubit  "after 
the  .cubit  of  a  man"  implies  the  existence  of  another 
cubit,  which  was  either  longer  or  shorter  than  it,  and 
from  analogy  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  this  sec- 
ond cubit  woidd  be  the  longer  of  the  two.  But  what 
is  meant  by  the  "  ammuh  of  a  man  ?"  Is  it  the  cubitus 
in  the  anatomical  sense  of  the  term— in  other  words,  the 
bone  of  the  forearm  between  the  elbow  and  the  wrist? 
or  is  it  the  full  cubit  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term, 
from  the  elbow  to  the  extremity  of  the  middle  finger? 
What,  again,  are  we  to  understand  by  Ezekiel's  expres- 
sion, "cubit  to  the  joint?"     The  term  ^"^SN,  atstsil,  is 


JVIETROLOGY 


194 


METROLOGY 


explained  by  Gesenius  {'J'/iesaur.  p.  114)  of  the  knuckles,  I 
and  not  of  the  '-armholes,"  as  in  the  A.  Y.  of  Jer.  xxxviii,  j 
12,  where  our  translators  have  omitted  all  reference  to  ' 
the  word  yadeka,  which  follows  it.  A  "  cubit  to  the  ' 
knuckles"  would  imply  the  space  from  tlie  elbow  to  the  ' 
knuckles,  and  as  this  cubit  exceeds  by  a  hand-breadth 
the  ordinary  cubit,  we  should  infer  that  it  was  contra- 
distinguished from  the  cubit  that  reached  onl}'  to  the  : 
wrist.  The  meaning  of  the  word  is,  however,  contested : 
Hitzig  gives  it  the  sense  of  a  connecting  wall  {Comm.  on  \ 
Jer.).  Sturmius  {Sckigr.  p.  94)  understands  it  of  the 
edge  of  the  walls,  and  others  in  the  sense  of  a  wing  of  a 
building  (Rosenmiiller,  ScJiol.  in  Jer.),  Michaelis,  on 
the  other  hand,  understands  it  of  the  knuckles  (Supplem. 
p.  119),  and  so  does  Saalschiitz  (,4  rchdol.  ii,  165).  The 
expressions  now  discussed,  taken  together,  certainly  fa- 
vor the  idea  that  the  cubit  of  the  Bible  did  not  come  up 
to  the  full  length  of  the  cubit  of  other  countries.  (See 
below.)  A  further  question  remains  to  be  discussed, 
viz.  whether  more  than  two  cubits  were  in  vogue  among 
the  Hebrews.  It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  "for- 
mer" or  "older"  measure  of  2  Chron.  iii,  3  was  the  Mo- 
saic or  legal  cubit,  and  that  the  modern  measure,  tlie 
existence  of  which  is  implied  in  that  designation,  was 
somewhat  larger.  Further,  the  cubit  "  after  the  cubit 
of  a  man"  of  Dent,  iii,  11  is  held  to  be  a  common  meas- 
ure, in  contradistinction  to  the  Mosaic  one,  and  to  have 
fallen  below  this  latter  in  point  of  length.  In  this  case 
we  should  have  three  cubits — the  common,  the  Jlosaic 
or  old  measure,  and  the  new  measure.  We  turn  to  Eze- 
kiel  and  find  a  distinction  of  another  character,  viz.  a 
long  and  a  short  cubit.  Now  it  has  been  urged  by  many 
writers,  and  we  tliink  with  good  reason,  that  Ezekiel 
would  not  be  likely  to  adopt  any  other  than  the  old  or- 
thodox Mosaic  standard  for  the  measurements  of  his 
ideal  temple.  If  so,  his  long  cubit  would  be  identified 
with  the  old  measure,  and  his  short  cubit  with  the  one 
"  after  the  cubit  of  a  man,"  and  the  7iew  measure  of  2 
Chron.  iii,  3  would  represent  a  still  longer  cubit  than 
Ezekiel's  long  one.  Other  explanations  of  the  prophet's 
language  have,  however,  been  offered :  it  has  been  sonu'- 
timcs  assumed  that,  while  living  in  Chakhea,  he  and  his 
countrymen  had  adopted  the  long  Babylonian  cubit 
(Jahn,  ArchcEol.  §  113) ;  but  in  this  case  his  short  cubit 
could  not  ha\e  belonged  to  the  same  country,  inasmuch 
as  the  difference  between  these  two  amounted  to  only 
three  lingers  (Herod,  i,  178).  Again,  it  has  been  ex- 
plained that  his  short  cubit  was  tlie  ordinary  Chaktoan 
measure,  and  the  long  one  the  Mosaic  measure  (Rosen- 
mUller,  in  Ezek.  xl,  5) ;  but  this  is  unlikely,  on  account 
of  the  respective  lengths  of  the  Babylonian  and  the 
Mosaic  cubits,  to  which  we  shall  hereafter  refer.  Inde- 
pendently of  these  objections,  we  think  that  the  pas- 
sages previously  discussed  (Dent,  iii,  11 ;  5  Chron.  iii,  3) 
imply  the  existence  of  three  cubits. 

It  remains  to  be  inquired  whether  from  the  Bible  it- 
self we  can  extract  any  information  as  to  the  length  of 
the  Mosaic  or  legal  cubit.  Tlie  notices  of  the  height 
of  the  altar  and  of  the  height  of  the  lavers  in  the  Tem- 
ple are  of  importance  in  this  respect.  In  the  former 
case  three  cubits  is  specified  (Exod.  xxvii,  1),  with  a 
direct  prohibition  against  the  use  of  steps  (Exod.  xx, 
26) ;  in  the  latter,  tlie  height  of  the  base  on  which  the 
laver  was  placed  was  tliree  cubits  (1  Kings  vii,  27).  If 
we  adopt  the  ordinary  length  of  the  cubit  (say  20  inches), 
the  height  of  the  altar  and  the  base  would  be  o  feet. 
But  it  would  be  extremely  inconvenient,  if  not  impossi- 
ble, to  minister  at  an  altar  or  to  use  a  laver  placed  at 
such  a  height.  In  order  to  meet  this  difficulty  without 
any  alteration  of  the  length  of  the  cubit,  it  must  be  as- 
sumed that  an  inclined  jilane  led  up  to  it.  as  was  the 
case  with  the  loftier  altar  of  the  Temple  (:Mishna,  Mid- 
doth,i\\,  §  1,  3).  But  such  a  contrivance  is  contrary  to 
the  si)irit  of  the  text ;  and,  even  if  suited  to  the  altar, 
would  be  wholly  needless  for  the  lavers.  Hence  Saal- 
schiitz infers  that  the  cubit  did  not  exceed  a  Prussian 
foot,  which  is  less  than  an  English  foot  {Archdol.  ii, 


167).  The  other  instances  adduced  by  him  are  not  so 
much  to  the  point.  The  molten  sea  was  not  designed 
for  the  purpose  of  bathing  (though  this  impression  is 
conveyed  by  2  Chron.  iv,  G,  as  given  in  the  A.  V.),  and 
therefore  no  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  the  depth  of 
the  water  in  it.  The  height  of  Og,  as  inferred  from  the 
length  of  his  bedstead  (9  cubits,  Deut.  iii,  11),  and  the 
height  of  Goliath  (6  cubits  and  a  span,  1  Sara,  xvii,  4), 
are  not  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  a  cubit  about  18 
inches  long,  if  credit  can  be  given  to  other  recorded  in- 
stances of  extraordinary  stature  (Pliny,  vii,  2,  16;  He- 
rod, i,  68 ;  Josephus,  A  nt.  xviii,  4,  5).  At  the  same  time 
the  rendering  of  the  Sept.  in  1  Sam.  xvii,  4,  which  is 
followed  by  Josephus  {Ant.y'i,  9, 1),  and  which  reduces 
the  number  of  cubits  to  four,  suggests  either  an  error  in 
the  Hebrew  text,  or  a  considerable  increase  in  the  length 
of  the  cubit  in  later  times. 

(3.)  We  now  turn  to  collateral  sources  of  information, 
which  we  will  follow  out,  as  far  as  possible,  in  chrono- 
logical order.  The  earliest  and  most  trustworthy  testi- 
mony as  to  the  length  of  the  cubit  is  supplied  by  the 
existing  specimens  of  old  Egyptian  measures.  Several 
of  these  have  been  discovered  in  tombs,  carrj-ing  us 
back  at  all  events  to  B.C.  1700,  while  the  Kilometer  at 
Elephantine  exhibits  the  length  of  the  cubit  in  the  time 
of  the  Roman  emperors.  No  great  difference  is  exhib- 
ited in  these  measures,  the  longest  being  estimated  at 
about  21  inches,  and  the  shortest  at  about  20i,  or  ex- 
actly 20.4729  inches  (Wilkinson,  .4  nc.  Kg.  ii,  258).  They 
are  divided  into  28  digits,  and  in  this  respect  contrast 
with  the  Mosaic  cubit,  which,  according  to  rabbinical 
authorities,  was  divided  into  24  digits.  There  is  some 
difiiculty  in  reconciling  this  discrepancy  with  the  almost 
certain  fact  of  the  derivation  of  the  cubit  from  Egypt. 
It  has  generally  been  surmised  that  the  Egyptian  cubit 
was  of  more  than  one  length,  and  that  the  sepulchral 
measures  exhibit  the  shorter  as  \\c\\  as  the  longer  by 
special  marks.  Wilkinson  denies  the  existence  of  more 
tiian  one  cubit  {Anc.  Kg.  ii,  257-259),  apparently  on  the 
gniuiid  that  the  total  lengths  of  the  measures  do  not 
materially  vary.  It  may  be  conceded  that  the  measures 
are  intended  to  represent  the  same  length,  the  variation 
being  simply  the  result  of  mechanical  inaceiu-acy ;  but 
this  does  not  decide  the  question  of  the  double  cubit, 
which  rather  turns  on  the  peculiarities  of  notation  ob- 
servable on  these  measures.  For  a  full  discussion  of  this 
point  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  Thenius's  essay  in  the 
Theologische  Sludien  mid  Kriliken  for  184G,  p.  297-342. 
Our  limits  will  permit  only  a  brief  statement  of  the  facts 
of  the  case,  and  of  the  views  expressed  in  reference  to 
them.  The  most  perfect  of  the  Egyptian  cubit  meas- 
ures are. those  preserved  in  the  Turin  and  Louvre  mu- 
seums. These  are  imequally  divitled  into  two  parts,  the 
one  on  the  right  hand  containing  15,  and  the  other  13 
digits.  In  the  former  part  the  digits  are  subdiWded  into 
alitpiot  parts  from  ^  to  J,,  reckoning  from  right  to  left. 
In  the  latter  part  the  digits  are  marked  on  the  lower 
edge  in  the  Turin,  and  on  the  upper  edge  in  the  Louvre 
measure.  In  the  Turin  measure  the  three  left-hand 
digits  exceed  tlie  others  in  size,  and  have  marks  over 
them  indicating  either  fingers  or  the  numerals  1,  2.  3. 
The  four  left-hand  digits  are  also  marked  off  from  the 
rest  by  a  double  stroke,  and  are  further  distinguished  by 
hieroglyi)hic  marks  sujiposed  to  indicate  thai  tliey  are 
digits  of  the  old  measure.  There  are  also  special  marks 
between  the  6th  and  7th,  and  between  tlie  10th  and 
11th  digits  of  the  left-hand  portion.  In  the  Louvre 
cubit  two  digits  are  marked  off  on  the  lower  edge  by 
lines  running  in  a  slightly  transverse  direction,  thus 
producing  a  greater  length  than  is  given  on  the  upper 
side.  It  has  been  found  that  each  of  the  three  above 
specified  digits  in  the  Turin  measure  =  ^j'-j  of  the  whole 
length,  less  these  three  digits;  or,  to  jnit  it  in  another 
form,  the  four  left-hand  digits  =  Jj  of  tlic  25  right-hand 
digits:  also  that  each  of  the  two  digits  in  the  Louvre 
measure  —  ;_?;j  of  the  whole  length,  less  these  two  digits; 
and  further,  that  twice  the  left  half  of  cither  measure  =^ 


METROLOGY 


195 


METROLOGY 


the  whole  length  of  the  Louvre  measure,  less  the  two 
digits.  Most  writers  on  the  subject  agree  in  the  con- 
clusion that  the  measures  contain  a  combination  of  two, 
if  not  three,  kinds  of  cubit.  Great  difference  of  opinion, 
however,  is  manifested  as  to  particulars.  Thenius  makes 
the  difference  between  the  royal  and  old  cubits  to  be  no 
more  than  two  digits,  the  average  length  of  the  latter 
being  484.289  millimetres,  or  19.0(5G  inches,  as  compared 
with  523.524  millimetres,  or  20.611  inches,  and  523  mil- 
limetres, or  20.591  inches,  the  lengths  of  the  Turin  and 
Louvre  measures  respectively.  He  accounts  for  the  ad- 
ditional two  digits  as  originating  in  the  practice  of 
placing  the  two  fingers  crosswise  at  the  end  of  the  arm 
and  hand  used  in  measuring,  so  as  to  mark  the  spot  up 
to  which  the  cloth  or  other  article  has  been  measured. 
He  further  finds,  in  the  notation  of  the  Turin  measure, 
indications  of  a  third  or  ordinary  cubit  23  digits  in 
length.  Another  explanation  is  that  the  old  cubit  con- 
sisted of  24  or  25  new  digits,  and  that  its  length  was 
462  millimetres,  or  18.189  inches;  and,  again,  others  put 
the  old  cubit  at  24  new  digits,  as  marked  on  the  meas- 
ures. The  relative  proportions  of  the  two  would  be,  on 
these  two  hypotheses,  as  28 :  26,  as  28 :  25,  and  as  28 :  24. 
(See  below.) 

The  use  of  more  than  one  cubit  appears  to  have  also 
prevailed  in  Babylon,  for  Herodotus  states  that  the 
"  royal"  exceeded  the  '•  moderate"  cubit  (w/jx^c  /'*  Tp'of) 
by  three  digits  (i,  178).  The  appellation  "royal,"  if 
borrowed  from  the  Babylonians,  would  itself  imply  the 
existence  of  another;  but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
this  other  was  the  •'  moderate"  cubit  mentioned  in  the 
text.  The  majority  of  critics  think  that  Herodotus  is 
there  speaking  of  the  ordinary  Greek  cubit  (Biickh,  p. 
214),  though  the  opposite  view  is  affirmed  by  Grote  in 
liis  notice  of  Biickh's  work  {Claxs.  Mits.  i,  28).  Even 
if  the  Greek  cubit  be  understood,  a  further  difficulty 
arises  out  of  the  uncertainty  whether  Herodotus  is 
speaking  of  digits  as  they  stood  on  the  Greek  or  on  the 
Babylonian  measure.  In  the  one  case  the  proportions 
of  the  two  would  be  as  8 : 7,  in  the  other  case  as  9  : 8. 
Bockh  adopts  the  Babylonian  digits  (without  good  rea- 
son, we  think),  and  estimates  the  Babylonian  roval  cubit 
at  234.2743  Paris  lines,  or  20.806  inches  (p.  219).  A 
greater  length  would  be  assigned  to  it  according  to  the 
data  furnished  by  M.  Oppert,  as  stated  in  Rawlinson's 
Ilefod.  i,  315 ;  for  if  the  cubit  and  foot  stood  in  the  ratio 
of  5 : 3,  and  if  the  latter  contained  15  digits,  and  had  a 
length  of  315  millimetres,  tlien  the  length  of  the  ordi- 
nary cubit  would  be  525  millimetres,  and  of  the  royal 
cubit,  assuming,  with  Mr.  Grote,  that  the  cubits  in  each 
case  were  Babylonian,  588  millimetres,  or  23.149  inches. 

Reverting  to  the  Hebrew  measures,  we  should  be  dis- 
posed to  identify  the  new  measure  implied  in  2  Chron. 
iii,  3,  with  the  full  Egyptian  cubit ;  the  "  old"  measure 
and  Ezekiel's  cubit  with  the  lesser  one,  either  of  26  or 
24  digits;  and  the  "cubit  of  a  man"  with  the  third  one 
of  which  Thenius  speaks.  Bcickh,  however,  identities 
the  Jlosaic  measure  with  the  full  Eg}^ptian  cubit,  and 
accounts  for  the  difference  in  the  number  of  digits  on 
the  hypothesis  that  the  Hebrews  substituted  a  division 
into  24  for  that  into  28  digits,  the  size  of  the  digits  be- 
ing of  course  increased  (p.  266,  267).  With  regard  to 
the  Babylonian  measure,  it  seems  highly  improbable 
that  either  the  ordinary  or  the  royal  cubit  could  be 
identified  with  Ezekiel's  short  cubit  (as  Rosenmliller 
thinks),  seeing  that  its  length  on  either  of  the  compu- 
tations above  offered  exceeded  that  of  the  Egyptian 
cubit. 

In  the  Mishna  the  ]M.osaic  cubit  is  defined  to  be  one 
of  six  palms  (Celivi,  17,  §  10).  It  is  termed  the  moder- 
ate cubit  (ni313'ian  "n),  and  is  distinguished  from  a 
lesser  cubit  of  five  palms  on  the  one  side  {Celim,  ib.), 
and  on  the  other  side  from  a  larger  one,  consisting,  ac- 
cording to  Bartenora  {in  Cel.  17,  §  9),  of  six  palms  and 
a  digit.  The  palm  consisted,  according  to  Maimonides 
{ihid.),  of  four  digits;  and  the  digit,  according  to  Arias 


Montanus  (.4  nt.  p,  113),  of  four  barleycorns.  This  gives 
144  barleycorns  as  the  length  of  the  cubit,  which  ac- 
cords with  the  number  assigned  to  the  cubitus  Justus  et 
mediocris  of  the  Arabians  (Biickh,  p.  246).  The  length 
of  the  Mosaic  cubit,  as  computed  by  Thenius  (after  sev- 
eral trials  with  the  specified  number  of  barleycorns  of 
middling  size,  placed  side  by  side),  is  214.512  Paris  lines, 
or  19.0515  inches  (<S/«f/.M.  A'nV.p.  110).  It  seems  hardly 
possible  to  arrive  at  any  very  exact  conclusion  by  this 
mode  of  calculation.  Eisenschmid  estimated  144  bar- 
leycorns as  equal  to  238.35  Paris  lines  (Bockh,  p.  269), 
perhaps  from  having  used  larger  grains  than  the  aver- 
age. The  writer  of  the  article  on  "  Weights  and  ]\Ieas- 
ures"  in  the  Penny  Cyclopcedia  (xviii,  198)  gives,  as  the 
result  of  his  own  experience,  that  38  average  grains 
make  up  5  inches,  in  which  case  144  =  18.947  inches; 
while  the  length  of  the  Arabian  cubit  referred  to  is 
computed  at  213.058  Paris  lines  (Bockh,  p.  247).  The 
Talmudists  state  that  the  Mosaic  cubit  was  used  for  the 
edifice  of  the  Tabernacle  and  Temple,  and  the  lesser  cu- 
bit for  the  vessels  thereof.  This  was  probably  a  fiction ; 
for  the  authorities  were  not  agreed  among  themselves 
as  to  the  extent  to  which  the  lesser  cubit  was  used, 
some  of  them  restricting  it  to  the  golden  altar,  and  parts 
of  the  brazen  altar  (Mishna,  Cel.  17,  §  10).  But  this 
distinction,  fictitious  as  it  may  have  been,  shows  that 
the  cubits  were  not  regarded  in  the  light  of  sacred  and 
profane,  as  stated  in  works  on  Hebrew  archseology. 
Another  distinction,  adopted  by  the  rabbinists  in  refer- 
ence to  the  palm,  would  tend  to  show  that  they  did  not 
rigiiU)'  adhere  to  any  definite  length  of  cubit ;  for  they 
recognised  two  kinds  of  palms,  one  wherein  the  fingers 
lay  loosely  open,  which  they  denominated  a  smiling 
palm ;  the  other  wherein  the  fingers  were  closely  com- 
pressed, and  stjded  the  (/rievinr/  palm  (Carp- 
zov,  Appar.  p.  674,  676). 

(4.)  Prof.  T.  0.  Paine,  the  acute  and  accu- 
rate author  of  Solomon's  Temple,  etc.  (Bost. 
1861),  presents  some  original  and  ingenious 
views  on  the  subject,  which  appear  to  us  to 
solve  most  of  the  above  difficulties.  He 
maintains  that  there  was  but  one  cubit  in 
use  among  the  Hebrews,  and  that  essentially 
the  same  with  the  Egyptian  cubit.  The 
"hand-breadth"  he  regards  as  an  addition 
(rt  h)  to  the  rod  itself  (b  c),  for  convenience 
of  holding,  as  in  the  annexed  figure.     This, 


Cubit-rule,  according  to  Paiue. 
he  thinks,  likewise  explains  the  peculiar 
phraseology  in  Ezekiel  xliii,  13:  tl^SX  n:3X 
nsiJi.  A  cubit  [i.  e.  the  rule]  is  a  cubit 
and  a  hand-breadth  long  (p.  72).  So  also  by 
means  of  the  following  figure  he  shows  tliat 
only  six  cubits  were  counted  on  the  reed 
(6  c),  while  the  hand-breadth  («  b)  was  a 
handle  to  hold  the  reed  by.  Thus  Ezek.  xl, 
5,  "And  in  the  man's  hand  a  measuring-reed 
six  cubits  by  the  [regular]  cubit,  and  a  hand- 
breadth"  [additional]  ;"  again,  Ezek,  xli,  8, 
"A  full  reed  of  six  great  cubits,"  n.3|5il 
nbi^X  ni52i<  b'd,  hterally,  as  the  Maso- 
retic  accents  require,  the  reed,  six  cubits  to 
the  joint,  i.  e.,  as  Mr.  Paine  shrewdly  inter- 
prets the  joint  of  the  7-eed,  one  of  its  knots  or 
sections,  as  in  the  subjoined  cut  (ibid.).  All 
this  suggests  the  surmise  that  the  three  larger 


METROLOGY 


196 


METROLOGY 


and  separate  digits  over  the  cubits  described  above  as  I 
extant  were  actually  no  part  of  the  measure  itself,  but 
only  the  linger-marks  or  handle  by  means  of  which  it  ^ 
was  grasped  in  use.  If  these  be  deducted,  tlie  cubit  will 
be  reiluced  to  the  usual  or  traditionary  reckoning,  which 
is  about  18  inches. 

We  take  the  liberty  of  adding  some  interesting  re- 
searches from  a  private  communication  by  the  same 
writer,  in  which  he  believes  that  he  has  discovered  Ihe 
nibit  lucked  up  in  the  sockets  of  the  Tabernacle  walls. 
Having  determined  that  these  were  each  \  cubit  square 
and  i  cubit  thick,  he  makes  the  following  curitms  cal- 
culation :  The  90  silver  sockets  of  the  planks  (Exod. 
xxvi,  15-25)  would  make  4  cubit  cubes,  i.  e.,  if  piled  to- 
gether, a  solid  mass  2  cubits  in  each  dimension ;  or,  in 
other  terms,  24  sockets  made  a  solid  cubit.  As  each 
socket  weighed  a  talent  (Exod.  xxxviii,  27),  we  have 
the  formula, 

3  /  54  talents  in  silver 

1  cubit  \m  inches)=  V  — — ; — ■ — ; — ^ — -. — . 

weight  ol  1  cul).  mch  of  silver 

As  the  talent  contained  3000  shekels,  and  as  silver 
weighs  2051  grains  per  ounce,  we  have,  by  substitution, 


1  cnbit='y/ 


72.000  shekels  silver 


2651  grains 

or,  assuming  the  ancient  sliekel  to  have  weighed  (as 
above)  220  grains, 
1  cnbit  (in  inches)=-y  1^4^^^=^/5975  =  18.14  inches. 

This  strikingly  agrees  with  the  residt  attained  above. 
Prof.  Paine  remarks  that  the  cores  fortlie  tenons  in  the 
sockets  may  safely  be  neglected,  as  the  dross  would 
fully  counterbalance  them.  The  alloy,  if  at  all  used  in 
mainifacturiug,  would  not  materially  raise  the  value  of 
the  cubit  in  this  calculation. 

(5.)  Land  and  area  were  measured  eitlicr  by  tlic  cubit 
(Numb.  XXXV,  4,  5;  Ezek.  xl,  27)  or  by  the  reed  (Kzek. 
xlii,  20;  xliii,  17;  xlv,  2;  xlviii,  20;  IJev.  xxi,  10). 
There  is  no  indication  in  the  Bible  of  the  use  of  a  sipiare 
measure  by  the  Jews.  Whenever  they  wished  to  define 
the  size  of  a  plot,  they  specified  its  length  and  breadth, 
even  if  it  were  a  perfect  square,  as  in  Ezek.  xlviii,  1(5. 
The  difliculty  of  defining  an  area  by  these  means  is  ex- 
perienced in  the  iuterpretation  of  Numb,  xxxv,  4,  5, 
where  the  suburbs  of  the  Levitical  cities  are  described  as 
reachi.ig  outward  from  the  w^-ill  of  the  city  1000  cubits 
round  about,  and  at  the  same  time  2000  cubits  on  each 
side  from  without  the  city.  We  can  hardly  understand 
these  two  measurements  otherwise  than  as  applying,  the 
one  to  the  width,  the  other  to  the  external  boundary 
of  the  suburb,  the  measurements  being  taken  respec- 
tively perpendicular  and  parallel  to  the  city  walls.  Put 
in  this  case  it  is  necessary  to  understand  the  words  ren- 
dered "  from  without  the  city,"  in  ver.  5,  as  meaning  to 
the  exclinfUm  f;/"the  city,  so  that  tiie  length  of  the  city 
wall  should  be  added  in  each  case  to  the  2000  cubits. 
The  result  would  be  that  the  size  of  the  areas  would 
vary,  and  that  where  the  city  walls  were  nneipial  in 
length,  the  sides  of  the  suburb  would  be  also  unequal. 
For  instance,  if  the  city  wall  were  500  cubits  long,  then 
the  side  of  the  suiiurb  would  be  2500  cubits;  if  the  city 
wall  were  1000  cubit;*,  then  the  side  of  the  suburb  would 
be  oOOO  cubits.  Assuming  the  existence  of  two  towns, 
500  and  1000  cubits  square,  the  area  of  the  suburb  would 
in  the  former  case  =  6,000,000  square  cul)its,  and  would 
be  24  times  the  size  of  the  town;  while  in  the  latter 
case  the  suburb  would  be  8,000,000  square  cubits,  and 
only  8  times  the  size  of  the  town.  This  explanation  is 
not  wholly  satisfactory,  on  account  of  the  disjiroportion 
of  the  suburbs  as  compared  with  the  towns;  neverthe- 
less any  other  exjilanation  only  exaggerates  this  dispro- 
portion. Keil,  in  his  comment  on  Josh,  xiv,  4,  assumes 
that  the  city  wall  was  in  all  cases  to  be  regarded  as 
1000  cubits  long,  which,  with  the  1000  cubits  outside  the 
wall,  and  measured  in  the  same  direction  as  the  wall, 
wouhl  make  up  the  2000  cubits,  and  would  give  to  the 
side  of  the  suburb  in  every  case  a  length  of  oOOO  cubits. 
The  objection  to  this  view  is  that  there  is  no  evidence 


as  to  a  uniform  length  of  the  city  walls,  and  that  the 
suburb  might  have  been  more  conveniently  described  as 
3000  cubits  on  each  side.  All  ambiguity  would  have 
been  avoided  if  the  size  of  tlie  suburb  hail  been  decided 
either  by  absolute  or  relative  acreage;  in  other  words, 
if  it  were  to  consist  in  all  cases  of  a  certain  fixed  acreage 
outside  the  walls,  or  if  it  were  made  to  vary  in  a  certain 
ratio  to  the  size  of  the  town.  As  the  text  stands,  neithef 
of  these  methods  can  be  deduced  from  it.     See  Leviti- 

C.VI-  CiTV. 

2.  The  measures  of  distance  noticed  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment are  the  three  following:  («)  The  1^'^,  tsu'ad,  or 
pace  (2  Sam.  vi,  13),  answering  generally  to  our  yard. 
(h)  The  V']Xrt  r'^'l'Z,  kibrdth  ha-drets,  rendered  in  the 
A.  Y.  "  a  little  way"  or  "  a  little  piece  of  ground"  (Gen. 
xxxv,  IG;  xlviii,  7;  2  Kings  v,  19).  The  expression 
appears  to  indicate  some  definite  distance,  but  we  are 
unable  to  state  with  precision  what  that  distance  was. 
The  Sept.  retains  the  Hebrew  word  in  the  form  Xaj3pa- 
S-ri,  as  if  it  were  the  name  of  a  place,  adding  in  (icn. 
xlviii, 7  the  words  Kara  riv  'nnrtSpofioi',  wliich  is  thus 
a  second  translation  of  the  expression.  If  a  certain  dis- 
tance was  intended  by  this  translation,  it  would  be 
either  the  ordinary  length  of  a  race-course,  or  such  a 
distance  as  a  horse  could  travel  without  being  ovcrfa- 
tigued — in  other  words,  a  stage.  But  it  probably  means 
a  locality,  either  a  race-course  itself,  as  in  3  ^lacc.  iv, 
11,  or  the  space  outside  the  town  walls  where  the  race- 
course was  usually  to  be  found.  The  Sept.  gives  it 
again  in  (Jen.  xlviii,  7  as  the  equivalent  fur  Ephrath. 
The  Syriac  and  Persian  versions  render  kibnith  by  jxira-' 
sang,  a  well-known  Persian  measure,  generally  estimated 
at  30  stades  (Herod,  ii,  6;  v,  53),  or  from  3i  to  4  Eng- 
lish miles,  but  sometimes  at  a  larger  amount,  even  np 
to  60  stades  (Strab.  xi,  518).  The  only  conclusion  to  be 
drawn  from  the  Bible  is  that  the  kibioth  did  not  exceed 
and  i)robably  etpialled  the  distance  betworn  rictlilchem 
and  Kachel's  burial-place,  which  is  traditionally  identi- 
fied with  a  spot  1?;  miles  north  of  the  town,  (c)  The 
ci""  T("^T!>  <fi>'if^  yom,  or  """1  "^ri  r)  inuhaldk  yom,  a 
day's  journey,  which  was  the  most  usual  method  of  cal- 
culatiug  distances  in  travelling  (Gen.  xxx,  36;  xxxi, 
23 ;  Exod.  iii,  18 ;  v,  3 ;  Numb,  x,  33 ;  xi,  31 ;  xxxiii, 
8;  Dent,  i,  2;  1  Kings  xix,  4;  2  Kings  iii,  9;  Jonah  iii, 
3;  1  Mace,  v,  24,  28;  vii,  45;  Tobit  vi,  1),  though  but 
one  instance  of  it  occurs  in  the  New  Testament  (Luke 
ii,  44).  The  distance  indicated  by  it  was  naturally 
fluctuating,  according  to  the  circumstance  of  the  travel- 
ler or  the  country  through  which  he  passed.  Herodotus 
variously  estimates  it  at  200  and  150  stades  (iv,  101 ;  v, 
53) ;  Mariinis  {ap.  Ptol.  i,  1 1)  at  150  and  172  stades ;  Pau- 
sanias  (x,  33,  §  2)  at  150  stades;  Strabo  (i,  35)  at  from 
250  to  300  stades;  and  Yegetius  i^De  Re  Mil.  i,  11)  at 
from  20  to  24  miles  for  the  Koman  army.  The  ordinary 
I  day's  journey  among  the  Jews  was  thirty  miles;  but 
I  when  they  travelled  in  companies,  only  ten  miles.  Ne- 
j  apolis  formetl  the  first  stage  out  of  Jerusalem,  according 
j  to  the  former,  and  Beeroth  according  to  the  latter  com- 
[  1  utation  (Lightfoot,  Ejerc.  in  Luc.  ii,  44).  It  is  inipos- 
j  sible  to  as.sign  any  distinct  length  to  the  day's  journey : 
Jahn's  estimate  of  33  miles,  172  yards,  and  4  feet,  is 
based  ujion  the  false  assumption  that  it  bore  some  fixed 
ratio  to  the  other  mea.sures  of  length. 
I  In  the  Apocrypha  and  New  Testament  we  meet  with 
the  following  additional  measures:  (</)  The  Sabbath- 
day's  journey,  (Tn/3/iirtroi>  i)S(',c,  a  general  sUtement  for 
a  verj-  limited  distance,  such  as  would  naturally  be  re- 
garded as  the  immediate  vicinity  of  any  locality,  {e) 
The  ffrdciov,  sladlnm,  or  "  furlong,"  a  (ireek  measure 
1  introduced  into  Asia  subseipiently  to  Alexander's  con- 
(juest,  and  hence  first  mentioned  in  the  Ajiocrj-pha  (2 
1  Mace,  xi,  5;  xii,  9,  17,  29),  and  subsequently  in  tiie  New 
[  Testament  (Luke  xxiv,  13;  John  vi,  19:  xi,  18;  Pev. 
xiv,  20;  xxi,  10).  Both  the  name  and  the  lengtli  of 
i  the  stade  were  borrowed  from  the  foot-race  course  at 
!  Olymi)ia.     It  equalled  000  Greek  feet  (Herod,  ii,  149), 


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197 


METROLOGY 


Of  125  Roman  paces  (Plin.  ii,  23),  or  606|  feet  of  our 
measure.  It  thus  falls  below  the  furlong  by  53^  feet. 
The  distances  between  Jerusalem  and  the  places  Betha- 
ny, Jamnia,  and  Scythopolis,  are  given  with  tolerable 
exactness  at  15  stades  (John  xi,  18),  240  stades  (2  Mace, 
xii,  9),  and  600  stades  (2  Mace,  xii,  29).  In  2  Mace, 
xi,  5  there  is  an  evident  error,  either  of  the  author  or 
of  the  text,  in  respect  to  the  position  of  Bethsura,  which 
is  given  as  only  5  stades  from  Jerusalem.  The  Talmud- 
ists  describe  the  stade  under  the  term  res,  and  regarded 
it  as  equal  to  625  feet  and  125  paces  (Carpzov,  Appar. 
p.  679).  (./■)  The  mile,  ^iiXiov,  a  Koman  measure, 
equalling  1000  Koman  paces,  8  stades,  and  1618  English 
yards.     See  each  in  its  place. 

III.  Measures  ofCupadty.—\.  Those  for  liquids  were : 
(rt)  The  5?,  log  (Lev.  xiv,  10,  etc.),  originally  signifying 
a  "  basin."  (h)  The  "prt,  hin,  a  name  of  Egyptian  origin, 
frequently  noticed  in  the  Bible  (Exod.  xxix,  40 ;  xxx, 
24;  Numb,  xv,  4,  7,  9;  Ezek.  iv,  11;  etc.).  (c)  r3, 
(iaTog,  the  bai/i,  the  name  meaning  "measured,"  the 
largest  of  the  liquid  measures  (I  Kings  vii,  26,  38 ;  2 
Chron.  ii,  10 ;  Ezra  vii,  22 ;  Isa.  v,  10 ;  Luke  xvi,  16). 

With  regard  to  the  relative  values  of  these  measures 
we  learn  nothing  from  the  Bible,  but  we  gather  from 
Josephus  (Ant.  iii,  8,  3)  that  the  bath  contained  6  bins 
(for  the  bath  equalled  72  xestce  or  12  cho'es,  and  the  hin 
2  cho'es),  and  from  the  rabbinists  that  the  hin  contained 
12  logs  (Carpzov,  Appar.  p.  685). 

2.  The  dry  measure  contained  the  following  denomi- 
nations :  (rt)  The  3|5,  cab,  mentioned  only  in  2  Kings 
vi,  25,  the  name  meaning  literally  holloio  or  concave, 
(b)  The  "ipi',  (Jmer,  mentioned  only  in  Exod.  xvi,  16-36. 
The  same  measure  is  elsewhere  termed  "(Ti'*^",  issaron, 
as  being  the  tenth  part  of  an  cphah  (compare  Exod. 
xvi,  36),  whence  in  the  A.  V.  "tenth  deal"  (Lev.  xiv, 
10 ;  xxiii,  13 ;  Numb,  xv,  4,  etc.).  The  word  omer  im- 
plies a  heap,  and  secondarily  a  sheaf,  (c)  The  nXD, 
sedh,  or  "  measure,"  this  being  the  etymological  meaning 
of  the  term,  and  appropriatelj'  applied  to  it,  inasmuch  as 
it  was  the  ordinary  measure  for  household  purposes 
(Gen.  xviii,  6;  1  Sam.  xxv,  18;  2  Kings  vii,  1,  16). 
The  Greek  equivalent,  aarov,  occurs  in  Matt.  xiii,33; 
Luke  xiii,  21.  The  seah  was  otherwise  termed  ^^^IIJ, 
shalish,  as  being  the  third  part  of  an  ephah  (Isa.  xl,  12 ; 
Psa.  Ixxx,  5).  ((/)  The  nS^X,  ephdh,  a  word  of  Egyp- 
tian origin,  and  of  frequent  recurrence  in  the  Bible 
(Exod. xvi, 36;  Lev.  v,  11;  vi,20;  Numb. v,  15;  xxviii, 
.');  Judg.  vi,  19;  Ruth  ii,  17;  1  Sam.  i,  24;  xvii,  17; 
Ezek.  xiv,  11, 13, 14 ;  xlvi,  5,  7,  1 1, 14).  (e)  The  T^^h, 
lethek,  iijiiKopoi;,  or  "  half-homer,"  literally  meaning  what 
is  poured  out :  it  occurs  only  in  Hos.  iii,  2.  (f)  The 
^loh, /io'me?-,  meaning  heap  (Lev.  xxvii,  16;  Numb,  xi, 
32 ;  Isa.  V,  10 ;  Ezek.  xiv,  13).  It  is  elsewhere  termed 
cor,  13,  from  the  circular  vessel  in  which  it  was  meas- 
ured (1  Kings  iv,  22;  v,  11;  2  Chron.  ii,  10;  xxvii,  5; 
Ezra  vii,  22;  Ezek.  xiv,  14).  The  Greek  equivalent, 
KopoQ,  occurs  in  Luke  xvi,  7. 

The  relative  proportions  of  the  dry  measures  are  to  a 
certain  extent  expressed  in  the  names  issaro?!,  meaning 
a  tenth,  and  shalish,  a  third.  In  addition,  we  have  the 
Biblical  statement  that  the  omer  is  the  tenth  part  of  the 
ephah  (Exod.  xvi,  36),  and  that  the  ephah  was  the  tenth 
part  of  a  homer,  and  corresponded  to  the  bath  in  liquid 
measure  (Ezek.  xiv,  11).  The  rabbinists  supplement 
this  by  stating  that  the  ephah  contained  three  seahs, 
and  the  seah  six  cabs  (Carpzov,  p.  683). 

The  scale  is  constructed,  it  will  be  observed,  on  a 
combination  of  decimal  and  duodecimal  ratios,  the  for- 
mer prevailing  in  respect  to  the  omer,  ephah,  and  homer, 
the  latter  in  respect  to  the  cab,  seah,  and  ephah.  In 
the  liquid  measure  the  duodecimal  ratio  alone  appears, 
and  hence  there  is  a  fair  presumption  that  this  was  the 
original,  as  it  was  uudoubteiUy  the  most  general  prin- 


ciple on  which  the  scales  of  antiquity  were  framed 
(Bijckh,  p.  38).  Whether  the  decimal  division  was  in- 
troduced from  some  other  system,  or  whether  it  was  the 
result  of  local  usage,  there  is  no  evidence  to  show. 

3.  The  absolute  values  of  the  liquid  and  dry  measures 
form  the  subject  of  a  single  inquiry,  inasmuch  as  the 
two  scales  have  a  measure  of  equal  value,  viz.  the  bath 
and  the  ephah  (Ezek.  xiv,  11) :  if  either  of  these  can  be 
fixed,  the  conversion  of  the  other  denominations  into 
their  respective  values  readily  follows.  Unfortunately, 
the  data  for  determining  the  value  of  the  bath  or  ephah 
are  both  scanty  and  conflicting.  Attempts  have  Ijcen 
made  to  deduce  the  value  of  the  bath  from  a  comparison 
of  the  dimensions  and  the  contents  of  the  molten  sea  as 
given  in  1  Kings  vii,  23-26.  If  these  particulars  had 
been  given  with  greater  accuracy  and  fulness,  they 
would  have  furnished  a  sound  basis  for  a  calculation ; 
but,  as  the  matter  now  stands,  uncertainty  attends  the 
statement.  The  diameter  is  given  as  10  cubits,  and  the 
circumference  as  30  cubits,  the  diameter  being  stated  to 
be  "  from  one  brim  to  the  other."  Assuming  that  the 
vessel  was  circular,  the  proportions  of  the  diameter  and 
circumference  are  not  sufficiently  exact  for  mathemati- 
cal purposes,  nor  are  we  able  to  decide  whether  the  di- 
ameter was  measured  from  the  internal  or  the  external 
edge  of  the  vessel.  The  difference,  however,  in  either 
respect,  is  not  sufficiently  great  to  affect  the  result  mate- 
rialh'.  The  shape  of  the  vessel  has  been  variously  con- 
ceived to  be  circular  and  polygonal,  cylindrical  and 
hemispherical,  with  perpendicular  and  with  bulging 
sides.  The  contents  are  given  as  2000  baths  in  1  Kings 
vii,  26,  and  3000  baths  in  2  Chron.  iv,  5,  the  latter  being 
probably  a  corrupt  text.  The  conclusions  drawn  have 
been  widely  different,  as  might  be  expected.  If  it  be 
assumed  that  the  form  of  the  vessel  was  cylindrical  (as 
the  description  prima  facie  seems  to  imply),  that  its 
clear  diameter  was  10  cubits  of  the  value  (often  esti- 
mated) of  19.0515  English  inches  each,  and  that  its  full 
contents  were  2000  baths,  then  the  value  of  the  bath 
would  be  4.8965  gallons;  for  the  contents  of  the  vessel 
would  equal  2,715,638  cubic  inches,  or  9793  gallons.  If, 
however,  the  statement  of  Josephus  (.4  nt.  viii,  3,  5),  as 
to  the  hemispherical  form  of  the  vessel,  be  adopted,  then 
the  estimate  would  be  reduced.  Saigey,  as  quoted  by 
Biickh  (p.  261),  on  this  hypothesis  calculates  the  value 
of  the  bath  at  18.086  French  litres,  or  3.9807  English 
gallons.  If,  further,  we  adopt  Saalschiitz's  view  as  to 
the  length  of  the  cubit,  which  he  puts  at  15  Dresden 
inches  at  the  highest,  the  value  of  the  bath  will  be  fur- 
ther reduced,  according  to  his  calculation,  to  10^  Prus- 
sian quarts,  or  2.6057  English  gallons;  while  at  his  k>wer 
estimate  of  the  cubit  at  12  inches,  its  value  would  be 
little  more  than  one  half  of  this  amount  (A  rchiiol.  ii, 
171).  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  vessel  bulged,  and  if 
the  diameter  and  circumference  were  measured  at  the 
neck  or  narrowest  part  of  it,  space  might  be  found  for 
2000  or  even  3000  baths  of  greater  value  than  any  of  the 
above  estimates.  It  is  therefore  hopeless  to  arrive  at 
any  satisfactory  conclusion  from  this  source.  Neverthe- 
less, we  think  the  calculations  are  not  without  their  use, 
as  furnishing  a  certain  amount  of  presumptive  evidence. 
For,  setting  aside  the  theory  that  the  vessel  bulged  con- 
siderably, for  which  the  text  furnishes  no  evidence  what- 
ever, all  the  other  computations  agree  in  one  point,  viz. 
that  the  bath  fell  far  below  the  value  placed  on  it  by 
Josephus,  and  by  modern  writers  on  Hebrew  archeology 
generally,  according  to  whom  the  bath  measures  be- 
tween 8  and  9  English  gallons.     See  Brazen  Sea. 

We  turn  to  the  statements  of  Josephus  and  other 
early  writers.  The  former  states  that  the  bath  equals 
72  xesicB  (Ant.  viii,  2,  9);  that  the  hin  equals  2  Attic 
choes  (^ibid.  iii,  8,  3  ;  9,  4) ;  that  the  seah  equals  U  Ital- 
ian modii  (ibid,  ix,  4,  5);  that  the  cor  equals  10  Attic 
medimni  (ibid,  xv,  9,  2) ;  and  that  the  issaron  or  omer 
equals  7  Attic  cotylce  (ibid,  iii,  6,  6).  It  may  further 
be  implied  from  A  nt.  ix,  4,  4,  as  compared  with  2  Kings 
vi,  25,  that  he  regarded  the  cab  as  etpial  to  4  xestai. 


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198 


METROLOGY 


Xow,  in  order  to  reduce  these  statements  to  consistency,  I 
it  must  be  assumed  that  in  Ant.  xv,  9,  2,  he  has  con- 
fused the  medimnus  with  the  metrites,  and  in  A  nt.  iii,  G,  ] 
G,  the  cotylk  with  the  xest'es.  Such  errors  throw  doubt 
on  his  other  statements,  and  tend  to  the  conclusion 
that  Josephus  was  not  really  familiar  with  the  Greek 
measures.  This  impression  is  supported  by  his  apparent 
ignorance  of  the  term  metret'es,  which  he  should  have 
used  not  only  in  the  passage  above  noticed,  but  also  in 
viii,  2, 9,  where  he  would  naturally  have  substituted  it 
for  72  xestoe,  assuming  that  these  were  Attic  xesta.  Nev- 
ertheless, his  testimony  must  be  taken  as  decisively  in 
favor  of  the  essential  identity  of  the  Hebrew  bath  with 
the  Attic  metret'es.  Jerome  {in  Matt,  xiii,  33)  nfRrms 
that  the  seah  equals  li  modii,  and  {in  Ezek.  xlv,  11)  that 
the  ccr  t(iuals  30  modii:  statements  that  are  glaringly 
iiuonsi.suiit,  inasmuch  as  there  were  30  seahs  in  the 
cor.  The  statements  of  Epiphanius,  in  his  treatise  iJe 
Jilensuris,  are  equally  remarkable  for  inconsistency.  He 
states  (ii,  177)  that  the  cor  equals  30  modii.  On  this 
assumption  the  bath  would  eciual  51  sexiarii,  but  he 
gives  only  50  (p.  178) ;  the  seah  would  equal  1  modiiis, 
but  he  gives  1^  modii  (p.  178),  or,  according  to  his  esti- 
mate of  17  sexiarii  to  the  modius,  21^  sexiarii ;  though 
elsewhere  he  assigns  56  sextarii  as  its  value  (p.  182) ; 
the  omer  would  be  b^^  sextarii,  but  he  gives  7i  (p. 
182),  implying  45  modii  to  the  cor;  and,  lastly,  the 
ephah  is  identified  with  the  Egyptian  artabe  (p.  182), 
which  was  either  4i  or  3^  modii,  according  as  it  was  in 
the  old  or  the  new  measure,  though,  according  to  his  es- 
timate of  the  cor,  it  would  only  equal  3  modii.  Little 
reliance  can  be  placed  on  statements  so  looselj-^  made, 
and  the  question  arises  whether  the  identification  of  the 
bath  with  the  metret'es  did  not  arise  out  of  the  circum- 
stance that  the  two  measures  held  the  same  relative 
position  in  the  scales,  each  being  subdivided  into  72 
parts;  and,  again,  whether  the  assignment  of  30  modii 
to  the  cor  did  not  arise  out  of  there  being  30  seahs  in 
it.  The  discrepancies  can  only  be  explained  on  the  as- 
sumption that  a  wide  margin  was  allowed  for  a  long 
measure,  amounting  to  an  increase  of  fifty  percent.  This 
appears  to  have  been  the  case  from  the  definition  of 
the  seah  or  gutov  given  by  Ilesychius  (^looiog  yf/iwv, 
iiyovv  '(V  i'ljiiav  fioSiov  'ItoXikuv),  and  again  by  Suidas 
{fiMiov  v7npir(Tr\r]ptoi.uvoi>,  ojc  tlvai  fiociov  'ipa  ica'i 
i'lfttavv).  Assuming,  however,  that  Josephus  was  right 
in  identifying  the  bath  with  the  metretes,  its  value 
would  be,  according  to  Bcickh's  estimate  of  the  latter 
(p.  2G1,  278),  1993.95  Paris  cubic  inches,  or  8.7053  Eng- 
lish gallons;  but,  according  to  the  estimate  of  Bertheau 
(Cwc//.  p.  73),  1985.77  Paris  cubic  inches,  or  8.6G96  Eng- 
lish gallons. 

The  rabbinists  furnish  data  of  a  different  kind  for 
calculating  the  value  of  the  Hebrew  measures.  They 
estimated  the  log  to  be  equal  to  six  hen  eggs,  the  cubic 
contents  of  which  were  ascertained  by  measuring  the 
amount  of  water  they  displaced  (Jfaimonides.  zh  Cel.  17, 
§  10).  On  this  basis,  Thenius  estimated  the  log  at 
14.088  Paris  cubic  inches,  or  .0G147  English  gallon,  and 
the  bath  at  1014.39  Paris  cubic  inches,  or  4.428G  gal- 
lons (W.  II.  Kr.  p.  101, 121).  Again,  the  log  of  water  is 
said  to  have  weighed  108  Egyptian  drachma^  each 
equalling  Gl  barleycorns  (Maimoniiles,  in  Penh,  3,  §  G. 
ed.  (iuisius).  Thenius  linds  that  G588  barleycorns  fill 
about  the  same  space  as  G  hen  eggs  (-S7.  v.  Kr.  p.  112). 
Again,  a  log  is  said  to  fill  a  vessel  4  digits  long,  4 
broad,  and  "l^^j  high  (^laimonides,  in  I'raf.  Menaclmlli). 
This  vessel  would  contain  21.G  cubic  inches,  or  .07754 
gallon.  The  conclusion  arrived  at  from  these  data 
would  agree  tolerably  well  with  the  first  estimate  formed 
on  the  notices  of  the  molten  sea. 

In  the  New  Testament  we  have  notices  of  the  fol- 
lowing foreign  measures:  (a)  The  metret'es,  /ifTp»jr//(,- 
(Johii  ii,  6;  A. V.  "firkin"),  for  liquids.  (6)  The  cha- 
nix,  xoii'i^  (Kev.  vi,  G ;  A.V.  "  measure"),  for  dry  things, 
(c)  The  xf'stes,  ^irrrrjr,  applied,  however,  not  to  the  i)ar- 
ticidar  nieasiure  so  named  bv  the  tireeks,  but  to  any 


small  vessel,  such  as  a  cup  (Mark  vii,  4, 8 ;  A.V. "  pot"), 
((/)  The  modius,  similarly  applied  to  describe  any  ves- 
sel of  moderate  dimensions  (Matt,  v,  15;  Mark  iv,  21; 
Luke  xi,  33;  A.V.  "bushel")  ;  though  properly  mean- 
ing a  lioman  measure,  amounting  to  about  a  peck. 

The  value  of  the  Attic  metret'es  has  already  been 
stated  to  be  8.GG9G  gallons,  and  consequently  the  amount 
of  liquid  in  six  stone  jars,  containing  on  the  average  2^ 
metretm  each,  would  exceed  110  gallons  (John  ii,  G). 
Yerj'  possibly,  however,  the  Greek  term  represents  the 
Hebrew  hath,  and  if  the  bath  be  taken  at  the  lower  es- 
timate assigned  to  it,  tlie  amount  would  be  reduced  to 
about  60  gallons.  Even  this  amount  far  exceeds  the 
requirements  for  the  purposes  of  legal  purification,  the 
tendency  of  Pharisaical  refinement  being  to  reduce  the 
amount  of  water  to  a  minimum,  so  that  a  quarter  of  a 
log  would  suffice  for  a  person  (Mishna,  Yad.  1,  §  1). 
The  question  is  one  sim])ly  of  archaiological  interest  as 
illustrating  the  customs  of  the  Jews,  and  does  not  affect 
the  character  of  the  miracle  with  which  it  is  connected. 
The  choenix  was  -^^  of  an  Attic  medimnus,  and  contained 
nearly  a  quart.  It  represented  the  usual  amount  of 
corn  for  a  day's  food,  and  hence  a  chcenix  for  a  ])enny, 
or  denarius,  which  usually  jiurchased  a  bushel  (Cicero, 
Ven:  iii,  81),  indicated  a  great  scarcity  (Rev.  vi,  G). 

With  regard  to  tJie  use  of  fair  measures,  various  pre- 
cepts are  expressed  in  the  Mosaic  law  and  other  parts 
of  the  Bible  (Lev.  xix,  35,  3G;  Deut.  xxv,  14, 15;  Prov. 
XX,  10;  Ezek.  xlv,  10),  and  in  all  probability  standard 
measures  were  kept  in  the  Temple,  as  was  usual  in  the 
other  civilized  countries  of  antiquity  (Bockh,  p.  12). 

IV.  The  following  are  the  various  Biblical  weights 
and  measures  of  all  kinds,  in  the  alphabetical  order  of 
the  original  terms,  with  their  correct  and  conventional 
renderings,  and  the  nearest  modern  representative: 

Hell,  or  Gr.  Nnme.  A.V.  Equivalent. 

Adaikon Doric "  dram" quarter-eagle. 

Argurion Hilccrling "  piece  of  sil- 
ver," etc. .  .lialf-croicn. 

Assi'irion Assarnis "  fiu'ihing"  ..  .penn;/. 

Animi'ih Cubit "  cubit"  ..... .half-aard. 

Biilli Bath "  b;it h" qunrter-barrel. 

Batos Bath "  niensuie"  ..  qiiarter-harreL 

Bcka licka "  liekiili,"  etc.qnarter-ounce. 

Cha'iiix Chcenix "  nie.isnre" . .  .qnart. 

Biirkeiiiou  ..  ..Daric "  drum" qnarter-eagle. 

Ueiu'iiioii Denarritii "  pciinv" shiUiinj. 

Doiek,  etc.  . . . Travel " joiiniey" [ireiieiall. 

Uidr:  chinoii  ..hiilraihvi "  iriliuie" quarter-dollar. 

Diachmi) Drachma "piece  i^f  bil- 

ver" shillinij. 

Eplu'ih liphah "  epluih" half-lmshel. 

Etsba Fiiiner "  liiifrei " finnrr-lennth. 

(ieii'ih Genih "  ^ersih" 'half-vcninjwH. 

Gained Sjan "cnbil" qnarter-ijard. 

1 1  ill //(/( "  hin" gallon. 

II(',iniT Ilnuicr "  lionu'i" duiihle-harrel. 

l.-sMnhi T,iilh "  leiil li  deal". . half-peck. 

Kill) I<(il> "  cal)" qimrt. 

K:\iirli /.'•  < (/ "  iced" hatf-rnd. 

Kislicili,  etc.  .IJdir "b(nv,"etc.. ..(;oi('-K/i«^ 

Kesitiili Kesita "piece  of 

money" ingot. 

Kibn'ilh,  etc..  .Spare "  wiiy,"  etc. .  .short  distance^ 

KikUi'ir Talent "  talent" hvnrlred-w'ght. 

Kodiiinli'S. . . .  (jKddriiiiK "  fai-thiiij:"  .  ...farthing. 

K.'.mcls Jlaml/iil "  liniuirul" .. . . handful. 

Km- Kur "  cor" htigxhcad. 

K<iros Km- "  niensurc". .  .hogsJiead. 

iy.pliin .sV((/<' "  mile"' mill. 

I/i  hcU Leihek- "  nieasuie". .  .half -hogshead, 

Lithos,  etc Stmie "  slone's- 

Ilirow  " stone-throw. 

I.itra Pound "pound" pound. 

I,o^' Log "  loi;" half-jnnt. 

MaiK'h Mnneh "  iiiaiieh'" dovllc-jmund. 

Metivlus iletretis "  liikin" firkin. 

Milion ilile "mile" mile. 

Mna Mina "  i)ound" tripk-half- 

cagle. 

M<5dios Modius "  Imsliel" ]>erk. 

Omer <>vier "  onici" half-peck. 

Oi-friiia Fiitlioni "  I'atlioin" fathom. 

Pichus Kll "  ciiliit" hal.f-gard. 

Reba Fourth "  fointli" half-quarter- 

ounce. 

Si'iton Seah "  measure" . .  .peck. 

Sc  li Seah , "  seali" peck. 

!>lialisb Third "  third" peck. 


METROLOGY 


199 


METROPHANES 


Heb. 


Name.  A.  V.  Equivalent. 

Shekel Shekel "  shekel" . . .  [haif. dollar. 

Studios  or)      g^  ^^g a  fiirlono;" ....  furlong. 

Stadioa     )  ,     .       ~  „ 

Stater Stater "piece    of 

money" half-crown. 

Talantiou  ....Talmt "talent" thousand  dol- 

TOphach Hand-breadth."  hand-  '"'"t.,       „. 

hvendth"  .  .Iiand-breadth. 

Tsnade Pace "  pace" pace. 

Xest6s Sextarius "  meaeure" . .  .pint. 

Zereth Span "  span" span. 

V.  The  following  tables  exhibit  at  one  view  the  ap- 
proximate results  of  the  foregoing  investigations : 
I.  HEBREW  WEIGHTS. 


Troy  Weight. 

Grains. 

Lba. 

Oz. 

Gerah 

11 

110 

220 
11,000 
060,000 

1 

114 

h 
11 

T 

10 

'20 

2  jShekel 

lOOO 

100         50 

Maueh. 

60,000 

(iOOO  1   3000 

60     iKikkar. 

II.  SCRIPTURE  MONEY! 


Name.        |    Nation. 

Metal. 

Prop.Valuation. 

Current  Worth. 

1      cts.  mills. 

$      cts.  mills. 

Lepton 

Greek 

Copper 

1.9 

Qiiadrans 

Roman 

3.8 

3.8 

Assarius 

" 

1    5.4 

1    5.4 

Denarius 

" 

Silver 

15    4.T 

15   4.7 

Greek 

" 

IT    5.9 

15    4.7 

Didiachm 

" 

35    1.9 

30    9.4 

Stater 

" 

" 

70    3.7 

61    8.9 

Shekel 

Jewish 

" 

60 

Mina 

Greek 

" 

17    59    3.2 

15    47    3.S 

Talent 

" 

1058    59 

928    43 

III.  HEBREW  MEASURES  OP  LENGTH. 


Inches. 

Finser 

0.75 

3.02 

9.07 

18.14 

108.84 

12 

3 

Span 

24 

« 

2 

Cubit  

144 

36 

12 

6     IReed. 

IV.  HEBREW  LIQUID  MEASURES. 


Hin. 

6  I  Bath 

60  I    10    I  Cor. 


1  1  1.85 
8  2  3.2 
89 


3  0.72 
5  0  0.32 
50     1      1.2 


V.  HEBREW  DRY  MEASURES. 


Cab 

iflOmer 


6|  H 
IS  I  10 
180  1  100 


Ephah. 

10     I  Homer] 


3  1.1 

1   3  1.7 

1    0   2  3.2 
11    0   4 


2 

6  1.44! 

2  4  0.32' 

1   1  1.2 


VI.  Literature. — J.  D.  Michaelis,  Supplem.  ad  Lex. 
Hebr.  p.  1521;  Hussey,  Essay  on  the  Ancient  Weights, 
Money,  etc.  (Oxford,  1836);  F.  P.  Bayer,  De  Nummis 
Hebi-ceo-Samaritanis  (Valenti;^  Edetanornm.  17S1 :  writ- 
ten in  reply  to  Die  Undchthdt  <!<  r  Jiiil.  Miiii.u/.  15lit- 
zow,  1779);  Hupfeld,  Betrach/m/,/  ,bnil:hr  Si.lhni,/  der 
A.  T.  Textgeschichte,  in  the  Stinik-ii  and  Krlukni.  1830, 
ii,  247-301;  Thenius,  ihid.  1846,  i,  78  sq. ;  (i.  Seyffarth, 
Beitrdije  zur  Kenntniss  der  Literatur,  Kunst.  Mythol,  und 
Geschichte  des  alien  Aegypten;  Cumberland,  Essay  on 
Weights  and  Measures;  Arbuthnot,  Tables  of  Ancient 
Coins,  etc. ;  Bockh's  Metrologische  Untersvchungen ; 
Mommsen's  Geschichte  des  Rumischen  MUuzingi  us ;  Don 
V.Vazquez  Queipo's  Essai  sur  les  Sy^t'  nn  >■  Mi/n'ijues  et 
Monetaires  des  Anciens  Peuples  ;  jMIiIKt.  I'lli.  d.  heil 
Maase  der  Hebr  der  und  Hellenen  (Freib.  1859) ;  Hozfeld, 
Metrologische  Voruntersuchungen  (Leips.  18G3-5);  Tuck- 
ermann,  Dasjudische  Maas-System  (Breslau,  1867). 


MetrophanSs  (Mr]Tpo<pavr]q),  a  Greek  theologian, 
bishop  of  .Smyrna,  flourished  in  the  9th  century.  He 
is  particularly  known  for  his  opposition  to  Photius.  He 
was  already  bishop  of  Smyrna  when  his  friend,  the  pa- 
triarch Ignatius,  was  replaced  by  Photius,  and,  although 
he  at  first  recognised  the  new  patriarch,  he  subsequent- 
ly opposed  him  so  fiercely  as  to  be  himself  deposed 
and  cast  into  prison.  When  Ignatius  was  restored  by 
emperor  Basil  I,  Metrophanes  regained  his  sec,  and  in 
the  Coimcil  of  Constantinople  (869)  showed  himself  one 
of  the  most  ardent  of  Photius's  adversaries.  After  the 
death  of  Ignatius,  in  879,  Photius  became  again  patri- 
arch, and  INIetrophanes  was  again  deposed.  He  never- 
theless continued  to  speak  and  to  write  against  Photius, 
and  was  excommunicated  in  880.  We  have  no  details 
concerning  his  life  after  that  date.  He  wrote  a  letter 
to  Manuel  concerning  the  dispute  with  Photius  from 
858  to  870,  which  is  preserved  both  in  Greek  and  Latin 
in  Labbe,  Concilia,  vol.  viii,  and  in  Raderus,  A  eta  Con- 
cilii  (Ingolstadt,  1604,  4to).  See  Fabricius,  Biblioth. 
Grceca, xi,700;  Baronius,  A  nnal.  ad  ano.  870;  Hankius, 
Sc7-iptores  Byzantini,  xvii,  1 ;  xviii,  66 ;  Hoefer,  Nouv. 
Biog.  Giuerah;  xxxv,  220.      (.J.  N.  P.) 

Metrophanes,  Ckitopulus,  a  Greek  theologian 
of  tlie  ITili  teiiturv,  was  born  in  Bercea,  and  was  educa- 
ted at  the  convent  school  at  Atlios.  Afterwards  he 
served  in  an  intimate  relation  to  the  celebrated  patriarch, 
Cyril  Lucar,  who  in  1616  sent  him  to  England  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  to  continue  his  education  at  the  Universi- 
ty of  O.xford,  even  then  a  very  celebrated  educational 
institution.  Lucar,  in  a  letter  to  George  Abbott,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  at  this  time  complained  bitterly 
of  the  progress  made  by  the  Jesuits  in  the  Eastern 
Church,  and  of  the  inability  of  his  clergy  to  successfully 
resist  them  for  want  of  sufficient  instruction  (see  that 
letter  in  P.  Colomesii  Clarorum  ver.  epist.  [Lond.  1687], 
Ep.  46;  also  in  his  0pp.  ed.  Fabric.  [Hamb.  1709],  p. 
557).  INIetrophanes,  on  his  arrival  in  England,  was 
well  received  by  archbishop  Abbott  and  king  James. 
In  1620  or  1621  Metrophanes  went  to  Germany,  where 
he  visited  the  Protestant  universities  of  Wittenberg, 
Tubingen,  Altdorf,  Strasburg,  and  Helmstadt.  In  the 
latter  place  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Conring,  Ca- 
lixtus,  and  Conrad  Hornejus,  at  whose  suggestion  he 
wrote,  in  162.5,  a  confession  of  the  tenets  of  the  ortho- 
dox Greek  Church,  with  an  exposition  of  its  principal 
customs.  This  was  subsequently  published,  together 
with  a  Latin  translation,  by  John  Hornejus,  son  of  Con- 
rad, and  an  introduction  by  Conring  (see  Conringii  0pp. 
vi,  p.  391),  at  Helmstadt,  in  1661.  Among  his  other 
productions  in  Germany  we  find,  De  vocibus  quibusdain 
liturgicis  ejrist.  ed.  J.  J.  Crudelius  (Jiiterb.  1737) : — Oratio 
Grceca  panegyrica  et  dogmatica  in  natirifatem  domini 
Latine  versa,^Qx'M. G.Q,\.KCCi»m  (Alt.  \i\i<\)  -.—Responsio 
ad  qucestionem  de  dicto  apostolico  ••  Spiri/ii  iniilnilnte,''^  Gr. 
et  Lat.ed.a  M.Rindero,  Emenda/icnrs  <t  aiuintidrersiones 
in  Joh.  Menrsii  Gloss.  Grceco -barbarian  ed.  Franzius 
(Stendal,  1787)  :—De pronnnciatione  literce  9,  ed.  Sch  wen- 
terus  (Norimb.  1625);  and  letters  to  be  found  in  G. 
Richteri  Ejnstolis,  p.  729,  and  in  J.  Chr.Wolfii  Con^pectu 
supell.  epist.  p.  26,  66, 129.  He  next  went  for  some  time 
to  Venice  as  a  teacher  of  Greek,  and  finally  returned  to 
Constantinople,  in  what  year  is  uncertain.  He  subse- 
quently became  patriarch  of  Alexandria.  The  most  im- 
portant of  all  his  works  is  the  above-mentioned  confes- 
sion (O/ioXoyia  t^c  avaroXiicrjc  tKicXricing  riJQ  KaBo- 
XiKi'iQ  Kai  tnroaroXiKi'iQ,  k.t.X.).  It  is  a  rather  full, 
clear  exposition  of  the  doctrines  and  customs  of  the 
Greek  Church,  more  in  the  form  of  a  theological  analy- 
sis than  of  a  strictly  s.vmbolic  work.  He  shows  in  it 
great  opposition  to  the  Romish  Church,  but  at  the  same 
time  avoids  all  Protestant  polemics.  The  charge  that 
Metrophanes  was  Lutheran  in  tendency  is  unjust,  and  is 
ignored  by  all  able  theologians.  According  to  Metro- 
phanes, the  Greek  doctrines  can  be  divided  into  two 
parts,  forming  a  "  simple"  and  an  '•  economical"  system 


METROPOLITAN 


200 


METS 


of  theology  {Conf.  p.  13,  ed  Wcissciib.\  The  first  treats 
of  God  and  of  the  Trinity,  leading  naturally  to  the  ex- 
position of  the  Greek  doctrine  concerning  the  Holy 
Ghost  (Confess,  p.  15  sq.).  If  we  compare  the  doctrine 
of  the  author  on  the  point  with  the  tradition  of  the 
Greek  fathers,  we  tind  the  doctrine  much  more  complete, 
and  somewhat  similar  to  that  of  the  Latin  Church. 
Each  of  the  three  divine  persons  stands  in  a  definit3  re- 
lation to  tiic  two  others,  and  at  the  same  time  consti- 
tute one  form  of  the  Deity.  The  first  person  stands  as 
the  father  of  the  second  and  the  sender  (7r|Oo/3oXfi'c),  but  j 
embraces  them  both  in  himself  as  i-oii!;.  The  second 
person,  or  son,  possesses  a  XoyoQ,  the  third  the  TrpdiiXtifici  \ 
of  the  first,  as  -Kviviia,  an  identity  with  both.  See 
Weissenborn,  I'rcefatio  to  his  Appendix  lilt.  Symbol. 
Ecrks.  OriimtuHs  (Jena,  1850);  Ditelmaier,  I)e  Melro- 
phauc  Crilopule  (Altenb.  1769) ;  Neale,  Florent.  Council, 
p.  1C)8. 

Metropolitan  (M»jrpo7roX(V>jc)  is  the  name  of  an 
ecclesiastical  dignitary — an  episcopal  officer — who,  by 
virtue  of  his  residence  in  the  capital  of  a  countr\'  or 
province,  exercises  not  only  the  authority  of  a  presiding 
officer  in  his  own  diocese,  but  fxerts,  in  some  sense,  ju- 
risdiction over  the  other  bishops. of  the  same  country  or 
province;  and  in  this  respect  differs  from  the  archbishop 
(q.  v.),  who  simply  enjoys  some  additional  privileges  of 
honors  and  respect  not  common  to  the  plain  bishop 
(comp.  Schaff,  Ch.  Hist,  i,  270). 

The  otHce  originated  in  the  Roman  countries,  when 
the  chief  city  of  a  province  was  called  fiifrpoTroXif;. 
The  date  of  its  origin  cannot  be  exjictly  fixed,  but  "the 
third  century,"  says  Coleman  {Manual  of  Prelacy  and 
Ritualism,  p.  235),  "  may  be  regarded  as  the  period  in 
which  it  was  chiefly  consolidated  and  established." 
Romanists  hold  that  it  can  be  traced,  at  least  in  germ, 
to  the  days  of  the  apostles,  and  that  mention  is  made 
of  the  office  in  the  letters  of  Paul  to  Timothv  and  to 
Titus  (comp.  Pierre  de  IMarca,  Concord,  lib.  vi,  Giorgi, 
De  Antiquo  Ital.  Metropol.).  Several  of  the  Church 
fathers  also  mention  the  fact  that  the  metropolitan 
office  existed  in  apostolic  days  (e.  g.  Chrysostom,  15 
Horn,  in  V.  Tim.,  and  Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccles.  iii,  c.  4)  ; 
but  it  is  clear  that  '•  the  namt  of  metropolitan  does  not 
occur  until  the  4th  century"  (Coleman,  Anc.  Christiani- 
ty Exem]>Hfied,  p.  143).  The  title  was  first  publicly 
adopteil  by  the  Church  at  the  Council  of  Niciea,  A.D. 
325,  and  there  seems  good  ground  for  the  belief  that, 
like  all  other  episco|)al  offices,  the  nictroi)olitan  govern- 
ment "was  not  the  ]iroiliiction  of  a  day,  l)ut  tiie  result 
of  a  gradual  modilication  of  the  diocesan  government, 
by  a  further  concentration  of  episcopal  power,  and  the 
extension  of  its  influence  over  a  wider  range  of  territo- 
ry" (Coleman,  Prel.  and  Rit.  p.  242 ;  comp.  Schaff,  Ch. 
hist.\\,T,i)). 

The  following  may  be  considered  as  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  office.  The  metropolitan  had  prece- 
dence of  all  other  bishops  of  his  province,  a  decisive 
voice  in  their  election,  and  the  power  of  conlirming  and 
ordaining  them.  He  summoned  provincial  councils, 
presided  in  them,  and  drew  up  the  decrees.  He  had 
the  oversight  of  the  provincial  bishops,  and  the  ecclesi- 
astical superintendence  of  the  whole  province.  He  had 
the  privilege  of  determining  all  causes  of  special  impor- 
tance in  provincial  council,  but  in  concurrence  with  the 
other  bishops  of  the  province.  In  extreme  cases,  appeal 
was  made  to  him,  when  he  had  the  power  of  controlling 
a  provincial  bishop,  without  the  assistance  of  other 
bishops.  He  coidd  give  and  receive  letters  of  com- 
munion, and  pulili^h  and  carry  into  effect  laws  enacted 
either  by  emjierors  or  by  councils  relating  to  the 
Church.  The  bishops  of  a  )irovinee  elected  and  or- 
dained their  metropolitan,  without  the  concurrence  of 
the  metropolitan  of  any  other  province. 

The  ninth  canon  of  the  Council  of  Antioch  (341)  thus 
defines  the  office  of  the  metropolitan  :  "  The  bishops  of 
each  eparchy  (province)  should  know  that  uiwn  the 
bishop  of  the  metropolis  (the  municipal  capital)  also  de- 


volves a  care  for  the  whole  eparchy,  because  in  the  me- 
tropolis all,  who  have  business,  gather  together  from  all 
quarters.  Hence  it  has  been  found  good  that  he  should 
also  have  a  precedence  in  honor,  and  that  the  other 
bishops  should  do  nothing  without  him — according  to 
the  old  and  still  binding  canon  of  our  fathers — except 
that  which  pertains  to  the  supervision  and  jurisdiction 
of  their  parishes  (i.  e.  dioceses  in  the  modern  terminolo- 
gy), and  the  provinces  belonging  to  them ;  as  in  fact 
they  ordain  presbyters  and  deacons,  and  decide  all  judi- 
cial matters.  Other^vise  tliey  ought  to  do  nothing  with- 
out the  bishop  of  the  metropolis,  and  he  nothing  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  other  bishops."  In  the  nine- 
teenth canon,  this  council  forbade  a  bishop  being  ordain- 
ed without  the  presence  of  the  metropolitan,  and  the 
presence  or  concurrence  of  the  majority  of  the  bishops 
of  the  province.  The  writers  of  the  Latin  Church  use 
promiscuously  the  words  archbi.^hop  and  metropolitan, 
making  either  name  denote  a  bishop,  who,  by  virtue  of 
his  see,  presides  over  or  governs  several  other  bishops. 
Thus  in  the  newly-constituted  hierarchy  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  England  the  archbishop  of  West- 
minster has  the  rank  of  metropolitan.  In  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  of  Ireland,  the  archbishops  of  Armagh, 
Dublin,  Cashel,  and  Tuam,  all  possess  the  same  rank. 
In  the  Church  of  England,  also,  the  real  meaning  of  the 
term  metropolitan  seems  to  have  been  lost  sight  of,  and 
the  archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York,  in  England, 
and  in  Ireland  those  of  Armagh  and  Dublin,  are  called 
metropolitans.  The  Greeks,  however,  use  the  name 
only  to  denote  him  whose  see  is  really  a  civil  metropo- 
lis. See  Farrar,  Eccles.  Diet.  s.v. ;  Hook,  Church  Diet. 
s.  V. ;  Walcott,  Sacred  A  rchwoW/y,  s.v.;  Siegel,  Iland- 
buch  d.  christl.-Linhl.  .\lt,,ihiiiuVr.  iii.  2G4  sq.;  Planck, 
Gesch.  d.  chri.ill.-/.ir</,/.  C:  s, //sr/mjlsrcifussunf/,  i,  572 
s(].;  Zicgler,  Vtr.^nrli  d.  klrvhl.  W  rfissuntjsfornien,  p.  61 
s<i. 

Metropoliticum  is  the  name  of  the  archiejiisco- 
pal  ordinariate  and  consistory,  a  sort  of  eccksiastical 
supreme  court,  or  second  court  of  appeals,  in  the  Clmrch 
of  Rome,  installed  by  the  metropolitans  or  archbishops. 
Occasionally  it  has  the  special  power  conferred  which 
constitutes  it  also  a  third  court  of  appeals,  but,  as  a  rule, 
this  court  hears  all  appeals  in  matters  of  discipline  and 
matrimonial  difficulties.  As  the  duties  of  the  archbishop 
are  both  to  attend  to  the  management  of  his  own  dio- 
cese and  the  dioceses  of  bis  subaltern  bishops,  the  met- 
ropolitan council  is  divided  into  two  boards  or  senates, 
one  of  which  constitutes  the  court  in  cases  of  discipline 
and  matrimonial  differences  of  the  archdiocese,  the  other 
hearing  appeals  from  the  ordinaries  and  consistories  of 
the  assistant  bishops.  But  it  is  against  the  nature  of 
archiepiscopal  jurisdiction  that  the  metropoliticum  can 
also  take  the  appeals  against  the  sentence  of  the  archi- 
episcopal vicary  and  ordinary  and  decide  upon  those. 
.\n  appeal  ab  eadem  ad  eundem  is  not  admissible,  for  it 
cannot  be  thought  of  that  the  general  vicary  or  the  archi- 
episcopal ordinary  rejircsents  the  archbisho))  as  common 
bishop  in  propria  dia-cesi,  the  metropoliticimi  represent- 
ing him  as  such,  inasmuch  as  the  archbishop  is  in  his 
own  archdiocese  as  ordinarius.  The  archbishop  cer- 
tainly cannot  fill  the  offices  of  two  dignitaries;  the  cog- 
nition or  decision  of  ajipeals  from  sentences  of  archiepis- 
copal general  vicaries  an<l  metropolitan  courts  should 
therefore  be  sent  to  other,  hence  to  the  metrojiolitan 
court  of  another  archbishojiric.  Ap)icals  from  the  de- 
cisions of  the  metropolitan  courts  in  second  instance 
are  usually  presented  to  the  iiope  himself,  securing  ac- 
ipiittal  at  Rome  by  tlie  Curia  Romana,  uidess  his  holi- 
ness may  jdease  to  order  a  judices  in  partii)us,  i.  e.  confer 
ui)on  the  metropoliticum  the  power  of  acting  as  a  court 
of  ajjpeal  of  the  third  instance.  See  Wctzer  und  Wclte, 
Kirchen-I.exikon,  s.  \\ 

Mets,  Laikent  nt:,  a  Flemish  prelate,  was  born  at 
(irammont  about  l.o20.  He  studied  theologj'  at  Lou- 
vain,  became  a  curate  at  Dciuse,  almoner  and  canon  of 


METSIAH 


201 


MEUILLON" 


Saint-GuJula's  church  at  Brussels,  and  shortly  after  the 
opening  of  the  year  1562  he  was  appointed  vicar  to 
cardinal  de  Granvelle,  archbishop  of  Malines,  and  in- 
stalled ecclesiastical  judge,  or  official,  for  the  district  of 
Brussels.  In  1569,  the  University  of  Louvaia  constituted 
liini  the  conservator  of  its  privileges  and  vested  rights, 
^^iuch  were  then  hotly  contested.  Laurent  de  Mets  did 
not  long  discharge  the  intricate  functions  of  this  last 
oflice,  fur  in  November,  1569,  he  was  preferred  to  the 
bishopric  of  Bois-le-Duc.  Mets  founded  a  seminary, 
and  published  a  Ritual  ibr  the  use  of  liis  clergy.  In 
Nos^ember,  1577,  he  was  constrained  to  yield  to  tlie  in- 
surrection of  the  Calvinists.  At  first  he  took  refuge  in 
C(jIogne,  and  then  in  Namur,  where,  in  1578,  Gregory 
XIII  invested  him  with  the  episcopal  see  rendered  va- 
cant by  the  death  of  Anthony  Ilavet.  lie  died  at  Namur, 
1580.  He  is  the  author  oi'  .St,,ti:hi  Sijnmll  Dinri.^uine 
Buscoducensis  anno  Domini  :\I1)I.XXI  (  IJois-U-Diic, 
1571,  8vo)  ■.—Mammle  ra.^lonun  Jiar<sis  .s^/nrdnniisi.^, 
(ibid.  1572,  4to).  See  Paquot,  Mhnoires  pour  servir  a 
VIdstoire  Uttcrdire  des  Pays-Bas,  xii,  319-'27;  Yalere 
Andre,  Bibliof/ieca  Belgica ;  Guillaume  Gazet,  llistoire 
ecclesiastique  des  Pays-Bas. — Foppens,  Bibliotlieca  Bel- 
<jica,  p.  810. 

Metsiah.     See  Taljilo. 

Mettray,  Reformatory  of.  This  noted  insti- 
tution for  tlie  relbrmation  of  juvenile  delinquents  is  the 
parent  of  all  institutions  of  this  character,  and  deserv^es 
our  notice  therefor.  The  object  of  the  Reformatory  of 
Mettray  and  other  like  institutions,  which  have,  espe- 
cially of  late,  been  fast  multiplying,  is  the  mild  punish- 
ment and  ultimate  restoration  to  society  cf  juvenile  de- 
linquents. The  founder  of  the  reformatory — whose  la- 
bors, like  those  of  the  prison  reformers  of  our  daj-,  de- 
serve to  be  cherished  forever — was  M.  Demetz,  a  French 
lawyer,  a  member  of  the  Parisian  bar,  who,  struck  with 
the  evUs  and  hardships  attending  the  committal  to  pris- 
on of  young  persons,  and  considering  the  training  and 
habits  of  scarcely  responsible  criminals,  condemned  to 
languish  hopelessly  for  a  time,  incapable  of  producing 
results  other  than  their  emerging  worse  than  when  they 
entered,  resolved,  in  conjunction  with  the  vicomte  Bre- 
tigneres  de  Courteilles,  to  found  a  school  which  should 
have  for  its  object  the  reformation  of  this  class  of  offend- 
ers. In  1839,  accordingly,  the  Reformatory,  or,  as  it  is 
called,  the  Colony  of  Mettray,  was  set  on  foot,  about  five 
miles  from  the  city  of  Tours,  in  France.  From  that  day 
to  this,  M.  Demetz  has,  by  liis  assiduous  labors  and  self- 
devoteilness,  rendered  to  France  and  Europe  one  of  the 
greatest  benefits  that  could  be  conferred  on  society, 
proving  that,  by  agricultural  and  other  labors  of  indus- 
try, and  well-considered  rules  of  organization  and  disci- 
pline, the  neglected  and  criminal  may  be  trained  to  take 
their  place  honestly  and  honorably  in  society;  the  re- 
lapses into  crime  being  in  the  institution  of  Mettray 
only  '3.81  per  cent.     See  Prison  Rkform.     (J.  H.W.) 

Metus,  an  aged  and  venerable  Christian  of  Alex- 
andria, who,  in  the  persecution  of  that  city  A.D.  249, 
for  refusing  to  blaspheme  his  Saviour,  was  first  beaten 
with  clubs,  tlien  pierced  with  sharp  reeds,  and  finally 
stoned  to  death.  Quinta  and  ApoUonia,  two  Christian 
females,  and  many  others  whose  names  are  not  preserved, 
were  feUow-sufferers.  Fox,  Booh  of  Martyrs,  p.  26 ; 
ReVuj.  Cydop.  s.  v. 

Metz,  an  important  fortified  city  of  the  province  of 
Lorraiue,  lately  conquered  by  the  Prussians  in  their  con- 
test with  France,  and  situated  on  the  jNIoselle,  at  its  con- 
fluence with  the  Seille,  holds  an  important  position  in 
Church  history. 

This  place,  known  to  the  Romans  by  the  name  of 
Bicodorum,  was  the  chief  town  of  a  people  called  the 
Mediomatrici,  whose  name  it  took  at  a  later  date.  In 
the  5th  century  the  corrupted  form  Afettis  first  came 
into  use,  whence  the  modern  Metz.  It  was  destroyed 
by  the  Huns  in  452.  At  the  death  of  Clovis  it  became 
the  capital  of  Austrasia,  and  later  the  capital  of  Lor- 


raine. In  985  it  became  a  free  imperial  town.  It  was 
finally  secured  to  France  by  the  peace  of  Westphalia  in 
1648,  and  was  held  by  the  French  until  ceded  to  the 
Germans  in  1870.  It  has  a  popidation  of  over  50,000, 
somewhat  diminished  of  late  by  the  excursions  of  fami- 
lies unwilling  to  live  under  Prussian  rule.  Its  streets 
are  wide  and  clean,  and  it  contains  numerous  spacious 
squares.  The  cathedral,  a  Gothic  edifice,  begun  in 
1014,  and  finished  in  1546,  is  remarkable  for  its  bold- 
ness, lightness,  and  elegance,  and  has  a  beautiful  spire 
of  open  work,  373  feet  in  height.  The  church  of  Notre- 
Dame-de-la-Ronde  is  a  noteworthy  structure.  Its  choir 
was  built  in  1 130.  Metz  contains  also  many  other  no- 
ble edifices  and  institutions,  religious,  civil,  and  military. 
Its  industry  is  active,  the  chief  employments  being  lace- 
making,  tanning,  embroidering,  and  the  manufacture  of 
brushes,  clothing  for  the  army,  flannels,  pins,  and  canes; 
there  are  also  brass  and  copper  foundries. 

Metz  figures  quite  prominently  in  the  history  of  re- 
ligious persecutions  during  the  16th  and  17th  centuries. 
The  Huguenot  war,  especially,  affected  the  peace  of  the 
Protestants  of  this  place.  The  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes  was  put  in  force  at  this  place  only  five  days 
after  its  publication.  More  than  4000  people  left  the 
place.  (Comp.  La  persecution  de  Veylise  de  Metz,  d'ecrite 
par  le  sieur  Olry  [2d  ed],  by  O.  Cuvier  [Paris,  I860]). 

METZ,  Council  of  {Concilium  Metense).  Church 
councils  were  held  at  Metz  as  early  as  A.D.  590.  At 
this  time  ^gidius,  archbishop  of  Rlicims,  was  deposed 
and  banished  for  high-treason  against  king  Childebert. 
Of  far  greater  importance,  however,  was  a  council  held 
here  in  A.D.  835,  which  revoked  the  excommunication 
of  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  who  had  been  unjustly  treated 
by  Ebbo,  archbishop  of  Rheims.  Another  council,  in 
the  year  following,  supplemented  the  action  of  835  by 
crowning  Louis,  Ebbo  himself  receding  from  his  former 
position.  See  Louis  le  Deuonnaiuk.  See  also  Lan- 
don,  Manucd  of  Councils,  s.  v. 

Metz,  Christian.     See  Inspired. 

Metz,  Joseph  von,  a  German  Roman  Catholic 
theologian,  was  born  at  Ebenhofen,  Bavaria,  March  9, 
1758.  He  was  educated  by  Meinrad  jMeichelbeck,  prior 
of  the  monastery  at  Reichenau,  continued  his  education 
at  the  monastery  at  Benedictheuren,  and  graduated  in 
1779  at  Augsburg.  Afterwards  he  studied  at  the  semi- 
nary at  Pfaffenhausen ;  Avas  ortiained  at  Augsburg  in 
1785 ;  became  in  the  same  year  tutor  of  the  children  of 
the  count  of  Stauffenberg,  with  whom  he  went  to  Stras- 
burg,  aientz,  and  Wiirzburg;  was  then  installed  as  min- 
ister at  Freighalden,  and  a  few  years  after  as  chaplain  at 
Eberstall.  In  1801  he  was  nominated  clerical  counsel- 
lor by  Carl  Theodor  of  Dalberg,  bishop  at  Constance. 
In  1802  he  got  a  position  as  minister  to  Riszdissen,  and 
in  1804  as  deacon  at  Laupheim;  in  1809  poor  health 
forced  him  to  resign  both  positions,  but  in  1810,  being 
restored  to  health,  he  became  clerical  counsellor  of  the 
government  of  the  bishopric  of  Constance ;  in  1812  gen- 
eral counsellor  of  the  vicarage  at  Elwangen ;  resigned 
in  1817,  and  died  January  4, 1819.  His  manifold  duties 
as  pastor  prevented  the  composition  of  extended  literary 
works.  IBesides  several  essays  in  journals,  he  published 
Katechismus,  ocUr  Leitfaden  zum  Christ-katholischen  Re- 
lifjionsunterricht  (Const.  1812,  8vo).  ^  Dciring,  Gelehrie 
fheol.  Deutschlands  des  \8ten  v.  l^ten  Jahrhunderts,  iij 
s.  V. 

Meucci,  ViNCENZio,  a  Florentine  artist,  born  in 
1694,  was  chiefly  employed  in  works  of  perspective, 
which  he  executed  at  various  places  in  Tuscany,  and  in 
the  cupola  of  the  royal  chapel  in  S.  Lorenzo.  Several 
works  of  iNIeucci  are  dispersed  through  various  churches 
in  Florence,  and  in  a  chapel  of  the  Wunziata,  where  he 
painted  a  lovely  Madonna,  which  is  allowed  to  be  one 
of  his  best  works.  He  died  in  1776.  See  Lanzi's  His- 
tory of  Painting,  transl.  by  Roscoe  (London,  1847,  3  vols. 
8vo),'i,  253. 

Meuillon,  Raymond  de,  a  French  preacher  and 


MEUXBI 


202 


MEUSEL 


theolo<,'ian,  was  born  about  1235  in  Dauphiny.  After 
having  declared  to  adhere  to  the  rules  of  St.  Dominic 
at  tlie  Convent  of  Sisteran,  he  %vas  elected  in  126-1  gen- 
eral preacher  of  that  order,  and  some  time  afterwards 
he  was  nominated  dclinitor.  In  1278  he  was  commis- 
sioned to  go  to  England  to  supjiress  the  too  liberal  dis- 
courses of  some  Dominicans,  accused  of  irreverence  to 
the  memorj'  of  St.  Tliomas.  After  having  accomplished 
the  mission  assigned  to  him,  Haymond  gave  an  account 
of  his  journey  to  the  assembled  chapels  in  Paris  in 
May,  1279.  The  delinquents  were  condemned,  and  the 
priors  authorized  to  punish  vigorously  whosoever  should 
attempt  new  excesses.  As  a  reward  for  his  zeal,  Kay- 
mond  was  nominated  definitor  for  a  second  time.  Some 
years  after  he  was  introduced  to  the  secular  Church  in 
the  capacity  of  a  bisliop.  In  1289  Raymond  was  pro- 
moted archbishop  of  Embrun.  He  died  June  29, 1294. 
Raymond  de  Meuillon's  writings  may  be  divided  into 
two  distinct  categories,  viz.  his  statutes  and  his  dogmat- 
ical books.  Lllistoire  Litteraire  analyzes  them  both. 
His  dogmatical  books  have  been  translated  into  Greek. 
The  only  copy  of  this  version,  once  kept  in  the  ]\Ionas- 
tery  of  St.  Germain-des-Pres  at  Paris,  is  now  in  the  im- 
perial library  of  St  Petersburg,  with  a  great  number 
of  other  manuscripts  of  his.  See  Le  Caiulogue  des  J/<S'<S'. 
JJibl.  iiitpcr.  by  INI.  Edouard  de  Jluralt,  and  the  valuable 
article  of  M.  Y.  Le  Clerc  in  L'llistoire  Litteraire. — Iloe- 
fer,  Naur.  Biog.  Generuh,  s.  v. 

Meil'iiim  (Neh.  vii,  52).     Sec  Meiil-xim. 

Meur,  YixcEXT,  a  noted  French  divine,  the  in- 
spircr  of  French  foreign  missions,  was  born  at  Tongue- 
dec,  in  the  diocese  of  Frezuier,  France,  in  1628.  When 
yet  a  young  man,  he  obtained  the  post  of  almoner  to  tlie 
court  of  Louis  XIY.  Tiring,  however,  of  the  idleness 
which  frequently  intervened  in  the  discharge  of  his  du- 
ties, he  induced  several  other  ecclesiastics,  his  friends 
and  colleagues,  to  unite  with  him  in  founding  an  insti- 
tution to  prepare  zealous  apostles  and  effective  preach- 
ers of  the  Word,  and  by  this  movement  originated  the 
French  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  In  its  incipiency, 
twelve  persons  assembled  for  consultation  and  delibera- 
tion in  a  small  house  in  the  Hue  de  la  Harpe.  Meur  pre- 
sided at  this  meeting.  The  Jesuits,  comprehending  the 
advantages  which  their  society  would  derive  from  co- 
operative work  witli  such  auxiliaries,  in  1652  affiliated 
with  them.  Meur,  the  moving  spirit  of  these  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries,  advised  that  work  be  inaugura- 
ted in  South-castiTn  Asia,  and,  to  obtain  the  approval  of 
po))c  Ak'xandcrYII,  in  1()57  repaired  to  Rome.  The  pon- 
tiff warmly  approved  the  project.  INIeur  himself,  how- 
ever, instead  of  accompanying  his  associates,  returned 
to  Paris,  and  there  engaged  in  theological  discussions. 
He  attacked  Jansenius  and  his  followers;  in  16G-1  was 
appointed  superior  of  the  Seminary  fur  Foreign  Missions; 
assumed  the  priorate  of  St.  Andre,  in  Brittany;  and  went 
on  some  religious  missions  to  Dijon,  Auxerre,  and  other 
cities  of  Burgundy,  where  he  had  friends.  He  ha<l  just 
returned  from  Brittany,  to  receive  property  bequeath- 
ed to  him  by  his  father  and  his  brother,  when  he  died, 
at  Yieux-Chateaux-en-Brie,  in  1668.  Sec  Richard  et 
(Jiraud,  Biblioth.  Sucrec  ;  Moefer,  Xoiiv.  Biorj.  Cenerale, 
s.  v. 

Meuschen,  Joiiann  (Ji:i:n.\!!i).  a  learned  Gorman 
Protestant  theologian,  was  born  at  ( )snabrilck,  in  West- 
phalia. ]\Iay  4, 1680,  a  son  of  the  minister  Johann  Con- 
rad ^leuschen  at  the  St.  Catharinenkirche.  He  com- 
menced his  education  at  the  gymnasium  of  liis  native 
town;  in  1699  entered  the  University  of  Jena,  where,  in 
1702,  he  secured  the  title  of  master  of  arts.  In  1703, 
being  about  to  take  a  position  as  professor  at  Copenhagen, 
but  detained  accidentally  at  Kiel,  he  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor extraordinary  of  philosophy  at  the  university  of 
that  place.  He  returned  to  Osnabriick  in  1704,  whither 
he  was  called  by  the  St.  Catharinenkirche  as  assistant 
to  his  father.  In  1708  he  was  called  to  tlie  Hague  as 
pastor  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  of  that  place,  and 


here  he  labored  until  1716,  when  he  went  to  Hanau  as 
chief  court  and  city  minister,  with  the  character  of 
counsellor  of  the  consistory;  in  1720  he  was  apjiointcd 
clerical  superintendent  of  the  district  of  Hanau-Lichtcn- 
berg.  In  1723,  after  having  refused  several  important 
offers  made  to  him,  he  removed  to  Coburg  as  ecclesias- 
tical counsellor,  sui>erintendent-general,  and  professor  of 
theology,  and  died  there  December  15, 1743.  Meuschen 
was  a  decided  opponent  of  the  papists,  and  especially 
of  the  Jesuits;  and  had  to  suffer  considerably  from  their 
animosity  towarils  him.  One  of  his  pamphlets  against 
the  machinations  of  Jesuitism,  Xuga  vcnales  liullttises, 
I  was  even  publicly  destroyed  by  tire  under  the  hands  of 
;  the  executioner.  The  larger  part  of  his  works  are  of 
an  ascetic  tendency.  The  most  important  of  his  pro- 
ductions are :  Postilla  mythica,  and  Die  neu  erofi'nete 
Bahn  des  tcahren  Christenthums  .• — Madonna  et  santa 
ccisa  di  Loretto,  oder  historische  Beschreibung  der  liebeti 
Frauen  vnd  des  heiligen  Ilauses  zu  Loretto  (Jena.  1702, 
8vo) : — Diss,  academica  de  Ci/nisis  j)hilosophis  (Kilon. 

1703,  4to) : — Diss,    de  prcpjudicio   auctoritatis    (ibid. 

1704,  4to) : — JJiss.  de  antiqiio  et  moderno  ritu  sulutandi 
stermitantes  (ibid.  1704,  4to)  : — Diss,  defabis  Pi/thagori- 
cis  mysticis  (ibid.  1704,  4to): — Anweisung  zur  Verleug- 
nvng  der  Welt  vnd  seiner  selbst  (Osnabriick,  1706, 
12mo)  : — Das  ho/ie  Geheimniss  der  Geburt  Christi  in  der 
Siilc  (Amsterdam,  1709,  8vo) : — Die  in  der  erslen  Kirche 
<j,J,raiirhr„-l„-  ,,j,n.<tni;.<rl,r  Cni,.-!, m ttioH  des  Ml.  Abend- 
iiiiihls.  (Ills  ill  II  I'lit  r'ihii.<  iiinl  Kill-Ill  iigeschichten  enciesen. 
^Icusclien  was  a  \  eiy  .-uinrinr  student  in  the  ancient 

j  and  Oriental  languages,  and  his  contributions  to  exeget- 
ical  theology  are  perhaps  among  the  most  valuable  pro- 
ductions of  his  age  and  country.  His  best  works  in 
the  field  of  Biblical  literature  are :  Diatribe  de  Xasipj-in- 
cipe  et  directore  Synedrii  Magni  Ilebro'onnn  (Coburg, 
1724, 4to) : — Novum  Testamentum  e  Talmude  illustratum 
(Leip.  1736,  4to) : — BihUotheca  medici  sacri,  seu  recen- 
sio  sci-iptonim  qui  Scripturam  Sacram  ex  medicina  et 
jJi;iii.<i,jJ,;iniii/Nriil!!lliislniniN/{Th<iHagiio,1712,8vo). 
lie  als.i  I'.litc'd  i:yga>'s  (liriniirnii  Iniversale.mnX^x  t\\e. 
title  //'  /  ///.  rjii/aiilis  Onl.  iiiiiinr.j/iins  temporum  s.chron- 
icun  iiiiinrsaYe  ah  anno C/irisli  ad  A.I).  1340  et  adhinc ad 
a.  1513  continuatum  a  ^[.  Eysenhart ;  editum  prnmisse 
glossario  Latinitatisferrece  J.  G.  Meltr.chenii  (Lugd.  Ba- 
tav.  1743, 4to).  See  Programmafuncbre  in  Meuscheniuvi 
(in  the  Acta  Jiistorico  Kcchsiastica  [Leipsic,  vol.  vii]); 
Strieder,  Ilessische  gelehrtin  gcschirhte,  vol.  ix  ;  Got- 
ten, Gdchrtes  Kuropa,  vols,  ii  and  iii.     (J.  H.  W.) 

Meusel  (or  Mdsel),  Woi.i  (;ax(;  (Latin  Jfuscu- 
liis),  a  (ierman  Protestant  theologian  and  Hebraist,  was 
born  at  Dicuze,  Lorraine  (lately  in  France,  but  now  in 
Germany),  in  1497.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  through  the 
gcrod  offices  of  the  prior,  he  was  entered  as  a  novice  in 
tlie  monastery  of  the  Benedictines  near  LLxheim.  After 
a  course  of  arduous  studies  he  was  ordained  a  priest,  and 
then  devoted  himself  to  preaching.  In  1518  the  writ- 
ings of  Luther  strongly  inclined  Jleusel  to  embrace  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation.  Though  elected  prior  of 
the  cloister  with  which  he  was  connected,  he  declined 
that  office  in  order  to  maintain  his  independence. 
About  this  time  he  began  so  openly  to  preach  the  dog- 
mas of  Protestantism  that  he  became  generally  known 
as  the  "Lutheran  monk,"  Soon  afterwards  he  quitted 
the  monastery  and  went  to  Strasburg,  where,  in  1527, 
he  married  a  relative  of  his  former  superior  in  the  pri- 
ory. A  series  of  misfortunes  and  vicissitudes  involved 
Meusel  in  obscurity  until  1529,  when  he  was  appointed 
vicar  at  the  cathedral  at  Strasburg.  It  was  then  that 
he  diligently  a])plied  himself  to  the  pursuit  of  Hebrew 
under  the  tuition  of  Bucer  and  Capito.  In  1.531  the 
Augsburg  .Siiate  invited  him  to  come  and  labor  for  the 
spiritual  good  of  the  city.  His  principles  of  liberality 
and  toleration  so  pleased  the  Senate  that  they  intrusted 
him  with  some  imjiortant  missions.  In  1.536  lie  was 
sent  to  the  assembly  at  Wittemburg,  where  he  executed 
the  formulary  of  a  union  designed  to  bind  together  the 
churches  of  Germanv,  North  and  South,  in  the  matter 


MEXICO 


203 


MEXICO 


of  the  Eucharist.  In  1540  the  Augsburg  Senate  dele- 
gated him  to  the  councils  held  at  Worms  by  the  Protes- 
tants and  the  Catholics,  and  afterwards  to  the  conferences 
■which  took  place  at  Katisbon.  In  the  following  year 
he  drew  up  the  heads  of  the  controversy  between  Me- 
laucthon  and  Eck.  In  1544  he  established  at  Don- 
auworth  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  and  distin- 
guished himself  as  a  preacher.  In  1549  he  was  installed 
[professor  of  theology  at  Bern.  He  died  in  that  city 
about  1563.  Meusel  wrote,  Anti-Cochlaus  primus,  ad- 
vergus  J.  Cochlei  de  sacerdotio  ac  sacrijicio  novce  le(jis 
libellum  (Augsburg,  1644,  4to)  :  —  Commentani  in  D. 
Joamiis  Evangdium  (Basle,  1545,  fol.)  •.—Commentarii 
in  Matthceum  (ibid.  1548,  fol.)  -.—Dialogi  IV  de  Quces- 
tiom :  Liceat  homini  Christiano  evangelicm  doctrinm 
guaro  papisticis  superstioiiibus  ac  falsis  cuUibus  exter- 
na societate  comnumicare?  (1549,  8vo)  ■.^Commentarii 
in  Psalmos  (ibid.  1553,  fol.)  -.—In  Deculognm  Kxplanatio 
(ibid.  1553) : — Commenliirii  in  Genesin  (ibid.  1554,  fol.) : — 
Commentarii  in  EjiiMoldin  ad  Romanos  (ibid.  1555, 
fol.): — Commentarii  in  l:.<ainin.  prophetam  (ibid.  1567, 
fol.)  : — Commenturi  in  Epintulas  ad  Corinthios,  ad  Gala- 
tos,  ad  Ephesios  (ibid.  1559,  fol.) : — Loci  communes  The- 
ologice  sacrce.  (ibid.  1560,  fol.) : — Commentarii  in  E^nsto- 
las  ad  Philippenses,  Colossenses,  Thessalunicenses  et  in 
jn-imam  ad  Timotheum  (ibid.  1565,  fol.).  See  Synopsis 
festalium  concionum,  uuctore  Wvlf.  Musculo  Busano. 
Ejusdem  vita,  ohitus,  erudita  curmina.  Itein  clariss. 
virorum  in  ipsius  ohitu  epicedia  (Basle,  1595,  r2mo). — 
Haag,  La  France  Protest. ;  Melch.  Adam,  Vitce  Theolo- 
gorum;  Bayle,  Hist.  Bictionari/,  s.  v.;  Hoefer,  Nouv, 
Hiog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Mexico,  a  federal  republic  of  North  America,  and 
by  far  the  most  powerful  representative  of  the  Spanish 
American  states. 

I.  General. — Mexico  is  situated  between  latitude  15° 
and  32°  north,  and  longitude  97°  and  117°  west.  The 
area  is  estimated  by  Behm  and  Wagner  (JJevulkerung 
der  Erde,  Gotha,  1872)  at  776,280  square  niles;  by  oth- 
er authorities  somewhat  differently.  The  population 
amounted  in  18G8,  according  to  the  calculations  of  the 
Mexican  statistician,  Cubas  y  Garcia,  to  9,173,052.  The 
country  was,  in  1518,  conquered  by  Cortes  for  Spain, 
and  from  that  time  to  1821  constituted  the  vice-king- 
dom of  New  Spain.  Up  to  1843,  when  Texas  separated 
from  Mexico  and  declared  itself  independent,  the  area 
of  Mexico  was  more  than  double  what  it  is  at  present, 
embracing  an  area  of  about  1,500,000  square  miles,  but 
soon  after  the  loss  of  Texas,  the  entire  country  north  of 
the  Kio  Grande  had,  in  consequence  of  the  war  of  1846 
to  1848,  to  be  ceded  to  the  United  States.  In  1821 
Mexico  declared  independence  from  Spain,  and  consti- 
tuted itself  a  republic.  The  attempt  of  the  Creole, 
Iturbide,  to  convert  the  country  into  an  empire  (1822), 
ended  after  about  one  year  with  his  expulsion;  and  from 
that  time  Mexico,  though  continually  torn  by  civil  wars, 
remained  a  republic,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  in- 
terval from  1864  to  1867  when  Maximilian  I  was  emper- 
or of  Mexico.  The  Jlexican  population  embraces  about 
1,140,000  whites  (40,000  Europeans,  300,000  Creoles, 
800,000  Chapetones,  or  persons  of  mixed  descent,  who 
claim  to  be  white),  1,500,000  to  2,000,000  Mestizoes  of 
mixed  descent,  and  about  16,000  negroes ;  all  the  others 
are  Indians.  Nearly  all  of  these  last  are  Christianized 
ijideles),  only  about  100,000  are  still  unbaptized  {Indios 
hravos),  and  inhabit  in  small  tribes  the  northern  regions 
of  the  republic.  All  races  have  equal  rights  before  the 
law;  slavery  was  abolished  on  Sept.  16,  1829,  under 
president  Guerrero.  The  general  language  of  the  coun- 
try is  Spanish;  of  the  Indian  dialects,  about  twenty 
have  maintained  themselves  to  the  present  day ;  those 
most  extensively  spoken  are  the  Aztec,  or  Mexican,  and 
the  Otonutian. 

II.  History  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.— The  con- 
quest of  the  countrj'  was  soon  followed  by  its  Christian- 
ization.  The  first  missionaries  (after  1522)  belonged  to 
the  Franciscan  order,  and  one  of  the  first  Franciscan 


monks,  Peter  of  Ghent,  reported  that  the  missionaries 
of  his  order  had,  during  the  first  six  years  of  their  labors, 
converted  200,000  Indians;  and  according  to  a  report  of 
the  first  bishop  of  Mexico,  Zumaraga,  in  1531,  the  num- 
ber of  the  converts  had  risen  to  1,000,000.  Even  the 
missionaries,  however,  complain  that  the  conversion  in 
many  cases  was  little  more  than  nominal,  and  many  hid 
their  idols  under  the  cross  in  order  to  be  able  to  worship 
them  with  impunity.  The  Franciscans  were,  in  1526, 
followed  by  the  Dominicans,  who  gave  to  the  country 
most  of  its  bishops,  by  the  Mercedarians  (Order  of  Mer- 
cy), and  (after  1553)  by  the  Augustinians.  When  the 
Jesuits  arrived  in  the  country  in  1572,  the  Christiani- 
zation  of  the  districts  settled  by  the  colonists  was  nearly 
complete ;  but  the  Jesuits  established  a  number  of  pros- 
perous missions  in  the  territories  of  Northern  Mexico, 
which  at  that  time  did  not  belong  to  the  Spanish  do- 
minions. Abou;;  the  year  1600  Mexico  abounded  in 
magnificent  churches,  convents,  and  charitable  institu- 
tions. The  cruel  treatment  of  the  Indians  by  many 
Spaniards  often  called  forth  the  remonstrances  of  monks 
and  bishops,  who  prevailed  upon  king  Charles  V  of  Spain 
to  interfere  in  behalf  of  the  Indians,  and  upon  pope  Paul 
III  to  declare  authoritatively  that  the  Indians  were  ra- 
tional beings,  and  must  be  treated  as  such.  At  the  same 
time  the  bishops  took  good  care  of  their  own  interests, 
and  the  Church  of  Mexico  was  one  of  the  wealthiest 
on  the  globe.  In  1767  the  Jesuits  were  expelled  from 
the  country,  and  about  the  same  time  the  influence  of 
the  liberaland  rationalistic  tendencies  which  prevailed 
in  South-western  Europe  invaded  Mexico,  and  gradually 
undermined  both  the  Spanish  rule  and  the  influence  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  Among  the  leaders  of  the  war  of 
independence  were  many  liberals.  After  the  establish- 
ment of  the  federative  republic,  the  Church  generally 
sided  with  the  Centralists,  or  Escosesos  (so  called  after 
the  Scotch  rite  of  Freemasonry),  and  thereby  provoked 
the  bitter  hostility  of  tlie  Federalists,  or  Yorkinos  (so 
called  after  the  York  rite  of  the  Freemasons),  who  con- 
fiscated very  large  amounts  of  Church  propertj-^  when- 
ever they  were  in  power.  In  consequence  of  the  refusal 
of  the  Spanish  government  to  relinquish  its  historical 
rights  in  Mexican  Church  affairs,  nearly  all  the  episco- 
pal sees  became  gradually  vacant,  until  a  convention 
with  Rome  for  the  reorganization  of  the  Mexican  Church 
was  concluded  and  proclaimed,  in  1831,  as  a  law  of 
the  state.  In  1851,  under  the  presidency  of  Arista,  a 
papal  nuncio,  Clementi,  was  appointed  for  Mexico,  but 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies  did  not  recognise  him,  and  even 
a  portion  of  the  clergy  received  him  with  distrust.  In 
an  allocution  of  Dec.  15, 1856,  the  pope  complained  that 
in  the  previous  year  (1855)  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
had  been  abolished,  the  property  of  the  diocese  of  Pue- 
bla  confiscated,  and  the  bishop  of  that  city  exiled;  that  in 
1856  the  Church  had  been  stripped  of  all  her  possessions, 
the  bishop  of  Guadalajara  exiled,  the  sale  of  the  Church 
property  ordered,  and  the  monks  prevailed  upon  to  leave 
their  convents;  that  Uberty  of  worship,  speech,  and  the 
press  had  been  introduced,  many  priests  fined,  a  number 
of  convents  destroyed,  and  others  suppressed ;  and  that  in 
general  the  government  of  president  Santa  Anna  had 
shown  a  bitter  hostility  to  the  Church.  President  Com- 
monfort  (elected  in  1856)  was  regarded  as  a  still  worse 
enemy  of  the  Chiu-ch  than  Santa  Anna.  A  good  under- 
standing between  Church  and  State  was  for  a  short  time 
re-established  under  president  Zuloaga  (1858);  but  after 
his  speedy  overthrow  (1859)  the  conflict  began  anew. 
A  papal  allocution  .of  Sept.  30,  1861,  deplored  the  new 
persecution  of  the  Church  in  Mexico,  when  under  the 
administration  of  president  Juarez  the  possessions  of  the 
Church  had  been  declared  as  national  property,  churches 
plundered,  bishops  expelled,  clergymen,  moidis,  and 
nuns  exposed  to  many  annoyances,  and  so  forth.  W  hen 
Maximilian  I  was  proclaimed  emperor,  the  entire 
Church  party  supported  him.  IMaxiinilian,  before  going 
to  Mexico,  implored  at  Rome  the  papal  blessing,  confer- 
red many  favors  upon  the  Church,  and  received  a  new 


MEXICO 


204 


MEXICO 


papal  nuncio  in  Mexico ;  but  the  negotiations  for  a  new 
couccjrdat  failed  from  reasons  that  have  not  yet  been 
fully  cleared  up.  ,\lter  the  re-establishraent  of  the  re- 
publican government  under  Juarez,  the  Church  again 
complained  of  the  liberal  policy  i)ursued  by  the  govern- 
ment, and  these  complaints  continued  when  Juarez  was 
succeeded  (1872)  by  president  Lerdo  de  Tejada.  The 
new  president,  as  well  as  the  majority  of  the  Mexican 
Congress,  adhered  to  the  principles  of  religious  toleration. 
In  May.  1873,  the  ilexican  Congress  adopted  a  new  law 
for  the  regulation  of  the  affairs  of  the  Koman  Catholic 
Church,  and  the  relation  between  Church  and  State, 
which  contained  the  following  provisions:  Art.  1. 
Church  and  State  are  independent  of  each  other.  Con- 
gress can  issue  no  laws  which  establish  or  prohibit  any 
religion.  Art.  2.  Marriage  is  a  civil  contract,  which  is 
under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  state  authorities, 
and  regulated  by  law.  ^Vrt.  3.  Religious  societies  can 
possess  no  real  estate.  ^Vrt.  4.  All  inhabitants  of  the 
republic  are  declared  free  from  religious  vows.  The 
first  article  of  this  law  was  adopted  unanimously,  the 
remainder  by  overwhelming  majorities,  the  minority  in 
no  case  consisting  of  more  than  seventeen  votes. 

III.  ConsHluiioH  and  Statistics  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church. — Soon  after  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  the 
Spaniards,  the  tirst  bishopric  was  established  in  Mex- 
ico. About  1600  the  vice-kingdom  was  divided  into  7 
dioceses :  Mexico,  Chiapa,  Michoacan,  Oajaca,  Puebla, 
Guadalajara,  and  Yucatan,  forming  the  ecclesiastical 
province  of  Mexico.  Subsequently  the  number  of  dio- 
ceses rose  to  11,  and  the  number  of  parishes,  in  1856, 
amounted  to  1235.  In  1863  pope  Pius  IX  raised  the  dio- 
ceses of  Michoacan  and  Guadalajara  to  archbisho[)rics, 
and  erected  7  new  dioceses.  Accordingly  the  country 
is  at  present  divided  into  3  ecclesiastical  provinces: 
Mexico,  with  the  dioceses  of  Puebla,  Chiapa,  Oajaca,  Yu- 
catan, Vera  Cruz,  Chilapa,  and  Tulancingo;  Michoacan, 
with  the  dioceses  of  San  Luis  Potosi,  Queretaro,  Leon,  and 
Zamora ;  and  Guadalajara,  with  the  dioceses  of  Duran- 
go,  Linares,  Sonora,  and  Zacatecas.  All  the  old  dioceses 
have  chapters.  According  to  the  decrees  of  the  third 
Provincial  Council  of  Mexico,  each  cathedral  shall  have  5 
dignitaries  (itcan,  archdeacon,  cantor,  theologus,  thesau- 
rarius),  10  canons,  6  prebendates,  6  half-prebendates,  and 
6  clerks,  "  with  a  good  income."  The  new  dioceses 
have  as  yet  no  chapter.  Besides  the  regular  parishes, 
there  are  many  missionarj'  stations,  part  of  which  were 
supported  by  six  collegios  de  propaganda  fide.  jNIost  of 
the  latter  were,  however,  sup|)ressed  by  a  decree  of  pres- 
ident Santa  Anna,  and  parishes  erected  in  their  place. 
Under  the  Spanish  rule  the  bishops  were  appointed  b.v 
the  king.  After  the  establishment  of  the  republic,  the 
president  of  Mexico  claimed  the  same  right,  and  ap- 
pointed bishops  for  ever}'  see  that  became  vacant.  But 
the  popes  refused  to  recognise  the  rights  claimed  by 
the  presidents,  and  to  confirm  the  appointments.  Thus 
in  1820  all  the  dioceses,  with  the  exception  of  one, 
had  become  vacant.  In  1830  the  canon  Valdez,  as  en- 
voy of  the  Mexican  republic,  succeeded  in  concluding 
a  convention  with  the  pope,  which  regulated  the  elec- 
tion of  Mexican  bishops  by  providing  that  the  chapter 
were  to  propose  to  the  government  three  candidates, 
among  whom  the  latter  woidd  designate  one  as  the  fut- 
ure bishop,  who  thereupon  woidd  recei\"e  the  canonical 
institution  from  the  pope.  The  emperor  Maximilian 
again  claimed  all  the  rights  and  privileges  which  the 
Spanish  kings  had  possessed  in  ilexico,  inclusive  of  the 
right  of  appointing  the  bishops.  These,  as  well  as  oth- 
er controverted  points,  were  to  be  settled  by  a  con- 
cordat, for  the  conclusion  of  which  he  was  negotiating 
with  the  pope;  but  before  an  agreement  had  been  ar- 
rived at,  Maximilian  lost  his  throne  and  life.  The  Mex- 
ican bishops  formerly  enjoyed  all  the  rights  conferred 
upon  the  bishops  by  the  canon  law  as  it  prevailed  in 
Spain ;  but  the  presidents  of  the  Alexican  republic  re- 
fused to  recognise  many  of  these  rights,  and  pope  Pius 
IX,  in  an  allocution  of  Dec.  15. 1856,  complained  that 


'  president  Commonfort  had  abolished  the  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  altogether.  The  emperor  Maximilian  also 
failed  to  meet  the  expectations  of  Rome  in  this  respect; 
for  a  note  of  the  cardinal  secretarj-  of  state  to  the  Mex- 
ican ambassador  in  Home,  dated  3Iarch  9, 1864,  reclaimed 
from  the  imperial  government  '•  the  full  freedom  of  the 
bishops  in  the  exercise  of  their  pastoral  office."  The 
income  of  the  bishops  during  the  Spanish  rule  amounted 
to  from  25,000  ducats  to  100,000  ducats  annually.  The 
republic  confiscated  the  entire  property  of  the  Church, 
and  promised  to  gi\e  to  the  bishops  a  fixed  income 
from  the  public  revenue  ;  but  the  bishops  protested 
against  this,  and  declared  that  they  preferred  to  be  sup- 
ported by  the  voluntan,-  gifts  of  the  faithful.  The  num- 
ber of  priests  is  variously  estimated  at  from  6000  to 
10,000;  they  are  partly  educated  in  diocesan  semina- 
ries, partly  in  convents.  Nearly  all  of  them  are  of  In- 
dian descent;  the  native  Spanish  priests  were  in  1828 
expelled  from  the  countrj-,  in  common  with  all  the  oth- 
er Spaniards.  The  parish  priests  derived  their  income 
formerly  from  the  verj-  high  fees  which  had  to  be  paid 
for  the  ecclesiastical  fimction.  These  fees  were  abolished 
by  a  decree  of  Santa  Anna  (Aug.  17,  18.33),  and  again 

[  by  Maximilian  (Dec.  27,  1864),  and  it  was  provided 
that  they  should  receive  salaries  from  the  state  :  but 
the  bishops  refused  to  accept  this  arrangement.  Monks 
and  mms  were  verj'  numerous  in  Mexico  during  the 
Spanish  rule.  In  1810  the  Franciscans  had  6  provinces, 
the  Dominicans  3,  the  Augustinians  2,  the  Carmelites 
and  Mercedarians  1  each.  There  were  in  all  1931  monks 
in  149  monasteries.  The  female  orders  in  the  same  year 
had  57  convents  with  1962  nuns.  The  property  of  the 
monasteries  amounted  to  about  10.000,000  pesos,  exclu- 
sive of  the  large  amount  of  alms.  The  female  orders  had, 
in  1845, 50  convents,  with  real  estate  yielding  a  net  annual 
income  of  500,000  piastres;  and  had  besides  a  capital  of 
4,500,000  piastres.  The  republic  abolished  the  obligatory 
character  of  the  monastic  vows,  and  suppressed  several 
convents ;  yet  the  number  of  convents  did  not  begin  to 
show  any  marked  decrease  until  about  1860.  when  the 
Franciscans  had  30  houses,  the  Dominicans  25,  the  Au- 
gustinians 10,  the  Carmelites  10,  the  Jesuits  1.  the  Ora- 
torians  3,  the  Benedictines  1,  bhe  Brothers  of  Charity  2. 
The  female  orders  were  all  suppressed  by  a  decree  is- 
sued in  1863,  except  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  The  pub- 
lic educational  institutions  are  under  the  exclusive  con- 
trol of  the  state  authorities.  They  embrace  one  uni- 
versity in  the  city  of  Mexico,  founded  in  1551,  2 
hceums  in  Potosi  and  Guanajuato,  and  colleges  in  most 
of  the  large  cities.  Elementary-  instruction  has  severely 
suffered  from  the  constant  civil  wars ;  but,  according  to 

I  recent  accounts  (Annual  American  Cyclopadia,  1872), 

j  "in  most  of  the  states  each  municipality  has  jirimary 
schools  for  lx>th  sexes,  the  teachers  being  paid  out  of 
municipal  funds.  The  Lancasterian  Society  of  the  city 
of  Mexico  furnishes  examined  teachers  for  the  elemen- 
tary branches  of  those  schools,  and  by  its  untiring  ef- 
forts for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  education 

'  generally,  is  establishing  a  firm  basis  for  the  future  wel- 
fare of  the  country."     There  is,  however,  also  a  large 

:  number  of  schofils  established  by  the  Church,  and  under 
her  exclusive   control,  and  their  numljer  has  of  late 

I  considerably  increased.  Besides  the  religious  societies 
found  in  all  Catholic  countries,  Mexico  has  some  pecul- 
iar confradias  and  hcrmandados,  the  members  of  which 
engage  to  pay  monthly  contributions  for  defraying  the 
extraordinary  pomp  at  the  festivals  of  the  patron  saints 
of  the  churches.  Some  of  these  confraternities  are  verj' 
wealthy.  One  of  these  secular  brotherhoods  is  called 
the  "  Brotherhood  of  the  Coachmen  of  our  Lord."  It 
was  founded  in  1758,  and  the  members  engage  to  act  as 
coachmen  for  the  priests  who  can^,-  the  Eucharist  to 
sick  persons.  The  confiscation  of  the  immense  Church 
property  was  begun  by  the  Spanish  government  soon 
after  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits.  During  the  AVar  of 
Independence,  the  government  of  Mexico  drew  large- 

I  ly  upon  the  possessions  of  the  Church  in  order  to  get 


MEXICO 


205 


MEXICO 


the  money  needed  for  carrying  on  the  war.  The  vahie 
of  the  tithe,  which  in  1810  yielded  about  2,000,000  pe- 
sos, had  decreased  in  1826  to  about  one  half,  and  de- 
creased still  more  when  the  Mexican  Congress  in  1833 
abolished  the  co-operation  of  the  secular  arm  in  the  col- 
lection of  the  tithe,  leaving  the  payment  of  it  wholly  to 
the  individual  piety  of  the  citizens.  President  Common- 
fort,  in  1855,  confiscated  all  the  property  of  the  Church 
of  Puebla.  Under  president  Juarez,  in  1859,  the  entire 
possessions  of  the  clergy  were  declared  to  be  a  nation- 
al domain,  and  their  sale  ordered.  The  income  from 
this  property  was  estimated  at  about  20,000,000  pesos. 
The  regency  wliich  was  appointed  after  the  Frencli  in- 
vasion did  not  dare  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  sale,  and 
v/as  therefore  excommunicated  by  the  bishops.  After 
the  establishment  of  the  empire,  the  clerical  party  de- 
manded the  restoration  of  all  the  property  that  had  be- 
longed to  the  Church,  and  which  was  estimated  at  one 
third  of  the  entire  real  estate  of  the  republic.  As  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  sold  property  had  already 
changed  liands,  the  emperor  found  it  impossible  to  con- 
cede the  demand,  and  by  decree  of  Dec.  27,  1864,  or- 
dered the  secularization  of  the  Church  property  to  be 
proceeded  with.  Commissioners  were  subsequently  sent 
to  Rome,  to  come,  if  possible,  to  an  understanding  with 
the  pope ;  but  they  were  unsuccessfid.  Four  provincial 
synods  were  held  by  the  Mexican  bishops  —  the  first 
three  in  1555, 1565, 1585;  the  fourth  by  archbishop  Lo- 
renzana  (1766-1771). 

IV.  Protestant  Missions. — The  history  of  the  Protes- 
tant missions  in  Mexico  began  in  1860,  when  the  gov- 
"ernment  proclaimed  religious  freedom.  Until  then,  Prot- 
estant Christianity  in  any  form  had  been  prohibited. 
But  previously  to  that  year  Miss  Rankin  had  (in  1852) 
opened  at  Brownsville,  in  Texas,  just  opposite  the  Mex- 
ican town  of  Matamoras,  a  school  for  the  children  of  the 
large  Mexican  population.  She  sent  a  considerable 
number  of  Spanish  Bibles,  which  were  supplied  by  the 
American  Bible  Society,  into  Mexico,  and  in  1854  estab- 
lished a  Protestant  seminary  for  Mexican  girls  likewise 
at  Brownsville.  In  1856  the  American  Foreign  and 
Christian  Union  took  charge  of  the  Mexican  mission. 
After  all  obstructions  to  the  establishment  of  Protes- 
tant worship  had  been  removed  in  1860,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Thompson,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
went  (in  November,  1860)  as  agent  of  the  American  Bi- 
ble Society  into  JMexico  as  far  as  Jlonterey.  He  was 
cordially  received,  tlie  authorities  giving  him  leave  to 
plant  Protestant  missions  and  to  circulate  the  Bible;  but 
when  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  in  the  United  States 
interrupted  the  communication  with  New  York,  he  had 
to  suspend  his  labors,  and  to  return  to  Texas.  Wlien 
the  communication  witli  New  York  had  been  re-estab- 
lished by  the  opening  of  a  port  on  the  ^Mexican  side  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hickey,  a  colportor  of 
the  American  Bible  Society,  who,  being  a  Union  man, 
had  to  flee  the  South,  went  to  ^Matamoras,  and  accepted 
in  1863  an  agency  of  the  Bible  Society  for  Mexico.  He 
subsequently  went  to  jMontere}',  collected  a  congrega- 
tion, and  after  a  little  time  administered  baptism  to  a 
dozen  Jlexicans.  When  his  duties  compelled  him  to 
leave  Jlonterey,  he  selected  a  suitable  man  from  the 
converts  to  continue  religious  services.  In  1865  Miss 
Rankin  went  to  Monterey,  where  she  erected  a  mission- 
house,  suited  for  chapel,  school,  and  residence  of  the 
missionary.  The  building  was  completed  in  1868,  and 
several  of  the  converts  were  sent  out  as  colportors  and 
Bible-readers.  Two  of  these  men  went  to  the  state  of 
Zacatecas,  in  company  with  two  of  the  Bible  Society's 
agents.  Their  labors  resulted  in  the  conversion  of 
thirty  persons,  among  whom  were  two  highly  educated 
men,  who  took  up  the  work  after  the  departure  of  the 
colportors,  and  carried  it  forward  with  great  success. 
An  evangelical  paper,  the  Antorcha  Kcangelical,  was 
published,  which  proved  a  very  efficient  aiil  to  Protes- 
tant preaching.  In  1871  the  number  of  converts  amount- 
ed to  more  than  one  hundred.     In  1872  the  mission  of 


Zacatecas  was  transferred  by  the  American  and  For- 
eign Christian  Union  to  the  Board  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  in  the  same  year  also  stationed  mission- 
aries at  San  Luis  Potosi  and  in  the  city  of  Jlexico.  In 
1873,  there  were  in  all  from  ten  to  fifteen  little  congre- 
gations connected  with  the  missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
boards.  Two  schools,  one  for  each  sex,  had  been  formed 
in  the  capital,  and  two  also  at  Cos,  a  small  town  of  4000 
inhabitants  in  the  state  of  Zacatecas.  The  mission  at 
jMonterey,  at  the  beginning  of  1873,  numbered  six  reg- 
idarh'-organized  churches,  the  number  of  members  in 
these  ranging  from  twelve  to  sixty.  As  the  American 
and  Foreign  Christian  Union  in  1873  suspended  opera- 
tions in  foreign  lands,  Miss  Rankin  offered  the  Monterey 
mission  to  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  of 
Foreign  Missions,  which,  in  September,  1872,  had  sent 
from  California  the  first  missionaries  into  Mexico.  Dur- 
ing the  decline  and  ruin  of  the  empire  of  Maximilian, 
the  foreign  committee  of  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States  sent 
out  an  agent  to  collect  information  in  regard  to  the  pros- 
pects of  an  effort  for  the  establishment  of  a  congrega- 
tion under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  It  was  found  that  there  was  a  wiclespread 
preparation  for  a  reformation  of  the  National  Church, 
and  that  a  large  number  of  priests  sympathized  with 
the  movement.  Though  the  government  of  Maximil- 
ian strongly  favored  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the 
foundation  of  a  Reformed  Catholic  Church,  called  "  the 
Church  of  Jesus,"  was  laid.  After  the  re-establishment 
of  the  republic,  the  movement  soon  assumed  large  di- 
mensions. The  government  sold  to  the  Reformers  some 
of  the  most  beautiful  churches  in  the  capital.  During 
the  greater  portion  of  this  time  the  Rev.  Dr.  Riley,  a 
clergyman  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  ^vho  had 
been  born  and  educated  in  one  of  the  Spanish  republics 
of  South  America,  had  been  the  constant  adviser  and 
friend  of  the  Reformers.  He  hail  brought  ;vith  him  from 
New  York  to  jNIexico  a  printing-press,  and  used  it  for 
the  dissemination  of  the  principles  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  He  had  prepared  a  Liturgy  in  Spanish,  con- 
formed in  all  essential  respects  to  that  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church.  He  had  purchased  one  church  in 
the  capital  and  one  half  of  another,  and  presented  them 
to  a  boaril  of  trustees,  to  be  held  in  trust  for  the  benefit 
of  the  movement.  As  the  foreign  committee  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church  was  restricted  by  its  constitu- 
tion to  the  support  of  missions  of  its  own  Church,  and 
on  that  account  coidd  not  comprise  an  independent 
Church  like  that  of  the  Church  of  Jesus,  the  American 
Church  Jlissionary  Society  in  1873  took  the  movement 
under  its  charge.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  es- 
tablished a  mission  in  JMexico  in  1872.  In  November 
of  that  year  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Butler  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  mission.  He  accepted,  and  ar- 
rived in  the  city  of  Mexico  in  February,  1873.  Ha 
reported  the  statistics  of  the  work  of  the  Church  at  the 
close  of  its  first  quarter  as  follows :  four  Mexican  con- 
gregations—two in  the  city  of  Mexico,  75  persons ;  one 
in  Pachuca,  capital  of  the  state  of  Hidalgo,  45  persons ; 
one  in  Rio  del  Monte,  five  miles  beyond.  10  persons ;  to- 
tal, 130  souls;  two  English  congregations — in  the  city 
of  Mexico,  60  attendants,  and  Pachuca,  45;  being  an 
aggregate  of  235  persons  in  six  congregations;  12  schol- 
ars in  day-schools,  and  42,  with  9  teachers  and  officers,, 
in  two  Sunday-schools.  The  mission  had  two  class- 
meetings,  about  14  Mexicans  and  16  English  and  Amer- 
icans attending.  A  missionary  property  has  been  pur- 
chased in  Puebla.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  also  resolved  in  1872  to  take  up  Mexico  as  a  mis- 
sionary field.  Bishop  Keener  proceeded  to  [Mexico  and 
purchased  a  chapel  for  the  mission,  and  in  1873  the  first 
missionary  was  stationed  there.  The  progress  of  these 
Protestant  missionary  labors  produced  a  great  excite- 
ment among  the  strict  adherents  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  In  a  number  of  places  mobs  insulted  the  Prot- 
estants, as  well  as  the  members  of  the  Reformed  Church 


MEYER 


206 


MEYER 


of  Jesus.  At  Chapulhuac  three  persons  were  killed  and  1 
several  wounded.  The  :Methodist  and  Presbyterian  mis- 
sionaries in  the  city  of  Mexico,  with  the  representatives 
of  tlie  British  Uiblc  Society,  solicited  through  the  \ 
United  States  minister,  the  Hon.  Thomas  II.  Nelson,  an 
interview  with  the  presitlent  of  Jlexico,  in  order  to  seek 
from  liim  an  assurance  of  his  disposition  to  protect  Prot- 
estants in  Mexico  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  religious 
rights  under  the  constitution.  The  interview  took  place 
on  April  25,  1873,  when  president  Lerdo  de  Tejada  as- 
sured the  missionaries  that  the  opinion  of  all  the  en- 
lightened classes  of  society  favored  religious  toleration, 
and  that  he,  the  president,  would  answer  for  the  con- 
duct of  all  the  authorities  depending  directly  upon  the 
federal  government. 

See  Lorenzana,  Concilio  (Mexic.')  primero  y  seguvdo 
(Mexico,  1769) ;  Lorenzana,  Histor.  de  Nueva  EspaTia 
escrito  por  su  esclarecido  conquistador  II.  Cortez,  aunien- 
tada  con  otros  documentos  y  nofus  (Mexico,  1770);  Pres- 
cott,  I/isl.  of  the  Conquest  ofJ!<  xir,,  ,•  1  ;,ilulli,  U  America 
un  iei/ipo  t^paynuolu,  riguurdalu  .-inih,  I  nsjictto  religiose 
didV  epoca  del  sua  discuoprimeiito  Ktno  (d  18-13  (Ancona, 
1844) ;  Brasseur  du  Bourbourg,  I/ist,  des  nations  cicili- 
sees  du  Mexique  (Paris,  1858-60, 4  tom.);  IMiihlenpfordt, 
Schilderung  der  Republic  Mexico  (Hanover,  1844); 
Kichthofen  (Prussian  ambassador  in  ^Mexico),  Die  duss- 
ern  u.  innern  polit.  Zustdnde  der  liepuhlic  Mexico  (Ber- 
lin, 1859) ;  Neher,  Kirchl.  Statistik,  iii,  337,  sq. ;  Kalkar, 
Gesch.  der  rom-kathol.  Mission  (Germ,  trausl.  [Erlan- 
gen,  18G7]).     (A.J.  S.) 

Meyer,  Hermanus,  D.D.,  a  noted  Dutch  Reformed 
minister,  was  born  in  Bremen,  Lower  Saxony,  July  27, 
1733.  He  was  educated  at  the  Latin  school  and  gym- 
nasium of  that  Saxon  city,  and  subsecjnently  at  the  the- 
ological academy  in  Groningen,  where  in  1758  he  became 
a  candidate  for  the  ministry.  Having  received  a  call  to 
the  Dutch  Church  of  Ivingston,  New  York,  he  was  or- 
dained INIarch  31, 17G3,  and  sailed  from  London  for  New 
York,  where  he  arrived  in  October  of  that  year,  and  im- 
mediately assumed  the  duties  of  his  pastoral  charge. 
He  found  the  Church  sadly  divided  on  the  old  quarrel  of 
the  Coetus  and  Conferentie  parties  as  to  ordination  in 
this  country  or  in  Holland.  He  symjjathized  with  the 
former,  which  was  the  liberal  side,  in  favor  of  a  minis- 
try trained  in  America ;  but  his  eftbrts  to  keep  the  peace 
were  vain.  His  pungent,  practical  preaching  also  made 
him  many  foes  among  the  formal  and  worldly  people. 
Thus,  after  preaching  on  regeneration,  one  of  his  Church 
officers  said  to  him,  "  Flesh  and  blood  cannot  endure 
such  preaching."  "  Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God,"  Avas  his  quick  reply.  The  ecclesiasti- 
cal difficulties  alluded  to  above  culminated  in  his  sus- 
pension from  the  active  duties  of  the  ministry  by  an  ex- 
parte  and  illegal  body  of  Conferentie  ministers  in  1706. 
For  nearly  seven  years  afterwards,  although  this  disci- 
pline Avas  declared  illegal,  he  remained  in  Kingston, 
preaching  to  his  adherents  in  private  houses.  In  1772 
he  removed  to  New  Jersey,  as  pastor  of  the  united 
churches  of  Pimpton  and  Totowa  (now  Paterson). 
Brighter  days  had  dawned.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
convention  of  1771,  which  reunited  the  long-sundered 
churches.  The  (ieneral  Synod  elected  him  to  two  pro- 
fessorships in  their  theological  institution — Hel)rcw 
(1784)  and  lector  in  divinity  (1786),  both  of  which  he 
held  during  life;  and  in  1789  he  was  made  a  doctor  of 
divinity  by  (iueen's  College.  He  died  Oct.  27,  1791, 
lamented  as  "one  of  the  pillars  of  the  Church."  Dr. 
Meyer  was  a  truly  learned  divine.  In  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew  he  was  a  critical  scliolar,  and  had  made 
considerable  attainment  in  the  Syriac.  He  had  long 
meditated  a  new  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  but 
the  ecclesiastical  troubles  of  his  life  prevented  its  com- 
pletion. He  kft  '•  the  beginning  of  that  work  in  a  full 
translation  of  tlie  Psalms  of  David,  in  Latin  interline- 
ations between  the  text,  with  copious  commentaries  and 
emendations  in  the  linest  German  writing  u])nn  a  broad 
margin."     His  person  was  small,  his  features  line  and 


benevolent,  his  voice  and  manner  in  the  pulpit  good, 
and  his  delivery  very  animated.  In  theological  senti- 
ment he  was  thoroughly  evangelical.  His  faithful 
preaching  made  him  pre-eminent  among  the  godly  min- 
isters of  his  day.  Amiable  and  kind-hearted,  punctual 
and  exact,  faithful  as  a  pastor,  and  humble  in  his  pri- 
vate and  official  walk,  his  severe  trials  chastened  and 
exalted  his  sterling  piety,  and  his  last  days  were 
crowned  with  honor.  His  death  was  pre-eminently 
peaceful  and  happy.  See  Magazine  ofRef.  Dutch  Ch  itrch, 
ii,  300;  Sprague,  Awuds,  vol.  ix;  Corwin's  Manual  of 
Eef  Church,  s.  v.     (W.  J.  K.  T.) 

Meyer,  Johann  Friederich  von,  an  eminent 
German  thcoldgian  and  jurist,  was  born  at  Frankfort-on- 
the-Main,Sept.  12, 1772.  In  178'J  he  entered  the  Univer- 
sity of  Giittingen,  where  he  applied  himself  with  great 
zeal  to  jurisprudence,  not  however  neglecting  his  fa- 
vorite study,  Greek.  In  1790  he  published  his  Com- 
nientuiio  de  diis  ac  deahus  Grcecoruvi  et  Romanorum 
S(fSovxoig  cum  vi  tahulis  areis,  which  attracted  great 
attention.  In  1793  he  went  to  Leipsic,  where  he  turned 
his  attention  mainly  to  the  study  of  philosophy.  After 
holding  various  official  positions,  which  he  successively 
lost  in  consequence  of  the  French  invasion,  he  was,  in 
1807,  appointed  counsellor  to  the  municipal  court  of 
Frankfort ;  became  member  of  the  senate  in  1816 ;  judge 
in  1821,  and  finally,  in  1837,  president  of  the  criminal 
court  and  of  the  court  of  appeals.  At  the  same  time  he 
was  a  member  of  the  diet,  and  thrice,  in  1825,  1839,  and 
1843,  filled  the  office  of  burgomaster.  He  died  Jan.  27, 
1849.  In  the  early  part  of  his  life  Meyer  inclined  to 
rationalism — this  still  appears  in  his  poem  of  Tobias,  in 
seven  cantos,  published  in  1800 ;  but  he  was  subse- 
quently converted,  and  thenceforth  became  very  active 
as  a  theologian.  In  1806  and  1807  he  translated  Cicero's 
works  on  tlie  nature  of  the  gods,  divination,  and  fate; 
in  1813,  Xcnophon's  Cyropadia  (2d  ed.  1823).  In  1812 
he  published  his  IHbeldeulungen,  in  which  he  found 
fidl  play  for  his  acquirements  in  philology,  jurispru- 
dence, etc.  He  next  turned  his  attention  to  a  new 
translation  of  the  Bible,  as  he  wished  to  correct  the 
philological  errors  contained  in  Luther's  translation.  It 
assumed  tlie  form  of  a  revision  of  Luther's  translation, 
with  annotations,  and  was  published  in  1819  (2d  ed. 
without  the  notes,  1823 ;  latest  ed.  Frankf.  1855).  The 
value  of  this  work  was  recognised  by  the  University  of 
Eriangen,  and  he  was  honored  with  the  doctorate  in  di- 
vinity, and  in  1816  was  made  president  of  the  Bible  So- 
ciety of  Frankfort.  On  emerging  from  rationalism, 
Meyer  took  a  leaning  towards  mysticism,  in  the  better 
sense  of  the  word.  This  is  apparent  in  such  works  as 
his  Blatter  fiir  hohere  Wahrheit  (Frankf.  1820-32) ; 
Wahrnehmungen  einer  Seherin  (Frankf.  1827).  Aside 
from  the  above-named  works,  he  wrote,  Der  Rosenkreu- 
zer,  die  Fama  u.  d.  Confession  (Frankf.  1828) : — Kritische 
Kranze  (Berl.  1830)  :  —  Das  Buch  Jezira,  hebraisch  v. 
deutsch  (I^eijis.  1830) : — Inbegriffd.christlichen  Glaubens- 
lehre  (Kempt.  IHStl) -.  —  Ilesperiden,  (Kempt.  1836):— 
I'rosndisches  Iliilfsbuch  (1836)  :—Z«;-  Aegyptol.  (1840). 
See  Diiring,  Gele'hrte  Theol.  Deutschl.  s.  v.     (J.  H.  ^V.) 

Meyer,  Johann  Hermann,  a  German  Protestant 
theologian,  was  b(irn  at  Hamburg  October  6,  1737,  and 
was  educated  at  the  University  of  llelmstjidt.  He  was 
appointed  minister  at  Hamburg  in  17t;6,  in  1778  at 
Hendsl)iirg.  He  was  elected  deacon  in  1771  by  the  pa- 
rishioners of  tlic  Nicolai  Kirche  at  Kiel,  and  made,  in 
1778.  archdeacon,  and  in  1786  pastor  of  tliat  cliiirch. 
He  died  August  26,  1795.  Meyer  was  verj'  much  be- 
loved for  his  strict  sense  of  honesty,  morality,  friend- 
ship, and  love.  He  was  very  devoted  to  his  vocation 
as  minister,  and  found  but  little  time  for  the  publication 
of  books.  The  following  dissertations  are  the  most  im- 
portant works  he  gave  to  the  public  :  Ilamburgische 
A  bschiedsrede-  uud Rendsburgische  A  ntrittspredigt.  (Ham- 
burg, 17()8,  4to);  GedenkTerse  niit  dem  Inhalt  I'redigten 
vom  J.  1774  (Kiel,  1774,  8vo);  Der  Verlust  der  Gmtde: 


MEYER 


207 


MEZAHAB 


in  einer  Wahlpredigt  (Hamburg,  1775,  8vo) ;  Das  A  n- 
denlcen  voriger  Zeiten  (Kiel,  1770,  8vo). 

Meyer,  John,  a  noted  Dutch  theologian  and  He- 
braist, was  born  about  the  middle  of  the  17th  century. 
He  tiourished  as  professor  of  theology  at  the  University 
of  Haderwyk,  and  died  in  1725.  His  works  are  of  great 
value  to  tiie  exegete.  Those  most  worthy  of  notice 
are  his  Uxor  Christiana,  sive  de  conjugio  inter  duos, 
deque  incestu  et  dicortiis,  dissertationes  ires  (Amst.  1688, 
4to) ;  Tractatus  de  temjooribus  et  fasti  diehus  Hehrce- 
orum  (Amst.  1724r) ;  and  his  edition  of  Seder  Olam,  a 
Hebrew  chronicle  of  great  esteem  among  the  Jews,  usu- 
ally attributed  to  rabbi  Jose  ben-Chilpeta. 

Meyer,  John  H.,  son  of  Dr.  Herman  Meyer  (q.v.), 
anotlier  ilistingaished  minister  of  the  Keformed  Church, 
was  born  at  reqiiinet,  N.  J.,  Oct.  19,  177-±;  graduated  at 
Columbia  College  in  1795;  studied  theology  under  Dr. 
Livingston,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1798  ;  settled 
as  pastor  of  the  Dutch  churches  at  New  Paltz  and  New 
Hurley,  N.  Y.,  from  1799  to  1803,  and  at  Schenectady 
from  1803  to  180G.  He  was  an  accomphshed  scholar, 
and  preached  with  great  elegance  and  ease  in  the 
Dutch  and  English  languages.  He  was  remarkable  for 
unction  and  popularity  as  a  preacher. 

Meyerbeer,  Giacomo,  a  very  noted  German  com- 
poser of  music,  was  born  in  Berlin  in  1794,  and  was  of 
Jewish  descent.  At  the  age  of  nine  years  he  was  re- 
garded as  a  masterly  pianist  in  a  city  full  of  cultivated 
musicians,  and  at  ten  he  commenced  his  career  as  a 
composer,  producing  many  songs  and  pieces  for  the 
piano-forte,  which  excited  the  wonder  and  admiration  of 
his  friends  by  their  spirit  and  originalit}%  At  fifteen 
he  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of  abbe  Vogler,  who 
had  established  a  celebrated  school  of  composition  in  the 
city  of  Darmstadt.  Here,  under  the  abbe's  instruction, 
young  Meyerbeer  composed  a  quantity  of  classic  and 
elaborate  sacred  music  in  the  severest  scholastic  style  of 
his  master,  all  of  which,  however,  is  lost  to  the  world, 
as  the  composer,  when  his  ideas  became  more  matured, 
did  not  care  to  preserve  it.  One  of  these  composi- 
tions, however,  brought  him  into  notoriety :  it  was  an 
oratorio  bearing  the  title  God  and  Nature,  and  was  per- 
formed in  the  presence  of  the  grand-duke  of  Darmstadt, 
gaining  for  its  author  the  distinction  of  being  appointed 
composer  to  the  court.  When  Meyerbeer  was  eighteen, 
his  first  dramatic  piece,  JephtluMs  Daughter,  was  per- 
formed at  Munich.  Though  intended  for  the  stage,  it 
was  more  of  an  oratorio  than  an  opera ;  but  on  account 
of  its  severe  style,  and  the  evident  inattention  to  the 
minor  attractions  of  melody,  it  was  not  received  in  a 
flattering  manner  by  the  Bavarian  public.  After  a  se- 
ries of  professional  disappointments,  his  first  success  was 
achieved  at  Padua  in  1818,  in  the  performance  of  Ro- 
milila  e  Custama,  which,  together  with  Semiramide,  pro- 
duced at  Turin  in  1819,  and  Emma  di  Resburgo,  at  Ven- 
ice in  1820,  firmly  established  the  composer's  reputa- 
tion. In  1831  he  gave  to  the  public  Robert  the  Devil. 
His  subsequent  works  are  operatic.  He  died  ]\Iay  2, 
18G4.  See  L.  de  Lomenie,  M.  ]\Ieyerbeer,par  un  Homme 
de  Rien  (1849)  ;  De  Bury,  Meyerbeer  et  son  temps  (1865)  ; 
Mentel,  Meyerbeer,  s.  Leben  u.  Werke  (1868). 

Meyere,  Lievin  de,  a  Belgian  Jesuit,  was  born  at 
Gaud  in  1G55.  In  1700  he  became  a  member  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Jesus.  He  subsequently  taught  philology,  phi- 
losophy, and  theology,  and  was  made  rector  of  a  college 
at  Louvain.  He  bitterly  opposed  the  tenets  of  the  Jan- 
senists.  His  numerous  writings,  nearly  all  poetical,  are 
replete  with  animadversions  against  them.  IMeyere 
died  at  Louvain  in  1730.  The  following  work,  said  to 
have  been  written  by  Theod.  Eleutherius,  was  edited 
by  jNIeyere:  Historia  Controversiarum  tie  liiriin'-  ;ii-(iti(e 
auxiliis  sub  pontif.  Si.rto  V,  Clemente  VIII.  ,t  I'mih,  \\ 
lib.  vi  (Antwerp,'  1705,  fol.).  See  Moreri.  (inuid  Diet. 
Hist.  s.  v. ;  Goethals,  Lectures  relatives  a  I'hist.  des  sciences 
et  des  lettres  en  Belgique,  vol.  i. 

Meyfart  (or  Mayfart),  Johann  Matth.«us,  a 


Lutheran  theologian  of  considerable  note,  son  of  a  Prot- 
estant divine,  was  born  at  Jena  in  1590.  He  received 
an  excellent  philological  and  philosophical  education  at 
Gotha,  and  afterwards  entered  the  University  of  Wit- 
tenberg, where  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  logic, 
physics,  ethics,  and  the  classics.  In  1611,  having  se- 
cured the  degree  of  A.M.,  he  began  the  study  of  theol- 
ogy. In  161G  Meyfart  was  called  to  a  professorship  at 
the  newly-founded  University  of  Coburg.  He  pub- 
lished his  first  theological  essays  in  1617.  In  1624  he 
was  created  doctor  of  theology  by  the  University  of 
Jena.  In  the  same  year  he  began  the  preparation  of  a 
large  dogmatic  work  entitled  De  theologia,dephilosophi(B 
sobrio  usu,  de  S.  JS.,  et  de  symbolis ;  but  he  never  com- 
pleted this  work.  In  1627,  however,  he  went  before 
the  public  with  quite  large  and  valuable  works  :  Anti- 
Becaiiiis  sire  inanualis  controversiarum  theoL,  a  Beca- 
no  colli r/i  (-"iii'ii/dtio  (Leipsic,  1627,  2  vols.);  N'odus 
Gordiu.'i  Soji/ilstiirum  solutus,  i.  e.  de  7-atione  solvendi 
argumenta  sophistica,  etc.,  libri  iv  (Coburg,  1627,  8vo). 
]\Ieyfart  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  characters  of  the 
17th  century,  and  can  justly  be  called  the  forerunner 
of  Spener  (q.  v.).  With  an  intense  longing  for  the  high- 
est ideals,  which  undoubtedly  had  been  fostered  by  his 
classical  studies,  he  united  a  true,  living  faith  in  Christ, 
and  desired  to  leave  this  earth  to  be  with  his  Saviour. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  quick  to  perceive  the  many 
errors  and  the  moral  decay  of  the  Church,  and,  with  an 
earnestness  seldom  surpassed,  he  raised  his  voice  against 
the  manifold  sins  and  imperfections  of  the  Church  of 
his  day  and  country.  In  1626  he  issued  his  Tuba  no- 
vissima,  i.  e.  of  the  four  last  things,  viz.  death,  judg- 
ment, eternal  life,  and  condemnation.  These  were  orig- 
inally four  sermons  preached  by  him  at  Coburg;  but 
they  created  such  an  imjiression  that  he  had  not  only  to 
publish  them  in  book  form,  but  was  also  urged  to  pub- 
lish more  sermons  and  admonitions  on  these  and  sim- 
ilar subjects.  Thus  he  published  six  more  volumes  on 
The  Heavenly  Jerusalem,  Eternal  Damnation,  and  the 
Final  Judgment.  Some  of  these  books  passed  through 
five  and  more  editions.  Henke,  in  just  appreciation  of 
his  merits,  calls  Meyfart  "  a  (ierman  Dante,  full  of  po- 
etry and  knowledge."  During  his  later  life  Meyfart 
published  several  books  and  essays  which  Avere  written 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation.  One  of  his  essays  con- 
tains an  earnest  address  to  the  clergy  how  to  live  and 
how  to  pray;  another  is  directed  against  the  vice  of 
nepotism  and  simony;  and  in  another,  De  concilianda 
pace  inter  ecclesias  per  Germ.aniam  evangelicas,  he  enu- 
merates seventeen  characteristic  reasons  why  theolo- 
gians are  so  ill  adapted  to  peace,  e.  g.  insnfficientia  morum 
et  eruditionis,  metus  odii  et  invidice,  intuitus  humanm  aiic- 
toritatis,  etc.  After  the  capture  of  Erfurt  by  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  Meyfart  was  called  as  professor  of  theology 
to  the  newly-reorganized  Lutheran  University  of  Erfurt, 
and  in  1635  he  was  elected  rector  of  the  university,  and 
senior  of  the  theological  department.  He  died  Jan.  26, 
1642. 

Mez'ahab  (Heb.  Mey-Zahab',  ntlT  i^,  water  of 
gold,  i.  e.  of  a  golden  lustre ;  Sept.  Mai4ow/3,  but  omits 
in  Chron.;  Vulg.  Mezaab),  the  father  of  Matred  and  ma- 
ternal grandfather  of  Mehetabel,  which  last  was  wife  of 
Hadar,  or  Hadad,  the  last  mentioned  of  the  early  Edom- 
itish  kings  (Gen.  xxxvi,  39;  1  Chron.  i,  50),  B.C.  con,- 
siderably  ante  1619.  "  His  name  has  given  rise  to  much 
speculation.  Jarchi  renders  it, '  What  is  gold?'  and  ex- 
plains it,  '  He  was  a  rich  man,  and  gold  was  not  valued 
in  his  eyes  at  all.'  Abarbanel  says  he  was  'rich  and 
great,  so  that  on  this  account  he  was  called  Mezahab, 
for  the  gold  was  in  his  house  as  water.'  'Haggaon' 
(writes  Aben-Ezra)  '  said  he  was  a  refiner  of  gold,  but 
others  said  that  it  pointed  to  those  who  made  gold  from 
brass.'  The  Jerusalem  Targum  of  course  could  not  re- 
sist the  temptation  of  punning  upon  the  name,  and  com- 
bined the  explanations  given  by  Jarchi  and  Haggaon. 
The  latter  part  of  Gen.  xxxvi,  39  is  thus  rendered :  '  The 


MEZUZAII 


208 


MEZUZAir 


name  (f  his  wife  is  !\relietabol,  daughter  of  Matred,  the  ] 
dauglitcr  of  a  relincr  of  gold,  who  was  wearied  with  la-  I 
bor  (Xn"iV'?>  matredu)  all  the  days  of  his  life  ;  after  he  , 
had  eaten  and  was  tilled,  he  turned  and  said,  What  is  ' 
gold?  and  what  is  silver  V  A  somewhat  similar  para- 
phrase is  given  in  the  Targiim  of  the  Pseudo-Jonathan, 
except  that  it  is  there  referred  to  INIatred,  and  not  to  j 
Mezahab.  The  Arabic  version  translates  the  name  I 
'  water  of  gold,'  which  must  have  been  from  the  I  lebrew,  i 
while  in  the  Targum  of  Onkelos  it  is  rendered  '  refiner  i 
of  gold,'  as  in  the  (liuestiones  llibraica  in  Puralip.,  at- 
tributed to  Jerome,  and  the  traditions  given  above ; 
which  seems  to  indicate  that  originally  there  was  some- 
thing in  the  Hebrew  text,  now  wanting,  which  gave  [ 
rise  to  this  rendering,  and  of  which  the  present  reading, 
"^"0,  me;/,  is  an  abbreviation"  (Smith). 

Mezuzah  (nj^T-a)  or  Mezuzoth  (r'T^lT-a),  the 
sing,  and  plur.  forms  of  a  "door-post,"  the  i)lace  on 
which  the  Mosaic  law  is  interpreted  by  the  Jews  as  en- 
joining the  Israelites  to  write  passages  of  Scripture 
(Deut.  vi,  9;  xi,  20).  In  the  following  account  we 
adopt  the  article  of  Dr.  Ginsburgin  Kitto's  Cydopcedia. 

1.  Si(/nification  of  the  Word,  and  Desiyn  of  the  In- 
junction.—The  word  nTIT^a  (from  1M,  to  push  about,  to 
■move)  denotes  either  that  which  is  most  prominent, 
hence  the  post  of  a  door,  or  that  on  which  the  door 
moves,  or  on  which  the  hinges  turn— hence  a  door-post. 
This  is  the  sense  in  which  it  occurs  in  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures.  From  the  fact,  however,  that  on  it  were 
written  passages  of  the  law,  the  term  Jf,  :>/:., i/i  r-.mn- 
afterwards  synedochically  to  denote  the  wiiiiii;;  iixlt. 
or  the  passages  of  Scripture  affixed  to  tlic  (l(i(ii-iin>i. 
and  this  is  the  sense  ia  which  the  word  is  used  in  the 
Chaldee  paraphrases,  and  in  the  Jewish  writings  gener- 
ally. As  books  were  exceedingly  rare  and  expensive  in 
ancient  times,  and  could  only  be  possessed  by  verj^  few, 
the  practice  obtained  among  the  nations  of  antiquity, 
and  still  prevails  in  the  East,  of  writing,  engraving, 
or  painting  such  sacred  mottoes  or  sage  maxims  over 
the  doors  of  dwellings  as  the  parents  were  especially 
anxious  to  record  or  to  impart  to  their  children.  Thus 
the  ancient  Egyptians  had  brief  hicroglyphical  legends 
over  their  doorways  (Wilkinson,  Manners  and  Customs 
of  Ancient  Egypt,  ii,  102;  Wathen,  p.  101) ;  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  had  inscriptions  over  their  doors  (Virgil, 
Georg.  iii,  26  sq.).  Other  nations  had  their  laws  writ- 
ten upon  their  gates  (Iluetins,  Bemonslratio  Evungelica, 
p.  58) ;  and  the  Jloslcms  to  the  present  day,  "never  set 
up  a  gate,  cover  a  fountain,  build  a  bridge,  or  erect  a 
house,  without  writing  on  it  choice  sentences  from  the 
Koran,  or  from  their  best  poets"  (Thomson,  The  Land 
and  the  Book,  p.  98).  Now  Moses  in  this  instance,  as 
in  many  other  cases,  availed  himself  of  a  prevalent  cus- 
tom, in  order  to  keep  the  divine  ])recepts  ever  before  the 
eyes  of  the  people,  and  to  enable  them  to  instruct  their 
children  in  the  law  of  God.  Hence  Maimonides  beau- 
tifully remarks:  "  The  commandment  about  (he  Mezuzah 
is  binding  on  every  one.  For  whenever  an  Israelite 
comes  into  the  house,  or  goes  out,  he,  seeing  on  it  the 
name  of  the  Holy  (_)ne,  blessed  be  he,  will  thereby  be 
reminded  of  his  love;  and  when  he  awakens  from  his 
sleep,  and  from  his  thoughts  about  the  vanities  of  time, 
he  will  thereby  be  led  to  remember  that  there  is  nothing 
which  endures  forever  and  throughout  all  eternity  ex- 
cept the  knowledge  of  the  everlasting  Hock,  and  he  will 
reflect  and  walk  in  the  paths  of  righteousness"  {Jad  Ihi- 
Chezaka,  llih-hoth  Ttphillin,  vi,  13). 

2.  The  Manner  in  which  this  Injunction  has  been  and 
still  is  obsei-red.— That  the  Jews  of  old  literally  observed 
this  injunction  is  not  only  evident  from  the  above-men- 
tioned prevailing  custom  of  anti<iuity,  but  also  from  Jo- 
sephus,  who  distinctly  says  that  the  Jews  "  inscribe  the 
greatest  blessings  of  God  upon  their  doors"  (.1  nt.  iv,  8, 
13) ;  from  the  Chaldee  paraphrase  of  Onkelos,  who  trans- 
lates Dent,  vi,  9 ;  xi.  20,  "  And  thou  shalt  write  them  ' 
upon  scrolls,  and  alHx  them  on  the  door-posts  of  thy 


houses  and  thy  gates ;"  from  the  Jerusalem  Targum.  Jon- 
athan ben-Uziel,  Jerusalem  Talmud  (I'esuch,  i,  1),  IJaby- 
lonian  Talmud  {Erubin,  9G  b;  Aboda  Sara,  11  a),  etc. 
These  authorities,  moreover,  show  that  the  Hebrews,  at 
least  after  the  Babylonian  captivity,  and  at  the  time  of 
Christ,  wrote  the  passages  containing  this  injunction  on 
a  piece  of  parchment,  ami  affixed  it  to  the  door-jwsts; 
and  that  this  Mezuzah,  as  it  is  called,  is  substantially 
the  same  as  the  Jews  now  have  it,  which  is  made  in  the 
following  manner :  On  the  inside  of  a  piece  of  square 
parchment,  prepared  by  a  Jew 
especially  for  this  purpose,  are 
written  Deut.  vi,  4-9,  and  xi, 
13-21,  while  on  the  outside  are 
written  the  divine  name  "^TJ^ 
the  Almighty,  on  the  place 
where  the  first  passage  ends, 
and  the  words  TOII'Sa  IT'lD 
ITir,  Kuzu  Bemuksaz  Kiizu,  to 
the  left  at  the  bottom.  Thus 
written,  the  schedule  is  then 
rolled  up  in  such  a  manner  that 
tlie  divine  name  ^^'3  is  out- 
side, and  is  put  into  a  reed,  or  •'>y 
hollow  cylinder  made  of  lead,  I  y^ 
brass,  or  silver,  varying  in  cost-  \ 
liness  according  to  the  circum-  I 
stances  of  the  people.  In  this  /  ^ 
tube  there  is  a  little  hole,  just   \^     ? 

large  enough  to  sliow  the  di-  v ^ 

vine  name,  which  is  protected      Modern  Jewish  Me- 
by  a  piece  of  glass,  forming,  as  zuzah. 

it  were,  a  little  window,  through  which  "^TiT  is  seen. 
Such  a  Mezuzah  must  be  affixed  to  the  right-hand  door- 
post of  every  door  in  the  house  by  a  nail  at  each  end. 
The  fixing  of  it  is  accompanied  by  the  following  prayer: 
"  Behold  I  prepare  my  hands  to  perform  the  command- 
ment whidi  my  Creator  has  given  me  about  the  Mezu- 
zah. In  the  name  of  the  one,  holy,  most  blessed  God 
and  his  Shechinah,  who  is  concealed,  mysterious,  and 
incorporated  in  the  name  of  all  Israel.  Blessed  art  thou, 
O  Lord  our  God,  king  of  the  luiiverse,  who  hast  sancti- 
fied us  by  thy  commandments,  and  hast  enjoined  us  to 
affix  the  Mezuzah."  Like  the  Greeks  and  Ilomans,  who 
attached  amulets  to  the  jambs  of  the  doors,  and  ascribed 
to  them  magic  power,  the  Jews  from  a  very  early  period 
believed  that  the  Mezuzah  guarded  the  house  against 
the  entrance  of  diseases  and  evil  spirits,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  remarks  in  the  Talmud  {Jerusalem  Pesach,  i, 
1 ;  and  B(d>;//<mi<iH  A  boda  Sara,  11a;  Minachoth,  33  b), 
and  the  Chaldee  paraphrase  of  the  Song  of  Solomon  (viii, 
3),  which  is,  "I  have  affixed  the  Mezuzah  to  the  right 
side  of  my  door,  in  the  third  part  thereof,  towards  the 
inside,  so  that  the  evil  spirits  may  have  no  power  to 
hurt  me."  Hence  the  divine  name  "^HC  is  made  to  de- 
note the  Guardian  of  the  dwellings  of  Israel,  the  "C  stand- 
ing for  1-:rr,  the  n  for  rn-in,  and  the  1  for  bs'-H"^, 
according  to  the  exegetical  rulecaUed  "("P''~ii;l2  (=no- 
taricum,  from  notarius,  a  sliort-hand  writer,  one  who 
writes  with  abbreviations),  which  regards  every  letter 
of  a  word  <as  an  initial  or  abbreviation  of  a  word;  while 
the  words  IT'^r  "c:'"23  ITIS,  supposed  to  be  the  name 
of  the  guardian  angel,  or  of  God  himself,  are  made  to 
stand  for  irniiX  mni  i-!^'^■',  Jehovah  our  God  is  Je- 
hovah, by  another  exegetical  rule,  which  exchanges  each 
letter  of  a  word  with  its  immediate  predecessor  in  the 
alphabet ;  e.  g.  the  Z  in  1712  is  exchanged  for  "i,  the  1  for 
n,  the  ^  for  1,  and  the  1  for  n,  thus  yielding  mrT\  Ev- 
ery pious  Jew,  as  often  as  he  jiasscs  the  Mezuzah,  in 
leaving  the  house  or  in  entering  it.  touches  the  divine 
name  with  the  linger  of  his  right  hand,  puts  it  to  his 
mouth,  and  kisses  it,  s.nyiug  in  Hebrew, "The  I^inl  shall 
preserve  tiiy  going  out  and  thy  coming  in,  from  this 


MEZZOFANTI 


209 


MEZZOFANTI 


time  forth,  and  for  evermore"  (Psa.  cxxi,  8) ;  and  when 
lea\-ing  on  a  business  expedition,  he  says,  after  touching 
it,  n^blSXI  -bx  "1T13  tODl^n  ITID  "[^^'2,  "in  thj' 
name,  Kuzii  Bemuksaz  Kuzu  (=God),  I  go  out  and 
shall  prosper." 

III.  /Jfenifiire. — Maimonides,  Ja(i /T^a-CAeza^'cs  ITil- 
choth  TiphlUin  U-Mezuzah  Ve-Sepher  Torah,\-,Yi;  Jork 
Ilea,  §  285-'295 ;  the  Jewish  ritual  entitled  Derek  Ha- 
Chiijiiii,  containing  a  summary  of  all  the  laws  con- 
nected with  the  Jewish  observances  (Vienna,  1859),  p. 
31  sq.;  Buxtorf,  Syimg.  Jud.  p.  482-487;  Leo  Modena, 
Rites  and  Customs,  pt.  i,  ch.  ii,  §  3 ;  AUen's  Modern  Ju- 
daism, p.  327-329.     See  Door-post. 

Mezzofanti,  Joseph  Caspar,  a  Eoman  Catholic 
prelate,  celebrated  as  the  greatest  linguist  the  world  has 
ever  seen,  was  born  at  Bologna  Sept.  17, 1774.    His  fa- 
ther, Francis  Mezzofanti,  was  a  carpenter ;  and  he  him- 
self, being  destined  for  the  same  humble  career,  was 
placed  at  one  of  the  free  schools  of  the  Oratory  in  his 
native  city.     Father  Kespighi,  a  priest  of  that  congre- 
gation, observed  the  remarkable  talents  of  the  boy,  and 
saved  him  for  literature.     He  was  removed  to  a  high- 
er school — one  of  the  so-called  '•  iScuole  Pie"  of  Bologna 
—and  eventually  to  the  archiepiscopal  seminary,  where, 
after  completing  the  usual  course  of  letters,  philosophy, 
divinity,  and  canon  law  in  the  university,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  priest's  orders  in  September,  1797.    Of  the  de- 
tails of  his  progress  in  the  study  of  languages  during 
these  early  years  no  accurate  record  is  preserved ;  but  it 
is  known  that,  like  most  eminent  linguists,  he  was  gift- 
ed, even  in  childhood,  with  a  very  wonderful  memory, 
and  that,  partly  under  the  various  professors  in  the  uni- 
versity, partly  by  the  aid  of  foreign  residents  in  the 
city,  partly  by  his  own  unassisted  studies,  he  had  ac- 
qiured,  before  the  completion  of  his  university  career, 
the  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  Arabic,  Spanish,  French,  Ger- 
man, and  Swedish  languages.    In  1797,  at  the  early  age 
of  twenty-t\vo,  he  was  appointed  professor  of  Arabic  in 
the  university ;  but  on  the  annexation  of  Bologna,  as  one 
of  the  papal  legations,  to  the  newly-established  Cisal- 
pine republic,  he,  refusing  to  talce  the  oaths  of  the  new 
constitution,  was  set  aside  from  the  professorship.    After 
the  conclusion  of  the  concordat  between  Pius  Yll  and 
the  first  consul,  the  ancient  constitution  of  the  univer- 
sity was  restored.     In  1803  jVIezzofanti  was  named  to 
the  higher  professorship  of  Oriental  languages,  and  in 
the  same  year  became  assistant  librarian  of  the  public 
library  of  the  city.     In  1808  the  professorship  was  dis- 
continued, and  Mezzofanti  was  reduced  to  great  distress. 
He  made  a  scanty  living  bj^  private  tuition :  but,  nothing 
daunted,  steadily  followed  in  private  what  had  become 
his  engrossing  pursuit — the  study  of  languages.  A  letter 
of  his,  dated  in  1804,  to  the  celebrated  Orientalist,  John 
Bernard  de  Rossi,  whose  personal  acquaintance  he  sub- 
sequently formed  during  a  short  visit  to  IModena  in 
1805,  enclosed  a  composition  in  twelve  languages,  which 
he  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  his  correspondent; 
and  by  1812  Mezzofanti's  reputation  as   a  linguist  was 
thoroughly  established.     The  well-known  Pietro  Gior- 
dani,  in  several  of  his  letters  to  his  friends,  calls  him 
"  the  divine  Mezzofanti,"  and  declares  that  his  skill  in 
living  and  dead  languages  entitles  him  to  be  regarded 
as  "  a  man  of  all  ages  and  all  nations."     The  war  of 
which  Northern  Italy  was  so  long  the  theatre  afford- 
ed Mezzofanti  many  opportunities   of  extending  his 
stock  of  languages.   In  the  hospital  of  Bologna,  to  which 
he  was  attached  as  volunteer  chaplain,  were  to  be  met 
—  among  the  invalids  of  the  Austrian,  Russian,  and 
French  armies — Germans,  Hungarians,  Bohemians, Wal- 
lachians,  Servians,  Russians,  Poles,  and  Croats.     Partly 
in  the  desire  to  offer  these  sufferers  the  consolations  of 
religion,  partly  from  his  love  of  the  study  itself,  jMezzo- 
fanti  labored  assiduously  to  turn  these  and  all  similar 
opportunities  to  account;  and  several  instances  are  re- 
corded in  which,  without  the  assistance  of  a  grammar  or 
Uictionarv,  he  contrived  to  establish  a  mode  of  commu- 
YI.-O 


nication  with  a  stranger  who  was  utterly  ignorant  of 
every  language  except  his  own,  and  eventuallj"^  to  mas- 
ter that  language  sufficiently  for  all  the  purposes  of  con- 
versation.   He  has  left  an  account  of  his  mode  of  study 
during  these  years,  which  is  not  a  little  curious  and  in- 
teresting,    "  The  hotel-keepers,"  he  says,  "  were  in  the 
habit  of  notifying  me  of  the  arrival  of  all  strangers  at 
Bologna ;  and  I  never  hesitated,  when  anything  was  to 
be  learned  thereby,  to  call  upon  them,  to  interrogate 
them,  to  make  notes  of  their  communications,  and  to  take 
lessons  in  the  pronunciation  of  their  several  languages. 
There  were  a  few  learned  Jesuits  too,  and  several  Span- 
iards, Portuguese,  and  jMexicansresidingin  Bologna,  from 
whom  I  received  valuable  assistance,  both  in  their  own 
and  in  the  learned  languages.    I  made  it  a  rule  to  learn 
every  strange  grammar,  and  to  apply  myself  to  every 
new  dictionary  that  came  within  my  reach.     I  was 
constantly  filling  my  head  with  nevr  words.     When- 
ever a  stranger,  whether  of  high  or  low  degree,  passed 
through  Bologna,  I  tried  to  turn  the  visit  to  account, 
either  for  the  purpose  of  perfecting  my  pronunciation, 
or  of  learning  the  familiar  words  and  turns  of  expres- 
sion.    Nor  did  all  this  cost  me  so  much  trouble ;  for,  in 
addition  to  an  excellent  memory,  God  had  gifted  me 
with  remarkable  flexibility  of  the  organs  of  speech."    In 
the  year  1812  Mezzofanti  was  appointed  assistant  libra- 
rian of  the  university ;  in  1814  he  was  reinstated  in 
his  professorship ;  and  in  1815  he  became  chief  libra- 
rian.   From  this  period,  especially  after  the  restoration 
of  peace,  his  reputation  rapidly  extended.    Every  ^-isitor 
of  Bologna  related  fresh  marvels  regarding  his  prodigi- 
ous attainments.     Tourists  from  every  nation,  whether 
of  Europe  or  of  the  East,  united  in  representing  him  as 
perfect,  each  one  in  his  own  language.     Lord  Byrore, 
about  1820,  pronounced  him  "  a  walking  polyglot,  a 
monster  of  languages,  and  a  Briareus  of  parts  of  speech." 
M.  Molbech,  a  Danish  traveller  of  the  year  1820,  reports 
the  number  of  his  languages  at  "  more  than  thirty," 
and  testifies  to  his  speaking  Danish  "with  almost  entire 
correctness."    French,  German,  Spanish,  Polish,  Russian, 
Greek,  and  Turkish  travellers  concur  in  the  same  re- 
port, not  only  with  regard  to  their  own,  but  also  to 
many  other  languages.    During  all  these  years— exce:i)t 
a  short  visit  to  Pisa,  Leghorn,  Florence,  and  Rome— he 
had  resided  altogether  at  Bologna,  though  invited,  with 
many  flattering  offers,  to  transfer  his  residence  to  Paris, 
to  Vienna,  to  Florence,  and  to  Rome.     At  length,  hav- 
ing gone  to  Rome  as  a  member  of  the  deputation  sent 
by  the  Bolognese  to  offer  their  submission  to  pope  Greg- 
ory XVI,  after  the  revolution  in  1831,  he  was  induced 
by  the  pontiff  to  settle  permanently  in  Rome,  and  to. 
accept  a  prebend  in  the  Church  of  St. Mary  Major,  which 
was  soon  after  exchanged  for  a  canonry  in  St.  Peter's, 
and,  on  the  promotion  of  the  celebrated  Angelo  ]\Iai, 
then  keeper  of  the  Vatican  Library,  to  the  secretarj'- 
ship  of  the  Propaganda,  Mezzofanti  was  appointed  to 
succeed  him  in  the  important  charge  of  the  Vatican. 
He  held  this  office  till  1838,  in  which  year,  conjointly 
with  Mai,  he  was  elevated  to  the  cardinalate.    His  res- 
idence in  a  great  centre  of  languages,  such  as  Rome, 
and  especially  the  facilities  of  intercourse  with  the  va- 
rious races  represented  in  the  College  of  the  Propagan- 
da, gave  a  new  impulse  to  Mezzofanti's  linguistic  stud- 
ies.    The  reports  of  his  visitors  at  Rome  are  still  more 
marvellous  than  those  cf  the  Bolognese  period.     Au 
eminent  German  scholar,  Herr  Gcirres,  who  had  much 
intercourse  with  him  in  the  year  1841,  writes  thus: 
"He  is  familiar  with  all  the  European  languages;  and 
bv  this  I  mean  not  only  the  ancient  classical  tongues 
and  the  modern  ones  of  the  first  class  — such  as  the 
Greek  and  Latin,  or  the  Italian,  French,  German,  Span- 
ish, Portuguese,  and  English  — his  knowledge  extends 
also  to  thelanguages  of  the  second  class,  viz.,  the  Dutch, 
Danish,  and  Swedish ;  to  the  whole  Sclavonic  family 
—Russian,  Polish,  Bohemian,  or  Czechish ;  to  the  Ser- 
vian, the  Hungarian,  the  Turkish;  and  even  those  of 
the  third  and  fourth  classes— the  Irish,  the  Welsh,  the 


MEZZOFANTI 


210 


MEZZOFANTI 


Wallachian,  the  Albanian,  the  Bulgarian,  and  the  Illyr-  ]  member  of  many  ecclesiastical  congregations  in  Rome, 
ian.  The  liomani  of  the  Alps  and  the  Lettish  are  not  '  but  he  never  held  any  olHce  of  state.  He  died  on  the 
unknown  to  him;  nay,  he  has  made  himself  acquainted  j  15th  of  jM  arch,  1849,  and  was  buried  in  the  Church  of 
with  Lappish,  lie  is  master  of  the  laiiguages  which  |  St.  Onofrio,  beside  the  grave  of  Torquato  Tasso.  His 
fall  within  the  Indo-(  iernianic  family — the  Sanscrit  and  personal  character  was  gentle,  humble,  modest,  humane, 
Persian,  the  Kurdish,  tlio  (ieorgiaii,  the  Armenian;  he  j  and  he  was  a  sincere  and  devout  man. 
is  familiar  with  all  tlio  members  of  the  Shemitic  family  |  It  is  difficult  to  determine  with  accuracy  the  number 
— the  Hebrew,  the  Arabic,  the  Syriac,  the  Samaritan,  j  of  languages  known  by  jSIezzofanti,  and  still  more  so  to 
the  Chaldee,  the  Sabaic — nay,  even  with  the  Chinese,  j  ascertain  how  many  of  these  he  spoke,  and  with  what 


which  he  not  only  reads,  but  speaks.  Among  the  Ham 
itic  languages,  he  knows  Coptic,  Ethiopia,  Abyssinian, 
Amharic,  and  Angolese."  What  is  especially  notable  in 
this  marvellous  gift  possessed  by  Mezzofanti  is  that  his 
knowledge  of  each  among  this  vast  variety  of  languages 
was  almost  as  perfect  as  though  his  attention  had  been 
devoted  to  such  language  exclusively.  The  reports  of 
all  the  great  students  of  language  concur  in  describing 
liim  as  speaking  even  their  own  tongues  always  with 
the  precision  and,  in  most  cases,  with  the  fluency  of 
a  native.  His  proinniciation,  his  idiom,  his  vocabu- 
lary, were  alike  unexce])tionable.  Even  the  familiar 
words  of  evcry-day  life,  and  the  delicate  turns  of  con- 
versational language,  wore  at  his  command ;  and  in  each 
language  he  was  master  of  the  leading  dialects,  and 
of  the  provincial  peculiarities  of  idiom,  of  pronuncia- 
tion, or  of  expression.  In  French,  he  was  equally  at 
home  in  the  pure  Parisian  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain 
or  in  the  Provencal  of  Toulouse.  He  could  acconinid- 
date  himself  in  German  to  the  rude  jargon  of  the  lil.uU 
Forest  or  to  the  classic  vocabulary  of  Hanover;  and  lir 
often  amused  his  English  visitors  with  specimens  of  the 
provincialisms  of  Yorkshire,  Lancashire,  or  Somersetshi  re. 
With  the  literature  of  those  various  countries,  too,  he  was 
well  acquainted.  He  loved  to  talk  with  his  visitors  of 
the  great  authors  in  their  respective  languages;  and 
his  remarks  are  described  as  invariably  sound  and  judi- 
cious, and  exhibiting  careful  and  various  reading,  often 
extending  to  departments  with  which  it  woidd  never  be 
supposed  that  a  foreigner  could  be  familiar.  A  Dutch 
traveller,  for  instance,  Dr.  Wap,  was  surprised  to  find 
him  acquainted  with  his  own  national  poets,  Yondel  and 
Cato ;  a  Dane,  with  the  philological  works  of  Kask ;  a 
Swede,  with  the  poetry  of  Ochsentsjema.  To  a  Sicilian 
he  would  repeat  whole  pages  of  the  poetry  of  Meli ;  and 
an  English  gentleman  w^as  astounded  to  hear  him  dis- 
cuss and  criticise  Iludibras,  of  all  English  writers  the 
least  attractive,  as  well  as  the  least  intelligible  to  a  for- 
eigner. He  was  in  the  habit,  too,  of  amusing  himself 
by   metrical  compositions   in    the   various    language: 


degree  of  fluency  in  each.  During  his  lifetime,  as  we 
have  seen,  report  varied  considerably  at  different  times; 
nor  was  he  himself  believed  to  have  made  any  verj-  ])re- 
cise  statement  on  the  subject.  To  a  Kussian  traveller, 
who  visited  him  before  the  year  184G,  and  who  begged 
of  him  a  list  of  all  the  languages  and  dialects  in  which 
he  was  able  to  express  himself,  he  sent  a  paper  in  his 
own  hand  containing  the  name  of  God  in  fifty-six  lan- 
guages. The  author  of  a  memoir  which  appeared  soon 
after  the  cardinal's  death  in  a  Roman  journal,  the  Civilfa 
Catolica  (now  known  to  be  by  father  Bresciani,  a  Ro- 
man Jesuit),  states  that  in  the  year  1846  Mezzofanti 
himself  informed  him  that  he  was  able  to  express  him- 
self in  sovonty-eight  languages.  jMarvellous  as  these 
statements  may  appear,  they  seem  fully  borne  out  by 
inquiries  (with  a  view  to  the  preparation  of  a  biogra- 
phy) which  have  been  made  since  the  death  of  the  car- 
dinal. Reports  have  been  received  from  a  vast  number 
(if  iii(li\iilii;ils.  unlives  of  ililVerent  countries,  whose  col- 
lc(ii\c'  lot  iiiKiny.  tnumlid  mi  their  own  personal  knowl- 
cil^r  <if  Mi/./.cil'aiiti,  plads  licyond  all  question  the  fact 
of  his  having  spoken  fluently  considerably  more  than 
fifty  different  languages.  There  are  others  among  the 
languages  ascribed  to  him,  regarding  which  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  institute  any  direct  inquin,-;  but,  judging  from 
analogy,  and  relying  on  the  well-known  modesty  and 
truthfuhiess  of  Mezzofanti,  we  need  not  hesitate  to  ac- 
cept his  own  statement  as  reported  by  F.  Bresciani ;  the 
more  so  as  among  his  papers  now  in  the  possession  of 
his  family  is  a  list,  drawn  up  from  memoranda  contained 
therein,  of  no  less  than  a  hundred  and  twenty  languages 
with  which  he  possessed  some  acquaintance,  unaccom- 
panied, however,  by  any  note  specifying  those  among 
the  number  which  he  spoke,  or  the  degree  of  his  knowl- 
edge of  each.  His  English  biograjdier,  Russell,  comes 
to  the  following  results,  which  are,  in  Ijrief  (for  details 
see  that  work) :  1.  Languages  frcnpiently  tested,  and 
spoken  by  the  cardinal  witli  rare  excellence — thirty. 
2.  Stated  to  have  been  spoken  fluently,  but  hardly  suffi- 
ciently tested — nine.     3.  Spoken  rarely  and  less  per- 


which  he  cultivated,  and  often  wrote  for  his  visitors  a  [  fectly— eleven.  4.  Spoken  imperfectly;  a  few  sentences 
couplet  or  two  in  their  native  language,  as  a  little  me-  j  and  conversational  form— eight.  5.  Studied  from  books, 
mento  of  their  interview.  Dr.  Wap,  the  Dutch  travel-  but  not  known  to  have  been  spoken— fourteen.  G.  Dia- 
ler just  referred  to,  speaks  in  high  praise  of  some  ex-  |  Iccts  spoken,  or  their  peculiarities  understood— thirty- 
tempore  lines  in  Dutch  by  which  Mezzofanti  replied  to  I  nine  dialects  of  ten  languages,  many  of  which  might 
a  sonnet  which  Dr.  Wap  had  addressed  to  him ;  and  the  !  justly  be  described  as  different  languages.  This  list 
well-known  Orientalist,  Dr.Tholuck,  having  asked  ISIez-  j  ailds  uj)  one  hundred  and  eleven,  exceeding  by  all  com- 
zofanti  for  some  memorial  of  his  visit,  received  from    parison  cver>'thing  related  in  history.     Jonadab  Alma- 


him  a  Persian  couplet,  after  the  manner  of  Hafiz,  which 
he  composed  (although  not  without  some  delay)  during 
Dr.  Tholuck's  visit.  After  his  removal  to  Rome,  al- 
though he  had  already  passed  his  fiftieth  year,  he  added 
largely  to  his  stock  of  languages.  His  most  notable 
acquisition  during  this  jieriod  was  Chinese,  which  he 
acquired  (partly  at  the  ('hinese  college  in  Naples,  part- 
ly among  the  Chinese  students  of  the  Propaganda)  in 
such  perfection  as  to  be  able  not  oifly  to  write  and  con- 


nor  and  Sir  William  Jones  are  not  claimed  to  have  gone 
beyond  twentj'-eight;  -while  Mithridates  and  Pico  of 
jMirandola  have  been  made  famous  by  twenty-two. 

In  general  learning  ^lezzofanti's  attainments  were 
highly  respectable.  He  was  a  well-informed  theologian 
and  canonist,  and  an  impressive  though  not  eloquent 
preacher.  M.  Libri,  the  historian  of  mathematical  sci- 
ence in  ItJily,  found  him  well  aciiuaintcd  with  algebra, 
and  reports  an  interesting  conversation  which  he  had 


verse  freely  in  it.  but  even  to  preach  to  the  young  Chi-  i  with  him  on  the  Bija  (Jannita  (the  algebra  of  the  Hin- 
nese  ecclesiastics.  During  the  same  period  he  accpiired  dris),  as  well  as  on  the  general  subject  of  Indian  history 
the  Abyssinian,  the  Californian,  some  of  the  North  and  antiquities.  Other  writers  describe  him  as  entering 
American  Indian  languages,  and  even  the  ''impossi-  freely  into  the  history  as  well  as  the  literature  of  their 
blc"  Basque.  It  was  in  Rome,  and  especially  in  the  several  countries.  But  as  an  author  he  is  almost  un- 
Propaganda,  that  he  displayed  in  its  greatest  perfection  known.  He  occasionally  read  papers  at  various  literary 
his  singular  power  of  instantaneously  passing  in  con-  (  and  scientific  societies  in  Bologna  and  Rome;  but  his 
versation  from  one  language  to  another,  without  the  i  only  known  publication  is  a  short  memoir  of  his  friend 
slightest  mixture  or  confusion,  whether  of  words  or  of  i  and  brother  professor,  father  Emanuel  da  Ponte,  which 
pronunciation.  j  was  printed  at  Bologna  in  18211;  and  he  leaves  no  mon- 

Mezzo£auti,  by  virtue  of  liis  position  as  cardinal,  was  I  ument  for  posterity  beyond  the  tradition  that  he  was 


MIAKO 


211 


MIBHAR 


incomparably  the  greatest  linguist  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  See  G.  Stolz,  Biof/raphiu  del  Cardinal  Ghisejype 
Mezzofanti,  in  the  Journal  de  Rome  of  Feb.  :\  l.s.'iO  ;  A. 
Manaxit,  Esqiiisse  historique  sur  le  Cardiiml  M,  .:j'i'anti 
(Paris,  1854,  8vo)  ;  Kussell,  Life  of  the  Cardinal  Jltzzo- 
fanti,  etc.  (Lond.  1857,  8vo)  ;  L'Ami  de  la  Reliylon 
(1849) ;  Revue  Catholique  de  Louvain,  Sept.  1853  ;  Enr/l. 
Ci/clop.  s.  V. ;  Billiotheca  Sacra,  1849,  p.  407 ;  English 
Rerie/r,  Jan.  1855 ;  Princeton  Review,  1858,  p.  645  sq. ; 
Catholic  World,  March,  1870,  p.  857. 

Miako,  one  of  the  largest  cities  of  Japan,  was,  un- 
til the  recent  abolishment  of  the  ecclesiastical  emperor, 
the  seat  of  the  mikado,  or  spiritual  prince.  The  cit\^, 
containing  nearly  one  million  of  inhabitants,  is  situated 
in  the  south-west  of  the  island  of  Nipon,  in  the  midst  of 
an  extensive  plain,  and  about  thirty  miles  from  Osaca. 
Miako  is  also  noted  as  the  great  stronghold  of  Sinfuium 
(q.  V.)— the  ancient  religion  of  Japan — of  tern  pie- wor- 
ship, priests,  monks,  ceremonies,  and  ritualism.  Some 
of  the  temples  are  of  great  size  and  splendor.  Don 
Rodrigo  de  Vivero,  the  Spanish  governor  of  Manilla, 
who  visited  Miako  in  1608,  was  told  that  it  then  con- 
tained 5000  temples.  He  describes  one  in  which  was 
an  immense  bronze  image  of  Buddha,  the  construction 
of  which  was  begun  by  the  tycoon  in  1602.  He  says, 
'•  I  ordered  one  of  my  people  to  measure  the  thumb  of 
the  right  hand;  but,  although  he  was  a  person  of  the 
ordinary  size,  he  could  not  quite  encircle  it  with  both 
arms.  But  the  size  of  the  statue  is  not  its  only  merit : 
the  feet,  hands,  mouth,  eyes,  forehead,  and  other  feat- 
ures are  as  perfect  and  as  expressive  as  the  most  accom- 
plished painter  could  make  a  portrait.  When  I  first 
visited  this  temple  it  was  unfinished;  more  than  10,000 
men  were  daily  employed  upon  it.  The  devil  could  not 
suggest  to  the  emperor  a  surer  expedient  to  get  rid  of 
his  immense  wealth."  This  colossus  was  injured  by  an 
earthquake  in  1662,  after  which  it  was  melted  down, 
and  a  substitute  prepared  of  wood  gilded.  Kilmpfer, 
who  was  at  Miako  in  1691,  describes  the  temple  which 
contained  this  image  as  enclosed  by  a  high  wall  of 
freestone,  some  of  the  blocks  of  which  were  twelve 
feet  square.  "A  stone  staircase  of  eight  steps  led  up  to 
the  gateway,  on  either  side  of  which  stood  a  gigantic 
image  twenty-four  feet  high,  with  the  face  of  a  lion,  but 
otherwise  well  proportioned,  black,  and  almost  naked, 
and  placed  on  a  pedestal  six  feet  high.  'W'ithin  the 
gateway  were  sixteen  stone  pillars  on  each  side  for 
lamps,  and  on  the  inside  of  the  enclosing  wall  was  a 
spacious  gallery  covered  with  a  roof  supported  by  two 
rows  of  pillars  eighteen  feet  high  and  twelve  feet  distant 
from  each  other.  Opposite  the  gateway,  in  the  middle 
of  the  court,  stood  the  temple,  much  the  loftiest  struct- 
ure which  Kampfer  had  seen  in  Japan,  with  a  double 
roof  supported  by  ninety-four  immense  wooden  pillars, 
nine  feet  in  diameter.  The  floor  of  the  temple  was 
paved  with  square  flags  of  marble.  There  was  nothing 
inside  but  the  great  image  of  Buddha  sitting  on  a  terete, 
or  lotus  flower,  supported  by  another  flower  of  which 
the  leaves  were  turned  upwards,  the  two  being  raised 
about  twelve  feet  from  the  floor.  The  idol  was  gilded 
all  over,  had  long  ears,  curled  hair,  and  a  crown  on  the 
head  which  appeared  through  the  window  over  the  first 
roof  of  the  temple.  The  shoulders  were  so  broad  as  to 
reach  from  one  piUar  to  another,  a  distance  of  thirty 
feet.  In  front  of  this  temple  is  an  edifice  containing  a 
bell,  which  is  described  in  the  Japanese  guide-books  as 
seventeen  feet  two  and  a  half  inches  high,  and  weighing 
1,700,000  Japanese  catties,  equal  to  2,066,000  English 
pounds,  a  weight  five  times  greater  than  that  of  the 
famous  bell  at  ^Moscow.  Kampfer,  however,  who  had 
seen  the  great  bell  at  Moscow,  describes  this  Japanese 
bell  as  inferior  in  size  to  that,  and  as  being  rough,  ill 
cast,  and  ill  shaped.  It  was  sounded  by  striking  it  on 
the  outside  with  a  large  wooden  mallet.  Another  tem- 
ple, dedicated  to  Quanwon,  was  very  long  in  proportion 
to  its  breadth.  In  the  centre  was  a  gigantic  image  of 
Quanwon,  with  thirty-six  arms.     Sixteen  black  images 


larger  than  life  stood  round  it,  and  on  each  side  two 
rows  of  gilt  idols,  with  twenty  arms  each.  On  either 
side  of  the  temple,  running  from  end  to  end,  were  ten 
platforms  rising  like  steps  one  behind  the  other,  on  each 
of  which  stood  fifty  images  of  Quanwon  as  large  as  life 
— 1000  in  all,  each  on  its  separate  pedestal,  so  arranged 
as  to  stand  in  rows  of  five,  one  behind  the  other,  and  all 
visible  at  the  same  time,  each  with  its  twenty  hands. 
On  the  heads  and  hands  of  all  these  are  placed  smaller 
idols,  to  the  number  of  forty  or  more.  The  whole  num- 
ber of  images  is  stated  bj'  the  Japanese  to  be  33,000" 
(Ae?«  American  Cyclopcedia,  vol.  xi,  s.  v.).  jMiako  is  also 
the  head-quarters  of  literature,  science,  and  art.  The 
imperial  palace,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  city,  is, 
together  with  its  ward,  a  town  of  itself.     See  Japan  ; 

INIlKADO. 

Mi'amiu  (Heb.  Miyamin',  'j^'''^,  a  contracted  form 
of  the  name  Miniamin),  the  name  of  three  persons  after 
the  exile. 

1.  (Sept.  Mtia^iiiv  v.  r.  Mtiaixiv,  Vulg.  Maiman, 
Auth.  Vers. "  Mijamin.")  The  head  of  the  sixth  division 
of  the  sacerdotal  order  as  distributed  by  David  (1  Chron. 
xxiv,7).    B.C.  1014. 

2.  (Sept.  Mta/iEiVv.r.  MtajutV, Vulg.  ii/iamim.)  One 
of  the  chief  priests  who  returned  from  Babylon  with 
Zerubbabel  (Neh.  xii,  5).  B.C.  536.  He  must  have 
attained  a  great  age  if  identical  with  the  priest  who 
subscribed  the  religious  covenant  with  Nehemiah  (Neh, 
X,  7,  where  the  name  is  Anglicized  "Mijamin").  B.C. 
cir.  410.  He  is  probably  the  same  person  called  Minia- 
JIIN  in  Neh.  xii,  17,  but  his  son's  name  appears  there  to 
have  accidentally  escaped  from  the  text.     See  Moa- 

DIAH. 

3.  (Sept.  Mf «/[«'»'  V.  r.  Mea/xi'jit,  Vulg.  Miamin.)  One 
of  the  Israelites,  a  "  son"  (i.  e.  inhabitant)  of  Parosh, 
who  divorced  hio  Gentile  Avife  after  the  captivity  (Ezra 
X,  25).    B.C.  459. 

Miautse,  the  hill-tribes  of  China,  are  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  the  aborigines  of  that  country.  From  the 
dawn  of  Chinese  history,  we  find  the  people  of  the  plains 
contending  against  those  of  the  high  lands,  and  to  the 
present  day  the  hardy  mountaineers  have  maintaiaed 
their  independence.  The  IHiautse  consist  of  forty-one 
tribes,  occupying  large  portions  of  Kwang-se,  Kwei- 
chow,Yun-nan,Sze-chuen,and  adjacent  provinces.  Some 
of  them  own  Chinese  sway ;  other  tribes  are  absolutely 
independent.  They  are  smaller  in  size  and  stature,  and 
have  shorter  necks,  and  their  features  are  somewhat 
more  angular,  than  the  Chinese.  Their  dialects  are  va- 
rious, and  wholly  different  from  the  Chinese ;  their  af- 
finity is  most  likely  with  the  Laos  and  other  tribes  be- 
tween Burmah,  Siam,  and  China.  Dr.  Macgowan,  a 
well-known  ethnologist,  describes  them  as  skilful  in 
manufacturing.  He  holds  to  an  identity  of  the  IMiautse 
of  Western  China  and  the  hill-tribes  of  Burmah.  See 
Karens.  The  degree  of  civilization  they  have  attained 
to  is  much  belo;v  that  of  the  Chinese.  Both  sexes  wear 
their  hair  braided  in  a  tuft  on  the  top  of  the  head,  but 
never  shaven  and  twisted  as  the  Chinese ;  they  dress  in 
loose  garments  of  cotton  and  linen ;  car-rings  are  in  uni- 
versal use  among  them.  They  live  in  huts  constructed 
upon  the  branches  of  trees,  and  in  mud  hovels.  Their 
agriculture  is  rude,  and  their  garments  are  usually  ob- 
tained by  barter  from  other  people.  Their  religious  ob- 
servances are  of  the  same  peculiar  nature  as  those  o*f 
the  other  Asiatic  tribes  uninfluenced  by  Christian 
civilization.  Their  marriage  and  funeral  usages  are 
particularly  striking.  In  one  tribe  it  is  the  custom  for 
the  father  of  the  new-born  child,  as  soon  as  the  mother 
has  become  strong  enough  to  leave  her  couch,  to  get 
into  bed  himself,  and  there  receive  the  congratulations 
of  his  acquaintances  as  he  exhibits  his  offspring.  See 
Chinese  Repository,  i,  29 ;  xiv,  105  sq. ;  Williams,  The 
Middle  Kingdom,  i,  37,  147  sq. 

Mib'har  (Heb.  Mibchar',  ^nn^,  choice,  as  in  Isa. 
xxii,  7,  etc. ;  Sept.  Ma/Sap  v.  r.  Mf/SaaX),  a  Hagarene 


MIBSAM 


212 


MICAH 


("son  of  Haggeri"),  one  of  David's  famous  warriors  (1  |  dering  Levito,  named  Jonathan,  became  the  priest,  at 
Chron.  xi,  38) ;  apparently  the  same  called  in  the  par-  a  yearly  stipend  (Judg.  xvii).  Subsequently  the  Danite 
allel  passage  (2  Sam.  xxiii,  36)  Hani  the  Gadite.  B.C.  '  array,  on  their  journey  to  settle  northward  in  Laish, 
1046  See  David.  '■  It  is  easy  to  .see,  if  the  latter  be  ,  took  away  both  the  establishment  and  the  priest,  which 
the  true  reading,  how  ^nr.n  ^3,  5am  Aa</-r7«(//,  coiUd  i  they  afterwards  maintained  in  their  new   settlement 

°  .^  -       .  T^  ''  •'^   ^_^^        j  (Judg.  XVll).       Sec   DaX;   JoXATItAN. 

The  establishments  of  this  kind,  of  which  there  are 
other  instances — as  that  of  Gideon  at  Ophrah — were, 


be  corrupted  into  i"iJij~"|2,  hen-hag-geri ;  and  "^nan  is 
actually  the  reading  of  three  of  Kennicott's  MSS.  in  1 
Chron.,  as  well  as  of  the  Syriac  and  Arabic  versions,  and 
the  Targum  of  K.  Joseph.  But  that  '  Mibhar'  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  n^S'O  (or  X^Iiw,  ace.  to  some  MSS.),  viits- 
tsobuh,  'of  Zobah,'  as  Kennicott  {Dissert,  p.  215)  and 
Cappellus  (Crit.  Sacr.  i,  c.  5)  conclude,  is  not  so  clear, 
though  not  absolutely  impossible.  It  would  seem  from 
the  Sept.  of  2  Sam.,  Avhere  instead  of  Zobah  we  tind 
TToXvcvvci^tutQ,  that  both  readings  originally  co-existed, 
and  were  read  by  the  Sept.  NHSn  "insp,  viibchar 
hats-isaba,  '  choice  of  the  host.'  If  this  were  the  case, 
the  verse  in  1  Chron.  would  stand  thus:  '  Igal  the 
brother  of  Nathan,  flower  of  the  host;  Baiii  the  Gad- 
ite' "  (Smith). 

Mib'sam  (ll^h.  Mihsam' ,  ^'^'Z'Z,  fragrance),  the 
name  of  two  men. 

1.  (Sept.  Mo(T<Ta/i  v.  r.  in  Chron.  Mrt/3ffdv.)     The 


although  most  mistakenly,  formed  in  honor  of  Jehovah, 
whom  tlicy  thus  sought  to  serve  by  means  of  a  local 
worship,  in  imitation  of  that  at  Shiloh  (see  Kitto's />ai7y 
liible  lllustra.  ad  loc).  This  was  in  direct  contraven- 
tion of  the  law,  which  allowed  but  one  place  of  sacrifice 
and  ceremonial  service ;  and  was  something  of  the  same 
kind,  although  different  in  extent  and  degree,  as  the 
service  of  the  golden  calves,  which  Jeroboam  set  up, 
and  his  successors  maintained,  in  Dan  and  Bethel.  The 
previous  existence  of  Micah's  establishment  in  the  for- 
mer city  no  doubt  pointed  it  out  to  Jeroboam  as  a  suit- 
able place  for  one  of  his  golden  calves. — Kitto.  See 
Jkroboaji.  The  preservation  of  the  story  here  would 
seem  to  be  owing  to  Micah's  accidental  connection  with 
the  colony  of  Danites  who  left  the  original  seat  of  their 
tribe  to  conquer  and  found  a  new  Dan  at  Laish— a  most 
happy  accident,  for  it  has  been  the  means  of  furnishing 


fourth  named  of  the  twelve  sons  of  Ishmael,  and  head  us  with  a  jncture  of  the  "  interior"  of  a  private  Israelitish 
cf  an  Arabian  tribe  bearing  his  name  (Gen.  xxv,  13 ;  family  of  the  rural  districts,  which  in  many  respects 
1  Chron.  i,  29).  B.C.  post  20G1.  ''The  signification  of  |  stands  quite  alone  in  the  sacred  records,  and  has  proba- 
his  name  has  led  some  to  propose  an  identification  of  blyno  parallel  in  any  literature  of  equal  age.  But  apart 
the  tribe  sprung  from  him  with  some  one  of  the  Abra-  '  from  this  the  narrative  has  several  points  of  special  in- 
hamic  tribes  settled  in  Arabia  aromatifera,  and  a  con-  !  terest  to  students  of  Biblical  history  in  the  information 


nection  with  the  balsam  of  Arabia  is  suggested  (Bun- 


sen,  Bibda-erk ;  Kalisch,  Genesis,  p.  483).  The  situation 
of  Mekkeh  is  well  adapted  for  his  settlements,  sur- 
rounded as  it  is  by  traces  of  other  Ishmaclitish  tribes; 
nevertheless  the  identification  seems  fanciful  and  far- 
fetched" (Smith).     See  Arabia. 

2.  Sept.  Ma(iaaav  v.  r.  Mrt/^acro/i.")  The  son  of 
Shallum  and  father  of  ^lichma,  apparently  the  grandson 
of  Sliaul,  a  son  of  Simeon  (1  Chron.  iv.  25).  B.C.  ante 
1058. 

Mib'zar  (Ileb.  Mihtsar',  ^'S'Z'Z,  fortress,  as  often; 
Sept.  in  Chron.  Maftaap  v.  r.  Ba/jcrop,  in  Gen.  M«^op). 
The  ninth  named  of  the  petty  Edomitish  chieftains  de- 
scended from  Esau  contemporary  with  the  Horite  kings  !  norant  is  he  of  the  law  of  Jeliov 


which  it  affords  as  to  the  condition  of  the  nation,  of  the 


members  of  which  Jlicah  was  probably  an  average  spec- 
imen. 

(1.)  We  see  how  conipletely  some  of  the  most  sol- 
emn and  characteristic  enactments  of  the  law  had  be- 
come a  dead  letter.  Mieah  was  evidently  a  devout 
believer  in  Jehovah.  While  the  Danites  in  their  com- 
munications use  the  general  term  Elohim,  "God"  ("ask 
counsel  of  God,"  Judg.  xviii,5;  '-God  hath  given  it  into 
your  hands,"  ver.  10),  with  Micah  and  his  household  the 
case  is  quite  different.  His  one  anxiety  is  to  enjoy  the 
favor  of  Jehovah  (xvii,  13) ;  the  formula  of  blessing 
used  by  his  mother  and  his  priest  invokes  the  same  aw- 
ful name  (xvii,  2;  xviii,  6);  and  yet  so  completely  ig- 


that  the  mode  which 


(Gen.  xxvi,  43;  1  Chron.  i,  53).  B.C.  long  post  19U.5. 
"  These  phylarchs  are  said  to  be  enumerated  '  according 
to  their  settlements  in  the  land  of  their  jjossession ;'  and 
Knobel  (Genesis),  understanding  Mibzar  as  tlie  name  of 
a  place,  has  attempted  to  identify  it  with  the  rocky  fast- 
ness of  Petra, '  the  strong  city'  (1^?^  '^"'^', '''"  mibstar, 
Psa.  cviii,  11 ;  comp.  Psa.  Ix,  11),  'the  cliff.'  the  chasms 
of  which  were  the  chief  stronghold  oi  the  Edomites 
(Jer.  xhx,  16;  Obad.  3)"  (Smith).'    See  Iux.m. 

Mi'cah  (Ileb.  Mikah',  n2"'^  [in  Judg.  xvii,  1,  4, 
the  1  in  .longed  form  Miku'yehu,  HH^^'^'S,  is  used],  a  con- 
tracted form  of  the  name  Micaiuh;  Sept.  M«x«)  hut 
M ixnia  in  2  Chron.  [  xviii,  14,  where  the  name  is  for  that 
of  "  ^licaiah,"  and  is  so  rendered  in  the  Auth.  A'ers.] 
xxxiv,  20;  and  Mix«'«C  i"i  Jer.  xxvi.  18;  ;Mic.  i,  1), 
the  name  of  several  men.      See  also  ^Iuaiaii;   Mi- 

ClIAH;   MlCIIAIAH. 

1.  An  Ephrairaite,  apparently  contemporary  with 
the  elders  who  outlived  Joshua."  B.C.  cir.  1590-1.580. 
He  secretly  appropriated  1100  shekels  of  silver  which 
his  mother  had  saved ;  but  being  alarmed  at  her  impre- 
cations on  the  author  of  her  loss,  he  confessed  the  mat- 


he  adopts  of  honoring  him  is  to  make  a  molten  and  a 
graven  image,  teraphim  or  images  of  domestic  gods, 
and  to  set  up  an  unauthorized  priesthood,  first  in  his 
own  family  (xvii,  5),  and  then  in  the  person  of  a  Levite 
not  of  t lie  priestly  line  (ver.  12)— thus  disobeying  in  the 
most  flagrant  manner  the  second  of  the  Ten  Connnand- 
ments.  and  the  provisions  for  the  priesthood— laws  both 
of  which  lay  in  a  peculiar  manner  at  the  root  of  the  re- 
ligious existence  of  the  nation.  Gideon  (viii,  27)  had 
established  an  e]>hod ;  but  liere  was  a  whole  chapel  of 
idols,  "a  house  of  gods"  (xvii,  5),  and  all  dedicated  to 
Jehovah. 

(2.)  The  story  also  throws  a  light  on  the  condition 
of  tlie  Levites.  They  were  indeed  "divided  in  Jacob 
and  scattered  in  Israel"  in  a  more  literal  sense  than  that 
prediction  is  usually  taken  to  contain.  Here  we  have 
a  Levite  belonging  to  Bethlebem-judah.  a  town  not  al- 
lotted to  the  Levites,  and  witli  which  they  had,  as  far 
as  we  know,  no  connection;  next  wandering  forth,  with 
the  world  before  him,  to  take  up  his  abode  wherever  he 
could  find  a  residence;  then  undertaking,  without  hesi- 
tation, and  for  a  mere  pittance,  the  charge  of  Jlicah's 
idol-chaiiel ;  and.  lastly,  carrying  off  the  property  of  his 
ter  to  her,  and  restored  the  money.  She  then  forgave  1  master  anil  benefactor,  and  becoming  the  first  jiriest  to 
him,  and  returned  him  the  silver,  to  be  aiJiilied  to  the  !  another  system  of  false  worship,  one.  too.  in  which  Je- 
use  for  which  it  had  been  accumulated.  Two  hundred  hovah  had  no  part,  and  which  ultimately  bore  an  im- 
shekels  of  the  amount  were  given  to  the  founder,  as  the  portant  share  in  the  disruption  of  the  two  kingdoms, 
cost  or  material  of  two  teraphim,  tiie  one  molten  and  It  does  not  seem  at  all  clear  that  the  words  -molten 
the  other  graven;  and  the  rest  of  the  money  served  to  |  image"  and  "graven  image"  accurately  express  the 
cover  the  other  expenses  of  the  semi-idolatrous  estab-  original  words  J\sel  an<l  Massikah.  See  Idol.  As  the 
lishment  formed  in  the  house  of  Micah.  of  which  a  wan-  .  Hebrew  text  now  stands,  the  '•  graven  image"  only  was 


MICAH 


21^ 


MICAH 


carried  off  to  Laish,  and  the  "molten"  one  remained  be- 
hind with  Micah  (xviii,  20,30;  comp.  18).  True  the 
Sept.  adds  the  molten  image  in  ver.  20,  but  in  ver.  30 
it  agrees  with  the  Hebrew  text. 

(3.)  But  the  transaction  becomes  still  more  remark- 
able wlien  we  consider  that  this  was  no  obscure  or  ordi- 
nary Levite.  He  belonged  to  the  chief  family  in  the 
tribe ;  nay,  we  may  say  to  the  chief  family  of  the  na- 
tion, for,  though  not  himself  a  priest,  he  was  closely  al- 
lied to  the  priestly  house,  and  was  the  grandson  of  no 
less  a  person  than  the  great  Moses  himself.  For  the 
"  Manasseh"  in  xviii,  30  is  nothing  less  than  an  altera- 
tion of  "  Moses,"  to  shield  that  venerable  name  from  the 
discredit  which  such  a  descendant  would  cast  upon  it. 
See  Maxasseh,  3.  In  this  fact  we  possibly  have  the 
explanation  of  the  much-debated  passage,  xviii,  3: 
'•  They  knew  the  voice  of  the  young  man  the  Levite." 
The  grandson  of  the  Lawgiver  was  not  unlikely  to  be 
personally  known  to  the  Danites;  when  they  heard  his 
voice  (whether  in  casual  speech  or  in  loud  devotion  we 
are  not  told)  they  recognised  it,  and  their  inquiries  as 
to  who  brought  him  hither,  what  he  did  there,  and 
what  he  had  there,  were  in  this  case  the  eager  questions 
of  old  acquaintances  long  separated. 

(4.)  The  narrative  gives  us  a  most  vivid  idea  of  the 
terrible  anarchy  in  which  the  country  was  placed  when 
"  there  was  no  king  in  Israel,  and  every  man  did  what 
was  right  in  his  own  eyes,"  and  shows  how  urgently 
necessar\^  a  central  authority  had  become.  A  body  of 
six  hundred  men  completely  armed,  besides  the  train 
of  their  families  and  cattle,  traverses  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  not  on  any  mission  for  the  ruler  or 
the  nation,  as  on  later  occasions  (2  Sam.  ii,  12,  etc. ; 
XX,  7,  U),  but  simply  for  their  private  ends.  iMitirely 
disregarding  the  rights  of  private  property,  they  burst 
in  wherever  they  please  along  their  route,  and,  plunder- 
ing the  valuables  and  carrying  off  persons,  reply  to  all 
remonstrances  by  taunts  and  threats.  The  Turkish  rule, 
to  which  the  same  district  has  now  the  misfortune  to 
be  subjected,  can  hardly  be  worse. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  startling  to  our  Western  minds 
— accustomed  to  associate  the  blessings  of  order  with 
religion — to  observe  how  religious  were  these  lawless 
freebooters :  "  Do  ye  know  that  in  these  houses  there  is 
an  ephod,  and  teraphim,  and  a  graven  image,  and  a 
molten  image?  Now  therefore  consider  what  ye  have 
to  do"  (xviii,  14).  "  Hold  th\'  peace  and  go  with  us, 
and  be  to  us  a  father  and  a  priest"  (ver.  19). 

(5.)  As  to  the  date  of  these  interesting  events,  the 
narrative  gives  us  no  direct  information  beyond  the  fact 
that  it  was  before  the  beginning  of  the  monarchy ;  but 
we  may  at  least  infer  that  it  was  also  before  the  time 
of  Samson,  because  in  this  narrative  (xvii,  12)  we  meet 
with  the  origin  of  the  name  of  Mahaneh-dan,  a  place 
Avhich  already  bore  that  name  in  Samson's  childhood 
(xiii,  25,  where  it  is  translated  in  the  Auth.  Vers.  "  the 
camp  of  Dan"),  That  the  Danites  had  opponents  to 
their  establishment  in  their  proper  territory  before  the 
Philistines  entered  the  field  is  evident  from  .Judg.  i,  34. 
Josephus  entirely  omits  the  story  of  Micah,  but  he  places 
the  narrative  of  the  Levite  and  his  concubine,  and  the 
destruction  of  Gibeah  (chaps,  xix,  xx,  xxi) — a  docu- 
ment generally  recognised  as  part  of  the  same  (see  Ber- 
theau,  KommenUir,  p.  192)  with  the  story  of  Jlicah,  and 
that  document  by  a  different  hand  from  the  previous  por- 
tions of  the  book— at  the  very  beginning  of  his  account 
of  the  period  of  the  judges,  before  Deborah  or  even  Ehud 
{Ant.  V,  2,  8-12).  This  is  supported  bj'  the  mention  of 
Phinehas,  the  grandson  of  Aaron,  in  Judg.  xx,  28.  An 
argument  against  the  date  being  before  the  time  of 
Deborah  is  drawn  by  Bertheau  (p.  197)  from  the  fact 
that  at  that  time  the  north  of  Palestine  was  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Canaanites— "  Jabin,  king  of  Canaan,  who 
reigned  in  Hazor,"  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
Laish.  The  records  of  the  southern  Dan  are  too  scanty 
to  permit  our  fixing  the  date  from  the  statement  that 
the  Danites  had  not  yet  entered  on  their  allotment.— 


I  that  is  to  say,  the  allotment  specified  in  Josh,  xix,  40- 
48.  But  that  statement  strengthens  the  conclusion  ar- 
rived at  from  other  passages,  that  these  lists  in  Joshua 
contain  the  towns  allotted,  but  not  therefore  necessarily 
230ssessed  by  the  various  tribes.  '•  Divide  the  land  first, 
in  confidence,  and  then  possess  it  afterwards,"  seems  to 
be  the  principle  implied  in  such  passages  as  Josh,  xiii, 
7  (comp.  1) ;  xix,  49,  51  (Sept.  "  So  they  went  to  take 
possession  of  the  laxid"). 

The  date  of  the  insertion  of  the  record  may  perhaps 
be  more  nearly  arrived  at.  That,  on  the  one  hand,  it 
was  after  the  beginning  of  the  monarchy  is  evident 
from  the  references  to  the  ante-monarchical  times  (xviii, 
1 ;  xix,  1 ;  xxi,  25) ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  we  may 
perhaps  infer  from  the  name  of  Bethlehem  being  given 
as  "Bethlehem-judah,"  that  it  was  before  the  fame  of 
David  had  conferred  on  it  a  notoriety  which  would  ren- 
der any  such  afhx  unnecessary.  The  reference  to  the 
establishment  of  the  house  of  God  in  Shiloh  (xviii,  31) 
seems  also  to  point  to  the  early  part  of  Saul's  reign,  be- 
fore the  incursions  of  the  Philistines  had  made  it  neces- 
sary to  remove  the  tabernacle  and  ephod  to  Nob,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Gibeah,  Saul's  head-quarters.  —  Smith. 
Some,  like  Le  C'lerc,  argue  for  a  later  date,  from  the 
phrase,  "  until  the  day  of  the  captivity  of  the  land,"  in 
xviii,  30,  as  if  it  necessarily  referred  to  the  Assyrian  in- 
vasion. The  reading  is  doubtful.  Studer  and  Hitzig 
take  the  30th  verse  as  a  later  interpolation;  Kimchi, 
Hiivernick,  Hengstenberg,  and  Bleek  refer  the  phrase- 
to  the  captivity  of  the  ark  in  the  time  of  Eli,  but  on  no 
good  ground,  unless  the  reading  V^Nfl  be  changed,  as 
some  prefer,  into  '|"'"''!*'7-  Stiihelin  and  Ewald,  regard- 
ing the  verse  as  a  later  addition,  place  the  composition 
about  the  period  of  Asa  or  Jehoshaphat ;  Stiihelin  in- 
sisting, too,  that  the  diction  does  not  belong  to  the  purer 
period  of  the  language.  Verse  30,  indeed,  does  not  quite 
agree  with  31,  which  seems  to  limit  the  duration  of  the 
Danite  idolatrj'  to  the  period  of  the  station  of  the  ark  at 
Shiloh ;  and  the  phrase,  "until  the  day  of  the  captivit}-," 
as  Keil  remarks  {Commentm-y,  ad  loc),  may  refer  to  some 
unknown  invasion  on  the  part  of  the  neighboring  Syr- 
ians. Besides,  it  can  scarcely  be  supposed  that  this  idol- 
atrous cultus,  so  directly  and  openly  opposed  to  the  spirit 
and  letter  of  the  Mosaic  law,  would  have  been  allowed 
to  stand  in  the  zealous  daj'S  of  Samuel  and  David.  See 
Stanley's  Lectures  on  the  Jeicish  Church,  p.  296,  297. — 
Kitto.     See  Judges,  Book  of. 

2.  The  son  of  Mephibosheth,  or  Meribbaal  (son  of 
Jonathan  and  grandson  of  king  Saul),  and  the  father  of 
several  sons  (1  Chron.  viii,  84, 35 ;  ix,  40, 41).  B.C.  post 
1037.     In  2  Sam.  ix,  12,  he  is  called  Micha. 

3.  The  first  in  rank  of  the  priests  of  the  Kohathite 
family  of  Uzziel,  under  the  sacerdotal  arrangement  bv 
David  (1  Chron.  xxiii,  20).  B.C.  1014.  He'had  a  son 
named  Shamir,  and  a  brother  Isshiah  (1  Chron.  xxiv, 
24,  25;  Auth.  Vers.  "  Michah"). 

4.  The  son  of  Shimei  and  father  of  Reaia,  of  the  de- 
scendants of  Eeuben  (1  Chron.  v,  5).     B.C.  ante  782. 

5.  A  prophet,  apparently  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah, 
and  contemporary  with  Isaiah  (Mic.  i,  1).  B.C.  cir.  750. 
He  is  styled  "the  Morasthite,"  as  being  a  native  of 
Moresheth  of  Gath  (i,  14,  15),  so  called  to  distinguish  it 
from  another  town  of  the  same  name  in  the  tribe  of 
Judah  (Josh,  xv,  44;  2  Chron.  xiv,  9,  10).  Micah  is 
thus  likewise  distinguished  from  a  former  prophet  of  the 
same  name,  called  also  Micaiah,  mentioned  in  1  Kings 
xxii,  8.  The  above  place  of  Micah's  birth  "  Jerome 
and  Eusebius  call  Morasthi,  and  identify  with  a  small 
village  called  Eleutheropolis,  to  the  east,  where  formerly 
the  prophet's  tomb  was  shown,  but  which  in  the  days 
of  Jerome  had  been  succeeded  by  a  church  {Epit.  Pau- 
Ice,  c.  6).  As  little  is  known  of  the  circumstances  of 
Micah's  life  as  of  many  of  the  other  prophets.  Pseudo- 
Epiphanius  {0pp.  ii,  245)  makes  him,  contrary  to  all 
probability,  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  ;  and  besides  con- 
founding him  with  Micaiah  the  son  of  Imlah,  who  lived 


MICAH 


214 


MICAII 


more  than  a  contiirv  before,  he  betrays  additional  igno-  I 
ranee  in  describing  Ahab  as  liing  of  Judah.  For  re-  I 
buiiing  this  monarcli's  son  and  successor  Jehoram  for  1 
his  impieties,  Mieah,  according  to  the  same  autliority, 
was  thrown  from  a  precipice,  and  buried  at  IMorathi  in 
his  own  country,  hard  by  the  cemetery  of  Enakim 
(^'EvaKtifi,  a  place  which  apparently  exists  only  in  the 
Sept.of  Mic.i,  10),  where  his  sepulchre  was  still  to  be  seen. 
The  Chronkon  Puschule  (p.  148  c)  tells  the  same  tale. 
Another  ecclesiastical  tradition  relates  that  the  remains 
of  Habakkulc  and  Mieah  were  revealed  in  a  vision  to 
Zebcnnus,  bishop  of  Eleutheropolis,  in  the  reign  of  The- 
odosius  the  (ireat,  near  a  i)lacc  called  Berathsatia,  which 
is  apparently  a  corruption  of  ]\I(irastlii  (Sozomen,  //.  E. 
vii,  29 ;  Nicephorus,  //.  E.  xii.  -\X).  i  In  [.rophet's  tomb 
was  called  by  the  inhabitants  XijiJisdim  <  mima,  which 
Sozomen  renders  nviif^ia  Trioroi'"  (Smith). 

MICAH,  Hook  ok,  the  sixth  of  the  minor  prophets 
in  the  usual  arrangement,  but  the  third  in  the  Sept. 
(after  Hosea  and  Amos).  In  the  following  account  of 
it  we  use,  in  part,  the  articles  in  Kitto's  and  Smith's 
Dictionaries. 

I.  The  Name.— This,  which  the  prophet  bears  in  com- 
mon with  the  other  persons  above  and  below,  is  found 
with  considerable  variation  in  the  Heb.  and  A.  V.  The 
full  form  is  !in^2"ip,  Mikayu'hu,  "who  is  like  Jeho- 
vah,"' which  is  found  in  2  Chron.  xiii,  2 ;  xvii,  7.  This 
is  abbreviated  to  in^S'^T?,  Mild'yihu,  in  Judg.  xvii,  1, 
4;  still  further  to  ^n^3:3,  Mikd'yShu  (.Jer.  xxxvi,  11), 
rr^D"^^,  Mikdydh'  (1  Ivings  xxii,  13) ;  and  finally  to 
nsiri,  Mikdh',  or  X2"'r),  Mikd'  (2  Sam.  ix,  12). 

II.  Date. — The  period  during  which  Mieah  exercised 
the  prophetical  olKce  is  stated,  in  the  superscription  to 
his  prophecies,  to  have  extended  over  the  reigns  of  Jo- 
tham,  Ahaz,  and  Ilezekiah,  kings  of  Judah,  giving  thus 
a  maximum  limit  of  59  years  (B.C.  756-697),  from  the 
accession  of  Jotham  to  the  death  of  Ilezekiah,  and 
a  minimum  limit  of  16  years  (B.C.  742-726),  from  the 
death  of  Jotham  to  the  accession  of  Ilezekiah.  In 
either  case  he  would  be  contemporary  with  Ilosea  and 
Amos  during  part  of  their  ministry'  in  Israel,  and  with 
Isaiah  in  Judah.  According  to  rabbinical  tradition,  he 
transmitted  to  the  proi)hets  Joel,  Nalunn,  and  llubak- 
kuk,  and  to  Seraiah  the  priest  the  mysteries  of  the 
Kabbala,  which  he  had  received  from  Isaiah  (K.  David 
Ganz,  Tsemach  David),  anil  by  Syncellus  {Chronogr.  p. 
199  c)  he  is  enumerated  in  the  reign  of  Jotham  as  con- 
temporary with  Ilosea,  Joel,  Isaiah,  and  Uded.  The 
date  of  the  book  itself  may  be  fixed  at  about  B.C.  725. 
His  prediction  with  impunity  of  the  desolation  of  Jeru- 
salem (iii,  12)  is  expressly  alluded  to  in  Jeremiah  (xxvi, 
18,  where  the  text  has  n^S'^p,  jMicaiah),  as  having 
been  uttered  during  the  reign  of  Ilezekiah.  The  allu- 
sions to  idolatry  (vii,  13)  and  to  Babylon  (iv,  10)  have 
induced  Berthold  (Ei/Jrlt/mt/.  §  til  )  to  rotVr  the  i>roph- 
ecy  of  ]Micah  to  the  lime  uf  ilic  captixily;  hut  Do  AVette 
truly  observes  that  this  sup|icisiii(in  is  unnecessary-,  as 
idolatry  existed  under  Ilezekiah  (2  Kings  xxiii).  and 
Babylon  equally  belonged  to  the  kingdom  of  Assyria. 
Hartmann's  attempt  to  regard  the  passage  respecting 
Babylon  as  an  interpolation  (see  Micha  mu  iibersetzt), 
De  "Wette  regards  as  even  still  more  venturesome;  nor 
had  this  writer  the  slightest  authority  for  supposing 
that  some  only  of  the  projihecies  are  iMicah's,  and  that 
the  work  was  comjnled  during  the  exile.  The  time  as- 
signed to  the  prophecies  by  the  only  direct  evidence 
which  we  possess  agrees  so  well  with  their  contents 
that  it  may  fairly  be  accepted  as  correct. 

Why  any  discrepancy  should  be  perceived  between 
the  statement  in  Jeremiah,  that  "  ^licah  the  IMorasthite 
prophesied  in  tlie  days  of  Ilezekiah  king  of  Judah,"  and 
the  title  of  liis  book,  which  tolls  us  that  the  word  of  the 
Lord  came  to  him  '-in  the  days  of  Jotham,  Aliaz,  and 
Hezekiah,"  it  is  difiicult  to  imagine.  The  former  does 
not  limit  the  pcriud  of  Micah's  prophecy,  and  at  most 


applies  only  to  the  passage  to  which  direct  allusion  is 
made.  A  confusion  appears  to  have  existed  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  see  in  the  jmiphecy  in  its  present 
form  a  connected  whole,  between  the  actual  delivery  of 
the  several  portions  of  it,  and  their  collection  and  tran- 
scription into  one  book.  In  the  case  of  Jeremiah,  wc 
know  that  he  dictated  to  Baruch  the  prophecies  which 
he  had  delivered  in  the  interval  between  the  13th  year 
of  Josiah  and  the  4th  of  Jehoiakim,  and  that  when  thus 
committed  to  writing  they  were  read  before  the  people 
on  the  fast  daj'  (Jer.  xxxvi,  2,  4,  6).  There  is  reason 
to  believe  that  a  similar  process  took  place  with  the 
prophecies  of  Amos.  It  is,  therefore,  conceivable,  to 
say  the  least,  that  certain  portions  of  Micah's  prophecy 
may  have  been  uttered  in  the  reigns  of  Jotham  and 
Ahaz,  and  for  the  probability  of  this  there  is  strong  in- 
ternal evidence,  while  they  were  collected  as  a  whole  in 
the  reign  of  Hezekiah  and  committed  to  writing.  Cas- 
pari  {Micha,  p.  78)  suggests  that  the  book  thus  written 
may  have  been  read  in  the  presence  of  the  king  and  the 
whole  people  on  some  great  fast  or  festival  day,  and 
that  this  circumstance  may  have  been  in  the  minds  of 
the  elders  of  the  land  in  the  time  of  Jehoiakim,  when 
they  appealed  to  the  impunitj'  which  Jlicah  enjoyed 
under  Hezekiah.  Knobol  (I'rophelisnui.i,  ii,  §  20)  im- 
agines that  the  iirojihecies  which  remain  belong  to  the 
time  of  Hezekiah,  and  that  those  delivered  under  Jo- 
tham and  Ahaz  have  perished.  It  is  evident  from  3Iic. 
i,  6  that  the  section  of  the  prophecy  in  which  that 
verse  occurs  must  have  been  delivered  before  the  de- 
struction of  Samaria  by  Shalmanescr,  which  took  place 
in  the  6th  year  of  Hezekiah  (cir.  B.C.  722),  and  con- 
necting the  "high-places"  mentioned  in  i,  5  with  those 
which  existed  in  Judah  in  the  reigns  of  Ahaz  (2  Kings 
xvi,  4 ;  2  Chron.  xxviii,  4,  25)  and  Jotham  (2  Kings  xv, 
35),  we  may  be  justified  in  assigning  chap,  i  to  the 
time  of  one  of  those  monarchs,  probably  the  latter;  al- 
though, if  chap,  ii  be  considered  as  part  of  the  section 
to  which  chap,  i  belongs,  the  utter  corruption  and 
demoralization  of  the  people  there  depicted  agree  bet- 
ter with  what  history  tells  us  of  the  times  of  Ahaz. 
Caspari  maintains  that  of  the  two  parallel  passages, 
]\lic.  iv,  1-0,  Isa.  ii,  2-5,  the  former  is  the  original,  and 
the  latter  belongs  to  the  times  of  Uzziah  and  Jotham, 
and  this  view  is  maintained  by  Hcngstenberg  {Chrts- 
tolof/y,  i,  480),  and  accejited  by  I'usey  (Minor  Projihefs, 
p.  289).  But  the  evidence  on  the  point  is  not  at  all 
conclusive.  Mic.  iv,  1-4  may  possibly,  as  Ewald  and 
others  have  suggested,  be  a  jiortion  of  an  older  prophe- 
cy current  at  the  time,  which  was  adopted  by  both  Mi- 
eah and  Isaiah  (Isa.  ii,  2-4).  The  denunciation  of  the 
horses  and  chariots  of  Judah  (v,  10)  is  ajipropriate  to 
the  state  of  the  country  under  Jotham,  after  the  long 
and  prosperous  reign  of  Uzziah,  by  whom  tlie  military 
strength  of  the  people  had  been  greatly  developed  (2 
Chron.  xxvi,  11-15;  xxvii,  4-6).  Compare  Isa.  ii,  7, 
which  belongs  to  the  same  period.  Again,  the  forms 
in  which  idolatry  manifested  itself  in  the  reign  of  Ahaz 
correspond  with  those  which  arc  threatened  with  de- 
I  struction  in  Mic.  v,  12-14;  and  the  allusions  in  vi,  IG  to 
[  the  "  statutes  of  Omri,"  and  the  "  works  of  the  house  of 
Ahab,"  seem  directly  pointed  at  the  king,  of  whom  it  is 
\  expressly  said  tliat  "  he  walked  in  the  way  of  the  kings 
of  Israel"  (2  Kings  xvi,  3).  It  is  impossible  in  dealing 
Avith  internal  evidence  to  assert  iiositively  that  the  in- 
ferences deduced  from  it  are  correct ;  but  in  the  ]iresent 
instance  tlicy  at  least  establish  a  iirobability  that,  in 
,  placing  the  period  of  Micah's  proiihetical  activity  be- 
I  twcon  the  times  of  Jotham  and  Hezekiah,  the  super- 
I  scription  is  correct.  In  the  first  years  of  Hezekiah's 
reign  the  idolatry  which  prevailed  in  the  time  of  Ahaz 
was  not  eradicated,  and  in  assigning  the  date  of  ^licali's 
I  prophecy  to  this  period  there  is  no  anachronism  in  the 
allusions  to  idolatrous  practices.  JIaurer  contends  that 
[  chap,  i  was  written  not  long  before  the  taking  of  Samaria; 
but  the  third  and  following  chapters  he  places  in  the  in- 
terval between  the  destruction  of  Samaria  and  the  time 


MICAH 


215 


MICAH 


that  Jerusalem  was  menaced  by  the  armj-  of  Sennacherib 
in  tlie  1-ith  year  of  Hezekiah.  The  passages,  however, 
which  he  quotes  in  support  of  his  conclusion  (iii,  12  ;  iv, 
9,  etc. ;  V,  5,  etc. ;  vi,  9,  etc. ;  vii,  4,  12,  etc.)  do  not  ap- 
pear to  be  more  suitable  to  that  period  than  to  the  first 
years  of  Hezekiah,  while  the  context,  in  many  cases, 
requires  a  stiU  earlier  date.  In  the  arrangement  adopt- 
ed by  Wells  (pref.  to  Micah,  §  iv-vi),  chap,  i  was  deliver- 
ed in  the  contemporary  reigns  of  Jotham  king  of  Ju- 
dah  and  of  Pekah  king  of  Israel ;  ii,  1-iv,  8  in  those 
of  Ahaz,  Pekah,  and  Hosea ;  iii,  12  being  assigned  to 
the  last  year  of  Ahaz,  and  the  remainder  of  the  book  to 
the  reign  of  Hezekiah. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  prophecies  commence  with 
the  last  words  recorded  of  the  prophet's  namesake,  Mi- 
caiah  the  son  of  Imlah,  '•  Hearken,  O  people,  every  one 
of  you"  (1  Kings  xxii,  28).  From  this,  Bleek  (^Einlcd- 
ttiiif/,  p.  539)  concludes  that  the  author  of  the  history, 
like  the  ecclesiastical  historians,  confounded  Jlicah  the 
Morasthite  with  Micaiah;  while  Hcngstenberg  (C/«?-ts- 
tol(i;/>/,  i,  409,  Eng.  tr.)  infers  that  the  coincidence  was 
intentional  on  the  part  of  the  later  prophet,  and  that 
"  by  this  very  circumstance  he  gives  intimation  of  what 
may  be  expected  from  him,  and  shows  that  his  activity  is 
to  be  considered  as  a  continuation  of  that  of  his  prede- 
cessor, who  was  so  jealous  for  God,  and  that  he  had  more 
in  common  with  him  than  the  mere  name."  Either 
conclusion  rests  on  the  extremely  slight  foundation  of 
the  occurrence  of  a  formula  which  was  at  once  the  most 
simple  and  most  natural  commencement  of  a  prophetic 
discourse. 

III.  Contents. — But,  at  whatever  time  the  several 
prophecies  were  first  delivered,  they  appear  iji  their 
present  form  as  an  organic  whole,  marked  by  a  certain 
regularity  of  development.  Three  sections,  omitting 
the  superscription,  are  introduced  by  the  same  phrase, 
•1"P":3,  "Hear  ye,"  and  represent  three  natural  divisions 
of  the  prophecy — i-ii,  iii-v,  vi-vii — each  commencing 
with  rebukes  and  threatenings,  and  closing  with  a  prom- 
ise. 1.  The  first  section  opens  with  a  magnificent  de- 
scription of  the  coming  of  Jehovah  to  judgment  for  the 
sins  and  idolatries  of  Israel  and  Judah  (i,  2-4),  and  the 
sentence  pronounced  upon  Samaria  (ver.  5-9)  by  the 
Judge  himself.  The  prophet,  whose  sympathies  are 
strong  with  Judah,  and  especially  with  the  lowlands 
which  gave  him  birth,  sees  the  danger  that  threatens 
his  country,  and  traces  in  imagination  the  devastating 
march  of  the  Assyrian  conquerors  from  Samaria  onward 
to  Jerusalem  and  the  south  (i,  8-1(5).  The  impending- 
punishment  suggests  its  cause,  and  the  prophet  de- 
nounces a  woe  upon  the  people  generally  for  the  corrup- 
tion and  violence  which  were  rife  among  them,  and 
upon  the  false  prophets  who  led  them  astray  by  pan- 
dering to  their  appetites  and  luxury  (ii,  1-11).  The 
sentence  of  captivity  is  passed  upon  them  (ver.  10),  but  is 
followed  instantly  by  a  promise  of  restoration  and  tri- 
umphant return  (ii,  12,  13).  2.  The  second  section  is 
addressed  especially  to  the  princes  and  heads  of  the 
people ;  their  avarice  and  rapacity  are  rebuked  in  strong 
terms ;  and  as  they  have  been  deaf  to  the  cry  of  the  sup- 
pliants for  justice,  they  too  "shall  cry  unto  Jehovah, 
but  he  will  not  hear  them"  (iii,  1-4).  The  false  proph- 
ets who  had  deceived  others  should  themselves  be  de- 
ceived; "  the  suu  shall  go  down  over  the  prophets,  and 
the  day  shall  be  dark  over  them"  (iii,  6).  For  this  per- 
version of  justice  and  right,  and  the  covetousness  of  the 
heads  of  the  people  who  judged  for  reward,  of  the 
priests  who  taught  for  hire,  and  of  the  prophets  who  di- 
vined for  money,  Zion  should  "  be  ploughed  as  a  field," 
and  the  mountain  of  the  temple  become  like  the  uncul- 
tivated woodland  heights  (iii,  9-12).  But  the  threat- 
ening is  again  succeeded  by  a  promise  of  restoration, 
and  in  the  glories  of  the  Messianic  kingdom  the  prophet 
loses  sight  of  the  desolation  which  should  befall  his 
TOuntry.  Instead  of  the  temple  mountain  covered  with 
the  wild  growth  of  the  forest,  he  sees  the  mountain  of 


the  house  of  Jehovah  established  on  the  top  of  the 
mountains,  and  nations  tiowing  hke  rivers  unto  it. 
The  reign  of  peace  is  inaugurated  by  the  recall  from 
captivity,  and  Jehovah  sits  as  king  in  Zion,  having 
destroyed  the  nations  who  had  rejoiced  in  her  over- 
throw. The  predictions  at  the  close  of  this  section  form 
the  climax  of  the  book,  and  Ewald  arranges  them  in 
four  strophes,  consisting  of  seven  or  eight  verses  each 
(iv,  1-8 ;  iv,  9-v,  2 ;  v,  3-9 ;  v,  10-15),  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  last,  which  is  shorter,  and  in  which  the 
prophet  reverts  to  the  point  whence  he  started  :  all  ob- 
jects of  politic  and  idolatrous  confidence  must  be  re- 
moved before  the  grand  consummation.  3.  In  the  last 
section  (vi,  vii)  Jehovah,  by  a  bold  poetical  figure,  is 
represented  as  holding  a  controversy  with  his  people, 
pleading  with  them  in  justification  of  his  conduct  to- 
wards them  and  the  reasonableness  of  his  requirements. 
The  dialogue  form  in  which  chap,  vi  is  cast  renders  the 
picture  very  dramatic  and  striking.  In  vi,  3-5  Jeho- 
vah speaks ;  the  inquiry  of  the  people  follows  in  ver.  6, 
indicating  their  entire  ignorance  of  what  was  required 
of  them ;  their  inquiry  is  met  by  the  almost  impatient 
rejoinder,  "  WiU  Jehovah  be  pleased  with  thousands  of 
rams,  with  myriads  of  torrents  of  oil  ?"  The  still  great- 
er sacrifice  suggested  by  the  people,  "Shall  I  give  my 
first-born  for  my  transgressions  ?"  calls  forth  the  defini- 
tion of  their  true  duty,  "  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy, 
and  to  walk  humbly  with  their  God."  How  far  they  had 
fallen  short  of  this  requirement  is  shown  in  what  fol- 
lows (ver.  9-12),  and  judgment  is  pronounced  upon  them 
(ver.  13-16),  The  prophet  acknowledges  and  bewails  the 
justice  of  the  sentence  (vii,  1-6),  the  people  in  repent- 
ance patiently  look  to  God,  confident  that  their  prayer 
will  be  heard  (ver.  7-10),  and  are  reassured  by  the  prom- 
ise of  deliverance  announced  as  following  their  punish- 
ment (ver.  11-13)  by  the  prophet,  who  in  his  turn  pre- 
sents his  petition  to  Jehovah  for  the  restoration  of  his 
people  (ver.  14,  15).  The  whole  concludes  with  a  tri- 
umphal song  of  joy  at  the  great  deliverance,  like  that 
from  Egypt,  which  Jehovah  wiU  achieve,  and  a  full  ac- 
knowledgment of  his  mercy  and  faithfulness  to  his 
promises  (ver,  16-20).  The  last  verse  is  reproduced  in 
the  song  of  Zacharias  (Luke  i,  72,  73). 

The  predictions  uttered  by  Micah  relate  to  the  inva- 
sions of  Shalmaneser  (i,  6-8 ;  2  Kings  xvii,  4,  6)  and 
Sennacherib  (i,  9-16 ;  2  Kings  xviii,  13),  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  (iii,  12 ;  vii,  13),  the  captivity  in 
Babylon  (iv,  10),  the  return  (iv,  1-8;  vii,  11),  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  theocratic  kingdom  in  Jerusalem  (iv, 
8),  and  the  Ruler  who  should  spring  from  Bethlehem 
(v,  2).  The  destruction  of  Assyria  and  Babylon  is  sup- 
posed to  be  referred  to  in  v,  5,  6 ;  vii,  8, 10,  According 
to  many,  iv,  13  refers  to  the  heroic  deeds  of  the  Macca- 
bees, and  their  victories  over  the  Syrians  or  Syro-Mac- 
edonians,  called  Assyrians  in  Micah  v,  as  well  as  in 
Zechariah  x,  11. 

There  is  no  prophecj'  in  Micah  so  interesting  to  the 
Christian  as  that  in  which  the  native  place  of  the  JMes- 
siah  is  announced  (v,  2),  which  is  cited  by  the  evan- 
gelist (jMatt.  ii,  6)  with  slight  verbal  variations,  but 
substantial!}^  the  same  import  (see  Kuinol,  Comment,  ad 
loc.  IMat.),  In  Micah  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  actual 
smallness  of  Bethlehem  to  enjoy  such  an  honor;  in  Mat- 
thew the  prominent  idea  is  the  honor  itself,  and  its  ideal 
grandeur — the  converse  side  of  the  statement,  Pocofck 
cuts  the  knot  by  adopting  rabbi  Tanchum's  odd  opinion 
that  the  term  "|i"a  means  both  little  and  great,  the 
prophet  selecting  the  one  sense  and  the  evangelist  the 
other.  It  is  evident  that  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Jesus 
interpreted  this  passage  of  the  birthplace  of  the  Mes- 
siah (Matt,  ii,  5;  John  vii,  41, 42).  The  Targum  gives 
the  reference  formally  to  the  Messiah,  The  later  rab- 
binical writers,  however,  such  as  Kimchi,  Aben-Ezra, 
Abrabanel,  etc.,  have  maintained  that  it  had  only  an 
indirect  reference  to  the  birthplace  of  the  jMessiah,  who 
was  to  be  a  descendant  of  David,  a  Bethlehemite,  but 


MICAH 


216 


MICAH 


Bot  of  necessity  himself  born  in  Bethlehem.  Others, 
however,  as  David  (ianz  {li.  Zeiiun/i  Ihivul),  expressly 
meiitidu  Bethlehem  as  the  birtliplace  of  the  Messiah. 
The  interpretation  wliicli  considered  this  jirophecy  as 
intimating  only  that  the  Messiah  was  to  be  a  descend- 
ant of  David,  was  that  current  among  the  .Jews  in  the  i 
time  of  Theodoret,  Chrysostom,  Tlieophylact,  and  Eu- 
thymius  Zigabenus,  from  whom  we  learn  that  it  was 
maintained  to  have  been  fullilled  in  Zcrubbabel,  the 
leader  of  the  Jews  on  their  return  from  Babylon,  of 
which,  and  not  of  Bethlehem,  he  was  a  native.  (See 
Sozomen,  vii,  729 ;  Carpzov,  Introd.  iii,  374  sq. ;  Jerome, 
Ep.  ad  Kustach.  i,  704.)  This  interpretation  was  held 
among  Christians  by  the  celebrated  Theodore  of  Mop- 
suestia  (as  we  learn  from  his  condemnation  by  the  coun- 
cil at  liome  under  pope  Yigilius),  and  afterwards  by 
Grotius  {Co?nme?il.),  who,  however,  regarded  Zerul)babcl 
as  a  type  of  Christ,  and  considered  Christ's  birthplace  at 
Bethlehem  as  an  outward  representation  of  his  descent 
from  the  family  of  David.  IMany  of  the  moderns  have 
been  attached  to  this  interpretation  of  the  prophecy,  re- 
ferring it  to  the  general  idea  of  tlie  Messiah  rather  than 
to  Zerubbabel,  while  some  among  them  have,  after  the 
example  of  some  Jews,  ventured  to  assert  that  the  ac- 
count of  the  birth  of  Christ  at  Bethlehem  was  not  to  be 
depended  on.  Some  have  asserted,  after  Jerome  {Comm. 
in  Mic),  that  the  citation  in  Matt,  ii,  G  is  that  of  the 
Sanhedrim  only,  not  of  the  evangelist  (Hengstenberg's 
Christologij).  Jahn  {Append.  JJenneneuf.)  observes  that 
it  is  evident  that  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Christ  expected 
the  ;Messiah's  birth  to  take  place  at  Bethlehem ;  and  al- 
though he  admits  that  the  prophecy  may  be  imderstood 
tropically  in  the  sense  applied  to  it  by  Grotius,  he  con- 
tends that  the  context  will  not  admit  of  its  applicability 
either  to  Hezekiah  or  any  other  monarch  than  the  Mes- 
siah ;  nor  is  it  possible  to  apply  the  prophecy  fully  and 
literally  to  any  but  him  who  was  not  only  of  the  house 
and  lineage  of  David,  but  was  actually  born  at  Bethle- 
hem, according  to  the  direct  testimony  of  both  Mat- 
thew's and  Luke's  gospels.  The  plain  meaning  is  that 
the  Messiali.  as  David's  son,  should  be  born  in  David's 
town  (Holniann.  W'dss.  n.  Krf.  p.  249).  Tertullian  also 
presses  the  argument  that  the  ISIessiah  has  come,  for 
Bethlehem  was  deserted — •'  Xeminem  de  genere  Israel  in 
civitate  Bethlehem  remansisse"  (.It/;-.  ./«(/reo.?,  vol.  xiii; 
Opera,  ii,  734,  ed.  Oehler).  To  give  the  vague  sense  of 
Davidic  extraction,  and  yet  to  denj'  that  the  words 
point  out  the  place  of  birth,  was  thus  a  necessary  but 
feeble  Jewish  subterfuge.  Benan  admits  the  usual  in- 
terpretation of  the  prophecy,  though  he  affirms  that  Je- 
sus was  really  not  of  the  family  of  David,  and  was  born 
at  Nazareth  (  Vie  de  Jesus,  chap.  ii).  (See  generally, 
Eichhorn,  J-Jinleit.  iv,  369  sq. ;  Bertheau,  Jiinl.  iv,  1G33 
sq.;  Knobel,  Prophet,  iii,  199  sq.)     See  i\lEsstAH. 

IV.  The  getiuineness  of  the  book  has  not  been  called 
in  question.  Only  Ewald,  in  his  Jahrh.  xi,  29,  is  dis- 
posed to  maintain  that  the  two  concluding  chapters  are 
the  work  of  a  different  author.  His  objections,  how- 
ever, liave  no  force  against  the  universal  opinion.  The 
language  of  INIicah  is  quoted  in  ]\Iatt.  ii,  5,  6,  and  his 
prophecies  are  alluded  to  in  Matt,  x,  35,  36 ;  Mark  xiii, 
12 ;  Luke  xii,  .53 ;  John  vii,  42. 

V.  The  style  of  Jlicah  is  rich,  full,  and  musical — as 
nervous,  vehement,  and  bold,  in  many  sections,  as  llo- 
sea,  and  as  abrujit,  too,  in  transitions  from  menace  to 
mercy.  He  i)rescnts,  at  the  same  time,  no  little  resem- 
blance to  Isaiah  in  grandeur  of  thought,  in  richness  and 
variety  of  imagery,  and  in  roimdness  and  catlcnce  of 
parallelism.  The  similarity  of  their  subjects  may  ac- 
count for  many  resemblances  in  language  with  the  lat- 
ter proplict,  whicli  were  almost  unavoidal)le  (comp.  Mic. 
i,  2  with  Isa.  i,  2 :  Mic  ii,  2  with  Isa.  v,  « ;  Mic.  ii,  6, 1 1 
■with  Isa.  XXX,  10;  IMic.  ii,  12  with  Is.i.  x,  20-22;  Mic. 
vi,  6-8  with  Isa.  i,  11-17).  The  diction  of  Micah  is 
vigorous  and  forcible,  sometimes  obscure  from  the  ab- 
ruptness of  its  transitions,  but  varied  and  rich  in  figures 
derived  from  the  pastoral  (i,  8;  ii,  12;  v,  4,  o,  7,  8;  vii. 


14)  and  rural  life  of  the  lowland  country  (i,  6;  iii,  12; 
iv,  3,  12,  13;  vi,  15),  whose  vines,  and  olives,  and  fig- 
trees  were  celebrated  (1  Chron.  xxvii,  27,  28),  and  sup- 
ply the  prophet  with  so  many  striking  allusions  (i,  6 ; 
iv,  3,  4;  vi,  15;  vii,  1,  4)  as  to  suggest  that,  like  Amos, 
he  may  have  been  either  a  herdsman  or  a  vine-dresser, 
who  had  heard  the  howling  of  the  jackals  (i,8;  A.Yers. 
'•dragons")  as  he  watched  his  tlocks  or  his  vines  by 
night,  and  had  seen  the  lions  slaughtering  the  sheep  (v, 
8).  The  sudden  changes  are  frequently  hidden  from  the 
English  reader,  because  our  version  interprets  as  well  as 
translates;  the  sim])le  connective  1  being  often  rendered 
by  some  logical  term,  as  "  therefore"  (i,  6),  "  then"  (iii, 
7),  "  but"  (iv,  1), "  notwithstanding"  (vii,  13),  etc.  Con- 
cise and  pointed  questions  are  put  suddenly ;  persons  are 
changed  rapidly;  the  people  are  spoken  of,  and  then  in 
a  moment  spoken  to;  the  nation  is  addressed  now  as  a 
unit,  and  now  edged  appeals  are  directed  to  individuals. 
The  language  is  quite  pure  anti  classical — intcrco\irse 
with  northern  countries  had  not  yet  debased  it.  An 
under-tone  of  deep  earnestness  pervades  the  book;  ev- 
erywhere are  discerned  the  workings  of  an  intensely 
honorable  and  patriotic  soul.  i\Iicah  is  successful  in  the 
use  of  the  dialogue,  and  liis  prophecies  arc  penetrated 
by  the  purest  spirit  of  morality  and  piety  (see  especially 
vi,  6-8;  and  vii,  1-10). 

One  peculiarity  which  Micah  has  in  common  with 
Isaiah  is  the  frequent  use  of  paronomasia;  in  i,  10-15 
there  is  a  succession  of  instances  of  this  figure  in  the 
plays  upon  words  suggested  by  the  various  places  enu- 
merated (comp.  also  ii,  4),  which  it  is  impossible  to 
transfer  to  English,  though  Ewald  has  attempted  to 
render  them  into  German  {Propheten  des  A.  B.\,  329, 
330).  In  these  verses  there  is  also  vivid  grouping,  as 
jjlace  after  place  is  challenged  along  the  line  of  the  con- 
queror's march.  Each  town  is  seen  to  carry  its  doom 
in  its  ver\'  name.  That  doom  is  told  in  many  ways — 
either  to  them  or  of  them  ;  either  in  the  i)n)iihct's  name 
or  as  a  divine  burden ;  either  as  an  event  about  to  come 
or  as  a  judgment  which  will  certainly  overtake  them. 
Perhaps  in  vii,  18  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  meaning 
of  the  prophet's  own  name.  The  divine  name  which 
appears  with  greatest  frequency  is,  as  is  usual  with  the 
prophets,  Jehovah;  but  we  also  meet  with  Adonai  and 
Adonai  Jehovah  (i,  2),  also  "the  Lord  of  the  whole 
earth"  (iv,  13),  and  '•  Jehovah  of  hosts"  (iv,  4).  Elohim 
is  used  distinctively  of  the  divine  .is  opposed  to  the  hu- 
man in  iii,  7.  Allusions  to  the  past  history  of  the  ]icople 
are  found  in  many  ])laces.  There  are  also  several  expres- 
sions which  are  found  in  the  ;Mosaic  writings,  tliough  it 
might  be  rash  to  say  that  ^licah  takes  tliem  directly 
from  the  Pentateuch.  Nor  would  we  endorse  all  the 
instances  in  which,  as  Caspari  atlirms,  later  iiro]ihets,  as 
Jeremiah  and  Ezekicl,  Habakkidi  and  Zephaniah,  have 
adopted  the  language  of  Jlicah  {Miclia,  p.  449,  etc.). 
The  poetic  vigor  of  the  opening  scene,  an<l  of  the  dra- 
matic dialogue  sustained  throughout  tlic  last  two  chap- 
ters, has  already  been  noticed. 

A'l.  Commentaries.  —  The  following  are  the  especial 
exegctical  helps  on  the  whole  book  alone,  to  a  lew  of 
the  most  important  of  which  we  prefix  an  asterisk: 
Ephrem  Syrus,  K.rphinatio  (in  0pp.  v,  272)  :  Tlieophy- 
lact, Ciimmititiiriiis  ( in  0pp.  vol.  iv) ;  Luther,  Cnmmenta- 
riiis  (ed.  Theodore,  Vitemb.  1542,  8vo;  also  in  hisll'or*'*, 
both  (ierm.  and  Lat.);  Brentz,  Comnu-ntaria  (in  0pp. 
vol.  iv) :  (ierlach,  Commentarius  (Aug.  Vind.  1524,  8vo)  ; 
Bibliander,  Commentarius  (Tigur.  1534,  8vo) ;  Phrygio, 
Commentarius  (Argent,  15.38,  8vo):  CWhy,  Comnxntai-y 
(Lond.  1551,  1591,  8vo) ;  Chytneus.  I'.jpiieatio  [indud. 
Neh,]  (Vitemb,  l.'»t)5,8vo);  I)raconis,/>;^//w/««  [includ. 
Joel  and  Zech.]  (Vitemb.  1565.  8vo):  Graxar,  Cummen- 
iarins  (Salmant,  1570,  8vo);  Selnccker,  Annurckuntitn 
(Leips.  1578.  4to^;  Bang. /'oh//i/;»  trias  [includ,  Jonah 
and  Kuth]  (llafn,  1631,  8vo):  (iraver,  K.rpositlo  tJen. 
1619,  16(i4,  4to);  "^Pocock,  Commentary  (Oxf  1677,  fol,; 
also  in  IPojAvs)  ;  Van  Toll,  VUleyfjiMje  (Utrecht,  1709, 


MICAIAH 


217 


MICAIAH 


4to) ;  Schnurrer,  Animadversiones  (Tubing.  1783,  4to); 
Bauer,  Animadrersiones  [onchap.i,ii]  (Altorf,  1790, 4to) ; 
Grosschopif,  Uebersetzung  (Jena,  1798,  8vo) ;  *Justi,  Er- 
Iduterung  (Leips.  1799,  8vo)  ;  *Hartmanii,  Erldutenmg 
(Lemgo,1800,8vo) ;  Wolf,  TTf'T,-^  nn30  (Dessau,  1805, 
8vo);  Q\\Qm2xm,Illu&truth>  (Hall.  IS-fi, -ito)  ;  *Caspari, 
Micha  del-  Morasthiter  (^Nlarb.  1.S5J,  Hvo) ;  Roorda,  Com- 
mentnrius  (Leyd.  1869,  8vo).     See  Pkophets,  Minor. 

6.  The  father  of  Abdon  (2  Chron.  xxxiv,  20) ;  else- 
where called  MiCHAiAH,  the  father  of  Achbor  (2  Kings 
xxii,  12). 

7.  A  Levite  of  the  descendants  of  Asaph  (1  Chron.  ix, 
15) ;  elsewhere  properly  called  Micha  (Neh.  xi,  17,  22). 

Micai'ah,  the  prevailing  form  of  the  name  of  sev- 
eral persons  (one  a  Levite,  2  Chron.  xiii,  2),  written  with 
considerable  diversity  in  the  original  and  in  the  an- 
cient translations,  as  well  as  the  Aiith.  Vers,  (properly, 
for  Hcb.  Mikaijah',  IT^S'^'O,  irho  is  like  Jehovah  ?  2  Kings 
xxii,  12;  Sept.  Mtxaioc.  Vnli;-.  .Ui,-//ii,  Auth.Vers.  "iMi- 
chaiah,"  Neh.  xii,  35,  i\I(\(((((,  Mirlnija,  "  Michaiah ;" 
Neh.  xii, 41,  MixaiaQ,  Mii-Iioii,  ••  ;\Iii.]iaiah;"  Jer.  xxvi, 
18,  i\I(Ya(«c,  Mickceas,  "Micah;"  paragogically,  Heb. 
Mikah'yehu,  ^lil^Dip  ;  Judg.  xvii,  1,  4,  Mt\;a,  Michas, 
"jri.'ali;"  1  Kinn-s  xxii.  8.  9.  13.  U,  1"),  24,  25,  20,  28,  Mi- 
Xa>„r,  Mirlnnis.  -  .Micaiali ;"  2  ( 'liroii.  xviii,  7,  8, 12, 13, 
23,  2  t,  25.  ■_':,  Ml  Y«u(r,  Mlrlia  ,is.  •■.Micaiah ;"  Jer.  xxxvi, 
11, 13,  Mixaiac,  Mic/iieas,  •'  Michaiah  ;"  fully,  Heb.  Mi- 
kaya'hu,  ^H^S'^p  ;  2  Chron.  xiii,  2,  Maaxa,  Michaja, 
"  Michaiah ;"  2  Chron.  xvii,  7,  Mixa'Of,"?  Michceas,  "Mi- 
chaiah ;"  contracted,  Heb.  Mikah',  HD^'C ;  Judg.  xvii, 
5,  8,  9,  10, 12, 13,  and  xviii,  2,  3,  4, 13,'l5,'l8,  22,  23,  2G, 
27,  31,  Mi^a,  Michas,  "  Micah ;"  1  Chron.  v,  5,  and  viii, 
34,  35,  and  ix,  40, 41,  and  xxiii,  20,  Mt\'«,  Jlir/ms.  "  Mi- 
cah ;"  1  Chron.  xxiv,  24,  25,  Mi^a,  Mic/ia,  "^Michah;" 
2  Chron.  xviii,  14,  Mix«i«e,  Michceas,  "  Micaiah  ;"  2 
Chron.  xxxiv,  20,  Mixaia,  Micha,  ''Micah;"  Jer.  xxvi, 
18,  M[Y«'rtC  V-  !■•  Mt,Y««C  and  Mi/y"'«C,  Michceas,  "  Mi- 
cah ;"  Micah  i,  1,  MixaiaQ,  Michceas,  "Micah;"  by 
Chaldaism,  Mika',  N=^:2 ;  2  Sam.  ix,  12,  and  Neh.  x,  11, 
and  xi,  17,  Miy",  Micha,  "  Micha  ;"  1  Chron.  ix,  15, 
M ixa,  Micha, " Micah ;"  Neh.  xi, 22,  M( y«,  Michas, " Mi- 
cha" J.  The  only  person  invariably  thus  called  was  the 
son  of  Imla,  and  a  prophet  of  Samaria  (1  Kings  xxii,  1- 
35  ;  2  Chron.  xviii).  B.C.  895.  The  following  abstract 
of  the  narrative  concerning  him  is  chiefly  from  Smith's 
Dictioyiarji  of  the  Bible,  s.  v.  Three  years  after  the  great 
battle  with  Benhadad,  king  of  Syria,  in  which  the  ex- 
traordinary number  of  100,000  Syrian  soldiers  is  said  to 
have  been  slain,  without  reckoning  the  27,000  who,  it  is 
asserted,  were  killed  by  the  falling  of  the  wall  at  Aphek, 
Ahab  proposed  to  Jehoshaphat,king  of  Judah,that  they 
should  jointly  go  up  to  battle  against  Ramoth-Gilead  : 
which  Benhadad  was,  apparently,  bound  by  treaty  to 
restore  to  Ahab.  Jehoshaphat,  whose  son  Jehoram  had 
married  Athaliah,  Ahab's  daughter,  assented  in  cordial 
words  to  the  proposal ;  but  suggested  that  they  should 
first  "  inquire  at  the  word  of  Jehovah."  Accordingh', 
Ahab  assembled  400  prophets,  while,  in  an  open  space  at 
the  gate  of  the  city  of  Samaria,  he  and  Jehoshaphat  sat 
in  royal  robes  to  meet  and  consult  them.  "  That  these 
were,  however,  no  true  prophets  of  Jehovah,  is  evident 
from  their  being  afterwards  emphatically  designated 
Ahab's  prophets,  in  contradistinction  to  the  Lord's  (ver. 
22,  23).  It  is  evident  also  from  the  suspicion  created 
in  the  mind  of  Jehoshaphat  respecting  their  character 
by  their  manner  and  appearance ;  for,  after  they  had 
all  spoken,  and  as  having  yet  to  learn  the  real  pur- 
pose of  heaven,  Jehoshaphat  asked  whether  there  was 
not  yet  a  prophet  of  Jehovah.  In  consequence  of  this 
request  jNIicaiah  was  mentioned  by  Ahab,  but  with  the 
notification  that  he  hated  him, '  for  he  doth  not  proph- 
esy good  concerning  me,  but  evil'  (ver.  8);  which,  in  the 
circumstances,  cannot  be  regarded  otherwise  than  as  a 
further  proof  of  the  essential  difference  between  the  act- 
ual position  of  this  man  and  the  others  who  assumed 


the  name  of  prophets  of  the  Lord."  The  prophets  unan- 
imously gave  a  favorable  response ;  and  among  them, 
Zedekiah,  the  son  of  Chenaanah,  made  horns  of  iron  as 
a  symbol,  and  announced,  from  Jehovah,  that  with  those 
horns  Ahab  would  push  the  Syrians  till  he  consumed 
them.  For  some  reason  which  is  unexplained,  and  can 
now  only  be  conjectured,  Jehoshaphat  was  dissatisfied 
with  the  answer,  and  asked  if  there  was  no  other  proph- 
et of  Jehovah  at  Samaria?  Ahab  replied  that  there 
was  yet  one,  Micaiah,  the  son  of  Imla;  but,  in  words 
which  obviously  call  to  mind  a  passage  in  the  Iliad  (i, 
106),  he  added,  "I  hate  him,  for  he  does  not  prophesy 
good  concerning  me,  but  evil."  Micaiah  was,  neverthe- 
less, sent  for;  and  after  an  attempt  had  in  vain  been 
made  to  tamper  with  him,  he  first  expressed  an  ironical 
concurrence  with  the  400  prophets,  and  then  openly  fore- 
told the  defeat  of  Ahab's  army  and  the  death  of  Ahab 
himself.  In  opposition  to  the  other  prophets,  he  said 
that  he  had  seen  Jehovah  sitting  on  his  throne,  and  all 
the  host  of  heaven  standing  by  him,  on  his  right  hand 
and  on  his  left:  that  Jehovah  said.  Who  shall  persuade 
Ahab  to  go  up  and  fall  at  Eamoth-Gilead ;  that  a  spir- 
it (the  Heb.  has  the  art.  the  spirit,  as  if  some  special 
emissary  of  evil)  came  forth  and  said  that  he  would  do 
so ;  and  on  being  asked,  Wherewith?  he  answered,  that 
he  would  go  forth  and  be  a  lying  spirit  in  the  mouth 
of  all  the  prophets.  Irritated  by  the  account  of  this 
vision,  Zedekiah  struck  Micaiah  on  the  cheek,  and  Ahab 
ordered  Micaiah  to  be  taken  to  prison,  and  fed  on  bread 
and  water,  till  his  return  to  Samaria.  Ahab  then  went 
up  with  his  army  to  Ramoth-Gilead ;  and  in  the  battle 
which  ensued,  Benhadad,  who  could  not  have  failed  to 
become  acquainted  with  Micaiah 's  prophecy,  uttered  so 
publich',  which  had  even  led  to  an  act  of  public  per- 
sonal violence  on  the  part  of  Zedekiah,  gave  special  or- 
ders to  direct  the  attack  against  Ahab,  individually. 
Ahab,  on  the  other  hand,  requested  Jehoshaphat  to  wear 
his  royal  robes,  which  we  know  that  the  king  of  Judah 
had  brought  with  him  to  Samaria  (1  Kings  xxii,  10); 
and  then  he  put  himself  into  disguise  for  the  battle; 
hoping  thus,  probably,  to  baffle  the  designs  of  Benhadad 
and  the  prediction  of  Micaiah;  but  he  was,  nevertheless, 
struck  and  mortally  wounded  in  the  combat  by  a  ran- 
dom arrow.  We  hear  nothing  further  of  the  prophet. 
Josephus  dwells  emphatically  on  the  death  of  Ahab,  as 
showing  the  utility  of  prophecy,  and  the  impossibility 
of  escaping  destiny,  even  when  it  is  revealed  beforehand 
{Ant.  viii,  15,  6).  He  says  that  it  steals  on  human 
souls,  flattering  them  with  cheerful  hopes,  till  it  leads 
them  round  to  the  point  whence  it  will  gain  the  mastery 
over  them.  This  was  a  theme  familiar  to  the  Greeks 
in  many  tragic  tales,  and  Josephus  uses  words  in  unison 
with  their  ideas.  (See  Euripides,  Hippohjt.  1256,  and 
compare  Herodot.  vii,  17 ;  viii,  77 ;  i,  91).  From  his  in- 
terest in  the  story,  Josephus  relates  several  details  not 
contained  in  the  Bible,  some  of  which  are  probable,  while 
others  are  very  unlikely;  but  for  none  of  which  does  he 
give  any  authority.  Thus,  he  says,  Micaiah  was  al- 
ready in  prison  when  sent  for  to  prophesy  before  Ahab 
and  Jehoshaphat,  and  that  it  was  Micaiah  ivho  had  pre- 
dicted death  by  a  lion  to  the  son  of  a  prophet,  under  the 
circumstances  mentioned  inl  Kings  xx,35, 36;  and  had 
rebuked  Ahab  after  his  brilliant  victory  over  the  Syr- 
ians for  not  putting  Benhadad  to  death.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  these  facts  would  be  not  only  consistent  with 
the  narrative  in  the  Bible,  but  would  throw  additional 
light  upon  it ;  for  the  rebuke  of  Ahab  in  his  hour  of 
triumph,  on  account  of  his  forbearance,  was  calculated  to 
excite  in  him  the  intensest  feeling  of  displeasure  and 
mortification ;  and  it  would  at  once  explain  Ahab's  ha- 
tred of  Micaiah,  if  Micaiah  was  the  prophet  by  whom 
the  rebuke  was  given.  Nor  is  it  luilikely  that  Ahab, 
in  his  resentment,  might  have  caused  Micaiah  to  be 
thrown  into  prison,  just  as  the  princes  of  Judah,  about 
300  years  later,  maltreated  Jeremiah  in  the  same  way 
(Jer.  xxxvii,  15).  But  some  other  statements  of  Jose- 
phus cannot  so  readily  be  regarded  as  probable.     Thus 


MICE 


218 


MICHAEL 


he  relates  that,  when  Ahab  disguised  himself,  he  gave 
his  own  royal  robes  to  be  worn  by  Jehoshaphat  in  the 
battle  of  Kamoth-Gilead,  an  act  which  woidd  have  been 
so  unreasonable  and  cowardly  in  Ahab,  and  would  have 
shown  such  singular  complaisance  in  Jehoshaphat,  that, 
although  supported  by  the  translation  in  the  Septua- 
gint,  it  cannot  be  received  as  true.  The  fact  that  some 
of  the  Syrian  captains  mistook  Jehoshaphat  for  Ahab 
is  fully  explained  by  Jehoshaphat's  being  the  onlj-  per-  | 
son  in  the  army  of  Israel  who  wore  royal  robes.  Again, 
Josephus  informs  us  that  Zedekiah  alleged,  as  a  reason 
for  disregarding  Jlicaiah's  prediction,  that  it  was  direct- 
ly at  variance  with  the  prophecy  of  Elijah,  that  dogs 
should  lick  tlie  blood  of  Ahab,  where  dogs  had  licked 
the  blood  of  Naboth,  in  the  city  of  Samaria:  inasmuch 
as  Kamoth-Gilead,  where,  according  to  Micaiah,  Ahab 
was  to  meet  his  doom,  was  distant  from  Samaria  a  jour- 
ney of  three  days.  It  is  unlikeU^,  however,  that  Zede- 
kiah would  have  founded  an  argument  on  Elijah's  in- 
sulting prophecy,  even  to  the  meekest  of  kings  who 
might  have  been  the  subject  of  it;  but  that,  in  order  to 
prove  himself  in  the  right  as  against  Micaiah,  he  should 
have  ventured  on  such  an  allusion  to  a  person  of  Ahab's 
character,  is  absolutely  incredible.     See  Ahab. 

It  only  remains  to  add,  that  the  history  of  Micaiah 
offers  several  points  of  interest,  among  which  the  two 
following  may  be  specified :  1.  Micaiah 's  vision  presents 
what  may  be  regarded  as  transitional  ideas  of  one  ori- 
gin of  evil  actions.  In  Exodus,  Jehovah  himself  is  rep- 
resented as  directly  hardening  Pharaoh's  heart  (vii,  3, 
13 ;  xiv,  4,  17  ;  x,'  20,  27).  In  the  Book  of  Job,  the 
name  of  Satan  is  mentioned ;  but  he  is  admitted  with- 
out rebuke,  among  the  sons  of  God,  into  the  presence  of 
Jehovah  (Job  i,  0-12).  After  the  captivity,  the  idea 
of  Satan,  as  an  independent  principle  of  evil,  in  direct 
opposition  to  goodness,  becomes  fully  established  (1 
Chron.  xxi,  1 ;  and  compare  Wisd.  ii,  24).  See  Satan. 
Now  the  ideas  presented  in  the  vision  of  Micaiah  are 
different  from  each  of  these  three,  and  occupy  a  place  of 
their  own.  They  do  not  go  so  far  as  the  Book  of  Job — 
much  less  so  far  as  the  itleas  current  after  the  captivity; 
but  they  go  farther  than  Exodus.  See  Ewald,  I'oet. 
Biicher,  iii,  (io.  2.  The  history  of  Micaiah  is  an  exem- 
plification in  practice  of  contradictory  predictions  being 
made  by  different  prophets.  Other  striking  instances 
occurin  the  time  of  Jeremiah  (xiv,  13, 14;  xxviii,  15,16; 
xxiii,  IG,  25,  2()).  The  only  rule  bearing  on  the  judg- 
ment to  be  formed  under  such  circumstances  seems  to 
have  been  a  negative  one,  which  would  be  mainly  use- 
ful after  the  event.  It  is  laid  down  in  Dent,  xviii,  21, 
22,  where  the  question  is  asked,  how  the  children  of  Is- 
rael iL-ei-e  to  knoiD  the  word  which  Jehovah  had  not 
spoken?  The  solution  is,  that  "if  the  thing  follow  not, 
nor  come  to  pass,  that  is  the  thing  which  Jehovah  has 
not  spoken."     See  PuoriiET. 

Mice.     See  Mousp:. 

Mi'cha  (for  tlie  Ileb.,  etc.,  see  Micaiah),  the  name 
of  three  men. 

1.  A  son  of  i^Iephibosheth  (2  Sam.  ix,  12) ;  elsewhere 
(1  Chron.  viii,  34,  85)  called  IMicah  (q.  v.). 

2.  The  son  of  Zabdi  and  father  of  Mattaniah,  a  Le- 
vite  of  the  family  of  Asai)h  (Neh.  xi,  17,  22) ;  probably 
the  same  that  joined  in  the  sacred  covenant  after  the 
captivity  (Nch.  x,  11).  B.C.  cir.  410.  In  1  Chron.  ix, 
15  his  name  is  incorrectly  Anglicized  "Micah."  He 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  Michaiah  of  Neh.  xii, 
85. 

3.  "  A  Simeonite,  father  of  Ozias,  one  of  tlie  three 
governors  of  the  city  of  Bethulia  in  the  time  of  Judith 
(Judith  vi,  15).  His  name  is  remarkaV)le  as  being  con- 
nected with  one  of  the  few  specific  allusions  to  the  ten 
tribes  after  the  captivity"  (Smith). 

Michae'as  (Vulg.  i<l.'),  an  erroneous  form  (2  Esdr. 
i,  39)  of  the  name  of  the  prophet  jMk  ah. 

Mi'chael  (Ileb.  MlhieV,  bxr^^,  who  is  like  God? 


Sept.  and  N.T.  Mixn>)X),the  name  of  an  archangel  and 
of  several  men. 

1.  The  title  given  in  the  angelologj-  of  the  Jews 
adopted  during  the  exile,  to  one  of  the  chief  angels, 
who,  in  Dan.  x,  13-21 ;  xii,  1,  is  described  as  having 
special  charge  of  the  Israelites  as  a  nation,  and  in  Jude 
9  as  disputing  with  Satan  about  the  body  of  Moses,  in 
which  dispute,  instead  of  bringing  against  the  arch- 
enemy any  railing  accusation,  he  only  said, "  The  Lord 
rebuke  thee,  O  Satan !"  Again,  in  Kev.  xii,  7-9,  Mi- 
chael and  his  angels  are  represented  as  warring  with 
Satan  and  his  angels  in  the  upper  regions,  from  which 
the  latter  are  cast  down  upon  the  earth.  "This  rep- 
resentation served  not  only  to  give  that  vividness  to 
man's  faith  in  (Jod's  supernatural  agents,  which  was  so 
much  needed  at  a  time  of  captivity,  during  the  abey- 
ance of  his  local  manifestations  and  regular  agencies, 
but  also  to  mark  the  finite  and  ministerial  nature  of  the 
angels,  lest  they  should  be  worshipped  in  themselves. 
Accordingly,  as  Gabriel  represents  the  ministration  of 
the  angels  towards  man,  so  Michael  is  the  type  and 
leader  of  their  strife,  in  God's  name  and  his  strength, 
against  the  power  of  Satan.  In  the  ().  T.  therefore  he 
is  the  guardian  of  the  Jewish  people  in  their  antagonism 
to  godless  power  and  heathenism.  In  the  N.  T.  (see 
Kev.  xii,  7)  he  fights  in  heaven  against  the  dragon — 
'  that  old  serpent  called  the  Devil  and  Satan,  which  de- 
ceiveth  the  whole  world:'  and  so  takes  part  in  that 
struggle  which  is  the  work  of  the  Church  on  earth. 
The  nature  and  method  of  his  war  against  Satan  are 
not  explained,  because  the  knowledge  would  be  unnec- 
essary and  perha])S  impossible  to  us :  the  fact  itself  is 
revealed  rarely,  and  with  that  mysterious  vagueness 
which  hangs  over  all  angelic  ministration,  but  yet  with 
plainness  and  certainty"  (Smith).  On  the  authority  of 
the  first  of  these  texts  the  Jews  have  named  Michael 
not  only  one  of  the  "  seven"  archangels,  but  the  chief 
of  them  (comp.  the  Targum  on  Cant,  viii,  9) ;  and  on 
the  authority  of  all  three  the  Christian  Church  has  been 
disposed  to  concur  in  this  impression  (see  J.  D.  Hiiber- 
lin,  Selecta  de  Mich,  ejusque  opparitiombiis,  gcstis  et 
cultii,  Ilelmst.  1758).  The  Jews  regard  the  archangels 
as  being  such,  not  simply  as  a  class  by  themselves,  but 
as  respectively  the  chiefs  of  the  several  classes  into 
which  they  suppose  the  angels  to  be  divided;  and  of 
these  classes  Michael  is  the  head  of  the  first,  and  there- 
fore chief  of  all  the  archangels  {Siphrr  0/hioth,  fol.  IG). 
"The  rabbinical  traditions  constantly  oppose  him  to 
Sammael,  the  accuser  and  enemy  of  Israel,  as  disputing 
for  the  soul  of  Moses:  as  bringing  the  ram  the  substi- 
tute for  Isaac,  which  Sammael  sought  to  keep  back, 
etc. :  they  give  him  the  title  of  the  '  great  high-priest 
in  heaven,'  as  well  as  that  of  the  '  great  prince  and  con- 
queror ;'  and  finally  lay  it  down  that '  wherever  Michael 
is  said  to  have  appeared,  there  the  glory  of  the  Shechi- 
nah  is  intended.'  It  is  clear  that  the  sounder  among 
them,  in  making  such  use  of  the  name,  intended  to  per- 
sonil'v  tlie  divine  ]M)wer.  and  typify  the  ISIessiah  (see 
Schi.'ttgen,  //or.  I/ebr.  i,  1070,  1119;"  ii.  8,  15,  ed.  Dresd. 
1742)."  Hengstenberg  maintains  at  length  (both  in 
his  Chrislolof/y  and  his  Comvientdry  on  the  Apoctdi/pse^ 
that  Michael  is  no  other  than  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
himself;  but  this  is  hardly  in  accordance  with  the  men- 
tion of  the  other  archangel,  Gabriel,  nor  with  the  other 
theophanies  of  the  O.  T..  in  which  the  Logos  appears 
only  as  the  Angel  [of]  Jehovah,  or  the  Angel  of  the 
Covenant.  The  passages  in  Daniel  and  Kcvelations 
must  be  taken  .as  symbolical,  and  in  that  view  ofl'or  lit- 
tle difficulty.  In  the  former,  one  of  the  guardian  angels 
of  tlie  .lews  (probably  (Jabriel,  D.an.  ix,  21)  exhibits 
himself  as  a  protector,  and  as  struggling  with  the  prince 
of  Persia  for  the  liberation  of  the  Jewish  exiles.  In  the 
discharge  of  this  duty,  IMichael,  the  chief  guardian  of 
the  .same  people,  comes  to  help  him.  The  first  angel 
promises  to  return  (from  his  visit  to  Daniel)  to  renew 
the  contest,  and  indicates  his  success  by  declaring  that 
"  the  prince  of  Greece  will  come,"  i.  c.  to  overthrow  the 


MICHAEL 


219 


MICHAEL 


days,  and  on  the  last  day,  when  they 
came  opposite  to  the  tomb  of  Hadrian, 
Gregory  beheld  the  archangel  Michael 
hovering  over  the  city ;  and  he  alighted 
on  the  top  of  the  mausoleum  and  sheathed 
his  sword,  which  was  drippingwith  blood. 
Then  the  plague  was  stayed,  and  the  tomb 
of  Hadrian  has  been  called  the  Castle  of 
Sant'  Angelo  from  that  day,  and  a  chapel 
was  there  consecrated,  the  name  of  which 
was  Ecclesia  Sancti  Angeli  usque  ad  Cce- 
los.  Michael  is  also  said  to  have  ap- 
peared to  command  the  building  of  two 
churches  (see  Mrs.  Clement,  Legendary 
and  Mytholog.  Art,  p.  229).  The  first 
was  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Italy,  and  was 
called  the  church  of  Monte  Galgano, 
which  became  a  resort  for  numerous  pil- 
grims. Again,  in  the  reign  of  Childe- 
bert  n, Michael  appeared  to  Aubert,  bish- 
op of  Avranches,  and  commanded  that  a 
church  should  be  built  on  the  summit  of 
a  rock  in  the  Gulf  of  Avranches,  in  Nor- 
mandy ;  and  JIont-Saint-lMichel  became 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  places  of  pil- 
Persian  empire.  Here  also  Michael,  in  particular,  is  j  grimage,  as  it  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  in  scenery, 
designated  as  the  prince  of  the  Jews.  So  in  Zech.  i,  8,  \  From  this  time  Michael  v.-as  greatly  venerated  in  the 
14,  the  guardian  angel  of  the  Jews  exhibits  his  solici-  j  Church  of  Rome,  especially  in  France.  He  was  selected 
tude  for  them  and  his  care  over  them.  The  same  thing  as  patron  saint  of  the  country  and  of  the  order  which 
is  again  exhibited  in  Zech.  iii,  1,  2,  where  the  angel  of    Louis  instituted  in  his  honor. 


Gnostic  Gem  of  Michael.     (The  lower  figure  shows  the  size  of  the  gem.) 


the  Lord  rebukes  Satan  on  account  of  his  malignant  in- 
tentions towards  the  high-priest  Joshua.  So  again  in 
Rev.  xii,  7,  9,  Michael  and  his  angels  are  represented  as 
waging  war  with  Satan  and  his  angels.  This  passage 
stands  connected  with  ver.  5  of  the  context,  which  rep- 
resents the  Man-Child  (Jesus)  as  caught  up  to  the 
throne  of  God.  The  war  waged  would  seem  to  have 
arisen  from  the  eift)rts  of  Satan  to  annoy  the  ascending- 
Saviour.  Such  appears  to  be  the  symbolic  representa- 
tion (see  Stuart's  Comment,  ad  loc).  The  allusion  in 
Jude  9  is  more  difficult  to  understand,  unless,  with  Vi- 
tringa,  Lardner,  Macknight,  and  others,  we  regard  it 
also  as  symbolical ;  in  which  case  the  dispute  referred  to 
is  that  indicated  in  Zech.  iii,  1 ;  and  "the  body  of  Moses" 
as  a  symbolical  phrase  for  the  Mosaical  law  and  institu- 
tions [see  Jude],  in  accordance  with  the  usual  mode  of 
speaking  among  Christians,  who  called  the  Church  "the 
body  of  Christ"  (Col.  i,  18,  24 ;  Rom.  xii,  5).  A  com- 
parison of  Jude  9  with  Zech.  i,  8-14  gives  much  force 
and  probability  to  this  conjecture  (see  F.  U.AVolter,  De 
Michaeli  cum  diaholo  Utigante  [Rinteln,  1727-9]).  Ac- 
cording to  others,  "  the  body  of  Moses"  here  means  his 
proper  and  literal  body,  which  the  Lord  secretly  buried 
(Deut.  xxxiv,  5,  G),  and  which  Satan  wished  to  present 
to  the  Jews  as  an  object  of  idolatry  (comp.  2  Kings 
xviii,  4).  "  The  allusion  seems  to  be  to  a  Jewish  legend 
attached  to  Deut.  xxxiv,  6.  The  Targum  of  .Jonathan 
attributes  the  burial  of  Moses  to  the  hands  of  the  angels 
of  God,  and  particularly  of  the  archangel  Michael,  as 
the  guardian  of  Israel.  Later  traditions  (see  CEcumen. 
in  Jud.  cap.  1)  set  forth  how  Satan  disputed  the  burial, 
claiming  for  himself  the  dead  body  because  of  the  blood 
of  the  Egyptian  (Exod.  ii,  13)  which  was  on  Moses's 
hands"  (see  Quistorp,  A^«;«  Michaelis  de  corpore  Mosis 
disceptatio fabula  sit?  [Gryph.  1770]). 

Michael  as  a  Saint  in  the  Church  of  Rome. — This 
archangel  is  canonized  in  the  Roman  calendar,  and  his 
festival,  called  Michaelmas  (q.  v.),  is  celebrated  on  the 
29th  of  September.  The  legends  preserved  by  Roman 
Catholics  relate  that  jMichael  appeared  to  the  Virgin 
Mary  to  announce  to  her  the  time  of  her  death,  and  that 
he  received  her  soul  and  bore  it  to  Jesus.  And  again, 
tliat  during  the  6th  century,  when  a  fearful  pestilence 
was  raging  in  Rome,  St.  Gregorj^  advised  that  a  proces- 
sion should  be  made,  which  should  pass  through  the 
streets  singing  the  service  which  since  then  has  been 
called  the  Great  Litanies.     This  was  done  for  three 


Representations  of  the  A  rchangel  as  a  Saint.—"  Mi- 
chael is  always  represented  as  young  and  beautiful. 


tot  Michael. 

As  patron  of  the  Church  IMilitant,  he  is  '  the  winged 
saint,'  with  no  attribute  save  the  shield  and  lance.  As 
conqueror  of  Satan,  he  stands  in  armor,  with  his  foot 
upon  the  Evil  One,  who  is  half  human  or  like  a  dragon 
in  shape.  The  angel  is  about  to  chain  him,  or  to  trans- 
fix him  with  the  lance.  But  the  treatment  of  this  sub- 
ject is  varied  in  many  ways,  all,  however,  easily  recog- 
nised. As  lord  of  souls,  St.  Michael  is  unarmed ;  he 
holds  a  balance,  and  in  each  scale  a  little  naked  figure 
representing  the  souls;  the  beato  usually  joins  the  hands 
as  in  thankfulness,  while  the  rejected  one  expresses  hor- 
ror in  look  and  attitude.  Frequently  a  dremon  is  seiz- 
ing the  falling  scale  with  a  Plutonic  hook,  or  with  his 
talons.     In  these  pictures  the  saint  is  rarely  without 


MICHAEL  AND  ALL  AXGELS    220 


MICHAEL  ANGELO 


•wings.  When  introduced  in  pictures  of  the  Madonna 
and  Child  he  presents  the  balance  to  Christ,  who  seems 
to  welcome  the  happy  soul.  Whether  with  or  without 
the  balance,  he  is  always  the  lord  of  souls  in  pictures  of 
the  death,  assumption,  or  t^loritication  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  for  tradition  teaches  that  he  received  her  spirit, 
and  cared  for  it  until  it  was  reunited  to  her  body  and 
ascended  to  her  Son.  The  old  English  coin  called  an 
angel  was  so  named  because  it  bore  the  image  of  this 
archangel." 

On  the  subject  generally,  see  Surenhusius,  Bibl.  Ka- 
tall.  p.  701 ;  Fabricius,  Psmdepigr.  i,  839  sq. ;  Wetstein, 
1,649;  ii,  735;  Hartmann,  Fe/feW.  p.  83 ;  Eisenmenger, 
Judentli.  i,  80G  sq. ;  Thilo,  Apoa-yph.  i,  691 ;  Trigland, 
Dissoi.  theol.  p.  198  sq. ;  Laurmann,  Collectun.  in  ep. 
Jud.  p.  71  sq. ;  Seeland,  in  the  Brent,  u.  Verdmsch.  Bib- 
lioth.  iii,  89  sq. ;  Braun,  De  Michuele  (Altorf,  1726) ;  Hu- 
renius,  De  Michaele  (Vitemb.  1593).  See  Angel  ;  Mo- 
ses. 

2.  The  father  of  Sethur,  which  latter  was  the  Asher- 
ite  commissioner  to  explore  the  land  of  Canaan  (Numb, 
xiii,  13).     B.C.  ante  1657. 

3.  One  of  the  four  sons  of  Izrahiah,  the  great-grand- 
son of  Issachar  (1  Chron.  vii,  3).  B.C.  prob.  post  1618. 
Possibly  tlie  same  with  No.  8. 

4.  One  of  the  "  sons"  of  Bcriah,  a  son  of  Elpaal,  of  the 
tribe  of  Benjamin  (1  Chron.  viii,  16).     B.C.  post  1612. 

5.  A  chief  Gadite  resident  in  Bashan  (1  Chron.  v,  13), 
B.C.  apparently  post  1093.  lie  was  perhai)s  identical 
with  the  son  of  Johishai  and  father  of  (Jilead,  some  of 
the  posterity  of  whose  descendant  xVbihail  are  mentioned 
as  dwelling  in  the  same  region  (1  Chron.  iv,  14).  B.C. 
long  ante  782. 

6.  One  of  the  Manassite  chiliarchs  who  joined  David 
when  he  returned  to  Ziklag  (1  Chron.  xii,  20).  B.C. 
1053. 

7.  The  son  of  Baaseiah  and  father  of  Shimea,  among 
the  ancestors  of  the  Levite  Asaph  (1  Chron.  vi,  40). 
B.C.  considerably  ante  1014. 

8.  The  "  father"  of  Omri,  which  latter  was  the  ph}'- 
larch  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar  under  David  and  Solomon 
(1  Chron.  xxvii,  18).     B.C.  ante  1014. 

9.  One  of  the  sons  of  king  Jchoshaphat,  whom  he 
portioned  before  the  settlement  of  the  succession  upon 
Jehoram,  but  whom  the  latter,  nevertheless,  out  of  jeal- 
ousv,  caused  to  be  slain  upon  his  own  accession  (2  Chron. 
xxi,  2).     B.C.  887. 

10.  A  "son"  (prob.  descendant)  of  Shephatiah,  whose 
son  Zebadiah  returned  with  eighty  males  from  Babylon 
(Ezra  viii,  8).     B.C.  ante  459. 

Michael,  St.,  and  all  Angels,  Feast  of.  This 
festival  of  the  Latin  ami  (ircek  cliurthes,  conmiemo- 
rating  the  ministry  of  the  lioly  angels  to  the  heirs  of 
salvation,  originated  in  some  provincial  festivals  which 
■were  introduced  between  the  3d  and  5th  centuries,  and 
■which  were  then  combined  into  one  common  celebra- 
tion on  the  29th  of  September  by  pope  Felix  III  in  480 
(Mansi,  xiv,  73).  Its  observance  was  not  enjoined  upon 
the  Greek  Church  before  the  12th  century  (Guericke, 
Ki>-chen-Gesck. p.  194  sq.).  The  Collect  is  taken  from  the 
Missal :  "  Deus,  qui  miro  online  angelorum  ministeria 
hominumque  dispensas;  concede  pro])itiiis  ut  a  quibus 
tibi  ministrantil)us  in  ca-lo  semper  assistitur,  ab  his  in 
terra  vita  nostra  muniatur.  I'er  dominum"  (MLsmiI  S<n: 
"In  fosto  sancti  ^liohaelis  Archangeli,"  fol.  ccvi).  See 
Procter,  ///>•/.  /umh  nf  Common  I'ntyer,  p.  301. 

Michael  Alexandriuus,  a  noted  patriarch  of  Al- 
exandria, nourished  near  the  middle  of  the  9th  century. 
He  was  very  active  in  behalf  of  a  union  of  the  Eastern 
and  Western  churclics,  and  wrote,  about  A.D.  869,  De 
Unitate  F.crh.t'Kr  (iiriiitcd  in  Labbe's  Coiicil.  vol.  viii,  and 
in  Ilardoiiiu.  ( 'oiirll.  vol.  \).  See  ( 'ave,  llist.  Lit.  ad  an. 
869;  Fabricius,  liihi.  Cror,,.  xi.  !««. 

Michael  Anchi^lus,  another  distinguished  East- 
ern eL-ilcsiastif.  patriaroli  i>rConstaiiliiioiile  from  1167  to 
1185,  was  a  decided  opi)onent  to  the  attempt  at  uniou  of 


the  Eastern  and  Western  churches.  He  was  also  noted 
as  an  eminent  disciple  of  Aristotelian  philosophy.  His 
extant  works  are  live  synodal  decrees,  published  in 
Greek  and  Latin  in  the  ./h.*  (!r.  Rom.  (iii,  227),  and  a 
dialogue  with  the  emperor  JIanuel  Comnenus  concern- 
ing the  claims  of  the  Koman  pontiff".  Of  the  latter  work 
only  some  extracts  have  been  published  by  Leo  Allatius. 
See  Smith,  Did.  of  Gr.  and  Rom.  Bioij.  i,  167. 

Michael  Angelo  Bi-onar(k)ot(t)i,  an  Italian 
artist,  wlio,  in  an  aij,i'  when  Christian  art  had  reached  its 
zenith,  stood  unrivalled  as  a  pauiter,  sculptor,  poet,  and 
architect,  was  born  in  1474  at  the  Castle  of  Caprese, 
in  Tuscany.  He  was  of  noble  origin,  having  descended 
on  his  mother's  side  from  the  ancient  family  of  Ca- 
nossa,  in  Tuscany,  while  the  Buonarotti  had  long  been 
associated  with  places  of  trust  in  the  Florentine  repub- 
lic. ^Michael  Angelo  was  very  early  afforded  the  ad- 
vantages of  association  with  tirst-class  artists,  and  this 
gave  rise  to  the  saying  that  "he  sucked  in  sculpture 
with  his  milk."  About  1488  he  was  admitted  as  a  stu- 
dent into  the  seminary  which  was  established  by  Lo- 
renzo the  Jlagnificent  for  the  study  of  ancient  art  in 
connection  with  the  collections  of  statuar}-  in  the  Med- 
icean  Gardens,  and  there  he  attracted  the  notice  of 
Lorenzo  by  his  artistic  skill,  and  was  invited  by  that 
generous  Florentine  prince  to  take  up  his  residence 
at  the  palace  of  the  Medici.  As  an  inmate  of  the  pal- 
ace, he  enjoyed  the  societj'  of  eminent  literary  men, 
one  of  whom,  Angelo  Poliziano  (Politian),  became  his 
intimate  friend.  Among  his  earliest  works  was  a  mar- 
ble bass-relief,  the  subject  of  which  was  The  Battle  of 
Hercules  u-ith  the  Centaurs.  This  work,  which  was 
approved  by  his  own  mature  judgment,  is  preserved 
in  Florence.  Lorenzo's  death  in  1492,  and  the  tem- 
porary reverses  which  befell  the  Medici  family  in  con- 
sequence of  the  incapacity  of  Lorenzo's  successor,  Pi- 
etro,  led  Michael  Angelo  to  quit  Florence  for  Bologna. 
There,  however,  he  remained  only  about  a  year,  and 
gladly  enough  turned  his  face  towards  Florence  again. 
Michael  now  found  a  patron  in  the  person  of  I'ictro 
Soderini,  the  gonfaloniere  (chief  ruler)  of  Florence. 
About  1497  he  produced  an  admirable  marble  group 
called  a  "  Pieta,"  representing  "The  A'irgin  wee]>ing 
over  the  Dead  Body  of  her  Son."  "  In  none  of  his 
works,"  says  Ernest  Breton,  "has  he  dis]ilayed  more  per- 
fect knowledge  of  design  and  anatomy,  or  more  pro- 
found truth  of  expression"  {Xviiv.  Bio;!.  Cenerale,  s.  v.). 
This  Mater  Dolorosa  now  adorns  a  chapel  in  the  Church 
of  St.  Peter  at  Kome.  After  this  he  executed  a  gigan- 
tic marble  statue  of  the  psalmist  David,  which  stands  in 
front  of  the  Palazzo  Yecchio,  in  Florence.  He  received 
400  ducats  for  this  work,  on  which  he  spent  about  eight- 
een months,  and  which  he  linished  in  1504.  Next  in 
order  of  time,  and,  according  to  some  of  his  contempora- 
ries, tirst  in  merit,  ranks  his  great  cartoon  for  the  ducal 
palace  at  Florence,  which,  together  with  the  pendant 
executed  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  has  long  since  perished. 
This  work,  which  represented  a  scene  in  the  wars  with 
Pisa,  when  a  number  of  young  Florentines,  while  bath- 
ing in  the  Arno,  are  surprised  by  an  attack  of  the  Pi- 
sans,  showed  so  marvellous  a  knowledge  of  the  anatom- 
ical development  of  the  human  figure,  and  such  extraor- 
dinary facility  in  the  powers  of  execution,  that  it 
became  a  study  for  artists  of  every  land,  creating  actu- 
ally a  new  era  in  art.  "  Such  was  the  excellence  of 
this  work,"  says  Vasari, "that  some  thought  it  abst)lute 
perfection."  Another  production  which  belongs  to  this 
period,  and  which  is  of  special  interest  to  the  student 
of  Christian  art.  is  an  oil-painting  of  the  lloli/  Family 
(about  1504).  Sluirlly  alter  his  accession  to  the  pon- 
tificate, Julius  II  called  ^lichael  Angelo  to  Kome.  and 
commissioned  him  to  make  the  pope's  monument,  which 
was  to  be  erected  within  St.  Peter's.  Although  this 
work  was  never  completed  on  the  colossal  scale  on 
which  it  had  been  designed,  and  was  ultimately  erected 
in  the  Church  of  St.  Pietro  ad  Vincolo,  it  is  a  magnifi- 
cent composition,  and  is  memorable  for  having  givea 


MICHAEL  ANGELO 


221 


MICHAEL  APOSTOLIUS 


occasion  to  the  reconstruction  of  St.  Peter's  on  its  pres- 
ent sublime  plan,  in  order  the  better  to  adapt  it  to  the 
colossal  dimensions  of  the  proposed  monument.  In  1506 
Michael  Angelo,  incensed  by  the  indifference  of  the 
pontiff  towards  him,  quitted  Rome;  but  after  a  short 
time  the  repeated  and  urgent  entreaties  of  Julius  led 
him  to  return,  and  at  the  pojie's  request  he  now  paint- 
ed with  his  own  hand  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
and,  although  unwillingly,  he  began  in  1508,  and  com- 
pleted within  less  than  two  years  his  colossal  task, 
which  proved  one  of  the  most  marvellous  of  his  works. 
The  subjects  of  these  cartoons  are  taken  from  the  book 
of  Genesis,  but  between  these  and  the  representations 
of  the  persons  of  the  Saviour's  genealogy  are  colossal 
figures  of  prophets  and  sibyls. 

Julius  II  died  in  1513,  and  was  succeeded  by  Leo  X, 
who,  together  with  successive  popes,  is  censured  for  il- 
liberal conduct  towards  Michael  Angelo.  Leo  ordered 
him  to  build  the  facade  of  the  Church  of  San  Lorenzo, 
at  Florence,  and  compelled  him,  against  his  will,  to 
spend  several  years  in  procuring  marble  for  that  purpose. 
'•It  is  a  mortifying  reflection,"  says  Duppa,  "that  the 
talents  of  this  great  man  should  have  been  buried  and 
his  time  consumed,  during  the  whole  reign  of  Leo  X, 
in  little  else  than  in  raising  stone  out  of  a  quarry  and 
making  a  road  to  convey  it  to  the  sea"  {Life  of  Jf.  A71- 
gelu).  Under  the  patronage  of  Clement  VII  (1523),  Mi- 
chael Angelo  devoted  himself  to  the  library  and  sacristy 
of  San  Lorenzo,  at  Florence,  and  in  1528  or  1529  he  spent 
his  time  at  Florence  in  the  erection  of  fortitications  to 
resist  the  attempts  of  the  expelled  Medici  to  recover 
possession.  He  also  fought  in  the  defence  of  that  city 
against  the  papal  troops.  On  the  surrender  of  Florence 
he  returned  to  Rome,  and  after  the  accession  of  pope 
Paul  III,  in  1534,  was  permitted  to  resume  the  mon- 
ument of  Julius  II,  which  he  completed  on  a  smaller 
scale  than  he  had  first  designed.  It  consists  of  seven 
statues,  one  of  which  represents  Moses,  and  was  placed 
in  the  Church  of  San  Pietro  ad  Yincolo.  This  statue 
of  Muses  is  called  one  of  his  masterpieces.  Another 
great  production  of  this  period  is  his  great  picture  of 
the  Last  Jiah/meitt,  painted  for  the  altar  of  the  Sistine 
Chapel.  This  colossal  fresco,  nearl}'  70  feet  in  height, 
which  was  completed  in  1541,  after  some  eight  years  of 
close  confinement,  was  regarded  by  contemporary  critics 
as  having  surpassed  all  his  other  works  for  the  unpar- 
alleled jjowers  of  invention  and  the  consummate  knowl- 
edge of  the  human  figure  which  it  displayed.  On  a 
comparison  with  Raphael  it  loses,  however,  much  of  its 
value,  for,  as  has  been  truly  said,  "  one  will  seek  in  vain 
for  that  celestial  light  and  divine  inspiration  which  ap- 
pears in  the  Transfiguration."  After  its  completion, 
Michael  Angelo  devoted  himself  to  the  perfecting  of  St. 
Peter's,  which  by  the  touch  of  his  genius  was  convert- 
ed from  a  mere  Saracenic  hall  into  the  most  superb 
model  of  a  Christian  church.  He  refused  all  remunera- 
tion for  this  labor,  which  he  regarded  as  a  service  to  the 
glory  of  God.  He  never  married;  and  upon  his  death 
in  1563,  at  Rome,  his  remains  were  removed  to  Florence, 
and  laid  within  the  Church  of  Santa  Croce.  His  piety, 
benevolence,  and  liberality  made  him  generally  beloved ; 
and  in  the  history  of  art  no  name  shines  with  a  more 
unsullied  lustre  than  that  of  Michael  Angelo.  "  He  was 
the  bright  luminary,"  says  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  "  from 
whom  painting  has  borrowed  a  new  lustre,  under  whose 
hands  it  assumed  a  new  appearance  and  became  another 
and  superior  art,  and  from  whom  all  his  contemporaries 
and  successors  have  derived  whatever  the}'  have  pos- 
sessed of  the  dignified  and  majestic"  {Discourses  on 
Painting,  vol.  ii).  Always  a  student,  always  dissatisfied 
with  what  he  had  done,  many  of  his  works  were  left  un- 
finished ;  but  his  fragments  have  educated  eminent  men. 
In  disposition  he  was  proud  and  passionate,  but  high- 
minded  ;  not  greedy  of  gold,  but  princely  in  his  gener- 
osity. His  mind  was  full  of  great  conceptions,  for  which 
he  was  ready  to  sacrifice  and  forego  physical  comforts. 
Of  his  merits  as  an  artist,  it  is  enough  to  say  that  Ra- 


phael thanked  God  that  he  was  born  in  the  time  of 
Michael  Angelo  Buonarotti.  Comparing  him  with  Ra- 
phael, Quatremere  de  Quincy  marks  IMichael  Angelo  as 
"  the  greatest  of  draughtsmen."  "  In  painting,"  says 
Duppa,  "the  great  work  on  which  Michael  Angelo's 
fame  depends,  and,  taking  it  for  all  in  all,  the  greatest 
work  of  his  whole  life,  is  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel. 
.  .  .  His  sibyls  and  prophets  exhibit  with  variety  and 
energy  the  colossal  powers  of  his  mind.  ...  In  his  great 
works,  his  superior  abilities  are  shown  in  the  sublimity 
of  his  conceptions,  and  the  power  and  facility  with  which 
they  are  executed."  See  Condivi,  Vita  dlMichaelAngelo 
Huonarotti  (Rome,  1553;  new  ed.  Pisa,  1823) ;  Vignali, 
Vita  di  Michael  Angelo  (1753) ;  Richard  Duppa,  Life  of 
Michael  Angelo  (London,  1806);  Hauchecorne,  Vie  de 
Michel- Ange ;  Quatremere  de  Quincy,  Vie  de  Michel- 
Ange  (1835);  J.  S.  Harford,  LJfe  of  Michael  Angelo 
(1856-7,2  vols.  8vo) ;  Hermann  Grimm,  Michael  Angelo's 
I^eben,  and  English  version  of  the  same  (London,  1865,  2 
vols.);  Yasari,  Lives  of  Painters  and  Sculptors ;  Lanzi, 
Storia  della  Pittura  ;  Winckelmann,  Neues  Maler-Lex- 
ikon,  s.  V. ;  Nagler,  Kiinstler-Lexikon,  s.  v. ;  Marie  Henri 
Bayle,  Histoii-e  de  la  Peinture  en  Italie ;  Pater,  Studies 
in  the  History  of  the  Renaissance  (Lond.  and  N.  Y.,  Mac- 
millan  &  Co.,  1873,  8vo),  ch.  v,  contains  an  interesting 
essay  on  the  poetry  of  Michael  Angelo  ;  and  the  excellent 
article  in  Thnmas.  Jiiii.  Jiiog.  s.  v, 

Michael  Apostolius,  an  eminent  Greek  scholar, 
who  contributed  largely  to  the  revival  of  learning  in 
Italy,  flourished  in  the  15th  century.  He  was  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  Gemistus  Pletho,  and  an  adherent  of  the 
Platonic  philosophy,  two  circumstances  which,  together 
with  his  own  merits,  caused  him  to  be  -well  received  by 
cardinal  Bessarion  in  Italy,  where  he  settled  about 
1440.  Later  in  life  Michael  retired  to  Candia,  where 
he  got  a  livelihood  by  teaching  children  and  copy- 
ing manuscripts.  There  he  died,  some  time  after  1457, 
for  in  that  year  he  wrote  a  panegyric  on  the  emperor 
Frederick  HI.  His  principal  works  are,  a  defence  of 
Plato  against  Theodore  Gaza,  extant  in  IMS.  in  the  Vi- 
enna library: — Menexenus,  a  dialogue  on  the  Holy  Trin- 
ity, investigating  whether  the  Mohammedans  and  Jews 
are  right  in  believing  a  Mono-Deus ;  or  the  Christians, 
in  believing  a  Deus  Trin-unus ;  extant  in  IMS.,  ibid. : — 
Oratio  consultoria  ad  Socerum  sibi  irascendum  cum  ad 
secniii/ii.^-  ti-diiaiiit  iiiip/lns,  extant  in  the  Bodleian: — 
Appilldliii  lul  ('o,i.-<t(ii//iiiinn  Palceologum  idtitum  Lmpe- 
ratorimi: — Oru/io  ad  loamiem  Argyropulum: — Ejiis- 
tohe  XLV;  tliese  letters  are  extremely  important  for 
the  history  of  the  writer's  time,  as  Lambecius  asserts, 
who  perused  all  or  most  of  them,  and  it  is  to  be  regret- 
ted that  none  of  them  are  printed.  The  first  is  ad- 
dressed to  Gemistus,  the  others  to  Manuel  Chrysolaras, 
Chalcocondylas,  Argyropuhis,  Bessarion,  and  other  cele- 
brated men  of  the  time.  They  are  extant  in  MS.  in  the 
Bodleian ;  some  of  them  are  also  to  be  found  in  the 
Vatican  and  at  Munich : — Oratio  Panegyrica  ad  Frede- 
ricum  III,  written  about  or  perhaps  in  1457 ;  it  was  pub- 
lished in  Greek  and  Latin  by  Freherus  in  the  second 
vol.  of  his  Rerum  German.  Script. : — Oratio  Fumhris  in 
Laudem  Bessarinnis,  does  credit  to  the  heart  of  Michael, 
for  it  seems  that  the  cardinal  had  not  behaved  very 
generously  towards  the  poor  scholar.  Still  it  is  very 
questionable  whether  our  Michael  is  the  author  of  it ; 
Bessarion  died  in  1472,  and  as  Michael,  previously  tq 
leaving  Constantinople,  in  or  before  1440,  had  enjoyed, 
during  many  j'ears,  the  friendship  of  Gemistus,  whose 
name  became  conspicuous  in  the  very  beginning  of 
the  15th  century,  and  who  was  a  very  old  man  in  1441, 
he  must  have  attained  a  very  great  age  if  he  survived 
Bessarion : — Disceptatio  adversus  eos  qui  Occidentales 
Orientalibus  supei-iores  esse  contendebant,  extant  in  IMS. 
in  the  Bodleian: — De  Figuris  Grammaticis,  which  Leo 
Allatius  esteemed  so  highly  that  he  intended  to  publish 
it,  but  was  unfortunately  prevented:— .4m  Etymological 
Dictionary;  doubtful  whether  still  extant;  a  work  of 
great  importance  -.—'Imna,  Violets,  a  pleasing  title  giv- 


MICHAEL  BALSMION 


222 


MICHAEL  GLYCAS 


en  to  a  collection  of  sentences  of  celebrated  persons, 
Arsenius,  of  Malvasia,  made  an  extract  of  it  (Awo(p^t- 
yfiuTci  [  Kome,  8vo]),  which  he  dedicated  to  pope  Leo  X, 
■who  rcii,me(l  from  1513  to  1522  i—'Sivvayujyij  llapoi^ii^iv, 
containing  2027  Greek  proverbs,  a  very  remarkable  lit- 
tle work,  which  soon  attracted  the  notice  of  the  lovers 
of  Greek  literature ;  it  was  dedicated  by  the  author  to 
Casparus  Uxama,  or  Osmi,  a  Spanish  prelate,  whom 
Michael  met  at  Kome.  Editions:  the  Greek  text  by 
Hervagius  (Basle,  1558,  8vo) ;  the  text,  with  a  Latin 
version  and  valuable  notes,  by  1'.  Pantinus  and  A.  SchoU, 
(Leyd.  1G19,  4to);  also  cum  Clavi  Homcrica,  by  George  > 
Perkins.  See  Cave,  Hist.  Lit.  ad  an.  1440 ;  Fabricius, 
Bib/.  Gtwc.  xi,  189 ;  Smith,  Bid.  Greek  and  Horn.  Biofj. 
and  Mythol.  s.  v. 

Michael  Balsamon,  a  noted  Eastern  ecclesiastic, 
floiu-ishcd  in  the  latter  half  of  the  lotli  century.    He  is    ^ 
supposed  to  have  been  a  native  of  Constantinople,  where  j  j^..^  ^ 

bikld. 


he  always  lived.     He  was  one  of  tlie  Greek  deputies 

sent  in  1438  to  the  Council  of  Florence,  discovered  the 

secret  intrigues  of  the  Latins,  and  prognosticated  the 

ultimate  fate  of  the  union  of  tlie  two  churches,  to  which 

he  subscribed  reluctantly.  He  wrote  and  addressed  to  the 

emperor  Joannes  Palreoiogus  .1  miphura  Cleri  Constanti-  \  die  of  the  1 1  th  century.    He  gained  great  notoriety  main 

nopoli/(ini,  of  which  Leo  AUatius  gives  a  few  fragments    ly  by  his  violent  attacks  upon  the  Latin  Church.     II( 


ficial  report  (1478)  of  Wenzel  Koranda,  the  administra- 
tor of  the  Utraquist  Consistory  at  Prague  (I'alacky's 
Geschichte  v.  BO/imen,  i,  191, 192) ;  and  by  the  earliest 
histories  of  Ulahoslaw,  Lasitius,  Kegenvolscius,  and  Co- 
menius;  while  the  origin  of  the  AValdensian  ei)iscopa- 
cy  is  set  forth  in  the  official  answers  with  which  the 
Brethren  met  the  attacks  of  the  learned  Jesuit,  Wenzel 
Sturm,  in  the  reign  of  Maximilian  11.  These  answers 
were  written  by  tlie  assistant  bisliop  Jaffet,  and  are  pre- 
served in  the  archives  at  Herrnhut.  The  validity 
of  the  episcopate  of  the  Brethren  was  not  doubted  either 
by  the  Iloman  Catholic  or  by  the  National  Church,  and 
the  fact  that  they  had  secretly  secured  it  from  the  Wal- 
denses  brought  about  a  severe  persecution  immediately 
after  the  truth  became  known  (14G8).  Comjiare  Ben- 
ham's  Origin  and  Episcopate  of  the  Boh.  Brelh.  ( Lond. 
18t)7) :  Schweinitz's  Moravian  Episcopate  (Bethlehem, 
l'ahi(l<y\s  Geschichte  v.  Bohmm,  vii,  492 ;  Ginde- 
rhirht,  (I.  B.B.i,37;  CzeTwenka's  Persekutions- 
(  (Giilir-^loh,  18G9),  c.  xx,  n.  31 ;  Crbger's  Gesch. 
d.  A  hen  Brmkrkirche  (Gnadan,  18G5),  vol.  i.     (E.  de  S.) 

Michael  Cerularius,  a  noted  Eastern  ecclesiastic, 
flourished  as  patriarch  of  Constantinople  near  the  mid- 


nopoli 

in  his  -work  De  Consensu  ittriusque  Ecclesice.  See  Cave 
Jlist.  Lit.  ad  an.  1440 ;  Fabricius, Bibl.  Greece,  x,  373,  note. 
Michael  Bradacius,  the  first  Moravian  bishop, 
flourislied  originally  as  a  Hussite  priest  at  Zamberg,  in 
the  eastern  part  of  Bohemia,  about  the  middle  of  the 
15th  century.  In  14G7,  when  tlie  INIoravian  Brethren 
(q.  V.)  separated  from  the  National  Church,  and  insti- 
tuted a  ministry  of  their  own,  Michael,  who  had  in  the 
mean  time  joined  the  Moravian  Brethren,  was  sent,  to- 
gether with  two  other  priests,  to  a  Waldensian  colony 
on  the  frontiers  of  Bohemia  and  Austria,  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  episcopacy.  These  Waldenses  were  on  friend- 
ly terms  with  the  Calixtines,  and  openly  fraternized 
with  them  at  the  mass.  John  Kokyzan,  the  Calixtinc 
leader,  who  had  ambitious  projects  with  regard  to  the 


He 

caused  so  much  scandal  that  pope  Leo  IX  sent  cardinals 
Humbert  andFrederick,  with  Peter, archbishopofAmalli, 
to  Constantinople  in  order  to  persuade  Cerularius  to  a 
more  moderate  conduct.  Their  efforts  were  not  only 
unsuccessful,  but  they  were  treated  with  such  abuse  that 
Humbert  excommunicated  the  virulent  patriarch.  Ce- 
rularius in  his  turn  excommunicated  the  three  legates, 
and  he  caused  the  name  of  pope  Leo  IX  to  be  erased 
from  the  difitychs.  In  1057  he  prevailed  upon  the  em- 
peror jMichael  Stratioticus  to  yield  to  his  successful  rival, 
Isaac  Comnenus,  whose  interest  he  took  care  of  for  some 
time.  Differences,  however,  soon  broke  out  between 
them ;  and  when  he  was  once  quarrelling  with  Isaac 
about  the  respective  authority  of  the  Church  and  the 
State,  he  impudently  cried  out,  "  I  have  given  you  the 
crown,  and  I  know  how  to  take  it  from  you  again." 


archiepiscopal  chair  at  Prague,  which  had  long  been  va-  ,  ^^^:^^{^^^^^^^  „.^,^  ,,;,  ,,,,^.  reward,  and  Isaac  was  about  to 
cant,  hoped  to  wm  the  support  of  the  A\  aldenses.    Hence,  I  ^^^^^.^  ,^._^^  ^_.^  _^^  ,^.^  ^^,^  ^^.,^^^^  ^^^^^^  removed  him  from 


when  their  ministry  had  become  extinct,  he  induced 
bishop  Philibert,  wlio  liad  come  to  Prague  as  a  delegate 
of  the  Council  of  Basle,  to  oniain  two  members  of  the 
Waldensian  colony,  Frederick  Nemez  and  John  Wlach, 
as  priests,  on  the  i4th  of  September,  1433.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  the  following  year  (1434)— when  the  Taborites 
had  been  defeated  by  the  Calixtines;  when  the  utmost 
confusion  prevailed  throughout  Bohemia  in  Church  and 
State ;  when  an  open  feud  was  raging  between  the  coun- 
cil and  the  pope;  when,  however,  the  former  did  every- 
thing in  its  power  to  conciliate  the  Bohemians — these 
two  A\'aldensian  priests  were  consecrated  bishops  at 
Basle  by  bishops  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  This 
act  was  meant  as  an  example  and  encouragement  for 
the  Bohemians,  that  they  might  be  the  more  ready  to 
accept  the  compactata  of  the  council.  Nemez  and  Wlach 
consecrated  other  bishops,  of  whom  two  were  living  in 
14G7,  the  name  of  the  senior  being  Stephen.  He  and 
his  associate  consecrated  jMichael  Bradacius  and  his  two 
companions,  who  thus  became  the  first  bishops  of  the 
Bohemian  Brethren.  A  Church  council  was  organized, 
of  whicli  Michael  Bradacius  was  constituted  the  presi- 
dent. After  a  time  he  resigned  the  presidency  in  favor 
of  Matthias  of  Kunwaldc  (q.  v.),  but  remained  in  the 
council.  He  died  at  Heiclienau  in  1501.  Zezschwitz, 
in  his  article  Lukas  v.  l'ra;j,  in  Herzog's  Real-Enrykl. 
vol.  XX,  calls  in  question  the  authenticity  of  the  above 
narrative,  but  fails  to  make  good  his  doubts.  He  is 
misled  by  preconceived  notions  against  the  IMoravian 
episcopacy,  as  his  article  |)lainly  shows.  The  transfer 
of  the  Waldensian  episcopate  to  the  Brethren  is  estab- 
lished by  a  number  of  documents,  whose  dates  range 
from  147G  to  IGOO.  in  the  "  Lissa  Folios,"  at  Herrnhut 
(see  MoiMviAN  BuiiXHiuiS,  the  Ancient)  ;  by  the  of- 


the  eartli  (lit.iSi.  Cerularius  wrote:  Decisio  Sunodica 
de  Nuptiis  ill  Sijifiiiio  Gradu:  —  De  Matrinuniio  pro- 
hihito  (the  former  printed,  (Jreek  and  Latin,  in  the  third 
book,  and  fragments  of  the  latter  in  the  fourtli  book  of 
Lcunclavius.  Jug  Grtrco-Roman.) : — EpistoUe  II  ad  Pe- 
truni  Antinrlii iiinii  (Greek  and  Latin,  in  the  second  voL 
of  Cotekriiis,  i:rrl,.<.  Cra'c.  Monument^):— De  Sacerdo- 
tis  Uxore  Adidtirlo  puUtita  (in  Cotclerius,  Pat  res  Apos- 
tol.) : — 2j;/uf (wjun,  s.  Edicftim  Si/twd(dc  adcersiis  Latinos 
de  Pittada,  sen  De  Excommunicatione  a  Latinis  Legatis 
in  ipsiim  ah  ipso  in  Legatos  vibrata,  anno  1054,  die  sep- 
timo  .Jiinii  factum  (Gra;ce  et  Latine,  in  Leo  Allatius,  De 
Libr.  Eccles.  G7-(ecis)  •.—Ilomilia  (ed.  Grace  et  Latine, 
by  Montfaucon,  under  the  title  Epistola  Synodi  NiccB- 
anm  ad  Sanctam  Alexandria;  Evclesiam  [Paris,  1715, 
fol.]).  There  are,  farther,  extant  in  MS.  fragments  of 
several  letters,  as  Contra  PeMles  A  bbates,  Contra  A  r- 
menios,  De  Jfomicidio  facto  in  Ecclesia,  De  Episcoporum 
Judicii'!,  etc.  See  Cave,  I/ist  Lit.  ad  an.  1043;  I'abri- 
cius,  BibL  (h-d'c.  xi,  195, 19G. 

Michael  Glycas,  a  noted  ecclesiastical  historian 
of  the  (Jreek  Church  of  the  12th  century  (some  place 
him  as  late  as  the  15th),  was  a  native  of  Sicily,  and 
flourished  about  A.D.  1120.  His  most  important  pro- 
duction, the  Annates  Quadripartiti,  is  a  work  not  only 
historical,  but  also  philoso])hical  and  theological.     Part 

I  describes  the  creation  of  the  world  in  six  days;  Part 

II  extends  from  the  creation  to  the  birth  of  Christ ;  Part 
HI  to  Constautine  tlic  Great;  and  Part  IV  to  the  death 
of  jVlexius  Comnenus,  A.D.  11 1«.  It  was  published  in 
Gr.  and  Lat.,  with  notes,  by  Labbe  (Paris,  lG(;o,  fol.). 
Glycas  also  wrote  JJispntalioncnbe  11,  and  likewise 
many  epistles,  of  which  fragments  are  preserved. 


MICHAEL  PSELLUS 


223 


MICHAEL  PAL^OLOGUS 


Michael  Monachus,  a  theologian  of  the  Church 
of  the  East,  tiimrished  as  presbyter  at  Constantinople 
probably  towards  the  close  of  the  9th  century.  He  is 
noted  as  the  author  of  Encomium  Ir/natii  Fatriai-chce 
(who  died  in  877),  edited,  Greek  and  Latin,  in  a  very 
mutilated  form,  by  Kaderus  in  his  Acta  Cvncilu(\ng(A- 
stadt,  1604,  4to),  also  in  the  eighth  vol.  of  the  Concilia : 

Encomium  in  Anffelicorum   Ordinum  Ductores,  Mi- 

cho'h  in  it  Ciitiridem: — Encomium  in  gloriosum  Christi 
Apostiihiiii  rhiltppum: — Perhaps  Vita  et  Miracula  S'ti 
Nicolai: — Vitit  Theodori  Studitce,  of  which  Baronius 
gives  some  fragments  in  his  A  nnales  ad  an.  795  and  826. 
The  complete  text,  with  a  Latin  translation,  was  pub- 
lished by  Jacobus  de  la  Baune,  in  the  fifth  vol.  of  OjMra 
Sirmondi  (Paris,  1696,  foL).  The  life  of  Theodore  Stu- 
dita,  as  well  as  one  or  two  of  the  other  productions,  was 
perhaps  written  by  another  Michael  Monachus,  a  con- 
temporary and  survivor  of  Studita,  who  died  as  early  as 
826.  The  author  of  this  life  was  a  very  incomjietent 
writer.  Cave,  Hist.  Lit.  ad  an.  876 ;  Fabricius,  Biblioth. 
Grcec.  ix,  50o. 

Michael  Psellus,  Jr.,  a  noted  Greek  philosopher 
and  teacher,  flourished  at  Constantinople  from  1020  to 
1105,  as  teacher  of  theology  and  philosophy.  He  is  no- 
ted as  the  writer  of  AiSafficaXia  iravToSanr]  in  Fabri- 
cius, Biblioth.  Grceca  (vol.  x) : — Yltpl  Svvd^e(i)V  r/jf 
'/'"X'/Ci  edited  by  Tarin  (Par.  1618  sq.) :— a  Paraphrase 
of  Aristotle's  Hepi  ipixeviiag  (Ven.  1503) : — Synopsis  of 
Aristotle's  Oi-ganon,  edited  by  Ehlinger  (Augsb.  1597)  : 
— Commentary  on  Aristotle's  Nuturcd  Philosophy,  in 
Lat.  by  Camotius  (Ven.  1554)  : — Iltpi  rm'  Trsvre  dxoviSJv 
of  Porphyrins  (Basle,  1542) : — Yifpi  tvepyiiag  Saii.i6vwv, 
edited  by  Gaulinenus  (Paris,  1615).  See  Leo  Allatius, 
De  Psellis  eorumque  scriptis  (Rome,  1634) ;  Ueberweg, 
Hist.  Philos.  i,  404 ;  Enfield,  Hist.  Philos.  p.  474. 

Michael  Scotus,  a  learned  author  of  the  13th 
century,  was  born  at  Durham,  England ;  or,  as  some  as- 
sert, at  Balweary,  Scotland.  He  attended  lectures  at 
Oxford,  and  afterwards  at  Paris,  and  devoted  himself  to 
the  study  of  mathematics  and  Oriental  languages.  Em- 
peror Frederick  II,  who  reigned  at  that  time  in  Germany, 
was  the  most  prominent  protector  of  art  and  sciences, 
and  INIichael  went  to  his  court,  studying  medicine  and 
chemistry.  After  a  stay  of  several  years  in  Germany, 
he  returned  to  England,  where  he  became  a  great  fa- 
vorite of  king  Edward  II.  He  died  in  1291,  at  a  very 
advanced  age.  Michael  Scotus  was  celebrated  on  ac- 
count of  his  knowledge  in  secret  arts  and  magic  (corap. 
Dante,  Inferno,  xx,  115-118).  It  is  said  that  his  books 
on  magic  were  buried  with  him.  He  was  also  actively 
engaged  in  the  translation  of  Aristotle,  which  was  made 
by  command  of  emperor  Frederick  11,  and  was  afterwards 
printed  at  Venice  in  1496 :  A  ristotelis  opera  Latine  versa, 
piuiim  e  Grceco,2)artim  e  Aixibico, per  viros  lectos  et  in 
iitni/sqiie  lingiue  prolatione  j)eritos,  jussu  imperatori 
Eridirici  II.  He  probably  translated  the  natural  phi' 
losophy  of  Aristotle  from  the  Arabic  version  of  Avicen- 
na.  Michael  is  the  author  of  De  secretis  naturce,  sire  de 
jirocreatione  hominis  et  pihysiognomia,  and  of  the 
Quwstio  curiosa  de  natura  solis  et  lume,"  i.  e.  of  gold 
and  silver.  He  has  also  been  considered  the  author  of 
Mensapkilosophica  sen  enchiridion,  in  quo  de  qucestionibns 
mensalibus  et  variis  ac  jucundis  homimim  congressihvs 
agitur,  which  has  been  printed  several  times.  This 
latter  work,  however,  has  been  attributed,  by  some  at 
least,  to  Theobald  Anguilbertus,  a  learned  Irishman 
who  lived  about  the  year  1600  as  doctor  of  medicine 
and  ]ihilosophy  at  Paris.  See  Tennemann,  Manual 
Hist.  Philos.  p.  223 ;  Wetzer  u.  Welte,  Kirchen-Lexikon, 
s.  V. 

Michael  VIII,  surnamed  Pal^ologus  (o  Ha- 
XaiuXoyof),  emperor  of  Nictea,  and  afterwards  of  Con- 
stantinople, from  A.D.  1260  to  1282,  the  restorer  of  the 
Greek  empire,  and  the  laborer  for  the  "  unity  of  the 
Church,"  was  born  of  noble  parentage  in  1234.  At  an 
early  age  he  rose  to  eminence,  which  he  owed  more  to 


his  uncommon  talents  than  to  his  illustrious  birth.  He 
was  in  great  favor  with  the  emperor  Theodore  (II)  Las- 
caris.  This  sovereign  died  in  August,  1259,  leaving  a 
son,  John  HI,  who  was  only  nine  years  old,  and  over 
whom  he  had  placed  the  patriarch  Arsenius,  and  the 
magnus  domesticus  Muzalon,  as  guardians.  jMichael, 
the  friend  of  the  soldiers,  was  determined  to  secure  for 
himself  the  place  of  Muzalon,  who  was  despatched  by 
the  imperial  guard,  and  Jlichael  Palieologus,  whom 
Theodore  shortly  before  his  decease  had  appointed  mag- 
nus dux,  was  chosen  as  guardian  instead,  and  soon  after- 
wards received  or  gave  himself  the  title  and  power  of 
despot.  Next  he  made  himself  master  of  the  imperial 
treasury,  bribed  or  gained  the  Varangian  guard  and  the 
clergy,  and  secured  his  proclamation  as  emperor  at 
INIagnesia.  Michael  and  the  boy  John  were  crowned 
together  at  Nicaja,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1260.  While 
the  event  was  hailed  with  satisfaction  at  home,  it  failed 
to  secure  friends  abroad.  The  Latins,  especially,  were 
dissatisfied ;  assumed  a  haughty  tone  towards  Michael, 
and  demanded  the  cession  of  those  parts  of  Thrace  and 
Macedonia  which  belonged  to  Nicsea,  as  a  condition  of 
acknowledging  him  as  emperor.  But  Michael  treated 
the  Latin  ambassadors  with  ridicule,  and,  in  answer,  took 
prompt  measures  for  driving  the  Latins  out  of  Constan- 
tinople ;  and,  before  the  end  of  the  year  1260,  Baldwin 
II  was  shut  up  within  his  capital.  Michael,  however, 
was  not  strong  enough  to  reduce  the  city,  and  was 
obliged  to  convert  the  siege  into  a  blockade ;  until  one 
day,  one  Curtrizacus,  the  commander  of  a  body  of  volun- 
teer auxiliaries,  was  informed  of  the  existence  of  a  sub- 
terranean passage  leading  from  a  place  outside  the  walls 
into  the  cellar  of  a  house  within  them,  and  which  seemed 
not  to  be  generally  known.  Upon  the  strength  of  this 
information,  a  plan  was  formed  for  the  surprise  of  the 
garrison  by  means  of  the  passage,  and,  after  concerting 
measures  with  the  commander-in-chief,  he  ventured 
with  fifty  men  through  the  passage  into  the  city.  His 
plan  succeeded  completely.  No  sooner  was  he  within 
than  he  took  possession  of  the  nearest  gate,  disarmed 
the  post,  opened  it,  and  the  main  body  of  the  Greeks 
rushed  in.  The  stratagem  was  executed  in  the  dead  of 
night.  The  inhabitants,  roused  from  their  slumber,  soon 
learned  the  cause  of  the  noise,  and  kept  quiet  within 
their  houses,  or  joined  their  daring  countrymen.  The 
Latins,  dispersed  in  various  quarters,  were  seized  with  a 
panic,  and  fled  in  all  directions,  while  the  emperor  Bald- 
win had  scarcely  time  to  leave  his  palace  and  escape  on 
board  of  a  Venetian  galley,  which  carried  him  immedi- 
ately to  Italy,  On  the  morning  of  the  25th  of  July, 
1261,  Constantinople  was  in  the  undisputed  possession 
of  the  Greeks,  after  it  had  borne  the  yoke  of  the  Latins 
during  fifty-seven  years,  three  months,  and  thirteen 
days. 

Michael,  informed  of  the  success  of  his  arms,  lost  no 
time  in  repairing  to  Constantinople;  and  on  the  14th 
of  August  held  his  triumphal  entrance,  saluted  by  the 
people  with  demonstrations  of  the  sincerest  joy,  Con- 
stantinople, however,  was  no  more  what  it  had  been. 
During  the  reign  of  the  Latins  plunder,  rapine,  and  dev- 
astation had  spoiled  it  of  its  former  splendor ;  trade  had 
deserted  its  harbor,  and  thousands  of  opulent  families 
had  abandoned  the  palaces  or  mansions  of  their  forefa- 
thers in  order  to  avoid  contact  with  the  hated  foreign- 
ers. To  restore,  repeople,  and  readorn  Constantinople 
was  now  Michael's  principal  task ;  and,  in  order  to  ac- 
complish his  purpose  the  better,  he  confirmed  the  exten- 
sive privileges  which  the  Venetian,  the  Genoese,  and 
the  Pisan  merchants  had  received  from  the  Latin  emper- 
ors. Although  the  Nicaian  emperors  considered  them- 
selves the  legitimate  successors  of  Constantine  the  Great, 
the  possession  of  Constantinople  was  an  event  of  such 
magnitude  as  to  suggest  to  IMichael  the  idea  of  a  new 
coronation,  which  was  accordingly  solemnized  in  the  ca- 
thedral of  St.  Sophia.  But  Michael  was  crowned  alone, 
without  John— an  evil  omen  for  the  friends  of  the  young 
emperor,  whose  fears  were  but  too  soon  realized,  for  on 


MICHAEL  PAL^OLOGUS 


224 


IMICHAELIS 


Christmasi-day  of  the  same  year,  1201,, John  was  deprived 
of  si<,'lit  and  sent  into  exile  to  a  distant  fortress.  This 
hatefdl  crime  caused  a  general  indignation  among  the 
peojjle,  and  might  have  proved  the  ruin  of  Micliael  had 
he  been  a  man  of  a  less  energetic  turn  of  mind.  The 
patriarch  Arsenius,  coguardian  to  John,  was  irreconcila- 
ble ;  he  fearlessly  pronounced  excommunication  upon  the 
imperial  criminal,  and  years  of  trouble  and  commotion 
elapsed  before  Michael  was  readmitted  into  the  commu- 
nion of  the  faithful  by  the  second  successor  of  Arsenius, 
the  patriarch  Juseph. 

The  loss  of  Constantinople  pope  Urban  TV  regarded 
as  robbing  him  of  the  hope  of  effecting  a  union  between 
the  Latin  and  the  Greek  churches,  and  he  therefore 
urged  the  European  princes  to  undertake  a  crusade 
against  the  (Ireek  schismatics;  but  Michael  avoided  the 
danger  by  promising  the  pope  to  do  his  utmost  in  order 
to  effect  himself  a  mediation  between  the  belligerents, 
and,  as  both  the  parties  were  tired  of  bloodshed,  peace 
was  soon  restored  (12(33).  In  1265  Arsenius  was  de- 
posed, because  he  would  not  revoke  the  excommunica- 
tion he  had  pronounced  against  tlie  emperor;  where- 
upon the  prelate's  adherents,  the  Arsenites,  caused  a 
schism  which  lasted  till  1312.  See  Arsenius.  In  this 
skilful  manner  he  also  avoided  troubles  which  threat- 
ened him  in  1269,  when  Charles,  king  of  Sicily,  took  up 
arms  on  pretence  of  restoring  the  fugitive  Baldwin  to 
the  throne,  and  forthwith  marching  upon  Constantino- 
ple, placed  the  capital  in  jeopardy.  Jlichael,  afraid  that 
these  hostilities  were  only  the  forerunners  of  a  general 
crusade  of  all  the  Latin  princes  against  him,  made  prompt 
proposals  for  a  union  of  the  Greek  Churcli  with  that  of 
Korae.  The  learned  Veccus,  accompanied  by  several  of 
the  most  distinguished  among  the  Greek  clergy,  were 
sent  to  the  council  which  was  called  to  assemble  at 
Lyons  in  1274;  and  there  the  union  was  cffcited  by  the 
Greeks  giving  way  in  the  much  disputed  doctrine  of 
the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  submitting  to  the 
supremacy  of  the  pope.  See  Lyons,  IL  The  union, 
however,  was  desired  only  by  a  minority  of  the  Greeks, 
and  the  orthodox  majority  accordingly  did  their  utmost 
to  prevent  the  measure  from  being  carried  out.  Mi- 
chael, in  his  turn,  supported  his  policy  with  force.  The 
patriarch  Joseph  wa.s  deposed,  and  Veccus  appointed  in 
his  stead ;  cruel  punishment  was  inflicted  upon  all  those 
who  opposed  the  union;  and  Greece  was  shaken  by  a 
religious  commotion  which  forms  a  remarkable  event  in 
the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  Kast.  As  space  forbids 
us  to  dwell  here  longer  ujjon  these  important  transac- 
tions, we  can  only  remark  that  the  union  was  never 
effectually  carried  out,  and  was  entirely  abandoned 
upon  the  death  of  Michael.      See  Fii.ioqik;  (iKEEk 

CllLTRCH. 

The  manifest  duplicitj-  and  the  cruelty  with  which 
the  emperor  behaved  tinally  made  him  odious  to  his 
own  sidijects  and  contemptible  to  his  Latin  friends,  and 
the  latter  jiart  of  ids  reign  was  an  uninterrupted  series  of 
domestic  troubles  and  foreign  wars.  His  dearly-bought 
friendship  with  the  Latin,  and  especially  the  Italian 
powers,  was  brought  to  a  very  speedy  end.  Upon  the 
decease  of  the  ex-em])eror  Baldwin,  his  son  Philip  as- 
sumed the  imperial  title,  and  formed  an  alliance  between 
pope  Martin  IV,  Charles  of  Anjou,  king  of  Sicily,  and 
the  Venetians,  with  a  view  of  reconquering  Constanti- 
nople and  dividing  the  ( Jreek  empire.  But  the  invaders 
failed,  and  Michael,  not  satisfied  with  the  glorj'  of  liis 
arms  and  the  material  benefit  he  derived  from  his  vic- 
tory, resolved  to  take  terrible  revenge :  he  paid  twenty 
thousand  ounces  of  gold  towards  equipping  a  Catalan 
fleet,  with  which  king  Peter  of  Aragon  was  to  attack 
Sicily ;  and  the  "  Sicilian  Vespers,"  in  which  eight  thou- 
sand Frenchmen  were  massacred,  and  in  consequence  of 
which  Sicily  was  wrested  from  Charles  of  Anjou  and 
united  with  Aragon,  were  in  some  degree  the  work  of 
iMichael's  fury.  In  the  autumn  of  12H2  he  fell  ill,  and 
died  Dec.  11,  1282,  leaving  the  renown  of  a  successful 
but  treacherous  tyrant.     See  Niceph.  Gregor.  lib.  iv-v ; 


AcropoLc.76,  etc. ;  Phranz.  lib.  i ;  Pachymeres, //is^orta 
Rtrmn  a  Michaele  Palaologa  fjestarum  (1666);  Neale, 
Hist,  ofthb  Kast.  Ch.  ii,  311  sq. ;  Hase,  Ch.  IJist.  p.  269, 
354  sq. ;  Schrockh,  Kirchengeschichte,  xxviii,  315  sq.; 
Gicseler,  L'ccles.  Hist,  iii,  232,  413;  Ffoulkes,  Divisions 
in  Christendom,  vol.  i ;  Neander,  C/i, Hist,  viii,  264  ;  Hard- 
wick,  C/i.  Hist,  of  the  Middle  Af/es,  p.  279-282;  Hefele, 
Concilienffesckichte,  vol.  iv;  Smith,  Uict.  of  Greek  and 
Human  Biorjr.  s.  v. 

Michaelensi,  Jean,  a  Swiss  theologian  of  the  12th 
century,  the  date  of  whose  birth  and  death  are  unknown, 
figured  as  a  bishop  of  Lausanne  in  1 166.  Wc  know  so 
little  of  his  life  that  we  cannot  say  whether  this  same 
Michaelensi  was  the  one  that  assisted  at  the  Council  of 
Troyes  in  1128,  and  who  was  commissioned  to  draw  up 
a  body  of  rules  for  the  Temple  order.  Tlicse  rules  have 
often  been  reprinted,  but  appeared  for  the  first  time  in 
the  Chroniqiie  de  Citeaux,  by  Aubert  Lemire.  They 
have  also  been  attributed  to  Saint  Bernard,  but  with- 
out foundation.  See,  for  the  scanty  information  acces- 
sible, Fleury,  Hist.  Eccles.  liv.  07,  n.  55 ;  JlabiUon,  Op. 
S.  Bernarde,  i,  571 ;  Hist.  Litter,  de  la  France,  xi,  66; 
Kuchat,  Abrer/e  de  I'Histoire  L'ccles.  du  jwys  de  Vaud. 
p.  75. 

Michaelis  is  the  name  of  a  German  family  distin- 
guished in  the  Protestant  theological  world.  The  fol- 
lowing are  the  most  eminent  members  of  this  family : 

1.  Christian  Bexeuikt  was  bom  at  Elrich,  in 
Hohnstein,  Jan.  26, 1680.  He  was  educated  at  Halle, 
and  in  1713  was  made  a  i)rofessor  extraordinary  of  phi- 
losophy, and  in  1731  onlinary  professor  of  theology  at 
his  alma  mater.  In  1738  he  was  transferred  to  the  de- 
partments of  Greek  and  Oriental  literature.  He  died 
Feb.  22, 1764.  He  was  not  a  very  prolific  writer,  but 
his  few  productions  display  unusual  talent  and  ripe 
scholarshiji.  He  was  a  thorough  master  of  the  Biblical 
languages,  particularly  the  Hebrew.  His  principal  works 
are,  1.  (->//  Ihhnn-  C  nnnnuir  and  l'hUnh,;iii :  Dissirtatio, 
qua  soliiri.<,ii/i.<  cdsiinni  ab  Kbriiisinu  S.  Cvdicis  depelli- 
tur  (Halle,  1729) : — Dissert,  qua  sulacisnius  (jeneris  a 
Syntaxi  S.  Codicis  LJbraici  depcllitur  (Halle,  1739): — 
a  treatise  against  the  etymological  hypothesis,  defended 
by  Hermann  Hardt  and  others,  that  Hebrew  and  the 
cognate  tongues  were  derived  from  Greek  (Halle,  1726): 
— a  treatise  on  the  Hebrew  points,  in  wliich  he  took  the 
sideofCapcllus  (Halle,  1739): — a  dissertation  on  <S'cva/j/- 
U}-e  Paronomasia  (Halle,  1737)  : — a  disputation  on  He- 
brew Ellipses  (Halle,  1724).  2.  On  /MlicalExet/esis :  Be 
Hcrba  Borith  (Halle,  1728)  -.—De  Iduma-a  et  ejus  Antiq. 
Historia  (Halle,  1733) :  —  Philologemata  Medica  (in 
which  he  discusses  certain  points  of  the  urs  medica  of 
the  Bible) : — Observationes  philolorjica;  de  norninibns  pro- 
priis  LJbrceis,  a  work  which  was  a  wortliy  ]>redecessor 
of  Simon's  Onomasticon  ]'.  T.: — Disseiiatio  jdiilolor/ica 
de  antiquitatibus  aconomiee  patriarchalis  (reprinted  in 
Ugolino,  Thesaur.  xxiv,  323).  In  the  year  1749  he 
published  Trartatns  criticus  de  rariis  leclionibus  X.  T. 
caiite  co//if/endis  et  dijndicandis,  an  elaborate  treatise  on 
the  various  readings  of  the  (ireek  Testament,  exhibit- 
ing proofs  of  an  accurate  critical  judgment.  It  gives 
some  account  of  the  MSS.  known  in  his  day,  both  Greek 
and  Latin ;  of  the  ancient  versions,  and  of  the  jiatristic 
quotation.^.  We  must  not  omit  to  mention  his  co-opera- 
tion with  his  uncle,  ./((/(ffMH  Heinrirh  Michaelis  (q.  v.),  in 
the  valuable  commentary  on  the  Hayioyrapha.  Our 
author  contributed  the  annotations  on  the  Proverbs, 
Lamentations,  and  Daniel.  He  was  also  associated  with 
J.  H.  Michaelis  in  a  commentary  on  the  first  two  of  the 
greater  prophets.  Simultaneously  willi  the  work  of  the 
latter  on  Isaiah,  noticed  above,  appeared  C.  B.  Jlichae- 
lis's  treatise,  De  .leremia  et  de  I  'alieinio  ejus  (Halle,  1712). 
In  the  year  1736  he  published  a  short  work,  De  rati- 
rinio  A  mosi propheter.  See  Kitto,  Cyclop.  Bibl.  Lit.  s.  v. ; 
Herzog,  Real-F.ncyklopadie.  s.  v. 

2.  JoiiANN  Davii>.  one  of  the  ablest  of  Germany's 
theologians,  and  son  of  the  preceding,  was  bom  at  Halle 


MICHAELIS 


225 


MICHAELIS 


Feb.  27, 1717.  After  receiving  instruction  for  some  time 
from  private  tutors,  Michaelis  spent  four  years  in  the 
Orphan  School  at  Halle,  where  his  attention  was  partic- 
ularly directed  to  languages  and  philosophy.  In  1733 
he  began  to  attend  the  lectures  at  the  university,  and  it 
was  here  that  he  obtained  from  the  chancellor  Ludwig's 
lectures  on  German  history  the  foundation  of  that 
knowledge  of  general  law  and  of  the  constitution  of  so- 
ciety which  was  afterwards  displayed  in  his  Mosaisches 
Recht.  (See  below.)  In  1740  he  visited  England, 
where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  several  eminent 
scholars  both  in  London  and  in  Oxford.  During  part 
of  his  residence  in  England  he  preached  in  the  German 
chapel  at  St.  James's  Palace.  On  his  return  to  Germany, 
he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  historj',  Oriental  lan- 
guages, and  Biblical  criticism.  Upon  the  death  of  the 
chancellor  Ludwig,  Michaelis  was  commissioned  to  ar- 
range and  catalogue  his  immense  library.  The  cata- 
logue was  published  in  1745,  and  is  considered  a  model 
for  such  works.  Michaelis  published  his  first  book  in  1739. 
It  was  a  Dissertaiio  de  Punctuoruni  Ilebi:  A  ntiquitate, 
and  was  quite  ultra-orthodox,  written  in  the  Buxtortian 
manner.  But  later  he  appears  to  have  joined  the  school 
of  Schultens,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  Hebrew  Gram- 
mar he  published  in  1745.  The  pietistic  air  of  Halle 
finally  led  him  to  accept  the  proffered  position  at  Giit- 
tingen,  and  he  removed  to  that  place  in  1746,  and  there 
he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life,  although  he  was  invited  by 
Frederick  the  Great  in  1763  to  return  to  Prussia.  To 
the  University  of  Gottingen  Michaelis  rendered  the 
most  important  services  as  professor  of  theology  and 
Oriental  literature  from  1745  to  1791;  as  secretary  and 
director  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Sciences,  from  1751  to 

1770,  when  he  left  it  on  account  of  some  differences  with 
the  members;  as  editor  of  the  journal  entitled  Gelehrie 
Anzeif/en,  from  1753  to  1770;  and  as  librarian  and  di- 
rector of  the  philological  seminary,  which  would  have 
been  abandoned  after  the  death  of  Gesner  in  1761  if 
Michaelis  had  not  consented  to  direct  it  gratuitously. 

In  order  to  throw  new  light  upon  Biblical  science, 
Michaelis  planned  the  expedition  to  Arabia  and  India 
which  was  conducted  by  Carsten  Niebuhr.  The  first 
project  of  this  enterprise  was  submitted  in  the  year  1756 
to  baron  Von  Bernstorff,  then  minister  of  Frederick  V, 
king  of  Denmark.  The  course  of  the  travellers  was 
directed  mainly  by  Michaelis,  who  drew  up  a  series  of 
questions  for  their  guidance.  These  questions  discuss 
the  most  interesting  points  of  Biblical  science — sacred 
geography.  Oriental  habits  and  customs,  natural  pro- 
ductions mentioned  in  the  Bible,  and  diseases  which 
still  affect  men  in  the  East  as  they  did  of  old.  '•  The 
perspicuity,  and  precision,  and  learning  with  which  our 
author  proposes  the  questions,  and  the  information  in 
answer  to  them  obtained  by  Niebuhr  and  Forskal  (as 
embodied  in  the  Voyage  en  Arable  and  Descrijition  de 
VA  7-abie  of  the  former,  and  in  the  Descriptiones  A  nima- 
lium,  etc.,  of  the  latter),  strikingly  illustrate  the  sagac- 
ity of  Michaelis ;  and  the  literary  results  of  the  expedi- 
tion, though  short  of  the  exaggerated  expectations  of 
the  time,  have,  in  the  shape  of  five  quarto  volumes,  been 
permanently  beneficial  to  Biblical  science.  In  1775 
Michaelis  was  made  a  knight  of  the  Polar  Star  by  the 
king  of  Sweden;  in  1786  he  was  appointed  an  Aulic 
counsellor  of  Hanover,  and  in  1789  he  was  elected  a  Fel- 
low of  the  Royal  Society  of  London.  He  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions,  Paris.  He  died 
Aug.  22, 1791. 

The  works  of  Michaelis  are  very  numerous;  the  fol- 
lowing are  some  of  the  most  important.  In  Oriental 
literature,  grammars  of  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Syriac,  and 
Arabic,  and  treatises  on  various  subjects  connected  with 
these  languages :  Orientalische  und  Exegetische  Biblio- 
ihek  (a  valuable  periodical  commenced  by  Michaelis  in 

1771,  and  of  which  he  conducted  24  vols.) : — Supplementa 
in  Lexica  Ilebraica  (6  pts.  in  2  vols.  4to— useful,  not 
more  for  the  language  illustrated,  than  for  the  informa- 
tion afforded  on  Biblical  geography,  archajologv,  and 

VI.— P 


natural  history.  In  philosophy :  an  essay  On  the  Influ- 
ence of  Opinions  on  Language,  and  of  Language  on  Opin- 
ions, which  obtained  a  prize  from  the  Prussian  Academy 
of  Sciences  in  1759 ;  a  treatise  on  moi-al  philosophy,  and 
other  works.  In  history,  geography,  and  chronology: 
Spicilegiuni  Geographlce  Hebrceorum  exterm  jjost  Bo- 
chartum  (Getting.  1769, 1780) ;  other  treatises  on  geog- 
raphy and  chronology ;  several  separate  dissertations  on 
the  laws  and  antiquities  of  the  Jews,  the  substance  of 
most  of  which  is  embodied  in  his  Mosaisches  Recht,  in 
6  vols.  1770-75 ;  a  second  edition  of  the  first  5  vols,  of 
this  work  was  published  in  the  years  1775-80.  This 
work,  which  is  considered  the  masterpiece  of  ]\Iichaelis, 
was  translated  into  English  by  Dr.  Alexander  Smith, 
under  the  title  of  Commentaries  on  the  Lazes  of  Moses 
(1814,  4  vols.  8vo).  "  The  great  object  of  Michaelis  in 
this  work  is  to  investigate  and  illustrate  the  philosophy 
of  the  Mosaic  laws,  to  show  their  wonderful  adaptation 
in  every  respect  to  the  very  peculiar  circumstances  in 
which  the  people  to  whom  they  were  given  had  been 
placed  by  Providence ;  and,  while  he  takes  every  oppor- 
tunity of  establishing  the  claims  of  Moses  to  the  char- 
acter of  an  ambassador  from  heaven,  to  inculcate  upon, 
human  legislators  the  important  lesson  of  studying  those 
particulars  respecting  the  nature  and  political  situation, 
the  ideas  and  prejudices,  the  manners  and  customs  of 
their  countrj^men,  by  attention  to  which  alone  they  can 
ever  hope  to  make  them  virtuous,  prosperous,  and  hap- 
py" (Dr.  Smith's  Preface,  p.  xvii).  In  Biblical  criti- 
cism, Michaelis's  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament  is 
well  known  in  England  by  the  translation  of  the  late 
bishop  Marsh ;  he  also  published  part  of  an  Introduction 
to  the  Old  Testament ;  a  Translation  of  the  Bible,  with 
Notes,  for  the  Unlearned;  a  monograph  on  the  three 
chief  Messianic  psalms  (viz.  x,  xl,  ex),  in  which  he 
ably  defended  their  prophetic  character  (comp.  cardinal 
Wiseman,  Lectures,  p.  378) ;  a  commentary  on  the  Book 
of  Maccabees  {1778);  on  Ecclesiastes  (1762).  He  also 
wrote  an  able  vindication  of  the  sacred  narrative  on  the 
Burial  and  Resurrection  of  Christ  according  to  the  Four 
Evangelists  (Halle,  1783;  English  transl.  1827);  and 
published  learned  notes  on  an  edition  of  bishop  Lowth's 
Sacra  Poesis  Hebrceorum  (reprinted  in  the  Oxford  edi- 
tion, with  further  annotations  bv  E.  F.  C.  Eosenmulier^ 
1821). 

Johann  David  IMichaelis  has  been  in  many  respects 
more  influential  as  a  Biblical  writer  than  any  other  of 
the  numerous  savants  whom  Germany  has  produced 
within  the  last  150  years.  He  exhibited  an  indomita- 
ble energy  in  the  prosecution  of  his  studies,  and,  hur- 
ried forward  by  an  inquiring  spirit,  he  could  not  fail  to 
produce  valuable  writings.  Unfortunately,  however,  he 
was  inconsistent  as  a  writer.  Anxious  to  adhere  to  the 
established  system  of  Lutheranism,  he  displayed  out- 
wardly great  respect  for  the  Christian  religion,  while 
he  was  really  too  light-minded,  as  he  himself  acknowl- 
edges, to  adopt  their  tone  of  pious  feeling.  It  is  true, 
however,  that  his  early  pietistic  training  nevertheless 
sustained  in  him  a  certain  conviction  of  the  truth  of 
Christianity.  He  endeavored  constantly,  by  new  and 
singularly  ingenious  theories,  to  remove  objections  to 
Christianity;  and,  much  to  the  surprise  of  his  younger 
contemporaries,  whose  rationalistic  views  were  ripening 
apace,  he  held  to  the  last  many  parts  of  the  older  sys- 
tem, which  they  had  either  modified  or  thrown  aside. 
The  melancholy  consequences,  however,  of  this  merely 
natural  persuasion  are  abundantly  manifest.  Destitute 
of  that  conviction  which  alone  can  give  a  comprehen- 
sive insight  into  the  real  character  of  revelation,  and 
the  harmonious  relation  of  its  several  parts,  he  had  no 
guide  to  enable  him  to  perceive  what  might  be  safely 
admitted  without  detriment  to  the  system  itself;  he 
consequently,  according  to  the  usual  custom  of  persons 
taking  only  a  partial  view  of  subjects,  frequently  op- 
posed the  objection,  instead  of  tlie  principle  on  which 
the  objection  was  foiuided ;  endeavored  to  remove  it  by 
theories  in  conformity  with  mere  human  systems,  and 


MICIL\ELIS 


22G 


MICIIAELIUS 


strengtliened  it  equally  by  his  concessions  and  by  his 
own  inadequate  and  arbitrary  defences.  Possessed  of 
no  settled  ])rinciples,  every  minute  difficulty  presented 
itself  with  intrinsic  force  and  perplexity  to  his  mind; 
his  belief  was  a  reed  ready  to  be  shaken  by  every  fresh 
breeze ;  all  that  he  had  previously  jrained  seemed  again 
staked  on  the  issue  of  each  petty  skirmish  ;  and,  in  the 
very  descriptive  comparison  of  Lessing,  he  was  like  the 
timid  soldier  who  loses  his  life  before  an  outpost,  with- 
out once  seeing  the  countrj'  of  which  he  would  gain 
possession.  The  theological  opinions  of  this  celebrated 
man  are  never  to  be  trusted;  and,  indeed,  the  serious 
student  cannot  but  be  disgusted  with  the  levity  which 
too  frequently  appears  in  his  writings,  and  the  gross 
obscenity  which  frequently  defiles  them.  After  all 
drawbacks,  however,  the  discriminating  and  careful  stu- 
dent will  seldom  consult  Michaelis  without  benefiting 
by  his  erudition  and  clearness  of  illustration;  and  often 
will  he  lind  objections  on  Scripture  refuted  with  much 
force  and  felicitous  originality.  Dr.  Tholuck  describes 
Michaelis  as  one  of  the  chief  pioneers  of  neology,  though 
not  because  he  indulged  in  bold  neological  assumptions, 
but  because  he  was  devoid  of  religious  life,  retaining 
only  the  external  form  of  orthodoxy,  but  abandoning 
its  essence  and  spirit  (comp.  Tholuck,  Vermischte  Schrif- 
ien.  ii,  130).  See  Lebensbisc/irdbiiiif/  von  ihm  stlhst  ahge- 
fasst  (Leipsic  and  Kinteln,  1703) ;  C.  (i.  Heyne,  Klogium 
J.  D.  Michaelis  (1791);  Kitto,  Cijclnp.  Bibl.  Lit.  s.  v.; 
■  Enrjlish  C'l/clop.  s.  v.;  Diiring,  CMirte  Theol.  Detdsch- 
lands,  vol.  ii,  s.v.;  Ilagenbach,  Ch.  Hist,  of  the  18th  and 
19lh  Centuries,  i,  157  sq. ;  Kahnis,  Hist,  of  German  Prot- 
estantism, p.  120. 

3.  JoiiANN  Friedricii,  aiuillier  writer  of  this  family, 
a  pupil  of  Danzius,  is  the  author  of  a  philological  dis- 
sertation on  the  derivation  and  meaning  of  the  sacred 
name  Cri'~X  (reprinted  in  Ugolino,  Thesaur,  xxiv,  lOo- 
138).  With  this  treatise  it  is  worth  v;hile  to  compare 
J.  D.  IMichaelis's  remarks.  Supplement,  ad  Lex.  Hebraic. 
p.  85-87  ;  and  Gesenius,  Thesaur.  p.  95-99. 

4.  JoiiANN  Gkorg,  who  flourished  as  divinity  pro- 
fessor at  Halle,  was  born  at  Zerbst  IMay  22,  1690 ;  was 
educated  at  the  University  of  Franeker;  in  1715  en- 
tered the  ministry;  in  1717  accepted  a  position  in  the 
gymnasium  at  Frankfort-on-the-Oder;  and  in  1730  was 
promoted  to  a  professorship  in  the  university  then  at 
that  place.  In  1735  he  was  called  to  llallc,  and  died 
there  July  16, 1758.  He  is  the  author  of  several  learned 
•works;  one,  on  the  fanicus  ( '.itcchctical  School  of  Alex- 
andria, was  first  publisli.d  ill  IT.'.'.i:  aiiuilicr  work  is  enti- 
tled L)e  profjressu  et  iiim  im  nln  ,/,„■/ i/iki-  saiiitaris  hide  a 
prolevanfjelio  usque  ad  .Xoaclnim  (1752);  he  is,  how- 
ever, better  known  for  his  Obsei-vationes  Saci-ce,  a  vol- 
ume of  great  and  varied  erudition,  comprising  certain 
disputations  which  he  had  held  at  the  University  of 
Frankfort.  This  volume  was  published  at  Utrecht  in 
ITSS;  we  add  the  titles  of  such  as  claim  mention  in  this 
work  :  f)e  incisura  propter  mortuos :  —  De  KUscbo,  a 
propro  puerorum  JiethMunsbim  justo  Dei  judicio  vindi- 
cate : — De  cane,  s)jinbolo  prophetm : — De  Spiritu  Sancto, 
sub  externa  linfjuarum  iffnearum  symbolo  A  postolis  com- 
municate:— De  c7-ustulis  quotidionii  poiitlficis  maximi: 
— De  Sacerdote,  ex  minislerio  sujjitus  nan  dirite.  In 
Ugolino,  Thesaur.  xi.  727-748,  there  occurs  a  valuable 
dissertation,  De  Thuribulo  Adyti,  in  which  our  author 
fully  considers  the  high-priest's  sacrificial  duties  on  the 
great  day  of  atonement,  and  takes  occasion  to  illus- 
trate, in  an  interesting  manner,  the  priesthood  of  Christ 
in  some  of  its  features  as  indicated  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  (ix,  7-1 5).  SccDunnti,  (!eleh7ie  Theol.  Deutsch- 
lands,  ii,  516  sq.;  Kitto,  Cyclop.  Jiibl.  Lit.  s.  v.    (J.  H.W.) 

5.  JoiiANX  HKiNKicit,  ujion  the  whole,  the  most  ac- 
curately learned  of  all  the  accomplished  members  of  his 
family,  was  born  at  Klettcni)erg,  in  Hohnstein,  July 
26,  IGliH.  He  studied  Oriental  literature  for  some 
years  at  Fraidvfort-on-the-Oder,  where  ho  had  the  cele- 
brated Ludolf  lor  his  instructor  in  Ethiopic.     He  next 


studied  for  a  time  at  Leipsic,  and  then  removed  to  Halle, 
the  head-quarters  of  Spener's  influence,  and  became  li- 
brarian to  the  university,  later  professor  of  the  Oriental 
languages,  and  eventually  of  divinity.  Halle  was  at 
that  time  the  most  renowned  of  the  German  universi- 
ties; its  professors  were  eminent  men,  and  its  schools 
crowded  with  eager  students,  and  J.  Heinrich  Slichaelis 
was  the  soul  of  the  place.  In  connection  with  A.  H. 
Franke,  he  instituted  the  Coller/ium  Orientule  Theolotji- 
cum,  a  seminary  for  instruction  in  the  Biblical  languages. 
Fifty  years  before  Kennicott'spublication,  J.  II.  Micha- 
elis, after  some  tliirty  years'  conscientious  labor,  led 
the  way  in  Old-Testament  textual  criticism  by  issuing 
from  the  press  a  carefully-edited  Hebrew  Bible  (Halle, 
1720,  2  vols.  4to).  Kennicott,  who  was  impetuous  in 
judgment,  spoke  slightingly  of  this  work,  as  if  the  au- 
thor, from  favor  of  the  Masoretic  text,  had  improperly 
used  his  manuscripts  (sec  Kennicott's  Annual  Account 
of  Hebrew  Collections,  p.  14G).  He  afterwards  modified 
his  opinion  in  the  following  statement,  which  we  ex- 
tract, as  giving  a  good  description  of  Michaelis's  la- 
bors: "This  edition  was  the  first  which  contained  any 
various  readings  collected  from  Hebrew  MSS.  by  a 
Christian  editor.  The  text  is  taken  from  Jablonski's 
edition,  with  some  few  emendations.  .  .  ,  There  were 
collated  for  this  Bible  most  of  the  best  printed  etUtions, 
and  also  five  Hebrew  jMSS.  belonging  to  the  librarj-  at 
Erfurt ;  two  of  which  contain  the  verses  in  Joshua  ex- 
cluded by  the  Jlasora.  The  propriety  of  selecting  va- 
rious readings  from  Hebrew  IMSS.  and  ancient  versions 
is  set  forth  in  the  preface"  {Hist,  of  Hebr.  Text.  Dissert. 
ii,  487,  Teller's  ed.  p.  465).  Three  quarto  volumes  of 
exegesis,  in  the  shape  of  a  commentarj'  on  the  Uagio- 
grapha,  entitled  Annotationcs  I'hilolofjico-Exegetica:  in 
Ilayiographis  (Halle,  1720),  accompanied  the  critical 
text.  This  is  a  work  of  still  acknowledged  value.  J. 
H.  Michaelis  was  the  general  editor  of  the  whole  work; 
but  he  received  assistance  from  his  nephew,  and  from 
Kambach  in  portions  of  it.  The  annotations  on  the 
Psalms,  Job,  Canticles,  Ezra,  and  the  Chronicles  were 
contributed  by  him  (on  the  critical  merit  of  our  author, 
see  Wiseman,  Connection  between  Science,  etc.  2d  cd.  p. 
349).  Other  works  of  his,  worthy  of  mention  here,  are, 
a  dissertation,  De  Paradiso: — a  tract,  De  peculiuribus 
HebrcBorum  loquendi  modis  (Halle,  1702): — De  lesaia 
propheta  ejusque  raticinio  (Halle,  1710) : — and  on  the 
N.  T.,  De  textu  N.T.  Greece  (Halle,  1707  •.—fntroductio 
in  .Jacobi  epistolam  (Halle,  1722,  4to).  Johann  Hein- 
rich Michaelis  died  in  1738.  See  Diiring,  Gelehrte  Theol. 
Deutschlaiuls,  vol.  ii,  s.  v. ;  Herzog,  lieal-L'ncyklopddie, 
ix,  522  sq. 

Michaelis,  Sebastien,  a  French  Dominican,  was 
born  in  1543,  at  Saiut-Zacliarie,  Provence.  He  intro- 
duced reforms  into  many  houses  of  his  order,  for  which, 
with  the  consent  of  the  court  of  Rome,  he  raised  a  par- 
ticular congregation.  jNIichaelis  was  the  first  vicar-gen- 
eral of  this  body,  and,  after  having  refused  in  1579  the 
bishopric  of  Frejus,  became  ])rior  of  the  new  convent  of 
the  Friar  Preachers  at  I'aris  in  1613.  He  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  restorer  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic  in 
France,  a  work  Avith  which  in  our  days  Lacordaire's 
name  has  figured  prominently.  Besides  some  religious 
works,  he  wrote  L'//istoire  veritable  de  ce  qui  s'est  passe 
sous  rexorcisme  de  trots  files  pessedees  au  pays  de  Flan- 
dre,  avec  un  Traite  des  Sorciers  et  dcs  ^faf/iciens  (Paris, 
1623,  2  vols.  8vo) ;  and  edited  Lo  Fevre,  Calendrier 
histoi-ique  et  chronolof/ique  de  VEylise  de  Paris,  See 
Hoefcr,  Xouv.  Diog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Michaelius,  Jonas,  a  Reformed  (Dutch)  minister, 

the  frst  minister  of  the  Hcformed  Church  in  America, 

was  born  in  1577;  was  educated  at  Leyden  University; 

settled  in  Holland  in  1612-16,  in  St.  Salvador  in  1624- 

!  2.5,  in  Guinea  in  1626-27,  and  then  migrated  to  this 

j  country,  and  arrived  at  ^Manhattan  (now  New  York)  in 

1628.     He  organized  a  consistory,  administered  the  sac- 

I  rameuts,  and  performed  all  the  functions  of  a  miuister 


MICHAELMAS 


227 


MICHAL 


of  the  Gospel.  In  1633  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Tlev. 
Everardus  Bogardus,  who  was  accompanied  by  Adam 
Koelandsen,  the  tirst  schoolmaster.  After  a  few  years 
of  service  he  returned  to  Holland,  and  "  the  Classis  of 
Amsterdam  wished  to  send  him  back  to  New  York  in 
1G37,  but  he  did  not  return.  At  his  first  communion 
here  he  had  fifty  communicants.  He  paints  a  sad  pict- 
ure of  the  low  condition  of  the  natives,  and  proposes  to 
let  the  parents  go  and  try  to  educate  the  children.  His 
letter  breathes  a  spirit  of  deep  piety,  and  of  submission 
to  the  divine  will  in  all  his  bereavements."  His  wife 
died  in  1628,  only  seven  weeks  after  their  arrival  in  this 
country,  leaving  him  with  three  small  children.  This 
letter,  and  other  particulars  respecting  this  pioneer  of 
the  Dutch  churches  in  this  country,  are  found  in  Culo- 
nial  Hist,  of  New  York,  ii,  759-770.  See  also  Corwin's 
Manual  Ref.  Church,  p.  164.     (W.  J.  R.  T.) 

Michaelmas,  a  daj-  which,  according  to  the  Church 
of  Rome,  was  set  apart  to  express  her  thankfulness  to 
God  for  the  many  benefits  she  had  received  by  the  min- 
istry of  holy  angels ;  and  called  Michaelmas  because  St. 
jNIichael  is  alluded  to  in  Scripture  as  an  angel  of  great 
power  and  dignity,  and  as  presiding  and  v/atching  over 
the  Church  of  God  with  particular  vigilance  and  appli- 
cation, and  as  triumphant  over  the  devil.  It  origi- 
nated in  some  provincial  festivities  which  were  intro- 
duced between  tlie  3d  and  9th  centuries,  and  which  were 
then  combined  into  one  common  celebration  on  the  29th 
of  September,  the  day  on  which  St.  Michael's  Church 
on  Mount  Garganus  was  dedicated,  as  mentioned  in  the 
Saxon  Chronicle  in  1011,  and  in  Ethelred's  laws  in  1014. 
There  is  a  tradition  that  this  feast  was  instituted  by 
Alexander,  bishop  of  Alexandria.  It  was  generally  ob- 
served in  the  8th  century ;  in  the  12th  century  by  the 
Council  of  Mayence,  and  indeed  by  the  whole  Greek 
Church,  in  accordance  with  an  injunction  of  the  emperor 
Manuel  Comnenus.  The  apparition  of  St.  Michael,  "  the 
prince  seraphim,  leader  of  the  angelic  hosts,  prefect  of 
Paradise,  and  conductor  of  souls  to  the  place  of  repose," 
to  whom  cemetery  chapels  and  churches  on  hills  were 
in  consequence  dedicated,  was  observed  on  the  8th  of 
Jlay.  In  the  10th  century  there  was  a  curious  super- 
stition that  on  every  Monday  morning  St.  Michael  held 
high  mass  in  the  churches. 

The  Greek  and  other  Eastern  churches,  the  Church  of 
England,  as  well  as  several  other  evangelical  churches, 
continue  to  observe  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael,  according 
to  Wheatly,  in  order  "  that  the  people  may  know  what 
benefits  Christians  receive  by  the  ministry  of  angels" 
(On  the  Common  Prayer,  p.  190). 

The  Romish  Church,  besides  observing  St.  Michael- 
mas, also  celebrates  three  appearances  of  St.  Michael, 
which  have  happened  (we  are  told)  in  these  later  years. 
The  first  is  the  appearance  of  this  archangel  at  Colossus, 
in  Phrygia;  but  at  what  time  the  Romanists  do  not 
know  themselves.  They  observe  Sept.  6  as  the  daj'. 
The  second  is  that  of  Mount  Garganus,  in  the  kingdom 
of  Naples,  about  the  end  of  the  oth  century.  JMay  8  is 
set  apart  as  the  day  to  commemorate  the  event.  The 
third  is  his  reputed  appearance  to  Aubert,  bishop  of 
Avranches,  upon  a  rock  called  the  Tomb,  where  now 
stands  the  abbey  of  St.  Michael.  This  was  about  706. 
October  16  is  observed  in  memory  of  this  event.  See 
Broughton,  Biblioth.  Hist.  Sacra,  ii,  93 ;  Procter,  On  the 
Booh  of  Common  Prayer,  p.  301 ;  Wheatlj-,  On  the  Com- 
mon Prayer,  p.  253;  Butler,  Lires  of  Fathers,  Martyrs, 
and  Saints,  ii,  94;  iii,  177;  ^licha.z\\.s,  Denkiciii-digkeiten 
a.  d.  christl.  Archdol.  iii,  28  sq. 

Mi'chah  (Heb.  as  in  Micaiah),  a  son  of  Uzziel  and 
priest  of  the  Kohathite  branch;  elsewhere  (1  Chron. 
xxii,20)  more  correctly  Anglicized  Micah  (q.v.). 

Micha'i'ah  (for  the  Heb.,  etc.,  see  Micaiah),  the 
name  of  several  men  and  one  woman. 

1.  The  queen-mother  of  king  Abijah  (2  Chron.  xiii, 
2) ;  elsewhere  (2  Chron.  xi,  20)  called  Maachah  (q.v.). 

2.  One  of  the  national  chieftains  to  whom  Jehosha- 


phat  gave  orders  to  instruct  the  people  of  the  various 
cities  of  Judah  in  the  sacred  law  (2  Chron.  xvii,  7).  B.C. 
910. 

3.  The  father  of  Achbor,  which  latter  was  one  of  the 
courtiers  (perhaps  a  Levite)  sent  by  Josiah  to  inquire 
of  the  prophetess  Huldah  concerning  the  newly-discov- 
ered copy  of  the  Pentateuch  (2  Kings  xxii,  12).  B.C. 
ante  623.  In  the  parallel  passage  (2  Chron.  xxxiv,  20) 
he  is  caUeu  Micah,  and  his  lather's  name  is  written 
Abdon. 

4.  The  son  of  Gemariah  and  grandson  of  Shaphan ; 
after  having  heard  Baruch  read  the  terrible  predictions 
of  Jeremiah  in  his  father's  hall,  he  went,  apparently 
with  good  intentions,  to  report  to  the  king's  officers 
what  he  had  heard  (Jer.  xxxvi,  11-13).  B.C.  605. 
"  Michaiah  was  the  third  in  descent  of  a  princely  fami- 
ly, whose  names  are  recorded  in  connection  with  im- 
portant religious  transactions.  His  grandfather  Sha- 
phan was  the  scribe,  or  secretary,  of  king  Josiah,  to  whom 
Hilkiah  the  high-priest  first  delivered  the  book  of  the 
law  which  he  said  he  had  found  in  the  House  of  Jeho- 
vah— Shaphan  first  perusing  the  book  himself,  and  then 
reading  it  aloud  to  the  youthful  king  (2  Kings  xxii,  10). 
It  was  from  his  father  Gemariah's  chamber  in  the  Tem- 
ple that  Baruch  read  the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah  in  the 
ears  of  all  the  people.  Moreover,  Gemariah  was  one  of 
the  three  who  made  intercession  to  king  Zedekiah,  al- 
though in  vain,  that  he  would  not  burn  the  roll  contain- 
ing Jeremiah's  prophecies"  (Smith).     See  Jeremiah. 

5.  The  son  of  Zaccur  and  father  of  Mattaniah,  Le- 
vites  ("  priests'  sons")  of  the  line  of  Asaph  (Neh.  xii, 
35).     B.C.  considerably  ante  446. 

6.  One  of  the  priests  who  celebrated  with  trumpets 
the  completion  of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  after  the  exile 
(Neh.  xii,  41).    B.C.  446. 

Mi'chal  (Heb.  Mikal',  h^^^,  rivulet,  as  in  2  Sam. 
xvii, 20;  Sept.  Mf^o^  v.  r.  MfXx<)X;  Josephus,  MixaXa, 
Ant.  vi,  11,  4),  the  younger  of  king  Saul's  two  daugh- 
ters (1  Sam.  xiv,  49),  doubtless  by  his  wife  Ahinoam  (1 
Sam.  xiv,  50).  In  the  following  statement  of  the  Bibli- 
cal history,  we  chiefly  follow  the  graphic  account  of  Mr. 
Grove,  in  Smith's  Lict.  of  the  Bible,  s.  v.     See  David. 

The  king  had  proposed  to  bestow  on  David  his  eldest 
daughter  Merab ;  but  before  the  marriage  could  be  ar- 
ranged an  unexpected  turn  was  given  to  the  matter  by 
the  behavior  of  Michal,  who  fell  violently  in  love  with 
the  young  hero.  The  marriage  with  her  elder  sister 
was  at  once  put  aside.  Saul  eagerlj-  caught  at  the  op- 
portunity which  the  change  offered  him  of  exposing  his 
rival  to  the  risk  of  death.  The  price  fixed  on  Michal's 
hand  was  no  less  than  the  slaughter  of  a  hundred  Phi- 
listines. For  these  the  usual  "dowry"  by  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  East,  from  the  time  of  Ja- 
cob down  to  the  present  day,  the  father  is  paid  for  his 
daughter,  was  relinquished.  David  by  a  brilliant  feat 
doubled  the  tale  of  victims,  and  Blichal  became  his  wife 
(1  Sam.  xviii,  20-28).  What  her  age  was  we  do  not 
know— her  husband  cannot  have  been  more  than  twen- 
ty.    B.C.  cir.  1063. 

'  It  was  not  long  before  the  strength  of  her  affection 
was  put  to  the  proof.  They  seem  to  have,  been  living 
at  Gibeah,  then  the  head-quarters  of  the  king  and  the 
army.  After  one  of  Saul's  attacks  of  frenzy,  in  which 
David  had  barely  escaped  being  transfixed  by  the 
king's  great  spear,  Michal  learned  that  the  house  was* 
watched  by  the  myrmidons  of  Saul,  and  that  it  was  in- 
tended on  the  next  morning  to  attack  her  husband  as 
he  left  his  door  (1  Sam.  xix,  11).  That  the  intention 
was  real  was  evident  from  the  behavior  of  the  king's 
soldiers,  who  paraded  round  and  round  the  town,  and 
"  returning"  to  the  house  "  in  the  evening,"  with  loud 
cries,  more  like  the  yells  of  the  savage  dogs  of  the  East 
than  the  utterances  of  human  beings,  "  belched  out" 
curses  and  lies  against  the  young  warrior  who  had  so 
lately  shamed  them  all  (Psa.  lix,  3,  6,  7,  12).  Michal 
seems  to  have  known  too  well  the  vacillating  and  fero- 


MICHAL 


228 


MICHAL 


cious  disposition  of  her  father  when  in  these  ilaemoniaeal 
moods.  The  attack  was  ordereci  for  the  morning;  but 
before  the  morning  arrives  the  king  will  probably  have 
changed  his  mind  and  hastened  his  stroke.  So,  like  a 
true  soldier's  wife,  she  meets  stratagem  bj'  stratagem. 
She  first  provided  for  David's  safety  by  lowering  him 
out  of  the  window ;  to  gain  time  for  him  to  reach  the 
residence  of  Samuel,  she  next  dressed  up  the  bed  as  if 
still  Occupied  by  him ;  one  of  her  teraphira,  or  household 
gods,  was  laid  in  the  bed,  its  head  enveloped,  like  that 
of  a  sleeper,  in  the  usual  net  (so  Ewald,  Gesc/i.  iii,  101, 
renders  "I'^^'S,  rather  perhaps  a  quilt  or  mattress,  A.V. 
"pillow"  [q.  V.])  of  goat's  hair  for  protection  from 
gnats,  the  rest  of  the  figure  covered  with  the  wide  beyed 
or  plaid.  It  happened  as  she  had  feared;  Saul  could 
not  delay  his  vengeance  till  David  ajjpeared  out  of 
doors,  but  sent  his  people  into  the  house.  The  reply 
of  Michal  is  that  her  husband  is  ill  and  cannot  be  dis- 
turbed. At  last  Saul  will  be  baulked  no  longer:  his 
messengers  force  their  way  into  the  inmost  apartment, 
and  there  discover  the  deception  whicli  lias  been  played 
off  upon  them  with  such  success.  Saul's  rage  may  be 
imagined:  his  fury  was  such  that  jMiclial  was  obliged 
to  fabricate  a  story  of  David's  having  attempted  to  kill 
her  (1  Sam.  xix,  1-2-17).     B.C.  cir.  lOGi, 

This  was  the  last  time  she  saw  her  husband  for  many 
years;  and  when  the  ru])ture  between  Saul  and  David 
had  become  open  and  incurable,  ^lichal  was  married  to 
another  man,  Phalti,  or  Phaltiel,  of  Gallim  ( 1  Sam.  xxv, 
44 ;  2  Sam.  iii,  15),  a  village  apparently  not  far  from  Gib- 
eah.  Her  father  probably  did  not  believe  her  storj' 
concerning  David's  escape ;  but  he  had  taken  advantage 
of  it  by  cancelling  her  former  marriage,  David,  how- 
ever, as  the  divorce  had  been  without  his  consent,  felt 
that  the  law  (Deut.  xxiv,  4)  against  a  husband  taking 
back  a  divorced  wife  could  not  apply  in  this  case;  he 
therefore  formally  reclaimed  her  of  Ish-bosheth,  who 
employed  no  less  a  personage  than  Abner  to  take  her 
from  Phaltiel,  and  conduct  her  with  all  honor  to  David, 
It  was  under  cover  of  this  mission  that  Abner  sounded 
the  elders  of  Israel  respecting  their  acceptance  of  David 
for  king,  and  conferred  with  David  liimself  on  the  same 
subject  at  Hebron  {i  Sam.  iii,  12-21).  As  this  demand 
was  not  made  by  David  until  Abner  had  contrived  to 
intimate  his  design,  it  has  been  supposed  by  some  that 
it  was  managed  between  them  solely  to  afford  Abner 
an  ostensible  errand  in  going  to  Hebron  ;  but  it  is  more 
pleasant  to  suppose  that,  although  the  matter  happened 
to  be  .so  timed  as  to  give  a  color  to  this  suspicion,  the 
demand  really  arose  from  David's  revived  affection  for 
his  first  wife  and  earliest  love.  After  the  death  of  her 
father  and  brothers  at  (iilboa,  ^lichal  and  her  new  hus- 
band appear  to  liave  betaken  themselves,  with  the  rest 
of  the  family  of  Saul,  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  Jordan. 
If  the  old  Jewish  tradition  inserted  by  the  Targum  in 
2  Sam.  xxi  may  be  followed,  she  was  occupied  in  bring- 
ing up  the  sons  of  her  sister  Merab  and  Adriel  of  Mcho- 
lah.  At  any  rate,  it  is  on  the  road  leading  up  from  the 
Jordan  valley  to  the  IMount  of  Olives  that  we  first  en- 
counter her  with  her  husband — ^lichal  under  the  joint 
escort  of  David's  messengers  and  Abner"s  twenty  men, 
en  route  to  David  at  Hebron,  the  submissive  Phaltiel 
behind,  bewailing  the  wife  thus  torn  from  liim.  It  was 
at  least  fourteen  years  since  David  ami  she  had  parted 
at  (jlibeah,  since  she  had  watched  biin  disa|)i)ear  down 
the  cord  into  the  darkness,  and  had  iicrillcd  her  own  life 
for  his  against  the  rage  of  her  insane  father.  That  Da- 
vid's love  for  his  absent  wife  had  undergone  no  change 
in  the  interval  seems  certain  from  the  eagerness  with 
which  he  reclaims  her  as  soon  as  the  opportunity  is  af- 
forded him.  Important  as  it  was  to  him  to  make  an  al- 
liance with  Ishboshcth  and  the  great  tribe  of  Benjamin, 
and  much  as  lie  respected  Al)iu>r,  he  will  not  listen  for 
a  moment  to  any  overtures  till  his  wife  is  restored. 
Every  circumstance  is  fresh  in  his  memory.  "I  will 
not  see  thy  face  except  thou  first  bring  Saul's  daughter 


.  .  .  my  wife  Michal  whom  I  espoused  to  mc  for  a  hun- 
dred foreskins  of  the  Philistines"  (2  Sam.  iii,  13,  14). 
The  meeting  took  place  at  Hebron,  B.C,  cir,  1047. 
How  Michal  comported  herself  in  the  altered  circum- 
stances of  David's  household,  how  she  received  or  was 
received  by  Abigail  and  Ahinoam  we  are  not  told ;  but 
it  is  (ilain  from  the  subsequent  occurrences  that  some- 
thing had  happened  to  alter  the  relations  of  herself  and 
David,  They  were  no  longer  what  they  had  been  to 
each  other.  The  alienation  was  probably  mutual.  On 
her  side  must  have  been  the  recollection  of  the  long  con- 
tests which  had  taken  place  m  the  intcn-al  between  her 
father  and  David;  the  strong  anti-Saulite  and  anti- 
Benjamite  feeling  prevalent  in  the  camp  at  Hebron, 
where  every  word  she  heard  must  have  contained  some 
distasteful  allusion,  and  where  at  ever}'  turn  she  must 
have  encountered  men  like  Abiathar  the  priest  or  Isma- 
iah  the  Gibeonite  (1  Chron.  xii,  4;  comp.  2  Sam.  xxi, 
2),  who  had  lost  the  whole  or  the  greater  part  of  their 
relatives  in  some  sudden  burst  of  her  father's  fury.  Add 
to  this  the  connection  between  her  husband  and  the 
Philistines  who  had  killed  her  father  and  brothers ;  and, 
more  than  all  perhaps,  the  inevitable  difference  between 
the  boy-husband  of^  her  recollections  and  the  matured 
and  occupied  warrior  who  now  received  her.  The 
whole  must  have  come  upon  her  as  a  strong  contrast  to 
the  affectionate  husband  whose  tears  had  followed  her 
along  the  road  over  Olivet,  and  to  the  home  over  which 
we  cainiot  doubt  she  ruled  supreme.  On  the  side  of 
David  it  is  natural  to  put  her  advanced  years,  in  a  cli- 
mate where  women  are  old  at  thirty,  and  ]irobably  a 
petulant  and  jealous  temper  inherited  from  lier  father, 
one  outburst  of  which  certainly  produced  the  rupture 
between  them  w  hich  closes  our  knowledge  of  ^lichal. 

It  was  the  day  of  David's  greatest  triumph,  when  he 
brought  the  Ark  of  Jehovah  from  its  temporary  resting- 
place  to  its  home  in  the  newly-acquired  city.  It  was  a 
triumph  in  every  respect  peculiarly  his  own.  The 
procession  consisted  of  priests,  Levites,  tlie  captains  of 
the  host,  the  ciders  of  the  nation ;  and  conspicuous  in 
front,  "in  the  midst  of  the  damsels  playing  on  the  tim- 
brels" (comp.  Psa.  Ixviii,  2.i),  was  the  king  dancing  and 
leaping.  Michal  watched  this  proecssii)n  ajiproach  from 
the  window  of  her  apartments  in  the  royal  harem ;  the 
motions  of  her  husband,  clothed  only  in  a  thin  linen 
ephod  (1  Chron.  xv,  27),  shocked  her  as  undignified  and 
indecent — "she  despised  him  in  her  heart."  B.C.  cir. 
1043.  It  would  have  been  well  if  her  contempt  had 
rested  there;  but  it  was  not  in  her  nature  to  conceal  it, 
i  and  when,  after  the  exertions  of  the  long  day  were  over 
— the  last  burnt-offering  and  the  last  peace-offering  of- 
fered, the  last  portion  distriliuted  to  the  crowd  of  wor- 
shippers— the  king  entered  his  house  to  bless  his  fam- 
ily, he  was  received  by  bis  wife,  not  with  the  congratu- 
lations which  he  had  a  right  to  expect,  and  which  would 
have  been  so  grateful  to  him,  but  with  a  bitter  taunt, 
which  showed  liow  incapable  she  was  of  appreciating 
either  her  husband's  temjier  or  the  service  in  which  he 
had  been  engaged.  David's  retort  was  a  tremendous 
one,  conveyed  in  words  which  once  s]ioken  could  never 
be  recalled.  It  gathered  up  all  the  differences  between 
them  wliich  made  sympathy  no  longer  possible,  and  we 
do  not  need  the  assurance  of  the  sacred  writer,  that  '"Mi- 
chal had  no  child  unto  the  day  of  her  death,'"  to  feel 
quite  certain  that  all  intercourse  between  her  and  David 
must  have  ceased  from  that  date.  Josejiluis  (.1///.  vii, 
4,.^)  intimates  that  she  returned  to  Phaltiel.  but  of  this 
there  is  no  mention  in  the  records  of  the  Bible;  and  it 
would  be  difficidt  to  reconcile  such  a  thing  with  the 
known  ideas  of  the  Jews  as  to  women  who  had  once 
shared  the  king's  bed.  SeeAinsuAo;  Adom.iaii.  The 
j  fanciful  Jewisli  tradition,  jireserved  in  tlie  Targum  on 
Ruth  iii,  3,  states  tliat  Phaltiel  had  from  the  first  acted 
!  in  accordance  witli  the  i<lea  alluded  to  in  the  text.  He 
j  is  placed  in  the  same  rank  with  Joseph,  and  is  com- 
I  raemorated  as  "  Phaltiel,  son  of  Laish,  the  pious  (X^'^Cn, 


MICHEL 


229 


MICHELOZZI 


A  ssidcean,  the  word  used  for  the  Puritans  of  the  New- 
Testament  times),  who  placed  a  sword  between  himself 
and  Michal,  Saul's  daughter,  lest  he  should  go  in  mito 
her."  It  was  thus,  perhaps,  as  Abarbanel  remarks,  or- 
dered by  Providence  that  the  race  of  Said  and  David 
should  not  be  mixed,  and  that  no  one  deriving  any  ap- 
parent right  from  Saul  should  succeed  to  the  throne. 

Her  name  appears  but  once  again  (2  Sam.  xxi,  8),  as 
the  bringer-up,  or  more  accurately  the  mother,  of  five 
of  the  grandchildren  of  Saul  who  were  sacrificed  to  Je- 
hovah by  the  Gibeonites  on  the  hill  of  Gibeah.  But  it  is 
probably  more  correct  to  substitute  Merab  for  Michal  in 
this  place  (see  Hitzig,  Begr.der  Krit.  p.  145  sq.;  Fliesch- 
mann,  l)e  Jiliis  Michal,  Altorf,  ITIG).     See  Adriel. 

Michel,  Augustin,  a  German  Roman  Catholic 
theologian,  was  born  in  1G61,  at  UnterstorflF,  Bavaria, 
and  was  educated  at  the  University  of  DUlingen.  He 
studied  both  theology  and  law,  and  secured  the  doc- 
torate in  divinity  and  also  in  law.  After  finishing  his 
studies,  he  returned  as  teacher  to  the  convent-school  of 
his  native  place,  where  he  had  prepared  for  the  univer- 
sity. He  was  afterwards  appointed  ecclesiastical  coun- 
sellor by  the  prince  elector  of  Cologne,  the  prince  bishop 
of  Freising,  and  the  prince  abbot  of  Kempten.  He  died 
in  1751.  Some  of  his  most  important  works,  besides 
many  dissertations  and  contributions  to  periodicals,  are, 
Expositiones  in  Psalmos,  in  Cantica,  Cenciones  doinini- 
cales,  etc.  (never  published) : — Theoloffia  canonico-mo- 
ralis  (1707,  fol.)  : — Dejuro  et  justitia,juridice  et  theolo- 
gice  tractata  contra  L,  B.  de  Schmid  (Komie,  1699, 8vo)  : 
— Discussio  theologica  de  contritione  et  attntione  (ibid. 
1710,  4to): — Confutatio  in/amis  lihri  cid  Litalis  Expos- 
tulatio  contra  damnationem  Quesnellii,  etc.  (Landeshuti, 
1719,  4to). 

Michel,  Francois,  a  French  visionary,  was  born 
at  Salon,  in  Provence,  in  1G61.  To  this  name  is  attached 
the  memory  of  an  extraordinary  adventure,  which,  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  summer  of  1699,  created  a  great 
sensation  in  France.  Michel  practiced  at  Salon-  the 
trade  of  a  farrier.  When  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  the 
father  of  a  family,  and  well  known  in  his  vicinity,  he 
claimed  to  have  the  following  vision :  "  One  even- 
ing, in  the  field,  returning  home,  he  saw  at  the  foot  of 
a  tree,  and  surrounded  by  a  great  light,  a  beautiful  fair 
woman,  clothed  in  white,  with  a  mantle  arranged  in 
court-fashion,  who,  calling  Michel  by  his  name,  told 
him  that  she  was  the  late  queen,  Marie  Therese,  who 
had  been  married  to  the  king.  After  having  confided 
to  him  some  things  of  great  importance,  she  ordered  him, 
under  pain  of  death,  to  go  and  reveal  them  to  the  king, 
adding  that  if  at  first  he  could  not  obtain  an  audience 
with  the  king,  he  should  demand  to  see  a  minister  of 
state,  but  that  he  should  reserve  certain  secrets  for  the 
king  alone.  This  apparition  was  renewed  three  times. 
Yielding  finally  to  these  injunctions,  the  farrier  repaired 
to  Aix,  to  the  intendant  of  Provence,  who,  surprised  at 
the  good  sense  and  firmness  of  this  man,  gave  him  let- 
ters to  the  ministers,  and  paid  his  wa}'.  This  marvel- 
lous story  spread  in  all  directions.  Michel  had  scarcely 
arrived  at  Marseilles,  when  he  sought  JI.  de  Brissac, 
major  of  the  body-guard,  and,  without  permitting  him- 
self to  be  disheartened,  insisted  on  having  access  to  the 
king.  Louis  XIV,  informed  of  the  singular  obstinacy 
of  Michel,  finally  consented  to  receive  the  farrier,  and 
had  with  him  two  interviews;  but  to  this  day  the  con- 
versation between  the  king  and  his  subject  remains  a 
mystery.  To  his  friends  the  king  pronounced  Jlichel  a 
man  of  great  good  sense.  Michel  returned  to  his  prov- 
ince, furnished  with  a  sum  of  money,  and  provided  for 
during  the  remainder  of  his  life."  This  singular  case 
was  much  commented  upon.  While  some  admitted  the 
reality  of  a  providential  mission,  others  saw  in  it  only  a 
tissue  of  bold  trickery,  of  which  Michel,  in  his  simplici- 
ty, was  the  first  dupe.  We  are  told  to  place  all  this 
story  to  the  account  of  a  Madame  Arnoul,  a  romantic 
and. intriguing  woman,  widow  of  the  intendant  of  ma- 


rine at  Marseilles,  and  who  preser\-ed  a  secret  and  inti- 
mate friendship  for  a  long  time  with  INIadame  de  INIainte- 
non.  Michel,  fatigued  with  the  curiosity  of  which  he 
was  the  object,  retired  to  Lan9on,  a  village  near  Aix, 
where  he  died,  December  10,  1726.  Saint-Simon,  Me- 
moires,  xi,  16  sq.  (edit.  Cheruel) ;  Proyart,  Vie  du  Dau- 
phin p'ere  de  Louis  X  VI.  See  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Ge- 
nerate, s.  v. 

Michel,  Georg  Adam,  a  German  theologian, 
was  born  Sept.  23,  1708,  at  Walpheim;  was  educated 
at  the  school  of  his  native  place,  and  studied  theology 
at  the  University  of  Jena.  Afterwards  he  assisted  his 
father  in  his  ecclesiastical  functions  for  seven  years,  was 
then  appointed  inspector  of  the  orphan  asylum  at  Oet- 
tingen,  with  the  title  Counsellor  of  the  Consistorj' ;  and 
died  March  21,  1780.  Michel  combined  with  a  great 
knowledge  in  theology  a  thorough  acquaintance  with 
history.  He  contributed  largely  to  the  Oettingische  Bib- 
liothek  (Oettingen,  1758,  8vo),  and  to  the  Oettingische 
politische  kirchliche  und  gtlehrten  Geschichte  (ibid.  1772- 
79,  3  vols.  8vo). 

Michel,  Jean,  a  French  ecclesiastic,  was  born  at 
Beauvais  about  the  close  of  the  14th  centurj'.  He  was 
at  first  counsellor  to  Louis  II, king  of  Sicily;  then  canon 
of  Rouin,  of  Aix,  and  of  Anglers.  He  was  appointed 
bishop  of  Anglers  by  the  state,  February  28, 1439 ;  arch- 
deacon Guillaume  d'Estouteville,  of  the  same  diocese, 
however,  obtained  edicts  from  the  pope  for  the  bishop- 
ric. Fortified  with  these  bulls,  he  presented  himself  to 
the  chapter,  and  demanded  the  deposition  of  Michel ; 
but,  instead,  the  supplicant  himself  was  removed.  Guil- 
laume persisted  notwithstanding,  and  seated  himself  as 
bishop  of  Anglers  in  the  Council  of  Florence,  while  Jean 
Michel  was  seated  with  the  same  title  in  the  Council  of 
Basle.  Stormy  dissensions  ensued,  which  the  pope  Eu- 
genius  endeavored  to  terminate  by  appointing  Guillaume 
successively  bishop  of  Digne  and  cardinal.  But  a  man 
of  so  great  an  origin,  and  so  powerful  in  his  alliances, 
was  not  to  be  satisfied  with  these  transactions.  His  in- 
trigues continued  to  involve  the  bishopric  in  constant 
agitation.  The  plebeian  Jean  Michel  had,  however,  res- 
olute partisans.  Few  prelates  have  left  in  the  Church 
of  Anglers  such  honorable  memories.  The  kings  of 
France  have  several  times  demanded,  though  in  vain, 
his  canonization  by  the  Church  of  Rome.  Michel  died 
Sept.  11, 1447.  See  Gallia  Christiana,  vol.  xiv,  col.  580 ; 
Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Michele,  Parrasic,  a  Venetian  painter,  flourished 
about  1590.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Paul  Veronese.  He 
executed  several  works  for  the  churches,  especially  a 
Pieta,  in  a  chapel  of  the  church  of  San  Giuseppe,  into 
which  he  introduced  a  portrait  of  himself.  See  Spooner, 
Biog.  Hist,  of  the  Fine  Arts  (N.  Y.  1865,  2  vols.  8vo). 

Michelians.  See  Hahn,  Michel  ;  Korntiial, 
Society  of. 

Michelini,  Gio.  Battista,  a  painter  of  religious 
subjects,  who  flourished  about  1650,  was  a  native  of  Fo- 
ligno.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Guido  Reni,  and  wrought  in 
the  churches  of  the  Romagna.  Lanzi  says  there  are 
several  of  his  works  at  Gubbio,  and  mentions  particu- 
larly a  Dead  Christ.  But  little  is  known  of  him.  See 
Lanzi's  Hist,  of  Painting,  transl.  by  Roscoe  (Loud.  1847, 
3  vols.  8vo),  i,  460 ;  Spooner,  Biog.  Hist,  of  the  Fine  A  rts 
(N.Y.1865,  2  vols.  8vo). 

Michelozzi  (orMichelozzo),  a  celebrated  Flor- 
entine sculptor  and  architect,  was  born  in  1396.  He 
was  a  pupil  of  Donatello,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  se- 
pulchral monument  erected  for  pope  Giovanni  Coscia,  in 
the  church  of  San  Giovanni  at  Florence,  by  Donatello, 
is  in  reality  the  work  of  Michelozzi.  In  the  same 
church  is  a  "beautiful  statue  of  Faith,  which  was  execu- 
ted by  JMichelozzi  as  a  companion  to  the  two  statues  of 
Hope'  und  Charity  by  his  master.  Over  the  sacristy 
and  the  rooms  of  the  superintendents,  which  are  opposite 
to  San  Giovanni,  Michelozzi  executed  a  full  relief  of 


MICHL 


230 


MICHMAS 


San  Giovanni,  which  was  afterwards  removed,  and  is  I  tire  down  the  wady  to  Gilgal,  near  Jericho,  that  from 
now  in  the  Florentine  Gallery,  in  the  corridor  of  bronzes,  that  ancient  sanctuary  he  might  collect  and  reassure  the 
As  an  architect,  Michelozzi  had  deservedly  a  high  rep-  ,  Israelites.  Michmas  was  then  occupied  by  the  Pliilis- 
utation.  He  built,  among  many  other  line  buildings,  tines,  and  was  their  furthest  post  to  the  east,  iiut  it 
the  library  of  the  monastery  of  San  Giorgio  Maggiore,  was  destined  to  witness  their  sudden  overthrow.  While 
a  house  of  the  Black  :Monks"of  Santa  (Jiustina.  In  1437  j  he  was  in  Geba,  and  his  father  in  Michmas,  Jonathan 
lie  commenced  the  construction  of  the  convent  of  San  (  must  have  crossed  the  intervening  valley  too  often  not 
Marco,  which  was  linished,  at  a  cost  of  3(3,000  ducats,  in  to  know  it  thoroughly  ;  and  the  intricate  paths  which 
1452.     Michelozzi  also  constructed  for  Cosmo  de'  Med-  ]  render  it  impossible  for  a  stranger  to  find  his  way  through 


ici  the  noviciate  of  Santa  Croce,  which,  for  beauty  of 
form  and  decoration,  will  compare  favorably  with  any 
work  of  this  master.  The  convent  of  the  Barefooted 
Monks  of  St.  Francis,  the  church  and  convent  of  the 
monks  of  San  Girolamo,  and  many  other  works  of  purely 
secidar  character,  are  by  this  distinguished  man.  He 
died  in  1470,  and  was  buried  in  his  own  tomb,  in  the 
church  of  San  IMarco,  in  Florence. — Vasari,  Lifts  of  the 
Painters,  transl.  by  Jlrs.  Foster  (Lond.  1850,  5  vols.  8vo), 
1,494;  Quatremere  de  Quiucy,  I'ies  des  Archiiectes  illus- 
ires. 

Michl,  Antox,  a  German  Roman  Catholic  theolo- 
gian, was  born  in  1753  at  Ebersberg,  Bavaria;  was  edu- 
cated at  Freysing,  and  ordained  in  1770.  lie  aftcr- 
Avards  studied  law  and  ecclesiastical  liistory,  and  was  in 
1799  appointed  professor  of  ecclesiastical  law  and  history 
at  Landshut.  lie  was  a  faithful  adherent  of  the  gov- 
ernment party,  at  that  time,  as  in  our  own  day,  deci- 
dedly anti-Romanistic  in  feeling  and  tendency,  and 


the  mounds  and  hummocks  that  crowd  the  bottom  of 
the  ravine — with  these  he  was  so  familiar — the  pas- 
sages here,  the  sharp  rocks  there — as  to  be  able  to  trav- 
erse them  even  in  the  dark.  It  was  just  as  the  day 
dawned  (Joseph.  Ant.  vi,  6,  2)  that  the  watchers  in  the 
garrison  at  Michmas  descried  the  two  Hebrews  clam- 
bering up  the  steeps  beneath.  We  learn  from  the  de- 
tails furnished  by  Joseplius,  who  must  have  had  an  op- 
portunity of  examining  the  spot  when  he  passed  it  with 
Titus  on  their  way  to  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  (see  Wai; 
V,  2, 1),  that  the  part  of  Michmas  in  which  the  Philis- 
tines had  established  themselves  consisted  of  three  sum- 
mits, surrounded  by  a  line  of  rocks  like  a  natural  en- 
trenchment, and  ending  in  a  long  and  sharp  precipice, 
believed  to  be  impregnal)le.  Finding  himself  observed 
from  above,  and  taking  the  invitation  as  an  omen  in  his 
favor,  Jonathan  turned  from  the  course  which  he  was  at 
first  pursuing,  and  crept  up  in  the  direction  of  the  point 
reputed  impregnable.  It  was  there,  according  to  Jose- 
Michl  thereby  made  many  friends  even  among  the  Pli"s>  t'lat  lie  and  his  armor-bearer  made  their  entrance 
Protestants,  who  looked  upon  him  as  a  friend  of  liberty    to  the  camp  (Josephus,  .4  nt.  vi,  6,  2)"  (Smith).     See 

Besides 


and  of  light.  He  died  at  Landshut  in  1813. 
several  dissertations,  he  published  Kirchenrecht  Jiir  Ka- 
tlioUken  und  Prottstanten,  mit  Hinsicht  anf  den  Code 
Napoleon  und  ilh  hm/i /■isr/n  n  i.iiiidi  y;/,  s< /:.r  (Munchen, 
1809)  ;  and  Kin-/,,  n;/,  srhh-hi,  ,  ll,i,l.  1mi7    11,2  vols.Svo). 


See  CI.  A.  Baa 


.-.  /.,  xiL: 


Schrift- 


GiBEAii ;  Jonathan.  It  was  inhabited,  after  the  re- 
turn from  Babylon  (Neh.  xi,  31),  by  122  returned  colo- 
nists (Ezra  ii,  27;  Neh.  vii,  31).  Euscbius  describes 
Michmas  as  a  large  village  nine  Roman  miles  from  Je- 
rusalem, on  the  road  to  Ramah  {Onomast.  s.  v.  Maxima). 
Travellers  have  usually  identified  it  with  Bir  or  el-Bireh 
(see  Maundrell,  jVIarch  25 ;  and  the  details  in  Quares- 
mius,  Elucidato,  ii,  78G,  787) ;  but  Dr.  liobinson  {Re- 
searches, ii,  117)  recognises  it  in  a  place  still  bearing  the 
name  ot'Jlfidhmas,  at  a  distance  and  position  which  cor- 
respond well  with  these  intimations.  It  is  small,  and 
almost  desolate,  but  bears  marks  of  having  once  been  a 
place  of  strength  and  importance.  There  are  many 
iiundations  of  hewn  stones,  and  some  columns  lie  among 


stel/cr  (Augsburg  and  Leipsic,  1824) ;  Wetzer  u.  Welte, 
Kirrhen- Lexikon,  S.  v. 

Mich'mas  (Heb.  Mikmas',  &'2Sp,  something  hid- 
den; Ezra  ii,  27,  Sept.  MaxfiaQ  v.  r.  Xa^f^idc  ;  Neh.  vii, 
31,  Maxffif'ic),  or  Miciimasii  (Ileb.  Mikmash',  "QiZZiZ, 
id.  Neh.  xi,31,  Sept.  Max«At«e,  i"  pause  'C'^Z'C,  1  Sam. 
xiii,  2,  5, 11,  lO,  23;  xiv,  5,  31 ;  Isa.  x,  28;'sept.  M«x- 

fiac,  and  so  in  1  Mace,  ix,  13;  Josephus,  Ma\;/""  [Ant.  \  them.  The  steep  and  precipitous  Wady  es-Sinreinil,  a 
xiii,  1,  C]),  a  town  of  Benjamin  (Ezra  ii,  27 ;  Neh.  xi,  31 ;  valley  into  wliich  the  two  ravines  on  the  low  ridge  be- 
comp.  vii,  31),  east  of  Bethel  or  Beth-aven  (1  Sam.  xiii,  !  twoen  wliirli  the  village  is  situated  run,  is  probaldy  the 
5),  and  south  from  jMigron,  on  the  road  to  Jerusalem  |  "passage  of  jNliclimash"  mentioned  in  Scripture  (1  Sam. 
(Isa.  X,  28).  "  If  the  name  be,  as  some  scholars  assert  j  xiii,  23 ;  Isa.  x,  29).  "  In  it,"  says  Dr.  Robinson,  '"just 
(Fiirst,  Handu-h.  p.  OdOi.  7o2/>),  compounded  from  that  of  at  the  left  of  where  we  crossed,  are  two  hills  of  a  con- 
Chemosh,  the  JMoabitish  deity,  it  is  not  improbably  a  ical,  or  rather  spherical  form,  having  steep  rocky  sides, 
relic  of  some  incursion  or  invasion  of  tlie  ]Mi)abites,  just  with  small  wadys  running  up  between  each  so  as  al- 
as Chephar-haammonai,  in  this  very  neighborhood,  is  of  most  to  isolate  them.  One  of  them  is  on  the  side  to- 
the  Ammonites.  But  though  in  the  heart  of  Benjamin,  j  wards  Jeba  ((libeah),  and  the  other  towards  Jlukhmas. 
it  is  not  named  in  the  list  of  the  towns  of  that  tribe  These  would  seem  to  be  the  two  rocks  mentioned  in 
(comp.  Josh,  xvii)."  The  words  ofl  Sam.xiii,2;  xiv,4;  connection  with  Jonathan's  adventure  (1  Sam.  xiv,  4,5). 
and  Isa.  x,  29,  show  that  at  Jlichmas  was  a  pass  where  See  Bozez  ;  SENiiii.  They  are  not,  indeed,  so  sharp  as 
the  progress  of  a  military  body  might  be  impeded  or  op-  the  language  of  Scripture  would  seem  to  imjily;  but 
posed,  since  it  was  held  by  the  Philistines  while  Saul  they  are  the  only  rocks  of  the  kind  in  this  vicinity, 
and  the  Israelites  were  at  Gibeah ;  it  was  also  on  the  line  The  northern  one  is  comiccted  towards  the  west  with  an 
of  march  of  an  invading  army  from  the  north,  and  the  eminence  still  more  distinctly  isolated"'  (Bib.  Ihnearch- 
Assyrians  are  represented  as  depositing  their  baggage  es,  ii,  IIG;  comp.  new  ed.  iii,  289;  see  Thenius.  in  the 
there  on  their  way  to  Jerusalem,  just  before  reaching  Sachs,  cxeejet.  Stud,  ii,  147  sq.).  "Immediately  facing- 
Gibeah  (Isa.  X,  28).  It  was  perhaps  for  this  reason  that  Mukhmas,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  ravine,  is  the 
Jonathan  Maccaba-us  fixed  his  abode  at  Michmas  (1  modern  representative  of  Geba;  and  behind  this  again 
Mace,  ix,  73);  and  it  is  from  the  chivalrous  exploit  of  are  Ramah  and  (iibeali  —  all  memorable  names  in  the 
another  hero  of  the  same  name,  the  son  of  Saul,  that  the  long  struggle  which  has  immortalized  ISIichmas.  Bethel 
place  is  chiefly  celebrated  (1  Sam.  xiii,  xiv, 4-10).  "Saul  is  about  fimr  miles  to  the  north  of  Michmas.  and  t lie  in- 
was  occuining  tlic  range  of  heights  above  mentioned,  terval  is  filled  u|)  by  the  heights  of  Burka,  Deir  Diwan, 
one  end  of  his  line  resting  on  Bethel,  the  other  at  ]Mich-  Tell  el-IIajar,  etc.,  which  appear  to  have  constituted 
mas  (1  Sam.  xiii,  2).  In  (ieha,  close  to  him,  but  sepa-  ;  the  Mount  Bethel  of  tlie  narrative  (xiii,  2)."  In  the 
rated  by  the  wide  and  intricate  valley,  the  Philistines  j  Talmud  {Mciiac/ioth,  viii.  1  ;  comj".  Schwarz.  J'aUat.  p. 
liad  a  garrison  with  a  chief  ollicer.  The  taking  of  the  |  131)  the  soil  of  ^Michmas  is  celebrated  for  its  fertility 
garrison  or  the  killing  of  llie  ofhcer  by  Saul's  son  Jona-  ^  (Reland,  Pahtat.  ji.  897).  "  There  is  a  good  deal  of  cul- 
thau  was  the  first  move.  Tlie  next  was  for  the  I'hi-  tivation  in  and  among  groves  of  old  olives  in  tlie  broad, 
listines  to  swarm  uji  from  their  sea-side  plain  in  such  shallow  wady  which  slopes  down  to  the  north  and  east 
numbers  that  no  alternative  was  left  for  Saul  but  to  re-  ,  of  the  village ;  but  Mukhmas  itself  is  a  very  poor  place, 


MICHMASH 


231 


MICRONESIA 


and  the  country  close  to  it  has  truly  a  most  forbidding 
aspect.  Huge  gray  rocks  raise  up  their  bald  crowns, 
completely  hiding  every  patch  of  soil,  and  the  gray  liuts 
of  tlie  village,  and  the  gray  ruins  tliat  encompass  them, 
can  liardly  be  distingui.shed  from  the  rocks  themselves. 
There  are  considerable  remains  of  massive  foundations, 
columns,  cisterns,  etc.,  testifying  to  former  prosperity 
greater  tlian  that  of  either  Aiiathoth  or  Geba"  (Porter, 
Hamlbl:  p.  215,  216). 

Mich'mash  (1  Sam.  xiii,  2-23 ;  xiv,  5,  31 ;  Neh. 
xi,  31 ;  Isa.  x,  28).     See  Michmas. 

Mich'methah  (Heb.  Mikmethath' ,  t^rpari,  perh. 
hiiU/iff-place ;  Sept.  MaxS'w^,  Vulg.  Machmethatli),  a 
town  on  the  northern  border  of  Ephraim  (and  the  south- 
ern of  Manasseh),  situated  eastward  of  Shechem  and 
southward  from  Asher,  in  the  direction  of  Tappuah 
(Josh,  xvii,  7),  also  not  very  far  west  of  Jordan,  but  be- 
yond Taanath-Shiloh  (Josh,  xvi,  6 ;  where  part  of  the 
verse  appears  to  have  become  transposed  from  its  proper 
location  at  the  beginning  of  ver.  8 ;  see  Keil's  Comment. 
ad  loc).  These  notices  appear  to  fix  it  not  far  from 
Wady  Bidan,  north-east  of  Salem.  See  Thibe.  This 
position  corresponds  to  the  location  assigned  to  the  as- 
sociated places  by  Eusebius  (Schwarz,  Pdlest.  p.  147) ; 
and  M.  de  Saulcy  found  a  little  village  in  this  vicinity, 
called  el-Makhna,  which  he  thinks  may  be  a  vestige  of 
the  Biblical  locality  {Xarratice,  i,  93) ;  but  Dr.  Robin- 
son, who  passed  through  this  region  during  his  last 
visit,  speaks  only  of  "several  villages"  visible  in  this 
vicinity  (Researches,  new  ed.  iii,  298),  and  applies  the 
name  el-Makhna  to  a  large  fertile  valley  south  of  Na- 
blus  (ibid.  p.  132,  etc.) ;  which,  however,  according  to 
Van  de  Velde's  Map,  runs  into  Wady  Bidan. 

Mich'ri  (Heb.  Mikri',  "'ns'a,  salable;  Sept.  Mo- 
Xop^  V.  r.  Maxtp),  the  father  of  Uzzi  and  grandfather 
of  Elah,  which  last  was  one  of  the  principal  Benjamites 
resident  in  Jerusalem  after  the  exile  (1  Chron.  ix,  8). 
B.C.  considerably  ante  440. 

Mich'tam  (Heb.  miktam',  dPlD<2,  prob.  for  APIS'S, 
written;  Sept.  arrfKoypacpia,  Yvi\g.  tititli  inscriptio),  a 
term  found  in  the  titles  of  several  psalms  (xvi,  Ivi,  Ivii, 
Iviii,  xl),  and  signifj'ing  a  icrifinr/,  i.  e.  a  poem  or  song 
(see  Gesenius,  Thesnur.  p.  724),  like  3Pl3p  (miktab', 
"  writing,"  in  Isa.  xxxviii,  9).  Others  (as  Luther,  after 
Aben-Ezra,  Kimchi,  and  others)  unaptly  translate  it 
golden,  i.  e.  precious,  distinguished,  as  if  from  DPS, 
gold.  Still  others  (as  Hezel,  Ewald)  refer  to  an  Arabic 
root  meaning  to  conceal,  as  if  written  from  retirement, 
or  in  a  plaintive  strain ;  and  some  (after  the  rabbins) 
make  it  a  compound  of  CPI  "^"Z,  i.  q.  humble  and  per- 
fect, referring  to  David.     See  1'salms. 

Micislaus,  duke  of  Poland  in  the  10th  century,  is 
noted  in  ecclesiastical  history  as  the  promulgator  of 
Christianity  among  the  Poles,  A.D.  9G5.  His  own  con- 
version was  brought  about  by  his  wife,  Dambrowka, 
daughter  of  a  Bohemian  prince.  John  XHI  was  at 
that  time  the  Roman  pontiff,  and  he  despatched  ^Egid- 
ius,  bishop  of  Tusculum,  to  the  aid  of  the  duke  and  his 
wife.     See  Poland. 

Micqueau,  Jean-Louis,  a  French  Protestant  theo- 
logian, was  born  at  Rheims  about  1530.  He  took  part 
in  the  Reformation ;  established  a  school  at  Orleans  in 
1557,  and  taught  the  humanities  in  the  college  of  the 
same  city.  Allied  by  friendship  with  Gentien  Hervet, 
a  canon  of  Rheims  and  native  of  Orleans,  the  difference 
in  their  religions  brought  on  a  polemical  correspond- 
ence. He  died  near  the  close  of  the  IGth  century.  Mic- 
queau wrote,  Lycampcei  castri  obsidio  et  excidium  (1554) : 
—  De  const iiuenda  apud  Aurelios  juventutii  disciplina 
Oratio  (1558): — Avrelim  urbis  memordbilis  ab  Anglis 
obsidio,  anno  1428,  et  Joannm  Virginis  Lotharingm  res 
gestm  (1560)  -.—Response  au  discours  de  Gentien  Hervet, 
sits  ce  que  les  pilleurs,  voleurs  et  branleurs  de  Veglises 
disent  qu'ils  ne  veulent  c^iCaux  prieres  (15G4)  •—Deuxieme 


Response  de  Jean-Louis  Micqueau,  maistre  d'ecole  a  Or' 
leans,  aux  folies  7-everies,  execrables  blasphemes,  erreurs 
et  niensonges  de  G.  Hervet  (1564).  See  Revue  historique 
et  litteraire  de  la  Champagne,  No.  11,  15  (November, 
1854),  p.  74;  Hoefer,  Nouv,  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Micrcelius,  Johann,  a  German  Lutheran  professor, 
was  born  at  Cosslin,  in  Pomerania,  Sept.  1,  1597.  He 
began  his  studies  at  the  college  of  his  own  town,  and 
in  1614  removed  to  Stettin,  where  he  studied  theology 
under  professor  Aamer.  In  1616  he  maintained  a  dis- 
pute, "  De  Deo  uno  et  trino,'^  which  secured  him  much 
reputation.  A  year  after  he  disputed  at  the  University 
of  Ktinigsberg,  "Z'e  veritate  transcendentali."  He  re- 
ceived in  1621  the  degree  of  master  of  philosophy  at  the 
University  of  Greifswald,  after  having  maintained  a 
thesis, "  De  meteoris.''  He  finished  his  studies  at  Leip- 
sic.  He  was  made  professor  of  rhetoric  in  the  royal 
college  at  Stettin  in  1624,  rector  of  the  Senate  School  in 
1627,  and  rector  of  the  royal  college  and  professor  of 
theology  in  1649.  He  had  a  famous  dispute  with  John 
Bergius,  first  preacher  at  the  court  of  the  elector  of 
Brandenburg,  upon  the  differences  between  the  Luther- 
ans and  Calvinists.  On  a  visit  to  Sweden,  in  1653,  he 
had  the  honor  to  pay  his  respects  to  queen  Christina, 
who  received  him  with  very  marked  attention.  She 
defrayed  the  charges  of  his  doctor's  degree.  He  died 
Dec.  3, 1658.  Micralius  wrote,  Lexicon  Philologicum : — 
Lexicon  Philosophicum : — Syntagma  Historice  Mundi : — 
Syntagmci,  Historice.  Ecclesiasticce : — Ethnophronius  con- 
tra Gentiles  de  Principiis  Religionis  Christiance : —Yi^ 
afterwards  added  a  continuation.  Contra  Judwas  Depra- 
vationes  :  —  Tabelke  Historic^,  ad  Millen.  et  Rerumjmb- 
lic.  Tempora  dijudicanda  Necessarioe : — Tractatus  de  co- 
pia  Rerum  et  Verborum,  cum  Praxi  continua  Proscejito- 
rum  Rhetor. :  — A  rchceologia,  A  ?-ithmetica,  usus  Globoj-um 
et  Tabular,  Geographical: :  —  Orthodoxia  Lutherana 
contra  Bei-gium ;  and  numerous  theses,  disputations, 
orations,  etc.  See  Allgemeines  Historisches  f^exikon 
(Leips.  1731,  5  vols.  foL),  iii,  560  sq. ;  Witte,  Memor, 
theol.  p.  282  sq. ;  Bayle,  Hist.  Did.  s.  v.     (J.  H.  W.) 

Micronesia  (from  Greek  fiiKpog,  small,  and  vtjaoc, 
island,  signifying  a  region  of  small  islands  or  islets)  is 
a  term  of  recent  application,  and  is  applied  to  a  portion 
of  the  Central  Archipelago,  Pacific  Ocean,  including  the 
Kingsmill  group.  Micronesia  proper  extends  from  the 
westernmost  island  of  the  Sandwich  group  to  near  Japan 
and  the  Philippines,  and  reaches  south  of  the  equator, 
including  the  Ladrone  Islands,  the  Carolinas,  and  the 
Pellew  Islands.  The  Kingsmill  group  lies  on  both  sides 
of  the  equator,  and  consists  of  fifteen  principal  islands, 
all  coral,  and  densely  covered  with  cocoa-nut  groves. 

Customs.  —  The  population  of  these  islands  amounts 
to  about  50,000  souls.  They  are  governed  by  independ- 
ent chiefs  or  kings,  and  mostly  lead  a  life  of  indolence. 
They  are  divided  into  three  classes — chiefs,  landholders, 
and  slaves.  They  live  in  small  communities,  regarding 
the  eldest  of  their  number  as  a  kind  of  patriarch.  Po- 
lygamy is  common.  They  are  hospitable,  and  ready  to 
share  the  last  morsel  with  the  needy.  In  each  town  is 
a  '•  stranger's  house,"  where  travellers  find  a  temporary 
home.  The  cocoa-nut,  which  everywhere  abounds,  sup- 
plies the  few  wants  of  the  natives  with  little  labor. 
Their  chief  employment  is  the  manufacture  of  cocoa- 
nut  oil.  Almost  everything  which  the  natives  eat, 
drink,  wear,  live  in,  or  use  in  any  way,  is  obtained  from 
the  cocoa-nut  tree. 

Religion.  —  There  exists  hardly  any  well -developed 
■form  of  worship  or  religion.  They  have  no  idols  and 
no  priests.  A  loose  system  of  spirit  worship,  or,  better 
said,  of  veneration  for  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  used  to 
prevail  among  these  people,  but  is  gradually  dying  out. 
When  a  Micronesian  dies,  the  body  is  placed  upon  mats, 
in  the  centre  of  the  house,  and  rubbed  with  cocoa-nut 
oil  till  the  flesh  is  gone;  then  the  bones  are  placed  in 
a  loft  or  thrown  into  the  sea.  A  stone  is  placed  near 
the  house  as  a  resting-place  for  the  spirit,  and  offerings 


MICRONIUS 


232 


MIDDLETOX 


are  made  to  it  twice  a  year.  There  are  but  few  tradi- 
tions, and  the  people  cannot  be  said  to  be  very  supersti- 
tious. 

Missions. — Prosperous  missions  have  been  established 
in  these  groups  by  agents  of  the  American  Board  of 
Foreign  IMissions;  several  of  the  workers  have  been  se- 
lected from  among  tlieir  converts  in  Honolulu.  As  the 
result  of  the  mission  to  Micronesia,  during  the  nineteen 
years  since  its  commencement,  it  would  appear  that  a 
wonderful  change  has  been  produced  in  the  social  and 
moral  condition  of  the  once  wild  and  savage  inhabitants. 
A  number  of  the  natives  have  been  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity, and,  according  to  the  last  report,  G()8  converts 
are  united  in  Church  fellowship.  See  The  Missionury 
World  (N.  Y.  1873, 12mo),  p.  457  and  1123;  Grundemann, 
Miss.  A  this,  s.  V. ;  Newcomb,  Ci/doj).  of  Missions,  p.  539 
sq.    See  Sandwich  Islands. 

Micronius,  Maktin,  a  very  distinguished  Dutch 
divine,  was  born  about  15"23  at  Ghent,  of  a  noble  Dutch 
family.  We  know  little  of  Micronius's  earh' years.  He 
was  at  first  a  physician,  and  is  said  to  be  the  author  of 
several  medical  books  and  essays.  In  1550,  when  the 
Protestant  Church  was  bitterly  persecuted  by  the  Span- 
iards, Micronius,  with  many  others  of  his  countrymen, 
Hed  to  England,  and  there  proved  himself  a  very  effi- 
cient helpmate  to  John  a.  Lasko  (q.  v.)  in  the  establish- 
ment and  organization  of  the  foreign  Protestant  con- 
gregation in  London.  lie  translated  John  ii  Lasko's 
system  of  Church  order  and  liturgical  formulars  into 
Dutch,  and  introduced  them  into  the  congregation  of 
Dutch  refugees  in  London.  The  death  of  the  king 
wrought  an  entire  change  in  the  prospects  of  the  exiles, 
and  on  the  accession  of  queen  ]Mary  they  prepared  to 
leave  for  other  parts.  iSIicronius  accompanied  them  to 
Denmark  and  East  Fricsland,  and  finally  became  pastor 
at  Nordcn.  He  died  towards  the  close  of  the  l(5th  cen- 
tury. In  his  disputations  and  writings  Micronius  op- 
posed Simon  ^lenno  (q.  v.)  and  David  (ieorge ;  and  when 
Westphal  (q.  v.),  a  Lutheran  divine,  had  called  his  fel- 
low-pilgrims "  martyrs  of  the  devil,"  on  account  of  Las- 
ko's views  of  the  sacraments,  Micronius  sought  to  con- 
vince, or  at  least  silence  him,  but  failed.  In  Norden  he 
edited  his  larger  and  smaller  Catechism,  1592 :  De  cleyne 
catechismus  of  kinderbere  der  Duitschen  Ghemeynte  van 
London,  etc.,  weelce  nu  Mer  ende  deter  verstrogt  is.  Ghe- 
maect  door  Martin  Micron.  Ghedruckt  hey  Gellium  Itema- 
tium  anno  1555.  These  catechisms  were  consulted  in 
the  composition  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  ((}.  v.). 
Micronius  also  wrote  an  apology  of  the  foreign  I'rotes- 
tant  congregation,  defending  them  against  the  accusa- 
tion of  liigh-treason,  which  had  furnislied  a  pretext  for 
their  ex])ulsion  from  England.  vSce  Kiicher,  Katech. 
Gesc/i.  der  reform.  Kirche ;  Bartel's  Johannes  a  Lasko. 

Mid-day  (Cl^f  ^1?,  <^onble  light,  1  Kings  xviii,  29, 
i.  e.  noon,  as  elsewhere  rendered;  Bi'rt  ""'^n'^,  half 
of  the  day,  Neh.  viii,  3;  iif.ikpa  fi'im],  middle  day.  Acts 
XX vi,  13).     See  Day. 

Mid'din  (Ileb.  Middin',  'p'l^,  dista7ice  ;  Sept. 
Mact'iv  V.  r.  Mrttuij'),  a  town  in  the  desert  of  Judah, 
mentioned  between  Beth-arabah  and  Secacah  (Josh,  xv, 
61);  and  probably  situated  not  far  from  the  Dead  Sea, 
about  opposite  its  middle,  or  possibly  at  the  ruins  near 
a  well  marked  on  Van  de  Velde's  Map  as  Khan  Mardeh, 
near  the  north  end  of  the  Dead  Sea.  "  15y  Van  de 
Velde  {Memoir,  p.  256,  and  Map)  mention  is  made  of  a 
valley  on  the  south-western  side  of  the  Dead  Sea,  below 
Masada,  called  I'm  el-Iiedan,  whifh  may  contain  a  trace 
of  the  ancient  name"  (Smith). 

Middle  Ages.  Tlie  barbarism  of  this  period  may 
be  said  to  have  begun  about  A.D.  510.  when  the  barba- 
rians had  made  an  irruption  into  the  West  very  preju- 
dicial to  the  interests  of  literature.  Learning  was  pre- 
served in  the  bishops'  schools  and  monasteries:  the 
works  of  ancient  authors  were  kept  in  the  libraries  of 
the  monasteries,  but  the  libraries  of  monks  and  church- 


men were  composed  chiefly  of  ecclesiastical  and  ascetic 
works,  (ireek  literature  was  generally  neglected,  Latin 
but  poorly  cultivated;  rhetoric  was  turned  into  bom- 
bast, the  liberal  arts  comprised  within  a  few  rules,  and 
the  study  of  philosophy  abandoned  and  decried.  This 
barbarism  almost  extinyuished  the  liyht  (hence  the  name 
"Dark  Ages")  and  life  of  Christianity,  as  the  influence 
of  the  Church  in  the  course  of  its  previous  corruption 
had  already  suppressed  ancient  literature.  See  Kiddle's 
Led.  Chron. ;  Eden,  Theol.  Diet. ;  Farrar,  Lccles.  iJict. 

Middle  "Wall  (/ito-oroixoi'),  spoken  of  the  eh  el  or 
sacnd  ttiuc  ("partition")  between  the  Court  of  the  (icn- 
tiks  and  v\\v  interior  sanctum  of  the  Temple  (Eph.  ii, 
14).     See  Ti;.Mi'i,E. 

Middlekauff,  Solomon,  a  German  Reformed  min- 
ister, was  born  near  Ilagerstown,  JId.,  in  1818;  was  ed- 
ucated at  jMarshall  College,  Mercersburg,  Pa.  (class  of 
1839) ;  studied  theology  in  the  theological  seminarj-  of 
the  German  Keformed  Church  located  in  the  same 
place;  was  ordained  in  1842,  and  became  pastor  of  the 
Lincolnton  charge  in  North  Carolina.  He  died  at  the 
mineral  springs,  Catawba  Connty,  N.  C,  ISIay  21, 1845. 
His  ministry  was  liricf  hut  blessed.  Energetic,  mild, 
and  peaceful  in  sjiirit.  well  educated  and  ze.ilous,  his  in- 
fluence was  widely  iult,  and  bis  memory  is  faithfully 
cherished. 

Middleton,  Conyers,  a  celcbrateil  divine  and 
scholar  of  the  Church  of  England,  was  born  Dec.  27, 1 683, 
at  Richmond,  in  Yorkshire.  His  father,  the  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Middleton,  rector  of  HindenvcU,  gave  him  a  liberal 
education.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  was  sent  to 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  of  which  college  be  was  two 
years  afterwards  chosen  a  scholar.  He  took  his  degree 
of  B.A.  in  1702,  and  was  shortly  after  ordained  deacon. 
In  1706  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  Trinity  College,  and 
in  1708  joined  with  other  fellows  of  his  college  in  a  pe- 
tition to  the  bishop  of  Ely,  as  the  visitor  of  the  college, 
against  Bentley  (q.  v.),  the  master.  Middleton,  who 
was  then  a  young  man,  did  not  take  a  ]irominent  part  in 
this  proceeding;  but  the  feelings  of  hostility  to  the 
master  originated  by  these  disputes  sank  deep  into  his 
mind,  and  made  him  subsequently  the  most  determined 
and  dangerous  of  Bentley 's  enemies.  Soon  after  this 
petition,  he  withdrew  himself  from  Bentley's  jurisdic- 
tion by  marrying  a  lady  of  ample  fortune.  He  subse- 
quently resided  for  a  short  time  in  the  Isle  of  Ely,  on  a 
small  living  in  the  gift  of  his  wife,  but  the  unhealthiness 
of  the  situation  induced  him  to  return  to  Cambridge 
at  the  end  of  a  year.  In  October,  1717,  when  George  I 
visited  the  University  of  Cambridge,  IMiddleton,  with 
several  others,  was  created  doctor  of  divinity  by  man- 
date ;  but  Bentley,  who  was  regius  professor  of  divinity, 
refused  to  confer  the  degree  unless  a  fee  of  four  guineas 
was  given  to  him  in  addition  to  the  so-called  "broad- 
piece,"  which  had  by  ancient  custom  been  allowed  as  a 
present  on  this  occasion.  This  demand  was  resisted  by 
IMiddleton,  who,  however,  at  last  consented  to  pay  it  un- 
der ]irotest.  An  ajipeal  to  court  jiroved  unfavorable  to 
Bentley,  but  still  he  kept  the  money.  IMitidleton  there- 
upon sued  Bentley  for  it  in  the  vice-chancellor's  court; 
and  Bent  ley.  refusing  to  pay  the  money  or  to  acknowledge 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  was  deprived  of  bis  degrees. 
Bentley  petitioned  the  king  for  relief  from  that  sen- 
tence, and.  as  lie  was  a  firm  supporter  of  the  \\'hig  min- 
istry then  in  power,  it  was  fejired  that  a  commission 
might  be  issued  by  the  crown  to  intpiire  into  the  state 
of  the  university.  Jliddleton,  to  justify  himself  and  his 
friends,  published  A  full  and  impartial  .4  eeonnt  of  all  the 
late  J'roceedinys  in  the  University  of  Cambridye  against 
Dr.  Bentley  ;  which,  says  Dr.  Monk,  "  was  the  first  ])ub- 
lished  specimen  of  a  style  which,  for  elegance,  purity, 
and  case,  yields  to  none  in  the  whole  compass  of  the 
English  language.  The  acrimonious  and  resentful  feel- 
ing which  prompted  every  line,  is  in  some  measure  dis- 
guised by  the  ])leasing  language,  the  harmony  of  the 
periods,  and  the  vein  of  scholarship  which  enliven  the 


MIDDLETON 


233 


MIDDLETON 


whole  tract"  (Monk,  Life  of  Bentley,  p.  388).  A  few 
months  afterwards  Middleton  published  A  Second  Part 
of  the  full  and  impartial  Account  of  all  the  late  Pro- 
ceedings, and  also  A  true  Account  of  the  present  State  of 
Trinity  College,  in  Cambridge,  under  the  oppressive  Gov- 
ernment of  their  Master,  R.  Bentley,  late  D.D.  These 
books  seem  to  have  been  written  in  order  to  destroy  the 
suspicion  which  many  then  had,  viz.  that  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  university  against  Dr.  Bentley  did  not  flow 
so  much  from  any  real  demerit  in  the  man,  as  from  a 
certain  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  court,  the  great  pro- 
moter of  whose  interest  he  was  thought  to  be.  Middle- 
ton,  in  one  of  his  pamphlets,  had  verj'  imprudently  de- 
clared "  that  the  fellows  of  Trinity  College  had  not  been 
able  to  find  any  proper  court  in  England  which  would 
receive  their  complaints ;"  and  Bentley,  perceiving  that 
his  adversary  had  been  guiltj'  of  an  expression  which 
might  be  considered  as  a  libel  upon  the  administration 
of  justice  in  the  whole  kingdom,  brought  an  action 
against  him,  in  which  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of 
guilty.  The  court,  however,  was  unwiUing  to  pronounce 
sentence,  and  the  matter  was  eventually  settled  by  Mid- 
dleton's  begging  pardon  of  Bentley,  and  consenting  to 
pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  action. 

But  ]Middkton  had  not  done  with  Bentley  yet.  The 
latter,  in  172I1,  published  proposals  for  a  new  edition  of 
the  ( Ireek  Testament,  with  a  specimen  of  the  intended 
work.  The  former,  in  1721,  published  Pi  imirl:-:  Pura- 
graph  by  Paragraph,  uin^n  the  Proposals  l(it<  li/  imhlishiAl 
by  R.  Bentley  for  a  new  Edition  of  the  Gr,  i  k  1\  sUiuunt. 
Although  Middleton  professed,  in  the  commencement 
of  the  pamphlet,  that  •'  his  remarks  were  not  drawn  from 
him  by  personal  spleen  or  envy  to  the  author  of  the 
Proposals,  but  by  a  serious  conviction  that  he  had  nei- 
ther talents  nor  materials  proper  for  the  work  he  had 
undertaken,  and  that  religion  was  much  more  likely  to 
receive  detriment  than  service  from  it,"  the  whole  tenor 
and  style  of  the  pamphlet  showed  that  it  was  the  result 
of  tlie  most  virulent  personal  animosity.  He  followed 
lip  his  attack  on  Bentley  by  Some  further  Remarks; 
and  it  must  be  conceded  that  these  two  books  against 
Bentley  are  written  with  great  acuteness  and  learning, 
and,  though  Bentley  affected  to  despise  them,  they  de- 
stroyed the  credit  of  his  Proposals  so  eifectually  that  his 
intended  publication  of  the  New  Testament  came  to 
nothing. 

Upon  the  great  enlargement  of  the  public  librarj'  at 
Cambridge,  a  new  office  of  principal  librarian  was  estab- 
lished, to  which  Middleton  was  elected,  notwithstanding 
a  violent  opposition.  He  afterwards  travelled  through 
France  and  Italy,  and  spent  some  months  in  Kome  in 
172-J:.  After  his  return,  Jliddleton  published  his  cele- 
brated Letter  from  Rome  (1729),  in  which  he  attempted 
to  show  that  "  the  rehgion  of  the  present  Romans  was 
derived  from  that  of  their  heathen  ancestors ;"  and  that, 
in  particular,  the  rites,  ceremonies,  dress  of  the  priests, 
etc.,  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  were  taken  from 
the  pagan  religion.  This  work  was  received  with  great 
favor  bj'  the  learned,  and  went  through  four  editions  in 
the  author's  lifetime.  The  free  manner,  however,  in 
which  he  attacked  the  miracles  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  gave  offence  to  many  Anglican  divines,  and  they 
charged  Middleton  with  entertaining  as  little  respect  for 
the  miracles  of  the  apostles  as  for  those  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  saints. 

Hitherto  Dr.  Middleton  stood  well  with  mankind; 
for  notwithstanding  the  offence  he  had  given  to  some 
bigots  bj'  certain  passages  in  the  above-mentioned 
pamphlet,  yet  the  reasonable  part  of  Christians  were 
well  pleased  with  his  writings,  believing  that  he  had 
done  great  service  to  Protestantism  by  his  expose  of 
the  absurdities  of  popery.  He  was,  in  fact,  a  general 
favorite  with  the  public,  when,  by  the  publication  of  a 
new  work,  Christianity  as  old  as  Creation  (1731),  he 
not  only  gave  great  oifence  to  the  clergy,  but  also  ruined 
all  his  hopes  ft)r  preferment.  This  letter,  which  Avas 
tirst  published  anonymously,  was  soon  known  to  be  writ- 


ten by  Middleton.  Pearce  (q.  v.),  bishop  of  Rochester, 
replied  to  it,  treating  the  author  as  an  infidel ;  and  so 
strong  was  the  feeling  against  Middleton  that  he  was  in 
danger  of  losing  his  degree  and  office  of  librarian.  Prom- 
ising, however,  to  publish  a  satisfactorj^  vindication  of 
his  course,  the  authorities  withheld  their  intended  deg- 
radation, and  in  1732  Middleton  gave  to  the  world  Some 
Remarlcs  on  Dr.  Pearce's  second  Reply ;  wherein  the  au- 
thor's sentiments,  as  to  all  the  principal  points  in  dis- 
pute, are  fully,  clearly,  and  satisfactorily  explained.  In 
this  manifesto,  Middleton  strongly  asserted  his  belief  in 
Christianity,  and  disavowed  any  intention  to  cast  doubt 
upon  its  evidences ;  and  thereby  saved  himself  from  deg- 
radation, but  not  from  strong  suspicion  of  hypocrisj' — a 
charge  which  has  ever  since  attached  to  his  name. 

Middleton  regarded  Christianity  in  scarcely  any  oth- 
er light  than  as  a  republication  of  the  law  of  nature,  and 
endeavored  to  reduce,  as  far  as  possible,  everything  su- 
pernatural in  the  Bible  to  mere  natural  phenomena. 
He  expressly  maintained  that  there  were  contradictions 
in  the  four  evangelists  which  could  not  be  reconciled 
(^Reflections  on  the  Variations  found  in  the  Four  Evan- 
gelists) ;  he  accused  Matthew  "  of  wilfully  suppressing 
or  negligently  omitting  three  successive  descents  from 
father  to  son  in  the  first  chapter  of  his  Gospel"  (see  vol. 
ii,  24) ;  he  asserted  that  the  apostles  were  sometimes 
mistaken  in  their  applications  of  prophecies  relating  to 
Christ  (ii,  59) ;  he  considered  "  the  story  of  the  fall  of 
man  as  a  fable  or  allegory"  (ii,  131),  and,  with  respect  to 
the  prophecy  given  at  the  fall,  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
declare  (iii,  183)  "  that  men  who  incpnre  into  things  will 
meet  with  many  absurdities  which  reason  must  wink  at, 
and  many  incredibilities  which  faith  must  digest,  before 
they  can  admit  the  authority  of  this  prophecy  upon  the 
evidence  of  this  historical  narration."  Such  being  the 
opinions  of  Middleton,  it  cannot  excite  surprise,  not- 
withstanding his  assertions  to  the  contrary,  that  he 
should  have  been  looked  upon  as  a  disbeliever  in  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity. 

While  these  discussions  were  going  on,  INIiddleton  was 
appointed  to  the  professorship  of  natural  history,  which 
appointment  he  resigned  in  1734.  In  the  following  }'e.ar 
he  published  A  Dissertation  concerning  the  Origin  of 
Printing  in  England,  showing  that  it  was  first  introduced 
and  practiced  by  an  Englishman,  William  Caxton,  at 
Westminster,  and  not,  as  commonly  supposed,  by  a  for- 
eign printer  at  Oxford.  In  1741  he  published  by  sub- 
scription his  most  celebrated  work.  The  History  of  the 
Life  of  M.  Tullius  Cicero  (Lond.  2  vols.  4to).  There 
were  three  thousand  subscribers  to  this  work,  and  the 
profits  arising  from  its  sale  were  so  considerable  as  to 
enable  Middleton  to  purchase  a  small  estate  at  Hilder- 
sham,  six  miles  from  Cambridge,  where  he  chiefly  re- 
sided during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Two  years  af- 
terwards Jliddleton  published  a  translation  of  Cicero's 
letters  to  Brutus,  and  of  Brutus's  to  Cicero,  with  the 
Latin  text,  and  a  prefatorj'  dissertation,  in  which  he  de- 
fended the  authenticity  of  the  Epistles.  In  1745  he 
published  Germana  qucedam  Antiquitatis  eruditoe  Monu- 
nienta,  etc.,  in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  the  various 
specimens  of  ancient  art  which  he  had  collected  during 
his  residence  at  Rome.  Two  years  afterwards  he  pub- 
lished his  Treatise  on  the  Roman  Senate,  in  which  he 
maintained  that  all  vacancies  in  the  senate  were  filled 
up  by  the  people.  But  the  work  which  has  a  peculiar 
interest  for  us  he  published  shortly  after,  under  the  title 
An  Introductory  Discourse  to  a  larger  Worl;  designed 
hereafter  to  be  piihlishrd.  cnnreriring  the  ^riraculous  Pow- 
ei-s  which  an  sii]iji,,.<i  d  f,i  Imn  .<iilisi.</,  d  in  the  Christian 
Church  from  thi  >i,j-/list  A  </..<.  Ihrmi,///  s,  reral  successive 
Centuries;  by  which  il  is  shoini  (h<it  »■<  Imre  no  sufieient 
Reason  to  believe,  upon  the  A  iithnrily  <ftht  primitive  Fa- 
thers, that  any  such  Powers  win-  mnliiiind  to  the  Church 
after  the  Days  of  the  Ai^oslles  (1748).  Tlie  Introductory 
Discourse  to  the  work,  and  the  Free  Inquiry  itself,  elic- 
ited numerous  controversial  tracts.  IMiddleton  was  at- 
tacked by  Stebbiug  and  Chapman,  the  former  of  whom 


MIDDLETON 


234 


MroDLETON 


endeavored  chiefly  to  show  tliat  Middletoii's  scheme 
was  inseparably  connected  with  tlie  fall  of  Christianity, 
while  the  latter  labored  to  sui)|)ort  the  autliority  of  the 
fathers.  These  attacks  Middhton  repelled  by  ^ome  Re- 
marks on  Two  I'aniphlcts  (by  l)rs.  SiMinij  and  Chap- 
man') published  offuinst  the  /iilrududion.  "  The  dis- 
course," remarks  Mr.  Orme  (Bibl.  Bib.  s.  v.),  referring  to 
the  whole  controversy,  '•  is  worthy  of  attention,  for, 
though  the  combatants  on  both  sides  carried  matters 
too  far,  considerable  information  may  be  collected  from 
them— on  the  character  and  testimony  of  the  fathers, 
the  nature  of  miracles,  and  on  other  points  closely  con- 
nected with  the  Christian  revelation."  The  controversy 
began  to  gro^v  verj'  hot.  Besides  Stebbing  and  Chap- 
man, Parker,  Brook.  .Johnson,  Dodwell,  Church,  and  oth- 
ers attacked  him,  while  he  was  defended  by  Yates,  Jen- 
kins, Toll,  etc,  A  full  list  of  the  principal  publications 
on  the  subject  are  enumerated  by  Kippis  in  a  note  to 
the  Gth  part  of  Doddridge's  Coitrse  of  Lectures  (see  also 
Orme's  JJibl.  Rib. ;  Strong's  Cat.  of  Enf/l.  Theol.  1830,  No. 
9441  s(i. ;  Lord  Brougham,  ,!/(»«  of  Letters  of  the  Times 
of  Ceiinje  I J  I,  p.  .384).  It  was  declared  by  Middleton's 
oppimeiits  that  the  tendency  of  his  inquiry  was  to  de- 
stroy the  evidence  of  miraculous  inteqwsitions;  butJMid- 
dleton  explicitly  disavowed  such  intentions,  and  should 
have  the  bcnetit  of  the  doubt.  This  much,  however, 
must  be  admitted,  that  he  seems  never  to  have  been  so 
much  i)leased  as  when,  by  broaching  some  startling  point 
of  disputation,  he  succeeded  in  horrifying  the  minds  of 
his  orthodox  brethren.  Accordingly,  before  the  theo- 
logical world  had  recovered  from  the  surprise  and  in- 
dignation into  Avhich  they  had  been  thrown  by  the  F7-ee 
Inquiri/,  its  fearless  author  jiut  forth  upon  the  world  an 
attack  upon  bishop  Sherlock,  entitled  ^Ira  7ia-a»n'Hcr^2o« 
of  the  Lord  Biiiliop  of  London^s  Discourses  concerninr/ the 
Use  and  Intent  of  Prophecy ;  with  some  cursory  A  nimad- 
versions  on  his  late  Appendix,  or  additional  Dis»e rial ii in . 
containing  a  further  Inquiry  into  the  Mosaic  A  rcmui/  vj' 
the  Fall  (1750),  In  this  work  he  attempted  to  rcluic 
Sherlock's  (q,  v,)  theory  of  a  chain  of  prophecy  running 
through  the  different  portions  of  the  Olil  Testament, 
He  was  refuted  by  Dr,  Uutherforth,  divinity  professor  at 
Cambridge :  but  Middleton,  whose  end  seems  to  have 
been  answered,  which  was  to  abuse  the  bishoj)  a  little, 
jnirsued  tlie  argument  no  further.  The  obstinate  contro- 
versialist died  with  the  armor  on  his  back  and  the  lance 
in  his  hands.  He  was  meditating  a  general  answer  to 
all  the  objections  made  against  the  Free  Inquiry;  but, 
being  seized  with  illness,  and  imagining  he  might  not 
be  able  to  go  through  it,  he  singled  out  Church  and 
Dodwell,  as  the  two  most  considerable  of  his  adversa- 
ries, and  employed  himself  in  preparing  a  particular  an- 
swer to  them.  This,  however,  he  did  not  live  to  finish, 
but  died  .luly  28,  1750,  at  Ilildersham,  in  Cambridge- 
shire, A  little  before  his  death,  he  thought  it  prudent 
to  accept  a  small  living  from  Sir  John  Frederick.  A 
few  months  after  his  death  was  published  his  Vindica- 
tion of  the  Free  Inquiry  into  the  Miracidous  I'oivers,  etc., 
from  the  Objections  of  Dr.  Dodwell  and  Dr.  Chuixh.  The 
))iece  is  unfinished,  but  very  able  as  far  as  it  goes.  In 
1752  all  the  before-mentioned  works,  except  The  Life 
of  Cicero,  were  collected  and  ])rinted  in  four  volumes, 
•Ito.  under  the  title  of  Miscellaneous  Works;  among 
whiih  were  inserted  the  following  jiieces,  never  before 
pulilished.  viz.,  .1  I'nfice  to  an  intended  Answer  to  all 
the  Oliji (linns  made  ayainst  the  Free  Inquiry;  —  Some 
cursory  lit jbrlinns  on  the  Dispute,  or  Dissension,  which 
happened  at  A  ntioch, bet  ween  the  Apostles  I'eter  and  Paul ; 
— He  flections  on  the  Variations,  or  Inconsistencies,  which 
are  found  amony  the  Four  Evunyelists  in  their  dij'i nut 
Accounts  of  the  same  Facts; — An  Fssay  on  the  (iift  of 
Tonyues.  tendiny  to  explain  the  proper  Notion  and  Xat- 
vre  of  it,  as  it  is  described  and  delivered  to  us  in  the  sa- 
cred Scriptures,  and  as  it  appears  also  to  hare  been  under- 
stood by  the  learned  both  (f  ancient  and  modern  times; — 
Some  short  liemarhs  on  a  Sto7-y  told  by  the  A  ncients  con- 
cerniny  St.  John  the  Evangelist  and  Cerinthus  the  Here- 


tic; and  on  the  Use  which  is  inade  of  it  by  the  Modems, 
to  enforce  the  Duty  of  shunning  Heretics ;— An  Essay  on 
the  allegorical  and  literal  Interpretation  of  the  Creation 
and  Full  of  Man; — LJe  Latinarum  literarum  pronunci- 
atione  dissertatio ; — Some  Letters  of  Dr.  Middleton  to  his 
Friends.  A  second  edition  of  these  Miscellaneous  Works 
was  published  in  five  volumes,  8vo,  in  1755.  '■  Dr.  Mid- 
dleton," says  Parr,  in  his  preface  Bellendenus,  '•  was  a 
man  of  no  common  attainments;  his  learning  was  ele- 
gant and  profound,  his  judgment  was  acute  and  polished, 
his  taste  was  fine  and  correct ;  his  style  was  so  pure  and 
harmonious,  so  vigorously  flowing  without  being  in- 
flated, that,  Addison  alone  excepted,  he  seems  to  me 
without  a  rival."  See  I^eckey,  Hist,  of  Rationalism  (see 
Index  in  vol.  ii) ;  Jortin,  Eccles.  Renunks,  i,  298 ;  Dis- 
raeli, Miscell.  of  Literature,  Quarrels  of  A  uthors,  \i.  313 ; 
Nichols,  Lit.Anec,  p.  414  sq. ;  Knox,  Essays,  ii,  5G;  N. 
A  mer.  Review,  xxxv,  440;  Chancellor  Kani,  Course  of 
Engl.  Reading ;  ISIacaulay,  Crit.  and  Hist.  Essays,  ii,  1 32 ; 
Orme, Bibl.  Bib.  s,  v, ;  Biogr.  Brit,  s,  v, ;  Chalmers's  Biogr. 
Diet,  s,  V, ;  General  Biogr.  Diet.  s.  v, ;  Enyli.th  Cyclop,  s. 
V, ;  Hook,  Eccles.  Biogr.  s,  v, ;  Darling,  Cyclop.  Bibl.  i, 
2057 ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  ami  A  mer.  A  uthors,  ii, 
1273  sq, ;  Blackwood's  Magazine,  xiv,  257  ;  xv,  461 ; 
xxviii,  440  sq,;  xxxii,C07;  'QickcTsiQ\.\\,Christ. Student, 
p,  298. 

Middletou,  Erasmus,  a  noted  English  divine, 
was  born  about  17!(».  He  received  his  education  at  St, 
Edmund's  Hall,  Oxford,  but  was  expelled  from  that  uni- 
versity, together  with  live  other  youths,  on  account  of 
his  sympathy  with  the  Mi  tlmdi^ts.  This  circumstance 
gave  rise  to  Mac(iii\\.ni>  >.iiir.-  <>(  The  Share}-.  INIiddle- 
ton  then  entered  Kinu>  (  olK  ^^c,  Cainbridge,  and,  after 
his  graduation.  l)('(aiiH'  [lasior  of  an  Episcopal  congrega- 
tion at  Dalkeith.  Scotland,  and  curate  successively  to 
Eomaine  and  ('adogan,and  at  St,  Margaret's,  Westmin- 
ster. He  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  Turvey,  Bed- 
fordshire, in  17(54,  and  was  thus  a  predecessor  of  Leigh 
Richmond  (q.  v.).  He  died  April  25,  1805.  Dr.  Mid- 
j  dleton  was  a  man  of  warm  piet\',  and  of  a  Catholic  spir- 
it. He  is  the  well-known  author  of  Biographia  Evan- 
gelica,  or  an  hisfoiical  Account  of  the  Lives  and  Deaths 
of  the  most  eminent  evangelical  Authors  or  Preachers, 
both  British  and  Foreign,  in  the  several  Denominations  of 
Protestants  (1779,  4  vols.  8vo).  This  great  biographical 
work  is  a  collection  of  invaluable  materials,  and  must 
immortalize  his  memory,  while  doing  immense  good. 
Of  his  other  works  we  mention  :  A  rchbishop  Leighton's 
wholeWo7-ks,with  Life  (1805,4  vols.) : — Versions  and  Im- 
itations of  the  Psedi'ns  of  David  (\SOG) -.—Luthers  Com- 
meiitary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatiaiis,  with  his  Life 
(1807).  See  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and  A  mer.  A  uthors, 
ii,  1275;  Cooper,  Biog.  Diet,  of  Eminent  Peisons,  p.  8G5. 

Middleton,  Thomas   Fanshawe,  D.D.,  the 

first  English  l)ishop  of  Calcnila,  largely  idenlilied  with 
the  Anglican  Ciuirch  missionary  work  in  India,  m\\y  sou 
of  the  Kev.T.  Middleton,  rector  of  Kedieston,  Derbyshire, 
was  born  at  that  village  Jan.  2G,  17G9.  His  early  train- 
ing he  received  imder  his  father.  In  1779  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  Christ's  Hospital,  London,  and  thence  pro- 
ceeded to  Pembroke  Hall,  Candjridge,  where  he  took 
his  degree  of  B,.\,,  with  honors,  in  Jamiary,  1792. 
Shortly  after  he  received  ordination,  and  entered  upon 
the  curacy  of  (Jainsborough.  in  Lincolnshire.  Here  he 
edited  a  jieriodical  work  entille<l  the  Country  Spectator, 
which  continued  to  ai)pear  for  about  seven  months, 
^Middleton  sustaining  the  paper  mainly  by  his  own  com- 
'  positions.  This  connection  brought  him  to  the  notice 
i  of  Dr.  .lohn  Pretyman.  archdeacon  of  Lincoln,  who  in 
I  1794  appointed  him  tutor  to  his  two  sons.  Middleton 
in  conse«iucnce  removeil  first  to  Lincoln,  and  afterwards 
to  Norwich,  where  he  became  curate  of  !^t.  Peter's  j\Ian- 
I  croft  in  1799,  having  previously  (in  179.5)  been  presented 
by  Dr.  Pretyman  to  the  rectory  of  Tansor,  in  Northamp- 
tonshire, In  1802  he  was  presented  with  the  rectory 
I  of  Bvtham,  in  Lincolnshire.     About  this  time  he  wrote 


MIDDLETON 


235 


MIDIANITE 


his  chief  work,  The  Docti-im  of  the  Greek  Article  ap- 
plied to  the  Criticism  and  Illustration  of  the  Xew  Testa- 
ment, which  he  published  in  1808,  with  a  dedication  to 
Dr.  Pretyman.  The  object  of  this  work  is,  first,  to  es- 
tablish the  rules  which  govern  the  use  of  the  article, 
and  then  to  apply  these  rules  to  the  interpretation  of 
various  passages  in  the  New  Testament,  many  of  which 
are  of  such  a  nature  that  they  furnish  arguments  for  or 
against  the  divinity  of  Christ,  according  to  the  different 
views  which  are  taken  of  the  force  of  the  article.  Ow- 
ing to  this  circumstance,  the  doctrine  of  the  Greek  arti- 
cle has  become  the  subject  of  warm  discussion  among 
theologians ;  and  some  Unitarian  divines  have  strongly 
opposed  the  views  of  Middleton.  His  chief  rules  have, 
however,  been  received  as  sound  by  the  great  majority 
of  Biblical  critics.  (A  second  and  improved  edition 
was  published  by  Prof.  Scholefield  in  18-28 ;  and  a  third 
by  the  Eev.  Hugh  James  Kose  in  1833.  An  abstract 
of  the  work  is  prefixed  to  Valpy's  edition  of  the  Greek 
Testament.)  In  the  same  year  in  which  he  published 
this  work  he  took  his  degree  of  D.D.  at  Cambridge,  and 
removed  to  his  living  at  Tansor,  where  he  discharged 
his  duties  in  such  a  manner  as  to  gain  the  affection  and 
esteem  of  his  people.  In  1809  he  was  appointeil  by 
bishop  Pretyman  to  a  stall  in  the  cathedral  of  Lincoln, 
and  in  1812  to  the  archdeaconry  of  Huntingdon.  In 
1811  he  resigned  his  two  livings  for  the  vicarage  of  St. 
Pancras,  INIiddlesex,  and  the  rectory  of  Rottenham,  in 
Hertfordshire.  He  fixed  his  residence  at  St.  Pancras, 
and  made  the  acquaintance  of  several  dignitaries  of  the 
Church  and  other  distinguished  individuals.  He  was 
in  sj'mpathy  with  the  object  of  the  Society  for  Promot- 
ing Christian  Knowledge,  and  was  earnest  and  untiring 
in  advancing  its  interests,  as  well  as  those  of  other  soci- 
eties in  connection  witla  the  Church.  The  knowledge 
thus  acquired  of  their  plans,  resources,  and  activities 
greatly  aided  him  in  his  subsequent  career  in  India, 
and  the  discernment  and  good  judgment  which  he 
brouglit  to  their  meetings  contributed  materially  to 
their  efficiency.  About  this  time  the  Anglican  Church 
established  a  bishopric  in  India,  constituting  Calcutta 
as  the  episcopal  residence.  For  this  distinguished  posi- 
tion Dr. Middleton  was  selected;  and  he  was  accordingly 
consecrated  the  first  colonial  bishop  ever  set  apart  by 
the  Anglican  Church  by  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
May  8,  1814.  A  short  time  prior  to  his  departure  for 
Calcutta,  bishop  Middleton  was  made  a  fellow  of  the 
Eoyal  Society.  He  arrived  in  Calcutta  Nov.  28, 1814 — 
a  little  more  than  a  year  from  the  time  of  the  death  of 
Henry  Martyn,  that  valued  worker  in  this  field.  Dur- 
ing the  voyage  Middleton  had  diligently  employed 
himself  in  increasing  his  qualifications  for  his  office,  es- 
pecially by  the  study  of  Hebrew  and  Persian.  As  bishop 
of  Calcutta  he  made  every  effort  to  promote  the  interests 
of  Christianity,  and  to  aid  the  cause  of  education.  He 
made  three  visitations  of  his  immense  diocese,  in  two 
of  which  he  directed  his  particular  attention  to  the  state 
of  the  Syrian  Christians  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cochin, 
on  the  coast  of  IMalabar.  By  his  efforts  the  Bishop's 
College  at  Calcutta  was  established  for  the  education  of 
clergymen  and  missionaries  for  the  British  possessions 
in  Asia ;  and  he  laid  the  first  stone  of  its  buildings  Dec. 
15, 1820.  He  instituted  a  consistory  court  at  Calcutta, 
and  would  have  done  the  same  at  Jladras  but  for  the 
opinion  of  the  advocate-general  of  jNIadras  that  he  re- 
garded such  a  measure  as  illegal.  These  extended  la- 
bors and  extraordinary  exertions,  embarrassed  by  daily 
annoyances  from  the  civil  authorities  in  their  application 
of  regiUations  applicable  only  to  the  home  clergy,  could 
not  result  otherwise  than  in  depressing  him  and  dimin- 
ishing his  vigor,  especially  in  India's  unhealthy  climate, 
and  greatly  hastened  the  end  of  his  days.  He  died  July 
8,  1822,  absolutely  worn  out  by  toil  and  fatigue.  His 
successor  in  the  work  was  the  sainted  Reginald  Heber 
(q.  v.).  Bishop  Middleton  was  large  and  dignified  in 
form,  animated  in  manner,  and  generous  and  kind  in 
disposition.     As  a  preacher  he  was  very  impressive,  his 


voice  clear  and  pleasing,  his  style  simple  and  manly, 
generally  argumentative,  and  strongly  imbued  with  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England.  In  accordance  with 
his  last  desires,  bishop  Middleton's  papers  were  de- 
stroyed, and  we  have,  therefore,  none  of  his  greater  works 
excepting  the  one  he  had  published  in  his  earlier  years 
on  "  the  Greek  Article,"  the  periodical  publication  men-  ' 
tioned  above,  and  some  sermons,  charges,  and  tracts, 
which  have  been  collected  into  a  volume,  to  which  a 
memoir  of  bishop  Middleton  is  prefixed,  by  H.  K.  Bon- 
ney,  D.D.,  archdeacon  of  Bedford  (London",  1824).  See 
Charles  Webb  Le  Bas,  Life  of  the  Right  Rer.  Thomas 
Fanshawe  Middleton  (London,  1831,  2  vols.  8vo) ;  Miss 
Yonge,  Pioneers  and  Founders,  ch.  vii ;  Month!//  Review, 
1810  (May)  ;  Kaye,  Christianity  in  India.     (J.  II.  W.) 

Middoth.     See  Talmud. 

Midgard's  Serpent,  or  the  World-Serpent  (Jor- 
munijamh,  is,  in  the  mythology  of  theNorsemen,  the  great 
serpent  which  surrounds  the  world.  As  the  offspring 
of  Loki  (q.  v.),  the  principle  of  evil,  the  other  gods  feared 
the  new-born,  and  determined  to  get  early  possession  of 
it  and  Fenrir,  another  of  Loki's  offspring,  and,  when  se- 
cured, Midgard's  Serpent  was  cast  into  the  ocean,  where 
it  grew  till  it  encircled  the  world,  biting  its  own  tail. 
At  the  end  of  the  world,  the  world-serpent  wiU  fight 
among  the  enemies  of  the  gods  and  be  slain  by  Thor, 
who,  however,  will  die  immediately  afterwards  from  the 
effect  of  its  A-enom.  The  myth  of  the  Avorld-serpent  is 
supposed  to  signify  the  deep  or  main  ocean,  which,  ex- 
cited by  Loki  (subterranean  fire  or  earthquake),  is 
thrown  upon  the  land,  thus  proving  scarcely  less  fatal 
to  the  works  of  man  than  the  direct  action  of  volcanic 
fire,  represented  under  the  form  of  Fenrir.  For  fur- 
ther particulars,  see  1hor\)%'s  Northern  Mythology,  i,  80 
sq.,  161  sq.;  IMallet's  Northern  Antiquities,  vol.  ii,  Fables 
xvi,  XXV,  xxvi,  xxvii ;  Keyser's  Relifjion  of  the  North- 
men ;  Petersen's  Nordisk  Alythologi. 

Mid'ian  (Heb.  Midyan',  '"p'lp,  strife,  as  in  Prov. 
xviii,  18;  xix,  13;  Sept.  Mn5t«^t  v.  r.  Mahav;  N.  T. 
Macidjx,  Acts  vii,  29,  where  the  Auth.Vers.  has  "Ma- 
dian;"  the  Heb.  often  stands  collectively  for  the  "Mid- 
ianites"  also,  as  it  is  frequently  rendered  in  all  the'  ver- 
sions), the  fourth  son  of  Abraham  by  Keturah,  and  the 
progenitor  of  the  INIidianites  (Gen.  xxv,  2 ;  1  Chron.  i, 
32).  B.C.  post  2024.  His  five  sons  are  enumerated  in 
(ien.  xxv,  4 ;  1  Chron.  i,  33.  Of  his  personal  history 
nothing  further  is  known.     See  Midianite. 

Mid'ianite  (Heb.  Midyani',  '^i'^'}'>2.  Numb,  x,  29, 
used  collectively,  and  so  rendered  " Midianites,"  which 
is  tlie  usual  translation  for  Midian  itself;  Sept.  Matt- 
ai'irijQ  ;  but  the  plur.  C^D"''!^  ^^so  occurs,  Gen.  xxxvii, 
28,  and  the  fem.  "'^3^7'?'  Numb,  xxv,  15;  see  also  Ma- 
ihan),  a  tribe  of  people  descended  from  Abraham's  son 
Blidian  (q.  v.),  a  branch  of  the  Arabians  dwelling  prin- 
cipally in  the  desert  north  of  the  peninsula  of  Arabia. 
Southwards  they  extended  along  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  Gulf  of  Aileh;  and  northwards  they  stretched  along 
the  eastern  frontier  of  Palestine;  while  the  oases  in  the 
peninsula  of  Sinai  seem  to  have  afforded  them  pasture- 
grounds,  and  caused  it  to  be  included  in  the  "land  of 
iNIidian."  The  notion  that  there  were  two  peoples  called 
Midian,  founded  on  the  supposed  shortness  of  the  inter- 
val for  any  considerable  multiplication  from  Abrakani 
to  Moses,  and  on  the  mention  of  Moses's  Cushite  wife, 
seems  to  be  untenable.  Even  conceding  the  former  ob- 
jection, which  is  unnecessary,  one  tribe  has  often  be- 
come merged  into  another  and  older  one,  and  only  the 
name  of  tlie  latter  retained.  In  the  following  account 
of  the  Midianites  we  chiefly  follow  the  statements  in 
Kitto's  and  Smith's  Dictionaries. 

I.  Histoi-y. —Midmn,  though  not  the  oldest,  was  the 
most  celebrated  son  of  Keturah.  What  Judah  became 
among  the  tribes  of  Israel,  Midian  became  among  the 
tribes  of  Arabia.  It  is  true  we  find  the  other  branches 
of  the  Keturites  spoken  of  a  few  times  in  sacred  his- 


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236 


MIDIANITE 


torv,  and  mentioned  in  such  a  way  as  to  prove  that  as 
trilies  they  never  lost  their  individuality ;  yet  the  Mid- 
ianites  were  the  dominant  people,  and  Midian  is  the 
great  name  which  always  comes  out  i)rominently  before 
I  he  historian.  Not  only  so,  but  the  Midianites  appear 
to  have  been  for  a  lengthened  period  the  virtual  rulers 
of  Arabia,  combining  into  a  grand  confederacy,  and  then 
guiding  or  controlling,  as  circumstances  reijuired,  all  the 
Arabian  branches  of  the  Hebrew  race.  This  fact  comes 
out  incidentally  in  many  parts  of  Scripture;  and  we  re- 
(juire  to  keep  it  carefully  in  view  in  order  to  luiderstand 
the  sacred  narrative. 

1.  iMidian  had  live  sons,  who,  doubtless,  in  accordance 
with  Arab  custom,  became  heads  of  distinct  tribes  (Gen. 
XXV,  4 ;  comp.  Numb,  xxxi,  8).  We  are  told  that  wliile 
"  Abraliam  gave  all  that  he  had  to  Isaac,"  that  is,  made 
liim  his  heir — head  of  his  house  and  patrimony — '"to 
tlio  sons  of  the  concubines  Abraham  gave  gifts,  and  sent 
them  away  from  Isaac  his  son  while  he  yet  lived,  east- 
ward, to  tlie  land  in  the  east"  (ver.  o,  G).  Tliis  is  the 
first  indication  of  the  country  occupied  by  the  Midian- 
ites and  otlier  descendants  of  Keturah.  The  expression 
is  not  very  definite,  Abraham's  principal  place  of  resi- 
dence was  Southern  Palestine — ilamre  and  lieersheba. 
Tlie  ••  country  of  the  east"  appears  to  have  included  the 
whole  region  on  the  east  side  of  the  Arabah  or  great 
valley  which  reaches  from  the  fountains  of  the  Jordan 
to  the  /Elanitic  (Julf.  All  Arabia,  in  fact,  and  even 
Mesoi)otamia  were  included  in  the  '•  country  of  the  East" 
(Gen.  xxix,  1 ;  Numb,  xxiii,  7,  etc.).  See  Hknk-Ke- 
DE.M.  Another  incidental  notice  in  Gen.  xxxvi,35  points 
more  clearly  to  the  exact  territory  of  Midian.  lladad, 
one  of  the  early  kings  of  Edom,  is  said  to  have  "  smit- 
ten iMidian  in  the  field  of  Moab."  \Xq  may  conclude 
from  this  that  the  Midianites  were  at  that  time  settled 
on  the  eastern  borders  of  Moab  and  Edom.  They  were, 
like  all  Arabians,  a  nomad  or  semi-nomad  people;  hav- 
ing some  settlements  around  fountains  and  in  fertile 
valleys,  but  forced  to  wander  in  their  tents  from  place 
to  ])lace  to  secure  sufficient  pasture  for  their  flocks.  The 
ISIidianitcs  were  an  enterprising  people.  They  were  not 
satisfied  with  the  dull  routine  of  pastoral  and  agricultu- 
ral life.  From  the  first  they  appear  to  have  engaged  in 
commercial  pursuits.  Some  districts  of  Arabia,  Eastern 
Palestine,  and  Lebanon,  yielded  valuable  spices  and  per- 
fmnes  which  were  in  great  demand  in  Egypt,  not  merely 
for  the  luxuries  of  tlie  living,  but  for  tlie  embalming  oV 
the  dead.  In  this  profitable  trade  the  ^lidianites  en- 
gaged. It  was  to  one  of  their  caravans  passing  through 
Palestine  from  (Jilead  to  Egypt  that  Joseph  was  sold  by 
liis  brethren  (Gen.  xxxvii,  -io  sq.).  Slaves  at  that  time 
fi)uiid  as  ready  a  market  in  Egypt  as  they  do  now.  It 
will  be  oliserved  that  the  traders  arc  called  by  the  his- 
torian botli  Ixhrniulites  and  Midiimitex,  the  two  names 
being  used  as  synonymous.  The  reason  probably  is 
that  these  weie  the  dominant  tribes  in  Arabia,  and  car- 
ried on  the  trade  jointly ;  hence  they  were  known  among 
strangers  by  Ixith  names.  It  would  seem,  however,  that 
the  merchants  in  this  caravan  were  true  Midianites. 
though  they  may  have  been  accompanied  by  Ishmael- 
ites  (ver.  '2H,  3G ;  but  comp.  25,  27),  In  ver.  3G  the  He- 
brew is  C^DIiail,  the  Medanites,  which  is  the  regular 
jihiral  of  Meditii  {'{"^t),  the  third  son  of  Keturah  (Gen. 
XXV,  2) ;  while  in  ver.  2K  the  word  is  C'r'iT::.  tlie  reg- 
ular plural  of  "pT:,  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
Midianites  are  referred  to  in  both  passages,  as  repre- 
sented in  tlie  Scptuagint,  Vulgate,  Targums,  and  other 
ancient  versions.  Sec  JIi;i>an,  By  a  similar  latitude 
of  expression,  the  Midianites  sometimes  ajipear  to  be 
reckoned  among  the  Ishmaelitcs  (.ludg.  vii,  12;  viii,  22, 
21) ;  elsewhere  they  are  distinguished  from  them  ((Jen. 
XXV,  2,  4, 12, 1(!),  This  probaiily  arose  from  their  being 
nomadic  in  their  habits,  so  that  bands  of  them  often 
moved  from  jilacc  to  place.  Hut  the  dilHculty  may  be 
avoided  by  supposing  that  the  terms  "Midianite"  and 
"  IshmaeUte"  are  used  as  a  synonyme  of  travelling  mer- 


chant, such  as  they  became  in  later  times.     See  Ish- 

SIAELITE. 

2.  The  next  notice  of  Midian  is  in  connection  with 
the  eventful  historj-  of  Moses — "Moses  tied  from  the 
face  of  Pharaoh,  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Midian"  (Exod. 
ii,  15),  Iteuel  or  Jethro,  the  priest  of  Midian,  became 
his  master  and  father-in-law,  iNIoscs  kept  his  Hock. 
The  subsequent  incidents  of  this  strange  narrative  show 
clearly  the  region  then  inhabited  by  Jethro,  and  called 
"  the  land  of  Midian,"  It  was  the  peninsula  of  Sinai, 
and  it  was  while  watching  his  Hock  there  on  the  side 
of  Horeb  that  Closes  saw  the  glory  of  the  Lord  in  the 
burning  bush,  and  received  the  commission  to  return  to 
Egypt  for  the  deliverance  of  Israel  (Exod,  iii.  1  sq.). 
It  would  appear,  from  a  comparison  of  the  several  inci- 
dental notices  of  Jethro  given  in  the  Pentateuch,  that 
the  peninsula  of  Sinai  was  not  his  settled  place  of  abode. 
When  Israel  was  encamped  at  Horeb,  Jethro  brought 
thither  Moses's  wife  and  his  two  sons ;  and,  after  a  brief 
stay,  we  are  told  that  "  he  went  his  way  into  his  own 
land"  (Exod.  xviii,  1-3,  27;  comp.  Nut"nb.  x,  29,  30). 
The  Slidianites  were  nomads  roaming  over  a  very  wide 
region,  but,  like  most  Arab  tribes,  having  one  perma- 
nent nucleus.  This  nucleus  was  specially  their  home : 
it  was  the  "land  of  their  kindred ;"  yet  they  also  claimed 
the  whole  region  in  which  they  pastured  their  Hocks  as 
their  own.  The  nucleus  of  the  Midianites  was  some- 
where on  the  eastern  border  of  Edom,  but  their  pasture- 
grounds  probably  extended  as  far  as  Gilead  and  Bashan 
on  the  north,  while  on  the  south  they  embraced  an  ex- 
tensive territory  along  both  shores  of  the  yElanitic  Gulf. 
Hence  Horeb  was  said  to  be  in  the  land  of  Midian  (Exod. 
ii,  15  with  iii,  1),  while  the  chief  seat  of  Jethro's  tribe 
was  on  the  east  of  Edom.  The  ISIidianites  were  thus 
accustomed  to  lead  their  flocks  and  herds  over  the 
whole  of  that  region  which  the  Israelites  afterwards 
traversed — the  choice  pastures,  the  fountains,  and  the 
wells  in  the  desert  were  all  known  to  them.  This  fact 
throws  light  on  Moses's  urgent  request  to  his  father-in- 
law — "Leave  us  not,  I  pray  thee:  forasmuch  as  thou 
knowest  how  we  are  to  encamp  in  the  wilderness,  and 
thou  mayest  be  to  us  instead  of  eyes"  (Numb,  x,  31). 
It  should,  however,  be  remembered  that  the  name  of 
Midian  (and  hence  the  "land  of  Midian")  was  perhaps 
often  applied,  as  that  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  north- 
1  ern  Arab  tribes,  to  the  northern  Arabs  generally,  i,  e. 
those  of  Abrahamic  descent  (comp.  Cien.  xxxvii,  28.  but 
see  respecting  this  passage  above;  and  Judg,  viii,  24); 
just  as  Bexe-Kedem  embraced  all  those  peoples,  and, 
with  a  wider  signification,  other  Eastern  tribes.  If  this 
reading  of  the  name  be  correct,  "Midian"  would  corre- 
spond very  nearly  with  our  modern  word  "Arab;"  lim- 
I  iting,  however,  the  modern  word  to  the  Arabs  of  the 
nortliern  and  Egyptian  deserts:  all  the  Ishmaelitish 
I  tribes  of  those  deserts  would  thus  be  Jlidianites,  as  we 
call  them  Arabs,  the  desert  being  tiieir  "  land,"  At  least 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  descendants  of  Ilagar  and 
Keturah  intermarried;  and  thus  the  Midianites  are  ap- 
parently called  Ishmaehtes  in  Judg,  viii,  24,  being  con- 
j  nected,  both  by  blood  and  national  customs,  with  the 
I  father  of  the  Arabs.  The  wandering  habits  of  nomadic 
I  tribes  must  also  preclude  our  arguing  from  the  fact  of 
Moses's  leading  his  father's  Hock  to  Horeb,  that  Sinai 
was  necessarily  more  than  a  station  of  IMidian:  those 
tribes  annually  traverse  a  great  extent  of  countrj-  in 
search  of  pasturage,  and  have  their  established  summer 
and  winter  pastures.  The  Midianites  were  mostly  (not 
always)  dwellers  in  tents,  not  towns;  and  Sinai  has  not 
sufticicnt  pasture  to  support  more  than  a  small,  or  a 
moving  people.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  jier- 
haps  (or  we  may  s.ay  probdbhj)  the  peninsula  of  Siuai 
has  considerably  changed  in  its  physical  character  since 
the  time  of  Closes;  even  the  adjacent  isthmus  lias  been 
thought,  since  that  period,  to  have  risen  many  feet,  so 
that  "  the  tongue  of  the  Egyptian  Sea"  has  ••  drieil  up ;" 
and  this  supposition  would  much  diminish  the  difficulty 
of  accounting  for  the  means  of  subsistence  found  by  the 


MIDIANITE 


237 


MIDIANITE 


Israelites  in  their  wanderings  in  the  wilderness,  when 
not  miraculously  supplied.  Apart  from  this  considera- 
tion, we  know  that  the  Egyptians  afterwards  worked 
mines  at  Sardbet  el-Khadim,  and  a  small  mining  popu- 
lation may  have  found  sufficient  sustenance,  at  least  in 
some  seasons  of  the  year,  in  the  few  watered  valleys, 
and  wherever  ground  could  be  reclaimed :  rock-inscrip- 
tions (though  of  later  date)  testify  to  the  number  of  at 
least  passers-by ;  and  the  remains  of  villages  of  a  min- 
ing population  have  recently  been  discovered.  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  position  of  Midian  in  the  Sina- 
itic  peninsula,  if  we  may  believe  the  Arabian  histori- 
ans and  geographers,  backed  as  their  testimony  is  by 
tlie  Greek  geographers  (see  below),  the  city  of  Midian 
was  situate  on  the  opposite  or  Arabian  shore  of  the 
Arabian  Gulf;  and  thence  northwards,  and  spreading 
east  and  west,  we  have  the  true  country  of  the  wander- 
ing Midianites.     See  Sinai. 

3.  The  next  occurrence  of  the  name  of  this  people  in 
the  sacred  history  marks  their  northern  settlements  on 
the  border  of  the  Promised  Land,  "  on  this  side  Jordan 
[by]  Jericho,"  in  the  plains  of  Moab  (Numb,  xxii,  1^). 
The  Midianites  were  a  wise  and  a  wily  people.  So  long 
as  the  Israelites  only  traversed  their  outlying  pasture- 
grounds  on  the  west  of  the  Arabah,  tliey  were  content 
to  cultivate  their  friendship;  but  when,  in  the  latter 
part  of  their  journey,  having  passed  round  the  southern 
end  of  Edom,  they  entered  the  proper  territory  of  Jlid- 
ian,  the  IMidianites  tried  every  plan  and  used  every  ef- 
fort to  work  their  destruction.  They  consulted  with 
their  neighbors,  the  chiefs  of  INIoab,  and  resolved  to 
bring  the  prophet  Balaam  to  curse  the  powerful  stran- 
gers (Numb,  xxii,  4-7).  Balaam  came,  and  the  Lord 
turned  the  intended  curse  into  a  blessing.  The  prophet, 
however,  adopted  a  more  effectual  mode  of  injuring  the 
Israelites  than  by  the  agency  of  enchantments.  He 
persuaded  the  women  of  IMidian  and  Moab  to  work  upon 
the  passions  of  the  Israelites,  and  entice  them  to  the 
licentious  festivals  of  their  idols,  and  thus  bring  upon 
them  the  curse  of  heaven  (xxxi,  16).  This  infamous 
scheme  proved  only  too  successful  (ch.  xxv),  and,  had 
it  not  been  checked  by  the  almost  complete  annihilation 
of  the  Midianites,  it  would  have  brought  destruction 
upon  the  whole  host  of  Israel  (xxv,  17 ;  xxxi,  2).  The 
vengeance  then  executed  upon  Midian  was  terrible. 
Their  cities  and  castles  were  burned;  the  entire  males 
that  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  conquerors  were  put  to 
death,  including  the  live  kings  of  Midian — Evi,  Rekem, 
Zur,  Hur,  and  Keba,  together  with  Balaam — and  with 
them  all  the  married  females;  and  the  young  Avomen 
and  children  were  reduced  to  slavery.  It  has  been  af- 
firmed that  these  acts  of  vengeance  are  so  cruel,  so  bar- 
barous in  their  character,  that  they  could  never  have 
been  prompted  by  a  God  of  love,  and  that,  therefore,  the 
narrative  cannot  be  considered  as  of  divine  authority. 
Those  who  bring  such  an  accusation  against  the  Script- 
ures must  surely  overlook  the  leading  circumstances  of 
the  case — they  must  forget  that  the  God  of  love  is  also 
the  God  of  Justice.  The  whole  Midianitish  nation,  male 
and  female,  had  deliberately  combined  and  conspired, 
by  wile  and  stratagem,  to  wean  the  Israelites  from  their 
allegiance  to  the  God  of  heaven,  and  not  only  so,  but 
wantonly  to  allure  thera  to  the  commission  of  the  most 
foul  and  degrading  crimes.  Was  it  inconsistent  with 
justice  for  the  moral  Governor  of  the  universe  to  punish 
such  guilt?  Could  any  punishment  less  sweeping  have 
freed  the  earth  from  crime  so  deep-rooted  and  so  dan- 
gerous? The  influence  of  the  Midianites  on  the  Israel- 
ites was  clearly  most  evil,  and  directly  tended  to  lead 
them  from  the  injunctions  of  Moses.  Much  of  the  dan- 
gerous character  of  their  influence  may  probably  be  as- 
cribed to  the  common  descent  from  Abraham.  While 
the  Canaanitish  tribes  were  abhorred,  IMidian  might 
claim  consanguinity,  and  more  readily  seduce  Israel 
from  its  allegiance. 

The  details  of  this  war  given  by  Moses  afford  us  some 
little  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  country  of  iSIidian, 


and  the  occupations  of  the  people.  The  Midianites 
were  not  pure  nomads ;  they  had  cities  and  goodly  cas- 
tles (xxxi,  10).  Their  principal  wealth  consisted,  how- 
ever, in  flocks  and  herds,  for  the  Israelites  captured 
675,000  sheep,  72,000  beeves,  and  61,000  asses.  It  is 
singular  that  camels  are  not  mentioned ;  but  it  is  prob- 
able that,  as  the  IsraeUtes  were  all  footmen,  the  camels  ' 
escaped  to  the  desert.  Recent  investigations  have 
shown  that  the  whole  desert  east  of  Edom  and  Moab  is 
thickly  studded  with  the  ruins  of  ancient  cities  and  cas- 
tles (Wallin,  in  Journal  ofR.  G.  S.  xxiv,  115  sq. ;  Porter, 
Damascus,  ii,  188 ;  Wetstein,  Reisehericht  iiber  Ilauran, 
etc. ;  Graham,  in  Journal  of  R.  G,  8.  for  1859).  These 
were  doubtless  the  habitations  of  the  Midianites.  The 
whole  region  around  their  cities,  extending  from  the 
mountains  of  Haunin  to  the  yElanitic  Gidf,  though  now 
dreary  and  desolate,  is  not  barren.  In  spring  and  early 
summer  it  is  covered  with  vegetation,  and  it  has  many 
rich  valleys,  a  few  patches  of  which  are  still  here  and 
there  cultivated  by  the  Arab  tribes.  Everywhere  there 
are  evidences  of  partial  cultivation  in  former  days,  and 
there  are  also  traces  of  a  comparatively  dense  popula- 
tion (see  Porter,  Hand-book,  p.  501,  508,  523,  etc.). 

Some  time  previous  to  the  exodus  it  appears  that  the 
Midianites  had  allied  themselves  closely  to  the  Moab- 
ites.  Sihon,  king  of  the  Amorites,  made  war  upon 
Moab  and  Ammon,  conquered  a  large  part  of  their  ter- 
ritory, and  retained  possession  of  it  (Judg.  xi,  13-23). 
At  the  same  time  he  made  Midian,  the  ally  of  JNIoab, 
tributary;  and  hence  the  five  princes  of  Midian  are 
called  by  Joshua  vassals  (C3"'CiD  ;  Keil  on  Josh,  xiii,  21) 
or  "  dukes"  of  Sihon.  The  defeat  of  Sihon  by  the  Isra- 
elites secured  the  freedom  of  the  Midianites ;  and  then 
tliey,  fearing  lest  they  should  in  like  manner  be  sub- 
dued by  Moses,  conspired  to  destroy  Israel,  and  thus 
brought  destruction  upon  themselves.  The  government 
of  Midian  was  doubtless  similar  to  that  of  all  the  na- 
tions of  Arabia— patriarchal.  The  nation  was  divided 
into  a  number  of  tribes,  each  of  which  was  independent, 
and  led  by  its  own  sheik  or  chief.  In  time  of  common 
danger  or  of  war,  the  sheiks  of  the  various  tribes  formed 
a  council,  but  always  acknowledged  the  presidency  of 
the  head  of  one  leading  family,  who  was  (and  still  is) 
styled  the  "prince"  {emir)  of  the  nation.  Five  of  the 
sheiks  of  Midian  are  mentioned  in  Judges  as  subjects 
of  Sihon.  In  Numb,  xxxi,  8  they  are  called  "  kings" 
(C"'2b'2);  while  in  xxii,  4  IVIoab  is  said  to  have  con- 
sulted with  the  "  elders"  (D'^JpT)  of  Midian.  The  great 
Arab  tribes  have  two  classes  of  chiefs :  one  class  is  com- 
posed of  the  rulers  of  the  leading  divisions  of  the  tribe, 
the  other  of  the  rulers  of  subdivisions.  The  former  are 
hereditary,  the  latter  are  simply  influential  or  warlike 
men  who",  by  their  talents,  have  gathered  around  them 
a  number  of  families.  It  would  seem  to  be  the  former 
class— the  hereditary  rulers  of  3Iidian— who  are  called 
"  kings ;"  while  the  others,  the  influential  leaders  or  sen- 
atorsof  the  tribe,  are  termed  '•  elders."  In  the  trans- 
action with  Balaam,  the  elders  of  JNIidian  went  with 
those  of  Moab,  "with  the  rewards  of  divination  in  their 
hand"  (xxii,  7) ;  but  in  the  remarkable  words  of  Balaam 
the  Midianites  are  not  mentioned.  This  might  be  ex- 
plained by  the  supposition  that  Midian  was  a  wandering 
tribe,  whose  pasture-lands  reached  wherever,  in  the 
Arabian  desert  and  frontier  of  Palestine,  pasture  was  to 
be  found,  and  who  woidd  not  feel,  in  the  same  degree 
as  Moab,  Amalek,  or  the  other  more  settled  and  agri- 
cultural inhabitants  of  the  land  allotted  to  the  tribes  of 
Israel,  the  arrival  of  the  latter.  But  the  spoil  taken  in 
the  war  that  soon  followed,  and  more  especially  the 
mention  of  the  dwellings  of  Midian,  render  this  sugges- 
tion very  doubtful,  and  point  rather  to  a  considerable 
pastoral" settlement  of  Midian  in  the  trans-Jordanic 
countr_v.  Such  settlements  of  Arabs  have,  however, 
been  very  common.  In  this  case  the  Midianites  were 
evidently  tributary  to  the  Amorites,  being  "  dukes  of 
Sihon,  dweUing  in  the  country"  (y"^?0  "^r:'^^)'-  <-bis 


MIDIAXITE 


238 


MIDIANITE 


inferior  position  cxjilains  their  omission  from  Balaam's 
prophecy.  The  rank  of  the  Mitlianitish  woman  Cozhi, 
tliat  of  a  daughter  of  Ziir,  who  was  "  head  over  a  people, 
of  a  chief  house  in  ;Mi(lian,"  throws  a  strange  light  over 
the  obscure  page  of  that  peojjle's  history.  The  vices  of 
the  Canaanites,  idolatry  and  licentiousness,  had  infected 
the  descendants  of  Abraliam,  doubtless  connected  by  suc- 
cessive intermarriages  witli  those  tribes;  and  the  pros- 
titution of  this  chief's  daughter,  caught  as  it  was  from 
tlie  customs  of  the  Canaanites,  is  evidence  of  the  eth- 
nological type  of  the  latter  tribes.  Some  African  na- 
tions have  a  similar  custom  :  they  oflFer  their  unmarried 
daughters  to  show  hospitality  to  their  guests. 

4.  There  is  no  further  mention  of  the  Midianites  in 
history  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  During  that 
period  the  nation  had  completely  recovered  its  ancient 
influence  and  power,  probably  by  the  arrival  of  fresh 
colonists  from  the  desert  tracts  over  which  their  tribes 
wandered;  and  thej'  again  turned  their  arms  against 
their  old  enemies,  the  Israelites.  For  seven  years  they 
oppressed  them  so  grievously  that  the  people  were  forced 
to  tlee  from  the  open  country,  and  to  seek  an  asylum  in 
mountain  fastnesses,  in  caves,  and  in  fortified  cities 
(Judg.  vi,  1,  2).  jMidian  was  now  at  the  head  of  a  great; 
confederacy,  comprising  the  Amalckitcs  and  the  leading 
tribes  of  Arabia,  called  by  the  sacred  historian  Beni  Kc- 
dein  ("  children  of  tlie  East,"  ver.  3).  In  early  spring  the 
confederates  assembled  their  vast  flocks  and  herds,  de- 
scended through  the  defiles  of  Gilead,  crossed  the  Jor- 
dan, and  overran  the  rich  plains  of  Central  Palestine, 
plundering  and  destroying  all  before  them — "sheep, 
oxen,  asses,"  property,  the  young  corn,  and  the  luxuri- 
ant pastures:  "For  they  came  up  with  their  cattle,  and 
their  tents,  and  they  came  as  grasshoppers  for  multi- 
tude ;  for  both  they  and  their  canuls  were  without 
inmiber;  and  they  entered  into  the  land  to  destro}'  it" 
(ver.  5).  In  their  distress  the  Israelites  cried  unto  the 
Ix)rd,  and  he  sent  a  deliverer  in  the  person  of  Gideon 
(ver.  8-13 j.  The  invaders  were  concentrated  on  Esdrae- 
lon — their  flocks  covering  the  whole  of  that  splcnuid 
plain,  and  their  encampment  lying  along  the  base  of 
"  the  hill  of  Moreh,"  now  called  Little  llermon  (ver.  ."3 ; 
vii,  1, 12).  Gideon  assembled  his  band  of  warriors  at 
the  well  of  Ilarod,  or  fountain  of  Jczreel,  situated  at 
the  foot  of  Gilljoa,  and  famed  in  after-days  as  the  scene 
of  Saul's  defeat  and  death  (vii,  1).  See  IIakod.  The 
romantic  incidents  in  this  memorable  camjjaign  have 
been  treated  of  elsewhere  [see  GidkonJ,  but  the  j\Iid- 
ianitish  side  of  the  story  is  pregnant  witli  interest.  The 
scene  over  that  fertile  plain,  dotted  with  the  enemies 
of  Israel,  "  the  Midianites,  and  the  Amalekites,  and  all 
the  Uene-Kedem,  [who]  lay  along  (C^lpED,  yj-//,  i.  e. 
pitched  their  tents)  in  the  valley  like  locusts  for  multi- 
tude, and  their  camels  were  without  number,  as  the 
sand  by  the  soa-slde  for  multitude"  (vii,  12),  has  been 
picturesquely  painted  by  I'rof.  Stanlej^  {6'inai  and  Pal- 
estine, p.  333). 

The  descent  of  Gideon  and  his  servant  into  the  camp, 
and  the  conversation  of  the  Midianitish  watch,  forms  a 
vivid  picture  of  Aral)  life.  It  does  more:  it  proves  that 
as  (iideon,  or  rinirali.  his  servaiu,  or  lioth,  understood 
the  language  of  ^lidian,  tlie  Shemitic  languages  dif- 
fered much  less  in  the  Ihh  century  B.C.  than  they 
did  in  after-times  [see  Arauia]  ;  and  we  besides  obtain 
a  remarkable  proof  of  the  consanguinity  of  the  Midian- 
ites. and  learn  that,  tliough  tlie  name  was  probably  ap- 
]ilied  to  all  or  most  of  the  northern  Abrahamic  Arabs, 
it  was  not  apjilied  to  the  Canaanites,  who  certainly  did 
not  then  speak  a  Slumitic  language  that  (Iideon  could 
understand.  The  stratagem  of  (iideon  receives  an  illus- 
tration from  modern  Oriental  life.  Until  lately  tlie  po- 
lice in  Cairo  were  accustomed  to  go  their  rounds  with  a 
lighted  torch  thrust  into  a  pitcher,  and  the  pitcher  was 
suddenly  withdrawn  when  light  was  refpiired  (Lane's 
Mod.  Kij.  .')th  edit.  )).  120)— a  custom  aftbrding  an  exact 
parallel  to  the  ancient  expedient  adopted  by  Gideon. 


The  consequent  panic  of  the  great  multitude  in  the  val- 
ley, if  it  have  no  parallels  in  modem  European  history,  ia 
consistent  with  Oriental  character.  Of  all  peoples,  the 
nations  of  the  East  are  most  liable  to  sudden  and  vio- 
lent emotions;  and  a  panic  in  one  of  their  heterogene- 
ous, undisciplined,  and  excitable  hosts  has  always  proved 
disastrous.  In  the  case  of  (iideon,  however,  the  result 
of  his  attack  was  directed  by  God,  the  divine  hand  be- 
ing especially  shown  in  the  small  number  of  Israel,  300 
men,  against  135,000  of  the  enemy.  At  the  sight  of  the 
300  torches,  suddenly  blazing  round  about  the  camp  in 
the  beginning  of  the  middle-watch  (which  the  Midian- 
ites had  newly  set),  with  the  confused  din  of  the  trum- 
pets, "  for  the  three  companies  blew  the  trumpets,  and 
brake  the  pitchers,  and  held  the  lamps  in  their  left 
hands,  and  the  trumpets  in  their  right  hands  to  blow 
[withalj,  and  they  cried,  [The  swordj  of  the  Lord  and 
of  Gideon"  (vii,  20),  "  all  the  host  ran,  and  cried,  and 
fled"  (ver.  21).  The  panic-stricken  multitude  knew  not 
enemy  from  friend,  for  "  the  Lord  set  everj'  man's  sword 
against  his  fellow  even  throughout  all  tlie  host"  (ver. 
22).  The  rout  was  complete,  the  first  places  made  for 
being  Beth-shittah  ("  the  house  of  the  acacia")  in  Ze- 
rerath,  and  the  "border"  (I^S'w,  lip)  of  Abel-meholah, 
"  the  meadow  of  the  dance,"  both  being  probably  down 
the  Jordan  valley,  unto  Tabbath,  shaping  their  flight  to 
the  ford  of  Beth-barah,  where  probably  they  had  crossed 
the  river  as  invaders.  The  flight  of  so  great  a  host,  en- 
cumbered with  slow-moving  camels,  baggage,  and  cat- 
tle, was  calamitous.  All  the  men  of  Israel,  out  of  Naph- 
tali,  and  Asher,  and  Manasseh,  joined  in  the  pursuit; 
and  Gideon  roused  the  men  of  IMount  Ephraim  to  "  take 
before"  the  IMidianites  "  the  waters  unto  Beth-barah  and 
Jordan"  (ver.  23,  24).  Thus  cut  oft',  two  princes,  Oreb 
and  Zeeb  (the  "raven,"  or,  more  correctly  "crow,"  and 
the  "wolf"),  fell  into  the  hands  of  Ephraim,  and  Oreb 
they  slew  at  the  rock  Oreb,  and  Zeeb  they  slew  at  the 
wine-press  of  Zeeb  (vii,  25;  comp.  Isa.  x,  26,  where  the 
"  slaughter  of  Jlidian  at  the  rock  Oreb"  is  referred  to). 
It  is  added,  in  the  same  verse,  that  they  pursued  ^lid- 
ian,  and  brought  the  heads  of  the  princes  to  (iideon  "  on 
the  other  side  Jordan."  This  anticipates  the  account 
of  his  crossing  Jordan  (viii,  4),  but  such  transpositions 
are  frequent,  and  the  Hebrew  may  be  read  "  On  this 
side  Jordan."  But  though  we  have  seen  that  many 
joined  in  a  desultory  pursuit  of  the  rabble  of  the  Mid- 
ianites, only  the  .300  men  who  had  blown  the  trumpets 
in  the  valley  of  Jezreel  crossed  Jordan  with  Gideon, 
"  faint  yet  pursuing"  (viii,  4).  'With  this  force  it  re- 
mained for  the  liberator  to  attack  the  enemy  on  his  own 
ground,  for  Jlidian  had  dwelt  on  the  other  side  Jordan 
since  the  days  of  Moses.  Fifteen  thousand  men.  under 
the  "  kings"  of  Midian,  Zebah  ami  Zalmunna,  were  at 
Karkor,  the  sole  remains  of  135.000,  "for  there  fell  a 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men  that  drew  sword" 
(viii,  10).  The  assurance  of  Ciod's  help  encouraged  the 
weary  three  hundred,  and  they  ascended  from  the  plain 
(or  ffhor)  to  the  higher  country  by  a  ravine  or  torrent- 
bed  in  the  hills,  "by  the  way  of  them  that  dwelt  in 
tents  [that  is,  the  pastoral  or  wandering  people  as  dis- 
tinguished from  towns-people],  on  the  east  of  Nobah 
and  Jogbehah,  and  smote  the  host,  for  the  host  was  se- 
cure" (viii,  11)— secure  in  that  wild  countr}-,  on  their 
own  ground,  and  away  from  the  frequent  haunts  of  man. 
A  sharp  pursuit  seems  to  have  foUowed  this  fresh  vic- 
tory, ending  in  the  capture  of  the  kings  and  the  final 
discomfiture  of  the  Midianites.  The  overthrow  of  Jlid- 
ian  in  its  encampment,  when  it  was  "secure,"  by  the 
exhausted  companies  of  (iideon  (they  were  "  faint,"  and 
had  been  refused  bread  both  at  Succoth  and  at  I'emicl, 
viii,  5-0),  set  the  seal  to  (iod's  manifest  hand  in  the 
deliverance  of  his  people  from  the  oppression  of  Midian. 
Zebah  and  Zalmunna  were  slain,  and  with  them  the 
name  itself  of  Jlidian  almost  disappears  from  sacred 
history.  That  people  never  afterwards  took  up  arms 
against  Israel,  though  they  may  have  been  allied  with 


MIDIANITE 


239 


MIDIANITE 


the  nameless  hordes  who,  under  the  common  designa- 
tion of  "  tlie  people  of  the  East,"  Bene-Kedem,  harassed 
the  eastern  border  of  Palestine. 

To  this  victory  there  are  subsequent  allusions  in  the 
sacred  writings  (Psa.  Ixxxiii,  10, 12;  Isa.  ix,  4;  x,  6); 
but  the  Midianites  do  not  again  appear  in  sacred  or  pro- 
fane history.  The  name,  indeed,  occurs  after  the  exile 
in  Judith  ii,  16,  but  it  seems  to  be  there  confounded  with 
the  Arabians.  Josephus,  however,  asserts  (Ant.  iv,  7, 1) 
that  Petra,  the  capital  of  Arabia  (i.  e.  Idumsea),  was 
called  by  the  natives  Areceme,  from  the  IMidianitish 
king  Kekem  slain  by  Moses  (Numb,  xxxi,  8).  Euse- 
bius  and  Jerome  also  mention  a  city  Madian,  so  named 
after  the  son  of  Abraham  by  Keturah,  situated  beyond 
Arabia  (Idumsea)  to  the  south,  by  the  Ked  Sea,  from 
which  the  district  was  called ;  and  another  city  of  the 
same  name  near  the  Anion  and  Areopolis,  the  ruins  of 
which  only  existed  in  their  days  (Onomast.  s.  v. ;  comp. 
Jerome,  Comment,  ad  Jes.  Ix,  and  Ezech.  xxv).  These 
were  doubtless  traditionary  recollections  of  the  different 
branches  of  the  Midianitish  stock,  showing  their  preva- 
lence throughout  Idumiea  and  the  Siuaitic  peninsula  as 
a  migratory  tribe. 

II.  Geographical  Identification. — From  all  the  above 
notices,  we  may  gather  with  considerable  certainty  that 
there  were  at  least  two  main  branches  of  the  Midianites. 
It  seems  to  have  been  that  portion  of  the  tribe  dwelling 
about  the  eastern  arm  of  the  Ked  Sea,  among  whom 
Moses  found  refuge  when  he  tied  from  Egypt,  and  whose 
priest  or  sheik  was  Jethro,  who  became  the  father-in- 
law  of  the  future  lawgiver  (Exod.  iii,  1 ;  Numb,  x,  29). 
See  Kenitk.  These  in  like  manner  are  usually  reck- 
oned along  with  the  Ethiopians  of  Cushite  origin.  It 
is  certain  that  some  Cushite  tribes  did  settle  in  and 
on  the  outskirts  of  Arabia,  which  was  therefore  called 
Cush,  in  common  with  other  districts  occupied  by  Cush- 
ite tribes ;  and,  under  this  view,  it  is  observable  that  the 
wife  of  Moses  is  called  a  Cushite  (Numb,  xii,  1),  and 
that,  in  Hab.  iii,  7,  the  Midianites  are  named  with  the 
Cushites ;  for  these  are  undoubtedly  the  Midianites  who 
trembled  for  fear  when  they  heard  that  the  Israelites 
had  passed  through  the  Ked  Sea.  We  do  not  again 
meet  with  these  Midianites  in  the  Jewish  history,  but 
they  appear  to  have  remained  for  a  long  time  settled  in 
the  same  quarter,  where  indeed  is  the  seat  of  the  only 
Midianites  known  to  Oriental  authors.  The  Arabian 
geographers  of  the  middle  age  (Edrisi,  dim.  iii,  5,  p.  3; 
Ibn  el-Wardi,  and  Abulfeda,  A  rah.  descr.  p.  77 ;  comp. 
Seetzen,  xx,  311)  speak  of  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  town 
called  Madian,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Red  Sea, 
where  was  still  to  be  seen  the  well  at  which  Moses  wa- 
tered the  flocks  of  Shoaib  or  Jethro.  This  was  doubt- 
less the  same  as  Modiana,  a  town  in  the  same  district, 
mentioned  by  Ptolemy  {Geog.  v,  19) ;  and  Niebuhr  con- 
jectures that  the  site  is  now  occupied  by  IMoilah,  a  small 
town  or  village  on  the  Ked  Sea,  on  the  Haj  road  from 
Egypt  {Descript.  A  rab.  p.  377) ;  but,  as  Rosenmiiller  re- 
marks {Bihl.  Geog.  iii,  224),  this  place  is  too  far  south 
to  be  identified  with  the  Midian  of  Jethro.  The  Madi- 
an of  Abulfeda  is  doubtless  that  mentioned  by  Josephus 
{Ant.  xii,  11, 1)  as  Madiene  (MaSvrjin}),  situated  at  the 
Eed  Sea,  properly  identified  by  Reland  {Palcest.  p.  98, 
100)  with  the  modern  Midi/an,  situated  about  half-way 
down  the  eastern  coast  of  the  /Elanitic  Gulf  (Forster's 
Geoffi:  of  Arabia,  ii,  116,  and  Index,  s.  v.).  To  the 
same  effect  are  the  notices  of  the  city  Madian  in  Euse- 
bius  and  Jerome  above. 

Another  branch  of  the  Midianites  occupied  the  coun- 
try east  and  south-east  of  the  Jloabites,  who  were  seateil 
on  the  east  of  the  Dead  Sea ;  or  rather,  perhaps,  we 
should  say  that,  as  they  appear  to  have  been  a  semi- 
nomad  people,  they  pastured  their  flocks  in  the  unset- 
tled country  beyond  the  INIoabites,  with  whom,  as  a  kin- 
dred, although  more  settled  tribe,  they  seem  to  have 
been  on  the  most  friendly  terms,  and  on  whose  borders 
were  situated  those  "cities  and  goodly  castles  which 
they  possessed"  (Numb,  xxxi,  10).     It  is  to  these  Mid- 


ianites that  we  must  refer  the  brief  statements  of  a  col- 
lision with  Hadad,  one  of  the  early  Edomitish  kings 
((ien.  xxxvi,  35).  These  Midianites,  like  the  other 
tribes  and  nations  who  had  a  common  origin  with  them, 
were  highly  hostile  to  the  Israelites. 

Midian  is  named  authentically  only  in  the  Bible.  It 
has  no  history  elsewhere.  The  names  of  places  and 
tribes  occasionally  throw  a  feeble  light  on  its  past  dwell- 
ings ;  but  the  stories  of  Arabian  writers,  borrowed,  in  the 
case  of  the  northern  Arabs,  too  frequently  from  late  and 
untrustworthy  Jewish  writers,  cannot  be  seriously  treat- 
ed. For  trustworthy  facts  we  must  rest  on  the  Biblical 
narrative.  The  city  of  "Medyen  [say  the  Arabs]  is 
the  city  of  the  people  of  Shu'eib,  and  is  opposite  Tabuk, 
ontheshoreofBahrel-Kulzum  [the  Red  Sea]:  between 
these  is  six  days'  journey.  It  [ISIedyen]  is  larger  than 
Tabuk ;  and  in  it  is  the  well  from  which  Moses  watered 
the  flock  of  Shu'eib"  {Mardsid,  s.  v.).  El-IMakrizi  (in 
his  Khitat)  enters  into  considerable  detail  respecting 
this  city  and  people.  The  substance  of  his  account, 
which  is  full  of  incredible  fables,  is  as  follows :  Medyen 
are  the  people  of  Shu'eib,  and  are  the  offspring  of  Med- 
ydn  [Midian],  son  of  Abraham,  and  their  mother  was 
Kantura,  the  daughter  of  Yuktan  [Joktan]  the  Ca- 
naanite :  she  bare  him  eight  children,  from  whom  de- 
scended peoples.  He  here  quotes  the  passage  above 
cited  from  the  Mardsid  almost  verbatim,  and  adds  that 
the  Arabs  dispute  whether  the  name  be  foreign  or  Ara- 
bic, and  whether  IMedyen  spoke  Arabic,  so  called. 
Some  say  that  they  had  a  number  of  kings,  who  were 
respectively  named  Abjad,  Hawez,  Hutti,  Kelemen, 
Saafas,  and  Karashet.  This  absurd  enumeration  forms 
a  sentence  common  in  Arabic  grammars,  which  gives 
the  order  of  the  Hebrew  and  ancient  Arabic  alphabets, 
and  the  numerical  order  of  the  letters.  It  is  only  curi- 
ous as  possibly  containing  some  vague  reference  to  the 
language  of  J.Iidian,  and  it  is  therefore  inserted  here. 
These  kings  are  said  to  have  ruled  at  Mekkeh,  Western 
Nejd,  the  Yemen,  Medyen,  and  Egypt,  etc.,  ct)ntempo- 
raneously.  That  Midian  penetrated  into  the  Yemen  is, 
it  must  be  observed,  extremely  improbable,  notwith- 
standing the  hints  of  Arab  authors  to  the  contrary : 
Yakut,  in  the  Jlfoajam  (cited  in  the  .Toiirnal  of  the 
Deutsch.  Morgenl.  Geselkchaft),  saying  that  a  southern 
Arabian  dialect  is  of  Midian ;  and  El-Mes'udi  {ap. 
Schultens,  p.  158)  inserting  a  Midianitish  king  among  the 
rulers  of  the  Yemen ;  the  latter  being,  however,  more 
possible  than  the  former,  as  an  accidental  and  individu- 
al, not  a  national  occurrence.  The  story  of  Shu'eib  is 
found  in  the  Kuran.  He  was  sent  as  a  prophet  to 
warn  the  people  of  Jlidian,  and  being  rejected  by  them, 
they  were  destroyed  by  a  storm  from  heaven  (Sale's 
Kui-dn,  vii  and  xi).  He  is  generally  supposed  to  be  the 
same  as  Jethro,  the  father-in-law  of  Moses  ,•  but  some, 
as  Sale  informs  us,  deny  this ;  and  one  of  these  says 
that  "  he  was  first  called  Buyun,  and  afterwards  Shu'eib ; 
that  he  was  a  comely  person,  but  spare  and  lean,  and  of 
few  words."  The  whole  Arab  storj'  of  Medj'en  and 
Shu'eib,  even  if  it  contain  any  truth,  is  encumbered  by 
a  mass  of  late  rabbinical  myths.  El-Makrizi  tells  us 
that  in  the  land  of  Midian  were  many  cities,  of  which 
the  people  had  disappeared,  and  the  cities  themselves 
had  fallen  to  ruin ;  that  when  he  wrote  (in  the  year  825 
of  the  Hegira)  forty  cities  remained,  the  names  of  some 
being  known,  and  of  others  lost.  Of  the  ibrmer?  he 
says  there  were,  between  the  Hijaz  and  Palestine  and 
Egj'pt,  sixteen  cities;  and  ten  of  these  in  the  direction 
of  Palestine.  They  were  El-Khalasah,  El-Sanitah,  El- 
Medereh,  El-lMinveh,  El-Aawaj,  El-Khuweyrak,  El- 
Birein,  El-Ma-eyii,  El-Seba,  and  El-Mu'allak.  The 
most  important  of  these  cities  were  El-Khalasah  and 
El-Sanitah ;  the  stones  of  many  of  them  had  been  re- 
moved to  El-Ghazzah  (Gaza)  to  build  with  them. 
This  list,  however,  must  be  taken  with  caution. 

III.  Condition  and  Customs.  —  jNIuch  of  this  has  al- 
ready been  incidentally  mentioned.  The  whole  account 
of  the  doings  of  the  Midianites  with  Israel— and  it  is 


MIDLENT  SUNDAY 


240 


MIDRASH 


only  thus  that  they  find  a  place  in  the  sacred  writings 
—plainly  marks  them  as  characteristically  Arab.  We 
have  already  stated  our  opinion  that  they  had  inter- 
married with  Ishmael's  descendants,  and  become  nation- 
ally one  ijcople,  so  that  they  arc  apparently  called  Ish- 
maelites;  and  that,  conversely,  it  is  most  jiroljable  their 
power  and  numbers,  with  such  intermarriages,  had 
caused  the  name  of  Midian  to  be  applied  to  the  north- 
ern Abrahamic  Arabs  generally.  They  are  described  as 
true  Arabs — now  Bedawin,  or  "  people  of  the  desert ;" 
anon  pastoral  or  settled  Arabs— the  "  flock"  of  Jethro ; 
the  cattle  and  Hocks  of  Midian,  in  the  later  days  of  Mo- 
ses; their  camels  without  number,  as  the  sand  of  the 
sea-side  for  multitude  when  they  ojjpressed  Israel  in  the 
days  of  the  Judges— all  agree  with  such  a  description.  '  to  expi 
Like  Arabs,  who  are  predominantly  a  nomadic  people, 
they  seem  to  have  partially  settled  in  the  land  of  Moab, 
under  the  rule  of  Sihon  the  Amorite,  and  to  have  adapt- 
ed themselves  readily  to  the  "cities"  (n"i"7^')  and  forts 
(A.  V.  "  gootlly  castles,"  n'"|ia),  which  they  did  not 
build,  but  occupied,  retaining  even  then  their  flocks  and 
lierds  (Xumb.  xxxi,  9, 10),  but  not  their  camels,  which 
are  not  common  among  settled  Arabs,  because  they  are 
not  reeiuired,  and  are  never,  in  that  state,  healthy.  Is- 
rael seems  to  have  devastated  that  settlement,  and  when 
next  Midian  appears  in  history  it  is  as  a  desert  horde, 
pouring  into  Palestine  with  innumerable  camels;  and, 
when  routed  and  broken  by  Gideon,  fleeing  "  by  the  way 
of  them  that  dwelt  in  tents '  to  the  east  of  Jordan.  The 
character  of  Midian  we  think  is  thus  unmistakably 
marked.  The  only  glimpse  of  their  habits  is  found  in 
tlie  vigorous  picture  of  tlie  camp  in  the  valley  of  Jez- 
reel,  wlien  the  men  talked  together  in  the  camp,  and 
one  told  how  he  had  dreamed  that  "a  cake  of  barley- 
bread  tumbled  into  the  host  of  INIidian,  and  came  into  a 
tent,  and  smote  it  that  it  fell,  and  overturned  it,  that  the 
tent  lay  along"  (Judg.  vii,  13). 

The  spoil  taken  in  both  the  war  of  Moses  and  that  of 
Gideon  is  remarkable.  On  the  former  occasion,  the 
spoil  of  GTo.OOO  sheep,  72,000  beeves,  and  61,000  asses, 
seems  to  confirm  the  other  indications  of  the  then  pas- 
toral character  of  the  Midianites;  the  omission  of  any 
mention  of  camels  has  already  been  explained.  But 
the  gold,  silver,  brass,  iron,  tin,  and  lead  (Numb,  xxxi, 
22),  the  jewels  of  gold,  chains,  and  bracelets,  rings,  ear- 
rings, and  tablets"  (ver.  50)— the  offering  1o  the  Lord 
being  10,750  shekels  (ver.  52)— taken  by  Moses,  is  es- 
pecially noteworthy;  and  it  is  confirmed  by  the  booty 
taken  by  Gideon;  for  when  he  slew  Zebah  and  Zal- 
niunna  he  "  took  away  the  ornaments  that  [were]  on 
their  camels'  necks"  (Judg.  viii,21),  and  (ver.  24-20)  he 
asked  of  every  man  the  ear-rings  of  his  prey, "for  they 
had  golden  ear-rings,  because  tliey  [were]  Islnnaelites." 
"And  tlie  weight  of  the  golden  ear-rings  that  he  re- 
quested was  a  thousand  and  seven  hundred  [shekels]  of 
gold;  besides  ornaments  and  collars,  and  jmrple  raiment 
that  [was]  on  the  kings  of  ^Midian.  and  besides  the 

chains  that  [were]  about  their  camels'  necks."  (The  covered  therein"  (Ahotfi, 
rendering  of  the  A.  V.  is  sufhciently  accurate  for  our  pur- 
]K)se  here,  and  any  examination  into  the  form  or  char- 
acter of  these  ornaments,  tempting  though  it  is,  belongs 
more  properly  to  other  articles.)  We  have  here  a 
wealthy  Arab  nation,  living  by  jdundcr,  delighting  in 
finery  (especially  their  women,  for  we  may  here  read 
"  nose-ring"),  and,  where  forays  were  imiiossible,  carry- 
ing on  the  traflic  southwards  into  Arabia,  the  land  of 
gold  if  not  naturally,  by  trade— and  across  to  Chalda;a, 
or  iiilii  ihc  rich  iilaius  of  Kgvpt.      See  AltAl'.lA. 


194;  Fosbrook,  British 


ton,  Bibl.  Ilistorico-Sacra. 
Monachism,  p.  61. 

Midnight  (^^^,  ni^ht,  vvKj  ''i  connection  with 
ri^n,  ''^n,  or  '^'^n,  fitaog,  middle;  (ikjovvktiov  sim- 
ply.    See  IS'itiiiT. 

Midrash  (Ileb.  tlJI'li:)  is  a  word  applied  to  the 
oldest  Jewish  exposition  of  the  Scriptures — a  peculiar, 
somewhat  wild  mode  of  interpretation,  which  appeals 
more  to  the  feelings  than  to  the  reason. 

I.  Title  and  its  Signijication,  f/c— The  term  f1*n3, 
which  is  strangely  rendered  in  the  text  of  the  A.'V.  by 
story  (2  Chron.  xiii,  22;  xxiv,  27),  is  derived  from 
the  root  113"^,  to  search  into,  to  examine,  to  investitjate, 

and  primarily  denotes  the  study,  the  exposi- 
tion  of  Jloly  Scripture,  in  the  abstract  and  general 
sense.  Thus  it  is  said,  " Not  the  study  of  it  (win^n), 
but  the  doing  of  the  law  is  the  chief  thing"  (.4  both,  i, 
17).  The  study  or  exposition  of  Holy  Writ  (C~"1 -)  was 
effected  in  earlier  times  through  public  discourses,  de- 
livered on  Sabbaths,  festivals,  and  days  of  assembly,  by 
the  priests,  Levites,  elders  of  Israel,  and  prophets.  Dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  second  Temple,  when  the  ca- 
nonical books  and  the  written  discourses  of  the  older 
prophets  became  unintelligible  to  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple, who  spoke  Hebraized  Aramaic,  these  public  exposi- 
tions became  more  formal,  and  were  delivered  on  a  large 
scale  by  the  lawyers,  or  Scribes  (CIBID),  as  they  are 
called  in  the  N.  T.,  the  directors  of  schools  (■j;-'"),  grad- 
uated rabbins  (r'lSI,  only  with  suflT.  i;'^ri3'"0)  or  learn- 
ed men  in  general  and  members  of  societies  (C^"!;;!!). 

II.  Design  and  Classif  cation. — The  design  of  the  Mid- 
rash  or  exposition  varied  according  to  circumstances. 
Sometimes  the  lecturer  ("U^'n,  Trill)  confined  him- 
self to  giving  a  running  paraphrase  O'CS^ir^)  into  the 
vulgar  Aramaic,  or  the  other  dialects  of  the  countrj', 
of  the  lessons  from  the  Law  and  Prophets  which  were 
read  in  Hebrew  (see  IlAriiTARAii),  thus  gradually  giv- 
ing rise  to  the  Chaldee,  Syriac,  and  Greek  versions,  so 
that  these  Targumim  may  be  regarded  as  being  the  re- 
sult, or  forming  part  of  the  Midrash.  The  chief  design 
of  the  IMidrash,  however,  was  to  jiropouiul  the  Script- 
ures either  logically  or  homUeticully.  Hence  obtained 
that  twofold  mode  of  expression  called  the  legal  or  Jla- 
lachic  exegesis,  and  the  homiletic  or  JIagadic  exegesis, 
and  their  respective  literatures. 

1.  The  Legal  or  JIalachic  Exegesis.  —  The  object  of 
this  branch  of  ex])Osition  is  to  ascertain,  by  analogy, 
combination,  or  otherwise,  the  meaning  of  the  law  re- 
specting exceptional  cases  about  which  there  is  no  di- 
rect enactment  in  the  Mosaic  code,  as  it  was  the  only 
rule  of  practice  in  the  political  and  religious  govern- 
ment of  the  Jews  under  all  vicissitudes  of  the  common- 
wealth, and  as  the  motto  of  the  expositors  and  admin- 
istrators of  it  was  "  Turn  it  (i.  e.  the  inspired  code)  over 
and  over  again,  for  evervthing  is  in  it,  and  will  be  di 
.  )_      -      -  ■  ■ 


Midlent  Sunday  (or  Mothering  Sunday), 

iilMrfectly  exi)lained  in  the  Antiquitatts  ]'itlgarcs,  is 


The  laws  thus  ob- 
tained, either  by  deduction  from  the  text  or  introduc- 
tion into  it,  are  called  IIaluch»th  {^^zh'^,  sing,  nz^n, 
from  "bn,  /()  go),  the  rule  by  vhich  to  go,  the  binding 
precept,  the  authoritatire  lau;  being  equivalent  to  the 
Hebrew  word  n'^:;E"i'"2  (comp.  Chaldee  Paraphrase  on 
Exod.  xxi.  9).  and  this  mode  of  exposition,  which  is 
chiefly  confined  to  the  Pentateuch  as  the  legal  part  of 
the  O.  T.,  is  termed  Halmhic  exegesis.  These  Hala- 
choth  (rilbn),  some  of  which  are  coeval  with  the  en- 
actments in  the  Pentateuch  itself  (Deut.  xvii,  IH.  while 
some  are  the  labors  of  the  Great  Synagogue  or  the  So- 


founded  on  the  Poman  Hilaria  (q.  v.\  or  feast  in  honor  !  pherim  =  Scribe.s_heginningwithKzra.and  terminating 
of('vbele,the  mother  of  the  gods.  who.  the  legend  tells  !  ^v.th  Simon  the  Just-were  for  centuries  transmuted 
us,  was  converted  by  Christianity  into  the  mother  orally,  and  hence  are  also  called  .SV(m((///ff(Xrr-^r\i.e. 
Church,  whence,  in  the  second  step,  the  Aiitif/ui/atrs  that  which  was  heard,  or  that  which  M-as  received  by 
F«i^a?es  deduces  the  origin  of  Midlent.     Sec  Brough  '         '  "     -'^-•-    ^ -— •=  ^i  i,.i..t^-„ 


members  of  the  chain  of  tradition.     Those  prohibitory 


MIDRASH 


241 


MIDRASH 


laws  or  fences  (S'^D,  "i15,  later  n^U)  which  the  So- 
pherim  were  obliged  to  make  on  their  own  account 
in  consequence  of  the  new  wants  of  the  times,  without 
being  indicated  in  the  Pentateuch,  and  which  are  called 
Sopheric  precepts  (CIEIO  "^^^n),  and  in  the-N.  T. 
Tradition  of  the  Elders  {itapaSoaiQ  tmv  Trpsafivrsptjov, 
Matt.  XV,  2;  Mark  vii,  3),  are  distinguished  from  the 
traditional  laws  which  are  deduced  from  the  Bible. 
The  latter  are  designated  Deductions  from  the  Lmo  ("pS" 
XTT^illS^),  and  are  of  equal  authority  with  the  Bibli- 
cal precepts.  The  few  learned  men  who  during  the 
period  of  the  Sopherim  (B.C.  450-300)  wrote  down 
some  of  these  laws,  or  indicated  them  by  certain  signs 
(a";^0)  or  hints  (D'^T^I)  in  their  scrolls  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, only  did  so  to  assist  their  memory,  and  the  docu- 
ments are  called  »S'ec?-e<»S'cro&(n"i"irD  r^hM).  These 
marginal  glosses  in  the  MSS.  of  the  Law  became  the 
basis  of  the  Masorah  (q.  v.).  Gradually,  however,  these 
Halachoth  were  fully  written  down,  and  are  embodied 
in  the  foUo^ving  works. 

(1.)  It  was  not  till  the  period  of  the  Tanaim  (an  hon- 
orable appellation  given  to  those  doctors  who  transmit- 
ted the  oral  law),  B.C.  220-A.D.  220,  that  the  fixing,  col- 
lecting, and  final  redaction  of  ^^e  llalachuh  —  this  mass 
of  juridico-political  and  religious  practice,  or  doctrine 
of  human  and  divine  law  (liumani  et  divini  juris) — took 
place.  The  first  attempt  at  a  compilation  and  rubrifi- 
cation  of  it  was  made  by  Hillel  I  (B.C.  75-A.D.  8), 
who  classified  and  arranged  the  diverse  laws  under  six 
sedarim  (D'^IID)  or  orders.  In  this  he  was  followed 
by  'Akiba  (A.D.  20-120),  and  Simon  III  b.-Gamaliel  II, 
who  was  the  president  of  the  Sanhedrim  A.D.  140-163, 
and  whose  son  K.  Jehudah  I  the  Holy,  called  Rabbi 
KUT  t^oxrp'  (died  A.D.  cir.  193),  completed  the  final  re- 
daction of  the  code  called  Mishna  (q.  v.). 

(2.)  The  Mishna,  however,  like  the  Pentateuch,  soon 
became  the  subject  of  discussion  or  study,  as  many  of 
its  expositions  and  enactments  are  not  onh'  couched  in 
obscure  language,  but  are  derived  from  antagonistic 
sources.  Hence,  like  the  di\'ine  code  of  the  law,  which 
it  both  supplements  and  expounds,  the  Mishna  itself 
was  expounded  during  the  period  of  the  Amoraim.  or 
expositors ;  an  appellation  given  to  the  public  expos- 
itors of  the  oral  law  (nizbn),  recorded  by  the  Tanaim, 
A.D.  220-540,  both  in  Jerusalem  and  Babylon.  The  re- 
sult of  these  expositions  is  the  two  Talmuds,  or  more 
properly  Gemaras,  \'\z.  the  Jerusalem  and  the  Babylon. 
See  Talmud. 

(3.)  Prior  in  point  of  age  to  the  compilation  of  the 
Mishna  is  the  commentary  on  Exodus,  called  Mechilta, 
which  is  composed  of  nine  Tractates  (nriD'^D'O),  sub- 
divided into  sections  (nl"'i3"iS),  and  treating  on  select 
sections  of  Exodus  in  the  following  order :  The  first  tract 
treats  on  Exod.  xii,  1-xiii,  6,  in  eighteen  sections ;  the 
second  is  on  xiii,  7-xiv,  31,  in  six  sections ;  the  third  is 
on  XV,  1-21,  in  ten  sections ;  the  fourth  is  on  xv,  22-xvii, 
7,  in  seven  sections ;  the,^/i  is  on  xvii,  8-xviii,  27,  in 
four  sections ;  the  sixth  is  on  xix,  1-xx,  22,  in  eleven 
sections ;  the  seventh  is  on  xxi,  1-xxii,  22.  in  eight  sec- 
tions ;  the  ei(/htk  is  on  xxii,  23-xxiii,  19,  in  two  sections ; 
and  the  ninth  tract  is  on  chap,  xxix,  12-17 ;  xxxv,  1-3, 
in  two  sections.  The  first  compilation  of  the  Mechilta 
was  most  probably  made  under  the  influence  of  R.  Ish- 
mael  b.-Elisa,  A.D.  cir.  90  [see  Ishmael  B.-Ei.isa], 
which  accounts  for  the  many  maxims  contained  in  it, 
and  not  to  be  found  elsewhere.  It  was  re-edited  after- 
wards, and  greatly  altered  (com p.  Geiger,  Urschrift,  p. 
434  sq.).  It  was  printed  at  Constantinople  in  1515  ;  then 
again  at  Venice  in  1545  ;  then,  with  a  commentary  and 
revised  text  by  M.  Frankfurter  (Amst.),  in  1712 ;  but  the 
best  edition  is  that  by  Landau  (Vilna),  in  1844.  A 
Latin  translation  of  it  by  Ugolino  is  given  in  his  The- 
saurus Antiquitatum  Sacrum,  vol.  xiv  (Venice,  1752). 

(4.)  Commentary  on  Leviticus,  called  Siiihra,  Sifra 
VL-Q 


(N1B0),  the  Booh  ;  also  Siphra  D'ba  Bab  CtSI  X-lSO 
31),  Siphra  of  the  school  of  Rah,  because  i?((5  =  Abba 
Areka,  the  first  of  the  Amoraim,  and  founder  of  the 
celebrated  school  at  Sora,  of  which  he  was  president 
twenty-eight  years  (A.D.  219-247),  is  its  author;  and 
by  some  it  is  denominated  Boraitha  shel  Torath  Coha-  . 
nim  (D'^SriD  n"nn  ?^  Xn^in),  because  the  book  of 
Leviticus  which  it  expounds  is  called  by  the  Jews  the 
Code  of  the  Priests  {WiJlD  Tr^V.,Jehamoth,T2h\  Rashi, 
on,  Levit.  ix,  23).  The  Siphra  is  divided  into  treat- 
ises (n'^mni'l),  which  are  subdvided  into  sections 
(nillJIS),  and  these  again  into  chapters  (D'^p"iE).  The 
first  edition  of  it  appeared,  together  with  the  Mechilta 
and  Sijihri,  at  Constantinople  in  1515;  then  at  Venice  in 
1545 ;  and,  with  a  very  extensive  commentary  by  Ibn 
Chajim,  at  Venice  in  1G09-11;  with  the  commentary 
Ha-Tora  Veha-Mitzva,  by  M.  L.  IMalbim;  at  Bucharest 
in  18G0.  The  best  edition,  however,  is  that  by  Schloss- 
berg,  with  the  commentary  of  Abraham  b.-David,  and 
the  Massoreth  Ha-Talmud  of  Weiss  (Vienna,  1862).  A 
Latin  translation  of  it  by  Ugolino  is  given  in  his  The- 
saurus A  ntiquitatum  Sacrum  (Venice,  1752),  vol.  xiv. 

(5.)  Commentary  on  Numbers  and  Deuteronomy,  called 
Siphre  or  Siphri  ("ilSG),  the  Books,  also  Sijjhre  B'be  Bab 
(2"l  '^3"I  "^ISD),  because  Rab,  the  author  of  the  preced- 
ing work,  is  also  the  author  of  this  commentary,  and 
Vishallechu  (inS'i:'^.'!),  because  it  begins  with  Numb,  v, 
2,  where  this  word  occurs.  The  commentary  on  Num- 
bers is  divided  into  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  chapters, 
and  that  on  Deuteronomy  into  three  hundred  and  fifty- 
seven.  The  Siphre  first  appeared  with  the  Mechilta 
and  Siphra  at  Constantinople  in  1515 ;  at  Venice  in  1545. 
The  best  edition  of  it  is  in  two  volumes,  with  the  ex- 
tensive commentary  by  Lichtstein  (vol.  i,  Dyrhenfort, 
1810 ;  vol.  ii,  Radvill,  18"l  9).  A  Latin  translation  of  it  by 
Ugolino  is  given  in  his  Thesaurus  A  ntiquitatum  Sacrum 
(Venice,  1753),  vol.  xv. 

2.  The  Ilomiletic  or  Ilagadic  Exegesis. — The  design 
of  this  branch  of  the  ^Midrash-  or  exposition  is  to  edify 
the  people  of  Israel  in  their  most  holy  faith,  to  encour- 
age them  to  obedience,  to  commend  to  them  the  paths 
of  virtue  and  morality,  to  stimulate  them  to  all  good 
works,  and  to  comfort  them  in  tribulation  by  setting  be- 
fore them  the  marvellous  dealings  of  Providence  with 
the  children  of  man,  the  illustrious  examples  of  the  holy 
patriarchs,  and  the  signal  punishment  of  evU-doers  from 
by-gone  historj- — investing  each  character,  and  every 
event,  with  the  halo  or  contumel}-,  the  poetry  or  the 
legend,  which  the  fertile  genius  of  the  Hebrew  nation 
and  the  creative  power  of  tradition  had  called  into  ex- 
istence in  the  course  of  time.  This  branch  of  exposition 
extends  over  the  whole  Hebrew  Scriptures,  while  the 
Halachic  interpretation,  as  we  have  seen,  is  chiefly  con- 
fined to  the  Pentateuch,  which  is  the  civil  and  legal 
portion  of  the  Bible.  It  is  also  called  Ilagadah  ip>'^'^T> ; 
Chaldee  mjX,  from  133,  to  say),  said,  rejmrted,  on  dit, 
without  its  having  any  binding  authority,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  the  Halachah,  which  is  authoritative  law. 
When  it  is  stated  that  this  department  of  Biblical  ex- 
egesis is  interspersed  with  homiletics,  the  beautiful  max- 
ims and  ethical  sayings  of  illustrious  men,  attractive 
mystical  expositions  about  angels  and  daemons,  paradise 
and  heU,  Messiah  and  the  Prince  of  Darkness ;  poetical 
allegories,  symbolical  interpretations  of  all  the  feasts 
and  fasts,  charming  parables,  witty  epithalamiums, 
touching  funeral  orations,  amazing  legends,  biographic- 
al and  characteristic  sketches  of  Biblical  persons  and 
national  heroes ;  popular  narratives,  and  historical  no- 
tices of  men,  women,  and  events  of  by-gone  days ;  phil- 
osophical disquisitions,  satirical  assaults  on  the  heathen 
and  their  rites,  able  defences  of  Judaism,  etc.,  etc.,  it 
will  be  readily  understood  why  the  Jewish  nation  grad- 
ually transferred  to  this  storehouse  of  Biblical  and  na- 
tional lore  the  name  Midi-ash  =  the  composition,  kut 


MTORASH 


242 


MIDRASH 


i^oxhv.  This  branch  of  public  and  popular  exposition, 
in  which  the  public  at  large  naturally  felt  far  more  in- 
terest than  in  the  dry  distjuisitions  about  legal  enact- 
ments!, being  thus  called  by  them  T/ie  Midrash,  the  col- 
lection of  works  which  contain  this  sacred  and  national 
lore  obtained  the  name  Midrashim  (DiUJIlTi),  Covi- 
tnentaries,  in  the  sense  of  Cajsar's  Commentaries.  Hence 
the  term  Midrashic  or  Jlagadic  exegesis,  so  commonly 
used  in  Jewish  writings,  by  which  is  meant  an  interpre- 
tation effected  in  the  spirit  of  those  national  and  tra- 
ditional views.  The  following  are  the  principal  Mid- 
rashim, or  commentaries,  hi  the  more  restricted  sense 
of  the  word,  which  contain  the  ancient  Hagadic  expo- 
sitions. (It  must  here  be  remarked  that  as  this  branch 
of  the  !\Iidrash  embraces  the  whole  cycle  of  ethics,  met- 
aphy.-<ics,  liistory,  theosophy,  etc.,  as  well  as  Biblical  ex- 
position, it  has  been  divided  into — I,  General  Ifac/adak 
or  Jlaijadah  Midras/i,  in  its  wider  sense,  treating  almost 
excliisivGly  on  morals,  history,  etc. ;  and,  2,  into  Speci(d 
I/(if/(iil(i/i  or  lla(/(td(ih  Midras/i, in  its  narrower,  and  Mid- 
racli  in  its  narrowed  sense,  occupying  itsi-lf  almost  en- 
tirely with  Biblical  exposition,  and  making  the  elements 
of  tlie  general  Hagada  subservient  to  its  purpose.  It 
would  be  foreign  to  the  design  of  this  article  were  we 
to  discuss  anything  more  than  the  Midrash  in  its  nar- 
rowest sense.) 

(1.)  Midrash  Rahhoth  (niai  ^mT:),or  simply  7?«6- 
hoth  (ri2"i),  which  is  ascribed  to  Oshaja  b.-Nachmani 
(fl.  A.D.  278),  and  derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that 
this  collection  begins  with  a  Ilnrjadah  of  Oshaja  Rahha, 
contains  ten  Midrashim,  which  bears  the  respective 
names  of— 1.  Bereshith  Rahha  (Nni  niU;it-i2),  abbre- 
viated from  Bereshith  d'Rabbi  Oshaja  Rahha  (n^'^xna 
XS"!  i<"'"51"!S  "'S'l),  on  Genesis,  divided  into  a  hun- 
dred sections  (r.V:j-i£).  2.  Shemoth  Rabhah  (rT^TSlU 
n-"i),  on  Exodus,  in  fifty-two  sections.  3.  Va-jikra 
Rahhah  (tlil  X'npil),  on  Leviticus,  in  thirty-seven  sec- 
tions. 4.  Ba-midbar  Rahbah  (nS"l  "I3TS3),  on  Num- 
bers, in  twenty -three  sections.  5.  Debarim  Rabhah 
(il2T  C"'~i3'l),  on  Deuteronomy,  in  eleven  sections.  6. 
Shir  Ila-Shirim  Rahhah  (nm  Di-l^irn  "liffi),  also 
called  Agadath  Chasith  (p''\n  n"15X),  because  the  text 
begins  with  the  word  Chasith,  on  the  Song  of  Song-s. 
1.  Midrash  Ruth  Rabhah  {lizn  mi  ^ym^),  on  Kuth. 
8.  Midrash  Eichah  Rahbathi  (inn"l  ns'^X),  on  Lamen- 
tations. 9.  Midrash  Coheleth  (Tbin-p  DITa),  on  Ec- 
clesiastes.  10.  Midrash  Mer/illath  Esther  (rb^^.-C  UJITa 
-inOX),  also  called  Ilagudath  MegiUah  (ilbsia  m:n), 
on  Esther.  This  entire  collection,  which  was  first  pub- 
lished at  Venice  in  1545,  has  been  reprinted  many  times 
since  (l)cst  edition  by  Schrcntzel,  with  the  different 
commentaries,  Stettin,  180:$,  2  vols.).  Excerpts  of  the 
Jlidrash  on  Bnth.  Estlier,  and  Lamentations  have  been 
pul)lishcd  in  Latin  by  Schnell  (Altdorf,  1050).  The  age 
of  the  compilation  of  tlie  separate  IVIidrashim  constitu- 
ting this  collection  is  critically  and  elaborately  discussed 
by  Ziniz.  I)ie  Gottesdimstlichen  Vortrdge  der  Juden,  p. 
174-184,  203  sq. 

(2.)  I'esikta  (Xnp'^DB),compiledby  CahanaorKahana 
ben-Tachlifa,  who  was  born  about  A.D.  330,  and  died  in 
411.  This  Midrash,  which  comprises  a  complete  cycle 
of  lectures  on  the  Pericopes  of  tlie  feasts  and  fasts  [see 
Haimi  lAitAii],  and  which  was  lost  for  several  centuries, 
has  been  restored  by  an  anonymous  writer  about  the 
year  A.D.  810,  and  edited  under  the  name  I'esikta  Rah- 
bathi (T2"i  Xrp'^DS),  intermixing  it,  however,  with 
portions  from  the  Midrash  Jelammedenu.  In  this  new 
form  ihcPesikta  was  first  published  by  Isaac  ben-Chajim 
Ila-Cohen  (I'rague,  1G55\  An  excellent  edition,  enti- 
tled TTIIEI  r"!n5n  C:."  "^rSI  XrpOB,  with  divisions 
into  paragraphs,  an  emended  text,  extensive  references, 


and  a  critical  commentary-  and  indices  by  Seeb  (Wolf) 
ben-Israel  Isser,  was  published  in  Breslau  in  1831.  The 
nature  and  date  of  this  Midrash  are  discussed  in  a  most 
masterly  maimer  by  Zunz,  iJie  Gottesdienstlichen  Vor- 
trdge, p."l85-22G,  239-251 :  Kapaport.  Ertch  Millin,p.  171. 

(3.)  Midrash  Tanchuma  (5<-2"n:n  "^m^C),  i.  e.  the 
Midrash  compiled  by  Tanchuma  ben-Abba  (Hourished 
cir.  A.D.  440),  also  called  Midrash  Jelammedenu  (;yni3 
I'TOx^),  from  the  fact  that  eighty-two  sections  begin 
with  the  formula  UlTsb^,  it  uill  teach  us.  This  Mid- 
rash extends  over  the  whole  Pentateuch,  and  consists 
of  140  sections.  It  contains  extracts  from  tlie  Mcchilta, 
Siphre,Va-Ikra  Rabba,  Pesikfa,  and  Boraitha  de  Kabbi 
Eliezer,  and  was  first  published  after  a  redaction  of  the 
first  Geonim  period,  when  a  great  deal  of  it  was  lost, 
altered,  and  interpolated  by  Joseph  ben-Shoshan  (Con- 
stantinople, 1520;  also  Venice,  1545;  Mantua,  1563;  Sa- 
lonica,  1578;  with  corrections  after  two  MSS,  and  addi- 
tions, Verona,  1595;  and  at  different  other  places);  the 
best  edition  is  that  with  the  twofold  eommentarv-  by 
Chan.  Sandel  ben-Joseph  (Vilna,  1833).  For  a  thorough 
analysis  of  this  Midrash  we  must  refer  to  Zuuz,  Die 
Gottesdienstlichen  Vortrdge,  p.  220-238. 

(4.)  Pirke  Rabbi  Eliezer  (ITSibx  ""S-l  "^pIS),  also 
called  Boraitha  or  Agada  de  Rabbi  Eliezer  (IX  XlSiS 
'^VJ'hx  -^nm  Xn^i-iS),  because  Eliezer  ben-llyrcanus 
(fiourished  cir.  A.D.  70)  is  its  reputed  author.  This 
^Midrash,  which  discusses  the  principal  events  recorded 
in  the  Pentateuch,  consists  of  fifty-four  sections,  treat- 
ing respectively  on  the  following  important  subjects: 
the  life  of  R.  Eliezer  (sees,  i  and  ii) ;  the  creation  (iii- 
vi) ;  new  moon  (vii) ;  intercalary  year  (viii) ;  the  fifth 
day's  creation  (ix);  the  fiight  of  Jonah,  and  his  abode 
in  the  fish  (x) ;  the  sixth  day's  creation  (xi) ;  Adam, 
paradise,  and  the  creation  of  the  plants  (xii) ;  tlie  fall 
(xiii);  the  curse  (xiv);  paradise  and  hell  (xv):  Isaac 
and  Rebecca  (xvi) ;  the  oflices  to  be  performed  to  bridal 
pairs  and  mourners  (xvii);  the  creation  (xviii);  the 
ten  things  created  on  the  eve  of  the  sixth  creation  day 
(xix);  the  expulsion  from  paradise  (xx);  Adam,  Eve, 
Cain,  and  Abel  (xxi);  the  degeneracy  of  Cain's  de- 
scendants and  the  flood  (xxii);  the  ark  and  its  occu- 
pants (xxiii);  the  descendants  of  Noah,  the  tower  of 
Babel  (xxiv);  Sodom,  Lot,  and  his  wife  (xxv) ;  the 
ten  temptations  of  Abraham  (xxvi) ;  his  rescuing  Lot 
(xxvii) ;  God's  covenant  with  Abraham  (xxviii) ;  his 
circumcision  (xxix);  the  sending  away  of  Ilagar  and 
Ishmael,  the  condition  of  the  Jews  in  the  days  of  Mes- 
siah (xxx) ;  Abraham  about  to  sacrifice  Isaac  (xxxi) ; 
Isaac  bestowing  the  blessing  on  Jacob  (xxxii)  ;  tl)e  res- 
urrection (xxxiii) ;  future  state  (xxxiv);  Jacob's  dream 
(xxxv);  his  sojourn  with  Laban  (xxxvi);  his  wrest- 
ling with  the  angel  (xxxvii) ;  the  selling  of  Joseph 
(xxxviiil;  Jacob's  sojourn  in  Egypt  (xxxix);  (iod's 
manifestation  in  the  bush  (xl) :  the  giving  of  the  law 
I  (xli);  the  exodus  (xlii);  the  power  of  re])cntancc  (xliii); 
'  the  conflict  of  Moses  with  Anialek  (xliv^;  the  golden 
calf  (xlv) ;  the  tables  of  stone  and  the  atonement  (xlvi)  ; 
the  exploit  of  Phineas  (xlvii) ;  the  birth  of  Moses  and 
the  rcdenii)tion  from  Egypt  (xlviii) ;  Sanniel,  Saul, 
Agag,  Haman,  Mordecai,  Titus,  Nebudiadnezzar.  Ahas- 
uerus,  Vashti,  and  Esther  (xlix,  1);  the  new  creation 
(li);  the  seven  wonders  of  the  worlil  (lii);  the  punish- 
ment of  calumny,  Absalom  and  David  ( liii) ;  and  the 
leprosy  of  Miriam  (liv).  This  Jlidrash.  which  is  cliiefly 
written  in  pure  and  easy  Hebrew,  was  first  published  at 
Constantinople  in  1514,  and  has  since  been  reprinted 
numerous  times;  but  the  best  edition  is  with  the  criti- 
cal commentary  called  the  Great  Edifice  (bltsn  "":), 
emended  text  and  references  to  Talmud  and  ^lidrasliim 
by  Broda  (Vihia,  183H;  a  more  convenient  edition  of 
it,  Lemberg,  18.58).  A  Latin  translation  by  Vorst  was 
publislied  under  the  title  Capi/ula  R.  Elicseris  coiilineii- 
I  /id  iiii])ri»iis  succiiictdm  lii.itoriir  sacrw  ncensinticm,  etc., 
I  cum  velt,  Rabb.  Commentariis  (Leyden,  1044).    The  com- 


MIDRASH 


243 


MIDRASH 


position  and  age  of  this  ]Midrash  are  discussed  by  Zunz, 
Die  Gottesdiemtlichen  Vortrage,  p.  271-278. 

(5.)  Midrash  on  Samuel,  called  (bxiTsa  TT'i'in 
[Nri2"l])  Midrash  Shemuel  [Rahbatha],  divided  into 
thirtj'-two  sections  (nii:3"lS),  twenty-four  of  which  are 
devoted  to  1  Sam.  and  eight  to  2  Sam.  It  is  chiefly 
made  up  of  excerpts  from  older  works,  and  the  compiler 
is  supposed  to  have  lived  about  the  beginning  of  the 
11th  century'.  Eashi  is  the  first  who  quotes  this  Mid- 
rasli  {Comment,  on  Chron.  x,  13).  It  was  first  published 
at  Constantinople  in  1517,  and  has  since  been  frequently 
reprinted  with  the  Midrash  described  below.  The  best 
editions  of  it  are  the  one  with  the  twofold  commentary 
Ez  Joseph  and  Anaph  Joseph,  references  to  the  parallel 
passages  in  the  Talmud  and  Midrashim,  etc.,  by  Schrent- 
zel  (Stettin,  1860) ;  and  the  other  published  together 
with  the  Midrash  on  Proverbs  and  the  commentary  of 
Isaac  Cohen  (Lemberg,  1861), 

(6.)  Midrash  on  the  Psalms,  called  (W^hfl  ;!3"i'1Ta 
[Nna"i])  Midrash  Tillim  {Rahhatha'\,narjadath  Tillim 
(n"'bn  n*!:)!),  or  Shochar  Tob  (21::  ^nO),  after  the 
words  with  which  it  commences.  With  the  exceptions 
of  seven  psalms  —  viz.  xlii,  xcvi,  xcvii,  xcviii,  cxv, 
cxxiii,  and  cxxxi— this  Midrash  extends  over  the  whole 
Psalter.  As  it  contains  extracts  from  the  Babylonian 
Talmud,  the  Pesikta,  Boraitha  of  R.  Eliezer,  Tanchuma, 
and  Pesikta  Rabbathi,  it  must  have  been  compiled 
about  the  end  of  the  10th  century,  most  probably  in 
Italy.  It  was  first  published  at  Constantinople  in  1512. 
The  portion  on  Psa.  cxix,  which  extends  to  the  first 
verses  of  the  letter  p,  is  called  Midrash  Alpha  Betha 
(Sn^n  SSbx  011^),  from  the  fact  that  this  is  an  al- 
phabetic psalm ;  it  has  been  published  separately  (Sa- 
lonica,  1515).  The  Midrash  on  the  Psalms  has  fre- 
quently been  published  together  with  the  Midrash  on 
Samuel,  under  the  title  Midrash  Shochar  Tob  ("iniU 
3112),  which  properly  belongs  only  to  that  on  the 
Psalms. 

(7.)  Midrash  on  Proverbs,  called  ("ibiya  Ol'ia 
[Xnnl])  Midrash  Mishle  [^RahbaUui],  consists  of  a 
compilation  of  those  maxims  and  expositions  from  for- 
mer works  which  are  best  calculated  to  illustrate  and  ex- 
plain the  import  of  the  book  of  Proverbs.  The  com- 
piler, who  hved  about  the  middle  of  the  11th  century, 
omits  all  the  references  to  the  original  sources,  discards 
the  form  of  lectures,  and  assumes  that  of  a  commentary. 
The  first  edition  of  this  Midrash  appeared  at  Constanti- 
nople in  1512-17,  with  the  commentary  Sera  Abraham 
(Vilua,  1834),  and  the  commentary  of  Isaac  Cohen  (Stet- 
tin, 1861). 

(8.)  Midrash  Jalkut  (alp^i  ;!3^n^),  or  Jalkut  Shi- 
moni  (■'31":a'J  Mlpb'^),  i.  e.  the  collection  or  compila- 
tion ofSimeon,v/ho  flourished  in  the  11th  century.  This 
Midrash,  which  extends  over  the  whole  Hebrew  Script- 
lures,  is  described  in  the  article  Cara  in  this  Cyclopcedia. 
III.  Method  and  Plan  of  the  Midrash. — In  discussing 
its  method  and  plan,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
jNIidrash  first  developed  itself  in  public  lectures  and 
homilies ;  that  the  ancient  fragments  of  these  discourses 
became  afterwards  literary  commodities,  serving  fre- 
quently as  the  groundwork  of  literary  productions;  and 
that  the  Midrashic  writers  or  compilers  mixed  up  other 
matters  and  pieces  of  their  own  composition  with  the 
remnants  of  expository  lectures.  The  ancient  relics, 
liowever,  are  easily  discernible  by  their  dialect,  diction, 
etc.,  and  by  the  authority  to  whom  they  are  ascribed. 
That  there  was  a  method  in  them  has  been  shown  by 
the  erudite  and  indefatigable  Jellinek,  than  whom  there 
is  no  greater  authority  on  the  subject.  He  points  out  the 
following  plan  as  gathered  from  the  ancient  fragments : 
1.  The  lecturer  first  set  forth  the  theme  of  his  dis- 
course in  a  passage  of  Scripture  enunciating  the  partic- 
ular truth  which  he  wished  to  unfold,  and  then  illus- 


trated it  by  a  parable,  and  enforced  it  by  a  saying  which 
was  popular  in  the  mouth  of  the  people.  This  ride  is 
given  in  the  Midrash  itself  (comp.  "pil^lDI  ",rib  C^, 

n:iibn  nnb  ai^^irJ'a  onb  'a''\^'\p^,  Midrash  on 

the  Song  of  Solomon,  1  a). 

2.  The  attention  of  the  audience  was  roused  and  the 
discourse  was  enlivened  by  the  lecturer  using  a  foreign 
word  instead  of  a  well-known  expression,  or  by  employ- 
ing a  Greek,  Latin,  Aramaic,  or  Persian  term  in  addition 
to  the  Hebrew  (comp.  Aruch,  s.  v.  ipTl'lX).  This  ac- 
counts for  the  striking  fact  that  so  many  foreign  words 
occur  in  the  Midrash  to  express  things  for  which  the 
Hebrew  has  expressions,  and  that  both  Hebrew  and  for- 
eign words,  expressing  the  same  idea,  stand  side  by  side 
(comp.  "pLJipb  ',1I3ipm  ^in^  •y'^n-Ci,  Midrash  Kab- 
bah on  Genesis,  c.\u;  ■pD13"':\  nni  n^^lL:  ryz,  Midrash 
on  the  Song  of  Solomon,  1  a). 

3.  The  lecturer  increased  tlie  beauty  of  his  discourse 
by  trying  to  discover  analogies  between  numbers  and 
persons  related  to  each  other — e.  g.  between  David  and 
Solomon.     Comp.  Midrash  on  the  Song  of  Songs,  ibid. 

4.  The  lecture  was  also  rendered  more  attractive  by 
being  interspersed  with  plays  upon  words,  which  were 
not  intended  to  explain  or  corroborate  a  statement,  but 
were  simply  meant  to  create  a  pleasant  feeling  in  the 
audience.  Hence,  to  judge  of  the  frequent  plays  upon 
words  by  the  rules  of  hermeneutics  is  to  misimderstand 
the  aesthetics  of  the  Hagadah. 

5.  It  was  considered  as  ornamenting  the  discourse, 
and  pleasing  to  the  audience,  when  single  words  were 
reduced  to  their  numerical  value  in  order  to  put  a  cer- 
tain point  of  the  lecture  in  a  clearer  light.  Thus,  e.  g., 
the  lecturer  speaking  of  Eliezer,  Abraham's  faithful  ser- 
vant, and  being  desirous  to  show  that  he  alone  was 
worth  a  host  of  servants,  remarked  that  Eliezer  ("iT2!i?5t, 
1+30  +  10-1-70  +  7  +  200  =  318)  is  exactly  as  much  as 
the  three  hundred  and  eighteen  young  men  mentioned 
in  Gen.  xiv,  14.  Comp.  Midrash  Rabhoth  on  Genesis, 
ch.  xUi.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the  Hebrew  let- 
ters were  commonly  used  as  numbers,  it  wiU  be  easily 
understood  how  the  audience  would  be  rejoiced  to  see  a 
word  converted  so  dexterously  into  figures. 

6.  To  relieve  the  discourse  of  its  monotony,  the  lect- 
urer resolved  a  long  word  into  several  little  words,  or 
formed  new  words  by  taking  away  a  letter  or  two  from 
the  preceding  and  following  words  in  the  same  sentence. 

"  If  the  Midrash  is  read  with  the  guidance  of  these 
iesthetical  canons,"  continues  Dr.  Jellinek,  "we  shall  find 
in  it  less  arbitrariness  and  more  order.  We  shall,  more- 
over, understand  its  method  and  plan,  and  often  be  put 
in  a  position  to  distinguish  the  original  discourse  from 
the  literary  element  of  a  later  date,  as  well  as  from  in- 
terpolations. For  the  confirmation  of  our  a3sthetical 
canons,  let  the  reader  compare  and  analyze  chapters  ii, 
iii,  and  v  of  Midrash  Rabboth  on  Genesis"  {Ben  Cha- 
nanja,  iv,38S  sq.). 

iV.  Halachic  and  Hagadic  Rules  of  Interpretation.— 
The  preceding  exposition  of  the  method  and  plan  of  the 
Midrash  has  prepared  us  to  enter  upon  the  Halachic 
and  Hagadic  rules  of  interpretation  which  were  collect- 
ed and  systematized  by  Elieser  ben-Jose  the  Galilaeau 
Cb''b5tn  ■'OT^),  one  of  the  principal  interpreters  of  the 
Pentateuch  in  the  2d  century  of  the  Christian  asra.  Ac- 
cording to  this  celebrated  doctor,  whose  sayings  are  so 
frequently  recorded  in  the  Talmud  and  the  Siphri,  there 
are  thirty-two  rules  (ninn  ti•^T'^^  D-'Cba)  whereby 
the  Bible  is  to  be  interpreted,  which  are  as  follows : 

1.  By  the  superfluous  use  of  the  three  jmrticles  nX, 
nS,  and  r]N,  the  Scriptures  indicate  in  a  threefold  manner 
that  something  more  is  included  in  the  text  than  the  ap- 
parent declaration  would  seem  to  imply.  Thus,  e.  g., 
when  it  is  said.  Gen,  xxi,  1,  "And  the  Lord  visited  (HK 
niir)  Sarah ;"  the  superfluous  HN,  which  sometimes 


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mDRASH 


denotes  with,  is  used  to  indicate  that  with  Sarah  the 
Lord  also  visited  other  barren  women.  The  second,  C5, 
is  used  superfiuoHsly  in  the  passage  "take  also  your 
herds,  and  also  (C5)  your  flocks"  (Exod.  xii,  32),to  in- 
dicate that  Pharaoh  also  gave  the  Israelites  sheep  and 
oxen,  in  order  to  corroborate  the  dcclarati(ni  made  in 
Exod.  X,  25;  while  the  superfluous  TX,  2  Kings  ii,  14, 
"lie  also  (?]X)  had  smitten  the  waters,"  indicates  that 
more  wonders  were  shown  to  Elisha  at  the  Jordan  than 
to  Elijah,  as  it  is  declared  m  2  Kings  ii,  9.  This  rule  is 
called  ">T3''"l,  inclusion,  more  being  meant  than  said. 

2.  By  the  svperjluous  use  of  the  three  pmiicles  ~X, 
pi,  and  '{0,  the  Scriptures  point  out  something  which  is 
to  be  excluded.  Thus,  e.  g.,  "X  in  Gen.  vii,  23,  "And 
Noah  only  (~S)  remained,"  shows  that  even  Noah  was 
near  death,  thus  indicating  exclusion.  The  superfluous 
pi  in  "Only  (p"i)  the  fear  of  God  is  not  in  this  place" 
(Gen.  XX,  11),  shows  that  the  inhabitants  were  not  al- 
together godless;  while  '{0  in  Exod.  xviii,  13,  "And  the 
people  stood  by  Moses  from  (^^"C)  the  morning  unto  the 
evening,"  indicates  that  it  did  not  last  all  day,  but  only 
six  hours  (Sabbath,  10  a).  This  rule  is  called  ai^i^:, 
diminution,  exclusion. 

3.  If  words  denoting  inclusion  follow  each  other,  sev- 
eral things  are  included.  Thus  in  1  Sam.  xvii,36,  "Thy 
servant  slew  also  (PS  Ca)  the  lion,  also  (C5)  the  bear," 
three  superfluous  expressions  follow  each  other,  to  show 
that  he  slew  three  other  animals  besides  the  two  ex- 
pressly mentioned  in  the  text.  This  rule  is  called  il-"^"! 
"'I-'^I  inx,  inclusion  after  inclusion. 

4.  If  woi-ds  denoting  exclusion  follow  each  other,  sev- 
eral things  are  excluded.  Thus  in  Numb,  xii,  2, "  Hath 
the  Lord  indeed  only  spoken  to  Moses?  hath  he  not 
also  spoken  to  us?"  the  superfluous  expressions  p"l  and 
■jX  wliich  follow  each  other  denote  that  the  Lord  spoke 
to  Aaron  and  ^liriam  before  he  spoke  to  Moses,  tlius  not 
only  without  the  lawgiver  being  present  to  it,  but  bifore 
God  spoke  to  him,  and  not  only  did  he  speak  to  Aaron, 
but  also  to  Miriam,  so  that  there  is  here  a  twofold  ex- 
clusion. If  two  or  more  inclusive  words  follow  each 
other,  and  do  not  admit  of  being  explained  as  indicative 
of  inclusion,  they  denote  exclusion.  Thus,  e.  g.,  if  the 
first  word  include  the  whole,  while  the  second  only  in- 
cludes a  part,  the  first  inclusion  is  modified  and  dimin- 
ished by  the  second.  If,  on  the  contrary,  two  or  more 
exclusive  words  follow  each  other,  and  do  not  admit  of 
being  explained  as  indicative  of  exclusion,  they  denote 
inclusion.  Thus,  e.  g.,  if  the  first  exclude  four,  while 
the  second  only  excludes  two,  two  only  remain  included,  ' 
80  that  the  .second  exclusive  expression  serves  to  in-  ■ 
elude  or  increase.  This  rule  is  called  "inx  i;"!"^" 
131""''C,  exclusion  offer  exclusion,  and  the  two  excep- 
tions arc  respectively  denominated  inx  •^in'^l  'pX 
'UV'Cb  S?X  "I'lS"'"!,  inclusion  after  inclusion  effecting 
diminution,  and  Tiaib  xbx  ail'i^S  inX  ^^^V'^•C  "px, 
exclusion  after  exclusion  effecting  increase  (comp.  Pes- 
tachim,  23  a ;  .Joma,  43  a :  Megilla,  23  b :  Kiddushin,  21 
b;  Buha  Kama,^bb;  Sanhedrin, 15  a;  v,'\th  Menachoth, 
34  a). 

n.  Expressed  inference  from  the  minor  to  the  major, 
called  Tr"i1E'2  l^'TTl  3p.  An  example  of  this  rule  is 
to  be  found  in  .Ter.  xii,  5, "  If  thou  hast  run  with  the 
footmen,  and  they  have  wearied  thee,  [inference]  then 
how  canst  thou  contend  with  horses?" 

G.  Implied  inference  from  the  minor  to  the  major, 
called  C'rO  1"2im  bp.  This  is  found  in  I'sa.  xv,  4: 
"He  swcarcth  to  his  own  hurt,  and  changcth  not," 
hence  how  much  less  if  he  swear  to  his  advantage 
(com  p.  Maccoth,  24  a). 

7.  Inference  from  analogy  or  parulkU,  called  niTS 


iTl'iJ.  Thus  it  is  said  of  Samuel,  that  "  there  shall  no 
razor  come  upon  his  head"  (1  Sam.  i,  11),  and  the  same 
language  is  used  with  respect  to  Samson — "No  razor 
shall  come  on  his  head"  (Judg.  xiii,  5);  whereupon  is 
based  the  deduction  from  analogy,  that  just  as  Samson 
was  a  Nazarite,  so  also  Samuel  {Xasir,  G6  a). 

8.  Building  of  the  father  (iX  "pIS)  is  the  property 
of  any  subject  which  is  made  the  starting-point,  and  to 
constitute  a  rule  (-X,  a  father')  for  all  similar  subjects. 
Thus,  e.  g.,  in  Exod.  iii,  4,  it  is  stated, "  God  called  unto 
him  out  of  the  midst  of  the  bush,  and  said,  Mose.s,  Mo- 
ses;" hence  it  concludes  that  whenever  God  spoke  to 
Moses,  he  addressed  him  in  the  same  maimer.    See  Hii/- 

LEL  and  IsMAlil,  ISEN-El.l.SA. 

9.  Brachylogij  (n~i:ip  ~1"I).  The  Scriptures  some- 
times express  themselves  briefly,  and  words  must  be 
supplied.  Thus,  e.  g.  Ill  bin,  where  it  ought  to  be 
in  CSD  PZni,  and  David's  sold  was  consumed,  UJES 
being  omitted:  again,  1  Chron.  xvii,  5,  where  nTIXI 

-,:c^ -1  l=nix  bx  bn-x:3  ought  to  be  -bnr^  n-^nxi 

•^Z-C-zh  '^Z'CZ-C^  bn-X  bx  ^smx-S,  "And  I  went  from 
tent  to  tent,  and  from  tabernacle  to  tabernacle,"  the 
words  ■jbiin"!:  and  "311"!:^  being  omitted. 

10.  liejjetition  (^^yC  X"n":j  121).  The  Scriptures 
repeat  a  thing  in  order  to  indicate  thereby  something 
special.  Thus  it  is  said  in  Jer. vii, 4, "Trust  ye  not  in 
lying  words,  saying.  The  temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple 
of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord  ;"  the  last  phrase  is 
repeated  tliree  times,  to  indicate  that  though  his  iicojile 
Israel  celebrate  feasts  in  the  temple  three  times  in  the 
year,  the  Lord  will  not  regaril  it  because  they  do  not 
amend  their  ways. 

11.  The  separation  and  order  of  the  roses  (111D 
p?n:;j)  are  designed  to  convey  some  explanation. 
Thus  verses  18  and  19  of  2  Chron.  xxx  ought  to  be  dif- 
ferently placed  (comp.  Rashi,  &A  loc). 

12.  A  subject  often  explains  itself  while  it  imparts  in- 
formation  on  other  subjects  (XiJ^SDI  1"C?3  X2w  121 
-iizh).  Thus,  "  Its  en,',  it  shall  arise  like  that  of  a  ser- 
pent" (.ler.  xlvi,  22),  indicates  that  the  serpent  must 
have  raised  a  tremendous  cry  after  the  curse  which  the 
Lord  pronounced  against  it,  since  we  are  nowhere  else 
told  tiiat  there  was  any  occasion  on  which  it  cried ;  and 
that  Egypt  raises  an  etiually  loud  cry — thus  serving  to 
give  information  upon  another  subject,  and  at  the  same 
time  explaining  itself  (ccnnp.  Soto,  9  b). 

13.  .4  general  statement  is  made  first,  and  is  followed 
by  a  single  remarl;  which  is  simply  to  particidarize  the 
general.  This  ride  is  called  1^X1  mrr^  1''inX'J  ^^3 
-rrxi  b'r  1::1B  Xbx.  and  is  illustrated  by  Gen.  i.  27, 
where  the  creation  of  man  is  recorded  in  general  terms — 
"Male  and  female  created  he  them;"  while  ii.  7,  which 
describes  the  creation  of  Adam,  and  ii,  21,  wliich  speaks 
of  the  creation  of  Eve,  are  simjily  the  particulars  of  i, 
27,  and  not  another  record  or  contradiction. 

14.  A  great  and  incomprehensible  thing  is  represented 
by  something  small  to  render  it  intelligible.     This  ride  is 

called  -;n:  -T-xn  r^nrnb  pps  nbrrr  b'l;  im 

r" -■'w  X"n"i'.  and  is  illustrated  by  Dent,  xxxii,  2 — 
"My  doctrine  shall  dro])  as  the  rain;"  where  the  great 
doctrines  of  revelation  are  compared  with  the  less  sig- 
nificant rain,  in  order  to  make  them  comprehensible  to 
man ;  and  liy  .\mos  iii.  «— ••  When  the  lion  roareth.  w  ho  i 
doth  not  fear?  the  L)rd  speaketh."  etc.:  where  the  lion  ^ 
is  compared  with  the  Deity,  to  give  man  an  intelligible 
idea  of  the  jiower  of  (iod. 

1.5.  When  two  Scriptures  seem  to  contradict  each  other, 
a  third  Scripture  will  reconcile  them    (n''2"r2    TiJ 

-r-5'-'n  2T:n  xr^a  ir  riT  rx  sit  rx  c-"i-n=^n 

C'^iT'S'^S  i'lll'^l).     Thus  it  is  said  in  2  Sam.  xxiv,  9, 


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245 


MIDRASH 


"  There  were  in  Israel  eight  hundred  thousand  valiant 
men,"  in  contradiction  to  1  Chron.  xxi,  5,  where  "a 
thousand  thousand  and  a  hundred  thousand  men  that 
drew  sword" — three  hundred  thousand  more  are  said 
to  have  been  among  all  Israel.  The  apparent  con- 
tradiction is  reconciled  by  xxvii,  1,  where  it  is  said, 
"The  children  of  Israel  after  their  number;  to  wit,  the 
chief  fathers  and  captains  of  thousands  and  hundreds, 
and  their  officers  who  served  the  king  in  all  matters  of 
the  courses,  who  came  in  and  went  out,  was,  month  by 
month,  through  all  the  months  of  the  year,  twenty-four 
thousand  in  each  course."  From  this  it  is  evident  that 
the  number  of  these  servants  for  twelve  months  amount- 
ed to  two  lumdred  and  eighty-eight  thousand,  and  as 
the  chief  fathers  of  Israel  consisted  of  twelve  thousand, 
■we  obtain  the  three  hundred  thousand  who  were  noted 
in  the  registers  of  the  king,  and  therefore  are  not  men- 
tioned in  2  Sam.  xxiv,  9.  Thus  the  two  apparently 
contradictory  Scriptures  are  reconciled  by  a  third  Script- 
ure. It  deserves  to  be  noticed  that  this  ancient  inter- 
pretation is  now  generally  followed,  and  that  it  is  es- 
poused by  Dr.  Davidson,  Sacred  Ilermeneutics  (Edinb. 
1843),  p.  "546,  etc. 

16.  An  expression  used  for  the  first  time  is  explained 
hy  the  passage  in  which  it  occurs  (Iwlp^n  inT^lO  "13"1). 
Thus,  e.  g.,  Hannah  is  the  lirst  who  in  her  prayer  ad- 
dresses God  as  "  Lord  of  Hosts ;"  whence  it  is  concluded 
that  the  superfluous  expression  hosts  indicates  that  she 
must  have  argued  to  this  effect — "  Lord  of  the  universe, 
thou  hast  erected  two  worlds  (r.1X32);  if  I  belong  to 
the  nether  world  I  ought  to  be  fruitful,  and  if  to  the 
upper  I  ought  to  live  forever."  Hence  the  expression 
is  designed  for  this  passage  (Berachotk,  31  b). 

17.  A  circumstance  is  not  fully  described  in  the  pas- 
sage in  which  it  first  occurs,  but  is  explained  elsewhere 

("inxnip^an  onsn^^i  i-sipris  ^"isr'a  iD^xa  "im). 

Thus  it  is  stated  in  Gen.  ii,  8,  where  the  garden  of  Eden 
is  first  mentioned,  that  there  were  in  it  all  manner  of 
fruit ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  gathered  from  this  passage  that 
there  was  anything  else  in  the  garden ;  while  from  Ezelc. 
xxviii,  13,  where  this  passage  is  further  explained,  it  is 
evident  that  there  were  also  precious  stones  in  Paradise. 

18.  .4  thing  is  named  in  pai't,  but  comprises  the  whole 

(b:n  am3  xini  niip^a  tsxs-li:  in-i).     Thus  in 

Exod.  xxii,  30  it  is  forbidden  to  eat. flesh  "torn  of 
beasts  in  the  field ;"  and  in  Lev.  xxii,  8.  it  is  said,  "  That 
which  is  torn  he  shall  not  eat,"  here  also  forbidding  that 
which  is  torn  in  the  city.  The  use  of  the  expression 
field  in  the  first  passage  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  beasts 
are  far  more  frequently  torn  in  it  than  in  the  city ;  and 
the  Scriptures  mention  the  common  and  not  the  uncom- 
mon occurrences.  Hence  in  the  expression _/i>^(Z  every- 
thing is  comprised — city,  country,  forest,  mountain,  val- 
ley, etc. 

19.  The  respectice  predicates  of  two  subjects  in  the 
same  passages  may  refer  to  both  alike  (TM'2  "ItDNSO  "131 
IT^anb  il"m).  Thus,  "Light  is  sown  for  the  right- 
eous, and  gladness  for  the  upright  in  heart"  (Psa.  xcvii, 
11),  does  not  imply  that  the  former  is  without  gladness 
and  the  latter  without  light,  but  what  is  predicated  of 
one  also  belongs  to  the  other  (comp.  Taanith,  15  a). 

20.  The  predicate  of  a  subject  may  not  refer  to  it  at 
all,  but  to  the  one  next  to  it  (IS'^NI  nn  112X21:3  "121 
llisnb  -pD^'  Xim  "3  -pSS).  Thus  the  remark,  "This 
to  Judali"  (Deut.  xxxiii,  7),  does  not  refer  to  Judah, 
since  it  is  said  further  on,  "And  he  said,  Hear,  Lord,  the 
voice  of  Judab,"  but  to  Simeon,  whom  Moses  hereby 
blesses  after  Reuben. 

21.  When  a  subject  is  compared  loith  two  things,  it  is 
to  receive  thebest  attributes  of  both  (^nab  CpifTJ  ini 

',ni^a::a  ns-^n  n=  ib  -jnis  nnxi  nn-a).    Thus, 

"The  righteous  shall  flourish  like  the  palm-tree;  he 
shall  grow  up  like  a  cedar  in  Lebanon"  (Psa,  xcii,  12) — 


the  comparison  is  with  the  best  qualities  of  both  (comp. 
Taanith.  25  a). 

22.  The  first  clause  explains  by  its  parallelism  the 
second,  to  lohich  it  refers  (1"'^"  tliDl^  llinii;  121). 
Thus,  "A  gift  in  secret  pacifieth  anger,"  in  the  first 
hemistich  signifying  the  anger  of  God,  shows  that- 
"  and  a  reward  in  the  bosom  strong  wrath"  (Prov.  xxi, 
14),  in  the  second  hemistich,  refers  to  the  strong  wrath 
of  God  (comp.  Baba  Bathra,  9  b). 

23.  The  second  clause  in  parallelism  explains  the 
first  hemistich,  to  lohich  it  refers  (niDl^a  X'^.lnU  121 
ll'^an).  Thus,  "The  voice  of  the  Lord  shaketh  the 
wilderness ;  the  Lord  shaketh  the  wilderness  of  Kadesh" 
(Psa.  xxix,  8).  Here  Kadesh,  though  comprised  in  the 
expression  wilderness  of  the  first  clause,  is  used  in  the 
second  clause  to  heighten  the  strength  of  the  first  hem- 
istich, by  showing  that  the  wilderness  must  have  been 
shaken  exceedingly,  since  Kadesh,  the  great  wilder- 
ness, was  shaken  (comp.  Deut.  i,  16). 

24.  A  subject  included  in  a  general  description  is  ex- 
cepted from  it  to  convey  a  special  lesson  (H'^tl'IJ  121 

x::i  'i?3:j"  h:!  irib,  hhzti  -p  n:s"'1  bb=2).    Thus, 

"  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,  sent  out  of  Shittim  two  men 
to  spy  secretly,  saying,  Go,  view  the  land,  and  Jericho" 
(Josh,  ii,  1).  Here  Jericho  is  superfluous,  since  it  is 
comprised  in  the  general  term  land,  but  it  is  especially 
mentioned  to  indicate  that  Jericho  by  itself  was  equal  in 
power  and  strength  to  the  whole  country.  Hence  that 
which  is  excepted  teaches  something  special  about  itself. 

25.  A  subject  included  in  a  general  description  is  ex- 
cepted f-om  it  to  teach  something  special  about  another 

subject  (b^  1-cbb,  bb:n  'i^  xa^i  bb22  nirr::  i2i 

11"'2n).  Thus  the  command,  "Ye  shall  take  no  re- 
demption-price for  the  life  of  a  murderer  who  is  guilty 
of  death"  (Numb,  xxxv,  31),  is  entirely  superfluous, 
since  it  is  included  in  the  declaration  already  made — 
"As  he  hath  done,  so  shall  it  be  done  to  him"  (Lev. 
xxiv,  19).  It  is,  however,  mentioned  especially  to  be  a 
guide  for  other  punishments,  since  it  is  concluded  from 
it  that  it  is  only  for  murderers  that  no  redemption-price 
is  to  be  taken,  but  that  satisfaction  may  be  taken  in 
case  of  one  knocking  out  his  neighbor's  tooth  or  eye 
(comp.  Kethuboth,  sfh,  38  a). 

26.  Parable  (bu^).  Thus,  "The  trees  went  forth 
on  a  time  to  anoint  a  king  over  them,  and  they  said 
unto  the  olive-tree,  Reign  thou  over  us"  (Judg.  ix,  8), 
where  it  is  the  Israelites  and  not  the  trees  who  said  to 
Othniel,  son  of  Kenaz,  Deborah  and  Gideon  reign  over 
us.  So  also  the  remark,  "And  they  shall  spread  the 
cloth  before  the  elders  of  the  city"  (Deut.  xxii,  17),  is 
parabolic,  meaning  that  they  should  make  their  testi- 
mony as  clear  as  the  cloth  (comp.  Kethuboth,  46  a). 

27.  The  preceding  often  explains  what  follows  ("pl^ 
ni:n2  b"?:^  'iirill-i').  Thus,  "And  the  Lord 
said  unto  Jehu,  Because  thou  hast  done  well,  executing 
that  which  is  right  in  mine  ej'es  .  .  .  thy  children  of 
the  fourth  generation  shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  Israel" 
(2  Kings  X,  30),  is  to  be  explained  by  what  precedes. 
Because  Jehu  destroyed  four  generations  of  the  house 
of  Ahab — viz.  Omri,  Ahab,  Joram,  and  his  sons,  as  is 
stated  (comp.  ver.  13) — therefore  shall  four  generations 
of  his  house  remain  on  the  throne. 

28.  Antithetic  sentences  often  explain  each  other  by 
their  parallelism  (ni:n2  1521:  'iCIIIU:  "pi^).  Thus 
in  Isa.  XXX,  16,  "  But  ye  said,  No ;  for  w,e  will  flee  upon 
horses ;  therefore  shall  ye  flee,  and  ride  upon  rapid  run- 
ners ;  therefore  shall  your  pursuers  run ;"  the  words 
wherewith  they  have  sinned  are  put  in  parallelism  with 
the  words  of  punishment,  couched  in  the  same  language 
and  in  similar  expressions. 

29.  Explanations  are  obtained  by  reducing  the  letters 
of  a  ivord  to  their  numerical  value  (□'^■OI'lli-J  "p32 
niail2  Xila^aa),  and  substituting  for  it  another  word 


MEDRASH 


246 


MTDRASH 


or  phrase  of  the  same  value,  or  hy  transposing  the  letters 
{T^^T^'i<  rpbn).  For  an  instance  of  the  first  we  must 
refer  to  the  reduction  of  "iTS'^lsX  to  318,  given  in  the  pre- 
ceding section.  The  second  part  of  this  rule  is  illustra- 
ted by  examples  which  show  that  several  modes  of 
transposing  the  letters  were  resorted  to.  Thus  "UJUJ, 
Sheshadi,  is  explained  by  ^213,  Babel  {J er.  xxv,  26;  li, 
41),  and  ^^p  'zh  by  U'-TCZ  {ibid,  li,  l),by  taking  the 
letters  of  the  alphabet  in  their  inverse  order;  X,  the 
first  letter,  is  expressed  by  n,  the  last  letter  of  the  al- 
phabet; 2,  the  second  letter,  by  "O,  the  last  but  one;  5 
I  ,y  "I ;  T  bv  p ;  n  by  21,  and  so  on.  Tliis  principle  of 
commutation  is  called  A  tbash  (a  "2  n  N),  from  the  first 
two  specimen  pairs  of  letters  which  indicate  the  inter- 
change. Or  the  commutation  is  effected  by  bending 
the  alphabet  exactly  in  the  middle,  and  putting  one 
half  over  the  other,  and  the  interchange  is  X  for  h,  2 
for  "Z,  5  for  3.  Tliis  mode  is  termed  A  Ibam  (D  3  5  X), 
from  the  first  two  specimen  pairs  of  letters  which  indi- 
cate the  interchange  (comp.  Xedarim,  32  a ;  Sanhedrin, 
22  a). 

30.  A  n  explanation  is  to  be  obtained  by  either  divid- 
ing a  word  into  several  words,  or  into  syllables,  and 
transposing  these  syllables,  or  into  letters,  and  taking  each 
kiter  as  an  initial  or  abbreviation  of  a  word.  This  rule 
is  termed  mSHS  •1pi-i::l3  "lUJ'^mr  •|"'DT3,  and  is  il- 
histratc'il  by  the  word  CiTl3X  being  divided  into  3X 
Ci;i  'p^'"^)  the  father  of  many  nations;  by  3~12  being 
divided  into  h'Q  and  "13,  and  the  latter  transposed  into 
~"1,  viz.  soft  and  grindable;  and  by  everj-  letter  of 
r:iT^3  (1  Kings  ii,  8)  being  taken  as  standing  for  a 
w(.r(l,.viz.:  3  =  vii<13,  adidterer ;  '0  =  '^'Z^^1:l,  Moabile; 
■1  =  n:i11,  murderer;  S  =  ^"l'i:i,  apostate;  and  n  = 
n2"in,  abhorred  (comp.  Sabbath,  105  a). 

31.  Words  and  sentences  are  sometimes  transposed 
(73-2  "mix's  Xirrr  mp-^.r).  Thus  1  Sam.  iii,  3, 
'•And  ere  the  lamp  of  God  went  out,  and  Samuel  was 
lying  in  the  temple  of  the  Lord,"  the  words  mn"'  bs'^nn, 
in  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  which  are  placed  later  in  the 
sentence,  evidently  belong  to  il33^,  icent  out,  since  no 
one  was  allowed  to  sit  down  in  the  Temple  except  the 
kings  of  the  house  of  David,  much  less  to  lie  down.  So 
also  in  Psa.  xxxiv,  where  ver.  18  must  be  taken  up  to 
ver.  lt>  (comp.  Kiddushin,  78  b;  Baba  Kama,  106). 

3"2.  Whole  sentences  are  sometimes  transposed  (Dlpl^ 
r.1  w'"isn  Xinu:  imx^).  Thus, e.  g.  the  record,  '-And 
he  said  unto  him,  Take  me  a  heifer  of  three  years  old," 
etc.  (Gen.  xv,  9,  etc.),  ought  properly  to  precede  ch,  xiv, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  anterior  in  point  of  time.  This  re- 
versed order  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Scriptures  for 
some  reason  put  certain  events  which  occurred  earlier 
in  time  after  later  occurrences  (comp.  Berachoth,  7  b, 
with  J'essachim,  (>  b). 

Hesides  these  thirty-two  rules,  the  following  laws  of 
interpretations  must  be  mentioned: 

'\.  Deduction  from  .Juxtaposition.  —  When  two  laws 
immediately  follow  each  otlier,  it  is  inferred  that  they 
are  similar  in  consequences.  Thus  it  is  said  in  Exod. 
xxii,  18,  ID,  "Thou  shall  not  suffer  a  witch  to  live. 
Whosoever  licth  with  a  beast  shall  surely  be  put  to 
death;"  whence  it  is  inferred  that  these  two  enactments 
are  placed  close  to  each  otlier  to  indicate  the  manner  of 
death  a  witch  is  to  sufl'ir.  which  the  Scriptures  nowhere 
define.  Now,  as  he  who  cohabits  with  an  animal  is, 
according  to  the  lltdachah  based  upon  l^v.  xx,  to  be 
stoned  to  death,  hence  it  is  concluded  that  a  witch  is  to 
die  in  the  same  manner. 

ii.  All  repetitions  of  words,  as  well  as  the  construc- 
tion of  the  finite  verb  with  tlie  infinite,  e.  g.  2"l'n 
13y33!n  liDSil,  3''5Un,  have  a  peculiar  signification, 


and  must  be  explained.  Some,  however,  maintain  that 
the  Bible,  being  written  in  human  language,  employs 
these  repetitions  (CIX  ^SS  V'wbs  min  nnain)  in 
accordance  with  the  usus  loqueitdi  {Mishna  Baba  Mezia, 
ii,  9;  xii,  3;  Gemara,  ibid.  31 ;  Jerusalem  Ntdarim,  i, 
1;  Kethuboth,  77  b;  Berachoth,  31  b). 

iii.  Letters  are  to  be  taken  from  one  word  ami  joined  to 
another,  or  formed  into  new  words.  Thus,  e.  g.  ^rr31 
T^Nwb  "ir3n3  rx,"  Then  ye  shall  give  his  inheritance 
unto  his  kinsman"  (Numb,  xxvii,  11),  is  explained  by 
lb  -IX'i'  r?n3  nX  Crr31,  "And  ye  shaU  give  the  in- 
heritance of  his  wife  to  him,"  i.  e.  the  husband,  by  taking 
away  the  1  from  irSn3  and  the  ?  from  1~Xw5,  thus 
j  obtaining  the  word  13;  and  it  is  deduced  therefrom 
that  a  man  inherits  the  property  of  his  CX'i')  wife 
(comp.  Baba  Batkra,  iii,  6;  Me?iachoth,  74  a).  This 
rule  is  called  -pirilTl  ■j'^S'^Diri  ■"'y^ns. 

iv.  A  word  is  to  be  explained  both  with  the  preceding 
and  folloicbig  words.     Thus,  X3    Cn^X    rrX  ''-.•^"1 

lan  nis-ri  r.^'^i-z  nnsu:  nbi  -.b  n^ibi,  "And  sa- 

rai,  Abraham's  wife,  bare  him  no  children  ;  and  she  had 
a  handmaid,  an  Egyptian,  whose  name  was  Hagar" 
(Gen.  xvi,  1),  is  explained,  "And  Sarai,  Abraham's  wife, 
bare  no  children  to  him  and  to  herself"  (nbl  "lb) ;  and 
then  again,  to  him  (i.  e.  Abraham)  and  to  her  (i.  e. 
Sarai)  there  was  a  handmaid  (i'lZZ'Z}  nbl  1>).  This 
rule  is  called  l-iinxbl  'i''3Eb  'C^i:  X^p^a,  and  is  not 
admitted  by  some  (comp.  Sabbath,  32  b ;  Menachoih, 
19  a). 

V.  The  letters  of  a  word  are  sometimes  transposed^ 
Thus  13br5',  "our  labor"  (Deut.  xxv,  7),  is  made  to 
mean  our  children,  13^bj?,  by  transposing  the  a  and 
theb. 

vi.  Letters  resembling  each  other  in  sound  or  appear- 
ance, or  belonging  to  the  same  organ  of  speech,  are  inter- 
changed.   Thus  nbnp  n-j-iii:  n-w-2  isb  r^rj,  min 

^py,  "Moses  commanded  us  the  law,  an  inheritance 
of  the  congregation  of  Jacob"  (Deut.  xxxiii,  4),  is  ex- 
plained, "  The  lav.^  which  Moses  has  given  us,  is  the  be- 
THOTHEDor  AViFE  (nb"!X7:)  of  the  Congregation  of  Ja- 
cob," by  changing  the  1  in  iTw'll^  for  X,  and  w  for  b. 
The  alteration  produced  by  rules  v  and  vi,  and  which 
are  in  the  Talmudic  and  post-Talmudic  period  generally 
introduced  by  the  remark  "2  xbx  "3  iipn  bx.  Read 
not  so  and  so,  but  so  and  so,  must  not  be  taken  for  emen- 
dations of  the  text  of  various  readings,  but  are  siinjily 
another  mode  of  obtaining  an  additional  meaning  of  the 
text.  It  was  argued  that  as  the  literal  and  limited 
sense  of  the  I5ible,  read  in  the  stereotyped  order,  could 
not  yield  sufKciently  the  divine  and  inexhaustible 
mind  couched  in  those  letters,  every  transposition,  com- 
mutation, etc.,  ought  to  be  resorted  to  in  order  to  ob- 
tain as  much  as  possible  of  the  infinite  idea ;  especially 
as  every  such  effort  yielded  that  sense  and  meaning 
thoroughly  in  harmony  with  what  might  justly  be 
expected  from  Holy  Scripture.  It  was  therefore  re- 
garded as  probable  that  the  IJiblc  designed  to  indicate 
it  in  addition  to  what  the  regular  order  and  reading  of 
the  words  conveyed.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that 
some  of  these  rules,  especially  those  wliich  involved  an 
alteration  of  tlie  text  and  a  departure  from  the  literal 
meaning,  were  not  used  in  Ilalachic  exegesis,  and  that 
the  I/agadic  exegesis  employs  many  more  than  those  we 
have  specified.  In  fact,  anything  and  everything  is  re- 
sorted to  which  can  make  the  text  speak  comfort  and 
consolation  in  even,-  time  of  need,  or  connect  the  legends 
about  Scriptural  characters  with  the  Biblical  record. 
j  The  puerility  and  extravagance  of  many  of  the  rules 
j  are  obvious,  while  others  arc  of  acknowledged  value. 
I  See  CiVBALA. 


MIDRASH 


247 


MIDWIFE 


V.  Importance  of  the  Halachic  andHagadic  Exegesis. 
—When  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  the  annotators  and 
punctuators  of  the  Hebrew  text,  and  the  translators  of 
the  ancient  versions,  were  Jews  impregnated  with  the 
theological  opinions  of  the  nation,  and  prosecuted  their 
Biblical  labors  in  harmony  with  these  opinions,  and  the 
above-named  exegetical  rules,  the  importance  of  the 
Halachic  and  Hagadic  exegesis  to  the  criticism  of  the 
Hebrew  text,  and  to  a  right  understanding  of  the  Greek, 
Chaldee,  Syriac,  and  other  versions,  as  well  as  of  the 
quotations  of  the  O.  T.  in  the  N.  T.,  can  hardly  be  over- 
rated. If  it  be  true — and  few  will  question  the  fact — 
that  every  successive  English  version,  cither  preceding 
or  following  the  Reformation,  reflects  the  peculiar  no- 
tions about  theology,  Church  government,  and  politics 
of  each  period  and  of  every  dominant  party ;  and  that 
even  the  most  literal  translation  of  modern  days  is,  in  a 
certain  sense,  a  commentary  of  the  translator;  we  ought 
to  regard  it  as  natural  that  the  Jews,  without  intending 
to  deceive,  or  wilfully  to  alter  the  text,  should  by  the 
process  of  the  Midrash  introduce  or  indicate,  in  their 
Biblical  labors,  the  various  opinions  to  which  shifting 
circumstances  gave  rise.  Let  a  few  specimens  from  the 
Hebrew  text,  and  the  ancient  versions,  suffice  to  illus- 
trate the  Midrashic  process,  and  its  paramoimt  impor- 
tance to  Biblical  criticism. 

1.  The  Hebrew  Text  and  the  Masorah. — The  influence 
of  the  Halachic  and  Hagadic  exegesis  on  the  formation 
of  the  Hebrew  text  and  the  Masorah  is  far  greater  than 
has  hitherto  been  imagined,  though  the  limits  of  this 
article  only  admit  of  a  few  examples.  Thus,  e,  g.,  the 
question  put  by  Isaiah  to  Hezekiah,  "  The  shadow  has 
gone  forward  (Tj'i^)  ten  degrees;  shall  it  go  back  ten 
degrees  V"  (2  Kings  xx,  9)  as  the  Hebrew  text  has  it,  is 
not  onh^  grammatically  incorrect,  inasmuch  as  the  repe- 
tition of  the  ten  degrees  a  second  time  requires  the  arti- 
cle, but  is  at  variance  with  the  king's  reply  given  in 
ver.  10,  from  which  it  is  evident  that  the  prophet  asked 
him  whether  the  shadow  should  go  foncards  or  hack- 
iuards  ten  degrees,  that  Hezekiah  chose  the  latter  be- 
cause it  was  more  difficult  and  wonderful,  and  that  the 
original  reading  was  r|?.'!'n»  instead  of  "?f^;  and,  in- 
deed, this  reading  is  still  preserved  by  the  Chaldee,  the 
Syriac,  the  Vulgate,  etc. ;  is  followed  by  Luther  and  the 
Zurich  version,  whence  it  found  its  way  into  Coverdale, 
the  Bishop's  Bible,  and  has  finally  got  into  the  A.  V. 
The  mystery  about  the  origin  of  the  present  textual 
reading  is  solved  when  we  bear  in  mind  the  Hagadic 
explanation  of  the  parallel  passage  in  Isa.  xxxviii,  8. 
Now,  tradition  based  upon  this  passage  tells  us  that  the 
shadow  or  the  sun  had  gone  ten  degrees  forwards  at  the 
death  of  Ahaz,  and  the  daj'^  was  thus  shortened  to  two 

hours  {TT.'^n  mru  "imii  tnx  in  n^a  QT^n  itiix, 

Sanhedrin,  96  a),  in  order  that  his  burial  might  be  hasty 
and  without  royal  honors,  and  that  now  these  ten  de- 
grees went  backwards.  Hence  the  present  reading,  which 
was  effected  by  the  trifling  alteration  of  ~b^n  into  ^^l^, 
i.  e.  "  the  shadow,"  the  prophet  is  made  to  say  to  the 
king,  "  Has  once  gone  forward  ten  degrees"  (i.  e.  at  the 
death  of  Ahaz) ;  "  shall  it  now  go  backward  ten  de- 
grees ?"  Thus  the  Midrashic  exposition  of  Isa.  xxxviii, 
8,  it  may  be  supposed,  gave  rise  to  the  textual  reading 
of  2  Kings  XX,  9.  For  the  influence  of  the  Halachic 
and  Hagadic  exegesis  on  the  Masorah  and  the  various 
readings,  we  must  refer  to  Krochmal,  More  Nehoche  Ha- 
Jeman  (Lemberg,  1851),  p.  169  sq.     See  Keri  asd  Ke- 

THIB;    NetHINIM. 

2.  The  Greek  Versions. — That  the  Septuagint  is  per- 
vaded by  the  Halachic  and  Hagadic  exegesis  may  al- 
most be  seen  on  every  page  of  this  version.  A  few  ex- 
amples must  suffice.  Thus,  e.  g.,  the  Septuagint  render- 
ing of  iTin  by  ^woyovoviTOJv,  in  Lev.  xi,  47,  is  only  to 
be  explained  when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that,  according 
totheHalachah,theprohibitionrespectingnslL3(Exod. 


xxii,  30,  etc.)  does  not  simply  refer  to  animals  torn  by 
wild  beasts,  but  to  every  animal  which  is  sickly  and 
maimed,  though  belonging  to  the  clean  animals  allowed 
to  be  eaten  in  Lev.  xi ;  and  that  one  of  the  sure  tests 
whether  an  animal  is  healthy,  and  hence  eatable,  is 
when  it  beajs  young  ones;  barrenness  is  an  infallible 
sign  of  its  sickly  condition  (comp.  Chulin,  24  with  58 ; 
Salomon  ben-Adereth,  Respond,  xcviii;  Torath  Coha- 
nim,  124) — hence  the  Septuagint  rendering,  "  Between 
those  which  bear  j'oung  ones  and  [for  this  reason]  may 
be  eaten,  and  those  which  bear  young  ones  and  may  not 
be  eaten,"  because  they  belong  to  the  animals  proscribed. 
Again,  the  rendering  of  Josh,  xiii,  22,  DSJ^S  t".N1  .  .  . 
n"in3  .  .  .  15'lrt,  bj'  Kai  Tov  BaXaiifi  .  .  .  cnriKruvav 
.  .  ,  iv  pom),  which  has  caused  such  perplexity  to  com- 
mentators and  given  rise  to  diverse  emendations  (e.  g. 
TTpovofjLy,  Oxf. ;  tv  paiKpa'ic}.  tv  rpoiry.  Aid.  and  Com- 
plut.),  is  at  once  explicable  when  reference  is  made  to 
the  Hagadah,  which  is  quoted  in  Jonathan  ben-Uzziel's 
Chaldee  Paraphrase  of  Numb,  xxxi,  6,  and  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Balaam  flew  into  the  air  by  his  magic  arts,  and 
Phinehas  threw  him  down ;"  so  that  iv  poiry  means  in 
the  fall  (comp.  also  Eashi  on  Numb,  xxxi,  6). 

Symmachus,  too,  cannot  be  understood  in  many  of  his 
translations  without  reference  to  the  Halachic  and  Ha- 
gadic exegesis.  Thus  the  apparently  strange  rendering 
of  liaX  13Pri3  "^na  ?C3ri  ^  h\  ov  atctvaatig  tpi(bov 
Siu  ydXaKTog  fii]Tpoq  avTOv  (Exod.  xxiii,  19)  becomes 
intelligible  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  Halachah  not 
only  prohibits  the  cooking,  but  the  mixing  and  eating 
of  animal  meat  and  milk  in  any  form  (comp.  Meckilta, 
ad  loc. ;  Cholin,  115).  Hence  the  rendering  of  bujnri  by 
OKEvaang.  The  rendering  of  il^^  PXT^I  by  uipKiae 
Si  M(Dva))v  (Exod.  i,  21),  which  has  been  thought  very 
extraordinary  and  inexplicable,  becomes  perfectly  plain 
when  the  Hagadah  on  this  passage  is  consulted,  which 
tells  us  that  Jethro  demanded  of  Moses  to  swear  that  he 
would  devote  to  idolatry  his  first-begotten  son  by  Zip- 
porah,  and  that  Moses  consented  to  it;  and  remarks 
further,  Then  said  Jethro,  Swear,  and  Moses  swore  to  him, 
as  it  is  wi-itten,  T\'Ci'>2  biX'l"''!.  Now  ilPX  denotes  to 
swear,  as  in  1  Sam.  xiv,  24,  and  2  Kings  v,  23  (comp. 
Mechilta,  sec.  Jethro,  beginning  quoted  in  Jalkut,  ad  loc. ; 
Nedarim,  65  a). 

These  few  specimens  must  suffice,  for,  greatlj'  impor- 
tant as  the  subject  is,  the  limits  of  this  article  prevent 
us  from  giving  illustrations  of  the  influence  which  the 
Halachic  and  Hagadic  exegesis  exercised  upon  the  other 
Greek  versions,  as  well  as  upon  the  Chaldee  paraphrases, 
the  Syriac  version,  the  Vulgate,  the  Arabic,  and  the  ex- 
positions of  the  early  fathers. 

VI.  Literature. — Zunz,  Die  gottesdienstlichen  Vortrdge 
der  Juden  (Berlin,  1832),  p.  35  sq.;  Hirschfeld,  Halach- 
ische  Exegese  (Berlin,  1840) ;  by  the  same  author,  Die 
hagadische  Exegese  (Berlin,  1847) ;  Sachs,  Die  religiose 
Poesie  der  Juden  in  Spanien  (Berlin,  1845),  p.  141  sq. ; 
Rapaport,  Erech  Millin  (Prague,  1852),  art.  Agada,  p.  6 
sq. ;  Frankel,  Vorstudien  zu  der  ffepiiiaginta  (Leipsic, 
1841),  p.  179  sq. ;  by  the  same  author,  Ueber  den  Eitijiuss 
der  Paldstinischen  Exegese  aif  die  alexandrinische  Her- 
meneutik  (Leipsic,  1851)  ;  and  Programm  ziir  Eroffnung 
des  jiidisch-theologischen  Seminars  zu  Breslau  (Breslau, 
1854) ;  hwzzaiXo.Oheb Ger. (Vienna,  1831) ;  Pinner,  Vor- 
studien zum  Talmud  (Berlin,  1831);  Geiger,  Urschrift 
und  Uebersetziing  der  Bibel  (Breslau,  1857) ;  Steinschnei- 
der,  Jewish  Literature  (London,  1857),  p.  5  sq. ;  Deutsch, 
in  Lond.  Qu.  Rev.  April,  1867  sq.,  art.  on  Talmud ;  Gins- 
burg,  Historical  and  Critical  Commentary  on  Ecclesiastes 
(London,  1861),  p.  30  sq.,  455  sq.;  and  particidarly  the 
excellent  article  by  Ginsburg  in  Kitto  (s.  v.),  upon  which 
we  have  very  largely  depended  in  this  article. 

Midwife  (n'l^^:?,  part,  in  Piel  of  "lb^,  "to  bring 
forth  ;"  Sept.  iiaia,  Vulg.  obstetrix  ;  Gen.  xxxv,  17  ; 
xxxviii,  28).    It  must  be  remarked  that  riiJn,  Exod.  i, 


MIEG 


248 


MIELK 


19,  "lively,"  is  also  in  rabbinical  Hebrew  "  midwives,"' 
an  explanation  which  appears  to  have  been  had  in  view 
bj'  the  Vulj;.,  which  interjirets  chuyoth  by  '•  ipsic  obste- 
tricandi  habent  scientiam."  It  is  also  rendered  "living 
creatures,"  implying  that  the  Hebrew  women  were,  like 
animals,  quick  in  parturition.  Gesenius  renders  "  vivi- 
dse,  robustie"  (T/ies.  p.  4()«).  In  any  case  the  general 
sense  of  the  passage  Kxod.  i,  19  is  the  same,  viz.  that 
the  Hebrew  women  stood  in  little  or  no  need  of  the 
midwives'  assistance.  I'arturition  in  the  East  is  usu- 
ally easy.  See  Wojiax.  The  office  of  a  midwife  is 
thus,  in  many  Eastern  countries,  in  little  use,  but  is  per- 
formed, when  necessary,  by  relatives  (Chardin,  V'ot/.  vii, 
'23 ;  Ilarmer,  Obs.  iv,  425).  See  Child.  It  may  be  for 
this  reason  that  the  number  of  persons  employed  for 
this  purpose  among  the  Hebrews  was  so  small,  as  the 
passage  Exod.  i,  19  seems  to  show ;  unless,  as  Knobel 
and  others  suggest,  the  two  named  were  the  principal 
persons  of  their  class.  In  the  descriifcion  of  the  trans- 
action mentioned  in  Exod.  i,  one  expression,  •' Upon  the 
stools,"  receives  remarkable  illustration  from  ancient  as 
well  as  modern  usage.  On  the  walls  of  the  palace  of 
Luxor,  in  Upper  I'^gypt,  there  is  a  grand  painting,  which 
i.s  faithfully  copied  in  Lepsius's  Z>CT(i-»ia7f  r,  representing 
the  birth  of  the  eldest  son  of  Thothmes  IV,  anil  very 
possibly  the  "first -bom"  of  the  Pharaoh  who  was 
drowned  in  the  Ked  Sea.  Queen  INIautmes  is  repre- 
sented as  receiving  a  message  through  the  god  Thoth, 
that  she  is  to  give  birth  to  a  child.  The  mother  is 
jilaced  upon  a  s/ool,  while  two  midwives  chafe  her  hands, 
and  the  babe  is  held  up  by  a  third  (Sharpe's  History  of 
Eyypt,  i,  (if)).  Gesenius  doubts  the  existence  of  any  cus- 
tom such  as  the  direct  meaning  of  the  passage  implies, 
and  suggests  a  wooden  or  stone  trough  for  washing  the 
new-born  child.  But  the  modern  Egyptian  practice,  as 
described  by  IMr.  Lane,  exactly  answers  to  that  indi- 
cated in  the  book  of  Exodus.  "  Two  or  three  days  be- 
fore the  expected  time  of  delivery,  the  Loyeh  (midwife) 
conveys  to  the  house  the  kursi  elicilddeli,  a  chair  of  a 
jieculiar  form,  upon  which  the  patient  is  to  be  seated 
during  the  l)irth"  (Lane,  Mod.  F.tjypt.  iii,  142).  See 
Stool.  The  moral  question  arising  from  the  conduct 
of  the  midwives  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  the 
present  article.  The  reader,  however,  may  refer  to  St. 
Augustine,  t'ontr.  mendacium,  xv,  32,  and  Quasi,  in  llept. 
ii,  1 ;  also  Corn,  ii  Lap.  Com.  on  Ex.  i.  When  it  is  said, 
"God  dealt  well  with  the  midwives,  and  built  them 
houses,"  we  are  probably  to  understand  that  their  fami- 
lies were  blessed  either  in  point  of  numbers  or  of  sub- 
stance. Other  explanations  of  inferior  value  have  been 
offered  by  Kimchi,  Calvin,  and  others  (Calmet,  Cow.  on 
Kx.\;  Patrick;  Corn. a  Lap.;  Knobel;  Schleusner, /,.!'. 
T.  oIkiu  ;  (Jesenius,  Thesdur.  p.  193;  Crit.  AV/c?-.).  It  is 
worth  while  to  notice  only  to  refute  on  its  own  ground 
the  .Jewish  tradition  which  identified  Siphrah  and  Puah 
with  Jochebed  and  Miriam,  and  interpreted  the  "houses" 
built  for  them  as  the  sf>-called  royal  and  sacerdotal  fam- 
ilies of  Caleb  and  Closes  (.losephus,  A  nt.  iii,  2, 4 ;  Corn,  h 
Lap.  and  Crit.  Sua:  1.  c. ;  Schottgen,  //o?-.  Jlcbi:  ii,  450 ; 
y^e  J/f.w.  c.  iv).— Smith ;  Eairbairn.     See  Bihtii. 

Mieg,  Johann  Casimir,  a  (Jcrman  theologian  and 
phil(.loi,'isl.  was  b(.ni  at  llciiUlberg  Oct.  i\.  1712.  His 
father  was  a  [irofessor  of  iluology  and  minister  at  flic 
Heiligengeistkirche  of  that  i)lace.  He  entered  the  uni- 
versity of  his  native  place  wlien  fourteen  years  of  age; 
continued  his  stiulies  at  Zilrich.  Basle,  and  Berne;  re- 
turned to  Heidelberg  in  1732,  and  finished  his  education 
at  Mari)urg  and  Halle.  He  was  appointed  a  professor 
of  philosophy  at  Herborn  in  1733,  and  in  1743  professor 
of  divinity  and  philology  at  Lingen.  This  position  he 
resigned  in  1757,  and  returned  to  Herborn  as  professor 
of  theology  and  i)reaclier.  He  died  Sept.  28.  17G4. 
Some  of  his  most  celebrated  works  are,  J)i.w.  r"i2"in 
C^n:;~,  /iqc  est  Constilu Hones  sen-orvm  tarn  in  (jenere, 
quam  in  Hebraorum  specie  (Ilerborna;  Nassoviarum, 
1734,  4to):— "135  "'la^  H'^S^n,  hoc  est:    Constitutio 


res  servi  TTebrcei  e  Scriptura  et  Rabbinomm  monumentis 
coUectcB  nee  non  cum  celerarum  gentium  consuetudinibus 
huic  inde  collutce  (ibid.  1735,  8vo)  : — Comnientatio  fheo- 
logico-pructica,  de  virtute  in  pr(ecordiis  objecto  tvaptaiag 
dii-incE  ad  I'sa.  Ii  (Lemgovia?,  1749,  8vo). 

Mieg,  Ludwig  Christian,  a  (krman  Reformed 
theologian,  was  horn  Aug.  20,  1008,  at  Heidelberg,  and 
received  his  education  at  his  native  place  and  at 
Basle,  where  he  defended  his  dis.sertation  "  De  regulis 
communicationis  motus."  In  1689,  during  the  French 
war,  when  Heidelberg  was  destroyed,  he  was  vicar  of 
the  French  congregation  at  Manheim.  Later  he  made 
a  voyage  through  the  Netherlands,  and  returned  in 
1691  to  Heidelberg,  and  was  appointed  professor  of 
Greek,  and  minister  of  the  lieformed  congregation  at 
Kinteln.  In  1694  he  was  made  professor  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal history  at  jNIarburg,  and  in  1697  professor  of  theol- 
ogy. He  returned  in  1706  to  Heidelberg  as  ecclesiasti- 
cal counsellor,  professor  of  divinity,  and  first  minister  of 
the  church  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  resigned  his  place  in 
1730,  and  died  Jan.  19, 1740.  His  most  noted  works  are, 
Diss,  de  rer/ulis  communicationis  motus  (IJasle,  1685,  4to)  : 
— Theses  historicti-j/racticff  ex  historia  et  vita  Ahrahumi 
desumtw  (Marburg,  HVM'>,  4to) : — Diss,  historica,  qua  A. 
Pagii  sententin  de  orcdsiane  Apoloyiunnn  a  veteris  eccle- 
sim  doctoribus  cousiriptarum  examinatur  (ibid.  1696, 
4to): — Di^s.  theolof/iru  de  terrore  Dei  (ibid.  1099.  4to): 
— Disquisitio  theoliu/ica  de  pejspicuitate  et  unircrsa/itate 
institutionis  naturaUs.  ad  I'sa.  xix,  4,  5  (ibid.  1699,  4to) : 
~Diss.  Iheohxjivo-philoUxiica  I  et  J I  de  euro  pauperum 
apud  J/ebrccos  (ibid.  1700,  4to) :— Theses  tUeohigicce  de 
traditionibus  (ibid.  1700,  4to)  : — Diss,  de  jn-opheta  pro- 
misso,  Deut.  xviii,  15,  contra  D.  Ilugueminum  (ibid.  1704, 
4to) :  —  Oratio  de  providentia  dicina  circa  nascentem 
Univers.  Heidelberg,  cum  elencho  Professor.  Heidelberg, 
(ibid.  1770,  4to).  See  Doring,  Gelehrte  Theol.  Deutsch- 
lands,  s,  v. 

Miel,  Jax,  a  distinguished  Flemish  painter,  was  bora 
in  a  small  village  near  Antwerp  in  1599.  Lanzi  says  he 
was  a  pupil  of  Vandyck.  He  resided  some  time  at  Kome, 
where  he  studied  mider  Andrea  Sacchi,  to  whom  he 
gave  such  proofs  of  genius  that  he  was  employed  to  as- 
sist him  in  his  works  at  the  Palazzo  Barberini.  Miel, 
whose  disposition  led  him  to  the  grotesque,  introduced 
something  ludicrous  into  the  work,  which  was  deemed 
unworthy  the  dignity  of  the  subject,  and  he  was  dis- 
missed. He  then  visited  Lombanly  to  study  the  works 
of  Correggio,  and  also  passed  some  time  in  Parma  and 
Bologna.  On  his  return  to  Pome  he  was  employed  by 
pope  Alexander  VII  to  paint  a  picture  of  ^foses  striking 
the  Hock  for  the  gallery  of  Monte  Cavallo.  He  also 
painted  a  Ji/iptism  of  ,s}.  Cyril/io  fur  the  church  of  S. 
Martino  de'  Monti,  and  the  .1  nnumiation,  and  some  fres- 
cos of  the  life  of  St.  Lamberti.  in  S.  ^laria  dell'  Anima. 
Subsequently  he  was  invited  to  Turin  by  Charles  Eman- 
uel, duke  of  Savoy,  who  appointed  him  court  painter, 
and  in  whose  service  he  was  retained  the  residue  of  his 
life.  After  his  engagement  by  the  duke  he  painted  no 
more  religious  works.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  St.  Luke  in  1648,  and  thereafter  devoted 
himself  almost  entirely  to  hunting  scenes  and  battle 
pieces.  He  died  at  Turin  in  1664.  jMaiiy  of  Miel's  best 
works  are  in  the  Imperial  (iallcry  at  Vienna.  Sec  Lan- 
zi, History  of  Painting,  transl.  by  Poscoe  (Lond.  1847,  3 
vols.  8vo),  iii,  307;  Spooner.  Biog.  Hist,  of  the  Pine 
A  rts  (N.  Y.  1865,  2  vols.  8vo). 

Mielk,  JoiiAXN  Bi:uTRAM.  a  German  theologian, 
was  born  at  Kiel  March  24, 1736,  where  he  was  also  ed- 
ucated. In  1758  the  dignity  of  master  of  arts  was  con- 
ferred upon  him  as  a  reward  for  the  defence  of  his  dis- 
sertation "  Jh'  dii-i.<ione  in  infinitum."  In  1768  he  was 
appointed  deacon  at  Neustadt,  in  Ilolstein ;  in  1771, 
second  minister  at  the  Fleckenkirche  at  Preetz,  and  in 
1784  chief  minister  at  Oldcnslohe,  where  he  died  .June 
14, 1801.  He  was  very  much  renowned  as  editor  of 
Beitrdge  zur  Bejorderung  der  hduslichen  Andacht  in 


MIERIS 


249 


MIGNARD 


Pn'(lr//en  (1777-83).  He  deserves  also  much  credit  for 
liis  translation  of  Millot's  Unkersul  History. 

Mieris,  Fuass,  Jr.,  a  Dutch  artist  and  writer  of 
note,  deserves  a  place  here  as  the  author  of  a  work  on 
IJislory  and  EcdesiasHcal  A  iitiquities  of  the  Seven  United 
Provinces  (1726).  He  was  bom  at  Leyden  in  1689,  and 
died  in  1763. 

Mies,  Jacob  von.     See  Jacob. 

Migdal-Edar  ("tower  of  the  flock"),  a  place  on 
the  route  of  Jacob  (Gen.  xxxv,  21),  probably  about  two 
miles  south  of  Jerusalem,  near  the  Bethlehem  road, 
where  the  cluster  of  ruins  called  Kirbet  Um-Moghdala 
is  now  situated  (Tobler,  Dritte  Wanderung,  p.  81).     See 

EUAR. 

Mig'dal-el  (Heb.  Migdal'-EL  >X-^n?T2,  tower  of 
God;  Sept.  MaySaXiiiX  v.  r.  MaySaXirj^pdfi  or  Mija- 
Xaapiji),  a  fortitied  city  of  the  tribe  of  Naphtali  (Josh. 
xix,  38),  "  named  between  Iron  and  Horem,  possibly 
deriving  its  name  from  some  ancient  tower— the  '  tower 
of  El,  or  God.'  By  Eusebius  {Onomasticon,  MaySu]\) 
it  is  spoken  of  as  a  large  village  lying  between  Dora 
(Tantura)  and  Ptolemais  (Akka),  at  nine  miles  from  the 
former, that  is, just  about  Athlit,  the  ancient  'Castellum 
peregrinorum.'  No  doubt  the  Castellum  was  anciently 
a  mif/dol  or  tower ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  locate  a  town 
of  Naphtali  below  Carmel,  and  at  least  tv/enty-five  miles 
from  the  boundaries  of  the  tribe.  It  may,  however,  have 
been  the  Magdulum  named  by  Herodotus  (ii,  159)  as  the 
site  of  Pharaoh  Necho's  victory  over  Josiah  (see  Eaw- 
linson's  Herod,  ii,  2-16,  note).  But  this  was  not  the  only 
Migdol  along  this  coast.  If  the  modern  Hurah  is  Ho- 
rem and  Yarun  Iron,  there  is  a  possibiHty  in  finding 
Migdal-el  in  Mujeidel,  at  no  great  distance  from  them, 
namely,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Wady  Kerkerah,  eight 
miles  due  east  of  the  Ras  en-Nakurah,  six  miles  west  of 
Hurah  and  eight  of  Yarun  (see  Van  de  Velde's  Map, 
1858)."  The  enumeration  of  the  towns  in  the  above 
passage  of  Joshua,  however,  favors  the  connection  of 
this  name  with  the  preceding  as  one,  i.  e.  Migdal- el-Ho- 
rem,  as  in  the  Sept.  In  any  case  the  present  Migdal  is 
probably  the  Magdala  (q.  v.)  of  the  New  Test.  (Matt. 
XV,  o'.t),  which  lay  within  the  limits  of  Naphtali  (q.  v.). 

Mig'dal-gad  (Heb.  Migdal'-Gad,  ns-bnjri,  toicer 
of  fortune;  Sept,  May^aXyaO),  a  town  in  the  plain  of 
Judah,  mentioned  between  Hadashah  and  Dilean  (Josh. 
XV,  37)  ;  probably  the  el-i[ejdel  a  short  distance  north- 
east of  Ascalon  (Schwarz,  Palest,  p.  103  ;  Van  de  Velde, 
Memoir,  p.  331).  It  is  a  prnsperous  village,  encircled  b^' 
luxuriant  orchards  and  olive  groves,  and  fields  unsur- 
passed in  fertility.  Among  the  houses  are  many  traces 
of  antiquity — large  hewn  stones  and  broken  columns. 
Some  three  miles  south-east  of  Mejdel  is  the  village  of 
Jenin,  which  may  perhaps  be  the  Zenan  noted  by  Joshua 
in  the  group  with  Migdal-gad ;  and  ten  miles  distant  in 
the  same  direction  are  the  ruins  of  Lachish  and  Eglon 
(Porter,  Hand-hool-,  p.  261,  272). 

Migdal-Saniiah,  a  large  village  located  by  Jerome 
(Onomast.  s.  v.  Senna,  "  Magdal-senna,  quod  interpreta- 
tur  Turris  Senna ;"  but  perhaps  he  has  mereh'  misread 
Eusebius,  ^EynXj;  ^swci)  at  seven  (Euseb.  eight)  Ro- 
man miles  north  of  Jericho,  on  the  border  of  Judaea. 
Dr.  Robinson  (Hib.  Pes.  iii,  295)  inclines  to  identify  it 
with  the  Mejdel  in  the  central  mountains  of  Palestine, 
■  near  the  edge  of  the  Ghor,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  Wady 
Fasail,  and  not  far  from  Daumeh,  the  ancient  Edumia 
(Van  de  Velde,  Si/r.  and  Pal.  ii,  307). 

Mig'dol  (Heb.  Migdol',  ^1>t?p,  a  tower;  Sept.  Mfiy- 
SctiXov  or  MaySujXov),  a  town  in  Lower  Egypt  (Jer. 
xliv,  1 ;  xlvi,  14),  the  northern  limit  of  the  country  (op- 
posite Syene,  Ezek.  xxix,  10 ;  xxx,  6).  It  is  apparently 
the  Magdolnm  of  the  Antoniim  Itinerary  (p.  171),  situ- 
ated twelve  Roman  miles  from  Pelusium ;  and,  as  it  is 
doubtless  also  the  place  mentioned  (Exod.  xiv,  2 ;  Numb. 
xxxiii,  7)  in  the  description  of  the  passage  of  the  Red 


Sea  by  the  Israelites  (see  Gesenius,  Thesaur.  p.  268; 
Ewald,  Isr.  Gesch.  ii,  55),  a  difficulty  has  been  experi- 
enced from  the  statements  of  those  texts  that  this  oc- 
curred "  between  IVIigdol  and  the  sea,"  and  "  before  Mig- 
dol," arising  from  the  much  greater  distance  of  this 
locality  from  Pelusium,  which  tlie  explanation  of  Heng- 
stenberg  {Mos.  u.  A  eg.  p.  58  sq.),  that  these  expressions 
simply  refer  to  the  general  region  within  which  the  Is- 
raelites were  hemmed,  scarcely  meets.  It  is  therefore 
better  to  regard  the  distance  given  in  the  Itinerary  as 
somewhat  vague,  so  that  Migdol  may  have  been  situ- 
ated sufficiently  near  to  be  said  to  be  opposite  the  scene 
of  the  miracle.  See  ExoDii.  The  name  has  been  traced 
in  the  Coptic  Meshtol,  which  signifies  many  hills  (Cham- 
pollion,  VEgypte  sous  les  Pharaons,  ii,  79),  and  has  been 
referred  (see  Niebuhr,  Descr.  Arabice,  p.  409)  to  the 
Meshtul  of  Arabian  geographers,  in  the  province  of 
Sharkje,  in  Lower  Egypt,  on  the  island  Myecphor  (Ro- 
senmliller,  ,4^/ert/i.  iii,  260);  but  it  is  better  (with  For- 
ster,  Ej}.  ad  Michael,  p.  29)  to  consider  it  as  alluding  to 
a  mountainous  situation  (suitable  for  a  watch-tower  on 
the  frontier),  and  we  may  then  (with  Tischendorf,  De 
Israel,  per  mare  rubruni  transitu,  p.  25  sq. ;  Kutscheit, 
Lepsiusu.  der  Sinai,  p.  6  sq. ;  and  other  earlier  travellers) 
identify  it  with  Jebel  Ataka  (see  Olin's  Travels  in  the 
East,  i,  350).  The  only  objection  to  this  identification 
that  remains,  worthy  of  consideration,  is  that,  according 
to  some  travellers,  a  gentle  slope,  some  two  or  three 
miles  wide,  intervenes  between  this  range  of  hills  and 
the  sea-shore,  containing  many  camel-paths,  and  offer- 
ing an  easy  escape  for  the  Israelites  hemmed  in  by  the 
Egyptians  that  came  down  upon  them  through  Wady 
Tuwarik  (Alton's  Lands  of  the  Messiah,  p.  120) ;  but  it 
is  doubtful  whether  so  extensive  a  shore  existed  here 
anciently  (see  ib.  p.  106),  and  even  if  this  margm  were 
not  at  that  time  covered  by  the  waves,  it  may  easily 
have  been  preoccupied  by  a  detachment  of  the  Egyp- 
tian troops  sent  round  by  way  of  the  isthmus  to  cut  off 
the  retreat  of  the  Israelites.  Herodotus  (ii,  159)  doubt- 
less alhulcs  to  this  place  under  the  name  of  Magdulum., 
which  he  describes  as  a  frontier  town  towards  Palestine, 
where  Josiah  was  slain  by  Necho ;  evidently  confound- 
ing it  with  Megiddo.     See  Red  Sea,  Passage  of. 

Miget,  St.,  a  prelate  of  the  French  Church,  was 
born  about  the  beginning  of  the  7th  century.  His  life 
was  written  in  the  10th  century  by  an  anonymous  ha- 
giographer,  and  published  by  "the  BoUandists,  June  6. 
Another  chronicler  of  the  same  century,  Adson,  in  his 
Legende  de  Saint  Waldebert,  abbe  de  Luxueil,  says  that 
St.  Miget  presided  at  the  obsequies  of  this  abbot,  who 
was  his  dearest  friend.  St.  Miget  is  spoken  of  as  a  re- 
former within  the  Church.  It  appears  that  he  intro- 
duced great  changes  in  the  liturgy  of  his  diocese,  and 
instituted  first  in  the  church  of  Besan^on  five  arcVidea- 
cons,  to  whom  he  gave  important  privileges.  He  died 
about  the  year  670,  His  name  is  found  in  the  Martyr- 
ologe  Gallican  of  the  date  of  Aug.  7.— Dunod  de  Char- 
nage,  Hist,  de  CEglise  de  Besan^cn;  J.-Jacques  Chifflet, 
Vesuntio,  pt.  ii ;  Vie  des  Saints  de  Franche  Comte,  by  the 
professors  of  tlie  college  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  i,  236. 
See  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generalc,  s.  v. 

Miglionico.  Andrea,  a  Neapolitan  painter,  was  a 
pupil  of  Luca  Giordano.  According  to  Dominici,  he 
acquired  considerable  reputation,  and  executed  m^y 
works  for  the  churches  at  Naples,  among  which  the 
Descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  church  of  S.  S.  Nunzi- 
ata,  is  highly  commended.  He  died  about  1710.— Lan- 
zi's  Histoi-y  of  Painting,  transl.  by  Roscoe  (Lond.  1847, 
3  vols.  8vo),  i"i,  59 ;  Spooner,  Biog.  Hist,  of  the  Fine  A  rts 
(N.  Y.  1865,  2  vols.  8vo). 

Mignard,  Pierre  (1)  (called  the  Roman),  an  emi- 
nent I'rcnc  li  paintfv.  was  born  at  Troyes  in  IGIO.  After 
receiving  s.nne  instruction  at  home,  his  father  placed  him 
in  the  school  of  Jean  Boucher  at  Bruges;  subsequently 
under  Vouet.  In  1036  he  went  to  Rome,  to  study  after 
Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo ;  there  he  remained  twen- 


MIGNARD 


250 


MILAN 


ty-two  years,  painting  a  number  of  fine  IMadonnas,  and 
the  portraits  of  popes  Urban  VIII  and  Alexander  VII. 
One  of  the  finest  frescos  in  France,  the  cupola  of  the  Val 
dc  Grace,  was  executed  by  Mignard.  He  also  adorned 
the  great  hall  at  St.  Cloud  with  mythological  subjects. 
He  died  in  1G95,  after  having  received  many  distinc- 
tions and  honors. — Lanzi's  History  of  Painting  (Loud. 
1847,  3  vols.  «vo),  i,  47G. 

Mignard,  Pierre  (2),  a  French  architect,  and 
neplicw  (if  ihc  i)rt'0(Mliiig,  was  born  at  Avignon  in  1G40. 
After  a  series  of  extensive  journeys  throughout  France 
and  Italy,  during  which  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study 
of  arcliitecture,  he  settled  in  Paris.  He  built  the  Abbey 
dc  Montmajour,  near  Aries,  which  gained  him  great 
reputation  ;  and  he  was  intrusted  with  many  important 
works.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  fa(;ade  of 
the  church  of  St.  Nicholas  and  the  Porte  St.  Martin. 
Hubsc(iuently  the  Abbey  de  Montmajour  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  Ijut  was  rebuilt  precisely  according  to  the  de- 
signs of  Mignard.  He  was  one  of  the  six  architects 
who,  in  1071,  founded  the  French  Academy  of  Architect- 
ure, of  which  he  was  appointed  professor.  He  died  in 
1725.  See  Spooner,  Biog.  Hist,  of  the  Fine  Arts  (N.  Y. 
18G.),  2  vols.  8vo),  ii,  5G4. 

Mig'ron  {llGb.Migron',  '{y^^'O,  precipice ;  Sept.  in 
1  Sam.  Mayc'wv,  in  Isa.  MayfJ^w  v.  r.  Mayytow,  ap- 
parently reading  T  for  1 ;  Vulg.  Magron),  a  town  of 
Benjamin,  which,  from  the  historical  indications,  must 
have  been  between  Ai  and  Michmas,  on  the  route  of 
the  invading  Assyrian  army  southward  (Isa.  x,  28). 
From  Michmas  a  narrow  valley  extends  northward  out 
of  and  at  right  angles  with  that  which  has  been  identi- 
fictl  as  the  i)assage  of  Michmas  (q.  v.).  The  town  of 
Migron  seems  to  have  been  upon  and  to  have  com- 
manded tlie  pass  through  this  valley,  somewhere  be- 
tween the  modern  Deir  Diwan  and  Mukhmus  (Kobin- 
son's  Rvseurches,  ii,  149).  Saul  was  stationed  at  the 
further  side  of  Gibeah  ('?Geba),"  under  a  pomegranate- 
tree  which  is  by  Migron"  (1  Sam.  xiv,  2),  when  Jona- 
than performed  his  great  exploit  at  Michmas;  and  tlii> 
is  to  be  explained  (see  Kosenmiiller, -4/^f/7/^  II,  ii,  I7ii 
sq.;  Bachiene,  II,  ii,  145)  on  the  supposition  that  ^lig- 
ron  was  on  the  border  (perhaps  extending  idnsiderably 
north-west  of  Michmas)  of  the  district  to  which  (;il)eah 
gave  its  name.  Migron,  therefore,  was  in  all  probabil- 
ity situated  on,  or  close  to,  the  ravine  now  called  Wady 
Suweinit.  It  was  a  commanding  position  (Josephus, 
Ant.  vi,  ((,  2.  where  it  is  said  to  be  "a  high  hill"),  for 
Saul  was  able  to  see  from  it  the  commotion  which  fol- 
lowed the  attack  of  Jonathan  on  the  Philistine  camp. 
The  ravine  is  not  quite  half  a  mile  in  breadth  from 
brow  to  brow.  According  to  Schwarz  (Palest,  p.  130), 
there  are  extant  some  ruins  about  half  a  mile  south  of 
the  site  of  Bethel, which  the  Arabs  still  call  Burj  (fort) 
Mitgrun;  but  no  map  exhibits  here  more  than  a  ruined 
church,  and  the  position  is  too  far  north.  Keil  thinks 
the  Migron  of  1  Samuel  was  a  different  place  from  that 
of  Isaiah  {Comment,  on  Sam.  ad  loc.),  but  this  is  an  un- 
necessary supposition.  The  only  locality  that  seems  to 
combine  tlie  scriptural  requirements  is  the  eminence 
just  north-west  of  Mukhmus,  which  separates  Wady 
Suweinil  from  its  branch  running  up  directly  north  to 
Deir  1  )i\van  ;  and  sonut  ancient  town  appears  to  be  indi- 
cated liy  tlie  sepulelires  in  the  latter  valley. 

Mihill,  Nduius,  a  minister  of  the  IMethodist  F.pis- 
copal  Chureh,  was  born  in  ShelHeld.  C.W.,  aliout  1^<23. 
He  was  converted  at  eighteen,  while  resilient  at  Wil- 
mington, N.  Y.;  but  continued  in  his  trade  until  18()1, 
when  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  West  Peru  Circuit, 
which  he  served  with  marked  ability  for  two  years.  At 
the  end  of  this  time  he  joined  the  Troy  Conl'erence  on 
trial,  and  was  sent  to  Beekmantown,  where  he  was  serv- 
ing for  the  third  year  with  great  etlicienc}'  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  ( )ct.  3, 18t)H.  MiliiU  was  earnestly  devoted 
to  the  interests  of  his  Master,  and  was  beloved  by  his 


associates  and  parishioners.  See  Minutes  of  Conferences, 
18G9,  p.  117. 

Mih-Teih,  or  Me-Teih,  an  eminent  Chinese  phi- 
losopher, wlio  fioiirished  about  KMi  B.C,  says  I)r,  Leggc, 
"was  an  original  tliiiiker,  and  exercised  a  boider  judg- 
ment on  things  than  Confucius  or  anj-  of  his  followers. 
He  taught  that  all  the  evils  in  society  arise  from  the 
want  of  mutual  universal  love.  F'or  example,  a  prince 
loves  only  his  own  state,  and  does  not  love  the  neigh- 
boring state.  Therefore  he  makes  war  against  it." 
"If  princes,"  he  asked,  "regarded  other  states  as  their 
own,  who  would  begin  a  war?  If  every  one  regarded 
his  neighbor's  person  as  his  own,  who  would  be  found 
to  rob  ?  If  universal  love  prevailed,  all  enmities,  usurpa- 
tions, and  miseries  would  disapjjear.  Princes,  loving 
one  another,  would  liave  no  battle-fields ;  the  chiefs  of 
families,  loving  one  another,  would  attempt  no  usurpai- 
tion ;  men,  loving  one  another,  would  commit  no  robber 
ies."  See  Dr.  Legge,  Chinese  Classics,  vol.  ii,  ch.  iii ;  Thom- 
as, Diet.  ofBiog.  and  Mgthol.  s.  v. 

Mij'amin  (a,  1  Chron.  xxiv,  9 ;  b,  Xeh.  x,  7).  See 
Mi  AM  IX. 

Mikkelsen,  Hans,  a  noted  Danish  Biblical  stu- 
dent, autlior  (if  the  first  Danish  version  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, was  originally  mayor  of  Malmoe,  in  Scaiaa,  and 
subsequently  secretary  to  Christian  II  of  Denmark. 
When  the  king  was,  in  1523,  obliged  to  flee  from  his 
dominions  and  take  refuge  in  Holland,  Mikkelsen  ac- 
companied him,  and  it  was  while  there  that,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  his  sovereign,  he  set  himself  to  the  work  of 
translating  the  New  Testament.  Driven  by  the  bigoted 
jealousy  of  the  papal  party  in  the  Netherlands  from  his 
place  beside  the  king,  he  retired  to  Ilarderwick,  in  (iuel- 
derland,  where  he  died  about  the  year  1532,  His  trans- 
lation, which  was  published  in  1524  (small  4to),  professes 
to  be  made  from  the  Latin,  but  this  applies  oidy  to  the 
four  Gospels,  in  translating  which  he  seems  to  have  fol- 
lowed the  version  of  Erasmus;  f()r  the  other  books  he 
has  closely  followed  the  German  version  of  Luther.  See 
Henderson,  Dissertation  on  Ilans  Mikkelseii's  Transla- 
lii'ii  i(  npenhagen,  1813);  W.  L.  Alexander,  in  Kitto, 
Ci/iinp.Jiibl.Lit.  s.v. 

[  Mik'loth  (Heb.  JMfo^/i',nil:p-2,prob.i.q.r'':b;3-a, 
I  staves,  as  in  Gen.  xxx,  37,  etc. ;  Sept.  M«KrtXa;5,  M««- 
i  Xw3,  and  MaK-£\X(t)3),  the  name  of  two  men. 
!  1.  The  principal  officer  of  the  second  contingent  of 
troops  under  Dodo,  during  the  reign  of  David  anil  Solo- 
mon (1  Chron.  xxvii,  4).     B.C.  1014. 

2.  A  descendant  of  Benjamin  resident  at  Jenisalem, 
and  father  of  Shimcah  or  Shimean,  of  the  family  of 
king  Saul,  but  in  what  degree  of  relationship  is  not 
clear  (1  Chron.  viii,  32 ;  ix,  37,  38).  B.C.  perhaps  cir. 
53G. 

Miknei'ah  (Heb.  Mihieya'hu,  W^jp^,  possession 
I  of  Jehorah ;  Sept.  Mowi'i'n  or  I\Ia/cf  j'lac),  a  Levitical 
door-keeper  tif  the  Temple  and  harper  in  the  time  of 
David  (1  Chron.  xv,  18,  21).     B.C.  1014. 

Mikron.     See  Micronivs. 

Mikvaoth.     See  Talmud. 

Mil'alai  (Heb.  Milalatf,  "Vi^,  eloquent;  Sept. 
omits;  Vulg.  J/(//«/«i),  one  of  the  Levitical  musicians 
who  made  the  circuit  of  the  newly-completed  walls  of 
Jerusalem  after  tlie  exile  (Neli.  xii,3G).     B.C.  44G. 

Milan,  one  of  the  large  cities  of  Italy,  capital  of 
Lombardy,  situated  on  the  KiverOlona,  contains  a  pop- 
ulation of  242,457.  It  is  a  very  ancient  city,  and  is 
noted  in  ecclesiastical  historj'  as  the  seat  of  several  im- 
portant Church  councils.  Milan  (Lat.  Mediolamtni)  was 
originally  a  town  or  village  of  the  Insubrian  (Jauls.  It 
was  conquered  by  the  Konians  222  B.C.,  received  the 
Latin  franchise  about  89  B.C.,  and  the  full  Koman  fran- 
chise 49  B.C,  L'nder  the  Komans  it  became  a  conspic- 
uous centre  of  wealth  and  civic  inlluence ;  its  inhaliitants 
were  noted  for  their  reliued  manners  and  literary  tastes, 


MILAN 


251 


MILAN 


and  the  public  buildings  for  their  beauty  and  elegance. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  4th  century  it  was  selected  as 
the  residence  of  the  imperial  court  by  Maximian.  Mi- 
lan was  sacked  by  the  Huns  (under  Attila)  in  452 ;  by 
the  Goths  (under  the  brother  of  Vitiges)  in  539 ;  and 
passed  to  the  Longobards  and  Franks  previous  to  its 
subjection  by  the  German  Empire.  After  961,  it  was 
long  governed  by  dukes  in  the  name  of  the  emperors. 
The  feuds  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  distracted 
Milan,  like  all  the  other  Italian  cities.  Supreme  power 
became  eventually  vested  in  the  Ghibelline  Visconti,  by 
whom  the  ascendency  of  Milan  was  extended  over  the 
whole  of  Lombardy.  From  1545  to  1714,  Milan  sub- 
mitted to  the  successive  predominance  of  France  and 
Austria.  Under  Bonaparte,  it  was  declared  the  capital 
of  the  Cisalpine  republic,  of  the  Italian  republic,  and, 
finally,  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  In  1815,  Milan  was 
restored  to  Austria,  and  continued  the  capital  of  the 
Austro-Italian  kingdom  until  the  annexation  of  Lom- 
bardv  to  Piedmont,  in  1859,  bv  the  peace  of  Villafranca. 
MILAN,  ARCHBISHOPRIC  OF.  We  have  no  trust- 
worthy information  as  to  its  early  history.  There  is  a 
vague  tradition  that  Barnabas  (q.  v.),  the  colaborer  of  the 
apostle  Paul,  established  the  Christian  Church  at  Milan, 
and  was  the  first  bishop.  This  account  lacks  support, 
and  scarcely  deserves  notice.  But  though  of  no  histor- 
ical value,  the  legend  is  significant  in  regard  to  the  posi- 
tion which  the  archbishopric  of  Milan  held  in  the  con- 
troversies between  the  Oriental  and  Occidental  church- 
es. It  has  been  aptly  remarked  by  Reuchlin  that,  "just 
as  Barnabas  was  the  connecting  link  between  Paul  and 
the  other  apostles,  so  the  Church  of  jNIilan  attempted  to 
reconcile  the  Greek  and  Roman  opinions."  The  first 
bishop  of  Milan,  of  whom  we  have  any  historical  knowl- 
edge, is  Auxentius  (q.  v.),  A.D.  355-374.  He  was  the 
leader  of  the  Arians  in  the  Western  churches.  When 
the  orthodox  bishops,  at  a  provincial  synod  held  at 
Rome  in  369,  condemned  Arianism,  they  did  not  dare 
to  pronounce  the  anathema  against  Auxentius,  because 
they  knew  him  to  be  protected  by  the  emperor  Valen- 
tinian  I,  Although  they  were  at  last  prevailed  upon 
by  Athauasius  to  pronounce  against  Auxentius  in  their 
synodal  epistle  to  the  lUyrians,  Auxentius  maintained 
himself  in  his  see  until  his  death.  But  the  divisions 
thus  created  in  the  Church  by  the  Arian  heresy  (q.  v.) 
rendered  the  election  of  a  successor  to  Auxentius  no 
easy  matter.  The  contest  was  carried  on  between  Cath- 
olics and  Arians  with  such  violence  that  Ambrose,  who 
was  the  consular  prefect  of  Liguria  and  ^Emilia,  was 
obliged  to  proceed  himself  to  the  church  to  exhort  the 
people  to  order.  At  the  close  of  his  speech  the  whole 
assembly.  Catholics  and  Arians,  with  one  voice  demand- 
ed him  for  their  bishop,  and  he  was  constrained  to  ac- 
cept the  proffered  honor.  Ambrose  devoted  himself  to 
his  work  with  great  zeal,  and  soon  acquired  great  influ- 
ence both  with  the  people  and  the  emperor  Valentinian. 
He  opposed  the  Arians  from  the  very  beginning  of  his 
episcopacy,  and  in  382  presided  at  an  episcopal  synod  at 
Aquileia,  at  which  the  Arian  bishops  Palladius  and  Se- 
cundianus  were  deposed.  Ambrose  died  at  IMilan,  April 
4,  397.  All  succeeding  archbishops  and  bishops  were 
in  like  manner  elected  by  the  people,  the  Church  of 
Milan  not  being  subject  to  the  Roman  bishop  until  the 
days  of  Gregory  the  Great  (q.  v.).  After  the  overthrow 
of  the  Gothic  kingdom,  the  archbishops  of  iNIilan,  owing 
to  the  religious  differences  and  the  feeling  of  enmity 
which  existed  between  the  people  and  their  conquerors, 
the  Lombards  (q.  v.),  resided  at  Geneva.  But  when,  in 
653,  Aribert,  the  son  of  duke  Garduald,  was  chosen  king 
of  the  Lombards,  matters  changed.  "  Rex  Heribertus," 
says  Dollinger,  "  pins  et  catholicus,  Arianorum  abolevit 
hajresem  et  Christianam  fidem  fecit  crescere."  The 
Lombards  now  became  enthusiastic  churchmen,  and  the 
archbishop  returned  to  Milan.  But  although  the  arch- 
bishop of  Milan  was  henceforth  considered  the  first 
bishop  of  the  kingdom,  crowning  the  kings  with  the  so- 
called  iron  a-own,  and  obtaining  increasing  power,  he 


nevertheless  remained  subject  to  the  king,  and  the  in- 
ferior clergy  to  the  subordinate  judges  —  in  short,  the 
Church  was  subject  to  the  State.  After  the  downfall 
of  the  Longobard  kingdom,  the  archbishops  of  Milan  at 
first  lost  much  of  their  power ;  but  during  the  fights  and 
quarrels  of  the  9th,  10th,  and  11th  centuries,  they  not 
only  regained  their  former  influence,  but  became  even 
more  independent  than  ever  before.  Owing  to  the  then 
prevailing  German  policy,  large  feudal  estates  were  be- 
stowed ui)on  the  bishops  of  Milan,  and,  during  the  reign 
of  the  Ottos  (q.v.),  the  archbishops  of  Milan  were  con- 
sidered the  most  influential  allies  of  the  German  empe- 
rors. 

Eriberto  di  Argago,  who  filled  the  archiepiscopal  chair 
of  Milan  from  1019  to  1045,  was  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful princes,  and  though  unsuccessfid  in  the  revolt  which 
he  organized  in  1034  against  emperor  Conrad  the  Salic, 
his  influence  was  scarcely  diminished  after  his  return 
from  the  expulsion  to  which  his  rebellion  had  subjected 
him.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  Milan  was  passing 
through  one  of  its  accustomed  civil  dissensions,  and  the 
election  of  Eriberto's  successor  caused  great  excitement. 
Erlembaldo,  the  popular  chief  (dominus  populi),  called 
the  citizens  together  to  nominate  candidates,  and  in- 
duced them  to  select  four.  These  four  were  sent  to  the 
emperor  Henry  III  (q.  v.),  for  him  to  make  the  appoint- 
ment ;  but  the  faction  of  the  nobles  despatched  a  rival 
in  the  person  of  Guido  di  Valate,  who  had  recommended 
himself  to  the  emperor  by  his  zealous  services,  and  who 
was  given  the  coveted  dignity,  to  the  great  disgust  of 
the  popular  nominees.  Their  expostulations  were  un- 
availing with  the  emperor,  and  both  parties  returned — 
Guido  to  assume  an  office  harassed  by  the  opposition  of 
the  people  on  whom  he  had  been  forced,  and  the  disap- 
pointed candidates  to  brood  over  the  wrongs  they  had 
experienced.  We  shall  presently  see  how  thoroughly 
these  men  avenged  themselves  on  Guido,  with  whom 
the  independence  of  the  Milanese  archbishopric  came  to 
an  end. 

It  is  historically  evident,  then,  that  Milan  was  at  one 
time  completely  independent  of  the  papacy.  Rome  was 
not  even  thought  of  in  creating  the  archbishop,  whose 
spiritual  and  temporal  power  were  granted  by  the  im- 
perial investiture.  But  when,  soon  after,  the  German 
popes  had  rescued  the  pontificate  from  the  contempt  into 
which  it  had  fallen,  its  domination  over  Milan  became  a 
necessary  step  in  its  progress  to  universal  supremacy. 

Marriage,  at  that  time,  was  a  universal  privilege  of 
the  Milanese  clergy.  Pope  Leo  IX  (q.  v.)  and  his  suc- 
cessors attacked  the  Milanese  on  this  account,  and,  in  a 
council  held  at  Rheims  by  Leo  IX  in  1049,  many  laws 
were  enacted  against  clerical  matrimony.  Archbishop 
Guido  defended  the  position  of  the  Milanese  clergy,  not 
only  by  Scripture  texts,  but  also  by  a  decision  which  he 
aflirmed  was  rendered  by  St.  Ambrose,  to  whom  the 
question  of  the  permissibility  of  sacerdotal  marriage  had 
been  referred  by  the  pope  and  bishops.  The  popes  by 
their  emissaries  excited  great  tumults  in  Milan,  in- 
flaming the  popular  passion  against,  what  they  called, 
the  irregularities  of  the  clergy.  Guido  in  vain  endeav- 
ored to  repress  the  agitation  thus  produced,  and  argued 
in  favor  of  the  married  clergy.  Armed  resistance  was 
offered  to  the  papal  faction,  the  result  of  which  was  in- 
cessant fights  and  increasing  bloodshed.  Nicholas  II 
(q.  v.),  who  then  occupied  the  papal  chair,  sent  Hilde- 
brand  and  Anselm  on  a  mission  to  Milan,  with  instruc- 
tions to  allay  the  passions  which  led  to  such  deplorable 
civil  strifes.  The  milder  Anselm  might  perhaps  have 
succeeded  in  this  errand  of  reconciliation,  but  the  un- 
bending Hildebrand  refused  to  listen  to  aught  but  uncon- 
ditional subjection  to  Rome.  The  quarrel,  therefore, 
waxed  fiercer  and  deadlier  (see  Arnulf,  Gest.  A  rchiep. 
Mediolan.  lib.  iii,  c.  9;  Landulf,  Sen.  lib.  iii,  c.  9). 

In  1059  another  papal  legation  was  sent,  with  full  au- 
thority to  force  the  recalcitrant  archbishop  and  clergy 
to  submission.  An  assembly  was  held,  where  the  leg- 
ates asserted  the  papal  pre-eminence  by  taking  the 


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252 


MILAN 


place  of  honor,  to  the  general  indignation  of  the  Milan- 
ese, who  (lid  not  relish  the  degradation  of  their  arch- 
hishop  l)ef(irc  the  representatives  of  a  foreign  prelate. 
Tlie  autluirity  of  Home,  which  at  first  was  stoutly  de- 
nied l)v  tlie  arclihisliop,  was  finally  acknowledged,  the 
archljishop  and  the  clergy  signing  a  paper  in  which 
they  ex|)ressed  their  contrition  in  the  most  humiliating 
terms  {.see  Damiani,  Ojntac.  xlii,  c.  i). 

The  ]iride  of  the  Milanese,  however,  was  deeply 
wounded  by  such  a  subjection  to  Rome,  unknown  for 
many  generations,  and  ill  endured  by  men  wlio  gloried 
in  the  ancient  dignity  ofilieAinlirosian  Church.  Wlicn, 
therefore,  in  KKil,  after  M(hol;i>'s  death,  their  towns- 
man, An.sclm,  was  elevated  from  tlie  episcopate  of  Lucca 
to  that  of  the  holy  see,  mider  the  name  of  Alexander  II, 
the  Milanese  Church  attempted  to  regain  its  former  in- 
dependence. A  council  of  German  and  Lombard  bish- 
ops convened  at  Basle,  and  unanimously  elected  as  pon- 
tiff" Cadalus,  bishop  of  Parma,  under  the  title  of  Ilono- 
rius  II.  Ey  the  assistance  of  the  ficrman  emperors,  the 
I^imbard  bishops,  with  Guido,  the  archbishop  of  Milan, 
at  their  head,  assembled  a  considerable  army  in  10G2, 
with  which  they  conducted  their  new  pope  to  Rome, 
while  the  ])opular  party  in  ]Milan  and  Northern  Italy 
assumed  a  formidable  aspect  in  its  alliance  to  the  Lom- 
bard bishops.  At  this  juncture  Alexander  II  was  res- 
cued from  probable  defeat  by  the  occurreiice  of  a  most 
unexpected  event — the  (Jerman  bishops,  under  the  in- 
fluence t>f  lianno,  archbishop  of  Cologne,  sided  with  Al- 
exander, and  in  1004  the  Synod  of  Mantua  pronounced 
the  deposition  of  Ilonorius.  The  archl)ishop  of  Milan, 
being  iniable  to  supjiort  the  pretensions  of  the  rival  pope 
wiiliout  (ierman  aid,  of  which  there  was  no  prospect, 
yielded,  and  was  excommunicated  by  the  pope  in  lOGO. 
tiuido,  however,  disregarding  this  excomminiication,  re- 
solved to  ofhciate  in  the  solemn  services  of  Pentecost 
(.June  l,  10G6),  and,  braving  all  opposition,  appeared  at 
the  altar.  Excited  to  fury  at  this  unexpected  contu- 
macy, the  papal  party  attacked  him  in  the  church;  his 
followers  rallied  in  his  defence,  but,  after  a  stubborn 
tight,  were  forced  to  leave  him  in  the  hands  of  his  ene- 
mies, by  whom  he  was  nearly  beaten  to  death.  8on,e 
few  months  later  archbishop  (Juido  succeeded  in  reor- 
ganizing his  party,  and  the  war  was  for  .several  years 
carried  <iii  with  varying  fortune.  At  last,  in  10G9,  Hil- 
delirand  proposed  that  both  the  IMilanese  clergy  and 
laity  should  take  an  oath  that  in  future  their  archbish- 
o])s  should  ajiply  to  the  pope,  and  not  to  the  emperor, 
for  confirmation.  Guido  sought  to  anticipate  this  move- 
ment, and,  old  and  wearied  with  the  endless  strife  and 
contention,  resigned  his  archbishopric  to  the  subdeacon 
( iotefrido,  who  had  long  been  liis  ])rincipal  adviser.  The 
latter  procured  his  conlirmafion  from  Henry  IV  (q.  v.), 
but  the  Milanese,  defrauded  of  their  elector.il  privileges, 
refused  to  acknowledge  liim.  The  papal  party,  taking 
advantage  of  this  popidar  feeling,  excited  a  tumidt.  and 
(iotefriilo  was  glad  to  escape  at  night  from  the  rebellious 
city. 

:\Ieanwhile  Azzo,  the  papal  aspirant,  fared  no  better 
than  his  rival.  The  jieoplc  rushed  in  to  his  inaugural  { 
ban(iuet,  unearthed  him  from  the  corner  where  he  had  I 
liidden  himself,  dragged  him  by  the  heels  in  the  .street, 
and,  jilacing  him  in  a  ludpit,  forced  him  to  swear  that  ' 
lie  woidd  make  no  further  jiretensions  to  the  see,  and  , 
Azzo  (piitted  the  city,  content  to  have  saved  his  life.      | 

The  city  remained  thus  without  an  archbishop,  and  | 
in  l<t74  Ilildebrand,  who  in  April,  Ki";},  had  succeeded 
to  Alexander,  laimched  an  interdict  against  Milan.  The 
IMIlanese  were  disjiosed  to  disregard  the  interdict,  and 
applied  to  Henry  lY,  recpiesting  the  aiipoiutnunt  of  an- 
other archbishop.  To  this  the  emiieror  responded  by 
noininating  Tedaldo,  who  was  duly  consecrated,  Te- 
daltlo  was  the  le.ider  of  the  disaflected  bishops,  who  at 
the  Synodof  Pavia.in  lOTti, excommunicated  jiojie  ( Greg- 
ory himself;  and  though,  after  the  interview  at  Canossa  ' 
in  1(177,  the  Milanese,  disgusted  with  Henry's  voluntary 
humiliation  before  that  papal  power  which  they  had  I 


learned  to  despise,  abandoned  the  imperial  party  for  a 
time,  yet  Tedaldo  kept  his  .seat  until  his  death  in  1085, 
notwithstanding  the  repeated  excommunications  launch- 
ed against  liim  by  (Jregorj-  (see  Anndf,  lib.  iv;  v,  c.  2, 
5, 9 ;  Landull',  Sen.  lib.  iii,  c.  29 ;  iv,  2 ;  Muratori,  A  nmdes, 
aim.  10M.J).  With  his  death  the  independence  of  the 
Milan  archbishopric  ceased. 

At  present  the  clergy  of  Milan  seem  to  be  inclined  to 
follow  the  lead  of  the  Old  Catholic  party.  Their  pro- 
gramme, which  contains  the  following  reforms :  election 
of  the  priests  by  the  parish,  the  use  of  the  vernacular  at 
all  Church-services,  reform  of  Mariolatry  and  adoration 
of  saints,  marriage  of  the  priests,  etc..  shows  a  healthy 
reaction  against  papal  abuses.  E.  Serra  Gropelli  may 
be  i)ointed  out  as  the  leader  of  the  Milanese  reform 
party. 

See  \\^M(!,Condliengeschichte,\\',1^1s(\.;  Riddle, //is^ 
of  the  I'(ipaci),  ii,  119  sq.;  Dupin,  Eccles.  Hist,  ix,  chap, 
viii ;  Mosheim,  Church  Hist,  iii,  xi,  pt.  ii ;  I^ea,  Hist,  of 
Sacerdotal  Celibacy,  chap,  xiii ;  Schrijckh,  Kirchenfjesch. 
xxii,  523  sq. ;  Bcihringer,  Kirche  Cbristi,  i,  90 ;  iii.  {<■>  s(|. ; 
Milraan,  Hist,  of  Lat.  Christianity,  iii,  240  sq. ;  Reicliel, 
Roman  >See  in  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  189, 191  sq. ;  ^^'etze^ 
und  Welte,  Kirchen-Lexikon,  v,  318  sq. ;  Herzog,  Real- 
Encykhp.  XX,  72  sq.      (J.  H.  W.) 

MILAN,  COUNCIL  OF.  There  is  no  histnriral 
proof  extant  to  warrant  the  assertion  that  any  (  Imirh 
councils  or  synods  were  held  at  Milan  before  o.").")  A.D. 
We  have  no  reliable  information  concerning  the  synod 
which  is  said  to  have  been  held  at  Milan  in  344  (see 
Hardouin,  Acta  Cnnciliorum  et  Epistola;  decretales  ac 
(\mstittitin,„.<.  cic.  I  Paris.  1715],  i,G27  sq.),and  very  little 
is  known  ol  ihc  vyii..il  ii|'34G  (or  347).  In  that  year  a 
councilor \\(  stern  lii>tiopswas  summoned  at  ISIilan.when 
the  so-calk(l  Long  Creed  (/.laKpoonxoc,  to  be  found  in 
Socrates,  Hist.  Eccl.  ii,  18),  which  had  been  drawn  up 
by  the  Arian  Council  of  Antioch  (A.D.  345),  was  reject- 
ed. The  council  also  required  the  deputies  who  brought 
it  to  sign  a  condemnation  of  Arianism.  Of  course  they 
left  the  council  in  wrath  (see  J.  Dominic,  J/«n«j  Sacro- 
ritm  conciliorum  nova  et  amplissiina  collectio,  etc.  [Flor- 
cnt.  1759],  ii,  1370).  After  the  death  of  Constance  (A.D. 
350),  and  the  victory  over  Magnentius  (A.D.  353),  Con- 
stantius  eiideavored  to  establish  Arianism  by  force  in 
the  West.  In  the  synods  of  Aries  (A.D.  3.i4)  and  of 
Milan  (A.D.  358),  he  compelled  the  a.ssembled  bi.-hops 
to  sign  the  condemnation  of  Athanasius,  though  most  of 
them  were,  it  is  thought,  orthodox.  Constantius  was 
now  sole  master  of  the  Roman  world,  and  by  bribes,  by 
threats,  and  by  force,  the  condemnation  of  Athanasius 
was  extorted  from  the  assembled  bishops.  Even  Libe- 
rius  (ip  v.),  the  successor  of  Julius  I,  rejected  Athanasius, 
irom  fear  of  Constantius,  but  soon  afterwards  threw  off 
his  timidity,  an<l  refused  to  subscribe  to  his  condem- 
nation (see  Mansi.  iii,  233  sq.;  Hefele,  i,  G31). 

The  next  council  was  held  A.D.  390,  St.  Ambrose  pre- 
.siding.  It  is  commonly  supposed  that  in  this  council  the 
.sentence  of  the  (iallic  bishops  against  Ithacius  Ursacius 
(who  had  cau.sed  the  death  of  the  Priscillianists  by  their 
fiery  zeal  against  their  errors)  was  confirmed  by  the 
bishops  of  Italy.  Baronius  (as  well  as  the  collection  of 
councils)  states  that  this  same  council  condemned  Jo- 
vinian,  the  author  of  a  new  here.sy,  which  decried  the 
merit  of  virginity.  St.  Jerome  reduces  his  doctrine  to 
the  four  following  heads:  1.  Tliat  virgins,  widows,  and 
married  women,  being  baptized,  have  the  same  degree 
of  merit,  if  there  be  no  difference  between  them  in  other 
respects.  2.  That  they  who  have  been  regencrateil  in 
baptism  cainiot  lie  overcome  by  the  devil.  3.  Tliat  tliere 
is  no  dift'ctence  in  point  of  merit,  between  tliose  who 
abstain  from  meat  and  those  who  partake  of  it  with 
thanksgiving.  4.  That  all  those  wlio  have  kept  their 
baptismal  state  shall  liave  the  same  glory  in  heaven. 
From  these  principles  other  errors  were  deduced,  viz. 
that  there  is  no  dilTerence  of  degree  in  sin;  that  fasting 
is  not  requisite;  that  there  will  be  no  distinction  of  mer- 
its in  heaven.     The  fathers  of  the  council  condemned 


MILANESE  LITURGY 


253 


MILE 


the  opinions  of  Jovinian  and  his  followers,  and  they 
were  driven  out  of  the  city.  See  Mansi,  I.  c.  690 ;  Gie- 
seler,  i,  333 ;  Hefele,  ii,  48." 

Another  council  was  held  at  Milan  in  451,  convoked 
by  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Milan,  at  the  request  of  St.  Leo 
the  Great.  All  the  suffragans  of  Milan  were  present,  in 
all  twenty  bishops,  among  whom  were  Crispinus  of  Pa- 
via,  IMaximus  of  Turin,  Abundius  of  Como,  Optatianus 
of  I3rcscia.  The  letter  of  the  pope  to  Eusebius  was 
read ;  the  legates  then  made  a  report  of  what  was  pass- 
ing in  the  East,  and  especially  of  the  miseries  existing 
from  the  acts  of  the  Latrocinium  at  Ephesus ;  after- 
wards the  celebrated  letter  of  St.  Leo  to  Flavianus  was 
read,  and  the  council  unanimously  declared  that  it  con- 
tained the  true  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church  upon 
the  subject  of  tlie  Incarnation  (q.  v.),  and  that  it  was 
built  upon  the  teachings  of  the  prophets,  evangelists, 
and  apostles.  At  the  same  time  they  decreed  that  all 
who  should  oppose  this  doctrine  should  be  anathema- 
tized. Finally,  a  synodal  letter  was  addressed  to  the 
pope  filled  with  expressions  of  esteem  and  respect  (Man- 
si,  ii,  78  sq.;  Hefele,  Concilienyeschichte,  ii,  374  sq.).  In 
A.D.  679  pope  Agatho  summoned  a  council  at  Milan  to 
condemn  anew  the  heresy  of  Monothelism  (q.  v.)  (Man- 
si,  xi,  174;  Hefele,  iii,  228).  The  provincial  synods 
of  A.U.  842,  8(50,  880,  and  1009  have  no  bearing"  upon 
the  general  history  of  the  Church,  but  those  interested 
in  these  are  referred  to  Mansi,  xiv,  790 ;  xv,  590 ;  xvii, 
535,  and  xix,  310  ;  Hefele,  iv,  99,  217,  770.  Septem- 
ber 12, 1287,  a  synod  was  held  by  Otto,  the  archbishop, 
assisted  by  eight  of  his  suffragans,  and  the  deputies  of 
all  the  chapters  of  the  prnvince.  Ten  canons  were  pub- 
lished, in  which  tiK'v  nrdered  the  observation  of  the  pa- 
pal constitutions,  and  the  laws  of  the  emperor  Frederick 
II  against  heretics.  Abbots  and  abbesses,  monks  and 
nuns,  were  ordered  to  observe  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  or 
that  of  St.  Augustine,  and  monks  were  forbidden  to  enter 
nunneries.  The  power  of  building  churches  and  orato- 
ries was  declared  to  be  solely  in  the  hands  of  the  bishop 
(Mansi,  xxiv,  868  sq. ;  Hefele,  vi,  225 ;  Muratori,  Rev. 
Ital.  vol.  iv).  From  1565  to  1582  six  provincial  councils 
were  held  at  Milan.  For  information  concerning  their 
enactments,  see  Concil.  xv,  242.  :!:i7.  :!('.:>  si].,  408,  556, 
706;  Jo.  Harduini  Acta,  x,  633,  1 1  lo;  (  hii-t.Wilhelm- 
Franz  Walch,  J'Jntwurf  einer  viilhtandiyi  ii  llistorie  der 
Kirchenrersammlungen  (Leipsic,  1759).     (J.  II.W.) 

Milanese  Liturgy.  The  Liturgy  of  Milan,  com- 
monly attributed  to  Ambrose,  is  substantially  the  same 
as  that  of  Rome  until  the  time  of  Gregory  the  Great, 
and  appears  to  have  been  derived  from  the  same  origin. 
"  In  the  time  of  Gregory,  the  Church  of  Milan  did  not 
adopt  the  chief  alteration  made  by  him.  F^rom  that 
time,  if  not  previously,  the  Liturgy  of  Milan  began  to 
be  considered  a  peculiar  rite ;  and  as  the  Romans  gave 
their  sacramciitaries  the  names  of  Gelasius  and  Gregory, 
so  the  Milanese  gave  theirs  tlie  name  of  Ambrose;  who, 
in  fact,  may  have  composed  some  parts  of  it.  After  the 
time  of  Gregory,  the  Milan  Liturgy  doubtless  received 
several  additions.  The  earliest  ecclesiastical  writer  who 
has  been  cited  as  speaking  of  the  Ambrosian  rite  is  Wa- 
lofred  Strabo,  who  died  A.D.  849"  (Riddle,  Christian 
Antiquities,  p.  417),     See  Liturgy. 

Milani,  Aureliano,  nephew  of  the  following,  was 
born  at  Bologna,  Italy,  in  1675.  He  painted  in  the  style 
of  Caracci,  and,  next  to  Carlo  Cignani,  no  one  did  more 
to  maintain  the  dignity  and  credit  of  the  Bolognese 
school.  Lanzi  says  he  was  not  so  excellent  in  his  col- 
oring. His  principal  works  in  Bologna  are  the  Resur- 
rection, in  the  church  of  La  Purita ;  the  Stoning  of  St. 
Stephen^,^  in  St,  INIascarella ;  and  St.  Jerome,  in  Sta,  Maria 
della  Vita.  He  afterwards  went  to  Rome,  where  his 
finest  work  is  the  Beheading  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  in 
the  church  of  the  Bergamaschi.  He  died  in  1749.  See 
Lanzi,  History  of  Painting,  traiisl.  by  Roscoe  (London, 
1847,3vols.  8vo),  iii,]52. 

Milani,  Giulio  Cesare,  a  Bolognese  painter, 


who  was  born  in  1621,  executed  many  works  for  the 
churches  in  Bologna  and  the  adjacent  cities.  His  finest 
productions  are  the  MaiTiage  of  the  Virgin,  in  the 
church  of  St.  Giuseppe ;  St.  A  ntonio  di  Padova,  in  St. 
Maria  del  Costello ;  and  a  Holy  Family,  at  the  Lervi. 
According  to  Lanzi,  "  he  was  the  most  eminent  of  Tor- 
re's disciples,  and  was  rather  admired  in  the  churches 
of  Bologna,  and  extolled  in  many  adjacent  states,"  He 
died  in  1678.  See  Lanzi,  History  of  Painting,  transl.  by 
Roscoe  (Lond.  1847,  3  vols.  8vo),  iii,  107  ;  Spooner,  Biog. 
History  of  the  Fine  Arts  (N.  Y.  1865,  2  vols.  8vo). 

Miltipurne,  Luke,  an  English  divine,  was  born  at 
Wroxhall,  Warwickshire.  He  was  educated  at  Pem- 
broke Hall,  Cambridge,  after  which  he  became  rector 
of  St.  Ethelburga,  London,  and  lecturer  of  Shorcditch 
in  1704.  He  died  April  13, 1720.  He  published  thirty- 
one  single  sermons  between  1692  and  1720 ;  several  the- 
ological treatises,  poems,  etc. ;  and  the  following  work, 
by  whicli  he  is  best  known :  Notes  on  Dryden's  Virgil 
(Lond.  1698).  Among  Milbourne's  theological  works, 
we  regard  as  the  most  important  his  Legacy  to  the 
Church  of  England  (new  ed.  1726,  2  vols.  8vo),  in  which 
he  vindicates  her  orders  from  the  objections  of  Papists" 
and  Dissenters.  This  worii,  it  is  stated,  was  undertaken 
by  the  special  command  of  archbishop  Sancmfr  and  Dr. 
Lloyd,  bishop  of  Norwich.  See  Cooper,  /)■/.//'"/"''•  /•'"''. 
p.  8"06;  Ellis,  Hist,  of  Shoreditch  ;  Malonc's  !)ri/.hii.  i, 
214;  iv,  033,  645;  Johnson,  Lives  of  the  Poets,  ed,  Cun- 
ningham, i,  371  sq. ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Authois,  ii,  1277. 

Mil'cah  (llnh.Milkah',  T^'zh-q,  advice ;  Sept,  MsX- 
Xa),  the  name  of  two  women. 

1.  The  daughter  of  Haran,  and  sister  of  Lot  and  Is- 
cah  (or  Sarah) ;  she  married  Nahor  (Gen.  xii,  29),  by 
whom  she  had  eight  sons  (Gen.  xx,  20, 23),  one  of  whom 
was  Bethuel,  the  father  of  Rebekah  (Gen.  xxiv,  15,  24, 
47).  She  was  thus  Abraham's  sister-in-law,  and  the 
grandmother  of  Isaac's  wife.     B.C,  cir,  2047. 

2.  The  fourth  named  of  the  five  daughters  of  Zelophe- 
had,  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh  (Numb,  xxvi,  33),  who 
became  heiresses  for  the  want  of  brothers  (Numb,  xxvii, 
1),  and,  having  married  members  of  the  same  tribe 
(Numb,  xxxvi,  11),  were  assigned  portions  in  Giiead 
(Josh,  xvii,  3).    B.C,  1619-1612. 

Mircom  (Heb.  Milkoni',  U'sh'O,  their  king,  1  Kings 
xi,  5;  Sept.  MfAj^wju  and  M£\;(;('iju,  Yulg.  Moloch;  2 
Kings  xxiii,  13,  MoXd^,  Melchom ;  also  Malciiam,  Heb. 
Malkam',  DSb^,  id.,  Jer.  xlix,  1,3,  Sept.  MtXxoX.Vulg. 
Melchom,  "  their  king ;"  but  this  last  is  the  proper  ren- 
dering in  Amos  i,  15 ;  Zeph.  i,  5,  in  which  latter  passage 
the  Auth.Yers.  has  "Malcham"),  the  principal  deity  of 
the  Ammonites  (Jer.  xlix,  1,  3),  for  whose  worship  Solo- 
mon erected  altars  on  the  ISIount  of  Olives,  hence  called 
the  Hill  of  Offence  (2  Kings  xxiii,  13),  Milcom  is  usu- 
ally regarded  as  the  same  .is  J/oA  <■// 1  ir  Moloch,  although 
the  latter  was  worshipped  in  a  different  place  and  man- 
ner, namely,  by  the  offering  of  children  in  the  flames 
of  the  valley  of  Hinnom  (see  Keil,  Comment,  ad  loc. 
Kings ;  Movers,  Phon.  p.  324  sq. ;  Ewald,  Is?:  Gesch.  iii, 
100).    See  Moloch. 

Mildevs"  ("ip"'.'',  yerakon',  greenness,  i.  e.  pallor,  as 
the  "paleness"  by  affright,  Jer.  xxx,  6)  is  properly  a 
species  of  fungus  or  parasitic  plant  generated  by  moist- 
ure, and  corrosive  of  the  surface  to  which  it  adheres. 
In  Scripture  it  is  applied  to  grain,  and  refers  to  the  jjale 
green  or  yellowish  color  indicative  of  fading  or  wither- 
ing of  plants  (Deut.  xxviii,  22;  1  Kings  viii,  37;  2 
Chron.  vi,  28 ;  Amos  iv,  9 ;  Hag.  ii,  17 ;  in  all  which  pas- 
sages it  is  connected  with  "  blasting").  The  Arabic  ap- 
plies the  word  yerakon  to  human  beings  as  well  as  to 
corn,  and  thus  describes  the  disease  called  in  Europe 
yellow  jaundice.  Forskal  was  informed  in  Arabia  by  a 
Jew  that  it  was  the  general  opinion  there  that  it  is  a 
mild  breeze,  dangerous  to  the  corn,  by  which  the  ears 
are  turned  yellow.     See  Leprosy. 

Mile  (jxiXiov,  the  Greek  form  of  the  Latin  milliari- 


MILES 


254 


MILETUS 


um,  from  milk,  a  thousand,  Matt,  v,  41),  a  Roman  meas- 
ure of  1000  geometrical  paces  (pussuaj  of  five  feet  each, 
and  tlierefore  equal  to  5000  IJoman  feet  (sec  Smith's 
Diet,  of  Greek  and  Ronum  A  titiq.  s.  v.  Milliare).  Tak- 
ing the  Roman  foot  at  ll.G4'J(J  English  inches,  the  Ro- 
man mile  would  be  1G18  English  yards,  or  142  yards 
less  tnan  the  English  statute  mile  (see  Penny  Cyclopce- 
diu,  s.  v.).  By  another  calculation,  in  which  the  foot  is 
taken  at  11.62  inches,  the  mile  would  be  little  more 
than  1G14  yards.  The  number  of  Roman  miles  in  a  de- 
gree of  a  large  circle  of  the  earth  is  little  more  than  75 
(sec  Ukcrt,  Gevgr.  d.  Griech.  I,  ii,  75),  The  mpst  com- 
mon Latin  term  for  the  mile  is  mille  passuum,  or  only 
the  initials  M.P. ;  sometimes  the  vn)rA  jmssuum  is  omit- 
ted. The  Roman  mile  contained  eight  Greek  stadia 
(I'liny,  ii,  21),  Hence  it  is  usual  with  the  earlier  writers 
on  Hililicalgeography  to  translate  the  Greek '"stade"  into 
the  English  "furlong"  in  stating  the  measurements  of 
Eusc'liiiis  and  Jerome,  who,  like  the  early  itineraries, 
always  reckon  by  Roman  miles.  See 
FiTKLO.NG,  The  Talmudists  also  em- 
ployed this  measure  (which  they  call 
iiT3,  Otho,  Lex.  Rahb.  p,  421),  but  es- 
timate it  at  7J  stadia  {Baba  Mezici, 
xxxiii,  1),  as  also  the  Roman  histo- 
rians frequently  reckon  it,  without  ge- 
ographical or  mathematical  accuracy 
(Forbiger,  I/uiidbuch  d.  alt.  Geof/r.  i, 
655),  Mile-stones  were  set  u])  along 
the  roads  constructed  by  the  Romans 
in  Palestine  (Reland,  J'ul<est.  p.  401 
sq.),  and  to  this  day  they  may  be 
seen,  here  and  there,  in  that  country 
(Robinson,  Bib.  Res.  ii,  ICl,  note ;  ii, 
306).  The  mile  of  the  Jews  is  said  to 
have  been  of  two  kinds,  long  or  short, 
dei)endcnt  on  the  length  of  the  pace, 
■which  varied  in  different  parts,  the 
long  ])ace  being  double  the  length  of 
the  short  one  (Carpzov,  Appurat.  p. 
679).     See  M  ethology. 

Miles,  Henuy  G.,  a  Presbyteri- 
an minister,  was  born  in  Amsterdam, 
N.  Y,,  about  the  year  1811,  He  was  educated  in  Hud- 
son, Ohio,  studied  theology  in  the  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York ;  was  licensed  by  the  New  York 
Third  Presbytery,  and  ordained  by  the  Rochester  Pres- 
bytery in  1851.  He  received  and  accepted  a  call  to  the 
Church  at  Dover,  Ohio,  and  subsequently  preached  at 
Hublinsbury,  Pa.,  and  Parma  Centre  and  'Woodhull, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  died,  July  21,  1860.  Mr.  IMiles  had  to 
struggle  with  many  difficulties,  but  in  all  his  duties  he 
was  conscientious  and  zealous.  As  a  preacher  he  was 
clear  and  practical.  See  I'resb.  Hist,  Almanac,  1862,  p. 
189.     (J.L.S.) 

Mile 'turn  (2  Tim.  iv,  20).     See  Miletus. 

Mile'tus  (.Mi/\j;roc,  from  the  name  of  a  fabled  son 
of  ApoUii,  who  is  said  to  have  founded  the  city,  Apollod. 
iii.  1,  2).  a  city  and  seaport  of  Ionia,  in  Asia  Minor, 
abiiut  thirty-six  miles  south  of  Ephesus  (Cramer's  Asia 
Minor,  ii,  385  sq.).  The  apostle  Paul  touched  at  this 
port  on  his  voyage  from  Greece  to  Syria,  and  delivered 
to  the  elders  of  Ephesus.  wlio  had  come  to  meet  him 
there,  a  remarkable  and  aftVcting  address  (Acts  xx,  15- 
38).  "  In  the  context  we  have  the  geograjdiical  rela- 
tions of  the  latter  city  brought  out  distinctly,  as  if  it 
were  Luke's  purpose  to  state  them.  In  the  first  place, 
it  lay  on  the  coast  to  the  south  of  Ephesus.  Next,  it 
was  a  day's  sail  from  Trogyllium  (ver.  15).  Moreover, 
to  those  who  are  sailing  from  the  north,  it  is  in  the  di- 
rect line  for  Cos.  We  should  also  notice  that  it  was 
near  enough  to  Ephesus  by  land  communication  for  the 
message  to  be  sent  and  the  j)resl)yters  to  come  within  a 
very  narrow  space  of  time.  All  these  details  correspond 
Willi  the  geograpliical  facts  of  the  case.  As  to  the  last 
point,  Ephesus  was  by  land  only  about  twenty  or  thirty 


miles  distant  from  Miletus.  There  is  a  further  and 
more  minute  topographical  coincidence,  which  may  be 
seen  in  the  phrase,  'They  accompanied  him  to  the  ship,' 
implying  as  it  does  that  the  vessel  lay  at  some  distance 
from  the  town.  The  site  of  Jliletus  has  now  receded 
ten  miles  from  the  coast,  and  even  in  the  apostle's  time 
it  must  have  lost  its  strictly  maritime  position  (Hack- 
ett,  Comm.  on  the  Acts,  2d  ed.  p.  344;  comp.  Acts  xxi, 
5).  In  each  case  we  have  a  low,  fiat  shore,  as  a  marked 
and  definite  feature  of  the  scene."  Miletus  was  a  place 
of  considerable  note,  and  the  ancient  capital  of  Ionia 
and  Caria  (Herod,  i,  142;  Pliny,  v,  31).  It  was  the 
birthplace  of  several  men  of  renown — Thales,  Timo- 
theus,  Anaximander,  Anaximenes,  Democritus  (Pomp. 
Mela,  i,  17 ;  Diog.  Laertius,  Vit.  Philosoph.  p.  15,  88,  89, 
650).  Ptolemy  {^Geogr.x,  2,  9)  places  IMilelus  in  Caria 
b}'  the  sea,  and  it  is  stated  to  have  had  four  havens,  one 
of  which  was  capable  of  holding  a  fleet.  (See  J.  \\.  \Xava~ 
huch,  l)e  Mileto  ejusque  coloniis  [Hal.  1790J;  Soldan, 


Saiinihngsjn  fuMwmi 


Vicinity  of  Miletus. 

Rer.  Miles.  Comment.  [Darmst  1829] ;  Schroeder,  Com- 
ment, de  rebus  Miles.  [Strals.  1827].)  "  In  early  limes  it 
was  the  most  flourishing  city  of  the  Ionian  Greeks.  The 
ships  which  sailed  from  it  were  celebrated  for  their  dis- 
tant voyages.  Miletus  suffered  in  the  progress  of  the 
Lydian  kingdom  and  became  tributary  to  Croesus.  In 
the  natural  order  of  events,  it  was  absorbed  in  the  Per- 
sian empire;  and,  revolting,  it  was  stormed  and  sacked. 
After  a  brief  period  of  spirited  independence,  it  received 
a  blow  from  which  it  never  recovered,  in  the  siege  con- 
ducted by  Alexander  when  on  his  Eastern  campaign. 
Rut  still  it  held,  even  through  the  Roman  period,  the 
rank  of  a  secimd-rate  trading  town,  and  Strabo  mentions 
its  four  harbors.  At  this  time  it  was  politically  in  the 
province  of  Asia,  though  Caria  was  the  old  etlmological 
name  of  the  district  in  which  it  was  situated.  Its  pre- 
eminence on  this  coast  had  now  long  been  yielded  up  to 
Ephesus.  These  changes  can  be  vividly  traced  by  com- 
paring the  whole  series  of  coins  of  the  two  places.  In 
the  case  of  Miletus,  those  of  the  autonomous  period  are 


Coin  of  Miletns. 
numerous  and  beautiful,  those  of  the  imperial  period 
very  scanty.  Still  Miletus  was  for  some  time  an  epis- 
copal city  of  Western  Asia.  Its  final  decay  was  doubt- 
less promoted  by  the  silting  up  of  the  Miuander."  It 
was  noted  for  a  famous  temple  of  Apollo,  the  oracle  of 


MILETUS 


255 


MILEUM 


wliich  is  known  to  have  been  consulted  so  late  as  the 
4tli  century  (Apollodorus,Z'eCrii7,Z'eo/-.iii,  130).  There 
was,  however,  a  Christian  church  in  the  place ;  and  in 
the  5th,  7th,  and  8th  centuries  we  read  of  bishops  of 
Miletus,  who  were  present  at  several  councils  (Magde- 
burg, Hist.  Eccles.  ii,  192 ;  iv,  86 ;  v,  3;  vii,  254;  viii,  4). 
The  city  fell  to  decay  after  its  conquest  by  the  Saracens, 
and  is  now  in  ruins,  not  far  from  the  spot  where  the 
Mieandcr  falls  into  the  sea.  (See  Blisching,  Erdbeschr. 
XI,  i,  100;  Tzschucke,  ad  Mel.  Ill,  i,481.)  The  exact 
site,  however,  is  somewhat  a  matter  of  uncertainty  (Ro- 
scnrauller,  Bibl.  Geogi:  I,  ii,  187),  owing  to  the  altered 
character  of  the  coast  in  modern  times;  but  it  appears 
to  be  in  part  covered  by  the  remains  now  called  Palatia, 
i.  c.  the  palace  (Leake,  Asia  Minor,  p.  240).  It  lies  in 
a  triangular  plot  of  ground,  bounded  by  two  branches 
of  the  river  Mendere  — the  ancient  Mteander.  These 
unite  a  little  to  the  north  of  the  ruins,  and  the  stream 
thus  formed  disembogues  through  marshy  ground  into 
the  sea  about  two  miles  distant.  The  harbor  is  filled 
up  by  the  alluvial  soil  brought  down  by  the  river,  which 
has  already  created  a  delta  of  no  insignificant  dimen- 
sions.    The  ruins  of  the  ancient  Miletus  are  even  at 


Ruins  of  Miletus. 

the  present  time  striking  and  picturesque,  especially 
those  of  the  theatre,  one  of  the  largest  in  Asia  Minor. 
Seen  from  the  south-west,  it  makes  still  a  splendid  ob- 
ject ;  to  the  south  is  a  mosque,  and  farther  still,  in  the 
same  direction,  a  line  of  ruined  arches,  once  forming  an 
aqueduct.  The  fragments  of  a  church  remain,  in  which 
the  current  tradition  of  the  place  asserts  that  St.  John 
preached  the  Gospel ;  but  it  is  unquestionably  of  a  date 
far  later  than  that  of  the  evangehst.  In  the  plain,  be- 
tween the  theatre  and  the  aqueduct,  are  a  few  pillars, 
indicating  the  site  of  a  temple,  probably  dedicated  to 
Diana.     See  Texier,  Asie  Mineure,  p.  316  sq. 

Some  take  the  Miletus  where  Paul  left  Trophimus 
sick  (2  Tim.  iv,  20 ;  Auth.  Vers.  "  Miletum")  to  have 
been  in  Crete,  and  therefore  different  from  the  above ; 
but  there  seems  to  be  no  need  for  this  conclusion.  "  This 
passage  presents  a  very  serious  difficulty  to  the  theory 
that  there  was  only  one  Roman  imprisonment.  When 
Paul  visited  the  place  on  the  occasion  just  described, 
Trophimus  was  indeed  with  him  (Acts  xx,  4) ;  but  he 
certainly  did  not  '  leave  him  sick  at  Jliletus,'  for  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  voyage  we  find  him  with  the  apostle 
at  Jerusalem  (Acts  xxi,  29).  Nor  is  it  possible  that  he 
could  have  been  so  left  on  the  voyage  from  Caesarea  to 
Rome,  for  in  the  first  place  there  is  no  reason  to  believe 
that  Trophimus  was  with  the  apostle  then  at  all ;  and 
in  the  second  place  the  ship  was  never  to  the  north  of 
Cnidus  (Acts  xxvii,  7).  But  on  the  hypothesis  that 
Paul  was  liberated  from  Rome  and  revisited  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Ephesus,  all  becomes  easy,  and  consistent 
with  the  other  notices  of  his  movements  in  the  pastoral 
epistles.  (See  Conybeare  and  Howson,  Life  and  Epis- 
tles of  St.  Paul,  ch.  xxvii;  Birks,  Horas  Apostolicm.)" 
See  further  in  Schmidt,  Res  Miles.  (Gbtt.  1855) ;  Smith, 


Diet,  of  Gr.  and  Rom.  Geogr.  s.  v. ;  Conj'beare  and  How- 
son,  St.  Paul,  ii,  214  sq. ;  Tschihatscheff,  L'A  sie  Mineure 
(Par.  1853),  i,  252  sq.;  Rawlinson,  Herod,  i,  218  sq. 

Mileum,  a  city  of  Numidia,  in  the  northern  part  of 
Africa,  is  celebrated  in  Church  history  as  a  place  where, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  5th  centurj',  two  synods  were 
held.  The  first  of  them,  which  is  of  little  importance, 
convened  Aug.  27,  402.  Aurelius  of  Carthage  presided. 
The  canons  of  Hippo  and  Carthage  were  confirmed,  and 
five  canons  of  discipline  published,  which  are  contained 
in  the  African  Code  (comp.  Codex  Canon.  Ecd.  Afric.  p. 
85-90).  It  was  decided  that  the  younger  bishops  should 
give  place  to  those  of  older  standing,  excepting  the  pri- 
mates of  Numidia  and  Mauritania,  who  always  took 
precedence  of  all  other  primates  of  whatever  standing 
(Cone,  ii,  1323).  The  second  synod,  which  was  held  to- 
wards the  autumn  of  A.D.  416,  is  known  as  the  Con- 
cilium Milevitanum.  This  was  a  provincial  council  of 
Numidia,  and  ^vas  attended  by  sixty-one  bishops  of  the 
province.  It  was  chiefiy  owing  to  Augustine's  (q.  v.) 
influence,  and  to  the  happy  issue  of  the  synod  at  Dios- 
polis  (q.  v.),  that  the  African  bishops  assembled  in  a 
synodicai  meeting.  Having  learned  the  proceedings  of 
the  Council  of  Car- 
thage of  the  same 
year,  they  wrote  a 
synodalletter  to  pope 
Innocent  I  (q.v.),in 
which,  after  enlarg- 
ing upon  the  enor- 
mity of  the  Pelagian 
heresy, which  denied 
the  necessity  of  jMT/?/- 
er  in  adults  and  of 
baptism  for  chil- 
dren,and,after  show- 
ing how  worthy  it 
was  of  the  notice 
and  censure  of  the 
Church,  they  en- 
treated him,  since 
the  salvation  of  Pe- 
lagius  (q.  V.)  and 
Coelestius  (q.  v.)  could  not  be  secured,  that  he  would 
at  least  provide  for  that  of  others  by  condemning  their 
heresies.  They  did  not  ask  the  excommunication  of 
Pelagius  and  Coelestius,  as  has  sometimes  been  stated, 
but  that  they  should  be  commanded  to  renounce  their 
heresies,  and  that  only  the  heresies  themselves  should 
be  condemned.  "  Hoc  gestum,"  they  concluded,  "  Do- 
mino frater,  sanctre  caritati  tuas  intimandum  ducimus, 
ut  statutis  nostrre  mediocritatis  etiam  apostolice  sedis 
adhibeatur  auctoritas."  Among  the  names  attached  to 
this  letter  are  those  of  Silvanus,  primate  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Numidia,  Alypius,  St.  Augustine,  Severus  of 
Mileum,  Fortunatus  of  Citha,  and  Possidius,  Another 
and  more  confidential  letter  was  addressed  to  Innocent 
by  five  North  African  bishops,  of  whom  Augustine  was 
one  (see  Mansi,  iv,  321  sq.).  Pelagius  also  sent  him  a 
letter  and  a  confession  of  faith,  which,  however,  were 
not  received  in  due  time.  Innocent  understood  both 
the  controversy  and  the  interests  of  the  Roman  see.  In 
his  reply,  which  is  to  be  found  in  August.  Epist.  p.  182, 
he  commended  the  Africans  for  having  addressed  them^ 
selves  to  the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  before  which  it  was 
seemly  that  all  the  affairs  of  Christendom  should  be 
brought.  He  praised  the  zeal  and  pastoral  care  of  the 
African  bishops,  briefly  established  the  true  doctrine  of 
grace,  and  condemned  Pelagius  and  Coelestius,  with 
their  followers,  tleclaring  them  to  be  separated  from  the 
Catholic  Church.  "Non  solum  enim,"  he  says,  "qui 
faciunt  sed  etiam  qui  consentiunt  facientibus,  digni  sunt 
morto;  quia  non  raultum  interesse  arbitror  inter  com- 
mittentis  animum  et  consentientis  favorem."  He  re- 
frained, however,  from  giving  judgment  respecting  the 
Synod  of  Diospolis.  He  also  replied  to  the  letters  which 
Augustine  and  the  four  bishops  —  Aurehus,  Alypius, 


MILICZ 


256 


MILITARY  ORDERS 


Evodius,  and  Possidius — had  addressed  to  him.  These 
letters  of  Innocent  were  written  in  a  council  held  at 
Kome  upon  the  subject  in  January,  417,  and  are  to  be 
found  in  Mansi  (iii,  1071  sq.).  See  Schulstratcn,  Antiq. 
Eccks.  Afric.  Diss.  vol.  iii;  Xorris,  Jlist.  rdaij.  i,  10; 
Hefelc,  Concilienf/eschichte,  ii,  100;  Gieseler,  Eccks.  Jlist. 
i,  330  sq. ;  Schaff,  Church  Hist,  iii,  797 ;  Milman,  Hist, 
of  Chrktiiinity,  p.  380,  4U  sq. 

Milicz  VON  KuK.MSiKK  {Kromesize),  John,  was  one 
of  the  njost  eminent  precursors  of  the  Bohemian  Kefor- 
mation.  Of  his  early  years  little  is  known.  The  fact 
that  in  his  mature  years  he  first  engaged  in  the  study 
of  the  German  language,  would  indicate  that  his  edu- 
cation must  have  been  acquired  elsewliere  than  in  a 
German  university  ;  possibly  in  Italy  or  at  Paris,  or  in 
Lis  own  country,  Moravia.  Commencing  his  public  ca- 
reer as  a  priest  about  the  year  1350,  he  soon  attracted 
the  notice  of  the  emjjeror  Charles  IV,  who  was  also  king 
of  Bohemia,  and  became  his  secretary.  At  the  same 
time,  as  canon  of  the  cathedral  at  Prague,  and  arch- 
deacon, he  occupied  a  conspicuous  ecclesiastical  position. 
Resigning,  however,  all  his  prospects  of  promotion,  not- 
withstanding the  entreaties  of  the  bishop,  he  chose  a 
lot  of  poverty  and  hardsliip,  that  he  miglit  more  fully 
imitate  the  example  of  Christ.  For  six  months  he 
preached  to  the  people  at  Bishop-teinit/. ;  but  fearing 
lest  his  position  there  was  too  tempting,  in  a  worldly 
point  of  view,  he  returned  to  Prague,  lirst  officiating 
in  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas,  in  the  Kleine  Seito,  and 
afterwards  in  that  of  St.  /Egidius,  in  the  old  city.  At 
first  his  hearers  were  few.  Perhaps  his  ^loravian  dia- 
lect was  not  attractive.  His  reproof  of  sin,  and  his  ear- 
nest words,  however,  soon  attracted  notice.  Multitudes 
thronged  to  hear  him.  He  preached  daily,  and  often 
three,  and  sometimes  five  sermons.  To  be  more  exten- 
sively useful,  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  Ger- 
man, that  he  might  address  himself  to  the  Germans  of 
Prague.  The  evils  and  corruptions  of  the  times  doubt- 
less led  him  to  select  his  themes  of  discourse  largely 
from  the  Apocalypse,  and  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, and  ere  long  tlie  coming  of  Antichrist  became 
the  burden  of  his  pulpit  discourses.  He  fixed  the  date 
of  his  coming  at  A.D.  13G5-67,  nor  did  he  fear  to  ex- 
pose the  ini(iuities  which,  to  his  view,  seemed  to  her- 
alil  it.  Priests,  bishops,  and  magistrates,  and  even  the 
emperor  himself,  were  not  sj)arcd.  It  is  to  the  credit 
of  Ills  reputation  for  sincerity  that,  notwithstanding  the 
hostility  which  he  provoked  in  some  quarters,  he  was 
sustained  and  befriended  by  the  highest  powers  in 
Church  and  State. 

In  1367,  on  tlie  report  that  the  pope  was  about  to  re- 
turn from  Avignon  to  Pome,  ]\Iilicz  resolved  to  visit 
and  confer  with  him.  Tlie  pope's  arrival  was  delayed ; 
and  Milicz,  obedient  to  what  he  regarded  as  the  voice 
of  the  Spirit  within  him,  nailed  upon  the  doors  of  St. 
Peter's  the  sentence  which  had  so  long  occupied  his 
thoughts — "The  Antichrist  has  come."  He  zealously 
■warned  the  people  and  the  clergy  to  withdraw  them- 
selves from  iniciuiiy.  The  inquisitor,  encouraged  by  re- 
ports of  Jlilicz's  course  in  Bohemia,  ordered  his  arrest 
and  imprisonment.  From  his  prison  he  was  summoned 
to  preach  to  an  assembly  of  the  clergy,  but  his  full  re- 
lease (lid  not  take  place  till  tlie  jiope's  arrival  in  Kome 
in  ]3()8.  In  free  conference  witli  the  \>o\m  and  some  of 
the  cardinals  wlio  befriended  him,  he  moderated,  if  he 
ditl  not  modifj'  his  views.  On  liis  return  to  Prague, 
where  he  succeeded  Conrad  Waldhauser  in  the  Tein 
Church,  his  enthusiastic  zeal  assumed  a  new  phase.  He 
devoted  himself  earnestly  to  the  reform  of  the  vicious 
and  abandoned.  Scores  of  prostitutes  were  recalled  to 
repentance  and  virtue.  The  quarters  they  had  occu- 
pied, heretofore  thescandalof  the  city,  were  transformed. 
A  chapel  to  St.  Mary  Magdalene  was  erected  there,  and 
buildings  were  provided  for  the  residence  and  sujiport 
of  the  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  that  were  recovered 
to  the  patlis  of  virtue.  Milicz's  course  made  him  many 
enemies.     Of  the  clergj-,  some  were  jealous  of  him,  and 


others  hated  him  for  his  rebukes.  Charges  were  drawn 
up  against  him,  and  forwarded  to  the  pope  at  Avignon. 
It  is  quite  significant  that  these  articles,  twelve  in  num- 
ber, are  almost  silent  as  to  any  doctrinal  errors.  The 
pope,  however,  was  prejudiced  against  Milicz,  and  sum- 
moned him  to  his  court,  to  answer  in  person.  Jlilicz, 
promptly  responded  to  the  summons.  He  met  a  kindly 
reception,  and  succeeded  in  vindicating  his  innocence. 
But  his  career  was  drawing  to  a  close.  He  was  taken 
sick  at  Avignon,  and  died  June  '29,  1374.  At  Prague 
his  decease  gave  occasion  for  public  and  general  lamen- 
tation. 

Of  the  Christian  character  and  devotion  of  IMilicz, 
Matthias  of  Janow  speaks  in  terms  that  might  seem  ex- 
travagant if  the  actual  results  of  Milicz's  labors  did  not 
go  so  far  to  justify  them.  Notwithstanding  the  envy 
which  was  felt  towards  him  by  some  of  the  clergy,  and 
the  hostility  which  he  provoked  by  his  sharp  rebuke  of 
prevailing  iniquity,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  laid  him- 
self open  to  the  charge  of  departing  seriously  from  the 
accepted  doctrines  and  usages  of  the  Cliurch.  Indeed, 
his  zeal  took  more  of  a  practical  than  a  sitcculative  di- 
rection, and  in  this  respect  only  can  he  be  considered  as 
a  precursor  who  jireparcd  the  way  for  IIuss. 

Of  Milicz's  writings,  some  are  still  extant  in  manu- 
script, and  some  have  been  preserved  by  his  friend  and 
admirer,  Matthias  von  Janow  (q.  v.).  His  Latin  works 
were,  Libdlus  de  Antichristo;  Gialia  iJei,  or  sermons 
on  the  occasion  of  Church  festivals  throughout  the  year; 
and  Sennones  Qucidiir/esimaks.  Of  his  Bohemian  works, 
consisting  of  sermons  and  postils,  one  only  has  been 
printed,  and,  though  it  found  a  place  in  the  Prohibitory 
Index,  not  a  copy  of  it  is  now  known  to  exist. 

A  somewhat  detailed  account  of  Milicz  is  given  by 
Neander  in  his  History  of  the  Church  (vol.  v).  To  the 
other  sources  of  information — besides  Balbinus  (Miscell. 
i,  lib.  iv,  34)  and  the  writings  of  Matthias  of  Janow — 
to  which  Neander  had  access,  must  be  added  P.  Jordan's 
Die  Vorldiifer  dts  J/ussile7ithu7ns  in  Bohmen,  which  pre- 
sents a  concise  sketch  of  Conrad  of  Waldhausen,  Milicz, 
and  Matthias  of  Janow.  This  sketch,  really  drawn  up 
by  F.  Palacky,  the  historian  of  Bohemia,  was  published 
at  first  in  Germany,  with  the  name  of  P.  Jordan  affixed, 
since  at  the  time  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  laws  of 
the  press  in  Austria  would  iKTniit  iis  publication  in  any 
of  its  states.  It  was  repulilishod.  however,  in  1808,  im- 
der  the  name  of  its  real  author,  F.  Palacky ;  and  doubt- 
less furnishes  the  most  trustworthy  account  extant  of 
the  subject  of  this  article.  See  also  (>illett.  Life  of  IIuss 
(see  Index  in  vol.  ii) ;  Ilardwick,  Ch.  Hist.  p.  397,  399; 
Gieseler,  Eccks.  Jlist.  iii,  184  sq. ;  Riddle,  Jli.if.  if  the 
Papacy,  ii,  3(53 ;  Czerwonka,  Gesch.  der  eraii(/i  I.  Kirche 
in  Bohmen  (Bibf.  1869),  vol.  i.     (E.  H.  G.) 

Militant,  Church,  a  term  applied  to  the  whole 
coiif/ri'f/iitidii  of  laitlifid  men  on  earth  (in  distinction  from 
the  Cluinli  triinnjthaiit  in  heaven),  as  engaged  ''to  tight 
manfully"  under  Christ's  bainier  against  sin,  the  world, 
and  the  devil;  and  to  continue  his  faithful  soldiirs  (mi- 
lites)  and  servants  unto  their  life's  end. — liden,  'J'heol. 
JJict. 

Military  Orders  is  a  term  ajiplicd  to  throe  cele- 
brated f'raleniitios  which  sprang  up  in  the  ],eriod  of 
the  Crusades  (q.  v.).  They  were  religious  associations 
which  arose  from  a  mixture  of  the  religious  enthusiasm 
and  the  chivalrous  love  of  arms  which  almost  equally 
formed  the  characteristics  of  mediivval  society.  The 
first  origin  of  such  associations  may  be  traced  to  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  Christian  residents  of  the  Holy  Land,  in 
which  the  monks,  whose  first  duty  had  been  to  serve 
the  pilgrims  in  the  hospital  at  Jerusalem,  were  com- 
pelled, by  tlie  necessity  of  self-defence,  to  assume  the 
character  of  soldiers  as  well  as  of  nioidvs.  These  were 
termed  Kni(/hts  ofSt..lohn.  See  Hosi'itai.t.i:i!s.  The 
second,  the  order  of  the  Templars  ((|.  v.\  and  the  third, 
the  Teutonic  Knir/hts,  were  the  outgrowth  of  the  days  of 
the  Crusades.     See  Knighthood.     These  military  or- 


MILITZ 


257 


MILK 


ders  professed  to  unite  religious  vows  with  the  duties 
and  discipline  of  a  warrior.  The  chief  objects  they 
claiined  to  have  in  view  were  to  defend  and  support 
Christianity,  by  force  of  arms,  against  the  Mohamme- 
dans ;  to  keep  the  public  roads  of  Palestine  from  being 
infested  with  robbers ;  and  to  assist  the  poor,  and  minis- 
ter to  the  sick,  among  those  who  were  prompted  by  the 
spirit  of  the  times  to  visit,  as  pilgrims,  the  various  places 
reputed  to  be  scenes  of  our  Lord's  earthly  career. 

The  inferior  orders  of  Alcantara  and  Calatrava,  in 
Spain,  having  for  their  immediate  object  the  defence  of 
their  country  against  the  Moors,  as  well  as  those  of  Avis, 
in  Portugal,  claimed  to  have  been  instituted  for  like 
reasons  as  those  above  mentioned.  They  followed  the 
Cistercian  ride,  and  all  three  differed  from  the  Templars 
and  the  Knights  of  St.  John  in  being  permitted  by  their 
institute  to  marry  once.  The. same  privilege  was  en- 
joyed in  the  Savoyard  order  of  Knights  of  St.  Maurice 
and  the  Flemish  order  of  St.  Hubert.  On  the  contrary, 
the  Teutonic  Knights,  who  had  their  origin  in  the  Cru- 
sades [see  Teutonic  Knights],  were  bound  by  an  ab- 
solute vow  of  chastit3\ 

With  the  varying  conditions  of  society,  these  relig- 
ious associations  have  at  various  times  been  abolished 
or  fiillen  into  disuse ;  but  most  of  them  still  subsist  in 
the  form  of  orders  of  knighthood,  and,  in  some  of 
them,  attempts  have  recently  been  made  to  revive, 
with  certain  modifications,  the  monastic  character 
which  they  originally  possessed.  See  Lea,  Hist,  of 
Sacerdotal  Celibacy,  ch.  xxii;  Giustiuani,  Ordini  Mili- 
tari,  s.  v. 

Militz.     See  Milicz. 

Milk  is  designated  by  two  Hebrew  words  of  distinct 
signification. 

1.  Sbn  (chalah',  fat,  i.  e.  rich ;  Gr.  yaXa)  denotes 
new  or  sweet  milk.  This,  in  its. fresh  state,  appears  to 
have  been  used  very  largely  among  the  Hebrews,  as  is 
customary  among  people  who  have  many  cattle,  and 
yet  make  but  sparing  use  of  their  flesh  for  food  (see  Job 
xxi,  24;  Judg.  iv,  19).  It  is  not  a  mere  adjunct  in 
cookery,  or  restricted  to  the  use  of  the  young,  although 
it  is  naturally  the  characteristic  food  of  childhood,  both 
from  its  simple  and  nutritive  qualities  (1  Pet.  ii,  2),  and 
particularly  as  contrasted  with  meat  (1  Cor.  iii,  2 ;  Heb. 
V,  12);  but  beyond  this  it  is  regarded  as  substantial 
food  adapted  alike  to  all  ages  and  classes.  Hence  it  is 
enumerated  among  "  the  principal  things  for  the  whole 
use  of  a  man's  life"  (Ecclus.  xxxix,  2G).  It  frequently 
occurs  in  connection  with  honey,  as  a  delicacj'  (Exod. 
iii,  8;  xiii,  5;  Josh,  v,  6;  Jer.  xi,  5;  comp.  Dio  Chrys. 
XXXV,  p.  434;  Strabo,  xv,  p.  715).  In  reading  of  milk  in 
Scripture,  the  milk  of  cows  naturally  presents  itself  to 
the  mind  of  the  European  reader ;  but  in  Western  Asia, 
and  especially  among  the  pastoral  and  semi-pastoral 
people,  not  only  cows,  but  goats,  sheep,  and  camels  are 
made  to  give  their  milk  for  the  sustenance  of  man. 
That  this  was  also  the  case  among  the  Hebrews  may  be 
clearly  inferred  even  from  the  slight  intimations  which 
the  Scriptures  afford.  Thus  we  read  of  "butter  of  kine, 
and  milk  of  sheep"  (Deut.  xxxii,  14);  and  in  Prov. 
xxvii,  27,  the  emphatic  intimation,  '•  Thou  shalt  have 
goats'  milk  for  food,"  seems  to  implj'  that  this  was  con- 
sidered the  best  for  use  in  the  simple  state  (comp.  Pliny, 
xxviii,  33  ;  see  Russell's  .4  leppo,  ii,  12 ;  Sonnini,  Trav.  i, 
329  sq. ;  Bochart, //if?-oz.  i,  717  sq.).  "Thirty  milch 
camels"  were  among  the  cattle  which  Jacob  presented 
to  his  brother  Esau  (Gen.  xxxii,  15),  implying  the  use 
of  camels'  milk. 

The  most  striking  scriptiu-al  allusion  to  milk  is  that 
which  forbids  a  kid  to  be  seethed  in  its  mother's  milk, 
and  its  importance  is  attested  by  its  being  thrice  re- 
peated (Exod.  xxiii,  19;  xxxiv,  26;  Deut.  xiv,  21). 
The  following  are  the  most  remarkable  views  respecting 
it :  (1.)  That  it  prohibits  the  eating  of  the  fostus  of  the 
goat  as  a  delicacy :  but  there  is  not  the  least  evidence 
that  the  Jews  were  ever  attached  to  this  disgusting 
VL— R 


luxury.     (2.)  That  it  prevents  the  kid  being  killed  till 
it  is  eight  davs  old,  when,  it  is  said,  it  might  subsist 
without  the  iiiilk  of  its  mother.     (3.)  This  ground  is 
admitted  by  those  who  deduce  a  further  reason  from 
the  fact  that  a  kid  was  not,  until  the  eighth  day,  fit  for 
sacrifice.     But  there  appears  no  good  reason  why  a  kid 
shoidd  be  described  as  "  m  its  mother's  milk,"  in  those 
days,  more  than  in  any  other  days  of  the  period  during 
which  it  is  suckled.     (4.)  Others,  therefore,  maintain 
that  the  eating  of  a  sucking  kid  is  altogether  and  abso- 
lutely prohibited.     But  a  goat  suckles  its  kid  for  three 
months,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  the  Jews  were  so  long 
forbidden  the  use  of  it  for  food.     No  food  is  forbidden 
but  as  unclean,  and  a  kid  ceased  to  be  unclean  on  the 
eighth  day,  when  it  was  fit  for  sacrifice ;  and  what  was 
fit  for  sacrifice  could  not  be  unfit  for  food.     (5.)  That 
the  prohibition  was  meant  to  prevent  the  dam  and  kid 
from  being  slain  at  the  same  time.    But  this  is  forbidden 
with  reference  to  the  goat  and  other  animals  in  express 
terms,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  it  should  be 
repeated  in  this  remarkable  form  with  reference  to  the 
goat  only.     (G.)  Others  understand  it  literally,  as  a  pre- 
cept designed  to  encourage  humane  feelings.     But,  as 
Michaelis  asks,  how  came  the  Israelites  to  hit  upon  the 
strange  whim  of  boiling  a  kid  in  milk,  and  just  in  the 
milk  of  its  own  mother  ?     (7.)  Still,  understanding  the 
text  literally,  it  is  possible  that  this  was  not  a  common 
act  of  cookery,  but  an  idolatrous  or  magical  rite.     Blai- 
monides,  in  liis  3fore  Nelochim,  urges  this  opinion,  and 
adduces  the  fact  that  in  two  of  the  above  passages  the 
practice  is  spoken  of  in  immediate  connection  with  the 
three  great  annual  feasts  (Exod.  xxiii,  17,  19 ;  xxxiv, 
23,  26),  although  he  admits  that  he  "had  not  yet  been 
able  to  find  it  in  the  Zabian  books."     This  opinion  is 
confirmed  by  an  extract  which  Cudworth  (^Discourses 
concerning  the  True  Notion  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  p.  30) 
gives  from  an  ancient  Karaite  commentary  on  the  Pen- 
tateuch ;  it  has  been  supported  by  Spencer  (Z>e  Legibus 
Hebr.  ii,  9,  §  2),  and  has  been  advocated  by  Le  Clerc, 
Dathe,  and  other  able  writers ;  it  is  also  corroborated  by 
the  addition  in  the  Samaritan  copy,  and  in  some  degree 
by  the  Targum.     (8.)  Michaelis,  however,  advances  a 
quite  new  opinion  of  his  own.     He  takes  it  for  granted 
that  bda,  rendered  "  seethe,"  may  signify  to  roast  as 
weU  as  to  boil,  which  is  hardly  disputable ;  that  the 
kid's  mother  is  not  here  limited  to  the  real  mother,  but 
applies  to  any  goat  that  has  kidded;  that  23n  here  de- 
notes not  milk,  but  buittr ;  and  that  the  precept  is  not 
restricted  to  kids,  but  extends  not  only  to  lambs  (which 
is  generally  granted),  but  to  all  other  not  forbidden  ani- 
mals.    Having  erected  these  props,  IMichaelis  builds 
upon  them  the  conjecture  that  the  motive  of  the  pre- 
cept was  to  endear  to  the  Israelites  the  land  of  Canaan, 
which  abounded  in  oil,  and  to  make  them  forget  their 
Egyptian  butter.     Closes,  therefore,  to  prevent  their 
having  any  longing  desire  to  return  to  that  country', 
enjoins  them  to  use  oil  in  cooking  their  victuals,  as  well 
as  in  seasoning  their  sacrifices  (Mosaisches  Recht,  pt.  iv, 
p.  210).    This  is  ingenious,  but  it  is  open  to  objection. 
The  postulates  cannot  readily  be  granted,  and,  if  grant- 
ed, the  conclusion  deduced  from  them  is  scarcely  just, 
seeing  that,  as  Geddes  remarks,  "  there  was  no  need  nor 
temptation  for  the  Israelites  to  return  to  Egypt  on  ac- 
count of  its  butter,  when  they  possessed  a  country  that 
flowed  with  milk  and  honey"  {Critical  Remarks,  p.  257). 
See  Kid. 

In  its  figurative  use,  milk  occurs  sometimes  simply 
as  the  sign  of  abundance  (Gen.  xlix,  12;  Ezek.  xxv,4; 
Joel  iii,  18,  etc.) ;  but  more  frequently  in  combination 
with  honey — "milk  and  honey"  being  a  phrase  which 
occurs  about  twenty  times  in  Scripture.  Thus  a  rich 
and  fertile  soil  is  described  as  a  "land  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey;"  which,  although  usually  said  of  Palestine, 
is  also  applied  to  other  fruitful  countries,  as  Egypt 
(Numb.  xvi.  13).  This  figure  is  by  no  means  peculiar 
to  the  Hebrews,  but  is  frequently  met  with  in  classi- 


MILK 


258 


MILL 


cal  writers.  A  beautiful  example  occurs  in  Euripides 
(^Bacch.  142).  Hence  its  use  to  denote  the  food  of  chil- 
dren. Milk  is  also  constantly  employed  as  a  symbol  of 
the  elementary  parts  or  rudiments  of  doctrine  (I  Cor. 
iii,  2;  Heb.  v,  12,  lo) ;  and,  from  its  purity  and  sim- 
plicity, it  is  also  made  to  symbolize  the  unadulterated 
Word"  of  God  (I  I'et.  ii,  2 ;  comp.  Isa.  Iv,  1). 

The  terra  rendered  "  milk  out"  in  Isa.  Ixvi,  1 1,  is  Y'4'^i 
matsats',  which  occurs  only  in  that  passage,  and  appar- 
ently signifies  to  suck  or  draw  out  something  sweet  with 
relish,  as  milk  from  the  breast;  it  is  put  as  a  symbol  of 
abundant  satisfaction. 

2.  nSTSn,  cheniah',  from  Smn,  to  coagulate),  is  always 
translated  "  butter"  in  the  Authorized  Version.  It  seems 
to  mean  both  butter  and  curdled  milk,  but  most  gener- 
ally the  latter;  and  the  context  will,  in  most  cases,  sug- 
gest the  distinction,  whicJi  has  been  neglected  by  our 
translators.  It  was  this  curdled  milk,  highly  esteemed 
as  a  refreshment  in  the  East  (where  it  is  called  IMeii, 
see  Russell's  Aleppo,  i,  luO;  Burckhardt,  Tniv.  ii,  G97, 
727;  Kobinson,  ii,  405;  iii,  574),  that  Abraham  set  be- 
fore the  angels  (Gen.  xviii,  8) ;  and  it  was  the  same 
that  .Jael  gave  to  Sisera,  instead  of  the  water  which 
he  asked  (Judg.  v,  25),  as  Josephus  particidarly  notes 
(ydXa  Cia^Bopog  1)67],  Ant.  v,  5,  4);  it  was  produced 
from  one  of  the  goat-skin  bottles  which  are  still  used 
for  the  purpose  by  the  Bedouins  (Judg.  iv,  19;  comp. 
Burckhardt's  \otes,  i,  45).  As  it  would  keep  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  it  was  particularly  adapted  to  the  use 
of  travellers  (2  Sam.  xvii,  29).  In  this  state  milk  ac- 
quires a  sliglitly  inebriating  power,  if  kept  long  enough. 
Isa.  vii,  22  is  the  onl_y  text  in  which  the  word  is  coupled 
with  "  honey,"  and  there  it  is  a  sign  of  scarcity,  not  of 
plenty,  as  when  honey  is  coupled  with  fresh  milk.  It 
means  that  there  being  no  fruit  or  grain,,  the  remnant 
would  have  to  live  on  milk  and  honey ;  and,  perhaps, 
that  milk  itself  would  be  so  scarce  that  it  would  be 
needful  to  use  it  with  economy,  and  hence  to  curdle  it, 
as  fresh  milk  cannot  be  preserved  for  chary  use.  Al- 
though, however,  this  word  properly  denotes  curdled 
milk,  it  seems  also  to  be  sometimes  used  for  milk  in 
general  (Deut.  xxxii,  14 ;  Job  xx,  15 ;  Isa.  vii,  15).  See 
Buttek;  Ciieksk. 

Lebben  is  still  extensively  used  in  the  East :  at  certain 
seasons  of  the  year  the  poor  almost  live  upon  it,  while 
the  upper  classes  eat  it  with  salad  or  meat  (Russell,  i, 
118).  It  is  still  offered  in  hospitality  to  the  passing 
stranger  (Robinson,  /Jib.  Res.  i,  571 ;  ii,  70, 211) — so  free- 
ly, indeed,  that  in  some  parts  of  Arabia  it  would  be  re- 
garded as  a  scandal  if  money  were  received  in  return 
(Burckhardt's  A  rabia,  i,  120;  ii,  lOG).  Tlie  method  now 
pursuc<l  in  its  preparation  is  to  boil  the  milk  over  a  slow 
tire,  adding  to  it  a  small  ])iece  of  old  lebben  or  some  otlier 
acid  in  order  to  make  it  coagulate  (Russell,  A  leppo,  i, 
118,370;  Burckhardt,  .4  ?-aWa,  i,  GO).  — Kitto;  Smith. 
Sec  Food. 

Mii.K  AND  Honey  vsed  at  Baptum.  —  The  prac- 
tice of  tasting  milk  and  honey  at  baptism  appears  to 
have  been  founded  upon  the  promises  made  to  the  Is- 
raelites (Exod.iii.S,  17;  xxxiii,3).  They  were  probably 
regarded  as  appropriate  emblems  at  the  administration 
of  iliat  sacrament  by  which  we  are  introduced  into  that 
new  land  "flowing  witli  milk  and  honey,"  the  spiritual 
kingdom  of  God  under  tlic  (Jospel.  The  tasting  of  milk 
may  be  supposed  to  refer  especially  to  the  words  of  St. 
Peter,  "As  new-born  babes,  desire  the  sincere  milk  of 
the  word,  that  ye  may  grow  thereby"  (1  Pet.  ii,  2) ;  a 
passage  which  was  applied  to  baptism.  As  milk  de- 
noted the  sijiriliial  nourishment  afforded  by  (Jod's  Word, 
so  honej"  denoted  its  pleasantness  or  agreeableness  to 
the  mind  and  heart  of  a  renewed  person  (Psa.  xix,  1 1 ; 
cxix,  103;  Rev.  x,  9, 10).  And  the  use  of  honey  at  bap- 
tism may  have  served  to  remind  believers  of  the  superi- 
ority of  the  Christian  dispensation  over  the  Jewish,  since 
under  the  latter  there  was  a  law  against  the  use  of  honey 
at  sacrifices,  on  account  of  its  liability  to  corrupt.     See 


Honey.  The  emblems  of  milk  and  honey  were  in  use 
as  early  as  the  third  and  fourth  centuries.  Salmasius 
and  some  others  suppose  that  they  were  given  to  the 
communicant  instead  of  the  Eucharist.  This,  however, 
is  a  mistake,  for  the  Eucharist  was  administered  at 
the  same  time  (Salmasius,  ap.  A^uice?:  Thesuur.  pt.  ii,  p. 
23G).  TertuUian  says  it  was  a  sign  of  new  birth,  and 
that  the  communicants  became  as  children  adopted  into 
God's  family — "Inde  suscepti  lacti  et  mellis  concordiara 
prffigustamus"'  (TertuU.  ])e  cor.  Mil.  c.  3).  St.  Jerome 
says  this  was  done  in  allusion  to  those  passages  of  the 
apostle,  '•  I  have  fed  you  with  milk,  and  not  with  strong 
meat;"  and  to  St.  Peter's  saying  above;  for  milk  de- 
notes the  innocency  of  children  {Comment,  in  JSs.  LV,  i). 
Clemens  Alexandrinus  also  takes  notice  of  this  custom, 
saying,  "  As  soon  as  ^vc  are  born,  we  are  nourished  with 
milk,  which  is  the  nutriment  of  the  Lord ;  and  when  we 
are  born  again,  we  are  honored  with  the  hope  of  rest  by 
the  promise  of  Jerusalem  which  is  above,  where  it  is  said 
to  rain  milk  and  honey :  for  by  these  material  things  we 
are  assured  of  that  sacred  food"  (Clem.  Alexandr.  i,  G, 
103).  We  learn  further,  from  the  third  Council  of  Car- 
thage, that  the  milk  and  honey  had  a  pecidiar  consecra- 
tion distinct  from  that  of  the  Eucharist  {Cod.  L'cchs. 
Afric.  can.  37,  ap.  Justellun) — "Nothing  else  should  be 
offered  in  the  sacrament?  of  the  bodj'  and  blood  of  the 
Lord  but  what  the  Lord  commanded,  that  is,  bread  and 
wine  mingled  with  water.  But  the  first-fruits,  and 
honey  and  milk,  which  are  offered  on  one  most  solemn 
day  for  the  mystery  of  infants,  though  they  be  offered 
at  the  altar,  shall  have  their  own  peculiar  benediction, 
tliat  they  may  be  distinguished  from  the  sacrament  of 
the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord."  Here  we  see  that 
milk  and  honey  were  only  to  be  offered  on  one  solemn 
day,  that  is,  on  the  great  Sabbath,  or  Saturday  before 
Easter,  which  was  the  most  solemn  time  of  baptism ; 
and  only  for  the  mystery  of  infants,  that  is,  persons 
newly  baptized,  who  were  commonly  called  infants,  in 
a  mystical  sense,  from  their  new  birth,  in  the  African 
Church.  In  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Trullo  the  offer- 
ing of  milk  and  honey  at  the  altar  was  forbidden  (comp. 
Cone.  Trull,  can.  57).  See  Riddle,  Christian  Antiquities, 
p.  520;  Ayer,  Treasure/  of  Bible  Knou-led()e,\>.b^\. ;  Cole- 
man, ^1  ;(««(<  Christianity,  p.  402;  'Rin^\nra,  Antiquities 
0/ the  Latin  Church,  i,bOOsq.;  ii,  755sq. ;  Eadie,  Eccks. 
Diet. ;  Augusti,  Christl.  A  rchceolor/y,  ii,  44G  sq. 

Mill  (ni'H'H,  recha'yim,  the  two  millstoms,  from 
•^77'  *°  bruise,  Exod.  xi,  5;  "mills,"  Numb,  x,  8; 
"millstones,"  Isa.  xlvii,  2;  Jer.  xxv,  10;  "netlur"  niill- 
stone,  Deut,  xxiv,  6;  nvXtxiv,  IMatt.  xxiv,  21.  Each 
millstone  was  called  H3E,  pe'lach,  a  slice  or  piece,  as  of 
fruit,  in  Cant,  iv,  3 ;  1  Sam.  xxx,  12 ;  always  "  piece"  of 
a  millstone,  Judg.  ix,  53 ;  2  Sam.  xi,  21 ;  Job  xli,  24 ; 
Gr.  iivXoQ,  Matt,  xviii,  G;  Luke  xvii,  2;  Rev.  xviii,  21, 
22).  The  mill  (properly  t^:t^^,  tachanah',  a  "grind- 
ing," Eccl.  xii,  4 ;  ""in::,  techon',  "  to  grind,"  Lam.  v,  13 ; 
Gr.  fivXr})  for  grinding  grain  had  not  wholly  superseded 
the  mortar  for  pounding  it  in  the  time  of  Moses  (Numb, 
xi,  8).  See  Mortai!.  But  fine  meal — that  is,  meal 
ground  or  pounded  fine— is  mentioned  so  early  as  the 
time  of  Abraham  (tien.  xviii,  G) :  hence  mills  and  mor- 
tars must  have  been  previously  known.  See  (iiUTS. 
The  mill  common  among  the  Hebrews  differed  little 
from  that  which  is  in  use  to  this  day  throughout  West- 
ern Asia  and  Northern  Africa.  It  consisted  of  two  cir- 
cular stones,  two  feet  in  diameter  and  half  a  foot  thick. 
The  lower  is  called  the  "nether  millstone"  (Job  xli,  16 
[24]),  and  the  upper  the  "rider"  (Judg.  ix,  53;  2  Sara, 
xi,  21).  The  former  was  usually  fixed  to  the  floor,  and 
had  a  sliglit  elevation  in  the  centre,  or,  in  other  words, 
was  slightly  convex  in  the  upper  surface.  Tlie  ujiper 
stone  had  a  concavity  in  its  under  surface  fitting  to,  or 
receiving,  the  convexity  of  the  lower  stone.  There  was 
a  hole  in  the  top,  through  wliich  the  grain  was  intro- 
duced by  handfuls  at  a  lime.     The  upper  stone  had  an 


MILL  259 

upright  stick  fixed  in  it  as  a  handle,  by  pii|i iiii;ii|ii||jii|i  ijp-" 
which  it  was  made  to  turn  upon  the  IW' ~  '~ 
lower  stone,  and  by  this  action  the  gram 
was  ground,  and  came  out  at  the  edges. 
As  there  were  neither  jiublic  mills  nor 
bakers,  except  the  khig's  (Gen.  xl,  2 , 
Hos.  vii,  4-8),  each  family  possessed  ;i 
mill;  and,  as  it  was  in  daily  use,  it  was 
made  an  infringement  of  the  law  for  a 
person  to  take  another's  mill  or  mill- 
stone in  pledge  (Deut.  xxiv,  6).  Sic 
]\liLi,STONE.  On  the  second  day,  in 
warm  climates,  bread  becomes  dry  and 
insipid ;  hence  the  necessity  of  baking 
every  day,  and  hence  also  the  daily 
grinding  at  the  mills  early  in  the  morn- 
ing. See  Bread.  It  is  worked  by 
women,  sometimes  singly  and  some- 
times two  together,  who  are  usually 
seated  on  the  bare  ground  (Isa.  xlvii,  1, 
2)  '•  facing  each  other ;  both  have  hold 
of  the  handle  by  which  the  upper  is 
turned  round  on  the  'nether'  mill- 
stone. The  one  whose  right  hand  is  disengaged  throws 
in  the  grain  as  occasion  requires  through  the  hole  in 
the  upper  stone.  It  is  not  correct  to  say  that  one  pushes 
it  half  round,  and  then  the  other  seizes  the  handle. 


]\riLL 


Oriental  Hand-mill. 

This  would  be  slow  work,  and  would  give  a  spasmodic 
motion  to  the  stone.  Both  retain  their  hold,  and  pull 
to,  or  Y>ush  from,  as  men  do  with  the  whip  or  cross-cut 
saw.  The  proverb  of  our  Saviour  (Matt,  xxiv,  41)  is 
true  to  life,  for  womeii  only  grind.  I  cannot  recall  an 
instance  in  which  men  were  at  the  mill"  (Thomson, 
Land  and  Book,  ii,  295).  The  labor  is  verj--  hard,  and 
the  task  of  grinding  is  in  consequence  performed  only 
by  the  lowest  servants  (Exod.  xi,  5;  comp.  Plant.  Merc. 
ii,  3)  and  captives  (Judg.  xvi,  21;  Job  xxxi,  10;  Isa. 
xlvii,  1,2;  Lam.  v,  13  ;  comp.  Homer,  0(7.  vii,  103  ;  Sue- 
tonius, Tib.  c.  51).  Grinding  is  reckoned  in  the  Mishna 
(^Shabhath,  vii,  2)  among  the  chief  household  duties,  to 
be  performed  by  the  wife  unless  she  brought  with  her 
one  servant  {Cethuhoth,  v,  5) ;  in  which  case  she  Avas 
relieved  from  grinding,  baking,  and  washing,  but  was 
still  obliged  to  suckle  her  child,  make  her  husband's 
bed,  and  work  in  wool.  Among  tlie  FeUahs  of  the  Hau- 
ran,  one  of  the  chief  articles  of  furniture  described  by 
Burckhardt  (^Syria,  p.  292)  is  the  ^'■hand-mill,  which  is 
used  in  summer  when  there  is  no  water  in  the  wadies  to 
drive  the  mills."  The  operation  occasions  considerable 
noise,  and  its  simultaneous  performance  in  a  great  num- 
ber of  houses  or  tents  forms  one  of  the  sounds  as  indica- 
tive of  au  active  population  in  the  East  as  the  sound  of 


wheel-carriages  in  the  "West.  Hence  the  sound  of  the 
mill  is  the  indication  of  peaceful  household  life,  and  the 
absence  of  it  is  a  sign  of  desolation  and  abandonment: 
"When  the  sound  of  the  mill  is  low"  (Eccl.  xii,  4). 
No  more  aifecting  picture  of  utter  desolation  could  be 
imagined  than  that  conveyed  in  the  threat  denounced 
against  Judah  by  the  mouth  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah 
(xxv,  10) :  "  I  will  take  from  them  the  voice  of  mirth, 
and  the  voice  of  gladness,  the  voice  of  the  bridegroom 
and  the  voice  of  the  bride,  the  sound  of  the  milhtones, 
and  the  light  of  the  candle''  (comp.  Rev.  xviii,  22). 
The  song  of  the  women  grinding  is  supposed  by  some 
to  be  alluded  to  in  the  above  passage  of  Ecclesiastes, 
and  it  was  evidently  so  understood  by  the  Sept. ;  but 
Dr.  Robinson  says  (i,  485),  "  We  heard  no  song  as  an 
accompaniment  to  the  work,"  and  Dr.  Hackett  {^Bihl. 
Illust.  p.  49)  describes  it  rather  as  shrieking  than  sing- 
ing. It  is  alluded  to  in  Homer  (0(?.  xx,  105-119) ;  and 
AthenjEus  (xiv,  p.  619  a)  refers  to  a  peculiar  chant 
which  was  sung  by  women  winnowing  corn,  and  men- 
tioned by  Aristophanes  in  the  Thesmophoriazusce. 

The  hand-mills  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  appear  to 
have  been  of  the  same  character  as  those  of  their  de- 
scendants, and  like  them  were  worked  by  women  (Wil- 
kinson, Anc.  Eg.  ii,  118,  etc.).  "They  had  also  a  large 
miU  on  a  very  similar  principle,  but  the  stones  were  of 
far  greater  power  and  dimensions;  and  this  could  only 
have  been  turned  by  cattle  or  asses,  like  those  of  the 
ancient  Romans  and  of  the  modern  Cairenes."  It  was 
the  millstone  of  a  mill  of  this  kind,  driven  by  an  ass, 
which  is  alluded  to  in  Matt,  xviii,  6  (fiiXog  ovikoq),  to 
distinguish  it,  says  Lightfoot  (Hoi:  Hebr.  ad  loc),  from 
those  small  mills  which  were  used  to  grind  spices  for 
the  wound  of  circumcision,  or  for  the  delights  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  to  which  botli  Kimchi  and  Jarchi  find  a 
reference  in  Jer.  xxv,  10.    Of  a  married  man  with  slen- 


Koman  Uand-mills. 


MILL 


260 


MILL 


der  means  it  is  said  in  the  Talmud  (Kidduskin,  p.  29  6), 
"  Witli  a  millstone  on  his  neck  he  studies  the  law,"  and 
the  expression  is  still  proverbial  (Tendlau,  Sprichwurter, 
p.  181).  'i'lic  ordinary  miU  of  the  Homans,  however, 
was  essentially  like  the  conical  hand-mill  of  the  East, 
as  specimens  preserved  among  the  ruins  of  bake-houses 
in  Pompeii  show  (see  Smith's  Diet,  of  Or.  and  Rom, 
Antiq.  s.  v.  Mola). 

It  was  the  movable  upper  millstone  of  the  hand-mill 
with  which  the  woman  of  Thebez  broke  Abimclcch's 
skull  (Judg.  ix,  53).  It  is  now  generally  made,  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Thomson,  of  a  porous  lava  brought  from  the 
Hauran,  both  stones  being  of  the  same  material ;  but, 
says  the  same  traveller, '•  I  have  seen  the  nether  made 
of  a  compact  sandstone,  and  quite  thick,  while  the  iipper 
was  of  this  lava,  probably  because  from  its  lightness  it 
is  the  more  easily  driven  round  with  the  liand"  (Land 
and  Hook;  ii,  29(J),  The  porous  lava  to  which  he  refers 
is  probably  the  same  as  the  black  tufa  mentioned  by 
Burckhardt  {Sy}-ia,  p.  57),  the  blocks  of  which  are 
brought  from  the  Lejah,  and  are  fashioned  into  mill- 
stones by  the  inhabitants  of  Ezra,  a  village  in  the  Hau- 
ran. "  They  vary  in  price  according  to  their  size,  from 
fifteen  to  sixty  piastres,  and  are  preferred  to  all  others 
on  account  of  the  hardness  of  the  stone." 

One  i)assage  (Lam.  v,  13)  is  deserving  of  notice,  which 
Iloheisel  (De  Molis  Manual,  Vet,  in  Ugolini,  vol.  xxix) 
explains  in  a  manner  which  gives  it  a  point  that  is  lost 
in  our  Auth.  Vers.  It  may  be  rendered,  "  The  choice 
(men)  bore  the  mill  ("iin::,  tec/tun),  and  the  youths 
stumbled  beneath  the  wood ;"  the  wood  being  the  wood- 
work or  shaft  of  the  mill,  which  the  captives  were  com- 
pelled to  carry.  There  are,  moreover,  allusions  to  other 
apparatus  connected  with  the  operation  of  grinding — the 
sieve,  or  bolter  (f^E3,  naphah',  Isa.  xxx,  28;  or  il"i-2, 
kiharah',  Amos  ix,  9),  and  the  hopper,  though  the  lat- 
ter is  only  found  in  the  Mishna  (Zabim,  iv.  3),  and  was 
a  late  invention.  AVe  also  find  in  tlie  iVlishna  {Demai, 
iii,  4)  that  mention  is  made  of  a  miller  ("Hia,  tuchen), 
indicating  that  grinding  grain  was  recognised  as  a  dis- 
tinct occupation.  Wind-mills  and  water-mills  are  of 
more  recent  date.— Smith;  Kitto. 

Mill,  David,  D.D.,  a  noted  German  Orientalist, 
was  born  at  Kiinigsberg,  Prussia,  April  13, 1G92.  Called 
to  Holland,  he  accepted  a  professorship  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Utrecht.  He  died  May  22,  1755.  His  ablest 
work  is,  Dixfeiiationes  Selectee  Varia  S.  Lilt,  ei  Anti- 
quitatis  Orientalis  Capita  expionentes  et  illustruntes,  curis 
secundis  (Lugd.  Bat.  1743). 

Mill,  James,  an  eminent  British  metaphysician  and 
political  cconiiTnist,  was  bom  of  hiwnl)lc  jiarcntage  in  the 
iieighhorliood  of  .Montrose,  Scotland,  ApriKi,  1773.  After 
having  received  a  thorough  education  in  the  house  of 
Sir  John  Stuart,  INI.P.,  he  was  sent  to  the  I'niversity  of 
Edinburgh,  where  he  was  educated  for  the  Church.  He 
entered  into  holy  orders  in  1798,  but,  instead  of  devoting 
himself  to  his  sacred  calling,he  went  to  London  in  IHOO; 
became  editor  of  the  Literary  Journal,  and  wrote  for 
various  periodicals,  including  the  Eclectic  and  the  Kdin- 
hurf/h  lieriew.  In  IHUIJ  he  commenced  a  Ilixtory  of 
liritish  India,  which  he  completed  and  published  in  1818. 
The  impression  produced  by  this  masterly  history  on 
the  Indian  authorities  was  such  that  in  1819  Mill  was 
appointe<l  assistant-examiner  of  Indian  correspondence. 
He  continued  in  this  office  till  IK'52,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed head  of  the  examiner's  office,  where  he  had  the 
control  of  all  the  departments  of  Indian  administration. 
Shortly  after  his  appointment  to  the  India  House,  he 
contributed  the  articles  on  Goveniment,  Education,  Ju- 
risprudence, Law  ofXalions,  Lilierti/  of  the  rreax.  Colo- 
nies, and  Prison  Discipline  to  the  Enn/clopwdia  Jiritmi- 
nica.  These  essays  were  reprinted  in  a  separate  form 
and  became  widely  known.  The  powers  of  analysis,  of 
clear  statement,  and  thorough  application  of  principles 
exhibited  in  these  articles  had  probably  never  before 


been  brought  to  bear  on  this  class  of  subjects.  In  1821- 
1822  he  published  his  Elements  of  Political  Economy,  a 
work  prepared  [)rimarily  with  a  view  to  the  education 
of  his  eldest  son,  John  Stuart  Mill  (q.  v.). 

In  1829  Mr.  Mill  came  before  the  public  with  his 
Analysis  of  the.  Phenomena  of  the  Human  Mind,  a  work 
on  which  he  bestowed  more  of  the  labor  of  thought  than 
on  any  other  cf  his  ])roductions,  and  on  a  subject  of  spe- 
cial interest  to  the  theologian  and  the  philosopher.  In 
his  work  Mill  has  attempted  to  resolve  all  the  powers 
of  the  human  mind  into  a  very  small  number  of  simple 
elements.  Erom  an  examination  of  a  number  of  the 
more  complicated  cases  of  consciousness,  he  arrives  at 
the  conclusion  that  they  all  resolve  themselves  into  three 
simple  elements— sensations,  ideas,  and  the  train  of  ideas. 
He  thus  explains  what  he  means  by  the  terms  sensa- 
tions and  ideas:  "We  have  two  classes  of  feeling:  one, 
that  which  exists  when  the  object  of  sense  is  present; 
another,  that  which  exists  after  the  object  of  sense  has 
ceased  to  be  present.  The  one  class  of  feelings  I  call 
sensations,  the  other  class  of  feelings  I  call  ideas"  (i,  41). 
He  begins  with  the  simpler  phenomena,  and  thence  pro- 
ceeds to  the  exposition  of  the  more  complex  ones.  "  The 
feelings,"  he  says,  "which  we  have  through  the  exter- 
nal senses  are  the  most  simple,  at  least  the  most  famil- 
iar, of  the  mental  phenomena.  Hence  the  propriety  of 
commencing  with  this  class  of  our  feelings"  (.!  na/ysis,  i, 
1).  Accordingly  he  begins  with  sensation,  under  which 
head  he  ranges  the  feelings  which  we  have  by  the  five 
senses — smell,  taste,  hearing,  touch,  and  sight ;  the  mus- 
cular sensations,  and  the  sensations  in  the  alimentary 
canal.  He  next  treats  of  ideas,  or,  as  he  calls  them,  the 
images  of  sensation.  He  then  comments  on  ideas  put 
together  or  associated  in  trains,  and  of  the  order  of  their 
association  and  the  causes  of  that  order.  He  then  treats 
of  consciousness  and  conception,  which  ydiilosopliers,  he 
says,  have  erroneously  created  into  what  they  called 
powers  of  the  mind ;  whereas,  he  says,  consciousness  is 
merely  a  name  applied  to  sensations,  and  to  ideas  wheth- 
er simple  or  complex — to  all  the  feelings  of  our  sentient 
nature :  and  conception  a  name  applied  only  to  ideas,  and 
to  ideas  only  in  a  state  of  combination,  "  Imagination," 
he  says,  "  is  the  name  of  a  train  of  ideas,  I  am  said  to 
have  an  imagination  when  I  have  a  train  of  ideas. 
There  is  a  gre^at  diversity  of  trains.  Not  only  has  the 
same  individual  an  endless  varietj'  of  trains,  but  a  differ- 
ent character  belongs  to  the  whole  series  of  trains  which 
pass  through  the  minds  of  different  individuals  or  classes 
of  individuals.  The  different  ])ursuits  in  which  the  sev- 
eral classes  of  men  are  engaged  render  particular  trains 
of  ideas  more  common  to  tliem  than  other  trains.  One 
man  is  a  merchant,  and  trains  respecting  the  goods  in 
which  he  buys  and  those  in  which  he  sells  are  habitual 
in  his  mind.  Another  man  is  a  lawyer,  and  ideas  of 
clients  and  fees,  and  judges  and  witnesses,  and  legal  in- 
struments and  points  of  contestation,  and  the  practice 
of  his  court,  are  habitiudly  passing  in  his  mind.  Ideas 
of  another  kind  occujiy  tlie  niiiul  of  the  physician;  of 
another  kind  still  the  mind  of  ilie  warrior.  The  states- 
man is  occujiied  with  a  train  different  from  that  of  any 
of  the  classes  that  have  l)een  mentioned,  and  one  states- 
man with  a  very  different  train  from  another,  according 
as  his  mind  is  running  upon  expedients  wliich  may 
serve  the  purpose  of  the  day.  or  arrangement  which  may 
secure  the  happiiu'ss  of  the  population  from  generation 
to  generation.  A  peculiar  character  belongs  to  the  train 
which  habitually  occupies  the  mind  of  the  mathemati- 
cian. The  mind  of  the  metaphysician  is  also  occupied 
by  a  train  distinguished  from  that  of  other  classes.  And 
there  is  one  man  yet  to  be  mentioned,  the  poet,  the  pe- 
'  culiarity  of  whose  trains  has  been  a  subject  of  particular 
[  observation.  To  such  a  degree,  indeed,  have  the  trains 
',  of  the  poet  been  singled  out  for  distinction,  tliat  the 
I  word  imagination,  in  a  more  restricted  sense,  is  appro- 
priated to  tliem.  We  do  not  call  the  trains  of  the  law- 
yer, or  the  trains  of  the  merchant,  imagination.  W'n  do 
I  not  speak  of  them  as  imagining,  when  they  are  revolv- 


MILL 


261 


MILL 


ing  each  the  ideas  which  belong  to  his  peculiar  occupa- 
tion ;  it  is  only  to  the  poet  that  the  epithet  of  imagina- 
tion is  applied.  His  train,  or  trains  analogous  to  his.  are 
those  which  receive  the  name  of  imagination"  (i,  179). 

In  some  parts  of  his  philosophy  Mill  has,  we  think, 
been  led  into  error,  by  carrying  his  notion  of  association, 
as  an  explanation  of  these  phenomena,  too  far.  Thus, 
in  the  chapter  on  classification,  after  very  ably  showing 
how  long  men  had  been  led  away  by  mere  jargon  from 
the  real  nature  and  object  of  classification,  he  says: 
"  IMan  first  becomes  acquainted  with  individuals.  He 
first  names  individuals.  But  individuals  are  innumera- 
ble, and  he  cannot  have  innumerable  names.  He  must 
make  one  name  serve  for  many  individuals."  Then, 
after  allucUng  to  the  case  of  "  synchronous  sensations  so 
concreted  by  constant  conjunction  as  to  appear,  though 
numerous,  only  one,  of  which  the  ideas  of  sensible  ob- 
jects— a  rose,  a  plough,  a  house,  a  ship — are  examples," 
he  thus  proceeds :  "  It  is  easy  to  see  wherein  the  present 
case  agrees  with  and  wherein  it  differs  from  those  famil- 
iar cases.  The  word  man,  we  shall  say,  is  first  applied 
to  an  individual;  it  is  first  associated  with  the  idea  of 
that  individual,  and  acquires  the  power  of  calling  up  the 
idea  of  him ;  it  is  next  applied  to  another  individual, 
and  acquires  the  power  of  calling  up  the  idea  of  him ; 
so  of  another,  and  another,  till  it  has  become  associated 
with  an  indefinite  number,  and  has  acquired  the  power 
of  calling  up  an  indefinite  number  of  those  ideas  indif- 
ferently. What  happens  ?  It  does  call  up  an  indefinite 
number  of  the  ideas  of  individuals  as  often  as  it  occurs ; 
and  calling  them  up  in  close  connection,  it  forms  them 
into  a  species  of  complex  idea"  (i,  204).  From  this  sim- 
ple basis  he  builds  up  with  remarkable  dexterity  a  com- 
prehensive system,  all  the  errors  or  defects  of  which  lie 
at  the  very  threshold.  His  conclusions  are  inevitable, 
if  his  premises,  his  representation  of  the  facts  of  con- 
sciousness, be  accepted.  Sensation,  ideation,  association, 
and  naming  are  the  elementary  processes  in  his  analy- 
sis, b}^  which  he  accounts  for  all  the  complex  phenomena 
of  the  mind — for  abstraction,  memorj',  judgment,  ratioci- 
nation, belief,  and  the  power  of  motives.  He  devotes 
the  latter  half  of  the  second  volume  of  his  Analysis  to 
the  phenomena  in  which  the  sensations  and  ideas  are  to 
be  considered  as  not  merely  existing,  but  also  as  exciting 
to  action.  He  treats  of  pleasurable  and  painful  sensa- 
tions, and  of  the  causes  of  the  pleasurable  and  painful 
sensations;  then  of  ideas  of  the  pleasurable  and  painful 
sensations,  and  of  the  causes  of  them.  He  treats  of 
wealth,  power,  and  dignity,  and  their  contraries ;  of  our 
fellow-creatures,  and  of  the  objects  called  sublime  and 
beautiful,  and  their  contraries,  contemplated  as  causes 
of  our  pleasures  and  pains.  Chapter  xxii  is  devoted  to 
the  subject  of  motives,  and  chapter  xxiv  to  that  of  the 
will;  chapter  xxv  (the  last)  to  intention.  Mr.  Mill's 
exposition  of  all  these  phenomena  is  mainly  grounded 
on  the  law  of  association,  by  which  he  means  simply 
the  fact  that  the  order  of  occurrence  among  our  ideas  is 
tlie  order  of  occurrence  among  our  former  sensations,  of 
which  those  ideas  are  the  copies. 

The  last  publication  of  MiU  was  a  fragment  contain- 
ing a  severe  criticism  on  James  Macintosh's  dissertation 
on  the  progress  of  ethical  philosophy.  Mill,  who  had 
always  exercised  a  particular  championship  for  the  doc- 
trines of  Thomas  Hobbes  (q.  v.),  was  not  at  all  pleased 
with  the  unceremonious  manner  in  which  his  favorite 
was  handled  by  Sir  James.  If  Hobbes  and  Mill  are 
right,  then  many  great  names  are  liable  to  the  charge 
of  error.  Mill  took  a  leading  part  in  the  founding  of 
University  College,  London,  and  gave  a  powerful  intel- 
lectual stimulus  to  a  number  of  young  men,  some  of 
whom  (including  his  own  son,  and  Grote,  the  Greek  his- 
torian) have  risen  to  eminence.  He  died  at  Kensington 
June  23,  1836.  See  Engl.  Cyclop,  s.  v.;  Amer.  Cyclop. 
xi,  501  sq.;  Chambers,  Cyclop,  s.  v.;  Lewis,  Biog.  Hist, 
of  Philosophers,  ii,  507 ;  Westminst.Rev.  xiii,  2G5 ;  Black- 
wood's Magazine,  xlvi,  671 ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and 
Amer.  Authors,  ii,  1279  sq. 


Mill,  John,  D.D.,  a  very  learned  English  divine 
and  Biblical  critic,  was  born  at  Shapp,  Westmoreland, 
in  1645.  In  1661  he  became  a  servitor  in  Queen's  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  where  he  secured  the  master  of  arts  in 
1669.  He  was  afterwards  elected  a  fellow,  and  became 
eminent  as  a  tutor.  Having  entered  into  orders,  he 
was  greatly  admired  for  his  pulpit  eloquence.  In  1676 
he  became  chaplain  to  the  bishop  of  Oxford.  In  1680 
he  received  from  his  college  the  living  of  Bletchingdon, 
in  Oxfordshire,  and  in  the  year  following  received  the 
degree  of  D.D.,  and  became  chaplain  in  ordinary  to 
Charles  II.  In  1685  he  was  elected  principal  of  St.  Ed- 
mund's Hall,  Oxford,  and  in  1704  was  appointed  preb- 
endary of  Canterbury.  He  died  in  1708.  He  is  famous 
for  having  devoted  the  labor  of  thirty  years  to  the  prep- 
aration of  a  new  edition  of  the  Greek  Testament,  finish- 
ing it  only  fourteen  days  before  his  death.  It  appeared 
under  the  title  of  "H  Kau'?)  AmSt/Kj/,  Novum  Testa- 
mentum  Grcecum,  cum  Lectionibus  Variantihus  MSS.  Ex- 
emj}lai-ium,  Versionum,  Editionum,  SS.  Pati'um  et  Sci'ip- 
torum  Ecclesi((sticorum,  et  in  easdem  not  is ;  Studio  et 
labore  Joannis  Millii,  S.  T.  P.  Oxonii,  e  Theatre  Sheldo- 
niano  (1707,  fol.).  The  various  readings  are  reckoned  at 
about  80,000,  the  text  being  that  of  Kobert  Stephens's 
edition  of  1550.  The  collection  of  such  a  mass  of  va- 
rious readings,  instead  of  supplying  arms  for  infidelity, 
as  some  seem  to  have  feared,  has  served  to  place  the 
uncorrupted  integrity  of  the  Scriptures  in  a  stronger 
light  than  ever.  Dr.  Wliitby  (q.  v.)  attacked  the  work 
in  his  Examen  varinntiim  lectionum  Joh.  Millii  (1710), 
but  Dr.  Bentley  (q.  v.),  under  the  signature  of  Phileleu- 
theros  Lipsiensis,  ably  vindicated  the  labors  of  Mill ;  and 
JMichaelis,  Marsh,  Harewood,  and  critical  scholars  gener- 
ally, attest  the  great  value  of  his  edition.  It  has  been 
aptly  remarked  that  ■'  the  infancy  of  criticism  ends  with 
the  edition  of  Gregory,  and  the  age  of  manhood  com- 
mences with  that  of  Mill."  Mill's  edition  ranks  next 
to  that  of  Wetstein  in  importance  and  utility,  its  pro- 
legomena being  beyond  price.  See  Marsh,  Dirinily  Lect- 
ures, vii,  9,  10,  13;  Wood,  Athen.  Oxon. ;  Jones,  Christ. 
Biography,  s.  v. ;  Brit,  and  For.  Rev.  1871,  Feb.  art.  viii ; 
Loiul.  Qu.  Rev.  July,  1871;  Blackwood's  Mag.  xxviii, 
443 ;  Chambers,  Cyclop,  s.  v. ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit. 
and  A  mer.  A  uthors,  ii,  1279  sq. ;  Home,  Bihl.  Bib.  (1839), 
p.  16;  Orme,  Bibl.  Bib.  s.  v.     See  Criticism. 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  the  British  philosopher  whose 
writings  have  done  much  to  shape  the  thinking  of  this 
generation,  was  the  son  of  James  Mill  (q.  v.),  and  was 
born  in  London  May  20,  1806.  His  intellectual  train- 
ing was  conducted  by  his  learned  father,  who,  holding 
that  all  men  are  born  with  equal  faculties,  and  that 
character  is  the  result  solely  of  association  and  circum- 
stance, preferred,  it  would  seem,  the  sole  control  of  the 
boy  in  order  to  test  upon  him  the  theories  he  had  es- 
poused and  preached.  At  an  age  when  children  are 
usually  weaned,  John  Stuart  began  the  study  of  Greek, 
followed  shortly  after  by  arithmetic,  with  Latin  at  eight, 
and  logic  in  his  twelfth  year,  and  before  he  had  com- 
pleted his  fourteenth  year,  as  he  tells  us  himself,  he  had 
gone  over  the  whole  range  of  ancient  literature  and 
philosophy,  as  well  as  the  most  noted  of  modern  histo- 
rians, civil  and  ecclesiastical,  besides  having  himself 
composed  volumes  of  history.  Such  an  education,  con- 
ducted by  a  person  of  his  father's  ability,  could  not  fail 
of  remarkable  results.  By  it  he  also  gained  lasting 
habits  of  application,  and  a  wonderful  power  of  sus- 
tained and  accurate  thinking;  and  by  the  constant  use 
of  his  pen  he  early  became  master  of  a  style  whose 
point  and  lucidity  are  unrivalled  among  logical  and 
metaphysical  writers.  But  with  these  advantages  there 
came  also  a  most  serious  drawback.  The  training  in- 
tentionally left  one  side  of  his  nature  untouched.  It 
ignored  all  culture  of  the  imagination,  the  emotions,  or 
the  sympathies.  Of  the  tender  associations,  the  sweet 
charities  that  cluster  about  the  thought  of  home,  this 
young  philosopher  knew  nothing.  He  cannot  bring 
"himself  to  say  that  he  loved  his  father,  and  of  his 


MILL 


262 


MILL 


mother  he  makes  no  mention  whatever.  Nor  was  the 
solitude  of  his  early  lil'e  broken  by  the  cheerful  inter- 
course of  school,  indeed,  he  was  carefully  kept  apart 
from  all  his  contemporaries  lest  he  should  be  corrupted 
by  their  prejudices  or  their  example,  insomuch  that  he 
was  not  himself  aware  that  his  own  education  and  ac- 
quirements were  not  those  of  any  other  boy  of  his  age. 
As  this  education,  especially  with  respect  to  religion, 
has  an  important  bearing  on  the  life  and  work  of  this  so 
justly  celebrated  man,  we  quote  here  at  length  from  his 
A  utobio(jraphy  : 

"I  was  broiijjht  np  from  the  first  without  any  relij,'iou8 
belief,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term.  My  fa- 
ther, educated  in  the  creed  of  Scotch  PiesUyteriaiiitim, 
had  by  his  own  studies  and  reflections  been  early  led  to 
reject  not  only  tlie  belief  in  revehition,  but  al>o  the  foun- 
dations of  what  is  commonly  culled  Natural  Ueligion.  .  .  . 
Finding  no  halting-place  in  deism,  he  remained  in  a  state 
of  perplexity  until,  doubtless  after  nnuiy  struggles,  he 
yielded  to  tlie  conviction  that  concerniwi  the  origin  of 
things  nrithiini  irhat>ivr  ran  be  kmncn.  This  is  the  only 
correct  statnociit  .ilMiis  opinion,  for  dogmatic  atheism  he 
looked  upon  as  .ili-urd  :  as  most  ofthose  wli  'ui  the  world 
has  considiMi'd  atheists  have  always  done.  These  jjartic- 
lllars  arc  important,  l)ecause  thev  show  that  inv  father's 
rejection  of  all  that  is  ealleil  religious  belief  was  not,  as 
many  might  siijipose,  iirimarily  a  matter  ol'  lo'.,'ie  and  evi- 
dence: tfu^  grounds  of  it  were  inoral  still  more  than  in- 
tellectual, lie  found  it  impossible  to  Iwlieve  that  a  world 
60  fall  of  evil  was  the  work  of  an  Anth or  ( iliinim,'  in- 
finite power  with  perfect  wisdom  and  ri_lieoM-iii~>.  .  .  . 
His  aversion  to  religion,  in  the  sense  iisnally  aiiarhed  to 
the  term,  was  of  the  same  kind  with  thai  of  Liierelius: 
he  reirarded  it  with  tlic  feelings  due  not  to  a  mere  mental 
delusion,  but  to  a  great  moral  evil.  He  looked  upon  it  as 
the  greatest  enemy  of  morality:  first,  by  setting  up  ficti- 
tious excellences— belief  in  creeds,  (ievotioiial  feelin<;s, 
and  ceremonies,  not  connected  with  the  i.'ood  of  the  hu- 
man race — and  causiiiL;  them  to  be  accepie(l  as  sul)siitutes 
for  genuine  virtues;  btil,  above  all,  by  railimllv  vitiating 
the  standard  of  morals,  making'  ii  eon-i-i  in  dom-  the 
will  of  a  being  on  whom  it  lavishc's  all  tlie  plira-es  of  ,i,l- 
nlation,  but  whom  in  sober  trnMi  it  ilepiri-  .is  eniimnily 
hateful.  I  have  a  hundred  times  heard  him  say  thai  ail 
ages  and  nations  have  represented  their  gods  a"s  wicked  j 
in  a  constantly  iiicreasin<;  progresRion  ;  that  mankind 
have  gone  on  adding  trait  after  trait  till  they  reached  the  | 
most  perfect  conception  of  wickedness  which  the  hitman 
miud  can  devise,  and  have  called  this  God,  ami  pro-irate. 1 
themselves  before  it.  This  ,„•  j,h,.-<  u/lrd  of  wi(  kcilne-s  he 
considered  to  be  embodied  in  what  is  eommc)iilv  iire<ent- 
ed  to  mankind  as  the  creed  of  Christianity.  'I'hiidv  (he 
used  to  say)  of  a  being  who  would  make  a  hell — who 
■would  create  the  hitman  rtice  with  tlie  infallible  fore- 
knowledge, and  therefore  with  the  intention,  thtit  tlie 
great  majority  of  them  were  to  be  consigned  to  horrible 
and  everlasting  torment  1" 

It  does  not  .seem  to  have  occurred  to  James  Mill  to  in- 
quire whether  what  was  presented  as  the  creed  of  Chris- 
tianity by  the  Kirk  and  its  divines  really  was  the  only 
lesson  to  be  learned  from  the  religion  of  the  Gospel  and 
the  idea  of  God.  15ut,  holding  this  entirely  negative 
belief,  essentially  and  directly,  as  was  well  said  by 
Browne  before  the  Christian  Evidence  .Society,  because 
he  did  not  ailmit  the  freedom  of  the  will,  he  based  the 
education  of  his  son  ujion  it.  Hence  wc  are  not  aston- 
ished when  a  little  after  the  passage  quoted  above  we 
find  John  Stuart  Jlill  writing: 

"It  would  have  been  wholly  inconsistent  with  my  fa- 
ther's ideas  of  duty  to  allow  me  to  acquire  impressions 
contrary  to  his  convictions  and  feelings  respecting  reli<_'- 
jon;  and  he  impressed  upon  me  from  the  first  tliat  the 
manner  in  which  the  world  came  into  existence  was  a 
subject  on  which  nothing  was  known  ;  that  the  question. 
'Wlio  mtidc  me?'  cannot  lie  answered,  heiMiise  we  liave 
no  experience  or  authentic  inforMiaiion  from  which  to 
answer  it ;  and  that  any  answer  only  throws  the  difiiculty 
a  step  further  buck,  since  the  question  immediately  pre- 
sents itself, '  Wlio  made  God  y' " 

That  is  to  say,  because  he  could  not  solve  the  problem 
of  the  origin  of  evil,  he  took  refuge  in  a  cheerless  nes- 
cience, and  denied  the  possibility  of  knowing  anything 
relative  to  the  origin  or  the  destiny  of  mankind,  denied 
the  authority  of  conscience,  and  substitulc<l  tlie  princi- 
ple of  utility  for  any  intuitive  standard  of  right  and 
wrong.  In  his  own  life  tliis  dismal  jdiilosopliy  had  al- 
ready borne  its  bitter  fruit,  and  his  son  writes  that 

"He  deemed  very  few  pleasures  worth  the  price  paid 
for  them ;  he  thought  human  life  a  poor  thing  after  the 


freshness  of  youth  and  of  unsatisfied  curiosity  had  gone 
by.  He  would  sometimes  say  that  if  life  were  made  what 
it  might  be  by  good  government  and  good  education,  it 
would  be  worth  having;  but  he  never  spoke  with  any 
entliusiasm  even  of  that  possibility.  He  ussd  to  say  he 
had  never  known  a  happy  old  man,  except  those  who  were 
able  to  live  over  again  u\  the  pleasures  of  the  young." 

At  first  young  Mill  accejited  without  hesitation  the 
leading  ideas  of  his  father,  and  of  the  circle  of  his  fa- 
ther's friends,  among  whom  were  chief  the  philosojiber 
Bentham  (q.  v.)  and  the  jiolitical  economist  liieardo. 
They  had  many  projects  on  foot  for  the  improvement 
of  mankind,  and  the  youthfid  and  inexperienced  Mill 
entered  into  their  plans  with  the  zeal  becoming  his  age 
and  wisdom  ;  indeed,  he  believed  he  had  a  call  "  to  be  a 
reformer  of  mankind,"  and  felt  as  if  all  liis  earthly  hap- 
piness hung  upon  this  design.  His  studies  were  ili- 
rected  to  this  end,  and  he  began  when  only  sixteen  to 
employ  his  yien  in  the  work.  The  enthusiasm  lasted 
until  his  twentieth  year.  He  was  in  the  midst  of  eager 
discussion,  he  had  already  made  himself  a  reputation  iii 
the  new  Westminster  Hetieu;  and  was  hard  at  work  upon 
his  edition  oi  Judicial  Eridence,  when  lie  stojijied  to  ask 
himself  this  question,  "  Suppose  that  all  your  objects  in 
life  were  realized,  that  all  the  changes  in  institutions 
and  opinions  which  you  are  looking  forwanl  to  could  be 
completely  eflfected  at  this  very  instant,  would  this  be  a 
great  joy  and  happiness  to  you  ?"  He  got  the  inevita- 
ble answer,  '•  No."  In  an  hour  the  liglit  faded  out  of 
all  his  visions.  His  labor  had  lost  its  motive  and  its 
charm.  He  had  nothing,  he  thought,  to  live  for;  and 
he  sank  into  a  dull  and  dreary  melancholy.  He  had 
heretofore  made  happiness  the  end  of  existence,  and  the 
test  of  all  right  action ;  but  he  now  found  it  impossible, 
in  his  own  experience,  to  realize  that  end  or  apply  that 
test,  because  he  was  forced  to  confess  that  no  action, 
however  apparently  successful,  was  competent  to  bring 
him  happiness.  His  philosophy  of  life  had  broken 
down  under  him.  It  was  evidently  necessary  to  recon- 
struct it ;  and  as  the  six  months'  melancholy  wore  away 
be  elaborated  his  new  theory.  He  still  considered  hap- 
piness the  end  of  life,  but  '•  thought  this  end  only  to  be 
.attained  by  not  making  it  the  direct  end.  Ask  your- 
self whether  you  are  happy,  anil  you  cease  to  be  so. 
The  only  chance  is  to  treat,  not  happiness,  but  some 
end  external  to  it,  as  the  jiurpose  of  life."  These  utilita- 
rian doctrines  Ijecame  the  life  of  his  theory  of  morals, 
and  the  principles  in  his  expansion  of  the  Benthamite 
formulas.  They  are,  it  must  be  confessed,  "the  least 
earthy  forms  of  this  earthy  philosophy,"  and  yet  how 
very  far  from  the  Christian  doctrine  of  dt:ty  and  of 
right  is  any  such  theory  of  morals  as  this !  Still,  had 
he  but  followed  the  iVee  and  uncontrollable  bent  of  his 
philosophical  growth  from  this  jioiiit  in  his  life,  or  had 
he  fallen  into  hands  other  than  those  which  subse- 
quently enchained  him,  we  think  that  he  might  liave 
arrived  at  far  higher  and  more  sound  results  in  moral 
and  metaphysical  science  than  he  ever  attained  to.  Tor 
it  may  be  here  remarked  that  one  of  the  distinctive  ])e- 
culiarities  of  INIill  was  what,  for  want  of  a  simpler  term, 
must  be  calleil  his  receptiri/y.  Seldom  has  so  jiowerful 
a  thinker  been  so  subject  to  the  unconscious  inHucnce 
of  others;  but  in  him  sympathy  was  more  powerful 
than  individuality — he  had  more  of  the  feminine  prin- 
ciple that  receives  than  the  masculine  power  which  im- 
parts an  impression.  Hence  through  life,  whenever  his 
sympathies  and  affections  were  e.xciled,  his  opinions  fol- 
lowed. 

In  1820  John  was  first  suffered  to  pass  beyond  the 
narrow  limn  of  his  father's  study,  and  he  was  sent  for  a 
year  to  France,  where  be  studied  some  of  the  sciences 
and  the  higher  mathematics.  On  his  return  he  contin- 
ued his  ])hiloso]ihical  studies,  and  in  the  winter  of  1822- 
•23  had  the  pleasure  of  starting  a  "  I'tilitarian  Society," 
where  he  enjoyed  discussions  upon  some  of  the  heaviest 
metaphy.sic.al  to|iics  tiiat  occui)ied  the  British  mind, 
and  lie  himself  tells  us  that  he  ahv.ays  dated  from  them 
his  own  "  real  inauguration  as  an  original  and  indepen- 


MILL 


263 


MILL 


dent  thinker."  He  also  obtained  valuable  instructions 
from  the  "  Co-operative  Society,"  comiiosed  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  Owen,  the  Communist,  -with  whom  Mill  and  a 
few  other  political  economists,  sworn  enemies  of  Com- 
munism, had  discussions  in  order  to  "  settle"  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  Owenites  had  any  right  to  exist.  ^  Tlie 
result  was  the  formation  of  a  "Speculative  Society," 
composed  of  a  body  of  young  men  who  became  almost 
as  famous  as  Mill— Macaulay,  Tliirlwall,  Wilberforce, 
and  the  Bulwers,  among  others,  were  of  that  circle.  In 
May,  1823,  his  father  procured  for  him  employment  in 
the' East  India  Company,  which  he  himself  was  serv- 
ing, and  John  was  thus  aiforded  the  necessary  compe- 
tency for  the  continuation  of  his  literary  labors,  besides 
enjoying  that  training  in  accurate  and  perspicuous  writ- 
ing for  which  he  afterwards  became  noted.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  his  work  in  the  India  House  was  of 
great  value  to  him.  It  considerably  enlarged  his  knowl- 
edge of  social  and  political  subjects,  and  in  a  more  direct 
and  human  way  than  by  the  study  of  books.  He  was 
led  to  study  mind  in  the  concrete.  His  despatches  had 
to  pass  the  scrutiny  of  the  directors ;  then  they  were  to 
be  read  and  acted  on  by  men  living  on  the  other  side 
of  the  world — both  of  which  facts  led  him  to  choose  not 
only  the  strongest  arguments,  but  the  strongest  way 
of  putting  them,  Mr.  W.  T.  Thornton,  his  colleague, 
thus  describes  the  vast  amount  of  his  work  in  that  re- 
lation : 

"In  1828  he  was  promoted  to  be  assistant  examiner, 
and  in  18.56  he  succeeded  to  the  post  of  chief  examiner, 
after  which  his  duty  consisted  rather  in  supervising  what 
his  assistants  had  written  than  in  writing  himself;  but 
for  the  tliiee-and-twciity  years  preceding  he  had  had  im- 
mediate cliarge  of  tlie  political  department,  and  had  writ- 
ten almost  every  'iMilitiral'  (lcs])at(h  of  any  importance 
tliat  conveyed  the  iii>u unions  of  the  merchant  princes 
ofLeadenlmll  Street  to  tlicii-  pro-ron^als  in  Asia.  Of  the 
quality  ofthe-e  documents  it  is  suirnient  to  say  that  they 
were  John  Mill's;  but  in  res|)eet  1(j  llicir  (|naulily,  it  iiiav 
be  worth  mentioning  that  a  descii])i  ive  caialoLriie  oi'ihiin 
completely  Alls  a  small  quarto  volume  of  liei  \\  ecu  ::(iii  and 
400  pages,  in  their  author's  handwi  iiin^,  whiili  now  lies 
before  me;  also  that  the  share  of  the  Court  of  Directors 
in  the  correspondence  between  themselves  and  tlie  Indian 
government  used  to  averat'e  annually  about  ten  huge 
velliim-bouud  volumes,  foolscap  size,  and  live  or  six 
inches  thick,  and  that  of  these  volumes,  two  a  year,  for 
nioie  than  twenty  years  running,  were  exclusively  of 
ISIill's  composition  :  this,  too,  at  times  when  he  was  en- 
gaired  upon  such  voluntary  work  in  addition  as  his  Logic 
and  Political  Economy"  {Memorial,  p.  31).' 

Mill  remained  with  the  East  India  Company  until 
its  extinction  in  1858.  In  1865  he  was  elected  to 
Parliament,  and  acted  with  the  advanced  liberals, 
but  lost  his  seat  in  18(38.  In  1867  he  was  chosen  rec- 
tor of  St.  Andrew's  University,  Edinburgh.  In  1869 
his  wife,  whom  he  adored,  died,  and  in  order  to  be 
ever  near  her  grave  he  removed  to  Avignon,  France, 
and  there  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  died 
May  9,  1873. 

While  yet  a  youth  we  have  seen  Mill  a  writer  of  va- 
rious essays.  They  were  of  such  a  bold  and  thoughtful 
character  as  to  secure  him  even  then  a  prominent  place 
in  the  Edinburgh  and  Westminster  Revie%cs,  and  from 
1834  to  1840  he  was  editor  in  chief  of  the  latter.  In 
1827  he  was  intrusted  with  the  editorship  of  Bentham's 
Rationale  of  Judicial  Evidence.  But  his  great  produc- 
tion he  brought  out  when  he  was  thirty-eight  years 
old,  and  at  once  secured  by  the  System  of  Logic,  Ratio- 
cinatire  ami  Inductive  (Lond.  1843,  2  vols.  8vo ;  repub- 
lished, N.  Y.,  Harpers,  1864,  from  the  8th  ed.),  a  world- 
wide reputation.  It  is  a  perfect  exhibit  of  his  philosophy, 
notwithstanding  his  claim  that  he  seeks  simply  to  dis- 
cover and  expound  the  proper  method  of  investigating 
truth,  without  pledging  himself  to  any  system  of  specu- 
lative philosophy.  "  There  are  so  many  points  of  a  spec- 
ulative nature  touched  upon,  all  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Analysis,  that  he  must  necessarily  be  regarded  as  a 
partisan  of  the  modern  Lockian  school  of  metaphysics" 
(Morell,  p.  252).  Mill  has  developed  in  his  Logic  the 
deductive  principle  and  its  application  to  logic  as  a  sci- 


ence, and  thus  has  lent  special  value  to  his  work.  The 
last  hundred  pages  are  taken  np  with  what  the  author 
calls  "  the  logic  of  the  moral  sciences."  Here,  as  he 
tells  us,  he  makes  "an  attempt  to  contribute  towards 
the  solution  of  a  question  which  the  decay  of  old  opin- 
ions, and  the  agitation  which  disturbs  European  society  . 
to  its  inmost  depths,  render  as  important  in  the  present 
day  to  the  practical  interests  of  human  life  as  it  must  at 
all  times  be  to  the  completeness  of  our  speculative 
knowledge,  viz.  wdiether  moral  and  social  phenomena 
are  really  exceptions  to  the  general  certainty  and  uni- 
formity of  the  course  of  nature,  and  how  far  the  meth- 
ods by  which  so  many  of  the  laws  of  the  physical  world 
have  been  numbered  among  truths  irrevocably  acquired 
and  universally  assented  to  can  be  made  instrumental  to 
the  formation  of  a  similar  body  of  received  doctrine  in 
moral  and  political  science."  The  Logic,  together  with 
an  Examination  of  Sir  William  Hamilton's  Philosophy 
(1865),  and  his  editorial  corrections  and  comments  on 
his  father's  -1  nalysis  of  the  Human  Mind,  constitute 
John  Stuart  Jlill's  philosophical  works.  From  these  it 
is  apparent  that,  as  Dr.  Porter  says  (in  Ueberweg's  Hist. 
ofPhilos.  ii,  427-429), 

"The  physiological  fouudation  on  which  he  builds  is 
the  system  of  James  Mill,  moditied  by  that  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Brown.  He  carefully  insists,  however,  that  he  neither 
accepts  nor  inculcates  any  system  of  metaphysics.  But 
the  system  of  metaphysics  which  he  usually  applies  is 
substantially  that  of  Hobbes,  Hume,  and  Comte.  He  does 
not  rigidly  adhere,  however,  either  to  the  psychology  or 
to  the  philosophy  which  characterizes  or  controls  his  con- 
clusions. He  differs  from  his  father  in  holding  the  act 
of  belief  to  be  something  more  than  an  inseparable  as- 
sociation of  one  object  with  another  (compare  James 
Mill's  Analysis,  2d  edition,  chap,  xi,  note);  that  causa- 
tion is  a  terra  which  it  is  indispensable  we  should  use  in 
our  analysis  of  the  conceptions  of  matter  and  mind;  and 
that  certain  axioms  are  the  necessary  foundations  of 
mathematical  and  physical  sciences,  but  are  themselves 
tlie  prodnrts  of  indurtiou  (comi).  Logic,  passim).  After  a 
loiri  .-ind  1,-iliorions  an.ily^is,  he  reaches  the  conclusion 
th:ii  ni:iii''i-  iini^t  l)i'  ilrtined  as  ' a  permaueut  possibility 
of  si'iis  iiion,'  and  thai  '  niiud  is  resolved  into  a  series  of 
feelill,L■■^•,  wiih  a  baekgidiuid  of  possibilities  of  feeling.' 
He  concedes  that  in  adhering  to  this  deflnitiou  'we  are  re- 
duced to  the  alternatixe  of  believing  that  the  mind,  or  ego, 
is  soniethiuir  diflerent  from  any  series  of  feelings  or  pos- 
sibilities of  them,  or  else  of  accepting  the  paradox  that 
something  which,  ex  hypothesi,  is  but  a  series  of  feelings 
can  be  aware  of  itself  as  a  scries.'  In  respect  to  the  beliefi 
in  the  real  existence  of  the  external  world,  he  concedes 
that  it  cannot  be  proved  philosophically,  and  can  only  be 
justified  by  the  consideration  that  'the  world  of  possible 
sensations,  succeeding  one  another  according  to  laws,  is 
as  much  in  other  beings  as  it  is  in  me ;  it  has  therefore 
an  existence  outside  me;  it  is  an  external  world'  (comp. 
Exam,  of  Sir  W.  Hamilton's  Philosoiihy,  ch.  xi,  xii,  xiii)." 

Mill's  posthumous  publications — Three  Essays  on  Re- 
ligion; NatU7-e;  The  Utility  of  Religion  (Lond.  and 
N.  Y.  1874,  8vo) — teach  more  clearty,  however,  than  the 
preceding  works  that  he  believed  very  positively  in 
matter  and  very  hesitatingly  in  spirit;  very  strongly  in 
man  and  very  feebly  in  God;  very  earnestly  in  human 
government  and  social  organization,  and  not  at  all  in 
divine  providence.  Indeed,  "  the  perfectibility  of  man 
through  an  enlightened  self-interest — by  means  of  pop- 
ular government  and  universal  education,  especially  in 
the  elements  of  political  economy  and  the  Malthusian 
doctrines  of  population—was  the  chief  article  of  his 
philosophical  creed"  (Dr.  Porter,  in  Inte7-nat.  Rev.  N.  Y. 
1874,  May-June,  pt.  vi).  For  further  particulars,  we 
refer  our  readers  to  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and  A  mer. 
Authors,  ii,  1280;  see  also  Edinh.  Rev.  Jul}',  1866,  art. 
iv ;  Jan.  1874,  art.  iv ;  Jan.  1875,  art.  i ;  Brit.  Qu.  Rev. 
July,  1868,  art.  i;  Jan.  1874,  art.  ix;  New-Englunder, 
Oct.  1874,  art.  i;  Westminster  Rev.  Jan.  1875,  art.  i; 
Christian  Qu.  April,  1874,  art.  i ;  Masson,  Rece7it  Brit. 
Philos.  (N.Y.  1866,  12mo),  especially  p.  245-335;  Por- 
ter, Human  Intellect  (see  Index) ;  John  Stuart  Mill,  his 
Life  and  Worlds  (1873),  twelve  sketches  by  J.  R.  Fox 
Bourne,  W.  T.  Thornton,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  others 
(reprinted  in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  July,  1873.  art. 
xii;  and  the  AutoUogixtjyhy  (Lond.  and  N.  Y.  1873, 
8vo).     (J.H.W.) 


MILL 


264 


MILLENNIUM 


Mill,  "William  Hodge,  an  eminent  English  di- 
vine, was  Ijiirii  at  Caniljrl(l;;e  in  1791.  He  was  educated 
at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  was  ordained  deacon 
in  1817,  and  priest  in  1820.  Immediately  after  his  or- 
<lination  he  was  appointed  principal  of  I5ishop's  College, 
Calcutta,  whicli  position  he  held  till  1838,  when  he  was 
obliged  to  return  to  England  in  consequence  of  impaired 
health.  In  the  year  following  he  was  appointed  domes- 
tic and  examining  chai)laiii  to  archbislioi)  Ilowley,  and 
in  1810  was  elected  Christian  advocate  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge.  In  1843  he  was  presented  to  the 
living  of  Brasted,  Kent,  and  in  1848  was  chosen  regius 
jirofessor  of  Hebrew  at  Cambridge,  and  canon  of  Ely. 
llis  profound  learning  in  mathematics,  languages,  and 
other  branches  of  intellectual  researcli,  gained  him  a 
deservedly  high  reputation  at  home  and  abroad.  His 
great  work,  Christ'd  Sdiii/ila,  or  the  JSaoxd  History  of 
Jesus,  in  Sanskrit,  rendered  him  famous  as  a  thorough 
Oriental  philologist.  He  died  Dec.  25, 18.');}.  Dr.  Mill 
was  a  prolitic  author,  and  of  his  numerous  works  we 
mention  only  the  most  important :  Obsi'rvalions  on  the 
uttcmpted  Application  of  Pantheistic  Principles  to  the 
Theorij  and  Historic  Criticism  of  the  Gospel  (Camb. 
1840-41;  5div.8vo;  2il  ei\.  ISJb/Svoy.—Prdectio  theo- 
lofjica  (1843):— Oh  the  Temptalion  of  Christ  (1844)  :— 
On  the  Xuture  of  ChrUtianity  (1848): — Lectures  on  the 
Catechism,  ed.  by  the  liev.  B.  Webb  (18.^6).  See  Cooper, 
Biof).  Diet.  p.  8iJ6 ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and  A  mer. 
Authors,uA-lii\. 

Milledoler,  Pmup,  D.D.,  a  noted  American  di- 
vine, was  born  at  lihinebeck,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  22, 1775.  His 
parents  were  Swiss  (iermans,  who  emigrated  to  America 
from  the  canton  of  Berne  about  the  middle  of  the  last 
contury.  Pbilip  was  converted  in  very  early  youth ; 
was  educated  at  Columbia  College ;  and  at  nineteen  years 
of  age  was  licensed  to  preach  the  (losiiel,  and  became 
jiastor  of  the  German  Reformed  Churcii  in  Nassau 
Street,  New  York,  succeeding  the  Kev.  Dr.  (iross,  his 
pastor  and  theological  professor.  He  preaciied  there  in 
both  German  and  English  from  1795  to  1800.  His  rcp- 
ntation  for  unction  and  eloquence  drew  large  audiences; 
he  became  generally  known,  and  in  1800  was  called  to 
the  Third  Presbyterian  Cburch  in  Philadelphia.  lie 
accepted  the  offer,  and,  removing  to  the  city  of  broth- 
erly love,  labored  there  for  five  years  with  great  success, 
large  additions  being  made  to  the  communion  of  the 
Church.  In  1805  he  accepted  a  unanimous  call  as  first 
pastor  of  the  Rutgers  Street  Presbyterian  Cburch,  New 
York,  and  remained  there  until  1813,  when  he  trans- 
ferred his  relation  to  the  Reformed  Church,  and  became 
one  of  the  pastors  of  the  Collegiate  Church  of  that  city. 
In  1825  he  was  elected  professor  of  didactic  and  polemic 
tlieology  by  the  General  Syuod  of  t  lie  lieformed  Church, 
to  succeed  the  venerable  Dr.  Jolni  H.  Livingston.  At 
the  same  time  he  was  appointed  president  of  Rutgers 
College,  and  i)rofessor  of  moral  pliiloso])hy.  These  of- 
fices he  accepted  and  held  until  1841,  when  he  resigned, 
and  retired  to  private  life  at  New  Brunswick.  He  died, 
full  of  years,  labors,  and  lionors,  Sept.  22, 1852.  H  is  wife 
died  the  next  day,  and  botli  were  buried  in  the  same 
grave,  with  a  common  funeral  service.  Dr.  ISIilledoler's 
j)rofessional  career  was  marked  by  diligent  and  faith- 
ful services,  by  great  dignity  of  character  and  kind  de- 
meanor towards  his  students,  and  by  a  saintly  piety 
which  shoue  through  all  his  life.  His  gentleness  of  heart 
perliaps  diminished  his  ability  as  a  disciplinarian,  and 
unfitted  him  to  cope  successfully  with  the  dilliculties  of 
his  double  oflice.  His  forte  was  in  the  ])uli)it.  His 
whole  ministry  in  New  York  was  remarkal)le  for  the 
constant  diviue  blessing  that  followed  his  labors.  In 
prayer  he  seemed  almost  like  a  man  inspired.  His 
nsc  of  scriptural  language  at  the  throne  of  grace  was 
most  wonderfid,  and  it  was  woven  together  witli  a  skill 
and  power  that  were  only  to  be  accounted  for  by  the 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  his  suppliant  soul. 
This  fervor  and  unction  in  prayer  characterized  him  till 
the  very  close  of  life.     His  preaching  partook  of  much 


of  the  same  elevated  and  tender  spirit.  His  sermons 
were  clear,  earnest,  solemn,  and  impressive.  His  sen- 
tences were  short,  often  highly  rhetorical  in  structure, 
and  always  pregnant  with  Gospel  truth.  As  a  jiastor, 
and  in  the  sick-room,  lie  was  not  surpassed.  But  in 
nothing  did  he  so  soar  heavenward,  and  seem  so  lull  of 
divine  power,  as  in  public  prayer.  A  number  of  power- 
ful revivals  of  religion  occurred  under  his  ministry.  Dr. 
Milledoler  declined  several  pressing  offers  of  high  posi- 
tions in  the  Churcli.  In  1823,  witli  Dr.  Gardner  Spring, 
he  visited,  as  commissioner  of  the  General  Assembly, 
Die  missions  among  the  Tuscarora,  Seneca,  and  Catta- 
raugus Indians.  In  the  great  benevolent  movements 
of  his  time  he  was  an  earnest  actor.  He  was  moderator 
of  the  Presbyterian  (ieneral  Assembly  in  1808.  and  pres- 
ident of  the  (General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Church  in 
1823,  and  was  one  of  the  members  of  the  convention 
that  formed  the  American  Bible  Society  in  1816.  He 
helped  to  organize  and  was  the  first  president  of  the 
Society  for  Evangelizing  the  Jews,  and  an  active  orig- 
inal member  and  corresponding  secretary  of  the  United 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  formed  in  1817.  He  pub- 
lished a  number  of  sermons,  public  addresses,  and  other 
pamphlets.  In  his  old  age  Dr.  Milledoler  was  most 
venerable  in  appearance,  elegant  in  manners,  and  saint- 
like in  spirit.  His  snow-white  hair,  and  almost  ruddy 
complexion,  and  scrupulous  neatness  in  dress,  his  unfail- 
ing courtesy  and  radiant  goodness,  stamped  liim  not 
merely  as  a  Christian  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  but 
as  one  who  lived  for  two  worlds,  blessing  tliis  one  and 
waiting  for  the  glory  of  the  next.  See  Spraguc,  A  nnals 
of  the  A  mer.  Pulpit,  vol.  ix ;  Corwin's  Manual  of  the  Ref. 
Church,  s.  v. ;  Personal  Recollections.     (W.  J.  R.  T.) 

Millenarians  (or  Chiliasts),  a  name  given  to 
those  who  believe  that  the  saints  will  reign  on  earth 
with  Christ  a  thousand  years.     See  Mii-lennium. 

Millenary  Petition  is  the  name  of  the  paper 
which  was  jiresented  to  king  James  YI  of  Scotland 
(James  I  of  England),  as  he  passed  through  England  on 
his  way  to  London,  by  the  Pnritans.  It  contained  a 
petition  signed  by  nearly  a  thousand  ministers,  and 
hence  the  name  3lillenarian.  It  jirayed  for  such  changes 
or  alterations  in  ceremonial  as  the  Puritans  had  gener- 
ally contended  for.  An  answer  to  it  was  published  by 
the  University  of  Oxford,  and  the  divines  of  Cambridge 
thanked  their  Oxonian  brethren.  The  conference  at 
Hampton  Court,  however,  was  the  result  of  the  fa- 
mous petition.  See  Fisher,  Hist,  of  the  Reformation,  p. 
434 ;  Neale,  Hist,  of  the  Puritans  (Hari^er's  edition),  i, 
228 ;  Fuller,  Church  History,  book  x,  p.  21.     See  PiRi- 

TANS. 

Millennium.  This  term  signifies  a  period  of  a 
thousand  years,  and  in  its  religious  use  is  applied  to 
the  ]iroi)hctic  lera  mentioned  in  Rev.  xx,  1-7.  The  3Iil- 
Icnarians  or  Chiliasts,  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  are 
characterized  by  their  tenet  respecting  the  second  ad- 
vent of  Jesus,  which  they  believe  will  be  accompanied 
by  the  resurrection  of  the  martyrs  and  saints,  who  will 
reign  with  him  on  earth,  in  a  state  of  blessedness  and 
rest,  for  a  thousand  years,  when  the  resurrection  of  the 
wicked  will  occur,  together  with  the  final  judgment  and 
its  eternal  awards.  They  have  differed  somewhat  among 
themselves  concerning  the  character  of  this  millennial 
kingdom,  some  viewing  it  as  more  and  some  as  less  spir- 
itual in  its  nature,  employments,  and  joys.  They  have 
also  differed  in  other  minor  ]>articulars;  but  in  the  main 
opinion  relative  to  the  advent,  the  first  resurrection,  and 
the  temporal  reign  of  Christ,  the  various  classes  of  3111- 
lenarians  are  agreed.  This  doctrine  is  generally  attrib- 
uted to  a  .lewish  origin.  Josephus  {Ant.  xviii,  i,  3) 
says  of  the  Pharisees  that  they  hold  to  the  confinement 
I  of  the  souls  of  the  wicked  in  an  everlasting  prison,  but 
'that  the  righteous  "have  power  to  revive  and  live 
j  again."  In  a  second  passage  (  War.  ii.8. 14)  he  describes 
liie  Pharisaic  doctrine  in  a  similar  manner,  for  it  is  not 
1  probable  that,  in  this  last  place,  he  intends  to  ascribe  to 


MILLENNIUM 


265 


MILLENNIUM 


the  Pharisees  a  doctrine  of  transmigration.    In  the  Book 
of  Daniel  (xii,  2)  it  is  declared  that  both  the  righteous 
and  wicked  will  be  raised  from  the  grave,  although  it  is 
not  certain  whether  the  sacred  writer  at  the  moment 
has  in  mind  the  whole  human  race  or  only  Israel.    The 
New  Testament  teaches  us  that  both  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked  will  be  raised  from  the  dead  (John  v,  28,  29 ; 
Acts  xxiv,  15;  Eev.  xx,  11-15).     The  passages  on  this 
topic  in  the  writings  of  Paid  pertain  chiefly  to  the  con- 
sequences of  redemption,  and  hence  relate  to  the  resur- 
rection of  believers.     The  idea  of  a  resurrection  of  the 
saints,  and  of  their  participation  in  a  temporal,  millen- 
nial reign  of  Christ,  was  early  adopted,  especially  by 
Jewish  Christians.     In  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas  (cir. 
100)  we  find  the  rest  of  the  seventh  day  (Gen.  ii,  2,  3) 
symbolically  interpreted,  with  the  aid  of  Psa.  xc,  4,  and 
made  to  prefigure  a  rest  of  Christ  and  his  saints,  to  con- 
tinue for  a  thousand  years  (ch.  xv).     The  millennial 
theory  was  embraced  in  a  sensuous  form  by  Cerinthus 
(Eusebius,  Ilist.  Eccl.  iii,  28 ;  vii,  25).     It  is  found  in 
apocryphal  books  by  Jews  and  Jewish  Christians  in  the 
first  age  of  the  Gospel— in  the  Book  of  Enoch,  in  the 
Testament  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  and  in  the  Sibyl- 
line Books.     It  penetrated  into  the  Gentile  branch  of 
the  Church,  and  spread  extensively.     Papias,  who  is 
supposed  to  have  been  a  contemporary  of  John  the 
Apostle,  is  mentioned  by  Irenieus  and  Eusebius  as  an 
adherent  of  this  doctrine.     The  colossal  grapes  which 
Papias  supposed  that  the  millennial  days  would  provide 
suggest  the  idea  which  he  entertained  of  this  happy 
period.     It  is  true  that  the  Chiliastic  doctrine  wears  a 
Judaic  stamp,  and  arose,  in  some  degree,  from  Judaic 
influences;  but,  as  Dorner  has  observed,  there  is  one 
marked  distinction  between  the  millenarian  views  of 
Christians  and  all  Jewish  theories  of  the  Messianic 
kingdom.     Christian  millenarians  unanimously  consid- 
ered the  earthly  kingdom  as  limited  in  its  duration,  and 
as  introductory  to  a  spiritual  and  eternal  state  of  being. 
The  triumph  of  the  Gospel  through  the  agency  of  a 
present  Redeemer  was  to  be  attended  with  the  renova- 
tion of  the  earth,  and  to  be  succeeded  by  the  everlasting, 
heavenly  blessedness  of  the  righteous,  the  proper  sequel 
of  the  last  judgment.     Tracing  down  the  history  of  the 
doctrine,  we  find  that  Justin  Martyr  (cir.  150)  received 
it.     In  the  dialogue  with  Trypho  (c.  80),  he  says  that 
he  himself  and  "  many  others"  hold  that  Jerusalem  will 
be  built  again  as  a  residence  for  Christ,  with  the  patri- 
archs and  saints.     He  says  that  there  are  "  many  of  a 
pure  and  devout  Christian  mind  who  are  not  of  the  same 
opinion ;"  but  he  adds, "  I,  and  all  other  Christians  whose 
belief  is  in  every  respect  correct,  know  that  there  will 
be  buth  a  resurrection  of  the  flesh  and  a  thousand  years 
in  Jerusalem,  which  will  then  be  rebuilt,  adorned,  and 
enlarged,  as  the  prophets  Ezekiel,  Isaiah,  and  others  de- 
clare."   Justin  quotes  in  support  of  his  opinion  Isa.  Ixv, 
17  sq. ;  Gen.  ii,  2,  in  connection  with  Psa.  xc,  3 ;  Rev. 
XX,  4-6,  and  other  passages.    Irenasus  is  likewise  a  mil- 
lenarian.    He  speaks  {Adv.  Hmr.  V,  xxxiii,  2)  of  "  the 
times  of  the  kingdom,"  when  the  "righteous  shall  bear 
rule  upon  their  rising  from  the  dead ;  when  also  the  cre- 
ation, having  been  renovated  and  set  free,  shall  fructify 
with  an  abundance  of  all  kinds  of  food,  from  the  dew  of 
heaven  and  from  the  fertility  of  the  earth."     Here  fol- 
lows the  citation  from  Papias  in  regard  to  the  colossal 
fruit  of  the  vine.     TertuUian  advocated  the  same  doc- 
trine.    Notwithstanding  the  extensive  spreading  of  the 
millenarian  tenet,  it  would  be  a  rash  inference  to  assume 
that  it  was  universal,  or  accepted  as  the  creed  of  the 
Church.     On  this  point  Neander  has  good  observations 
{Ch.  Hist.,  Torrey's  transl.,  i,  651).     The  first  decided 
opponent  of  whom  we  have  a  knowledge  was  Cains,  the 
Roman  presbyter,  about  the  year  200.     The  crass  form 
in  which  Chdiasm  entered  into  the  heresy  of  Montanism 
contributed  materially  to  the  strengthening  of  the  an- 
tagonism to  millenarian  views.    The  Alexandrian  school 
opposed  them  with  energy,  particularly  Origen,  with 
wliose  peculiar  opinions  it  was  inconsistent.     Nepos,  an 


Egj'ptian  6ishop,  about  the  middle  of  the  3d  century, 
wrote,  in  defence  of  the  doctrine,  a  work  entitled  A 
Confutation  of  the  Alkgorists,  by  which  name  were  des- 
ignated such  as  explained  allegorically  the  passages  on 
which  the  opinion  of  a  millennium  rested.  This  work, 
which  acquired  much  reputation,  was  refuted  with  equal 
zeal  and  candor  by  Dionysius  of  Alexandria.  It  was 
still  common,  however,  in  the  time  of  Jerome,  who  him- 
self was  one  of  its  opponents.  But  gradually  the  tenet 
which  had  so  widely  prevailed  became  obnoxious  and 
proscribed.  One  great  reason  of  this  remarkable  change 
of  sentiment  is  to  be  found  in  the  altered  condition  and 
prospects  of  the  Church.  Christians  at  first  yearned  for 
the  reappearance  of  the  Lord.  Moreover,  it  was  im- 
possible for  them  to  raise  their  faith  and  hopes  so  high 
as  to  expect  the  conquest  of  the  Roman  empire  by  the 
moral  power  of  the  cross,  independently  of  the  personal 
and  supernatural  interposition  of  Christ.  But  as  the 
Gospel  made  progress,  the  possibility  and  probability  of 
a  peacefid  victory  of  the  Christian  cause  over  all  its  ad- 
versaries, by  the  might  of  truth  and  of  the  Spirit,  gained 
a  lodgment  in  the  convictions  of  good  men.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  Origen  (b.  180,  d.  254)  is  the  first  of  the  an- 
cient ecclesiastical  writers  to  aflirm  the  practicableness 
of  such  a  triumph  of  the  Gospel  through  its  own  inher- 
ent efficacy.  The  Judaic  and  Judaizing  associations  of 
the  millenarian  opinion  were  not  without  a  strong  influ- 
ence in  rendering  it  suspected  and  unpopular.  Augus- 
tine's treatment  of  the  subject  marks  an  epoch.  He 
says  (Z>e  Civitate  Dei,  xx,  7)  that  he  had  once  held  to 
a  millenarian  Sabbath ;  nor  does  he  consider  the  doc- 
trine objectionable,  provided  the  joys  of  the  righteous 
are  figured  as  spiritual.  But,  proceeding  to  discuss  the 
subject,  he  advocates  the  proposition  that  the  earthly 


ingdom  of  Christ  is  the  Church,  which  was  even  then 
in  the  millennial  cera,  and  on  the  road  to  a  glorious  as- 
cendency over  all  its  enemies.  It  would  seem  that  this 
modified  interpretation  of  prophecy,  sustained  as  it  was 
by  the  authority  of  the  principal  Latin  father,  gave 
color  to  the  mediseval  speculations  on  this  subject.  As 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1000  approached,  it  was  a  natural 
corollary  that  the  judgment  and  the  end  of  the  world 
would  then  occur.  Hence  there  was  a  widespread  ex- 
citement throughout  Western  Europe,  from  tlie  appre- 
hension that  the  "dies  ira;"  was  at  hand.  There  were 
not  wanting  in  the  Middle  Ages  "  apocalyptic  parties" 
— enthusiasts,  whether  individuals  or  in  bands  — who 
looked  for  the  miraculous  advent  of  Jesus  as  the  indis- 
pensable means  of  purifying  and  extending  the  Church. 
At  the  Reformation,  the  traditional  method  of  inter- 
preting the  Book  of  Revelation  was  abandoned.  The 
papacy  was  extensively  regarded  as  Antichrist,  and  Lu- 
ther and  other  leading  Reformers  frequently  supposed 
themselves  authorized  by  the  signs  of  the  times  to  ex- 
pect the  speedy  coming  of  the  Lord.  A  fanatical  form 
of  millenariani'sm  was  espoused  by  the  Anabaptists  of 
Germany,  who  took  possession  of  the  city  of  Munster, 
and  set  up  the  reign  of  the  saints. 

The  millenarian  doctrine,  in  its  essential  characteris- 
tics, has  had  adherents  among  some  of  the  sober-minded 
theologians  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  later  times.  Of 
these,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  is  John  Albert 
Bengel,  the  author  of  the  Gnomon,  who  defended  his 
opinion  in  his  commentary  on  the  Apocalypse,  published 
in  1740.  He  was  followed  by  other  divines  of  repute ; 
and  the  doctrine  has  not  been  without  prominent  sup- 
porters among  the  Lutherans  down  to  the  present  time. 
One  of  the  latest  of  their  number  who  has  discussed  this 
question  is  the  Rev.  A.  Koch  {Das  tuusendjahrige  Reich, 
Basle,  1872).  This  writer  endeavors,  in  particular,  to 
refute  the  arguments  adduced  against  the  doctrine  of  a 
millennium  by  the  (ierman  commentators  Hengsten- 
berg,  Keil,  and  Kliefoth. 

In  all  the  other  various  orthodox  Protestant  bodies 
there  are  many  who  believe  in  the  personal  advent  of 
Christ  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  millennial  kmg- 
dom.    Now,  as  in  former  ages,  the  Uteral  restoration  of 


MILLENNIUM 


266 


mLLENNIIJlM 


the  Jews  to  Palestine,  and  their  conversion  to  Christi- 
anity, is  frequently  a  part  of  this  creed.  The  coming 
of  Christ  in  visible  glory  is  to  be  signalized,  it  is  held, 
by  this  among  other  wonderful  events.  The  Chiliastic 
tenet  forms  one  of  the  distinguishing  features  of  the 
'•  Catholic  Apostolic  Church,"  or  the  religious  denomi- 
nation commonly  known  as  Irvingites.  (See  the  art. 
Catholic  Ai'OsVomc  Ciilrcii,  and  Ikvixg,  Edward, 
in  this  Cyclopa'dia.)  Christ  is  to  come  and  gather  his  | 
elect  together;  the  Jews  are  to  be  brought  back  to  their 
ancient  land ;  the  Gospel  is  to  be  extended  by  their  in- 
strumentality, and  by  the  new  agencies  connected  with 
the  personal  presence  of  the  Lord,  over  the  earth.  Then  ! 
is  to  foUow  the  judgment  and  the  end  of  the  world. 
Such  arc  the  main  points  of  the  millenariaa  view,  as 
cherished  by  the  followers  of  Mr.  Irving. 

In  the  course  of  the  history  of  the  Church  many  sects 
have  arisen  by  whom  the  speedy  coming  of  Christ  to 
set  up  a  visible  empire  has  been  proclaimed.  One  of 
these  is  the  class  designated  as  "  Millerites"  (q.  v.),  the 
disciples  of  William  Miller  (q.  v.).  He  was  born  in 
rittslitld,  Mass.,  in  1781,  and  died  in  1849.  With  slen- 
der resources  of  learning,  he  began,  about  the  j-ear  1833, 
to  preach  on  the  subject  of  the  second  a<lvcnt,  which  he  | 
declared,  on  the  ground  of  his  interpretation  of  the 
prophecies,  to  be  near  at  hand.  The  Jlillerites  at  length 
wont  so  far  as  to  fix  a  certain  day  in  the  year  1843  when 
the  Lord  was  to  appear  in  the  clouds  of  hea\-en.  Some 
gave  up  their  ordinary  occupations,  and  prepared  robes 
in  which  to  ascend  and  meet  Christ.  Subsequently  the 
members  of  this  sect— if  sect  it  is  to  be  called — ceased  to 
define  the  precise  time  of  the  miraculous  advent,  but 
continued  to  wait  for  it  as  near.  See  Advkntists.  The 
Millerites,  in  common  with  many  other  Chiliasts,  have 
supposed  themselves  to  be  furnished  l)y  the  prophecies 
with  the  means  of  calculating  with  mathematical  accu- 
racy the  time  of  the  Saviour's  glorious  advent. 

When  we  leave  the  history  of  the  doctrine,  and  look 
at  the  cxegetical  arguments  of  the  several  parties,  it 
becomes  plain  that  they  are  guided  by  diverse  principles 
of  interpretation.  With  respect  to  certain  passages, 
millenarians  adopt  a  second  sense,  or  a  figurative,  tn^p- 
ical  interpretation.  This  is  the  character  of  their  view 
of  the  sabbatical  rest,  as  predicted  in  Gen.  ii,  2,  3,  and 
Psa.  xc,  4.  On  the  contrary,  to  the  passages  in  Isaiah 
and  other  prophets  which  describe  Jerusalem  as  the 
centre  and  resort  of  worshippers  of  all  nations,  promise 
Canaan  as  an  everlasting  possession  to  the  Jews,  and 
depict  their  splendid  restoration  to  power  and  plenty, 
they  give  a  literal  interpretation.  The  same  course  is 
pursued  by  them  with  regard  to  Rev.  xx,  and  with  re- 
gard to  all  that  is  said  of  the  first  and  the  second  resur- 
rection. They  attach  often  a  literal  sense  to  the  decla- 
ration of  Jesus  (^Matt.  xxvi,  29 ;  Mark  xiv,  2u)  in  which 
he  speaks  of  drinking  new  wine  in  his  Father's  kingdom. 
They  consider  their  general  view  to  be  favored  by  Luke 
xiv,  14  ("the  resurrection  of  the  just");  Luke  xx,  35 
("they  which  shall  be  accounted  worthy  to  obtain  that 
world  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead");  by  John  vi, 
39,  4^1  (wliich  speaks  of  the  resurrection  of  believers, 
without  any  mention  of  others).  The  promise  of  Christ 
that  the  disciijles  at  "the  regeneration" — or  the  resti- 
tution of  all  things,  and  the  deliverance  of  all  things 
from  corruption — shall  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  tribes 
of  Israel  (.Matt,  xix,  28),  is  conlidently  referred  to  as 
proving  the  millenarian  hypothesis.  So  the  statements 
of  John  and  Paul  with  respect  to  Antichrist,  and  the 
sins  and  perils  to  immediately  precede  the  advent — cor- 
roborated, as  they  suppose,  by  the  Saviour's  own  pre- 
dictions in  Matt,  xxiv  and  xxv,  and  the  parallel  pas- 
sages— are  brought  forward  in  defence  of  tlieir  position. 

The  opponents  of  the  millenarians  rely  principally 
upon  the  passages  in  which  the  resurrection  of  the  good 
and  evil  is  spoken  of  as  if  it  were  simultaneous,  or  with- 
out any  considerable  interval  of  time  interposed.  They 
appeal  also  to  the  passages  in  the  tiospels  and  I'pisiles 
ill  which  the  general  judgment  is  connected  immedi- 


ately with  the  second  advent.  Their  conception  of  the 
prospects  and  destiny  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  are  de- 
rived from  passages  like  the  parables  of  the  leaven,  of 
the  mustard-seed,  and  of  the  husbanilman.  Tliat  it  was 
expedient  for  Christ  to  go  away  from  his  disciples  in 
order  that  his  visible  presence  might  give  way  to  liis 
invisible  presence  and  influence  everywhere,  and  to  the 
dispensation  of  the  Spirit,  is  considered  an  argument 
against  the  general  philos(jphy  on  which  the  niilleua- 
rian  tenet  rests.  It  is  thought  to  be  more  consonant 
with  the  genius  of  Christianity,  as  contrasted  with  the 
Jewish  economy,  to  look  for  a  triumph  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  earth  by  moral  forces  and  by  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  within  the  souls  of  men,  than  to  expect  the  stu- 
pendous miracle  of  Christ's  reappearance  as  a  Kider  on 
this  globe,  for  the  spiritusil  subjugation  of  unbelievers 
and  enemies.  Hence  those  who  reject  Chiliasm  give  a 
figurative  rendering  to  the  prophetic  passages  in  the 
Apocalypse  which  are  the  most  plausible  argument  for 
that  theory.  The  tendency  of  the  millenarian  theory 
to  chill  the  hopes,  and  thus  repress  the  missionary  activ- 
ity of  Christians,  by  exhibiting  the  world  as  in  a  process 
of  deterioration,  and  by  representing  the  efforts  of  Chris- 
tians to  convert  mankind  as  fruitless,  until  the  coming 
of  Christ,  constitutes  not  the  least  serious  objection  to 
such  opinions. 

There  is  in  England  at  the  present  time  an  energetic 
propaganda  of  millenarian  notions,  called  the  "  Prophecj' 
Investigation  Society,"  which  consists  of  fifty  members, 
some  of  them  prominent  Churchmen,  and  which  has 
published  a  series  of  volumes  on  prophetic  subjects,  add- 
ing largely  to  apocalyptic  literature.  There  are  also 
numerous  journals  published  in  England  to  support  these 
views.  The  most  important  is  the  Quarterly  Janrnal 
of  Prophen/,  edited  by  Dr.  IJonar,  of  the  Free  Church 
of  Scotland,  which  has  been  established  fourteen  years, 
and  has  a  large  circidation.  The  Rainhoic  is  a  monthly 
periodical ;  the  Christian  Observer,  the  monthly  journal 
of  the  evangelicals,  often  displays  millenarian  tenden- 
cies. There  are,  besides,  numerous  weeklies  of  small 
circulation,  the  chief  being  the  Revivalist,  originally  es- 
tablished to  promote  revivals  in  personal  religion,  but 
now  devoted  to  the  spread  of  millenarian  views.  Nor 
is  the  interest  in  this  subject  confined  to  Dissenters  in 
England  or  Scotland;  a  certain  class  of  minds  in  the 
Established  Church  seem  to  be  just  as  strongly  contam- 
inated. For  many  successive  years,  during  Lent,  courses 
of  lectures  have  been  delivered  in  St.  George's  Church, 
Bloomsbury,  on  the  subject  of  the  second  advent,  by 
clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  course  for 
the  year  1849  was  printed,  under  the  title  of  The  Priest 
upon  his  Thnntc.  being  lectures  by  twelve  clergymen  of 
the  Church  of  England,  with  a  Preface  by  the  Kev.  James 
Haldane  Stewart,  :M.A.,  rector  of  Limi>slield(Lond.lH49). 
This  is,  next  to  Dr.  IJrown's  Second  Coming  of  our 
Lord,  the  ablest  book  against  the  millenarian  doctrine. 
One  of  the  latest  productions  in  English  is  The  Pud  of 
all  Things,  or  the  Coming  of  Christ,  by  an  anonymous 
author,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England.  It  is 
an  argument  against  millenarianism,  and  is  interesting 
for  its  sketch  of  the  rise  of  the  doctrine  with  the  well- 
meaning  but  weak-minded  Papias,  and  its  progress 
through  all  the  sects  and  .shades  of  belief,  until  "more 
than  half  of  the  evangelical  clergy  of  the  Church  of 
England  are  at  this  moment  millenarians." 

Among  the  most  important  writings  on  the  millen- 
nium are  Corrodi,  Krit.  O'esrh.  d.  Chiliasmus  (Frankfort, 
1871);  Dorner,  Gesch.  d.  Person  Christi,v(>\.  i;  Herzog, 
Peal-Knri/klop.  art.  Chiliasmus.  See  also  the  cxegeti- 
cal criticism  in  Kothe's  Dogmatik,  pt.  ii,  sec.  ii.  Jlost 
of  the  recent  treatises  on  doctrinal  theology — for  exam- 
ple, that  of  Gass,  Dogmingeschichte,  ii,  477  sq. ;  and  the 
able  work  by  Dr.  Hodge— contain  discussions  of  this 
subject.  Among  the  special  writers  on  the  subject  may 
be  consulted,  on  the  millenarian  side,  Mede,  Abt)adie, 
Beverley.  Burnet,  Hartley,  Price,  Frere,  Irving,  Birks, 
Bickersteth,  Brooks,  the  duke  of  Manchester,  Begg, 


MILLER 


267 


MILLER 


Burgh,  Greswell,  Gilfillan,  Bonar,  Elliot,  Homes,  Bur- 
cliell.  Wood,  Tyso,  Molyiieiix,  etc. ;  and  on  the  other 
side,  bishop  Hall,  E.  Baxter,  Gipps,  Dr.  David  Brown, 
Waldegrave,  Fairbairn,  Urwick,  Bush,  and  many  others. 
Floerke  (evangelical  pastor  in  Llibz),  Die  Lehre  vom 
tausendjdhrigen  Reiche.  Eiii  theolof/ischer  Versuch.  (Mar- 
burg, 1859,  8vo)  ;  Volck,  Der  Chiliasmus  seiner  neuesten 
Bekdmpfuwi  cjegeniiher,  eine  historisch-exegelische  Studie 
(Dorpat,  18G9,  8vo);  Carson,  The  Personal  Reign  of 
Christ  during  the  Millennium  jn-oved  to  be  impossible 
(1873, 12mo);  Second  Adventism  in  the  Light  of  Jeivish 
Bistorg,  hv  the  Rev.  T.  M.  Hopkins,  edited  by  Joseph 
R.  Boyd,  D.D.  (N.  Y.  1873, 12mo).  The  following  peri- 
odicals may  be  consulted  to  advantage :  Church  of  Eng- 
land Rev.  1854,  Oct.  p.  443;  Lond.  Rev.  No.  x,  art.  ix; 
Aleth.  Qu.  Rev.  1845,  Jan.  art.  v  and  vii ;  1850,  July,  p. 
485;  1851,  April,  p.  325;  1868,  Oct.  p.  615;  Kitto,Jo«?-- 
nal  nf  Sacred  Literature,  1854,  July,  p.  505;  Oct.  p.  19 
sq. ;  1856,  Jan.  p.  467 ;  Amer.  Presb.  Rev.  1861,  April,  p. 
403;  1864,  April,  p.  177  sq.;  July.  p.  411  ;  1«(;5,  Ajiril, 
p.  195;  Princet.  Rev.  1867,  Jan.  p.  160 ;  Eninii,  I.  (In.  Rev. 
1861,  Jan.  art.  ii ;  1868,  July,  p.  337;  Thcohigk-al  Medium 
(Cumberland  Presb.  Church),  1873,  April,  art.  ix ;  Bib- 
liotheca  Sacra,  1873,  Jan.  art.  iv;  Qu.  Rev.  Evang.  Luth. 
Church,  1873,  Jan.  art.  ii.     (G.  P.  F.) 

Miller,  Armistead,  a  Presbyterian  missionary 
of  African  parentage,  was  born  in  North  Carolina  about 
1830  as  a  slave,  but  was  liberated  and  went  to  Africa 
when  a  boy;  was  educated  in  the  Alexander  High 
School,  Liberia,  and  afterwards  returned  to  America, 
and  received  a  theological  training  in  the  Ashmun  In- 
stitute, Oxford,  Pa.  In  1859  he  was  licensed  and  or- 
dained by  New  Castle  Presbytery,  and  soon  afterwards 
went  to  Africa,  and  became  pastor  of  Mount  Coffee 
Church,  Liberia,  where  he  died,  Jan.  15, 1865. — Wilson, 
Presb.  Hist.  A  Imanac,  1866,  p.  131.     (J.  L.  S.) 

Miller,  Charles  "W.,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist. 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  was  born  in  Wayne  County, 
Ind.,  in  1820.  He  entered  the  ministry  in  1840,  and 
continued  ftiithful  in  the  prosecution  and  studies  of  the 
work.  When  failing  health  obliged  him  to  seek  the 
climate  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  he  went  to  Colorado 
as  a  laborer  for  the  Church  of  which  he  was  a  member, 
and  acceptedly  applied  himself  to  his  task.  He  died  in 
Colorado  City,  Colorado,  April  8,  1872,  universally  de- 
plored, and  long  to  be  remembered  for  his  great  activ- 
ity. Three  thousand  persons  are  said  to  have  been 
converted  under  his  preaching.  See  F.  H.  Sutherland, 
in  the  Central  Christian  Advocate  (M.  E.  Ch.,  South), 
May  1, 1872. 

Miller,  David,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Churcli,  was  born  at  New  Hartford,  Conn.,  Nov. 
24, 1792.  He  entered  the  ministry  in  1816  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  New  York  Conference.  For  several  years  he 
was  chaplain  at  the  State  Prison  at  Wethersfield.  In 
1855  he  was  appointed  presiding  elder  of  the  Hartford 
District.  He  died  at  Bristol,  Conn.,  Dec.  26,  1855. 
David  Miller  was  a  man  of  good  judgment  and  a  prac- 
tical mind,  which  aided  him  in  his  own  affairs  and  also 
in  giving  counsel  to  others.  As  a  preacher,  he  was 
plain  and  earnest,  relying  upon  the  truth  which  he  en- 
deavored always  to  proclaim  in  the  spirit  of  one  deter- 
mined not  to  know  anything  among  men  save  Jesus 
Chri.-it  and  him  crucified. 

Miller,  George,  D.D.,  an  Irish  divine,  distin- 
guished fcir  his  eminence  in  theology,  history,  and  liter- 
ature, was  born  at  Dublin  Oct.  22, 1764.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Trinity  College  in  his  native  city,  and,  after 
receiving  holy  orders,  soon  rose  to  prominence.  In  1801 
he  was  appointed  vicar-general  of  Armagh,  and  lecturer 
of  modern  history  at  his  alma  mater.  His  lectures  at- 
tracted universal  attention,  and  were  published  in  1816, 
under  the  title  of  Lectures  on  the  Philosophy  of  Modern 
History  from  the  Eallofthe  Roman  Empire  to  the  Erench 
Revolution  (Dublin,  1816,  8  vols. ;  1852,  4  vols.  8vo). 
This  work  of  Dr.  Miller  "possesses  unity  of  subject,  har- 


mony of  proportion,  and  connection  of  parts;  thereby- 
constituting  one  of  the  best  of  modern  histories  in  Eng- 
lish, and  affording  a  systematic  view  of  the  progress  of 
civilization"  {Eo?:  Qu.  Rev.).  "Dr.  Miller  assumes,  as 
the  basis  of  his  system,  that  all  the  events  of  this  world 
have  an  intrinsic  connection,  which  gives  them  the  co- 
herence and  the  unity  of  a  moral  drama.  A  single  event 
or  period,  taken  by  itself,  is  a  grain  of  dust  in  this  mighty 
balance"  (^Edinb.  Rev.  1,  287  sq.).  "  Dr.  Miller,"  says  a 
prominent  critic  in  the  Dublin  University  Magazine 
(xiii,  572),  "  advances  and  establishes  his  great  princi- 
ple, that  God  reigneth  in  the  affairs  of  men,  and  that  the 
end  of  the  divine  government  is  man's  improvement." 
In  the  winter  of  1817  Dr.  Miller  was  induced  to  apply 
for  the  head-mastership  of  the  Royal  School  of  Armagh, 
which  was  immediately  conferred  upon  him.  In  con- 
junction with  many  able  champions  of  Protestantism, 
he  made  a  noble  stand  against  the  fatal  policy  of  Eng- 
lish statesmen,  by  which  Roman  Catholics  were  admit- 
ted to  political  power.  While  Dr.  aiiller,  in  1793,  had 
hailed  with  pleasure  the  commencement  of  political  con- 
cessions to  the  Romish  Church,  and  had  even  lent  a 
helping  hand  to  these  reforms,  he  now,  with  deeper  phi- 
losophy and  wider  statesmanship,  opposed  the  growing 
political  power  of  the  Romanists.  His  Letter  to  Mr, 
Plunkett  on  the  Policy  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Question 
(Lond.  1826)  is  a  fair  index  to  his  opinions.  In  the 
same  j'ear  he  showed  himself  the  champion  of  the  true 
faith  by  attacking  the  modern  Arian  opinions  in  his 
Observations  on  the  Doctrines  of  Christianity  and  on  the 
Athanasian  Creed;  and  when  the  Pusey  (q.  v.)  discus- 
sions were  at  their  height,  he  published  A  Letter  to  Dr. 
Pusey  in  reference  to  his  Letter  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
Oxford  (1840,  8vo).  A  Second  LMter  to  Dr.  Pusey  was 
published  in  the  winter  of  1841,  and  it  suffices  to  say 
that  Dr.  Miller  was  thereafter  considered  one  of  the 
most  formidable  opponents  of  Puseyism.  In  his  posi- 
tion as  head-master  of  the  Royal  School  of  Armagh 
he  showed  himself  uncompromising  in  his  defence  of 
Scriptural  education  in  Ireland.  Dr.  Miller,  being  firmly 
persuaded  that  "most  of  our  relations  to  our  fellow- 
men,  for  which  education  is  to  prepare  us,  grow  out 
of  our  relations  to  God,"  advocated  Scriptural  educa- 
tion as  the  only  true  system.  Christian  influence  must 
pervade  the  whole  educational  institution,  he  asserted, 
and  all  our  knowledge  must  be  derived  from  the  holy 
Scriptures.  His  Case  of  the  Church  Education  Soci- 
ety of  Ireland  argued  in  Reply  to  Dr.  Elrington  (Lond. 
1847),  and  his  Supplement  to  the  Case  of  the  Church  Ed- 
ucation Society  (Dublin,  1847),  are  most  important  state- 
ments of  what  true  education  ought  to  accomplish. 
Blessed  with  a  mind  peculiarly  cheerful,  contented  and 
happy  in  his  disposition,  devout  in  his  religion,  truly 
philosophic  in  his  learning.  Dr.  Miller  was  beloved  and 
esteemed  by  all  who  came  into  official  or  private  con- 
j  nection  with  him.  He  died  Oct.  6, 1848.  See  Memoir 
of  Dr.  Miller  in  Bohn's  edition  of  Miller's  History,  iv,  5 
sq, ;  Dublin  University  Mag.  xvii,  674  sq. ;  Edinburgh 
Review,  i,  287  sq. ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and  Amer. 
Authors,  ii,  1282. 

Miller,  George  Benjamin,  D.D.,  an  eminent 
divine  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  was  born  of  Moravian 
parentage  at  Emmons,  Lehigh  County,  Pa.,  June  10, 
1795.  His  father,  the  Rev.  George  G.  Miller,  connected 
with  the  classical  and  theological  school  at  Nazareth, 
and  descended  from  a  long  line  of  Moravian  clergymen, 
furnished  him  with  special  facilities  for  intellectual  and 
moral  culture.  He  entered  Nazareth  Hall  as  a  pupil 
when  only  eight  years  of  age,  and  there  he  continued  his 
studies  for  eight'years.  He  then  left  for  Philadelphia, 
and  commenced  liis  career  as  a  teacher  in  a  private 
school.  Subsequently  he  turned  his  attention  to  mer- 
cantile pursuits,  but  he  soon  discovered  that  the  work 
was  not  adapted  to  his  natural  tastes  and  inclmations. 
In  less  than  a  year  he  resumed  his  former  employment, 
and  became  associated  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hazelius  as 
an  instructor  in  an  academy  at  New  Germantown,  N.  J., 


MILLER 


268 


MILLER 


and  at  the  same  time  continued  his  theological  studies, 
which  had  been  commenced  at  Nazareth.  In  the  au- 
tumn of  1818  he  entered  upon  the  work  of  the  ministry 
at  Canajoharie,  N.  Y.,  having  been  previously  licensed 
to  preacli  by  the  New  York  llinisterium,  then  under 
the  [)residency  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Quitman.  In  connec- 
tion with  his  pastoral  labors  he  established  a  classical 
school,  and  gave  regular  instruction.  In  this  position 
he  faithfully  labored  till  1827,  when  he  accepted  a  pro- 
fessorship in  Ilartwick  Seminary,  N.  Y.,  and  again  be- 
came the  colleague  of  Dr.  Hazelius,  whom  he  succeeded 
as  i)rincipal  of  the  institution  in  1830.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  live  years  spent  in  the  work  of  teaching  and 
preacliing  elsewhere,  he  continued  connected  with  this 
seminary,  either  as  principal  or  professor  of  theology, 
until  his  death,  devoting  all  his  energies  to  the  prepa- 
ration of  young  men  for  college  or  of  candidates  for  the 
lioly  ministry.  His  name  will  always  be  as  closely 
identified  with  the  history  of  the  institution  as  that  of 
its  benevolent  founder.  He  died  with  the  harness  on, 
April  b,  18G9.  Dr.  Miller  was  married  to  Delia  B.  Sny- 
der in  1816,  and  in  18GG  commemorated  his  "golden 
wedding"  with  a  large  number  of  relatives  and  friends, 
who  had  gathered  from  different  parts  of  tlie  country  to 
present  their  congratulations  and  good  wishes,  the  whole 
family,  twenty-three  in  number,  on  the  evening  preced- 
ing the  wedding  festivities,  uniting  in  the  celebration 
of  tlie  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  reverend  patriarch,  sur- 
romuled  by  three  generations,  administering  the  sacred 
ordinance.  Dr.  ^liller  was  a  man  of  quick,  acute,  and 
discriminating  intellect.  lie  was  distinguished  for  his 
accurate  and  ripe  scholarship.  As  a  man  of  learning,  he 
had  few  superiors  in  the  country.  He  had  a  perfect 
command  of  his  own  vernacular,  and  spoke  and  wrote 
(ierman  and  French  with  wonderful  facility.  He  was 
familiar  with  the  exact  sciences,  his  acquaintance  with 
history  was  very  extensive,  and  his  knowledge  of  the 
ancient  classics  critical  and  complete.  He  was  also  a 
profound  Hebraist,  and  thoroughly  versed  in  the  Script- 
ures, so  that  he  never  found  it  necessary  to  use  a  con- 
cordance, but  coidd  turn  with  almost  unfailing  intuition 
to  the  required  passage  of  the  sacred  page.  Dr.  Miller 
was  noted  as  a  man  of  original  thought  and  independent 
research.  As  a  writer,  he  was  universally  commended 
as  clear,  accurate,  and  instructive.  The  productions  of 
his  pen  show  his  power  of  analysis,  of  generalization, 
and  great  condensation  in  the  method  of  statement. 
His  extensive  erudition  and  eidarged  experience  were 
only  surpassed  by  the  loveliness  of  his  Christian  charac- 
ter; and  his  earnest,  simple-hearted,  active  jiiety  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  all  who  came  witliin  the  range 
of  his  intluence.  His  elevated  type  of  Christian  excel- 
lence, his  high  culture,  his  unpretending,  modest  char- 
acter. Ids  life  unsullied  by  a  single  stain,  attracted  to- 
wards him  by  the  strongest  sympathies  all  men.  He 
was  a  bright  and  shining  light  in  the  Church,  and  his 
name  will  ever  be  cherished  with  the  most  affectionate 
interest.  All  his  acfiuisitions  were  made  subordinate 
to  that  which  most  deeply  interested  his  fictive  mind 
— the  study  of  divine  truth.  All  his  treasures  were  laid 
at  the  Master's  feet,  and  devoted  entirely  to  his  service. 
When,  in  1830,  he  received  the  distinction  of  D.D.  from 
Union  College,  he  meekly  submitted,  remarking  to  a 
friend  that  the  letters  would  serve  as  a  good  Scriptural 
motto,  Deo  iJuce.  The  Lutheran  Church  owes  to  him 
as  much  as  to  any  other  laborer  in  this  country.  The 
only  works  published  by  Dr.  Miller  are  a  volume  of  Ser- 
mons on  somi;  of  the  Fundamental  rrwciplis  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  a  text-book  on  (Jcrman  (irammar,  wliich  never 
reached  an  extensive  circulation.  I'or  a  more  detailed 
account,  see  Kranrjel.  Qi/.  liev.  1870,  Jan.  ji.  '25  st). ;  Me- 
vmr'uil  Viilniiu-  if'/furlirirk  .Sniuiiiin/.      (M.  L.  S.) 

Miller,  George  "W.,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
ICpiscupal  (liurcli,  was  l)orn  near  Westminster,  ^Id.,  in 
182t!.  He  was  converted  at  sixteen  ;  entered  the  ndn- 
istry  of  the  United  Brethren  Church  in  his  twenty-lifih 
year,  and  travelled  for  seven  consecutive  years.     He 


then  joined  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  in  which  he  labored  until  his  death,  at  Pioneer, 
Ohio,  Aug.  10, 1872.  He  was  an  earnest  and  successful 
minister,  a  faithful  and  beloved  pastor. 

Miller,  Hugh,  one  of  the  most  noted  characters 
among  the  English-speaking  nations  of  our  century,  the 
champion  of  tlie  I''rce  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the  de- 
fender of  revelation  from  "scientists,"  falsely  so  called, 
was  bom  of  ven.-  humble  parentage  at  Cromarty,  in 
.Scotland,  Oct.  10,  1805.  He  received  his  first  education 
at  the  parish  school,  where  he  was  distinguished  for  his 
fondness  for  poetry  and  poetical  composition.  At  that 
early  age  he  was  an  extensive  reader,  and  jilaced  under 
contribution  the  libraries  of  the  parish.  In  this  way  he 
laid  the  foundation  of  an  extended  knowledge  of  litera- 
ture, which  availed  him  in  after-life.  But  the  most  im- 
portant part  of  his  education  consisted  in  the  natural- 
history  instruction  he  received  from  an  uncle  who  had 
acquired  a  taste  for  the  observation  of  natural  phenom- 
ena. His  poverty  proved  an  obstacle  to  a  collegiate 
education,  and  he  was  obliged  to  learn  a  trade  in  order 
to  secure  a  livelihood.  He  determined  fortunately,  as 
his  later  history  proved,  to  become  a  stone-mason.  This 
occupation  unexpectedly  fostered  the  taste  he  had  ac- 
quired for  the  study  of  natural  history;  and  while  hew- 
ing blocks  of  stone  in  the  quarry,  he  was  diligently 
studj'ing  the  traces  they  exhibited  of  their  past  history. 
It  was  in  this  way  that  he  prepared  himself  to  become 
the  historian  of  the  old  red  sandstone,  among  the  rocks 
of  which  he  principally  worked.  "  It  was  the  neces- 
sity- which  made  me  a  quarrier  that  taught  me  to  be  a 
geologist,"  he  himself  wrote  in  after-life.  He  labored 
j  as  a  quarryman  and  stone-mason  for  about  fifteen  years, 
I  constantly  improving  himself  in  his  leisure  hours  by  read- 
ing and  study.  Tlie  publication  of  a  volume  of  poems 
which  he  wrote  during  that  time  attracted  the  attention 
of  some  persons,  who,  by  procuring  him  a  situation  in  a 
bank  of  his  native  village,  enabled  him  to  devote  more 
time  to  his  studies.  He  now  commenced  contributing 
to  several  newspapers.  The  Church  of  Scotland  was  at 
that  time  a  prey  to  internal  dissensions,  which  ulti- 
mately led  to  a  division.  The  Independents,  who  wished 
to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  higher  clergj-,  received 
great  support  from  the  people;  IMiller  rendered  them 
great  service  when  the  contest  came  to  a  close  by  the 
decision  of  the  House  of  Lords  in  the  Auchtcrarder  case, 
in  1839,  by  his  pamphlet,  entitled  A  Letter  from  One  of 
the  Scottish  People  to  the  liif/ht  Ilonorahk  Lord  Biviif/h- 
am  and  Vaux  on  the  Opinions  erprensed  h//  hl.^  Lordship 
in  the  Auchterarder  Case.  This  remarkable  Icttir  drew 
towards  him  the  attention  of  the  evangelical  iiarty,  and 
he  was  selected  as  the  most  competent  person  to  conduct 
the  newly-started  Witness  news])ai)er.  the  iirinci])al  met- 
ropolitan organ  of  the  Free  Church.  This  paper  owed 
its  success  to  his  able  contributions — political,  ecclesias- 
tical, and  geological.  His  articles  on  geology  he  con- 
tributed to  the  lirst  congress  of  the  British  As.sociation, 
held  at  Clasgow  in  1840.  They  were  highly  praised 
by  Charles  Lyell,  Miircliison,  Buckland,  and  Agassiz, 
and  the  name  of  Miller  was  by  them  associated  with 
the  wonderful  fossil,  the  Pterichthys  Milleri,  which  he 
had  discovered  in  the  red  sandstone,  and  which  had 
previously  been  thought  to  contain  scarcely  any  fossils. 
Miller  published  these  articles  in  book  form,  under  the 
title  The  Old  Red  Sandstone,  or  Xeir  ]\'alks  in  an  Old 
Field  (Kdinburgh,  1841,  8vo;  often  reprinted,  both  in 
England  and  America).  In  1847  ai>pcared  liis  Fiist 
Impressions  of  Enr/land  and  its  People  (oil  ed.  1853, 8 vo), 
the  result  of  a  tour  made  during  the  previous  year. 
Some  parts  of  this  book,  especially  the  account  of  the 
pilgrimages  to  St  rat  ford-on- Avon,  and  the  Leasowes, 
and  Olney,  and  other  places,  memorable  for  their  liter- 
ary associations,  are  among  the  very  finest  pieces  of 
descriptive  English.  A  magic  style  characterized  all 
his  works,  whether  those  of  a  more  poiiular  kind  or  his 
scientitic  treatises,  such  as  the  Footprints  of  the  Cre- 
ator (1849),  a  work  suggested  by  the  Vestigts  of  Crea- 


MILLER 


269 


MILLER 


tion,  and  subversive  of  the  fallacies  of  that  superficial 
antl  plausible  book.  "There  was  nothing  in  IMiller's 
■works,"  says  the  Edinburgh  Review  for  July,  1858, 
"  which  so  "much  surprised  the  reader  as  their  mere  lit- 
erarv  merit.  Where  could  this  Cromarty  mason  have 
acquired  his  style  ?"  Not  one  of  the  authors  of  our  day 
has  approached  Hugh  Miller  as  a  master  of  English 
composition,  for  the  equal  of  which  we  must  go  back  to 
the  times  of  Addison,  Hume,  and  Goldsmith.  During 
the  later  part  of  his  life  he  suffered  severely  from  dis- 
ease of  the  brain,  and  he  finally  shot  himself  while  in  a 
fit  of  somnambulism,  Dec.  24, 1856.  His  death  caused 
a  most  painful  excitement.  Few  men  have  occupied  a 
higher  position  in  the  estimation  of  his  countrymen. 
He  was  a  noble  example  of  what  self-education  can  do 
for  a  man ;  and,  whether  regarded  as  the  fearless  and 
independent  writer,  or  the  man  of  literature  and  science, 
his  character  must  claim  the  respect  and  admiration  of 
posterity.  The  personal  appearance  of  j\Ir.  jMiller,  or 
"  Old  Red,"  as  he  was  familiarly  named  by  his  scien- 
tific friends,  is  thus  described  by  one  who  had  the  good 
fortune  to  see  him  :  '•  A  head  of  great  massiveness, 
magnified  by  an  abundant  profusion  of  sub-Celtic  hair, 
was  set  on  a  body  of  muscular  compactness,  but  which 
in  later  years  felt  the  undermining  influence  of  a  life 
of  unusual  physical  and  mental  toil.  Generally  wrapped 
in  a  bulky  plaid,  and  with  a  garb  ready  for  any  work, 
he  had  the  appearance  of  a  shepherd  from  the  Ross- 
shire  hills  rather  than  an  author  and  a  man  of  science. 
In  conversation  or  in  lecturing  the  man  of  original  gen- 
ius and  cultivated  mind  at  once  shone  out,  and  his 
abundant  information  and  philosophical  acuteness  were 
onh'  less  remarkable  than  his  amiable  disposition,  his 
generous  spirit,  and  his  consistent,  humble  piety"  (Lit- 
erary Gazette).  His  other  works  are,  The  Geology  of  the 
Bass  (1848, 8vo)  : — On  certain  Peculiarities  of  Structure 
in  some  ancient  Ganoids  (fishes)  (1850): — On  the  Fossil 
Flora  of  Scotland  (^18 00)  : — My  School  and  Schoolmas- 
ters, a  very  interesting  autobiography,  in  which  he  re- 
lates his  early  history,  and  his  struggles  in  pursuit  of 
science  (1855) : — The  Testimony  of  the  Eocks  (Lond. 
185.S),  in  which  he  discusses  the  Biblical  bearings  of  ge- 
ology, publisheil  after  his  death.  "  Hugh  Miller,"  says 
the  writer  in  the  Edinburgh  Eeciew  whom  we  have  al- 
ready had  occasion  to  quote,  "must  undoubtedly  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  whom  Scot- 
land has  produced.  .  .  .  The  interest  of  his  narrative, 
the  purity  of  his  style,  his  inexhaustible  faculty  of  happy 
and  ingenious  illustration,  his  high  imaginative  power, 
and  that  light  of  genius  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  define 
yet  so  impossible  to  mistake,  all  promise  to  secure  for 
the  author  of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  the  lasting  admi- 
ration of  his  countrymen."  The  different  scientific  works 
of  Hugh  Miller  mark  an  important  epoch  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  study  of  geology.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to 
popularize  the  subject.  "  Besides  adding  much  to  our 
knowledge,  and  placing  things  previously  known  in  a 
clear  and  pleasing  light,  Mr.  Miller's  performance  will 
be  very  acceptable  also  to  geologists  both  of  the  old  and 
young  school"  {Lond.  A  then.  1842,  p.  523).  "  But  what 
is  in  a  great  degree  peculiar  to  our  author  is  the  success- 
ful combination  of  Christian  doctrines  with  pure  scien- 
tific truth"  (Agassiz,  Introd.  to  Amer.  ed.  of  Footprints 
of  the  Creator).  Hee  Labor  and  Triumph :  the  TAf'e  and 
Times  of  Hugh  Miller,  by  Thomas  N.  Brown,  D.D. "(Glas- 
gow and  N.Y.  1858, 12mo) ;  Lond.  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
1857,  pt.  i,  p.  244  sq. ;  Lond.  A  then.  1856,  p.  1609 ; ' Edinb. 
Rev.  July,  1858,  art.  Hugh  Miller  (reprinted  in  the  Living 
Age,  Aug.  21, 1858);  North  Brit.  Rev.  Aug.  1854;  AUi- 
bone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and  Anwr.  Authors,  s.  v.;  Men  of 
the  Time,  s.  v. ;  Engl.  Cyclop,  s.  v. ;  Hoefer,  Xouv,  Biog. 
Generale,  xxxv,  524;  New-Englamkr,  viii,  237;  North 
Amer.  Rev.  Ixxiii,  448;  Eclectic  Rev.  4th  series,  xxvii, 
685;  XV,  690;  Brit.  Qu.  Rev.  1871,  July,  p.  40;  3feth. 
Qu.  Rev.  1859,  Oct.  p.  513;  Westminster  Rev.  1871,  April, 
p.  269.     (J.H.W.) 

Miller,  Jacob  (1),  D.D.,  was  bom  Dec.  11,  1788, 


at  Goshenhoppen,  Pa.,  and  was  reared  under  religious 
influences  in  accordance  with  the  views  and  practices 
of  the  Lutheran  Church.  He  was  engaged  in  the  pros- 
ecution of  his  literary  and  theological  studies  for  five 
years,  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Geissenhai- 
nen,  and  completed  them  under  the  instruction  of  Drs. 
Helmuth  and  Schmidt,  who  at  that  time  had  charge  of 
a  private  seminary  in  Philadelphia  for  the  education  of 
candidates  for  the  ministry.  His  first  field  of  labor  was 
the  Goshenhoppen  District,  among  the  people  in  whose 
midst  he  had  lived  all  his  life.  Here  he  labored  twenty- 
one  years,  "  not  only  with  acceptance,"  says  the  record, 
"  but  with  profit."  In  1829  he  removed  to  Reading, 
Pa.,  Avhere  he  continued  to  labor  till  his  death,  just 
twenty-one  years.  He  died  May  16, 1850.  Dr.  Miller 
was  a  man  of  marked  ability.  His  natural  endowments 
were  of  a  superior  order,  and  they  had  been  brought 
under  the  infiuence  of  careful  culture.  He  wielded  an 
immense  influence.  In  whatever  position  he  was  placed 
his  power  was  felt.  In  1838  he  was  honored  with  the 
doctorate  of  divinity  by  the  Universitj'  of  Pennsylvania, 
but  he  never  recognised  or  used  the  degree.  (M.  L.  S.) 
Miller,  Jacob  (2),  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  a  native  of  Germany,  came  to  this 
countr}^  when  but  seventeen  years  of  age  (1832) ;  was 
converted  while  a  resident  of  Quincy,  lU.,  and  con- 
nected with  the  (ierman  Lutheran  Church.  Himself 
the  product  of  a  revival,  he  labored  earnestly  for  the  re- 
newing of  God's  love  in  the  hearts  of  his  lukewarm  Lu- 
theran brethren,  but  the  minister  of  the  Church  with 
which  he  was  connected  opposed  him,  and  Miller  was 
finally  obliged  to  leave  that  body.  With  thirty  others, 
like-minded,  he  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
In  1848  he  was  admitted  into  the  Illinois  Conference,  and 
labored  with  great  success  until,  by  reason  of  failing 
health,  he  was  obliged  to  ask  for  a  superannuated  rela- 
tion. In  1860  he  was  again  placed  on  the  active  list, 
and  sent  to  Alton,  111.,  where  he  labored  successfully. 
In  1866  he  was  sent  to  Petersburg  Circuit,  lU. ;  thence 
to  Bushnell,  where  he  died,  March  7, 1871.  See  Min- 
utes of  Annual  Conferences,  1871,  p.  188. 

Miller,  James,  a  Presbj'terian  minister,  was  born 
near  New  INIilns,  Ayrshire,  Scotland,  Feb.  4,  1803.  He 
was  educated  at  Glasgow  College,  Scotland;  studied  di- 
vinity in  the  theological  seminary  at  Glasgow,  and  was 
licensed  by  Kilmarnock  Presbytery  of  the  United  Se- 
cession Church.  Soon  after  he  came  to  the  United 
States;  was  ordained  in  1841  by  the  Associate  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Ohio  as  pastor  over  the  Church 
in  Perrysburg  and  Scotch  Ridge,  Wood  Co.,  Ohio ;  sub- 
sequently removed  to  Iowa,  preaching  as  opportunity 
offered,  and  died  Jan.  26, 1867.  Mr.  Miller  was  a  suc- 
cessful and  useful  minister,  and  did  much  to  advance 
the  cause  of  truth. — Wilson,  Presb.  Hist.  A  Imanac,  1868, 
p.  274.     (J.  L.  S.) 

Miller,  Johann  Peter,  a  German  Protestant  the- 
ologian, was  born  at  Leipheim  April  26, 1725 ;  was  edu- 
cated at  the  university  at  Helmstadt ;  in  1747  went  to 
Gottingen,  and  in  1750  became  rector  of  the  Latin 
school  at  Helmstadt.  In  1756  he  accepted  a  similar 
position  at  the  Lutheran  Gymnasium  at  Halle,  but  re- 
turned in  1766  to  Gottingen,  as  professor  of  theology, 
and  there  died,  May  29,  1789.  Miller  wrote  and  pub- 
lished a  continuation  of  Jlosheim's  Sittenlehre.  His 
productions  of  value  are,  Bas  Reich  der  Natur  mid  Sitten 
(Halle,  1757-1762):  —  Diss,  in  locum  ad  Roman.  S.  28 
(Helmstiidt,  1747) : — Diss,  locus  antologicus  de  Eodem  et 
Diverso  (Gotting.  1748, 4to)  -.—Diss,  de  notabili  et  maxi- 
mo  vei-sionis  Italm  ad  verba  Christi  Matt,  ax,  28  addita- 
mento  (ibid.  1749, 4to) :— J.  L.  Mosheimii  Commentationes 
et  orafinuis  rdriigniiris  ( ll;iniliurg,  1751,8vo)  : — Voll- 
stdmli'i,  r  .\ii.<~iiii  (AK.t  olhii  III  inn.  Theilen  der  Moshei- 
mischdi  Sitti  nil  hi;  d.r  hi  i/igni  Srhrift  (Halle,  1765,8vo; 
2d  auriage,  ibid.  1777, 8vo)  '-.—Die  Eoffnung  besserer  Zei- 
tenfiir  Schulen  (ibid.  1765,  4to):— Pro/;?-,  quo  probatur,^ 
cum  theqpneustea  Apostolorum  mc  omniscientiam  quasi 


MILLER 


270 


MILLER 


oUquam,  nee  anamartesiam  fuisse  conjunctam  (Gijtting. 
17»0,lto). 

Miller,  John  E.,  a  minister  of  the  Reformed 
(Dutch)  Church,  was  born  at  Albany  in  1792;  gradu- 
ated at  Union  College  in  1812;  was  licensed  in  1817; 
serveil  the  Church  as  missionary  in  the  South  and  West 
in  1817  and  1818;  was  pastor  at  Chester,  N.  J.,  Presby- 
terian Church  from  1818  to  1823;  and  then  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  Tompkinsville,  Staten  Island,  until  he 
(lied,  in  1847,  in  the  midst  of  a  powerful  revival  of  re- 
ligion in  his  Church.  Jliller  was  also  chajilain  in  the 
Marine  Hospital  and  at  the  Seaman's  Retreat.  In  this 
place  he  exhibited  the  highest  degree  of  moral  courage 
and  religious  faith  and  zeal  in  times  of  appalling  pesti- 
lence, and  among  sufierers  of  all  kinds.  Contagious  dis- 
eases had  no  fears  for  him.  lie  was  a  simple-hearted, 
bold,  tender,  and  faithful  preacher  of  the  Gospel ;  a  guile- 
less, outspoken,  honest  soul;  a  hater  of  strife;  and  a 
brave,  calm,  earnest,  uncompromising  lover  and  defender 
of  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  His  memoir 
is  to  be  fomul  in  a  goodly  volume,  called  An  Old  Disci- 
ple  and  Ith  Descendants,  by  Rev.  F.  M.  Kip,  D.D.,  which 
contains  brief  biographies  of  his  patriarchal  father 
(Christian  Miller,  Esq.,  of  Albany)  and  several  of  his 
lamily,  who  were  noted  for  unusual  gifts  of  mind,  char- 
acter, and  piety.  Among  these  was  a  grandson,  Isaac 
Livingston  Kip  Miller,  a  youth  of  unusually  brilliant 
and  jiowcrful  intellect,  and  of  great  promise,  who  died 
ill  IMtl.  while  studving  for  the  ministrv.  He  was  the 
elder  brother  of  Dr."  W.  A.  Miller  (q.  v.)."    (W.  J.  R.  T.) 

Miller,  John  Peter,  a  talented  but  eccentric 
American  minister,  was  born  in  the  Palatinate,  Germa- 
ny, about  the  year  1715;  was  thoroughly  educated  in 
his  native  land ;  came  to  this  country  in  1730 ;  was  li- 
censed and  ordained  by  the  Philadelphia  Synod  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church;  and  in  1731  became  pastor  of  the 
German  Reformed  Church  in  Tulpehoeken,  Berks  Coun- 
ty, Pa.,  where  he  laljored  successfully  for  about  four 
years.  In  1735  he  fell  in  with  an  enthusiast  by  the 
name  of  Beissel,  by  whom  he  was  immersed,  and  so  be- 
<'ame  identified  with  the  Seventh-day  Baptists.  Flying 
from  tiie  society  of  the  world,  he  entered  upon  a  solitary 
or  monastic  life  at  the  base  of  a  mountain,  near  a  "lim- 
piil  spring."  He  afterwards,  urged  by  the  force  of  his 
trials,  entered  the  cloister  of  the  Seventh-day  Baptists 
at  Ephrata,  Pa.  "  Here,  under  the  name  of  Jabez,  he 
lived  a  quiet  life  as  a  Protestant  monk,  using  a  board 
for  his  bed  at  night,  and  devoting  himself  by  day  to 
what  he  imagined  to  be  the  service  of  God  in  severe 
self-castigation."  See  Ilarbaugh,  Fathers  of  the  Ref. 
Chunk,  i,  301^311.     (D.Y.H.) 

Miller,  John  Wesley,  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist lOpiscoiial  Clnireh,  South,  was  born  at  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  Oct.  27, 1829.  He  enjoyed  a  collegiate 
education,  and  entered  the  ministry  in  1850;  was,  as 
licentiate,  deacon,  and  elder,  on  circuits,  stations,  mis- 
sions, and  in  the  Southern  anny  as  chaplain  of  hospi- 
tals, always  a  faithful,  devoted  servant  of  Christ.  He 
died  in  the  village  of  Darlington,  South  Carolina.  June 
29,  ixili;.— .l/(»//^.v  <;/■///--  .1/.  /•;.  Church,  South,  180G. 

Miller,  Louis  Pilketon,  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
o(li>t  I',pisci>pal  Church,  w.ns  bi>ru  in  Union  Comity,  Pa., 
Jan.  «,  1X09.  He  joined  the  Church  in  his  sixteenth 
year.  He  was  soon  after  imjjressed  by  a  strong  convic- 
tion that  it  was  his  duty  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  others. 
He  worked  in  his  father's  lields  iiy  moonlight,  that  lie 
might  procure  religious  books  to  (jualify  himself  for  this 
station  in  life.  In  1828  he  entered  the  academy  at  Mil- 
ton, Pa.,  and  in  1830  he  was  admitted  into  the  Ohio 
Conference.  He  was  successively  stationed  at  Athens, 
Norwich,  Georgetown,  ^ladisonville,  South  Charleston, 
Wilmington,  Franklin,  White  Oak,  ^ladisonville,  Ame- 
lia, Williamsburg.  Locklanti,  West  White  Oak,  Amelia, 
Milford,  New  Carlisle,  Raysville,  Batavia.  ^ladisonville, 
Miami,  Jamestown,  and  ^loscow.  In  18til  he  entered 
the  army  as  chaplain,  and  served  until  peace  was  re- 


stored. He  died  in  1872.  Mr.  Miller  was  a  man  of 
great  humility  and  piety,  and  his  ministry  was  a  glori- 
ous success. 

Miller,  Nathan  W.,  a  minister  of  the  IMethodist 
Episcopal  Church,  was  born  at  Washington,  :Me.,  Dec. 
24, 1831 ;  was  converted  and  united  with  the  Church  in 
June,  1842.  In  1853  he  was  licensed  as  a  local  preach- 
er, and  in  1859  was  employed  by  the  presiding  elder  of 
,  the  Rockland  District  to  preach  at  Benton  and  vicinity, 
I  where  he  labored  successfully.  He  entered  the  itiner- 
j  ancj'  in  18G2  as  a  member  of  the  East  Maine  Confer- 
i  ence,  and  was  appointed  to  North  Searsport;  in  1864 
j  and  1865,  to  Bear  1 1  ill,  Charleston,  and  Garland;  in  1866, 
i  to  Garland;  in  1867,  to  Abbott  and  Greenville;  in  1868, 
I  to  Danforth,  Weston,  and  Topsfield.  In  1869  he  was 
\  granted  a  superannuated  relation ;  and  in  June  following 
he  moved  to  Benton,  where  he  coidd  be  near  his  family 
friends.  Here  he  assisted  in  the  public  service  as  long 
as  his  strength  woidd  permit.  He  died  Feb.  22,  1870. 
'•  Brother  Miller,  as  a  Christian  minister,  had  clear  per- 
ceptions ;  a  high  sense  of  honor,  combined  with  a  deep 
I  sense  of  obligation;  as  a  citizen,  he  was  kind  and  oblig- 
I  ing;  as  a  friend,  true,  trusty,  and  confiding;  as  a  com- 
panion and  father,  affectionate,  kind,  and  faithful." — 
Minutes  of  Annual  Conferences,  1870. 

Miller,  Samuel  (1),  D.D.,  LL.D.,  an  eminent  Pres- 
byterian divine,  whose  name  is  cherished  as  that  of  one 
Avho  materially  assisted  in  laying  the  foundations  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  country-,  was  born  Oct.  31, 
1769,  at  Dover,  Delaware.  He  received  his  early  liter- 
ary training  under  the  direction  of  his  father,  the  Rev. 
John  Miller,  a  native  of  Boston,  who  early  settled  as  a 
Presbyterian  pastor  in  Delaware.  Samuel  was  educated 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  (class  of  1789),  and 
graduated  with  the  highest  honor  in  his  class;  com- 
menced the  study  of  theology  under  his  father,  and  fin- 
ished his  theological  course  under  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nesbit, 
at  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa. ;  in  1791  was  licensed 
to  preach,  and  in  1793  was  installed  as  colleague  pastor 
with  Drs.  McKnighl  and  Rodgers  over  the  First  Pres- 
bj-terian  Church  in  New  York  City,  and,  after  the  dis- 
solution, was  pastor  of  the  \\'all  Street  Church  until  1813. 
He  was  instrumental  in  the  establishment  of  Princeton 
Seminary,  and  subsequently  was  appointed  to  the  chair 
of  ecclesiastical  history  and  Church  government,  which 
he  held  for  more  than  thirty-six  years.  He  died  Jan.  7, 
1850.  Dr.  IMiller  was  an  extensive  author,  and  published, 
Sermon  on  Psn.  ii,  1 1  (Feb.  1799) : — A  Pastoral  Discourse 
(1800)  : — 4  Brief  Retrospect  of  the  IHlh  Centuiy  (1803,2 
vols.  8vo): — Letters  on  the  Constitution  and  Order  of  the 
Christian  Ministry  (1807, 12mo)  : — Discourse  designed  to 
Commemorate  the  Discovery  of  New  York  (1809): — Me- 
moir  ofRer.  John  Royers,  D.'d.  (1813,  8vo)  -.—Letters  on 
Unitarianism  (1821,  8vo)  : — On  the  Eternal  Sonship  of 
Christ  (1823)  -.—Lectures  at  the  Seminanj  (1827)  -.—Let- 
te7-s  on  Clerical  Manners  and  Habits  (1827, 12mo) : — Lect- 
ures at  the  Seminary  (1830): — Essay  on  the  Utility  and 
Dnportance  of  Creeds  and  Confessions : — On  the  Of  ice  of 
Ruling  Elder  (1831,  \-lnw)-.—On  Baptism  .-—Letters  on 
the  Observance  of  the  Monthly  Concert  in  Prayer: — Me- 
moir of  the  Rev.  Charhs  \(.<bil,  D.I).  (1840)  -.—The  Prim- 
itive and  Apostolical  Order  of  the  Church  of  Christ  vin- 
dicated (1X40,  12mo)  -.—Letters  from  a  Father  to  his  Son 
in  Coll, ye  (  IX  V.i):— Thoughts  on  Public  Prayer  (1848): 
— On  Christian  Education  of  Childn  n.  Dr.  Jliller  also 
contributed  a  Life  of  .Jonathan  Edwards  to  Sparks's 
"American  Biography."  Dr.  Miller  possessed  admira- 
ble natural  qualities  that  constituted  the  foundation  of 
his  eminentl\-  attractive  character.  His  countenance, 
full  of  generosity  and  manliness,  was  indicative  of  great 
purity  and  nobility  of  character;  his  manners  were  un- 
commonly dignified  and  polished;  his  conversation  brill- 
iant and  attractive.  He  was  pre-eminently  a  man  of 
system  and  method.  His  intellect  was  naturally  dear, 
comprehensive,  antl  symmetrical.  As  a  minister,  he 
was  singularly  adapted  to  profit  theological  students— 


MILLER 


271 


MILLERITES 


his  preaching  clear,  direct,  and  full  of  evangelical  truth. 
As  a  professor,  he  was  eminently  qualified ;  his  lectures 
were  luminous  exhibitions  of  his  subject,  full  of  well- 
digested  thought,  and  arranged  with  graceful  natural- 
ness. As  an  author,  he  was  at  home  in  almost  every 
field,  whether  literary  or  theological.  His  taste  was 
beyond  criticism,  insomuch  that,  in  reading  his  works, 
one  rarely  meets  with  an  expression  that  admits  of  be- 
ing essentially  improved.  His  style  is  marked  by  an 
elegant  simplicity — generally  easy  and  flowing,  but  oc- 
casionally rising  to  the  more  artificial,  condensed,  and 
elevated  strain.  See  Life  of  Samuel  Miller,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
bv  Samuel  Miller  (1869) ;  The  Biblical  Rep.  and  Prince- 
ton Rev.  Jan.  1870,  p.  33  ;  Amer.  Presb.  Rev.  July,  1869, 
p.  619;  Presb.  Hist.  Almanac,  1863,  p.  52;  X.  Amer.  Rev. 
xxviii,  505-531 ;  Sketc/ies  of  the  Lit.  of  the  United  States; 
London  A  then.  1835,  p.  7 16 ;  Dr.  J.  \V.  Francis's  Old  New 
York  (2d.  ed.  1858),  p.  57 ;  Life  of  A  rchibald  Alexander, 
D.D.,  by  his  son,  p.  380. 

Miller,  Samuel  (2),  a  minister  of  the  German 
Reformed  Church,  was  born  in  Union  County,  Pa.,  March 
23,  1815.  He  was  licensed  in  1842,  and  ordained  the 
following  year.  He  first  labored  in  Dauphin,  and  then 
in  Butler  County,  Pa.  In  1852  he  removed  to  Cham- 
bersburg.  Pa.,  where  he  stood  in  connection  with  the 
publication  office  of  the  Keformed  Church  as  associate 
editor  of  the  Messenger  and  Kirchenzeitinifj.  After  la- 
boring in  this  capacity  about  six  j^ears,  he  returned  to 
the  pastoral  work,  residing  for  several  years  in  Lebanon, 
and  afterwards  in  Pottsville,  Pa.  His  health  failing,  he 
removed  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  died,  Oct.  11,  1873. 
]Mr.  ]\[iller  was  a  man  of  decided  talent,  genial  spirit, 
and  indomitable  energy,  patience,  and  perseverance.  He 
is  the  author  of  a  work  of  some  merit,  entitled  Mercers- 
burr/  and  Modern  Theology  compared,  and  of  quite  a 
number  of  articles  in  the  Mercersburg  Review. — Ref.  Ch. 
Mess.  Nov.  5,  1873.     (D.  Y.  H.) 

Miller,  Samuel  J.,  an  American  divine  of  some 
note,  figured  lirst  as  missionary  to  Africa,  and  later  as 
agent  of  the  Colonization  Society.  He  died  in  1818. 
He  was  the  editor  of  the  celebrated  Report  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church:  The  Commonivealth  of  Pennsylvania 
vs.  Ashbel  Green  and  Others  (Phila.  8vo;  new  ed.  1855. 
8vo,  p.  596). 

Miller,  Thomas,  one  of  the  pioneer  preachers  of 
American  Methodism,  largely  identified  with  the  spread 
of  Jlethodist  doctrine  in  Maryland,  was  born  about  the 
year  1770,  of  Irish  parentage,  and  was  reared  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  About  1800  he  joined  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  soon  became  an  official  mem- 
ber;  in  1808  he  was  licensed  to  exhort  and  preach.  His 
itinerant  life  commenced  in  1809,  under  the  elder  Dr. 
Chandler,  and  continued  till  1848,  nearly  forty  years. 
In  his  early  ministry  he  was  healthy  and  strong,  and 
never  spared  his  strength ;  in  fact,  his  health  and 
strength  served  him  well  through  all  his  ministerial 
course.  He  was  stationed  for  twelve  years  at  different 
times  in  Philadelphia,  and  held  other  important  charges. 
His  early  education  was  limited,  but  constant  reading 
and  close  application,  added  to  great  natural  abilities, 
made  him  an  able  minister  of  the  New  Testament.  He 
was  known  by  the  title  of  '•  Old  Father  Miller"  far  and 
wide,  and  he  was  loved  and  honored  by  all  who  knew 
him,  both  in  and  out  of  the  Church.  He  was  a  good 
friend  to  the  young,  and  took  great  interest  in  the  Sab- 
bath-school. He  took  many  a  young  man  by  the  hand, 
and  helped  him  into  the  ministry.    He  died  in  1848. 

Miller,  Tobias  Ham,  a  Universalist  minister  and 
journalist,  was  born  about  1802.  In  early  life  he  was 
settled  in  Maine  as  an  orthodox  clergyman,  but  later  he 
became  a  firm  Universalist.  He  was  the  original  "Un- 
cle Toby"  of  the  Boston  Carpet  Bag;  was  on  the  Chron- 
icle (Portsmouth)  eighteen  years,  and  the  Portsmouth 
Journal  twenty  years.  He  died  in  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire,  :March  30, 1870. 

Miller,  William,  the  founder  of  the  Millerites 


(q.  v.),  was  bom  at  Pittsfield.  Mass.,  in  1781.  He  en- 
joyed but  slender  educational  advantages.  During  the 
war  of  1812  he  served  as  a  volunteer  with  the  rank 
of  captain.  About  1833,  while  a  resident  of  Low  Hamp- 
ton, N.  Y.,  he  began  his  career  as  an  apostle  of  the  new 
doctrine,  which  taught  that  the  world  was  coming  to 
an  end  in  1843.  The  main  argument  on  which  his  be- 
lief rested  was  that  relative  to  the  termination  of  the 
2300  days  in  Dan.  viii,  14,  which  he  regarded  as  j'ears. 
Then  considering  the  seventy  weeks  in  Dan.  ix,  24,  as 
i  the  key  to  the  date  of  the  2300  days  of  the  preceding 
I  chapter,  and  dating  the  periods  B.C.  457,  when  Artax- 
erxes,  king  of  Persia,  sent  up  Ezra  from  his  captivity, 
to  restore  the  Jewish  polity  at  Jerusalem  (Ezra  vii), 
and  ending  the  seventy  weeks,  as  commentators  gener- 
ally do,  in  A.D.  33,  with  the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  he 
finind  the  remainder  of  the  2300  days,  which  was  1810, 
would  end  in  1843.  For  ten  years  he  held  forth  to  this 
purport,  and  succeeded  in  gathering  a  large  number  of 
followers,  which  is  said  to  have  reached  fifty  thousand, 
who  awaited,  with  credulous  expectation,  the  appointed 
day.  The  result,  however,  turning  out  contrarj^  to  the 
teaching  of  their  apostle,  the  Adventists,  as  they  are 
sometimes  termed,  gradually  forsook  Miller.  He  died 
at  Low  Hampton,  Washington  County,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  20, 
1849.  His  followers  esteemed  him  as  a  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  mental  power,  as  a  cool,  sagacious,  and 
honest  reasoner,  a  humble  and  devoted  Christian,  a  kind 
and  affectionate  friend,  and  a  man  of  great  moral  and 
social  worth.    See  Millerites. 

Miller,  ■William  A.,  D.D.,  a  minister  of  the  Re- 
formed (Dutch)  Church,  was  born  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  in 
1824;  graduated  at  Union  College  in  1842,  and  at  the 
theological  seminary  of  tlie  Reformed  Church  at  New 
Brunswick  in  1845.  He  was  a  grandson  of  the  '■  Old 
Disciple,"  and  nephew  of  Rev.  John  E.  Miller,  whom  we 
notice  above,  and  inherited  the  robust  intellect,  strong 
charicter,  and  religious  peculiarities  of  his  remarkable 
family.  After  a  brief  settlement  as  pastor  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  of  Glenham,  N.  Y.  (1846-49),  he  became 
professor  of  language  s,  and  subsequently  principal  of 
the  Albany  Academy,  a  celebrated  classical  and  mathe- 
matical school  (1849-56).  From  1850  to  1859  he  was 
the  useful  pastor  of  tlie  Reformed  Church  of  Rhinebeck, 
when  his  health  failed  from  pulmonary  disease,  of  which 
he  died  in  1863.  Dr.  Miller  was  a  highly-gifted  man,  a 
thoroughly  accurate  and  critical  scholar,  an  enthusiastic 
and  competent  instructor,  a  logical,  practical,  and  profit- 
able preacher,  and  a  man  who  always  devoted  himself 
completely  to  his  professional  duties.  He  dealt  much 
in  careful  expository  preaching,  for  which  his  turn  of 
mind,  classical  culture,  and  love  of  the  truth  admirably 
fitted  him.  Had  his  life  been  spared,  he  would  doubt- 
less have  risen  to  higher  positions  in  the  Church  which 
he  so  greatly  adorned  by  his  scholarship  and  services. 
He  was  "  chosen  in  the  furnace  of  affliction,"  and  his 
graces  were  beautifully  developed  by  the  protracted  tri- 
als of  bereavement,  disease,  and  suffering,  and  especially 
by  being  obliged  to  desist  from  all  labor  for  Christ,  just 
when  he  felt  most  anxious  and  best  qualified  for  it.  His 
Christian  experiences  during  his  last  years  and  in  death 
Avere  delightful  and  impressive  exhibitions  of  the  tri- 
umphs of  grace.     (\V.  J.  R.  T.) 

Millerites,  or  Adventists,  as  they  are  some- 
times called,  are  those  millenarians  [see  Millennium] 
who  adhere  to  the  doctrines  as  expounded  by  William 
aiiller  (q.  v.).  ^Vhen  in  1833  he  first  began  to  proclaim 
millennial  doctrines,  the  earnestness  of  his  manner,  his 
evident  familiarity  with  the  Scriptures  and  with  his- 
tory, and  the  bold  confidence  with  which  he  proclaimed 
his  views,  made  so  deep  and  wide  an  impression  that 
he  everywhere  left  in  his  wake  large  numbers  examin- 
ing the  evidences  for  themselves.  Among  his  most  ar- 
dent followers  was  Joshua  V.  Himes,  a  minister  of  the 
Christian  connection,  who,  having  become  a  believer, 
commenced,  in  1840,  without  subscribers  or  funds,  the 


MILLERITES 


272 


MILLERITES 


publication  of  a  semi-monthlv  journal  entitled  Sit/ns  of  i  (John  xx,  24-31).  Those  who  thus  identified  his  person, 
fi     -r-  I  L-         •/•,„  .'f  n,.,,^h,^„  .  o„,i   „,ootii,f»    of  flesh  and  bones,  saw  him  go  from  earth  up  into  heaven, 

the  Times  and  Kxposttion  oj  Pujpher;/ ;  and,  meetnig  ,  ^^^^^  ^  ^,„,,^  ^^^.^j'^^  ^^.^  ^B^  ^^  ^^^^^  ^i^^^^     ^.,^^^,  ^^.^^^ 

With  success,  two  years  later  issued  a  weekly,  under  the  told  by  divine  messengers  that  this  same  Jesus, "whom 
title  of  tlie  Adcent  IJerald,  which  largely  aided  in  dis-  '  they  saw  go  into  heaven,  "shall  so  come  back  again  in 
seminating  the  doctrines  of  the  Advent^sts,  who  now  j ''H.^  "?='"""■'' <Acts  i,  2-11).  ■  ,    ^.    , 

7      =  ,  ,     •      .      1-   •.    .  o.  .       I.  •.•  1   I      1.  1  hat  the  second  advent  will  be  pre-millennial.   First, 

comprise  many  thousands,  in  the  Lmted  btates,  Briti.sh  because  the  millennial  reign  is  plated  after  the  first  res- 
America,  and  Great  Britain.  This  journal  (still  pub-  uneeiion  (Hev.  xx,  1-G),  which  cannot  be  till  the  second 
lished  ill  Boston,  Mass.),  together  with  the  labors  of  Mr.  '  "d^'ent  of  Christ.  [Those  who  have  pan  in  the  first  res- 
,,.„         ,  '  ,  .    ^."     r.  .  ,,-  .     !  urrection  are  saints,  and  will  live  torever.    The  second 

MiUer,  who  gave  his  time,  his  energies,  and  his  property  ^5^.^,^  i,as  no  power  on  them.  But  they  that  are  Christ's 
to  the  extension  of  his  views,  and  the  efforts  of  numer-  are  to  be  raised  at  his  coniin<r ;  and  tliat  is  the  order  of 
ous  proselytes  that  everywhere  rose  up.  soon  established  'he  resnnectiou  to  follow  Christ's  resurrection  (1  Cor.  sv, 
great  numbers  in  a  belief  in  the  general  correctness  of  ,  ^^t^'{le:^'f:.•e74•^^de^te•'^n^iE|■^f^  %^, 

Mr.  ]\liller's  interpretation  of  the  prophecies,  and  the  |  because  the  millennial  period  follows  the  casting  the 
personal  appearing  of  the  Lord  was  eagerly  looked  for  beast  and  the  false  j)rophet  into  the  lake  of  fire,  and  the 
by  some  5.),000  followers.  Though  disappointed  at  the  \  tf^^^^^,^^'^^^^.^^^^ 
time  set,  and  frequently  from  time  to  time  since,  there  nium,  all  the  great  anti-Christian  powers  are  to  be  pnt 
are  still  many  adherents  to  Miller's  views.  Their  aggre-  down.  The  man  of  sin,  however,  the  son  of  perdition,  is 
gatenumber-isquite  respectable,and  their  effortsfortheonly^to^bedestro^^^ 

dissemination  of  their  convictions  generous  and  unlal-  1  must  therefore  be  pre-millenuial. 

8.  That  there  will  be  two  resurrections,  a  thousand 
years  apart,  viz.  the  "first  resurrection,"  "the  resurrec- 
tion of  life,"  "the  resurrection  of  the  just ;"  and  the  "res- 
urrection of  the  rest  of  the  dead,"  the  "resurrection  of 
damnation,"  the  "resurrection  of  the  unjust." 

9.  That  the  geueral  view  that  the  millennium  will  be  a 
thousand  years  of  peace,  and  be  introduced  by  the  con- 
version of  the  world  to  Christ,  and  consist  in  his  uni- 


tering.  \\'hile  as  a  body  they  make  little  or  no  preten- 
sion to  influence,  as  individuals  they  are  necessarily  close 
Bible  students;  arc  liberal,  according  to  their  means,  to 
the  i)oor  and  for  the  support  of  the  Gospel;  and  notice- 
able in  the  main  for  the  modesty  and  uprightness  of 
their  walk,  and  their  careful  conformity  to  virtue  and  to 

law.    As  a  body  they  accept  the  great  leading  doctrines    versal"8pi"riViral "reign  •"  an'd  7h'e"miirenarVan' view  that 
of  the  evangelical  Church,  and  arc  distinguished  only    though  Christ  will  come  and  reign  personally  on  earth 
for  their  peculiar  belief  in  the  personal  coming  of  Christ,  i  during  the  millennium,  yet  that  that  period  will  be  one  of 
,,.,'.,        .  .,,.'..         ^,         "^,      ,ni         probation,  in  which  the  heathen  who  had  never  heard  of 

and  his  bodily  reign  with  his  saints  on  the  earth.    1  hey 

have  no  creed  nor  form  of  discipline  other  than  the 
Word  of  God,  which  they  regard  as  a  sufficient  rule  of 
faith  and  duty.  They  hold  conferences,  composed  of 
lay  and  clergy,  as  often  as  it  is  deemed  necessary  for 
the  discussion  of  such  subjects  and  measures  as  the  in- 
terests of  the  cause  may  demand ;  but  these  are  purely 
voluntarj^  and  advisory,  and  claim  to  exercise  no  au- 
thority over  the  conscience  of  any. 

In  round  numbers,  the  Millerites  are  supposed  to  com- 
prise in  this  country  from  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand, 
scattered  over  all  the  states  of  the  Union,  in  which  es- 
timate those  in  the  different  churches,  who  are  numer- 
ous, are  not  included. 

General  Doctrines  of  Belief.— \.  They  cannot  see,  if,  ac- 
cording to  Isa.  vii,  14,  Christ  was  forciUld  to  be  born  of  a 
virgin,  and  it  came  to  pass  (Matt,  i,  is-'j.')) ;  if,  as  foretold 
(Micah  V,  2),  Christ  was  literally  boni  in  Ijethlehem  (Matt, 
ii,  1) ;  if,  as  foretold  (Dan.  ix,  26),  Messiah  came  at  the  ex- 
piration of  seven  weeks  and  sixty-two  weeks  (Mark  i,  1.5), 
and  if  after  the  sixty-two  weeks  Messiah  was  literally  cut 
off;  if,  as  foretold  (Isa.  liii,  8,  9),  he  was  cut  off  out  of  the 
land  of  the  living  for  the  transgression  of  his  people,  and 
made  his  grave  with  the  wicked  and  with  the  rich  in  his 
death;  if  (I'sa.  xvi,  10)  Christ's  eoul  was  not  left  in  hell, 
nor  did  his  flesh  see  corruption  ;  if  (Psa.  ex,  1)  Christ  did 
sit  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  is  to  sit  there  till  his 
enemies  be  made  his  footstool  —  if  all  these  predictions 
have  literally  come  to  pass,  and  they  think  they  have, 
then  they  cannot  see  ground  for  doubting  that  the  same 
rule  will  be  observed  in  the  fulfilment  of  all  other  predic- 
tions relating  to  Christ. 

2.  Prophecy  (Gen.  xxii,  IS)  foretells  Christ  as  the  seed 
of  Abrah!iin,"iii  whom  all  the  families  of  the  earth  shall 
be  bk'sscil.  It  also  |)romises  to  the  seed  of  Abraham  all 
the  land  of  Canaan,  for  an  everlasting  possession,  in  con 
necti 


Christ,  and  the  Jews  who  have  been  cut  off  during  the 
Christian  dispensation,  will  have  the  Gospel  preached  to 
them  and  be  converted,  are  both  unscriptural  and  not  to 
be  received,  because  both  the  general  and  specific  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible  are  against  it.  Thus  the  dream  of  Neb- 
uchadnezzar (Dan.  ii)  foretells  four  universal  empires 
which  are  to  fill  up  the  period  from  then  till  the  everlast- 
ing kingdom  of  God  conies  and  destroys  them,  and  fills 
the  whole  earth.  But  there  can  be  no  everlasting  king- 
dom without  immortality,  which  cannot  be  till  the  resur- 
rection at  the  second  advent  of  Christ.  The  seventh 
chapter  of  Daniel  presents,  in  vision,  the  same  four  em- 
pires, with  the  divisions  and  successions  of  the  foui  ili  em- 
pire, which  only  end  (ver.  13,14)  when  the  Son  of  Man 
comes  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  to  receive  his  everlasting 
dominion,  which  is  also  universal.  Till  the  judgment, 
the  little  blasphemous  horn  wears  out  the  saints,  and  ine- 
vails  against  them.  So,  also,  in  the  twenty-fourth  of  Mat- 
thew, the  course  of  events  from  the  time  of  Christ  to  his 
second  coming  and  the  end  of  the  world  is  given.  There 
were  to  be  wars,  famines,  pestilences,  persecutions  of  the 
saints,  false  prophets,  false  Christs,  abominations,  great 
tribulations,  mournings  by  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth,  the 
preaching  of  liis  (Jnsix'l  to  all  the  \vi  rid  for  a  witness  to 
all  nations,  and  On  11  the  end  should  cmne,  and  they  see 
the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  the  clouds  ofheaven  with  power 
and  great  glory.  There  is  no  jjeace  in  the  prediction  till 
he  comes.  Therefore  he  will  come  personally  to  judge 
the  world  and  reign,  and  not  spiritually  to  convert  and 
save  the  world.  The  tares  and  wheat,  too  (the  righteous 
and  wicked),  are  to  grow  together  till  the  end  of  the  world 
or  age,  and  then  they  are  to  be  cast  oft' and  puui.shed,  and 
the  other  glorified  in  the  kingdom  of  God  (Matt,  xiii,  24- 
43).  For  these  and  many  other  reasons,  they  cannot  be- 
lieve in  the  conversion  of  the  world  before  the  second  ad- 
vent of  the  Saviour. 

10.  That  the  thousand  years  will  be  one  of  judgment 
rather  than  probation.    For  they  read  in  I  he  sec(nid  Psalm 
that  when  the  heathen  are  given  to  Christ  for  his  inher- 
itance, and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  his  jios- 
w'iuVAlirV.ham  hVmself  "oeVui^i  17837 "hen cV the  |  ?.e?*'j;>n..'lnit  he  is  to  break  or  rule  them  (Hev.  xii,  .\  and 


land  is  called  Emanuel's  land  (Isa.  viii,  8).  But,  when 
Christ  was  on  earth,  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head. 
TherefiU'e  he  must  return  personally  to  inherit  it. 

3.  Christ  is  the  predicted  Son  of  David,  who  is  to  sit 
forever  on  David's  throne  :  he  is  the  Son  of  David  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh  (Psa.  cxxxii,  11).  But,  while  on  earth,  he 
never  sat  on  David's  throne.  He  went  to  Jerusalem,  as 
foretold,  on  an  ass's  colt ;  claimed  his  rights,  and  was 
proclaimed  king  by  the  children,  but  rejected  by  the  rulers 
(Malt.  xxi).  Hence  he  must  return  to  enjoy  his  kingdom 
and  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  forever  (Luke  i,  32, 33). 

4.  Christ  has  the  promise  of  the  ulterinost  parts  of  the 
earth  for  his  possession  (Psa.  ii,  '^\  but  he  never  yet  had 
it.    Therefore  he  must  come  back  to  caith  to  possess  it. 

5.  Prophecy  (Dan.  vii,  13,14)  points  out  the  coming  of 
Christ  to  receive  his  kiiiL'dom  and  dominion  over  all  na- 
tions, to  be  in  the  "clouds  of  heaven."     But  he  has  never  ;  ation,  iiu 
yet  come  thus.     He  must,  theiefore.  fullil  the  prediction  '  from   the 

lie 


ii,  27)  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  dash  them  in  pieces  like 

Cotter's  vessel,  which  they  consider  to  be  anything  else 
esides  conversion.  They  also  read  in  Psa.  cxlix  that  all 
the  saints  will  "bind  their  kings  with  chains,  and  their 
nobles  with  fetters  of  iron,  and  execute  upon  them  the 
judgments  wiitten."  From  Isa.  Ix  and  Zech.  siv  they 
likewise  leani  that  the  worship  and  service  of  the  hea- 
Iheu  will  be  compulsory  service. 

11.  That  final  and  eternal  retribution  will  be  awarded 
to  all  nations  when  the  Son  of  Man  comes  in  his  glory 
(Matt.  XXV  and  Luke  xiii). 

12.  That  the  promises  made  fo  Israel  of  a  yet  future  and 
final  L'aliierin.'  to  the  land  of  Canaan  will  lie  literally  ac- 
complished, and  Israel  forever  dwell  there  in  peace.  '  But 
that  this  cannot  be  fullil'cil  lul.ne  the  resiirrectii>ii  of  the 
just,  wlien  the  beliiviiii:  irniiKint  of  Israel,  of  eveiv  geiier- 

■   din- Al.r.ih.iin,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  will  be  raised 
le:i(l,  and   leslored  to   their   own  land.     This 


futuritv,  at  his  second  advent.     He  cannot  have  uni-    Ezek.  xxxvii  declares  will  be  the  way  the  whole  bouse  of 

versal  dominion  till  he  does.  Israel  will  be  restored:  "I  will  open  your  graves,  and 

6.  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  in  the  identical  bodv  in  1  bring  you  up  out  of  your  graves,  and  bring  you  into  your 

which  he  was  crucified  and  buried,  and  was  so  identified  I  owu  laud."    The  resunectiou,  according  to  Paul. is  "the 


MILLES 


273 


MILLET 


hope  of  Israel."  But  if  the  resurrected  and  glorified  Israel 
are  to  have  the  laud  and  dwell  there  forever,  the  Jews  in 
flesh  and  blood,  as  a  nation,  cannot  have  it  forever.  All 
the  promises,  however,  of  a  future  return,  promise  an 
everlasting  possession  of  the  land.  But  mortal  Jews  can- 
not possess  it  forever— glorified  and  immortal  ones  can. 
Therefore  they  are  the  heirs  of  promise. 

13.  That  the  coming  of  the  Lord  is  at  the  door  for  the 
following  reasons,  viz. :  First,  the  four  great  empires  are 
to  be  succeeded  by  the  kingdom  of  God ;  and  it  is  very 
manifest  that  the  last  — the  Komau  government  — has 
jiassed  its  predicted  divisions,  and  must  soon  end.  J^ec- 
ond,  the  waning  of  the  Ottoman  or  Mohammedan  power 
is  another  index  pointing  to  the  speedy  coming  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  Third,  the  universal  movements  and 
agitrations,  tlu'  famines,  pestilences,  and  earthquakes,  the 
wars  and  rumors  uf  wars,  together  with  the  signs  in  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars,  etc.,  are  conclusive  evidence  of  his 
speedy  approach.  Fourth,  the  Gospel,  which  was  to  be 
preached  in  all  the  world,  for  a  witness  to  all  nations,  is 
now  completing  its  work. 

14.  That  the  advent  doctrine,  embracing,  as  it  does,  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  the  personal  and  visible  appear- 
ance and  reign  of  Christ  on  earth,  the  restitution  of  the 
heavens  and  earth  to  their  paradisical  state,  as  the  eter- 
nal inheritance  of  the  saints,  etc.,  is  the  only  view  which 
will  explain  and  harmonize  the  Word  of  God. 

The  intelligent  reader  will  perceive,  however,  that 
most  of  the  above  arguments  are  merely  precarious  in- 
ferences from  passages  of  Scripture  whose  meaning  is 
greatly  disputed.     See  Millennium.     (J.  H.  ^Y.) 

Milles,  Jere.miah,  D.D.,  a  celebrated  English  di- 
vine and  antiquary,  was  born  in  1714,  and  received  his 
preparatory  education  at  Eton.  He  studied  at  Corpus 
Christ!  College,  Oxford,  and  took  the  degree  of  M.A.  in 
1735,  and  that  of  D.D.  in  1747.  His  micle,  Dr.  Thomas 
Milles,  bishop  of  Waterford  and  Lismore,  collated  him 
to  a  prebend  in  the  cathedral  of  Waterford,  and  pre- 
sented him  to  a  living  near  that  city.  In  1762  Dr. 
Milles  was  nominated  to  the  deanery  of  Exeter,  and  in 
1767  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries. He  died  Feb.  13, 1784.  In  the  "  Archfeologia" 
are  several  communications  by  him,  particularl}'  one  en- 
titled Obserralions  on  the  Wardrobe  Account  of  the  Year 
1483,  wherein  are  contained  the  deliveries  made  for  the 
coronation  of  king  Richard  III;  and  another  (^Archoeol. 
iv,  331  sq.)  in  which  he  denies  the  genuineness  of  the 
Apamoean  medal.  In  connection  with  E.  Pococke  (q.  v.), 
he  edited  Insci-lptiones  Antiqum  (1752).  He  also  pub- 
lished some  of  his  sermons.  Dr.  Milles  is,  however, 
best  known  in  the  literary  world  by  his  edition  in  de- 
fence of  the  antiquity  of  the  "  Poems  of  Rowlaj'."  See 
Chambers,  Ci/clopcedia,  s.  v. ;  AUibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  mid 
Amer.  Authors,  ii,  1288. 

Millet  ("11^,  do'chan,  so  called  from  the  dark-green 
or  smoh/  color  of  the  leaf;  Sept.  /csy^pocVulg.  milium') 
occurs  in  Scripture  only  in  Ezek.  iv,  9,  where  the  prophet 


Panicum  Miliaceum. 
VI.— S 


is  directed  to  take  unto  him  wheat,  and  barley,  and 
beans,  and  lentiles,  and  millet,  and  fitches,  and  to  put 
them  into  one  vessel,  and  to  make  bread  thereof  for  him- 
self. All  the  grains  enumerated  in  this  verse  continue 
to  form  the  chief  articles  of  diet  in  the  East  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  as  they  appear  to  have  done  in  ancient  times. 
The  Hebrew  word  dochan  is  identical  with  the  Arabic 
dukhun,  which  is  applied  in  the  present  day  by  the 
Arabs  to  a  small  grain  cultivated  from  the  middle  of 
Europe  to  the  most  southern  part  of  India.  This  is  the 
common  millet,  Panicum  viiliaceum  of  botanists,  which 
is  sometimes  cultivated  in  England  on  account  of  the 
seeds  being  used  for  feeding  birds  and  poultry.  But  the 
grain  is  usually  imported  from  the  Mediterranean.  In 
India  it  is  cultivated  in  the  cold  weather,  that  is,  in  the 
same  season  with  wheat  and  barley,  and  is  an  article  of 
diet  with  the  inhabitants.  The  culms  are  erect,  from 
two  to  four  feet  high,  the  whole  plant  being  very  hairy; 
leaves  large,  with  long  sheaths,  which  involve  most  part 
of  the  culm ;  panicle  oblong,  much  branched,  bending 
down  with  the  weight  of  the  grain ;  glumes  cuspidate ; 
corol  three-valved,  adventitious  valve  emarginate;  seed 
oval  and  smooth,  colored  longitudinally  with  live  streaks. 
The  name,  miliaceum,  is  said  to  have  been  applied  to 
this  plant  from  its  producing  such  a  quantity  of  grain, 
as  if  one  stalk  bore  a  thousand  seeds.  Tournefort  says 
{Voyage,  ii,  95)  that  in  the  isle  of  Samos  the  inhabi- 
tants, in  preparing  their  bread,  knead  together  one  half 
wheat  and  the  other  half  barley  and  millet  mixed  to- 
gether. It  is  also  an  article  of  diet  both  in  Persia  and 
India.  Forskal  applies  the  name  dukhun  to  another 
corn-grass,  which  he  first  found  in  a  garden  at  Rosetta, 
cultivated  on  account  of  its  seed  being  given  as  food  to 
birds.  Afterwards  he  found  it  commonly  cultivated  in 
Arabia.  It  grows  to  a  great  size,  being  about  five  cu- 
bits in  height,  with  seeds  of  the  size  of  rice.  To  it  he 
has  given  the  name  of  Holcus  dochna,  but  the  plant  is 
as  yet  unknown  to  botanists.  The  Biblical  "  millet"  is 
confounded  by  many  writers  with  the  broom-corn  vari- 
eties, which  belong  to  the  genus  Sorghum,  a  species  of 
which  is  the  modern  Egyptian  durra.  It  is  possible 
that  the  Heb.  dochan  includes  the  common  species,  aS'o?-- 


Sorghum  Vulgare. 


MILLET 


274 


MILLS 


ghum  vulgare.  There  is,  however,  little  doubt  that  the  | 
true  dukhitn  of  Aral)  authors  is  the  above-described  I'an- 
icum  mUiaceum.  This  is  so  universally  cultivated  in 
the  East  as  one  of  their  smaller  corn-grasses  that  it  is 
most  likely  to  be  the  kind  chiefly  alluded  to  in  the  pas- 
sage of  Ezekiel.  Two  cultivated  species  of  Punicum 
are  named  as  occurring  in  Palestine,  viz.  P.  miliaceum 
and  P.  itulicum  (Strand's  Flor.  Palcest.  Nos.  35, 37).  The 
genera  Sorghum  and  Pcmicuin  belong  to  the  natural  or- 
der Graminecp.  perhaps  the  most  important  order  in  the 
vegetable  kingdom. — Kitto;  Smith.  See  Celsii //iV/o- 
bot.  i,  453  sq. ;  Oedmann,I>r;«.  Samml.  v,  92  sq.;  Nie- 
buhr,  .1  ruhiu,  p. 295;  Trav.  i,  158;  Forskal,  Flora  J-'-'jijpt. 
p.  174;  Wcllsted,  Trav.  i,  295;  Geseniuc,  Thes.  lleb.  p. 
333  ;  Penny  Ci/clopcedia,  s.  v.  Panicum. 

Millet,  Simon -Gehmaix,  a  French  Benedictine, 
was  born  at  Venisy,  near  Sens,  in  1575.  He  die<l  near 
Paris,  June  28,  1(547.  But  little  is  known  of  his  life's 
history.  The  following  are  his  works:  Les  iJialoi/ues 
de  Saint-Gregoire  (translated  into  French;  Paris,  1G24, 
1644,  8vo) : — Le  Tresor  sacre,  ou  inventaire  des  saintes 
reliques  etau  ires  precieux  joyaiix  de  ref/lise  et  du  tresor 
de  Saint-Denys  (Paris,  1638, 12mo) : — Vindicaia  Ecclesia 
Gallicance  de  suo  Areopagiia  Dionysio  Gloria  (Paris, 
1638,  8vo) :  —  Ad  Dissert alionem  nuper  evulgatnni  de 
Duohiis  Dionysiis  Responsio,  against  the  canon  of  Lau- 
noy  (Paris,  1642,  Svo^.—I/ist.  Litter,  de  la  Congregation 
de'Saint-Mdur,  p.  28.    See  Hoefer,  Xoui:  Biog.  Gen.  s.  v. 

Milletidre.     See  Lamiletieke. 

Milligan,  James,  D.D.,  a  Presbyterian  divine,  was 
bora  in  iJalniellington,  Ayrshire,  Scotland,  Aug.  7, 1785. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  united  with  the  Established 
Church  of  Scotland.  His  early  education  was  obtained 
while  out  upon  the  moor  watching  the  sheep,  reciting 
two  or  three  times  a  week  to  a  teacher  in  a  neighboring 
village.  In  1801,  dissatisfied  with  the  government  of 
Scotland,  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  came  to  West- 
moreland County,  Pa.  After  engaging  in  mercantile 
life  for  some  months,  he  entered  Jefferson  College,  Pa. 
His  funds  becoming  exhausted,  he  was  obliged  to  leave, 
and  went  to  Greeiisburg,  Pa.;  instituted  an  academy, 
taught  eighteen  months,  realized  a  sum  sufficient  to 
complete  his  collegiate  course,  and  graduated  with  hon- 
ors. He  next  accepted  a  call  as  teacher  of  languages 
in  the  Philadelphia  University.  While  there  he  pur- 
sued his  theological  studies  in  the  Keformcd  Presbyte- 
rian Seminary.  He  was  licensed  by  the  Northern  Pres- 
byter)^ in  1811,  and  in  1812  was  ordained  pastor  of 
Coldenham  Congregation,  Orange  County,  N.  Y. ;  in 
1818  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Scotch  Covenanter  Con- 
gregation at  IJyegate,  Caledonia  County,  Vt. ;  thence  he 
went  to  New  Alexandria,  Pa.,  in  1839;  and  in  1848  to 
Eden,  111.,  where  he  continued  to  preach  until  1855.  He 
died  about  the  year  1861.  Dr.  Milligan  was  a  warm 
friend  of  the  Scotch  Covenanters.  He  was  instrumen- 
tal in  inaugurating  the  first  temperance  reform  move- 
ment in  the  State  of  Vermont ;  and  was  first  also  to  in- 
troduce the  scriptural  office  of  deacon  in  the  American 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church.  His'  publications  are, 
A  Narrative  of  the  Secession  Controversy  in  Vermont: 
— Sermon  on  Free  Agency : — Sermon  on  the  Prospects  of 
a  True  Christian  in  a  Sinful  World: — .4  Defence  of 
Infant  Baptism.— SWhon,  Presh.  Hist.  Almanac,  1863,  p. 
38K.      (J.  L.  <,.) 

Milliugton,  Wii.i.iAM,  D.D.,  an  eminent  Anglican 
divine  of  the  Uelormatory  period,  and  one  of  the  most 
learned  men  of  his  day,  was  a  native  of  Pocklington, 
Yorkshire.  He  was  ordained  j)riest  March  8,  1420.  He 
took  his  doctor's  degree  at  Cambridge,  and  is  said  to 
have  been  a  member  of  Clare  Hall,  in  that  university; 
but  however  that  may  be,  certain  it  is  that  in  1443  he 
was  appointed  the  provost  of  King's  College.  This  im- 
portant position,  however,  he  voluntarily  resigned  in 
14-1(5,  on  a  point  of  conscience.  The  oft-repeated  state- 
ment that  he  was  deprived  of  the  provostship  for  unduly 
favoring  natives  of  Yorkshire  is  without  foundation. 


It  is  said  that  on  leaving  King's  he  retired  to  Clare  IlalL 
He  died  in  May,  1466,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Edward's 
Church, Cambridge.  An  interesting  memoir  of  Dr.  ^lil- 
lington,  by  George  Williams,  B.D.,  was  communicated 
to  the  Cambridge  Antitpiarian  Society  in  1858. 

Million  (~3a-l,  rebalah',  Gen.  xxiv,  60),  ten  thou- 
sand, as  elsewhere  rendered. 

Mil'lo  (Hcb.  always  with  the  art  ham-millo', 
^itlZi^,  the  fulness ;  Sept.  [Alex.]  in  1  Kings  ix  only  j) 
MfXio  ;  Vulg.  Mello),  properly  a  mound  or  rampart,  as 
being  tilled  in  with  stones  and  earth ;  hence  a  fortress 
or  castle  ;  applied  to  two  structures  or  fortifications: 

(«)  According  to  (iesenius  {Thes.  lleb.  p.  789),  a  part 
of  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem,  probably  the  rampart  or  in- 
trenchment;  or,as  Winer  thinks  (  Winteib.  s.  v.),  the  tow- 
er afterwards  called  Hipi)icus  (2  Sam.  v,  9;  1  Kings  ix, 
!  15, 24 ;  xi,  27 ;  1  Chron.  xi,  8 ;  2  Chron.  xxxii,  5).  In  the 
last  of  these  texts,  where  David  is  said  to  have  restored 
or  fortified  the  Millo  "  of  (not  "  in")  the  city  of  David, 
the  Sept.  has  -b  avaXtJiiiJa  Ttjc  ttuXiioc,  "  the  fortifica- 
tion of  the  city  of  David ;"  in  the  other  passages  it  has 
simply  uKpa,  the  mound  or  tower.  The  'I'argum  merely 
Chaldaizes  the  Heb.  term  (Xr^b'?,  Sr^b-a,  vallum). 
"  Both  name  and  thing  seem  to  have  been  already  in 
existence  when  the  city  was  taken  from  the  Jebusites 
by  David.  His  first  occupation,  after  getting  posses- 
sion, was  to  build  •  roinid  about,  from  the  Jlillo  and  to 
the  house'  (A.V.  '  inward,'  2  Sam.  v,  9) ;  or,  as  the  par- 
allel passage  has  it, '  he  built  the  city  round  about,  and 
from  the  Millo  round  about'  (1  Chron.  xi,  8).  Its  re- 
pair or  restoration  was  one  of  the  great  works  for  which 
Solomon  raised  his  'levy'(l  Kings  ix,  15,  24;  xi,  27); 
and  it  formed  a  prominent  part  of  the  fortifications  by 
whith  Ilezekiah  prepared  for  the  approach  of  the  As- 
syrians (2  (hnm.  xxxii,  5)"  (Smith).  The  same  place 
is  liHibably  meant  by  tlie  '•  house  of  Millo,"  where  Joash 
was  killed  (2  Kings  xii,  21).  Others  are  of  the  opinion 
that  Millo  was  the  name  of  a  valley  in  Jerusalem,  which 
separated  ancient  Jebus  from  the  city  of  David,  but 
which  was  afterwards  filled  up  by  David  and  Solomon 
(Barclay,  City  of  the  Great  King,  p.  113).  Schwarz  {Pa- 
lest, p.  241)  holds  that  it  was  on  the  eastern  declivity  to- 
j  wards  the  spring  of  Siloam  (reading  Shiloah  for  Silla). 
The  most  natural  impression  from  the  notices  is  that  it 
was  some  region  or  space  adjacent  to  Mount  Zion,  per- 
haps that  portion  of  the  Tyropa-on  enclosed  by  the  first 
1  wall,  the  bridge,  and  the  Temple.  (See  Lightfoot,  H'orfo, 
ii,  189;  Hamelsveld,  Bibl.  Geogr.  ii,  46  sq. ;  Ewald, /,■.?•. 
Gesch.  iii,  70;  Strong's  JJai-m,  and  Fxpos.  of  the  Gospels, 
Append,  ii,  p.  24 ;  Schulz,  Jerusalem,  p.  80.)     Sec  Jeuu- 

SAI.EM. 

(b)  The  fortress  or  citadel  of  Shechem,  all  the  occu- 
pants or  garrison  of  which  joined  in  proclaiming  Abiin- 
elerli  tlieir  king  (Jiulg.  ix,  6,  20).     See  Betii-.millo; 

SlI.l.A. 

Mills,  Abraham,  LL.D.,  a  prominent  American 
author,  was  born  in  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1796. 

'  After  having  received  a  thorough  academic  education, 

I  he  oi)ene(l  a  classical  school  in  New  York  City.  He 
had  not  been  long  engaged  in  this  school  when  he  was 
appointed  professor  of  mathematics  and  ])hiloso])hy  in 
the  Baptist  Literary  and  Theological  Institute,  then  es- 
tablished in  New  York.  Three  years  after,  when  the 
institute  was  transferred  to  Hamilton,  N.  Y.,  Jlills  sev- 
ered his  coimection,  anil  tlourished  as  a  highly-esteemed 
teacher  of  an<l  lecturer  on  rhetoric  and  belles-lettres. 

j  He  died  July  M.  1^67.  Mills  issued  text-books  on  the 
topics  on  which  he  gave  instruction.  The  honorary 
degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  on  him  by  Madison  Uni- 

I  versity.  He  deserves  a  jdace  here  on  account  of  his 
Compendium  of  the  History  of  the  .4  ncient  llebreus  (1856). 

I  See  Drake,  Dirt,  of  Amer.  Biogr.  s.  v.;  Appleton's  An- 

I  HH(,/r//r/(V).  1867,"p.  511. 

1  Mills,  Henry,  D.D.,  a  Presbyterian  divine,  was 
i  born  at  Morrislown,  N.  J.,  March  12, 1786 ;  pursued  his 


MILLS 


275 


MILLSTONE 


preparatory  studies  in  his  native  to^vn;  graduated  at 
Princeton  College  in  1802 ;  for  a  considerable  time  taught 
in  the  academy  at  Morristown,  and  also  at  Elizabeth- 
town,  N.  J. ;  was  tutor  for  two  years  at  Princeton  Col- 
lege; studied  theology  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Rich- 
ards ;  was  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Jersey, 
and  in  1816  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Woodbridge,  N.  J.  In  1821  he  was  called  to 
the  professorship  of  Biblical  criticism  in  the  theological 
seminary  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  where  he  continued  to  per- 
form his"  duties  with  eminent  ability  until  1854,  when  he 
resigned,  and  was  made  professor  emeritus.  He  died 
June  10, 1867.  Dr.  MiUs  was  a  man  of  marked  charac- 
teristics—impressive in  personal  appearance,  instructive 
in  conversation,  sharp  in  intellect.  As  a  preacher,  his 
style  was  simple,  chaste,  and  direct.  As  a  scholar,  he 
was  most  eminent — thoroughly  versed  in  Hebrew  and 
master  of  the  German  language.  He  published  in  1845 
Horai  Germamca,  a  Version  of  German  Hymns. — Wilson, 
Presh.  Hist.  Almanac,  1868,  p.  218. 

Mills,  Nathaniel  B.,  an  early  and  eminent  min- 
ister of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  was  born 
in  Newcastle  County,  Del,  Feb.  23, 1766;  was  converted 
in  1783 ;  entered  the  Baltimore  Conference  in  1787 ;  in 
1790  was  stationed  at  Hartford,  Conn. ;  in  1804  at  Bal- 
timore ;  filled  various  important  circuits,  etc.,  until  1835, 
when  he  became  superannuated.  He  died  in  Carroll 
County,  Md.,  Feb.  20,  1845.  He  preached  with  great 
zeal  and  success  for  nearly  sixty  years. — Minutes  of 
Conferences,  iii,  594;  Stevens,  Memorials  of  Methodism. 

Mills,  Samuel,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  was  born  in  Northampton  County,  N.  C, 
in  1780;  was  converted  in  1800;  entered  the  itinerancy 
in  1804 ;  was  stationed  at  Columbia  in  1806,  at  Charles- 
ton in  1809,  at  Milledgeville  in  1810,  and  at  Camden  in 
1811,  where  he  died,  June  8,  1811.  He  was  a  plain, 
earnest  preacher,  possessed  of  good  abilities,  and  "  a  wit- 
ness of  sanctification,  which  he  frequently  pressed  on 
his  hearers." — Minutes  of  Conferences,  i,  206. 

Mills,  Samuel  John  (1),  a  Congregational  min- 
ister, was  born  Jlay  16, 1743,  in  Kent,  Conn.  He  grad- 
uated at  Yale  College  in  1764,  and  was  ordained  June 
29,  1769,  in  Torringford,  Conn.,  where  he  resided  until 
his  death.  May  11,  1833.  He  published  a  few  occa- 
sional sermons,  and  two  sermons  on  the  religious  senti- 
ments of  Christ,  in  a  volume  entitled  Sermons  Collected 
(1797),  See  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit, 
i,  672. 

Mills,  Samuel  John  (2),  popularly  called  the 
"Father  of  Foreign  Mission  Work  in  Christian  Amer- 
ica," an  efficient  minister  of  the  Congregational  Church, 
was  the  son  of  the  minister  of  Torrington,  Conn.,  and 
was  born  April  21,  1783.  He  was  educated  at  Will- 
iams College  (class  of  1809).  He  next  entered  the  the- 
ological seminary,  having  decided  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
and  while  at  school  in  Andover  his  mind  was  deeply 
impressed  with  the  importance  of  foreign  missions,  and 
he  endeavored  to  awaken  a  similar  feeling  in  the  hearts 
of  his  fellow-students.  He  united  with  Judson,  Newell, 
Nott,  and  Hall  in  a  resolution  to  undertake  a  foreign 
mission.  In  1812  and  1813  he  and  J.  F.  Schermerhorn 
made  a  missionary  tour  in  the  Western  States.  He 
was  ordained,  with  other  missionaries,  at  Newburyport, 
June  21, 1815.  He  ascertained  in  March,  1815,  that  not 
a  Bible  could  be  found  for  sale  or  to  be  given  away  in 
New  Orleans ;  he  thereupon  distributed  many  Bibles  in 
French  and  English,  and  visited  the  sick  soldiers.  Find- 
ing that  sevent}'  or  eighty  thousand  families  at  the 
South  and  West  were  destitute  of  a  Bible,  he  suggested 
at  the  close  of  his  report  the  formation  of  a  national 
society  like  the  British.  His  efforts  contributed  to  the 
establishment  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  May  8, 
1816.  The  plan  of  the  United  Foreign  Mission  Society. 
which,  however,  accomplished  but  little,  originated  with 
him  while  residing  with  Dr.  Griffin  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  as 
did  also  the  African  school,  which  existed  a  few  vears 


at  Parsippany,  near  Newark.  He  attended  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Colonization  Society,  Jan.  1, 1817,  which 
was  established  by  his  and  Dr.  Finley's  exertions,  and 
Mills  was  at  that  time  appointed,  together  with  Dr.  Bur- 
gess, to  visit  England,  and  explore  the  coast  of  Africa 
for  the  society.  He  sailed  in  November,  1817,  and  in 
a  wonderful  manner  escaped  shipwreck  on  the  coast 
of  France.  He  sailed  from  England  for  Africa  Feb.  2, 
1818,  and  arrived  on  the  coast  March  12.  After  a  labo- 
rious inspection  of  more  than  two  months,  he  embarked 
on  his  return  in  the  brig  Success,  May  22, 1818.  A  se- 
vere cold,  which  he  took  early  in  Jmie,  was  succeeded 
by  a  fever,  and  he  died  at  sea,  June  16, 1818.  He  was 
buried  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean.  See  Spring,  Memoirs 
of  John  Samuel  Mills  (N.Y.  1820,  8vo) ;  Sprague,  4  7ma& 
^4  mer.  Pulpit,  ii,  566 ;  Cyclop.  Missions,  p.  263  sq. ;  Ander- 
son, Hist.  Missions  of  A.  B.  For.  M.  in  India  (1874). 

Mills,  Thornton  A.,  D.D.,  a  Presbyterian  divine, 
was  born  in  Paris,  Ky.,  September,  1810.  He  early  en- 
joyed excellent  educational  advantages;  graduated  at 
Miami  University,  Oxford,  Ohio,  in  1830 ;  studied  the- 
ology for  a  short  time  in  Lane  Theological  Seminarj-^, 
and  afterwards  privately,  and  was  licensed  in  1833.  He 
labored  for  some  time  in  Frankfort,  Ky.,  and  in  1836 
was  installed  pastor  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church, 
Cincinnati.  In  1848  he  purchased  The  Watchman  of 
the  Valley,  and  continued  to  edit  that  paper,  first  under 
the  name  of  Central  Watchman,  and  later  of  Central 
Christian  Herald,  until  Januar}^,  1853,  when  it  was 
bought  by  the  synods  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Cincinnati,  and 
Wabash.  During  1853  he  was  secretary  and  general 
agent  for  the  Church  Erection  Committee ;  in  1854  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  the  Second  Church,  in  Indianapolis;  in 
1856  was  chosen  as  general  secretary  of  the  Permanent 
Committee  of  the  General  Assembly  on  Education  for 
the  Ministry,  to  which  work  he  devoted  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  He  died  June  21,  1867.  Dr.  Mills  was  a 
man  of  firm  grasp  of  mind,  clear  and  positive  views  of 
truth,  and  indomitable  energy  and  perseverance.  See 
Wilson,  Presb.  Hist.  Almanac,  1868,  p.  220;  Meth.  Qu. 
Rev.  Jan.  1872,  p.  27.     (J.  L.  S.) 

Mills,  "William,  an  early  minister  of  the  Method- 
ist Church,  was  born  in  Monmouth  County,  N.  J.,  Aug, 
26, 1747;  entered  the  United  States  army  in  1776;  suf- 
fered various  vicissitudes  during  the  war  until  he  was 
carried  a  prisoner  to  Europe,  whence  he  returned  after 
the  war;  was  converted  through  Methodist  instrumen- 
tality in  1792;  entered  the  itinerancj'  at  Pliiladelphia 
in  1799,  and  died  at  Long  Branch,  N.  J.,  Dec.  5, 1813. 
He  was  a  most  amiable  and  excellent  man,  and  a  very 
successful  preacher.  Several  extensive  revivals  resulted 
from  his  labors. — Minutes  of  Conferences,  i,  239; 

Mills,  William  Robert,  a  minister  of  the  Jleth- 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  was  born  in  Alexandria,  Va., 
July  5,  1816.  He  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a  liberal 
academical  training,  and  was  for  some  time  a  student 
at  William  and  Mary  College.  At  an  early  age  he  was 
converted,  and  shortly  after  became  fulh'  persuaded  of 
a  divine  call  to  the  ministry ;  was  licensed  to  preach, 
and  was  admitted  into  the  Baltimore  Conference  in  the 
spring  of  1840.  He  labored  successively  on  Berwick 
Circuit;  in  1841  on  Huntington  Circuit;  1842,  North- 
umberland; 1843,  Lycoming ;  1844,  Lock  Haven ;  1845- 
46,  Penn's  Valley;"  1847,  Northumberland;  1848-49, 
Warrior's  Mark ;  1850-51,  Huntingdon ;  1852-53,  Lewis- 
town  Circuit;  1854-55,  Newport;  1856,  Mercersburg; 
1857-58,  Liberty,  Md.,  1859-60,  East  Baltimore  Sta- 
tion ;  1861-62,  is'orth  Baltimore  Station ;  1863-65,  Al- 
toona;  1866-67,  Lewisburg;  1868,  Carlisle ;  1869,  York. 
In  the  last-named  place  he  died,  Dec.  18,  1869.  Mills 
was  a  faithful  pastor  and  an  eloquent  preacher.  His 
sermons  evinced  deep  research,  were  argumentative,  and 
logically  arranged,  and  enlivened  with  illustrative  inci- 
dents.— Minutes  of  Conferences,  1870,  p.  54. 

Millstone  (^D"!,  i-e'keb,  usually  a  chariot,  hence 
the  "  upper  miUstone"  or  rider,  Deut.  xxiv,  6 ;  more  full}' 


MILMAN 


276 


MILXE 


23"n  n^3  Judg  ix,  53 ;  2  Sam.  xi,  21 ;  in  Job  xli,  24  I  astical  literature— none  which  combines  such  breadth 
there  is'no  Hebrew  word  corresponding ;  in  Isa.  xlvii,  2 ;  I  «f  view  with  such  depth  of  research,  such  high  literarj- 
Jer.  XXV,  10,  D^tl'^ ;  elsewhere  rendered  '•  mill ;"  Gr.  fiv- 
Xoi).     See  JIiLL. 


and  artistic  eminence  with  such  patient  and  elaborate 

j  investigation."     Perhaps  we  should  add  the  estimate 

of  one  of  our  own  historical  writers,  tlian  whom  no 

Milman.Henry  Hart,  D.D.,  one  of  the  leaders  of  'greater  or  more  competent  critic  could  be  heard;  we 

tlie  Uroad  tJliurch  iiarty  in  tlie  Anglican  communion  of    refer  to  William  II.  I'rescott  {J'/ti/ip  II,  ii,  60(1,  n.  G9), 


our  day,  an  ecclesiastic  of  distinction  also,  botli  as  a  his- 
torian and  a  ])oet,  was  the  youngest  son  of  Sir  Francis 
Mihnan,  jjhysician  to  George  III,  and  was  born  in  Lon- 
don Feb.  10,  1791.  He  was  educated  at  Eton,  and  af- 
terwards at  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  where  he  took 
the  degrees  of  B.A.  and  M.A.,  and  of  whicli  he  was 
elected  a  fellow.  He  wrote  several  poems,  and  secured 
mucli  distinction  by  his  efforts.  In  1817  he  toolt  holy 
orders,  and  was  apjiointed  vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Heading. 
In  1820  ;Mr.]Milman  published  The  Fall  of  Jerusaltin, 
a  dramatic  poem,  founded  on  Josephus's  narrative  of 
the  siege  of  the  sacred  city.  Tliis,  in  some  respects  his 
most  beautiful  poetical  production,  established  his  repu- 
tation. In  1821  he  Avas  elected  professor  of  poetry  in 
the  University  of  Oxford.  He  now  published  three 
other  dramatic  poems:  The  Murti/i-  of  Antioch,  Bel- 
shazzar,  and  Aime  Boleyn.     In  1827  he  published  his 


who  says  of  it :  "  One  of  the  most  remarkable  Morks  of 
the  present  age,  in  which  the  author  reviews,  with  cu- 
rious erudition  and  in  a  profoundly  pliilosophical  spirit, 
the  various  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  the  I{o- 
man  hierarchy ;  and,  while  he  fully  exposes  the  mani- 
fold errors  and  corruptions  of  the  system,  he  shows 
throughout  that  enlightened  charity  which  is  the  most 
precious  of  Christian  graces,  as,  unhappily,  the  rarest." 
Dean  Jlilman  also  earned  the  gratitude  of  the  Christian 
world  by  an  edition  of  Gibbon's  Ihvline  and  Fall  if  the 
Roman  Empii-e,  which  presented  the  great  historian 
with  more  ample  illustration  tlian  lie  had  before  re- 
ceived, and  set  at  rest  many  exceptions  taken  by  Gib- 
bon against  Christianity.  Tlie  notes  were  further  elu- 
cidated and  verilicd  by  Dr.  W.  Smith,  and  Gibbon's 
works  are  now  sought  for  only  in  this  amended  form. 
Other  works  ofMilman  are  a  Life  of  Keals, aiu\  Ihhnw 

itod 


sermons,  delivered  as  the  Bampton  Lecture,  and  enti-  j  Prophecy,  a  sermon,  published  in  18G5.     He  also 
tied  The  Character  and  Conduct  of  the  Apostles  consid-    an  illustrated  review  of  Horacc,with  a  Life  of  the  poet 
ered  as  the  Evidence  of  Christianity  (8vo),  and  in  1829,    translations  from  the  Agamemnon  of  ^tschylus,  Bac- 
Viithout  his  name,  7'he  JJistory  of  the  Jews  (Loud,  and     ----••- 


N.  Y.  3  vols.  18rao).  This  work  was  written  in  so  lib- 
eral a  spirit  that  orthodox  ecclesiastics  could  hardly  fail 
to  be  offended.  Its  weak  point  was  a  want  of  adequate 
learning,  especially  in  the  department  of  Biblical  criti- 
cism. A  new  edition,  greatly  improved,  and  more  crit- 
ical, yet  still  far  from  being  very  accurate,  or  built  on 
solid  foundations,  prefaced  by  an  interesting  introduc- 
tion, was  published  in  18Go  (Lond.  and  N.  Y.  3  vols. 
12mo).  In  this  new  form  the  work  lias  had  a  large  cir- 
culation both  among  Jews  and  Gentiles.  It  is  to  this 
day  the  only  worthy  record  of  the  "  chosen  people  of 
God"  in  the  English  tongue.  In  1840  he  came  again 
before  the  public  as  a  historian ;  tliis  time  with  a  /Jis- 
tory  of  Chi-istianity  from  the  Birth  (f  Christ  to  the  Ab- 
olition of  Payanism  in  the  Roman  Empire  (Lond.  3  vols. 
8vo ;  J^.  Y.,  ilarjiers,  1  vol.  8vo).  In  this  work  he  pro- 
fesses to  view  Christianity  as  a  historian,  in  its  moral, 
social,  and  political  influences,  referring  to  its  doctrines 
no  further  than  is  necessary  for  explaining  the  general 
effect  of  the  system.  It  is  a  far  better  effort  than  his 
previous  work,  and  marks  tlie  advance  of  un  accom- 
plished and  liberal-minded  student.  His  scholarly  at- 
tainments received  the  acknowledgment  of  the  Church 
by  various  appointments.  In  1849,  after  having  been 
honored  successively  with  the  rectory  of  St.  IMargaret's, 
Westminster,  and  the  canonship  of  Westminster,  he  was 
promoted  to  the  deanery  of  St.  I'aul's.  This  position 
he  held  until  his  death, "Sept.  24.  1808. 

The  works  already  mentioned  will  secure  for  dean  Mil- 
man  an  honorable  place  in  the  literary  history  of  Eng- 
land, but  they  are  by  no  means  his  ablest  productions. 
His  greatest  work,  and  one  of  the  most  valuable  produc- 
tions in  the  English  language,  is  his  J/Ulory  of  Latin 
Christianity,  inclndiny  that  ifthe  Popes  to  the  Pontificate 
of  Mrholas  V  (Lond".  and  N.  Y.  18.J4, 8  vols.  8vo) ;  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  author's  History  of  Christianity,  nw\  yet 
in  itself  a  complete  work.  To  give  it  that  completeness, 
dean  jMilman  has  gone  over  the  history  of  Christianity  in 
Borne  during  the  lirst  four  centuries.  It  brings  the  his- 
tory down  (o  tlie  close  of  the  pontilieate  of  Nicholas  V, 
that  is,  to  14')5.  It  is  a  work  of  great  learning,  liberal- 
ity, and  chastened  eloquence;  it  displays  a  broad  grasp 
of  human  nature  in  its  religious  workings ;  something 
of  the  philosopher,  and  still  more  of  the  poet,  is  seen  in 
the  strong  and  vivid  spirit  of  symjiathy  with  which  he 
deals  with  men  of  the  most  different  o|iinions.  The 
work  has  secured  for  its  author  a  ])ositiou  in  the  lirst 
rank  of  English  historians.  "  No  such  work,"  says  the 
Qu.  Rev.  of  London,  '•  has  appeared  in  English  ccclesi- 


chanals  of  Euripides,  etc.  He  was  a  frequent  contrib- 
utor to  the  [London]  Quarterly  Revieic.  A  collected 
edition  of  his  "Poetical  Works,"  including  Fazio,  a 
tragedy,  which  has  frequently  been  on  the  stage,  was 
published  in  1840,  and,  besides  the  works  above  men- 
tioned and  his  smaller  poems,  contains  the  Nala  and 
Damayanti,  translated  from  the  Sanscrit.  Since  his  death 
Annals  of  St.  Paid's  Cathedral  (1808),  and  Savonarola, 
Erasmus,  and  other  Essays  (1870),  have  been  jmljli.shed. 

Dean  Milman  was  also  an  important  contributor  to 
English  hymnology.  Some  of  his  productions  are  famil- 
iar to  every  English-speaking  Christian ;  in  the  Anf;lican 
Church  he  is  a  particular  favorite,  and  as  the  author  of 
"  When  our  heads  are  bowed  with  woe,"  '•  Bound  ujion 
the  accursed  tree,"  "  Bide  on,  ride  on  in  majesty,"  and 
the  more  subjective  composition,  "  Brother,  thou  art  gone 
before  us"  (from  the  Martyr  tfA  ntiorh').  has  established 
a  household  name,  and  has  secured  jiopular  love.  As  he 
occupied  for  years  the  pulpit  of  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  intluential  of  English  churches,  we  a])pend  the  fol- 
lowing portrayal  of  dean  jNIilman  from  the  Saturday  Rev. 
(Oct.  18G8):  "He  was  no  speaker;  he  had  not  the  verj' 
least  of  platform  tricks;  with  a  superb  scorn,  he  dis- 
dained the  arts  which  win  fame  at  jiublic  meetings ;  and 
in  a  certain  sense  he  was  not  a  good  jireacher.  He  was 
too  refined,  too  much  habituated  to  limitations,  ttio  sen- 
sitive, and  too  careful,  to  be  able  to  tiing  out  those  broad 
statements  which  must  be  hazarded  by  the  popular 
preacher.  But  in  a  certain  sort  of  preaching  he  was 
tirst-rate.  His  eulogium  on  the  duke  of  Wellington — we 
doubt  whether  it  is  published— struck  us,  as  we  were 
fortunate  enough  to  hear  it,  as  eijiial  to  the  best  of  the 
French  models  of  pulpit  eloquence."  See  Vapereau, 
Diet,  des  Conlemporains,  s.  v. ;  AUibone,  Diet,  of  Brit, 
and  A7ner.  A  iithors,  s.  v.;  Enylish  Cyclop,  s.  v.;  xMen  of 
the  Times,  s.  v. ,  Hagenbach,  Hist.  Doctrines,  ii,  423  sq. ; 
Schaff,  Chri.<st  in  Sony,  ]\  20G-209  ;  Lecky,  J/ist.  of  Eu- 
ropean Morals  from  Avyustus  to  Charlemayne  (Pref- 
ace) (18G9) ;  Ed'inh.  Rev.  Jan.  1808  ;  Jan.  18G4  :  and  Jan. 
18G9;  Lond.  Qu.  /iVr.  April,  181G;  July,  l.si.S;  May, 
1820,  and  Ajiril,  18G9;  Blarhrood's  J/(/.v.  :March  and 
Julv,  1822,  Dec.  18G8;  Xorth  Brit.  Rev.  Nov.  1854; 
March,  18G9 :  Eraser's  May.  Oct.  1854 ;  Christian  Re- 
membrancer, 1854,  Oct.  ]i.  2GG  ;  Kitto,  Journ.of  Sac.  Lit. 
1854,  Oct.;  West  minst.  Rev.  1870,  Oct.  p.  219  ;  Princeton 
Rev.  1842,  p.  238 ;  Pen  Pictures  of  popular  Enylish  I'reack- 
ers  (Lond.  18.V2),  p.  17.')- 178. 

Milne,  Colin,  a  Scottish  divine,  noted  for  his  at- 
tainments in  natural  science,  was  born  at  Aberdeen, 
Scotland,  about  1744.     He  was  educated  at  Marischal 


MILNER 


277 


MILNER 


College  under  the  supervision  of  liis  uncle,  Dr.  Camp- 
bell, who  was  both  principal  and  divinity  professor  at 
the  college.  After  completing  his  studies  there,  Wilne 
entered  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  He  joined  the 
Church  of  England,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  duUe  of 
Northumberland  obtained  the  rectory  of  North  Chapel, 
in  Sussex.  His  pulpit  eloquence  soon  made  him  widely 
known,  and  he  received  the  appointment  of  preacher  to 
the  London  Hospital,  and  also  the  lectureship  of  Uept- 
ford,  a  position  which  he  held  for  many  years.  He 
died  in  1815.  His  sermon  preached  at  the  anniversary 
meeting  of  the  Royal  Humane  Society  was  published  in 
177',)  ( .Svo).  A  volume  of  his  sermons  was  published  in 
17.S0  (8vo).  His  other  publications  were  in  a  line  for- 
eign to  our  work. 

Milner,  Isaac  (1),  D.D.,  an  Anglican  divine  of 
note,  eminent  for  his  piety  as  well  as  for  his  great  at- 
tainments in  divinity  and  the  sciences,  was  born  of 
humble  parentage  near  Leeds,  Yorkshire,  in  1751.  As 
a  boy  of  six  he  entered  the  grammar  school  of  his  na- 
tive place,  but  the  straitened  circumstances  of  his  family 
obliged  the  removal  of  Isaac,  and  he  was  transferred 
from  the  schoolroom  to  the  factory.  Though  appren- 
ticed to  a  weaver,  he  continued  to  devote  his  leisure 
hours  to  study,  and  gradually  acquired  sound  learning. 
His  brother,  the  noted  Joseph  Milner  (q.  v.),  who  had 
enjoyed  many  educational  advantages,  was  in  17G7  ap- 
pointed lioail-master  of  the  grammar  school  at  Hull. 
I5y  him  Isaac  was  relieved  of  his  obligation  at  the  fac- 
tory, and  aftbrdod  opportunity  to  continue  his  studies 
ill  the  pii.>iti<iii  of  assistant  to  .Josaph.  In  1770  Isaac 
was  admit ti'il  a  siinlciit  at  Queen's  College,  Cambridge, 
and  tliere  rcciived  bis  degree  in  177'1,  and  was  appoint- 
ed tutor.  He  received  among  his  pupils  Mr. Pitt  and  jNIr. 
Willterforce,  with  whom  he  travelled  abroad,  and  became 
the  honored  instrument  in  the  conversion  of  the  latter. 
Sec  WiLBERFORCE.  In  1775  Isaac  Milner  was  elected 
fellow  of  Queen's  College.  In  1783,  returning  to  the  uni- 
versity, be  Avas  chosen  professor  of  natural  philosophy, 
and  master  of  his  college  in  1788,  when  he  proceeded  doc- 
tor ill  divinity.  In  1791  he  was  appointed  to  the  deanery 
of  Carlisle.  He  was  elected  vice-chancellor  of  the  uni- 
versity in  1792,  and  six  years  afterwards  became  Luca- 
sian  professor  of  mathematics.  He  died  at  the  house 
of  Wilberforce,  at  Kensington  Gore,  April  1, 1820.  Dean 
Slilner  wrote,  besides  several  papers  in  the  Pktlosojjfii- 
cal  Transactions,  and  the  continuation  of  his  brother's 
Church  f/is/ori/,  the  following  works:  Animadversions 
oil  Dr.  II((irii.-<'s  liiipartitil  History  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  (l.soil,  S\-,i) : — Strirtiin-s  on  some  of  the  Publica- 
tions ofthr  l:,r.  Il,ili,rt  Miirs/i.  iiitinihdiis  a  Replt/  to 
some  of  his  Oh}, ■linns  a;/ui:,.<t  /hr  liihl,  Sn,:i,ty  (1813, 
8 vo ):  —  /;.«,///.<  „i,  II II man  Lib,  rlij  ?  S,  niioiis  (2  vols. 
8vo);  besides  works  of  a  mathematical  kind.  "Dean 
Milner  was  possessed  of  very  extensive  and  accurate 
learning,  which  he  always  had  at  his  command.  He 
had  great  talents  for  conversation,  and  a  dignified  sim- 
plicity of  manner.  His  religious  and  political  prin- 
ciples agreed  pretty  closely  with  his  brother's."  See 
Meth.  Qu.  Rev.  1840  (July),  p.  407 ;  Jones,  Christ.  Biog. 
s.  V. ;  English  Cyclop,  s.  v. ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and 
A  mer.  A  iithors,  s.  v. ;  Mary  Milne,  Life  of  Isaac  Milner 
(1842). 

Milner,  Isaac  (2\  a  minister  of  the  IMethodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  was  born  in  Yorkshire,  Eng- 
land, April  2, 1818.  His  parents  were  of  the  old  English 
Wesleyan  stock,  and  young  Milner  was  educated  With 
great  piety  and  care.  In  "his  seventeenth  year  he  was 
converted,  and,  believing  himself  called  of  God  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  he  hesitatingly  prepared  to  enter  the  minis- 
try. While  human  reasoning  held  him  back,  divine  love 
impelled  him  forward.  He  began  his  elementary  stud- 
ies alone  and  after  the  midnight  hour,  and  in  this  way 
gained  his  education.  Being  of  a  studious  habit,  he 
soon  acquired  a  storehouse  of  knowledge,  and  was  num- 
bered among  the  promising  youths  of  the  ministry'. 


Seized  with  a  desire  to  visit  America,  he  came  to  New 
Orleans  in  1848.  Many  and  severe  trials  awaited  him 
in  his  new  home.  He  was  taken  sick  of  t y|ilioid  fever, 
and  for  three  months  he  lay  hovering  lictwccii  life  and 
death.  After  his  recovery  he  was  for  a  time  a  member 
of  the  Memphis  Conference.  He  afterwards  joined  the 
Tennessee  Conference,  and  remained  a  member  of  it  till 
his  death,  which  occurred  near  Columbia,  Tenn.,  June 
16,  1872.  Isaac  Milner  was  one  of  the  most  popular 
IMethodist  preachers.  He  knew  no  failure ;  if  he  ever 
did,  his  audience  knew  nothing  about  it.  In  every  de- 
partment he  proved  himself  to  be  a  man  of  great  ability 
and  usefulness.  His  mind  Avas  naturally  vigorous  and 
receptive;  his  memory  tenacious;  his  well-balanced 
mind,  like  a  rich,  productive  field,  yielded  a  wealth  of 
thought,  independent  of  the  production  of  other  men. 
His  fancy  was  vigorous,  his  figures  original  and  bold — 
always  pleasing,  often  overwhelming.  Milner  served 
his  Church  in  various  ways,  but  in  every  department  he 
proved  himself  not  only  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to 
be  ashamed,  but  a  workman  of  great  ability,  usefulness, 
and  popularity.  See  Minutes  of  the  A  nnuul  Conferences 
of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  1872,  p.  715  sq. 

Milner,  John  (1),  an  English  nonjuring  divine  of 
note,  was  born  near  Halifax  in  1G27  or  1628.  He  was 
educated  at  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  and  after  his 
graduation  took  orders.  He  was,  however,  obliged  to 
live  retired  till  the  liestoration,  when  he  obtained  the 
curacy  of  Beeston,  and  in  1673  was  appointed  vicar  of 
Leeds.  In  1681  he  was  chosen  prebendary  of  Kipon; 
but,  on  refusing  the  oaths  at  the  Revolution,  he  quitted 
his  jireferments  and  went  to  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  died,  Feb.  16, 1702.  Dr.  Milner  was  a 
prolific  writer,  and  published  several  controversial  theo- 
logical tracts  and  critical  dissertations  upon  various  por- 
tions of  the  Scriptures.  Of  his  numerous  works  we 
mention  the  following :  Church  History  of  Palestine 
from  the  Birth  of  Christ  to  Diocletian  (1688,  4to)  :— 
Conjectanea  in  Isaiam  ix,  1,  2 : — De  Nethiirim  sire  Ncthi- 
ruBis : — Defence  of  Archbishop  Usher  against  ])is.  (_'<iry 
and  Vossius : — A  ccount  of  Mr.  Locke's  Jhlii/inn  .-— .  1  id- 
madversions  on  Le  Clerc's  Reflections  upon  uur  ,Sariour 
and  his  Apostles,  See  Watson,  Halifax;  Thoresby, 
Vicaria  Leodensis,  p.  114  sq. ;  Wilford,  Menioricds ; 
Cooper,  Biog.  Diet.  p.  869 ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and 
Anier.  Authors,  ii,  1293. 

Milner,  John  (2),  D.D.,  more  properly  named 
M1L1.EK,  an  eminent  Romish  theologian  and  antiquary, 
was  born  in  London,  Oct.  14, 1752.  He  was  educated  at 
the  schools  of  Sedgley  Park  and  Edgbaston,  and  then 
went  to  study  theology  at  Douai.  Having  taken  orders, 
he  was  in  1779  attached  to  W^inchester  Chapel.  Al- 
though a  zealous  Roman  Catholic,  he  refused  to  join  in 
the  efforts  made  by  his  Church  in  England  in  1788  and 
in  1791  to  obtain  from  Parliament  the  repeal  of  the  an- 
cient laws  against  Roman  Catholics.  In  after-times  he 
was  engaged  in  numerous  controversies,  both  with  Prot- 
estant theologians  and  with  members  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  committee,  who  accused  him  of  too  great  vi- 
vacity in  his  discussions.  He  declared  against  the  right 
of  the  king  of  vetoing  the  appointment  of  bishops,  and, 
together  with  the  Irish  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  obsti- 
nately refused  to  yield  the  point  to  the  solicitations  of 
his  own  party.  In  1814  he  even  took  a  journey  to  Rome, 
to  consult  with  the  pope  on  this  point.  The  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held  in  the  midst  of  these  difficulties  is 
evinced  by  the  appointment  he  received  in  1803  as 
apostolic  vicar  of  the  midland  district,  under  the  title 
of  bishop  of  Castabala  in  partibus.  Dr.  jMilner  settled 
at  Wolverhampton,  where  he  died,  April  19, 1826.  He 
was  quite  distinguished  as  an  archteologist,  belonged  to 
the  Antiquarian  Society,  and  contributed  many  learned 
papers  to  the  A  ixhaologia.  He  wrote  The  History,  Civil 
and  Ecclesiastical,  and  Survey  of  the  A  ntiquities  of  Win- 
chester (1798, 2  vols.  4to  ;  2d  ed.,  corrected  and  enlarged, 
1809,  2  vols.  4to)  -.—  The  End  of  Religious  Controversy, 


MILXER 


278 


MILNOR 


addressed  to  Dr.  Burgess,  Bishop  of  SI.  Davhrs,  in  ari- 
swer  to  his  Protestant  Catechism  (1«1«;  2J  cd.,  revised, 
1819, 8vo;  traiisl.  into  French  under  the  title  Excellence 
<le  la  Ri'liijion  Cotholique,  Paris,  1823,  2  vols.  8vo):— ^ 
I  'imlication  of  the  End  of  l{di(jious  Controversy  from 
the  Exctjitioits  of  Bishop  Burgess  and  the  Rev.  li.  Grier 
(Lond.  1822,  8vo) : — Letters  to  a  Prebendarg,  being  an 
Ansirer  to  Refections  on  Ihtpery  b;/  the  Rev.  John  Stur- 
<jes,  LL.l).  (\\'incliester,  1800,  4to) :— .1  short  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Hospital  of  St.  Cross,  near  Winchester  (21st 
cd.  Winchester;  no  date):— .hi  Jlistorical  and  Critical 
Iiif/iiiri/  into  the  Existence  and  Character  of  SI.  George, 
I'dlrnii  if  Eiighiiid  (^IT'.l.'),  8vo)  : — .1  Treatise  on  the  Ec- 
clesiiislinil  li'iMnrii  of  Eiighuvl  during  the  Middle  Ages 
(181 1 .  nival  ^v(i ) :'—/.-//.  /'  /"  the  .  I  iithi>r  of  a  Book  called 


did 


""I" 


,li,d   Sb  Irh 


;/'  the  Government  of 
J'ujie  I  7-  ,m  nt  XIV  (  L(Mi.l.  1 7>'5.  .Svo ) :— Divine  Right  of 
the  E/>!srop,irg  {\7'M,  Hvo):— The  Case  of  Cui.ol,  ,'ee 
solriil.  or  the  Catholic  Claims  proved  to  be  <-(iiii/iiili/J' 
n-ith  the  Coronation  Oalh  (1802,  8\-o)  :—IiHpiirg  into 
certain  Ojnuions  concerning  the  Catholic  Inhabitants  and 
the  A  ntl/peities  of  Ireland  (1808,  Svo).  Of  all  the  advo- 
cates of  the  papal  Church,  no  one  has  displayed  more 
learning;  and  acuteness  than  Milner,  thouf^h  not  un- 
mixed with  partisan  gall  and  misrepresentation.  See 
Lond.  Qu.  Rev.  1810  (^lay),  181 1  (Oct.) ;  Rose,  Xew  Biog. 
Diet.  s.  v.;  Darling,  Cyclop.  Bibliog.  ii,  2771;  Hoefcr, 
Nour.  Biog.  Generale,  xxxv,  55-1;  AUibone,  Did.  of 
Brit,  and  .1  mer.  A  uthors,  s.  v. ;  Dr.  liusenbeth,  Life  of 
Dr.  Milner  (Dublin,  18G2,  8vo). 

Milner,  Joseph,  an  eminent  Anglican  divine 
and  ecclesiastical  historian,  the  elder  brother  of  Isaac, 
■was  born  near  Leeds,  Yorkshire,  Jan.  2,  1744.  He 
was  sent  to  the  grammar  school  at  Leeds,  where,  by 
his  industry  and  talents,  among  which  a  memory  of 
most  exiraordinary  power  was  conspicuous,  he  gained 
the  warm  regard  of  his  master.  IMilner's  father  had  al- 
ways Ijeen  in  very  narrow  circumstances ;  his  death  only 
made  the  task  greater;  but,  by  the  assistance  of  some 
gentlemen  in  Leeds,  whose  children  ^Milner  had  lately 
engaged  in  teaching,  and  by  the  offer  of  the  office  of 
chapel-clerk  at  Catharine  Hall,  Cambridge,  he  was  ena- 
bled lo  enter  that  hall  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  In  the 
year  17G(>  he  took  his  degree  of  15. A.,  and  gained  the 
chancellor's  second  gold  medal  for  classical  knowledge. 
He  was  made  assistant  in  the  school,  and  afterwards  the 
curate  of  the  Kev.  Mr.  Atkinson,  of  Thorp  Arch,  near 
Tadcaster.  While  in  this  place  he  undertook  the  com- 
pletion of  an  epic  poem,  entitled  Davideis,  which  he  had 
commenced  at  Cambridge.  It  was  submitted  to  Dr. 
(afterwards  bishop)  Ilnrd,  who  highly  comiilimented  the 
autlior  on  the  talent  it  displayed,  but  advised  him  to  de- 
fer its  publication.  On  entering  into  deacon's  orders, 
jMihur  was  elected  head-master  of  the  grammar  school, 
and  afternoon  lecturer  of  the  princi|)al  church  of  Hull. 
In  this  position  he  succeeded  beyond  the  most  ardent 
expectations  of  his  dearest  friends,  especially  in  tlie  ca- 
pacity of  an  instructor,  and  the  school  increased  under 
ills  care.  About,  the  year  1770  .Joseph  ^lilner  embraced 
the  sentiments  of  the  e\angelical  party  in  the  Cliurch 
of  England.  Tliis  change  in  his  religious  views  brought 
upon  him  neglect,  and  in  some  cases  open  opposition 
from  many  among  the  upper  classes  who  had  once  been 
his  admirers  and  friends;  iiut  his  church  was  soon 
crowded  with  others,  chietly  from  the  lower  orders  of 
the  people,  in  whose  sentiments  and  manners  his  preach- 
ing produced  a  striking  change;  and  at  length  he  not 
only  recovered  the  esteem  of  his  fellow-townsmen,  but 
lived  to  sec  his  own  religions  sentiments  become  so 
popular  in  the  town  that  many  of  tiie  iiul|)its  of  the 
churches  were  filled  by  his  friends  and  pupils,  and  he 
himself  was  chosen  vicar  of  Hull  by  the  mayor  and  cor- 
poration. Mr.  jNIiluer  had  been  appointed  vicar  of 
North  Ferriby,  near  Hull;  subsei|ueiuly  he  had  been 
appointed  to  the  vicarship  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Cam- 
bridge. His  election  as  vicar  of  Hull  occurred  only  a 
few  weeks  before  his  death,  which  took  place  on  the  15th 


of  November,  1797.  A  monument,  executed  by  Bacon, 
was  erected  to  his  memory  in  the  high  church  of  Hull 
by  several  of  his  friends  anil  former  pupils.  The  ex- 
cellences of  Mr.Milner's  personal  character  were  of  the 
highest  order.  He  was  deeply  pious,  upright  in  all  his 
conduct,  singularly  open  and  sincere,  and  kind,  cheerful, 
and  amusing  in  social  life.  In  his  political  principles 
he  was  strongly  attached  to  the  established  order  of 
things  in  Church  and  State. 

His  principal  works  are  Gibbon's  Account  of  Chris- 
tiunili/  considered  (1781,  8v()),  in  which  he  not  only  ex- 
poses the  sophistry  of  that  infidel  theologian,  but  gives 
the  true  character  of  the  religion  which  he  had  at- 
tempted to  undermine  : — Some  Passages  in  the  Life  of 
Wm.  Iloirard  (17xr),  8vo) :— Essays  on  the  Infhtence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  (17S1»,  12mo)  :— Practical  Sermons  (1801, 
2  vols.  JSvo;  2d  edit,  revised,  corrected,  and  enlarged  by 
Kev.  Isaac-  Milner,  D.IX.dean  of  Carlisle.  18(il-2:>,'o  vols. 
Sv(i|:--77h-  Way  if  Salration,  or  the  Christian  Doc- 
trine (fjiistlfriitioii  explained  (Lond.  1814,  24nio);  and, 
lastly,  a  History  (fthe  Church  of  Christ — a  work  by  which 
Dr.  Joseph  IMilner  is  principally  known.  He  lived  to 
complete  only  four  volumes;  -but  the  task  was  taken  up 
by  his  brother  Isaac,  who  completed  it  by  the  addition 
of  another  volume,  in  which  he  Was  largely  aided  by 
the  MS.  left  at  his  command.  The  work  extends  from 
the  rise  of  Christianity  to  the  Reformation.  The  lirst 
edition  appeared  in  5  vols.  Svo,  1794  to  1812,  and  a  sec- 
ond edition  in  1810.  The  latest  edition  was  published 
at  London  in  1847,  8vo.  It  was  also  translated  into 
French  (183G-8,  3  vols.  12mo)  and  Cerman  (1804).  As 
it  omits  nearly  all  discussion  of  ecclesiastical  controver- 
sies, as  well  as  of  rites,  ceremonies,  and  forms  of  Church 
government — in  fact,  whatever  did  not  agree  with  the 
writer's  own  opinions — Milner's  work  cannot  be  well 
termed  a  Church  history,  but  its  value  as  a  contribu- 
tion to  ecclesiastical  history  is  very  considerable ;  only 
it  should  be  read  with  much  caution,  and  constant  ref- 
erence to  Dr.  ISIaitland's  Strictures  on  Milner's  Church 
History,  and  his  Notes  on  Milner's  History,  etc.  Dr. 
dinner's  historical  work  certainly  surjiasses  most  other 
Church  histories  previously  produced  in  the  use  made  of 
the  writings  of  the  fathers,  though  the  reverence  which 
the  author  professes  for  those  venerable  men  has  led 
him  to  trust  them  too  much.  IMost  modern  critics  speak 
only  in  derogatory  terms  of  this  work,  and  an  English 
writer  of  recent  times  thus  comments  upon  it:  '"The 
principles  on  which  the  History  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
is  written  are  of  the  narrowest  kind;  the  scholarship  is 
poor,  the  literary  merit  still  poorer,  and  tlie  critical  in- 
sight jioorest  of  all.  It  deserves  mention  only  for  the 
estimation  in  which  it  was  formerly  held."  The  author 
of  the  Natural  History  of  Enthusiasm,  in  commenting 
upon  the  characteristic  defects  of  JMosheim  ami  Milner 
as  historians  of  Christianity,  observes  that  '■!M(i>heira 
gives  us  the  mere  husk  of  history,  and  Milner  notliing 
but  some  separated  particles  of  pure  farina."  A  collec- 
tion of  Dr.  Josejih  ^lilner's  works  was  published  by  his 
brother  Isaac  (Lond.  1810,8  vols. Svo).  See  Isaac  Mil- 
ner, /,;/(•  <f  Joseph  Milner,  prefi.xed  to  his  "Sermons;" 
Perrv,  h'.rrlesinsticid  History  (see  Index  in  vol.  iv) ; 
Bibl'iothtra  Sarra.  Jan.  1850,  p.  G.i;  North  Brit.  Rev. 
Nov.  l.s.')H,  |>.  I, SO;  IMckQVsteth, Chi-lstiini  Student,  y).o20; 
English  Cyclop,  s.  v. ;  Darling,  Cyclop.  Bibliog.  ii,  2771 ; 
Hook,  Eccles.  Biog.  s.  v. ;  Alliboue,  Diet,  of  Brit,  and 
A  mer.  A  vthors,  s.  v. 

Miliior,  Ja.mi'.s,  D.D..  a  distinguished  divine  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  was  born  at  Philadel- 
phia June  20, 1773.  He  studied  for  a  while  at  the  I'ni- 
versity  of  Pennsylvania,  but  al)out  1789  turned  his  at- 
tention to  jurisprudence.  His  first  settlement  .is  a  legal 
practitioner  was  at  Norristown,  but  about  1797  he  re- 
turned to  Philadelphia,  where  he  married.  I'lilil  then 
he  had  lived,  as  he  hail  been  educated,  a  Quaker;  but, 
.as  he  had  not  been  trained  to  any  great  strictness  in  the 
customs  of  the  Friends,  and  as  his  wife  belonged  to  an 
i  Episcopal  family,  it  cost  hiui  little  sacrifice  to  change 


MILO 


219 


MILON 


his  denomination.  In  consequence  of  his  marriage,  he 
liad,  moreover,  been  in  due  form  '•  read  out  of  meeting." 
In  1805  Mr.  Mihior  was  elected  a  member  of  the  select 
council  of  Philadelphia  for  two  years.  In  1807  he  was 
elected  for  three  years  to  the  same  body;  and  in  1808 
was  raised  to  the  presidency  of  the  council  for  one  year. 
In  1810  he  was  elected  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
from  the  city  and  county  of  Philadelphia :  his  term  there 
closed  March  4, 1813.  He  was  for  a  long  time  a  man 
of  the  world,  though  in  the  better  sense  of  that  ex- 
pression; but  about  the  year  1800  he  began  to  turn 
his  attention  to  religion.  At  first  he  inclined  to  Uni- 
versalism,  but  finally,  in  1812,  became  a  communicant 
in  the  Episcopal  Church.  Soon  after  the  expiration  of 
his  term  in  Congress  he  removed  to  Norristown,  where, 
while  preparing  himself  to  enter  the  ministry,  he  acted 
as  lay-reader  in  St.  John's  Church  by  permission  of 
bishop  White.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in  St.  James's 
Churcl^^hiladelphia,  Aug.  14, 1814,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  order  of  Presbyters  in  the  same  place  Aug.  27, 
1815.  On  October  21  following  he  was  unanimously 
elected  by  the  vestry  a  minister  of  the  United  Churches 
in  Philadelphia.  He  finally  received  a  call  from  St. 
George's  Church,  in  New  York,  which  he  accepted  after 
much  hesitation,  and  was  installed  by  bishop  Hobart 
Sept.  30, 1816.  He  was  made  U.D.  by  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  in  1819.  In  1830  he  was  sent  to  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  as  a  delegate  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  and  of  various  other  religious 
and  benevolent  institutions.  On  his  return  he  resumed 
his  charge  at  St.  George's,  and  continued  there  until  his 
death,  April  8, 1844.  Dr.  Milnor  was  distinguished  for 
his  dignity  and  wisdom,  and  especially  for  his  benevo- 
lence and  piety.  He  ardently  labored  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  his  life  is  full  of 
incident  and  instruction,  "alike  attractive  to  the  ardent 
youth,  the  man  of  business,  the  humble  Christian,  and 
the  mature  theologian."  Dr.  Milnor  published  an  Ora- 
tion on  Masonry  (Phila.  1811)  : — a  Thanksgiving  Sermon 
(New  York,  1817) : — A  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  his  Ex- 
cellenq/  De  Witt  Clinton  (New  York,  1828)  -.—Two  Ser- 
mons in  the  National  Preacher  (1836)  : — .4  Charitable 
Judgment  of  the  Opinions  and  Conduct  of  Others  (New 
York,  1845).  See  the  Rev.  John  S.  Stone,  D.D.,  Memoir 
of  the  Rev.  James  Milnor,  D.D.  (New  York,  1848, 12mo) ; 
Pi-ot.  Epis.  Qu.  Rev.  and  Ch.  Ref/ister,  April,  1855,  p.  31 1 ; 
N.  Y.  Ch.  Rev.  ii,  31 ;  New-Englander,  vii,  122  sq. ;  Prince- 
ton Rev.  xxi,  236 ;  Sprague,  Annals  of  the  A  mer.  Pulpit, 
V,  562 ;  Meth.  Qu.  Rev.  July,  1849,  p.  407 ;  Drake,  Diet, 
of  A  mer.  Bio;;,  s.  v.     (J.  H .  W.) 

Milo  OF  Rheims,  a  noted  character  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical history  of  the  8th  century,  fiourished  as  archbishop 
of  Rheims  and  Treves.  In  his  early  life  he  was  decid- 
edly irreligious;  dedicated  himself  to  a  soldier's  pro- 
fession, and  gained  much  notoriety  as  one  of  Charles 
Martel's  warriors.  When  the  Carlovingian  was  in- 
volved in  a  quarrel  with  St.  Rigobert,  the  archbishop  of 
Rheims,  he  ended  the  dispute  by  deposing  Rigobert,  and 
bestowed  the  primatical  see  upon  Milo,  who  soon  after 
succeeded  in  obtaining  possession  also  of  the  equally 
important  archiepiscopate  of  Treves.  lie  is  described 
as  being  a  clerk  in  tonsure,  but  in  every  other  respect 
an  irreligious  laic ;  yet  when  pope  Boniface  interfered 
and  sought  his  removal,  the  holy  father,  with  all  the  aid 
of  his  ro3'al  patrons,  was  unable  to  oust  IMilo  from  his 
inappropriate  dignities;  and  in  752,  ten  j-ears  after  the 
beginning  of  his  reforms,  we  find  pope  Zachary,  in  re- 
sponse to  an  appeal  for  advice,  counselling  to  leave  Milo 
to  the  divine  vengeance  (Epist.  142).  Nothing  more 
is  known  of  Milo's  personal  history.  See  Lea,  Jlist.  of 
Sacerdotal  Celibacy,  p.  132. 

Milon  (1),  a  French  monastic,  was  born  about  the 
beginning  of  the  9th  century.  In  his  youth  he  sub- 
mitted to  the  monastic  rules  of  the  abbey  of  Saint 
Amand.     Some  critics  have  reckoned  him  amonG;  the 


abbots  of  that  house,  but  this  is  an  erroneous  opinion. 
Milon  was  superintendent  of  the  schools  attached  to 
Saint  Amand,  when  Charles  the  Bald  confided  to  him 
the  education  of  his  two  sons,  Pepin  and  Drogon.  He 
died  June  20,  872.  A  great  number  of  the  poems  of 
Milon  have  been  preserved.  His  Vie  de  Saint  A  mand, 
in  heroic  verse,  is  preserved  in  the  collection  of  BoUan- 
dus  of  February  5th.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  ;ve  can- 
not find  in  this  collection  a  supplement  in  prose  to  the 
Vie  de  Saint  Amaml  by  the  monk  Baudemond.  Hen- 
schenius  pretends,  it  is  true,  that  this  supplement  is  not 
the  work  of  Milon ;  but  the  manuscripts,  the  epitaph  of 
Milon,  and  the  authority  of  Mabillo;i  condemn  the  as- 
sertion of  Henschenius.  This  supplement  can  be  found 
in  Surius  of  February  6th.  Mabillon  and  Bollandus  have, 
besides,  published  two  sermons  of  Milon  on  Saint  Amand, 
which  are  also  found  in  the  works  of  Philip,  abbot  of 
Bonne-Esperance.  To  the  writings  already  mentioned 
we  may  add  a  I/omelie  sur  Saint  Principe,  edited  by  Su- 
rius; a  little  poem,  Sur  le  I'rint, mps  <t  riiiver,  pub- 
lished by  Casimir  Oudin,  in  his  Sujijih  mniium  de  Scrip- 
toribus  ecclesiasticis  a  Bella rniiiin  atnissis ;  an  epitaph 
on  the  princes  Drogon  and  Pepin,  in  the  collection  of 
Bollandus,  June  16th,  ascribed  to  Milon  by  Mabillon ; 
two  pieces  in  hexameter  verse,  Sur  la  Croix,  which  are 
still  unedited;  also  a  poem,  Sur  la  Sobriete,  published 
by  jNIartene,  A7iecd.  i,  44. — Trithemius,  De  ScrijJt.  eccles. 
c.  283 ;  Mabillon,  Atinal.  i,  427 ;  Hist.  Lift,  de  la  Ei-ance, 
V,  409 ;  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Milon  (2),  a  French  prelate,  was  born  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  11th  century.  He  joined  the  Benedic- 
tine order  in  the  monastery  of  Saint-Aubin,  at  Angers. 
Milon  was  sent  to  Rome  by  his  abbot  to  pope  Urban  II, 
and  was  by  liim  jiresented  with  the  cardinal's  hat,  and 
made  bishop  of  Palestrine.  He  was  finally  ordered  to 
return  to  France,  and  preach  against  simony.  Milon 
assisted  in  1095  at  the  Council  of  Clermont.  After  the 
death  of  Urban  H,  Milon  was  appointed  by  Pascal  II 
papal  legate.  Milon  died  about  the  year  1112.  Mar- 
bode  wrote  a  eulogy  upon  him,  which  Mabillon  has  pub- 
lished in  the  fifth  volume  of  his  Annales.  Martene 
has  published,  in  his  Voyage  Litteraire,  ii,  244,  sopie 
verses  of  a  certain  Milon  which  are  believed  to  be  writ- 
ten by  the  chief  bishop  of  Palestrine.— //w^  Lift,  de  la 
France,  x,  20;  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Milon  (3),  a  French  prelate,  was  born  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  11th  century.  In  his  youth  he  lived  in 
strict  seclusion,  but  later  embraced  the  rules  of  the  can- 
ons of  Premontre;  in  1121  was  made  abbot  of  the  mon- 
astery of  Dompmartin;  and  finally,  in  1131,  was  elected 
and  confirmed  bishop  of  Terouanne.  The  first  act  of 
his  episcopate  appears  to  have  been  the  consecration  of 
Simon,  abbot  of  Saint-Bertin.  Milon  was  a  strict  dis- 
ciplinarian. In  1148  he  assisted  in  the  Council  of  Rheims, 
at  the  trial  of  Gilbert  de  la  Porree.  In  1150  he  was  en- 
gaged in  a  debate  with  Thierry,  count  of  Flanders.  In 
1157,  delegated  by  the  sovereign  pontiff,  he  adjusted  a 
dispute  M'hich  arose  between  the  bishop  of  Amiens  and 
the  abbot  of  Corbie.  Baronius  has  praised  the  religious 
character  and  wisdom  of  Milon ;  others  have  greatly 
extolled  his  humility.  Claude  la  Saussaye  has  given 
him  a  place  in  his  martyrology;  and  Luc,  abbot  of 
Saint-CorneiUe,  has  dedicated  to  him  his  Commentaires 
sur  le  Cantique  des  Cantiques.  Thus  Milon,  who  lived 
in  an  age  fruitful  in  illustrious  prelates,  was  one  of  the 
glories  of  his  province.  No  one  has  to  this  day  made 
a  rigorous  distinction  between  his  authentic  writings 
and  the  more  numerous  works  which  appear  to  ha\'e 
been  improperly  attributed  to  him.  He  died  July  16, 
nbS.— Gallia  Christ,  x,  col.  1347, 1546  ;  Hist.  Lift,  de  la 
France,  xiii,  286 ;  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Milon  (4),  a  French  prelate,  was  born  in  England, 
of  French  descent,  about  the  latter  part  of  the  11th  cen- 
tury. Milon,  bishop  of  Terouanne,  having  died  in  1158, 
Miion  was  appointed  his  successor,  having  formerly  been 
archdeacon  of  that  church.     A  letter  written  to  pope 


MILOX 


280 


MILTITZ 


Alexander  III,  in  favor  of  Thomas  iv  Becket,  has  been 
attributed  to  him.  A  friend  of  John  of  Salisburj',  bish- 
op of  Chartres,  has  addressed  two  of  his  epistles  to  him. 
He  died  at  Terouanne,  Sept.  14,  IWJ.—Uallia  Christ. 
X,  col.  lo4«;  I/h/.  Lilt,  de  la  France,  xiii,  287;  Hoefer, 
Noia:  Biof/.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Milon  (5),  a  French  ecclesiastic,  Avas  born  about 
the  beginning  of  the  12th  centun,-.  He  was  sent  by 
Innocent  HI  to  preach  a  crusade  against  the  Albigen- 
ses.  Subsequently  he  led  the  crusaders,  marched  un- 
der the  walls  of  Beziers,  and  besieged  and  burned  that 
place,  after  having  slaughtered  the  iidiabitants.  Milon 
is  mentioned  for  the  last  time  as  being  present  at  the 
council  held  at  Avignon,  Sept.  G,  1209.  In  the  collec- 
tion of  the  letters  of  Innocent  HI  published  by  Baluze 
arc  two  letters  from  his  legate.  They  also  attribute  to 
this  fanatic  a  prayer  to  the  Virgin,  which  has  been  in- 
serted by  P.  Benoit  in  his  Ilistoire  iks  A  Ibigeois,  i,  279. 
See  Hist.  Lilt,  de  la  France,  xvii,  2G;  Hoefer,  A'ouv. 
Biof/.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Milon,  JoiiASN  XicoLAi  s,  a  German  theologian, 
was  born  at  Hamburg  Nov.  2,  1738;  was  educated  at 
the  Johanneum,  and  later  at  the  gymnasium  of  his  na- 
tive citj'.  In  1760  he  entered  the  University  of  Got- 
tingen,  where  he  studied  ancient  languages  and  Church 
history.  He  returned  iu  1764  to  Hamburg,  and  was  aj)- 
pointed  in  1765  professor  of  philosophy  at  Kiel ;  in  1769 
he  was  appointed  minister  at  Llineburg,  and  in  1770  at 
Wandsbeck,  where  he  died,  June  10, 1795.  Some  of  his 
im])ortant  works  are,  Diss.de  scrihurum  erroribus  in  textu 
Uebraico  V.  T.impresso  (Kilouii,  1764, 4to) : — Observa- 
tiones  critica  in  aliquot  Veteris  Fcedeiis  luca  (ibiii.  1765, 
4to)  : — Kritische  A  nmerlcunrjen  iiber  eini^e  Stellen  des  A  l- 
ten  Testaments  (Kiel,  1768,  8vo) : — Ettcas  iiber  1  Mos. 
xUi,  10  vnd  Mutt.  V,  31, 32  (Hamburg,  1788, 8vo). 

Miltiades,  an  early  ecclesiastical  writer,  noted  for 
his  able  defence  of  the  orthodox  Church  against  the 
Montanists,  is  supposed  tt)  have  flourished  towards  the 
close  of  the  2d  centur}-,  Eusebius  and  Jerome  mention 
his  writings,  but  there  is  now  no  trace  of  these  sujiposed 
valuable  productions.  He  is  said  to  have  lived  under 
Marcus  Aurclius  (161-180),  and  under  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor Commodus  (180-192).  Miltiades  was  an  able  po- 
lemic, and  waged  war  successfidly,  not  only  against  the 
iSIoiitanists,  but  also  combated  Judaism  and  heathenism 
in  its  various  phases.    See  Eusebius,  //w^  F.ccles.  v,  17. 

Miltiades,  also  called  ^fek^hiades  or  Melciades,  a 
bishop  of  Kome,  was  born  about  the  middle  of  the  3d 
century.  He  early  occupied  as  a  priest  a  very  conspicu- 
ous place  by  his  arduous  efforts  to  protect  the  rights  and 
interests  of  the  Koraan  Church  against  the  many  wrongs 
enacted  by  pope  Maxentius,  and  was,  besides, prominent 
in  the  protection  of  Christians  during  the  persecutions. 
He  succeeded  Eusebius  on  the  pontifical  throne  in  310, 
and,  in  313,  was  ordered  by  the  emperor  Constantine 
the  Great,  who  was  opposed  to  the  Uonatists,  to  bring 
the  Donatist  difficulties  to  a  close.  In  council  with 
twenty  (Jallican  and  Italian  bishops,  he  reinstated  Cie- 
cilian  as  bishop  of  Carthage.  For  his  zeal  and  exertion 
in  trying  to  bring  back  the  Donatists  into  the  union  of 
the  Church  he  was  slandered,  but  Augustine  {Fpisl. 
162)  speaks  of  him  as  "  vir  (>iilinnis.  filius  Christiana;  \^a- 
cis  et  pater  Christiana;  jilehis."  The  ^Ianicha;ans  also, 
who  worked  secretly  at  Home,  found  iu  him  a  watchful 
guardian  against  their  doctrines.  He  was  the  first  pope 
to  live  in  a  royal  palace,  which  was  presented  to  him  by 
the  emperor  Constantine  the  Great  with  other  rich  en- 
dowments. ^Miltiades  issued  two  well-known  edicts:  the 
one  interdicting  fasting  on  Sundays  and  Tiiursdays.  be- 
cause the  heatlicns  celebrated  these  days  "(piasi  sacrum 
jejunium;"  and  he  also  enacted,  ''I't  olilationes  conse- 
cratJe  per  eeclesias  ex  consecratu  episcopi  dirigerentur, 
quod  declaratur  ferment um."  The  true  meaning  of  the 
latter  edict  lias  often  been  a  matter  of  disinite.  ]\Iilti- 
ades  died  in  314:  it  is  erroneously  reported  of  him  tliat 
he  died  a  martyr,     St.  Bernard,  who  described  the  life 


of  this  pope,  makes  no  mention  of  the  manner  of  his 
death.  His  remains  were  interred  in  the  Calixtine 
Chapel,  but  by  pope  Paul  I  they  were  removed  "  in  ca- 
pite"  to  the  Church  of  St.  Sylvester.  See  Bower,  I/ist, 
of  the  Popes  (see  Index  in  vol.  vii) ;  D'Artaud,  Life  and 
Times  of  the  Ronxtn  Pontiffs  (X.  Y.  1865, 2  vols.  roy.  8vo), 
i,  67 ;  Ikrzog,  Reul-Kncykiop.  Lx,  300;  Wetzer  u.Welt*, 
Kircli(-n-Lexikon,  xtA.  vi,  s.  v. 

Miltitz,  Kahi,  vox,  a  Koman  ecclesiastic,  celebrated 
as  the  papal  chamberlain  and  legate  to  the  Peformers, 
was  the  son  of  a  Saxon  nobleman,  and  was  born  about 
1490.  He  flourished  first  as  canon  at  Mayence,  Treves, 
and  Mlssonia.  Iu  1515  he  removed  to  Kome  and  be- 
came pa])al  notary.  In  1518,  when  cardinal  Cajetan  had 
so  signally  failed  in  bringing  "little  brother  Martin"  to 
submission,  Leo  X  became  aware  of  the  greatness  of  the 
schism  likely  to  occur  in  the  (Jerinan  Church.  The 
strife  against  the  Latin  system  had  assumed  gigantic 
proportions.  Around  Luther  were  now  gathered  the 
great,  and  the  strong,  and  the  learned  of  the  ^'utonic 
race.  Frederick,  the  electoral  prince  of  Saxony,  was 
Luther's  staunch  friend  and  protector,  and  Leo  X,  know- 
ing the  influence  and  power  of  this  prince,  felt  loth  to 
incur  his  ill-will  by  harsh  measures  against  Luther. 
Miltitz  was  therefore  despatched  to  the  electoral  court 
with  a  valuable  present — the  consecrated  golden  rose. 
This  was  to  give  the  electoral  prince  assurance  of  the 
good  intentions  of  pope  Leo  towards  Saxony,  and  of  Ins 
special  friendship  for  Frederick;  at  the  same  time  he 
was  instructed  to  conciliate  Luther,  and,  if  possible,  to 
make  an  end  of  the  wliolc  Lutheran  controversy.  In 
December,  1518,  Miltitz  arrived  in  Saxony,  but,  being 
careful  to  find  out  first  how  matters  stood,  he  did  not  take 
the  consecrated  rose  with  him  on  his  first  call.  This 
was  a  mistake  on  INIiltitz's  part,  for,  when  the  rose  after- 
wards arrived,  the  prince  acted  very  coolly,  and,  instead 
of  accepting  the  present  in  person,  commissioned  three 
of  his  noblemen  to  receive  the  jwpe's  gift,  and  Luther 
aptly  remarked  that "  its  odor  had  been  lost  on  the  long 
journey"  (see  Luther's  Briefe,  edited  by  De  Wette,  i,  108, 
109).  Miltitz's  special  instructions  were  to  conciliate 
Luther,  and  we  must  acknowledge  that  lie  acted  with 
much  policy  and  skill.  He  carefully  abstained  from 
visiting  cardinal  Cajetan,  who,  by  his  imperious  and  ar- 
rogant treatment  of  Luther,  had  lost  all  influence  with 
the  electoral  prince.  When  among  friends,  or  even 
while  staying  in  jiublic  houses,  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
denounce  the  indulgence  traffic,  and  assured  his  hearers 
that  the  shameful  trade  was  carried  on  without  the 
pope's  consent.  It  was  therefore  perfectly  natural  that 
the  electoral  prince  and  Luther  should  have  put  confi- 
dence ill  Jliltitz,  and  that  his  mission  of  conciliation 
seemed  in  a  fair  way  to  succeed  (conip.  however.  Fisher, 
Ref.  p.  97,  note  2). "  On  Jan.  3,  1519,  Jliltitz  had  a  con- 
ference with  Luther  at  Altenburg.  The  papal  legate  re- 
ceived the  Reformer  kindly,  embraced  and  kissed  him, 
and  then  addressed  him  as  follows :  "  Dear  brother  Jlartin, 
how  much  I  have  been  mistaken !  I  always  imagined 
you  an  old  doctor,  sitting  behind  the  stove,  and  full  of 
whims  and  chimerical  notions.  But  now  I  see  that  you 
are  in  the  very  height  of  manly  strength.  Xot  with 
five  thousand  armed  men  would  I  dare  to  take  you  to 
Kome.  All  my  investigations  have  shown  me  that, 
wherever  one  iierson  is  for  the  ])ope,  three  are  against 
him  and  for  you."  He  then  in  the  kindest  manner  re- 
monstrated against  Luther's  violence,  showing  him  how 
mucli  harm  the  Church  hail  to  suffer  in  consequence. 
He  failed,  however,  to  procure  any  recantation,  and  suc- 
ceeded simply  in  obtaining  from  Luther  an  expression 
of  submissiveness.  Silence  was  imposed  on  him,  as 
well  as  on  his  opponents,  and  it  was  agreed  to  tran.-fer 
the  whole  matter  to  the  judgment  of  the  arcliiii.-ho[)  of 
Treves..  In  conscfiucnceof  this  agreement.  Luther  wrote 
to  the  |iope  a  letter  full  of  courtesy  and  humility,  and 
went  even  so  far  as  to  declare  imbliely  "  that  separation 
from  a  Ciiurcli  for  whieli  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter,  and  one 
I  hundred  thousand  martyrs,  had  shed  their  blood,  was 


MILTON 


281 


MILTON 


not  permissible,  and  that  on  no  account  must  ^\■c  resist 
her  teachings  and  commands"  (see  Walch,  xv,  812). 
This  attitude  of  the  great  Keformer  has  often  been  stig- 
matized by  the  Romanists  as  an  act  of  hypocrisy  and 
simulation  (see  Wetzer  u.  Welte,  Kirchen-Lex.  vii,  148 ; 
Pallavicini,  Gesch.  d.  Cone.  v.  Trient) ;  but  Luther's  de- 
sign, it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  was  not  to  array  him- 
self against  the  Chnrch,  but  to  vindicate  her  against 
what  he  believed  to  be  an  abuse  of  her  sacred  name. 
Luther's  movements  were  so  completely  churchly  that 
even  archbishop  Manning  {Unity  of  the  Church,  p.  328 
sq.)  is  obliged  to  acknowledge  it.  At  this  critical  mo- 
ment (February,  1519)  Dr.  l-]ck,  one  of  Luther's  most 
prominent  opponents,  who  in  1518  had  challenged  Carl- 
stadt  to  a  public  disputation,  published  an  outline  of 
his  Theses,  which  clearly  proved  to  Luther  that  the 
main  object  of  his  attack  was  not  Carlstadt,  but  himself. 
Luther  considered  this  a  breach  of  the  agreement 
which  he  had  concluded  with  Miltitz,  and,  as  his  ad- 
versaries did  not  hold  themselves  bound  thereby,  he,  of 
course,  felt  relieved  from  his  promise,  and  he  so  de- 
clared to  the  elector  Frederick  on  the  13  th  of  March. 
Luther's  position  at  these  disputations  widened  the 
breach  with  Rome  [see  Luther]  ;  and  the  reformatory 
writings.  To  the  Christian  Nobles  of  the  German  Nation, 
of  the  Bettering  of  the  Christian  State  (August,  1520),  and 
Of  the  Bah/lonish  Captivity  of  the  Church  (October,  1520), 
tended  to  fix  the  fact  that  reconciliation  with  the  Church 
of  Rome  was  no  longer  possible.  Yet  ]Miltitz  would  not 
despair  of  it.  October  12, 1520,  he  had  another  confer- 
ence with  Luther  at  Lichtenberg,  and  then  and  there 
Luther  expressed  himself  willing  once  more  to  test  the 
question.  It  was  too  late,  however,  for  in  September, 
1520,  Eck  had  appeared  in  Germany  with  the  papal 
bull,  condemning  as  heresies  forty-one  propositions  ex- 
tracted from  Luther's  writings,  and  summoning  him,  on 
pain  of  excommunication,  to  retract  his  errors  within 
sixty  days.  This  ended  Miltitz's  mission  as  far  as  Lu- 
ther was  concerned.  But  as  Miltitz's  instructions  ex- 
tended not  only  against  Luther,  but  also  against  Tet- 
zel,  whose  behavior  in  the  traffic  in  indulgences  had  been 
marked  with  peculiar  impudence  and  indecency,  he  now 
repaired  to  Leipsic  (December,  1519),  sent  for  Tetzel, 
and  subjected  him  to  a  most  searching  examination, 
which  is  given  in  a  letter  written  by  Miltitz  to  PfetHn- 
ger  (see  Loscher,  Eeformationsacten,  iii,  20  [Leipsic, 
1729]):  "I  know  enough  of  Tetzel's  scandalous  and  ly- 
ing life  and  actions.  I  convicted  him  of  his  crimes  by 
well-attested  testimony.  I  showed  him  the  receipts  of 
F\igger's  commissioners,  which  proved  beyond  doubt  that 
he  received  one  hundred  and  thirty  florins  per  month 
for  his  trouble,  besides  all  expenses  paid;  a  carriage 
with  three  horses,  and  ten  florins  per  month  extra  for 
his  servant.  Thus  did  Tetzel,  who,  moreover,  has  two 
illegitimate  children  in  the  employ  of  the  Church.  No 
one  can  estimate  how  much  he  may  have  stolen.  I 
shall  report  all  these  things  to  Rome,  and  expect  a  pa- 
pal judgment."  Tetzel,  in  consequence  of  his  fear  and 
anxiety,  was  taken  dangerously  sick,  and  died  soon  after. 
All  efforts  of  reconciliation  having  failed,  Miltitz  re- 
,  turned  to  Rome,  but,  after  a  short  stay,  he  returned  to 
Germany,  and  died  there  in  1529 — some  say  while  on 
his  homeward  journey.  See  Seidemann,  Carl  v.  Miltitz 
(Dresden,  1844,  8vo)-,  id.  Die  Leipziger  Disputation  im 
Jahre  1519  (Dresden,  1843,  8vo) ;  Luther's  Briefe  (edited 
by  De  Wette),  i,  108,  109,  and  115;  Ranke,  Hist,  of  the 
Reformation,  i,  386  sq. ;  Hagenbach,  Kirchengesc'h.  iii, 
83  sq. ;  Krauth,  Conservat.  Reformation ;  Fisher,  Hist, 
of  the  Reformation,  p.  97  ;  Waddington,  Hist,  of  the 
Reformation,  vol.  i,  ch.  iii ;  Gieseler,  Eccles.  Hist.  vol.  iv; 
Herzog,  Real-Encyklojmdie,  viii,  326,  577;  iii,  629;  xv, 
579. 

Milton,  John,  among  the  brightest  glories  of  the 
rich  and  varied  literature  of  England,  one  of  the  four 
master-singers  of  the  I^nglish  Helicon,  has  taken  rank 
with  Homer  and  Virgil  and  Dante.  Dryden's  eulogy 
was  well-merited,  though  too  epigrammatic.     In  splen- 


dor of  conception  and  in  majesty  of  language,  he  is 
without  a  peer.  Gray  recognises  in  him  no  inferiority 
to  Shakespeare.  John  Wilson,  a  graceful  poet  himself, 
and  an  appreciative  critic,  concludes  that  England  has 
produced  but  one  perfect  poem,  and  that  that  poem  is 
Milton's  Paradise  Lost.  Poetry,  however,  was  not  the 
exclusive  occupation  of  Milton's  life.  He  was  also  a 
laborious  and  prolific  writer  of  prose,  and  was  long  en- 
gaged in  religious  polemics  and  political  controversy. 
His  wreath  of  immortality  was  woven  of  poetic  flowers; 
but  his  distinction  in  his  own  day  was  more  largely  due 
to  his  writings  as  a  publicist  and  theological  disputant. 
Milton  is  even  more  remarkable  in  the  phases  and  cir- 
cumstances of  his  life  than  in  the  brilliancy  of  his 
genius.  His  mature  years  coincided  with  that  turbu- 
lent period  when  civil  dudgeon  first  grew  high,  and 
passed  into  the  turmoil  and  strife  which  constitute  at 
once  the  shame  and  the  glory  of  English  history.  The 
evening  glories  of  the  Elizabethan  age  lingered  along 
the  horiziui  at  the  commencement  of  his  career;  the  se- 
rener  but  fainter  radiance  of  the  a;ra  of  queen  Anne  was 
prognosticated  before  his  death.  In  the  wide  interval, 
one  name  of  eminent  renown  in  literature  stretches  its 
single  and  unbroken  line  of  light  across  the  darlcened 
heavens.  That  name  is  the  name  of  John  Milton.  His 
birth  was  amid  the  glories  that  had  ennobled  the  reign 
of  the  maiden  queen;  he  gathered  strength  for  the 
stern  and  shifting  duties  of  life  throughout  the  reign  of 
James;  he  illustrated  the  early  rule  of  Charles  I  by 
strains  that  seemed  echoes  from  the  fairy  land  behind ; 
he  dignified  the  times  of  civil  warfare  and  theological 
contention  by  prose  compositions  which  occasionally 
united  the  grand  cathedral  harmonies  of  Hooker  with 
the  yet  unanticipated  magnificence  of  Burke.  In  pov- 
erty and  depression,  and  blindness  and  age,  he  sought 
consolation  from  his  music  on  that  sacred  harp,  whose 
melting  and  piercing  melodies  no  hand  could  ever  awak- 
en but  his  own.  In  character,  and  in  the  vicissitudes 
of  his  career,  he  was  the  true  representative  of  the  strug- 
gle which  fills  the  seventeenth  century.  He  bridges 
over  the  vast  abyss  between  Shakespeare  and  Dryden, 
and  marks  the  changing  phases  of  the  revolution  in 
Church  and  State.  Hence  the  consideration  of  his  works 
can  scarceh'  be  severed  from  the  notice  of  his  life,  which 
di^■ides  itself  into  four  sharply-defined  and  well-con- 
trasted periods. 

L  Period  1608-1629.— Infancy,  and  education  till  he 
attains  his  majority,  from  the  fifth  year  of  James  I  to 
the  fifth  year  of  Charles  I. 

IL  Period  1629-1689.— Completion  of  education  at  the 
university,  in  retirement  and  by  foreign  travel.  From 
his  majority  to  his  return  from  the  Continent. 

III.  Period  1639-1660.— Participation  in  the  turmoil 
of  the  times.     Active  and  public  life. 

IV.  Period  1660-1674. — jNIilton's  age,  and  blindness 
and  seclusion.     Production  of  his  great  poems. 

Milton's  Life  and  Worlcs.  I.  Period  1G08-1629.— John 
Blilton,  the  illustrious  son  of  obscure  but  reputable  par- 
ents, was  born  at  the  sign  of  "  the  Spread  lilagle,"  in 
Bread  Street,  in  the  parish  of  All-hallows,  London,  on 
the  9th  of  December,  1608.  His  father,  of  the  same 
name,  was  a  scrivener,  who  had  been  disinherited  by  his 
Roman  Catholic  parents  for  adopting  the  Protestant 
faith.  His  exertions  in  pursuit  of  a  livelihood  had  se- 
cured comfort,  if  not  wealth,  and  had  not  repressed  his 
tastes  for  literature  and  art.  Thus  may  be  explained 
the  conjunction  of  Puritan  principles,  of  romantic  fan- 
cies, of  chivalrous  sentiments,  of  literary  and  artistic 
sensibilities,  so  strangely,  and  not  always  congruously, 
exhibited  in  the  poetry  of  his  son. 

That  son  received  the  tenderest  care  and  the  most  sed- 
ulous instruction  from  his  hopeful  and  appreciative  sire. 
He  was  of  frail  constitution,  and  was,  in  consequence, 
educated  at  first  at  home.  From  his  instructor — the 
eminent  scholar  and  zealous  Puritan,  Thomas  Young — 
he  imbibed  his  taste  for  poetry,  as  he  gratefully  acknowl- 
edged.    At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  was  sent  to  St.  Paul's 


JVnLTON 


282 


MILTOX 


School,  I^ndon,  and  after  two  years  was  transferred  to 
Christ  Church,  Cambridge,  where  he  remained,  with 
some  iiiterriijjtions,  over  eight  years,  lie  carried  with 
him  to  c(jlkge  great  proficiency  in  the  classic  tongues, 
and  had  added  to  them  an  aciiuaintance  with  Hebrew, 
French,  and  Italian,  and  some  skill  in  music  and  fenc- 
ing. These  liberal  pursuits  he  continued  to  prosecute 
at  the  university  with  unusual  diligence  and  with  ad- 
mirable results.  Indications  of  his  progress  are  supplied 
by  his  Latin  and  English  poems,  by  notices  in  his  po- 
lemical writings,  and  by  his  college  exercises,  whicli 
Mr.  Jlasson  lias  reclaimed  from  oblivion.  From  these 
sources  we  learn  that  he  was  exceedingly  handsome, 
though  of  slight  frame  and  moderate  stature,  and  was 
skilled  in  all  manly  exercises.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
called  '•  the  lady  of  his  college,"  not  less  for  the  purity 
of  his  cliaracter  than  for  his  delicate  beauty. 

Along  with  his  extensive  acquirements,  Milton  bore 
with  him  to  Cambridge  the  germs  of  all  his  future 
tastes,  the  beginnings  of  all  his  future  accomplishments. 
In  his  boyhood  he  had  been  "smit  with  the  love  of  sa- 
cred song."  Aubrey  states  that  he  was  a  poet  at  ten 
years  of  age.  The  love  of  the  Muse  grew  strong  with 
his  growth.  His  devotion  to  his  native  tongue  was 
early  displayed.  He  soon  aspired  to  the  production  of 
a  poem  which  "  future  ages  would  not  willingly  let 
die."  He  was  already  consecrating  himself  to  his  high 
vocation,  and  disciplining  his  young  genius  with  patient 
diligence.  In  this  calm  and  industrious  tenor  of  life, 
Milton  ripened  to  his  majority. 

II.  Period  lC-_>9-lGo9.— On'the  8th  of  December,  1629, 
Milton  was  twenty-one  years  of  age.  On  the  Christmas- 
day  ensuing  he  produced  that  maguitiuent  choral  song, 
The  Ode  on  the  Xdtirity.  Admirable  and  exquisite  as  it 
is  in  itself,  it  is  amazing  as  the  composition  of  a  young 
man  who  liad  just  assumed  the  toga  virilis.  and  was  in 
the  midst  of  l.is  college  career.  Its  remarkable  merit 
may  be  best  appreciated  by  comparing  it  with  the  near- 
ly contemporaneous  poems  of  George  Herbert,  Ben 
Jouson,  and  Vaughan  on  the  same  subject.  The  ode 
is  equally  remarkable  for  its  startling  indication  at  so 
early  a  period  of  the  characteristics  of  his  grandest 
works.  The  lyric  movement  of  thought  and  expression, 
the  intricate  melody  and  skill  of  the  metre,  the  strength 
and  propriety  of  the  epithets,  the  concentration  and 
point  of  the  language,  the  harniiniics  nfMnnid,  the  dex- 
terous accumulation  of  suggested  ii.iinr-.  ilic  solemnity 
and  reverential  awe  of  the  wliolc  uiiciancf,  arc  antici- 
pations of  his  final  glories.  (Irand  as  is  this  choral 
hymn,  Milton  felt  that  his  powers  of  song  were  not 
sufficiently  matured  to  sustain  the  yet  vague  splendor 
of  his  conceptions.  The  Ode  on  the  Passion — the  com- 
panion-piece to  the  Ode  on  the  Nativity  —  was  never 
completed.  "Tliis  subject  the  author  finding  to  be 
above  the  years  he  had  when  he  wrote  it,  and  noth- 
ing satisfied  with  what  was  begun,  left  it  unfinished." 
These  two  odes  are  the  first  outlines  of  the  Paradise  Lost 
and  Paradise  Peyaincd.  The  self-censure,  patience, 
diligence,  and  humility  of  ]Milton  arc  as  notable  as  his 
lordly  tone  and  conscious  power.  Three  years  later,  just 
before  leaving  Cambridge,  he  laments  that  "my  late 
spring  no  bud  nor  blossom  shew'th ;"  but  adds, 

"It  shall  be  still  in  strictest  measure  even 

To  thiit  same  lot,  however  nienn  or  liigh 

To  which  Time  leads  me,  and  the  will  of  Heaven." 

Milton  was  designed  for  the  Church,  and  had  been 
trained  in  all  secular  and  theological  learning  for  that 
holy  oflice.  The  depression  of  the  Puritans  under  the 
stern  domination  of  Laud  closed  the  |irospe<t  to  the 
young  candidate.  He  waited  long  and  iiaticnily,  in 
doubt  and  hope ;  but  in  1032  withdrew  from  ( 'ambridge, 
having  taken  both  his  degrees.  He  left  the  univcrsitv 
with  credit  and  honor,  and  retired  to  the  gratefid  se- 
clusion of  his  father's  villa  at  Horton — not  far  from  Eton 
and  Windsor.  Here  he  remained  for  five  years,  spend- 
ing the  sunny  summer-time  of  his  life  in  multifarious 
study.     He  plunged  into  the  mysteries  of  Hebrew  lore, 


familiarized  himself  with  the  best  lessons  of  historj-,  and 
carefully  perused  the  whole  series  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
authors,  from  Homer  to  Ducas  and  Phranza. 

It  was  during  the  earlier  half  of  his  residence  at  Hor- 
ton that  IMilton  produced  \\\s  L' A  lleyro  &nA  1 1  Penscroso, 
and  his  two  masques,  the  .1  rcadcs  and  Comus.     These 
poems  were  not  composed  for  the  noisy  public,  but  as 
relaxations  from  study,  which  embodied  the  shifting 
lights  and  shadows  of  his  life  at  Horton.     Tliey  are 
Ithotographs  of  the  scenery  that  surrounded  his  retrc«t, 
lighted  up  by  the  bright  glow  of  his  changing  moods. 
j  They  reveal  also  the  character  and  ingredients  of  the 
I  ambrosia  on  which  his  mind  had  feastcil  from  boyhood, 
j  and  betray  the  fiowers  from  which  the  honey  was  dis- 
tilled.    The   subjects,   the   contrasts,   the   metre,  and 
I  many  of  the  thought.s,  phrases,  and  rhymes,  are  iniita- 
I  ted  from  the  poetical  '-Abstract  of  Melanchoiy"  prefixed 
I  by  Burton  to  his  quaint  Anatomy  of  Melancholy.    Other 
obligations  are  due  to  the  exquisite  "Song  on  ^lelan- 
choly"  in  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  Nice  Valor.     The 
same  royal  seizure,  which  ennobles  what  it  apiiropri- 
ates,  and  which  is  declared  by  Longinus  to  be  no  theft, 
signalizes  all  of  Milton's  compositions.     It  is  his  man- 
ner.    It  is  his  genius.     He  claims  the  spoils  of  learning 
as  his  own.     He  made  the  triumphs  of  others  the  step- 
ping-stones of  his  fame.     To  the  year  KJS-l  we  proba- 
j  bly  owe  the  A  rcude.t ;  to  it  we  certainly  owe  the  more 
splendid  Comus.    Both  were  written  under  circumstan- 
ces which  are  curiously  illustrative  of  the  social,  politi- 
cal, and  theological  condition  of  tlie  times,  and  of  the 
'  great  controversy  in  respect  to  dramatic  performances. 
I  The  A  rcades  is  a  much  slenderer  performance  than  the 
!  Comus,  but  possesses  the  same  general  characteristics: 
j  purity,  grace,  fancy,  meh)dy,  learning,  and  gorgeous  ex- 
I  pression.     Tlic  Comus  is  an  almost  ])erfect  gem.     It  is 
as  distinctly  unicpic  in  its  charms  as  Shakesjjeare's  J//(7- 
!  summer  Niylifs  Dream.    Its  authorship  was  not  avowed. 
It  was  published  by  Henry  Lawcs,  in  1C37,  to  escape 
the  constant  importunities  for  copies  of  the  manuscript. 
In  this  year  the  plague  raged  with  great  violence,  and 
many  notable  deaths  occurred.    On  the  3d  of  Ajiril  Mil- 
ton's mother  died ;  on  the  Gth  of  August  Ben  Jouson  ex- 
pired; on  the  10th  Edward  King,  of  Christ  Church,  was 
lost  at  sea  on  his  way  to  Ireland. 

The  death  of  ;Mrs.  ^Milton  broke  up  the  family  retreat 
at  Horton,  and  ^Milton  made  preparations  for  foreign 
travel.  He  was  meditating  a  great  poem — an  epic  on 
the  Kound  Table,  or  on  the  story  of  tlie  Trojan  Brutus. 
"  Do  you  a.sk  what  I  am  meditating'?"  says  he,  in  a  let- 
ter to  Dcodati.  "  By  the  help  of  Heaven,  an  immor- 
tality of  fame  !  But  what  am  I  doing?  I  am  letting 
my  wings  grow,  and  preparing  to  fly ,  but  my  Pegasus 
has  not  yet  feathers  enough  to  soar  aloft  in  the  fielils  of 
air." 

One  more  poem — the  last  song  of  his  young  and  fresh 
life  —  ])rece(ie<l  his  going  abroad.  Tlie  admirers  of 
'•Bare  Ben"  honored  his  meniorj-  by  a  volume  oi' tjiice- 
dia,  or  funeral  eulogies,  entitled  J<)hso«  ]'irbius.  The 
scholars  of  Cambridge  proposed  a  similar  tribute  to  the 
ghost  of  Edward  King.  To  this  collection  jMilton  con- 
tributed that  finest  of  elegies,  the  Lycidas.  It  is  the- 
ecbo  of  the  ]iastoral  music  of  the  ancient  (Jreeks,  and 
recalls  the  ]ilaintivc  strains  of  Bion,  while  adopting  the 
metrical  forms  of  the  Italian  ranzoni. 

Not  long  after  this  Milton  .set  out  on  his  Continental 
tour.  Northern  Europe  was  closed  against  him  by  the 
Thirty -Years'  War,  which  was  ravaging  the  whole  of 
Germany.  France  was  writhing  beneath  the  tyranny 
of  Kichelicu,  who  was  consolidating  the  monarchy  at 
home,  and  strangling  the  supremacy  of  the  House  of 
Austria  abroad.  iMilton  crossed  over  to  Paris,  where  he 
formed  the  accpiaintancc  of  (Jrotius;  proceeded  to  Ly- 
ons, and,  descending  the  Khone,  readied  Marseilles. 
Thence  he  followed  the  littorale  to  Nice.  From  Nice 
he  went  to  (ienoa,  and  to  Florence,  in  which  city,  the 
centre  of  Italian  culture,  he  was  welcomed  witli  the 
highest  distinction,  and  was  elected  a  member  of  the 


MILTON 


283 


MILTON 


Florentine  academies.  While  at  Florence  he  visited 
"  the  starry  Galileo,"'  now  seventy-five  years  of  age,  at 
his  pleasant  villa  of  Arcetri,  in  the  neighborhood.  Con- 
tinuing his  journey,  he  reached  Kome,  spending  two 
months  there  "  in  viewing  the  antiquities,"  and  listening 
to  Leonora  Baroni— the  Jenny  Lind  of  those  days— who 
seems  to  have  touched  his  heart,  and  to  whom  he  ad- 
dressed three  Latin  epigrams.  He  next  proceeded  to 
Naples,  where  he  was  hospitably  entertained  by  IManso, 
marquis  di  Villa,  the  friend  of  Tasso.  Everywhere  he 
was  received  with  honor,  admiration,  and  the  inter- 
change of  complimentary  verses. 

Milton  had  proposed  to  extend  his  travels  to  Sicily  and 
Greece,  but  v/as  not  permitted  to  anticipate  lord  Byron 
in  a  poetic  pilgrimage  to  the  land  of  Helicon  and  Par- 
nassus, and  of  the  Vale  of  Tempe.  He  Avas  recalled 
from  Naples  by  the  political  agitations  at  home,  and  the 
dull  murmurs  of  approaching  civil  war.  On  his  home- 
ward journey  he  was  met  by  intelligence  of  the  death 
of  his  friend,  Charles  Deodati,  whereupon  he  wrote  the 
Epitaphiuin  Damonii  —  the  Latin  counterpart  of  the 
L;/cidus.  From  this  it  is  evident  that  he  was  still  re- 
volving an  epic  on  the  Brut  cVAnyleterre  or  the  Morte 
d'A  lii'iur.  But  he  deserted  the  fountains  of  Hippocrene, 
and  for  twenty-one  years  devoted  himself  to  polemics, 
politics,  and  prose. 

III.  Period  1CA9-166Q.— Milton  as  a  Polemic,  Theolo- 
f/iaii,  PoUtician,  and  Prose-icriter. — On  his  return  to 
England,  IMilton  undertook  the  education  of  his  two 
nephews,  John  and  Edward  Phillips.  He  was  induced 
to  receive  other  boys  also,  and  accordingly  took  a  large 
house  in  Aldersgate  Street,  and  opened  a  school.  Out 
of  his  academical  employments  sprung  his  Tractate  on 
Education,  his  Accidence  commenced  Grammar,  and  his 
posthumous  work  On  Christian  Doctrine,  which  lay  un- 
known till  1825.  (It  was  edited  by  the  present  incum- 
bent of  the  episcopal  chair  of  Winchester  [bishop  Sum- 
ner] ;  a  translation  has  also  been  published.)  The  first 
expounded  his  views  on  education,  which  resembled 
those  of  Roger  Ascham  and  of  John  Lyly.  The  second 
was  a  practical  exemplification  of  his  method  for  the  use 
of  his  school.  The  third  was  an  expansion  and  system- 
atization  of  the  religious  instructions  given  by  him  to 
his  pupils.  It  has  a  much  higher  significance.  It  pre- 
sents jMilton's  peculiar  and  utterly  heterodox  theology — 
which  is  thoroughly  Arian,  and  in  a  great  measure  ma- 
terialistic. It  was  the  theological  preparation  for  the 
Paradise  Lost  and  Paradise  Regained,  and  is  their  best 
commentary.  Indeed,  it  is  impossible  to  understand 
the  esoteric  meaning  of  those  great  poems,  to  estimate 
their  spirit,  or  to  appreciate  many  of  their  details,  with- 
out the  continuous  illustration  afforded  by  this  long-lost 
treatise  in  prose.  "  His  active  imagination  and  impet- 
uous spirit,"  it  has  been  well  said,  "mingle  too  strongly 
with  his  theologj-,  and  in  several  particulars  corrupt  it; 
but  though,  like  Locke,  he  sometimes  mistakes  the  sense 
of  Scripture,  no  man  had  a  higher  opinion  of  its  supreme 
autliority,  or  held  more  iirmly  its  most  vital  truths. 
His  name  cannot  be  classed  with  modern  LTnitarians." 

In  1G41  Milton  reappeared  as  a  \Miter  lielnrc  tlic  )>ul> 
lic  with  his  first  prose  work.  Of  licj'>'riiiiiti<'ii  In  KiiijUind, 
"  to  prove  that  the  Church  of  England  siill  stoinl  in  need 
of  reformation."  He  continued  the  subject  in  four 
other  works,  replying  to  bishop  Hall  and  archbishop 
Usher  in  a  short  essay.  Of  Prelatical  Episcopacy,  and  in 
a  more  elaborate  response,  entitled  The  Reason  of  Church 
Gorernment  urr/ed  ar/ainst  Prehitij.  It  is  in  this  latter 
work  that  Milton  commences  the  remarkable  series  of 
autobiographical  sketches  whence  so  much  of  our  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  his  tastes,  studies,  habits,  senti- 
ments, principles,  and  occupations  is  gathered.  Bishop 
Hall  and  archbishop  Usher  had  aroused  other  assailants. 
Chief  among  such  attacks  in  that  pamphleteering  day 
was  a  pamphlet  designated  Smectymnuus,  from  the  ini- 
tials of  its  five  authors— Stephen  Marshal,  Edmund  Cal- 
amy,  Thomas  Young,  Jlatthew  Newcomen,  and  Wil- 
liam Spurston.     To  this  attack  bishop  Hall  replied  in  a 


Defence  of  the  Remonstrance,  Milton,  who  had  assailed 
the  original  Kemonstrance,  and  was  the  gratefid  pupil 
of  Thomas  Young,  now  brought  out  A  nimadversions  on 
the  Remonstrants'  Defence.  A  rejoinder  from  bishop 
Hall's  son  followed,  to  which  Milton  responded  in  1642 
bj'  his  celebrated  Ajyology  for  Smectymnuus.  These 
productions  thus  all  hang  together.  Their  object  and 
interdependence  are  pointed  out  in  the  author's  Second 
Defence  for  the  People  of  England. 

In  1()43,  during  the  brief  superiority  of  the  Cavaliers, 
Milton,  now  in  his  thirty-fifth  year,  hastily  married 
Mary  Powell,  a  gay,  thoughtless,  pretty  girl  of  seven- 
teen—  "the  daughter  of  Kichard  Powell,  Esq.,  of  For- 
rest Hill,  near  Shotover,  Oxfordshire,  an  active  royal- 
ist." The  match  was  a  singular  and  ill-assorted  union. 
It  was  unhappy.  It  could  scarcely  have  been  other- 
wise. The  fair  malignant,  in  her  young  beauty,  could 
not  endure  the  gloomy  yoke  of  her  sedate  Puritan  hus- 
band. After  the  honeymoon  Avas  over,  she  visited  her 
father,  and  remained  all  summer,  heedless  of  the  en- 
treaties, remonstrances,  and  commands  of  her  grim  lord. 
He  turned  to  his  books,  and  to  the  examination  of  nice 
points  of  theological  ethics.  He  studied  the  nature  and 
obligations  of  marriage,  and  soon  arrived  at  the  foregone 
conclusion  to  divorce  his  recalcitrant  bride.  The  result 
of  his  eager  inquiries  was  The  Doctrine  and  Discipline 
of  Divorce,  restored  to  the  Good  of  both  Sexes — published 
anonymously  in  1644.  Another  fruit  of  his  studies  and 
experiences  was  his  undisguised  contempt  for  women. 
Before  concluding  his  inquiries,  he  proceeded  to  the 
practice  of  his  theory'  by  paying  his  addresses  to  an- 
other fascinating  young  lady.  Jlrs.  Milton,  after  a 
year's  absence,  sought  a  reconciliation,  entreated  for- 
giveness on  her  knees,  Avas  pardoned,  and  returned  to 
her  repellent  home.  She  died  in  1G53,  leaving  three 
daughters,  the  only  children  of  the  poet,  Avho  grew  up 
Avithout  culture  or  companionship.  The  husband,  Avho 
took  back  the  Avife,  did  not  put  aAvay  his  scandalous 
doctrine,  Avhich  Avas  earnestly  denounced.  He  enforced 
it  in  three  other  Avorks:  The  Judgment  of  Martin  Bucer 
concerning  Divorce ;  Tetrachordon,  a  consideration  of 
his  four  chief  texts  of  Scripture  on  the  subject;  and 
Colasterion,  a  bitter  castigation  of  an  illiterate  and  anon- 
ymous opponent.  The  Colasterion  is  Jlilton's  solitarj-^ 
attempt  at  humor— and  very  questionable  humor  it  is, 
except  as  ill-humor.  In  the  same  year  Avith  The  Doc- 
trine of  Divorce  appeared  the  Tractate  on  Education, 
addressed  to  "Master  Samuel  Hartlib,"  and  the  noble 
A  reopagitica,  or  Speech  for  the  Liberty  of  unlicensed 
Printing.  The  Areopagitica  is  the  finest  of  Milton's 
prose  compositions  in  subject,  treatment,  spirit,  and  ex- 
pression. It  is  the  earliest  of  the  grand  English  argu- 
ments for  the  liberty  of  the  press.  Written  Avith  the 
forms  of  Greek  oratory,  and  in  imitation  of  the  orations 
of  Isocrates,  its  stiff,  stately,  and  sonorous  periods  roll 
on  Avith  involved  Hellenistic  phrase,  but  are  distin- 
guished by  fervor  of  feeling,  breadth  and  truth  of  con- 
ception, and  radiant  utterance.  Leckey  {Rationalism 
in  Europe,  ii,  80)  says,  "  The  Paradise  Lost  is,  indeed, 
scarcely  a  more  glorious  monument  of  the  genius  of 
Jlilton  than  the  Areopagitica.'" 

Milton's  prose  style  is  not  in  general  either  good  or 
attractive.  It  is  not  merely  intricate  and  cumbrous, 
but  it  is  prolix,  vagabond,  and  Avearisome.  Its  high  _ 
reputation  has  been  derived  from  the  A  i-eopagitica,  and 
from  rare  bursts  of  rhetorical  brilliancy  in  other  Avrit- 
ings.  Only  a  small  part  of  the  prose  Avorks  merits  the 
eulogies  bestoAved  upon  the  glorious  "purple  patches;" 
and  even  these  are  more  Avorthy  of  admiration  than  of 
unrestricted  praise. 

On  March  15,  1G49— six  Aveeks  after  the  execution 
of  Charles  I— Milton  Avas  apjiointed  secretary  for  ibr- 
eign  tongues  to  the  Council  of  State.  He  had  probably 
gained  the  favor  of  the  Republican  authorities  by  his 
Tenure  of  Kings  and  Observations  on  the  A  rficles  of 
Peace  in  Ireland.  He  held  the  position  till  a  short  time 
before  the  Restoration ;  but  the  salary  Avas  reduced  by 


MILTOX 


284 


MILTOX 


nearlj'  one  half  after  1G55 ;  and  after  1G52,  when  he  be- 
came blind,  the  duties  were  discharged,  first,  by  Philip 
Meadowes,  and  afterwards  by  Andrc^v  Marvell.  Tlie 
appointment  called  him  away  from  his  preijarations  for 
his  Arthurian  ei)ic,  which  was  published  towards  the 
close  of  his  life  as  a  llUtorie  of  Britanie. 

His  lirst  task  under  liis  political  taskmasters  was  Ei- 
kmodasles,  in  answer  to  the  Icon  Basilike— the  political 
testament  ascribed  to  Charles  I,  and  bequeathed  by  him 
on  the  scaffold  to  his  people.  Jlilton's  reply  is  bold, 
defiant;  breathing  all  the  exhilarating  airs  of  sanguine 
freedom,  but  coarse,  vituperative,  passionate,  and  ungen- 
erous. It  was  a  suitable  prelude  for  the  Latin  "Apolo- 
gies f(jr  the  People  of  England"'  {Defensio  pro  Populo 
Anijlicano,  Prima  et  Secunda),  composed  in  1G51  and 
1054  as  a  refutation  of  the  celebrated  scholar  Salmasius. 
In  his  various  "  Letters  of  State"— extending  from  Aug. 
10, 1019,  to  May  15, 1G59— including  the  "Manifesto  of 
the  Lord  Protector"  in  lGo5,  there  are  many  lofty  senti- 
ments and  sounding  jieriods ;  but  it  would  be  scarcely 
fair  to  transfer  to  the  secretary  the  praise  for  sagacious 
or  audacious  policy,  which  may  belong  exclusively  to 
the  Keiniblican  councillors,  or  to  the  great  Republican 
sovereign.  Cromwell  was  not  a  man  to  borrow  his  pol- 
icy from  a  subordinate,  and  from  a  subordinate  awed 
into  unscrupulous  homage  by  his  resolute  character. 

In  the  composition  of  the  Defence  for  the  People  of 
Eiifjlund  Milton's  sight  gave  way.  As  early  as  1044  it 
had  been  seriously  imjiaircd  by  much  study,  frequent 
vigils,  and  constant  writing,  lie  became  totally  blind 
in  1G52.  He  was  warned  by  his  physicians  to  abstain 
from  literary  labor.  He  refused  to  spare  his  eyes  by 
the  renunciation  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  a  high  pa- 
triotic duty.  He  studied  and  wrote  for  his  party  and 
country  till  "  the  drop  serene"  totally  darkened  his  vi- 
sion. The  assertion  of  his  lofty  resolve  is  imbedded  in 
his  Second  Defence  for  the  People  of  Em/land,  and  a 
touching  account  of  the  advancing  stages  of  his  blind- 
ness is  given  in  a  letter  to  a  (Jreek  friend,  which  is  much 
less  known  than  his  pathetic  allusions  to  his  great  pri- 
vation in  the  Paradise  Lost,  the  Sanison  Af/onistes,  and 
two  of  his  sonnets. 

Shut  out  from  the  light  of  day,  cut  off  from  the  direct 
pursuit  of  his  official  duties,  denied  personal  communion 
with  his  books,  the  companions  of  his  solitary  hours, 
Milton's  thoughts  were  turned  inwards,  employed  on  po- 
etic visions,  and  fed  with  the  treasures  of  his  vast  mem- 
ory. During  the  long  years  of  darkness  and  enforced 
leisure,  he  gradually  conceived  and  moulded  and  com- 
menced his  Paradise  Lost.  When  Cromwell  died,  con- 
fusion and  anarchy  returned,  and  the  hope  or  fear  of  the 
restoration  of  the  Stuart  line  occui^cd  the  public  ex 
pectation.  The  l)lind  seer  then  resumed  liis  ]H)lilical  la- 
bors, endeavored  to  preserve  or  to  improve  the  recent  or- 
der in  the  Church,  and  to  uphold  the  late  scheme  of  gov- 
ernment, in  several  small  publications.  His  ideas  of  re- 
ligions and  civil  freedom  tolerated  only  views  consonant 
in  spirit  with  his  own ;  and  would  have  sought  to  per- 
petuate English  freedom  and  republicanism  by  rendering 
the  remnant  of  the  Long  Parliament  a  close,  permanent, 
and  self-renewing  oligarchy.  1 1  is  urgent  clamors  awoke 
no  echo.  His  voice  was  too  faint,  too  wild,  too  foreign 
to  the  necessities  of  the  coimtry  and  the  time,  and  to 
the  wisdom  of  sober  statesmanship,  to  meet  with  any 
acceptance.  Fairfax  and  Jlouk  insured  Charles  It's  re- 
turn to  his  ancestral  throne.  Milton's  political  life  was 
ended.  All  his  liopes,  all  his  dreams,  all  his  cherished 
])lans,  were  turned  to  dust  and  ashes.  Poor,  forlorn, 
1)111  lawccl.  helpless,  but  not  wholly  dejected,  he  entered 
(111  I  lie  li>i  [leriod  of  his  life  in  dithculty  and  danger 
and  distress. 

IV.  I'eriod  1GG0-1G74.— The  closing  years  of  Milton's 
life  offer  little  biographical  detail.  He  was  blind,  in 
want,  helpless;  shunning  the  world,  and  shmnied  by  it. 
Vane  and  other  leaders  of  the  lately  dominant  fattion 
perished  on  the  scaffold;  others  were  mitlawed  or  ex- 
iled.    Milton  was  threatened  with  the  like  fate  in  con- 


sequence of  his  prompt  and  virulent  denunciation  of  his 
laughtered  monarch.  He  was  spared,  tradition  says, 
through  the  intercession  of  Sir  William  Uavenant.  He 
was  compelled  to  remain  in  hiding.  His  second  wife, 
nee  Woodcock,  had  died  in  1059,  within  a  year  of  her 
marriage.  He  took  a  third  in  1005,  Elizabeth  Marshal, 
daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Marshal,  of  Cheshire.  She 
must  have  been  a  young  bride,  as  she  survived  l)er  hus- 
band more  than  fifty  years.  Of  bis  second  and  third 
wives,  of  his  daughters  in  their  young  womanhood,  of 
his  domestic  life,  of  his  intercourse  with  his  still  re- 
maining friends,  scarcely  anything  is  heard  at  this  pe- 
riod. Andrew  Jlarvell  and  a  few  other  intimates  stiU 
consoled  his  loneliness  and  obscurity  with  their  fervent 
attachment.  Dryden,  in  the  flush  of  his  young  and 
garish  reputation,  did  reverence  to  him ;  but  the  deso- 
late poet  disappears  from  public  gaze,  and  communes 
with  his  thoughts,  his  memories,  and  his  God.  "  For- 
getting the  world,  and  of  the  world  forgot."  he  worked 
out  his  immortal  fame.  Content  with  "audience  fit, 
though  few,"  he  created  those  wondrous  poems,  which 
were  the  sublimated  essence  of  his  life  and  learning 
and  labors — his  own  undying  glory,  and  the  pride  of  the 
English  tongue. 

When  Milton  retired  from  the  plague  in  London,  in 
1065,  to  the  house  which  Elwood.  the  Quaker,  bad  pre- 
sented to  him,  at  Chalfont,  in  Buckinghamshire,  he  ex- 


MiiiuiiS  (.uu  i^c  .a  (.iMlfom. 

hibited  to  his  friends  the  ]\LS.  of  Paradise  Los/.  It 
may  have  been  unfinished.  It  was  sold.  April  'IT.  IGOT, 
to  Samuel  Simmons,  of  London,  for  .i"5  down,  and  .4'5  on 
each  of  three  future  contingencies.  Only  two  ])ayments 
were  made,  whence  it  is  inferred  that  less  than  2800 
copies  were  disposed  of  in  the  seven  years  preceding  his 
death.  This  poem  was  the  crowning  labor  of  the  poet's 
life.  It  had  engaged  his  thoughts  as  early  as  1054,  and 
had  occupied  his  solitary  meditations  during  the  ensu- 
ing years.  It  had  been  completed  amid  the  boisterous 
license,  and  obscene  dissonance,  and  reckless  debauchery 
of  the  Kestoration.  He  had  poured  into  it  all  the  wealth 
of  learning  and  reflection  and  observation,  and  expe- 
rience gathered  in  a  studious,  thoughtful,  and  full  life — 
crj-stallizing  into  radiant  gems  the  rich  materials  he 
employed.     Like  his  own  Pandemonium, 

"Out  of  the  earth  a  fnbric  huge 
Tfose  like  an  exhalation,  with  the  sound 
Of  dulcet  fymplionics,  and  voices  swcel." 

From  his  college  days  he  had  contemplated  the  produc- 
tion of  a  great  poem.  In  peiniry  and  wretchedness  and 
scorn  he  achieved  his  ideal,  after  the  lapse  of  a  whole 
stormy  generation.  The  currents  of  his  life  changed  the 
course  of  his  fancies.  He  renoiniced  tlie  charms  of  old 
romance  to  sing  the  songs  of  heaven,  and  "  tell  of  things 
invisible  to  mortal  sight." 

Milton  selected  for  liis  subject  the  fall  of  man— a  sub- 
ject of  miiversal  interest— of  special  interest  to  all  be- 


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285 


MILTON 


lievers  in  the  redemption — of  more  peculiar  interest  to 
the  religious  enthusiasts  and  reformers  of  the  17th  cen- 
tury; and  pre-eminently  attractive  to  Milton  from  his 
pecidiar  idiosyncrasies.  It  Avas  no  new  theme.  In 
wliole  or  in  part  it  had  been  treated  by  Avitus  in  the 
nth  century;  by  Caedmon  in  the  6th;  by  Proba  Falco- 
nia  in  the  10th;  by  Fra  Giacomo,  of  Verona,  in  the 
l-2th ;  by  the  mediaeval  writers  of  miracle  plays  between 
the  11th  and  16th;  by  Andreini  in  the  17th,  and  by 
other  writers.  To  most  of  these  predecessors  Milton  was 
indebted,  without  sacrificing  his  own  essential  original- 
ity, which  stamps  every  page  with  the  seal  of  his  OAvn 
majesty.  He  hesitated  long  before  settling  the  form  of 
the  poem.  His  genius  was  distinctly  lyrical,  but  the 
Ode  on  the  Nativity  had  exhausted  the  compass  of 
the  lyric  strain,  and  demonstrated  its  insufficiency.  He 
tried  a  dramatic  cast,  and  commenced  the  play  with  Sa- 
tan's invocation  to  the  sun  in  the  fourth  book.  His 
own  temperament,  the  personages,  the  scene,  the  action, 
the  incidents,  were  all  unsuited  to  the  drama.  He  finally 
adopted  the  epic  mould,  without  creating  a  true  epic, 
for  the  lyric  spirit  and  strong  predominance  of  his  own 
personality  still  remain.  If  Satan  is  his  hero,  Satan  is 
a  glorified  though  fallen  image  of  Milton  himself.  The 
poem  is  singidar,  alone,  unapproached,  a  work  sui  gene- 
ris.   As  Wordsworth  said  of  the  poet's  soul,  the  poem 

"Was  like  a  star,  and  dwelt  apart, 
It  had  a  voice  whose  suund  was  like  the  sea, 
Pure  as  the  naked  heavens,  majestic,  free." 

There  is  neither  need  nor  room  here  for  any  criticism 
of  this  noble  masterpiece.  It  is  nearly  perfect  in  sub- 
ject, plan,  impersonations,  sentiments,  moral  aim,  lan- 
guage, decoration,  episodes,  and  rhythm.  It  is  un- 
equalled in  grandeur,  sublimity,  verisimilitude  of  inven- 
tion, and  pathos.  The  blemishes  indicated  by  Addison 
and  other  censors  are  less  failures  of  the  poet  than 
weaknesses  of  the  theologian,  as  may  be  seen  from  his 
treatise  De  Doctrina  Christiana.  Even  the  blank  verse, 
■which  was  adopted  by  him  on  an  erroneous  theory,  and 
would  liave  failed  utterly  in  feebler  hands,  becomes  with 
him  "  the  Dorian  mood  of  flutes  and  soft  recorders."  All 
the  lavish  rhetoric  of  praise  of  Macaulay,  in  the  spark- 
ling essaj"-  which  his  matured  judgment  disapproved 
throughout,  may  be  bestowed  on  the  Paradise  Lost. 

Four  years  after  the  completion  of  this  signal  work, 
Milton  brought  forth  his  Paradise  Regained  and  Samson 
Afjordsles.  The  former  was  preferred  by  the  poet  to  its 
greater  predecessor,  was  its  natural  counterpart,  and 
probably  was  designed  in  its  opening  lines.  The  au- 
thor's partiality  for  this  smaller  work  doubtless  rested 
on  theological  caprices;  but,  as  a  work  of  art,  it  has 
striking  excellences  of  its  own.  It  is  more  quiet,  more 
smooth,  more  uniform,  and  more  symmetrical.  Its  ra- 
diance has  a  gentler  glow  than  the  fierce  splendor  of 
the  more  imposing  poem.  Its  habitual  depreciation 
may  be  due  to  the  same  cause  which  secured  the  pa- 
rental preference — the  mistake  in  determining  the  su- 
preme moment  of  the  Saviour's  life,  as  the  subject  of 
the  tale.  The  tem])tation  was  more  significant  to  Mil- 
ton than  the  crucifixion.  By  the  temptation  Christ's 
divinity  was  earned;  it  was  scarcely  attested  by  the 
crucifixion,  according  to  his  views.  The  Samson  Ago- 
nistes  is  Greek  in  form  and  expression ;  Hebrew  in  con- 
ception and  spi.'it ;  EngUsh  and  personal  in  aim.  It  is 
a  martyr's  death-song— the  agonizing  wail  of  Milton's 
crushed,  mangled,  writhing,  but  triumphant  soul ;  ex- 
postulating, like  Job  with  the  Almighty  and  the  Om- 
niscient, who 

"  Now  hath  cast  me  off  as  never  known. 
And  to  those  ciuel  enemies, 
Whom  1  by  his  appointment  had  provoked, 
Left  me,  with  the  irreparable  loss 
Of  sight,  reserved  alive  to  be  repeated 
The  subject  of  their  cruelty  and  scorn. 
Nor  am  I  in  the  list  of  them  that  hope ; 
Hopeless  are  all  my  evils,  all  remediless ; 
This  one  prayer  yet  remains,  might  I  be  heard. 
No  long  petition  :  speedy  death, 
The  close  of  all  my  miseries,  and  the  balm." 


The  death  invoked  came  soon.  He  sank  rapidly  under 
attacks  of  gout,  which  became  both  more  frequent  and 
more  violent;  yet  in  his  paroxj'sms " he  would  be  very 
cheerful,  and  sing."  He  expired  placidly  in  his  own 
house  on  Sunday,  Nov.  8, 1674,  and  the  seer  of  things  ce- 
lestial was  buried  near  his  father,  who  had  so  sanguinely 
cherished  his  young  genius. 

It  would  be  presumptuous  to  close  this  concise  notice 
of  John  Milton  with  any  summarj'  estimate  of  ours 
upon  his  character  and  genius.  He  may  be  admired 
by  all — he  can  be  judged  only  by  his  peers.  '"It  may 
be  doubted,"  says  ^V'alter  S.  Landor,  "  whether  the  Cre- 
ator ever  created  one  altogether  so  great  as  IMilton — 
taking  into  one  view  at  once  his  manly  virtues,  his  su- 
perhuman genius,  his  zeal  for  truth,  for  true  piety,  true 
freedom,  his  eloquence  in  displaying  it,  his  contempt 
of  personal  power,  his  glory  and  exultation  in  his  coun- 
try's." "  Milton,"  says  Macaulay,  "  did  not  strictly  be- 
long to  axvy  of  the  classes  which  we  have  described. 
He  was  not  a  Puritan.  He  was  not  a  Freethinker. 
He  was  not  a  Cavalier.  In  his  character  the  noblest 
qualities  of  every  party  were  combined  in  harmoniou.s 
union.  .  .  .  We  are  not  much  in  the  habit  of  idol- 
izing either  the  living  or  the  dead;  but  there  are  a 
few  characters  which  have  stood  the  closest  scrutiny 
and  the  severest  tests,  which  have  been  tried  in  the  fur- 
nace and  have  proved  pure,  which  have  been  declared 
sterling  by  the  general  consent  of  mankind,  and  which 
are  visibly  stamped  with  the  image  and  superscription 
of  the  Most  High.  These  great  men  vre  trust  we  know 
how  to  prize;  and  of  these  was  Milton.  .  .  .  His 
thoughts  are  powerful  not  only  to  delight,  but  to  ele- 
vate and  purify.  Nor  do  we  envy  the  man  who  can 
study  either  the  life  or  the  writings  of  the  great  poet 
and  patriot  without  aspiring  to  emulate,  not  indeed  the 
sublime  works  with  which  his  genius  has  enriched  our 
literature,  but  the  zeal  with  which  he  labored  for  the 
public  good,  the  fortitude  with  which  he  endured  every 
private  calamity,  the  lofty  disdain  with  which  he  looked 
down  on  temptation  and  dangers,  the  deadly  hatred 
which  he  bore  to  bigots  and  tyrants,  and  the  faith 
which  he  so  sternly  kept  with  his  country  and  with  his 
fame"  (Essay  on  Milton). 

Literature.  —  Miltonic  bibliography  is  so  extensive 
that  it  woidd  be  ridiculous  to  enumerate  even  the  most 
important  works.  A  general  reference  to  Allibone,  Diet, 
of  Brit,  and  Amer,  Authors,  will  answer  a  better  pur- 
pose than  any  copious  list  presented  here.  It  may  then 
suffice  to  mention  a  few  authorities  of  special  interest 
for  the  assistance  they  afford  for  the  appreciation  of  the 
poet  and  his  labors.  Masson,  Life  and  Times  of  Milton, 
narrated  in  connection  tcith  the  Political,  Ecclesiastical, 
and  Literary  History  of  his  Time  (Lond.  3  vols.  8vo; 
1859  sq. ;  still  unfinished);  Keightley,  Account  of  the 
Life,  Opinions,  and  Writings  of  John  Milton  (Lond. 
18.55,  8vo),-  Brydges,  The  Poetical  Works  of  John  Mil- 
ton (Lond.  183o,'6  vols.  12mo) ;  St.  John,  The ProseWorks 
of  John  Milton  (Lond.  5  vols.  12mo);  Prendergast,  ^ 
complete  Concordance  to  the  Poetical  Works  of  John  Mil- 
ton (Madras,  1857-59) :  Hamilron.  Oi/i/!iiiil  Papers  illus- 
trative of  the  Life  ofJohnMiltmi  (Camden  Society); 
Dwnst&r,  Considerations  on  Mlt/ni/'.-!  JOir///  Reading,  and 
onthe Prima  Stamniaofthe  Paradkir  I.nst  \  Lmid.  1800); 
Coleridge,  Lectures  on  Shakespeare  and  Mil/mi  (Lond. 
1857) ;  Channing,  Remarks  on  the  ChuriuUr  and  Ceniui 
of  Milton;  De  Quince}',  Milton,  in  Theological  Essay; 
Skeats,  Hist,  of  the  Free  Churches  of  England,  p.  61  ; 
Perry,  Ch.  Hist.  vol.  ii ;  Tulloch,  Puritan  Leaders,  ch.  v ; 
Hunter,  Rdigious  Thought  in  England  (see  Index,  voL 
iii ) ;  Hallam,  Hist,  of  Lit.  (Harper's  edition),  ii,  375  sq. ; 
Hume,  Hist,  of  England,  ch.  Ixii ;  Kitto.  Journal  of  Sac. 
Lit.  i,  236  sq. ;  vol.  xxiii ;  Chri.-:tian  K.nn.iinrr,  ii,  423  sq. ; 
iii,  29  sq.;  vol.  Ivii;  Retrosp,,-tin  /,'.;■.  1.S25,  vol.  xiv; 
Emerson,  in  the  North  A  mer.  Rev.  Ixxxii,  388  sq. ;  Bib- 
lioth.  Sac.  1859,  p.  857 ;  1860,  p.  1 ;  3Ieth.  Qu.  Rev.  1859, 
p.  495  sq. ;  North  British  Rev.  Jlay,  1859 ;  Edinb.  Rev. 
April,  1860  ;  Lond.  Qu.  Rev.  April,  1872 ;  Prescott,  Bioff. 


MIMANSA 


286 


31IXARD 


ami  Crit.  Miscellanies ;  Bayne,  Contemporary  Rev.  Aug. 
1873;  Brit.  Qu. Rev.3wa.\hl\.  p.  115;  July,  1872,  \\  \il 
sq.;  July,  1871,  p.  HI  sq.;  I'nsb.  Qu.  Rev.  April,  1872, 
art.  X ;  Catholic  U'orlJ,  Feb.  1, 1873.  Those  who  desire 
to  know  how  the  English  Homer  is  regarded  by  a  na- 
tion whose  taste  and  habits  of  thouglit  ditter  most  widely 
from  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  may  consult  the  article 
"Milton"  in  the  Jiioijraphie  Unirerstlle,  from  the  pen 
of  the  justly-celebrated  French  critic  Villemain.  He 
admits  that  Milton's  picture  of  our  first  parents  in  Eden 
surpasses,  in  graceful  and  touching  simplicity,  anything 
to  be  found  in  the  creations  of  any  other  poet,  ancient 
or  modern,  and  that  the  human  imagination  has  pro- 
duced nothing  more  grand  or  more  sublime  than  some 
portions  oi  Paradise  Lost.  Compare  also  the  lately  is- 
sued work  on  the  History  of  English  Literature  by  Taine 
(Lond.  and  N,  Y.  1872,  2  vols.  8 vo) ;  Geoff roy.  Etudes  sur 
les  Pamphlets  Politiques  et  Reliyieux  de  Milton  (Paris, 
1848),  and  Revue  Chretienne,  18G9,  p.  19  sq.  A  revised 
edition  of  INIilton's  poetical  trorks  is  now  preparing  un- 
der the  editorship  of  Prof.  JIasson,  the  able  biographer 
of  Milton,  and  a  multifarious  worker.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  forthcoming  portion  of  Milton's  works 
will  hereafter  be  the  standard  edition  of  the  poetical 
•writings  of  Jolin  Milton.     (( i.  F.  H.) 

Mimansa  (from  the  Sanscrit  man,  to  investigate; 
licncc.  literally,  Iki-i .-tliijdlidu)  is  the  coUoctive  name  of 
two  of  the  six  divisions  of  orthodox  Hindu  philoso))hy. 
See  HiNDiisM.  These  two  divisions  are  respectively 
distinguisiied  as  PtnTa-mimunsd  and  Uttara-mimdnsd, 
the  latter  being  more  commonly  called  Veddnta  (q.  v.), 
while  the  former  is  brieHy  styled  Mimdnsd.  Kative 
writers  rank  the  Mimansa  with  the  five  other  philosoph- 
ical systems;  but  the  term  philosophy — as  understood  in 
a  European  sense — can  scarcely  be  applied  to  it,  as  it  is 
neither  concerned  with  the  nature  of  the  absolute  or  of 
the  human  mind,  nor  with  the  various  categories  of  ex- 
istence in  general — topics  wMiich  are  dealt  with  more  or 
less  by  the  other  five  philosophies.  The  object  of  the 
Mtmansa  is  in  reality  simply  to  lay  down  a  correct  in- 
terpretation of  such  Vedic  passages  as  refer  to  the  Brah- 
minic  ritnal,  to  solve  doubts  wherever  tlic\^  may  exist 
on  matters  concerning  sacrificial  acts,  and  to  reconcile 
discrepancies — according  to  the  Mimansa  always  ap- 
parent only— of  Vedic  texts. 

The  foundation  of  this  system  is  therefore  preceded 
by  a  codification  of  the  three  principal  Vedas  [the  fourth 
Veda,  the  '•  Atharvan,"  never  attained  in  India  the  high 
consideration  paid  to  the  others,  and  is  not  universally 
accepted  as  a  A'eda  (q.  v.)]— the  Rik,  Black -Yajus, 
and  Saman  —  and  by  the  existence  of  schools  and 
theories  which,  by  their  different  interpretations  of 
the  Vedic  rites,  had  bcgim  to  endanger,  or,  in  reality, 
had  endangered  a  correct,  or  at  least  authoritative  un- 
derstanding of  the  Vedic  texts.  It  is  the  method,  how- 
ever, adopted  by  the  Mimansa  which  imparted  to  it 
a  higher  character  than  that  of  a  mere  commentary, 
and  allowed  it  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  philosophy;  for, 
in  the  first  place,  the  topics  ex))laiiied  do  not  follow  the 
■  order  in  which  they  occur  in  the  Vedic  writings,  espe- 
cially in  the  Brahminic  portion  of  the  Vedas  (q.  v.); 
they  are  arranged  according  to  certain  categories,  such 
as  authoritativeness,  indirect  precept,  concurrent  efli- 
cacy,  co-ordinate  effect,  etc. ;  and,  secondly,  each  topic  or 
case  is  discussed  according  to  a  regular  scheme,  wiiieh 
comprises  the  |iroiKisition  of  the  sul)ject- matter,  the 
doubt  or  question  arising  ujion  \\,{]w  prima  facie  or 
wrong  argument  applied  to  it,  the  correct  argimient  in 
refutation  of  the  latter,  and  the  conclusion  ilevolving 
from  it.  Some  suiijects  treated  of  in  the  ^limansfi,  in- 
cidentally, as  it  were,  and  merely  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, belong  likewise  rather  to  the  sidiere  of  philo- 
sophic thought  than  to  that  of  commcntatorinl  criticism 
— such, for  instance,  as  the  association  of  articidate  sound 
with  sense,  the  similarity  of  words  in  different  languages, 
the  insjiiration  or  eternity  of  the  Veda,  the  invisible  or 
spiritual  operation  of  ])ious  acts,  etc. 


!  The  reputed  founder  of  this  system  is  Jaimini — of 
unknown  date  —  who  taught  it  in  twelve  books,  each 

i  subdivided  into  four  chapters,  except  the  third,  sixth, 

;  and  tenth  books,  which  contain  eight  chapters  each; 

I  the  chapters,  again,  are  divided  into  sections,  generally 
comprising  several  Siitras  or  aphorisms,  but  sometimes 

!  only  one.  The  extant  commentary  on  this  obscure 
work  is  the  Bhdshya  of  Sabara-swfimin,  which  was  crit- 
ically annotated  by  the  great  Slimansa  authority,  Kii- 
marila-swamin.  Out  of  these  works,  which,  in  their 
turn,  (piote  several  others,  apparently  lost,  has  arisen  a 

I  great  number  of  other  writings,  explaining  and  eluci- 
dating their  predecessors.  The  liest  compendium,  among 
these  modern  works,  is  the  Jaimiiiiya-nydya-mdld-vis- 
tu7-a,hy  the  celebrated  Madhaviicharva  (q.v.). — Cham- 
bers, Cyclop,  s.  v.  See  Mullens,  The  Reliyious  A  spects 
of  Hindu  Philosophy  (Lond.  18G(I) ;  tlie  Kev.  K.  :M.  Ban- 
erjew,  Dialogues  on  the  Hindu  Philosophy  (Lond.  18t;i) ; 
Chunder  Dutt,  Essay  on  the  Vedanta  (Calcutta,  1854); 
Duncker,  Gesch.  des  Alterthums,  i,205;  Clarke,  Ten  Great 
Religions,  p.  IIG  sq. 

Mina  (in  Greek  i^iva,  A.V.  "  pound"),  a  weight  and 
coin  which,  according  to  the  Attic  standard,  was  equiv- 
alent to  100  drarlnixe  (  Plutarch,  Solon,  xvi;  Pliny,  xxi, 
109)  or  IJoman  dinarii,  i.  e.  (estimating  the  average 
value  at  the  time  of  Christ)  about  $1G.  It  is  the  sum 
named  in  the  parable  of  LidvC  xix,  13  .sq.,  where  the 
amount  of  100  mince  is  therefirre  some  $1G00.  On  tlie 
other  hand,  the  mina  mentioned  in  1  Mace,  xiv,  24 
(comp.  XV,  18)  is  a  weight,  and  (as  being  originally 
equivalent  to  the  Heb.  shekel)  it  may  be  reckoned  at 
8220  Paris  grains  {\M)ck\\,  Metj-ol.Untersuch.  p.  124); 
and  the  sum  of  1000  mime  of  gold  would  then  amount  to 
about  $1G,910.    See  Money. 

Different  from  this  is  the  Heb.  maneh  (n!"C),  origi- 
nally likewise  a  weight, but  used  of  the  precious  metals, 
and  hence  ultimately  determining  the  value  of  coin. 
The  word  has  perhajis  an  etymological  connection  with 
the  Greek  mina.     See  Meti!oi.ogv. 

Minaeans  (i.  e.  deniers,  heretics)  is  the  nam*  of  a 
Jewish  sect  mentioned  in  the  writings  of  the  Church 
fathers.  This  is  oidy  another  name  for  the  Kazaraans 
(q.  v.).     Conqi.  Keiin,  Leben  Jesu,  p.  G08. 

Miiiaid,  Abel,  a  prominent  layman  of  the  iSIcth- 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  noted  for  his  great  ]»hilanthro]iic 
labors,  was  born  in  ^Massachusetts  September  25.  1814, 
His  father  died  soon  after  his  birth,  and  he  lost  his 
mother  when  he  was  about  tight  years  old,  so  that  as  a 
mere  youth  he  was  left  alone  in  tlie  world.  His  early 
life  was  an  earnest  struggle  for  success;  he  was  subject- 
ed to  all  the  disadvantages  which  attend  those  who  are 
compelled  to  work  their  own  way  from  poverty  to  for- 
tune. He  learned  the  trade  of  a  tanner;  but  his  energy 
of  character  soon  sought  a  broader  field  of  action  in 
business  operations,  which  proved  sueccssftd,  and  rapid- 
ly secured  him  wealth  and  infiuence.  In  184G  he  went 
to  California;  in  185G  removed  to  Lockport.  X.  Y. ;  and 
in  18GG  settled  at  !Morristown,  N.  J.,  where  he  died,  Jan. 
31, 1871.  In  early  life  INIr.  Jlinard  was  a  meml)er  of  the 
Free-will  Baptist  Cliurcii.  but  in  the  prime  «f  his  days  he 
neglected  his  Church  jirivileges.  In  the  spring  of  1.S70 
he  united  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Mor- 
ristown,  in  whose  communion  he  si)ent  his  last  days.  In 
early  life  he  promised  his  (iod  that  if  he  would  bless  him 
he  would  give  away  the  tenth  (lart  of  his  income,  and  he 
dealt  out  largely  to  the  iwor  and  to  the  Church ;  in  later 
years,  fearing  that  he  had  not  kejit  the  vow  fully,  he 
failed  not  to  make  com|iensation  for  his  neglect  by  nu- 
merous ))rivate  and  iuil)lic  benefactions.  The  churches 
both  of  Morristown  and  Lockport  were  remembered  in 
his  will.  He  also  left  a  sum,  the  interest  of  which  is 
annually  a]iplied  for  the  education  of  four  young  men  in 
Drew  Theological  Seminary  at  JIadison,  N.  J.  But  the 
crowning  work  of  his  life  was  the  establishment  of  the 
'•  Minard  Ilnmo,"  in  .Morristown  (; valued  at  5^5().(»00),  for 


the  education  of  the  female  orphans  of  missionaries  and 


MINARD 


287 


MIND 


home  ministers  of  the  jMethodist  Episcopal  Church.  See 
Xew  York  Christian  Advocate,  June  15,  1870;  Prof. 
Biittz,  in  the  Ladies'  Repository,  1872.     (J.  H.W.) 

Minard,  Louis  Guillaume,  a  French  ecclesi- 
astical writer,  was  born  at  Paris  January  31, 1725.  Ed- 
ucated at  the  College  of  France  by  the  care  of  Ptivard, 
with  whom  he  was  a  favorite  pupil,  he  joined  the  "  Broth- 
ers of  the  Christian  Doctrine,"  and  was  appointed  while 
still  young  to  some  of  the  superior  offices  of  his  congre- 
gation. He  entered  the  secular  clergy  and  obtained  the 
benefice  of  Bercy,  near  Paris.  His  tolerance  and  easy 
profession  of  religion  brought  upon  him  many  admoni- 
tions from  his  superiors;  finally,  Christophe  de  Beau- 
mont, archbishop  of  Paris,  suspended  him  from  his  sa- 
cred functions — liaving  been  offended  by  a  book  that 
jNIinard  had  written,  entitled  Puneyijrique  de 
Saint  Charles  Borromee.  Minard  continued 
to  dwell  among  his  ex-parishioners,  devoting 
all  his  time  to  study  and  to  charity.  In  1778 
he  refused  the  generalship  offered  him  by  the 
lay  brethren.  In  1795  he  became  a  member 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Paris.  He  died,  poor 
and  infirm,  at  Paris,  April  22, 1798.  Besides 
the  Punerjyrique  de  Saint  Charles  Borromee, 
condemned  by  the  Sorbonne  and  his  provisor 
the  archbishop  of  Paris,  Minard  wrote  .4  vis 
aux  Jid'eles  sur  le  schisine  dont  VEglise  de 
France  est  menacee  (Paris,  1795,  8vo).  In 
this  tract,  written  to  establish  peace  with 
the  Jansenists,  he  says  that  all  parties  should 
unite  to  establish  harmony  in  the  Church, 
and  that  the  resistance  of  a  part  of  the 
clergy  to  the  laws  is  as  injurious  to  the  di- 
vine service  as  to  the  state.  It  was  replied 
to  by  Bernard  Lambert  la  Plaigne,  a  Do- 
minican Jansenist,  who,  aided  by  Maultrot, 
wrote  four  Lettres  aux  ministres  de  la  ci-dc- 
vant  erjlise  const itutionelle  (1795-1796).  Mi- 
nard afterwards  replied  to  these  by  a  Sup- 
plhnent  to  \\\q  Avis  aux  Fideles.  See  Nou- 
velles  ecclesiastiques  (Utrecht,  1798);  Diet, 
historique,  s.  v.  —  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Gene- 
rale,  XXXV,  591. 

Minaret  (or  Minar)  is  the  name  of  a 
tall  turret  used  in  Saracenic  architecture. 
The  minaret,  as  it  is  called  by  the  Turks, 
contains  a  staircase,  and  is  divided  into  sev- 
eral stories,  with  balconies  from  which  the 
priests  summon  the  Mohammedans  to  prayer 
— bells  not  being  permitted  in  their  religion 
[see  Mohammedanism] — and  is  terminated 
with  a  spire  or  ornamental  thiial.  The  min- 
arets are  among  the  most  beautiful  features 
of  Mohammedan  architecture,  and  are  an  in- 
variable accompaniment  of  the  mosques  (4. 
v.).  In  India,  minurs,  or  pillars  of  victory, 
are  frequently  erected  in  connection  witli 
mosques;  some  of  these  are  lofty  and  splen- 
did monuments,  that  of  Kutub,  at  Old  Dellii, 
being  48  feet  4  inches  in  diameter  at  the 
base,  and  about  250  feet  high.  They  are 
often  built  on  a  plan  of  a  star-like  form,  and 
are  divided  into  stories  by  projecting  balconies,  like  the 
minarets. 

Minchah  (^03^;),  properly  a  gift  (as  often  ren- 
dered) or  present  (Gen.  xxxii,  14;  six,  21 ;  xliii,  11  sq.), 
especially  to  nobles  and  kings  (Judg.  iii,  15;  1  Sam.  xi, 
23 ;  2  Chron.  xvii,  5, 11 ;  Psa.  xlv,  13 ;  Isa.  xxxix,  1 ;  1 
Kings  x,  25) ;  hence  tribute  from  a  subject  nation  (2 
Sam.  viii,  2,  6;  1  Kings  v,  1  [iv,  21];  2  Kings  xvii.  4; 
Psa.  Ixxii,  10) ;  but  specifically  an  offering  to  God,  i.  e. 
sacrifice  (Isa.  i,  13 ;  1  Chron.  xvi,  29),  particularly  a 
bloodless  one,  "  meat-offering,"  consisting  of  flour,  meal, 
or  cakes,  with  oil  and  frankincense,  burned  upon  the  al- 
tar by  itself,  or  in  connection  with  a  bloody  offering 
(Lev.  ii,  1  sq. ;  vii,  9,  etc.).    See  Offering. 


In  Jewish  liturgy  the  word  Minchah  is  the  technical 
term  for  the  afternoon  service  of  prayer.     See  Litur- 

GY  (I). 

Mincing  (rjSIS,  taphaph',  Isa.  iii,  16)  occurs  in  the 
prophet's  description  of  the  behavior  of  the  '•  daughters 
of  Jerusalem."  The  Hebrew  word,  as  well  as  the  Arabic 
taf,  refers  to  the  taking  small  and  quick  steps,  the  af- 
fected pace  of  a  coquettish  woman.  The  passage  might 
be  rendered,  "  They  walk  and  trip  along."  Although 
the  Hebrew  word  has  perhaps  a  slightly  different  sense, 
yet  the  gait  of  the  females  seems  to  have  been  very 
much  like  the  modern  practice  of  swaying  the  body  in 
walking.     See  Wojias. 

Mind,  the  exercise  or  expression  of  the  spiritual 
part  of  man's  nature.     It  is  obviously  divisible  into  the 


three  elementary  functions,  thought,  emotion,  and  voli- 
tion ;  but  scientific  writers  greatly  differ  as  to  the  sub-> 
ordinate  or  detailed  faculties,  as  they  are  called.  Eeid 
thus  classifies  the  mental  powers:  Perception,  memor}', 
conception,  abstraction,  judgment,  reasoning.  Stewart 
thus:  Perception,  attention,  conception,  abstraction,  as- 
sociation, imagination,  reason.  Others  propose  a  deep- 
er analysis  of  the  intellectual  faculties,  and  find  three 
properties  which  appear  fundamental  and  distinct,  no 
one  in  any  degree  implying  the  other,  while  the  whole 
taken  together  are  sufficient  to  explain  all  intellectual 
operations:  namely,  discrimination,  retentiveness,  and 
association  of  ideas.  Sir  W.  Hamilton,  departing  from 
common  classifications,  sums  the  intellections  into  six: 


MIND 


!>88 


MIND 


(1.)  The  presentative  faculty,  or  the  power  of  recog- 
nising the  various  aspects  of  tlie  world  and  of  the  mind. 
(2.)  The  conservative  faculty  or  memory,  meaning  the 
power  of  storing  up.  (o.)  The  reproductive  faculty,  or 
the  means  of  recalling  sleeping  impressions  or  concepts. 
(4.)  The  representative  faculty,  or  imagination.  (5.) 
The  elaborative  faculty,  or  the  power  of  comparison,  by 
which  classification,  generalization,  and  reasoning  are 
performed.  (G.)  Tlie  regulative  faculty,  or  the  cogni- 
tion of  the  a  priori  or  instinctive  notions  of  the  intel- 
lect, as  space,  time,  causation,  necessary  truths,  etc. 
Noah  I'orter  divides  his  "  Human  Intellect"  into  four 
parts:  (a.)  He  treats  of  natural  consciousness,  philo- 
sophical consciousness;  sense  perception,  its  conditions 
and  process;  of  the  growth  and  products  of  sense  per- 
ception. (6.)  He  treats  of  representation  and  represent- 
ative knowledge;  by  which  he  means  memory,  imagin- 
ing power,  etc.  (c.)  He  treats  of  thinking  and  thought 
knowledge;  by  which  he  means  the  formation  and  nat- 
ure of  the  concept,  judgment,  reasoning,  etc.  (jl.)  He 
treats  of  intuition  and  intuitive  knowledge,  in  which  he 
discourses  on  mathematical  relations,  causation,  design, 
substance,  attribute ;  the  Unite  and  conditioned ;  the  in- 
iinite  and  absolute.  Berkeley  and  his  school  teach  a 
pure  idealism,  which  asserts  that  everything  we  can 
take  cognizance  of  is  mind  or  self;  that  wc  cannot  tran- 
scend our  mental  sphere ;  whatever  we  know  is  our  own 
mind.  Others,  again,  as  Locke,  resolve  all  into  empiri- 
cism, and  look  on  mind  as  simply  the  result  of  material 
organization.  These  two  views  contain  the  extreme 
angles  to  which  speculation  has  run.  The  former  is 
idealism  or  spiritualism,  the  latter  materialism  or  em- 
piricism. 

The  pre-Socratic  school  of  philosophers  was  material- 
istic, of  which  ^Vuaxinioncs.  Pythagoras,  Heraclitus,  were 
patrons.  Between  these  and  I'lato,  Socrates  was  a  tran- 
sitional link.  The  post-I'latonic  philosophers  were  spir- 
itualistic in  the  main,  notwithstanding  French  material- 
ism and  German  rationalism.  See  Matekialism.  Dr. 
WcCosh,  in  his  Intuitions  of  the  Mind,  makes  a  triplet  of 
parts.  In  part  first  (which  is  on  the  "  Nature  of  the  In- 
tuitive Convictions  of  the  IMind")  he  shows  that  there 
are  no  innate  mental  images;  no  innate  or  general  no- 
tions ;  no  a  priori  forms  imposed  by  the  mind  on  objects ; 
no  intuitions  immediately  before  consciousness  as  law 
principles.  But  there  are  intuitive  principles  operating 
in  the  mind ;  these  are  native  convictions  of  the  mind, 
which  are  of  the  nature  of  perceptions  or  intuitions. 
Intuitive  convictions  rise  up  when  contemplations  of 
objects  are  presented  to  the  mind.  The  intuitions  of 
the  mind  are  primarily  directed  to  individual  objects. 
The  individual  intuitive  convictions  can  be  generalized 
into  maxims,  and  these  are  entitled  to  be  represented 
as  philosoi)liic  principles.  In  part  second  he  shows  that 
the  mind  begins  its  intelligent  acts  with  knowledge; 
that  the  simple  cognitive  powers  are  sense,  perception, 
and  self-consciousness.  It  is  through  the  bodily  organ- 
ism that  the  intelligence  of  man  attains  its  knowledge 
of  all  material  objects  beyond.  The  (jualities  of  mat- 
ter—extension, divisibility,  size,  density  or  rarity,  figure, 
incompressibility,  mobility,  and  substance — are  known 
by  itituilion;  and  it  is  by  cognition  we  know  self  as 
having  being,  and  as  not  <lepcnding  for  existence  on 
our  observation ;  as  being  in  itself  an  abiding  existence ; 
as  exercising  potency  in  spirit  and  material  being — 
"  Cogito,  ergo  sum."  The  primitive  cognitions  recog- 
nise being,  substance,  mode,  quality',  personality,  num- 
ber, motion,  power.  The  primitive  beliefs  recognise 
space,  time,  and  the  infinite.  The  mind  intuitively  ob- 
serves the  relations  of  identity,  of  whole  to  part,  of  space, 
time,  (piantity,  property,  cause,  and  ett'ect.  The  motive 
and  moral  convictions — as  ai)iictencies,  will,  conscience 
— are  involved  in  the  exercise  of  conscience.  In  ])art 
thiril  he  shows  that  the  sources  of  knowledge  are  sense, 
perception,  self-consciousness,  and  faith  exercise.  But 
there  are  limits  to  our  knowledge,  iileas,  and  beliefs. 
Wc  cannot  know  any  substance  other  than  those  re- 


vealed by  sense,  consciousness,  or  faith.  We  can  never 
know  any  qualities  or  relations  among  objects  except  in 
so  far  as  we  have  S])ecial  faculties  of  knowledge.  The 
material  for  ideas  must  be  brought  from  the  knowledge 
sources.  These  sources  are  limited,  and  our  belief  is 
limited.  Professor  Bain,  in  his  book,  shows  that  hu- 
man knowledge  falls  under  two  departments — the  ob- 
ject department,  marked  by  extension;  the  subject  de- 
partment, marked  by  the  absence  of  extension.  Subject 
experience  has  three  functions — feeling,  will,  thought. 
The  brain  is  the  organ  of  the  mind.  The  nervous  sys- 
tems are  only  extensions  or  ramifications  of  the  brain, 
and  through  these  the  mind  transmits  its  influence.  In 
this  ner%-ous  system,  which  acts  as  a  channel  for  the 
transmission  of  messages  from  the  mind,  arc  two  sets  of 
nerves — the  in-carrying,  the  out-carryuig.  The  intel- 
lectual functions  are  commonly  expressed  by  memory, 
reason,  imagination.  The  primarj'  attributes  of  intel- 
lect are  difference,  agreement,  retentiveness,  or  continu- 
ity. J.  S.  Mill  propounds  a  psychological  theory  of  the 
belief  in  a  material  world — jiostulates,  expectation,  as- 
sociation, laws,  substance,  matter.  The  external  world 
is  a  permanent  possibilit}-  of  sensation.  Then  follows 
the  distinction  of  primary  and  secondary  qualities; 
application  to  the  permanence  of  mind,  etc. 

The  true  theory  is  both  scriptural  and  scientific,  me- 
thodic and  encyclopedic;  and  though  it  may  not  ex- 
plain all  ideation  amply,  yet  it  shows  that  the  nature  and 
functions  of  mind  can  only  be  seen  in  connection  with 
all  the  other  parts  of  the  human  system,  just-  as  the  nat- 
ure and  functions  of  a  fountain  are  only  seen  when  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  the  other  parts  of  the  cos- 
mos. We  can  only  understand  the  nature  and  office  of 
ducts,  glands,  veins,  or  arteries. when  we  view  them  in 
their  mutual  relations,  and  in  their  relations  with  all  the 
other  parts  of  the  physical  system.  We  can  only  un- 
derstand civil  iKility,  social  statics,  natural  phenome- 
na, when  taken  in  their  reciprocal  relations;  and  so  we 
can  only  understand  mind  when  viewed  in  connection 
with  everything  else  it  touches.  Views  taken  from  any 
other  premise  must  be  partial  and  imperfect.  We  hold 
that  mind  has  seven  great  forces  or  modes.  The  so- 
called  scientific  writers  acknowledge  this,  at  least  sub- 
stantially. These  are  consciousness,  conception,  ab- 
straction, association,  memory,  imagination,  reason. 
Now  if  science  shows  us  that  there  are  seven  great  cor- 
responding qualities  or  forces  in  the  body,  and  if  Script- 
ure (which  reveals  what  science  cannot)  shows  us  that 
there  are  seven  great  corresponding  powers  in  the  soul 
which  lie  back  of  and  control  all  ])owers  of  body  and 
of  mind,  why  not  conclude  that  this  trinal  septenary-  of 
forces  interlace  and  overlap  each  other,  so  as  to  consti- 
tute a  human  personality?  We  do  not  claim  for  this 
theory  a  scientific  status,  but  is  it  not  worthy  of  a  spec- 
ulative niche?  Our  observation  shows  us  that  this 
imivcrse  progresses  by  a  duplex  method,  unfolding  and 
infolding,  or  evolving  and  involving.  Scripture  shows 
that  this  unfolding  comes/row  a  sevenfold  force ;  science 
shows  that  it  comes  through  a  sevenfold  faculty.  The 
following  curious  coincidences  may  not  be  out  of  place 
here,  as  illustrating  a  somewhat  abstruse  problem  of 
this  subject.  The  IJevelation  by  John  reveals  i—-a 
Trt'si'i-tarn,  or  "the  seven  spirits,"  as  the  constituent 
powers  of  Deity.  The  question  arises,  What  are  these 
seven  spirits?  (Isa.  xi,  2;  Psa.  cxi,  10;  Prov.  i,  7;  Job 
xxviii,  28).  It  is  held  by  many  influential  writers 
that  the  spirits  mentioned  in  these  references  are  to  be 
taken  in  connection  with  Zcchariah's  sevenfold  lamp 
(Zech.  iv,  1).  Delitzsch,  in  his  work  on  P.^i/rholorfi/,  en- 
deavors to  find  these  elements  in  the  Hebraistic  distinc- 
tions of  "the  spirit  of  fear,"  i.  e.  of  divine  veneration 
(nxil")!  "fl'<^  spirit  of  knowledge"  (ri"])),  "the  spirit 
of  power"  (n"i!12a),  etc. ;  but  these  are  highly  mystical 
and  even  fancifid.  Whatever,  however,  may  be  thought 
of  such  abstractions,  as  to  what  Scrijiture  says,  or  is 
imagined  to  say,  about  the  sevenfold  ilo.ra  or  soul  life, 


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289 


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science  does  seem  to  discover,  or  at  least  point  oiit.  a 
sevenibld.  means  of  mind  representation  in  tlie  bod}-. 
She  recognises  seven  forms  of  life :  the  embryonic,  the 
breathing,  the  blood,  the  heart,  the  sensation,  contain- 
ing the  tive  senses,  the  externalization  of  the  vovg  by 
the  tongue,  and  the  outpressure  of  the  entire  mental 
phases  and  spirit  feelings  through  the  entire  bodily 
habitus.  In  the  trichotomy  of  nature  the  soul  is  tirst, 
the  mind  second,  the  body  third.  The  mind  is  there- 
fore moulded  by  the  soul,  and  the  body  by  the  mind. 
As  the  soul  lies  at  the  base  of  the  being,  all  its  ramifica- 
tions are  tinged  with  the  hues  of  the  soul.  The  mind, 
nevertheless,  is  moulded  by  whatever  it  plays  upon. 
Thus  mind  is  a  middleman  standing  between  the  world 
of  morals  and  of  matter  (yet  interlacing  both),  commu- 
nicating the  will  of  the  spirit  to  the  external  sphere. 
It  is  not  a  monarch,  but  a  marshal ;  yet  it  is  august  in 
its  capacity;  in  its  elasticity,  eternal.  See  Psychology. 
For  further  discussion  of  the  mind,  see  the  works 
mentioned  above ;  also  the  early  Greek  writers,  as  Di- 
ogenes, Anaxagoras.  Heraclitus,  Empedocles,  Democri- 
tus,  and  the  Socratic  school,  as  Plato,  Aristotle,  etc.  The 
modern  schoolmen  who  treat  of  the  subject  are  chiefly 
the  following:  Gassendi  (1592-1655),  Des  Cartes  (1596- 
1650),  Geulinx  (1625-1699),  Spinoza  (1632-1677),  Male- 
branche  (1688-1715),  Hume  (1711-1776),  Reid  (1710- 
1796),  Brown  (1778-1820),  Condillac  (1715-1780),  Col- 
lard  (1763-1845),  Leibnitz  (1646-1716),  Kant  (1724 
1804),  Schleiermacher  (1768-1834).  Many  of  these  were 
rather  metaphysicians  than  mental  philosophers;  yet 
their  theories  and  discussions  involve  the  nature  and 
functions  of  the  human  mind,  especially  in  its  intellect- 
ual aspects;  and  they  therefore  may  be  said  to  liave 
laid  the  foundations  for  mental  science  in  its  present 
development.  The  principal  works  more  expressly  re- 
lating to  the  intellectual  faculties  are  Stewart,  Treatise 
and  L'sfiai/  on  the  Muni ;  Vnown,  Philosophy  oj' the  Hu- 
man Minil;  Al)crcr.iiiil)ic,  lni,ll<ctual  Powers;  Watts, 
On  the  Mind;  Cudwi.rth,  Int,  llniual  Systevi ;  H(tu\,  Es- 
says on  the  active  Power.-!  i<f' tin'  flu  man  Mind:  ^Mill 
(James),  A7ialysis  of  the  Phui'nn/,  nil  nfti,,  llinnnn  Mind ; 
McCosh,  Intuitions  of  the  M'md :  Wilsmi  (W.  D.).  l.ni- 
vres  on  the  Psychology  of  Thoinjht  and  Adinn;  Bain, 
Mind  and  Body :  the  Theories  oftlulr  llchitimi;  Car- 
penter, Principles  of  Mental  Physiolof/y ;  ^Maudsley,  Body 
and  Mind:  t/n  ir  I  'onni  r/ion  and  mutual  Influence.  The 
works  on  Mi  uUil  Sr'n  nrr  treat  likewise  of  the  emotional 
elements  of  the  niiiid.  See  Philosophy'.  Most  of  the 
works  named  include  the  third  or  causative  faculty  of 
the  mind,  i.  e.  the  will;  but  the  importance  of  this,  in 
its  theological  boaruigs.  re()uires  a  separate  treatment. 
See  Will.  See  also  ( In-i.^tiiDt  Mnntldii  Spniator,  viii, 
141,184;  Lit.andTh.nl.  A',  r.  i.  7  1.  IC,'.).  C.l  1;  ii. -JOl,  570  ; 
North  A  mer.  Per.  xix,  1 ;  xxiv,  56  ;  Mont  lily  Rl  c.  cxviii, 
441 :  Brit.  tin.  Per.  Dec.  1871,  p.  308 ;  Contemporary  Rev. 
April  and  <  )ct.  1872  ;  Meth.  Qu.  Rev.  iv,  243  ;  April,  1870, 
p.  221;  Popular  Science  Monthly,  July,  1873,  art.  x; 
Dec.  art.  iv  and  vi;  The  Academy,  Nov.  1,  1873,  p.  445. 
See  MoxoiiANiA. 

Mine.  The  word  does  not  occur  in  the  Bible,  but 
that  mining  operations  were  familiar  to  the  Hebrew 
people  from  an  early  age  is  evident  from  many  Script- 
ural allusions.  See  Metal.  A  remarkable  description 
of  the  processes  of  ore  mining  occurs  in  the  book  of 
Job  (xxviii,  1-11): 

Why,  [there]  exists  for  silver  a  vein  ; 

And  a  place  for  gold,  [which!  they  may  filter: 

Iron  from  clod  can  be  taken. 

And  stone  will  pour  forth  copper. 
An  end  has  [one]  put  to  the  [subterranean]  darkness, 
And  to  every  recess  [Is]  he  prying  [after] 
The  stone  of  sloom  and  death-shade. 

He  has  pierced  a  shaft  [down]  away  from  [any]  so- 
journer, 

[Where]  the  [miners]  forgotten  of  foot-[hold] 

Have  hunt;  [far]  from  man,  [and]  swung. 
Earth — from  it  shall  issue  [means  to  procure]  bread, 
Though  mider  it  [its  bosom]  has  been  overturned  as  [by] 
fire: 

VI.— T 


A  sapphire-place  [are]  its  stones, 
And  gold-clods  [are]  his  [that  explores  it]. 
A  beaten  [path  thither]— bird  of  prey  has  not  known  it. 
Nor  hawk's  eye  scanned  it ; 

Sous  of  rampancy  [fierce  beasts]  have  not  trodden  it, 
Koarer  [lion]  has  not  wended  over  it. 
Ou  the  flint  he  has  stretched  forth  his  hand ; 
He  has  overturned  from  [the]  root  mountains: 
In  the  clifi"s  channels  has  he  cleft, 
And  every  precious  [thing]  has  his  eye  seen. 

From  trickling  [the  adjacent]  rivers  has  he  stop- 
ped, 
While  [the]  concealed  [thing]  he  shall  bring  forth 
[to]  liglit. 
The  following  comments  on  this  passage  (which  may 
be  a  later  addition  of  the  time  of  Solomon),  as  well  as 
the  remarks  on  metallurgy  in  general,  are  from  Smith's 
Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  s.  v.     See  Job,  Book  of. 

It  may  be  fairly  inferred  from  the  description  that  a 
distinction  is  made  between  gold  obtained  in  the  man- 
ner indicated,  and  that  which  is  foimd  in  the  natural 
state  in  the  alluvial  soil,  among  the  debris  washed  down 
by  the  torrents.  This  appears  to  be  implied  in  the  ex- 
pression "the  gold  they  refine,"  which  presujiposes  a 
process  by  which  the  pure  gold  is  extracted  from  the 
ore,  and  separated  from  the  silver  or  copper  with  which 
it  may  have  been  mixed.  What  is  said  of  gold  may  be 
equally  applied  to  silver,  for  in  almost  every  allusion  to 
the  process  of  refining  the  two  metals  are  associated. 
In  the  passage  of  Job  which  has  been  quoted,  so  far  as 
can  be  made  out  from  the  obscurities  with  which  it  is 
beset,  the  natural  order  of  mining  operations  is  observed 
in  the  description.  The  whole  point  is  obviously  con- 
tained in  the  contrast,  '•  Surely  there  is  a  source  for  the 
silver,  and  a  place  for  the  gold  which  men  refine;  but 
where  shall  wisdom  be  foinid,  and  where  is  the  place  of 
understanding  V"  No  labor  is  too  great  for  extorting 
from  the  eartli  its  treasures.  The  shaft  is  sunk,  and  the 
adventurous  miner,  far  from  the  haunts  of  men,  hangs 
in  mid-air  (v,  4):  the  bowels  of  the  earth — which  in  the 
course  of  nature  grows  but  corn  —  are  overthrown  as 
though  wasted  by  fire.  The  path  which  the  miner  pur- 
sues in  his  underground  course  is  unseen  by  the  keen 
eye  of  the  falcon,  nor  have  the  boldest  beasts  of  prey 
traversed  it,  but  man  wins  his  way  through  every  ob- 
;  stacle,  hews  out  tunnels  in  the  rock,  stops  the  water 
from  Hooding  his  mine,  and  brings  to  light  the  precious 
1  metals  as  the  reward  of  his  adventure.  No  description 
j  could  be  more  complete.  The  poet  might  have  had  be- 
fore him  the  copper  mines  of  the  Sinaitic  peninsula.  In 
the  Wady  Magharah,  "  the  valley  of  the  Cave,"  are  still 
traces  of  the  Egyptian  colony  of  miners  who  settled 
there  for  the  purpose  of  extracting  copper  from  the  free- 
stone rocks,  and  left  their  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  upon 
the  face  of  the  cliff.  That  these  inscriptions  are  of 
great  antiquity  there  can  be  little  doubt,  though  Lepsius 
may  not  be  justified  in  placing  them  at  a  date  B.C.  4000 
(^Letters  from  Egypt,  p.  346,  Eng.  tr.). '  In  the  IMagharah 
tablets, Mr.  Drew  {Scripture  Lands,  p.  50, note)  "saw  the 
cartouche  of  Suphis,  the  builder  of  the  Great  Pyramid, 
and  on  the  stones  at  Sariibit  el-Khadira  there  are  those 
of  kings  of  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  dynasties." 
But  the  most  interesting  description  of  this  mining  col- 
ony is  to  be  found  in  a  letter  to  the  Athenceum(3ane.  i, 
1859,  No.  1649,  p.  747),  signed  M.  A.,  and  dated  from 
"  Sarabit  el-Khadim,  in  the  desert  of  Sinai,  May,  1859." 
The  writer  discovered  on  the  mountain  exactly  oppo- 
site the  caves  of  Magharah  traces  of  an  ancient  fortress, 
intended,  as  he  conjectures,  for  the  protection  of  the 
miners.  The  hill  on  which  it  stands  is  about  1000  feet 
high,  nearly  insulated,  and  formed  of  a  series  of  precipi- 
tous terraces,  one  above  the  other,  like  the  steps  of  the 
Pyramids.  The  uppermost  of  these  was  entirely  sur- 
rounded by  a  strong  wall,  within  which  were  found  re- 
mains of  140  houses,  each  about  tea  feet  square.  There 
were,  besides,  the  remains  of  ancient  hammers  of  green 
porphyry,  and  reservoirs  "so  disposed  that  when  one 
was  fuU  the  surjilus  ran  into  the  others,  and  so  in  suc- 
cession, so  that  they  must  have  had  water  enough  to 
last  for  years.    The  ancient  furnaces  are  still  to  be  seen, 


MINE 


290 


MINE 


E» 


tr-  o 


and  on  the  coast  of  the  Red  Sea 
are  found  the  piers  and  %yharvcs 
whence  the  miners  shipped  tlieir 
metal  in  the  harbor  of  Abu  Zeni- 
meh.    Five  miles  from  Sariibit  el- 
Khadim  the  same  traveller  found 
the  ruins  of  a  much  greater  num- 
ber of  houses,  indicatinj^  the  ex- 
istence of  a  large  mining  popula- 
tion, and,  besides.  Jive  immense 
reservoirs  formed  by  damming  up 
various  wadys.     Other  mines  ap- 
pear to  ha\-e  been  discovered  by 
Dr.  Wilson  in  the  granite  moun- 
tains east  of  the  Wady  Mokatteb. 
la  tlie  Wady  Nasb  the  German 
traveller  Kilppell,  who  was  com- 
missioned by  Jlohammed  ^Ui,  the 
viceroy  of  Egypt,  to  examine  the 
state  of  the  mines  there,  met  with 
remains  of  several  large  smelting- 
furnaces,  surrounded  by  heaps  of 
slag.  The  ancient  inhabitants  had    |g 
sunk  shafts  in  several  directions,    s  | 
leaving  here  and  there  columns  to    ?n 
prevent  the  whole  from  falling  in.    If 
In  one  of  the  mines  he  saw  huge    El  m 
masses   of  stone   ricli   in  copper    t^  w 
(Kitter,AV(to/;i(/p,xiii,78G),    The    5  ft 
copper  mines  of  Phieno,  in  Idu-    1 1  |' 
miea,  according  to  Jerome,  were    '" 
between  Zoar  and  Petra:  in  the 
persecution     of    Diocletian     the    £■-§ 
Christians    were    condemned   to    fz. 
work  them.  B  ^ 

The  gold  mines  of  Egj'pt  in  ^^ 
the  Bishiiri  desert,  the  principal  »  i 
station  of  which  was  Eshuranib,  i  ^ 
about  three  days'  journey  beyond  Z  » 
AVady  Allaga,  have  been  discov-  ^  S 
ered  within  the  last  few  years  by  |' 
M.  Linant  and  Mr.  Bonomi,  the  -^-" 
latter  of  whom  supplied  Sir  G.  ]» 
Wilkinson  with  a  description  of  ^ 
them,  which  he  quotes  (^A  nc.  Efj.  $ 
iii,229,'230).  Kuins  of  the  miners'  | 
huts  still  remain  as  at  Sarabit  el-  ^ 
Khadim.  "In  those  nearest  the  s. 
mineslivedthe  workmen  who  were  '^ 
employed  to  break  the  quartz  into  ^ 
small  fragments,  the  size  of  a  bean,  ^ 
from  whose  hands  the  pounded  % 
stone  passed  to  the  persons  who  § 
ground  it  in  liand-mills,  similar  | 
to  those  now  used  for  corn  in  the  " 
valley  of  the  Nile,  made  of  granitic 
stone ;  one  of  which  is  to  be  found 
in  almost  every  house  at  these 
mines,  either  entire  or  broken. 
The  quartz,  thus  reduced  to  pow- 
der, was  washed  on  inclined  tables, 
furnished  with  two  cisterns,  all 
built  of  fragments  of  stone  collected  there;  and  near 
these  inclined  planes  are  generally  found  little  white 
mounds,  the  residuum  of  the  ojwration."  According 
to  the  account  given  by  Diddoriis  Siculus  (iii,  12-14)'. 
the  mines  were  worked  by  gangs  of  convicts  and 
captives  in  fetters,  who  were  ko])t  day  and  night  to 
their  task  by  the  soldiers  set  to  guard  tliem.  The 
work  was  superintended  by  an  engineer,  wlio  select- 
ed the  stone  and  pointed  it  out  to  the  miners.  The 
harder  rock  was  split  by  the  application  of  lire,  but 
the  softer  was  broken  u))  with  i)icks  and  chisels.  Tlic 
miners  were  quite  naked,  their  l)odies  being  painted  ac- 
cording to  the  color  of  tlie  rock  tliey  were  working,  and 
in  order  to  see  in  the  dark  passages  of  the  mine  they 
canied  lamps  upon  their  heads.     The  stone  as  it  fell 


was  carried  off  Iiy  boys;  it  was  then  pounded  in  stone 
mortars  with  iron  pestles  by  those  who  were  over  thirty 
years  of  age.  till  it  was  reduced  to  the  size  of  a  lentil. 
The  women  and  old  men  afterwards  ground  it  in  mills 
to  a  line  powder.  The  linal  process  of  separating  the 
gold  from  the  jiounded  stone  was  intrusted  to  the  en- 
gineers who  siqierintended  the  work.  They  spread  this 
powder  upon  a  broad  slightly-inclined  table,  and  rubbed 
it  gently  with  the  hand,  pouring  water  upon  it  from 
time  to  time  so  as  to  carry  away  all  the  eartliy  matter, 
leaving  the  heavier  particles  upon  the  board.  Tliis  was 
repeated  several  times;  at  first  with  llie  liaiid.  and  after- 
wards witli  line  si)onges  gently  pressed  uixin  tlie  earthy 
substance,  till  nothing  but  the  gold  was  left.  It  was 
then  collected  by  other  workmen,  and  placed  in  earthen 


MINE 


291 


MINE 


crucibles,  with  a  mixture  of  lead  and  salt  in  certain  pro- 
portions, together  with  a  little  tin  and  some  barley  bran. 
The  crucibles  were  covered  and  carefiillj'  closed  with 
clay,  and  in  this  condition  baked  in  a  furnace  for  tive 
days  and  nights  without  intermission.  Three  methods 
have  been  emploj'ed  for  refining  gold  and  silver:  1,  by 
exposing  the  fused  metal  to  a  current  of  air;  2,  by  keep- 
ing the  alloy  in  a  state  effusion  and  throwing  nitre  upon 
it;  and,  3,  by  mixing  the  alloy  with  lead,  exposing  the 
whole  to  fusion  upon  a  vessel  of  bone-ashes  or  earth,  and 
blowing  upon  it  with  bellows  or  other  blast;  the  last 
appears  most  nearly  to  coincide  with  the  description  of 
Diodorus.  To  this  process,  known  as  the  cupelling 
process  [see  Lead],  there  seems  to  be  a  reference  in  Psa. 
xii,  6 ;  Jer.  vi,  28-30 ;  Ezek.  xxii,  18-22,  and  from  it  Mr. 
Napier  {Metals  of  the  Bible,  p.  24)  deduces  a  striking  il- 
lustration of  aial.  iii,  2,  3,  '•  He  shall  sit  as  a  refiner  and 
purifier  of  silver,"  etc.  "  When  the  alloy  is  melted  .  .  . 
upon  a  cupel,  and  the  air  blown  upon  it,  the  surface  of 
the  melted  metals  has  a  deep  orange-red  color,  with  a 
kind  of  flickering  wave  constantly  passing  over  the  sur- 
face. ...  As  the  process  proceeds,  the  heat  is  increased 
,  .  .  and  in  a  little  time  the  color  of  the  fused  metal  be- 
comes lighter.  ...  At  this  stage  the  refiner  watches 
the  operation,  either  standing  or  sitting,  with  the  great- 
est earnestness,  until  all  the  orange  color  and  shading 
disappears,  and  the  metal  has  the  appearance  of  a  high- 
ly-polished mirror,  reflecting  every  object  around  it; 
even  the  refiner,  as  he  looks  upon  the  mass  of  metal, 
may  see  himself  as  in  a  looking-glass,  and  thus  he  can 
form  a  very  correct  judgment  respecting  the  purity  of 
the  metal.  If  he  is  satisfied,  the  fire  is  withdrawn,  and 
the  metal  removed  from  the  furnace ;  but  if  not  consid- 
ered pure,  more  lead  is  added  and  the  process  repeated." 

Silver  mines  are  mentioned  by  Diodorus  (i,  33),  with 
those  of  gold,  iron,  and  copper,  in  the  island  of  Meroe, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Nile.  But  the  chief  supply  of  sil- 
ver in  the  ancient  world  appears  to  have  been  brought 
from  Spain.  Tlie  mines  of  that  country  were  celebrated 
(1  jMaec.  viii,  3).  Mount  Orospeda,  from  which  the 
Guadalquivir,  the  ancient  Baltes,  takes  its  rise,  was  for- 
merly called  "the  silver  mountain,"  from  the  silver 
mines  which  were  in  it  (Strabo,  iii,  p.  148).  Tartessus, 
according  to  Strabo,  was  an  ancient  name  of  the  river, 
which  gave  its  name  to  the  town  that  was  built  be- 
tween its  two  mouths.  But  the  largest  silver  mines  in 
Spain  were  in  the  neighborhood  of  Carthago  Nova,  from 
which,  in  the  time  of  Polybius,  the  Roman  government 
received  25,000  drachma  daily.  These,  when  Strabo 
wrote,  had  fallen  into  private  hands,  though  most  of  the 
gold  mines  were  public  property  (iii,  p.  148).  Near  Cas- 
tulo  there  were  lead  mines  containing  silver,  but  in 
quantities  so  small  as  not  to  repay  the  cost  of  working. 
The  process  of  separating  the  silver  from  the  lead  is 
abridged  by  Strabo  from  Polybius.  The  lumps  of  ore 
were  first  pounded,  and  then  sifted  through  sieves  into 
water.  The  sediment  was  again  pounded,  and  again 
filtered,  and  after  this  process  had  been  repeated  five 
times  the  water  was  drawn  off,  the  remainder  of  the  ore 
melted,  the  lead  poured  away,  and  the  silver  left  pure. 
If  Tartessus  be  the  Tarshish  of  Scripture,  the  metal 
workers  of  Spain  in  those  days  must  have  possessed  the 
art  of  hammering  silver  into  sheets,  for  we  find  in  Jer. 
X,  9,  "silver  spread  into  plates  is  brought  from  Tar- 
shish, and  gold  from  Uphaz." 

We  have  no  means  of  knowing  whether  the  gold  of 
Ophir  was  obtained  from  mines  or  from  the  washing  of 
gold  streams.  Pliny  (vi,  32),  from  Juba,  describes  the 
Uttus  Ilammceum  on  the  Persian  Gulf  as  a  place  where 
gold  mines  existed,  and  in  the  same  chapter  alludes  to 
the  gold  mines  of  the  Sabaians.  But  in  all  probability 
the  greater  part  of  the  gold  which  came  into  the  hands 
of  the  Phoenicians  and  Hebre^vs  was  obtained  from 
streams ;  its  great  abundance  seems  to  indicate  this.  At 
a  very  early  period  Jericho  Avas  a  centre  of  commerce 
witli  the  East,  and  in  the  narrative  of  its  capture  we 
meet  with  gold  iu  the  form  of  ingots  (Josh.vii,21,  A.V. 


"wedge,"  lit.  "tongue"),  in  which  it  was  probably  cast 
for  the  convenience  of  traffic.  That  which  Achan  took 
weighed  twenty-five  ounces. 

As  gold  is  seldom  if  ever  found  entirely  free  from  sil- 
ver, the  quantity  of  the  latter  varying  from  two  per 
cent,  to  thirty  per  cent.,  it  has  been  supposed  that  the 
ancient  metallurgists  were  acquainted  with  some  means 
of  parting  them,  an  operation  performed  in  modern 
times  by  boiling  the  metal  in  nitric  or  sulphuric  acid. 
To  some  process  of  this  kind  it  has  been  imagined  that 
reference  is  made  in  Prov.  xvii,  3,  "  Thejiniiiff-pot  is  for 
silver,  and  the  furnace  for  gold ;"  and  again  in  xxvii, 
21.  "  If,  for  example,"  says  Mr.  Napier, "  the  term  fn- 
ing-pot  could  refer  to  the  vessel  or  pot  in  which  the  sil- 
ver is  dissolved  from  the  gold  in  parting,  as  it  may  be 
called  with  propriety,  then  these  passages  have  a  mean- 
ing in  our  modern  practice"  {Metals  of  the  Bible,  p.  28); 
but  he  admits  that  this  is  at  best  but  plausible,  and  con- 
siilers  that  "  the  constant  reference  to  certain  qualities 
and  kinds  of  gold  in  Scripture  is  a  kind  of  presumptive 
proof  that  they  were  not  in  the  habit  of  perfectly  puri- 
fying or  separating  the  gold  from  the  silver." 

A  strong  proof  of  the  acquaintance  possessed  by  the 
ancient  Hebrews  with  the  manipulation  of  metals  is 
found  by  some  in  the  destruction  of  the  golden  calf  in 
the  desert  by  Moses:  "And  he  took  the  calf  which 
they  had  made,  and  burnt  it  in  fire,  and  ground  it  to 
powder,  and  strewed  it  upon  the  water,  and  made  the 
children  of  Israel  drink"  (Exod.  xxxii,  20).  As  the 
highly  malleable  character  of  gold  would  render  an  op- 
eration like  that  which  is  described  in  the  text  almost 
impossible,  an  explanation  has  been  sought  in  the  sup- 
position that  we  have  here  an  indication  that  Moses 
was  a  proficient  in  the  process  known  in  modern  times 
as  calcination.  The  object  of  calcination  being  to  oxi- 
dize the  metal  subjected  to  the  process,  and  gold  not 
being  affected  by  this  treatment,  the  explanation  can- 
not be  admitted.  M.  Goguet  (quoted  in  Wilkinson's 
.4  7;c.  £^7.  iii,  221)  confidently  asserts  that  the  problem 
has  been  solved  by  the  discover}'  of  an  experienced 
chemist  that  "  in  the  place  of  tartaric  acid,  which  we 
employ,  the  Hebrew  legislator  used  natron,  which  is 
common  in  the  East."  The  gold  so  reduced  and  made 
into  a  draught  is  further  said  to  have  a  most  detestable 
taste.  Goguet's  solution  appears  to  have  been  adopted 
without  examination  by  more  modern  writers,  but  Mr, 
Napier  ventured  to  question  its  correctness,  and  endeav- 
ored to  trace  it  to  its  source.  The  only  clew  which  he 
found  was  in  a  discovery  by  Stahll,  a  chemist  of  the 
17th  century,  "  that  if  one  part  gold,  three  parts  potash, 
and  three  parts  sulphur  are  heated  together,  a  com- 
pound is  formed  which  is  partly  soluble  in  water.  If," 
he  adds,  "this  be  the  discovery  referred  to,  which  I 
think  very  probable,  it  certainly  has  been  made  the 
most  of  by  Bible  critics"  {Met.  of  the  Bible,  p.  49).  The 
whole  difficulty  appears  to  have  arisen  from  a  desire  to 
find  too  much  in  the  text.  The  main  object  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  calf  was  to  prove  its  worthlessness  and 
to  throw  contempt  upon  idolatry,  and  all  this  might 
have  been  done  without  any  refined  chemical  process 
like  that  referred  to.  The  calf  was  first  heated  in  the 
fire  to  destroy  its  shape,  then  beaten  and  broken  up  by 
liammering  or  filing  into  small  pieces,  which  were  thrown 
into  the  water,  of  which  the  people  were  made  to  drink 
as  a  symbolical  act.  "Moses  threw  the  atoms  into  the  • 
v/ater  as  an  emblem  of  the  perfect  aimihilation  of  the 
calf,  and  he  gave  the  Israelites  that  water  to  drink,  not 
only  to  impress  upon  them  the  abomination  and  despic- 
able character  of  the  image  whicli  they  had  made,  but 
as  a  symbol  of  purification,  to  remove  the  object  of  the 
transgression  by  those  very  persons  who  had  committed 
it"  (Kalisch,  Comm.  on  Exod.  xxxii,  20).  See  Calf, 
Golden. 

How  far  the  ancient  Hebrews  were  acquainted  with 
the  processes  at  present  in  use  for  extracting  copper 
from  the  ore,  it  is  impossible  to  assert,  as  there  are  no 
references  in  Scripture  to  anything  of  the  kind,  except 


MINE 


292 


MIXERALOGY 


in  the  passage  of  Job  already  quoteil.  Copper  smelting,  1  advanced,  and  so  eminently  skilled  in  the  art  of  working 
however,  is  in  some  cases  attended  with  comparatively  1  metals  as  the  Kgyi)tians  and  Sidonians,  should  have  rt- 
small  difficulties,  whicli  tlie  ancients  had  evidently  the  !  mained  ignoraift  of  its  use,  even  if  we  had  no  evidence 
skill  to  overcome.  (Jre  composed  of  copper  and  oxygen,  i  of  its  having  been  known  to  the  Greeks  and  other  pto- 
mixed  with  coal  and  burned  to  a  bright  red  heat,  leaves  pie;  and  the  constant  employment  of  bronze  arms  and 
the  copper  in  the  metallic  state,  and  the  same  result  ]  implements  is  not  a  sufficient  argument  against  their 
will  follow  if  the  process  be  applied  to  the  carbonates  knowledge  of  iron,  since  we  find  the  Greeks  and  IJomans 
and  sulphurets  of  cojjpcr.  Some  means  of  toughening  j  made  the  same  things  of  bronze  long  after  the  j)eriod 
the  metal,  so  as  to  render  it  fit  for  manufacture,  must  when  iron  was  universally  known.  .  .  .  To  conclude, 
have  been  known  to  the  Hebrews  as  to  other  ancient  from  the  want  of  iron  instruments,  or  arms,  bearing  the 
nations.  The  I'2gyptians  evidently  possessed  the  art  of  names  of  early  monarchs  of  a  Pharaonic  age,  that  bronze 
v.drkinif  bronze  in  great  perfection  at  a  very  early  time,  i  was  alone  used,  is  neither  just  nor  satisfactory;  since 
ami  niucli  of  the  knowledge  of  metals  which  the  Israel-  '  the  decomjjosition  of  iron,  especially  when  buried  for 
itcs  hail  must  have  been  acquired  during  their  residence  !  ages  in  the  nitrous  soil  of  Egypt,  is  so  speedy  as  to 
among  them.  j  preclude  the  possibility  of  its  preservation.     Until  we 

Of  tin  there  appears  to  have  been  no  trace  in  Pales-  know  in  wliat  manner  the  Egyptians  employed  bronze 
tine.  That  the  Phoenicians  obtained  their  supplies  from  tools  for  cutting  stone,  the  discovery  of  ihcm  alfords  no 
the  mines  of  Spain  and  Cornwall  there  can  be  no  doubt,  additional  light,  nor  even  argument ;  since  the  Greeks 
and  it  is  suggested  that  even  the  Egyptians  may  have  and  liomans  continued  to  make  bronze  instruments 
procured  it  from  the  same  source,  either  directly  or  of  various  kinds  long  after  iron  was  known  to  them; 
through  the  medium  of  the  former.  It  was  fouijd  among  and  Herodotus  mentions  the  iron  tools  used  by  the 
the  possessions  of  the  Midianites,  to  whom  it  might    builders  of  the  Pyramids.     Iron  and  copper  mines  are 

found  in  the  Egyptian  desert,  which  were  worked  in  old 
times;  and  the  monuments  of  Thebes,  and  even  the 
tombs  about  Memphis,  dating  more  than  4000  years  ago, 
represent  butchers  sharpening  their  knives  on  a  round 
bar  of  metal  attached  to  their  apron,  which  from  its  blue 
color  can  only  be  steel ;  and  the  distinction  between  the 
bronze  and  iron  weapons  in  the  tomb  of  Pameses  III, 
one  painted  red,  the  other  blue,  leaves  no  doubt  of  both 
having  been  used  (as  in  Pome)  at  the  same  periods.  In 
Ethiopia  iron  was  much  more  abundant  than  in  Egypt, 
and  Herodotus  states  that  copper  was  a  rare  metal  there ; 
though  we  may  doubt  his  assertion. of  prisoners  in  that 
country  having  been  bound  with  fetters  of  gold.  The 
speedy  dccdnipn^iticm  of  iron  would  be  sullicitnt  to  pre- 
vent our  linding  inipli'nients  of  that  metal  of  an  early 
period,  and  the  greater  opjiortunities  of  obtaining  cop- 
per ore,  added  to  the  facility  of  working  it,  might  be  a 
reason  for  jireferring  the  latter  whenever  it  answered 
the  purpose  instead  of  iron."     See  Metal. 

Mineralogy.  This  science,  like  all  others  of  mod- 
ern date,  was  in  a  veiy  imperfect  state  among  the  He- 
brews. Hence  the  sacred  writers  speak  of  minerals 
without  any  scientilic  classitication,  and  according  to 
their  merely  external  characteristics.  This  occasions 
the  utmost  difficulty  in  identifying  any  but  the  com- 
monest mineral  substances.  In  precious  stones,  jiartic- 
ularly,  this  vagueness  of  name  and  description  ]irecludes 
the  possibility  of  any  certainty  as  to  the  actual  mineral 
intended,  or,  rather,  leads  to  the  ]iresumption  that  in 
most  instances  no  one  substance  is  denoted,  but  that  the 
name  is  generic,  including  all  stones  of  the  same  general 
appearance,  color,  hardness,  etc.  See  Gem.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  list  of  the  mineral  productions  mentioned  in 
the  Bible,  with  their  probable  modern  representatives. 
For  details,  see  each  word  in  its  place. 

A  chlmm'ih Amethyst "  amethyst." 

A  labaHlron Alabaster "  alabaster.' 

A  methmtos Amethyst . . 


iignt 
have  come  in  the  course  of  tralfic;  but  in  other  in- 
stances in  which  allusion  is  made  to  it,  tin  occurs  in 
conjunction  with  other  metals  in  the  form  of  an  alloy. 
The  lead  mines  of  (icbel  er-Kossass,  near  the  coast  of  the 
Ked  Sea,  about  half-way  between  Berenice  and  Kossayr 
(Wilkinson,  Ilandb.  for  K'jijpt.  p.  403),  may  have  sup- 
plied the  Hebrews  with  that  metal,  of  which  there  were 
no  mines  in  their  own  country,  or  it  may  have  been  ob- 
tained from  the  rocks  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sinai. 
The  hills  of  Palestine  are  rich  in  iron,  and  the  mines  are 
still  worked  there,  though  in  a  very  simple,  rude  man- 
ner, like  that  of  the  ancient  Samothraeians :  of  the 
method  employed  by  the  Egyijtians  and  Hebrews,  we 
have  no  certain  information.  It  may  have  been  similar 
to  that  in  use  throughout  the  whole  of  India  from  very 
early  times,  which  is  thus  described  by  Dr.  Ure  {^l)'u:l. 
of  Arts,  etc.,  art.  Steel) :  "The  furnace  or  bloomery  in 
•which  the  ore  is  smelted  is  from  four  to  five  feet  high ; 
it  is  somewhat  pear-shaped,  being  about  five  feet  wide 
at  bottom  and  one  foot  at  top.  It  is  built  entirely  of 
clay.  .  .  .  There  is  an  ojiening  in  front  about  a  foot  or 
more  in  height,  which  is  built  up  with  clay  at  the  com- 
mencement, and  broken  down  at  the  end  of  each  smelt- 
ing operation.  The  bellows  are  usually  made  of  a  goat's 
skin.  .  .  .  The  bamboo  nozzles  of  the  bellows  are  in- 
serted into  tubes  of  clay,  which  pass  into  the  furnace. 
.  .  .  The  furnace  is  tilled  with  charcoal,  and  a  lighted 
coal  being  introduced  before  the  nozzles,  the  mass  in  the 
interior  is  soon  kindled.  As  soon  as  this  is  accomplished, 
a  small  portion  of  the  ore,  previously  moistened  with 
water  to  prevent  it  from  running  through  the  charcoal, 
but  without  any  flux  whatever,  is  laiil  on  tlie  top  of  the 
coals,  and  covered  with  charcoal  to  fill  up  the  furnace. 
In  this  manner  ore  and  fuel  are  supplied,  and  the  bellows 
are  urged  for  three  or  four  hours.  When  the  process  is 
stopiK'd,  and  the  temporary  wall  in  front  is  broken  down, 
the  bloom  is  removed  with  a  pair  of  tongs  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  furnace." 

It  has  seemed  necessary  to  give  this  account  of  a  very 
ancient  method  of  iron  smelting,  because,  from  the  diffi- 
culties which  attend  it,  anil  tlie  intense  heat  which  is 
required  to  eeparatc  the  metal  from  the  ore,  it  has  been 
asserted  that  the  allusions  to  iron  and  iron  manufijcture 
in  the  Old  Testament  arc  anachronisms.  But  ff  it  were 
possible  among  the  ancient  Indians  in  a  very  primitive 
state  of  civilization,  it  might  have  been  known  to  the 
Hebrews,  who  may  have  acipiired  their  knowledge  by 
working  as  slaves  in  the  iron  furnaces  of  Egypt  (comp. 
Dent,  iv,  20).  Tlie  question  of  the  early  use  of  iron 
among  the  Egyptians  is  fully  disiiosed  of  in  the  follow- 
ing remarks  of  Sir  (iardner  Wilkinson  (Aiiciciif  K;iyp- 
tians,  ii,  154-15G) :  "  In  the  infancy  of  the  arts  and  sci- 
ences, the  difficulty  of  working  iron  might  long  with- 
hold the  secret  of  its  superiority  over  copper  and  bronze 


'imiethysl." 
.  "silver." 
,  "  red  marble." 


Silv( 

i;dli('it Marble. 

nareketh  1 Emerald  ? "  carbuncle." 

liarkiitli  ) 

liarza Iron "  iron." 

Iktl'd Alloy  y "  tin." 

liedolach Bdellium "  bdellinm." 

nertdloa Beryl "  beryl." 

Iletwr Ore "gold." 

^f"".,,] Alkali "  soap,"  etc. 

Chalh'don Chalcedony "  chalcedony." 

Chalkolibdnon Electruni "  tine  brass." 

Chalkos Copper "  brass."' 

Challam.sh Klint "  flint,"  etc. 

riin-thvuH Burnished  Copper. .  "  amber." 

Chemur Biinnien "  slime." 

Chul f^aiid "sand." 

Clirvxolrthiix Chivsolite "  chrysolite." 

Chrusoprdaos Chrysoprase "  chijvopiase." 

Chrttsos Gold "  gold.' 


but  it  camiot  reasonably  be  supposed  that  a  nation  so  i  jjar Pearl-stone "while  marble." 


mNERVA 


293 


MINERVA 


Ekddch. . . 
Gab'ish. .. 

Gir 

Gophr'ith . 
Hals  . 


.  Carbuncle "  carbuncle." 

,  Crystal "  pearl." 

.  Lime "  chalk." 

,  Sulphur "  brimstone." 

.  Salt "salt." 


Huakinthos Hyacinth "jacinth." 

Hudos Glass "  glass." 

Ja.'ipis Jasper "jasper." 

Kadkod Ruby "  agate." 

Keiacli Crystal "  crystal." 

Kescjih Silver "  silver." 

Ketlu'Di, Virgin  Gold "gold." 

Krustallos Crystal "  crystal." 

Leshi'ui Opal? "ligure." 

Maniarltc's Pearl "  pearl." 

MtiDiiaros Marble "  marble." 

Melach Salt "  salt." 

^;':U] ^-pp- • "^--" 

JS'eJher Nitre "  nitre." 

Nophek Emerald  ? "  emerald." 

O'dem Garnet "  sardins." 

Ophereth Lead "  lead." 

J'alddh Steel "torch." 

Paz Retined  Gold "  fine  gold." 

Pitdah Topaz  ? "  topaz." 

Puk Antimony "  paint." 

faw^''°'  1 Sapphire "  sapphire." 

Sardmos\  rnrnplian  /"sardine." 

^ardios    \  t  ainelian |  „  sardius." 

Sardrmux Sardonyx "  sardonyx." 

Shnish Alabaster "  marble." 

Shamir Diamond "diamond,"  etc. 

ShoKher Red  Ochre "  vermilion." 

Shcbo Agate  ? "  agate." 

.Shesh White  :Marble "  marble." 

Shnham Onyx  ? "onyx." 

Sidfros Iron "  iron." 

Hig Scorise,  etc "  dross." 

Sinaragdos Emerald "emerald." 

l<oc]ifrctli Spotted  Marble "  black  marble." 

TarKh'.sh Topaz  ? "  beryl." 

Theion Brimstone "  brimstone." 

Tiipazion Topaz "  topaz." 

'J'.-<ar Nodule "  flint." 

Ynhaloa Onyx  ? "  diamond." 

Yashepheh Jasper "  jasper." 

Zaiuib. .: Gold " gold." 

Zekuk'dh Glass "  crystal." 

See  Rosenmiiller,  Biblical  Mineralogy  and  Botany 
(Edinb.  184G,  r2mo);  Mooie,  Ancient  3Iineraloffy  (N.  Y. 
1834, 12mo). 

Minerva,  the  name  of  a  Roman  goddess,  identified 
by  the  later  Grecizing  Romans  with  the  Greek  Athene, 
whom  she  greatly  resembled,  though,  like  all  the  old 
Latin  divinities,  there  was  nothing  anthropomorphic  in 
what  was  told  concerning  her.  Her  name  is  thought  to 
spring  from  an  old  Etruscan  word  preserved  in  the  roots 
of  niens  (the  mind)  and  monere  (to  warn  or  advise) ;  and 
the  ancient  Latin  scholar  and  critic,  Varro  (ap.  August. 
Be  Civ.  Dei,  vii,  28),  regarded  her  as  the  impersonation 
of  divine  thought — the  plan  of  the  material  universe,  of 
which  .Jupiter  was  the  creator,  and  Juno  the  representa- 
tive. Hence  all  that  goes  on  among  men,  all  that  con- 
stitutes the  development  of  human  destiny  (which  is  but 
the  expression  of  the  divine  idea  or  intention),  is  under 
her  care.  She  is  the  patroness  of  wisdom,  arts,  and  sci- 
ences, the  personitication,  so  to  speak,  of  the  thinking, 
inventive  faculty — and  was  invoked  alike  by  poets, 
painters,  teachers,  physicians,  and  all  kinds  of  craftsmen 
(Ovid,  Fast,  iii,  809,  etc. ;  August.  I.  c.  vii,  16).  She  also 
guides  heroes  in  war ;  and,  in  fact,  every  wise  idea,  every 
bold  act,  and  every  useful  design,  owes  something  to  the 
high  inspiration  of  this  virgin  goddess  (Livj^,  xlv,  33 
Virgil,  ^En.  ii,  615).  Popular  tradition  accounted  for 
her  origin  as  follows:  "She  was  the  offspring  of  the 
brain  of  Jupiter,  from  which  she  issued  in  full  armor." 
She  was  always  represented  as  a  virgin.  In  war  she 
was  contradistinguished  from  Mars  (the  god  of  brute 
force)  as  the  patroness  of  scientific  warfare,  and  hence, 
according  to  the  ancient  poets,  was  always  superior  to 
him.  The  favorite  plant  of  Minerva  was  the  olive,  and 
the  animals  consecrated  to  her  were  the  owl  and  the 
serpent.  As  she  was  a  maiden  goddess,  her  sacrifices 
consisted  of  calves  which  had  not  borne  the  yoke  or  felt 
the  sting  (Fulgentius,  p.  651).  She  had  many  temples 
and  festivals  dedicated  to  her.     Her  oldest  temple  in 


Minerva. 

Rome  was  that  on  the  Capitol.  Her  most  popular  festi- 
val was  held  in  i\Lirch,  and.  lasted  five  days,  from  the 
19th  to  the  23d  inclusive.  Minerva  was  popularly  be- 
lieved to  be  the  inventor  of  musical  instruments,  espe- 
cially wind  instruments,  the  use  of  which  was  very  im- 
portant in  religious  worship,  and  which  were  accord- 
ingly subjected  to  an  annual  purification,  which  took 
place  during  the  festival  just  alluded  to  (Ovid, /"os^  iii, 
849). 

Athene,  or  Pallas  Athene,  the  Greek  goddess 
corresponding,  as  we  have  said,  to  the  Roman  Minerva, 
was  one  of  the  few  truly  grand  ethical  divinities  of 
Greek  mj'thology.  Different  accounts  are  given  of  her 
origin  and  parentage,  probabh'  from  the  jumbling  to- 
gether of  local  legends ;  but  the  best  known,  and,  in  an- 
cient times,  the  most  orthodox  version  of  the  myth  rep- 
resented her  as  the  daughter  of  Zeus  and  Metis.  Zeus, 
we  are  told,  when  he  had  attained  supreme  power  after 
his  victory  over  the  Titans,  chose  for  his  first  wife  Metis 
(Wisdom) ;  but  being  advised  by  both  Uranus  and  Gisa 
(Heaven  and  Earth),  he  swallowed  her,  when  she  was 
pregnant  with  Athene.  When  the  time  came  that 
Athene  should  have  been  bom,  Zeus  felt  great  pains  in 
his  head,  and  caused  Hephrestus  (\^ilcan)  to  split  it  up 
with  an  axe,  when  the  goddess  sprang  forth — fully 
armed,  according  to  the  later  stories.  Throwing  aside 
the  thick  veil  of  anthropomorphism  which  concealS  the 
significance  of  the  myth,  we  may  see  in  this  account  of 
Athene's  parentage  an  effort  to  set  forth  a  divine  sym- 
bol of  the  combination  of  power  and  wisdom.  Her  father 
was  the  greatest,  her  mother  the  wisest  of  the  gods. 
She  is  literally  born  of  both,  and  so  their  qualities  har- 
moniously blend  in  her.  It  is  possible  that  the  constant 
representation  of  her  as  a  strictly  maideu  goddess,  who 
had  a  real,  and  not  a  merely  j^rmUsh  antipathy  to  mar- 
riage, was  meant  to  indicate  that  qualities  like  hers 
could  not  be  mated,  and  that,  because  she  was  perfect, 
she  was  doomed  to  virginity. 


MINGARELLI 


294 


MIXGRELIA 


Athene  is  not  represented,  however,  by  the  Greeks  as 
a  cold,  unfeeling  divinity;  on  the  contrary,  tradition 
•will  have  it  that  she  warmly  and  actively  interested 
herself  in  the  affairs  of  both  gods  and  men.  She  sat  at 
the  right  hand  of  Zeus,  assisting  by  her  councils.  She 
■was  regarded  as  the  patroness  of  poetry  and  oratory ; 
agriculture  also  she  was  supposed  to  protect  and  cherish  ; 
and  as  a  warlike  divinity  she  was  regarded  as  the  pro- 
tectress in  battle  of  those  heroes  who  were  distinguish- 
ed as  well  for  their  wisdom  as  their  valor.  Tope,  in  his 
Temple  of  Fame,  alludes  to  her  twofold  character  as  the 
patroness  of  arts  and  arms,  where  he  says : 

"  There  Ctesar,  graced  with  both  Miuervas,  shone." 
In  the  Trojan  war  she  fought  for  the  Greeks — who,  in 
point  of  fact,  were  in  the  right.  The  poets  feigned  that 
Ne])tune  and  Minerva  disputed  for  the  possession  of  Atti- 
ca, which  the  gods  promised  to  him  or  her  who  should 
produce  the  most  useful  gift  to  mankind.  Neptune, 
striking  the  earth  with  his  trident,  produced  a  war- 
horse,  and  Jlinerva  produced  the  olive  (the  symbol  of 
peace),  by  which  she  gained  the  victory.  She  was 
sometimes  called  Pallas,  Parthenos  (i.  e. "  virgin"),  Tri- 
tonia  or  Tritogeneia,  and  other  names. 

Her  worship  was  universal  in  Greece,  and  representa- 
tions of  her  in  statues,  busts,  coins,  reliefs,  and  vase 
paintings  were  and  are  numerous.  She  is  always  dress- 
ed, generally  in  a  Spartan  tunic  with  a  cloak  over  it, 
and  wears  a  helmet,  beautifully  adorned  with  figures  of 
different  animals,  the  a>gis,  the  round  argolic  shield,  a 
lance,  etc.  Her  countenance  is  beautiful,  earnest,  and 
thoughtful,  and  the  whole  figure  majestic.  There  was  a 
celebrated  statue  of  Minerva,  called  "  Palladium,"  which 
■was  said  to  liave  fallen  from  the  sky.  and  on  which  the 
safety  of  Troy  dc]iended  (Milman,  Hist,  of  Chrisiianit;/, 
see  Index).  Sec  G.  Hermann,  Distfei-tatio  de  Graca  Mi- 
nerva (1837) ;  Hartung,  I)ie  lielirjion  der  Rome};  ii,  78 
sq.;  Guigniaut,  lielifjions  de  VAutiqnite;  Smith,  Dic- 
tionary of  Greek  and  Romdn  Jiini/raphy  and  Mythohxpj, 
s.  V. ;  VoUraer,  Mythol.  Worterbtich,  s.  v.;  Bioyraphie 
Universclle  (Partiemythologique);  Chambers,  iLHC^c/q/j. 
s.  V. 

Mingarelli,  Fernando,  an  eminent  Italian  theo- 
logian, was  born  at  Bologna  in  1724,  He  fiourished  as 
professor  of  theology  at  the  University  of  JIalta  for  sev- 
eral years,  Imjiaired  health  finally  obliged  his  return 
to  France.  He  died  at  Faenza  Dec.  21, 1777.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Academy  of  the  Arcadians.  ^linga- 
relli  wrote  several  works;  the  most  important  are,  Ve- 
tera monumenta  ud  classem  liavennatem  7iiiper  eruia 
(Faenza,  175G,  4to;  notes  of  Mauro  Fattorini  and  of  IJi- 
anchi):  —  Veterum  tcslimouia  de  Didymo  Alexundrino 
cceco,  ex  quibus  tres  lihri  de  trinitate  nuper  detecli  eidem 
asseruntur  (IJomc,  17G4,  4to). 

Mingarelli,  Giovanni  Lodovico,  an  eminent 
Italian  bibliograiibcr,  the  older  Inotlicr  of  tlie  preceding, 
was  liorn  at  liologna  Feb.  27, 1 722.  I le  held  successively 
the  principal  offices  of  the  congregation  of  the  regular 
canons  of  San  Salvatore.  Afterwards  he  was  a  profess- 
or of  Greek  literature  at  the  College  della  Sapienza,  at 
Eome.  Mingarelli  employed  his  hours  of  leisure  in  vis- 
iting the  principal  libraries  of  the  great  papal  city,  and 
published  sf>me  important  works  which  he  thus  discov- 
ered. He  died  at  Itomo  ^[arch  0,  1793.  We  owe  to 
him,  as  editor,  the  Amwttitioms  li/ei\des  in  Psalmo.i  of 
father  JIarini  (Hologna,  1748-i)0);  he  added  new  expla- 
nations of  the  Psalms,  which  arc  included  in  the  Koman 
liturgy,  and  a  life  of  the  author,  the  exactitude  of  which 
is  praised  Ijy  Tiraboschi : — Veterum  Pat  rum  Laiinorum 
opuscula  numquam  antehac  edita  (Hologna,  17.51) : — So- 
jyra  v?i'  opera  inedita  d'un  aiilico  leoloyo  littera  (Ven- 
ice, 17G3, 12mo;  and  in  the  Nuora  Racrolta  ('(dor/fraua, 
tom.  xi).  This  is  a  treatise  on  the  Trinity,  whicli  ^Min- 
garelli regards  as  the  product  of  the  11th  century,  and 
he  ascribes  its  authorship  to  Didynnis  of  Alexandria. 
There  is  an  analysis  of  bis  dissertation  in  the  J<»irmtl 
dc  Bouillon,  Jan.  17GG : — ^■Eyyptionun  rotlicum  reliquiiv 


Venetiis  in  Bihliothecd  Naniand  asservafce  (ibid,  1785,  2 
pts.  4to).  These  catalogues  are  greatly  valued  by  schoU 
ars.  He  left  a  number  of  works  in  JIS.  form ;  they  are 
now  kept  at  Bologna.  See  Cavalieri,  Mia  di  Miiigarelli 
(Xovara,  1817,  8vo);  Tipaldo,  Bioyrujj/iia  deyli  Ital. 
illustr.  V,  59. 

Mingled  People  (-"",  e'reb,  a  mixture),  spoken 
of  a  "  mixed"  multitude,  such  as  accompanied  the  Israel- 
ites from  l^gypt  (Exod.  xii,  38),  and  joined  them  after 
their  return  froin  Babylon  (Neb.  xiii,  3) ;  but  specifi- 
cally (with  the  def.  article)  of  the  promiscuous  mass  of 
foreign  auxiliaries,  e.g.  of  Solomon  (1  Kings  x,  15),  of 
Egypt  (Ezek.  xxx,  5 ;  Jer.  xxv,  20,  24),  of  ChakUva  (.Jer. 
1, 37).  "  The  phrase  (3")"r;,  hu-ereh),  like  that  of '  the 
mixed  multitude,'  which  the  Hebrew  closely  resembles, 
is  applied  in  Jer,  xxv,  20,  and  Ezek.  xxx,  5,  to  denote 
the.  miscellaneous  foreign  population  of  Egypt  and  its 
frontier-tribes,  including  every  one,  says  Jerome,  who 
was  not  a  native  Egyptian,  but  was  resident  there.  The 
Targum  of  Jonathan  understands  it  in  this  passage,  as 
well  as  in  Jer.  1,37,  of  the  foreign  mercenaries,  though 
in  Jer.  xxv,  24,  where  the  word  again  occurs,  it  is  ren- 
dered 'Arabs.'  It  is  difficult  to  attach  to  it  any  precise 
meaning,  or  to  identify  with  the  mingled  people  any 
race  of  which  we  have  knowledge.  'The  kings  of  the 
mingled  people  that  dwell  in  the  desert,'  are  the  same 
apparently  as  the  tributary  kings  (A.V.  'kings  of  Ara- 
bia') who  brought  presents  to  Solomon  (1  Kings  x,  15); 
the  Hebrew  in  the  two  cases  is  identical.  These  have 
been  explained  (as  in  the  Targum  on  1  Kings  x,  15)  as 
foreign  mercenary  chiefs  who  were  in  the  pay  of  Solor 
mon,  but  Thenius  understands  by  them  the  sheiks  of 
the  border  tribes  of  Bedouins,  living  in  Arabia  Deserta, 
who  were  closely  connected  with  the  Israelites.  The 
'  mingled  people'  in  the  midst  of  Babylon  (Jer.  1,  37) 
were  ]irobably  the  foreign  soldiers  or  mercenary  troops, 
who  lived  among  the  native  population,  as  the  Targum 
takes  it.  Kimchi  compares  Exod.  xii,  38,  and  explains 
hd-ereh  of  the  foreign  population  of  Babylon  generally, 
'foreigners  who  were  in  Babylon  from  several  lands,'  or 
it  may,  he  says,  be  intcndeil  to  denote  the  'merchants, 
ereh  being  thus  connected  with  the  ";|;"^"^  "'^"i"  of 
Ezek.  xxvii, 27, rendered  in  the  A.V.  'the  occupiers  of 
thy  merchandise.'  His  first  interpretation  is  based  upon 
what  appea/s  to  be  the  primary  signification  of  the  root 
3^",  ^drah,  to  mingle,  while  another  meaning, '  to  pledge, 
guarantee,'  suggested  the  rendering  of  the  Targum '  mer- 
cenaries,' which  Jarchi  adopts  in  his  explanation  of 
'the  kings  of  hd-ereh,'  in  1  Kings  x,  15,  as  the  kings 
who  were  pledged  to  Solomon  and  dependent  upon  him. 
The  equivalent  which  he  gives  is  a])parently  intended 
to  represent  the  French  yarantie.  The  rendering  of  the 
A.  V.  is  supported  by  tiie  Sept.  avupiKTOQ  in  Jeremiah, 
and  iii  ifxiKTOQ  in  Ezekiel"  (Smith),     See  Mixed  Mul- 

TITLDIi. 

Mingrelia,  an  Asiatic  province  of  Russia,  situated 
between  the  Black  and  Caspian  seas,  in  the  country 
formerly  called  Colchis.  It  covers  a  territory  of  2G00 
square  miles,  inhabited  by  nearly  250,000  people.  Tlie 
country  is  mountainous,  but  is  largely  cultivated.  To- 
bacco, rice,  and  millet  arc  raised,  and  a  great  deal  of 
silk,  honey,  and  wine  are  produced.  Mingrelia  became 
subject  to  Hussia  in  1803,  but  was  until  18G7  governed 
by  its  own  prince,  called  Dadian,  who  resided  in  the 
small  town  of  Zoobdidee.  Tlie  inhabitants  of  Jlingre- 
lia  are  generally  inf(>rior  in  appearance  to  the  mountain- 
eers of  the  Caucasus.  We  are  told  by  travellers  that 
they  are  an  ignorant,  superstitious,  and  corrujit  people. 

Jieliyious  Condition. — The  Jlingrelians  arc  ostensibly 
meml)ers  of  the  (Jreek  Clnircb,  but  their  religion  consists 
rather  in  outward  ]>ractices  and  observances  than  in  in- 
ward ]nirity  and  heart  devotion.  :Many  of  their  practices 
are  ojien  to  severe  censure.  They  observe  four  Lents, 
comprebeniiiug  (1)  the  forty-eight  days  before  Easter; 
(2)  the  forty  days  before  Christmas;  (3)  the  month  pre- 


MINGRELIA 


295 


MINIMS 


ce(5,ing  St.  Peter's  day ;  and  (4)  a  Lent  devoted  to  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  observed  for  a  fortnight.  Their  chief 
saint  is  St.  George,  who  is  also  the  special  patron  of  the 
Georgians,  the  Muscovites,  and  the  Greeks.  Their  wor- 
ship of  images  is  of  such  a  description  that  even  Eoman- 
ists  declare  it  deserving  the  reproach  of  idolatr\-.  They 
offer  them  stags'  horns,  tusks  of  boars,  pheasants'  wings, 
and  weapons,  with  a  view  of  insuring  a  happy  success 
to  their  wars  and  hunting  expeditions.  It  is  even  said 
that,  like  the  Jews,  they  offer  bloody  sacrifices,  immo- 
late victims,  and,  like  our  Western  savages,  feast  on 
them  in  general  assembly;  that  they  kill  animals  at  the 
tombs  of  their  parents,  and  pour  wine  and  oil  over  the 
graves,  as  the  pagans  did.  They  abstain  from  meat  on 
Monda3's,  out  of  regard  for  the  moon,  and  Friday  is  ob- 
served as  a  holiday.  They  are  exceedingly  thievish: 
theft  is  not  regarded  as  a  crime,  but  rather  a  proof  of 
skill  that  disgraces  no  one  ;  he  who  is  caught  in  the  act 
lias  nothing  to  fear  beyond  a  trifling  fine. 

Introduction  of  Christianitij. — Some  ecclesiastical  his- 
torians insist  that  the  king,  the  queen,  and  the  nobility 
of  Colchis  were  converted  to  the  Christian  faith  by  a 
female  slave,  under  the  reign  of  Constantine  (Socrates, 
lib.  i,  c.  20;  Sozomen,  lib.  ii,  c.  7).  Others  assert  that 
the  Mingrelians  were  instructed  in  the  Christian  doc- 
trines by  one  Cyrillus,  whom  the  Sclavonians  in  their 
own  tongue  call  Chiusi,  and  who  is  said  to  have  lived 
about  A.D.  806.  Perhaps  religion  was  extinguished  al- 
together in  these  regions  during  the  time  that  elapsed 
between  the  fifth  and  the  ninth  centuries.  The  ]\Iin- 
grelians  show,  on  the  sea-shore,  near  the  Corax  River, 
a  large  church,  in  which,  according  to  their  statement, 
St.  Andrew  preached;  but  this  is  to  be  taken  "cum  grano 
sails."  In  former  times  the  Mingrelians  acknowledged 
the  spiritual  supremacy  of  the  patriarch  of  Antioch ; 
but  this  supremacy  has  been  transferred  to  the  patri- 
archal see  of  Constantinople.  Nevertheless  they  have 
two  primates  of  their  own  nation,  whom  they  call  ca- 
thoUcos :  one  for  Georgia,  the  other  for  Mingrelia.  There 
were  formerly  twelve  bishoprics.  There  are  only  six 
left  at  the  present  time,  the  other  six  having  been 
changed  into  abbeys.  The  primate  or  chief  bishop  of 
Mingrelia,  who  resides  at  Constantinople,  makes  his  ap- 
pearance in  Mingrelia  only  once  in  his  life,  and  then 
only  for  the  purpose  of  consecrating  the  holy  oil,  or 
chrism,  which  the  Greeks  call  myron. 

The  statements  of  some  travellers  respecting  the 
treasures  of  the  primate  and  the  bishops  of  the  Mingre- 
lians, the  splendor  of  their  garnlents,  the  extortions  they 
commit,  and  the  enormous  sums  of  money  they  exact 
for  mass,  confession,  ordination,  etc.,  are  rather  at  vari- 
ance with  the  statements  relating  to  the  general  poverty 
of  the  nation :  there  is  likely  to  be  exaggeration  on 
both  sides.  "What  is  said  of  the  ignorance  and  corrup- 
tion of  the  clergy  in  general  may  be  more  readily  be- 
lieved. The  bishops,  who  are  very  loose  in  their  mor- 
als, are  regarded  as  acceptable  if  they  abstain  from  iioeat, 
strictly  observe  Lent,  and  say  mass  in  conformity  with 
the  Greek  rite.  Priests  are  allowed  to  marry,  not  only 
before  their  ordination,  but  also  afterwards,  and  even  to 
take  a  second  wnfe,  with  dispensation. 

The  observances  at  baptism  are  very  peculiar.  As 
soon  as  a  child  is  born,  the  priest  anoints  his  forehead, 
drawing  a  cross  on  it  with  the  chrism.  The  baptism  is 
deferred  until  the  child  is  two  years  of  age,  when  he  is 
christened  by  immersion  in  warm  water;  again  unc- 
tions are  made  on  almost  every  part  of  his  body ;  holy 
bread  is  given  him  to  eat,  and  wine  to  drink.  The 
priests  do  not  stick  to  the  traditional  form  of  baptism, 
and  have  been  known  to  use  wine  for  the  christening 
of  great  people's  offspring. 

There  are  in  INIingrelia  monks  of  the  order  of  St. 
Basil,  who  are  called  berres.  They  are  dressed  like 
Greek  monks,  and  do  not  differ  from  them  in  their  man- 
ner of  living.  A  very  condemnable  abuse  is  that  par- 
ents are  allowed  to  engage  their  children  to  this  state, 
in  their  tenderest  years,  when  they  are  themselves  in- 


capable of  choice.  There  are  also  nuns  of  the  same  or- 
der; they  wear  a  black  veil,  and  observe  the  same  fast- 
ings and  abstinence  as  the  monks ;  but  they  do  not  sub- 
mit to  claustration,  and  make  no  vows,  being  thus  at 
liberty  to  leave  the  monastic  state  when  so  inclined. 
The  cathedral  churches  are  adorned  with  painted  im- 
ages (no  rilievi),  covered,  it  is  said,  with  gold  and  gems ; 
but  the  parochial  churches  are  sadly  neglected.  It  is 
asserted  that  the  Mingrelians  are  in  possession  of  quite 
a  number  of  precious  relics,  brought  to  them  by  the 
Greek  fugitives,  after  the  downfall  of  Constantinople ; 
among  others  they  claim  to  have  a  piece  of  the  true  cross, . 
eight  inches  long ;  but  the  statements  of  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romanists,  in  the  matter  of  relics,  are  some- 
what subject  to  caution.  The  Theatins  of  Italy  in  1627 
established  a  mission  in  jMingrelia,  and  so  have  the  Ca- 
puchins in  Georgia,  and  the  Dominicans  in  Circassia ; 
but  the  small  success  which  attended  these  endeavors 
caused  the  missions  to  be  suffered  to  fall  into  decay,  and 
finally  to  be  abandoned.  See  Dr.  J.  Zampi,  delation  de 
Min[irelie  ;  Cerry,  Etat  present  de  VEglise  Romaine ; 
Chardin,  Voyage  de  Perse  ;  and  especially  Bergier,  Dic- 
tionnaire  de  Theologie,  iv,  347  sq. 

Min'iamiu  (Jlfib.  Minyamin',  '^'^^'^'^'Q,  from  the 
right  hand,  or  perhaps  corrupted  from  Benjamin),  the 
name  of  two  men.     See  also  Mi^vjiix. 

1.  (Sept.  Biviantiv  v.  r.  Btria/^i'i',  Yulg. -Se/y'awin.) 
One  of  the  Levites  (or  priests)  who  had  charge  of  the 
distribution  of  the  sacred  offerings  among  the  families 
of  the  sacerdotal  order  under  Hezekiah  (2  Chron.  xxxi, 
15).    B.C.  726. 

2.  (Sept.  Mtajuii'.Vulg.  Miainin.)  One  of  the  priests 
that  returned  with  Zerubbabel  from  Babylon  (Neh.  xii, 
17),  and  celebrated  with  trumpets  the  completion  of  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  (Neh.  xii,  41) ;  probably  the  same 
elsewhere  called  Mluiin  (Neh.  xii,  5)  orMuAJiiN  (Neh. 
x,7). 

Miiiiatis,  Eltas,  an  Eastern  theologian  and  teach- 
er, was  born  at  Liguri,  Ccphalonia,  in  1669,  and  was  ed- 
ucated at  Venice.  He  filled  ofiices  as  public  instructor, 
and  became  afterwards  clergyman  at  Constantinople, 
Corfu,  and  the  Peloponnesus,  and  was  finally  bishop  of 
Calaoryta.  He  died  in  1714.  His  .works  are:  Yltrpa 
(TKavSaXov  (Leipsic,  1718),  a  treatise  on  the  schism  be- 
tween the .  Greek  and  Latin  churches :  a  Latin  and 
German  version  of  it  was  published  at  Leipsic  in  1843, 
and  at  Vienna  in  1783: — AiSaxai  slg  r))v  ayiav  kcu 
fiiyc'iXrjv  TtaaapaKoar))v  Kai  tig  ciWaQ  tTriarijixovg 
toprdg  (Venice,  1727,  and  often). — Pierer,  Unicersal- 
Lejcikon,  s.  v. 

Miniato  (or  Minias) ,  St.,  an  Armenian  prince,  who 
belonged  to  the  Roman  army,  and  served  under  Decius. 
When  that  emperor  was  encamped  outside  the  city  of 
Florence,  according  to  the  Florentine  legend,  this  saint 
was  denounced  as  a  Christian,  and  condemned  to  be 
thrown  to  the  beasts  of  the  amphitheatre.  A  panther 
was  first  set  upon  him,  but  the  saint  was  delivered  from 
him  in  answer  to  his  prayers.  He  was  then  hanged, 
put  in  boiling  oil,  and  stoned,  without  being  destroyed, 
for  an  angel  descended  to  comfort  him,  and  clothed  him 
in  a  garment  of  light.  Finally  he  was  beheaded.  It  is 
said  that  this  severe  measure  was  executed  in  A.D.  254. 
Miniato  is  represented  dressed  as  a  prince,  with  scarlet 
robe  and  a  crown.  His  attributes  are  the  palm,  the  lily, 
and  javelins. 

Miniature  is  a  picture  illustrating  the  text  of  a 
JIS. ;  so  called  because  filling  up  the  outline  sketched 
in  vermilion  {imniinum'). 

Minims  (ordo  fratrum  minimonan  S.  Frandsci  de 
Paula),  a  religious  order  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  found- 
ed by  St.  Francis  de  Paula,  of  Calabria,  in  the  year  1453. 
The  new  order  was  called  at  first  Hermits  of  St.  Francis 
{Eremilce  3Hnimoiiun  Fratrum  S.  Frandsci  de  Paula'). 
Pope  Sixtus  IV,  in  1474,  confirmed  the  statutes  of  the 
order,  thus  uniting  them  in  conventual  order,  and  named 


MINISTER 


296 


MINISTER 


Francis  superior-general.  He  enjoined  on  liis  disciples  | 
a  total  abstinence  from  flesh,  wine,  and  fish ;  besides 
which  they  were  always  to  go  barefoot,  and  not  permit-  I 
ted  to  quit  their  habit  and  girdle  night  or  day.  Their  ! 
habit  is  a  coarse,  black  woollen  stuff,  with  a  woollen  gir- 
dle of  the  same  color,  tied  in  five  knots.  The  order 
increased  rapidly ;  it  gained  many  disciples,  especially 
in  France,  wliere  Francis  was  in  liigh  favor  witli  Louis 
XI,  Cliarles  VIII,  and  Ijnus  XII.  Many  houses  of  the  I 
order  were  established  tliroughout  tlie  kingdom,  and  the  ■ 
friars  themselves  were  called  /(-.■>■  boiis  hommes  ( Boni  hn-  ', 
mines).  In  Spain  they  also  gained  influence,  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic  building  their  first  monastery  for  them  at  ^ 
Malaga.  A  new  name,  "  the  Fathers  of  Victory,"  was  ; 
bestowed  upon  them,  because  Ferdinand  believed  that 
only  by  their  prayerful  intercession  Malaga  had  been 
captured  from  the  Moors.  In  1497  the  emperor  Maxi- 
milian called  them  to  Germany,  and  founded  three  mon- 
asteries for  the  order. 

For  a  long  time  the  order  had  no  special  rules  and 
regulations,  the  example  of  the  superior-general  serving 
as  a  pattern.  In  1493  Franciscus  finished  his  threefold 
rules,  and  they  were  confirmed  by  pope  Alexander  VI. 
Humility  and  repentance,  poverty,  fasting,  praying,  and 
silence  form  the  principal  features  of  these  ascetic  rules, 
and  Franciscus  called  his  brethren  "  Minimos  Fratres." 
This  name  was  given  them  because  they  should  be  "  the 
least  among  the  brethren,"  and  Christ's  words  (Matt. 
XXV,  40),  "(Juanidiu  fccistis  uni  de  his  fratribus  mcis 
minimis,  milii  fccisiis. '  should  have  a  peculiar  reference 
to  them.  The  austerity  of  the  rules  is  particularly 
great  in  the  selection  of  food.  The  brethren  are  de- 
barred iiot  only  the  use  of  meat,  but  also  of  eggs,  butter, 
milk,  and  cheese.  In  1493  Franciscus  also  instituted  a 
female  order  of  Minims,  and  subjected  it  to  the  guidance 
of  the  older  order. 

The  order  is  at  present  divided  into  thirty-one  prov- 
inces, of  which  twelve  are  in  Italy,  eleven  in  France 
and  Flanders,  seven  in  Spain,  and  one  in  Germany.  In 
the  beginning  of  thelast  century  the  order  had  about 
450  convents.  At  present  their  number  has  greatly 
decreased.  The  Minims  have  passed  even  into  the  In- 
dies, where  there  are  some  convents  which  do  not  com- 
pose provinces,  but  depend  immediately  on  the  general. 
Their  principal  house  is  at  Home.  The  superior  of  eacli 
male  body  is  called  corrector ;  that  of  each  female  body, 
correctrix ;  the  superior  of  the  order  is  called  tjenerulis 
corrector.  Tliere  are  now  but  few  houses  for  female 
Minims.  Tlie  tertiaries  of  the  order  are  secular  per- 
sons; but  while  they  are  not  obliged  to  retire  from  so- 
ciety, they  are  required  to  observe  the  abstinence  from 
meat,  etc.  They  have  also  correctors  and  correctrices, 
and  are  subject  to  the  order  of  the  general  corrector. 
Their  distinguishing  mark  is  a  girdle  with  only  two 
knots.  Bonainii,  Vcrz.  d<r  (jdstHrhen  Ordensleutc,  ii,  58 
sq.;  Wetzer  und  Welte.  Kirchiti-T.exikon,  vii,  152;  Her- 
zog,  Reul-Km-ijkhpadii',  ix,  538.     (J.  II.  W.) 

Minister,  one  who  acts  as  the  less  (from  minus  or 
minor)  or  inferior  agent,  in  obedience  or  subservience  to 
another,  or  who  serves,  officiates,  etc.,  as  distinguished 
from  tlie  master,  m<i;/iater  (from  vutf/vt),  or  siqierior.  It 
is  used  in  the  A.  V.  to  describe  various  officials  of  a  re- 
ligious and  civil  character.  The  words  so  translated  in 
the  Scriptures  are  the  following : 

1.  r";!'^^,  meshareth' ,  which  is  applied,  (1)  to  an  at- 
tendant upon  a  person  in  higli  rank,  as  to  Joshua  in  rela- 
tion to  Moses  (Fxod.  xxiv,  18,  Sept.  TrapK7TT]Kwc  avnii ; 
Aqnila  and  Symm.  o  Xtiroj'pyoc  ai<Toi' ;  comp.  Exod. 
xxxiii.  11,  Sept.5fjOfr7raji''l»j(Torr;  Numb,  xi,  28;  Josh, 
i,  l,Sept.  \<Trovpyi)Q  Mioikt/};  Alex.  Xironpyo!.),  and  to 
the  attendant  on  the  prophet  Klislia  (2  Kings  iv,  43 ;  vi, 
15,  Sept.  \nTovpy<tq ;  comp.  2  Kings  iii,  II ;  1  Kings 
xix,  21) ;  (2)  to  the  attaches  of  a  royal  court  (1  Kings 
X,  5  [Se4)t.  XitTOKpu^],  where,  it  may  be  observed,  they 
are  distinguishecl  from  the  "servants"  or  officials  of 
higher  rank  [^3!?,  a  more  general  term,  Sept.  TrnifJ,  an- 


swering to  our  ministers,  by  the  different  titles  of.  the 
chambers  assigned  to  their  use,  the  '■  sitting"  of  the  ser- 
vants meaning  rather  their  abode,  and  the  "  attendance" 
of  the  ministers  tlie  ante-room  in  which  they  were  sta- 
tioned) ;  persons  of  high  rank  held  tliis  post  in  the  Jew- 
ish kingdom  (2  Cliron.  xxii,  8) ;  and  it  may  be  in  this 
sense,  as  the  attendants  of  the  King  of  kings,  that  the 
term  is  applied  to  the  angeLs  in  I'sa.  ciii,  21  (Xfirovpyoi) ; 
comp.  I'sa.  civ,  4  (Heb.  i,  7  ;  and  see  Stuart's  Comment. 
ad  loc.) ;  (3)  to  the  priests  and  Levites,  who  are  thus 
described  by  the  prophets  and  later  historians  (Jer. 
xxxiii,  21;  Ezek.  xliv,  II;  Joel  i,  9, 13;  Ezra  viii,  17; 
Neh.  X,  36),  though  the  verb,  whence  meshareth  is  de- 
rived, is  not  uncommonly  used  in  reference  to  their 
services  in  the  earlier  books  (Exod.  xxviii,  43 ;  Numb. 
iii,  31 ;  Deut.  xviii,  5,  etc.).  Persons  tlius  designated 
sometimes  succeeded  to  the  office  of  tlieir  principal,  aa 
did  Joshua  and  Elisha.  Hence  the  term  is  used  of  the 
Jews  in  their  capacity  as  a  sacred  nation,  "Men  shall 
call  you  the  ministers  of  our  (Jod"  (Isa.  Ixi,  G). 

2.  H5S,  pelach'  (Chald.),  Ezra  vii,  24,  "  minister"  of 
religion,  XtiTOVpyoQ  (comp.  'n^S,  ver.  19),  though  he 
uses  the  word  C^ri'C"  in  the  same  sense,  ch.  viii,  17. 
In  the  N.  T.  we  have  three  terms,  each  with  its  distinc- 
tive meaning. 

3.  AtiTOvpoc,  a  term  derived  from  Xilrov  fpyov,"pub- 
lic  work,"  and  the  leitonrgia  was  the  name  of  certain 
personal  services  which  the  citizens  of  Athens  and  some 
other  states  had  to  perform  gratuitously  for  the  public 
good.  From  the  sacerdotal  use  of  the  word  in  the  N.T., 
it  obtained  the  special  sense  of  a  "  public  divine  service," 
which  is  perpetuated  in  our  word  '•  liturgy."  The  verb 
XiiTovpyni'  is  used  in  this  sense  in  Acts  xiii,2.  It  an- 
swers most  nearly  to  the  Hebrew  meshareth,  and  is  usu- 
ally employed  in  the  Sept.  as  its  eiiuivalent.  It  be- 
tokens a  subordinate  public  administrator,  whether  civil 
or  sacerdotal,  and  is  applied  in  the  former  sense  to  the 
magistrates  in  their  relation  to  the  divine  authority 
(Horn,  xiii,  6),  and  in  the  latter  sense  to  our  Lord  in  re- 
lation to  the  Father  (Ileb.  viii,  2),  and  to  St.  Paul  in  re- 
lation to  Jesus  Christ  (Rom,  xv,  1(5),  wliere  it  occiu^ 
among  otJier  expressions  of  a  sacerdotal  character, "  min- 
istering" (Ifpoj'joyorjTn),"  offering  up"  (Trpocr^opn,  etc). 
In  all  these  instances  the  original  and  special  meaning 
of  the  word,  as  used  by  the  Athenians,  namely,  with  re- 
spect to  those  who  administered  the  public  offices  (Xti- 
Tovpyiat)  at  their  own  expense  (Biickh,  Staatshausk. 
der  A  thener,  i,  480 ;  ii,  02 ;  Potter's  Gr.  A nt.  i,  85),  is  pre- 
served, though  this  comes,  perhaps,  yet  more  distinctly 
forward  in  the  cognate  terms  XnTovpyia  and  Xiirovp- 
ynv,  applied  to  tlie  sacerdotal  office  of  the  Jewish  priest 
(Luke  i,  23;  Heb,  ix,21;  x,  11),  to  the  still  higher  priest- 
hood of  Christ  (Ileb.  viii,  G),  anil  in  a  secondary  sense 
to  the  Christian  priest  who  offers  up  to  God  the  faith 
of  his  converts  (Phil,  ii,  17,  Xn-ox<pyia  Tt'ig  Trianwc), 
and  to  any  act  of  public  self-devotion  on  the  part  of  a 
Christian  disciple  (Kom.  xv,  27 ;  2  Cor.  ix,  12  ;  Phil,  ii, 
30). 

4.  The  second  Greek  term,  virr]piTT]c,  differs  from  the 
two  others  in  that  it  contains  tlie  idea  of  actual  and  per- 
sonal attendance  upon  a  superior.  Thus  it  is  used  of 
the  attendant  in  the  synagogue,  the  "jn,  chazun,  of  the 
Talmndists  (Luke  iv,  20),  whose  duty  it  was  to  open 
and  close  the  building,  to  produce  and  replace  the  books 
employed  in  the  service,  and  generally  to  wait  on  the 
officiating  priest  or  teacher  (Carpzov,  Apparat.  p.  314), 
It  is  similarly  applied  to  Mark,  wlio,  as  the  attendant  on 
Barnabas  and  Saul  (Acts  xiii,  5),  was  probably  charged 
with  the  administration  of  baptism  and  other  assistant 
I  duties  (De  Welte,  ad  loc);  and  again  to  the  subordi- 
nates of  the  liigh-priests  (John  vii,  32, 45;  xviii,  3,  etc), 
or  of  a  jailor  (INIatt.  v,  25  — TrpoKrwp  in  Luke  xii,  58; 
Acts  V,  22).  Josephus  calls  Closes  riv  I'Trripirtjv  Htow 
{Ant.  iii,  1,  4).  Kings  are  so  called  in  Wisd.  vi,  4.  The 
idea  of  perso7ud  attendance  conies  ]iroininently  forward 
in  Luke  i,  2;  Acts  xxvi,  IG,  in  both  of  which  places  it 


MINISTER 


297 


MINISTER 


is  alleged  as  a  ground  of  trustworthy  testimony  ("  ipsi 
viderunt,  et,  quod  plus  est,  ministrarunt"  Bengel).  Last- 
ly, it  is  used  interchangeably  with  Eu'ikovoq  in  1  Cor. 
iV,  1,  comp.  with  iii,  5,  but  in  this  instance  the  term  is 
designed  to  convey  the  notion  of  subordination  and  hu- 
mility. In  all  these  cases  the  etymological  sense  of  the 
word  {hirb  tptTrjc)  comes  out.  It  primarily  signifies  an 
vnder-moei'  on  board  a  galley,  of  the  class  who  used  the 
longest  oars,  and  consequently  performed  the  severest 
duty,  as  distinguished  from  the  Bpai'irt]^,  the  rower 
upon  the  upper  bench  of  the  three,  and  from  the  vav- 
rnt,  sailors,  or  the  67ri/3arai,  marines  (Dem.  1209,  11, 
14;  comp.  also  1208,  20;  1214,  23;  1216, 13;  Pol.  i,  25, 
3):  hence  in  general  a  hand,  agent,  minister,  attend- 
ant, etc.  The  term  that  most  adequately  represents  it 
in  our  language  is  "attendant." 

5.  The  third  Greek  terra,  Sk'ikovoc,  is  the'one  usually 
employed  in  relation  to  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel;  its 
application  is  twofold,  in  a  general  sense  to  indicate 
ministers  of  any  order,  whether  superior  or  inferior,  and 
in  a  special  sense  to  indicate  an  order  of  inferior  minis- 
ters. In  the  former  sense  we  have  the  cognate  term 
ciaicovia  applied  in  Acts  vi,  1,  4,  both  to  the  ministra- 
tion of  tables  and  to  the  higher  ministration  of  the 
Word,  and  the  term  Sicikovoq  itself  applied,  without  de- 
fining the  office,  to  Paul  and  Apollos  (1  Cor.  iii,  5),  to 
Tychicus  (Eph.  vi,  21 ;  Col.  iv,  7),  to  Epaphras  (Col.  i, 
7),  to  Timothy  (1  Thess.  iii,  2),  and  even  to  Christ  him- 
self (liom.  XV,  8 ;  Gal.  ii,  17).  In  the  latter  sense  it  is 
applied  in  the  passages  where  the  Sh'ikovo^  is  contra- 
distinguished from  the  bishop,  as  in  Phil,  i,  1 ;  1  Tim. 
iii,  8-13.  The  ^vord  is  likewise  applied  to  false  teach- 
ers (2  Cor.  xi,  15),  and  even  to  heathen  magistrates 
(Rom.  xiii,  4),  in  the  sense  of  a  minister,  assistant,  or 
servant  in  general,  as  in  Matt,  xx,  26.  The  term  dia- 
Kovoi  denotes  among  the  Greeks  a  higher  class  of  ser- 
vants than  the  covXoi  (Athen.  x,  192;  see  Buttm.  Lex. 
i,  220 ;  comp.  Matt,  xxii,  13,  and  Sept.  for  HTi'lS,  Esth. 
i,  10 ;  ii,  2 ;  vi,  3).  It  is  worthy  of  observation  that  the 
word  is  thus  of  very  rare  occurrence  in  the  Sept.,  and 
then  only  in  a  general  sense :  its  special  sense,  as  known 
to  us  in  its  derivative  "  deacon"  (q.  v.),  seems  to  be  of 
purely  Christian  growth.— Smith ;  Kitto.  See  Minis- 
try. 

MINISTER  is  a  Latin  word  applied  in  that  portion 
of  the  Christian  Church  known  as  the  Western  to  des- 
ignate that  officer  who  is  styled  deacon  in  Greek,  The 
word  was  applied  generally  to  the  Anglican  clergy  about 
the  time  of  the  great  rebellion,  since  which  time  it  has 
come  into  general  use,  and  is  now  applied  to  any  preacher 
of  the  Gospel.  Even  the  Jews  have  adopted  the  use 
of  this  word,  and  rabbi  is  scarcely  ever  heard  in  Eng- 
lish-speaking congregations  of  that  people.  IMinisters 
are  also  called  divines,  and  may  be  distinguished  mto 
2)olemic,  or  those  who  possess  controversial  talents;  cas- 
uistic, or  those  who  resolve  cases  of  conscience ;  experi- 
mentuJ,  those  who  address  themselves  to  the  feelings, 
cases,  and  circumstances  of  their  hearers;  and,  lastly, 
practical,  those  who  insist  upon  the  performance  of  all 
those  duties  which  the  Word  of  God  enjoins.  An  able 
minister  will  have  something  of  all  these  united  in  him, 
though  he  may  not  excel  in  all ;  and  it  becomes  every 
one  who  is  a  candidate  for  the  ministry  to  get  a  clear 
idea  of  each,  that  he  may  not  be  deficient  in  the  dis- 
charge of  that  work  which  is  the  most  important  that 
can  be  sustained  by  mortal  beings.  Many  volumes 
have  been  written  on  this  subject,  but  we  must  be  con- 
tent in  this  place  to  offer  only  a  few  remarks  relative 
to  it. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  then,  it  must  be  observed  that  min- 
isters of  the  Gospel  ought  to  be  sound  as  to  their  jmnci- 
ples.  They  must  be  men  whose  hearts  are  renovated 
by  divine  grace,  and  whose  sentiments  are  derived  from 
the  sacred  oracles  of  divine  truth.  A  minister  without 
principles  will  never  do  any  good ;  and  he  who  professes 
to  believe  in  a  system  should  see  to  it  that  it  accords 


with  the  Word  of  God.  His  mind  should  clearly  per- 
ceive the  beauty,  harmony,  and  utility  of  the  doctrines, 
while  his  heart  should  be  deeply  impressed  with  a  sense 
of  their  value  and  importance. 

2.  They  should  be  mild  and  affable  as  to  their  disposi- 
tions and  deportment.  A  haughty,  imperious  spirit  is  a 
disgrace  to  the  ministerial  character,  and  generally 
brings  contempt.  They  should  learn  to  bear  injuries 
with  patience,  and  be  ready  to  do  good  to  every  one ; 
be  courteous  to  all  without  cringing  to  any;  be  affable 
without  levity,  and  humble  without  pusillanimity ;  con- 
ciliating the  affections  Avithout  violating  the  truth; 
connecting  a  suavity  of  manners  with  a  dignitj'  of  char- 
acter; obliging  without  flattery;  and  throwing  off  all 
reserve  without  running  into  the  opposite  extreme  of 
volubility  and  trifling. 

3.  They  should  be  superior  as  to  their  hioivledge  and 
talents.  Though  many  have  been  useful  without  what 
is  called  learning,  yet  none  have  been  so  without  some 
portion  of  knowledge  and  wisdom.  Nor  has  God  Al- 
mighty ever  sanctified  ignorance,  or  consecrated  it  to 
his  service;  since  it  is  the  effect  of  the  fall,  and  the 
consequence  of  our  departure  from  the  fountain  of  in- 
telligence. Ministers  therefore,  especially,  should  en- 
dea\'or  to  break  these  shackles,  get  their  minds  enlarged, 
and  stored  with  all  useful  k  nowledge.  The  Bible  should 
be  well  studied,  and  that,  especially,  in  the  original  lan- 
guages. The  scheme  of  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ  should 
be  well  understood,  with  aU  the  various  topics  connected 
with  it.  And  in  the  present  day  a  knowledge  of  his- 
tory, natural  philosophy,  logic,  mathematics,  and  rhet- 
oric is  peculiarly  requisite.  A  clear  judgment,  also,  with 
a  retentive  memory,  inventive  faculty,  and  a  facility  of 
communication,  should  be  obtained. 

4.  They  should  be  dilifjeiit  as  to  their  studies.  Their 
time,  especially,  should  be  improved,  and  not  lost  by  too 
much  sleep,  formal  visits,  indolence,  reading  useless 
books,  studying  useless  subjects;  Every  day  should 
have  its  work,  and  every  subject  its  due  attention. 
Some  advise  a  chapter  in  the  Hebrew  Bible,  and  an- 
other in  the  Greek  Testament,  to  be  read  every  day. 
A  well-chosen  system  of  divinity  should  be  accurately 
studied.  The  best  definitions  should  be  obtained,  and 
a  constant  regard  paid  to  all  those  studies  which  savor 
of  religion,  and  have  some  tendency  to  public  work. 

5.  Ministeis  should  be  extensive  as  to  their  benevolence 
and  candor.  A  contracted,  bigoted  spirit  ill  becomes 
those  who  preach  a  Gospel  which  breathes  the  purest 
benevolence  to  mankind.  This  spirit  has  clone  more 
harm  among  all  parties  than  many  imagine,  and  is,  in 
our  opinion,  one  of  the  most  powerful  engines  the  devil 
makes  use  of  to  oppose  the  best  interests  of  mankind ; 
and  it  is  really  shocking  to  observe  how  sects  and  par- 
ties have  all,  in  their  turns,  anathematized  each  other. 
Now,  while  ministers  ought  to  contend  earnestly  for  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  they  must  remember 
that  men  always  think  differently  from  each  other; 
that  prejudice  of  education  has  great  influence;  that 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  subordinate  things  is  not 
of  such  importance  as  to  be  a  ground  of  dislike.  Let 
the  ministers  of  Christ,  then,  pity  the  weak,  forgive  the 
ignorant,  bear  with  the  sincere  though  mistaken  zealot, 
and  love  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

6.  Ministers  should  be  zealous  and  faithful  in  their 
public  work.  The  sick  must  be  visited,  children  ^lust 
be  catechised,  the  ordinances  administered,  and  the 
Word  of  (Jod  preached.  These  things  must  be  taken 
up,  not  as  a  matter  of  duty  only,  but  of  pleasure,  and 
executed  with  faithfulness;  and,  as  they  are  of  the  ut- 
most importance,  ministers  should  attend  to  them  with 
all  that  sincerity,  earnestness,  and  zeal  which  that  im- 
portance demands.  An  idle,  frigid,  indifferent  minister 
is  a  pest  to  society,  a  disgrace  to  his  profession,  an  in- 
jury to  the  Church,  and  offensive  to  God  himself. 

7.  Lastly,  ministers  should  be  consistent  as  to  their  con- 
duct. No  brightness  of  talent,  no  superiority  of  intel- 
lect, no  extent  of  knowledge,  will  ever  be  a  substitute 


MINISTER  OF  THE  ALTAR      298      MINISTERIAL  EDUCATION 


for  this.  They  should  not  only  possess  a  luminous 
mind,  but  set  a  good  example.  This  will  procure  dig- 
nity to  themselves,  give  energy  to  what  they  say,  and 
prove  a  blessing  to  the  circle  in  which  they  move.  In 
fine,  they  shouid  be  men  of  prudence  and  prayer,  light 
and  love,  zeal  and  knowledge,  courage  and  humility, 
humanity'  and  religion. 

See  Dr.  Smith,  Ltcttire  on  the  Sacred  Office;  Gerard, 
Pastoral  Care ;  Macgill,  A  ddress  to  Young  Ckrf/tjmen  ; 
Massillon,  Charges ;  Baxter,  Reformed  Pastor ;  Herbert, 
Countrg  Parson ;  Burnet.  I'liMoral  Care ;  Dr.  Edwards, 
Preacher;  IMason,  Slid  I,  nt  imd  I'ustor;  Brown,  Address 
to  Students;  Mather,  .S7". A///  uml  Preacher ;  Ostervald, 
Lectures  on  the  Sacred  Ministry;  Kobinson,  Claude; 
Doddridge,  Lectures  on  Preaching;  Jliller,  Letteis  on 
Clerical  Manners;  Burder,  Hints;  Ware,  Lecture  on  the 
Connection  of  Pulpit  Eloquence  and  the  Pastoral  Care ; 
Christ.  Examiner ;  Plumer,  Pastoral  Theology ;  Tyng, 
Office  and  Duty  of  a  ChrUtian  Pastor;  Bridge,  Christian 
Ministry;  Kidder,  The  Christian  Pastorate ;  Townsend, 
Tongue  and  Sword;  Presb.  Qu.  and  Princet.  Rev.  1854, 
p.  38(5, 708;  1859,  p.  15,  3GC;  Jan.  187.'J,  art.  vi  and  vii ; 
Universalist  Qu.  Oct.  1872,  art.  vii;  Kitto,  Journal, 
April,  1853,  p.  192;  Meth.  Qu.  /?«•.  July,  1851,  p.  430.— 
Henderson's  Buck,  Theol.  Diet.  s.  v.     s'ee  Ministry. 

Minister  of  the  Altar  was  a  title  applied  in  the 
Church  of  Homo,  since  the  close  of  the  r2th  century,  to 
the  pro\ider  of  pure  bread,  wine,  and  water  for  the 
mass.  The  ministranf,  as  he  is  called  by  the  clergy, 
also  responds  to  the  prayers  and  benedictions.  Orig- 
inally a  clerk,  deacon,  or  subdcacon  was  delegated  for 
this  position,  but  now  the  duty  is  assigned  to  boys,  ex- 
cept on  unusually  solemn  aiid  festive  occasions. 

Ministerial  Call,  a  term  used  to  denote  that 
right  or  authority  which  a  person  receives  to  preach  the 
Gospel.  This  call  is  considered  as  twofold  :  divine  and 
ecclesiasticcd.  ,  The  following  things  seem  essential  to  a 
divine  call :  1.  A  holy,  blameless  life ;  2.  An  ardent  and 
constant  inclination  and  zeal  to  do  good;  3.  Abilities 
suited  to  the  work :  such  as  knowledge,  aptness  to  teach, 
courage,  etc. ;  4.  An  opportunity  afforded  in  Providence 
to  be  useful.  The  Methodists  hold  that  no  man  should 
seek  to  enter  the  ministerial  ranks  who  does  not  feel  es- 
pecially called  to  preach  the  Gospel.  They  are  quite 
decided  on  this  point.  An  ecclesiastical  call  consists  in 
the  election  which  is  made  of  any  person  to  be  a  pastor. 
But  here  those  governed  by  an  episcopacy  differ  from 
the  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Congregationalists,  etc. ;  the 
former  believing  that  the  choice  and  call  of  a  minister 
rest  with  tlie  sui^crior  clergy,  or  those  who  have  the 
gift  of  an  ecclesiastical  benefice ;  the  latter  teaching 
that  it  should  rest  on  the  suff"rage  of  the  peo]5le  to  whom 
he  is  to  minister.     Sec  Episcopacy  ;  Oiujination. 

Ministerial  Education.  It  is  rather  an  infer- 
ence tlian  a  ilcmonstral)lc  historical  fact  that  in  the  Le- 
■\-itical  cities  of  tlic  Jews  schools  were  maintained  for 
the  instruction  of  priests  and  Levites  in  the  knowledge 
and  ceremonies  of  the  law.  See  Education.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  under  Samuel  "  schools  of  the 
projjhets'"  were  established  for  the  purpose  of  training 
men  for  the  high  function  of  moral  and  spiritual  teach- 
ing. Not  less  than  live  such  scliools  are  named  in  sacred 
history;  one  at  Xaioth,  one  at  Bethel,  one  at  Jericho, 
one  at  Gilgnl,  and  another  at  ]\Iount  Ephraim,  The 
number  of  the  sons  of  the  prophets  was  often  large, 
Obadiah  hid  one  hundred  of  them  in  a  cave  to  save 
them  from  tlie  malice  of  Jezebel,  and  at  the  tran.slation 
of  i:iijah  (ifty  of  the  sons  of  the  prophets  were  present 
to  witness  the  wonderful  scene. 

At  a  subsequent  period  of  Jewish  hi-story  a  species  of 
schools  came  into  vogue,  known  as  the  ''assemblies  of 
the  wise."  The  Talnuid  mentions  some  twelve  of  tliese 
institutions,  of  which  those  at  Tiberias  and  Jerusalem 
were  the  most  celebrated.  Nevertheless  they  were  not 
exclusively  for  the  education  of  the  priests,  but  also 
of  elders  and  teachers.     When  Jesus  the  Christ  ap- 


peared among  men,  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  his 
ministry  was  employed  in  the  instruction  and  training 
of  his  disciples  in  a  kind  of  peripatetic  school,  of  which 
he  was  the  great  Teacher,  as  he  went  about  doing  good 
and  explaining  the  things  of  the  kingdom  of  (iod.  From 
the  Acts  and  the  Epistles  it  is  evident  that  the  apostles 
imitated  their  divine  Lord  in  giving  personal  attention 
to  the  instruction  of  younger  disciples  designed  to  suc- 
ceed them  in  the  holy  vocation.  As  the  great  Head  of 
the  Church  had  commanded  his  disciples  to  "  go  teach 
all  nations,"  so  Paul,  in  handing  down  his  apostolical  re- 
sponsibility to  the  future  Church,  exhorts  Timothy  and 
his  successors  in  this  language:  "The  things  that  thou 
hast  heard  of  me  among  many  witnesses,  the  same  com- 
mit thou  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach 
others  also"  (2  Tim,  ii,  2). 

In  harmony  with  such  examples  and  precepts,  it  is 
recorded,  in  the  early  historj'  of  the  Church,  that  the 
apostle  John  spent  his  advanced  years  at  E])hesus  in 
qualifying  youth  for  the  Christian  ministry,  that  ]\[ark 
founded  a  ministerial  school  at  Alexandria,  and  I'oly- 
cavp  another  at  Smyrna.  Subsequently,  similar  schools 
were  established  at  Ca*sarea,  in  Palestine;  at  Antioch, 
Laodicea,  Nicomedia,  Athens,  Edessa,  Nisibis  in  Meso- 
potamia, Selcucia,  Pome,  and  Carthage.  Less  distin- 
guished than  these  were  many  episcopal  schools  con- 
nected with  the  prominent  dioceses  of  the  ancient 
Church.  In  some  of  the  better  periods  and  phases  of 
monasticism  conventual  schools  were  established,  in 
which  young  ecclesiastics  were  qualified  as  missionaries 
and  teachers  for  the  tribes  and  nations  to  which  they 
were  sent  forth.  Prominent  among  these  were  the 
schools  at  lona,  at  Bangor,  in  Wales,  and  Armagh,  in 
Ireland.  During  the  medieval  period  the  Waldenses, 
although  few  in  number  and  obscure  in  their  seclusion, 
required  all  their  candidates  for  the  ministry  to  be  dili- 
gent students,  prescribing  to  them  a  course  of  study,  and 
testing  them  by  specific  examinations. 

The  schools  of  Charlemagne,  and  the  various  univer- 
sities founded  in  sequence  of  the  Crusades,  apijear  to 
have  contemplated  primarily,  though  not  exclusively, 
the  instruction  of  ecclesiastics.  Tlie  University  of 
Prague  and  that  of  Strasburg  are  celebrated  for  tlicir 
aid  to  religion  and  the  diffusion  of  piety  in  the  Church. 
Nor  must  Paris  be  omitted.  All  these  institutions  ex- 
erted their  influence  for  the  purifying  of  Christian  doc- 
trine, not 'only  at  home,  but  abroad.  We  need  but  men- 
tion the  names  of  Jolin  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague; 
and  here  lot  us  not  forget  John  WicklilVc.  who  lalwred 
so  faithfully  at  Oxford,  and  instilled  Jjigli^li  students 
with  those  princij^les  that  gave  life  to  the  lieformation. 
D'Aubigne  says:  "The  first  rays  of  the  sun  from  on 
high  gilded  with  their  fires  at  once  the  (iothic  colleges 
at  Oxford  and  the  antique  schools  at  Cambridge."  Dur- 
ing the  Eeformatory  period,  the  Continental  universities 
became  the  main  agencies  for  the  spread  (if  Ihe  new  doc- 
trines. Wittenberg,  then  but  recently  founded,  became 
the  nursery,  the  citadel,  of  the  Protestants,  The  lect- 
ure-rooms of  the  Reformers  were  their  jirincipal  pulpits; 
and,  as  has  been  declared  by  Melancthon  in  his  Ltj'e  of 
Luther,  the  great  cause  owes  its  success  to  the  universi- 
ties. The  University  of  Heidelberg  heard  with  joy  the 
lectures  of  the  exile  Peuchliii.  Wittenberg  was  the 
starting-point  of  the  great  Peformer  himself,  and  from 
all  Europe  students  flocked  thither  to  sit  at  the  feet  of 
the  immortal  Melancthon,  All  the  leaders  of  the  new 
cause,  in  short,  were  university  men— n-.ost  of  them  jiro- 
fessors,  who  difhi-sed  their  opinions  through  attentive 
listeners.  Calvin,  first  at  Stra.xburg.  and  later,  aided  by 
Beza,  at  Geneva,  exerted  an  influence  chiefly  through 
the  famous  schools  with  which  he  was  connected.  Eleury 
says,  in  his  Life  of  Calrin :  '"He  was  indebted  to  the 
academy  (at  (ieneva\  which  soon  became  greatly  fre- 
quented, for  the  rajiid  difVusion  of  his  doctrines  in  Ger- 
many, Holland,  anil  France."  In  passing,  we  may  re- 
mind our  readers  also  of  those  university  l.-iliorers,  the 
ardent  servants  for  the  Christian  cause,  Erasmus  of 


MINISTERIAL  EDUCATIOX      299       MINISTERIAL  EDUCATION 


Paris,  Oicolampadius  of  Strasburg,  Peter  MartjT  and 
jNIartiii  Biicer  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  Arminius 
of  Leyden. 

From  those  days  to  the  present  all  complete  univer- 
sities had  had  faculties  of  theology  of  greater  or  less 
extent.  Their  character  and  influence  we  shall  con- 
sider in  an  article  on  Theolofjical  Education  (q.  v.).  ^Ve 
contine  ourselves  for  the  present  to  a  review  of  the  edu- 
cational advantages  offered  by  the  various  religious  or- 
ganizations independent  of  the  state ;  and  as  even  such 
are  in  Europe  subject  to  more  or  less  state  aid,  we  shall 
consider  here  only  those  of  religious  bodies  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  but  mainly  in  so  far  as  they  have  in 
view  the  instruction  of  ministers. 

In  the  colonial  days  of  this  country's  history  the 
ministers  were,  with  few  exceptions,  men  who  had  been 
trained  for  the  work  in  Europe,  and  in  a  majority  of 
cases  were  skilled  laborers  in  the  vineyard  before  they 
left  the  old  country.  It  has  been  estimated  that  there 
was  in  the  New  England  colonies,  twenty  years  after 
the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  a  graduate  of  college  for 
every  24:0  inhabitants.  A  few  of  these  graduates  were 
employed  in  the  civil  administration  of  the  colonies, 
but  most  of  them  were  in  the  ministry.  As  the  pop- 
ulation increased,  it  became  necessary  to  supply  the 
ministi'y  from  the  rising  generation.  For  this  purpose, 
and  this  mainly,  the  university  at  Cambridge  was 
founded  in  1636,  and  as  its  motto  was  chosen  "  Christo 
et  ecclesife"  {To  Christ  and  the.  Church).  Amid  much 
sacrifice  and  denial  this  school  was  started,  and  for  years, 
yea,  decades,  as  new  churches  were  planted,  or  as  the 
early  ministers  passed  away  by  death,  the  ministerial 
office  wj»  supplied,  in  great  measure,  from  among  the 
graduates  of  the  infant  college.  JNIore  than  half  of  its 
graduates,  during  the  first  century  of  its  existence,  en- 
tered into  tJie  labors  of  the  ministry.  Cotton  INIather, 
in  his  MaonoUa,  furnishes  a  list  of  the  New  England 
churches  in  1()96,  from  which  it  appears  that  of  the  129 
pulpits  supplied  by  116  pastors,  107  of  the  preachers 
were  graduates  of  Harvard  College.  In  the  charters 
of  several  of  tlie  old&st  colleges  it  is  declared  that  virtue 
and  reliyiuti  are  the  principal  objects  for  the  foimding  of 
these  higher  institutions  of  learning.  "  The  Virginians 
have  souls  to  be  saved"  was  the  plea  presented  by  the 
pioneers  in  1693,  when  the  college  was  asked  for  Vir- 
ginia; "and  though  the  chancellor  cursed  their  souls, 
saying,  'Let  them  raise  tobacco,'  William  and  Mary 
granted  both  a  charter  and  money  to  the  college  which 
still  bears  their  name."  In  a  few  generations  all  the 
leading  churches,  as  they  grew  and  found  a  need  for 
training-schools  to  su]iply  the  ministry-,  founded  col- 
leges, laitil  at  present  full  four  hundred  chartered 
Christian  colleges  have  grown  into  life  as  the  outward 
material  expression  of  the  Christian  zeal  within  Ameri- 
can bosoms.  What  is  pecidiarly  strange  about  Amer- 
ican colleges  is  that  all  of  them  have  felt  more  or  less 
constrained  to  consecrate  their  work  to  religion.  "  Sec- 
ular and  state  colleges,  so  called,  many  of  them,  surpass 
those  under  denominational  control  in  their  vigorous 
appeals  to  the  religious  feelings  of  the  people.''  Placing 
some  eminent  worker  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the 
presidency,  they  install  the  Word  of  God  in  the  daily 
college  prayers.  They  require  all  the  students  to  at- 
tend church  each  Sabbath.  They  have  daily  prayer- 
meetings  among  the  students.  These  students  gener- 
ally attend  Sabbath-schools.  The  Greek  Testament  is 
read  in  the  college  lessons.  The  evidences  of  Christian- 
ity are  taught  in  the  classes.  Free  tuition  and  other 
inducements  are  offered  to  attract  candidates  for  the 
ministry  to  these  institutions.  Eevival  measures  are 
introduced.  All  the  means  of  grace  known  to  the  evan- 
gelical cliurches  are  used  as  regularly,  as  frequently,  as 
earnestly  in  the  colleges  as  they  are  in  any  of  the  con- 
gregations. Of  late  years,  the  Church,  working  unitedly 
under  the  auspices  of  the  "  Evangelical  Alliance,"  has 
appointed  a  daj'  of  prayer  to  be  observed  once  annually — 
now  on  the  last  Thursday  in  January — and  many  have 


been  the  conversions  and  fruits  for  the  ministrj\  It  is 
asserted  by  those  who  have  carefully  searched  the  records 
of  our  colleges  that  nearly  one  third  of  their  graduates 
enter  the  ministry.  Of  Amherst  College,  e.  g.,  it  is 
told  that  "  nearly  half  of  its  '  alumni,'  since  the  begin- 
ning of  its  career,  have  become  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel." "Even  West  Point  Military  Academy,  where 
they  talk  of  war,  and  drill  to  the  time  of  martial  music 
every  day,  the  cross  of  Jesus  has  won  many  a  trojihy. 
In  one  of  the  awakening  seasons  there  the  college  chap- 
lain was  busy  circulating  tracts.  A  cadet  to  whom  he 
gave  a  tract  called  soon  afterwards  to  see  him,  exclaim- 
ing, '  I  am  a  lost  sinner ;  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?' 
The  chaplain  led  him  gently  to  Jesus.  The  cadet  was 
afterwards  bishop  Polk."  Such  is  the  religious  influ- 
ence upon  the  higher  literary  institutions  in  the  United 
States  of  America. 

Theolor/ical  Seminaries. — ^Ministerial  education,  prop- 
erly so  called,  was  afforded  to  but  few  of  the  earlier 
preachers  of  this  countr}-.  In  the  colleges  no  special  ad- 
vantages were  known,  except  what  the  instructors  could 
grant  by  special  aiTangement.  Principally  the  custom 
prevailed  in  some  churches  of  associating  ministerial 
candidates  as  students  with  experienced  pastors,  from 
whom  they  might  receive  instruction  in  theology  and 
pastoral  duty,  and  to  whom  in  turn  they  might  render 
some  assistance.  In  other  churches,  in  which  the  press- 
ure for  ministerial  aid  was  great,  young  and  inexperi- 
enced men  were  associated  in  actual  service  with  senior 
ministers,  by  whom  they  were  expected  to  be  taught. 
While  such  modes  of  instruction  and  training  were  the 
best  practicable  at  an  initial  period  of  Church  develop- 
ment, and,  indeed,  not  without  some  intrinsic  advan- 
tages, yet  the  increase  of  general  education,  and  the  ne- 
cessity for  more  thorough  study  on  the  part  of  minis- 
ters, were  thought  to  demand  the  establishment  of  a 
class  of  institutions  specially  devoted  to  ministerial  prep- 
aration and  the  cultivation  of  sacred  learnuig. 

The  history  of  this  class  of  institutions  in  the  United 
States  is  limited  to  the  present  century,  with  the  single 
exception  of  a  Roman  Catholic  seminary  in  Baltimore, 
founded  in  1791.  The  first  theological  seminary  of  the 
Congregationalists,  that  of  Andovcr,Avas  founded  in  1807. 
The  dates  at  which  the  other  principal  denominations 
followed  these  examples  are  as  follows :  The  Presbyte- 
rians at  Princeton  in  1812 ;  the  Protestant  Episcopalians 
at  New  York  in  1817;  the  Baptists  at  Hamilton,  N.  Y., 
in  1820;  the  Methodists  at  Newbury,  Vt.,  in  1843 — con- 
solidated with  Concord,  N.  H.,  in  1847. 

The  extent  to  which  institutions  for  ministerial  edu- 
cation have  since  been  multi]ilied  is  indicated  by  the 
following  summary,  given  in  the  report  of  the  United 
States  commissioner  of  education  for  1870 : 


Denomination. 

Number  of 
Institutions. 

Number  of 
Instructors. 

Number  of 
Students. 

Roman  Catholic 

10 
13 
15 
12 
4 

13 
5 
4 

10 

64 

47 
45 
50 
26 
31 
23 
9 

36 

737 
505 
480 
380 
SOT 
304 
243 
61 
4T 
262 

Protestant  Episcopal. 
Methodist  Episcopal.. 
Coucfie^ational 

Reformed 

United  Presbyterian.. 

Total 

93 

339 

3,326 

Of  the  influence  of  this  class  of  institutions  as  a  whole, 
it  may  be  said  that  it  is  greatly  conducive  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  sacred  leairning.  By  the  accumulation 
of  libraries,  by  the  classification  of  studies,  by  the  devo- 
tion of  able  men  to  special  departments,  more  thorough 
instruction  is  provided,  and  students  are  enabled  to  se- 
cure, Avithin  limited  periods,  a  more  thorough  acquaint- 
ance with  the  various  branches  of  theological  science 
than  would  be  possible  by  any  form  of  isolated  or  indi- 
vidual effort.     (D.  P.  K.)' 

Educational  Aid  Societies.— In  this  connection  a  word 
must  be   said   about  the   many  educational  societies 


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founded  by  the  various  religious  bodies  to  aid  young 
men  financially  during  their  preparations  for  the  sacred 
office  of  the  ministry.  The  amount  of  work  accom- 
plished by  these  agencies  may  be  estimated  by  reference 
to  the  following  items:  The  American  Education  Soci- 
ety (including  tlic  parent  society  at  Boston  and  its  Pres- 
byterian branches),  since  its  formation  in  the  year  1815, 
has  raised  and  expended  in  the  work  of  ministerial  edu- 
cation not  far  from  82,000,000.  It  has  afforded  aid  to 
over  .5000  yoinig  men  in  their  course  of  education  for 
the  ministry.  Tlie  amount  raised  by  this  society  for 
one  year  was  $38,914,  and  the  number  of  young  men 
assisted  for  the  same  j-ear  was  432.  The  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  since  its 
formation  has  sent  out  into  the  great  foreign  mission 
field  not  far  from  500  ordained  ministers.  Of  these 
over  one  half  have  been  beneficiaries  of  the  American 
Education  Society.  About  one  third  of  the  Congrega- 
tional ministers  of  New  England  at  the  present  time 
were  aided  in  their  education  by  this  society,  while  more 
than  one  tliird  of  that  large  body  of  men  who  have  la- 
bored so  efficiently  in  connection  with  the  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  were  raised  up  in  the  same  way.  The 
Board  of  Education  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  (Old 
School)  has  since  its  formation  furnished  aid  to  about 
2200  young  men.  How  many  of  these  men  have  been 
employed  in  foreign  and  home  missionary  sen-ice  we 
have  no  means  at  hand  for  determining.  The  amount 
raised  by  this  board  from  year  to  year  for  the  purposes 
of  ministerial  education  is  not  far  from  $50,000,  and  the 
number  of  young  men  now  assisted  yearly  is  but  little 
less  than  400.  There  is  also  an  Education  Societj'  in 
connection  with  the  Baptist  churches,  which  has  ren- 
dered efficient  aid  in  the  same  great  work.  In  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  this  agency  has  assumed 
such  vast  importance  that  special  provision  was  made 
for  a  "  Board  of  E(kication"  during  the  American  Cen- 
tennial of  Methodism,  and  there  is  now  (1874)  a  finid 
of  8100,000,  the  interest  of  which  is  annually  expended 
to  aid  candidates  for  tlie  Methodist  ministry  There 
are  also  educational  societies  for  the  same  purpose  in 
connection  with  most  of  the  Annual  Conferences.  Even 
the  non-evangelical  churches  support  such  agencies. 
See  Knight,  I'/i/i///  <>/'  'I'liiol.  Seminaries;  Kentish,  Iin- 
poi-tuucc  of  Mill.  JaIi/ciiHoii  ;  Clarke  (Adam),  Letter  to 
a  Preacher;  JIason,  Student  and  Pastor;  Kaike,  Ee- 
marks  on  Clerical  Juliicalion;  Xeir-Jinff lander,  i,  126; 
Eclectic  Rev.  (new  series),  i,  99;  Princeton  Rev.  v,  55; 
XV,  587 ;  Christian  Examiner,  xi,  84 ;  A  mer.  Bible  Re- 
pository, ix,  474;  xi,  187;  2d  series,  viii,  444;  x,  402; 
Evangel.  (Luth.)  Qii.  Rev.  1868,  Jidy;  Meth.  Qii.  Rev. 
July,  1845,  art.  ii;  Jan.  1872,  p.  94;  Theol.  Medium 
(Ciimherlaiul  Preshijt.  Rev.),  Jan.  1873,  art.  i. 

Ministerium  is  a  term  applied  to  an  ecclesiastical 
body  within  the  pale  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  It  is 
composed  only  of  ordained  ministers,  and  transacts  busi- 
ness pertaining  only  to  the  interests  of  the  ministry,  such 
as  the  examimition,  licensure,  and  ordination  of  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry.  "  This  is  the  specific  and  chief 
business  of  the  ministerium.  It  also,  when  necessary, 
examines  and  decides  charges  of  heresy  against  any  of 
its  own  members,  and  may,  by  appeal,  act  in  the  cause 
of  a  layman  charged  with  heresy— Init  oidy  by  appeal 
'from  the  ilccision  of  a  Churcli  Council.'"  It  will  tluis 
be  seen  tliat  the  business  transacted  by  the  ministerium 
is  of  a  special  and  definite  character;  and  to  preclude  any 
attempt  to  go  beyond  this,  it  is  expressly  provided  that 
"all  business  not  specifically  ifitrusted  to  the  ministeri- 
um .  .  .  shall  belong  to  the  synod."  Of  late  efforts 
have  been  made,  especially  in  this  country,  to  abolish 
the  ministerium,  and  to  transfer  its  power  to  the  synod, 
in  order  that  the  lay  members  of  the  Church  may  have 
a  voice  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  now  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  tiic  ministerium;  and  tliis  demand 
has  been  made  ujion  tlie  ground  that  the  Lutheran 
Church  has  suffered  more  from  heresy  and  immoralily 
in  her  ministry  than  other  churches,  because  the  minis- 


ter is  amenable  only  to  his  clerical  brethren.  See  an 
able  discussion  on  this  subject  in  the  Quarterly  Review 
of  the  Kvanyelical  Luth.  Church,  January,  1873,  art.  v. 

ISAiiiistration  (ctaKoria,  XtiTovpyia,  both  usually 
rendered  "ministry"), the  period  during  which  an  office 
is  administered  (Luke  i,  23).  The  law  of  Moses  is  called 
the  "  ministration  of  death"  and  "  condemnation."  It 
convinces  men  of  sin,  the  penalty  for  which  is  eternal 
death;  and  to  this  they  are  already  condemned.  Tlie 
Gospel  is  the  "ministration  of  the  Spirit"  that  "givcth 
life ;"  it  proceeds  from  the  Holy  Ghost ;  is  confirmed 
and  applied  by  him ;  and  by  means  of  it  he  conveys 
life,  and  all  spiritual  graces  and  benefits,  to  the  souls  of 
men  (2  Cor.  iii,  7,  8).  The  term  is  also  used  for  the 
distribution  of  alms  (Acts  vi,  1 ;  2  Cor.  ix,  13). 

Ministry  (iTlisr;,  work;  r\yv,  attendance;  ^ti- 
rovpyia,  wuitiny  upon ;  ctaKov'ia,  service).  Besides  the 
ordinary  applications  of  this  term  to  the  common  affairs 
of  life,  it  i>  ^p( ci.illy  used  in  the  Scriptures,  chiefly  those 
of  the  New  I  ( -i.niK  lit.  to  denote  a  devotion  to  the  in- 
terests of  <  IijiIn  i;iii>c.  and,  in  a  technical  sense,  the  work 
of  advancing  the  Kedeemer's  kingdom.  It  is  in  tliis  sense, 
namely,  of  the  Christian  Ministry,  that  we  proimsc  jiere 
to  treat  of  some  features  of  this  office,  leaving  io  special 
titles  (iilur  parts,  such  as  the  literary  qualification  for  it 
[>((•  -MiM>i  i.i;iAi>  EniCATios],  and  a  more  general 
view  lil  its  n  hitionsto  the  article  Pastohai,  Theology. 
The  essential  functions  of  evangelical  ministry  are  the 
following : 

I.  Preachiny.— The  duty  of  disseminating  the  Gospel 
is  not  confined  to  the  miuistrA*.  A  comparison  of  all 
the  narratives  relative  to  the  event  in  the  Ne»v  Testa- 
ment renders  it  clear  that  the  great  commission  in  Matt, 
xxviii,  19,  20  was  not  delivered  to  the  eleven  apostles 
merely,  but  to  the  general  body  of  the  disciples  then  as- 
sembled (1  Cor.  XV,  0).  It  is  the  great  character  of 
evangelization.  In  like  manner  it  appears  that,  al- 
though the  twelve  apostles  were  originally  sent  out  on 
a  preaching  tour  of  (ialilee  (Matt,  x),  subsequently 
seventy  others  were  despatched  on  a  similar  mission 
(Luke  x).  So  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  the  whole  mass  of 
believers  at  Jerusalem  seem  to  have  been  inspired  with 
preaching  powers,  and  they  actually  exercised  them 
(Acts  ii,  4).  Nor  was  this  an  occasional  though  ex- 
traordinary instance;  on  the  contrary, a  similar  jiract ice 
is  implied  in  all  tlie  later  exhibitions  of  the  then  uni- 
versal gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (Acts  x,  44-47  ;  xix,  6.  7 ; 
1  Cor.  xii,  xiv).  Indeed,  the  technical  distinction  be- 
tween clergy  and  laity  in  this  particular  is  almost  ig- 
nored in  the  New  Testament,  and  we  find  members  of 
the  Church,  whether  official  or  private,  male  or  female, 
freely  exercising  their  liberty  in  proclaiming  Jesus  ev- 
erywhere (Acts  vi,  8;  viii,  1,4-8;  ix,  20;  xviii,  24-28; 
xxi,  9).  This  is  in  accordance  with  the  universal  im- 
pulse of  the  newly-converted  soul  to  communicate  the 
glad  tidings  of  his  own  salvation  to  others,  without 
waiting  for  any  formal  license  or  authorization.  Such 
evangelization  is  the  very  essence  of  preaching,  by 
whatever  name  it  may  be  called,  or  by  whatever  con- 
ventionalities it  may  be  surrounded.  \\'c  may  add  that 
whoever  loses  tliis  spirit  of  his  early  zeal,  has  lost,  lie 
his  success  or  attainments  in  other  respects  what  they 
may,  the  great  divine  seal  of  his  call  to  preach.  See 
Lay  Pkeaciiinc;. 

The  call,  as  aliove  defined,  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
the  best  of  our  ability  and  opportunity,  is  one  that  every 
Christian  should  recognise  and  obey.  It  is,  however,  a 
duty  entirely  disliiut  from.altliough  in  some  cases  close- 
ly related  to.  the  general  i|iiesii()n  of  our  vocation  in  life. 
It  is  precisely  at  this  point  that  the  thought  of  the  min- 
istry has  probai>ly  occurred,  sooner  or  later,  to  every 
considerate  young  man  of  the  Church.  If  earnest  and 
devoted,  he  is  apt  to  infer  the  farther  duty  of  giving 
himself  exclusively  as  an  avocation  to  the  work  of 
preaching.  The  idea  having  once  been  vividly  ])re- 
scntcd  to  his  imagination,  is  likely,  in  proportion  to  his 


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301 


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conscientiousness,  to  fasten  more  and  more  deeply  upon 
his  convictions,  while  at  the  same  time  his  judgment  of 
his  fitness,  his  inclinations,  and  his  circumstances  may 
be  totaUy  adverse  to  the  course.  Hence  he  is  in  a  t^vo- 
fold  danger  of  error ;  on  the  one  hand  he  may  mistake 
for  a  distinctive  divine  call  his  own  general  promptings 
to  do  an}'tliing,however  uncongenial, for  the  sake  of  his 
JMaster;  or,  on  the  other,  he  may  yield  to  a  self-depre- 
cating modesty  and  the  force  of  obstacles,  and  neglect 
a  real  call.  Under  this  balancing  of  arguments,  per- 
haps the  safest  guides  are  two— one  internal,  the  other 
external  In  the  first  place,  let  him  carefully  examine 
his  own  heart,  and  see  what  motive  secretly  prompts 
him  in  this  direction.  If  it  be  the  love  of  applause,  a 
desire  for  distinction,  a  vanity  for  public  prominence,  or 
a  wish  to  gain  a  ready  mode  of  subsistence,  of  course  he 
must  conclude  himself  to  be  unworthy  and  unfit  for  the 
holy  office.  If,  again,  he  is  chiefly  drawn  to  the  work 
under  a  mere  sense  of  condemnation  if  he  refuse,  we  ap- 
prehend he  has  not  reached  tlie  highest  intimation  of 
an  incentive  to  duty  in. this  path.  He,  like  every  other 
believer,  of  course,  must  quiet  his  conscience  by  being 
Killing  to  do  any  dutj',  even  this,  if  clearh'  made  known; 
but  it  does  not  follow  that  he  is  called  upon  to  do  any 
and  every  disagreeable  thing,  simply  because  it  would 
be  a  cross  to  him.  A  better  and  more  decisive,  as  well 
as  consistent  test,  is  to  ask  himself,  '•  Do  I  seek  this 
place,  or  consent  to  assume  it,  because  I  look  upon  it  as 
the  most  exalted  and  useful  one  I  could  occupy  ?  Is  it 
one  in  which  I  feel  that  I  can  most  effectually  glorify 
God  and  serve  my  generation?"  If  he  still  have  doubt 
in  answering  the  question,  then  let  him  turn  to  the 
other  outward  test.  Let  him  tnj  it,  and  experiment 
will  soon  satisfy  him  whether  his  call  is  genuine  or  not. 
This  experience  will  especially  determine  four  points; 
namely,  1.  His  natural  qualification  or  disqualification, 
in  point  of  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual  adaptation ; 
2,  His  probable  measure  of  success,  as  evinced  by  the 
fruit  of  his  efforts ;  3.  His  greatest  lack,  and  consequent- 
ly the  points  \vhere,  by  study  and  care,  he  should  more 
fully  prepare  himself  iu  the  future ;  4.  Tlie  providential 
indications,  by  way  of  opening,  means,  etc.,  for  his  farr 
tlier  progress.  The  Church,  meanwhile,  through  his 
friends,  fellow-members,  and  the  pastor,  will  thus  have 
an  opportunity  of  judging  on  all  tliese  points,  and  then 
advice  will  not  only  be  welcomed  by  him,  but  must  in 
the  end  be  conclusive. 

Our  result,  therefore,  under  this  head  is,  that  while 
preaching  the  Gospel  in  some  form,  aiui  as  a  specific 
work,  is  the  general  duty  of  all  believers,  it  is  the  sole 
or  exclusive  dut}'  of  those  only  who,  by  undoubted  in- 
ternal and  external  marks,  are  divinely  called  to  the 
office,  and  sanctioned  in  it  by  the  Church  at  large.  This 
last  is  the  ultimate  or  determinative  sign, 

II.  Ordimtliiiii. — The  second  great  and  pecidiar  func- 
tion of  the  Christian  ministry  is  the  administration  of 
the  holy  sacraments — namely.  Baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper,  Other  clerical  offices — such  as  officiating  at 
marriages,  funerals,  chaplaincj',  expounding  the  Script- 
ures, dispensing  ritual  duties,  etc.  —  are  entirely  subor- 
dinate and  immaterial  to  these.  The  sacraments  like- 
wise may,  no  doubt,  lawfully  be  administered  by  a  lay 
miordained  person,  or  even  by  a  woman,  in  case  of 
emergency  or  private  celebration ;  but,  for  the  sake  of 
propriety  and  system,  they  should  be  a  matter  of  Church 
order,  and  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  term  "ordination." 
This,  therefore,  is  a  purely  ecclesiastical  distinction, 
which  affects  the  ordained  individual  only  as  to  certain 
churchly  relations  or  functions  appertaining  to  himself 
individually.  For  this  reason  it  is  performed  but  once, 
and  as  a  ceremony.  Whether  it  be  executed  by  the 
bishop,  a  presbyter,  or  neighboring  pastor,  is  entirely 
conventional.  The  true  "apostolical  succession"  is 
maintained  wherever  the  line  is  in  accordance  with  the 
established  Church  usage  in  the  case. 

It  will  be  observed  that  preaching  and  "orders"  do 
not  necessarily  concur  in  the  same  person.    Hence  some 


churches  have  ordained  elders  who  are  not  clergymen. 
Hence,  likewise,  tliere  are  ordained  local  preachers  and 
unordained  travelling  preachers.  The  election  to  cleri- 
cal orders  rests,  in  the  Episcopal  churches,  with  the  bish- 
op ;  in  the  Presbyterian  churches,  with  the  Presbyterial 
Synod;  in  Methodist  churches,  with  the  Annual  Con- 
ference ;  among  Congregationalists,  Baptists,  etc.,  with 
the  congregation  itself. 

HI.  7'he  Pastorate. — This  is  the  last  and  crowning 
office  of  the  Christian  rainistrj-.  It  does  not  necessarily 
involve  the  two  preceding,  for  in  all  churches  there  are 
occasionally  pastors  who  are  not  ordained  men.  In  the 
jNIethodist  Church  there  are  at  least  sub-pastors,  namely, 
class-leaders,  who  have  no  other  clerical  functions ;  and 
many  of  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  do  not  preach  at  all. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  are  numerous  "  evangelists" 
who,  as  local  preachers,  have  no  pastoral  relations,  nor 
any  ordained  status.  The  pastorate,  moreover,  differs 
from  the  preaching  element  of  the  ministry  in  its  local 
and  transferable  character.  The  commission  to  preach 
is  world-wide,  long  as  mind  and  body  last ;  but  the  pas- 
toral jurisdiction  is  necessarily  limited  to  a  particular 
community  and  on  stipulated  terms.  The  appointment 
under  it  always  implies  a  mutual  understanding  and 
consent  between  the  pastor  and  his  people ;  and  it  is  a 
piece  of  clerical  imposition  when  the  latter  are  permit- 
ted to  have  no  voice  in  its  formation  and  dissolution ;  as 
it  is  an  act  of  prelatical  tyranny  when  the  former  is  not 
consulted,  or  allowed  to  express  his  wishes  and  judg- 
ment. 

\\'q  have  said  that  the  pastorate  is  the  highest  func- 
tion of  the  ministry.  It  is  so,  because  it  combines  in 
their  most  complete,  regular,  and  effective  form  all  the 
elements  of  the  ministerial  relation.  A  man  who  has 
the  hearts  of  his  people,  and  can  sway  them  from  the 
pulpit,  as  well  as  touch  them  in  the  tender  and  intimate 
connections  of  his  pastoral  ministrations;  who  intro- 
duces their  babes  to  Christ,  and  dispenses  to  them  the 
symbols  of  the  body  and  blood  of  their  Lord,  wields  a 
power  which  kings  might  envy,  and  holds  a  place  with 
which  Gabriel's  cannot  vie.  He  is  God's  ambassador  to 
a  dying  community,  and  his  angel  in  the  Church. 

lY.  To  the  foregoing  ministerial  functions  many  are 
disposed  to  add  a  fourth,  namely,  admimsti-ation.  This, 
so  far  as  it  applies  to  the  execution  of  discipline  in  any 
particular  Church,  is  merely  a  part  of  the  pastorate; 
and  even  here  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  pastor 
have  legitimately  anj-  power  beyond  that  of  presiding  in 
meetings,  and  guiding  in  a  general  waj'  the  affairs  of  the 
Church.  His  personal  influence,  of  course,  is  very  great ; 
and  if  the  people  have  confidence  in  his  judgment,  his 
advice  will  be  freely  sought  and  cheerfully  followed. 
But  the  assumption  of  any  dictatorial  rights  will  quickly 
be  resented  and  resisted  as  a  "lording  over  (iod's  heri- 
tage" equally  unwarranted  by  Scripture  or  ecclesiastical 
law. 

The  extension  of  the  clerical  administration  to  the 
general  Church,  in  distinction  from  the  laity,  is  a  prelat- 
ical usurpation  characteristic  only,  and  everywhere,  of 
High-Churchism.  It  is  the  essence  of  popery,  and  is 
not  the  less  offensive  if  advocated  or  practiced  by  a 
bishop  in  any  Protestant  Church.  Even  the  Episcopal 
churches,  strictly  so  called,  do  not  hold  this  theory;  the 
Methodist  Church  has  lately  discarded  it,  and  the  Pres- 
byterians admit  the  lay  elders  to  a  full  participation  in 
the  highest  legislative  assemblies. 

Referring  once  more  to  our  Lord's  constitutional  be- 
hest (Matt,  xxviii,  19,  20),  we  find  four  duties  enjoined 
upon  his  disciples:  1.  Preaching — that  is,  evangelization. 

2.  Discipling— that  is,  enrolling  as  followers  of  Jesus. 

3.  Baptism — that  is,  initiation  by  a  public  ordinance.  4. 
Instruction— that  is,  inculcation  of  Christian  doctrine  in 
detail.  Not  one  of  these  is  the  essential  or  peculiar, 
much  less  exclusive  prerogative  of  the  ministry;  al- 
though the  minister,  as  such,  naturally  takes  the  lead 
in  them,  devoting  himself  professionally  to  them,  espe- 
cially in  the  more  public  and  formal  relations.     Of  all 


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302 


MINOR 


the  really  characteristic  functions  of  the  ministrj',  we 
have  found— to  recapitulate— that  the  true  basis  of  au- 
thorization arises  in  the  Church  itself,  as  the  final  earthly 
judge  of  qualification  and  fidelity;  and  that  she  ex- 
presses her  decision  with  respect  to  it  through  the 
preacher's  own  immediate  brethren ;  while  she  signs  his 
credentials  to  the  second  through  the  ecclesiastical  or- 
ganism which  he  therein-  enters;  and  she  issues  her 
mandate  respecting  tlie  tliird  through  the  local  commu- 
nity which  tluis  invites  his  care. 

See,  besides  the  works  fiuoted  under  Minister,  SchafF. 
Bist.  Apostol.  Ch.  p.  495  sq. ;  liearcroft,  Thirteen  Dis- 
courses on  the.  Ministry;  lioardraan,  On  the  Christian 
Ministry;  Collings,  Vindication  of  a  Gospel  Ministry; 
Crosthwaite,  On  the  Christimi  Ministry;  Edmonson,  On 
the  Christian  Ministry ;  Fancourt,  Xatiire  and  Expedi- 
ency of  a  Ministry ;  Taylor,  /iis/ifiition  and  Xecessi/y  of 
the  Ministry;  Turner.  'I'ln  C/iri.</iii/i  Ministry  Consid- 
ered; Yinet,  Theory  nfi}„  KnuKji].  Ministry;  "Wallace, 
Guide  to  the  Chrislian  Ministry;  W'ayland  (Francis), 
Letters  on  thv  ('hrislinn  Ministry ;  Anier,  Bible  lieposi- 
to}-y,  ix,  64;  Cini.tiiiii)  E.i-am.y,  101;  xv,  334;  Chris- 
tian Monthly  ^ptctatur,  iii,  401;  viii,  441;  ix,  487; 
Christian  Observer,  xiv,  13  ;  xix,  433  ;  xx,  533,  544 ; 
xxii,  329,  546 ;  xxviii,  137, 416 ;  Christian  Qu.  Sped,  iv, 
207;  vi,  542;  vii,  353;  viii,  411;  Chtistian  Rev.  i,  15; 
iii,  254,  576;  xi,  256;  xiii,  501;  xv,  400;  £dinb.  Rev. 
xix,  360 ;  North  A  mer.  Rev.  xlix,  206 ;  Kitto,  Journ.  of 
Sac:  Lit.  vol.  xxix ;  Cumberl.  Presb:  Qu.  Oct.  1871.  See 
also  Poole,  Index  to  Periodical  Lit.  s.  v. ;  JIalcom,  'J'heol. 
Index,  s.  v. 

Min'ni  (Heb.  Minni',  ''S^a,  etymology  unknown; 
Sept.  Trap  tfiov,\n\g.  Menni)  occurs  only  in  Jer.  li,  27 
(and  so  in  the  Targ.  at  Psa.  xlv,  i>,  but  wrongly),  as  the 
name  of  an  Armenian  province,  joined  with  Ararat;  i.e., 
as  Bochart  w^ell  observes  {Phuley,  i,  3,  p.  19,  20),  proba- 
bly tlie  Minyas  {Jslivvac)  of  Nicholas  of  Damascus  in 
Josepluis  (.1/V.  i,  3,  G),  a  tract  of  Armenia  overhung  by 
the  mountain  Haris,  on  which  are  the  traces  of  the  ark. 
St. Martin  (Memoires  sur  I' A  rmenie,  i,  249)  rightly  com- 
pares the  region  of  the  Manavassai,  in  the  middle  of 
Armenia,  so  called  from  Manavas,  the  son  of  Haigus, 
who  is  said  to  have  been  the  founder  of  Armenia  (Closes 
Choren.  i,  11).  Less  likely  is  the  supposition  (Bochart, 
ut  sup.)  that  the  Greek  name  Armenia  itself  sprung 
from  "^i^""!!!,  "  mountain  of  Minni,"  since  it  is  rather 
derived  from  Aram  (see  St.  IMartin,  ut  sup.  p.  259). 
"The  name  may  be  connected  with  the  Minnai  of  the 
Assyrian  inscriptions,  whom  Kawlinson  {Iferod.  i,  464) 
places  about  lake  Uriimiyeh,  and  with  the  Minnas  who 
appears  in  the  list  of  Armenian  kings  in  the  inscription 
at  Wan  (Layard's  Kin.  and  Bab.  p.  401).  At  the  time 
when  Jeremiah  prophesied,  Armenia  had  been  subdued 
by  the  jMedian  kings  (Kawlinson,  Herod,  i,  103, 177)" 
(Smith).     See  Ah.mknia. 

Minnis,AVii.i.iA:M,  D.D.,  a  Presbyterian  divine,  was 
born,  of  Scotch-Irish  parents,  in  Blount  County,  Tenn., 
Dec.  28, 1799.  He  was  educated  at  Maryville  College, 
Tenn.;  studied  divinity  in  the  South-western  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  at  Maryville ;  was  licensed  in  1825,  and 
ordained  in  1826  as  pastor  of  Westminster  Church, 
Tenn.  In  1838  he  received  and  accepted  a  call  to  the 
charge  of  Salem  and  New  ^Market,  Tenn.;  became  a 
member  of  the  United  Synod  at  its  organization  in  18.57, 
and  died  May  5, 1863.  Dr.  !Miiniis  was  a  man  of  ex- 
traordinary energy,  thorough  in  the  investigation  of 
every  subject,  clear  in  the  illustration  of  the  deepest 
tliought,  and  truly  in  earnest  in  the  conversion  of  souls. 
See  Wilson,  I'nsh.  Hist.  Almanac,  1807,  \\  446. 

Miu'nith  (Ileb.  Minnith',  T^'^l'O,  distribution ;  Sept. 
in  Judg.  MtviSr  v.  r.  'Apj'(oi',Vulg.  Mennilh ;  in  Ezek. 
fivpa,bulsamuni),  a  town  in  the  country  of  the  Ammon- 
ites, to  which  Jephthah  pursued  them  (Judg.  xi,  33\ 
celebrated  for  the  excellence  of  its  wheat,  which  was 
exported  to  the  markets  of  Tyre  (Ezek.  xxvii,  17).     It 


still  existed  in  the  age  of  Eusebius,  four  Roman  miles 
from  Heshbon,  on  the  road  to  Philadelphia  (Onomast.  s. 
V.  ^laavi^,  Jerome  Mannith).  Schwarz  (Palest. p.  230) 
thinks  it  the  same  with  the  present  Minja,  five  miles 
east  of  Hesban.  " ' From  Aroer  to  the  approach  to  ilin- 
nith'  (  "2  ?jX12  1?)  seems  to  have  been  a  district  con- 
taining twenty  cities.  Miimith  was  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Abel-Ceramim,  the  'meadow  of  vineyards.' 
In  this  vicinity  were  possibly  situated  the  vineyards 
in  which  Balaam  encountered  the  angel  on  his  road 
from  Mesopotamia  to  Moab  (Numb,  xxii,  24).  An  epis- 
copal city  of  'Palestina  secnnda,'  named  Mennith,  is 
quoted  by  Keland  (Puhest.  p.  211),  but  with  some  (jues- 
tion  as  to  its  being  located  in  this  direction  (p.  209).  A 
site  bearing  the  name  Menjah  is  marked  in  Van  de 
Velde's  Map,  perhaps  on  the  authority  of  Buckingham, 
at  seven  Roman  miles  east  of  Heshbon,  on  a  road  to 
Amman,  though  not  on  the  frequented  track"  (Smith). 
Mino,  jMaestijo,  a  distinguished  sculptor,  flourish- 
ed during  the  15th  century.  The  exact  dates  of  his 
birth  and  death  are  unknown.  He  is  sometimes  called 
Mixo  DEL  Regno.  The  statues  of  «S'«k  Pietro  and  San 
Paolo,  which  are  in  the  sacristy  of  St.  Peter's,  at  Rome, 
but  which  until  1847  stood  at  tlie  foot  of  the  steps  of  St. 
Peter's,  are  his  work;  also  the  Tomb  of  Pope  Paul  II, 
in  the  Basilica  of  St.  Peter's.    See  Vasari,  Lives  of  the 

I  Painters,  transl.  by  Mrs.  Foster  (Lond.  1850.  5  vols.  8vo), 

I  ii,  85. 

Minor  Canon  is  the  name  frequently  applied  to  a 
petty  canon,  petty  prebendary,  or  sub-canon  : 

j  (1.)  A  vicar  in  priest's  orders  in  the  old  foundations; 
a  representative  and  auxiliary  who  celebrated  at  the 
high  altar  in  the  absence  of  a  canon.  Generally  there 
were  four,  occasionally  as  many  as  eight.  In  most  cases 
they  were  the  vicars  of  the  four  dignitaries.  In  the 
Romish  Church  of  England  the  word  designated  in 
some  instances  the  prebendaries  who  were  in  minor  or- 
ders, and  at  York  a  major  canon  was  one  who  Lad  kept 
the  greater  residence.  At  St.  Paul's  they  form  a  col- 
lege, instituted  in  1395,  over  and  above  the  thirty  vic- 

i  ars.     The  latter  sinig  the  matin  and  lady  mass;  but 

'  the  minor  canons  chanted  the  mass  of  requiem  for  their 
founder,  as  well  as  the  apostles'  and  high  or  cliapter 
masses,  being  required  in  addition  to  attend  all  the 
hours.  All  were  priests  under  a  superior,  called  a  war- 
den.    Their  almoner  looked  after  the  choristers.     The 

I  two  cardinals,  who  had  a  d()id)le{l  stipend,  were  parish 

I  priests  of  the  close.  They  furnished  the  librarian,  sub- 
dean,  succentor,  and  divinity  lecturer,  and  the  perpetual 
gospeller  and  epistoler.  In  1378  they  wore  sur|ilices, 
dark  almuces  of  calaba,  lined  with  minever,  with  a 
black  cope  and  hood,  trimmed  with  silk  or  linen. 

(2.)  A  subordinate  or  stipendiary  priest,  appointed  by 
the  dean  and  chapter  in  the  new  foundations;  and  by 
the  original  constitution  the  number  equalled  that  of  the 
canons,  and  the  stipend  half  that  of  the  latter.  They 
had  a  share  in  the  quotidian.  In  the  time  of  Charles  I 
their  numbers  were  reduced.  Tliey  had  no  estates  of 
their  own,  and  lived  in  a  common  liall,  along  with  the 
schoolmasters,  lay  singers,  and  choristers.  Minor  canons 
are  removable  by  the  dean  and  cha]iter,  and  are  now 
choral  substitutes  of  the  canons  residentiary,  ofliciating 
in  turn,  under  their  authority,  jointly  with  the  dean. 
See  Walcott,  Sacred  A  rcha-olof/y,  s.  v. ;  Staunton,  Peeks. 
Diet.  s.  V.    See  also  Canon,  Ecci.ksiasticai,. 

Minor,  Launcelot  Byrd,  a  missionary  of  the 
Proti'stant  I",i>i>c(iiial  Chunli.was  Imrn  at  Topping  Cas- 
tle. Carolina  County,  Ya.,  Sejit.  9,  1M13.  In  lKi3  he  en- 
tered the  theological  seminary  of  Yirginia.  Missiona- 
ries being  required  for  West  Africa,  he  determined  to 
give  himself  to  the  work.  He  was  ordained  in  1836, 
and  sailed  from  Baltimore  for  Cape  Palmas  ^lay  8. 1837. 
Immediately  after  arrival  in  liis  field  of  labor,  be  as- 
sume<l  the  charge  of  a  school  at  Mount  Yauglian.  Cape 
Palmas.  In  .\iiril,  1839,  he  visited  the  Gold  Coast,  of 
which  he  gave  a  graphic  account  to  the  Board  of  Mis- 


MINOR 


303 


MINSTREL 


sions.  In  the  same  year  he  returned  to  the  United 
States  on  a  visit,  and  while  here  he  married.  Shortly 
after  he  returned  to  Africa,  to  take  charge  of  a  small 
chapel  at  Mount  Vaughan.  In  18-il  he  took  part  in  an 
exploring  expedition,  having  for  its  object  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  station  in  the  district  of  Taboo,  and  in 
1843  he  removed  his  family  to  that  locality;  but  just  as 
he  was  ready  to  commence  his  labors  there  he  died. 
lie  possessed' neither  brilliant  talents  nor  a  strong  intel- 
lect, but  his  devotion  to  his  work  made  him  so  ear- 
nest and  zealous  that  everything  gave  way  before  him. 
The  natives  were  attracted  by  tlie  amiableness  of  his 
character,  and  his  influence  over  them  was  most  potent 
and  blessed. — H.  W.  Pierson,  American  Missionary  Me- 
morial, p.  449. 

Minor,  Melchior  Gottlieb,  a  German  theolo- 
gian, was  born  at  Zilzendorf,  in  the  Silesian  county  of 
Brieg,  Dec.  "28, 1G93 ;  received  his  preparatory  education 
at  the  orphan  school  at  Halle,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  by  great  proficiency  in  the  ancient  languages ; 
in  1709  he  entered  the  gymnasium  at  Zittau,  and  in  1712 
the  university.  He  studied  theology  and  philosophy  at 
Wittenberg ;  soon  afterwards  he  went  to  Halle,  to  study 
modern  languages,  civil  and  ecclesiastical  law,  and 
mathematics.  Upon  the  completion  of  his  course  in 
1715,  he  returned  to  his  native  city,  where  he  got  a  po- 
sition as  tutor;  in  1720  he  was  appointed  minister  at 
Teppliwode,  in  the  principality  of  Miinsterberg ;  and  in 
1722  minister  at  Landshut.  Some  time  after  he  was 
appointed  counsellor  of  the  Prussian  consistory,  and  in- 
spector of  churches  and  schools  of  the  district  of 
Schweidnitz.  He  died  Sept.  24,  1748.  Some  of  his 
most  important  works  are.  Das  Leben  im  Leiden,  eine 
Leichenpredigt  iiher  Psa.  xlii,  2,  3  (Landshut,  1723,  fol.)  : 
— Das  nothige  Wissen  eines  Chiisten  (Janer,  1723, 12mo) : 
•^ — Kurze  Nachricht  von  den  Altdren  der  Jiiden,  Ileiden 
laid  Christen,  mit  einer  Beschreibimg  des  in  der  Gnaden- 
Mrche  von  Landshut  erhauten  Altars  (Landshut,  1725, 
4to): — Hanptsumme  der  chrisfUchen  Lehi-e  (ibid.  172G, 
12mo)  : — Geistliche  Reden  und  Ahhandlungen  (Leipsic 
and  Breslau,  2  vols.  1752,  8vo) : — Heilige  Betrachtitngen 
iiher  die  Evangelien  (ibid.  1756, 8vo) : — Heilige  Betruch- 
tungen  iiber  die  Leidensgeschichte  Jesu  (ibid.  1757,  large 
8vo).     See  Doring,  Gelehrte  Theol.  Deutschlands,  s.  v. 

Minorca  (Span.  Menorca),  one  of  the  Balearic  Isles, 
some  twenty-five  miles  distant  from  Majorca,  the  largest 
of  the  group,  is  31  miles  long  and  13  miles  wide,  cover- 
ing in  all  a  territory  of  about  300  square  miles,  and 
counting  37,280  inhabitants,  subject  to  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment. The  coast  of  Minorca,  broken  into  numerous 
bays  and  inlets,  is  fringed  with  islets  and  shoals,  and  its 
surface,  less  mountainous  than  that  of  Majorca,  is  un- 
dulating, rising  to  its  highest  point  in  Mount  Toro,  4793 
feet  above  the  sea-level.  Its  chief  productions  are  mar- 
ble, slate,  plaster,  the  common  cereals  and  legumes,  or- 
anges, silk,  lemons,  oil,  wine,  olives,  and  aromatic  herbs. 
The  chief  towns  are  Port  Mahon,  the  capital,  and  Ciu- 
dadela,  the  former  capital,  with  a  population  of  about 
4000.  There  are  many  remains  of  Celtic  civilization  on 
the  island.  The  people  of  Jlinorca  {Menorquines)  are 
very  indolent,  the  women  verj'  stylish  aiid  polite.  The 
religious  history  of  the  Menorquines  is  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  that  of  their  rulers  that  we  must  refer  to 
the  article  Spain. 

Minoress  is  another  name  under  which  the  ff)llow- 
ers  of  St.  Clare  are  distinguished.     See  Clare,  St. 

Minorites,  a  name  of  the  Franciscan  order,  derived 
from  tlie  later  denomination  adopted  by  their  founder, 
Fratres  Minores.     See  Franciscans. 

Minos,  a  Cretan  hero  and  lawgiver,  figures  in  Greek 
mythology  and  legends.  There  are  many  writers  who 
speak  of  two  characters  of  that  name,  but  Homer  and 
Hesiod  know  of  only  one  Minos,  the  king  of  Cnossus, 
and  son  and  friend  of  the  god  Jupiter  himself.  We  are 
told  that  Minos  secured  the  throne  by  promising  sacri- 
fices to  the  gods,  and  that  when  he  had  acquired  the 


power  he  was  cruel  and  tyrannical ;  and  that  after  he 
liad  subjected  the  Athenians  he  treated  them  merci- 
lessly, and  required  their  boys  and  virgins  as  sacrifices 
to  the  Minotaur  (q.  v.).  Although  these  legends  and 
fables  are  of  but  little  interest,  Minos  deserves  a  place 
here  as  a  benefactor  of  the  race ;  and,  if  his  existence  be 
not  mythical,  he  must  be  ranked  among  the  wise  men 
of  the  earth.  To  him  the  celebrated  Laws  of  Minos, 
which  served  as  a  model  for  the  legislation  of  Lycurgus,' 
are  ascribed.  He  is  said  to  have  dealt  out  justice,  and 
to  have  so  pleased  the  gods  that  he  became  a  judge  of 
the  souls  which  entered  the  infernal  regions.  Minos 
has  by  some  writers  on  antiquity  been  identified  with 
Jlanu  (or  ]\Ienu),  the  great  Hindu  lawgiver.  See  VoU- 
mer,  Mythologisches  WOrterbuch,  s.  v. 

Minotaur  (i.  e.  the  Bull  of  Minos')  is  one  of  the 
most  repulsive  conceptions  of  Grecian  mythology.  He 
is  represented  as  the  son  of  Pasiphae  and  a  bull,  for 
which  she  had  conceived  a  passion.  It  was  half  man, 
half  bull — a  man  with  a  bull's  head.  Minos,  the  hus- 
band of  Pasiphae,  shut  him  up  in  the  Cnossian  Laby- 
rinth, and  there  fed  him  with  youths  and  maidens, 
whom  Athens  was  obliged  to  supply  as  an  annual  trib- 
ute, till  Theseus,  with  the  help  of  Ariadne,  slew  the 
monster.  See  Minos.  The  Minotaur  is,  Avith  some 
probability,  regarded  as  a  sjonbol  of  the  Phoenician  sun- 
god.    See  VoUmer,  Mythologisches  Wurterbuch,  s.  v. 

Minshall,  Robert,  a  minister  of  the  IMethodist 
Episcopal  Church,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1788; 
entered  the  Baltimore  Conference  in  1813 ;  and  died  in 
Mercersburg,  Pa.,  July  15, 1828.  He  was  a  man  of  fine 
talents  and  great  piety  and  zeal.  He  was  especially 
useful  as  a  promoter  of  Sunday-schools  and  tract  socie- 
ties, and  was  also  an  excellent  and  faithful  minister  of 
the  Word. — Minnies  of  Conferences,  ii,  37. 

Minster  signified  originally,  as  in  the  writings  of 
Cassian,  St.  Athanasius,  and  Jerome,  the  cell  of  a  soli- 
tary ;  but  the  word  was  extended  by  Eusebius  to  em- 
brace the  church  or  the  abode  of  a  religious  community. 
(1.)  A  church  of  regular  canons.  (2.)  A  church  for- 
merly served  bj'  monks  (in  Germany  the  terra  Mtinster 
is  still  emploj'ed,  and  Marmoutier  in  France  —  majus 
monasterium,  or  great  minster).  (3.)  A  cathedral.  (4.) 
IMany  large  churches,  held  by  secular  canons,  were  dig- 
nified by  the  title  of  minster.  (5.)  Paris  churches,  in 
9G0,  were  called  minsters,  and  several  retain  the  name. 
These  were  the  original  outposts  of  the  Church,  isolated 
stations  of  priests  living  under  rule  and  in  community, 
which  in  time  became  parishes.  See  Walcott,  Sacred 
Archteology,  s.  v. 

Minster  Ham  is  the  term  applied  to  a  sanctuarj'- 
house,  in  which  persons  were  afforded  refuge  for  three 
days.  If  it  were  burdened  with  the  king's  purvej-ance, 
they  might  remain  for  d  longer  period. 

Minstrel  (".V^"?)  menaggen',  one  striking  the  harp, 
2  Kings  iii,  15:  avXrjTiif;,  Matt,  ix,  33,  a  flute-player, 
"piper,"  Rev.  xviii,  22).  Music  was  often  employed  by 
the  Hebrews  for  sacred  purposes,  and  in  the  case  of 
Elisha  it  appears  to  have  conduced  to  inspiration  (2 
Kings  iii,  15).  See  Music.  It  was  a  usual  accompani- 
ment of  funerals  likewise  (Matt,  ix,  33  ;  comp.  Josephus, 
War,  iii,  9,  5),  as  it  is  still  in  the  East  (see  Hackett's 
Illustra.  of  Script,  p.  113).     See  Burial. 

The  English  word  minstrel  represents  the  French  word 
menestral,  which  is  itself  a  diminutive  of  ininistrel' and 
is  applied  to  the  class  of  persons  who  administered  to 
the  amusement  of  their  patrons  by  their  skill  in  music 
and  poetn,'.  Chaucer  uses  the  word  minister  in  the 
sense  of  minstrel  in  his  Dreame  (Richardson,  s.  v.,  and 
Du  Cange,  Gloss.).  The  class  of  minstrels  had  in  me- 
dieval times  a  social  position  almost  akin  to  the  bards 
and  scalds  whose  Sagas  they  sung  and  whose  inspiration 
they  imitated  at  humble  distance.  Musical  sound  has 
been  an  accompaniment  of  religious  worship  in  all  coun- 
tries. The  expert  player  on  the  musical  instrument 
has  been  associated  with  the  possessor  of  yet  higher  fao- 


mXSTREL 


304 


MINT 


ulties  (sec  Wilkinson's  A  ncient  Egyptians,  chap,  ii,  and 
representations  of  harpers  in  the  tomb  of  Kamescs  III, 
Thebes;  Sliiller's  ///*■/.  of  Greek  Literature,  cha^.  xii). 
The  "pleasant  voice  and  lovely  song,"  and  the  art  of 
"  playing  well  on  an  instrument,"  were  associated  with 
the  functions  of  projjhecy  (Ezek.  xxxiii,  31-33).  Vari- 
ous passages  of  Holy  Scripture  show  that  the  skilful 
performance  of  sacred  music  formed  a  large  portion  of 
the  education  of  the  sons  of  the  prophets ;  1  Sam.  x,  b, 
"  Thou  shalt  meet  a  company  (ban,  Sept.  xopof)  of 
prophets  coming  down  from  the  high  place,  with  a  psal- 
tery, a  tabret,  a  pipe,  and  a  harp  be/ore  them  [see  Proimi- 
kt],  and  they  shall  prophesy."  It  is  not  certain  wheth- 
er the  prophets  were  here  distinct  from  the  players  on 
instruments,  but  most  probably  they  were  the  same  in- 
dividuals as  those  of  whom  we  read  elsewhere,  that  they 
"should  prophesy  with  harps,  with  psalteries,  and  with- 
cymbals"  (1  Chron.  xxv,  1);  that  they  resembled  "  the 
sons  of  Asaph,  of  Ileman,  and  of  Jeduthun,  who  should 
prophesy  with  a  harp,  according  to  the  order  of  the 
king,  to  give  thanks  and  to  praise  the  Lord"  (see  also 
ver.  G,  7).  In  this  passage  the  performance  of  sacred 
song  and  choral  music  in  the  temple  received  the  exalt- 
ed ilesignation  of  prophecy.  Sacred  music,  "  a  joyful 
noise  unto  the  Lord,"  and  "  thanksgiving  to  the  Lord 
upon  an  instrument  of  ten  strings,  and  upon  the  psal- 
tery" (Psa.  Ixvi,  1 ;  lxxxvii,7;  xcii,  1-3;  c,  1),  were  char- 
acteristics of  close  communion  with  God.  The  eifect 
produced  upon  the  auditors  is  described  (I  Sam.  x,  (5)  as 
being  in  that  instance  very  remarkable — Saul  is  assured 
that  when  he  hoars  the  prophetic  minstrelsy, "  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  will  come  upon  him,  and  he  shall  prophesy 
with  them,  and  be  turned  into  another  man."  See  ver. 
II,  and  comp.  1  Sam.  xix,  20-24,  the  account  of  the 
prophets  being  instructed  liy  Samuel,  and  the  effect  of 
the  holy  song  under  the  intluence  of  the  Spirit  of  (iod 
upon  Saul's  messengers,  and  afterwartls  upon  Saul  him- 
self. Saul  is  thus  seen  to  be  peculiarly  accessible  to 
the  highest  influences  of  music,  and  hence  the  advice 
tendered  to  him  by  his  servants  (I  Sam.  xvi,  IC), "  Seek 
out  a  man  who  is  a  cunning  player  on  a  harp,  and  it 
shall  come  to  pass  that  when  the  evil  spirit  from  God  is 
upon  thee,  that  he  shall  play  with  his  hand  and  thou 
shalt  be  well."  The  pjirticipial  form  'S'S'a  (from  'J!,  in 
Piel,  which  is  used  of  striking  the  strings  of  a  musical 
instrument)  is  here  translated  "a  player,"  and  in  2  Kings 
iii,  1.5,  "minstrel."  The  effect  produced  on  Saul  was  re- 
markable. See  Sail.  The  custom  of  applying  such 
a  remedy  to  mental  disturbance  may  be  traced  in  other 
writings.  Thus  Quintil.  {Instil.  Orat.  lib.  ix,  chap.  4) 
says, "  Pythagoreis  moris  fuit,  cum  somnum  peterent  ad 
lyram  prius  Icnire  mcntes,  ut  si  quid  fuisset  turbidiorum 
cogitationum  componerent"(comp.  Plutarch,  I)e  Miisica, 
and  Aristotle,  Pol.  lib.  viii,  chap.  5 ;  Apollonius  Dyscolos, 
De  Mirit,  quoted  by  (irotius,  ad  loc, 'Inrot  >}  KaraXav- 
aiQ  T)]Q  Siavoiac  tKiTTuaiig.  See  also  Kin/f  Lear,  act.  ii, 
sc.  v,  where  music  is  used  to  bring  back  the  wandering 
mind  of  Lear).  Josephus  (/in/,  vi, 8, 2),  in  his  account 
of  the  transaction,  associates  the  singing  of  hymns  by 
David  with  the  harp-playing,  and  sliows  that  though 
the  tragedy  of  Saul's  life  was  lightened  for  a  while  by 
the  skilful  minstrelsy  of  David,  the  raving  madness  soon 
triumphed  over  the  tranquillizing  intluence  (comp.  1 
Sam.  xviii,  10;  xix,  10).  AVeemse  (ChrlM.  Stpiarpt/ue, 
chap,  vi,  §  3,  par.  G,  p.  143)  supposes  that  the  music  ap- 
propriate to  such  occa.sions  was  "  that  which  the  Greeks 
called  uppovia}',  which  was  the  greatest  and  the  sad- 
dest, and  settled  tlie  affections." 

In  many  references  of  Holy  Scripture  the  minstrel  and 
the  prophet  appear  to  be  identical,  and  their  functions 
the  same;  but  in  2  Kings  iii,  \b  their  resi)eitive  func- 
tions are  clearly  distinguished.  The  prophet  Klisha 
needed  the  influence  of  "the  minstrel"  to  soothe  the  irri- 
tation occasioned  by  the  aggravating  alliance  of  Israel 
with  Judah.  Not  until  this  was  effected  would  the  pro- 
phetic intluence  guide  him  to  a  sound  vaticination  of 


j  the  duty  and  destinj'  of  the  allied  forces.     The  min- 
strelsy was  produced,  according  to  Procopius,  by  a  Le- 
1  vite,  who  sung  the  Psalms  of  David  in  the  hearing  of 
the  prophet;  if  so,  he  was  thus  the  means  of  producing 
that  condition  of  mind  by  which  the  pro])het  was  lifted 
above  the  perceptions  of  his  senses,  and  the  circum- 
stances which  surrounded  him,  into  a  higher  region  of 
j  thought,  where  he  might  by  divine  grace  penetrate  the 
secret  purposes  of  God,    Jarchi  says  that  "  on  account 
,  of  anger  the  Shechinah  had  departed  from  him ;"  Eph- 
]  raem  Syrus,  that  the  object  of  the  music  was  to  at- 
tract a  crowd  to  hear  the  prophecy;  J.  H.  Jlichaelis, 
that  the  prophet's  mind,  disturbed  i)y  the  impiety  of  the 
Israelites,  might  be  soothed  and  i prepared  for  divine 
things  by  a  siiiritual  song.     According  to  Keil  (Comm. 
on  Kings,  i,359,  Eng.  tr.),"Elisha  calls  for  a  minstrel,  in 
order  to  gather  in  his  thoughts  by  the  soft  tones  of  mu- 
sic from  the  impression  of  the  outer  world,  and,  by  re- 
pressing the  life  of  self  and  of  the  worid,  to  be  transferred 
'  into   the  state  of  internal  vision,  by  which  his  sjtirit 
j  would  be  prepared  to  receive  the  divine  revelation." 
I  This  in  effect  is  the  view  taken  by  Joseiduis  {Ant.  ix,3, 
1  1),  and  the  same  is  expressed  by  !Maimonides  in  a  pas- 
j  sage  which  embodies  the  opinion  of  the  Jews  of  the 
I  ^Middle  Ages.     "All  the  prophets  were   not   able  to 
I  prophesy  at  any  time  that  they  wished;  but  they  pre- 
\  pared  their  minds,  and  sat  joyful  and  glad  of  heart,  and 
abstracted;  for  prophecy  dwelleth  not  in  the  midst  of 
melancholy,  nor  in  the  midstof  apathy,  but  in  the  midst 
of  joy.     Therefore  the  sons  of  the  prophets  had  before 
them  a  psaltery,  and  a  tabret,  and  a  piiie,  and  a  harp, 
and  [thus]  sought  after  prophecy"  (or  proplietic  inspira- 
tion) {Yad  hachazakah,  vii.  5,  Bernard's  Cired  and  Eth- 
ics of  the  Jeii-s,  p,  IG ;  see  also  note  to  p.  114).     Kimchi 
quotes  a  tradition  to  the  effect  that,  after  the  ascension 
of  his  master  Elijah,  the  spirit  of  prophecy  had  not 
dwelt  upon  Klisha  because  he  was  mourning,  and  the 
spirit  of  holiness  does  not  dwell  but  in  the  midst  of  joy. 
The  references  given  above  to  the  power  and  dignity  of 
song  may  sufficiently  explain  the  occurrence.    The  spir- 
itual ecstasy  was  often  bestowed  without  any  means, 
but  many  instances  are  given  of  subordinate  physical 
agencies  being  instrumental  in  its  production  (Eztk.  ii, 
I  2  ;  iii,  24 ;  Isa.  vi,  1 ;  Acts  x,  9, 10 ;  Kev.  i,  9, 10). 
j      The  word  minstrel  is  used  of  the  aiXlj-ai^  who,  in 
IMatt.  ix,  23,  are  represented  as  mourning  and  making  a 
noise  on  the  death  of  .lairus's  daughter.     Tlie  custom 
of  hiring  mourners  at  the  death  of  friends  is  seen  on 
Etruscan  amphone,  tombs,  and  bass-reliefs  (see  Dennis's 
Etruria,  i,  295;  ii.  .344,354,  where  music  was  considered 
appropriate;  and  Wilkinson,  Ancient  Egyptians,  ii,  306- 
373).    Skill  in  lamentation  (Amos  v,  16 ;  Jer.  ix,  17)  was 
not  necessarily  skill  in  playing  on  the  pipe  or  tiute,  but 
probably  included  that  accomplishment  (Ecdes.  xii,  5; 
j  2  Chron.  XXXV,  25), — Kitto;  Smith.     See  Molkxixg. 

Minstrels'  Gallery,  in  a  church,  forms  a  sort  of 
'  orchestra  for  the  accommodation  of  vocal  and  instru- 
I  mental  performers.  It  is  quite  conmion  in  Continental 
churches,  but  is  very  rarely  met  with  in  ICngland. 
i  There  is  a  gallery  of  this  sort  over  the  altar-screen  at 
Chichester  cathedral,  and  another,  much  more  remark- 
;  alile.  near  the  middle  of  the  north  side  of  the  choir  of 
I  Exeter  cathedral.  It  is  supimrted  upon  thirteen  pil- 
I  lars,  Iwtween  every  two  of  which,  in  a  niched  recess, 
there  is  a  sculptured  representation  of  an  angel  playuig 
upon  a  musical  instrument.  Among  these  we  observ-e 
the  cittern,  bagpi|ie,  harji,  violin.  pi])e,  tambourine,  etc. 
The  roof  of  Out  well  church,  Norfolk,  and  the  minstrels' 
column  at  Beverley,  also  exhibit  a  great  variety  of  mu- 
sical instruments  anciently  used  in  our  churches,  in- 
dependent of  the  organ  and  the  regalls,  which  was  a 
small  portable  organ,  having  one  row  of  jiipcs  giving 
the  treble  notes,  the  same  number  of  keys,  and  a  small 
pair  of  liellows  moved  with  the  left  hand. — Staunton's 
Eccks.  Diet.  s.  V. 

Mint  {t'lSioapoi',  sweet-scenteil)  occurs  fMatt.  xxiii. 


MINT 


305 


MINUCIUS 


23 ;  Luke  xi,  42)  among  the  smaller  garden  herbs  which 
the  Pharisees  pmictiliously  tithed.  See  Anise  ;  Dill. 
It  was  much  esteemed  as  a  warming  condiment  by  the 
ancients  (Pliny,  xix,  47;  xx,  53;  xxi,  18;  Dioscor.  iii, 
41 ;  Martial,  x,  48,  8  sq. ;  the  Romans  calling  it  mentha, 
and  the  Greeks  jxii'Sii))  as  well  as  the  Jews  (Mishna, 
Okzim.  i,  2 ;  Ohol.  viii,  1 ;  also  the  Talmudical  tracts 
Shem  ve-Jobel,  vii,  2 ;  Sheb.  vii,  1 ;  the  rabbins  call  it 
KripTD ;  it  was  even  strewed,  for  the  sake  of  its  odor, 
upon  the  floors  of  houses  and  synagogues,  Buxtorf,  Lex. 
Rah.  p.  1228),  and  as  it  still  is  in  Eastern  countries  (Raf- 
fenau  DAWe,  Flora  Aegypt.  in  the  Descr.  de  VEf/ypte, 
xix).  "  Some  commentators  have  supposed  that  such 
herbs  as  mint,  anise  (dill),  and  cumin,  were  not  titha- 
ble  by  law,  and  that  tlie  Pharisees  solely  from  an  over- 
strained zeal  paid  tithes  for  them ;  but  as  dill  was  sub- 
ject to  tithe  {Masserotli,  iv,  5),  it  is  most  probable  that 
the  other  herbs  mentioned  with  it  were  also  tithed,  and 
this  is  fully  corroborated  by  our  Lord's  own  words: 
'  These  ought  ye  to  have  done.'  The  Pharisees,  there- 
fore, are  not  censured  for  paying  tithes  of  things  un- 
tithable  by  law,  but  for  paying  more  regard  to  a  scru- 
pulous exactness  in  these  minor  duties  than  to  impor- 
tant moral  obligations"  (Smith). 

'•It  is  difficidt  to  determine  the  exact  species  or  va- 
riety of  mint  employed  by  the  ancients.  There  are  nu- 
merous species  very  nearly  allied  to  one  another.  They 
usually  grow  in  moist  situations,  and  are  herbaceous, 
perennial,  of  powerful  odor,  especially  when  bruised,  and 
have  small  reddish-colored  flowers,  arranged  in  spikes 
or  wliorls.  The  taste  of  these  plants  is  bitter,  warm, 
and  pungent,  but  leaving  a  sensation  of  coolness  on  the 
tongue ;  in  their  properties  they  are  so  similar  to  each 
other,  that,  either  in  medicine  or  as  a  condiment,  one 
species  may  safely  be  substituted  for  another.  The  spe- 
cies most  common  in  Syria  is  Mentha  si/lvesiris,  found 


Mentha  Siilvcstris. 

by  Russell  at  Aleppo,  and  mentioned  by  him  as  one  of 
the  herbs  cultivated  in  the  gardens  there.  It  also  oc- 
curs in  Greece,  Taurus,  Caucasus,  the  Altai  Range,  and 
as  far  as  Cashmere.  M.  arvensis  is  also  a  widely-diffused 
species,  being  found  in  Greece,  in  parts  of  Caucasus,  in 
the  Altai  Range,  and  in  Cashmere"  (Kitto).  (See  Celsii 
Hierob.  i,  543  sq.)  Lady  Calcott  {Script.  Herb.  p.  280) 
makes  the  following  ingenious  remark:  "I  know  not 
whether  mint  were  originally  one  of  the  bitter  herbs 
with  which  the  Israelites  eat  the  Paschal  lamb,  but  our 
use  of  it  with  roast  lamb,  particularly  about  Easter  time, 
inclines  me  to  suppose  it  was."  The  same  writer  also 
observes  that  the  modern  Jews  eat  horseradish  and 
chervil  witli  lamb.  The  wood-cut  represents  the  horse 
mint  (M.  si/lrestris).  which  is  common  in  Syria,  and,  ac- 
cording to  Russell  (A'((/.  Hist,  of  Aleppo,  p.  39),  found  in 
the  gardens  at  Aleppo ;  J/,  sativa  is  generally  supposed 
VI.-U 


to  be  only  a  variety  of  M.  ai-vensis,  another  species  of 
mint;  perhaps  all  these  were  known  to  the  ancients. 
The  mints  belong  to  the  large  natural  order  Lubiatce. 

Mintert,  Peter,  a  Dutch  theologian,  flourished  for 
many  years  at  Heerle,  in  Holland,  about  the  beginning 
of  the  18th  century.  He  was  noted  lor  his  great  learn- 
ing as  a  Biblical  scholar  and  theologian.  His  principal 
work  was  the  Lexicon  GrcBco-Latinum  in  Novum  Tes-  ■ 
tamenium  Jesu  Christi ;  cum  Prcefatione  J.  G.  Piilii 
(Francof.  1728,  4to).  There  was  no  better  lexicon  than 
this  of  Mintert  previous  to  the  publication  of  Schleus- 
ner's  Xoviim  Lexicon.  It  is  valuable  for  its  numerous 
references  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  and  the  Septuagint ; 
and  is  helpful  as  a  concordance  as  well  as  a  lexicon  to 
the  student  of  the  N.-T.  Scriptures  in  the  original  ver- 
sion.— Kitto,  Cyclop,  of  Bibl.  Lit.  s.  v. 

Minturn,  Robeht  Browne,  an  American  philan- 
thropist, who  was  born  in  New  York  City  Nov.  1(5, 1805, 
and  with  a  good  preparatory  education  entered  busi- 
ness and  became  a  successful  merchant,  deserves  a 
place  here  as  one  of  the  founders  of  the  celebrated  St. 
Lukes  Hospital,  one  of  the  noblest  of  New  York  chari- 
ties. Minturn  also  labored  for  the  poor  and  the  sick  in 
many  other  wdys,  and  his  name  deserves  to  be  remem- 
bered iu  Christian  society.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
commissioners  of  emigration,  and  an  originator  of  the 
association  for  improving  the  condition  of  the  poor. 
He  died  Jan.  9, 18G6. 

Minuccio  (or  Minucci),  a  learned  Roman  Catho- 
lic prelate,  was  born  at  Serravalle,  Italy,  in  1551.  After 
having  been  prevost  at  Oettingen,  Germany,  he  became 
counsellor  to  the  duke  of  Bavaria.  He  was  next  secre- 
tary successively  to  popes  Innocent  IX  and  Clement 
VIII.  The  latter  appointed  him  in  1596  archbishop  of 
Zara,  in  Dalmatia.  lie  was  appointed  by  the  republic 
of  Venice  to  negotiate  a  peace  with  the  Uscoques  (ad- 
venturers), fugitives  from  Dalmatia,  who  availed  them- 
selves of  the  difficulties  existing  between  Austria  and 
Venice  to  rob  and  ransack  the  inhabitants  of  the  borders 
of  both  countries.  Minuccio  died  in  Munich  in  1604. 
He  wrote  in  Italian  the  history  of  these  filibusters  up  to 
1602;  it  was  published  at  Venice  (1676,  4to)  under  the 
title  of  Storia  clegli  Uscocchi,  with  a  continuation  as  far 
as  1616  by  Paoli  Sarpi.  He  also  wrote  ]'itn  snnctm  Au- 
gustm  de  Serravalle,  in  the  Bollandists  (of  JNIarch  27), 
and  in  the  Supplement  de  Siirius. — L^ghelli,  Italia  Sacra, 
vol.  V ;  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Minucius  Felix,  Marcus,  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated apologists  of  the  early  Latin  Church,  flourished 
iu  the  3d  century.  But  little  is  known  of  his  early  his- 
tory beyond  the  fact  that  he  was  a  native  of  Africa,  but 
removed  to  Rome,  and  there  successfully  exercised  the 
profession  of  advocate  until  his  conversion  to  Christian- 
ity. Lactantius  {Inst.  Dir.  1.  i,  c.  q ;  1.  v,  vi)  and  Jerome 
are  loud  in  his  praise,  and  assure  us  that  Minucius  was 
much  admired  for  his  eloquence.  He  is  ever  to  be  re- 
membered by  the  Christian  Church  as  one  of  her  ablest 
defenders  in  a  work  of  his  entitled  Octavius;  which  is  a 
dialogue  between  a  Christian  called  Octavius  and  a  hea- 
then called  Crecilius,  concerning  the  merits  of  the  two  re- 
ligions which  were  then  striving  for  supremacy.  In  this 
dialogue,  Octavius  repels  the  absurd  imputations  of  the 
heathens  against  the  early  Christians,  whom  they  ac- 
cused of  all  sorts  of  impurities  and  crimes  in  their  re- 
ligious meetings.  Through  fear  of  persecution,  these 
meetings  took  place  mostly  at  night  and  in  concealed 
places,  which  circumstances  exposed  them  to  the  oblo- 
quy of  vulgar  ignorance.  At  the  same  time  Octavius 
retorts  upon  his  co-disputant  by  exposing  the  notorious- 
ly licentious  practices  of  the  heathens.  The  style  of 
this  work  is  argumentative  and  sufiiciently  pure ;  the 
language  is  animated,  and  the  mode  of  treating  the  sub- 
ject attractive,  being  mixed  up  with  mythological 
learning  and  much  information  concerning  the  customs 
and  opinions  of  that  interesting  period.  '•  It  is,"  says 
Neander,   "a    felicitous   and    dramatic    representation 


:\iixuTiox 


306 


MIRxVCLES 


seized  from  life,  replete  with  good-sense,  and  pervaded 
by  a  lively  Ciiristiaii  feeling."  As  an  apology  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  work  of  Minucius  Felix  is  a  companion  to 
those  of  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Athenagoras,  Theophi- 
lus  of  Antioch,  Justin,  Tertullian,  and  other  early  ad- 
vocates of  the  Christian  faith  in  its  times  of  trial  and 
depression,  and  forms  a  link  between  them  and  those  of 
Arnobius,  Lactantius,  Eusebius,  Ambrose,  and  the  other 
fathers  of  the  4th  century.  Octuvius  was  at  one  time 
attributed  to  Arnobius,  and  was  inserted  as  the  eighth 
book  of  his  disputations  .Ic/i-ersus  Gerties;  but  BahUun 
published  a  Dissi-rtativn  un  Minucius  (Kiel,  1G85),  which 
unquestionably  places  the  authorship  where  it  belongs 
— with  ^liiiucius.  Octuvius  is  now  extant  only  in  one 
MS.  C(jpy,  which  had  remained  unnoticed  in  the  Vatican 
library  until  the  pontificate  of  Leo  X,  who  gave  it  to 
Francis  I  of  France.  It  has  gone  through  many  edi- 
tions, among  which  those  by  James  Gronevius  (Leyden, 
1709),  by  Davis  (Cambridge.  1712),  and  by  Orelli  (Turic. 
183G),  deserve  notice.  The  latter  is  accompanied  by 
numerous  notes  by  Dr.  Davis  and  others,  and  a  disserta- 
tion, or  commentary,  by  Baldwin.  It  has  been  trans- 
lated into  French  by  the  abbe  De  Gourcy,  into  German 
by  Kusswurm  (Turic.  183G)  and  Lubkert  (Leips.  1830), 
and  into  English,  also,  in  Reeve's  Apologies  of  Justin 
Martyr,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  The  latest  and  best  edition  of  the 
original  is  by  Carl  llalm  (Vienna,  18G7). 

Another  work,  entitled  De  Fafo,  against  astrologers, 
is  mentioned  by  Jerome  as  being  ascribed  to  Minucius, 
although  Jerome  expresses  doubts  concerning  its  author- 
ship. This  work  is  not  known  to  be  extant  now.  See 
SchaflF,  Ch.  Jlisf.  vol.  i:  Ilagenbach,  y/w^  of  Doctrines, 
i,  03  sq. ;  Du  Pin,  Biljli<it/i.  des  aut.  Eccles.  i,  117  sq. ; 
Schrockh,  Kirch(ii;j<'sch.  iii,  420  sq. ;  Jahrb.  deutsch. 
Theol.  18G7.  Oct.; 'Meier,  De  Minucio  Felice  (Zurich, 
1824,  8 vo).     (J.  II.W.) 

Miuutiou  is  a  term  applied  by  monastics  of  the 
Middle  Ages  to  phlebotomy,  which  was  much  in  fashion 
in  those  times.  In  some  abbeys  a  bleeding-house,  called 
Flebutomuria,  was  sustained.  For  details  on  the  prac- 
tices of  the  monastics  in  minution,  see  Fosbrooke,  British 
Monachism  (Loud.  1817, 4to),  p.  321. 

Minzocchi,  Fhaxcksco,  a  renowned  painter  of  the 
Bolognese  school,  sometimes  called  //  veccJiio  di  San 
Bernardo,  was  born  in  Florence  in  1513.  In  his  youth 
he  studied  the  works  of  I'almigiani  in  his  native  city, 
and  from  him  he  aciiuired  a  weak  style,  as  evinced  in 
his  picture  of  the  Crucifixion  at  the  Padri  Osservanti. 
Afterwards  he  changed  his  manner,  assuming  a  more 
correct  and  beautiful  style;  and  his  subsequent  produc- 
tions are  marked  by  a  beauty  and  grace  rivalling  nature 
herself.  Among  his  most  careful  works  may  be  men- 
tioned two  lateral  pictures  at  the  cathedral  of  Loretto,  in 
a  chapel  of  S.  Francisco  di  Paola.  They  represent  the 
Sacrifice  of  Melchizedek  and  the  Miracle  of  the  Manna, 
.  in  which  the  prophets  and  principal  characters  are  given 
with  great  dignity  and  nobleness,  Scanneli  extols  a 
specimen  of  bis  works  in  fresco  on  the  ceiling  of  S. 
Maria  della  Grata  in  Forli,  representing  the  Deity  sur- 
rounded by  a  number  of  angels :  figures  full  of  spirit, 
majestic,  varied,  and  painted  with  a  power  and  skill  in 
foreshortening  which  entitles  him  to  greater  celebrity 
than  he  enjoys,  lie  left,  also,  a  number  of  productions 
in  the  cathedral  at  S.  Domenico.  He  was  so  much  ad- 
mired tliat  upon  the  demolition  of  the  chapels  his  least 
celebrated  frescos  were  earefidly  cut  out  and  preserved. 
He  died  in  1574.  See  Lanzi's  /Jistori/  of  Painting,  trans, 
by  Koscoe  (London,  1847,3  vols.  8vo),  iii,  56. 

Miph'kad  (Hob.  Miphkad',  IPS'?,  revieio  or  cen- 
sus of  the  people,  as  in  2  Sam.  xxiv,  9,  etc. ;  or  mandate, 
as  in  2  Chron.  xxxi,  13;  Sept.  fi\n(l)iKac,\ii\s;.JHdicia- 
lis),  the  name  of  a  gate  of  Jerusalem,  situated  opposite 
the  residence  of  the  Nethinirn  and  the  bazaars,  between 
the  Ilorse-gate  and  the  angle  of  tiie  ohl  wall  near  the 
Sheep-gate  (Xeh.  iii,  31)  ;  probably  identical  with  the 
Pridon-gate  (Neh.  xii,  39),  under  the  midiUe  of  the 


bridge  spannii>g  the  Tyropceon  (see  Strong's  TTarm.  and 
Expos,  of  the  Gosp.  Append,  ii,  p.  15).  Barclay  (t'ili/ 
of  the  Great  King,  p.  loG)  identities  it  with  the  High- 
gate  of  Benjamin  (Jer.  xx,  2),  and  locates  it  at  the  west 
end  of  the  bridge ;  but  that  gate  was  probablj-  situated 
elsewhere.  "  The  name  may  refer  to  some  memorable 
census  of  the  people,  as,  for  instance,  f.iat  of  Davi<l  (2 
Sam.  xxiv,  9,  and  1  Chron.  xxi,  5,  in  each  of  which  the 
word  used  for  'number'  is  miphkad),  or  to  the  superin- 
tendents of  some  portion  of  the  worship  (Pekidim,  see  2 
Chron.  xxxi,  13)"  (Smith).     See  Jeiusalem. 

Mirabaud,  Jeax  Baptiste,  a  French  philosopher 
of  some  celebrity,  was  born  in  Paris  in  1G7.5,  and  died  in 
1701).  He  was  at  home  in  the  literature  of  Italy  and  of 
Spain,  and  made  many  valuable  translations;  among 
others,  he  rendered  Tasso's  Jerusalem  Delicered  and  the 
Orlando  Furioso.  He  also  wrote  several  philosophical 
treatises,  which  in  172G  secured  him  admission  to  the 
French  Academy,  His  most  important  works  are,  Le 
Monde,  son  origine,  son  antiquite ;  and  Sentimens  des 
Philosophes  sur  la  nature  de  I'dme.  Mirabaud  was  for 
a  long  time  regarded  as  the  author  of  the  Si/steme  de 
la  Xature,  now  known  to  have  been  written  by  baron 
D'Holbach.  See  D'Alembert,  Ilktoire  des  Mcmbres  de 
V Academic  Frangaise ;  Iloefer,  Xotiv.  Biog,  Generale, 
s.  V. ;  L'ebenvcg,  /list,  of  Philosophy,  voL  iL 

Miracle  Plays.     See  Mystekies. 

Miracles.  In  every  age  there  are  certain  great 
movements  of  human  thought,  which  more  or  less  in- 
fluence the  convictions  of  men  in  the  mass,  and  carry 
them  on  to  conclusions  which,  but  a  few  years  before, 
would  have  seemed  altogether  improbable.  Sometimes 
it  is  very  difficidt  to  account  for  these  movements. 
There  has  often  been  no  master-mind  leading  tlie  way : 
whatever  works  have  been  written  have  rather  been 
the  result  of  the  wave  of  thought  passing  over  that 
small  portion  of  the  world  which  thinks  than  the  cause 
of  the  wave.  As  far  as  cause  can  be  traced,  the  new 
movement  is  a  reaction,  a  recoil  of  the  mind,  from  that 
which  has  gone  before,  wliether  in  the  way  of  dissatis- 
faction at  the  sloth  and  inactivity  of  the  previous  age, 
and  at  its  being  ignobly  content  to  have  no  high  as- 
piration, no  high  sense  of  the  nobleness  of  man's  mis- 
sion, or  a  rebound  from  overstrained  dogmatism  and 
principles  urged  on  to  an  extent  which  made  them  prac- 
tically a  burden  and  wearisomeness  too  great  for  men 
to  endure. 

The  latter  is  perhaps  the.more  common  origin  of  new 
developments  of  thought,  and  is  a  power  larger  and 
more  constantly  at  work  than  men  are  apt  to  imagine. 
But  the  explanation  of  tlie  movements  of  the  mind  in 
our  own  time  is  rather  to  be  sought  in  the  meanness 
of  the  last  century.  Upon  the  whole,  it  was  not  a  time 
of  high  purposes,  though  the  War  of  Independence  on 
the  one  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  the  resistance  to  the 
despotism  of  Napoleon  on  the  other,  show  that  it  was 
not  wanting  in  great  practical  results.  But  as  the  pres- 
ent century  advanced,  the  old  lethargy  which  had  en- 
wrapped the  n)iuds  of  the  English-speaking  race  gave 
way.  Some  men  became  intensely  active  in  working 
for  practical  reforms;  others  set  new  modes  of  thought 
in  motion,  and  everywhere  there  was  an  eager  desire 
for  thoroughness,  and  for  probing  the  princiides  of 
things  to  the  very  bottom.  The  old  argument  of  "con- 
tinuance"— that  a  thing  should  still  exist  because  it  had 
existed — gave  way  to  an  intense  realism,  which  woidd 
let  nothing  exist  unless  it  could  prove  its  right  to  ex- 
istence. Utilitarianism  became  the  order  of  the  day, 
and  that  poetry  which  often  gihls  a  sleepy  age,  and 
makes  it  (Iwell  at  peace  in  a  dreamland  of  repose,  van- 
ished before  tiie  energy  of  men  keenly  alive  to  the  ne- 
cessities and  imperfections  of  the  present. 

It  is  this  intense  realism  that  has  made  men  restless 
and  ill  at  ease  at  having  to  believe  in  miracles.  A  miracle 
stands  on  entirely  dilforent  gnunids  from  the  whole  pres- 
ent order  of  things,  and  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  main 


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current  of  our  thoughts.  There  have  been  ages  when 
men  lived  for  the  future,  when  the  present  was  neglected, 
and  things  unseen  were  the  realities  which  engrossed 
their  thoughts.  When  we  read  the  accounts  of  the 
trials  for  witchcraft  iu  New  England  a  century  or  two 
ago,  we  find  not  tlie  accusers  only,  but  the  accused  full 
of  ideas  of  the  preternatural.  What  they  saw  had  but 
shght  influence  upon  them ;  what  they  imagined  had 
alone  power  over  their  minds.  We,  on  the  contrary, 
live  in  the  present.  The  turn  of  our  minds  is  to  verify 
everything.  We  call  for  proof,  and  whatever  cannot  be 
proved  we  reject.  It  is  not  merely  miracles  which  we 
treat  thus,  but  mast  of  what  the  last  century  regarded 
as  historical  realities.  The  intense  historical  activity 
of  the  present  day,  which  has  rewritten  for  us  the  an- 
nals of  Greece  and  Rome,  of  the  Church  and  of  Eng- 
land, of  the  great  teras  of  Spain  and  the  Netherlands, 
besides  special  studies  of  great  value,  has  its  origin  in 
that  same  spirit  for  searching  and  proving  which  leads 
so  many  to  reject  miracles. 

It  is  altogether  imfair  to  lay  the  rejection  of  miracles 
to  the  charge  of  physical  science.  The  leaders  of  sci- 
ence are  as  thoroughly  realistic  as  our  historians  and 
men  of  letters,  but  not  more  so.  They  are  themselves 
phenomena  of  an  age  which  perpetually  asks  What  is  ? 
They  inquire  into  the  conformation  of  the  earth  and  its 
constituents ;  into  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
and  the  laws  which  govern  them,  with  the  same  eager- 
ness to  find  out  present  facts,  and  the  explanation  of 
them,  as  animates  the  historian  and  the  practical  re- 
former. Old  beliefs  in  our  day  can  no  more  stand  their 
ground  than  old  laws  and  old  customs,  unless  they  can 
prove  their  right  to  stand  by  an  appeal  to  present  use- 
fulness. It  is  of  no  use  to  appeal  to  anything  else.  In 
the  present  state  of  men's  minds,  if  a  thing  does  not  fit 
iu  to  the  present,  it  seems  to  have  no  right  to  exist  at  all. 

But  if  the  progress  of  physical  science  has  little  to  do 
with  the  dislike  to  miracles  and  the  supernatural,  the 
rapid  increase  of  material  wealth,  and  the  advance  made 
in  everj'thing  which  tends  to  present  comfort  and  en- 
joyment, have  much  to  do  with  it.  We  are  living  in 
an  age  when  the  present  is  full  of  enjoyment.  By  our 
large  ascendency  over  the  powers  of  nature,  the  earth 
yields  us  its;  treasures  with  a  bountifulness  never  known 
before.  Our  homes  are  replete  with  comforts  and  lux- 
uries little  dreamed  of  by  those  who  went  before ;  and 
the  secret  forces  of  nature  are  pressed  into  our  service, 
and  do  our  bidding.  Side  by  side  wilh  this  subjection 
of  nature  there  has  grown  up  a  greatness  of  material 
enterprise  unknown  before.  Vast  projects  are  under- 
taken and  persevered  in,  before  which  the  greatest  mer- 
chant princes  of  antiquity  would  have  quailed.  There 
is  a  grandeur  of  conception,  a  nobleness  of  purpose,  an 
unflinching  courage  in  many  of  the  commercial  under- 
takings of  the  present  day,  which,  though  gain  may  be 
their  final  object,  yet  give  them  a  dignity  and  a  poetry 
that  make  them  for  the  time  enough  to  conceal  the 
deep  cravings  which  are  man's  peculiar  endowment,  and 
which  mark  him  out  as  a  being  destined  for  no  common 
purposes. 

Yet  this  present  greatness  of  material  things  dwarfs 
many  of  man's  higher  gifts.  Its  influence  begins  early. 
Even  in  education  it  makes  men  aim  chiefly  at  utilita- 
rian objects,  and  at  too  early  results.  Parents  do  not 
care  for  anything  which  does  not  lead  directly  and  at 
once  to  profit  and  pay.  Whatever  develops  man's 
thinking  powers,  and  aims  simjily  at  making  him  bet- 
ter and  nobler  in  himself,  is  thrust  aside.  It  would  take 
too  much  time;  defer  too  long  the  quick  harvest  of 
gains;  might  make  men  even  indifferent  to  worldly 
prosperity,  and  unwilling  to  sacrifice  everything  to  ma- 
terial wealth.  Or,  at  ail  events,  it  lies  out  of  the  circle 
of  men's  every-day  thoughts.  Life  is  an  eager  race, 
with  boundless  prizes  for  all  who  press  onwards  and 
upwards.  In  so  active  a  contest,  with  every  energy 
on  the  stretch,  and  every  exertion  richly  rewarded,  it  is 
no  wonder  if  the  present  is  enough ;  and  in  its  enjoy- 


ment men  thrust  from  them  indignantly  everything 
that  would  interfere  with  and  render  them  less  fit  for 
the  keen  struggle  after  earthly  success. 

It  is  this  spirit  which  makes  it  so  difficult  for  men  to 
believe  in  miracles.  The  purpose  of  miracles,  and  their 
whole  use  and  intention  hold  so  entirely  distinct  a  place 
from  that  which  is  now  the  main  purpose  of  the  mass 
of  men,  that  they  will  hear  no  evidence  for  them,  nor 
stop  calmly  to  consider  whether  they  may  not  after  all 
hold  a  necessary  place  in  the  order  of  things,  and  be  as 
indispensable  for  man's  perfectness  as  is  this  present  ac- 
tivity. What  too  many  do  is  to  put  aside  the  consid- 
eration of  them  entirely.  They  have  a  sort  of  notion 
that  miracles  contradict  the  laws  of  nature,  and  are 
therefore  impossible.  Without  perhaps  denying  the 
historical  accuracy  of  the  Gospels  in  the  main,  they  yet 
suppose  that  they  were  written  by  credidous  men  in  a 
credulous  age,  and  that  if  cool  observers  had  been  pres- 
ent, they  could  have  explained  on  natural  grounds  all 
that  took  place.  Probably  they  do  not  think  much 
about  the  supernatural  at  all.  They  have  plenty  to  oc- 
cupy them ;  have  no  spare  time;  find  their  lives  fidl  of 
interest;  they  rise  early  to  their  labor  and  late  take 
rest;  and  so  are  content  with  a  general  feeling  that, 
whatever  may  be  the  explanation  of  man  being  what 
he  is,  and  of  the  world  being  what  it  is,  time  will  reveal 
it,  and  that  no  obligation  lies  upon  a  busy  man  to  in- 
quire into  abstruse  questions,  with  no  present  profit. 
When  business  is  over  and  old  age  has  come,  then  it 
will  be  his  duty  to  make  his  peace  with  God.  And  he 
will  do  so  in  the  ordinarj'  way,  as  other  men  do.  Ee- 
ligion  is  a  thing  relegated  to  the  background  for  the 
present;  in  due  time  he  will  attend  to  it  as  a  practical 
matter,  in  the  same  way  in  which  he  will  attend  to  the 
making  of  his  will. 

This  thorough  realism  of  the  19th  centurj',  intensified 
by  the  vast  facilities  of  combined  action  and  mutual  in- 
tercourse, which  make  us  live  constantly  in  one  an- 
other's company,  woidd  banish  all  care  and  thought  of 
the  future  from  our  minds,  if  it  were  not  that  the  belief 
in  the  existence  of  a  God  and  of  a  future  life  is  an  un- 
dying conviction  of  our  nature.  It  is  a  necessary  part 
of  ourselves  to  look  forward.  No  present  gains  or  suc- 
cesses can  content  us.  We  turn  always  to  the  future, 
and  that  with  an  eagerness  which  would  make  life  un- 
endurable if  we  were  forced  to  believe  that  life  were  all. 
The  doctrine  of  annihilation  may  be  professed,  but  can 
never  really  be  believed ;  for  it  violates  the  deepest  in- 
stincts of  our  hearts.  And  thus  compelled  by  the  verv 
constitution  of  our  natures  to  believe  that  there  is  a 
God,  and  that  we  exist  after  death,  religion  itself  be- 
comes a  very  real  thing,  and  supplies  a  real  need.  The 
existence  of  a  God  and  the  immortality  of  man  are  not 
doctrines  which  need  proving.  They  are  intuitions, 
innate  ideas,  which  may  and  do  gain  form  and  shape 
from  advancing  knowledge,  but  which  grew  out  of  the 
soul  itself.  Over  the  savage  they  have  little  influence, 
but  civilized  and  thinking  man  can  never  be  complete 
and  entire  unless  these  deep  instincts  of  his  inner  being 
have  their  needs  fully  met  and  satisfied.  In  a  man 
who  stands  perfect  and  complete,  the  necessities  of  the 
future  must  be  as  fully  and  entirely  recognised  and  sup- 
plied as  the  requirements  of  the  present.  He  must 
have  a  religion. 

Now  religion  is  either  natural  or  revealed.  Not  fhat 
these  two  are  opposed.  The  revealed  religion  which 
we  Christians  profess  contains  and  gives  new  authority 
to  all  the  truths  of  natural  religion,  while  extending  it- 
self far  beyond  them.  Natural  religion  is  a  dim  feeling 
and  groping  after  God  as  manifested  in  his  works,  and 
a  disdnguishing  of  right  from  wrong,  as  far  as  the  indi- 
cations of  a  righteous  government  existing  now,  and  the 
laws  of  our  own  nature,  and  the  marvellous  gift  of  con- 
science, enable  us  to  do  so.  In  revealed  religion  Ave  have 
fuller  knowledge :  knowledge  of  God's  attributes,  not 
merely  as  far  as  we  can  trace  them  in  his  works,  but  still 
more  as  they  are  manifested  in  his  dealings  with  man,  as 


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308 


MIRACLES 


made  known  to  us  in  revelation  itself;  knowledge  of  man, 
both  as  regards  his  present  state  and  his  liiture  hopes; 
more  exact  knowledge,  too,  of  right  and  wrong,  the  ap- 
peal now  lying  not  to  the  varying  codes  of  human  mo- 
rality, nor  even  to  the  inner  conscience,  which,  as  a  fac- 
nlty  capable  of  education  and  development,  is  no  rigid 
rule,  but  one  which  bends  to  every  state  of  things,  and 
adapts  itself  to  every  stage  and  degree  of  Immaii  prog- 
ress and  decay.  Under  a  revealed  religion  tlic  appeal 
ii  to  an  unchanging  law  of  God.  Morality  has  at  last  a 
settled  basis,  and  man  a  fixed  standard  by  which  to 
judge  his  actions. 

Now  it  seems  almost  supererogatory  to  show  that 
natural  religion  does  not  suffice  for  man's  wants.  We 
liuow  of  no  one  who  has  definitely  asserted  that  it  does, 
r.ven  Kant,  though  he  appears  to  think  that  Christian- 
ity might  now  be  dispensed  with,  yet  distinctly  holds 
tliat  natural  religion,  without  the  teaching  of  Christian- 
ity, would  not  even  now  have  been  enlightened  enough, 
or  pure  enough,  or  certain  enough,  to  guide  man's  life.* 
jJut  the  wliole  state  of  the  heathen  world  before  Christ 
came,  and  now  wlierever  Christianity  is  unknown,  is 
]ir(mf  sulHcicut  of  the  utter  powerlessness  of  natural  re- 
ligiini.  The  (Jreek  world,  with  its  marvellous  taste  in 
art  and  ai>i)rcciation  of  the  beautiful,  was  yet  intensely 
wicked.  Tlie  state  of  things  at  Rome  under  the  empire 
was  so  foul  that  modern  pens  would  blusli  to  describe  it. 
What  natural  religion  is  where  civilization  does  not  ex- 
ist, the  condition  now  of  savage  tribes  i)roves  clearly 
enougli.  We  will  touch  therefore  only  u[)on  one  point, 
that  of  progress.  Apart  from  Christianity,  there  are 
at  most  in  the  world  the  very  faintest  indications  of 
progress;  usually  none  at  all.  In  no  form  of  natural 
religion,  in  no  heathen  religion,  was  there  anything  to 
lead  man  onward,  or  to  make  him  better.  At  best,  as 
under  Moliammedanism,  or  the  religion  of  Confucius, 
there  was  stagnation.  And  when,  as  in  the  case  of  so 
many  of  the  oklcr  civilizations  of  the  world,  decay  set 
in,  there  was  no  recuperative  force.  Man  sank  steadily 
anil  h(>iul(ssly.  In  the  Old  Testament  alone  do  we  find 
thr  ilinu-ht  iif  progress.  A  nation  is  there  formed  for 
a  high  ami  uniijue  purpose;  and  to  shape  it  for  its  end 
it  is  placed  in  a  special  and  immediate  relation  to  God, 
and  is  taught  by  tnessengers  sent  directly  by  him.  Un- 
der this  special  dispensation,  its  one  business  was  to 
grow  lit  for  the  work  jjrepared  for  it;  its  one  motto, 
progress.  In  the  New  Testament,  jjrogress  is  the  cen- 
tral tintuglit  everywhere  jiresent;  but  no  longer  now  for 
one  nation — it  is  progress  for  all  mankind.  It  is  a  new 
Idngdom  tliat  is  proclaimed,  and  all  who  enter  it  are 
rcipiired  to  put  away  old  things,  and  become  new.  It 
belongs  to  men  wlio  have  left  their  previous  condition 
far  bLhiud,  and  who,  forgetting  what  is  past,  "reach 
forth  unto  those  things  which  are  before."  And  special 
stress  is  laid  everywhere  upon  the  duty  of  bringing  all 
men  into  this  new  kingdom,  and  of  Christians  being 
the  purifying  salt  which  is  to  preserve  the  whole  world. 

Tlie  means  by  whicli  Cliristianity  thus  renovates 
mankind,  and  becomes  the  moving  force  of  all  modern 
and  real  jirogress,  is  partly  tliat  it  alone  jiroposes  to  us 
jirinciples  so  perfect  tliat  at  the  utmost  our  appro.ach  to 
ilieir  realization  is  a  very  distant  one.  The  complete 
abnegation  of  self,  the  treatment  of  others  with  that 
justice,  liberality,  and  love  with  whidi  we  would  wish 
ourselves  to  be  treated,  and  a  holiness  as  absolute  and 
entire  as  that  of  God  himself— such  principles,  while 
practically  aiding  us  in  our  upward  course,  yet  set  us  a 
standard  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  unattainable. 
How  often  this  is  misunderstood  I  ISIcn  contrast  our 
Christianity  with  what  is  set  before  us  in  the  Gospels, 
and,  either  in  mockery  or  in  grief  at  the  dis])arity,  assert 
that  our  state  is  practically  a  mere  heathenism.  But 
while  there  is  aini)le   room  for  lamentation  that  we 


*  "  We  may  woll  coiucdc  that  illhe  (Jospcl  liad  not  i)ip- 
vioii>ly  taii^'lit  tlio  uuivcisiil  inoial  l:i\vs,  re;ison  would 
ii.it  yuL  liMvc  atliiiiicd  so  peiffct  an  insi-lit  into  them."— 
Letter  of  Kant  to  Jacobi,  iu  J;icobi's  n'erkc,  iii,  0'>3. 


Christians  are  content  to  remain  so  verj'  much  below 
the  standard  set  us,  yet,  so  far  as  there  is  jirogress  to- 
wards it — so  far  as  it  can  be  truly  said  that  this  genera- 
tion is  in  a  higher  stage  than  the  last  was,  and  is  train- 
ing the  youth  to  attain  in  the  next  to  a  still  nearer  ap- 
proximation to  Christian  perfectness,  so  far  Christianity 
is  doing  its  work  ;  not  merely  its  work  on  individuals — 
these  constantly,  even  where  the  general  state  of  things 
is  bad  and  low,  it  raises  to  a  high  degree  of  virtue  and 
holiness— but  its  work  on  the  mass.  If  nationally  we 
arc  making  no  progress,  then  our  Christianity  is  not 
having  its  jiroper  work,  and,  in  an  age  which  Judges  by 
results,  is  not  proving  its  right  still  to  exist.  But  even 
at  the  worst  no  Christian  nation  is  hopeless:  heathen 
nations  sank  without  hope.  Christian  nations  have 
again  and  again  risen  from  the  lowest  degradation. 

But  Christianity  tends  to  progress  not  merely  by  the 
high  ideal  it  sets  before  us,  but  by  its  power  over  men's 
sympathies.  This  (lower  resides  mainly  in  the  human 
nature  of  Christ,  but  only  when  viewed  in  its  relation 
to  his  Godhead.  As  the  great  proof  of  the  Father's 
love  to  man,  it  does  arrest  our  feelings,  dwell  upon 
our  imagination,  and  inspire  our  conduct  with  motives 
such  as  no  other  supposed  manifestation  of  the  Deity  to 
man  has  ever  produced.  Christ  incarnate  in  the  tlesh 
is  not  merely  the  realization  of  the  high  standard  of 
Christianity,  and  the  model  for  our  imitation,  but  acts 
also  as  a  motive  power,  by  which  men  are  aroused  and 
encouraged  to  the  attempt  to  put  into  practice  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  religion  which  Christ  taught. 

If  there  be  a  <iod — and  the  man  who  denies  it  con- 
tradicts the  intuitions  of  his  own  nature — it  is  religion, 
and  revealed  religion  only,  that  gives  us  adequate 
knowledge  of  his  nature  and  attributes.  If  there  be  a 
future— and  the  very  instincts  of  our  nature  testify  that 
there  is — again  it  is  revealed  religion  only  that  tells  us 
what  the  future  life  is,  and  how  we  may  attain  to  it. 
Yet  necessarj'  parts  as  both  these  beliefs  are  of  our  nat- 
ure, men  may  bring  themselves  to  deny  them.  For  a 
time  they  can  put  away  from  them  both  the  future  and 
a  God.  But  if  there  be  a  present— and  this  is  just  the 
one  thing  in  which  the  19th  century  does  thoroughly 
believe — even  then,  granting  only  this,  if  this  present  is 
to  have  any  progress,  and  is  to  move  onwards  to  any- 
thing better;  if  there  is  to  be  in  it  anything  of  health- 
ful and  vigorous  life,  this,  too,  is  bound  up  with  the 
one  religion,  which  has  satisfactory  proof  to  give  that 
it  is  revealed;  proof  that  it  did  come  really  from  (iod; 
and  proof  that  it  is  the  one  motive  power  of  human 
])rogress.  If  the  light  of  nature  hitherto  has  been  in- 
sufhcient  to  secure  virtue  or  raise  men  towards  it,  tliat 
light  will  not  suffice  now,  even  though  it  has  been  fed 
and  strengthened  by  centuries  of  Christian  teaching. 
In  asserting  this,  Kant  asserted  too  much.  Neither 
Christians  nor  Christian  communities  have  as  yet  risen 
to  anything  like  a  high  general  standard  of  morality,  to 
say  nothing  about  holiness ;  remove  the  high  iileal  and 
the  strong  motives  supplied  by  the  religion  of  Christ, 
and  there  would  result,  first  stagnation,  and  then  decay. 
An  •'  enlightened  self-love"  never  yet  successfulh'  resist- 
ed any  carnal  or  earthly  passion.  Christianity  lias  ef- 
fected much:  the  contrast  between  heatlien  and  Chris- 
tian communities  is  immense:  but  it  lias  not  raised  men 
yet  to  its  own  standard,  nor  even  to  a  reasonably  fair 
standard  of  moral  excellence. 

Now,  grant  but  the  possibility  of  there  being  a  God; 
grant  but  the  (lossibility  of  there  being  a  future,  as 
there  must  iicceswarily  be  a  connection  between  man's 
future  and  his  present,  and  as  our  idea  of  (iod  forbids 
our  excluding  any  existent  thing  from  connection  with 
him,  then  at  least  a  revelation  would  be  useful,  and  as 
God  must  be  good,  there  is  no  antecedent  improbability 
in  his  bestowing  upon  man  what  would  be  t)f  use  and 
benclit  to  him.  You  must  get  rid  of  tJod- must  resolve 
him  into  a  sort  of  nebulous  all-pervading  ether,  with  no 
attributes  or  iiersonal  force  or  knowledge  (the  Tantlie- 
ists  do  this  beautifully,  and  call  God  cosmic J'ofce) — you 


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MIRACLES 


must  get  rid  of  a  future  life,  and  account  yoursolves 
simiilephenomena,  like  the  monkey,  and  ascidian  jelly- 
bags,  from  which  you  are  supposed  to  be  descended, 
with  no  connection  with  the  past,  no  reason  for  your 
present  existence,  mere  shooting-stars  in  the  realms  of 
space,  coming  from  nowhere,  and  going  nowhither,  and 
so  only,  by  the  extirpation  of  these  two  ideas  from  your 
nature,  can  you  make  a  revelation  improbable.  Even 
then  your  position  is  open  to  grave  doubt.  We  can  under- 
stand the  law  of  evolution ;  and  if  the  law  be  proved, 
though  as  yet  it  is  unproved,  it  would  involve  me  in 
no  religious  difficulties,  provided  that  evolution  really 
worked  towards  a  solid  end.  Accustomed  everywhere 
else  in  nature  to  see  things  fitted  to  their  place,  and  all 
things  so  ordered  that  there  is  a  use  for  everything,  I 
could  understand  the  meanest  thing  in  creation  rising 
upwards  in  the  scale  through  multitudinous  forms  and 
infinite  periods  of  time,  if  finally  there  were  some  pur- 
pose for  all  this  rising.  The  plan  is  vast  and  marvel- 
lous. It  can  be  justified  only  by  some  useful  end.  And 
such  an  end  there  would  be  if,  after  vast  ages  of  devel- 
opment, the  tiny  atom  ended  in  becoming  a  reasonable 
and  responsible  creature,  with  some  purpose  for  all  this 
vast  preparation,  because  capable  of  still  rising  upwards, 
and  of  "  becoming  partaker  of  the  divine  nature."  But  if 
the  law  of  evolution  stops  at  man  without  a  future,  then 
its  product  is  not  worthy  of  it,  and  so  purposeless  a  law, 
ending  in  so  mean  a  result — for  what  is  there  meaner 
than  man  without  Christ? — falls  to  the  ground  as  too 
grand  in  its  design  for  so  bare  and  worthless  a  result. 

Yet  even  this  is  but  part  of  the  argument;  the  evi- 
dences in  favor  of  Christianity  have  a  collective  force, 
and  it  is  upon  them  as  a  whole  that  one  fain  rests  se- 
cure. But  we  may  well  contend  that  if  Christianity  is 
necessary  for  our  present  well-being ;  if  the  advance  of 
society ;  if  the  removal  of  the  bad,  the  vile,  and  the  sor- 
rowful in  our  existing  arrangements;  if  the  mainte- 
nance and  strengthening  of  the  noble,  the  earnest,  the 
generous,  and  the  pure,  is  bound  up  with  Christianity, 
as  being  the  only  sure  basis  and  motive  towards  prog- 
ress, then,  at  all  events,  religion  can  show  cause  enough 
for  existence  to  make  it  the  duty  of  men  to  examine 
the  evidence  which  it  offers  in  its  proof.  Nineteenth- 
century  men  may  decline  to  listen  to  arguments  Avhich 
concern  only  things  so  remote  as  God  and  the  future. 
Have  they  not  built  railways,  laid  the  Atlantic  tele- 
graph, found  out  the  constituent  elements  of  the  sun 
through  the  spectrum,  and  gained  fortunes  by  gambling 
on  the  stock  exchange?  What  can  men  want  more? 
Well,  they  want  something  to  bind  society  together: 
even  the  worst  want  something  to  control  in  others 
those  passions  to  which  they  give  free  play  in  them- 
selves. No  man  wants  society  to  grow  worse,  however 
much  he  may  do  himself  to  corrupt  it.  But  the  one 
salt  of  societj',  the  one  thing  that  does  purify  and  hold 
it  together,  is  religion. 

No^v  antecedently  there  is  no  reason  why  God  might 
not  have  made  natural  religion  much  more  mightj'  and 
availing.  As  it  is,  nothing  is  more  powerless  in  itself, 
though  useful  as  an  ally  to  revelation.  Religion  or  no 
religion  means  revelation  or  no  revelation.  Iteject  rev- 
elation, and  the  only  reason  for  not  rejecting  natural  re- 
ligion is  that  it  is  not  worth  the  trouble.  If  religion, 
then,  is  a  necessity  of  our  present  state,  this  means  that 
revelation  is  a  necessity.  We  are  quite  aware  that  even 
revealed  religion  does  not  explain  all  the  difficulties  of 
our  present  state.  There  is  very  much  of  doubt  sug- 
gested by  our  philosophy  to  which  Christianity  gives 
only  this  answer.  Believe  and  wait.  It  is,  in  fact,  rig- 
idly careful  in  refusing  to  give  any  and  every  explana- 
tion of  things  present  except  a  practical  one:  in  the 
most  marked  way  it  is  silent  as  to  the  cause  of  our  be- 
ing what  we  are,  and  as  to  the  nature  of  the  world  to 
come.  It  tells  us  that  we  do  not  now  see  the  realities 
themselves,  but  only  reflections  of  them  in  a  mirror,  and 
even  that  only  in  a  riddling  way  (1  Cor.  xiii,  1 2).  Here- 
after it  promises  that  we  shall  see  the  things  themselves. 


and  understand  the  true  nature  and  exposition  of  the 
enigmas  of  life.  Meanwhile  it  gives  us  every  practical 
help  and  necessary  guidance  for  the  present.  Judged 
thus  by  practical  results  and  by  its  working  powers,  it 
is  a  thing  indispensable.  Without  it  man  is  imperfect, 
and  society  has  nothing  to  arrest  its  dissolution,  or  arouse 
it  to  a  struggle  after  amendment.  Reformation  is  es-. 
sentially  a  Christian  idea.  That  a  state  should  throw 
off  its  ignoble  past  and  start  on  a  new  quest  after  excel- 
lence and  right  is  possible  only  where  there  is  a  religion 
strong  enough  to  move  men,  and  noble  enough  to  dfTer 
them  a  high  ideal.  Reform  movements  have  therefore 
been  confined  to  Christian  states;  and  for  the  individual, 
his  one  road  to  perfection  has  been  a  moving  forwards 
towards  God. 

Upon  this,  then,  we  base  our  argument  for  miracles. 
The  universal  instincts  of  men  prove  the  necessity  of 
the  existence  of  religion.  Without  it  the  promptings 
of  our  hearts,  compelling  us  to  believe  in  a  God  and  to 
hope  for  a  future,  would  be  empty  and  meaningless; 
and  this  no  human  instincts  are.  There  is  no  instinct 
whatsoever  which  has  not  in  external  nature  that  which 
exactly  corresponds  to  it,  and  is  its  proper  field  of  exer- 
cise. And,  in  the  next  place,  natural  religion,  though 
in  entire  agreement  with  revealed,  is,  as  we  have  shown, 
insufficient  for  the  purposes  for  which  religion  is  re- 
quired. And,  finally,  there  is  the  phenomenon  that  the 
revealed  religion  which  we  profess  does  act  as  a  motive 
to  progress.  Christian  nations— in  morals,  in  freedom, 
in  literature,  in  science,  in  the  arts,  and  in  all  that 
adorns  or  beautifies  society  and  human  life— hold  un- 
doubtedh'  the  foremost  place,  and  are  still  moving  for- 
ward. And  in  proportion  as  a  Christian  nation  holds 
its  faith  purely  and  firmly,  so  surely  does  it  advance  on- 
wards. It  is  content  with  nothing  to  which  it  has  at- 
tained, but  sees  before  it  the  ideal  of  a  higher  perfection 
(Phil,  iii,  13, 14). 

Now  a  revealed  religion  can  be  proved  onlj^  by  that 
which  involves  the  supernatural.  What  our  Lord  says 
to  the  Jews,  that  "  they  would  not  have  sinned  in  re- 
jecting him  but  for  his  works"  (John  xxv,  24),  com- 
mends itself  at  once  to  our  reason.  No  proof  can  rise 
higher  than  the  order  of  things  to  which  it  belongs. 
And  thus  all  that  can  be  proved  by  the  elaborate  exam- 
ination of  all  created  things,  and  the  diligent  inquiry 
into  their  conformation  and  uses  and  instincts,  and  the 
purposes  for  which  each  organ  or  faculty  was  given 
them ;  yea,  even  the  search  into  man's  own  mind,  and 
all  the  psychologic  problems  which  suggest  so  very 
much  to  us  as  to  the  purposes  of  our  existence — all  this 
can  rise  no  higher  than  natural  religion.  They  are  at 
best  but  guesses  and  vague  conjectures,  and  a  feeling 
and  groping  after  truth.  Nothing  of  this  sort  could 
prove  to  us  a  revealed  religion.  For  how  are  we  to 
know  that  it  is  revealed  ?  In  order  to  its  being  revealed, 
God  must  be  the  giver  of  it.  And  how  are  we  to  know 
that  it  is  he  who  speaks?  Its  strength,  its  value,  its  au- 
thority, all  depend  upon  its  being  the  voice  of  God.  No 
subjective  authority  can  prove  this.  The  nature  of  the 
truths  revealed,  their  adaptability  to  our  wants,  their 
usefulness,  their  probability  —  nothing  of  this  would 
prove  that  they  had  not  been  thought  out  by  some 
highly-gifted  man.  We  must  have  direct  evidence — 
something  pledging  God  himself— before  we  can  accept 
a  religion  as  revealed. 

We  shall  see  this  more  clearly  if  we  reflect  upon  the 
nature  of  the  obedience  which  we  are  required  to  render 
to  a  revealed  religion.  Its  authority  is  summarj-,  and 
knows  no  appeal.  It  is  God  who  speaks,  and  there  is 
no  higher  tribunal  than  his  throne.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  Ten  Commandments.  Essentialh'  they  are  a  re- 
publication of  the  laws  of  natural  religion,  excepting 
perhaps  the  fourth  commandment.  But  upon  how  dif- 
ferent a  footing  do  they  stand  !  The  duty  of  not  killing 
is  in  natural  nligidn  counteracted  by  the  law  of  self- 
preservation,  antl  in  licathen  communities  has  been  gen- 
erally very  powerless,  and  human  life  but  little  valued. 


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310 


MIRACLES 


Even  in  fairly-civilized  communities  murder  was  not  a 
crime  to  be  punished  by  the  state,  but  to  be  avenged  by 
the  relatives  of  the  murdered  man.  This  even  was  the 
state  of  things  among  the  Jews  when  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments were  promulgated,  and  Closes,  by  special 
enactments,  modilied  and  softened  the  customs  which 
lie  found  prevalent,  and  which  did  not  distinguish  be- 
tween wilful  murder  and  accidental  homicide.  Natural 
religion,  therefore,  gave  no  special  sanctity  to  human 
life,  but  rcgariled  only  the  injury  done  to  the  family  of 
the  sufferer.  The  divine  commandment  has  gone  home 
straight  to  the  conscience.  It  lias  made  the  shedding 
of  blood  a  sin,  and  not  mereh-  an  injury.  Accordingly, 
Christian  states  have  recognised  the  divine  nature  of 
the  law  by  punisliing  murder  as  a  public  offence,  in- 
stead of  leaving  it  to  be  dealt  with  as  a  private  wrong. 

A  revealed  religion  therefore  claims  absolute  power 
over  the  conscience  as  being  the  direct  will  of  God.  No 
question  of  utility  or  public  or  private  expediency  may 
stand  in  its  way.  It  must  be  obeyed,  and  disobedience 
is  sin.  I5ut  plainly  we  ought  not  to  yield  such  absolute 
obedience  to  anything  tliat  we  do  not  know  to  be  the 
law  of  God.  Man  stands  too  high  in  tlie  scale  of  exist- 
ence for  this  to  be  right.  Were  it  only  that  he  is  en- 
dowed with  a  conscience,  and  thereby  made  responsible 
for  his  actions,  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  give  up  the 
control  over  his  own  actions  to  any  being  of  less  author- 
ity than  that  One  to  whom  he  is  responsible.  But  a 
revelation  claims  to  be  the  express  will  of  that  very 
Being,  and  therefore  a  sufficient  justification  of  our  ac- 
tions before  his  tribunal.  Surely,  before  we  trust  our- 
selves to  it,  we  may  fairly  claim  adequate  proof  that  it 
is  his  will.  The  issues  are  too  serious  for  less  than  this 
to  suffice. 

But,  besides  this,  when  we  look  at  Christianity,  the 
nature  of  its  doctrines  brings  the  necessity  of  supernat- 
ural proof  before  us  with  intense  force.  It  teaches  us 
that  God  took  our  nature  upon  him,  and  in  our  nature 
died  in  our  stead ;  and,  as  we  have  pointed  out  before,  the 
strength  of  Christianity,  and  that  which  makes  it  a  re- 
ligion of  progress,  is  this  union  of  the  divine  and  human 
natures  in  Christ.  He  is  not  merely  the  "  man  of  sor- 
rows," the  ideal  of  suffering  humanity — and  a  religion 
that  glorifies  a  sinless  sufft-rer  may  do  much  to  alleviate 
sorrow  and  sweeten  the  bitter  cup  of  woe— but  he  is 
much  more  than  this.  It  is  only  when  that  sinless  suf- 
ferer is  worshipped  as  our  Lord  and  our  (Jod  that  we 
reach  the  mainsjmng  which  has  given  Christianity  its 
power  to  regenerate  the  world. 

But  how  could  such  a  doctrine  be  believed  on  any 
less  evidence  than  that  which  directly  pledged  tlie  di- 
vine authority  on  its  behalf?  The  uni(jue  and  perfect 
character  of  the  Jesus  of  tlie  evangelists;  the  pure  and 
spotless  nature  of  the  morality  he  taught;  the  intluence 
for  good  which  Christian  doctrines  liave  exercised ;  the 
position  attained  by  Christian  nations,  and  the  contrast 
between  the  ideals  of  heathenism  and  of  Christianity 
— all  this  and  more  is  valuable  as  subsidiary  evidence. 
Some  of  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  sustain  our  belief. 
Even  miracles  would  not  convince  us  of  the  truth  of  a 
revelation  which  taught  us  a  morality  contrary  to  our 
consciences.  For  nothing  could  make  us  believe  that 
the  voice  of  God  in  nature  could  be  opposed  to  his  voice 
in  revelation.  It  is  a  very  axiom  that,  however  it 
reaches  us,  the  voice  of  (Jod  must  be  ever  the  same. 
But  these  subsidiary  proofs  are  but  by-works.  They 
are  not  the  citadel,  and  can  never  form  the  main  de- 
fence. A  doctrine  such  as  that  of  (Jod  becoming  man 
must  have  evidence  cognate  to  and  in  pari  materie  with 
the  doctrine  itself.  Thus,  by  a  plain  and  self-evident 
necessity,  revelation  offers  us  supernatural  (iroof  of  its 
reality.  This  supernatural  proof  is  twofold,  prophecy 
and  miracle. 

Now  these  two  not  merely  support  one  another,  but 
arc  essentially  connected.  They  are  not  inde|)cndent, 
but  correlative  proofs.  It  was  the  office  of  the  jirophet 
gradually  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  manifestation  of 


]  the  Iramanuel  upon  earth.  In  order  to  do  so  effectually 
I  he  often  came  armed  with  supernatural  authority.  But 
a  vast  majority  of  the  prophets  had  no  other  business 
than  to  impress  on  the  consciences  of  the  |)Ooiile  truths 
already  divinely  vouched  for  and  im|)licitly  accepted; 
and  such  no  more  needed  miracles  than  the  preachers 
of  Christianity  do  at  the  iiresent  day.  But  among  the 
prophets  were  here  and  there  men  of  higher  ]>owers, 
whose  office  was  to  advance  onwards  towards  the  ulti- 
mate goal  of  the  prejiaratory  dispensation.  Such  men 
offered  prediction  and  miracle  as  the  seals  which  rati- 
fied their  mission.  In  general  men  could  be  prejiared 
to  receive  so  great  a  miracle  as  that  set  forth  in  the 
opening  verses  of  John's  Gospel  only  by  a  jirevious  dis- 
pensation which  had  brouglit  the  supernatural  very 
near  to  man.  If  the  01«1  Testament  had  offered  no  mir- 
acles, and  had  not  taught  the  constant  presence  of  (iod 
in  the  disposal  of  all  human  things,  the  doctrines  of  the 
New  Testament  would  have  been  an  impossibility. 

But  we  shall  understand  their  connection  better  when 
we  have  a  clearer  idea  of  the  true  scriptural  doctrine  of 
miracles.  The  current  idea  of  a  miracle  is  that  it  is  a 
violation  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and  as  the  laws  of  nature 
are  the  laws  of  God,  a  miracle  would  thus  signify  the 
violation  by  God  of  his  own  laws.  This  is  not  the 
teaching  of  the  Bible  itself,  but  an  idea  that  has  grown 
out  of  the  Latin  word  which  has  supplanted  the  more 
thoughtful  terms  used  in  the  Hebrew  and  in  the  Cireek 
Scriptures.  A  '•  miracle,"  miraculiim,  is  something  won- 
derful— marvellous.  Now  no  doubt  all  (iod's  works  are 
wonderful;  but  when  the  word  is  applied  to  his  doings 
in  the  Bible,  it  is  his  works  in  nature  that  are  generally 
so  described.  In  the  Hebrew,  esjiecially  in  poetry,  (iod 
is  often  described  as  doing  "wonders,"  that  is,  miracles. 
But  the  term  is  not  merely  applicable  to  works  such  as 
those  wrought  by  him  for  his  people  in  Egypt  and  the 
wilderness  (Exod.  xv,  11;  Psa.  Ixxviii,  12),  but  to  a 
thunder-storm  (Psa.  Ixxvii,  14),  and  to  his  ordinary 
dealings  with  men  in  providence  (Psa.  ix,  1 ;  xxvi,  7; 
xl,  5),  and  in  the  government  of  the  world.  But  this 
term  wonder  is  not  the  word  in  the  Hebrew  properly 
applicable  to  what  we  mean  by  miracles,  and  in  the 
New  Testament  our  Lord's  works  are  never  called  "mir- 
acles" (iai'iiara)  at  all.  The  people  are  often  said  to 
have  "wondered"  (^latt.  ix,  33;  xv,  31)  at  Christ's 
acts,  but  those  acts  themselves  were  not  intended  sim- 
ply to  produce  wonder;  they  had  a  specific  purpose,  in- 
I  dicated  by  the  term  properly  applicable  to  them,  and 
that  term  is  sif/n. 

This  is  the  sole  Hebrew  term  for  what  we  mean  by 
miracle ;  but  there  are  other  words  applied  to  our  Lortl's 
doings  in  the  New  Testament  which  we  will  previously 
consider.  And,  first,  there  is  a  term  which  approaches 
very  nearly  to  our  word  miracle,  namely,  Ti-f)ar,p(irl<iit, 
defined  by  Liddell  and  Scott,  in  their  (ircek  Lexicon,  as 
a  "sir/n,  wonder,  tnarrel,  used  of  any  a)ipearance  or  event 
in  which  men  believed  that  they  could  see  the  finger  of 
God."  But,  with  that  marvellous  accuracy  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  language  of  the  Greek  Testament,  our 
Lord's  works  are  never  called  ri-parn  in  tlie  (Jospels. 
The  word  is  used  of  the  false  Christs  and  false  prophets, 
who  by  great  signs  and  portents  shall  almost  ilcceive 
the  very  elect  (Matt,  xxiv,  24;  ^Slark  xiii.  22\  The 
populace,  however,  expected  a  )>rophet  to  disjilay  these 
portents  (John  iv,  48),  and  Joel  had  predicted  that  such 
signs  of  (Jod's  presence  would  accomiiany  the  coming 
of  the  great  and  notable  day  of  Jehovah  (Acts  ii.  I'.M. 

In  the  Alts  of  the  Apostles  our  Lord  is  said  to  have 
been  approved  of  God  by  jmrtents  as  well  as  by  ])ower3 
and  signs,  the  words  literally  being  "Jesus  of  Nazareth,  ^ 
a  man  displayed  of  (iod  unto  you  by  powers,  and  por- 
tents, and  signs;"  but  the  portents  refer  to  such  things 
as  the  star  which  appeared  to  the  magi,  and  the  dark- 
ness and  earthquake  at  the  crucifixion.  Exactly  jiar.-il- 
lel  to  this  place  are  the  words  in  Ileb.  ii.  4.  wliere  (Jod 
is  said  to  have  borne  witness  to  the  truth  X)f  the  apos- 
tles' testimony  "by  signs,  and  portents,  and  manifold 


MIRACLES 


311 


MIRACLES 


powers,  and  diversified  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  the 
description  being  evidently  intended  to  include  every 
manifestation  of^ God's  presence  with  the  first  preachers 
of  the  Gospel,  ordinary  and  extraordinary,  in  provi- 
dence and  in  grace,  and  not  merely  the  one  fact  that 
from  time  to  time  they  wrought  miracles. 

But  the  term  portents  is  freely  applied  to  the  miracles 
wrought  by  the  apostles,  being  used  of  them  no  less 
than  "eight"  times  in  the  Acts,  and  also  in  Kom.  xv,  19, 
and  2  Cor.  xii,  12.  In  every  case  it  is  used  in  connec- 
tion with  the  word  signs,  the  Greek  in  Acts  vi,  8 ;  xv, 
12,  being  exactly  the  same  as  that  in  Acts  ii,  43 ;  iv,  30 ; 
v,  12;  xiv,  3,  though  differently  rendered.  The  two 
words,  however,  express  very  different  sides  of  the  apos- 
tles' working,  the  term  sign,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter, 
having  reference  to  the  long-previous  preparation  for 
the  Jlessiah's  advent,  while  jjortents  were  indications  of 
the  presence  with  them  of  the  finger  of  God. 

In  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  the  most  common  term  for 
our  Lord's  miracles  is  ovvc'ifittg,  powers.  Full  of  mean- 
ing as  is  the  word,  it  nevertheless  is  not  one  easy  to 
adapt  to  the  idiom  of  our  language,  and  thus  in  the  Gos- 
pels it  is  usually  translated  "  mighty  works"  (Matt,  xi, 
20, 21, 23,  etc.),  but  miracles  in  Acts  ii,  22 ;  viii,  13  ;  xix, 
11 ;  1  Cor.  xii,  10,  28,  etc.  Really  it  signifies  the  very 
opposite  of  miracles.  A  ^vvajjuv.  is  a  faculty,  or  capac- 
ity for  doing  anything.  We  all  have  our  faculties — 
some  physical,  some  mental  and  moral — and  these  are 
all  strictly  natural  endowments.  "We  have  also  spirit- 
ual faculties,  and  these  also  primarily  are  natural  en- 
dowments of  our  inner  being,  though  heightened  and 
intensified  in  believers  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Yet  even  this  is,  by  the  ordinary  operation 
of  the  Spirit,  in  accordance  with  spiritual  laws,  and 
not  in  violation  of  them.  The  teaching  therefore  of 
this  word  Swaiing,  powers  or  faculties,  is  that  our 
Lord's  works  were  perfectly  natural  and  ordinary  to 
him.  They  were  his  cajiacities,  just  as  sight  and 
speech  are  ours.  Now  in  a  brute  animal  articulate 
speech  would  be  a  miracle,  because  it  does  not  lie  within 
the  range  of  its  capacities,  and  therefore  would  be  a  vi- 
olation of  the  lav/  of  its  nature ;  it  does  lie  within  the 
compass  of  our  faculties,  and  so  in  us  is  no  miracle. 
Similarly,  the  healing  of  the  sick,  the  giving  sight  to 
the  blind,  the  raising  of  the  dead — things  entirely  be- 
yond the  range  of  our  powers,  yet  lay  entirely  within 
the  compass  of  our  Lord's  capacities,  and  were  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  laws  of  his  nature.  It  was  no  more 
a  "  miracle"  in  him  to  turn  water  into  wine  than  it  is 
with  God,  who  works  this  change  every  year.  Nor  does 
John  call  it  so,  though  his  word  is  rendered  miracle  in 
our  version  (John  ii,  11). 

His  language,  as  becomes  the  most  thoughtful  and 
philosophic  of  the  Gospels,  is  deeply  significant.  He  does 
not  use  the  term  Svi'ai.iic,/acultt/,  at  all,  but  has  two 
words,  one  especially  his  own,  namely,  tpyov,  a  woik 
(yet  used  once  by  Matthew,  xi,  2,  who  has  so  much  in 
common  with  John) ;  the  other,  the  one  proper  term  for 
miracle  throughout  the  whole  Bible,  arjutlov,  a  sign. 

Our  Lord's  miracles  are  called  tpyn,  rcorks,  by  John 
some  fifteen  or  more  times,  besides  places  where  they 
are  spoken  of  as  "  the  works  of  God"  (ix,  3 ;  v,  20,  36). 
Now  this  term  stands  in  a  very  close  relation  to  the  pre- 
ceding word,  dvvaj.uc,  a.  faculty.  A  faculty,  when  ex- 
erted, produces  an  tpyov,  or  work.  Whatever  powers 
or  capacities  we  have,  whenever  we  use  them,  bring 
forth  a  corresponding  result.  We  have  capacities  of 
thought,  of  speech,  of  action,  common  to  the  species, 
though  varj-ing  in  the  individual ;  and  what  is  not  at 
all  remarkable  in  one  man  maj'  be  very  much  so  in  an- 
other, simply  because  it  is  beyond  his  usual  range.  But 
outside  the  species  it  may  be  not  only  remarkable  but 
miraculous,  because  it  lies  altogether  beyond  the  range 
of  the  capacities  with  which  the  agent  is  endowed.  And 
so,  on  the  contrary,  what  would  be  miraculous  in  one 
class  of  agents  is  simply  natural  in  another  class,  because 
it  is  in  accordance  with  their  powers. 


Now  had  our  Lord  been  merely  man,  any  and  every 
work  beyond  the  compass  of  man's  powers  would  have 
been  a  miracle.  It  would  have  transcended  the  limits 
of  his  nature;  but  whether  it  would  necessarily  have 
violated  the  laws  of  that  nature  is  a  question  of  some 
difiiculty.  Supposing  that  man  is  an  imperfect  being, 
but  capable  of  progress,  the  limits  of  his  powers  may  be 
indefinitely  enlarged.  Those  who  hold  the  theorj'  of . 
evolution  concede  this,  and  therefore  concede  that  there 
is  nothing  miraculous  in  a  remarkable  individual  being 
prematurely  endowed  with  capacities  which  finally  and 
in  due  time  will  be  the  heritage  of  the  whole  species. 
It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible  that  the  spiritual  man  has 
a  great  future  before  him,  and  the  prophets  of  old,  and 
the  apostles  and  early  Christians,  endowed  with  their 
great  charismata,  or  gifts,  may  be  but  an  anticipation 
of  what  the  spiritual  man  may  finallj'  become.  Still, 
among  the  "  works"  of  our  Lord  and  his  apostles,  there 
is  one  which  seems  distinctly  divine,  namely,  the  rais- 
ing of  the  dead.  Gifts  of  healing,  of  exciting  dormant 
powers,  such  as  speech  in  the  dumb,  of  reading  the 
thoughts  of  others'  hearts,  may  be  so  heightened  in  man 
as  he  develops  under  the  operations  of  the  Spirit  that 
much  may  cease  to  be  astonishing  which  now  is  highly 
so.  But  the  raising  of  the  dead  travels  into  another 
sphere ;  nor  can  we  imagine  any  human  progress  evolv- 
ing such  a  power  as  this.  "\^"e  cannot  imagine  man 
possessed  of  any  latent  capacity  which  may  in  time  be 
so  developed  as  naturally  to  produce  such  a  result.  So, 
too,  the  multiplying  of  food  seems  to  involve  powers  re- 
served to  the  Creator  alone. 

But  the  Gospel  of  John  does  not  regard  our  Lord  as 
a  man  prematurely  endowed  with  gifts  which  finally 
will  become  the  heritage  of  the  whole  species;  it  is 
penetrated  everj'where  with  the  conviction  that  a 
higher  nature  was  united  in  him  to  his  human  nature. 
It  shows  itself  not  merely  in  formal  statements  like  the 
opening  words  of  the  Gospel,  but  in  the  language  usual 
with  him  everywhere.  And  so  here.  Our  Lord's  mir- 
acles to  him  are  simply  and  absolutely  ipya,  works 
onh'.  But,  as  we  have  seen  before,  they  are  also  divine 
works,  "  works  of  God."  Still  in  Christ,  according  to 
John's  view,  they  were  perfectly  natural.  They  were 
the  necessarj'  and  direct  result  of  that  divine  nature 
which  in  him  was  indissolubly  united  with  his  human 
nature.  The  last  thing  which  the  apostle  would  have 
thought  about  them  was  that  they  were  miraculous, 
wonderful.  That  GoA  should  give  his  only-begotten 
Son  to  save  the  world  was  wonderful.  That  such  a  be- 
ing should  ordinarily  do  works  entirely  beyond  the  lim- 
its of  man's  powers  did  not  seem  to  John  wonderful,  and 
hence  the  simple  but  deeply  significant  term  by  which 
he  characterizes  them. 

Yet  such  works  were  not  wrought  without  a  purpose ; 
nor  did  such  a  being  come  without  having  a  definite  ob- 
ject to  justify  his  manifestation.  If  wisdom  has  to  be 
justified  of  all  her  children,  of  all  that  she  produces,  there 
must  be  some  end  or  purpose  effected  by  each  of  them, 
and  especially  in  one  like  Christ,  confessedly  the  very 
highest  manifestation  of  human  nature,  and,  as  we  Chris- 
tians believe,  reaching  high  above  its  bounds.  Now 
John  points  this  out  in  calling  our  Lord's  works  aimtia, 
signs.  It  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped  that  in  the  revised 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  this  term  will  be  re- 
stored to  its  place,  instead  of  being  mistranslated  mira- 
cle, as  in  our  present  version.  Eeally,  in  employing  it, 
John  was  only  following  in  the  steps  of  the  older  Script- 
ures, and  the  unity  of  thought  iu  the  Bible  is  destroyed 
when  the  same  word  is  translated  differently  in  one 
book  from  its  rendering  in  another.  However  wonder- 
ful may  be  God's  works,  they  are  not  wrought  simply 
to  till  men  with  astonishment,  and  least  of  all  are  those 
so  Avrought  which  lie  outside  the  ordinary  course  of 
God's  natural  laws. 

The  word  atjjii'iov,  sign,  tells  us  in  the  plainest  lan- 
guage that  these  works  were  tokens  calling  the  atten- 
tion of  men  to  what  was  then  happening ;  and  espe- 


MIRACLES 


312 


MIRACLES 


cially  is  it  used  in  the  Old  Testament  of  some  mark  or 
signal  confirming  a  promise  or  covenant.  Such  a  sign 
(or  mark)  God  gave  to  Cain  in  proof  that  his  life  was 
safe  (Gen.  iv,  15).  Such  a  sign  (or  token)  was  the  rain- 
bow to  Noah,  certifying  him  and  mankind  throughout 
all  time  that  the  worhl  should  not  be  again  destroyed 
by  water  ((Jen.  ix,  13).  And  here  learn  we  incidentally 
that  God's  signs  need  not  be  miraculous.  The  laws  of 
refraction  probably  were  the  same  before  as  after  the 
Hood,  and  the  fact  of  the  rainljow  being  produced  by 
the  operation  of  natural  laws  does  not  make  it  a  less  (it 
symbol  of  a  covenant  between  (Jod  and  man  relative  to 
a  great  natural  convulsion.  So,  again,  circumcision 
was  a  sign  (or  token)  of  the  covenant  between  (iod  and 
the  family  of  Abraham  ((ien.  xvii,  11).  It  was  to  recall 
the  minds  of  the  Israelites  to  the  thought  not  merely 
that  they  stood  in  a  covenant  relation  to  God,  but  that 
that  covenant  implied  personal  purity  and  holiness.  In 
the  same  way  tlie  Sabbath  was  a  sign  (Exod.  xxxi,  13 ; 
Ezek.  XX,  12)  of  a  peculiar  relation  between  the  Jew 
and  his  God. 

But  there  are  places  where  it  distinctively  means 
what  we  call  a  miracle.  Thus  Ahaz  is  told  to  ask  a 
sign,  and  a  choice  is  given  him  either  of  some  meteor 
in  the  heavens,  or  of  some  appearance  in  the. nether 
world  :  "  ^lake  it  deep  unto  Hades,  or  high  in  the  vaidt 
of  heaven  above"  (Isa.  vii,  11).  And  when  the  unbe- 
lieving king  will  ask  no  sign,  the  prophet  gives  him 
that  of  the  Immanuel,  the  virgin's  sou.  So  the  sign 
unto  Ilezekiah  of  his  recovery  was  the  supernatural 
retrogression  of  the  shadow  upon  the  sundial  of  Ahaz, 
however  significant  it  might  also  be  of  the  hand  of  time 
having  gone  back  as  regards  Ilezekiah's  own  life  (Isa. 
xxxviii,  7).  Elsewhere  the  divine  foreknowledge  is 
the  sign  (Exod.  iii,  12;  Isa.  xxxvii,  30),  and  generally 
signs  of  God's  more  immediate  presence  with  his  people 
would  either  be  prophecy  (I'sa.  Ixxiv,  9)  or  miracle  (ib. 
cv,  27 ;  Jer.  xxxii,  20  ;  Dan.  iv,  2). 

Very  much  more  might  be  learned  by  a  fuller  con- 
sideration of  the  manner  in  which  the  word  si;pi  is  used 
in  the  Old  Testament,  but  what  is  said  above  is  enough 
to  explain  the  reason  why  John  so  constantly  used  the 
term  to  express  our  Lord's  miracles.  The  water  changed 
into  wine  at  Cana  he  calls  "  the  beginning  of  signs"  (ii, 
11),  and  the  healing  of  the  centurion's  son  is  "the  sec- 
ond sign"  (iv,  51),  as  being  the  first  and  second  indica- 
tions of  Christ's  wielding  those  powers  which  belong  to 
God  as  the  Creator  and  Author  of  nature,  and  which 
therefore  pledged  the  God  of  nature,  as  the  sole  possessor 
of  these  powers,  to  the  truth  of  any  one's  teaching  who 
came  armed  with  them  (iii,  2,  where  again  the  (ireek  is 
signs).  So  he  tells  us  that  the  people  assembled  at  Je- 
rusalem for  the  Passover  believed  Jesus  "when  they 
saw  the  siijns  which  he  did"  (ib.  ii,  23).  It  was,  in 
fact,  the  very  thing  they  had  asked  (Matt,  xii,  38;  xvi, 
1 ;  John  ii,  18;  vi,30),  and  candid  minds  confessed  that 
they  were  a  sufficient  ground  for  belief  (ib.  vi,  14;  vii, 
31 ;  ix,  16  ;  xii,  18)  ;  in  fact,  they  were  wrought  for  that 
purpose  (ib.  XX,  30, 31),  though  men  might  and  did  re- 
fuse to  accept  them  as  proof  conclusive  of  the  Saviour's 
mission  (xi,  47 ;  xii,  37),  and  vulgar  minds  saw  in  them 
nothing  more  than  reason  for  astonishment  (vi,  2,  2G). 
To  them  they  were  simply  miracles — wonders. 

A  sign  is  more  and  means  more  than  a  miracle,  for 
it  does  not  stand  alone,  but  is  a  token  and  indication 
of  something  else.  Thus  John's  word  shows  that  our 
Lord's  works  had  a  definite  purpose.  They  were  not 
wrought  at  random,  but  were  intended  for  a  special  ob- 
ject, What  this  was  is  easy  to  tell.  Tlie  Old  Testa- 
ment had  always  represented  the  Jews  as  holding  a 
peculiar  position  towards  the  (iodhead.  Tiiey  were  a 
chosen  people  endowed  witli  high  privileges  and  bless- 
ings, but  so  endowed  because  tliey  were  also  intended 
for  a  uniipie  ]iurpose.  Tlu'v  were  the  depositaries  of 
revelation,  and  in  due  time  their  Tnrah.  their  revealed 
law,  was  to  go  forth  out  of  Zion  (Isa.  ii,  3)  to  lighten 
the  whole  Gentile  world  (ib.  xlii,  G).     This  promise  of 


a  revelation  extending  to  the  whole  world  was  further 
connected  with  the  coming  of  a  special  descendant  of 
Abraham  ((Jen.  xxii,  18;  Dent,  xviii,  15),  and  projdiecy 
had  gradually  so  filled  up  the  outline  that  a  complete 
sketch  had  been  given  of  the  person,  the  offices,  the 
work,  and  the  preaching  of  the  great  .Son  of  David, 
to  whose  line  tlie  promise  had  subsequently  been  con- 
fined  (Isa.  xi,  1 ;  Jer.  xxiii,  5 ;   Hos.  iii,  8 ;  Mic.  v, 

I  2,  etc.). 

But  how  were  people  to  know  when  he  had  come? 

j  The  prophets  had  indeed  given  some  indications  of 
the  time,  especialh'  Daniel  (ix,  24-27),  and  so  clear 
were  their  words  that  all  the  world  was  expecting  the 
arrival  of  some  mighty  being,  in  whom  imtgniis  ab  in- 
tegro  saclorum  nascilur  ordo,  and  an  entire  transforma- 
tion of  the  world  shoidd  take  place.  But  how,  among 
many  claimants,  was  he  to  be  known  ?  lie  might 
come,  perhaps,  as  a  conqueror,  and  by  force  of  arms 
compel  men  to  submit  to  his  authority.  But  no! 
Prophecy  had  described  him  as  the  I'rince  of  Peace ; 
nor  was  his  kingdom  to  be  of  this  world,  but  a  spiritual 
empire.  Now,  if  we  refiect  for  a  little,  we  shall  see  that 
there  is  no  obligation  incumbent  upon  men  to  accept,  or 
even  examine,  the  claims  of  any  and  every  one  profess- 
ing to  be  the  bearer  of  a  revelation  from  God.  Before 
this  dutj'-  arises,  there  must  at  least  be  something  to  call 
our  attention  to  his  claims.  Jlere  self-assertion  im- 
poses no  obligation  upon  others,  unless  it  have  something 
substantial  to  back  it  up.  Life  is  a  practical  thing, 
with  very  onerous  duties,  and  few,  like  the  Athenians 
of  old,  have  the  taste  or  the  leisure  to  listen  to  and 
examine  everything  new.  The  herald  of  a  divine  dis- 
pensation must  have  proof  to  offer  that  he  does  come 
from  God,  and  such  proof  as  pledges  tlie  divine  attri- 
butes to  the  truth  of  his  teaching.  This  is  the  reason 
why  the  Old-Testament  dispensation  was  one  of  signs. 
On  special  occasions  justifying  the  divine  interference, 
and  in  the  persons  of  its  great  teachers,  the  prophets, 
supernatural  proof  was  given  in  two  ways  of  (iod's  pres- 
ence with  his  messengers  in  a  manner  superior  to  and 
beyond  his  ordinary  and  providential  presence  in  the 
affairs  of  life.  The  divine  omniscience  was  pledged  to 
the  truth  of  their  words  by  the  prediction  of  future 
events;  and  his  omnipotence  by  their  working  things 
beyond  the  ordinary  range  of  nature.  The  two  Old- 
Testament  proofs  of  a  revelation  were  prophecy  and 
miracle.  A\'c  can  think  of  no  others,  and  nothing  less 
would  suffice. 

As  we  liave  said,  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament 
looked  forward  to  tlie  mauifVslation  of  a  divine  person, 
in  whom  revelation  would  become,  in  the  first  ])lace, 
perfect ;  in  the  second,  universal ;  and,  thirdly,  final. 
As  being  a  final  revelation,  prophecy,  which  was  the 
distinctive  element  of  the  ])roparatory  dispensation, 
holds  in  it  no  longer  an  essential  place,  though  it  is 
present  in  the  New  Testament  in  a  subordinate  degree. 
But  miracle  must,  in  the  bearer  of  such  a  revelation, 
rise  to  its  highest  level;  first  because  of  the  superiority 
of  his  office  to  that  of  the  prophets.  For  he  was  him- 
self the  end  of  prophecy,  the  ]ierson  for  whose  coming 
prophecy  had  prepared,  and  in  whom  all  God's  pur- 
poses of  love  towards  mankind  were  to  be  fulfilled.  The 
office  of  Christ  as  the  bearer  to  mankind  of  (Jod's  final 
and  complete  message  involves  too  much  for  us  lightly 
to  ascril)e  it  to  him.  And  no  merely  iiatural  proof 
would  suffice.  AVe  could  not  possilily  l)clieve  what 
we  believe  of  him  had  be  wrought  no  miracles.  We 
eoidd  not  believe  that  he  was  the  a|i|iointed  Saviour,  to 
whom  "all  honor  was  given  in  heaven  and  earth" 
(Matt,  xxviii,  IM),  for  man's  redemption,  if  he  had  given 
no  jjroof  during  tlie  period  of  his  manifestation  on  earth 
of  iieing  invested  with  exlra<irdinary  powers.  But  we 
go  further  tlian  this.  Perhaps  no  one  would  deny  that 
the  sole  sufficient  proof  of  such  a  religion  as  Cliristian- 
itv  must  be  supernatural.  We  assert  that  no  revealed 
religion  whatsoever  can  be  content  with  a  less  decided 
proof.     The  sole  basis  upon  which  a  revelation  can  rest 


MIRACLES 


313 


MIRACLES 


is  the  possession  by  the  bearer  of  it  of  prophetic  and 
miraculous  powers. 

For  a  revealed  religion  claims  authority  over  us.  If 
it  be  God's  voice  speaking  to  us,  we  have  no  choice  but 
to  obey.  Our  reason  might  not  approve;  our  hearts 
and  wills  might  detest  what  we  were  told ;  yet  if  we 
knew  that  it  was  God's  voice,  we  must  sadl}^  and  reluc- 
tantlj'  submit  to  it.  But  it  would  be  wrong  in  the 
highest  degree  to  yield  up  ourselves  to  anything  requir- 
ing such  complete  obedience  unless  we  had  satisfactory 
proof  that  God  really  was  its  author.  And  no  subjec- 
tive proof  could  be  satisfactory.  The  purity  of  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  their  agreement  with  the  truths 
of  natural  religion,  their  ennobling  effects  upon  our 
characters,  and  tlie  way  in  which  they  enlighten  the 
conscience — all  this  and  more  shows  that  there  is  no 
impossibility  in  Christianity  being  a  divine  revelation : 
the  perfectness  of  our  Lord's  character,  the  thorough- 
ness with  wliich  Christ's  atonement  answers  to  the 
deepest  needs  of  the  soid,  the  way  in  which  Christianity 
rises  above  all  religions  of  man's  devising — all  this  and 
more  makes  it  probable  that  it  is  God's  gift.  But  at 
most  these  considerations  only  prepare  the  mind  to  lis- 
ten without  prejudice  to  the  direct  and  external  proofs 
that  Christianity  is  a  revelation  from  God.  The  final 
proof  must  pledge  God  himself  to  its  truth.  But  what 
are  the  divine  attributes  which  would  bear  the  most 
decisive  witness?  Surely  those  which  most  entirely 
transcend  all  human  counterfeits  —  omniscience  and 
omnipotence.  Now  these  are  pledged  to  Christianity 
by  prophecy  and  miracle. 

The  first  had  performed  its  office  when  Christ  came. 
All  men  were  musing  in  their  hearts  upon  the  expected 
coming  of  some  Great  One.  His  miracles,  his  u-orks,  the 
products  of  his  poweis,  were  the  signs  that  prophecy  was 
in  course  of  fulfilment.  The  two  must  not  be  separated. 
Our  Lord  expressly  declares  that  but  for  his  ivorks  the 
Jews  woidd  have  been  right  in  rejecting  him  (John  xv, 
24).  His  claims  were  too  high  for  any  less  proof  to 
have  sufficed.  But  the  nature  of  his  works  did  put  men 
under  a  moral  obligation  tn  ini|utre  into  his  claims;  and 
then  he  sent  tliem  to  the  Scrii)tLn-cs  (John  v,  39).  The 
miracles  were  thus  not  the  final  proof  of  Christ's  mis- 
sion. Had  they  been  such,  we  might  have  expected 
that  they  would  still  be  from  time  to  time  vouchsafed, 
as  occasion  recpiired,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world.  The 
■agreement  of  Christ's  life  and  death  and  teaching  with 
what  had  been  foretold  of  the  Messiah  is  the  leading 
proof  of  his  mission,  and,  having  this,  we  need  miracles 
no  more.  Christ's  works  called  men's  attention  to  this 
proof,  and  made  it  a  duty  to  examine  it.  They  also 
exalt  his  person,  and  give  him  the  authority  of  a  mes- 
senger accredited  from  heaven;  but  the  Old  Testament 
remains  for  all  ages  the  proper  proof  of  the  truth  of  the 
New.  Miracles  were  signs  for  the  times;  prophecy  is 
for  all  time,  and  as  Christianity  no  longer  requires  any- 
thing especially  to  call  men's  attention  to  its  claims, 
prophecy  is  proof  enough  that  it  is  a  message  from  God. 

The  more  clearly  to  set  this  before  our  readers,  we 
repeat  that  prediction  was  the  distinctive  sign  of  God's 
presence  under  the  Old -Testament  dispensation,  and 
miracles  subordinate.  Revelation  was  then  a  growing 
light,  and  was  ever  advancing  onward;  and  thus  the 
prophets  were  ever  preparing  for  the  future.  It  was 
only  on  special  occasions  that  miracle  ^vas  needed.  But 
when  revelation  became  perfect  and  final  in  the  person 
of  One  who,  according  to  the  terms  of  prophecy,  tran- 
scended the  bounds  of  human  nature,  it  was  necessary 
that  miracle  should  rise  in  him  to  its  highest  level,  both 
because  of  the  dignity  of  his  person,  as  one  invested 
with  all  power,  human  and  divine,  and  also  as  tlie 
proper  proof  at  the  time  of  his  being  the  Son,  the  last 
and  greatest  therefore  whom  the  Father  could  send; 
and,  finally,  to  call  the  attention  of  men  to  his  claims, 
and  compel  them  to  examine  them.  For  this  reason 
thej'  were  called  signs.  But  as  soon  as  the  dispensa- 
tion thus  given  could  force  its  claims  on  men's  atten- 


tion by  other  means,  and  its  divine  founder  had  with- 
drawn, miracles  necessarily  ceased,  as  being  inconsistent 
with  man's  probation.  Look  over  the  list  of  Scripture 
names  for  miracles,  and  ask  what  one  would  be  appro- 
priate now?  Of  what  would  they  now  be  signs?  Of 
what  person  would  they  be  the  proper /«c«;^ies?  For 
whom  now  would  they  be  suitable  works?  The  whole 
scriptural  theory  of  miracles  is  contravened  by  the  sup- 
position  of  miracles  being  continued  after  Christianity 
had  once  been  established.  What  history  teaches  us, 
namely,  that  they  were  rapidly  withdrawn,  is  alone 
consistent  with  what  we  gather  from  Scripture  concern- 
ing them. 

They  were  an  essential  part  of  the  proof  at  the  time, 
and  have  an  essential  use  now.  For  we  could  not  be- 
lieve what  is  taught  us  of  Christ  if  he  had  not  been  ac- 
credited by  miracles.  But  the  proper  evidence  for  the 
truth  of  Christianity  now  is  that  of  prophecy,  not  as  ex- 
isting any  longer  in  living  force,  but  as  manifested  in 
the  agreement  of  the  long  list  of  books  forming  the  Old 
Testament  with  one  another;  and  still  more  in  the  ful- 
filment of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  New.  It  is  a  proof 
in  everybody's  hands,  and  open  to  every  one  to  exam- 
ine. The  proof  of  miracles  requires,  of  course,  large 
historical  evidence,  and  not  every  one  possesses  bishop 
Stillingfleet's  Origines  Causce,  or  even  Paley ;  but  every 
Christian  has  his  Bible,  and  in  it  will  find  the  proper 
proof  now  of  its  truth. 

Agreeably  with  this,  dean  Lyall,  in  his  PropmUa 
Prophetica,  has  well  remarked  that  the  apostles  "  scarce- 
ly allude  to  Christ's  miracles  at  all,  and  never  in  the 
way  of  proof"  (p.  4).  Miracles,  he  shows,  now  hold  a 
disproportionate  place  in  the  argument  from  that  as- 
signed to  them  in  the  New  Testament ;  and,  in  fact,  it 
is  very  remarkable  that  Peter  but  twice  refers  in  his 
speeches  to  Christ's  miracles,  and  never  but  once  to 
those  wrought  by  himself.  Paul,  in  his  thirteen  epistles, 
only  thrice  appeals  to  his  own  miraculous  powers,  and 
never  mentions  Christ's  miracles,  or  even  directly  al- 
ludes to  them.  The  key  of  this  we  have  in  the  names 
applied  to  them  by  the  apostles,  and  especially  by  John. 
They  were  the  natural  works  of  one  such  as  M-as  Christ, 
but  also  signs  that  in  him  the  long  preparation  of  the 
Old-Testament  dispensation  had  reached  its  final  pur- 
pose, and  that  the  new  and  lastuig  dispensation  had 
begun. 

In  their  proper  place  and  degree,  however,  they  were 
and  still  remain  essential  to  the  proof  of  a  divine  reve- 
lation. We  could  not  accept  a  revelation,  or  give  it  the 
authority  over  our  conscience  due  to  the  direct  voice  of 
God,  unless  we  had  indubitable  proof  that  it  was  God's 
voice.  The  supernatural  can  only  be  proved  by  the  su- 
pernatural. If,  then,  a  revelation  was  necessary  as  well 
for  the  present  progress  of  mankind  as  for  their  future 
perfectness,  miracle  was  also  necessary,  and  the  believer 
in  revelation  cannot  possibly  discard  it  from  its  place 
among  the  evidences. 

Necessarily,  therefore,  from  first  to  last,  the  Bible  is 
a  book  of  miracle.  Miracle  is  present  not  as  an  acci- 
dent, separable  from  the  main  thread,  but  is  itself  the 
very  essence  of  the  narrative.  The  facts  of  the  Old 
Testament  were  the  basis  of  the  faith  of  the  Jew.  They 
were  so  as  being  iniracks,  and  because,  as  such,  they 
involved  certain  dogmatic  propositions  concerning  the 
divine  Being  and  his  relations  to  themselves.  So  as  re- 
gards ourselves.  When  we  repeat  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
we  acknowledge  our  belief  first  in  the  existence  of  a 
God — an  instinct,  as  we  have  shown,  of  our  nature— but 
upon  this  follow  certain  historical  facts  recorded  in  tlie 
New  Testament,  which  are  either  directly  miraculous, 
or  become  dogmatic  because  of  being  based  upon  mira- 
cle. Without  miracle  Christianity  is  absolutely  noth- 
ing. All  that  distinguishes  it  from  simple  Theism  is 
miraculous. 

Miracles  in  the  present  day  are  at  a  discount.  Our 
men  of  science  have  so  well  studied  the  laws  of  the  ma- 
terial universe,  and  shown  us  so  clearly  the  existence 


MIRACLES 


314 


MIRACLES 


there  of  a  calm,  unbroken,  unvarying  order,  that  our 
mind:*,  enamored  of  so  f^rand  a  truth,  are  impatient  of 
any  truth  or  theory  rising  above  these  material  laws. 
Tluis  the  controversy  wlietlier  Christianity  is  true  or 
not  really  turns  upon  miracle.  The  close  and  exact 
examination  of  all  the  facts  of  holy  Scripture  wliich  has 
marked  our  days  has  served  only  to  confirm  men's  be- 
lief in  the  authenticity  of  the  sacred  writings.  Our  in- 
creased knowletlge,  especially  that  obtained  from  the 
cuneiform  inscriptions  corroborative  of  the  Old-Testa- 
ment history,  and  from  similar  unquestionable  authori- 
ties contemporaneous  with  the  New-Testament  records, 
has  well-nigh  swept  away  every  so-called  historical  dif- 
ficulty; while  subjective  criticism  has  not  merely  failed 
in  substantiating  any  case  against  the  several  books  of 
the  Bible,  but  has  done  very  much  to  place  them  upon 


affinitj',  and  the  like.  What  is  force?  What  is  law? 
If  there  be  a  God — a  perfect,  omnipotent,  omnipresent 
Being— then  law  has  to  us  a  meaning.  It  is  his  will, 
working  permanently  and  unchangeably  because  he  is 
a  perfect  and  omnipotent  worker.  We  can  understand 
force.  It  is  his  presence,  acting  upon  and  controlling 
all  things,  but  always  in  the  same  way,  because  he 
changes  not.  To  believe  in  universal  order  without  a 
universal  will  to  order  all  things,  to  believe  in  univcsal 
laws  without  a  imivcrsal  lawgiv(T,  is  to  us  an  absurdity. 
Ex  nihilo  nihil  Jit.  In  a  world  where  every  effect  lias 
a  cause,  who  and  what  is  the  cause  of  all?  Who  but 
God?  And  who  sustains  the  world  now  but  he  who 
lirst  made  it? 

But  it  is  not  the  office  of  science  to  inquire  into  the 
being  and  attributes  and  nature  of  this  First  Great 


a  surer  basis.  At  no  time  was  the  external  evidence  '  Cause.  Science  is  solelj'  occupied  with  the  secondary 
in  favor  of  Christianity,  or  the  argument  drawn  from  ;>roce5se5.  When  it  has  reached  the  law,  it  has  done 
prophecy,  so  clear  an<l  so  little  liable  to  objection  as  at  its  work.  It  is  not  the  business  of  science  to  examine 
(he  present  day.     And  this  is  no  slight  matter.     A  host  j  into  the  law  as  such,  but  only  into  the  mode  of  its  o()er- 


of  eager  and  competent  critics  have  examined  witii 
unfavorable  intentions  the  whole  line  of  our  defences, 
and  the  result  of  their  operations  has  been  to  show  how 
tlioroughly  tenable  it  is  in  every  part. 

Thus  the  whole  attack  is  now  thrown  upon  miracle. 
Miracle  is  roundly  asserted  to  be  contrarj'  to  tiie  whole 
course  of  nature,  and  to  be  a  violation  of  that  grand  law 
of  invariable  order  which  we  find  everywhere  else 
throughout  the  universe.  In  this  way  a  sort  of  induction 
is  drawn  against  miracle.  Wherever  we  can  examine 
into  the  causes  of  phenomena,  we  always  find  them  the 
products  of  forces  acting  according  to  unchanging  laws. 
AVhole  regions  of  phenomena,  which  w'cre  once  sup- 
posed to  be  under  the  sway  of  chance,  liave  now  been 
reduced  to  order,  and  the  causes  of  them  made  manifest. 
Men  of  science  have  entered  one  field  after  another,  and 
have  added  it  to  their  domains,  by  showing  what  laws 
govern  it,  and  how  those  laws  work.  With  some  sho>v 
of  reason  therefore  tliey  alKrm  thit  law  prevails  every- 
where, and  that  wliere  at  i)resent  it  cannot  be  shown  to 
I)revail,  we  may  yet  be  sure  of  its  presence,  and  con- 
vinced that  the  patient  investigations  of  science  will  in 
due  time  demonstrate  its  sway.  And  therefore  miracle, 
as  being  a  violation  of  these  universal  laws,  is  not  mere- 
ly, tiiey  say,  contrary  to  that  experience  of  men  of 
wliicli  Mr.  Hume  spoke,  and  upon  which  he  founded  an 
argiiinciit  repeatedly  shown  to  be  untenable,  but  of  an 
induction  drawn  from  a  vast  field  of  observation  and 
scientific  iiKiuiry.  In  miracle,  and  miracle  alone,  sci- 
yence  finds  something  wliich  contradicts  its  experience. 
The  examination  of  this  most  important  objection  will 
complete  our  inquiry. 

Tlie  proposition  contained  in  this  objection,  wlien  we 
consider  it,  seems  a  most  true  conclusion  as  regards 
the  material  universe.  All  material  things  apparently 
are  governed  by  general  laws,  anil  it  is  probable  that 
scientific  men  are  (luite  right  in  endeavoring  to  show 
that  even  in  creation  all  things  were  produced  bv  law. 


ations.  AN'hose  is  the  law,  what  power  sustains  it,  how 
it  came  into  being— all  this  lies  outside  the  domain  of 
science.  Thus  science  never  rises  above  material 
things;  and  by  remembering  this  —  by  remembering 
that,  after  all,  the  field  of  science  (of  course  we  meau 
physical  science)  is  limited — we  see  that  an  iniluction 
made  in  its  ]jroper  field  does  not  justify  any  conclusions 
in  fields  outside  its  limits. 

Let  us  take  the  case  of  man.  Science,  looking  at 
liim  in  his  physical  aspect,  tells  us  that  he  consists  of 
several  pounds  of  salts  and  earths,  combined  with  a 
larger  number  of  gallons  of  water.  It  tells  us  by  what 
chemical  affinities  these  commonplace  materials  are  held 
together,  how  they  operate  upon  one  another,  by  what 
processes  the  waste  is  renewed,  and  by  what  a  mass  of 
curious  mechanical  contrivances  man's  body,  considered 
as  a  machine,  performs  its  operations.  If  we  ask  how 
it  comes  to  think,  science  tells  us  much  about  the 
brain ;  how  like  it  is  to  a  galvanic  trough,  and  by  what 
an  elaborate,  threefold  apparatus  of  nerves  it  sends  its 
commands  to  every  part  of  the  body.  But  when  we  ask 
how  it  is  that  the  brain  does  consciously  what  the  vol- 
taic battery  does  unconsciously;  how  it  is  that  these 
earths  and  salts,  when  combined  into  a  man,  know  that 
they  are  a  man,  we  get  only  the  unmeaning  answer  that 
it  is  the  result  of  organization.  But  give  science  all  the 
bottles  in  a  chemist's  shop,  and  it  cannot  organize  a 
sentient  being  out  of  them.  In  fact,  it  owns  itself  that 
life  is  a  mystery.  It  can  tell  how  life  works,  but  not 
what  life  is.  Life  is  as  much  beyond  the  reach  of  sci- 
ence as  is  God.    It  knows  the  laws  of  life,  but  no  more. 

jNIan  therefore,  when  considered  only  physically,  con- 
tains more  than  science  can  master.  But  is  life  the  only 
mystery  in  man  ?  Why  does  man  think  ?  Why  does 
he  speculate  upon  his  own  actions?  Why  muse  upon 
the  purpose  of  all  things  here  below  ?  Of  all  beings 
upon  this  earth,  man  ahme  is  self-conscious.  He  alone 
knows  that  he  exists:  he  alone  feels  that  he  exists  for 


For  our  own  part,  we  cannot  imagine  a  perfect  Being  a  purpose,  and  can  and  does  consciously  interl'ore  with 
like  the  Deity  working  except  by  law,  and  therefi>re  [  other  things  in  order  to  shape  them  to  his  own  ends, 
we  read  all  tlieories  aliout  ev<duti(.n  and  selection,  and  |  He  alone  has  not  the  mere  ru.liments,  but  the  full  gift 
the  formation  of  the  solar  system  by  slow  degrees  out  of  a  conscience,  which  is  always  interfering  willi  him, 
ol  a  vast  nebula,  ami  the  like,  with  no  prejudice  regard-  j  and  giving  him  endless  aimoyance,  because  it  will  pass 
ing  them,  however  intended,  simply  as  attempted  an-  j  judgment  upon  his  actions,  and  condemn  much  that  he 
swers  to  the  (luestion,  In  what  way— l)y  what  second-  |  does. 

ai-y  processes  — did  (iod  create  and  shape  the  world?  j  Now  it  is  in  connection  with  this  higher  world  that 
If,  after  reading  the  arguments,  we  conclude  by  think-  miracle  has  its  proper  place.  It  distinctly  has  reference 
ing  them  often  ingenious  rather  than  true,  and  put  the  to  man  as  a  being  in  whom  there  is  more  than  mere 
liook  down  with  the  Scotch  verdict.  "Not  jjroven,"  we  |  material  forces  at  work.  Prove  that  tlierc  is  nothing 
do  not  tliercfore  tliink  that  science  is  on  the  wrong  more  in  man  than  salts  and  earths  and  water,  and 
track,  nor  doubt  that  all  these  imjuiries  t\o  in  tlic  main  tliere  would  be  no  jilace  for  miracle.  Now  physical  sci- 
give  us  juster  views  of  (iod's  method  of  working.  But  ence  stops  at  proving  this.  Tlie  most  skilfiil  analyst 
miracle  seems  to  us  to  beUMig  to  another  field  of  thought,  could  get  nothing  more  out  of  man  than  salts,  earths, 
and  to  be  outside  tiie  domains  of  science.  For  we  vent-  and  water;  but  then,  confessedly,  he  labors  un.lcr  this 
lire  to  ask.  Is  the  material  universe  everytliing?  Is  disadvantage,  that  lie  cannot  begin  his  analysis  until 
there  nothing  but  matter?  nothing  but  didl,  inert  parti-  life,  and  with  it  tlie  sentient  soul,  has  withdrawn  from 
cles,  acted  upon  by  material  forces— attraction,  repulsion,  I  the  machine.    All  he  can  examine  is  the  residuum  only. 


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We  want  some  science  therefore  which  can  examine 
nan  while  he  is  alive,  and  report  upon  him.  For  phys- 
ical science  is  not  the  sole  science.  There  are  other 
sciences,  and  each  is  authoritative  only  upon  its  own 
domain.  The  psychologist,  who  examines  into  the 
workings  of  man's  inner  nature,  is  quite  as  worthy  of  a 
hearing  as  the  physicist,  who  examines  into  the  mate- 
rials out  of  which  he  is  composed.  iVe  siitor  ultra  cre- 
pidam — a  homely  but  wise  motto,  which  a  rising  and 
progressive  study,  such  as  is  physical  science,  in  the 
hours  of  its  tirst  triumphs,  is  in  danger  of  neglecting. 
After  all,  a  man  of  only  one  science  tries  to  see  with 
only  one  eye,  and  to  walk  with  only  one  leg.  Before 
we  can  form  a  true  estimate  of  the  question  that  so 
deeply  concerns  us — What  is  man's  place  and  work  and 
purpose  in  the  world '? — we  must  include  a  far  wider  in- 
duction than  that  offered  by  physical  science. 

If,  as  the  instincts  of  our  nature  teach  us,  there  be  a 
God;  if  man  be  more  than  a  very  highly-organized 
machine ;  if  within  him  there  be  an  immortal  soul,  and 
before  him  a  future  life,  then  miracle  is  essential  to  his 
well-being.  It  is  the  sole  possible  proof  of  conscious  re- 
lation between  man  and  God.  Man  could  not  be  sure 
that  God  had  spoken  to  him,  had  revealed  to  him  any 
knowledge  requisite  for  his  use,  had  entered  into  cove- 
nant relation  with  him,  without  miracles.  We  know 
nothing  in  physical  science  to  disprove  this  relation. 
Suppose  that  we  find  a  stage  elaborately  constructed  and 
adorned.  No  theory,  however  true,  of  the  manner  in 
which  this  stage  was  constructed,  no  examination  of 
the  mechanical  laws  hj  which  it  is  still  kept  in  being, 
will  justify  us  in  concluding  that  it  was  not  intended 
for  some  further  purpose.  Nor,  because  the  boards  are 
all  safely  nailed  in  their  place,  does  it  follow  that  actors 
may  not  enter  upon  it,  higher  in  nature  than  the  boards, 
and  capable  of  spontaneous  motion.  Nor,  because  we 
have  never  seen  the  builder,  does  it  follow  that  he  did 
not  erect  the  stage  on  purpose  that  these  actors  might 
play  upon  it  their  parts.  Geology,  chemistry,  astrono- 
my, so  far  from  proving  that  the  world  had  no  purpose, 
and  that  the  actors  upon  it  have  no  freedom  and  no  re- 
sponsibility, rather  suggest  the  contrary.  They  teach 
us  what  a  vast  amount  of  skill,  patience,  wisdom,  and 
goodness  has  been  expended  in  forming  the  stage. 
Quorsiun  hac?  What  was  the  object  of  all  this? 
What  the  end?  Oh  !  but  some  physicists  answer,  We 
reject  teleologj'.  That  is,  we  reject  something  which 
lies  beyond  our  province,  and  on  which  we  have  no  au- 
thorit}^  to  speak.  They  tell  us  all  about  the  stage,  and 
then,  instead  of  saying  frankly,  We  have  done  our  part, 
Plaudite  (and  ricldy  thej'  deserve  our  applause),  they 
tell  us.  Be  satisfied  with  the  stage.  It  is  very  pretty, 
very  nicely  constructed,  but  utterly  unmeaning.  An 
elaborate  universe  without  a  purpose,  is  a  poor,  mean 
thing,  unworthj'  to  exist.  It  would  be  a  disgrace  to  a 
man  to  erect  a  noble  structure  without  a  purpose : 
there  are  many  buildings  iu  England  called  So-and-So's 
Folly,  because  erected  without  a  sufficient  purpose.  Let 
us  beware  of  ascribing  such  child's  play  to  that  Power 
which  called  the  universe  into  being. 

No.  The  more  we  consider  man,  and  the  more  we 
learn  about  him,  and  about  the  world  which  he  inhab- 
its, the  more  sure  we  are  that  he  is  no  fortuitous  con- 
currence of  atoms,  but  the  chief  and  culminating  point, 
in  whom,  and  in  whom  alone,  all  the  skill  and  wisdom 
and  long  patience  displayed  in  the  formation  of  the 
world  find  their  purpose  and  their  justification.  The 
wonders  of  phj-sical  science  all  lead  up  to  this.  There 
are  some  among  its  teachers  who  would  persuade  us  that 
the  universe  is  a  mere  curiosity  shop,  fitted  to  raise  our 
wonder,  but  never  reasonable,  because  nowhere  the 
product  of  mind,  or  controlled  by  mind.  But  the  very 
harmony  which  they  find  in  nature,  and  the  calm  reign 
of  law,  proves  that  mind  does  pervade  all  nature.  With- 
out mind  there  can  be  no  harmony ;  without  a  universal 
mind  no  universal  law.  But  grant  that  mind  may  ex- 
ist as  well  as  matter,  and  you  grant  the  possibility  of 


this  world  having  a  purpose — a  purpose  which,  as  we 
have  shown,  can  be  realized  only  in  man.  But  to  re- 
alize this  purpose  men's  finite  mind  may  need  converse 
with  the  universal,  the  infinite  mind,  and,  if  so,  miracle 
is  justified  by  this  necessity. 

Thus,  then,  miracle  is  not  contrary  to  nature,  but 
rises  simply  above  the  sphere  of  mere  material  forces. 
And  it  is  untrue  and  unphilosophic  to  regard  it  as  an 
interference  by  God  with  his  universal  laws,  much  less 
a  violation  of  them.  Man  daily  interferes  with  the  ma- 
terial laws  and  forces  of  nature,  but  we  never  violate 
them.  The  stone  thrown  into  the  air  interferes  with 
the  law  of  gravitation,  but  does  not  violate  it.  And  if 
God  be  an  intelligent  and  moral  worker  like  man,  only 
in  a  superior  and  perfect  degree,  he,  too,  must  be  capa- 
ble of  bending  the  powers  of  nature  to  instantaneous 
obedience  to  his  will,  or  he  could  not  do  Avhat  man  can 
do.  His  own  laws  he  could  not  violate,  because  they 
are  his  laws;  but  his  interference  with  them  would 
necessarily  be  what  we  call  a  miracle,  something  which 
the  ordinary  operations  of  nature  could  not  produce; 
something  which  transcends  nature,  and  goes  utterly 
beyond  it.  If  a  sheep  possessed  the  power  of  reasoning 
upon  its  own  actions  and  those  of  man,  the  latter  would 
seem  to  it  absolutely  miraculous,  because  they  so  entirely 
exceed  its  own  powers.  Yet  to  man  they  would  be  no 
miracles,  but  the  ordinary  exercise  of  his  powers.  And 
so  what  we  call  miracles  are  not  miracles  to  the  Deity, 
and  therefore  the  evangelists  call  them  in  Christ  simply 
Cvva/AeiQ,  his  /acuities ;  and  John  calls  them  ipya, 
works,  only,  the  natural  products  of  his  faculties ;  yet 
not  wrought  without  a  purpose.  They  were  also  ar]- 
fitia,  signs,  tokens  indicating  that  something  was  done, 
which  man  was  thereby  required  to  examine  and  ob- 
serve ;  and  living  as  the  Jews  did  under  a  preparatory 
dispensation,  they  were  signs  that  the  fulness  of  time 
had  come,  and  the  final  dispensation  being  ushered  in. 

In  conclusion.  Without  miracles  there  can  be  only 
natural  religion  ;  revealed  religion  is  impossible.  Rev- 
elation is  itself  a  miracle;  and  its  very  object  is  to  tell 
us  things  which  we  could  not  other^vise  know.  Such 
things  cannot  be  verilied  as  we  verify  the  facts  of  sci- 
ence. No  man  hath  or  can  see  God.  No  man  can  tell 
us  b_v  experience  what  is  the  state  of  the  soul  after 
death,  for  from  that  bourne  no  traveller  returns.  Yet 
some  knowledge  of  the  relations  of  the  soul  with  God 
may  be  absolutely  necessary  for  our  moral  and  spiritual 
well-being.  Now  the  utter  failure  of  natural  religion 
convinces  us  that  it  is  necessary.  And  therefore  we 
feel  no  difficulty  in  the  belief  that  God,  in  creating  the 
world  such  as  it  is,  and  placing  man  upon  it  such  as  he 
is,  and  under  such  circumstances  as  those  in  wliich  we 
find  ourselves,  did  from  the  first  purpose  this  reasonable 
interference  ^vith  the  material  laws  of  his  own  framing, 
by  which  he  grants  man  the  only  sufficient  proof  that 
he  is  willing  to  enter  into  covenant  relations  with  him. 
If  the  physicist  reply  that  such  action  on  God's  part  is 
inconceivable,  we  answer  that  he  also  must  conceive  of 
some  such  action.  Students  of  physical  science  deal  in 
k)ng  numbers,  but  these  numbers  are  as  nothing  com- 
pared with  the  eternity  past.  Work  back  with  the  geol- 
ogist, and  you  come  at  last  to  a  first  beginning  of  matter. 
Looked  at  by  the  light  of  mental  science,  the  eternal 
existence  of  matter  is  impossible.  To  the  metaphysi- 
cian, matter  is  but  a  phenomenon  of  mind.  Confining 
ourselves,  then,  to  our  universe,  what  a  momentous 
change  was  that  in  God  when  he  passed  from  tlie  pas- 
sive state  of  not  willing  it  to  the  active  state  of  willing 
the  existence  of  our  system !  Grant  that  by  his  fiat  he 
only  called  into  existence  an  atom,  out  of  which  by  ev- 
olution all  things  here  below  have  sprung,  what  a  stu- 
pendous act  it  was,  and  how  entirely  it  placed  the  Deity 
in  relations,  and,  to  speak  with  all  reverence,  under  ob- 
ligations from  which  he  was  free  before  !  For  tlie  Crea- 
tor is  under  the  obligations  of  justice  and  love  to  his 
creatures.  He  made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves.  But  he 
neither  was  nor  is  under  any  moral  obligations  to  his 


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316 


MIRACLES 


material  laws.  They  abide  in  power  and  might  be- 
cause he  abideth  continually.  And  miracle  simply 
means  that  he,  the  Creator,  has  from  time  to  time,  un- 
der the  operation  of  a  higher  law,  }j,iven  us  the  neces- 
sary proof  that  he  does  love  us,  and  that  certain  mes- 
sengers, chosen  from  among  men,  had  authority  to 
teach  us  truths  which  concerned  our  peace;  and  that, 
finally,  by  "  powers  and  portents  and  signs,  he  has  man- 
ifested and  displayed  Jesus  of  Nazareth  in  the  midst  of 
us"  as  "  a  leader  and  Saviour,  to  give  repentance  unto 
his  people  and  the  remission  of  sins." 

Miracles,  then,  were  no  after- thought,  no  remedial 
process  to  set  right  what  had  gone  wrong  before.  They 
form  an  essential  and  necessary  part  and  condition  of 
the  intercourse  between  the  universal  mind  of  God  and 
the  finite  mind  of  man,  and  that  intercourse  was  neces- 
sary for  man's  good.  Why  man  is  just  what  he  is,  and 
■why  the  state  of  things  in  which  he  finds  himself  is 
what  it  is,  we  cannot  tell.  We  can  only  reason  from 
facts  as  we  find  them.  But  man  being  such  as  he  is, 
we  assert  that  the  world  would  be  a  failure  without  mir- 
acles; for  either  man  would  exist  without  a  purpose,  or, 
having  been  placed  here  for  some  purpose,  he  would  not 
know  with  sufficient  certainty  or  clearness  what  that 
purpose  was,  and  therefore  would  neither  have  the 
means  of  effecting  it,  nor  even  any  obligation  laid  upon 
him  of  trying  to  accomplish  what  his  Maker  had  willed 
in  his  creation.    (R.  P.  S.) 

For  the  relations  of  miracles  to  prayer,  see  Prayer. 
We  have  thus  far  considered  simply  the  positive  ev- 
idences on  which  tlie  belief  in  miracles  properly  rests, 
and  it  remains  to  notice  the  objections  that  have  from 
time  to  time  been  urged  against  it,  ann  the  different 
views  as  to  the  character  and  office  of  miracles. 

The  Christians  even  of  apostolic  days  were  in  the 
habit  of  appealing  to  the  miracles  and  prophecies  in 
sui)port  of  the  truth  of  their  religion,  and  hence  it  be- 
came important  to  define  exactly  the  idea  of  a  miracle ; 
and  in  conse(ptence  of  a  desire  for  such  preciseness  divi- 
sion arose  among  the  interpreters  of  Scripture,  provok- 
ing heresy  in  the  Church,  while  from  without  attacks 
were  constantly  made  against  the  credibility  of  the 
<;ospel  history,  the  divine  authenticity  of  the  prophetic 
announcements,  and  the  wonderful  works  claimed  to 
liave  been  wrought  under  the  old  dispensation.  Dean 
Trench,  in  his  Xotc.i  on  Miracles,  has  furnished  an  ex- 
cellent and  interesting  account  of  the  various  assaults  I 
made  on  the  argument  for  miracles,  and  to  it  we  must 
refer  for  detailed  information.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  I 
that  tlie  controversy  respecting  the  jxissibility  of  mira- 
cles is  as  old  as  philosojihic  literature.  Indeed,  from 
the  writings  of  Jewish  savans,  it  would  apjjcar  tliat  the 
coniroversy  respecting  the  possibility  of  miracles  com- 
menced even  in  the  days  of  the  O.-T.  dispensation,  and 
that  near  the  appointed  time  for  the  coming  of  the  Sav- 
iour the  world  was  greatly  animated  by  a  controversy 
on  the  subject.  There  is  a  very  clear  view  of  it,  as  it  ' 
stood  in  the  pagan  world,  given" by  Cicero  in  his  books 
JJe  JJiriiKitioiie.  In  the  works  of  Josephus  there  are 
occasionally  suggestions  of  naturalistic  explanations  of 
().-T.  miracles;  but  these  seem  rather  thrown  out  for 
tlie  purjiose  of  gratifying  sceptical  pagan  readers  than 
as  expressions  of  his  own  belief.  The  other  chief  au- 
thorities for  Jewish  opinion  are  Maimonides's  Aforeh 
Ncborliim,  lib.  ii,  c.  3.3,  and  the  I'iike  Ahoth,  in  Suren- 
husius's  Mishna,  iv,  4G9,  and  Abrabanel,  Miphuloth  Elo- 
him,  \x  m. 

Dean  Trench,  in  his  classificafion  of  the  objectors, 
l)laces  the  Jewish  first,  then  follows  with  tlie  heathen 
(Celsus,  etc.),  and  puts  as  third  in  the  list  the  panthe- 
istic ol)jectors  led  by  Spinoza.  He  evidently  regards 
Cardan  {l>e  Cmilnidirtione  Medicnnini,  2,  tract.  2),  and 
those  other  Italian  atheists  who  referred  the  Christian 
miracles  to  the  influence  of  the  stars,  as  unworthy  of 
notice.  If  these  be  omitted,  as  Treiuh  lias  done,  the 
oiintrovcrsy  in  the  modem  Cliristian  world  regarding 
miracles  may  be  said  to  date  back  to  the  17th  centurv, 


and  to  have  been  ushered  in  by  Spinoza's  Tradatus 
Theulof/ici  PoUtici,  "  which  contained  the  germ  of  al- 
most all  the  infidel  theories  that  have  since  appeared." 
Rationalists  since  the  days  of  S[iinoza  have  opiioscd  the 
reality  and  credibility  of  miracles,  while  the  adherents 
of  the  modern  (formal)  supernaturalism  rested  belief  in 
revelation  especially  on  that  branch  of  evidence.     One 
of  these  objections,  urged  by  Spinoza,  and  repeated  in 
various  forms  by  subsequent  writers,  is  thus  stated  by 
dean  Mansel :  '-The  laws  of  nature  are  the  decrees  of 
(iod,  and  follow  necessarily  from  the  perfection  of  the 
divine  nature;  they  must  therefore  be  eternal  and  im- 
mutable, and  must  extend  to  all  possible  events.   There- 
fore, to  admit  an  exception  to  these  laws  is  to  suppose 
that  God's  order  is  broken,  and  that  the  divine  work  is 
but  an  imperfect  expression  of  the  divine  will.     This 
objection  is  perfectly  intelligible  in  the  mouth  of  a  pan- 
theist, with  whom    God  and   nature   are   convertible 
terms,  and  a  divine  supernatural  act  is  a  self-contradic- 
tion; but  it  is  untenable  in  any  system  which  admits  a 
personal  God  distinct  from  nature,  and  only  partially 
manifested  in  it.     In  such  a  system  nature  is  not  infi- 
nite, as  Spinoza  makes  it,  but  finite.     There  is  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  actual  and  the  possible;  between 
the  visible  world  as  a  limited  system,  with  limited  laws, 
and  the  whole  mind  of  (iod,  embracing  all  possible  sys- 
tems as  well  as  the  present.     From  this  point  of  view, 
nature,  as  actually  existing,  does  express  a  portion,  and 
a  portion  only,  of  the  divine  purpose ;  the  miracle  ex- 
presses another  portion  belonging  to  a  different  and 
more  comprehensive  system.     But  in  addition  to  this 
consideration,  even  the  actual  world  furnishes  us  with 
an  answer  to  the  objection.     God's  order,  we  have  too 
much  reason  to  know,  actually  is  broken.     His  will  is 
not  carried  out.     Unless  we  make  God  the  author  of 
evil,  we  must  admit  that  sin  is  a  violation  of  his  will,  a 
breach  made  in  his  natural  order,  however  imiwssible  it 
may  be  to  give  an  account  of  its  origin.    The  pantheist 
evades  the  difficulty  by  denying  that  evil  has  any  real 
existence;  but  to  the  theist,  wlio  admits  its  existence, 
it  is  conclusive  evidence  that,  as  a  fact,  however  little 
we  may  understand  how  it  can  be,  the  world,  as  it  ex- 
ists, is  not  a  perfect  expression  of  God's  law  and  will. 
The  miracle,  as  thus  viewed,  belongs  to  a  spiritual  sys- 
tem appointed  to  remedy  the  disorders  of  the  natural 
system;  and  against  the  self-complacent  theory  which 
tells  us  that  disorders  in  the  natural  system  are  impos- 
sible, wo  have  the  witness  of  a  melancholy  experience 
which  tells   us   that  they  are  actually  there.      Thus 
viewed,  the  miracle  is  in  one  sense  natural,  in  another 
supernatural.     It  is  natural  as  forming  a  part  of  the 
higher  or  spiritual  system;  it  is  supernatural  as  not 
forming  a  part  of  the  lower  or  material  system.     Tlie 
same  considerations  may  serve  to  obviate  another  form 
of  the  same  objection — a  form  in  which  it  is  likewise 
suggested  by  Spinoza,  though  developed  by  other  writ- 
ers in  a  form  more  adapted  to  the  language  of  theism. 
We  are  told  that  it  is  more  worthy  of  God  to  arrange  a 
plan  which  shall  provide  by  its  original  laws  for  all  pos- 
sible contingencies  than  one  which  retpiires  a  special 
interposition  to  meet  a  special  emergency.     We  know 
so  little  about  the  process  of  creating  and  governing  a 
world,  that  it  is  ditKcult  for  us  to  judge  what  method  of 
doing  so  is  most  worthy  of  (Jod;  but  this  whole  objec- 
tion proceeds  on  the  gratuitous  assumption  that  the 
plan  of  the  world,  as  it  exists  in  the  counsels  of  (Jod, 
must  be  identical  with  the  i)lan  of  the  world  as  it  is 
contemplated   by   man    in    relation    to    physical   laws. 
Doubtless  the  miracle,  like  any  other  event,  was  fore- 
seen by  (iod  from  the  beginning,  and  formed  part  of  his 
eternal  purpose;  but  it  docs  not  therefore  follow  that  it 
is  included  within  that  very  limited  ))ortiun  of  his  pur- 
pose which  is  apprehended  by  man  as  a  system  of  jiliys- 
ieal  laws.     To  Omnipotence  no  one  event  is  more  ililfi- 
cult  than   another;    to  Omniscience  no  one   event  is 
more  wonderful  than  another.    The  distinction  between 
miracles  and  ordinary  events,  as  has  already  been  ob- 


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MIRACLES 


served,  is  a  distinction,  not  in  relation  to  God,  but  in 
relation  to  man.  Moreover,  even  from  the  human  point 
of  view,  the  miracle  is  not  wrought  for  a  physical,  but 
for  a  moral  purpose;  it  is  not  an  interposition  to  adjust 
the  machinery  of  the  material  world,  but  one  to  pro- 
mote the  spiritual  welfare  of  mankind.  The  very  con- 
ception of  a  repealed,  as  distinguished  from  a  natural 
religion,  implies  a  manifestation  of  God  different  in  kind 
from  that  which  is  exhibited  by  the  ordinar\'  course  of 
nature;  and  tlie  question  of  the  probability  of  a  mirac- 
ulous interposition  is  simply  that  of  the  probability  of  a 
revelation  being  given  at  all."  A  list  of  the  principal 
replies  to  the  pantheistic  objectors  may  be  seen  in  Fa- 
bricius,  Delectus  Arf/umentoruni,  etc.,  c.  43,  p.  697  (Ham- 
burg, 1725).  A  full  account  of  the  controversy  in  Eng- 
land with  the  deists  during  the  last  century  will  be 
found  in  Leland's  View  of  the  Deisticul  Writers  (reprint- 
ed at  London,  1836).  The  debate  was  renewed  about 
the  middle  of  that  century  by  the  publication  of  Hume's 
celebrated  essay,  which  teaches  that  "a  miracle  is  a  vi- 
olation of  the  laws  of  nature ;  and  as  a  firm  and  unalter- 
able experience  has  established  these  laws,  the  proof 
against  a  miracle,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  fact,  is  as 
entire  as  any  argument  from  experience  can  possibly  be 
imagined."  According  to  the  position  taken  in  the  pre- 
ceding remarks  by  the  dean  of  Canterbury,  it  cannot 
with  any  accuracy  be  said  that  a  miracle  is  "a  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nature."  It  is  the  effect  of  a  super- 
natural cause,  acting  along  with  and  in  addition  to  the 
natural  causes  constituting  the  system  of  tlie  world.  It 
is  produced,  therefore,  by  a  different  combination  of 
causes  from  that  which  is  at  work  in  the  production  of 
natural  phenomena.  The  laws  of  nature  are  only  gen- 
eral expressions  of  that  uniform  arrangement  according 
to  which  the  same  causes  invariably  produce  the  same 
effect.  They  would  be  violated  by  the  production,  at 
different  times,  of  different  effects  from  the  same  cause; 
but  they  are  not  violated  when  different  effects  are  pro- 
duced from  different  causes.  Tlie  experience  which 
tcstilies  to  their  uniformity  tells  us  only  what  effects 
may  be  expected  to  follow  from  a  repetition  of  the  same 
cause ;  it  cannot  tell  us  what  effects  will  follow  from 
the  introduction  of  a  different  cause.  Tliis,  which  is  in 
substance  the  answer  given  to  Hume  by  Brown,  ap- 
pears the  most  satisfactory  among  the  various  argu- 
ments by  which  the  sceptical  philosopher's  position  has 
been  assailed.  It  is  questioned  by  some  of  the  critics 
of  Hume  (notably  Sir  William  Hamilton ;  comp.  Ham- 
ilton's Keid,  p.  129,  444,  457,  489),  whether  his  sceptical 
arguments  are  offered  in  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  proc- 
esses of  common-sense  and  the  truths  of  religion,  and 
not  rather  in  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  philosophy  itself,  by 
representing  the  results  of  its  analysis  as  equally  proba- 
ble in  favor  of  and  against  two  opposite  directions  of 
thought.  The  form  of  dialogue  which  is  adopted  by 
Hume  in  this  discussion  favors  somewhat  this  construc- 
tion; but  it  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  impression 
left  upon  the  unbiased  mind  that  Hume  had  no  confi- 
dence in  speculation  of  any  kind  when  applied  to  super- 
sensual  or  spiritual  beings  and  relations  (comp.  Ueber- 
wcg.  Hint.  Philos.  ii.  .•!79).  The  ablest  replies  to  Hume's 
arguments  were  sent  forth  by  Principal  Campbell  in  his 
JJisserlutioii  on  Jliracles;  Hey,  Norrisian  Lectures,  i, 
127  sq. ;  Elrington,  Bonellan  Lectures  (Dublin,  1796) ; 
Dr.  Thomas  Brown,  On  Cause  and  Effect ;  Paley,  Evi- 
dences ofChristianitij  (Introduction) ;  Archbp.  Whately, 
Lor/ic  (Appentlix) ;  and  Historic  Doubts  respectinr/  Na- 
poleon Bonaparte;  Dean  llyall,  Propmdia  Prophetica 
(reprinted,  1854) ;  Bp.  Douglas,  Criterion,  or  Miracles 
Examined,  etc.  (Lond.  1754) ;  Farrar,  Critical  Hist,  of 
Free  Thought,  p.  150  sq.  See  Hume.  Within  the  last 
few  years  the  controversy  has  been  renpcned  by  the  late 
professor  Baden  Powell  in  the  /'//////  .;/'  W'ndds,  and 
some  remarks  on  the  study  of  eviikiicts  published  in 
the  now-celebrated  volume  of  Essays  and  Reviews.  See 
Goodwin,  in  Am.  Theol.  Rev.  July,  18G1;  Christian  Re- 
tnenihrancer,  July,  1861. 


From  England  the  controversy  shifted  again  to  the 
Continent,  and  finds  its  ablest  representatives  against 
the  supernaturalists  now  not  only  in  the  camp  of  the 
atheistic  and  pantheistic,  but  also  among  theologians, 
and  dean  Trench  therefore  adopts  as  his  next  or  fifth 
class  those  who  regard  miracles,  as  such,  only  subjec- 
tively, placing  as  its  standard-bearer  the  celebrated 
Schleiermacher,  who  advanced  a  doctrine  as  incompati-  . 
ble  with  any  belief  in  a  real  miracle  as  was  that  taught 
by  Hume.  "A  miracle,"  says  Schleiermacher,  "has  a 
positive  relation,  by  which  it  extends  to  all  that  is  fut- 
ure, and  a  negative  relation,  which  in  a  certain  sense  af- 
fects all  that  is  past.  In  so  far  as  that  does  not  I'ollow 
which  would  have  followed,  according  to  the  natural 
connection  of  the  aggregate  of  finite  causes,  in  so  far  an 
effect  is  hindered,  not  by  the  influence  of  other  natural 
counteracting  causes  belonging  to  the  same  series,  but 
notwithstanding  the  concurrence  of  all  effective  causes 
to  the  production  of  the  effect.  Everything,  therefore, 
which  from  all  past  time  contributed  to  this  effect  is  in 
a  certain  measure  annihilated;  and  instead  of  the  inter- 
polation of  a  single  supernatural  agent  into  the  course 
of  nature,  the  whole  conception  of  nature  is  destroyed. 
On  the  positive  side,  something  takes  place  which  is 
conceived  as  incapable  of  following  from  the  aggregate 
of  finite  causes.  But,  inasmuch  as  this  event  itself  now 
becomes  an  actual  link  in  the  chain  of  nature,  every 
future  event  must  be  other  than  it  would  have  been  had 
this  one  miracle  not  taken  place."  On  this  and  other 
grounds,  Schleiermacher  is  led  to  maintain  that  there 
is  no  real  distinction  between  the  natural  and  the  su- 
pernatural; the  miracles  being  only  miraculous  rela- 
tively to  us,  through  our  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
hidden  causes  in  nature,  by  means  of  which  they  were 
wrought.  "This  objection,"  says  dean  Mansel,  "pro- 
ceeds on  an  assumption  which  is  not  merely  unwar- 
ranted, but  actually  contradicted  by  experience.  It  as- 
sumes that  the  system  of  material  nature  is  a  rigid,  not 
an  elastic  system ;  that  it  is  one  which  obstinately  re- 
sists the  introduction  of  new  forces,  not  one  wliich  is 
capable  of  adapting  itself  to  them.  We  know  by  expe- 
rience that  the  voluntary  actions  of  men  can  be  inter- 
posed among  the  phenomena  of  matter,  and  exercise  an 
infiuence  over  them,  so  that  certain  results  may  be  pro- 
duced or  not,  according  to  the  will  of  a  man,  without 
affecting  the  stability  of  the  universe,  or  the  coherence 
of  its  parts  as  a  system.  What  the  will  of  man  can  ef- 
fect to  a  small  extent,  the  will  of  God  can  surely  effect 
to  a  greater  extent;  and  this  is  a  sufficient  answer  to 
the  objection  which  declares  the  miracle  to  be  impossi- 
ble; though  we  may  not  be  able  to  say  with  certainty 
whether  it  is  actually  brought  to  pass  in  this  or  in  some 
other  way.  There  may  be  many  means,  unknown  to 
us,  by  which  such  an  event  may  be  produced;  but  if  it 
can  be  produced  in  any  way  it  is  not  impossible." 

The  rationalists,  thus  encouraged  by  the  mediating 
theologians,  endeavored  to  explain  the  miraculous  as 
something  natural,  while  the  natural  philosophers  as- 
serted that  nature  transfigured  by  spirit  (the  blending 
of  the  two  in  one)  is  the  only  true  miracle.  But  thus 
the  reality  of  the  miracle  (in  the  scriptural  sense)  was 
destroyed,  and  it  was  regarded  simply  as  the  symbolical 
expression  of  a  speculative  idea.  See  Schelling,  Me- 
ihode,  p.  181,  203;  and  comp.  Bockshammer  and  Kosen- 
kranz,  cited  in  Strauss,  Dogmatik,  p.  244  sq.  [Bosk- 
shammer  {Freiheit  der  Willens,  transl.  by  Kaufman, 
Andov.  1840)  says  that  what  is  willed  in  the  spirit  of 
truth  and  purity  with  a  mighty  will,  is  willed  in  the 
Spirit  of  God,  and  it  is  only  a  postulate  of  reason  that 
nature  cannot  withstand  such  a  will.  Hence  Christ  is 
the  great  miracle-worker.  Kosenkranz  (Enci/kl.  d.  Theol. 
p.  160)  defines  miracle  as  nature  determined  by  spirit; 
spirit  is  the  basis  of  nature,  and  hence  nature  cannot 
limit  it.  This  power  was  fully  concentrated  in  Christ.] 
The  natural  interpretation  of  miracles  rather  served  the 
purposes  of  rationalism,  while  the  adherents  of  modern 
speculative  philosophy  gave  the  preference  to  the  hy- 


MIRACLES 


318 


MIRACLES 


pothesis  that  the  miracles  related  in  Scripture  are 
myths,  because  it  is  more  agreeable  to  the  negative 
tenilency  of  that  school— that  the  antecedent  improb- 
ability of  a  miracle  taking  ])lace  must  always  outweigh 
that  of  the  testimony  in  its  favor  being  false ;  and  thus 
that  the  occurrence  of  a  miracle,  if  not  impossible,  is  at 
least  incapaljle  of  satisfactory  jjroof.  Such  is  in  the 
main  the  argument  of  Ilume,  but  it  came  more  recently 
to  be  revived  and  assumed  as  an  axiomatic  principle  by 
the  so-called  naturalistic,  or,  better,  rationalistic  I'aulus. 
and  by  tlie  hisforico-crilical  school,  represented  mainly 
by  W'oolston,  Strauss,  and  Kenan.  "  The  fallacy  of  this 
objection,"  says  dean  JMansel,  "consists  in  the  circum- 
stance that  it  estimates  the  opposed  probabilities  solely 
on  empirical  grounds;  i.  e.  on  the  more  or  less  frequent 
occurrence  of  miraculous  events  as  compared  with  false 
testimony.  If  it  is  ever  possible  that  an  event  of  com- 
paratively rare  occurrence  may,  in  a  given  case  and  un- 
der certain  circumstances,  be  more  credible  than  one  of 
more  ordinary  occurrence,  the  entire  argument  falls  to 
the  groiuid  in  reference  to  such  cases.  And  such  a  case 
is  actually  presented  by  the  Christian  miracles.  The 
redemption  of  the  world  is  an  event  unique  in  the 
•world's  history:  it  is  therefore  natural  to  expect  that 
the  circumstances  accompanying  it  should  be  unique 
also.  The  importance  of  that  redemption  furnishes  a 
'  distinct  particular  reason'  for  miracles,  if  the  divine 
purpose  can  be  furthered  by  them.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances the  antecedent  probability  is  for  the  mira- 
cles, not  against  them,  and  cannot  be  outweighed  by 
empirical  inductions  drawn  from  totally  ditferent  data, 
relating  to  the  physical,  not  to  the  religious  condition 
of  the  world.  It  must,  however,  be  always  remembered 
that  abstract  and  general  considerations  like  the  above, 
though  necessary  to  meet  the  unbelin-ing  objections 
Avhicii  are  unhnppily  rife  on  this  subj.'ct,  do  not  consti- 
tute the  grounds  of  our  belief  in  the  miracles  of  Script- 
ure, especially  those  of  Christ.  The  abstract  argument 
is  the  stronghold  of  scepticism,  and  to  deal  with  it  at 
all  it  is  necessary  to  meet  it  on  its  own  ground.  0;i  the 
other  hand,  the  strength  of  the  Christian  argument 
rests  mainly  on  the  special  contents  of  the  Gospel  nar- 
rative, particularly  as  regards  the  character  of  the  Sav- 
iour jjortrayed  in  it,  and  the  distinctive  nature  of  his 
miracles  as  connected  with  his  character,  and  on  the 
subsecpient  history  of  the  Christian  Church.  It  is  far 
easier  to  talk  in  general  terms  about  the  laws  of  nature, 
and  the  impossibility  of  their  violation,  than  to  go 
through  the  actual  contents  of  the  Gospels  in  detail,  and 
show  how  it  is  possible  that  such  a  narrative  could  have 
been  written,  and  how  the  events  described  in  it  could 
have  induenced,  as  they  have,  the  subsequent  history 
of  the  world,  on  any  other  supposition  than  that  of 
its  being  a  true  narrative  of  real  events.  Accordingly 
we  linil  that,  while  the  several  attacks  on  the  Gospel 
miracles  in  i)articular,  with  whatever  ability  they  may 
have  been  conihicted,  and  whatever  temporary  popular- 
ity they  may  have  obtained,  seem  universally  destined 
to  a  speedy  extinction  beyond  the  possibility  of  revival, 
the  general  a  priori  objection  still  retains  its  hold  on 
men's  minds,  and  is  revived  from  time  to  time,  after  re- 
peated refutations,  as  often  as  the  changing  aspects  of 
scientitie  progress  appear  to  offer  the  opportunity  of  a 
plausible  disguise  of  an  old  sophism  in  new  drapery. 
The  minute  criticisms  of  Woolston  and  I'aulus  on  tlie 
details  of  the  Gospel  history  are  utterly  dead  and  buried 
out  of  sight;  and  those  of  Strauss  show  plain  indica- 
tions of  being  doomed  to  the  same  fate,  though  sujiport- 
ed  for  a  while  by  a  sjiurious  alliance  witli  a  popular 
philc>so!)hy.  And  the  failure  which  is  manifest  in  such 
writers,  even  while  they  conliue  themselves  to  the  mere- 
ly negative  task  of  criticising  I  lie  (iospel  narrative,  be- 
comes still  more  consiticimus  wlien  they  proceed  to  ac- 
coiMit  for  the  origin  of  Christianity  by  positive  theories 
of  tlieir  own.  The  naturalistic  theory  of  I'aulus  lireaks 
down  under  the  sheer  weight  of  its  own  accumulation 
of  cumbrous  and  awkward  explanations ;   while  the 


mythical  hypothesis  of  Strauss  is  found  guilty  of  the 
logical  absurdity  of  deducing  the  premise  from  the  con- 
clusion :  it  assumes  that  men  invented  an  imaginary 
life  of  Jesus  because  they  believed  him  to  be  the  ^les- 
siah,  when  the  verj-  supposition  that  the  life  is  imagi- 
nary leaves  the  belief  in  the  !Messiahship  unexplained 
and  inexplicable.  On  the  other  hand,  the  a  ptiuri  rea- 
sonings of  Spinoza  and  Hume  exhibit  a  vitality  which 
is  certainly  not  due  to  their  logical  conclusiveness,  but 
which  has  enabled  them  in  various  disguises  to  peqdex 
the  intellects  and  unsettle  the  faith  of  a  different  gen- 
eration from  that  for  which  they  were  first  written. 
Hence  it  is  that  a  writer  who  is  required,  by  the  exi- 
gencies of  his  own  day,  to  consider  the  (juestion  of  mir- 
acles from  an  apologetic  point  of  view,  finds  himself 
compelled  to  dwell  mainly  on  the  abstract  argument 
conceniing  miracles  in  general,  rather  than  on  the  dis- 
tinctive features  which  characterize  the  Christian  mir- 
acles in  particular.  The  latter  are  the  more  pleasant 
and  the  more  useful  theme,  when  the  object  is  the  edi- 
fication of  the  believer;  the  former  is  indispensable 
when  it  is  requisite  to  controvert  the  positions  of  the 
unbeUever.  There  is,  however,  one  phase  of  the  scep- 
tical argument  which  may  be  met  by  considerations  of 
the  special  rather  than  of  the  general  kind.  It  has 
been  objected  that  no  testimony  can  prove  a  miracle  as 
such.  'Testimony,'  we  are  told,  'can  apply  only  to 
apparent,  sensible  facts;  testimony  can  only  prove  an 
extraordinary  and  perhaps  inexplicable  occurrence  or 
phenomenon;  that  it  is  due  to  supernatural  causes  is 
entirely  dependent  on  the  previous  belief  and  assump- 
tions of  the  parties.'  AVhatever  may  be  the  value  of 
this  objection  as  applied  to  a  hypothetical  case,  in 
which  the  objector  may  select  such  occurrences  and 
such  testimonies  as  suit  his  purpose,  it  is  singularly  in- 
applicable to  the  works  actually  recorded  as  having 
been  done  by  Christ  and  his  apostles.  It  may,  with 
certain  exceptions,  be  applicable  to  a  case  in  which  the 
assertion  of  a  supernatural  cause  rests  solely  on  the  tes- 
timony of  the  spectator  of  the  fact ;  but  it  is  not  appli- 
cable to  those  in  which  the  cause  is  decLared  by  the 
performer.  Let  us  accept,  if  we  please,  merely  as  a 
narrative  of  'apparent  sensible  facts,'  the  history  of  the 
cure  of  the  blind  and  dumb  diemoniac,  or  of  the  lame 
man  at  the  Beautiful  Gate ;  but  we  cannot  place  the 
same  restriction  ujwn  the  words  of  our  Lord  and  of  St. 
Peter,  which  expressly  assign  the  supernatural  cause — 
'  If  I  cast  out  devils  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  then  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  come  unto  you.'  '  By  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth  doth  this  man  stand  here  be- 
fore you  whole.'  We  have  here,  at  least,  a  testimony 
reaching  to  the  supernatural;  and  if  that  testimony  be 
admitted  in  these  cases,  the  same  cause  becomes  the 
most  reasonable  and  probable  that  can  be  assigned  to 
the  other  Avonderful  works  performed  by  the  same  jicr- 
sons.  For  if  it  be  admitted  that  our  Lord  exercised  a 
supernatural  power  at  all,  there  is,  to  use  the  words  of 
bishop  Butler,  'no  more  presumption  worth  mentioning 
against  his  having  exerted  this  miraculous  power  in  a 
certain  degree  greater,  than  in  a  certain  degree  less; 
in  one  or  two  more  instances,  than  in  one  or  two  few- 
er.' This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  on  which  the 
most  important  part  of  this  controversy  must  ultimate- 
ly rest;  namely,  that  the  true  evidence  on  behalf  of 
the  Christian  miracles  is  to  be  estimated,  not  by  the 
force  of  testimony  in  general,  as  comi)ared  with  antece- 
dent improbaiiility,  but  by  the  force  of  the  peculiar  tes- 
timony by  which  the  Christian  miracles  are  sujiported, 
as  compared  with  the  antecedent  proi>ai)ility  or  improb- 
ability that  a  religion  of  sudi  a  char.icter  shoidd  have 
been  first  introduced  into  the  world  of  superlnnnan 
agency.  The  miracles  of  Christ,  and,  as  the  chief  of 
them  all,  that  great  crowning  miracle  of  his  resurrec- 
tion, are  sup|)orted  by  all  the  testimony  which  they  de- 
rived from  liis  own  positive  declarations  concerning 
them,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  record  of  his  life, 
and  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Christian  religion. 


MIRACLES 


319 


MIRACLES 


The  alternative  lies  between  accepting  that  testimony, 
as  it  is  given,  or  regarding  the  Gospels  as  a  fiction,  and 
the  Christian  faith  as  founded  on  imposture.  In  adopt- 
ing this  argument,  we  do  not,  as  is  sometimes  said,  rea- 
son in  a  circle,  employing  the  character  of  Christ  as 
a  testimony  in  favor  of  the  miracles,  and  the  miracles 
again  as  a  testimony  in  favor  of  the  character  of  Christ. 
For  the  character  of  Christ  is  contemplated  in  two  dis- 
tinct aspects :  first,  as  regards  his  human  perfectness ; 
and,  secondly,  as  regards  his  superhuman  mission  and 
powers.  The  first  bears  witness  to  the  miracles,  the  mir- 
acles bear  witness  to  the  second.  When  our  Lord  rep- 
resents himself  as  a  human  example  to  be  imitated  by 
his  human  followers,  he  lays  stress  on  those  facts  of 
his  life  which  indicate  his  human  goodness  :  '  Take 
my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek 
and  lowly  of  heart.'  When,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
represents  himself  as  divinely  commissioned  for  a  spe- 
cial purpose,  he  appeals  to  the  superhuman  evidence 
of  his  miracles  as  authenticat'ng  that  mission  :  '  The 
works  which  the  Father  hath  given  me  to  finish,  the 
same  works  that  I  do,  bear  witness  of  me  that  the  Fa- 
ther hath  sent  me.'  It  is  true  that  the  evidence  of  the 
miracles,  as  addressed  to  us,  has  a  different  aspect,  and 
rests  on  different  grounds,  from  that  which  belonged  to 
them  at  the  time  when  they  were  first  performed.  But 
this  change  has  not  diminished  their  force  as  evi- 
dences, though  it  has  somewhat  changed  its  direction. 
If  we  have  not  the  advantage  of  seeing  and  hearing 
and  questioning  those  who  were  eye-witnesses  of  the 
miracles,  the  deficiency  is  fully  supplied  by  the  addi- 
tional testimony  that  has  accrued  to  us,  in  the  history 
of  Christianity,  from  their  day  to  ours.  If  we  have 
stricter  concejitions  of  physical  law,  and  of  the  uniform- 
it}^  of  nature,  we  have  also  higher  evidence  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  purpose  worthy  of  the  exercise  of  God's  sov- 
ereign power  over  nature.  If  the  progress  of  science 
has  made  many  things  easy  of  performance  at  the  pres- 
ent day  which  would  have  seemed  miraculous  to  the 
men  of  tlie  1st  century,  it  has  also  shown  more  clearly 
how  inimitable  and  unapproachable  are  the  miracles  of 
Christ,  in  the  maturity  of  science  no  less  than  in  its  in- 
fancy. And  when  it  is  objected  that  '  if  miracles  were, 
in  the  estimation  of  a  former  age,  among  the  chief 
supports  of  a  former  Christianity,  they  are  at  present 
among  the  main  difficulties  and  hinderances  to  its  ac- 
ceptance,' we  may  fairlj'  ask.  What  is  this  Christianity 
which  might  be  more  easily  believed  if  it  had  no  mira- 
cles? Is  it  meant  that  the  Gospel  narrative,  in  gen- 
eral, would  be  more  easy  to  believe  were  the  miracles 
taken  out  of  it?  The  miracles  are  so  interwoven  with 
the  narrative  that  the  whole  texture  would  be  de- 
stroyed by  their  removal.  Or  is  it  meant  that  the 
great  central  fact  in  the  apostolic  preaching — the  resur- 
rection of  Christ — would  be  more  natural  and  credible 
if  he  who  thus  marvellously  rose  from  the  dead  had  in 
his  lifetime  exhibited  no  signs  of  a  power  superior  to 
that  of  his  fellow-inen  ?  Or  is  it  meant  that  the  great 
distinctive  doctrines  of  Christianity — such  as  those  of 
the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation — might  be  more  read- 
ily accepted  were  there  no  miracles  in  the  Scripture 
■which  contains  them  ?  We  can  scarcely  imagine  it  to 
be  seriously  maintained  that  it  would  be  easier  to  be- 
lieve that  the  second  person  of  the  divine  Trinity 
came  on  earth  in  the  form  of  man,  were  it  also  asserted 
that  while  on  earth  he  gave  no  signs  of  a  power  be- 
yond that  of  ordinary  men.  In  short,  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  on  what  ground  it  can  be  maintained  that 
the  miracles  are  a  hinderance  to  the  belief  in  Christian- 
ity, except  on  a  ground  whicli  asserts  also  that  there 
is  no  distinctive  Christianity  in  which  to  believe.  It 
may  with  more  truth  be  said  that  the  miraculous  ele- 
ment, which  forms  so  large  a  portion  of  Christianity,  has 
its  peculiar  worth  and  service  at  the  present  day  as  a 
protest  and  safeguard  against  two  forms  of  unchristian 
thought  to  which  an  intellectual  and  cultivated  age  is 
liable  —  pantheism,  the  danger  of  a  deeply  speculative 


philosophy;  and  materialism,  the  danger  of  a  too  ex- 
clusive devotion  to  physical  science.  Both  these,  in  dif- 
ferent ways,  tend  to  deify  natiu'e  and  the  laws  of  nat- 
ure, and  to  obscure  the  belief  in  a  personal  God  distinct 
from  and  above  nature ;  against  both  these,  so  long  as 
the  Christian  religion  lasts,  the  miracles  of  Christ  are 
a  perpetual  witness  ;  and  in  so  witnessing  they  perform 
a  service  to  religion  different  in  kind,  but  not  less  im- 
portant than  that  which  they  performed  at  the  begin-' 
ning.  The  miracles  of  the  O.  T.  may  be  included  in 
the  above  argument,  if  we  regard,  as  Scripture  requires 
us  to  regard,  the  earlier  dispensation  as  an  anticipation 
of  and  preparation  for  the  coming  of  Christ.  jNIany  of 
the  events  in  the  history  of  Israel  as  a  people  are  typ- 
ical of  corresponding  events  in  the  life  of  the  Saviour; 
and  the  earlier  miraculous  historj'  is  a  supernatural  sys- 
tem preparing  the  way  for  the  later  consummation  of 
God's  supernatural  providence  in  the  redemption  of 
the  world  by  Christ.  Not  only  the  occasional  miracles 
of  the  O.-T.  historj',  but,  as  bishop  Atterbury  remarks, 
some  of  the  established  institutions  under  the  law — the 
gift  of  prophecy,  the  Shechinah,  the  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim,  the  sabbatical  year — are  of  a  supernatural  char- 
acter, and  thus  manifest  themselves  as  parts  of  a  super- 
natural system,  ordained  for  and  leading  to  the  com- 
pletion of  the  supernatural  in  Christ." 

A  question  has  also  been  raised  whether  it  is  not 
possible  that  miracles  may  be  wrought  by  evil  spirits 
in  support  of  a  false  doctrine.  This  question  affects 
Christian  evidences  simply,  and  in  this  line  the  only 
question  that  can  practically  be  raised  is  whether  the 
Scripture  miracles — supposing  them  not  to  be  pure  fab- 
rications— are  real  miracles  wrought  by  divine  power,  or 
normal  events  occurring  in  the  course  of  nature,  or  pro- 
duced by  human  means.  Indeed,  the  possibility  of  real 
miracles  other  than  divine  is  a  question  rather  of  curi- 
osity than  of  practical  value.  An  able  discussion  of 
this  subject  will  be  foinid  in  Farmer's  Dissertation, 
though  the  author  has  weakened  his  argument  by  at- 
tempting too  much.  So  far  as  he  undertakes  to  show 
that  there  is  no  sufficient  evidence  that  miracles  actual- 
ly have  been  wrought  by  evil  spirits  in  behalf  of  a  false 
religion,  his  reasoning  is  logical  and  satisfactory,  and 
his  treatment  of  the  supposed  miracles  of  the  Egyptian 
magicians  is  in  this  respect  highly  successful.  But 
when  he  proceeds  from  the  historical  to  the  theological 
argument,  and  maintains  that  it  is  inconsistent  with 
God's  perfections  that  such  miracles  ever  should  be 
wrought,  he  appears  to  assume  more  than  is  warranted 
either  by  reason  or  by  Scripture,  and  to  deduce  a  conse- 
quence which  is  not  required  by  the  former,  and  ap- 
pears difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  latter.  That  there 
may  be  such  a  thing  as  "  the  working  of  Satan,  with  all 
power  and  signs  and  lying  wonders,"  and  that  such 
working  will  actually  be  manifested  before  the  last  day 
in  support  of  Antichrist,  is  the  natural  interpretation  of 
the  language  of  Scripture.  That  such  a  manifestation 
has  as  yet  taken  place  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  conclusion 
not  established  by  existing  evidence. 

Another  question  has  been  raised  as  to  the  means 
of  distinguishing  between  true  and  false  miracles,  mean- 
ing by  the  latter  term  phenomena  pretended  to  be  mi- 
raculous, but  in  fact  either  natural  events  or  human  im- 
postures or  fabrications.  Various  rules  for  distinguish- 
ing between  these  have  been  given  by  several  authors, 
the  best  known  being  the  four  rules  laid  down  in  Les- 
lie's Short  and  Easy  Method  tcith  the  Deists,  and  the 
three  given  in  bishop  Douglas's  Ci'iterion,  and  to  some 
extent  the  six  given  by  bishop  Stillingfleet  in  Orif/ines 
Sacra,  bk.  ii,  chap,  x,  and  the  very  acute  observations 
in  a  similar  kind  of  work,  J.  H.  Newman's  Life  oJ'Ajml- 
lonius  Tyanmus,  published  in  the  Encydopcedia  Metro- 
politana.  Yet  the  practical  value  of  these  rules,  though 
considerable  as  compared  with  the  inquiry  previously 
noticed,  is  available  rather  for  particular  and  temporary 
phases  of  controversy  than  for  general  and  perpetual 
edification.     A  more  permanent  principle  in  relation  to 


MIRACLES 


320     MIRACLES,  ECCLESLVSTICAL 


this  question  is  suggested  by  Leslie  in  his  remarks  on 
the  prcteiuled  miracles  of  Apollonius,  where  he  shows 
that  the  assumed  miracles,  even  if  admitted,  have  no 
important  connection  with  our  belief  or  practice.  "  But 
now,"  he  says,  "  to  sum  up  all,  let  us  sui)pose  to  the 
utmost  that  all  this   said   romance   were    true,  what 


8vo);  Christlieb,  Mod.  Doubts  (1874),  ch.  v;  Bnshnell, 
Nature  and  the  Supernatural  (new  ed.  1874) ;  Cudworlh, 
Intellectual  System  (see  Index  in  vol.  iii)  ;  ^\■atson, 
TheoL  Inst  it.  i,  73  sq..  14G  sq.,  234;  Hodge,  St/steinatic 
T/uol.  vol.  i,  ch.  xii ;  llagenbach.  Hist.  iJoctr.  i.  314  sq., 
414  sq. ;  ii,  407  sq. ;  Haag,  Histoire  des  I)Of/mes  L'hre- 


wdulil  it  amount  to  V  Oidy  that  Apollonius  did  such  1  tiens,  pt.  i,  ch.  iv,  et  al. ;  J.  Pyc  Smith,  First  Lines  of 
tilings.  Wiiat  then?  A\'hat  if  lie  were  so  virtuous  a  Christian  Theol.  p.  62  sq.,  582  sq.,  et  al. ;  Pascal,  Pen- 
pcrson  that  (iod  should  have  given  him  the  power  to  *■«.<,  pt.  ii,  art.  19,  §  9 ;  Lyall,  I'mp.  I'roph.p.'lAl;  Kit- 
work  several  miracles?  Tins  would  noways  hurt  the  |  tn,Ci/rlop.Bibl.Lit.  s.v.;  Smith,  L'ihI.  iJict.  s.  v.;  Chris- 
argument  that  is  here  brouglit  against  the  deists,  be-  \tian  Magazine,  1797;  Christian  Ifistrndor,  xvii,  145; 
cause  A])olloniu3  set  up  no  new  religion,  nor  did  \\c\  Christian  Rev.. )a\x,\^b6;  Theol.  lier.voL  iv;  For.  Qu. 
pretend  tliat  he  was  sent  with  any  revelation  from  hcav-  |  vol.  xxii ;  Bill.  Sacra,  vols,  ii  and  vii ;  Xorth  Brit.  Rev. 
en  to  introduce  any  new  sort  of  worship  of  God;  so  j  Feb.  1846,  art.  viii;  April,  1862,  art.  iv:  North  Amer. 
that  it  is  of  no  consequence  to  the  world  whether  these  i  Rev.  Jidy,  1860;  Journ.  of  Sac.  Lit.  April,  Oct.  1854; 
were  true  or  pretended  miracles;  whether  Apollonius    Jan.  1856;  South.  Presb.  Rev.  ISoG;  South,  (^u.  Rer.. ]n\y, 


were  an  honest  man  or  a  magician ;  or  whether  there 
ever  were  such  a  man  or  not.  For  he  left  no  law  or  gos- 
pel behind  him  to  be  received  upon  the  credit  of  those 
miracles  which  he  is  said  to  have  wrought."  "  To  this," 
says  dean  Mausel,  "it  may  be  added  that  there  is  an 
enormous  a  priori  improbability  against  miracles  per- 
formed without  any  professed  object,  as  compared  with 
those  which  belong  to  a  system  tliat  has  exercised  a 
good  and  permanent  influence  in  the  world.  This  im- 
probal)ility  can  only  be  overcome  by  a  still  more  enor- 
mous mass  of  evidence  in  their  favor;  and  imtil  some 
actual  case  can  be  pointed  out  in  which  such  evidence 


1857  ;  Princet.  Rev.  April,  1856 ;  A  mer.  Theol.  Ihr.  July, 
1861;  Christian  Remembrancer,iu\y,\ii(j\;  (Loud.)  (^». 
Rev. Oct.  1862, p. 242 ;  .4 mer. Presb.Rev.  April,  1 «(;:!,  art. 
i ;  Jan.  1865 ;  Brit,  and  For.  Rev.  x,  1 1 ,  55 ;  Bulletin  The- 
ologique,  Sept.  1863,  p.  137 ;  Theol.  Eclectic,  vol.  v.  No.  3 ; 
Westm.  Rev.  Jan.  1818,  p.  106 ;  Meth.  Rev.  April,  1853,  p. 
181 ;  1870,  p.  299 ;  1872  (Jan.),  p.  154 ;  Brit,  and  For.  Ev. 
Rev.  1863  (Jan.),  p.  29-55 ;  Blackwood's  Magazine,  June, 
18G7;  Bibl.  Sacra,  April,  1863,  art.  iii;  1867,  p.  189; 
Jahrb.  deutscher  Theol.  1869,  p.  572;  Contemp.  Rev. 
May,  1869,  p.  89  sq.;  Nov.  1872,  art.  v;  Christian  Qu. 
Oct'.  1873,  art.  iii ;  LMt.  Q".  Rev.  July,  1873,  art.  vi ;  Bapf. 
Qu.  Rev.  1870 ;  Jan.  1874,  art.  i ;    Qu.  Rev.  of  Luth.  Ch. 


exists,  the  unimportance  of  a  reported  series  of  miracles 

is  a  valid  reason  for  withholding  belief  in  them.     The  ■  July,  1874,  art.  v. 

Scripture  miracles,  in  this  respect,  stand  alone  and  apart  1      MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL 


The  Port  Roval- 


from  all  others  as  regards  the  evidence  of  their  reality, 
combined  with  their  signiticance,  if  real." 

Among  the  most  important  works  on  Scripture  mira- 
cles, and  not  incidentally  mentioned  in  the  article  on 
Christian  Evidences,  are :  Fleetwood,  Essay  upon  3Iir- 
acles  (IKH);   Locke,  Discourse  of  Miracles   (1701-2); 


ists  taught  that  "  there  would  never  have  been  any  false 
miracles  if  there  had  been  none  true."  Many  Protes- 
tants, taking  hold  of  this  wise  adage,  set  down  as  in- 
controvertible the  assertion  that  the  so-called  "mira- 
cles" wrought  in  the  Church  since  the  patristic  period 
ai-e  not  of  God,  because  they  are  not  prophesi'.'il  as  were 


I'earcp,  The  Miracles  of  Jesus  Vindicated  [in  reply  to  those  of  the  Israelitish  and  apostolic  days  (see  Exod.  iii, 
WoolstonJ  (1729);  Smallbrook,  Vindication  ofourSav-  12;  jMark  xvi,  17,  18),  and  that,  as  Dr.  Hodge  has  it, 
iours  Miracles  [in  reply  to  Woolston]  (1729,  2  vols,  "while  there  is  nothing  in  the  N.  T.  inconsistent  with 
8vo);  IjHuUkt,  Vindication  of  Three  of  our  blessed  Sav-  the  occurrence  of  miracles  in  the  post-apostolic  age  of 
iour's  Miracles  [in  reply  to  Woolston]  (1729) ;  Sher-  the  Church  .  .  .  when  tlie  apostles  had  liuished  their 
lock.  The  Trial  of  the  Witnesses  il729);  Stevenson,  Con-\  work,  the  necessity  of  miracles,  so  far  as  the  great 
ference  upon  the  Miracles  of  our  Saviour  (1730,  8vo) ;  end  they  were  intended  to  accomplish  was  concerned, 
"Sykes,  Credibilifi/  of  Miracles,  etc.  (1749, 8vo);  Douglas,!  ceased"  (Si/st.  Theol.  iii,  452). 

The  Criterion  (17  bi);  ClapareAe,  Miracles  of  the  Gospel  \  This  position  of  Protestant  writers  seems  to  gain 
[in  answer  to  Rousseau]  (Lond.  1758,  8vo);  Campbell,}  strength  from  a  close  examination  of  the  practices  of 
Dissertation  on  Miracles  (1763);  Farmer,  Dissertation^  the  early  patristic  period,  for  it  is  an  uncontested  state- 


(1 
on  Miracles  (1771);  Bishop  Douglas,  Criterion  of  Mir-,  ment  that  during  the  first  hundred  years  after  the  death 
acles  (]774,8vo) ;  Do  Haen,  I)e  MiracuHs(Ynmc\'.  1776,1  of  the  apostles  we  liear  little  or  nothing  of  the  working 
8vo) ;  Scherer,  .1  usf.  Erkldrumj  dir  ]]'tis.<ii;/ii/i'/iii  d.  X.\  of  miracles  by  the  early  Christians.     Says  bishop  Dmig- 

T.i\,],/..\s\):lHvo);  The  I/ulsi'dii  Prr.,  /,V.-ay  l,.r  IM  ( : ' 
CiilKcr.  .l/;/7,rA'.s'(1812);  I'cnroM'.  Ij-;,!,  „r,  .<jil„  Srnpt- 
vn  'Minirl..<  (  1.S26)  ;  Lc  V,ai^,Coi..-^'i,l,  nilion.-^  mi  Minuh.- 
(IH-'.S);  N'<'Winaii.  /,//:'  nf  A pclhniiiis  Ti/iiiidiis,  in  Eiici/cl. 
Mrlruj,.  I  uriMcii  l.i'tnni  liis  dcftclion  to  Rome];  Tlio- 
luck,  G/,n,h.  ns,rih;i;,;/.;;t  d.  u;i)„j(  I.  Gisrh.  (llamb.  1837)  : 
Mid 
et.\ 


l:is.  "If  we  except  the  testimonies  of  Papias  and  Ircnic- 
us,  who  speak  of  raising  the  dead  ...  I  can  timl  no  in- 
stances of  miracles  mentioned  by  the  fathers  before  the 
1th  century"  (Criterion,  p.  228-232) ;  and  if  we  come 
down  to  the  fathers  of  the  4th  century,  we  tind  that 
they  freely  speak  of  the  age  of  miracles  as  past ;  that 
/Ji.fj>i(/iili(>  dii  .Miraculorum  .lesu  Christi  Nalura'  such  interpositions,  being  no  longer  necessary,  were  no 
xilatf  ( 1H3'.)~1«41)  ;  Nitzsch,  in  ^'^(f/j>«  2/7«/A'n-j  longer  to  be  expected.  Wliatever  may  apjicar  to  the 
iik-en  of  1843 ;  Wardlaw,  On  Miracles  (1852 ;  New  York,!  contrary  in  the  more  oratorical  and  panegyrical  writings 
1853) ;  Rothe,  in  Studien  und  Kritiken  of  1858;  Trench,'  of  the  fathers,  whenever  they  address  themselves  theo- 
Miracles  of  our  Lord  (6th  ed.  1858);  Koestlin,  De  Mi-  logically  to  the  question  of  miracles,  tliey  admit  clearly 
raculorum,  quce  Christus  et  primi  ejus  discipuli  fecerunt,  and  unreservedly  the  truth  that  this  kind  of  evidence 
natura  et  ratione  (1860);  Evans,  Christian  Miracles  has  ceased  in  the  Christian  Church.  The  miracles  of 
(Lond.  1861);  McCosh,  The  Supernatural  in  Relation  divine  power  (according  to  St.  Augustine")  are  now  to 
to  the  Natural  (1862) ;  Mozley,  Lectures  on  Miracles  be  sought  in  the  works  of  nature,  in  the  wonders  of  its 
(Bampton  for  1865 ;  Lond.  1865,  8vo) ;  Fisher,  Supeniat.  ever-recurring  changes,  and  in  the  regular  course  of  the 
Orif/in  of  Christianity  (1865);  Duke  of  Arpyle,  Reign  divine  providence.  After  emnnerating  the  miracles  of 
©/■Aa//;  (I860);  Litton,  J/t>ac/M  (Lond.1867);  Uhlhorn,' Christ,  he  asks,  "Cur  (^inquis)  ista  modo  non  liuntV 
Modern  Rep.  of  the  Life  of  Jesus  (Bost.  186«):  Fowler,!  Quia  non  moverent  nisi  mira  esseiit:  at  si  solita  essen- 
Mozby  and  Tyndtde  on  Miracks  (Lond.  1X68);  Arch-j  tia  mira  non  esscnt"  (De  I'tilitate  Credendi),  which  he 
bishop  of  York,  Limits  of  Philos.  Inquiry  (Ediub.  1868);'  only  so  far  qualities  in  his  retractions  as  not  absolutely 
Mountford,  Miracles,  Past  and  Present  (Boston,  1870.  j  to  deny  the  possibility  of  a  modern  miracle.  In  another 
12mo);  Bender,  H'«H</(-rt^_f/;7//'r/.  A^.  r.  (Frankfort  a.  M.  I  place  he  speaks  of  "  miracles  not  being  permitted  to 
1873);  Uphani,  Star  of  our  Lord  (N.  Y.  1873,  8vo):  last  to  our  times,"  or  to  survive  the  i)roi)agation  of 
Belclier,  Our  Lord's  Miracles  of  Healing  Considmd  Christianity  over  the  world  (De  vera  Religume,  c.  25,  § 
(Loudon,  1873) ;   Fowle,  Religion   and  Science   (1873, !  47).     St.  Chrysostom  bears  the  same  testimony  to  the 


MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL     321      MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL 


cessation  of  miracles  in  his  beautiful  sermons  on  the 
Resurrection  and  on  the  Feast  of  Pentecost  (Se?:  xxxiii 
and  xxxvi),  where  he  solves  the  same  question— "Why 
are  no  signs  and  miracles  intrusted  to  us  now?" — by 
claiming  those  higher  miracles  of  grace  and  inward 
change  which  enable  us  to  use  the  prayer  of  faith,  and 
to  exclaim,  "  Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven !"  Chr}-- 
sostom  says  himself:  "  Ne  itaque  ex  eo,  quod  nunc 
signa  non  tiunt,  argumentum  ducas  tunc  etiam  non  fu- 
isse.  Etenim  tunc  utiliter  fiebant,  et  nunc  utiliter  non 
fiunt"  (In  Epistolam  i,  ad  Corinth.  Homil.  vi,  2;  comp. 
Augustine,  De  Civitaie  Dei,  xxii,  viii,  1).  Yet  these 
fathers  also  supply  us  with  accounts  of  deeds  wrought 
by  Christian  believers,  which  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has  pleased  to  stamp  as  miraculous,  but  which 
these  early  writers  of  the  Church  mark  out  clearly  as 
natural  results.  If  indeed  they  pleased  to  call  them 
miracles,  they  yet  betray  that  even  in  their  own  view 
there  was  a  vast  difference  between  the  scriptural  and 
ecclesiastical  miracles,  and  that  they  did  not  count  them 
as  of  the  same  category.  St.  Augustine,  referring  to 
the  wonderful  deeds  wrought  by  the  faithful  of  the 
Church  in  his  Aav,  concedes  also  that  they  were  not 
wrought  with  the  same  lustre  as  in  the  apostolic  days, 
nor  with  the  same  significance  and  authority  for  the 
whole  Christian  world  (comp.  Fr.  Nitzsch,  jun.,  Augus- 
iinus'  Lehre  vom  Wander  [Berlin,  18G5],  p.  32  sq.). 
Bishop  Douglas  says  that  these  miraculous  workings 
were  confined  to  '•  the  cures  of  diseases,  particularly  the 
cures  of  diemoniacs,  by  exorcising  them;  which  last 
indeed  seems  to  be  their  favorite  standing  miracle;" 
and  Prof.  Newman,  one  of  the  richest  prizes  gained  bj' 
the  Romanists  from  the  Church  of  England  in  this  gen- 
eration, is  candid  enough  to  admit  the  contrast  between 
the  scriptural  and  what  he  calls  ecclesiastical  miracles. 
He  says,  ''  The  miracles  of  Scripture  are,  as  a  whole, 
grave,  simple,  and  majestic :  those  of  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory often  partake  of  what  may  not  unfitly  be  called  a 
romantic  character,  and  of  that  wildness  and  inequality 
which  enters  into  the  notion  of  romance."  "  It  is  ob- 
vious," he  says  elsewhere,  "  to  apply  what  has  been  said 
to  the  case  of  the  miracles  of  the  Church,  as  compared 
with  those  in  Scripture.  Scripture  is  to  us  a  garden  of 
Eden,  and  its  creations  are  beautiful  as  well  as  'very 
good;'  but  when  we  pass  from  the  apostolic  to  the  fol- 
lowing ages,  it  is  as  if  we  left  the  choicest  valleys  of 
the  earth,  the  quietest  and  most  harmonious  scenery, 
and  the  most  cultivated  soil,  for  the  luxuriant  wilder- 
ness of  Africa  or  Asia,  the  natural  home  or  kingdom  of 
brute  nature  uninfluenced  by  man"  {Two  Essays  on 
Scripture  Miracles  and  on  Ecclesiastical,  2d  ed.  Lond. 
1870,  p.  116,  150).  Dr.  Hodge,  in  commenting  upon 
Romish  miracles,  quotes  these  words  of  Prof.  Newman, 
and  says  of  them,  "A  more  felicitous  illustration  can 
hardly  be  imagined.  The  contrast  between  the  Gos- 
pels and  the  legends  of  the  saints  is  that  between  the 
divine  and  the  human,  and  even  the  animal;  between 
Christ  (with  reverence  be  it  spoken)  and  St.  Anthonv" 
(iii,  455). 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  notwithstanding  the 
want  of  any  trustworthy  patristic  testimony,  asserts  that 
the  power  of  performing  all  manner  of  miraculous  works 
remains  with  the  Church  since  the  days  of  its  first 
founding,  henceforth  and  forever.  '•  Roman  Catholics," 
says  Butler,  "relying  with  entire  confidence  on  the 
promises  of  Christ  [quoting  Acts  ii,  3  sq. ;  John  xiv,  12 ; 
Mark  xvi,  17,  18],  believe  that  the  power  of  working 
miracles  was  given  by  Christ  to  his  Church,  and  that  it 
never  has  been,  and  never  will  be  withdrawn  from  her" 
{Booh  of  the  Rom.  Cath.  Ch.  Letter  iii,  p.  37  sq. ;  see 
also  p.  46  sq.).  Another,  even  greater  celebrity,  the 
learned  Bellarmine,  goes  so  far  as  to  prove  from  this 
continuity  of  tlie  miraculous  power  in  the  Church  of 
Rome  that  the  Protestant  Church,  lacking  this,  is  man- 
ifestly not  of  God.  He  argues  that  miracles  are  neces- 
sary to  evince  any  new  faith  or  extraordinary  mission ; 
that  miracles  are  efficacious  and  sufficient.  By  the  for- 
VI.— X 


mer,  he  then  tells  us,  may  be  deduced  that  the  Church 
is  not  to  be  found  among  Protestants ;  by  the  latter,  that 
it  is  most  assuredly  among  Catholics  :  "  Undecima  nota 
est  gloria  miraculorum ;  sunt  autem  duo  fundamenta 
prcemittenda.  Unum  quod  miracula  sint  necessaria  ad 
novam  fidem  vel  extraordinariam  missionem  persua- 
dendam.  Alterum,  quod  sint  efficacia  et  sufficientia; 
nam  ex  priore  deducemus  non  esse  apud  adversarios  ve- 
ram  ecclesiam,  ex  posteriore  deducemus  eam  esse  apud 
nos.  Quod  igitur  miracula  sint  necessaria,  probatur  pri- 
mo  Scriptune  testimonio,  Exod.  iv,  cum  Moses  mittere- 
tur  a  Deo  ad  populum,  ac  diceret:  'Non  credent  mihi, 
neqne  audient  vocem  meam.'  Non  respondet  Deus, 
'  Debent  credere,  velint  nolint,'  sed  dedit  illi  potestatem 
faciendi  miracula,  et  ait :  '  Ut  credant,  quod  apparuerit 
tibi  Dominus,'  etc.  Et  in  Novo  Testamento,  Matt,  x, 
'Euntes,  praedicate,  dicentes:  Appropinquovit  regnum 
coelorum ;  infirmos  curate,  mortuos  suscitate,  leprosos 
mundate,  d.Tmones  ejicite.'  Joan,  xv, '  Si  opera  non  fe- 
cissem  in  eis  qua3  nemo  alius  fecit,  peccatum  non  habe- 
rent' "  {Opera,  vol.  ii ;  De  Notis  Ecclesice,  lib.  iv,  cap.  xiv, 
col.  206  D  [Col.  1619]).  Even  the  liberal-minded  Dr.Mil- 
ner,  who  displayed  learning  in  almost  every  department 
of  science ;  who  possessed  experience,  intelligence,  and 
taste;  who  wrote  well  and  reasoned  acutely;  teaches, 
in  a  letter  devoted  to  the  subject  of  miracles,  that  "if 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  were  not  the  only  true 
Church,  God  would  not  have  given  any  attestation  in 
its  favor.  .  .  .  Having  demonstrated  the  distinction," 
by  whicli  he  means  the  exclusive  holiness  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  he  professes  himself  "  prepared  to 
show  that  God  has  borne  testimony  to  that  holiness  by 
the  many  and  incontestable  (?)  miracles  he  has  wrought 
in  her  favor,  from  the  age  of  the  apostles  down  to  the 
jjresint  time^'  (Lett,  xxvi,  p.  163  sq.,  et  al.). 

The  reasoning  of  Dr.  JMilner  brings  us  to  reconsider 
the  statement  made  in  the  early  part  of  this  article  that 
"  no  miraculous  events  mark  the  history  of  the  Church 
after  the  days  of  the  apostles,  if  we  may  depend  on  the 
authority  of  the  patristic  writers."  Romanists  fre- 
quently refer  us  to  what  St.  Ignatius,  who  flourished  in 
the  1st  century  after  Christ,  relates  about  the  wikl 
beasts  which  were  let  loose  upon  the  martyrs  being  fre- 
quently restrained  by  a  divine  power  from  hurting  them, 
and  also  to  the  miracle  which  deterred  the  apostate  Ju- 
lian (this,  however,  brings  us  to  the  4th  century)  from 
rebuilding  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem.  As  to  the  first  of 
these  miraculous  workings,  a  single  observation  must 
suffice.  The  words  of  Ignatius  are :  "  Ne  sicut  in  aliis, 
territaj  sint  et  non  eos  tetigerunt;"  implying  that  the 
fierce  animals  did  not  behave  as  in  ordinary  cases,  but 
that,  being  terrified  at  the  sight  of  the  surrounding 
spectators,  they  refused  to  fight.  Ignatius  himself  con- 
sidered the  occurrence  purely  accidental  and  natural; 
otherwise  he  would  have  given  the  glory  to  God,  and 
have  besought  him  to  repress  their  fury.  As  to  the 
second  miracle,  it  must  of  necessity  have  occurred,  or 
the  prophecy  which  related  to  it  could  not  be  fidfilled 
(Dan.  ix,  27).  Says  Elliott:  "In  its  exact  completion 
I  perfectly  agree  with  Dr.  Milner,  and  for  the  very  rea- 
son assigned  by  Gibbon  himself,  that  if  it  were  not 
verified, '  the  imperial  sophist  would  have  converted  the 
success  of  his  undertaking  into  a  specious'  (he  should 
have  said  solid)  '  argument  against  the  faith  of  proph- 
ecy and  the  truth  of  revelation'  {Decline  and  Fall,  iv, 
104).  But  I  am  not  equallj^  disposed  to  admit  that 
there  were  other  as  extraordinary  miracles,  besides  the 
one  mentioned,  since  the  apostolic  age;  or,  if  there 
were,  that  they  were  performed  for  the  purpose  alleged 
by  him"  {Delhi,  of  Romanism,  p.  527).  Dr.  Neander, 
bishop  Kaye,  Dr.  Schaff",  and  others,  hold  to  the  gradual 
cessation  theory.  That  is  to  say,  they  teach  that  "there 
is  an  antecedent  probability  that  the  power  of  working 
miracles  was  not  suddenly  and  abruptly,  but  gradually 
withdrawn,  as  the  necessity  of  such  outward  and  ex- 
traordinary attestation  of  the  divine  origin  of  Christi- 
anity diminished  and  gave  way  to  the  natural  operation 


MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL    322     MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL 


of  fruth  and  moral  suasion."  They  also  hold  that  "  it 
is  inapossible  to  fix  the  precise  termiiiatioi),  either  at 
the  death  of  tlie  apostles,  or  their  immediate  disciples, 
or  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  empire,  or  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  Arian  heresy,  or  any  subsetiuent  aera,  and  to 
sift  carefully  in  each  particular  case  the  truth  from  leg- 
endary liction."  '•  .Most  of  the  statements  of  the  apolo- 
gists." says  Dr.  SchalT,  '-are  couched  in  general  terms, 
and  refer  to  extraordinary'  cures  from  dicmoniacal  pos- 
session (which  probably  includes,  in  the  language  of 
that  age,  cases  of  madness,  deep  melancholy,  and  epi- 
lepsy) and  other  diseases,  by  the  invocation  of  the  name 
of  Jesus.  Justin  Martyr  speaks  of  such  cures  as  a  fre- 
quent occurrence  in  Rome  and  all  over  the  world,  and 
Origen  appeals  to  his  own  personal  observation,  but 
speaks  in  another  place  of  the  growing  scarcity  of  mir- 
acles, so  as  to  suggest  the  gradual  cessation  theory. 
Tertullian  attributes  many,  if  not  most,  of  the  conver- 
sions of  his  day  to  supernatural  dreams  and  visions,  as 
does  also  Origen,  although  with  more  caution.  But  in 
such  psychological  phenomena  it  is  exceedingly  diiHcult 
to  draw  the  line  of  demarcation  between  natural  and 
supernatural  causes,  and  between  providential  interpo- 
sitions and  miracles  proper.  The  strongest  jiassage  on 
this  subject  is  found  in  Irenaeus  (Adv.  hmr.  ii,  31,  §  2, 
and  ii,  32,  §  4),  who,  in  contending  against  tlie  heretics, 
mentions,  besides  prophecies  and  miraculous  cures  of 
dajmoniacs,  even  the  raising  of  the  dead  among  contem- 
porary events  taking  place  in  the  Catholic  Church ;  but 
he  specifies  no  particular  case  or  name ;  and  it  should 
be  mentioned  also  that  his  youth  still  bordered  almost 
on  the  Johannean  age"  {Ch.  IILiton/,  i,  206,  207).  In 
another  place,  referring  to  the  testimonj^  of  Ambrose 
and  Augustine  for  belief  in  a  continuation  of  miracles, 
Dr.  Schaff,  while  himself  advocating  the  gradual  cessa- 
tion theory,  and  also  the  possihUity  of  miraculous  power 
dwelling  in  the  Church  of  to-day,  teaches,  nevertheless, 
that  even  the  best  of  patristic  testimonies  may  be  im- 
peached if  they  appear  on  the  witness  stand  in  behalf 
of  miraculous  deeds  wrought  in  the  Church  in  post- 
apostolic  days :  "  We  should  not  be  bribed  or  blinded 
by  the  character  and  authority  of  such  witnesses,  since 
experience  sufficiently  proves  that  even  the  best  and 
most  enlightened  men  cannot  wholly  divest  themselves 
of  superstition  and  of  the  prejudices  of  their  age.  Re- 
call, e.  g.,  Luther  and  the  apparitions  of  the  devil,  the 
Magnalia  of  Cotton  INIather,  the  old  Puritans  and  their 
trials  for  witchcraft,  as  well  as  the  modern  superstitions 
of  spiritual  rapi)ings  and  table-turnings,  by  which  many 
eminent  and  intelligent  persons  have  been  carried  away" 
(iii,4(U). 

But,  difTer  as  we  may  regarding  the  cessation  or  non- 
cessation  of  miraculous  power  in  the  Church  of  Christ, 
there  is,  nevertheless,  one  point  on  which  Protestants 
unite  in  opposing  the  pretensions  of  Rome ;  some  betray- 
ing an  undue  dogmatic  bias,  but  all  agreeing  that  it  is 
remarkable  that  the  genuine  writings  of  the  ante-Nicene 
Church  are  more  free  from  miraculous  and  superstitious 
elements  than  the  annals  of  the  Jliddle  Ages,  and  espe- 
cially of  monasticism.  Indeed,  it  would  appear  that 
the  Nicene  age  is  the  first  marked  as  one  of  miracles, 
and  that  miracles  rapidly  increased  in  number  from 
henceforth  until  they  became  matters  of  every-day  oc- 
currence. Dr.  Isaac  Taylor  adds :  "  No  such  rniracles  as 
those  of  the  4th  century  were  pretended  in  the  preced- 
ing icra,  when  they  might  seem  to  be  more  needed.  If, 
then,  these  miracles  were  genuine,  they  must  be  re- 
garded as  opening  a  new  dis[)ensation"  (.1  nc.  Christian- 
ity, ii,  357).  This  new  dispensation,  no  doubt,  they  her- 
alded, for  it  is  manifest  that  the  miracles  of  the  Nicene 
age  and  ;)o«/-Nicene  age  "  were  always  intended  to  prop- 
agate the  belief  of  certain  rites  and  doctrines  and  prac- 
tices which  hail  creiit  into  the  Church;  to  advance  the 
reputation  of  some  jiarticular  chapel  or  image  or  relig- 
ious order,  or  to  countenance  opinions,  either  such  as 
were  contested  among  themselves,  or  such  as  the  whole 
Church  did  not  teach"  (Bishop  Douglas,  Criterion,  p.  40). 


Says  Dr.  Taylor :  "  Whereas  the  alleged  supernatural 
occurrences  related,  or  apjjealed  to  by  the  earlier  Chris- 
tian writers,  are  nearly  all  of  an  ambiguous  kind,  and 
such  as  may,  with  little  difficulty,  be  understood  with- 
out either  the  assumption  of  miraculous  interposition, 
or  the  imputation  of  deliberate  fraud,  it  is  altogether 
otherwise  with  the  miracles  of  the  Church  of  tlie  4th, 
5th,  and  Gth  centuries.  From  the  period  of  the  Nicene 
Council  and  onward  miracles  of  the  most  astounding 
kind  were  alleged  to  be  wrought  from  day  to  day,  and 
openly,  and  in  all  quarters  of  the  Christian  world. 
These  wonders  were  solemnly  appealed  to  and  seriously 
narrated  by  the  leading  persons  of  the  Church,  Eastern 
and  Western;  and  in  many  instances  these  very  per- 
sons— the  great  men  now  set  up  in  opposition  to  the 
leaders  of  the  Reformation — were  themselves  the  won- 
der-workers, and  have  themselves  transmitted  the  ac- 
counts of  them.  But  then  these  alleged  miracles  were, 
almost  in  every  instance,  wrought  expressly  in  support 
of  those  very  practices  and  opinions  wliich  stanil  for- 
ward as  the  points  of  contrast  distinguishing  Romanism 
from  Protestantism.  We  refer  especially  to  the  ascetic 
life— the  supernatural  properties  of  the  eucharistic  ele- 
ments— the  invocation  of  the  saints,  or  direct  praying 
to  them,  and  the  efficacy  of  their  relics ;  and  the  rever- 
ence or  worship  due  to  certain  visible  and  palpable  re- 
ligious symbols"  (ii,  235). 

Dr.  Hodge,  commenting  upon  these  Romish  miracles, 
says,  "  they  admit  of  being  classified  on  diflferent  prin- 
ciples. As  to  their  nature,  some  are  grave  and  impor- 
tant; others  are  trifling,  childish,  and  even  babyish; 
others  are  indecorous;  and  others  are  irreverent,  and 
even  blasphemous.  .  ,  .  Another  principle  on  which 
they  may  be  classified  is  the  design  lor  which  they 
were  wrought  or  adduced.  Some  are  brought  forth  as 
proofs  of  the  sanctity  of  particular  persons  or  places  or 
things;  some  to  sustain  particular  doctrines,  such  as 
purgatory,  transubstantiation,  the  worshipping  of  the 
saints  and  of  the  Virgin  3Iary,  etc.,  some  for  the  iilen- 
tification  of  relics.  It  is  no  injustice  to  the  authorities 
of  the  Cluirch  of  Rome  to  say  that  whatever  good  ends 
these  miracles  may  in  any  case  be  intended  to  serve, 
they  have  in  the  ayyreyate  been  made  subservient  to  the 
accumulation  of  money  and  to  the  increase  of  power.  .  .  . 
The  truth  of  Christianity  depends  on  the  historical 
truth  of  the  account  of  the  miracles  recorded  in  the  N. 
T.  The  truth  of  Romanism  depends  on  the  truth  of 
the  miracles  to  which  it  appeals.  What  would  become 
of  Protestantism  if  it  depended  on  the  (henionology  of 
Luther,  or  the  witch-stories  of  our  English  forclathers? 
The  Romish  Church,  in  assuming  the  respon>iliility  for 
the  ecclesiastical  miracles,  has  taken  upon  itself  a  bur- 
den which  would  crush  the  shoulders  of  Atlas"  (iii,456; 
comp.  Princet.  Iter.  April,  1856,  art.  v,  especially  ji.  272). 
And  Dr.  Schaff,  who,  as  we  have  already  seen,  inclines 
to  the  belief  that  miracles  may  have  been  wrought  in 
post-apostolic  days,  and  may  continue  to  be  wrought 
to-day  and  liereafter,  yet  ventures  to  say  that  "the  fol- 
lowing weighty  considerations  rise  against  the  miracles 
of  the  Nicene  and  post-Nicene  age;  not  warranting,  in- 
deed, the  rejection  of  all,  yet  making  us  at  least  very 
cautious  and  doubtful  of  receiving  them  in  ]>articular: 
1.  These  miracles  have  a  much  lower  moral  tone  than 
those  of  the  Bible,  while  in  some  cases  they  far  exceed 
them  in  outward  {)omp,  and  make  a  stronger  appeal  to 
our  faculty  of  belief.  JIany  of  the  monkish  miracles 
are  not  so  much  *'?/yjfj-natural  and  above  reason  as  they 
are  wwnatural  and  ayainst  reason,  attributing  even  to 
wild  beasts  of  the  desert,  panthers  and  hyenas,  with 
which  the  misanthropic  hermits  lived  on  confidential 
terms,  moral  feelings  and  states,  repentance  and  con- 
version, of  which  no  trace  appears  in  the  N.  T.  2.  They 
serve  not  to  confirm  the  Christian  faith  in  general,  but 
for  the  most  part  to  sujiport  the  ascetic  life,  the  magical 
virtue  of  the  s.acrament,  the  veneration  of  saints  and 
relics,  and  other  superstitious  |iractices,  which  are  evi- 
dently of  later  origin,  and  are  more  or  less  oflfeusive  to 


MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL     323     MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL 


tlie  healthy  evangelical  mind.  3.  The  further  they  are 
removed  from  the  apostolic  age,  the  more  numerous 
they  are,  and  in  the  4th  century  alone  there  are  more 
miracles  than  in  all  the  three  preceding  centuries  to- 
gether, while  the  reason  for  them,  as  against  the  power 
of  the  heathen  world,  was  less.  4.  The  Church  fathers, 
with  all  the  worthiness  of  their  character  in  other  re- 
spects, confessedly  lacked  a  highly-cultivated  sense  of 
truth,  and  allowed  a  certain  justitication  of  falsehood  ad 
majorem  Dei  gloriam,  or  frauspia,  under  the  misnomer 
of  policy  or  accommodation  (so  especially  Jerome,  Fpist. 
ad  Pammachium)  ;  with  the  single  exception  of  Augus- 
tine, who,  in  advance  of  his  age,  rightly  condemned 
falsehood  in  every  form.  5.  Several  Church  fathers, 
like  Augustine,  Martin  of  Tours,  and  Gregory  I,  them- 
selves concede  that  in  their  time  extensive  frauds  with 
the  relics  of  saints  were  already  practiced ;  and  this  is 
confirmed  by  the  fact  that  there  were  not  rarely  nu- 
merous copies  of  the  same  relict,  all  of  which  claimed  to 
be  genuine.  6.  The  Nicene  miracles  met  with  doubt 
and  contradiction  even  among  contemporaries,  and  Sul- 
pitius  Severus  makes  the  important  admission  that  the 
miracles  of  St.  Martin  were  better  known  and  more 
firmly  believed  in  foreign  countries  than  in  his  own 
{Diulofj.  i,  18).  7.  Church  fathers,  like  Chrj'sostom  and 
Augustine,  contradict  themselves  in  a  measure  in  some- 
times paying  homage  to  the  prevailing  faith  in  miracles, 
especially  in  their  discourses  on  the  festivals  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, and  in  soberer  moments,  and  in  the  calm  exposi- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  maintaining  that  miracles,  at 
least  in  the  Biblical  sense,  had  long  since  ceased  (comp. 
Eobertson, //{*•?.  of  the  Christian  Church  to  Gregory  the 
Great  [Lond.  1854],  p.  334).  We  must,  moreover,  re- 
member that  the  rejection  of  the  Nicene  miracles  by  no 
means  justifies  the  inference  of  intentional  deception  in 
everj'  case,  nor  destroys  the  claim  of  the  great  Church 
teachers  to  our  respect.  On  the  contrary,  between  the 
proper  miracle  and  fraud  there  lie  many  intermediate 
steps  of  self-deception,  clairvoyance,  magnetic  phenom- 
ena and  cures,  and  unusual  states  of  the  human  soul, 
which  is  full  of  deep  mysteries,  and  stands  nearer  the 
invisible  spirit-world  than  the  every-day  mind  of  the 
multitude  suspects.  Constantine's  vision  of  the  cross, 
for  example,  may  be  traced  to  a  prophetic  dream ;  and 
the  frustration  of  the  building  of  the  Jewish  Temple 
under  Julian,  to  a  special  providence,  or  a  historical 
judgment  of  God.  The  mytho- poetic  faculty,  too, 
which  freelj'  and  unconsciouslj'-  produces  miracles  among 
children,  may  have  been  at  work  among  credulous 
monks  in  the  dreary  deserts,  and  magnified  an  ordinary 
event  into  a  miracle.  In  judging  of  this  obscure  por- 
tion of  the  history  of  the  Church  we  must,  in  general, 
guard  ourselves  as  well  against  shallow  naturalism  and 
scepticism  as  against  superstitious  mysticism,  remem- 
bering that 

'  There  are  more  things  in  heaven  and  enrth 
Thau  are  dreamt  of  in  our  philosophy'  " 
{Ch.  Hist,  iii,  463-465). 

If  we  institute  a  direct  and  careful  comparison  be- 
tween the  Biblical  and  the  ecclesiastical  miracles,  we 
find,  besides  matter  of  fact,  as  to  the  certainty  of 
the  thing  and  the  reasons  of  credibility,  there  is  a 
great  difference  in  the  force  and  efficacy  of  the  former 
and  a  confirmation  of  that  for  which  it  is  produced, 
while  it  is  not  so  in  the  case  of  the  latter.  "Those 
Biblical  miracles,"  says  Butler,  "were  generally  very 
beneficial  to  human  nature,. doing  mighty  offices  of 
kindness  towards  those  who  were  the  subjects  of 
them,  such  as  healing  the  sick,  raising  the  dead,  restor- 
ing the  deaf,  the  lame,  and  the  blind,  etc.;  all  which 
bore  an  excellent  proportion  to  the  great  design  of  re- 
deeming and  saving  mankind.  And  if  at  any  time 
there  were  any  mixture  of  severity  in  the  very  act,  such 
as  striking  some  dead  by  a  word  spoken,  or  putting 
others  in  the  immediate  possession  of  the  devil  by  ex- 
communication ;  yet  was  even  this  done  either  in  kind- 
ness to  posterity,  by  fixing,  in  the  first  institution  of 


things,  one  or  two  standing  pillars  of  salt,  that  might 
be  for  example  and  admonition  to  after-ages,  against 
some  practices  that  might  othenvise  in  time  destroy 
Christianitj' ;  as,  in  the  first  instance,  of  Ananias  and 
Sapphira,  against  the  sin  of  hypocrisy ;  or  else  to  some 
good  purposes  for  the  persons  themselves,  as  in  the  last 
instance  of  excommunication ;  so  in  the  case  of  the  in- 
cestuous person,  it  was  adjudged  bj'  Paul,  'to  deliver - 
such  a  one  imto  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh, 
that  the  spirit  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Je- 
sus' (1  Cor.  V,  5).  None  of  these  miracles  were  such 
useless,  ludicrous  actions  as  the  Eomish  authors  have 
filled  their  histories  with ;  such  as  that  of  St.  Berinus, 
who, '  being  under  full  sail  for  France,  and  half  his  voy- 
age over,  finding  he  had  forgot  something,  walks  out 
upon  the  sea,  and  returns  back  dryshod ;'  such  as  St.  Mo- 
chua,  by  his  prayer  and  staff  hindering  the  poor  lambs 
from  sucking  their  dams,  when  they  were  running  to- 
wards them  with  full  appetites ;  such,  again,  as  St. 
Francis  bespeaking  the  ass  in  the  kind  compellation  of 
brother, '  to  stand  quiet  till  he  had  done  preaching,  and 
not  disturb  the  solemnity ;'  and  such  as  St.  Fiutanus 
keeping  the  calf  from  the  cow,  that  they  should  neither 
of  them  move  towards  one  another ;  such,  in  a  word,  as 
St.  Frimianus  and  St.  Euadanus,  sporting  their  miracles 
with  each  other,  as  if  they  had  the  power  given  them 
for  no  other  end  but  mere  trial  of  skill,  or  some  pretty 
diversion  of  bystanders"  {Notes,  p.  252-258).  The  Bre- 
viary (q.  V.)  teems  with  descriptions  of  all  manner  of  mi- 
raculous manifestations,  but  we  have  not  room  to  enu- 
merate others  here,  and  must  refer  the  reader  to  it  and 
to  Elliott  {Delineation  of  Romanism,  p.  527-543).  On 
the  most  important  so-called  miracles  claimed  by  the 
Church  of  Eome  in  modern  days,  see  the  articles  St. 
Fkancis;  Holy  Coat  of  Treves;  St.  Januakius; 
LouRDEs ;  Xaviek,  etc.  See  also  Superstition  ;  Vis- 
ions. 

It  appears,  moreover,  from  the  writings  of  many  dis- 
tinguished Eoman  Catholic  authors  that  the  post-Ni- 
cene  miracles  are  not  generally  accepted.  Thus  Peter, 
abbot  of  Cluny,  as  far  back  as  the  13th  centurj',  says: 
"You  know  how  much  those  Church  sonnets  grieve 
me"  (lib.  v,  Epist.  xxix).  He  mentions  one  of  Benedict 
which  he  declares  contained  no  less  than  twenty-four 
lies.  Ludovicus  Vives,  speaking  of  the  Leyenda  A  urea, 
observes  :  "  How  unworthy  both  of  God  and  man  is  the 
story  of  their  saints,  which,  I  do  not  know  why,  was 
called  the  Golden  Legend,  it  having  been  written  by 
one  who  had  an  iron  mouth  and  a  leaden  heart"  (lib.  ii, 
De  Currnpt.  Artih.,  in  fine).  And  Espencius  declares: 
"  No  stable  is  fuller  of  dung  than  their  legends  are  of 
fables"  {in  2  Tim.  iv,  Digress.  21).  These  authorities 
might  be  multiplied  to  a  great  extent.  We  must  con- 
tent ourselves  with  a  few  of  the  leading  minds  since  the 
reformatory  ideas  took  root  in  the  Church  of  Eome, 
First  among  these  we  must  place  the  learned  French 
chancellor  Gerson,  of  Paris  University,  who,  when,  in 
the  Council  of  Constance,  the  canonization  of  St.  Bridget 
(q.  v.)  was  proposed,  thus  spoke  out :  "  It  cannot  be  said 
how  much  this  curiosity  for  knowing  future  and  hidden 
things,  and  for  seeing  miracles  and  performing  them, 
hath  deluded  most  persons,  and  constantly  turned  them 
awa}'  from  true  religion.  Hence  all  those'superstitions 
among  the  people  which  destroy  the  Christian  religion, 
while,  like  the  Jews,  they  only  seek  a  sign,  exhibiting 
to  images  the  worship  due  to  God,  and  attaching  their 
faith  to  men  yet  uncanonized,  and  to  apocryphal  writ- 
ings, more  than  to  the  Scriptures  themselves." 

In  the  15th  century  the  appearance  of  a  rival  to  the 
Franciscan  visionary  in  the  person  of  St.  Catharine  of 
Sienna  as  the  champion  of  the  more  powerful  Domini- 
cans, provoked  the  following  utterance  from  cardinal 
Cajetan,  utterly  nullifying  the  former  declarations  of 
the  Church  in  her  favor :  "  It  is  alleged,"  he  writes, 
'■  that  St.  Bridget  had  a  revelation  that  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin was  preserved  from  original  sin.  But  the  probabil- 
ity of  this  opinion  is  very  slender,  for  it  is  opposed  to 


mRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL     324     MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL 


very  many  saints,  and  none  of  those  alleged  were  them- 
selves canonized.  To  St.  Bridget,  moreover,  we  may 
oppose  St.  Catharine  of  Sienna,  who  said  that  the  con- 
trary doctrine  had  been  revealed  to  her,  as  the  arch- 
bishop of  Florence  relates  in  the  first  part  of  liis  Summa. 
And  St.  Catharine  would  seem  to  deserve  greater  credit, 
because  she  was  canonized  like  the  other  saints,  while 
St.  Bridget  was  canonized  in  the  period  of  the  schism, 
during  the  obedience  of  Boniface  IX,  in  which  there 
was  no  certain  and  undoubted  pope."  Further  on  he 
adds  the  fatal  words :  "  New  revelations  against  so  many 
saints  and  ancient  doctors  must  seem  to  the  wise  to  bring 
in  an  angel  of  Satan  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light, 
to  bring  in  fancies,  and  even  figments.  These,  truly, 
with  tlie  so-called  miracles  which  are  cited  in  this  cause, 
are  rather  for  old  women  than  for  the  holy  synod,  whence 
I  do  not  deem  them  worthy  of  mention."  "  There  is 
need  of  great  caution,"  writes  this  great  divine,  "  first 
on  account  of  the  miracle  itself,  inasmuch  as  Satan 
transforms  himself  into  an  angel  of  light,  and  can  work 
many  signs  and  wonders,  such  as  we  might  deem  that 
none  but  God  could  work — as  works  of  liealing,  power 
over  the  elements,  and  the  like.  Hence  it  is  said  that 
Antichrist  will  perform  so  many  miracles  in  the  sight 
of  men  that,  if  it  were  possible,  he  would  deceive  the 
very  elect  themselves.  Secondly,  there  is  need  of  cau- 
tion on  the  ground  of  illusions,  as  happens  in  the  case 
of  prophesyings.  Tiiirdly,  it  may  be  urged  that  signs 
(according  to  1  Cor.  xiv,  and  St.  (ircgory,  Horn,  x)  are 
given  to  tlie  unbelieving,  and  not  to  believers;  while 
to  the  Church  as  faithful,  and  not  unfaithful,  are  given 
the  prophetical  and  apostolical  revelations.  Hence  the 
way  of  signs  .  .  .  unless  not  merely  a  wonder,  but  a 
true  and  indisputable  miracle,  is  wrought  before  the 
lioman  Church  in  the  most  evident  manner,  ought  not 
to  determine  any  doubtful  doctrine;  and  the  reason  is, 
because  we  have  from  God  an  ordinary  way  for  the  de-. 
termination  of  matters  of  faith;  insomuch  that  if  an 
angel  from  heaven  were  to  say  anything  contrary  to 
this  ordinary  way  he  ought  not  to  be  believed  (Gal.  i, 
8).  Atld  to  this  tliat  the  miracles  received  by  the  j 
Church  in  the  canonization  of  saints,  which  are  most  I 
authentic  of  all,  are  not,  inasmuch  as  thej'  rest  on  hu- 
man testimony,  absolutely  certain  (for  it  is  written, ! 
'  Every  man  is  a  liar') ;  although  they  may  be  certain  j 
after  a  human  manner.  But  the  certainty  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  ought  not  to  be  certain  after  a  human  man-  i 
ner,  but  ought  to  have  altogether  an  infallible  evidence 
such  as  no  human  being,  but  only  God,  can  produce. 
Hence  the  apostle  Peter,  after  giving  his  own  testimony 
to  the  heavenly  voice  heard  by  him  in  the  transfigura- 
tion of  our  Lord,  as  a  human  evidence,  subjoins:  'And 
we  have  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy,'  adding  that 
♦Propliecy  came  not  by  the  will  of  man.'  Wherefore 
certainty  in  the  judicial  determination  of  the  things 
of  faitli  must  be  obtained  by  divine  and  not  by  human 
testimony"  {De  Concept ione  B.  V.  .)/.  cap.  i). 

Wc  can  even  go  to  tlie  chair  of  St.  I'cter  and  learn 
from  some  of  its  incimibents  a  like  disposition  to  ignore, 
or  even  to  reject  the  miraculous  manifestations  in  the  ' 
Churcli.  Tlius  pope  (ircgory  XI,  having  been  persuad-  ! 
cd  by  the  prophecies  of  St.  Catharine  of  Sienna  to  re-  ! 
turn  to  Home  from  Avignon,  '■  when  on  his  death-bed, 
and  having  in  his  hands  the  sacred  body  of  Christ,  pro- 
tested before  all  that  they  ouglit  to  beware  of  human 
beings,  whether  male  or  female,  speaking  under  pretence 
of  religion  the  visions  of  their  own  brain.  For  by  these 
(he  said)  lie  was  led  away;  and,  setting  aside  the  rea- 
sonable advice  of  liis  own  peoi»le,  had  drawn  himself 
and  the  Church  to  the  verge  of  an  imminent  schism, 
unless  her  mercifid  Spouse,  .lesus,  should  save  lier," 
■which  the  dreadful  result  too  clearly  jirovcd  (Gerson. 
De  Kxnm.  JMwtririnnim,  pt.  ii,  consid.  iii).  Xor  need 
pope  Benedict  XIV  be  forgotten.  His  utterances  are 
clearly  laid  down  in  his  great  work  on  the  Canonization 
of  the  Saints  (lib.  iv,  ch.  xxxi,  f^  '2l-2r>). 

If  from  these  celebrated  Komish  authorities  we  come 


down  to  our  own  day,  we  find  bishop  Milncr,  who  is 
himself  an  advocate  of  the  doctrine,  yet  admitting  "that 
a  vast  number  of  incredible  and  false  miracles,  as  well 
as  other  fables,  have  been  forged  by  some  and  believed 
by  other  Catholics  in  every  age  of  the  Church,  includ- 
ing that  of  the  apostles.  I  agree  ...  in  rejecting  the 
Lcfienda  Aurea  of  Jacobus  de  Voraginc,  the  Speculum 
of  Vincentiiis  Belluacensis,  the  Saints'  Lives  of  the  pa- 
trician ]\Ietaphrastes,  and  scores  of  similar  legends, 
stuffed  as  they  are  with  relations  of  miracles  of  every 
description"  (AW  of  Controversy.  Lett,  xxvii,  p.  175, 170). 

It  is,  however,  by  no  means  to  be  inferred  from  what 
we  have  .said  that  these  miraculous  exhibitions  are  con- 
fined to  the  Church  of  Borne.  The  Protestants  have 
now  and  then  prophets  and  visionaries  who  claim  su- 
pernatural power.  But  while  the  Protestant  Church 
has  always  discarded  the  autliors,  or  at  least,  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances,  has  refused  to  accord  to 
such  exhibitions  any  divine  origin,  the  Church  of  Kome 
clearly  teaches  that  these  things  are  so  to  be.  Hence, 
occasionally,  sects  departing  from  the  Church  of  Borne 
have  tried  to  establish  their  authority  by  miraculous 
signs  and  works.  Thus  some  of  the  persecuted  Jansen- 
ists  availed  themselves  of  the  utility  of  modern  miracles 
for  the  purpose  of  propagating  a  new  doctrine  or  decid- 
ing a  controverted  one,  and  had  recourse  to  the  same 
weapons  of  defence  against  their  implacable  adversaries. 
Fran9ois  de  Paris,  the  son  of  an  advocate  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris,  became  in  this  sense  the  apostle  of  the 
•Jansenist  doctrine,  and  the  prophet  against  the  famous 
bull  Unigenitus.  His  holiness  and  mortification  of  life, 
and  the  reaction  of  public  opinion  after  the  cruel  perse- 
cutions of  the  Jesuits,  greatly  favored  the  success  of  his 
claim  to  work  miracles,  which,  according  to  his  biogra- 
phers, was  proved  both  in  his  life  and  at  his  tomb  after 
death,  in  a  degree  that  few  canonized  saints  have  at- 
tained to.  The  learned  reviewer  of  liis  life,  in  the  Acta 
J-Jruditorum  of  Leipsic,  merel}'  concludes  from  his  his- 
tory that  the  city  of  Paris  was  tilled  at  the  time  with 
the  followers  of  Jansenius,  and  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  appeal  thus  to  the  popular  superstition  in  or- 
der to  lessen  the  persecutions  of  the  Jesuits,  and  in  a 
manner  to  attack  them  with  their  own  weapons.  These 
miracles  chiefly  involved  powers  of  healing  and  restora- 
tion of  outward  faculties,  and  bore  (if  true)  a  much 
closer  resemblance  to  the  healing  gifts  which  inaugu- 
rated Christianity  than  to  the  senseless  and  aimless 
wonders  of  medi;cval  miracle-working.  But  the  conta- 
gion which  was  thus  spread  over  the  Church,  and 
throughout  almost  every  age,  was  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  the  Boman  Church,  its  orders  or  disorders. 

Tliough  the  churches  of  the  Keformation,  in  their 
bold  appeal  "to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony,"  had 
treateil  the  visions  and  miracles  upon  which  the  in- 
ner power  of  liome  had  been  built  with  as  little  cere- 
mony as  they  treate<l  the  forged  decretals  on  whicU  her 
external  jiower  liad  been  carried  up  in  tlie  darkness  of 
the  ]Middle  Ages,  it  was  not  long  before  the  old  love  of 
the  marvellous,  and  the  inextinguishal)le  longing  after 
the  forbidden  fruit  of  visions  and  revelations  which  had 
been  so  abundantly  enjoyed  but  a  little  before,  extended 
into  the  cliurches  of  the  Beformatiou.  But  the  occa- 
sion of  their  appearance  was  difTerent  altogetlier  from 
that  which  had  evoked  it  in  the  Koman  Churcii,  though 
by  a  singular  coincidence  the  scene  of  the  Protestant 
and  of  tiie  Komisli  revelations  was  the  same.  The 
province  of  Daupliiny,  wliich  gave  a  birthplace  to  the 
peasant  visionaries  of  La  .Salette,  w.as  also,  in  an  earlier 
day,  the  native  cuintry  of  Isabel  Vincent,  whose  mirac- 
ulous preachings  in  her  sleep  and  ecstatic  visions  en- 
listed the  faitli  of  tlic  good  and  learned  il.  Jurieu,  and 
produced-from  him  an  energetic  and  not  ineloipient  ap- 
peal in  behalf  of  modern  miracles.  The  very  title  of 
his  treatise  in  its  Knglish  dress  is  almost  as  sensational 
as  a  novel  of  Miss  Braddon :  T/ie  liejh'ctions  <fthe  rer- 
erend  and  learned  M.  Jurieu  upon  the  stranf/e  and  mi- 
raculous L'cslasies  of  Isabel  Vincent,  the  Shejikerdess,  of 


MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL    325     MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL 


Saon,  in  Dauphine,  who  ever  since  February  last  hath  I 
sung  Psalms,  prayed,  preached,  and  prophesied  about  the 
present  Times  in  her  Trances ;  as  also  iqjon  the  wonder- 
fid  and  porte7itous  TrumjKtings  and  singing  of  Psalms 
that  were  heard  by  thousands  in  the  air  in  many  Parts 
of  France  in  the  Year  1686.  Not  nursed  into  life  in 
the  bosom  of  Rome,  and  nourislied  as  the  visions  of 
Loiirdes  and  La  Salette  by  a  priesthood  too  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  success  of  the  imposition,  the  Protestant 
wonders  sprang  into  a  vigorous  and  sturdy  existence 
out  of  the  terrible  hot-bed  of  cruelty  and  persecution 
which  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  had  pro- 
duced in  every  province  of  France,  and  which,  in  the 
more  imaginative  -region  of  the  south,  bore  strange  and 
exotic  fruits.  The  visions  of  the  poor  shepherdess  and 
her  preachings  were  little  more,  in  fact,  than  the  broken 
and  wild  recollections  of  the  Protestant  services  then  so 
cruelly  prohibited — prophecies  of  future  trials  or  deliv- 
erances being  intermingled  with  her  sermons  in  the 
same  manner  as  they  had  doubtless  been  by  the  exiled 
and  often  martyred  pastors  of  that  period  of  bitter  per- 
secution, whose  judgment,  "  though  of  a  long  time,"  was 
read  in  the  dreadful  anarchy  of  the  first  Revolution,  and 
seems  hardly  fully  ended  in  our  own  day. 

The  crushing  out  of  a  rational  faith  was  followed  by 
the  rise  of  the  school  of  Voltaire  and  Diderot,  and  it 
^vell  might  shame  the  advocates  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
in  every  age  to  find  that  the  proscribed  infidel  was  the 
first  to  bring  to  justice,  or,  rather,  to  public  reprobation, 
the  judges  who,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Jesuits,  so  hor- 
ribly tortured  and  murdered  the  poor  silk-mercer  of 
Toulouse,  Galas,  whose  only  crime,  like  that  of  the  vic- 
tims of  Thorn  in  a  somewhat  earlier  day,  was  his  firm 
and  consistent  Protestantism.  The  wonderful  sounds 
in  the  air — which  were  testified  by  so  many  thousands, 
and  described  in  a  public  letter  by  M.  de  Besse,  a  pastor 
who  had  contrived  to  escape  from  his  prison  to  Lau- 
sanne— might  perhaps  be  referred,  without  charge  of 
scepticism,  to  the  effects  of  this  dreadful  persecution 
upon  the  minds  and  the  nerves  of  its  wretched  and 
homeless  victims,  of  whom  it  might  well  be  said,  in  the 
words  of  Paul,  "  They  were  slain  with  the  sword ;  they 
wandered  about  in  sheep-skins  and  goat-skins;  being 
destitute,  afflicted,  tormented,  they  wandered  in  deserts, 
and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens,  and  in  caves  of  the 
earth."  Indeed,  some  even  imagined,  as  M.  de  Besse 
teUs  us,  that  the  wonderful  sounds  Avhich  were  heard 
by  so  many  were  but  the  singing  of  the  poor  exiles  met 
together  in  woods  or  in  caves ;  but  the  variety  of  pk 
in  which  he  himself  heard  these  mysterious  harmonies 
soon  convinced  him  that  so  simple  a  solution  of  them 
was  erroneous.  In  vain  the  ear-witnesses  of  these  phe- 
nomena were  taken  to  prison  for  declaring  them,  and 
forbidden  to  say  anything  about  them  again.  The  wit- 
nesses multiplied  more  and  more.  Sometimes  the  sounds 
were  like  those  of  a  trumpet,  and  had  a  warlike  charaC' 
ter ;  at  other  times  they  are  described  as  combining  the 
most  ravishing  strains  of  harmony ;  sometimes  they 
were  heard  by  day,  sometimes,  again,  at  night,  "  but  in 
the  night  in  a  more  clear  and  distinct  manner  than  in 
the  day"  (Jurieu,  Reflections,  p.  36).  "The  trumpet 
alwaj'S  sounds  as  if  an  army  were  going  to  charge,  and 
the  harmony  is  like  the  composition  of  many  voices, 
and  of  an  infinite  number  of  musical  instruments."  "  I 
do  believe,"  adds  the  good  pastor,  who  found  it  more 
easy  to  interpret  the  sign  than  to  account  for  it,  "  that 
the  trumpet  is  a  sign  of  a  cruel  war  that  will  be  made 
in  a  little  time,  and  that  the  harmonj^  comes  from  the 
mouth  of  angels,  who,  to  put  our  enemies  to  the  last 
confusion,  thunder  out  the  praises  of  God  at  a  time 
when  these  wretched  men  forbid  it  to  reformed  Chris 
tians."  The  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution,  and 
the  overthrow  of  the  Church  just  a  century  after,  would 
seem  to  verify,  though  at  a  later  date,  the  interpreta 
tion  of  the  poor  exile,  whose  fellow-witness  was  a  '•  Sieur 
Calas,"  probably  one  of  the  family  of  the  martyr  of  a 
kter  day ;  while  the  testimony  to  the  authenticity  of 


his  letter  is  given  by  an  exiled  minister,  bearing  the 
equally  suggestive  name  of  Murat. 

Passing  over  to  Germany,  we  find  that  the  contagion 
of  new  revelations  and  prophecies  had  spread  itself  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  empire  at  an  earlier  period  in  the 
17th  century.  Temporarily  with  the  mystical  and  hic- 
roglyphical  system  of  Jacob  Bohme,  there  sprang  up  in 
Silesia  and  Saxony  the  cognate  revelations  of  Kotter, 
Drabitz,  and  Christina  Poniatovia,  all  having  a  political 
rather  than  strictly  religious  character,  and  foretelling 
tlie  final  triumph  of  Protestantism  in  the  empire,  and 
tke  regeneration  of  Christianity,  by  the  overthrow  of 
the  Roman  power.  Kotter,  fortunately  for  his  head, 
escaped  into  Lusatia,  where  some  noblemen  of  influence 
became  his  adherents.  Drabitz,  not  so  fortunate,  lost 
his  head  at  Presburg,  by  order  of  the  emperor,  to  wliom 
his  visions  had  a  somewhat  treasonable  aspect;  -while 
Poniatovia,  more  fortunate  than  either,  closed  her  reve- 
lations by  marrying  the  tutor  of  the  son  of  the  king  of 
Bohemia,  and  the  threefold  revelations,  though  intro- 
duced with  much  pomp  and  circumstance,  and  with  a 
vast  number  of  curious  illustrations  of  the  dreams  and 
visions  in  which  they  were  disclosed,  by  the  famous 
Amos  Comenius,  fell  still-born  on  the  world,  and  have 
now  a  place  on  the  shelves  of  the  curious,  on  the  ground 
of  their  rarity  and  of  the  grotesque  ingenuity  of  their 
pictorial  representations.  (Two  editions  of  these  rev- 
elations, both  in  4to,  appeared  under  the  editorship  of 
Comenius.  The  former  is  called  Lux  in  Tenehris,  the 
latter  Lux  e  Tenebris.  A  copy  of  one  of  these  was 
burned  with  Drabitz  after  he  was  beheaded  at  Pres- 
burg. Both  editions  are  very  rare.)  In  Western  Ger- 
many they  were  almost  unknown,  and  it  is  memorable 
that  almost  all  the  prophets  and  mystics  of  Central  Eu- 
rope belonged  to  that  mixed  Teutonic  and  Sclavonic 
race  which  peoples  the  eastern  frontier  lands  of  the  em- 
pire. But,  though  Germany  contributed  so  little  to 
the  visionary  lore  of  Europe  at  this  period  in  a  direct 
manner,  it  had  produced  a  system  of  mystical  divinity 
which  laid  the  foundations  of  many  future  visions  and 
ecstasies.  The  wild  theology  or  theosophy,  or  what- 
ever else  it  might  be  called,  of  Jacob  Bohme,  was  a 
fruitful  soil  for  the  gro^vth  of  new  revelations  and 
prophecies,  and  might  well  prepare  the  mind  it  ob- 
scured for  the  most  startling  apparitions  of  the  beings 
of  another  world.  The  writings  of  this  celebrated  en- 
thusiast, forbidden  and  suppressed  in  his  own  country, 
found  vent  in  Holland  and  England.  The  mysticism 
of  Jane  Leade  (ii.  v.)  and  her  followers,  the  Philadel- 
jjhians  (q.  v),  the  Quietism  of  Molina  (q.  v.),  are  sub- 
jects for  consideration  in  the  article  Mysticism.  But 
it  may  not  be  amiss,  in  this  place,  to  call  attention  to  the 
singular  contrast  between  the  Roman  Catholic  miracles, 
visions,  and  revelations,  and  those  of  the  Protestant 
world.  Wliile  the  former  are  always  invoked  in  order  to 
found  some  ne^v•  and  undiscovered  system  of  worship  or 
object  of  superstition,  the  latter  have  a  very  practical 
end,  and  stand  in  close  connection  with  holiness  of  life, 
which  modern  Roman  revelations  tend  so  little  to  pro- 
mote. Even  Jane  Leade's  revelations  had  a  really 
Christian  moral,  which  cannot  in  any  sense  be  affirmed 
of  the  Avonders  of  Lourdes  or  La  Salette,  and  of  the  mir- 
acles with  which,  as  Dr.  Newman  aflirined,  the  Roman 
Church  is  hung  about  on  every  side.  "The  Anglo- 
Saxon  nature,"  says  a  writer  in  the  British  Quarterly 
Review  (July,  1873,  p.  97),  "  does  not  often  indulge  in 
visions,  but  when  it  does  they  seem  to  partake  of  that 
practical  character  which  belongs  to  the  race.  No 
doubt  some  good  may  have  arisen  even  from  BIrs.  Leade 
and  her  Philudelphian  Society  in  its  various  branches  in 
that  age  of  spiritual  deadness  in  which  her  lot  was  cast. 
Possibly  even  now  we  may  be  deriving  some  advantage 
from  the  example  and  the  labors  of  this  aged  enthusi- 
ast, even  as  the  decayed  vegetation  of  an  earlier  year 
may  have  contributed  to  the  fruit  fulness  of  our  own. 
The  Philadelphian  Society  seems  but  a  short  time  to 
I  have  survived  its  foundress,  though  the  ramifications 


MIRACLES,  ECCLESIASTICAL     326 


MIR^US 


of  it  were  so  extended,  and  its  temporary  success  so  re- 
markable. But  notwithstandinf/  the  success  of  visiona- 
ries and  pretenders  to  miraculous  powers,  both  in  medi- 
aral  and  modern  times,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  cur- 
rent offeelinij  in  the  yeneral  body  of  the  Church  has  run 
strongly  and  steadily  (lyainst  their  j)retensions,  and  that 
even  those  which  had  been  attributed  to  a  divine  in- 
fluence in  the  bej^inning,  liave  often  been  referred  to  a 
diabolical  inspiration  in  the  end.  Nor  was  this  the 
only  ]ieril  to  wliich  miracle-mongers  and  visionaries  ^ 
were  exposed.  So  long  as  they  fell  in  with  the  ruling  j 
power,  and  flattered  the  prejudices  or  the  tastes  of  the  j 
day,  all  was  well  with  them.  St.  Bridget,  whose  bitter  , 
denunciations  against  the  crimes  of  the  court  of  Home  | 
made  her  the  popular  saint  of  those  who  looked  for 
tlicir  reformation  during  the  great  schism,  or  who  be- 
gan that  difficult  work  at  Constance,  would  have  been 
handed  over  to  Satan  in  the  day  when  the  '  Curia'  was 
again  restored  in  all  its  old  deformity,  and  only  pledged 
to  a  reform  which  it  never  attempted  to  carry  out. 
Nicliolas  Buhversdorf,  whose  revelations  against  Rome 
were  uttered,  unhappily  for  himself,  in  the  Council  of 
Basle,  and  were  mixed  up  with  the  old  heresy  of  the 
Millenarians,  expiated  for  them  at  the  stake;  while  the 
poor  monk  whose  revelations  and  prophecies  are  men- 
tioned by  the  Dominican,  Nyder,  was  found  to  have  de- 
rived his  inspiration,  or,  rather,  his  diabolic  possession, 
from  having  swallowed  the  devil  through  greedily  de-  [ 
vouring  a  most  tempting  cauliflower  in  the  garden  of  t 
the  monastery  without  saying  grace — '  avide  comedit,  ■ 
ac  diemonem  ignoranter  deglutivit.'  Another  monk,  ' 
who  had  a  revelation  which  led  him  to  found  a  new  or-  [ 
dcr,  of  which  he  assumed  the  government,  incurred 
bodily  as  well  as  spiritual  destruction — 'incineratus  est 
rector  cum  regula.'  The  presumption  of  diabolic  influ- 
ence was,  however,  not  less  decisive  in  Protestant  Eng- 
land than  in  Home  itself,  and  the  grotesque  history  of 
the  Sui-ey  Deinoniack;  or  Satan's  stninye  ami  dreadful 
Actions  in  and  about  the  Person  of  Richard  Duydale,  in 
1697,  exhibits  the  popidar  superstition  in  the  fullest  de- 
gree. Tills  poor  creature,  who  seems  to  have  been  an 
epileptic  patient,  fortunately  escaped  the  Roman  ordeal, 
for  we  read  that  he  was  '  dispossessed  by  (Jod's  blessing 
on  tlie  fastings  and  prayers  of  divers  ministers  and  peo- 
ple.' It  had  been  well  if  tiie  spiritual  authorities  of 
Lourdes  and  La  Salette,  instead  of  '  believing  every 
spirit,'  had  '  dispossessed'  the  poor  visionary  peasants 
of  their  fond  conceit,  instead  of  instituting  pilgrimages 
for  tlie  canonization  of  so  foolish  a  story."  Well  miglit 
they  have  fallen  back  from  the  visions  and  miracles  of 
a  darker  age  upon  that  great  and  last  revelation  of  God 
to  man,  those  Scriptures  of  eternal  truth,  that  '-pure 
and  living  precept  of  (iod's  Word,  which,  witliout  more 
additions,  nay,  with  the  forbidding  of  them,  hath  within 
itself  the  promise  of  eternal  life,  the  end  of  all  our  wea- 
risome labors  and  all  our  sustaining  hopes"  (^lilton.  On 
Prelaticul  Epixcopanf).  The  question  of  ecclesiastical 
miracles  was  slightly  touched  by  Spencer  in  his  notes 
on  Orif/en  ayainst  Cetsus,  and  more  fully  by  Le  Moine ; 
but  did  not  attract  general  attention  till  Middleton  pub- 
lished his  famous  Free  Inquiry  (1748).  Several  replies 
were  written  by  Dodwcll  (junior),  Chapman,  Church, 
etc.,  which  do  not  seem  to  have  attracted  much  perma- 
nent attention.  Some  good  remarks  on  the  general 
subject  occur  in  Jortin's  I'liiKirks  on  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory, and  in  Warburton's  ./ulian.  This  controversy  has 
also  of  late  years  been  reopened  by  Dr.  Newman,  in 
an  essay  on  miracles,  originally  prelixed  to  a  transla- 
tion of  Fleury's  Kcclisiitstical  History,  and  since  repub- 
lished ill  a  separate  form. 

See,  besides,  Kliiott;  Cramp,  Tert-hook  of  Popery ; 
Ilodgo,  lliriiiily;  l-'orsyth,  //(////.  ii,  lot  scj. ;  Pome  in 
thv  VMh  Century,  i,  40,"  8G;  ii,  ;j:>0;  iii,  I'M  sq. ;  Lady 
Morgan,  Italy,  ii,  300;  iii.  18'.);  (Jraliam,  Three  Months' 
Residence,  etc.,  p.  241;  Jliddleton,  Letter  from  Rome; 
Southey,  Vindici(r  Kcclesitc  Anylicame,  p.  125  sq. ;  Blan- 
co White,  Poor  Man^s  Preservation  ayuinst  Popery,  p. 


90 ;  Brownlee,  Letters  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Controvert 
sy ;  Brand,  Popul.  Antiq,;  Hone,  ^Inc.  Mysteries.  (J. 
H.  W.) 

Miraculous  Conception,  a  term  used  to  denote 
the  siipernalural  formation  of  the  human  nature  of  Je- 
sus Christ,  i.  e.  that  it  was  brought  forth  not  in  the  or- 
dinary method  of  generation,  but  out  of  the  substance 
of  the  A'irgiu  Mary,  by  the  immediate  operation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  evidence  upon  which  this  article  of 
the  Christian  faith  rests  is  found  in  Matt,  i,  18-23, 
and  in  the  more  particular  narration  which  Luke  has 
given  in  the  lirst  chapter  of  his  Gospel.  If  we  admit 
this  evidence  of  the  fact,  we  can  discern  the  emphatic 
meaning  of  the  appellation  given  to  our  Saviour  when 
he  is  called  "the  seed  of  the  woman"  (Gen.  iii,  loj; 
we  can  perceive  the  meaning  of  a  phrase  which  Luke 
has  introduced  into  the  genealogy  of  Jesus  (Luke  iii,  23), 
"  being  (as  was  supposed)  the  son  of  Joseph,"  an<l  of 
Avhicli,  otherwise,  it  is  not  jiossible  to  give  a  good  ac- 
count; and  we  can  discover  a  peculiar  significance  in  an 
expression  of  the  apostle  I'aul  ((Jal.  iv,  4),  "  God  sent 
forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman."  The  conception  of 
Jesus  is  the  point  from  wliich  we  date  the  union  be- 
tween his  divine  and  human  nature;  and,  this  concep- 
tion being  miraculous,  the  existence  of  the  Person  in 
whom  they  are  united  was  not  physically  derived  from 
Adam.  But,  as  Dr.  llorsley  says  in  his  scimon  on  the 
Incarnation,  the  union  with  the  uncreated  Word  is 
the  very  principle  of  personality  and  individual  exist- 
ence in  the  Son  of  Mar}-.  According  to  this  view  of 
the  matter,  the  miraculous  conception  gives  a  complete- 
ness and  consistency  to  the  revelation  concerning  Jesus 
Christ.  Not  only  is  be  the  Son  of  God,  but,  as  the  Son 
of  man,  he  is  exalted  above  his  brethren,  while  he  is 
made  like  them.  He  is  jjrescrved  from  the  contamina- 
tion adhering  to  the  race  whose  nature  he  assumed; 
and  when  the  only-begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Father,  was  made  flesh,  the  intercourse  whicli,  as 
man,  he  had  with  God,  is  distinguished,  not  in  degree 
only,  but  in  kind,  from  that  which  any  prophet  ever  en- 
joyed; and  it  is  infinitely  more  intimate,  because  it  did 
not  consist  in  communications  occasionally  made  to  him, 
but  arose  from  the  manner  in  which  his  human  nature 
had  its  existence. — Watson,  Bible  Dictionary,  s.  v.     See 

IXCAKXATION  ;   JeSIS  CHHIST. 

Miradoro,  Luigi,  a  noted  Italian  painter  of  the 
school  of  Cremona,  was  born  at  Genoa  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  17th  century.  He  is  commonly  des- 
ignated //  Genoresino,  from  his  native  city,  from  wlience, 
after  being  initiated  into  the  rudiments  of  his  art,  he 
appears  to  have  gone  to  Cremona,  where  he  began  to 
study  tlie  works  of  Panfilo  Nuvolone.  Afterwards  he 
painted  in  the  manner  of  the  Caracci— bold,  large,  cor- 
rect in  coloring,  and  jiroductive  of  fine  effect.  \\'hile 
he  appears  to  be  little  known  in  his  native  city,  he  nev- 
ertheless enjoyed  a  high  reputation  in  Cremona  and  in 
parts  of  Lombard y.  His  .S'.  Oio.  Damasceno,  in  the 
church  of  S.  Clemeiite,  at  Cremona,  is  highly  commend- 
ed. The  Merchants'  College  at  Piacenza  possesses  like- 
wise a  beautiful  Pietti  from  his  hand,  representing  the 
Dead  Christ  in  the  Lap  of  the  Viryin.  He  appears  to 
have  been  remarkably  successful  in  the  treatnunt  of  all 
subjects,  but  esiiecially  so  in  compositions  of  a  terrific  or 
tragic  nature.  The  exact  lime  of  his  death  is  unknown  : 
but  one  of  his  works  in  S.  Imerio  bears  the  date  lO.'il ; 
therefore  his  demise  must  have  been  subsequent  to  this 
date.  See  Lan/.i's  Hist,  of  I'aintiny  (transl.  by  Koscoe, 
Lond.  1847, 3  vols.  8vo),  ii,  451 ;  Spooner,  Dioy.  Hist,  of 
the  Fine  A  rfs  (N.  Y.  1865,  2  vols.  8vo),  ii,  568. 

Miraeus,  \i.nv.iiT( A  ubcrt  le  Mire),  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic theologian  of  Belgium,  was  born  at  Brussels  in  1573. 
and  was  educated  for  the  Church  at  the  high-schools  of 
Douai  and  Louvaiii.  Shortly  after  taking  orders  he 
was  appointed  canon  at  Antwerp;  in  loiOS  he  became 
also  private  secretary  to  his  uncle,  bishop  John  :Mir;eus; 
afterwards  he  became  court  preacher  and  librarian  to 


MIRAGE 


327 


MIRAGE 


Sr- 


the  archduke  Albert  of  Austria ;  and  in  16-2-4  dean  of 
the  cathedral  at  Antwerp,  where  he  died  in  1640.  Most 
of  his  life  was  consecrated  to  the  good  of  his  Church 
and  country.  Miraus  was  also  a  multifarious  writer. 
Many  of  his  works  are  on  ecclesiastical  history.  We 
will  mention  here  BibUotheca  Ecdesiastica  (Antwerp. 
1G39-1649,  2  vols.  fol. ;  a  new  edition  of  this  work  was 
published  at  Hamburg  in  1718  by  Joh.  Alb.  Fabricius, 
who  saj's  in  the  preface,  "Vir  et  hoc  et  tot  aliis  mouu- 
nientis  in  lucem  editis  non  minus  de  veteri  memoria  quam 
de  posteritate 
omni  insigniter 
promeritus"  )  :  — 
Be  statu  religio- 
tiisChrisiiancepi  r    ,  '^ 

to  turn    or  bum        ,  , 

(Helmst.  1671):  .    --.     w  -^i 

^Xotitia  episco-  '"^"^'^ 

patu  rn  orb  is 
Christiani  (Ant- 
werp, 1613) : — Chronicon  Cisterciense  (Cologne,  1614) : — 
Geographia  Ecdesiastica: — Codex  regidarum  et  consti- 
tutionum  clericalium: — Origines  ccenohinniin  JJdinlii'/i- 
norum,  Carthusianoi-um,  etc.: — Opera  /lisi'u-ii-n  it  illplo- 
matica,  Elogia  illustrium  Belgii  scripttirimi.  Chnnncon 
rerum  Belgicarum,  Chronicon  reriiin  toto  orbe  gestarum, 
etc.  All  his  works  were  collected  and  jiublished  at 
Brussels  in  1733,  in  4  vols.  fol. — Wetzer  u.  Welte,  Kirchen- 
Lex.  s.  V. 

Mirage,  the  French  name  of  an  optical  illusion 
common  in  the  East,  and  directly  referred  to  by  Isaiah 
(3"I'IJ,  sharab',  "parched  ground,"  xxxv,  7;  '"heat," 
xlix,  10),  and  perhaps  indirectly  by  Jeremiah  (xv,  18, 
"  waters  tliat  fail ;"  literally,  that  cannot  be  trusted).  It 
is  still  known  by  the  name  of  se7-ub,  the  Arabic  equiva- 
lent of  the  above  Heb.  term.  This  phenomenon  is  !i^ 
simple  in  its  origin  as  it  is  astonishing  in  its  effci  i 
Under  it  are  classed  the  appearance  of  distant  obji  r: 
as  double,  or  as  if  suspended  in  the  air,  erect  or  inverteil, 
etc.  The  cause  of  mirage  is  a  diminution  of  the  density 
of  the  air  near  the  surface  of  the  earth,  produced  by  the 
transmission  of  heat  from  the  earth,  or  in  some  other 
way;  the  denser  stratum  being  thus  placed  above,  in- 
stead of,  as  is  usually  the  case,  below  the  rarer.  Now 
rays  of  light  from  a  distant  object,  situated  in  the  denser 
medium  (i.  e.  a  little  above  the  earth's  level),  coming  in 


a  direction  nearly  parallel  to  the  earth's  surface,  meet 
the  rarer  medium  at  a  very  obtuse  angle,  and,  instead 
of  passing  into  it,  are  reflected  back  to  the  dense  me^ 
dium.  the  common  surface  of  the  two  media  acting  as  a 
mirror.  Suppose,  then,  a  spectator  to  be  situated  on  an 
eminence,  and  looking  at  an  object  situated  like  himself 
in  the  denser  stratum  of  air,  he  will  see  the  object  by 
means  of  directly  transmitted  rays;  but,  besides  this,, 
rays  from  the  object  will  be  reflected  from  the  upper 
surface  of  the  rarer  stratum  of  air  beneath  to  his  eye. 


u 


Mirage,  flg.  1. 

(See  fig.  1.)  The  image  produced  by  the  reflected  rays 
will  appear  inverted,  and  below  the  real  object,  just  as 
an  image  reflected  in  water  appears  when  observed  from 
a  distance.  If  the  object  is  a  cloud  or  portion  of  sky,  it 
will  appear  by  the  reflected  rays  as  lying  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  and  bearing  a  strong  resemblance  to  a  sheet 
of  water.    (See  fig.  2.)    This  form  of  mirage,  which  is 


most  common  in  sandy,  desert  countries, 
appearance  of  pools  and  lakes  of  water,  in 
water  is  most  needed  and  least  likely  to 


is  an  illusive 
places  wlier^ 
occur.     Thia 


'0  .^y/- 


\    % 


Sr^'*",-^*^^!!^^^  - 


MIRAMION 


328 


MIRANDULA 


phenomenon  offers  so  perfect  a  delusion  in  all  its  cir- 
cumstances that  the  most  forewarned  and  experienced 
travellers  are  deceived  by  it,  as  are  even  the  natives  of 
the  deserts,  when  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the 
locality  in  wliich  it  appears  to  be  aware  that  no  water 
actually  exists.  No  one  can  imagine,  without  actual 
experience,  the  delight  and  eager  expectation,  followed 
by  the  most  intense  and  bitter  disappointment,  which 
tiie  appearance  of  the  serub  often  occasions  to  travelling 
liarties,  particularly  when  the  supply  of  water  which 
tliey  are  obliged  to  carry  with  tlicm  ujion  their  camels 
is  nearly  or  quite  exhausted.  (See  fig.  3.) 
"  siill  the  same  buruiug  sun  !  no  cloud  in  heaven  ! 

The  hot  air  quivers,  aud  the  sultry  mist 

Flouts  o'er  the  desert,  with  a  show 

Of  distant  waters  mocking  their  distress." — Southky. 

Major  Skinner,  in  his  Journey  Overland  to  India,  de- 
scribes the  appearance  of  the  serub  in  that  desert, 
between  Palestine  and  the  Eupiirates,  which  probably 
supplied  the  images  employed  by  Isaiah  :  "About  noon 
tlie  most  perfect  deception  that  can  be  conceived  exhil- 
arated our  spirits  and  promised  an  early  resting-place. 
We  had  observed  a  slight  mirage  before,  but  this  day  it 
surpassed  all  I  had  ever  fancied.  Although  aware  that 
these  appearances  have  often  led  people  astray,  I  could 
not  bring  myself  to  believe  that  this  was  unreal.  The 
Arabs  were  doubtful,  and  said  that,  as  we  had  found 
water  yesterday,  it  was  not  improbable  that  \ve  should 
find  some  to-day.  The  seeming  lake  was  broken  in 
several  parts  by  little  islands  of  sand,  that  gave  strength 
to  the  delusion.  The  dromedaries  of  the  sheiks  at 
length  reached  its  borders,  and  appeared  to  us  to  have 
commenced  to  ford,  as  they  advanced  and  became  more 
surrounded  by  the  vapor.  I  thought  they  had  got  into 
deep  water,  and  moved  with  greater  caution.  In  pass- 
ing over  the  sand  banks  their  figures  were  reflected  in 
the  water.  So  convinced  was  ]Mr.  Calmun  of  its  reality 
that  he  dismounted  and  walked  towards  the  deepest 
part  of  it,  which  was  on  the  right  hand.  He  followed 
the  deceitful  lake  for  a  long  time,  and  to  our  sight  w^as 
strolling  on  its  bank,  his  shadow  stretching  to  a  great 
length  beyond.  There  w'as  not  a  breath  of  wind;  it 
was  a  sultry  day,  and  such  a  one  as  would  have  added 
dreadfully  to  the  disappointment  if  we  had  been  at  any 
time  without  water."     See  Pakciieu  Ground. 

Miramion,  :\rAaiE  Boxneau,  Ladij,  a  very  esti- 
mable Frciirh  female  philanthropist  of  the  17th  century, 
was  born  at  Paris  Nov.  2, 1029.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  Jacques  Bonneau,  lord  of  Rubelles,  and  of  jNIaria 
d'lssy,  both  very  wealthy.  She  married  (March,  1G15) 
Jean  Jaccjues  de  Beauharnais,  lord  of  Miramion,  who 
died  the  same  year.  Many  desirable  parties  solicited 
her  hand,  but  she  preferred  to  consecrate  herself  to 
(k)d  and  to  the  care  of  the  poor  and  sick,  and  took  re- 
ligious vows  Feb.  2,  1049,  when  only  twenty  j'ears  of 
age.  Every  liour  of  her  life  was  devoted  to  some  char- 
itable or  pious  act.  In  KSGO  she  collected  twenty-eight 
pour  monks  driven  from  Picardy  by  the  war,  and  nour- 
ished and  cared  for  them  for  six  months.  Her  zeal  and 
liberality  prompted  her  to  found  at  Paris  the  House  of 
Befuge  and  that  of  Sainte-Pelagie;  she  drew  up  the 
rules  for  these  two  houses,  destined  to  serve  as  asylums 
for  wives  and  repentant  women.  She  contributed  largely 
for  the  establishment  of  the  Seminary  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions. Civil  war  had  increased  the  misery  of  the  people 
of  Paris;  Jladame  de  ^liramion  sold  her  necklaces,  es- 
timated at  24,000  pounds,  and  her  plate,  and  distributed 
the  proceeds  in  alms.  In  KUll  she  established  a  society 
of  twelve  girls  to  teach  country  children  how  to  dres's 
wounds  and  succor  the  sick.  This  little  community 
was  called  the  "  Sainte-Famille ;"  Madame  de  Miramion 
subsequently  united  it  to  tlie  daughters  of '•  Sainte-(ic- 
nevieve."  She  bought  for  them  a  large  house  on  the 
wharf  of  the  Tournelle,  sufhciently  endowed  the  estab- 
lishment, and  consented  to  become  superior.  She  gave 
more  than  70,000  pounds  to  lier  )iarish  of  Saint-Nicolas 
de  Chardonnet,  the  seminary  of  which  she  endowed  with 


a  sum  of  35,000  francs.  The  hospital  for  foundlings  was 
also  greatly  indebted  to  her.  She  died  March  24,  1(>9G. 
See  Abbe  de  C'hoisy,  17e  de  Madame  de  Miramhm  (Par- 
is, 170t>,  4to,  and  1707,  8vo)  ;  Saint-Simon,  Mimoires; 
Kichard  and  (iiraud,  Biblintlieque  Sucree;  Hoefer,  Xouv. 
Biog.  Oeneruk,  s.  v.     Sec  GEXEVihVii,  St.,  l>ALtiii- 

TEKS  OF. 

Mirandula,  Giovanni  Francesca  dell  a,  a 

noted  theological  and  ]iliilosiiphical  writer  of  the  Kith 
century,  was  horn  about  1409.  He  cultivated  learning 
and  the  sciences,  after  the  example  of  his  uncle.  (See 
below  the  article  Miuaxdula,  (iiovAXNi  Pico  della.) 
Upon  the  death  of  his  father,  in  1499,  lie  succeeded,  as 
eldest  son,  to  his  estates,  and  thus  became  involved  in 
great  trouble,  which  finally  cut  short  not  only  his  lite- 
rar}-  labors  but  also  his  life.  His  brothers  Lewis  and 
Frederick  combined  against  him,  and,  by  tlie  assistance 
of  the  emperor  Maximilian  I  and  Hercules  I,  duke  of 
Ferrara,  succeeded  in  driving  him  from  his  princiiiality 
in  1502,  and  he  was  forced  to  seek  refuge  abroad,  until  at 
length  pope  Julius  II,  invading  and  becoming  master  of 
Mirandula,  re-established  him  in  loll.  After  the  pojje's 
defeat  at  Kavenna  (April  11, 1512),  (iiovanni  Francisca 
became  a  refugee  a  second  time,  and  so  continued  for 
two  years.  After  the  FVench  were  driven  out  of  Italy 
he  was  restored  to  his  possessions.  He  died  in  October, 
1533,  when  Galeoti  Picus,  his  nephew,  i.  e.  the  son  of 
his  brother  Lewis,  entered  his  castle  by  night  with  forty 
armed  men,  and  assassinated  him  and  Ins  eldest  son 
Albert.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  more  voluminous 
writer  than  his  uncle.  His  earlier  works  were  inserted 
in  the  Strasburg  edition  of  his  uncle's,  in  1504,  and  con- 
tinued in  those  of  Basle,  1573  and  ItiOl.  Among  these 
are:  (1.)  iJe  studio  dirinm  et  Jiitmance  pfrihsojdiim  libri 
duo:  in  this  he  compares  profane  philoso|)hy  with  a 
knowledge  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  shows  how  i)referable 
the  latter  is  to  the  former.  (2.)  Le  imatjinatitme  liber. 
(3.)  De  imitatione  ad  Pttrum  Bembum  epistohe  du<e,  et 
ejus  responsum.  (4.)  De  rerum  prniiotione  libri  ij: :  m 
this  book  of  the  Prescience  of  things,  he  treats  of  the 
divine  prescience,  and  of  that  knowledge  which  some 
pretend  to  have  of  things  future,  by  compacts  with  evil 
spirits,  by  astrology,  cliiromancy,  geomancy,  and  the 
like  means,  which  he  confutes  at  large.  (5.)  Exnmen 
vanitatis  docti-inw  gentium  et  veritaiis  disciplime  Christi- 
ans, etc.,  wherein  he  opposes  the  errors  of  philosophers, 
Aristotle  particularly.  (G.)  Kpistolannn  libri  quatuor. 
(7.)  />e  reformnndis  morihis  oratio  ad  Leonem  X.  These 
are  the  most  important  of  his  writings  to  be  found  in 
the  editions  above  mentioned  of  his  uncle's  works;  but 
there  are  other  works,  which  have  never  been  collected 
together,  but  have  always  continued  separate,  as  they 
were  first  published :  such  are —  Vita  Ilitronymi  Savona- 
rolce : — De  veris  calamitatum  temporum  vostrorum  causis 
liber: — De  animcp  immortalitatc : — Dialogus  cui  nomen 
Strix,  sire  de  ludijicatione  damonnm : — Uynini  heroici 
tres  (id  Trinitatcm,  Christum,  et  Virginem: — De  Venere 
et  Cupid ine  erpellendis  carmen  keroicmn:  —  Liber  de 
Proridentia  Dei  contra  philosophaslros : — De  auro  turn 
a'stimando,  turn  confia'endo,  turn  ntcndo  libri  tres,  etc 
"There  is  not,"  says  Uu  Pin,  "so  much  wit,  sjirightli- 
ness,  subtlety,  and  elegance  in  the  Avorks  of  Francis 
Pico  as  in  those  of  his  uncle  :  no,  nor  j-et  so  much  learn- 
ing :  but  there  is  more  evenness  and  soliditj."  See  the 
books  referred  to  in  the  article  following. 

Mirandula,  Giovanni  Pico  della,  an  Italian 
philosopher  an(l  theologian,  one  of  the  writers  of  the 
days  of  the  Benaissance.  noted  for  his  attempt  to  recon- 
cile Christianity  with  the  ideas  of  paganism,  was  one 
of  the  greatest  lights  of  the  15th  century.  He  was 
born  F'eb.  24, 14(>3.  Even  as  a  youth,  the  prince  of  ^li- 
randula  was  noted  for  his  precoeiousness,  and  remarka- 
ble for  his  memory  anil  intelligence.  He  clialUnged 
disputations  on  abstruse  stdyects  with  the  learned  of 
his  day,  as  if  one  of  their  number.  In  1477  lie  entered 
the  University  of  Bologna,  to  study  canonical  law,  be- 


MIRANDULA 


329 


MIRANDULA 


sides  which  he  devoted  himself  especially  to  the  study 
of  philosophy  and  theology.  After  this  he  visited  the 
other  universities  of  note  on  the  Continent,  and  every- 
wliere  attracted  attention  by  his  learning  and  the  facil- 
ity with  which  he  acquired  knowledge.  Besides  a  mas- 
tery of  Greek  and  Latin,  he  could  claim  acquaintance 
with  the  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and  Arabic.  He  was  also 
well  acquainted  with  the  various  philosophical  systems 
of  antiquity,  and  with  those  of  the  scholastics  and  of 
Raymond  LuUy.  But  vain  of  his  knowledge,  he  came 
to  consider  himself  qualified  to  solve  the  problem  of 
reconciling  philosophy  and  theology,  and  even  to  con- 
ciliate the  philosophical  systems  of  Plato  and  Aristotle. 
This  would  have  required  a  critical  knowledge  more 
profound  than  was  to  be  found  in  the  15th  century,  as 
well  as  an  originalitj'-  of  mind  which  Mirandula  did  not 
possess.  He  has,  indeed,  in  his  writings,  rendered  great 
service  to  theology,  in  pointing  out  the  aid  it  may  de- 
rive from  the  knowledge  of  Oriental  languages,  but 
we  vainly  seek  in  them  a  single  new  metaphysical 
idea. 

After  man}'  wanderings,  "wanderings  of  the  intel- 
lect as  well  as  physical  journey,"  says  Parr,  "  Pico  came 
to  rest  at  Florence."  But  his  stay  at  the  different  imi- 
versities  had  made  him  only  the  more  sanguine  of  car- 
rying out  the  plan  formed  of  reconciling  the  philos- 
ophers with  each  other,  and  all  alike  with  the  Church. 
To  Rome,  the  centre  of  the  Church,  he  therefore  now 
directed  his  steps,  satisfied  that  there  he  should  first  dis- 
close to  the  world  his  great  project,  and  there  he  should 
promptly  receive  the  honors  of  the  clergy.  Mirandula 
arrived  at  Rome  in  1487.  Innocent  VHI  was  then  reign- 
ing. Like  some  knight-errant,  the  young  man  of  only 
twenty-three  summers  now,  published,  to  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  learned  world,  nine  hundred  propositions  on 
subjects  of  dialectics,  morals,  natural  philosojihy,  math- 
ematics, theology,  natural  magic,  and  cabalism,  taken 
not  only  from  Greek  and  Latin,  but  also  from  Hebrew 
and  Arabic  writers,  and  declared  himself  ready  to  de- 
fend these  propositions  openly  against  any  one.  For 
that  object,  lie  invited  aU  the  savans  of  Europe  to  come 
to  argue  against  him  at  Rome,  offering  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  such  as  would  have  to  travel  a  great  dis- 
tance. These  famous  theses,  De  omni  re  scibili,  as  Sli- 
randula  called  them  (et  de  quibusdam  aliis,  adds  Vol- 
taire, thus  making  the  best  criticism  on  Jlirandula's 
pretensions),  were  posted  all  over  Rome,  and  awakened 
great  curiosity  as  well  as  jealousy.  Parties  envious  of 
JMirandula's  reputation  succeeded  in  awakening  the 
doubts  of  the  papal  court  as  to  the  orthodoxy  of  some 
of  the  propositions,  and  Mirandula  not  only  struggled  in 
vain  for  over  a  year  at  Rome  simply  to  obtain  leave  to 
publish  his  theses,  but  even  the  reading  of  the  book 
containing  them  was  forbidden  by  the  pope.  Disgusted 
with  this  treatment,  Mirandula  finally  quitted  Rome  for 
Florence.  JLade  restless  by  the  opposition  he  had  en- 
countered, he  remained  here  but  a  short  time,  went  to 
France,  and  did  not  return  to  Italy  till  several  years  later. 
Shortly  after  Alexander  VI  had  ascended  the  papal 
throne  (1492)  the  case  of  Mirandula  was  reconsidered, 
and,  June  18,  1493,  Pico  was  finally  absolved  from  all 
heresy  by  a  brief  of  the  pontifical  court.  Mirandula  by 
this  time  had,  however,  given  up  all  profane  sciences,  to 
devote  himself  exclusively  to  theology.  The  remainder 
of  his  life  was  spent  in  attempts  to  refute  Judaism,  Mo- 
hammedanism, and  judicial  astrology.  He  died  at  Flor- 
ence, Nov.  17, 1494,  the  day  when  Charles  VIII,  who  had 
received  him  at  Paris,  entered  the  city.  He  was  in- 
terred in  the  cemetery  of  St.  Mark,  in  the  habit  of  a  Ja- 
cobin, having  taken  a  resolution,  just  before  his  death, 
to  enter  into  that  order;  and  upon  his  tomb  was  in- 
scribed this  epitaph : 

"  Joannes  jacet  hie  Mirandula :  eastern  nornnt 

Et  Tagus,  et  Ganges  ;  forsau  et  Antipodes." 

The  greater  part  of  his  immense  fortune  he  gave  over 

in  his  last  days  to  his  friend,  tlie  mystical  poet  Beni- 

vieni,  to  be  spent  by  him  in  works  of  charity,  chiefiy  in 


the  sweet  charity  of  providing  marriage-do-\\Ties  for  the 
peasant  girls  of  Florence. 

Short  as  his  life  was,  Mirandula  composed  a  great 
number  of  works,  which  have  olten  been  printed  sepa- 
rately and  together.  They  have  been  printed  together 
at  Bologna  (1490),  at  Venice  (1498),  at  Strasburg  (1504), 
and  at  Basle  (1557, 1573, 1601)— all  in  folio.  The  prin- 
cipal works  in  the  collection  are,  Heptaplus,  id  est  de  Dei 
creaioi-is  opere  sex  dierum  libri  septem  (Strasburg,  1574, 
fol. ;  translated  into  French  by  Nicolas  le  Fevre  de  la 
Boderi,  under  the  title  L^JIepiaple,  ou  en  sept  /ci^ons  et 
autant  de  llvres  est  exposee  Vhistoire  des  sept  jours  de  la 
creation  du  monde  [Florence,  about  1480;  Paris,  1578, 
fol.]).  "  Pico  de  la  INIirandula,"  says  Matter, " convinced 
that  the  books  of  Moses,  interpreted  with  the  aid  of  the 
Cabala  and  of  Neo-Platonism,  would  appear  as  the  source 
of  all  speculative  science,  wrote  an  exposition  of  Genesis 
according  to  the  seven  meanings  given  to  it  by  some  of 
the  exegetes  of  that  period.  But  this  work,  rather  short 
for  such  a  subject  and  such  a  purpose,  is  really  but  a  weak 
imitation,  even  in  regard  to  its  title,  of  the  works  of 
some  of  the  fathers.  Here  is  a  specimen  of  his  manner 
of  interpretation.  The  words  '  God  created  the  heav- 
ens and  the  earth,'  are  made  by  him  to  signify  that  God 
created  the  soul  and  the  body,  which  can  very  well  be 
considered  as  represented  by  heavens  and  euiih.  The 
waters  under  the  heavens  are  our  sensitive  faculties, 
and  their  being  gathered  together  in  one  place  indi- 
cates the  gathering  of  our  senses  in  a  common  senso- 
rium.  This  allegorical  manner,  borrowed  from  Origen, 
or  rather  from  Philo,  is  probably  anterior  even  to  the 
latter;  and  it  is  evident  that  this  could  not  afford  the 
means  of  reconciling  philosophy  and  theology.  Gener- 
ally speaking,  ^Mirandula,  whose  genius  was  so  preco- 
cious, so  brilliant,  and  so  comprehensive,  wrote  too  young 
and  too  fast,  and  with  too  much  confidence  in  second- 
hand learning,  while  his  imagination  was  too  vivid  not 
to  prevent  his  giving  full  satisfaction  to  the  claims 
of  reason.  All  his  works  bear  the  marks  of  that  general 
kind  of  knowledge  one  possesses  in  leaving  the  schools, 
but  nowhere  do  they  evince  that  depth  and  originality 
which  are  the  fruits  of  meditation  and  of  patient  re- 
search. He  was  a  prodigy  of  memory,  of  elocution,  of 
dialectics;  he  was  neither  a  writer  nor  a  thinker."  The 
reader  may  do  well  to  compare  with  this  estimate  of 
IMirandula,  Pater's  enthusiastic  tribute  to  the  author  of 
the  "  Heptaplus :" — Conclusiones  philosophicce,  cabalisti- 
ccB  et  iheolofficm  (Rome,  148G,  fol.) ;  these  are  the  fa- 
mous theses  which  made  such  a  sensation  at  the  time, 
but  are  now  looked  upon  only  as  curiosities: — Apologia 
J.  Pici  Mirandulani,  Concordim  comitis  (1489,  ft)l.,  very 
scarce);  it  is  JMirandula's  defence  against  the  charge 
of  heres}';  the  writer  corrects  some  singular  instances 
of  ignorance  on  the  part  of  his  accusers :  one  of  them, 
for  instance,  took  Cabala  for  the  name  of  a  man, 
and  asserted  that  it  was  a  scoundrel  who  had  written 
against  Christ: — Dispiitationes  adversus  asti-ologiam  di- 
vinatricem  libri  xii  (I?ologna,  1495, fol.) : — Anrece  adfa- 
miliares  epistolce  (Paris,  1499, 4to;  Venice,  1529, 8vo  ;  re- 
printed by  Cellariiis,  1682,  8vo)  : — Elegia  deprecatoria 
ad  Deum  (Paris,  1620, 4to) : — De  Ente  et  Uno  opus,  in  quo 
plurimi  loci  in  Moise,  in  Platone  et  Aristotele  expUcan- 
tur ;  De  hominis  dignitute  (Basle,  1580, 8vo)  : — Commento 
del  signor  Giovanni  Fico  sopra  una  canzone  de,  amove, 
compostu  da  Girolamo  Benivieni,  cittadino  Fiorentino,  sls- 
cundo  la  mente  ed  opinione  dei  Platonici  (Florence,  1519, 
8vo;  Venice,  1522,  8vo),  a  commentary  in  the  manner 
of  Plato's  Banquet,  and  very  readable.  "  With  an  am- 
bitious array  of  every  sort  of  learning,  and  a  profusion 
of  imagery  borrowed  indifferently  from  the  astrolo- 
gers, the  Cabala,  Homer,  Scripture,  and  Dion)'sius  the 
Areopagite,  he  attempts  to  define  the  stages  by  which 
the  soul  passes  from  the  earthly  to  the  unseen  beati- 
tudes." It  has  been  well  said  that  the  Renaissance  of 
the  15th  century  was  in  many  things  great  rather  by 
what  it  designed  than  by  what  it  achieved.  The  same 
may  be   appropriately  appUed  to  Mirandula's  efforts. 


MIREPOIX 


330 


MIR  OX 


"  He  had  sought  knowledge,  and  passed  from  system  to 
system,  and  hazarded  miicli;  but  less  for  the  sake  of 
positive  knowledge  than  because  he  believed  there  was 
a  spirit  of  order  and  beauty  in  knowledge,  which  would 
come  down  and  unite  what  man's  ignorance  had  di- 
vided, and  renew  what  time  had  made  dim.  And  so 
while  his  actual  work  has  passed  away,  yet  his  own 


seemly  dread  of  losing  her  influence  and  position,  and 
led  her  into  complaints  of  and  dangerous  reflections  upon 
Closes,  in  which  Aaron  joined  (see  Kitto's  iJuily  Bible 
Illusli:  ad  loc).  See  Zippohaii.  Their  question, 
"  Hath  Jehovah  spoken  by  Closes  ?  Hath  he  not  spoken 
also  by  usV"  (Numl).  xii,  1,  2),  implies  that  the  prophetic 
gift  was  exercised  by  them ;  while  the  answer  implies  that 


qualities  are  still  active,  and  he  himself  remains,  as  one  it  was  communicated  in  a  less  direct  form  than  to  JIo- 

alive  in  the  grave,  'ctesiis  et  vigilibus  oculis,' as  his  :  ses.    "  If  there  be  a  prophet  among  you,  I  Jehovah  will 

biographer  describes  him,  and  witli  that  sanguine  clear  make  myself  known  unto  him  in  a  vision,  and  will  speak 

skin,  'decenti  rubore  interspersa,'  as  with  the  light  of  unto  him  in  a  dream.    Jly  servant  Moses  is  not  so.  .  .  . 

morning  upon  it ;  and  he  has  a  true  jilace  in  that  group  With  him  will  I  speak  mouth  to  mouth,  even  appar- 

of  great  Italians  who  fill  the  end  of  the  15th  century  ently,  and  not  in  dark  speeches"  (Numb,  xii,  C-8).     A 

with  their  names"  (Pater).     See  Paul  Jove,  Elorjia ;  Sir  stern  rebuke  was  administered  in  front  of  the  sacred 

Thos.  ]More,  Pico,  Karl  of  Mirandula,  and  a  r/nat  Lord  tent  to  botli  Aaron  and  ^liriam.     Put  the  puni.-hmcnt 

<)/'//«/y  (from  the  Italian  of  Francis  della  jMirandula);  fell  on  ^liriam,  as   tlie   chief  offender.      The  hateful 


Niceron,  Memoires,\o\.  xxxiv;  Tiraboschi,  Storin  della 
litteratura  Italiana,  vi,  32o ;  (Jinguene,  Hist,  liiteraire 
{Tltalie, YoLiii;  Matter, Diet,  des  sciences  vhilosophiques 
Weiners,  Leliensbcsr/ireihini'/en   heriihtntir  M 
vol.  ii;  Hoefer,  Xour.  J>io</.  Cim'ndt,  xl,  V.) 
Ulrieh  Zwinrjk,  der  Cliarakttr  stinir  I'/iKiln,/;,.  tnif  be- 
sonderer  Riicksicht  av/  J'iciis  von  J/inindii/n  (Stuttg. 
1855),  p.  14  sq. ;  Dreydorft  (Georg),  J  Jus  ,s//n^  ,u  d,  .<  John 
Picus  Graf  von  Mirandula  (iMarburg,  l.sjsj ;  Paler,  ,S7»f7- 
ies  ill  the  Uistonj  of  the  Renaissance  (Lond.  and  N.  Y. 
Macraillan,  1873, 12mo),  chap.  ii.     (J.  H.  W.) 

Mirepoix,  Gui  dk  Lewis,  Seigneur  de,  one  of  the 
great  soldiers  of  the  French  who  battled  for  the  Church 

the  davs  of  the  Crusades,  flourished  in  the  early  part 


Egyptian  leprosy,  of  which  for  a  moment  the  sign  had 
been  seen  on  the  hand  of  her  younger  brother,  broke 
out  over  the  whole  person  of  the  proud  projihctess. 
etc..  How  grand  was  her  position,  and  how  heavy  the  blow, 
Sigwart,  is  implied  in  the  cry  of  anguish  which  goes  up  from 
both  the  brothers — "Alas,  my  lord  !  .  .  .  Let  her  not  be 
as  one  dead,  of  whom  the  flesh  is  half  consumed  when 
he  Cometh  out  of  his  mother's  womb.  .  .  .  Ileal  her 
now,  O  God !  I  beseech  thee."  And  it  is  not  less  evi- 
dent in  the  silent  grief  of  the  nation :  "  The  people  jour- 
neyed not  till  Miriam  was  brought  in  again"  (Xumb. 
xii,  10-15).  The  same  feeling  is  reflected,  though  in  a 
strange  and  distorted  form,  in  the  ancient  tradition  of 
the  drying  up  and  reflowing  of  the  marvellous  -well  of 


of  the  13th  century.     He  was  a  friend  of  Simon  de    the  Wanderings.     See  Bkek.     This  stroke,  and  its  re 


Montfort,  marshal  of  France,  conducted  the  warfare 
against  the  Albigenses,  and  was  rewarded  for  his  blind 
adherence  to  the  papal  cause  with  the  title  of  "Marshal 
of  the  Faith."     He  died  in  1-230. 

Mir'iam  (lleb.  Minjum',  B^;'"!'?,  rebellion;  Sept. 
Mapidi-t,  but  in  1  Chron.  iv,  17  Mawv  v.  r.  Mapwv  ; 
Josephus  Mapiufiiui),  A  nt.  iv,  4,  G),  the  name  of  a  woman 
and  of  a  man.  'J'he  name  reappt  ars  in  the  N.  T.,  M«- 
pidfi  being  the  form  always  employed  for  the  nomina- 
tive case  of  the  name  of  the  Virfin  Mary,  though  it  is 
declined  MopiVrc!  M«pi'^ ;  while  Mojoia  is  employed 
in  all  cases  for  the  three  other  Marys.  At  the  time  of 
the  Christian  a-ra  it  seems  to  have  been  common. 
Among  otliers  who  bore  it  was  Herod's  celebrated  wife 
and  victim,  Mariamne.     See  also  Mauv. 

1.  Tlie  sister  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  supposed  (so 
Josephus,  ,1  nt.  ii,  9,  4)  to  be  the  same  that  watched  her 
infant  brother  when  exposed  on  the  Nile;  in  which 
case  she  was  probably  ten  or  twelve  years  old  at  the 
time  (Exod.  ii,  4  sq.).  B.C.  1738.  She  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Amram  and  .lochcbed,  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  (Xumb. 
xxvi,  59;  comp.  Mic.  vi,  4).  When  the  Israelites  left 
Egypt,  ^Miriam  naturally  became  the  leading  woman 
among  them.  "The  sister  of  Aaron"  is  her  Biblical 
distinction  (Exod.  xv,  20).  In  Numb,  xii,  1  she  is 
placed  before  Aaron;  and  "Miriam  the  Prophetess"  is 
her  acknowledged  title  (Exod.  xv,  20),  Tlie  prophetic 
power  showed  itself  in  her  under  the  same  form  as  that 
which  it  assumed  in  the  days  of  Samuel  and  David — 
poetry,  accompanied  with  music  and  processions.  The 
only  instance  of  this  prophetic  gift  is  when,  after  the 
passage  of  the  lied  Sea,  slic  took  a  cymbal  in  her  hand, 
and  went  forth,  like  the  Hebrew  maidens  in  later  times 
after  a  victory  (Judg.  v,  1;  xi,  34;  1  Sam.  xviii,  G; 
Psa.  Ixviii,  11,  25),  followed  l)y  the  whole  female  jmpu- 
lation  of  lsra<0,  also  beating  their  cymbals  and  striking 
their  guitars  (PPrrC,  otherwise  "dances").  It  does  not 
appear  how  far  they  joined  in  the  whole  of  the  song 
(Exod.  i,  15-19);  but  the  opening  words  are  repeated 
again  by  Miriam  herself  at  the  close,  in  the  form  of  a 
command  to  the  1  lel)rew  women.  "  She  answered  them, 
saying.  Sing  ye  to  Jehov.ih,  for  he  hath  Iriimiphed  glo- 
riously: the  horse  and  his  rider  hatli  he  thrown  into 
the  sea."  B.C.  1G58.  The  arrival  of  ^Moses's  Cushite 
wife  in  the  camp  seems  to  have  created  in  her  an  un- 


moval,  which  took  place  at  Hazeroth,  form  the  last  pub- 
lic event  of  jVIiriam's  life.  She  died  towards  the  close 
of  the  wanderings  at  Kadesh,  and  was  buried  there 
(Numb.  XX,  1).  B.C.  1G19.  Her  tomb  was  sliown  near 
Petra  in  the  days  of  Jerome  (Onomast.  s.  v.  Cades  Bar- 
nea).  According  to  the  Jewish  tradition  (Josephus, 
Ant.  iv,  4,  G),  her  death  took  place  on  the  new  moon  of 
the  month  Xanthicus  (i.  e.  about  the  end  of  February), 
which  seems  to  imi)ly  that  the  anniversary  was  stiU  ob- 
served in  the  time  of  Josephus.  The  burial,  he  adds, 
took  place  with  great  pomp  on  a  mountain  called  Zin, 
i.  e.  the  wilderness  of  Zin) ;  and  the  mourning — which 
lasted,  as  in  the  case  of  her  brothers,  for  thirty  days — 
was  closed  by  the  institution  of  the  purilication  through 
the  sacrifice  of  the  heifer  (Numb,  xix,  1-10),  which  in 
the  Pentateuch  immediately  precedes  the  story  of  her 
death.  According  to  Josephus  (.4?)/.  iii,  2,  4;  G,  1),  she 
was  married  to  the  famous  Ilur,  and,  througli  him, 
was  grandmother  of  the  architect  Bezalecl.  In  tlie  Ko- 
ran (ch.  iii)  she  is  confounded  with  the  Virgin  Mary; 
and  hence  the  Holy  Family  is  called  the  Family  of  Am- 
ram, or  Imram  (see  also  U'Herbelot,  Bibl.  Orient,  s.  v. 
Zakaria).  In  otlier  Arabic  traditions  her  name  is  given 
as  Kollhum  (see  Weil's  Jiibl.  Lef/end:!,  p.  101). — Smith. 

2.  The  first  named  of  the  sons  of  tiered  (the  son  of 
Ezra,  of  the  faniily  of  CahlO  by  Bilhiah,  the  daughter 
of  Pharaoh  ^  Cliron.  iv.  17).  IJ.C.  jirub.  cir.  1G58."  Sec 
Mi;ni:i>. 

Miikhond,  :\IoiiAMMr.r>  Eisx-Emir  Kmowand 
Sii All.  a  iioicil  F.asicrn  historian,  a  native  of  Persia,  was 
born  in  M;M.  and  died  in  149«.  He  is  the  autlior  of  a 
work  containing  legends  concerning  Persian  kings  and 
sages,  extracts  of  wliich  were  first  i)ublislied  by  Davity 
(Etats,  empiies,  roi/aunus  du  monde).  He  also  wrote  a 
history  of  the  Samanites,  published  in  (ierman  by  Wil- 
ken  (Geschichte  der  Samaniden),  at  (Jiittingen,  in  1808, 
anil  in  French  l)y  Defremeny  (Paris,  1845). 

Mii'nia  (Ileb.  Mirmah',  iT:'^':,  dvedt,  as  often; 
Sept.  M(T^)/(((),  the  last  named  of  the  sous  of  Slialuiraim 
bv  Hodesli,  and  a  chieftain  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  (1 
Chron.  viii,  10).     B.C.  post  1(!I2. 

Miron,  CiiAUi.ics.a  French  prelate,  was  born  in  1.5G9. 
At  eighteen,  holding  already  the  abbotship  of  Cormcri 
and  Airvaux,  he  was  appointed  by  the  king  bishop  of 
Angers.     Of  the  difTcrent  parlies  which  tlien  divided 


MIRROR 


331 


MIRROR 


France,  Miron  espoused  the  cause  of  Henry  IV.  He  was 
also  one  of  the  preachers  who  pronounced  a  funeral  eu- 
logy upon  the  king  when  assassinated  by  the  hand  of 
Ravaillac.  Miron,  upon  removing  from  Angers  to 
Paris,  continued  to  hold  his  relation  to  the  Church  at 
Angers,  and  thereby  provoked  a  grave  dispute  be- 
tween the  bishop  and  his  chapter.  The  chapter,  insist- 
ing upon  the  pope's  appointment,  declared  themselves 
free  from  Miron's  episcopal  jurisdiction,  to  which  the 
bishop  took  decided  exception,  and  the  disputes  called 
forth  by  this  affair  finally  led  Miron  to  vacate  his  bish- 
opric. He  transmitted  his  insignia  to  Guillaume  Fou- 
quet  de  la  Varenne,  and  became,  by  exchange,  abbot  of 
Saint-Lomer  de  Blois.  This  transaction  took  place  in 
1615.  But  in  1621,  Guillaume  Fouquet  having  died, 
Miron  reclaimed  his  bishopric,  obtained  it  a  second  time, 
and  entered  Angers  April  23, 1622.  Very  soon  the  dis- 
cussions between  the  bishop  and  the  chapter  were  re- 
sumed, and  only  terminated  by  the  papal  appointment  of 
Miron  to  the  archbishopric  of  Lyons,  Dec.  2, 1026.  This 
nomination  was  denounced  by  Salon  as  detrimental  to 
the  liberties  of  the  Galilean  Church.  He  died,  however, 
before  much  could  come  of  the  opposition,  Aug.  G,  1628. 
— Gallia  Christiana,  iv,  col.  192 ;  xiv,  col.  584, 585 ;  Hoe- 
fer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  xxxv,  068. 

Mirror.  Although  this  word  does  not  occur  in  the 
Auth.  Vers.,  except  in  the  Apocrypha  (Wisd.  vii,  20), 
it  is  the  proper  representative  of  at  least  two  Heb.  and 
one  Gr.  term,  for  which  our  translators  employ  the  less 
correct  rendering  "looking-glass"  (nx'ip,  marah',  a 
vision,  as  often,  Exod.  xxxviii,  8;  Sept.  KaTOirrpoi', 
Vulg.  speculum;  "X^,  re'i',  a  spectacle,  Job  xxxvii,  18, 
Sept.  opaffic,  Vulg.  as;  "ii"^??-,  fjilyon',  a  tablet  of  wood, 
stone,  or  metal  on  which  to  inscribe  anything,  so  called 
as  being  made  hare,  Isa.  viii,  1 ;  in  Isa.  iii,  23  the  plural 
refers,  according  to  the  Chald.,  Abarbanel,  Jarchi,  and 
others,  with  the  Vulg.  specula,  and  the  Auth.  Vers. 
"  glasses,"  to  mirrors  or  polished  plates  of  metal,  see  Ge- 
senius.  Comment,  ad  loc,  but  Kimchi  and  others  under- 
stand, with  the  Sept.,  cia<pavri  Acikoviku,  transparent 
garments,  such  as  show  the  body,  comp.  Schroder,  De 
Vest.  mill.  Heb.  p.  311,  312).  In  the  first  of  the  forego- 
ing passages  the  mirrors  in  the  possession  of  the  women 
of  the  Israelites,  when  they  quitted  Egypt,  are  described 
as  being  of  brass ;  for  "  the  laver  of  brass,  and  the  foot 
of  it,"  were  made  from  them.  In  the  second,  the  firma- 
ment is  compared  to  "  a  molten  mirror."  In  fact,  the 
mirrors  used  in  ancient  times  were  almost  universally 
of  metal  (the  passage  in  the  iMishna,  Chelim,  xxx,  2, 
does  not  allude  to  glass  mirrors) ;  and  as  those  of  the 
Hebrew  women  in  the  wilderness  were  brought  out  of 
Egypt,  they  were  doubtless  of  the  same  kind  as  those 
which  have  been  found  in  the  tombs  of  that  country, 
and  many  of  ^vhich  now  exist  in  our  museums  and  col- 


'^X 


5  n 

Ancient  Mirrors  of  Bronze.    (From  the  British  Museum : 
1  to  4,  Egyptian  ;  5,  Assyrian.) 


lections  of  Egyptian  antiquities.  These  are  of  mixed 
metals,  chiefiy  copper,  most  carefully  wrought  and 
highly  polished;  and  so  admirably  did  the  skiU  of  the 
Egyptians  succeed  in  the  composition  of  metals  that 
this  substitute  for  our  modern  looking-glass  was  suscep- 
tible of  a  lustre,  which  has  even  been  partially  revived 
at  the  present  da\'  in  some  of  those  discovered  at  Thebes, 
though  buried  in  the  earth  for  so  many  centuries.  The 
mirror  itself  was  nearly  rOund,  and  was  inserted  in  a 
handle  of  wood,  stone,  or  metal,  the  form  of  which  va- 
ried according  to  the  taste  of  the  owner  (see  Wilkinson's 
Ancient  Er/yptians,  iii,  384-386).  In  the  N.  T.  mirrors 
are  mentioned  (to-OTrrpa,  James  i,  23;  comp.  1  Cor.  xiii, 
12;  see  Harenberg,  in  Uasni  et  Iken.  not:  tkesaur.  ii, 
829  sq.).  They  are  alluded  to  in  the  Rabbinical  writ- 
ings (i<"i"i^pSOX,  i.  e.  specularia,  Targ.  Jon.  in  Exod. 
xix,  17;  Deut.  xxxiii,  19;  Mishna,  Chelim,  xvii,  15; 
Edujoth,  ii,  7;  see  Lightfoot,  Hor.  Heb.  p.  379).  See 
generally,  Th.  Carpzov,  De  speculis  Hehrmor.  (Rostock, 
1752) ;  Jahn,  I,  ii,  155  sq. ;  Hartmann,  Hebr.  ii,  240  sq. ; 
iii,  245  sq.  It  appears  likewise  from  other  positive 
statements  that  mirrors  anciently  were  of  metal,  name- 
ly, of  copper  (xaX/cao)',  Xenoph.  Symp.  vii,  4)  or  tin, 
also  of  an  alloy  of  both  these  metals,  answering  to  brass, 
and  sometimes  even  of  silver  (Pliny,  xxxiii,  45 ;  xxxiv, 
48  ;  comp.  Rosell.  Monum.  II,  ii,  528  sq. ;  Becker,  Callus, 
III,  iii).  Occasionally  they  were  of  great  size  (Senec. 
Nat.  Quasi,  i,  16,  17,  p.  185,  Bip. ;  Quintil.  Inst,  ii,  3,  68). 
Finally,  mirrors  of  polished  stone  are  mentioned  (Pliny, 
xxxvi,  45;  comp.  Sueton.  Domit.  xiv).  "Pliny  men- 
tions that  anciently  the  best  were  made  at  Brundusium. 
Praxiteles,  in  the  time  of  Pompey  the  Great,  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  who  made  them  of  silver,  though 
these  were  afterwards  so  common  as,  in  the  time  of 
Plinj'',  to  be  used  by  the  ladies'  maids.  Silver  mirrors 
are  alluded  to  in  Plautus  (Mostell.  i,  4,  ver.  101)  and 
Phllostratus  (^Icon.  i,  6) ;  and  one  of  steel  is  said  to  have 
been  found.  They  were  even  made  of  gold  (Eur.  Hec. 
925 ;  Senec.  Nat.  Qucvst.  i,  17).  According  to  Beckmann 
(Hist,  of  Inv.  ii.  64,  F/u'.iu's  transl.).  a  mirror  which  was 
discovered  near  Napl  s  was  tested,  and  found  to  be  made 
of  a  mixture  of  copper  and  regulus  of  antimony,  with  a 
little  lead.  Beckmann's  editor  (Mr.  Francis)  gives  in  a 
note  the  result  of  an  analysis  of  an  Etruscan  mirror, 
which  he  examined  and  found  to  consist  of  67.12  cop- 
per, 24.93  tin,  and  8.13  lead,  or  nearly  eight  parts  of 
copper  to  three  of  tin  and  one  of  lead;  but  neither  in 
this,  nor  in  one  analyzed  by  Klaproth,  was  there  any 
trace  of  antimony,  which  IJeckmann  asserts  was  un- 
known to  the  ancients.  Modern  experiments  have 
shown  that  the  mixture  of  copper  and  tin  produces  the 
best  metal  for  specula  {Phil.  Trans.  Ixvii,  290).  Beck- 
mann is  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  not  till  the  loth  cen- 
tury that  glass,  covered  at  the  back  with  tin  or  lead, 
was  used  for  this  purpose,  the  doubtful  allusion  in  Pliny 
(xxxvi,  66)  to  the  mirrors  made  in  the  glass-houses  of 
Sidon  having  reference  to  experiments  which  were  un- 
successfid.  Other  allusions  to  bronze  mirrors  will  be 
found  in  a  fragment  of  ^Eschj'lus  preserved  in  Stobajus 
(Serm.  xviii,  p.  164,  ed.  Gesner,  1608)  and  in  Callima- 
chus  {Hym.  in  Lav.  Pall.  21).  Convex  mirrors  of  pol- 
ished steel  are  mentioned  as  common  in  the  East  in  a 
manuscript  note  of  Chardin's  upon  Ecclus.  xii,  11,  quoted 
by  Harraer  (Observ.  vol.  iv,  c.  11,  obs.  55).  The  mefal 
of  which  the  mirrors  were  composed  being  liable  to  rust 
and  tarnish,  required  to  be  constantly  kept  bright  (Wisd. 
vii,  26;  Ecclus.  xii,  11).  This  was  done  by  means  of 
pounded  pumice-stone,  rubbed  on  with  a  sponge,  which 
was  generally  suspended  from  the  mirror.  The  Persians 
used  emery-powder  for  the  same  purpose,  according  to 
Chardin  (quoted  by  Hartmann,  Die  Hebr.  urn  Puiztiscke, 
ii,  245).  The  obscure  image  produced  by  a  tarnished 
or  imperfect  mirror  appears  to  be  alluded  to  in  1  Cor. 
xiii,  12.  On  the  other  hand,  a  polished  mirror  is  among 
the  Arabs  the  emblem  of  a  pure  reputation.  'More 
spotless  than  the  mirror  of  a  foreign  woman'  is  with 


MIRTH 


332 


MISERERE 


them  a  proverbial  expression,  which  IMeidani  explains 
of  a  woman  who  has  married  out  of  her  country,  and 
polishes  her  mirror  incessantly,  that  no  part  of  her  face 
may  escape  her  observation  (De  Sacy,  Chrcst.  Arab,  iii, 
230).  IMirrors  are  mentioned  by  Clin,-sostom  amonj^ 
the  extravagances  of  fasliion  for  which  he  rebuked  the 
ladies  of  liis  time,  and  Seneca  long  before  was  loud  in 
his  denunciation  of  similar  follies  {Nat.  Qiiwst.  i,  17). 
They  were  used  by  the  Koman  women  in  the  worship 
of  Jinio  (Senec.  L'p.  95;  Apuleius,  Metam.  xi,  c.  9,  p. 
770).  In  the  Egyptian  temples,  says  Cyril  of  Alexan- 
dria (^JJe  ador.  in  Sjiir.  ix ;  Opera,  i,  314,  ed.  Paris, 
1638),  it  was  the  custom  for  tlie  women  to  worship  in 
linen  garments,  holding  a  mirror  in  their  left  hands  and 
a  sistrum  in  their  right ;  and  the  Israelites,  having  fallen 
into  the  idolatries  of  the  country,  had  brought  with 
them  the  mirrors  which  they  used  in  their  worship" 
(Smith).  This  is  a  practice  to  which  one  of  the  above 
Scrijiture  passages  (Exod.  xxxviii,  8)  appears  to  allude 
(see  (Jesenius,  Comment,  on  Isa.  i,  215;  on  the  contrary, 
B.  F.  f^)uistorp,  Die  speculis  labri  cenei,  Gryph.  1773). 

Mirth,  the  expression  of  joy,  gayety,  merriment, 
is  thus  distinguished  from  its  synonym,  cheerfulness: 
Mirth  is  considered  as  an  act,  vhttrfuhass  a  habit  of 
the  mind.  Mirth  is  short  and  transient;  chccr/'xlmss 
fixed  and  permanent.  Those  are  often  raised  into  the 
greatest  transports  of  mirth  who  are  subject  to  the 
greatest  depressions  of  melancholy:  on  the  contrary, 
cheerfulness,  though  it  does  not  give  such  an  exquisite 
gladness,  prevents  us  from  falling  into  any  depths  of 
sorrow.  Mirth  is  like  a  flash  of  liglitning,  that  breaks 
through  a  gloom  of  clouds,  and  glitters  for  a  moment ; 
chcerl'idness  keeps  up  a  kind  of  daylight  in  the  mind, 
and  fdls  it  with  a  steady  and  perpetual  serenity. 

Mirtli  is  sinful,  1.  When  men  rejoice  in  that  which  is 
evil.  2.  When  unreasonable.  3.  When  tending  to  com- 
mit sin.  4.  When  a  hinderance  to  duty.  5.  When  it 
is  blasphemous  and  profane. — Buck,  Tkeol.  Diet.  s.  v. 

Mis'ael  (Mtirat'iX),  the  Greek  form  (a,  1  Esdr.  ix, 
44 ;  comp.  Neh.  viii,  4  ;  /;,  Song  of  the  Three  Child.  6(5 ; 
comp.  Dan.  i,  G  S(j.)  of  the  Heb.  name  Mishakl  (ij.  v.). 

Misanthropist  (from  the  Greek  niativ,  to  hate,  and 
oj'^puTTor,  mail),  a  hater  of  mankind ;  one  that  aban- 
dons society  from  a  principle  of  discontent.  The  con- 
sideration of  the  depravity  of  hmnau  nature  is  certainly 
enough  to  raise  emotions  of  sorrow  in  the  breast  of  every 
man  of  the  least  sensibility;  yet  it  is  our  duty  to  bear 
with  the  follies  of  mankind;  to  exercise  a  degree  of 
candor  consistent  with  truth ;  to  lessen,  if  possible,  by 
our  exertions,  the  sum  of  moral  and  natural  evil;  and 
by  connecting  ourselves  with  society,  to  add  at  least 
somelliing  to  the  general  interests  of  mankind.  The 
misanthropist,  therefore,  is  an  ungenerous  and  dishoii- 
oralile  character.  Disgusted  witli  life,  he  seeks  a  re- 
treat from  it;  like  a  coward,  he  flees  from  the  scene  of 
action,  wliile  he  increases  his  own  misery  by  his  natural 
discontent,  and  leaves  others  to  do  what  they  can  for 
themselves. 

The  following  is  his  character  more  at  large:  "  He  is 
a  man,"  says  Saurin  {Sermons),  "  who  avoids  society 
only  to  free  himself  from  the  trouble  of  being  useful  to 
it.  lie  is  a  man  who  considers  his  neighbors  only  on 
the  side  of  their  defects,  not  knowing  the  art  of  combin- 
ing their  virtues  with  their  vices,  and  of  rendering  the 
imperfi'ctions  of  otlier  peo])le  tolerable  l)v  reflecting  on 
his  own.  He  is  a  man  more  employed  in  linding  out 
and  inflicting  jjunishments  on  the  guilty  than  in  devis- 
ing means  to  reform  them.  He  is  a  man  who  talks  of 
nothing  l)ut  banisliing  and  executing,  and  wlio,  because 
he  tliiiiks  liis  talents  are  not  suflicienlly  valued  and  em- 
ployed l>y  his  fellow-citizens,  or,  rather,  because  they  I 
know  his  foiljles,  and  do  not  choose  to  be  subject  to  liis 
caprice,  talks  of  (putting  cities,  towns,  and  societies,  and 
of  living  in  dens  or  deserts." — Ihick,  Thiol.  Did.  s.  v. 

MisciroH,  Toximaso,  a  jiainler  of  the  Bolognese 
s.chool,  was  bom  at  Faenza  in  1C3G.    He  gained  consid- 


erable reputation,  and  executed  several  works  for  the 
churches.  His  principal  picture  is  the  Martyrdom  of 
St.  Cecilia,  an  altar-piece  in  the  church  of  St.  Cecilia  at 
Faenza,  which  is  flnished  with  great  care.  Lanzi  saya 
that  in  some  of  his  works  ^lisciroli  eipials  the  best  Vi- 
eimese  painters,  but  accuses  him  of  plagiarism  in  many 
instances,  notal>ly  in  the  picture  above  alluded  to,  in 
which  he  introduced  an  executioner  stirring  u\>  the 
flames,  a  feature  copied  almost  entirely  from  Lionollo's 
grand  picture  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Domenico  in  the 
church  of  that  name  at  Bologna.  Misciroli  died  in  1C99. 
See  Lanzi's  J/ist.  of  Paintiiiy,  transl.  by  Roscoe  (Lond. 
1847,  3  vols.  8vo),  iii,  131 ;  Spooner,  Biog.  Hist,  of  the 
Fine  Arts  (Phila.  1865,  2  vols.  8vo),  ii,  569. 

Miser  (Lat.  unhappy),  a  term  formerly  used  in  ref- . 
erence  to  a  person  in  wretchedness  or  calamity;  but  it 
now  denotes  a  parsimonious  person,  or  rtne  who  is  cov- 
etous to  extremity;  who  denies  himself  even  the  com- 
forts of  life  to  accumulate  wealth.  "'Avarice,"  says 
Saurin,  "  may  be  considered  in  two  different  points  of 
light.  It  may  be  considered  in  those  men,  or  rather 
those  public  bloodsuckers,  or,  as  the  officers  of  the  Roman 
emperor  Vespasian  were  called,  those  .<tponi/es  of  society, 
who,  infatuated  with  this  passion,  seek  after  riches  as 
the  supreme  good,  determine  to  acipiire  it  by  any  meth- 
ods, and  consider  the  Avays  that  lead  to  wealth,  legal  or 
illegal,  as  the  only  road  for  them  to  travel.  Avarice, 
however,  must  be  considered  in  a  second  point  of  light. 
It  not  only  consists  in  committing  bold  crimes,  but  in 
entertaining  mean  ideas  and  practicing  low  methods,  in- 
compatible with  such  magnanimity  as  our  condition 
ought  to  inspire.  It  consists  not  only  in  omitting  to 
serve  God,  but  in  trying  to  associate  tiie  service  of  (iod 
with  that  of  mammon.  How  many  forms  doth  avarice 
take  to  disguise  itself  from  the  man  who  is  guilty  of  it, 
and  who  will  be  drenched  in  tiie  guilt  of  it  till  the  day 
he  dies!  Sometimes  it  h prudence,  which  requires  hita 
to  provide  not  only  for  his  i)resent  wants,  but  for  such  as 
he  may  have  in  future.  Sometimes  it  is  charity,  which 
requires  him  not  to  give  society  examples  of  prodigality 
and  parade.  Sometimes  it  \fi  jiarmtid  lore,  obliging  liim 
to  save  something  for  his  children.  Sometimes  it  is  rir- 
cumspection,  which  requires  him  not  to  supply  people 
who  make  ill  use  of  what  they  get.  Sometimes  it  is 
necessity,  which  obliges  him  to  repel  artifice  b}-  artifice. 
Sometimes  it  is  conscience,  which  convinces  him,  good 
man,  that  he  hath  already  exceeded  in  compassion  and 
alms-giving,  and  done  too  much.  Sometimes  it  is  equity, 
for  justice  requires  that  every  one  should  enjoy  the  fruit 
of  his  own  labors  and  those  of  his  ancestors.  Such,  alas ! 
are  the  awful  pretexts  and  subterfuges  of  the  miser" 
{Sermons,  vol.  v,  sen  12). — Buck,  Theol.  Diet.  s.  v.     See 

AvARICK;   COVETOISNESS. 

Miserere  (Lat.  hare  compassion),  \hc  name  of  a  li- 
turgic  prayer,  set  to  music,  and  used  in  Koman  Catholic 
worship.  It  is  a  sort  of  parajihrase  on  the  51st  or  57th 
Psalm,  and  is  used  on  penitential  occasions,  and  particu- 
larly in  Passion-week.  It  is  therefore  not  only  set  to  a 
regular  Gregorian  melody  (see  Keller,  Die  acht  Psalmcn- 
tiine,  etc..  Aix-la-Chap.  1856,  p.  18),  but  has  also  become 
a  theme  for  compositions  to  the  most  eminent  masters, 
such  as  Palestrina,  Orlando  di  Lasso,  Allegri,  Scarlatti, 
Leonardo  Leo.  Tliomas  Bai,  Zingarelli,  Pergolcse,  Jo- 
melli,  Fioravanti,  Fetis.Vogler.  Stadler,  etc.  The  most 
renowned  among  these  compositions  is  that  by  (Jrcgo- 
rio  Allegri  (a  descendant  of  Corrcggio,  born  at  Home  in 
1.590,  t  1640).  in  which  two  choirs,  one  of  four,  tlie  other 
of  five  p.arts,  sing  alternately  initil  the  finale,  where  all 
join  in  piani-^siino.  the  measure  also  becoming  gradually 
.slower.  This  piece,  from  llie  time  it  was  com])osed,  has 
always  been  sung  on  Wednesday  and  Friday  of  Passion- 
week  in  the  Sistine  Chapel  at  Pome.  One  writer  says: 
'•  Never  by  mortal  ear  was  heard  a  strain  of  such  power- 
ful, such  heart-moving  pathos.  The  accordant  tones 
of  a  hundred  human  voices,  and  one  which  seemed  more 
than  himian,  ascended  t<jgether  to  heaven  for  mercy  to 


MISERERES 


333 


MISHAM 


mankind— for  pardon  to  a  guilty  and  sinning  world.  It 
had  nothing  in  it  of  this  earth— nothing  that  breathed 
the  ordinary  feelings  of  our  nature.  Its  effects  upon  the 
minds  of  those  who  heard  it  were  almost  too  powerful  to 
be  borne,  and  never  can  be  forgotten.  One  gentleman 
fainted  and  was  carried  out;  and  many  of  the  ladies 
near  me  were  in  agitation  ev^en  more  distressing,  which 
they  vainly  struggled  to  suppress.  It  was  the  music  of 
Allegri;  but  the  composition,  however  fine,  is  nothing 
without  the  voices  which  perform  it  here."  Another 
writer  says:  "At  the  conclusion  of  this  portion  of  the 
service,  and  when  the  darkness  is  complete  by  the  con- 
cealment of  the  last  light,  commences  the  Miserere. 
This  is  the  51st  Psalm.  And  as  it  is  breathed  by  the 
choir — the  most  perfect  and  practiced  choir  in  the  world 
— as  it  is  heard  in  all  the  stillness  and  solemnity  of  the 
scene,  -wrapped  in  darkness,  and  leaving  nothing  to  dis- 
tract the  eye  where  all  looks  dim  and  shadowy,  it  has  a 
strange  and  wonderful  effect.  It  is  designed  to  express, 
as  far  as  music  can  express,  the  deep  and  mental  ago- 
nies of  the  dying  Saviour;  and  certainly  there  never 
yet  was  heard,  except  among  the  shepherds  of  Bethle- 
hem on  the  night  of  the  nativity,  such  sounds,  so  un- 
earthly, and  unlike  the  music  of  the  world.  It  is  plain- 
tive, intensely  melancholj',  and  has  a  powerful  effect 
under  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  scene."  It  was 
formerly  the  exclusive  property  of  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
tlie  partition  being  jealously  kept  there ;  INIozart  suc- 
ceeded, however,  in  writing  it  down  after  hearing  it 
twice.  It  has  since  been  repeatedly  published.  While 
the  IMiserere  is  sung,  the  pope  kneels  at  the  altar,  the 
cardinals  at  their  desks,  and  as  it  proceeds  the  lights 
at  the  altar  are  extinguished  one  by  one,  which  is  ex- 
plained by  Gavanti,  Thes.  ii,  90:  "Ad  unuraquemque 
psalmum  (there  are  other  psalms  sung  before  the  Mise- 
rere) exstinguitur  una  candela,  una  post  aliam,  quia 
apostoli  paulatim  defecerunt  a  Christo."  In  fact,  the 
whole  use  of  this  psalm  in  Passion-week  is  intended  ad 
designundurn  apostolorum  iiinoi-em.  The  word  miserere 
has  in  modern  days  come  to  be  applied  to  any  sacred 
composition  of  a  penitential  character.  See  Herzog,  j 
Eeal-EncijMopddie,  ix,  547  ;  Eadie,  Eccles.  Cyclop,  s.  v. ; 
Siegel,  Chriitliche  Allerthilmer  (see  Index  in  vol.  iv). 

Misereres.  Elbowed  stalls,  often  found  in  cathedral, 
collegiate,  and  minster  churches,  with  seats  that  may  be 
turned  up,  so  as  to  give  an  opportunity  of  kneeling  in 
those  parts  of  the  service  in  which  the  language  of  sup- 
plicafion  ("miserere"')  occurs.  They  were  allowed  in 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  as  a  relief  to  the  infirm 
during  the  long  services  that  were  req^uired  to  be  per- 
formed by  the  ecclesiastics  in  a  standing  posture.  They 
are  always  more  or  less  ornamented  with  carvings  of 
leaves,  small  figures,  animals,  etc.,  which  are  generally 
very  boldlj^  cut.  Examples  are  to  be  found  in  almost 
all  English  churches  which  retain  any  of  the  ancient 
stalls;  the  oldest  i^  in  Henry  the  Seventh's  Chapel  at 
Westmiu'-ter,  where  there  i-  mu  in  the  style  of  the  loth 
ceuturv.— Parker,  Glo^sm  n    i    I  ;■<■/,;/,  vtare,  s.  v. 


'''"iiiif 


Miserere  in  Henry  the  Seventh's  Chapel,  Westminster. 

Misericord  is  a  term  used  to  denote  various  offices 
and  articles.  (1)  Subsellia— Spanish  subsilia— the  fold- 
ing seat  of  a  stalL  See  Miskreres.  (2)  A  compas- 
sionate mitigation  of  full  penance.  (3)  According  to 
Lyndwood,  a  custom  in  certain  monasteries  of  relieving 


a  number  of  monks,  in  alternate  weeks,  from  attendance 
in  choir  and  claustral  duties.  (4)  A  hall  for  eating 
flesh-meat  in  a  monastery.  Some  convents,  as  Canter- 
bur\'  and  Westminster,  had  country  hospitals  for  conva- 
lescents. (5)  The  word  also  implied  stated  indulgences 
and  allowances,  according  to  circumstances,  of  food, 
drink,  wine  or  beer,  or  clothing  or  bedding,  beyond  the 
rule.  And,  finally,  some  writers,  misled  by  the  giossa-  - 
rist  of  Matthew  Paris,  have  called  a  misericord  a  guzzle 
of  wine,  an  imperfect  definition  taken  from  the  refresh- 
ment of  that  liquor  granted  during  the  above  period. 
See  Walcott,  Sacred Archaology,  s.  v. ;  Fosbrooke,  Brit- 
ish MonacJiism,  ch.  xlviii. 

Misericordia  Domini  is  the  name  of  the  second 
Sunday  from  Easter,  so  called  from  the  opening  lines  of 
the  mass  read  on  that  day  in  the  Eomish  churches.  In 
the  Greek  Church  the  day  is  frequently  called  St. 
Thomas's  Sunday. 

Mis'gab  (Heb.  itfisgah',  S^bp,  height,  as  often; 
Sept.  'Ajua3'  to  Kparaitofia  v.  r.  MaaiyaB,  and  tu  oxi'- 
pioj-ia  'Mwd(3,\'i\\g./ortis'),  a  town  in  Moab,  situated  on 
the  desolating  track  of  the  invading  Babylonians  (Jer. 
xlviii,  1),  probably  so  called  from  being  located  on  an 
eminence.  De  Saulcy  {Xari-ative,  i,  391)  suggests  a 
connection  with  the  present  Wady  el-MuJtb,  the  ancient 
Arnon ;  but  this  is  merely  fanciful.  The  place  is  doubt- 
less to  be  sought  near  the  associated  localities  of  Kiria- 
thaim  and  Heshbon ;  perhaps  it  is  only  an  appellative 
(as  it  usually  has  the  article)  for  the  older  locality  Ba- 
JIOTH  (q.  v.).  Others  think  it  may  be  the  Mizpeh  of 
Moab  (1  Sam.  xxiii,  3),  or  a  general  name  for  the  high- 
lands of  Moab,  as  in  Isa.  xxv,  12  (without  the  art.  A.  V. 
•'high  fort").     See  Moab. 

Mish'ael  (Heb.  MishaeV,  ^X'w'i'3,  who  is  like  God  ? 
Sept.  IMt(T«);X),  the  name  of  three  men. 

1.  The  eldest  of  the  three  sons  of  Uzziel  (the  son  of 
Kohath  and  grandson  of  Levi),  and  conseipiently  the 
cousin  of  Aaron  (Exod.  vi,  2-2).  He,  with  his  brother 
Elzaphan,  at  the  command  of  Moses,  carried  out  the 
bodies  of  Nadab  and  Abihu  to  burial  (Lev.  x,  4).  B.C. 
lGa7.  They  may  thus  have  been  two  of  those  whose 
defilement  by  a  dead  body  prevented  their  keeping  the 
passover  at  Sinai  on  the  regular  day  (Numb,  ix,  G ;  see 
Blunt,  Coincidences,  ad  loc). 

2.  The  second  named  of  the  three  Hebrew  youths 
(Dan.  i,  6)  trained  along  with  Daniel  at  the  Babylonian 
court  (Dan.  i,  11),  and  promoted  to  the  rank  of  magi 
(Dan.  i,  19).  Having  assisted  Daniel  in  solving  the 
dream  of  Nebuchadnezzar  (Dan.  ii,  17),  they  were  ad- 
vanced to  civil  dignities  (Dan.  iii,  12);  but  were  after- 
wards cast  into  the  blazing  furnace  for  refusing  to  wor- 
ship the  royal  idol ;  and,  being  miraculously  delivered 
from  it,  they  were  still  more  highly  honored  by  the 
king  (Dan.  iii,  13-30).  His  Chaldajan  name  was  Me- 
SHACH  (Dan.  i,  7).     B.C.  cir.  580. 

3.  One  of  those  (apparently  chief  Israelites)  who 
supported  Ezra  on  the  left  hand  wlule  reading  the  law 
to  the  people  after  the  captivity  (Neh.  viii,  4).  B.C. 
410. 

Mi'slial  (Heb.  Mishal',  ^N"J"a,  prob.  entreaty; 
Sept.  M((Ta/\«),  a  city  of  the  tribe  of  Asher  (.Josh,  xix, 
26,  where  it  is  Anglicized  "Misheal"),  assigned  to  tjie 
Levites  of  the  family  of  Gershom  (.Josh,  xxi,  30) ;  else- 
where called  Mashal  (1  Chron.  vi,  74).  It  is  doubtless 
the  Masan  referred  to  by  Eusebius  {Onomast.  s.  v.  Ma- 
(Tfi)')  as  situated  on  the  Mediterranean,  near  Carmcl,  a 
position  with  which  the  text  (Josh,  xix,  26)  agrees  (see 
Keil,  Comment,  ad  loc).  It  is  probably  the  modern  ru- 
ined village  Misalli,  near  the  shore  about  three  miles 
north  of  Athlit  (Van  de  Velde,  Memoir,  p.  335). 

Mi'sham  (Heb.  Misham',  C^'d^,  according  to  Ge- 
senius,  their  cleansing  or  their  beholding;  according  to 
Fiirst,  7nadn€ss;  Sept.  Min-ffctX,  Vulg.  Jlisaam),  one  of 
the  sons  of  Elpaal,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  mentioned  aa 


MISHEAL 


334 


MISIINA 


the  rebuilders  of  Ono,  Lod,  and  their  suburbs  (1  Chron. 

viii,  12).     I5.C.  post  1612. 

Mish'eal  (Josh,  xix,  26).     See  Mishau 
Mish'ma  (Ileb.  Mishma',  'S'Q'^'q,  hearing,  as  in 

Isa.  xi,  3 ;  Sept.  Maajia),  the  name  of  two  men. 

1.  The  fifth  of  the  twelve  sons  of  Ishmael,  and  heads 
of  Arabian  tribes  (Gen.  xxv,  14;  1  Chron.  i,  30).  B.C. 
considerably  post  2061.  The  people  called  by  Ptolemy 
Mcescemanes  (vi,  7, 21,  'Waiaatjiaviit;),  who  were  located 
to  the  north-east  of  Medina,  were  probably  descended 
from  him.  Arabic  writers  mention  the  Beni-Mismuh 
(Frcytaj;,  llamas,  II,  i,  220),  but  nothing  is  known  of 
them  (Knobel,  Genes,  ad  loc).     See  Akaiua. 

2.  The  son  of  Mibsan,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  fa- 
ther of  Hamuol  (1  Chron.  iv,  25, 26).  B.C.  considerably 
ante  1053. 

Mishman'nah  (Heb.  Miskmannak',  t^S^'i'p,/«^ 
mss;  Sept.  Maafniv  v.  r.  Maa^tavci),  the  fourth  of  the 
Gadite  braves  who  repaired  to  David  in  the  wilderness 
of  Adullam  (1  Chron.  xii,  10).     B.C.  cir.  1061. 

Mishna  (Heb.  H3'dl2,  Mlshndh),  the  code  of  Jewish 
laws  arranged  about  the  year  A.D.  200  or  220,  at  Tibe- 
rias, in  Palestine,  by  K.  Jehudah,  surnamed  Hakkadosh 
(q.  v.).  The  title  is  by  some  understood  as  importing 
"second,"  like  nS'^p  in  Gen.  xliii,  23,tlic  rabbinical  code 
being  second  or  next  to  the  Pentateuch ;  it  is  so  inter- 
preted in  tlie  rabbinical  lexicon  Sclndchan  A  j-uqh,  but 
•we  think  it  is  more  likely  derived  from  ilj'd,  to  study, 
also  to  teach,  which  perhaps  at  first  meant  only  "  to  re- 
peat." In  the  Talmud  (q.  v.),  quotations  from  the  Mish- 
na are  introduced  by  the  Aramaic  word  "Dn,  Tenan,  i.  e. 
we  hare  xtudinl;  and  the  book  itself  is  called  "pri'^Jtip, 
Mathidtliiii ;  wliile  the  rabbins  who  lived  before  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Mishna  are  spoken  of  as  "("X|P,  learners, 
or  perhaps  teachers ;  and  their  sayings,  not  found  in  that 
collection,  are  quoted  X"^!",  "  it  was  learned  or  taught." 
The  version  '-learners"  for  Tannaiu  is  not  unnatural,  as 
the  Heb.  official  name  for  Itabbins  is  C'i?2rri  *'7^'r^^i 
disciples  of  the  vdse.  The  sons  of  R.  Jehudah  are  named 
among  the  Tannain,  and  tliey  most  probably  assisted  in 
the  completion  of  the  work  of  the  ^lishna. 

The  sayings  recorded  in  the  Mishna  reach  back  to 
the  times  of  Simon  the  Just,  a  contemporary  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great;  and  it  expounds  also  some  religious 
and  political  usages  introduced  by  Ezra;  but  the  bulk 
of  the  book  is  made  up  of  tlie  decisions  or  opinions  of 
the  rival  schools  of  Hillel  and  Shampiai,  who  arose  at 
the  beginning  of  the  1st  century  of  the  Christian  a>ra, 
and  of  tlie  subsequent  teachers,  who  followed  generally 
the  rulings  of  Hillel's  school,  and  among  whom  Ilillel's 
descendants  were  prominent.  In  a  few  instances  a  case 
(il'O?;'?)  is  stated  to  have  arisen,  and  the  decision  of 
the  Sanhcdriu  (q.  v.)  upon  it,  or  of  some  prominent 
rabbi,  is  given ;  very  often  the  names  of  the  teachers 
who  taught  any  particular  point  are  mentioned,  even 
where  no  disagreement  is  spoken  of;  but  much  oftener 
in  cases  of  disagreement.  Still  oftener,  however,  the 
text  of  the  law  appears  without  any  one  to  propound  it : 
these  parts  of  the  ^Mishna  are  ascribed  to  H.  IMeir,  who 
flourished  about  A.D.  145,  and  it  is  therefore  probable 
that  If.  iSIoir  made  an  older  collection,  of  which  the 
Mishna  as  now  found  is  only  an  enlargement. 

The  authority  for  the  laws  of  the  ^lishna  is  best  ex- 
plained ill  the  tirst  section  of  the  first  chai>ter  of  its  trea- 
tise, r'ZX  (Al)oth,  fathers):  "?.Ioses  received  the  law 
from  Sinai,  and  handed  it  over  to  Joshua,  and  Joshua  to 
the  elders,  and  the  elders  to  the  prophets,  and  the  jiroph- 
ets  to  the  men  of  the  Great  Synod"  (the  companions  and 
followers  of  K/ra  down  to  about  B.C.  300).  The  mean- 
ing hereof  is,  that  jMoses  received  not  only  the  written 
law  from  God,  but  also  certain  rules  for  its  construction 
and  application ;  and  that  even  in  the  most  corrupt  times 


of  Israel's  history  there  were  always  some  pure  and  holy 
men,  who  kept  up  the  study  of  this  tradition,  and  hand- 
ed it  over  unbroken  to  their  successors.  Moreover,  it 
was  inferred  from  Deut.  xvii,  'J  that  the  supreme  judges 
for  the  time  being  might  make  authoritative  decisions  on 
facts  as  they  arose;  and  that  these  decisions  must  serve 
as  precedents  for  the  future,  unless  reversed  by  a  court 
of  '-greater  wisdom  and  greater  number."  The  words 
"priests  and  Levites"  in  that  verse  were  construed  by 
the  Pharisees  merely  to  indicate  the  place  at  which  the 
supreme  judges  must  hold  their  sessions.  The  rides  of 
construction  of  the  Pentateuch  are  stated  as  thirteen, 
among  which  the  foremost  are  "I'^HI  .-J?,  Kalve-chomer, 
a  minori  ad  majus,  and  HTJ  iTiTS,  Gezeruh  sharah,  '•  like 
decision."  The  latter,  however,  rests  generally  on  the 
arbitrary  comparison  of  the  same  word  in  two  wholly  dis- 
connected passages,  and  is  not  allowed  unless  tradition 
itself  sanction  it.  licsides  these  rules  of  construction, 
certain  ceremonies  in  their  full  form  were  also  believed  to 
have  thus  been  handed  down,  while  the  letter  of  the  law 
only  hinted  at  the  manner  of  performing  them.  Thus 
Exod.  xiii,9, 10;  Deut.  vi,  10;  xi,18,  command  the  tying 
of  those  respective  passages  to  the  hand  and  between  the 
eyes  of  the  Israelite;  but  tradition  supiJied  the  manner 
of  doing  it,  that  is,  the  construction  of  the  phylacteries. 
The  second  section  of  the  above-quoted  chapter  pro- 
ceeds :  "  They  (the  men  of  the  great  synod)  said  three 
things:  .  .  .  make  a  fence  to  the  law."  That  is,  put 
around  the  law  a  wall  of  restrictions  and  injunctions, 
which  the  Israelite  Avill  have  to  break  through  before 
he  feels  tempted  to  break  the  law  itself.  This  was,  in 
fact,  done  to  a  great  extent  by  the  teachers  whose  say- 
ings are  recorded  in  the  Mishna.  Many  of  their  so-called 
m"Ta  (decisions) — a  name  given  to  the  extra-^Iosaic 
laws— refer  to  a  stricter  observance  of  the  Sabbath, 
and  these  are  comprehended  under  the  name  of  riS'^, 
which  decisions  Seldcn  renders  Sabbathismii.i ;  forbid- 
ding, for  instance,  the  handling  on  the  Sabbath  of  any- 
thing that  has  been  unlawfully  made  on  that  day;  the 
causing  a  Gentile  (unless  in  case  of  necessity)  to  work 
on  the  Sabbath  for  the  Israelite ;  to  play  musical  in- 
struments on  that  day,  etc.  Others  refer  to  Levitical 
cleanness;  among  these  are  numberless  rules  about  the 
washing  of  hancts,  of  cups,  etc.,  at  the  ordinary  meals, 
in  imitation  of  the  rules  which  the  Aaronitic  ])riesthood 
had  to  observe  at  their  sacrificial  meals.  It  was  princi- 
pally by  these  observances  that  the  followers  of  the  rab- 
bins, whom  Christian  writers  generally  denote  as  the 
Pharisaic  sect,  but  who  called  themselves  D^"i3n  (com- 
panions), distinguished  themselves  not  only  from  the 
Sadducees  (q.  v.),  but  also  from  the  inditVerent  mass, 
who  are  known  in  the  Mishna  as  ""I'Xn  ^?  (people  of 
the  land),  and  are  often  spolvcn  of  with  a  great  deal  of 
bitterness. 

The  writers  of  the  ^lishna  never  seek  to  make  their 
readers  believe  that  a  rabbinical  ordinance,  which  is  in- 
tended only  as  a  part  of  the  fence  around  the  law.  is 
of  divine  origin;  but  where  doubt  can  arise  about  the 
meaning,  they  expressly  show  what  is  intended  for  a 
construction  of  the  law,  and  what  is  their  own  addition, 
often  by  the  words  111:5  (free;  that  is,  not  liable  to 
striiies  for  a  wilful  offence,  or  to  a  sin-offering  for  of- 
fence through  ignorance  or  forget  fulness);  yet  IICX 
(forbidden).  In  the  very  first  section  of  the  first  chap- 
ter of  the  Mishna — where  the  question  arises  how  late 
at  night  the  passages  Deut.  vi,  5-10;  xi,  13-21.  may 
be  reatl  in  fidlilment  of  the  command  to  speak  of  Iliem 
"when  thou  liest  down,"  we  find  :  "  The  learned  (Z"":=n 
— as  opposed  to  any  one  rabbi  by  name)  say  until  mid- 
night ;  and  rabbi  ( Jamaliel  said  until  the  morning  dawn ; 
in  fact,  when  his  sons  came  home  from  a  feast,  and  told 
him  AVe  have  not  read  the  Shemfi  (Hear,  ()  Israel^  he 
told  them,  As  the  morning  has  not  dawned,  you  should 
read  it ;  not  this  onlv.  but  wherever  the  wise  have  said 


MISHNA 


335 


MISimA 


until  midnight, the  command  reaches  to  dawn,  etc.;  and 
whv  have  they  said  till  midnight?  in  order  to  keep 
man  from  transgression." 

The  style  of  the  jNIishna  is,  with  very  few  exceptions, 
dry  and  crowded,  with  not  a  word  to  spare ;  and  the 
book  is  written  for  men  who  already  know  the  great 
principles  of  wliich  they  only  seek  the  details.  Histor- 
ical or  legendary  notices  are  rare ;  and  the  few  dogmatic 
passages— for  instance,  the  chapter  about  a  future  life- 
run  in  the  same  style  as  if  they  were  given  for  the  guid- 
ance of  an  ordinary  court  of  justice;  the  chapter.  Who 
has  no  share  in  the  world  to  come?  follows  naturally 
upon  the  chapters.  Who  are  to  be  hanged  ?  W^ho  are  to 
be  stoned  ?    A  few  instances  will  be  given  below. 

The  language  of  the  Mishna  is  in  the  main  not  Ara- 
maic, but  Hebrew ;  stripped,  however,  of  all  that  is  idio- 
matic about  Hebrew,  such  as  the  use  of  the  conversive 
vav,  and  filled  with  many  Aramaic  forms,  such  as  the 
masculine  plurals  in  ","1  for  the  truly  Hebrew  D"^.  That 
the  people  of  Palestine  generally  spoke  pure  Aramaic  as 
early  as  the  days  of  Christ,  and  even  long  before,  is  well 
enough  known  from  other  sources ;  but  the  Mishna  attests 
it  by  quoting  terse  sayings  in  that  language,  e.  g.  C^S3 
J<"i;iX  N"i":^ — "like  the  toil  is  the  reward."  A  very 
large  number  of  Greek  words  are  also  found :  thus 
G"'3::DN  (cicrSti'/yf)  is  always  put  for  "sickly;"  W^'jdb 
(Xijarai)  for  "  robbers."  Latin  words  also  occur,  but  not 
so  frequently,  and  generally  in  a  somewhat  corrupt  form, 
while  the  Greek  words  are  rendered  about  as  exactly  as 
the  Hebrew  alphabet  will  allow.  (Comp.  Bondi,  "liX 
"iPpX,  Beleuchtung  der  in  Talmud,  v.  Babylon  u.  Jeru- 
salem, in  d.  Targumim  u.  2Iidraschim  vorTcommenden 
fremden,  hesonders  lateinischen  Worter  [Dessau,  1812, 
8vo]  ;  Hartmann,  Supplementa  [Rost.  1813,  4to]  ;  espe- 
ciallv  his  Thesaurus  linguce  Hehraicm  e  Mishna  augendm 
[o  pts.  18-25-26,  4to]). 

We  proceed  to  give  an  analysis  of  the  Mishna,  keep- 
ing strictly  to  it,  and  leaving  out  of  view  anything  that 
may  be  taught  by  the  Tannain,  but  which  is  regarded 
as  KPi'^^a,  Baraijtha,  i.  e.  "outside,"  although  known 
to  be  sayings  of  these  teachers,  because  they  are  not  col- 
lected in  the  Mishna,  and  simply  occur  either  in  quota- 
tions in  the  Talmud  or  elsewhere. 

The  Mishna  is  divided  into  six  parts  (D'^'IIO,  Seda- 
7-i»i, arrangements),  which  contain  62  treatises  (ni:&'D, 
Massakotli),  and  514  chapters  (Zij?'n3,  Peruldni).  The 
latter,  again,  are  divided  into  numbered  sections,  each 
of  which  is  called  a  Mishna.  The  great  parts  and  the 
treatises  are  named  after  their  contents,  the  chapters 
after  their  opening  words.  (The  figures  set  after  each 
treatise  show  its  number  of  chapters.) 

i.  The  first  part — 3"^:^ 'IT,  Zerd'im,  seeds — contains  elev- 
en treatises.  The  first  of  these — m:"i3,  Berakoth,  ben- 
edictions (9) — treats  of  the  reading  of  the  Shema  (see 
above),  daily  prayers,  and  grace  before  and  after  meals, 
the  purgations  to  be  made  as  a  preparation  for  prayer,  and 
like  subjects.  The  ten  other  treatises  refer  to  the  laws  of 
the  field  and  of  its  produce :  ilN3,  Peak,  corner  (8),  treats 
of  the  field  corners,  gleanings,  etc.,  to  be  left  to  the  poor ; 
'^N'^'l,  Demai,  doubtful  (7),  of  corn  or  fruits  coming  from 
the  indifferent,  who  might  have  failed  to  tithe  it;  CiX^S, 
Kilii//im,  mixtures  (9),  of  the  prohibited  mingling  of 
fruit  and  grain  crops  on  the  same  field  or  vineyard,  and 
incidentally  of  the  forbidden  mixture  of  wool  and  flax 
in  garments  (Lev.  xix,  19) ;  ni"i3d,  SkebVith,  seventh 
(10),  of  the  Sabbatic  year;  ni^np,  Terumoth,  tributes 
(11),  of  the  tributes  from  the  crop',  which  were  due  to 
the  Aaronitic  priests,  including  the  tithe  of  tithe  due 
them  from  the  Levites;  mi^S'Tg,  Ma\iseroth,  tithes 
(5),  of  the  tithes  due  to  the  Levites;  "^id  "it3".p, 
Ma'aser  Sheni,  second  tithe  (5),  of  the  tithe  which  was 


eaten  or  otherwise  spent  in  the  joy  of  the  yearly  feasts, 
hut  which  in  the  third  year  was  given  to  the  poor; 
fliitl,  Challah,  dough  (4),  refers  to  the  tribute  from  the 
baking-trough,  which  was  given  to  the  priests;  '^^"'^", 
'Orlah,  literally  foreskin  (3),  of  the  forbidden  fruits  of 
the  trees  in  Palestine  during  the  first  three  years  of 
their  growth  (Lev.  xix,  23) ;  Si"i!l33,  Bikkurim,  first- 
fruits  (4),  treats  in  its  first  three  chapters  of  the  first- 
fruits  which  were  to  be  brought  to  the  tabernacle  and 
given  to  the  priests  (Deut.  xxvi,  5),  while  the  fourth 
chapter  is  only  added  to  it  to  bring  it  to  the  close  of  one 
of  the  six  great  parts,  and  is  called  ' kvSpoyvvoc,  undro- 
gynos,  spelled  in  Hebrew  OlS'^STmSN,  the  man-woman, 
and  contains  a  few  laws  as  to  persons  of  doubtful  sex. 

ii.  The  next  great  division,  13;i'3,  Mo'ed,  season,  con- 
tains twelve  treatises.  The  first,  T-lt'iJ,  Sabbath  (24), 
treats  of  the  duties  of  that  day ;  remarkable  for  the 
enumeration  of  thirty-nine  different  kinds  of  work,  by 
each  of  ^vhich,  separately,  the  guilt  of  Sabbath-breaking 
may  be  incurred.  Of  each  kind  a  type  is  given,  to 
which  many  other  actions  may  be  compared  as  falling 
within  the  same  reason.  A  very  great  proportion  of 
the  treatise  is  taken  up  with  the  laws  of  mere  "  Sabba- 
thismus"  (see  above).  The  next  treatise,  "p3*l"i>,  'Eru- 
bin,  mingling  (10),  deals  with  those  ceremonies  by 
which  the  Sabbath  boundary  was  extended,  "  mingling" 
a  whole  town  into  one  fictitious  yard,  so  that  carrying 
within  it  should  not  be  unlawful ;  or  how  the  Sab- 
bath boundary  of  a  town,  within  which  one  might  walk 
on  the  Sabbath-day,  can  be  extended.  Then  comes 
DTIOQ,  Fesachim  (10),  which  relates  to  the  Passover, 
and  all  things  connected  with  its  celebration;  n^P|^D, 
Shekalim,  shekel -pieces  (8),  about  various  tributes, 
going  to  the  Temple,  and  various  rites  in  it,  at  differ- 
ent seasons  of  the  year;  i*^!"^,  Yonia,  the  day  (8),  on  the 
service  of  the  day  of  Atonement;  SlS^O,  Sukka/i,  hut 
(5),  about  the  hut  and  festival  bunch  of  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles,  and  the  rules  about  reading  the  Psalms  of 
Praise  (cxiii-cxviii)  on  that  and  other  feasts;  Ti^'^^.Bet- 
sah,  egg  (5),  so  called  from  its  first  word.  An  egg  laid  on 
a  feast-day,  the  school  of  Shammai  says,  ma\'  be  eaten  ; 
the  school  of  Hillel  says,  may  not  be  eaten  (i.  e.  on  the 
same  day) — this  being  one  of  the  very  few  cases  in 
which  the  latter  school  is  stricter  than  the  other.  It  is 
not  pretended  that  "guilt"  under  the  law  is  incurred  by 
eating  fresh-laid  eggs  on  holidays.  The  treatise  deals 
mostly  with  what  may  or  may  not  be  done  on  the  great 
holidays  in  the  preparation  of  food,  actions  which  on 
the  Sabbath  would  be  clearly  unlawful.  Next,  dxi 
tlDli-'il,  Eosh  ITash-shanah,  New-year  (4),  gives  the  laws 
of  the  feast  which  goes  by  that  name  among  the  later 
Jews,  but  which  in  the  Bible  (Lev.  xxiii,  24)  is  called 
the  first  of  the  seventh  month ;  it  also  teaches  \\o\s  to 
fix  the  days  of  new  moon.  The  treatise  n'i3"Pl,  Ta'an- 
ith,  fast  (4),  refers  principally  to  the  praj'ers  for  rain, 
and  to  the  fasts,  private  anil  public,  that  were  kept  in 
years  of  drouth ;  flijp,  Megillah,  the  scroll  (4),  refers 
to  the  feast  of  Purim,  the  reading  of  (the  scroll  of)  the 
Book  of  Esther,  then  of  the  reading  of  the  Pentateuch 
and  Prophet  lessons,  and  denounces  as  heretical  certain 
variations  in  the  liturgy  and  certain  sf)iritual  modes  of 
construing  passages  of  the  law  ;  for  instance,  "  He  who 
takes  the  law  of  incest  figuratively  should  be  silenced;" 
that  is,  he  who  extends  it  to  the  disgracing  his  father 
or  mother.  This  passage  is  evidently  directed  against 
the  earh'  Christians,  and  their  modes  of  teaching.  The 
treatise  "pp  l^lb,  Mo'ed  Katan,  small  holiday  (3), 
treats  mainly  of  the  mourning  rites;  these  being  forbid- 
den on  all  feasts,  even  on  the  half-holidays  between  the 
first  and  last  day  of  Passover  and  of  the  Feast  of  Huts ; 
while  the  last  treatise,  !i;"i5ri,  Chagigah,  feasting  (3), 
speaks  of  the  voluntarj"-  sacrifice — other  than  the  Pas- 


MISHNA 


336 


MISHNA 


chal  lamb— offered  by  the  individual  Jews  on  the  great 
feasts. 

iii.  The  third  part  of  the  Mishna  is  called  £"^'^3,  -Vw- 
s)iim.  women,  and  embraces  seven  treatises.  The  first  of 
these,  rin';',  Yebamoth,  Levirate  (16),  discusses  the  law 
found  in  Ueut.  xxv,  5-9.  Its  first  section  may  give  a 
good  idea  of  the  maimer  of  the  Mishna:  "Fifteen  women 
free  their  rival  wives  and  their  rival's  rivals  from  the 
'  shoe-i)ulling'  (Dent,  xxv,  9)  and  brother's  marriage  to 
the  world's  end:  his  daughter  (the  dead  brother's  wife 
being  tlic  dangliter  of  a  surviving  brother),  son's  daugh- 
ter or  dau<;htcr"s  daughter;  his  wife's  daughter,  wife's 
son's  daugiiter,  or  wife's  daughter's  daughter;  his  moth- 
er-in-law, mother-in-law's  mother,  father-in-law's  moth- 
er; his  sister  on  the  mother's  side,  mother's  sister  or 
wife's  sister,  and  the  wife  of  his  brother  by  the  mother's 
side,  and  the  wife  of  his  brother,  who  was  not  alive  at 
the  same  time  with  him,  and  his  daughter-in-law;  all 
these  free  their  rival  wives,"  etc.  (that  they  are  free 
themselves  is  taken  for  granted).  The  treatise  ni-"r2, 
Kethuhoth  (13),  discusses  the  prescribed  marriage  con- 
tracts and  marital  rights  in  general,  and  shows  a  much 
higher  regard  for  the  rights  of  wives  and  daughters 
than  most,  if  not  all,  ancient  codes  of  law ;  C'^'^'l?,  Ntdu- 
rim  (11),  treats  of  vows,  and  contains  some  of  that  harsh 
casuistry  which  meets  with  rebuke  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment; "1''T3,  Nazir,  the  crowned  (9),  of  the  special 
vow  of  the  Nazarite  (Numb,  vi,  2)  ;  HalD,  Sotah,  the 
erring  woman  (9),  of  the  ordeal  for  wives  suspected  of 
faithlessness  (Numb.  ch.  v).  The  last  chapter  of  this 
treatise  relates  the  gradual  decay  and  downfall  of  nation- 
al and  religious  life  in  Israel  from  the  times  of  the  early 
Maccabees;  it  foretells  the  signs  of  the  approaching 
Messiah,  and  winds  up  with  setting  forth  the  qualities 
that  lead  upwards  to  eternal  life.  The  next  treatise, 
"pKS,  Giltin,  divorce-bills  (9),  is  set  apart  to  the  law  of 
divorce  ;  and  'p'.r^l'^p,  Kidduskin,  betrothals  (i),  the 
last  of  this  great  division,  to  the  laws  of  the  marriage 
ceremony.  But  a  great  part  of  it  is  taken  up  with 
counsels  as  to  the  trade  or  profession  in  which  an  Israel- 
ite should  bring  up  his  son ;  and  many  occupations  are 
named  which  inimarried  men  should  not  follow,  on  ac- 
count of  the  great  facilities  they  offer  for  unchaste  prac- 
tices. 

iv.  The  fourth  grand  division  is  styled  'pp''T3,  Nczi- 
kin,  injuries,  and  most  of  the  ten  treatises  contained  in 
it  deal  with  the  principles  and  the  practice  of  civil  and 
criminal  law.  The  first  three  treatises,  each  of  ten 
chapters,  arc  called  by  Aramaic  names — S^^i?  ^??) 
£ciba  Kamma,  the  first  gate,  i.e.  court;  ^^''''^'C  5*33, 
Baba  Metsi'a,  the  middle  gate;  Jf^rS  X23,  Baba 
Bathra,  last  gate — and  discuss  the  laws  between  man 
and  man  in  matters  of  property,  that  are  deducible  from 
the  Pentateuch,  or  had  been  suggested  by  experience. 
In  the  "first  gate"  the  law  of  bailment  is  taught,  without 
being  involved  in  the  obscurities  of  the  degrees  of  negli- 
gence which  the  K(jman  lawyers  have  thrown  around  it ; 
the  only  princii)le  recognised  is,  What  was  the  intent  of 
the  bailor  when  he  made  the  h)an,  or  pledge,  or  deposit 
of  his  goods?  against  what  dangers  did  he  intend  to 
secure  them';"  wliat  risks  did  he  intend  to  take"?  The 
text  in  Exod.  xxii,  6-14  shows  that  even  a  depositary 
without  hire  is  liable  for  theft,  though  not  for  forcible 
robbery ;  for  that  the  goods  should  not  be  stolen  was  tlie 
very  object  of  tlie  deposit.  The  same  general  doctrine 
prevailed  in  the  English  law,  till  lord  Unit,  chief  justice 
during  the  reign  of  queen  Anne,  disturbed  it  l)y  views 
imported  from  Itomau  jurisprudence.  The  measure  of 
damages  for  assault  and  bodily  injuries  is  also  given, 
and  the  "  eye  for  eye"  of  the  sacred  text  is  construed  as 
meaning  only  damages  in  money  for  the  lasting  injurj'; 
while  an  additional  allowance  must  be  made  for  loss  of 
time,  cost  of  cure  (Exod.  xxi,  19),  pain  and  disgrace — this 


last  element  of  damages  being  derived  from  the  "cutting 
off  the  hand"  in  Deut.  xxv,  21 ,  which  is  taken  figuratively 
only.  The  fourth  treatise  is  named  T^';'7~ID,  Sunhedrin 
(i.  e.  "S-vvicpia),  courts  of  justice  (11).  The  first  two 
chapters  set  forth  the  constitution  of  tiie  Jewish  com- 
monwealth, rather  as  the  Pharisaic  party  would  have 
wished  to  see  it,  than  as  it  ever  was,  with  all  the  great 
powers,  political  and  judicial,  in  the  hands  of  the  su- 
preme court  of  seventy-one  learned  judges;  and  both 
the  high-priest  and  king  as  figure-heads.  Of  the  latter 
it  is  said,  "The  king  does  not  judge,  and  none  judges 
him;  does  not  testify,  and  none  testifies  concerning 
him."  The  practice  in  criminal  cases  is  minutelv  set 
forth ;  while  cases  of  bailments  or  trespasses,  arising 
under  the  peculiar  Mosaic  law,  were  to  be  tried  by  three 
judges,  and  ordinary- commercial  cases  even  by  a  single 
judge;  criminal  charges  must  be  tried  before  courts 
composed  of  twenty-three  members.  The  forms  were 
analogous  to  those  f)f  England  and  America — that  is, 
based  on  the  idea  of  accusation  and  defence,  not  of  in- 
quirj'  and  confession.  No  person  once  acquitted  could 
be  retried,  but  all  facilities  were  given,  to  the  last  mo- 
ment, to  estabUsh  the  innocence  of  the  convicted,  either 
on  points  of  law  or  fact.  The  modes  of  capital  execu- 
tion are  also  given — stoning  and  burning  in  such  a  way 
as  to  cause  instant  death.  Among  the  chapters  which 
begin,  "The  following  are  stoned,"  "The  following  are 
hung,"  we  find  also  one  which  begins  thus,  "  The  follow- 
ing have  no  share  in  the  world  to  come :  he  who  says, 
The  resurrection  is  not  found  in  the  law,  or  the  law  is 
not  from  heaven,  and  the  Epicurean  (materialist)." 
The  next  treatise,  ri2"2,  Makkolh,  stripes  (3),  treats 
of  the  punishment  of  false  witnesses,  and  of  crimes  pun- 
ishable by  stripes;  then  comes  PIS'^S'iT,  SlubiCoth, 
oaths  (S),  about  the  decisive  oath  in  civil  causes; 
there  was  no  other  oath,  as  witnesses  always  testified 
without  oath  under  sanction  of  tlie  commandment  not 
to  bear  false  witness.  The  admission  and  forms  of 
testimony  are  then  discussed  in  ri'^'iS",  'Kdayoth,  tes- 
timonies (8).  Then  comes  iT^T  iTTi~",  ^Ahodiih  Za- 
rah,  idolatry  (5),  showing  what  manner  of  intercourse 
with  idolaters  and  what  things  connected  with  idolatry 
are  forbidden  to  the  Israelite ;  for  instance,  the  use  of 
wine  handled  by  a  (Jentile ;  for  he  might  have  made  an 
idolatrous  libation  of  it.  The  next  treatise,  T'Z^.Abof/i, 
fathers  (5),  contains  the  collected  wisdom  of  the  "fa- 
thers," which  name  here,  but  nowhere  else,  is  bestowed 
upon  the  sages  of  the  jNIishna.  The  whole  of  it,  with  a 
good  English  translation,  can  be  found  in  the  common 
(orthodox)  Jewish  prayer-book  [see  LrrinGv],  where 
a  sixth  chapter  of  somewhat  later  origin  is  added.  The 
treatise  o])cns,  as  above  stated,  by  bringing  the  tradition 
down  from  IMoses  to  the  Great  Synod ;  it  then  carries  it 
from  (1)  Simon  the  Just,  one  of  its  last  survivors,  to  (2) 
Antigonus  of  Socho,  who  taught  to  despise  reward,  and 
is  said  to  have  given  rise  to  the  Sadducsean  heresy;  (3) 
Jose  of  Zercdah  and  Jose  of  Jerusalem  ;  (^4)  Joshua,  son 
of  Perahiah,  whom  later  legends,  by  an  anachronism, 
describe  as  the  teacher  of  Jesus,  and  Nittai  the  Arbe- 
lite;  (.'))  Jehudah.  son  of  Tabbai.  and  Simeon  beii-She- 
tah,  the  reformer  of  the  criminal  and  civil  law,  and  de- 
fender of  religion  and  liberty  against  the  tyranny  of 
king  Janna?us;  (6)  Shemaiah  and  Alitalyon,  said  to  be 
of  convert  descent;  (7~)  Ilillcl  and  Sliammai,  the  found- 
ers of  the  great  rival  schools;  (8)  Johanan,  or  John,  the 
son  of  Zaccai:  (9)  (iamaliel.  known  as  the  teacher  of 
Paul,  and  seemingly  a  son  or  grands-on  <if  Ilillcl;  (10) 
Simeon,  his  son  ;  ( 1 1)  (iamaliel.  the  >oii  of  Simeon  ;  ( 12) 
Jehudah  Hakkadosh.  the  compiler  of  the  Jlishiia.  Tlic 
"couples"  in  this  chain  are  geiiemlly  thought  to  r(>ii>iLa 
of  the  president  and  vice-president  of  the  Sanhedrin 
for  the  time  being,  calUd  respectively  X'^rj  diriiice) 
and  ■•^'7  r"!?  3N;  (father  of  the  court\  The  treatise 
contains  the  favorite  moral  and  dogmatic  sayings  of 


MISHNA 


33Y 


MISHNA 


these  and  other  rabbins.  IMany  of  them  are  merely  prac- 
tical rules  of  life;  some  address  themselves  to  judges; 
but  more  of  them  exhort  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and 
still  more  to  good  works.  The  future  world  is  much 
referred  to ;  and  one  rabbi  Jacob  (ch.  iv,  §  21)  says,  in 
the  spirit  of  the  early  Christians,  "  This  world  is  the 
anteroom  to  the  coming  world;  prepare  in  the  ante- 
room, that  thou  mayest  enter  the  banqueting-hall"  Qri- 
cUniuni).  But  the  study  of  the  law  antl  good  works 
(ni^JO,  Mitzvoth.  commandments),  and  not  faith,  is  rec- 
ommended as  the  road  to  future  happiness.  Elsewhere 
unbelief  is  denounced  as  forfeiting  the  world  to  come ; 
but  it  seems  that  in  the  present  treatise  this  tenet  was 
not  insisted  on.  A  very  remarkable  point  is  the  endeavor 
(ch.  V,  §  9)  to  reconcile  the  philosophic  view  of  unchange- 
able laws  of  nature  with  the  Biblical  account  of  miracles : 
"  Ten  things  were  created  in  the  twilight  of  the  eve  of 
Sabbath  (of  creation  week)— that  is,  the  mouth  of  the 
earth  (which  swallowed  Korah),  the  mouth  of  the  well 
(in  the  wilderness),  the  mouth  of  Balaam's  ass,  the  rain- 
bow, the  manna,  the  rod  (of  Moses),  the  diamond  worm 
(said  to  have  cut  the  stones  for  the  Temple),  the  alpha- 
bet, the  writing  (on  the  tables),  and  the  tables."  The 
last  treatise  of  this  part  is  ni"'"n'il,  Horayoth  (3),  con- 
cerning forms  of  trial. 

v.  The  fifth  grand  division,  with  its  eleven  treatises, 
relates  mostly  to  sacrifices,  and  was  obsolete  when  the 
Mishna  was  composed.  The  very  full  treatment  given 
to  this  subject  shows  how  strong  were  the  hopes  of  a 
speedy  restoration.  We  have  here  D'^lllT,  Zebachim, 
slaughtered  offerings  (14)  ;  ninjp,  Mmuchoth,  offerings 
made  of  flour  (13),  whose  subject  is  indicated  by  their 
title,  though  somewhat  more  is  comprised  in  them.  But 
the  next  treatise,  'p^in,  Ckolin,  unsanctified  things 
(12),  treats  of  the  food  allowed  or  disallowed  to  the 
Jew  ;  especially  of  the  mode  of  slaughtering  beasts  and 
fowls,  and  of  the  marks  of  disease,  which  render  the 
eating  of  their  flesh  unlawful.  We  have  then  tlilinS, 
Be/-oro//(,  (sacrifices  of)  first-born  animals  (9);  ')'i2^j^j 
'Erakin,  estimates  (9),  i.  e.  for  redeeming  consecrated 
men  or  beasts  in  money,  according  to  the  standard  laid 
down  in  Leviticus  (ch.  v  and  xxvii) ;  il*1!!?2Pl,  Temura/i, 
exchange  (7),  referring  to  the  exchange  of  tithe  beasts ; 
riiri'^'13,  Kerithoth,  excisions  (6),  which  teaches  what 
sins  are  threatened  with  the  punishment,  "That  soul 
shall  be  cut  off  from  its  people."  This  treatise  is  put  in 
this  connection  because  most  of  the  sacrifices  dealt  with 
in  this  division  are  penances  for  sin.  It  is  followed  by 
TO^'S'O,  Me'ilah,  (the  sacrifice  for)  embezzlement  (6), 
see  Lev.  v,  15;  and  T^T^ri,  Tamid,  daily  sacrifice  (7), 
•whose  titles  express  their  main  subjects.  The  latter 
closes  with  the  list  of  the  psalms  that  were  sung  by  the 
Levites  in  the  Temple  on  the  seven  days  of  the  week : 
Sunday,  Psa.  xxiv ;  iMonday,  Psa.  xlviii ;  Tuesday,  Psa. 
Ixxxii;  Wednesday,  Psa.  xciv;  Thursday,  Psa.  Ixxxi; 
Friday,  Psa.  xciii;  on  the  Sabbath,  of  course,  Psa.  xcii. 
The  next  treatise,  ni'^^,  Middoth,  measures  (5),  gives 
an  exact  description  of  the  Herodian  temple,  and  of  all 
its  appointments.  The  division  closes  with  the  rather 
mystical  treatise,  Q'^ip,  Kinnim,  nests  (3),  which  dis- 
cusses the  law  on  birds'  nests  (Dent,  xxii,  6). 

vi.  The  last  grand  division,  HilillO,  Tohoroth,  clean- 
ness, is  the  largest  of  all,  though  it  was  also  in  most  of 
its  parts  useless  when  the  JNIishna  was  written :  as  the 
right  to  enter  the  Temple  or  to  eat  of  sanctified  food 
(respectively  to  be  eaten  as  sanctified  food)  are  the 
main  tests  of  technical  cleanness.  We  find  here  twelve 
treatises:  G^bs,  Kelim,  vessels  (30);  nibns,  Ohaloth, 
tents  (18),  the  latter  of  which  treats  of  the  communica- 
tion to  a  house  and  to  its  contents  of  uncleanness  by  the 
presence  of  a  dead  body  in  it.  This  remained  of  inter- 
est to  the  Aaronitish  priests,  who  must  not  defile  them- 
selves with  a  dead  body  other  than  of  their  next  blood 
'  VI.— Y 


relations;  which  law  is  supposed  to  remain  in  force 
notwithstanding  the  disuse  of  sacrifices.  Then  comes 
n'lySS,  Negd'im,  plagues  (14),  about  leprosy;  "T^S,  P(i- 
rah,  the  cow  (12),  the  ashes  of  which  were  used  to 
purge  the  defilement  by  the  touch  of  the  dead  (Numb. 
xix,  2);  niinii,  Tohoroth,  here  in  the  sense  of  purifi- 
cation (10);  n'lXIpp,  J/iiTco^A,  bathing-cisterns  (10), 
which  retain  an  interest  beyond  the  Holy  Land,  and  be- 
yond the  times  of  the  Temple,  in  connection  with  the 
next  treatise;  iTn3,  Niddah,  the  separated,  i.  e.  the 
menstruating  woman  (10).  Then  we  have  "pT'^'I-'^'D, 
MaJcshirin,  what  renders  fit  (to  receive  uncleanness) 
(6);  CiaT,  Zuhim,  spermatorrhcea  (5);  Dl'i  ^13::, 
Tibhul  Yom,  dipping  of  the  (same)  day  (4),  the  ablution 
of  vessels  in  cisterns,  which,  as  a  shado^v  of  Levitical 
cleanness,  was  kept  up  in  post-templic  times;  C'!''!^, 
Yadayim,  hands  (4),  which  refers  to  the  washing  of 
hands,  an  avowedly  rabbinic  institution.  The  last  trea- 
tise of  the  whole  collection  is  "plfi^!!",  '  Uhatsin,  fruit- 
stems  (3),  with  some  unimportant  laws  about  Levitical 
cleanness;  among  others,  those  that  relate  to  fruit- 
stems.  At  the  end  is  placed  a  reflection  on  the  blessing 
of  peace,  so  that  the  book  may  close  with  the  favorite 
verse  (Psa.  xxix,  11),  "The  Lord  give  strength  to  his 
people ;  the  Lord  bless  his  people  with  peace." 

The  principal  commentaries  on  the  Mishna  are,  of 
course,  the  Talmuds— Jerusalem  and  Babylonian :  the 
former  covers  the  whole  work,  while  the  latter  omits 
much  of  the  obsolete  parts.  But  the  Mishna,  or  by  the 
more  appropriate  phrase  ni'^2":;?2,  in  the  plural  (setting 
aside  the  singular  form  for  the  single  section),  is  found 
published,  without  either  Talmud,  in  six  volumes,  each 
of  which  contains  one  of  the  great  divisions.  It  is  gen- 
erally accompanied  by  two  running  commentaries,  both 
of  which  take  most  of  their  matter  from  the  Talmud; 
the  first  of  these,  by  K.  Obadiah,  of  Bartenora,  is  ex- 
planatory; the  other,  called  the  Tosephoth  (i.  e.  addi- 
tions), of  R.  Yom  Tob,  of  Prague,  raises  and  solves  dif- 
ficulties and  seeming  contradictions,  and  was  written 
towards  the  beginning  of  the  Thirty- Years'  War.  Mai- 
monides  wrote  a  much  more  valuable  commentary  on 
the  Mishna  in  1168;  but  being  written  in  Arabic,  and 
but  partially  rendered  into  the  rabbinical  Hebrew,  it  is 
seldom  used  or  seen.  The  Hebrew  abridgment,  entitled 
il"i"ir,  niC^,  or  ^"  In  1S&,  i.  e.  the  book  of  fourteen 
(books),  and  divided  into  four  parts,  was  published  at 
Soncino  (1490, 2  vols,  fol.)  :  republished  at  Venice  (1524, 
3  vols,  fol.)  and  at  Amsterdam  (1701,  4  vols.  fol.).  Se- 
lections from  it  were  made  in  English  by  Bernard,  enti- 
tled The  Main  Pi-inciples  of  the  Creed  and  Ethics  of  the 
Jews,  exhibited  in  Selections  from  the  Yad  Hachazakah 
of  Maimonides,  with  a  literal  English  Translation,  copi- 
ous Illustrations  from  the  Talmud,  etc.  (Camb.  1832, 
8vo)  ;  and  an  entire  version  into  English  made  by  sev- 
eral writers,  under  the  editorship  of  E.  Soloweyezik,  was 
begun  at  London  (1863,  8vo).  Various  commentaries 
in  the  rabbinical  language,  of  no  great  merit,  written 
during  the  17th  and  18th  centuries,  are  printed  in  the 
ordinary  editions  of  the  Mishna,  which  are  quite  cheap. 
To  the  Persian  Jews  the  IMishna  is  the  only  standard,  as 
the  Talrauds  are  almost  unknown  among  them.  (L.  N.  D.) 

Editions  of  the  Mishna. — The  principal  editions  of 
the  Mishna  are  bv  (1)  Menasse  ben-Israel,  with  short 
glosses  (Amsterd.  1 631) ;  (2)  Jose  ben-Israel  fibid.  1646) ; 
(3)  Israel  ben-Elijah  Gfitz,  with  Cabalistic  Book  Jetsira 
(Venice,  1704,  8vo) ;  (4)  with  the  commentary  of  Mai- 
monides  (Naples,  1492,  fol.) ;  (5)  do.,  Mishnaioth  in  Pe- 
rush  Rambam  (Venice,  1606,  fol.) ;  (6)  and  by  far  the 
best  and  favorite  edition,  by  Prof.  Surenhusius  of  Am- 
sterdam, which  is  furnished  not  only  with  the  commen- 
taries, but  also  with  a  Latin  translation.  It  is  entitled, 
Mischna,  sire  iotius  Hebrmorum  Juris,  Riluum,  Antiqui- 
tatum,  et  Lepnm  oralium  Systema,  cum  clarissimorum 
Rabbinorum  Maimouidis  et  IJartenorae  Commentariis  in- 


MISHNA 


338 


MISHOR 


tegris,  quihus  accedunt  variorum  A  uctorum  N'otce  et  Ver- 
sionis  in  eos  quos  ediderunt  Codices  (Amst.  1668-1703, 
6  vols.  fol.).  The  several  treatises  of  the  Mishna  have 
also  been  translated  into  Latin  by  different  authors,  the 
principal  of  whom  are : 

Order.  Trealiae.  Translator.  Puilieation. 

I.  Berakoth Edzard Hamb.  1713,  4tO. 

Peah Guisius Oxf.  1690,  4to. 

Demai "      " 

Kilaim "      

Shebiith "      " 

Terumoth "      " 

Maaseroth "      " 

Maaser  Sheni . . .  Surenhusiiis. 

Challah 

Oilah Ludwig Leipsic,  1G05. 

Bikkiirim "      "       lO'JO. 

II.  Sabbath Schtnid  &  Wotton  .       "        IGTO. 

Erubin "  " 

Pesachim Surenhusius. 

Shekalim Otho Geneva,  1CT5. 

Yonia Sheringham London,  164S. 

Sukkah Dachs Cologue,  IT'iC. 

Betsah Surenhusius. 

Rosh-hashanah  .  Routing Ainsterd.  1G95. 

Taanith Luudy Cologue,  1694. 

Megillah Surenhusius. 

Moed  Katan " 

Chagigah Ludwig Leipsic,  1700. 

III.  Yebamoth Surenhusius. 

Kethuboth Faust Basle,  1699. 

Nedarim Ulmauu Leipsic,  1CG3. 

Nazir " 

Sotah Wagenseil Altorf,  1603. 

Gittiu Surenhusius. 

Kiddushin " 

IV.  Baba  Kama L'Emperenr 1037. 

Baba  Metsia Surenhusius. 

Baba  Bathra....  " 

Sanhedrin Cocceius Amsterd.  1629. 

Maklioth 

Shebuoth Ulmann 1C03. 

Edaoth Surenhusius. 

Aboda  Zara Peringer Altorf,  16S0. 

Aboth Surenhusius. 

Iloriolh Ludwig Leipsic,  1090. 

V.  Zebachim Ulmann 1G03. 

]SIenachoth Surenhusius. 

Cholin " 

Bekoroth " 

Erakin " 

Temurah " 

Kerillioth Ulmann 1603. 

Meila Surenhusius. 

Tamid Peringer Altorf,  16S0. 

Middoth L'Empcreur 1630, 

Kinnim Surenhusius. 

VL  Kelim,  Ohaloth,  Negaim,  Parah,  Tohoroth,  Mikvaoth, 
Niddah,  Makshiriu,  Zal)im,  Tibbul  Yom,  Yadaim, 
and  Ukazin— all  l)y  Surenhusius. 
The  entire  Mishna  has  been  translated  into  Spanish 
by  Abraham  ben-Keuben  (Venice,  1606,  fol.);  into  (ier- 
man  bv  Kabe :  Die  qanze  Mischna  (Ausbach,  1760-63,  G 
vols.  4to) ;  and  by  Dr.  .lost  (Berlin,  1832-33,  6  vols.  4to). 
Into  English  have  been  rendered  the  treatises  Sahbalh 
and  Kriihin  by  Dr.  Wotton  (LoncL  1718);  the  treatise 
Abofh,  in  the  Jewish  Prciyer-hook,  by  Young  (Edinb.) ; 
the  treatises  Berakoth,  Kilnim,  iSiihbnth,  Erubin,  Pesa- 
chim, Yoma,  ,Siil:lcah,  Yom  Tob,  Rosh-hashanah,  Taanith, 
Me'/illii,  Afoed  Katan,  Yebamoth,  Kethuboth,  Gittin,  Kid- 
dushin, Chnlin,  and  Yadaim,  wiiolly  or  in  part  by  De 
Sola  and  liaphall  (Lnnd.  1843,  8vo'';  '2d  ed.  1845).  " 

From  all  this  it  aiijicars  that  the  ('hristian  Church 
has  been  largely  idcntilicd  witli  a  study  dftlic  Mishna, 
and  that  the  charge,  so  rrciinontly  reiterated,  that  Chris- 
tian theologians  are  unacquainted  with  .Jewish  tradi- 
tional lore  Ls  unjust.  Indeed  it  is  very  aiiparent  tliat 
even  the  Church  fathers  were  more  or  less  familiar  with 
the  Mishna,  which  they  termed  ctvTifnixTur.  Jerome 
first  mentions  it  (Kpist.  ad  A/;/(is;  (pi.  10):  "I  cannot 
declare  how  vast  are  the  traditions  of  the  rharisees,  or 
how  anile  their  myths,  called  by  them  f(i'rfp<oan<; 
(Mishnaioth) ;  neither  would  their  bull<y  nature  permit 
the  attempt."  Epiphanius  also  says,  but  with  a  dislo- 
cation of  text  (/I(vr.  XV,  Jud. ;  also  J/a-r.  xiii,  26)  :  "  The 
Jews  have  had  four  streams  of  those  traditions  that  they 
term  Sevripiomte — the  first  bears  the  name  of  Closes  the 
prophet;  the  next  they  attribute  to  a  teacher  named 
Akiba;  the  third  is  fathered  on  a  certain  Andon,  or 
Annon,  whom  they  also  call  Judas  [Ilannasi]  ;  and  the 


sons  of  Apamonaeus  [Asamonaci]  were  the  authors  of  the 
fourth."  So,  too,  Augustine,  writing  shortly  before  the 
date  of  the  Jerusalem  Talmud,  says :  "  liesides  the  Script- 
ures of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  the  Jews  have  certain 
traditions  belonging  to  them,  not  written,  but  retained 
in  memory,  and  handed  down  from  one  to  another, 
named  ctvTipojaeig"  (c.  A  dr.  Leij.  et  Ptoph.  ii,  1);  and 
again,  "  Deliramento  Judieorum  ad  cas  traditionis  quas 
Ctvripioffttr  vocant  pertinentia."  In  the  ^Middle  Ages 
the  gross  ignorance  of  the  clergy  left  this  important 
field  unstudied.  With  the  Keformatiun,the  ilishna  be- 
came again  an  open  book  to  the  Christian  clergy ;  and 
in  modern  days  many  of  their  number,  especially  in 
Germany,  Holland,  and  England,  have  carefully  cov- 
ered this  department  of  Biblical  knowledge.  Terhaps 
exception  will  be  taken  to  this  term  by  some,  but  let  it 
be  remembered  that  the  iVIishna,  "as  the  original  text 
of  the  Talmud,  and  as  a  faithful  picture  of  Jewish  the- 
ology and  ecclesiology  in  the  ajiostolic  and  post-apos- 
tolic ages,  should  be  known  to  even,-  Christian  student 
— at  least  in  its  general  outlines — and  a  nearer  acquaint- 
ance with  its  contents  is  indispensably  required  for  suc- 
cessful investigation  of  the  Hebrew  element  in  primi- 
tive Christianitj-,  as  found  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
in  the  New  Testament  alone"  (Kulo,  Karaites,  p.  57-58). 
As  to  the  estimate  of  this  compiled  tradition  by  the 
orthodox  Hebrew,  let  us  refer  to  a  Jewish  historian, 
who,  in  his  eulogy  of  the  Mishna,  pronounced  it  "a 
work,  the  possession  of  which  by  the  Hebrew  nation 
compensates  them  for  the  loss  of  their  ancestral  coun- 
try; a  book  which  constitutes  a  kind  of  homestead  for 
the  Jewish  mind,  an  intellectual  and  moral  fatherland 
of  a  people  who,  in  their  long  discipline  of  suffering, 
are  exiles  and  aliens  in  all  the  nations  of  the  earth." 

The  dogmatic  and  moral  teachings  of  the  Tannain 
are  well  sketched  by  Jost  in  his  Geschichte  des  Juden- 
thums  u.  seiner  Sekten,  vol.  ii.  The  sketches  in  Jlilman's 
History  of  the  Jews,  ii,  461  sq.,  are  instructive  on  some 
points,  though  they  do  not  always  distinguish  between 
the  teaching  of  the  Tannain  and  of  later  rabbins.  See  also 
Chiarini,  Ac  Talmude;  GcigeT,J}as  Judenthum;  Griitz, 
Gesch.  d.  Juden,  vol.  iv  (transl.  N.  Y.  1874) ;  IJule,  Kara- 
ites, ch.  vi;  Etheridge,  Introd.  to  Ifebr.  Lit.  p.  114  sq. ; 
the  excellent  articles  on  the  Ttdmud  by  Dr.  Deutsch  in 
the  Quartei-ly  Heriew,  Oct.  1867,  reprinted  in  the  Kclec- 
lir  l;<ri,ii\  LsCiT:  christian  Remembrancer,  1868,  Oct.; 
. I //,</■.  l:iljrn;il  lu jiiisitory,  2d  series,  ii,  201  sq,;  Kitto, 
J,„n-Hid  <<fs<i,-nd  l.it.\\,  42  sq. ;  Edinburgh  Rev.  1873, 
Juh",  art.  ii ;  Fiirst,  Bibliotheca  Judaica,  ii,  40  stp  (J. 
H.W.) 
Mishneh.    See  Huldait, 

Mishor,  the  ("VJ'^Sin;  Sept,  Mj(to/|0,  also  TrtJii/^; 
Yulg.  jAaniiies  and  campestria ;  A.T, "  the  plain").  This 
word  is  applied  in  Scripture  to  any  plain  or  level  tract 
of  land,  as  in  1  Kings  xx,23,and  2  Chron.  xxvi.  10;  but 
in  a  number  of  pa.ssages  it  is  used  with  the  article  as  the 
proper  name  of  the  plateau  of  ]Moab;  and  when  thus 
employed  it  is  generally  (irx'cized  in  the  Sept.  (Deut. 
iii,  10  •  Josh,  xiii,  9, 16, 17,  21 ;  .ler.  xlviii,  8.  21),  Stan- 
ley brings  out  the  meaning  of  this  word:  "The  smooth 
downs  (of  Moab)  received  a  special  name  (^lishor),  ex- 
pressive of  their  contrast  with  the  rough  and  rocky  soil 
of  the  west"  (Sin.  and  Pah  p.  317):  and  jirobably,  it 
might  Ik;  added,  in  contrast  with  the  wooded  heights 
and  picturesque  vales  of  (iilead.  The  wonl  comes  from 
the  root  "1^3'',  to  be  level  ox  just,  and  is  sometimes  em- 
ployed in  a  moral  sense  (Psa.  xlv,  6;  cxliii,  10).  Stan- 
ley supposes  that  tlie  whole  of  the  tqiland  downs  cast 
of  the  Jordan  are  called  Mishor.  and  tliat  this  fact  lixes 
the  true  site  of  the  l)attlc  of  Ajdiek  (1  Kings  xx.  23  sq.). 
It  seems  doubtful,  however,  whether  the  word  ISIishor, 
in  the  description  of  that  battle,  will  bear  the  meaning 
thus  assigned  to  it.  It  appears  to  be  simply  put  in  op- 
position to  harim,  '•  hills."  "  Their  gods  are  gods  of  the 
hill.<!,  therefore  they  were  stronger  than  we,  but  let  us 
fight  against  them  in  the  jdain"  {mishor}.     In  2  Chron, 


-   MISHPAT 


339 


MISREPRESENTATION" 


xxvi,  10,  mishor  also  means  "  a  plain"  west  of  the  Jor- 
dan. As  a  proper  name,  or  a  special  appellative,  it  was 
given  only  to  the  great  plateau  of  Moab,  even  as  distin- 
guished from  that  of  Bashan  (Deut.  iii,  10).  This  pla- 
teau commences  at  the  summit  of  that  range  of  hills,  or 
rather  lofty  bdnks,  which  bounds  the  Jordan  valley,  and 
extends  in  a  smooth,  gently  undulating  surface  far  out 
into  the  desert  of  Arabia,  Medeba  was  one  of  its  chief 
cities,  and  hence  it  is  twice  called  "  the  Mishor  of  Me- 
deba" (Josh,  xiii,  9, 16).  It  formed  the  special  subject 
of  the  awful  curse  pronounced  by  Jeremiah — "  Judg- 
ment is  come  upon  the  land  of  the  Mishor''  (xlviii,  21). 
It  was  chiefly  celebrated  for  its  pastures;  but  it  also 
contained  a  number  of  large  and  strong  cities,  the  ruins 
of  which  still  dot  its  surface  (Porter,  Damascus,  ii,  183). 
— Kitto.     See  Moab  ;  Topographical  Terms. 

Mishpat.     See  Ex-mishpat. 

Mishra.     See  jMishraite. 

Mish'raite  (Heb.  MishraV,  "''J^'O'Q,  gentile,  used 
collectively,  from  some  noun  Mishra',  SldTD,  perhaps 
slippery ;  Sept.  'Hfiacrapativ  v.  r.  'Rfiaaapaifi,  Vulg. 
Maserei,  Auth.Vers.  "  Jlishraites"),  an  inhabitant  of  a 
place  called  Mishra,  alluded  to  only  in  1  Chron.  ii,  53, 
as  founded  by  the  descendants  of  Caleb,  and  associated 
with  the  Ithrites  and  others,  who  were  in  some  way 
connected  with  Kirjath-jearim ;  probably  therefore  a 
village  in  the  vicinity  of  this  last  town. 

Misology  (from  /.niTHv,  to  hate,  and  Xoyog,  reasoii) 
is  a  term  emijloyed  to  designate  the  hatred  of  reason — 
the  most  unreasonable  kind  of  hatred  that  can  possibly 
be  thought  of.  But  as  reason  is  the  point  of  demarca- 
tion between  man  and  brute,  the  misologist  generally 
claims  to  be  opposed  only  to  the  false  application  of  the 
reasoning  powers.     See  Reason. 

Misotheia  {hkt'hi},  to  hate,  and  ^eoi;,  God)  is  ha- 
tred of  God  and  everj- thing  divine — hatred  of  truth, 
wisdom,  virtue,  and  reason.  In  classic  Greek  we  only 
find  fiiiyu^iOQ,  hating  the  gods,  godless  (.Esch.  Ag.  1090). 
Sometimes  the  word  is  changed  to  ^lojxiaric,  a  person 
hating  the  gods,  and  to  BiofiiarjTog,  a  person  hated  by 
the  gods.  The  misotheist  is  akin  to  the  misologist.  See 
Misology. 

Mispe'reth  (Heb.  id.  V^'^^'O'q,  enumerating;  Sept. 
Maa(7(f>apd3i  v.  r.  Ma<y(papaj),  one  who  returned  from 
Babylon  with  Zerubbabel  (Neh.  vii,  7) ;  elsewhere  called 
MizPAR  (Ezra  ii,  2). 

Misrachi,  Eiia,  ben-Abraham  (called  also  Elia 
Parnas),  a  noted  rabbi,  flourished  at  Constantinople  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  15th  century.  Misrachi  was 
versed  not  only  in  rabbinic  lore,  but  also  in  astronomy 
and  mathematics.  He  maintained  a  lively  controversy 
with  his  contemporary,  Mose  Kapsoli,  a  teacher  and 
judge  in  the  old  Romanesque  congregation  of  Jews  at 
Constantinople  about  1500,  on  the  question  whether  the 
children  of  Karaites  ought  to  be  admitted  into  the 
rabbinical  schools.  Kapsoli  denounced  the  practice  as 
illegal.  Misrachi  argued  not  only  that  it  was  lawful, 
but  highly  expedient,  as  a  means  of  bringing  them  to 
conform  to  rabbinism.  Misrachi  labored  much  in  the 
cause  of  Jewish  education.  He  died  about  1525.  Be- 
sides his  Chidiishim  (Qid^'iri),  a  collection  of  novellas 
on  the  Sepher  Mizvoth  Gadol  of  Jloses  de  Coucy,  and  a 
super-commentary  on  Rashi's  Pentateuch  ("TllT^ari  'o 
or  rrninn  hv  "Tl-lTp  n^h^  b);  he  wrote  also  a  trea- 
tise on  arithmetic,  "lEO^n  rrsb^;  also  "Span  o 
which  was  translated  into  Latin  bv  O.  Schreckfuchs 
and  S.  Jlimster  (Basle,  15"16).  See  Furst,  Bihl.  Jud.  ii, 
381 ;  id.  Gesch.  d.  Kurderthums,  ii,  304;  De  Rossi,  Dizi- 
onario  (Germ,  transl.  by  Humberger),  p.  201 ;  Ether- 
idge,  Introd.  to  Hehr.  Liierat.  p.  -161  sq. ;  Cassel,  Leit fa- 
den  fur  jud.  Gesch.  ii.  Literat.  (Berlin,  1872),  p.  91 ; 
Gratz,  Gesch.  d.  Jiiden,  viii,  292,  297 ;  Jost,  Gesch.  d.  Ju- 
deii.  u.  s.  Sekten,  iii,  127;  Lindo's  Conciliator  of  R.  Ma- 
nasseh  ben-Israel  (Lond.  1842),  p.  xxviii,     (B.  P,) 


Mis'rephoth-ma'im  (Heb.  Misrephoth'-Ma'yim, 
S1''5  nSTi'O,  burnings  of  water ;  according  to  Kim- 
chi,  with  allusion  to  warm  baths ;  but, as  Gesenius  thinks, 
from  lime-kilns  or  smelting-furnaces  situated  near  the 
water;  Sept.  Macpscpw^  Matv,  Vulg.  aqum  Musere- 
photk),  a  place  between  Zidon  and  the  valley  of  Miz- 
peh,  whither  Joshua  piu-sued  the  allied  Canaanites  after 
the  defeat  of  Jabin  (Josh,  xi,  8) ;  from  which  passage, 
as  well  as  from  the  only  other  where  the  place  is  men- 
tioned (Josh,  xiii,  6),  it  appears  to  have  been  a  valley 
(containing  springs  or  a  running  stream;  see  linger, 
De  thermis  Sidonis,  Lips.  1803),  situated  in  the  moun- 
tainous region,  near  the  northern  border  of  Canaan,  op- 
posite Mount  Lebanon ;  probably  therefore  in  the  mid- 
dle portion  of  the  valley  of  the  Leontes— a  position  that 
may  have  given  occasion  for  the  name  (i.  q.  glass-houses 
by  the  water  side,  see  Keil,  Comment,  ad  loc.)  by  fur- 
nishing facilities  for  the  manufacture  of  glass  (a  sub- 
stance said  to  have  been  first  invented  in  this  region) 
from  the  sand  washed  down  by  the  stream.  Dr.  Thom- 
son {Land  and  Book,  i,  469)  still  adheres  to  a  location 
given  by  him  and  Schulz  {Bibliotheca  Sacra,  1855,  p. 
826)  at  a  collection  of  springs  called  .4  in-Mesherfi,  with 
ruins  adjacent  on  the  shore  near  Ras  en-Nakura,  at  the 
foot  of  Jebel  Mushakka,  on  the  northern  border  of  the 
plain  of  Akka  (Van  de  Velde,  Memoir,  p.  335) ;  but  the 
locality  is  entirely  too  far  south  of  Sidon. 

Misrepresentation,  the  act  of  wilfully  represent- 
ing a  thing  dtlicrwisc  than  it  is.  We  ought  to  be  care- 
ful not  to  misrepresent  the  actions  of  others;  and  we 
should,  with  equal  solicitude,  avoid  any  misrepresenta- 
tions of  their  words.  Verbal  misrepresentations  may  be 
productive  of  the  greatest  injury,  and  are  indicative  of 
radical  malevolence.  Words,  in  themselves,  and  taken 
in  their  insulated  state,  are  capable  of  diverse  mean- 
ings ;  and  he  who  reports  any  impressions  without  no- 
ticing what  went  before,  or  what  followed  after,  may 
easily  pervert  the  most  harmless  into  the  most  criminal 
expressions ;  or  cause  the  foulest  inferences  to  be  drawn 
from  the  most  innocent  discourse.  What  confusion  and 
inquietude  in  society,  what  suspensions  of  confidence, 
what  interruptions  of  good  neighborhood,  what  bitter- 
ness and  animosit}',  are  occasioned  by  verbal  misrepre- 
sentations !  How  often  has  the  fondest  love  been  thus 
blighted,  and  the  warmest  friendship  turned  cold !  The 
perverse  construction,  the  imperfect  repetition,  or  the 
mutilated  statement  of  what  others  have  said,  is  one  of 
the  common  expedients  which  the  artful  and  treacher- 
ous know  so  well  how  to  employ  to  serve  their  own  sin- 
ister ends,  to  promote  their  own  interested  views,  and 
to  produce  endless  feuds,  inextinguishable  jealousies, 
and  irreconcilable  animosities.  As  the  v.-ords  of  men 
may  thus  be  misrepresented  to  serve  the  most  mischiev- 
ous purposes,  it  earnestly  behooves  us,  on  all  occasions, 
when  we  repeat  the  discourse  of  others,  to  adhere  as 
closely  as  possible  to  the  words,  and  never  wilfuUy  to 
deviate  from  the  sense.  We  ought  to  beware  of  stat- 
ing that  to  have  been  designed  as  a  positive  declaration 
which  was  intended  only  as  a  casual  supposition;  we 
are  not  to  represent  that  as  a  literal  affirmation  which 
was  meant  only  as  an  incidental  illustration,  or  as  a  figu- 
rative ornament ;  for  it  is  possible  in  this  way  to  render 
an  exact  copy  of  the  words,  and  yet  a  malicious  perver- 
sion of  the  sense.  But  when  we  report  what  others 
have  said,  and  particularly  when  the  interest  of  the  in- 
dividual is  in  the  least  degree  concerned  in  the  fidelity 
of  the  representation,  we  are  not  only  to  repeat  the  ex- 
pressions that  ^vere  used,  but  the  sense  in  which  they 
were  at  the  time  designed  to  bear,  and  which  was  evi- 
dent either  from  the  context  of  the  discourse  or  from 
the  manner  of  the  speaker.     See  Truth. 

By  subtle  queries,  invidious  remarks,  and  treacherous 
insinuations,  the  slanderer  infuses  doubt  into  the  mind 
of  one  respecting  the  integrity  or  the  conduct  of  an- 
other; and  thus  he  often  effects  his  purpose  with  more 
safety  than  he  could  by  a  more  open  and  direct  attack. 


MISRI-EFFENDI 


340  MISSA  PRiESANCTIFICATORUM 


some  eminent  Protestant  members  of  the  German  uni- 
versities, was  Misri's  intimate  friend.  Misri  died  at 
Broussa  in  1710. — Hoofer,  Nouv.  Biof/.  Genenile,  s.  v. 

Missabib.     Sec  ;MAGon-Miss.\BiB. 

Missa  Catechumenorum  is  the  jiame  of  that 
portion  of  the  lituffcics  of  the  early  Church  at  which 
catcdiumcn.s  were  iii-rmitteil  to  be  i)rc-sent.  It  c•on!^i.■*ted 
of  the  Prefatory  Prayer,  the  Hymn,  the  Little  Kntrance, 
the  Trisagion,  the  Epistle  and  (lospel,  and  the  I'rayers 
after  the  (iospel.  Before  the  Great  Entrance,  or  pro- 
cession of  the  elements  to  the  altar,  all  the  catechumens 
were  obliged  to  leave  the  church,  with  such  wfirds  of 
dismissal  as  those  used  in  the  Liturgy  of  St.  Chrysos- 
toni:  "As  many  as  are  catechumens  depart;  catechu- 
mens depart ;  as  many  as  are  catechumens  depart ;  let 
none  of  the  catechumens  remain."  Tlie  catechumens 
being  still  unbaptizod,  it  was  not  considered  fitting  that 
they  should  witness  the  actual  celebration  of  the  holy 
Eucharist,  though  they  were  permitted  to  take  part  in 
I  he  earlier  prayers  of  the  liturgy,  and  to  hear  the  read- 
ing of  holy  Scripture. — Bona,  Jier.  Lilnrr;.  i,  10;  Bing- 
liam,  Orif/ines  Eccksiasticae,  p.  10,  114,  507,  077  et  sq. ; 
Kiddle,  Christidn  Antiquities,  p.  192  sq. ;  Coleman,  ,-1 7i- 
cient  Christidmly  Jixempiified,  p.  110, 180, 185, 415.  See 
Cati:ciil-.mi:ns. 

Missa  Fidelivim,  a  term  for  the  latter  part  of  the 
liturgy,  as  distiiiguislied  from  that  portion  at  which 
only  catechuiiuMis  were  allowed   to   be  present.     See 

jMisSA  CATICCIUMENDiaM. 

Missa  Prassanctificatoruin  is  the  term  applied 
I  to  a  cucharistic  office,  observed  V)y  the  .idvocates  of 
'  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  in  which  the 
great  oblation  is  made  and  comnnnuon  administered 
with  elements  consecrated  at  a  previous  celebration. 

Tlie  49th  canon  of  Laodicea  (q.  v.),  which  dates  from 
the  4th  century,  states  that  bread  ought  not  to  be  of- 
fered during  Lent,  save  on  the  Sabbath-day  and  Lord's- 
day.  The  o2d  canon  of  the  council  in  Trnllo,  or  tjuini- 
sext  (A.D.  092),  renewed  this  canon,  and  ordered  the 


Thus  he  gradually  but  surely  undermines  the  reputa- 
tion of  his  neighbor,  or  supplants  those  who  seem  to 
stand  in  the  way  of  his  own  advancement.  As  secret 
is  more  dangerous  than  open  hostility,  so  the  characters 
of  men  are  often  more  irreparably  injured  by  calumnious 
suggestions  than  by  unreserved  and  un(iualified  calum- 
nies. Sometimes  slander  is  covered  under  the  garb  of 
praise,  but  then  the  praise  is  never  bestowed  except 
where  it  is  likely  to  ])rove  injurious  to  the  person,  by 
the  aversion  which  it  occasions,  or  the  jealousy  which 
it  inflames.  We  all  have  many  faults,  but  the  slanderer 
aggravates  them  by  his  description.  Regardless  of  ad- 
herence to  truth,  he  distorts  and  magnifies  whatever 
he  relates.  Where  the  habit  of  falsehood,  as  in  the 
base  calumniator,  is  joined  with  a  malevolent  disposi- 
tion, venial  defects  are  magnified  into  criminal  atroci- 
ties; and  a  trivial  speck,  almost  too  small  to  be  noticed, 
is  spoken  of  as  an  incurable  ulceration.  The  malevo- 
lence of  the  slanderer  is  never  willing  to  balance  the 
vices  with  the  virtues,  the  defects  with  the  inii'i .  limis 
of  the  human  character;  but  he  censures  and  i  un.l.  nin> 
without  moderation  or  indulgence.  Men  cainicji  iii-urr 
the  effect  which  thoy  intend,  the  issue  of  their  actions, 
or  the  success  of  their  exertions.  We  may  deserve,  but 
we  caimot  command  success,  (iood  endeavors  and  hon- 
est efforts  are  in  our  power,  but  the  ultimate  event  is  in 
the  hands  of  God.  But  when  things  go  wrong,  when 
good  endeavors  are  frustrated,  and  pernicious  effects 
issue  from  good  principles  or  meritorious  attempts,  which 
could  neitiier  have  been  prevented  nor  foreseen,  then 
how  apt  are  men  to  impute  the  unexpected  effect  to  de- 
liberate contrivance,  and  to  slander  the  intention  which 
they  ought  to  praise !  Thus,  those  who  arc  ever  ready 
to  calumniate  what  merits  praise,  impute  the  good  which 
follows  any  particular  action  to  chance,  and  the  evil  to 
<lesign—Kellowes,  7^0(7^  of  Thtologij,  ii,  324-329;  Buck, 
Thcol.  Diet.  s.  v.  See  Slandek. 
'  Misri-Effendi,  a  Turkish  poet  and  religious  en- 
thusiast, is  noted  lor  liis  attempt  at  a  revolution,  under 
a  religious  garb,  during  the  reign  of  Achmet  III  (1703- 

1739).  Jlisri  was  born  in  Egypt  about  1000.  Of  his  use  of  the  rite  of  the  presanctified  every  day  in  Lent 
personal  history  but  little  is  known  previous  to  1093.  !  except  on  Saturday,  the  Lord's-day,  and  the  Eeast  of 
At  this  time  he  was  flourishing  at  Broussa  as  mollah,  '  the  Annunciation.  The  Greek  Cliurch  has  accepted 
an  office  both  of  an  ecclesiastical  and  civil  character,  cor-  these  regulations,  and  closely  folhmed  them,  excepting 
responding  somewhat  to  our  "justice  of  the  peace."  See  that  the  Liturgy  of  Basil  is  saidonMamuly-Thursdayand 
MoiXAii.  Dissatisfied  with  "the  manner  in  which  the  on  Easter  eve,  instead  of  tlie  presanctified  mass  (Xeale, 
war  against  Austria  was  conducted,  and  believing  him-  Hist.  East.  Ch.  pt.  i,  chap,  vii,  p.  713).  For  the  rite  it- 
self inspired  for  leadership,  he  gathered  about  him  three  self  we  refer  to  Goar,  Eiicliohr/iiiw  ;  Neale,  //ist.  East. 
thousaiid  fanatics,  and  with  these  crossed  the  Bospho-  '  Ch. ;  and  Benaudot,  Litiirr;.  Or.  Collectio  (ed.  1847),  i, 


rus,  landed  at  Adrianople,  and  stormed  the  great  mosque 
in  which  the  sultan,  with  his  court,  was  at  the  time  at- 
tending the  noon-service.  Misri  was  defeated  in  his  at- 
tempt, and  he  was  arrested  with  his  ringleaders  and  car- 
ried back  to  Broussa.  No  other  punishment  was  in- 
flicted, because  Jlisri  had  gained  popular  favor  by  his 


70.  We  have  room  here  only  for  its  essentials,  and  in 
presenting  these  depend  chiefly  upon  Neale,  who  says 
that,  technically  speaking,  the  office  of  the  presanctified 
is  merely  an  addition  to  the  usual  vespers. 

In  the  prothesis  of  the  Sunday  preceding,  when  res- 
ervation is  to  be  made,  the  priest,  having  as  usual  cut 


religious  enthusiasm.  The  occurrence  of  a  large  fire  and  stabbed  the  first  loaf,  cuts  also  the  other  loaves,  say- 
and  a  violent  earthquake  two  days  after  Misri's  re-  ing  for  each, "  In  remembrance,"  etc.,  as  in  the  usual  of- 
moval  disturbed  tlie  popular  mind,  and  it  was  generally  fice.  Then  he  pours  forth  wine  and  water  in  tlie  holy 
held  that  ISIisri  had  been  truthful  in  his  declarations,  chalice.  When  he  is  about  to  sign  the  loaves,  he  speaks 
and  he  was  hereafter  regarded  as  endowed  with  super-  '  in  the  singidar.  "^Make  this  bread,"  because  Christ  is 
natural  visions.  The  sultan  even  refpiested  ^Misri  to  re-  i  one.  He  elevates  all  the  loaves  together,  aiul  breaks 
turn  ;  but  he  refused,  iledaring  his  mission  finished,  as  '  the  first  loaf  of  the  oblations,  and  puts  the  portion  in 
he  had  accomplished  the  task  of  rousing  the  authorities  I  the  holy  cup,  and  pours  in  the  warm  water  ;is  usuaL 
to  more  vigorous  action  towards  the  Austrians.  Here-  ;  Then  taking  the  holy  spoon  in  his  right  haiul,  he  dips 
after  :Misri  gave  himself  up  to  religious  studies,  and  !  it  in  the  holy  blood ;  and  in  the  left  hand  he  takes  each 
wrote  poetry  on  sacred  subjects.  The  most  important  i  loaf  by  turns,  and  holding  the  holy  sjioon  that  has  been 
of  his  productions  celebrates  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  dipped  in  the  holy  blood,  he  moves  it  crosswise  on  the 
wherein  it  is  said,"  I  am  always  with  .Jesius,  and  united  part  where  the  cross  has  been  made  on  the  crumb,  and 
with  him."  These  verses,  because  Misri's  production, '  puts  it  away  in  the  arto])horion.  So  with  the  other 
received  the  certificate  of  orthodoxy,  but  it  was  ordered  ,  loaves  of  reservation.  In  the  rite  itself,  after  the  pmy- 
also  tliat  they  be  prefaced  by  these  warning  words:  |  ers  and  responses  of  the  three  antiphons.  while  the  tro- 
"  Whosoever  writes  verses  like  these  of  Jlisri  shall  be;  paria  are  sung,  the  priest  goes  to  tlie  lioly  prothesis, 
committed  to  the  flames;  Misri  alone  shall  be  spared,  and  taking  the  iiresanctitied  bread  from  the  artopho- 
for  we  cannot  condemn  one  who  is  possessed  with  en-  I  rion,  puts  it  with  great  reverence  on  the  holy  disk, 
thusiasm."  There  is  little  left  of  the  poetical  composi-  [  putting  also  wine  and  water,  after  the  accustomed  man- 
tions  of  Misri,  and  that  little  is  not  printed.  The  pa-  j  ner,  into  the  holy  chalice,  and  saying,  not  the  prayer  of 
triarch  Callinicos,  who  was  in  friendly  relations  \\'n\\\-\^TOx\\Qsis,h\xlo\\\y,Throii)jhthe2i>oyer$ofourholyFa- 


MISSA  PR^SANCTIFICATORUM  341 


MISSAL 


fher,  Lord,  God,  Jesus  Christ,  have  mercy  upon  us.  For 
t.ie  sacrifice  is  presanctified  and  accomplished.  After 
the  Cathisma,  etc.,  the  little  entrance  takes  place  with- 
out the  Gospel;  then  the  prayers  of  the  catechumens, 
and  the  prayers  of  the  faithful,  in  the  second  of  which 
is,  "Behold  at  the  present  time  his  spotless  body  and 
quiclvcning  blood  entering  in,  and  about  to.be  proposed 
on  this  mystic  table,  invisibly  attended  by  the  multi- 
tude of  the  heavenly  host."  Then  is  sung  the  hymn, 
"  Now  the  heavenly  powers  inyisible  minister  with  us, 
for  behold  the  King  of  Glory  is  borne  in.  Behold  the 
mystic  sacrifice,  having  been  perfected,  is  attended  by 
angels :  with  faith  and  love  let  us  draw  near,  that  we 
may  become  partakers  of  life  eternal."  After  this  the 
great  entrance  is  made,  but  instead  of  the  prayer  of  the 
cherubic  hymn,  the  fifty-first  Psalm  is  said.  After 
the  entrance,  the  deacon  says,  •'  Let  us  accomplish  our 
evening  supplication  unto  the  Lord.  For  the  proposed 
and  presanctified  gifts,  let,"  etc.  In  the  following  prayer 
occur  the  words,  "  Look  down  on  us  who  are  standing 
by  this  holy  altar  as  by  thy  cherubic  throne,  on  which 
thine  only-begotten  Son  and  our  God  is  resting  in  the 
proposed  and  fearful  mysteries."  After  further  prayers, 
the  priest,  the  divine  gifts  being  covered,  stretches  out 
his  hand  and  touches  the  quickening  blood  with  rever- 
ence and  great  fear ;  and  when  the  deacon  says,  "  Let 
ns  attend,"  the  priest  exclaims,  "  Holy  things  presancti- 
fied for  holy  persons."  Then,  having  unveiled  them,  he 
finishes  the  participation  of  the  divine  gifts.  The  com- 
munion being  finished,  and  the  holy  things  that  remain 
being  taken  away  from  the  holy  table,  the  concluding 
prayers  are  made. 

In  the  controversy  regarding  this  rite  between  cardi- 
nal Humbert  and  Nicetas  Pectoratus,  the  only  matter 
of  real  liturgical  interest  appears  to  be  Humbert's  ob- 
jection that  a  double  oblation  is  made  of  the  same  thing 
— first  in  the  liturgy,  in  which  it  is  consecrated,  next  in 
that  in  which  it  is  received.  Neale  denies  the  exist- 
ence of  the  second  oblation.  "  The  mere  fact  of  the 
great  entrance,"  he  writes,  "without  any  formal  obla- 
tion, and  simply  considered,  does  not  involve  of  neces- 
sity a  sacrifice." 

Leo  Allatius,  in  his  tract  on  this  rite  (at  the  end  of 
his  work,  De  Ecd.  Occ.  et  Or.  Perpetua  Consensione'), 
names  several  variations.  One  is  on  the  point  just 
mentioned :  "Alii  sustoUebant  Prresanctificata.  Alii  non 
exaltabant,  sed  tantum  modo  tangebant"  (151)5).  An- 
other important  variation  is, "  Constantinopolitanus  pra;- 
sanctificatum  pauem  sanguine  non  tingit;  cieteri  tin- 
gunt"  (1503).  Again,  as  to  the  times  when  the  rite  is 
usetl,  "Alii,  prima  et  secunda  primsB  jejuniorum  heb- 
domadis  feriis,  Proesanctificata  non  celebrant;  alii  cele- 
brant" (1594). 

In  the  Roman  Church  the  omission  of  consecration  is 
limited  to  Good  Friday  and  Easter  eve.  The  Missal 
rubric  for  "  Feria  v  in  Coena  Domini"  is,  "  Hodie  sacer- 
dos  consecrat  duas  hostias,  quarum  unara  sumit,  alteram 
reservat  pro  die  sequenti,  in  quo  non  conficitur  sacra- 
mentum  ;  reservat  etiam  aliquas  particulas  consecratas, 
si  opus  fuerit,  pro  infirmis ;  sanguinem  vero  totum  su- 
mit; et  ante  ablutionem  digitorum  ponit  hostiam  re- 
scrvatam  in  alio  calice,  quern  diaconus  palla  et  patena 
cooperit,  et  desuper  velum  expandit,  et  in  medio  altaris 
collocat." 

On  Good  Friday  the  reserved  host  is  brought  in  pro- 
cession to  the  altar,  after  the  adoration  of  the  cross, 
while  the  hymn  is  sung,  "Vexilla  Regis  prodeunt." 
"  Cum  venerit  sacerdos  ad  altare,  posito  super  illud  ca- 
lice, genufiexus  sursum  incensat  et  accedens  deponit 
hostiam  ex  calice  super  patenam  quara  diaconus  tenet; 
et  accipiens  patenam  de  manu  diaconi,  hostiam  sacram 
ponit  super  corporale,  nihil  dicens.  .  .  .  Interim  diaco- 
nus imponit  vinum  in  calicem  et  subdiaconus  aquam, 
quam  sacerdos  non  benedicit,  nee  dicit  super  eam  ora- 
tionem  consuetam ;  sed  accipiens  calicem  a  diacono  po- 
nit super  altare  nihil  dicens  ;  et  diaconus  ilhim  cooperit 
palla."     After  censing  the  oblations  and  the  altar,  the 


priest,  turning  to  the  people,  says  as  usual,  "  Orati  fra- 
tres  ut  meura  ac  vestrum  sacrificium  acceptabile  fiat." 
"Tunc  celebrans  .  .  .  supponit  patenam  sacramento, 
quod  in  dextera  accipiens  elevat  ut  videri  possit  a  po- 
pulo;  et  statim  supra  calicem  dividit  in  tres  partes,  qua- 
rum  ultimam  mittit  in  calicem  more  solito,  nihil  dicens. 
Pax  Domini  non  dicitur  nee  Agnus  Dei,  neque  pacis  os- 
culum  datur."  The  priest's  prayer  before  reception  fol- 
lows. "  Et  sumit  Corpus  reverenter."  "  Deinde  omissis 
omnibus  qu«  dici  solent  ante  sumptionem  sanguinis, 
immediate  particulam  hostiffi  cum  vino  reverenter  su- 
mit de  calice."  "Quod  ore  sumpsimus,"  etc.  "Non  di- 
citur Corpus  tuum  Domine,  nee  Post  Communio,  nee 
Placeat  Tibi,  nee  datur  Benedictio ;  sed  facta  reverentia 
coram  altare  sacerdos  cum  ministris  discedit ;  et  dicun- 
tur  Vesperie  sine  cantu ;  et  denudatur  altare." 

The  principle  upon  which  these  regulations  regarding 
Lent  are  founded  is  that  the  Eucharist  is  a  feast,  and  the 
consecration  service  is  proper  only  for  festivals.  The 
Sabbath  as  well  as  the  Sunday  was  a  stated  feast  in  the 
early  Church,  and  the  Western  Church  received  the  La- 
odicasan  canon ;  but  in  later  times  in  the  Roman  obedi- 
ence Saturday  has  been  held  a  fast.  Yet  Socrates  {E. 
H.  v,  21)  tells  us  that  at  Rome  they  fasted  three  weeks 
before  Easter,  excepting  Saturdays  and  Sundays.  See 
Bingham,  Orir/ines  Ecclesiastics,  bk.  xv,  ch.  iv,  §  12. 

For  a  statement  of  the  position  in  which  the  Church 
of  England  stands  on  these  questions,  see  ^Iwnt,  Anno- 
tated Book  of  Common  Prayer  (in  the  notes  for  Good 
Friday).  See  also  Blunt,  Diet.  Doctrinal  and  Historical 
Theology,  s.  v. 

Missa  Sicca,  or  dry  service,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  consists  in  the  recital  of  the  ordinary  of  the  mass 
without  the  canon,  there  being  neither  consecration  nor 
communion.  The  rite  is  described  and  commented  upon 
by  Durandus,  Rationale,  IV,  i,  23 ;  Durantus,  De  Ritibus, 
II,  iv ;  Bona,  Rerum  Liturg.  I,  xv,  G;  Martene,  De  Ant. 
Eccl.  Ritibus,  I,  iii,  1 ;  Bingham,  A  ntiq.  XV,  iv,  5 ;  Neale, 
Eastern  Church,  I,  vii,  4.  "As  the  canons  forbid  priests 
to  celebrate  the  liturgy  more  than  once  in  the  day,  ex- 
cept in  cases  of  urgent  necessity ;  and  as  some  covetous 
and  wicked  priests  were  desirous  of  celebrating  more 
frequently,  with  the  object  of  receiving  oblationj  from 
the  people ;  they  availed  themselves  of  the  missa  sicca, 
and  thus  deceived  the  people,  who  intended  to  offer  their 
prayers  and  alms  at  a  real  commemoration  of  the  sacri- 
fice of  Christ"  (Palmer).  The  earliest  mention  of  this 
abuse  is  its  condemnation  in  the  Capitulars  of  Charle- 
magne (Neale),  that  is,  in  A.D.  805 :  the  leading  exam- 
ple is  its  practice  by  St.  Louis,  who  died  A.D.  1270.  Du- 
rantus saj^s  that  the  book  Liber  Sacei-dotalis,  in  which 
this  rite  is  described,  was  approved  by  Leo  X ;  and  he 
finds  the  Missa  Sicca  in  the  passage  of  Socrates,  Hist,  v, 
22,  where  Leo  Allatius  finds  the  rite  of  the  presanctified. 
The  more  learned  Roman  theologians  of  the  IGth  cen- 
tury condemned  this  abuse,  and  Bona  states  its  general 
suppression.  Neale,  however,  saj's  that  it  was  common 
in  Belgium  as  late  as  A.D.  1780.  The  rite  was  never 
in  use  in  the  East,  except  in  Egypt. 

Neale  has  charged  the  Church  of  England  with  de- 
liberately retaining  the  Missa  Sicca,  but  Blunt  (^Dict.  of 
Hist,  and  Doctrinal  Theol,  s.  v.)  holds  that  "  this  charge 
is  without  foundation.  There  is  an  essential  difference 
between  the  use  of  the  eucharistic  hymns,  without  whicji 
the  rite  could  hardly  be  called  a  Jlissa,  and  the  use  of 
the  prayer  for  the  Church  militant  only,  made  real,  as 
far  as  can  be,  by  the  offering  of  alms.  The  English 
custom  is  not  an  approval  of  abstaining  from  commun- 
ion, such  as  certainly  was  more  or  less  implied  in  the 
Missa  Sicca,  but  a  practical  illustration  of  the  words  of 
the  priest's  exhortation, '  I  for  my  part  sliall  be  ready,' 
and  a  protest  against  the  remissness  of  the  people."  See 
Palmer,  Origines  Liturgicce,  ii,  164,  IGo.  (J.  H.  W.) 

Missal  (Lat.  Missale  plenarium,  or  simply  Plena- 
rium)  is  the  name  given  to  an  office-book  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  containing  the  liturgy,  i.  e.  all  of  the 


MISSAL 


342 


MISSI  DOMIXICI 


Jitiirgy  required  for  the  celebration  of  the  Mass  (q.  v.) 
or  3Iissa,viz.the  fixed  Ordinary  (q.v.),  and  Canon  (q.v.), 
with  the  changeable  Introits,  Collects,  Epistles,  Gospels, 
etc.  In  the  early  Western  Church  it  was  called  sacra- 
vienlarium,  but  it  tlien  contained  only  parts  of  what  is 
now  comprehended  in  the  Missal.  Some  copies,  as  re- 
quired in  every  parish  by  the  bishops,  contained  the 
Gospels,  the  sacramcntary,  prayers,  prefaces,  benedic- 
tions, and  the  canon,  the  lectionary,  a  book  of  epistles, 
and  the  antiphoii,  or,  in  a  word,  all  that  was  to  be  sung 
by  the  priest  at  the  altar,  and  by  the  ministers  in  the 
anibon.  These  books  were  called  Plenars  (q.  v.),  i.  e. 
complete  or  full ;  but  usually  their  contents  were  dis- 


within  and  without  the  Easter  period,  for  the  days  of 
the  confessors,  the  virgins,  and  of  those  who  did  not  die 
in  the  virginal  state.  The  Appendix  is  v»Ty  comprehen- 
sive :  it  gives  the  annual  mass,  different  votival  masses, 
and  the  masses  for  the  deceased,  several  benedictions, 
and,  lastly,  the  masses  for  such  feasts  or  commemorations 
as  are  celel)rated  in  certain  places  with  papal  a]iproba- 
tioii,  and  called  therefore  "  Missie  ex  indulto  apostolico." 
In  the  Anglican  Church,  previous  to  the  lleformation, 
the  missals  used  varied  very  greatly ;  and  even  after  the 
compilation  of  the  IJoman  Missal,  the  English  missals 
known  as  "  Sarum  Use,"  "  Hereford  Use,"  "  Lincoln  Use," 
Bangor  Use,"  etc.,  continued  to  be  general.    Near  the 


tributed  into  separate  volumes — the  Gradual,  Collectar,  i  end  of  the  lOth  century,  hov.-ever,  the  Jesuits  succeeded 
Benedictional,  llymnar,  etc.    The  complete  Missal  was  \  in  forcing  the  Koman  Missal  into  the  Romish  churches 


requisite  when  priests,  from  the  9th  century,  began  to 
say  low  ma.sses,  and  especially  for  country  clergy;  as 
laymen,  by  the  Capitulars  of  789,  were  forbidilen  to 
siiig  the  lessons  and  alleluia,  and  the  priests  were  re- 
quired to  sing  the  Sanctus  with  the  people  before  the 
canon  was  commenced.     The  earliest  Frank,  Gothic,  or 


of  England.  The  old  missals,  before  the  invention  of  the 
art  of  printing,  were  generally  written  in  the  roost  sump- 
tuous manner,  ornamented  with  beautiful  initials,  and 
most  si)lendidly  bound.  A  kiiul  of  large  Gothic  letters 
(monachal  writing),  for  the  writing  of  the  missals,  came 
into  use  in  tlie  loth  centurv.    After  the  invention  of  the 


Galilean  missals,  of  the  Gth  century,  contained  only  the  j  art  of  printing,  patterns  were  cut  after  these  letters, 
portion  of  the  liturgy  recited  by  a  bishop  or  priest— that  |  and  used  for  the  printing  of  missals ;  hence  the  name 


is,  the  canon,  prayers,  and  prefaces.  At  a  later  date, 
those  of  small  churches  comprised  the  Introit,  CJradual, 
Alleluia,  Tract,  Offertory,  Sanctus,  and  Communion, 
where,  although  there  were  a  deacon  and  subdeacoii, 
the  smallness  of  the  choir  required  the  celebrant  and  his 
two  assistants  to  chant  together. 

The  Missal  was  probably  compiled  near  the  close  of  the 
5th  century,  was  amplitied  by  Gelasius  I,  and  corrected 
by  pope  Gregory  I.  But,  although  the  IMissal  was  con- 
tained in  the  Gregorian  rite,  it  appeared  in  such  varied 
forms  in  different  churches,  and  frequently  with  so  many 
improper  additions,  that  the  wish  for  an  emendation  be- 
came general,  and,  having  been  expressed  at  the  Council 
of  Basle,  and  in  1536  at  a  synod  at  Cologne,  it  was  suc- 
cessfully urged  at  the  Coimcil  of  Trent.  During  the  early 
part  of  the  council  no  agreement  coidd  be  effected.  In  the 
eighteenth  session  a  commission  was  appointed,  which, 
however,  could  not  bring  to  an  end  the  work  intrusted 
to  it;  whereupon  the  council,  in  the  twenty-fifth  ses- 
sion, resolved  upon  recommending  to  the  pope  the  re- 
form of  the  Breviary,  IMissal,  and  Kituals.  As  the  ques- 
tion was  not  to  create  a  new  liturgy,  but  to  purify  the 
existing  one,  to  restore  it  to  its  original  simplicity,  etc., 
the  work  was  recommended  to  be  done  in  Home.  It  was 
commenced  under  Pius  lY,  and  completed  under  Pius  V. 
The  only  members  of  the  commission  whose  names  are 
known  are  cardinal  Bernardino  Scossi  and  Tomaso  Gol- 
duelli,  bishop  of  Asaph.  Perhaps  a  great  share  in  the 
execution  of  the  work  may  be  ascribed  to  cardinal  Sir- 
let  and  to  the  learned  Giulio  Poggi.  The  new  Missal 
appeared  in  1.570;  it  was  followed  by  two  revisions  un- 
der Clement  VIII  (buU  of  July  7,  lOO-l)  and  Urban  YIII 
(bull  of  Sept.  2, 1634).  It  is  composed  of  an  introduc- 
tion, three  parts,  and  an  appendix.  The  introduction 
gives  the  calendar,  the  general  rubrics,  a  summary  of 
the  rite,  and  instructions  about  possible  deficiencies. 
The  three  parts  are:  l."Proprium  missarum  de  tem- 
pore," with  the  formularies  for  the  successive  solemni- 
ties of  the  year.  It  treats  of  all  the  Smidays,  from  the 
first  Sunday  of  Advent  to  the  last  after  Pentecost.  The 
whole  ecclesiastical  year  pivots  around  the  three  capital 
feast-days:  Christmas,  Easter,  and  Pentecost — Easter 
being  tlie  centre.  Between  the  Saturday  before  Easter 
and  Easter  Sunday  the  Ordo  ^lissal  is  inserted.  2. 
"Proprium  missarum  de  Sanctis"  contains  the  formula- 
ries for  the  celebration  of  the  mass  on  particidar  feasts 
of  saints,  etc.  This  jiart  of  the  3Iiss.nl  is  arranged  after 
the  niinuhs  and  days  of  the  civil  year.  3.  "  (,'onimune 
sanctorum"  is  a  kind  of  complement  of  the  preceding 
for  such  saint-days  as  have  no  particular  mass-formular 
in  proprium.  Tlie  division  is  founded  on  the  character 
of  tlie  saint,  and  on  the  order  of  rank  as  given  by  the 
litany  of  All  Saints.  There  are  mass-formularies  for 
the  vigil  of  an  apostle-da}-,  for  the  days  of  the  martyrs. 


of  missal  letters  given  to  a  certain  kind  of  large  types. 
The  missal  of  the  Oriental  rites  differs  from  that  of  the 
Roman  Church,  each  having,  for  the  most  part,  its  own 
proper  form.  See  IIossltius,  Obseri-ationes;  Pisart,  £'a;- 
jwsitio  liitbicarum  missalis ;  Mohrenius,  KrpOs.  Missce 
atque  liiibicarum;  Iluebner,  Ilistoria  Miss(e;  Lewis, 
Bible,  Missal,  and  Brcviari) ;  Maskell,  Dissert,  ch.  iv,  p. 
xlix  sq.,  Ixix  sq. ;  Zaccaria,  Bibliollieca  Jiilualis,  i,  39 
sq. ;  Palmer,  Orii/ines  Liturgico',  i,  111,  308;  Walcott, 
Sacred  A  rchieohxjy.  s.  v. 

Missi  Dominici  is  the  name  of  a  class  of  extraor- 
dinary commissaries  sent  by  the  Carlovingian  dynasties 
to  different  parts  of  their  dominions  for  various  purposes 
of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  government.  The  importance 
of  these  officers  was  vastlj-  increased  by  Charles  the 
Great,  who  employed  them  as  an  efficacious  means  of 
restraining  the  dangerous  power  of  the  dukes;  but  the 
importance  thus  given  to  these  dignitaries  having  proved 
under  Pepin  to  be  dangerous  to  royal  authority,  Charles 
strove  to  -Nreaken  them,  and  destroy  their  power  alto- 
gether, by  transferring  their  supervisory  functions  over 
the  jurisdictions  of  the  counts,  tlie  administration  of  the 
bishops,  etc.,  to  the  missi  dominici.  The  whole  empire 
was  accordingly  divided  into  districts  (missatica,  lega- 
tiones),  coinciding  generally  with  the  province  of  a  met- 
ropolitan. The  missi  received  special  instructions  re- 
garding the  different  points  of  their  mission.  So  great 
was  the  imijortancc  the  emperor  attached  to  the  careful 
execution  of  his  designs,  that  to  the  written  instructions 
always  given  to  his  travelling  representatives,  he  fre- 
quently added  oral  explanation  and  discussion.  Thus 
the  missi  became  the  organ  by  which  the  central  au- 
thority managed  the  administration  of  the  whole  em- 
pire ;  and  there  was,  in  fact,  no  part  of  the  affairs  of  gov- 
ernment entirely  removed  from  their  comiietence.  Their 
principal  duties  were  as  follows:  (1)  To  see  that  the 
laws,  both  of  the  State  and  the  Church,  were  observed, 
(2)  To  superintend  jurisdiction.  In  whatever  cause  or 
suit  there  was  no  decision  given  by  the  court,  the  deci- 
sion was  expected  from  the  missi;  they  also  received 
complaints  against  the  courts.  To  that  effect  they 
held  sessions  four  times  every  year  in  different  places. 
Tliey  ajipointed  meVwres  et  reterions,  wliose  duty  it  was 
to  denounce  the  crimes,  transgressions,  etc.,  that  had 
transpired.  (3)  To  superintend  the  execution  of  the  laws 
regarding  the  army,  and  to  exact  the  line  of  sixty  solidi 
(heribannum)  from  the  defaulters.  (4)  To  generally 
super\-ise  the  possessions  of  the  State  and  of  the  Church, 
and  to  make  registers  and  descriptions  thcnof.  To 
carry  out  these  measures  tlie  missi  held  a  kind  of  diet 
(placita  proviiicia),  and  at  these  sessions  tlie  sujierior 
clergy,  the  counts,  and  some  other  officers,  were  obliged 
to  appear,  iindir  penalty  of  the  heribann.  Those  wlio 
persisted  in  their  refusal  were  denounced  to  the  king. 


MISSION 


343 


MISSION-SCHOOLS 


The  missi  were  expected  to  give  detailed  accounts  of 
their  mission  at  court.  In  difficult  matters,  of  which 
they  declined  to  take  the  responsibility,  the  decision 
was  left  to  the  king.  Every  one  to  whom  justice  had 
been  denied  by  the  court  and  the  missi  had  always  re- 
sort to  the  king.  In  order  to  give  the  missi  sufficient 
authority,  they  were  allowed  the  right  of  imposing  the 
fine  of  the  heribann ;  and  the  disobedient  were  threat- 
ened even  with  death.  Compensations  were  allowed 
them  for  the  expenses  of  their  travels.  See  Franc,  de 
Koye,  De  Missin  dominicis,  eorum  officio  et  potestate ; 
Neuhauss,  De  ]\[iss.  doinin.  ad  discijilin.  puhl,  (Leipsic, 
1744, 8vo).     (J.H.W.) 

Mission  is  the  word  used  by  Roman  Catholics,  An- 
glicans, and  American  Ritualists  in  a  sense  somewhat 
synonymous  to  the  word  Revival  (q.  v.).  Among  Ro- 
man Catholics  the  Mission  is  a  series  of  special  services, 
conducted  generally  by  propagandists,  who  do  not  them- 
selves preside  over  a  parish ;  they  are  mostly  members 
of  a  monastic  order.  The  word  "  Mission"  in  this  sense 
is  of  recent  use.  In  the  Church  of  England  and  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  the  word  designates  "a 
series  of  services  in  which  praj'er,  praise,  preaching,  and 
personal  exhortation  are  the  main  features,  and  is  in- 
tended to  call  souls  to  repentance  and  faith,  and  deepen 
the  spiritual  life  in  the  faithful."  The  "mission"  is 
conducted  in  a  particular  parish,  or  in  a  number  of 
parishes  at  once,  directed  by  the  rector,  or  by  some 
priest  experienced  in  such  matters,  whom  he  obtains  to 
aid  him.  "  Its  themes  are  heaven,  hell,  the  judgment, 
sin,  the  atonement  for  sin,  God's  justice,  and  God's 
mercy."  "  The  purpose  is  the  proclamation  of  the  old 
foundations  of  faith  and  repentance  to  souls  steeped 
in  worldliness  and  forgetful  of  their  destiny,  whether 
they  be  the  souls  of  the  baptized  or  the  unbaptized." 
The  usual  period  of  the  year  for  the  "  mission"  is  the 
season  of  Lent  (q.  v.).  In  England  it  has  been  tlie 
practice  for  years.  A  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Church  Journal  (March  12, 1874),  after  describing  the 
interest  awakened  by  the  mission  services  in  the  Eng- 
lish metropolis  (in  1874),  says  that  the  bishops,  persuad- 
ed by  the  good  results  of  the  propriety  of  the  missions, 
"  have  declined  to  lay  down  special  rules,  and  trust  to 
the  loyalty  of  the  clergy  to  conduct  the  mission  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  rules  of  the  Church,"  and  then  adds 
that  "  the  clergy  are  now  too  busy  with  the  real  work 
of  the  mission  to  discuss  the  proper  pronunciation  of 
'Amen,'  the  length  of  surplices,  and  the  color  of  stoles." 
In  the  United  States  it  has  as  yet  found  favor  with  few 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  churches.  A  serious  obsta- 
cle is  the  Liturgt/,  In  the  mission  the  largest  sponta- 
neity and  freedom  are  allowed.  Prayers  are  extempo- 
raneous. The  preaching  is  pungent  and  personal.  The 
singing  is  participated  in  by  the  whole  congregation, 
and  familiar  hymns  and  tunes  are  selected.  The  ten- 
dency is  towards  a  general  introduction  of  the  "  mis- 
sion" into  all  Protestant  Episcopal  churches.  The 
Church  Journal  and  Gospel  Messemjer  of  Dec.  25, 1873, 
made  a  special  plea  in  its  behalf,  and  the  Rev.  B.  P. 
Morgan  has  published  a  book  to  enlist  his  Church  in 
revival  work.     See  Retreat.     (J.  H.  AV.) 

Mission,  Inner.     See  Inner  Missions. 

Mission -Priests  is  the  name  by  which  those 
priests  of  Rome  are  designated  who  have  been  educated 
for  mission  work  at  home  or  abroad.  There  are  certain 
monastic  institutions  that  greatly  aid  in  this  work.  In- 
deed, several  monastic  orders  aim  particularly  at  mis- 
sionary work,  e.  g.  the  Conr/rer/ation  of  the  Oratory,  the 
Congregation  of  St.  Vincent  of  Paula,  or  Lazarists  (q.  v.), 
the  Congregation  of  the  Sacred  Sacraments,  the  Congre- 
gation of  Jesus  and  Mary  [see  Eudists],  etc. 

Mission-Schools.     These  are  of  two  kinds. 

(1.)  The  schools  aiming  to  supply  the  particular  want 
of  the  missionary  before  he  enters  the  field,  fitting  him 
in  his  theological  studies,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  lan- 
guages, etc.,  for  the  work  in  view.    This  class  of  schools 


have  been  but  recently  organized  .among  the  English- 
sj^eaking  people.  In  Germany  they  have  existed  for 
some  time.  Usually,  however,  the  course  of  study  is 
inferior  to  the  university  course  in  theology.  English 
and  American  schools  for  missionaries  seek  to  aftbrd  the 
best  advantages  possible.  Several  American  religious 
bodies  have  schools  for  the  training  of  native  missiona- 
ries in  the  country  where  they  are  to  labor.  Tluis,  for 
example,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  such  an 
institution  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  The  Church  of 
England  has  a  number  of  tliem,  particularly  in  India 
and  Africa.  In  the  United  States  there  are  facilities  for 
missionary  training  provided  at  Yale  College,  Boston 
University,  and  Syracuse  University.  The  different 
theological  seminaries  have  lectures  on  Missions  and 
on  Comparative  Religion  to  aid  those  preparing  for  the 
ministry  with  a  possibility  of  missionary  service. 

(2.)  Institutions  aiming  to  aid  the  missionary  in 
propagating  Christianity,  or  seeking  to  prepare  the  way 
by  educating  the  minds  of  the  people,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  more  capable  of  understanding  and  a])preciating 
the  facts  and  evidences,  the  doctrines  and  duties  of 
Scripture.  Another  reason  for  such  an  education  is 
that  it  procures  means  and  opens  ways  of  access  to  the 
people,  and  opportunities  of  preaching  to  them.  "Ig- 
norant of  God  and  his  law,  as  well  as  of  their  own,  and 
the  moral  character  of  the  world;  content  with  mental 
inactivity,  and  indifferent  to  moral  elevation ;  untaught 
in  the  principles  of  science,  and  fast  bound  in  errors 
venerated  for  their  antiquity ;  vicious  in  their  habits, 
and  absorbed  in  sensual  indulgences;  accustomed  to  the 
profane  rites  of  religions  glittering  yet  grovelling,  and 
degrading  yet  commanding  and  terrible — the  heathen 
nations  are  unprepared  to  listen  to  the  annunciation  of 
glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  to  appreciate  the  (ios- 
pel  as  proclaiming  deliverance  from  the  dominion  of  sin 
and  death.  .  .  .  The  stupidity  of  the  Hottentot,  the  sen- 
suality of  the  Hindu,  the  prejudice  of  the  IMohammedan, 
the  ancestral  pride  of  the  '  son  of  heaven,'  and  the  sot- 
tishness  of  the  South  Sea  Islander,  alike  interpose  a 
wall  high  as  heaven  between  the  Christian  missionary 
and  the  child  of  ignorance"  (Dr.  Storrs,  Sermon  hefore 
the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  in  1850).  In  such  circumstances 
schools  become  very  important  as  a  means  of  communi- 
cation with  different  classes  of  people,  with  children  and 
parents,  with  men  and  women.  JMission-schools,  there- 
fore, are  a  wise  and  most  effective  agency  in  pmsecuiing 
the  missionary  work.  They  communicate  true  science, 
and  thus  undermine  the  errors  of  heathenism ;  they  in- 
spire and  foster  a  love  for  liuowledge,  and  thus  help  to 
overcome  the  deep  debasement  of  the  heathen  mind 
and  heart.  They  conciliate  the  favorable  regards  of 
the  heathen,  convincing  them  that  the  missionary  seeks 
to  benefit  them,  and  thus  furnish  an  opportunity  for  the 
systematic  instruction  of  youth  and  children  in  the 
principles  of  Christianity.  These  mission-schools  have 
been  of  different  grades,  according  to  the  circumstances 
and  requirements  of  the  case.  Boys^  schools  have  usu- 
allj'  been  found  most  practicable,  especially  at  the  com- 
mencement of  a  mission,  and  most  effective  for  accom- 
plishing the  objects  in  view.  The  heathen  readily  ap- 
preciate the  value  of  education  for  their  boys,  and  both 
the  pupils  and  their  parents  are  usually  found  as  hear- 
ers at  preaching  services.  Girls'  schools  were  of  neces- 
sity a  later  supply,  for  these  find  the  strongest  preju- 
dices of  the  heathen  to  contend  with.  Woman  is  of  an 
inferior  condition ;  she  is  secluded,  and  no  foreigner 
surely  is  to  have  access  to  her;  hence  girls'  schools  are 
usually  established  after  other  schools  have  succeeded  in 
winning  confidence  and  making  the  natives  understand 
the  true  objects  of  the  mission.  Indeed,  in  heathen 
communities,  whenever  an  attempt  was  made  to  estab- 
lish female  schools  at  the  outset  of  the  mission,  great 
prejudice  and  misapprehension  have  been  the  conse- 
quence, often  seriously  embarrassing  the  progress  of  all 
mission  work.  There  is  hardly  a  field  occupied  for  mis- 
sionary labor  but  within  its  territory  schools  are  located 


MISSIONS 


344 


and  in  successful  operation.  As  a  rule,  female  teachers  I 
are  emyjloyed ;  generally  the  wives  of  the  missionaries 
or  their  laily  friends.  Of  course  all  missionary  workers  i 
are  Christians,  holding  a  coiniection  with  some  religious 
body.  The  most  successful  schools  are  now  found  in 
India  (see  Butler,  Lund  of  the  Veda).  In  China  and 
Japan  there  are  several  in  successfid  operation.  In  Con-  | 
stantinoplc,  the  American  Hobcrts  College  may  be  looked 
upon  as  a  valuable  auxiliarj'  of  Christian  mission  work. 
In  Beirut  also  there  is  an  American  college  greatly  aid-  j 
ing  the  Protestant  cause.  In  Africa,  where  the  people 
to  be  converted  are  in  a  very  abject  state  of  mind,  mis-  | 
sionaries  have  largely  availed  themselves  of  educational 
aids.  ^lany  of  the  most  successful  mission-workers  ad- 
vocate the  building  up  of  schools  as  a  very  essential  step 
to  progress  in  converting  the  heathen  world,  and  to  this 
end  missionary  societies  are  founding  schools  in  their  re- 
spective fields.  In  the  heathen  world  evidently  tlie  sec- 
ular school  supplies  the  same  want  that  is  afforded  us  in 
the  religious  scliool,  better  known  as  the  Snnday-School. 
See  A  merican  Bible  liepositort/,  xii,  87 ;  Christian  liev. 
V,  580.     (J.H.W.) 

Missions.  True  Christianity  is  essentially  mis- 
sionary in  character.  Tlie  Gospel  having  been  designed 
for  all  nations,  and  its  field  being  the  world,  it  was  from 
the  first  associated  with  means  for  its  own  extension. 
In  a  highly  important  sense,  the  Lord  Jesus  may  be 
considered  the  first  missionary.  He  was  sent  by  the 
Eternal  Father  to  set  up  his  own  kingdom  upon  the 
earth.  The  patriarchs,  and  all  faithful  priests  and  proph- 
ets among  the  Jews,  were  agents  preparatory  to  the  in- 
troduction of  that  kingdom.  Having  called  disciples 
and  established  a  Church,  the  risen  Saviour,  before  his 
ascension,  commissioned  his  chosen  apostles,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  great  body  of  the  disciples,  the  then  existing 
Church.  To  them,  as  the  leaders  and  representatives 
of  the  actual  and  the  prospective  Church,  he  addressed 
the  great  missionary  command,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature." 

Christ's  mission  had  been  to  the  Jews.  He  said,  "  I 
am  not  sent  but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel." 
The  apostles  were  sent  to  the  Jews  and  (ientiles.  "  The 
Acts  of  the  Apostles"  is  the  first  official  missionary  re- 
port—the first  volume  of  missionary  history ;  unless,  in- 
deed, it  rank  second,  as  it  is  subsequent  to  the  Gospel 
history  of  him  '•  who  went  about  doing  good."  So  vast 
has  been  the  expansion  of  the  missionary  enterprise 
since  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  and  so  voluminous  have  become  its  records, 
that  this  article  is  of  necessity  limited  to  a  very  brief 
sketch  of  the  subject  as  a  whole.  Nevertheless,  the  de- 
sign of  the  article  is  to  give,  in  the  briefest  practicable 
space,  a  just  and  duly  proportioned  view  of  the  principal 
missionary  agencies  of  successive  periods,  and  some  in- 
dication of  their  results,  together  with  references  to  the 
sources  of  more  detailed  information. 

There  are  two  leading  modes  of  studying  the  subject 
of  missions.  The  first  regards  primarily  the  agencies 
employed,  following  them  to  their  different  fields  of  ac- 
tion. The  second  contemplates  in  succession  the  sev- 
eral fields,  where  necessarily  it  gives  attention  to  the 
different  agencies  employed  upon  them.  Each  mode 
has  some  peculiar  advantages,  as  well  as  defects  or  diffi- 
cidties,  and  both  are  essential  to  a  full  comprehension 
of  the  sid)ject.  They  will  consequciuly  be  followed  in 
the  order  named.  As  a  natural  guide  to  study  and  help 
to  memorj',  the  order  of  time  will  be  followed  in  the 
survey  of  missionary  agencies. 

I.  Apostidic  MtMions.—lt  is  safe  to  affirm  that  no  just 
or  adequate  comprehension  of  the  New-Testament  his- 
tory can  be  gained  by  any  one  who  does  not  read  or 
study  it  from  a  missionary  point  of  view.  But  when, 
in  the  light  of  their  great  commission,  the  apostles  are 
regarded  as  Christian  missionaries  going  fortli  to  evan- 
gelize the  nations,  not  only  the  narrative  of  their  Ada 
or  doings,  but  their  epistles  to  the  churches  whicli  they 
planted  and  trained,  become  instructive,  both  as  to  their 


MISSIONS 

of  proceeding,  their  difficulties,  and  their  suc- 


Paul,  as  the  apostle  to  the  (Jentiles,  stands  forth  in 
deserved  prominence  as  a  model  missionary.  Although 
originally  a  relentless  persecutor  of  the  Christians,  he 
experienced  a  thorough  spiritual  conversion,  and  thus 
became  '"a  new  man  in  Clirist  Jesus."  Having  been 
called  of  (iod  to  be  an  apostle  or  missionary'  of  Jesus 
Christ,  he  "  conferred  not  with  fiesh  and  blood,"  he 
'■  counted  not  his  life  dear  unto  him,"  but  went  forth 
preaching  the  everlasting  Gospel  wherever  he  could  find 
hearers,  encountering  perils  of  robbers,  perils  by  his  own 
coinitrymen,  perils  by  the  heathen,  perils  in  the  city, 
perils  in  the  wilderness,  and  perils  among  false  breth- 
ren (2  Cor.  xi,  20) ;  nevertheless  winning  souls  taKJhrist, 
rescuing  communities  from  paganism,  founding  churches, 
training  ministers,  and  at  length  finishing  his  course  with 
ji)y,  having  won  both  the  martyr's  crown  and  the 
crown  of  eternal  life.  Until  the  consummation  of  all 
thuigs,  the  study  of  Paul's  missionary  character,  trav- 
els, and  labors,  will  be  a  standard  and  [irolitable  topic  for 
all  who  desire  to  comprehend  the  true  principles,  agen- 
cies, and  measures  of  Christian  propagandism.  In  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  Church  it  will  be  found  that 
all  departures  from  the  spirit  of  his  example  have  been 
aberrations  from  the  line  of  true  success;  whereas  ef- 
forts put  forth  from  similar  motives  and  in  a  like  spirit 
have  been  invariably  attended  by  the  divine  blessing 
and  the  salvation  of  men. 

But  although  prominent  as  the  founder  of  the  infant 
Church  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  Koman  empire,  and 
although,  for  some  wise  but  not  easily  comprehended 
reason,  his  successive  missionary- journeys  chiefly  occupy 
the  sacred  narrative,  yet  Paul  was  only  one  of  the  noble 
band  of  apostolic  missionaries.  I'eter  was  the  acknowl- 
edged leader  of  the  opening  mission  of  the  infant  Church 
to  Jerusalem,  and  afterwards  of  missionary  efforts  in  be- 
half of  Jews  throughout  the  world.  Not  only  was  he 
the  chief  actor  in  the  scenes  of  the  Pentecost,  but  he 
laid  the  foundation  for  missions  to  the  Gentiles  by  bap- 
tizing the  centurion  Cornelius  and  other  Gentiles  at  Cfcs- 
area.  According  to  Origen  and  Eusebius,  he  preached 
to  the  Jews  scattered  in  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia, 
Asia,  and  Bitliynia.  Many  scholars  have  become  satis- 
fied that  his  mission  extended  to  Babylon,  on  the  Eu- 
phrates, while  the  general  voice  of  antiquity  ascribes  to 
him  a  martyr's  death  at  Home.  Whatever  may  have 
been  true  as  to  his  actual  jjrcsence  at  those  extreme 
points  of  the  East  and  the  West,  his  general  epistles 
sufficiently  demonstrate  his  personal  acquaintance,  as 
well  as  ministerial  authority,  in  vast  regions  interme- 
diate. 

Next  to  that  of  Peter  we  recognise  the  prominence 
of  the  apostle  John,  who,  after  protracted  labors  among 
the  Jews  in  Palestine,  took  up  his  abode  at  Epliesus, 
from  which  centre  he  exercised  supervision  of  the 
churches  of  Asia  Minor  till  the  period  of  his  exile  to 
Patmos,  whence  he  yet  speaks  to  the  churches. 

As  to  the  other  apostles,  neither  Scri]iture  nor  history 
gives  definite  information,  but  early  and  uncontradicted 
tradition  assigns  them  severally  to  important  and  wide- 
spread mission  fields.  According  to  the  general  voice 
'  of  antifpiity,  James  the  Just  remained  at  Jerusalem. 
Andrew  preached  in  Scythia,  Thrace,  Jlacedonia.  'ihcs- 
saly,  and  Achaia ;  Philip  in  Upper  Asia.  Scythia,  and 
Phrygia,  where  he  suffered  martyrdom.  Bartholomew 
penetrated  India.  Thomas  visited  Jledia  and  Persia, 
and  possibly  the  coast  of  Coroniandel  and  the  i^lan<l  of 
Ceylon.  Matthew  went  to  Ethiopia,  Parthia,  and  Abys- 
I  sinia ;  Simon  Zeloles  to  Egypt,  Cyrene,  Lybia,  and  Mau- 
Iritaiiia;  and  Jude  to  (Jalilee,  Samaria,  Iduma?a,  and 
'  ^lesopotamia.  Whatever  of  literal  friUh  is  embodied 
in  the  traditions  (pioted.  they  at  least  show  that  the 
j  grand  missionary  idea  was  associatcil  with  the  history 
of  tiie  several  apostles  from  the  earliest  period;  and, 
taken  in  connection  with  known  residts,  they  leave  no 
I  doubt  that  the  lives  of  those  chosen  men  were  spent  iu 


MISSIONS 


345 


MISSIONS 


zealous  and  self-sacrificing  efforts  for  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel.  Nor  was  this  true  only  of  the  apostles,  but  also 
of  the  Christian  believers  of  that  period  generally,  who, 
when  even  scattered  by  persecution,  "  went  everywhere 
preaching  the  word"  (Acts  viii,  4).  On  no  other  hy- 
pothesis than  that  of  universal  missionary  activity  on 
the  part  of  both  ministers  and  members  of  the  Church 
of  the  apostles  and  their  immediate  successors,  attended 
also  by  the  divine  blessing,  is  it  possible  to  account  for 
the  extensive  spread  of  early  Christianity.  During  the 
last  sixty  years  of  the  1st  century  the  new  religion  be- 
came diffused,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  throughout 
the  numerous  countries  embraced  in  the  Roman  empire, 
inclusive  of  Egypt,  Northern  Africa,  Spain,  Gaul,  and 
Britain.  As  a  direct  result  of  the  apostolic  missions, 
the  Christian  Church  is  supposed  to  have  contained  in 
the  year  100  half  a  million  of  living  members,  those  of 
the  tirst  and  second  generations  having  mostly  gone  for- 
ward to  join  the  Church  triumphant. 

The  churches  of  the  present  and  the  future  will  find 
the  most  important  lessons  as  to  their  responsibilities 
and  duties  in  the  history  of  apostolic  missions.  It  may 
also  be  said  that  modern  missions,  and  the  comparatively 
recent  development  of  the  missionary  spirit,  have  thrown 
much  light  upon  the  instrumentalities  by  which  Chris- 
tianity was  tirst  established  in  the  earth,  and  by  which 
it  was  designed  to  become  universal.  From  both  classes 
of  events  it  appears  that  consecrated  men  and  consecrat- 
ed means  are  the  active  agencies  to  be  employed  for 
the  establishment  of  Christ's  kingdom  upon  the  earth; 
and  that  these  combined,  under  the  guidance  and  bless- 
ing of  the  Head  of  the  Church,  may  be  expected  to  tri- 
umph over  the  most  frigid  indifference  and  the  most 
violent  opposition. 

In  the  penury,  the  obscurity,  and  the  lack  of  facil- 
ities of  the  early  Church,  the  work  of  promoting  the 
salvation  of  men,  and  of  extending  the  truth,  was  one 
of  individual  and  personal  exertion,  supplemented,  of 
course,  by  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  At  tirst 
there  were  no  churches  for  public  assembly,  no  books 
for  auxiUary  influence,  no  organizations  for  the  support 
of  missionaries,  home  or  foreign.  Nevertheless,  regen- 
erated men  ^vent  everywhere  preaching  the  word.  They 
founded  churches  wherever  the  word  was  received  by 
believers,  and  the  members  of  the  churches  were  taught 
to  sustain  those  who  labored  among  them  in  the  Lord, 
and  also  to  let  the  riches  of  their  liberahty  abound,  even 
out  of  their  deep  poverty,  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
Gospel.  They  were  also  taught  the  duty  of  constant 
prayer,  not  only  for  one  another,  but  especially  that  the 
word  of  God  might  have  free  course  and  be  glorified, 
and  that  God  would  open  to  his  servants  a  door  of  ut- 
terance to  speak  the  mystery  of  Christ  (2  Thess.  iii,  1 ; 
Col.  iv,  3).  Thus  the  whole  Apostolic  Church  Avas  an 
agency  for  self-extension,  and  for  the  propagation  of 
the  truth.  Though  public  preaching  was  practiced  to 
the  greatest  extent  practicable,  yet  the  inference  is  in- 
evitable that  the  extension  of  Christian  truth  was  ac- 
complished largely  by  means  of  personal  influence  in 
conversation,  example,  and  private  persuasion.  In  this 
way  all  could  be  "  helpers  of  the  truth."  And  by  pub- 
lic and  private  means,  united  and  in  constant  action, 
Christianity  was  diffused,  notwithstanding  the  appar- 
ently insuperable  obstacles  that  confronted  it  on  every 
liand.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  had  the 
true  character  of  the  Apostolic  Church  been  preserved, 
and  its  singleness  of  missionary  aim  and  action  been 
maintained,  the  development  of  Christianity  in  the 
world  would  have  been  constant,  if  not  rapid,  and  that 
long  ere  this  the  remotest  nations  would  have  been 
evangelized. 

II.  Ancient  Missions.— JJndcT  this  head,  allusion  will 
be  made  to  the  aggressive  movements  of  the  Church 
between  the  apostolic  and  medieval  periods.  That  the 
2d  and  3d  centuries  witnessed  great  missionary  activity 
on  the  part  of  Christians  in  the  countries  to  which  ac- 
cess could  be  secured,  is  proved  not  only  by  the  multi- 


plication of  their  numbers  and  influence,  but  by  the 
bloody  persecutions  that  were  waged  against  them  un- 
der successive  Roman  emperors.  Owing  to  various 
causes  there  have  come  down  to  us  but  few  details  of 
the  precise  work  that  was  done,  or  of  the  modes  in  ^vhich 
it  was  done.  It  is,  however,  but  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  apostolic  measures  and  usages  were,  during  the 
earlier  parts  of  this  period,  quite  in  the  ascendant.  Eu- 
sebius  says  that  "  the  followers  of  the  apostles  imitated 
their  example  in  distributing  their  worldly  goods  among 
necessitous  believers,  and,  quitting  their  own  countrv, 
went  forth  into  distant  lands  to  propagate  the  Gos- 
pel." It  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  2d  century  that 
the  younger  Pliny,  governor  of  Bithynia,  after  official 
investigation,  made  to  the  emperor  Trajan  his  celebrated 
report  concerning  the  customs  and  prevalence  of  the 
Christians.  Said  he,  "  Slany  persons,  of  all  ages,  of  ev- 
ery rank,  and  of  both  sexes,  likewise  are  accused,  and 
will  be  accused  [of  Christianity].  Nor  has  the  conta- 
gion of  this  superstition  pervaded  cities  only,  but  the 
villages  and  open  country."  The  allegations  of  this 
persecutor  of  Christians,  in  respect  to  the  numbers  ac- 
cused of  Christianity,  are  corroborated  by  various  state- 
ments of  Christians  themselves.  Justin  ISIartyr,  writing 
about  one  hundred  and  six  years  after  the  ascension, 
says, "  There  is  not  a  nation,  either  of  Greek  or  barba- 
rian, or  of  any  other  name,  even  of  those  who  wander 
in  tribes  and  live  in  tents,  among  Avhora  prayers  and 
tjianksgivings  are  not  offered  to  the  Father  and  Creator 
of  the  universe  in  the  name  of  the  crucified  Jesus." 
TertuUian,  in  his  Apology,  written  fifty  years  later, 
says,  "  Though  of  yesterday,  we  have  filled  every  sphere 
of  life:  cities,  castles,  islands,  towns ;  the  exchange,  the 
very  camps,  the  plebeian  populace,  the  seats  of  judges, 
the  imperial  palace,  and  the  forum."  When  it  is  re- 
membered that  these  results  had  been  attained  in  the 
face  of  persecution,  and  in  spite  of  tortures  and  martyr- 
dom, no  other  comment  is  needed  upon  the  missionary 
diligence  and  devotedness  of  those  who  were  the  agents 
of  such  wide-spread  and  effective  evangelization.  In 
harmony  with  measures  of  this  character  was  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Scriptures  into  several  important  lan- 
guages, as  the  Latin,  the  Syriac,  the  Ethiopian,  and  the 
Egyptian.  In  the  absence  of  statistics,  which  were 
then  impossible,  all  attempts  to  estimate  numbers  must 
be  chiefly  based  upon  probabilities.  Yet  some  have  es- 
timated that  the  number  of  Christians  at  the  end  of  the 
2d  century  was  not  less  than  two  millions,  and  increased 
during  the  3d  century  to  perhaps  twice  that  number. 

The  opening  of  the  4th  century,  A.D.  313,  witnessed 
the  issue  of  Constantine's  edict  of  toleration,  an  event 
which  shows  about  as  conclusively  as  figures  could  the 
continuous  growth  of  Christian  influence  and  numl)ers. 
That  edict  was  proclaimed  in  immediate  sequence  of  the 
viVa  Martyrium,  the  Diocletian  persecution — the  tenth 
in  the  series  of  those  fierce  attacks  upon  the  non-offend- 
ing and  non-resisting  followers  of  Christ,  which  success- 
ively proved  that  "  the  blood  of  the  martjTS  was  the 
seed  of  the  Church."  As  the  edict  referred  to  suppressed 
official  persecution  in  all  parts  of  the  empire,  it  may  be 
regarded  as  in  itself  an  umningled  blessing,  a  recogni- 
tion of  an  indefeasible  right  of  humanity,  and  all  that 
Christianity  needed  on  the  part  of  the  world  for  further 
advancement  and  complete  success.  AYhen  the  way  of 
the  Lord  had  been  thus  prepared,  through  so  much  toU 
and  suffering,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  thencefon\ard 
the  cause  of  Christian  truth  would  be  advanced  with 
accumulated  moral  and  spiritual  power.  It  is,  however, 
a  sad,  but,  in  the  history  of  missions,  a  usually  over- 
looked fact,  that  the  very  period  at  which  so  much  had 
been  gained,  and  from  which  so  much  was  to  be  hoped 
in  the  legitimate  extension  of  Christianity,-witnessed 
the  development  of  agencies  and  influences  that  antag- 
onized the  peculiar  aims  of  the  Gospel  and  marred  its 
missionary  character,  sowing  throughout  the  extended 
field  of  its  influence  the  seeds  of  premature  and  almost 
fatal  decav.    The  circumstance  of  these  hifluences  being 


mssiONS 


346 


MISSIONS 


more  or  less  antagonistic  to  each  other  did  not  relieve  1 
their  evil  effect,  but  rather  increased  their  power,  as  mul-  ! 
tiplied  diseases  sooner  reduce  the  vital  energies  of  the  , 
human  system.     Had  there  been  no  previous  depart-  i 
ures  from  the  true  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  and  had  the  ^ 
Christians  of  the  4th  century  been  content  to  rely  on 
spiritual  agencies  for  the  promotion  of  Christianity,  the 
advantages  which  followed  the  professed  conversion  of 
Constantine  might  in  all  probability  have  tended  to  ex- 
tend and  consolidate  a  pure  t\-pe  of  Christianity.     But, 
unhaiipily,  insidious  influences  had  alreadj-  been  initiat- 
ed, wliicli,  in  the  sunshine  of  apparent  prosperity,  grew 
•with  the  rankness  and  rapidity  of  noxious  weeds.     Of 
these  influences,  allusion  can  only  be  made  summarily 
to  doctrinal  errors,  monasticism,  and  worldly  conformity. 
It  was  not  merely  that  Docctism,  Ebionism,  Gnosticism, 
Montanism,  Arianism,  and  other  heresies  induced  bitter  j 
and  i.rotracted  controversies,  thus  dividing  the  Church 
with  jiartisan  strife,  but  they  absorbed  the  thought  and 
energies  of  thousands  of  professed  Christian  ministers, 
who  ought  to  liave  been  exclusively  engaged  in  preach- 
ing tlie  Gospel.     So  when,  in  the  2d  century,  the  doc- 
trine of  a  Christian  priestliood  began  to  be  developed 
with  an  attempted  imitation  of  the  Jewish,  the  evil  was 
not  merely  the  diversion  of  ministerial  talent  from  the 
one  work  of  preaching  and  teaching  in  the  name  of 
Christ  to  a  burdensome  routine  of  ritual  ceremonies,  but 
a  ilirect  step  towards  conformity  with  certain  pagan  the- 
ories and  practices  which  in  later  periods  were  put  for- 
ward as  elements  of  Christianity  itself. 

As  it  has  often  been  asserted,  and  indeed  extensively 
believed,  that  tlie  world  owes  something  to  monasticism 
in  consideration  of  certain  missionary  labors  conducted 
by  members  of  monastic  orders,  it  seems  proper  to  set 
fortli  the  true  bearing  of  that  subject,  from  which  it  will 
appear  that  monasticism  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  earliest 
antl  greatest  hindrances  to  the  missionary  development 
of  the  Church,  and  that  whatever  good  was  subsequently 
done  by  missionaries  who  were  monks  was  done  by  force 
of  Christian  impulse  or  character,  in  direct  contraven- 
tion of  the  sjnrit  and  intent  of  monasticism.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  dwell  upon  the  historic  fact  that  monasti- 
cism existed  in  the  far  East  as  a  heathen  practice  ante- 
rior to  the  Christian  xra.  The  first  strictly  ascetic  sect 
in  tlie  Church  was  that  of  the  Montanists,  which  arose 
in  I'lirygia  al)out  A.D.  150,  from  Montanus,  who  had 
been  \)r(vlously  a  priest  of  the  heathen  deity  Cybelc. 
During  the  "Jd  and  3d  centuries  a  growing  disposition 
manifested  itself  in  the  Church  to  exaggerate  the  virtue 
of  fasting,  and  to  attach  special  merit  to  celibacy,  spe- 
cially among  the  clergy.  Vows  of  celibacy  began  to  be 
taken  by  persons  of  both  sexes,  in  the  idea  that  such  a 
life  was  more  holy  than  that  of  wedlock.  About  the 
year  A.D.  2oO  the  Decian  persecution  raged  with  ex- 
treme severity  in  Upper  Egypt,  causing  many  to  flee 
for  their  lives  to  deserts  and  secluded  places.  Already 
the  minds  of  many  Christians  in  Egypt  had  been  pre- 
disposed to  asceticism  by  the  writings  of  Clement,  Ori- 
gen,  and  Dionysius  of  Alexandria.  Under  a  combina- 
tion of  these  and  similar  influences,  many  persons  who 
ought  to  have  been  contending  earnestly  for  "  the  faitli 
once  delivered  to  the  saints"  withdrew  themselves  from 
society,  and  wasted  their  lives  in  idleness,  and  in  useless 
struggles  with  the  phantoms  of  their  own  excited  imag- 
inations. The  true  spirit  of  Christianity  would  have 
given  them  courage  to  face  danger,  and  doubtless  have 
enabled  them  in  many  cases  to  win  even  their  persecu- 
tors to  the  faith.  liut  the  impulse  of  cowardice,  whether 
moral  or  ]ihysieal,  is  contagious;  hence  midtitudes  of 
well-meaning  but  weak  persons  abandoned  scenes  of 
Christian  conflict,  and  betook  themselves  to  desert  soli- 
tudes and  caves  of  the  mountains.  At  first  they  lived 
as  hermits,  and  sought  by  means  of  labor  to  provide  for 
themselves,  and  to  devote  a  surplus  of  their  earnings  to 
charitable  objects.  By  degrees  the  austerities  of  some 
won  for  them  notoriety,  and  caused  them  to  become  ob- 
jects of  charity,  and  even  of  superstitious  reverence. 


among  the  ignorant.  Thus  such  men  as  Anthony  of 
Egypt,  Paul  of  Thebes,  Hilariou  of  Palestine,  and  oth- 
ers, became  severally  the  centres  of  great  communities 
of  men,  who  might  at  their  homes  or  in  mission  fields 
have  been  very  useful,  but  who  now  wasted  their  lives 
in  idleness  and  self-mortifications,  to  the  disgrace  of  the 
Christianity  which  they  professed.  Pacliomius,  origi- 
nally a  soldier,  but  afterwards  an  anchoret,  developed  a 
certain  organizing  power  by  gathering  his  imitators  out 
of  their  individual  huts  into  a  canohium,  or  community 
residence,  thus  founding  the  first  Christian  monastery. 
It  was  at  Tabenna,  an  island  of  the  Nile.  Pacliomius 
also  founded  cloisters  for  nuns;  and  the  members  of  his 
community,  during  his  lifetime,  reached  the  large  num- 
ber of  3000.  By  the  middle  of  the  5th  century  this 
order  of  monks  alone,  and  there  were  various  others, 
had  attained  the  great  number  of  50,000.  From  this 
brief  statement  as  an  index  let  the  mind  of  the  reader 
survey  the  vast  expansion  of  the  monastic  idea  and  of 
monastic  ambition  as  orders  of  monks  became  multiplied 
and  powerful,  S[)reading  themselves  throughout  Europe 
and  the  East  during  the  long  period  of  fifteen  centuries. 
See  Bexedictines;  Cau.melites;  Cautiiisiaxs;  Do- 
minicans; Jesuits;  Monasticism;  Monks;  etc.  Con- 
sidering the  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  even  millions, 
of  persons  whose  lives  were  by  this  unscriptural  and 
unnatural  system  withdrawn  from  spheres  of  Christian 
usefulness  in  society  and  in  mission  fields  to  profitless 
and  often  degrading  austerities,  to  say  nothing  of  worse 
excesses  that  sometimes  ibllowed  in  its  train,  it  is  easy 
to  perceive  that  monasticism  acted  as  a  gigantic  and 
wide-spread  antagonism  to  the  evangelization  i:)f  the 
world.  It  may  be  assumed  that  the  persons  embraced 
within  its  influence  meant  well,  and  as  a  rule  lived  up 
to  the  theories  of  which  they  were  the  victims.  But 
how  different  might  have  been  the  position  and  influ- 
ence of  the  Christian  Church  had  the  lives  and  sacri- 
fices of  all  those  jiersons  been  applied  in  accordance  with 
the  .Saviour's  precept, "  (Jo  teach  all  nations." 

While,  therefore,  monasticism  was  decimating  the 
Church  by  the  profitless  seclusion  of  thousands  of  its 
best  members,  worldly  conformity,  on  the  other  hand, 
came  into  the  Church  like  a  flood,  with  the  elevation  of 
many  of  the  clergy  to  imperial  favor.  Thus  the  ancient 
Church,  instead  of  remaining  a  unit  in  its  zeal  and  ef- 
forts for  the  conversion  of  the  world,  became  embar- 
rassed by  two  opposite  and  equally  injurious  systems  of 
error  and  practice,  both  alike  fatal  to  its  missionary  faith- 
fulness and  progress.  To  this  day  the  (ireek  Church  re- 
mains under  the  incubus  of  the  monastic  system  fastened 
upon  it  at  that  early  period,  while  the  Latin  Church 
soon  after  became  so  closely  identified  with  secular 
power  that,  although  it  resumed  propagandism,  it  prac- 
ticed it  with  motives  and  measures  often  highly  excep- 
tionable, and  thus  contaminated  and  enfeebled  the 
Christianity  it  disseminated.  "In  regard  to  missions, 
the  inaction  of  the  Eastern  churches  is  well  known.  As 
a  general  rule,  they  have  remained  content  with  tlie 
maintenance  of  their  own  customs."  '•  The  ]ireacliing 
of  Ulphilas  to  the  (loths,  of  the  Xestorian  missions  in 
Asia,  of  Iiussia  in  Siberia  and  the  Aleutian  Islands,  are 
I  but  striking  exceptions.  The  conversiim  of  the  Itussian 
I  nation  w.-is  effected,  not  by  the  preaching  of  the  Byzan- 
tine clergy,  but  by  the  marriage  of  a  Byzantine  ]>rin- 
j  cess.  In  the  midst  of  the  IMohammedan  East  the  (ireek 
I  popidations  remain  like  islands  in  the  barren  sea.  and 
the  Bedouin  tribes  have  wandered  for  twelve  centuries 
round  the  (ireek  convent  of  Blount  Sinai,  probably  with- 
out one  instance  of  conversion  to  the  creed  of  men  whom 
they  yet  acknowledge  with  almost  religious  veneration 
as  lieiugs  from  a  higher  world"  (Stanlej',  Kttst<n)  C/i.). 

In  taking  a  liistorical  view,  however  brief,  of  the 
Christian  missions  of  successive  ages,  it  seems  desirable 
to  exercise  charity  in  tlie  largest  degree  consistent  with 
truth.  And,  in  fact,  great  allowance  must  be  made  for 
the  ignorance  and  difliculties  of  ancient  and  mediicval 
times.     Nevertheless,  in  the  light  of  the  Saviour's  ride, 


MISSIONS 


347 


MISSIONS 


"  by  their  fruits  shall  ye  know  them,"  it  is  necessary  to 
concede  that  much  in  ecclesiastical  history  that  has 
passed  for  Christianity  is  scarcely  less  than  a  caricature 
of  the  reality.  So  of  missionary  propagandism  and  the 
conversion  of  nations,  it  must  be  confessed  that  many 
familiar  and  comprehensive  phrases,  such  as  the  "  con- 
version of  the  Koman  empire,"  '•  the  conversion  of  the 
Northern  nations,"  "  the  conversion  of  Germany,"  "  of 
Toland,"  "  of  Norway,"  etc.,  can  only  signify  nominal 
conversion,  and  such  outward  changes  as  might  take 
place  wholly  apart  from  the  intiuence  of  that  true  faith 
which  "  works  by  love  and  purities  the  heart."  While, 
therefore,  facts  may  be  mentioned  as  they  are  repre- 
sented to  us  in  history,  a  careful  judgment  will  discrim- 
inate as  to  their  true  moral  or  evangelical  significance. 
Nor  must  the  important  consideration  be  overlooked 
that  God,  who  can  make  the  wrath  of  man  praise  him, 
and  overrule  the  most  untoward  events  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  own  glory,  could,  and  doubtless  did, 
override  much  that  was  imperfect,  and  even  censurable, 
in  the  mode  of  promoting  a  nominal  Christianity  for  the 
ultimate  furtherance  of  the  trutli. 

III.  Period  and  Ekmenis  of  Transition. — There  is  no 
positive  line  of  demarcation  between  the  ancient  and 
the  mediceval  churches.  Indeed  writers  never  cease  to 
differ  in  regard  to  the  limits  assigned  to  each.  In  point 
of  fact,  the  former  gradually  and  almost  insensibly 
blended  into  the  latter;  but,  in  a  missionary  point  of 
view,  we  are  forced  to  consider  the  ancient  Church  as 
coming  to  a  close  when  her  purity  and  her  aggressive- 
ness began  simultaneously  to  declme.  During  the  first 
three  centuries  Christianity  maintained  a  complete  an- 
tagonism to  false  religions  and  pagan  worship  in  all  its 
forms.  Conversions  to  Christianity  were  individual,  not 
national;  the  new  faith  made  its  way  upward  from  the 
humbler  strata  of  society  to  the  higher,  from  the  Cata- 
combs to  the  palace,  till  at  length  the  number  of  con- 
verts became  too  great  and  too  influential  to  be  ignored 
either  by  emperors  or  by  senates.  In  the  4th  century 
we  have  the  example  of  the  emperor  Constantine,  as 
yet  unbaptized,  taking  an  active  part  in  preaching  and 
in  the  councils  of  the  Church;  and  subsequently  the 
leading  missionary  efforts  were  specially  addressed  to 
kings  and  princes,  to  whose  determination  their  subjects 
were  expected  to  conform. 

One  of  the  saddest  aspects  of  the  closing  period  of  the 
ancient  Church  appeared  in  tlie  growing  tendency  on 
the  part  of  the  clergy  to  accept  nominal  instead  of  real 
conversions,  outward  conformity  instead  of  actual  faith. 
Many  bishops  encouraged  this  tendency,  wishing  to 
make  what  they  called  conversion  as  easy  as  possible. 
Hence  they  baptized  even  those  who  lived  in  open  sin, 
and  who  plainly  indicated  their  purpose  to  continue  in  it. 
Perhaps  they  imagined  that  such  persons,  when  once 
introduced  to  the  Church,  would  be  more  easily  and  cer- 
tainly reformed,  although,  for  the  most  part,  they  merely 
told  them  what  they  would  have  to  believe  in  order  to 
be  Christians,  without  insisting  on  the  obligations  of  a 
holy  life,  lest  the  candidates  should  decline  baptism. 
"  These  corrupt  modes  of  procedure  originated  partly  in 
the  erroneous  notions  of  worth  attached  to  a  barely  out- 
ward baptism  and  outward  Church  fellowship,  and  partly 
in  the  false  notions  of  what  constituted  faith,  and  of  the 
relation  of  the  doctrines  of  faith  and  of  morals  in  Chris- 
tianity to  each  other"  (Neander,  CImrch  Hist,  ii,  100). 
Against  such  views  and  measures  there  were  not  want- 
ing remonstrances  on  the  part  of  such  men  as  Chrysos- 
tom  and  Augustine.  The  former,  reprobating  bishops 
animated  by  a  false  zeal  for  increasing  the  numbers  of 
nominal  Christians,  says :  "  Our  Lord  utters  it  as  a  pre- 
cept, '  Give  not  that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  nei- 
ther cast  j'e  your  pearls  before  swine.'  But,  through 
foolish  vanity  and  ambition,  we  have  subverted  this 
command  too  by  admitting  those  corrupt,  unbelieving 
men,  who  are  full  of  evil,  before  thej'  have  given  us  any 
satisfactory  evidence  of  a  change  of  mind,  to  partake  of 
the  sacraments.     It  is  on  this  account  manv  of  those 


who  were  thus  baptized  have  fallen  away  and  occasioned 
much  scandal."  Augustine  complained:  "How  many 
seek  Jesus  only  that  he  may  benefit  them  in  earthly 
matters !  One  man  has  a  lawsuit,  so  he  seeks  the  inter- 
cession of  the  clergy;  another  is  oppressed  by  his  supe- 
rior, so  he  takes  refuge  in  the  Church;  and  still  another 
that  he  may  secure  the  wife  of  his  choice.  The  Church 
is  full  of  such  persons.  Seldom  is  Jesus  sought  for  Je- 
sus's  sake."  Nor  were  worldly  motives  the  only  agen- 
cies which  led  to  spurious  and  hypocritical  conversions. 
Many  were  avi^akened  by  outward  impressions:  some 
supposed  they  had  seen  miraculous  effects  produced  by 
the  sign  of  the  cross ;  others  were  affected  by  dreams, 
and  did  little  more  than  exchange  one  superstition  for 
another.  Against  these  insidious  and  contagious  errors 
Augustine  uttered  faithful  exhortations  and  warnings 
in  his  tract  De  Catechizandis  Rudibus  and  other  writ- 
ings, but  the  current  of  things,  and  the  swelling  tide  of 
barbarian  invasion,  greatly  antagonized  his  influence. 
Some  were  doubtless  led  from  poor  beginnings  to  better 
results,  becoming  in  the  end  true  Christians,  although 
they  entered  the  Church  from  unworthy  motives;  but 
far  earlier,  and  more  extensively  than  is  generally  sup- 
posed, the  true  spiritual  character  of  the  ancient  Church, 
as  a  whole,  had  lamentably  declined,  and  with  it  all 
genuine  zeal  for  the  spiritual  conversion  of  men. 

IV.  Medimvul  Missions. — It  is  not  to  be  denied  that 
the  medieval  period  was  one  of  revolution,  and  there- 
fore unfavorable  to  the  propagation  of  true  religion ;  but 
it  is  by  no  means  conceded,  as  is  argued  by  some  Prot- 
estant writers,  including  Milman,  Guizot,  and  others  of 
high  reputation,  that  a  defective  development  of  Chris- 
tianity was  therefore  inevitable,  or  that  the  semi-mo- 
nastic and  secular  measures  employed  to  civilize  and 
Christianize  the  barbarians  of  Europe  were  "adapted  as 
a  transitionary  stage  for  the  childhood  of  those  races." 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  claimed,  in  the  light  of  Script- 
ure and  experience,  both  among  ancient  and  modem 
heatlien,  that  the  grand  desideratum  for  those  times,  as 
for  all  others,  was  the  unadulterated  Gospel  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  which  not  only  would  have  availed 
tenfold  more  than  did  all  worldly  and  semi-secular  ex- 
pedients, but  would  have  remained  as  a  pure,  instead  of 
a  corrupting,  leaven  to  work  in  after  ages.  It  is  pleas- 
ing to  observe  that  in  some  of  the  earlier  missions,  of 
which  brief  sketches  will  now  be  submitted,  there  was 
no  inconsiderable  mixture  of  just  and  appropriate  evan- 
gelical agencies,  such  as  the  translation  and  circulation 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  self-denying  examples  of  mis- 
sionary life.  Instead  of  attempting,  as  has  often  been 
done,  to  sum  up  by  centuries  what  was  done,  or  said  to 
have  been  done,  to  extend  Christianity,  it  is  thought 
better  to  present  from  historic  sources  a  few  sample  mis- 
sionary events  and  characters  from  successive  periods 
of  mediteval  Church  history,  illustrating  the  actual  in- 
troduction of  the  Church  into  diflfereut  countries  and 
among  various  races. 

1.  The  Mission  of  Ulphilas  to  the  Goths. — "When  we 
proceed  to  inquire  in  what  way  a  knowledge  of  Chris- 
tianity was  diffused  among  the  nations  which  thus  es- 
tablished themselves  on  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  empire, 
we  find,  at  least  at  the  outset,  that  ecclesiastical  history 
can  give  us  but  scanty  information.  '  We  know  as  lit- 
tle in  detail,  remarlis  Schlegel,  'of  the  circumstances 
under  which  Christianity  became  so  universally  spreaVl 
in  a  short  space  of  time  among  all  the  Gothic  nations 
as  of  the  establishment,  step  by  step,  of  their  great  king- 
dom on  the  Black  Sea.'  The  rapid  and  universal  diffu- 
sion, indeed,  of  the  new  faith  is  a  proof  of  their  capacity 
for  civilization,  and  of  the  national  connection  of  the 
whole  race ;  but  where  shall  we  find  the  details  of  their 
conversion  ?  We  have  not  a  record,  not  even  a  legend, 
of  the  way  in  which  the  Visigoths  in  France,  the  Ostro- 
goths in  Pannonia,  the  Suevians  in  Spain,  the  Gepidae, 
the  Vandals,  the  followers  of  Odoacer,  and  the  fiery 
Lombards,  were  converted  to  the  Christian  faith.  We 
may  trace  this,  in  part,  to  the  terrible  desolation  which 


MISSIONS 


348 


MISSIONS 


at  this  period  reigned  cvcn-^'hero,  while  nation  warred 
against  nation,  and  tribe  against  tribe;  we  may  trace  it, 
8till  more,  to  the  fact  that  every  one  of  the  tribes  above 
mentioned  was  converted  to  the  Arian  form  of  Christi- 
anity, a  sulHcient  reason  in  tlie  eyes  of  Catholic  histo- 
rians for  ignoring  altogether  the  efl'orts  of  heretics  to  | 
spread  the  knowledge  of  the  faith.  And  till  the  close  i 
of  the  Gth,  and  the  opening  of  the  7th  century,  we  must 
be  content  with  the  slenderest  details,  if  we  wish  to 
know  anything  of  the  early  diffusion  of  Christianity  on 
the  European  continent. 

"  The  record,  however,  of  one  early  missionary  has 
'forced  its  way  into  the  Catholic  histories.'  In  the 
reigns  of  Valerian  and  Gallienus,  the  Goths,  descending 
from  the  north  and  east,  began,  from  their  new  settle- 
ments on  the  Danube,  to  threaten  the  safety  of  the 
southern  provinces  of  the  empire.  Establishing  them- 
selves in  the  Ukraine  and  on  the  shores  of  the  Hospho- 
rus,  they  spread  terror  throughout  I'ontus,  IJithynia, 
and  Cappadocia.  In  one  of  these  inroads  they  carried 
off  from  the  latter  country  a  multitude  of  captives,  some 
belonging  to  tlie  clergy,  and  located  them  in  their  set- 
tlements along  the  northern  bank  of  the  Danube.  Here 
the  captives  did  not  forget  their  Christian  duties  to- 
wards their  heathen  masters,  nor  did  the  latter  scorn  to 
receive  from  them  the  gentle  doctrines  of  Christianity. 
The  work,  indeed,  went  on  in  silence,  but  from  time  to 
time  we  have  proofs  that  the  seed  had  not  been  sown  in 
vain.  Among  the  318  bishops  at  the  Coimcil  of  Nice, 
the  light  complexion  of  the  Gothic  bishop  Theophiliis 
must  liave  attracted  notice,  as  contrasted  '  with  the  dark 
hair  and  tawny  hue  of  almost  all  the  rest.'  But  The- 
ophilus  was  the  predecessor  and  teacher  of  a  still  greater 
missionary.  Among  the  involuntary  slaves  carried  off 
in  the  reign  of  Gallienus  were  the  parents  or  ancestors 
of  Ulphilas,  who  has  won  for  himself  the  title  of  'Apos- 
tle of  the  Goths.'  Born,  probably,  in  the  j'ear  318,  he 
was,  at  a  comparatively  early  age,  sent  on  a  mission  to 
Constantinople,  and  there  Constantine  caused  him  to  be 
consecrated  bishop  by  his  own  chaplain,  Eusebius  of 
Nicomedia.  From  this  time  he  devoted  himself  heart 
and  sold  to  the  conversion  of  his  countrymen,  and  the 
Goths  were  the  first  of  the  barbarians  among  whom  we 
see  Ciiristianity  advancing  general  civilization,  as  well 
as  teaching  a  purer  faith. 

"  But  his  lot  was  cast  in  troublous  times:  the  threat- 
ened irruption  of  a  barbarous  horde,  and  the  animosity 
of  the  heathen  ( Joths,  induced  him  to  cross  the  Danube, 
where  the  emperor  Constantine  assigned  to  his  flock  a 
district  of  country,  and  here  he  continued  to  labor  with 
success.  Tlie  influence  he  had  already  gained,  and  the 
natural  sense  of  gratitnde  for  the  benefits  he  had  be-; 
stowed  upon  the  tribes  by  procuring  for  them  a  more 
peaceful  settlement,  rendered  his  efforts  comparatively 
easy.  Rejoicing  in  the  woodlands  and  pastures  of  their 
new  home,  where  they  could  to  advantage  tend  their  nu- 
merous flocks  and  herds,  and  purchase  corn  and  wine  of 
the  richer  provinces  around  them,  they  listened  obe- 
diently to  tlie  voice  of  their  bishop,  whom  they  likened 
to  a  secon<l  Moses.  And  the  conduct  of  Ulphilas  justi- 
fied their  confidence,  ^^'ith  singular  wisdom  he  did  not 
confine  his  efforts  to  the  oral  instruction  of  his  people; 
he  sought  to  restore  to  them  the  art  of  writing,  which 
probably  had  been  lost  during  their  migration  from  the 
cast  to  the  north  of  (Jermany.  Composing  an  alphabet 
of  twenty-live  letters,  some  of  which  he  was  fain  to  in- 
vent, in  order  to  give  expression  to  sounds  unknown  to 
(ireek  and  Latin  iironunciation,  he  translated  the  Script- 
ures into  the  native  language  of  his  flock,  omitting  only 
the  four  books  of  Kings,  a  precaution  he  adopted  from 
n  fear  that  their  contents  might  tend  to  rouse  the  mar- 
tial ardor  and  fierce  spirit  of  a  people  who,  in  this  mat- 
ter, to  use  the  (piaint  language  of  the  historian,  're- 
quired the  bit  rather  than  the  spur.' 

"After  a  while  he  was  constrained  to  act  the  part  of 
mediator  between  the  Visigothic  nation  and  the  Homan 
emperor  ^'alens.     In  the  year  A.D.  374  the  barbarous 


horde  of  the  Huns  burst  upon  the  kingdom  of  the  Ostro- 
goths, and,  having  subdued  it,  turned  their  eyes  to  the 
lands  and  possessions  of  the  Vifigoths.  Unable  to  de- 
fend the  line  of  the  Dniester,  the  latter  fell  back  ujion 
the  Pnnh,  hoping  for  safety  amid  the  inaccessible  defiles 
of  the  Carpathian  mountains.  But,  sensible  that  even 
here  they  were  not  secure,  a  considerable  party  began 
to  long  for  an  asylum  within  the  Roman  dominions, 
and  it  was  agreed  that  ambassadors,  with  Ulphilas 
among  their  number,  should  repair  to  the  court  of  Ya- 
lens,  and  endeavor  to  obtain  a  new  settlement. 

"Valens  was  an  Arian  and  a  controversialist.  At 
this  very  time  he  was  enforcing  at  Antioch, '  by  other 
weapons  than  those  of  reason  and  eloquence,'  a  belief  in 
the  Arian  theology ;  and  when  the  poor  bishop  presented 
himself,  and  requested  aid  in  the  dire  necessity  of  his 
people,  the  emperor  is  reported  to  have  persecuted  him 
with  discussions  on  the  hypostatic  iniion,  and  to  have 
pressed  upon  him  the  necessity  of  repudiaiing  the  Con- 
fession of  Nice,  and  adopting  that  of  Rimini,  lliihilas 
was  in  a  great  strait,  but,  being  a  simple-minded  man, 
and  considering  the  (piestion  one  of  words,  and  involv- 
ing only  mcta])hysical  subtleties,  not  worthy  of  consid- 
eration in  comparison  with  the  sufferings  of  his  jicople, 
he  assented  to  the  emperor's  proposal,  and  promised  that 
the  Gothic  nation  should  adopt  the  Arian  Confession. 
The  emperor,  oii  his  part,  consented  to  give  up  certain 
lands  in  Moesia,  but  annexed  to  this  concession  two 
harsh  and  rigorous  conditions :  that  before  they  crossed 
the  Danube  the  Goths  should  give  up  their  arms,  and 
suffer  their  children  to  be  taken  from  them  as  hostages 
for  their  own  fidelity,  with  the  prospect  of  being  educated 
in  the  different  provinces  of  Asia. 

"On  these  hard  terms  instructions  were  issued  to 
the  militarj'  governors  of  the  Thracian  diocese,  bidding 
them  make  preparations  for  the  reception  of  the  new 
settlers.  But  it  was  foinid  no  easy  matter  to  transport 
across  a  river  more  than  a  mile  in  iircadth,  and  swelled 
bj'  incessant  rains,  upwards  of  a  million  of  botli  sexes 
and  of  all  ages.  For  days  and  nights  they  passed  and 
repassed  in  boats  and  canoes,  and  before  they  landed  not 
a  few  had  been  carried  away  and  drowned  by  the  vio- 
lence of  the  current.  But,  besides  the  disciples  of  Ul- 
philas, thousands  of  Goths  crossed  the  river  who  still 
contiinied  faithful  to  their  own  heathen  priests  and 
priestesses.  Disguising,  it  is  even  said,  their  priests  in 
the  garb  of  Christian  l]ishops  and  fictitious  ascetics,  they 
deceived  the  credulous  Romans;  and  only  when  on  the 
Roman  side  of  the  river  did  they  throw  off  the  mask, 
and  make  it  clear  that  Vakns  was  not  easily  to  have  his 
wish  gratified,  and  see  them  converted  to  Arianism. 
One  of  the  hereditary  chiefs,  Friiigern,  a  disciple  of  Ul- 
philas, adopted  the  creed  of  the  empire,  the  other,  Atha- 
naric,  headed  the  numerous  party  which  still  continued 
devoted  to  the  altars  and  rites  of  Woden.  The  latter 
faction,  placing  their  chief  god  on  a  lofty  wagon,  dragged 
it  through  the  (Jothic  camp;  all  who  refused  to  bow 
down,  they  burned,  with  their  wives  and  children;  nor 
did  they  spare  the  rude  church  they  had  erected,  or  the 
confused  crowd  of  women  and  children  who  had  fled  to 
it  for  protection.  But  while  the  great  bulk  of  the 
Gothic  nation  were  involved  in  constant  wars  with  the 
Roman  armies,  and,  mider  the  two  great  divisions  of 
Ostrogoths  and  Visigoths,  were  gradually  spreading 
themselves  over  (;aul.  Italy,  and  Spain,  I'lphilas  con- 
tinued, till  tlie  year  .^88,  to  superintend  the  temporal 
and  spiritu.al  necessities  of  the  peaceful  and  populous 
colony  of  shepherds  and  herdsmen  which,  as  in  another 
Goshen,  he  had  formed  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  liivnuis, 
and  to  whom  he  had  presented  the  (Jothic  Bible  in  their 
own  tongue. 

"The  zeal  he  had  displayed  found  an  imitator  in  the 
great  Chrysostom.  What,  was  the  measure  of  bis  suc- 
cess we  have  no  means  of  judging,  but  it  is  certain  that 
he  founded  in  Constantinople  an  institution  in  which 
Goths  might  be  trained  and  qualilied  to  ]>reach  tlie  (Jos- 
pel  to  their  fellow-countrymen.    Even  during  the  three 


MISSIOXS 


349 


MISSIONS 


years  of  his  banishment  to  the  remote  and  wretched  lit- 
tle town  of  Cucusiis,  among  the  ridges  of  Mount  Taurus, 
amid  the  want  of  provisions,  frequent  sickness  without 
the  possibility  of  obtaining  medicines,  and  the  ravages 
of  Isaurian  robbers,  his  active  mind,  invigorated  by  inis- 
firtunes,  found  relief  not  only  in  corresponding  with 
churches  in  all  quarters,  but  in  directing  missionary  op- 
erations in  Phoenicia,  Persia,  and  among  the  (Joths.  In 
several  extant  epistles  we  find  him  advising  the  de- 
spatch of  missionaries,  one  to  this  point,  another  to  that, 
consoling  some  under  persecution,  animating  all  by  the 
example  of  the  great  apostle  Paul,  and  the  hope  of  an 
eternal  reward.  And  in  answer  to  his  appeals, his  friends 
at  a  distance  supplied  him  with  funds  so  ample  that  he 
was  enabled  to  support  missions  and  redeem  captives, 
and  even  had  to  beg  of  them  that  their  abundant  lib- 
erality might  be  directed  into  other  channels.  How 
far  his  exertions  prevailed  to  win  over  any  portion  of 
the  Gothic  nation  to  the  Catholic  communion  we  have 
no  means  of  judging.  Certain  it  is  that  from  the  West- 
ern Goths  the  Arian  form  of  Christianity  extended  to 
the  Eastern  Goths,  to  the  Gcpida;,  the  Alans,  the  Van- 
dals, and  the  Suevi;  and  it  has  been  justly  remarked 
tliat  we  ought  not  to  forget  '  that  when  Augustine,  in 
his  great  work  on  the  "  city  of  God,"  celebrates  the 
charity  and  clemency  of  Alaric  during  the  sack  of  Eome, 
these  Christian  graces  were  entirely  due  to  the  teaching 
of  Oriental  missionaries' "  (JIaclear's  Missions  in  the  JI id- 
die  Ages,  p.  37-43). 

2.  The  Conversion  of  Clovis  and  the  Franks. — In  the 
year  481  Clovis  succeeded  to  the  chieftaincy  of  the  Sa- 
lian  Franks.  In  493  he  married  Clotilda,  the  daughter 
of  the  king  of  Burgundy,  who  professed  Christianity, 
and  sought  to  persuade  her  husband  to  embrace  it  also; 
but  her  efforts  for  a  time  were  without  success.  '"At 
length,  on  the  battle-field  of  Tolbiac,  his  incredulity 
came  to  an  end.  The  fierce  and  dreadful  Alemanni, 
fresh  from  their  native  forests,  had  burst  upon  the  king- 
dom of  his  Ripuarian  allies;  Clovis,  with  his  Franks, 
had  rushed  to  the  rescue,  and  the  two  fiercest  nations 
of  Germany  were  to  decide  between  them  the  suprem- 
acy of  Gaul.  The  battle  was  long  and  bloody;  the 
Franks,  after  an  obstinate  struggle,  wavered,  and  seemed 
on  the  point  of  flying,  and  in  vain  Clovis  implored  the 
aid  of  his  own  deities.  At  length  he  bethought  him 
of  the  vaunted  omnipotence  of  Clotilda's  God,  and  he 
vowed  that  if  victorious  he  would  abjure  his  pagan 
creed  and  be  baptized  as  a  Christian.  Thereupon  the 
tide  of  battle  turned;  the  last  king  of  the  Allemanni 
fell,  and  his  troops  fled  in  disorder,  purchasing  safety  b\' 
submission  to  the  Frankish  chief.  On  his  return  Clovis 
recounted  to  his  queen  the  story  of  the  fight,  the  suc- 
cess of  his  prayer,  and  the  vow  he  had  made.  Over- 
whelmed with  joy,  she  sent  without  delay  for  Remigius, 
the  venerable  bishop  of  Rheims,  and  on  his  arrival  the 
victorious  chief  listened  attentively  to  his  arguments. 
Still  he  hesitated,  and  said  he  would  consult  his  war- 
riors. These  rough  soldiers  evinced  no  unwillingness; 
with,  perhaps,  the  same  indifference  that  he  himself  had 
permitted  the  baptism  of  his  children,  they  declared 
themselves  nothing  loth  to  accept  the  creed  of  their 
chief.  Clovis  therefore  yielded,  and  the  baptism  was 
fixed  to  take  place  at  the  approaching  festival  of  Christ- 
mas. The  greatest  pains  were  taken  to  lend  as  much 
solemnity  as  possible  to  the  scene.  The  church  was 
hung  with  embroidered  tapestry  and  white  curtains, 
and  blazed  with  a  thousand  lights,  while  odors  of  in- 
cense, •  like  airs  of  paradise,'  in  the  words  of  the  excited 
chronicler, '  filled  the  place.'  The  new  Constantine,  as 
he  entered,  was  struck  with  awe.  'Is  this  the  heaven 
thou  didst  promise  me  ?'  said  he  to  the  bishop.  '  Not 
heaven  itself,  but  the  beginning  of  the  way  thither,' 
replied  the  bishop.  The  service  proceeded.  As  he 
knelt  before  the  font  to  wash  away  the  leprosy  of  his 
heathenism,  '  Sicambrian,'  said  Remigius,  'gently  bow 
thy  neck,  burn  that  thou  didst  adore,  adore  that  which 
thou  didst  burn.'     Thus,  together  with  three  thousand 


of  his  followers,  Clovis  espoused  Clotilda's  creed,  and 
became  the  single  sovereign  of  the  West  who  adhered 
to  the  Confession  of  Nica;a.  Everj'where  else  Arianism 
was  triumphant.  The  Ostrogoth  Theodoric  in  Italy, 
the  successors  of  Euric  in  Visigothic  France,  the  king 
of  Burgundy,  the  Suevian  princes  in  Spaui,  the  Vandal 
in  Africa — all  were  Arians. 

"  The  conversion  of  Clovis,  like  that  of  Constantine, 
is  open  to  much  discussion.  It  certainly  had  no  effect 
upon  his  moral  character.  The  same  'untutored  sav- 
age' he  was,  the  same  he  remained.  But  the  services 
he  rendered  to  Catholicism  were  great,  and  they  were 
appreciated.  '  God  daily  prostrated  his  enemies  before 
him,  because  he  walked  before  him  with  an  upright 
heart,  and  did  what  was  pleasing  in  his  eyes.'  In  these 
words  Gregory  of  Tours  expresses  the  feelings  of  the 
Gallic  clergy,  who  rallied  round  Clovis  to  a  man,  and 
excused  all  faults  in  one  who  could  wield  the  sword  so 
strenuously  in  behalf  of  the  orthodox  faith.  His  subse- 
quent career  was  a  succession  of  triumphs :  Gundebald, 
the  Burgundian  king,  felt  the  vengeance  of  Clotilda's 
lord  on  the  bloody  field  of  Dijon  on  the  Ousche,  and  the 
cities  on  the  Saone  and  the  Rhone  were  added  to  the 
Frankish  kingdom.  A  few  more  years  and  the  Visi- 
gothic kingdom  in  the  south  felt  the  same  iron  hand. 
The  orthodox  prelates  did  not  disguise  the  fact  that 
this  was  a  religious  war,  and  that  the  supremacy  of  the 
Arian  or  the  Catholic  Creed  in  Western  Europe  was  now 
to  be  decided.  Clovis  himself  entered  fully  into  the 
spirit  of  the  crusade :  on  approaching  Tom-s,  he  made 
death  the  penalty  of  injuring  the  territory  of  the  holy 
St.  Martin;  in  the  church  of  the  saint  he  publicly  per- 
formed his  devotions,  and  listened  to  the  voices  of  the 
priests  as  they  chanted  the  18th  Psalm :  '  Thou  hast 
girded  me,  0  Lord,  with  strength  unto  the  battle;  thou 
hast  subdued  unto  me  those  which  rose  up  against  me. 
Thou  hast  also  given  me  the  necks  of  mine  enemies,  that  I 
might  destroy  them  that  hate  me.'  Whether  ho  under- 
stood the  words  or  not,  they  seemed  prophetic  of  the 
subsequent  career  of  the  new  champion  of  Catholicism. 
The  orthodox  historians  exhaust  the  treasury  of  legends 
to  adorn  his  progress.  A  '  hind  of  wonderful  magnitude' 
guided  him  through  the  swollen  waters  of  the  River  Vi- 
enne ;  a  pillar  of  fire  blazed  forth  from  the  cathedral  as 
he  drew  nigh  Poitiers,  to  assure  him  of  success.  At 
last  the  bloody  plains  of  Vougle  witnessed  the  utter  de- 
feat of  the  Arian  Goths,  and  Alaric,  their  king,  was  min- 
gled with  the  crowd  of  fugitives.  Bordeaux,  Auvergne, 
Rovergne,  Toulouse,  Angouleme,  successively  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Frankish  king,  and  then  before  the 
shrine  of  St.  Martin  the  '  eldest  son  of  the  Church'  was 
invested  with  the  titles  of  Roman  Patricius  and  Consul, 
conferred  by  the  Greek  emperor  Anastasius. 

"  We  have  thus  sketched  the  rise  of  the  Frankish 
monarchy  because  it  has  an  important  connection  with 
the  history  of  Christian  missions.  Orthodoxy  advanced 
side  by  side  with  the  Frankish  domination.  The  rude 
warriors  of  Clovis,  once  beyond  the  local  boundaries  of 
their  ancestral  faith,  found  themselves  in*the  presence 
of  a  Church  which  was  the  only  stable  institution  in  the 
country,  and  bowed  before  a  creed  which,  while  it  of- 
fered infinitely  more  to  the  soul  and  intellect  than  their 
own  superstitions,  presented  everything  that  could  ex- 
cite the  fancy  or  captivate  the  sense.  Willingly,  there-, 
fore,  did  they  follow  the  example  of  their  king;  and  for 
one  that  embraced  the  faith  from  genuine,  a  thousand 
adopted  it  from  lower  motives.  And  while  they  had 
their  reward,  the  Frankish  bishops  had  theirs  too,  in 
constant  gifts  of  land  for  the  foundation  of  churches  and 
monasteries,  and  in  a  speedy  admission  to  wealth  and 
power. 

"But  the  Frankish  Church  was  not  destined  to  evan- 
gelize the  riide  nations  of  Europe.  The  internal  dissen- 
sions and  constant  ^vars  of  the  successors  of  Clovis  were 
not  favorable  to  the  development  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion at  home  or  its  propagation  abroad.  Avitus  of  Vi- 
enne,  Caesarius  of  Aries,  and  Faustus  of  Riez,  proved 


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350 


MISSIONS 


what  might  be  done  by  energy  and  self-devotion.  But 
the  rapid  accession  of  wealth  more  and  more  tempted  the 
Frankish  bishops  and  abbots  to  live  as  mere  laymen,  and 
so  the  clergj'  degenerated,  and  the  light  of  the  Frankish 
Church  grew  dim.  Not  only  were  the  masses  of  heathen- 
dom lying  outside  her  territorj'  neglected,  but  within  it 
she  saw  her  own  members  tainted  with  the  old  leaven 
of  heathenism,  and  relapsing,  in  some  instances,  into  the 
old  idolatries.  A  new  influence,  therefore,  was  required, 
if  the  liglit  of  the  Frankish  Church  was  to  be  rekindled, 
and  the  (Jerman  tribes  evangelized.  And  this  new  in- 
fluence was  at  hand.  But  to  trace  its  origin,  we  must 
leave  the  scenes  of  the  labors  of  Ulphilas  and  Severinus 
for  two  sister  isles  high  up  in  the  Northern  Sea,  almost 
forgotten  amid  tlie  desfilating  contest  which  was  break- 
ing up  the  Koman  world.  We  must  glance  first  at  the 
origin  of  the  Celtic  Church  in  Ireland  and  the  Scottish 
higlilands,  whose  humble  oratories  of  timber  and  rude 
domes  of  rough  stone  might,  indeed,  contrast  unfavora- 
bly with  the  prouder  structures  of  the  West,  but  whose 
missionary  zeal  burned  with  a  far  steadier  tiame.  We 
must  then  turn  to  the  shores  of  Kent,  where  the  storj' 
of  Clovis  and  Clotilda  was  to  be  re-enacted,  and  a  Teu- 
tonic Church  was  destined  to  arise,  and  send  forth,  in 
its  turn,  missionary  heroes  among  their  kindred  on  the 
Continent"  (Maclear's  Missiom  in  ike  Middle  Ages,  p. 
54-58). 

3.  Pah-ick  and  the  Irish  Missionaries. — "  The  Gospel 
was  planted  in  Ireland  bj"-  a  single  missionan,-,  self- 
moved — or,  rather,  divinely  moved — and  self-supported. 
His  historic  name  was  Patrick,  and  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics (claiming  him,  without  reason,  as  their  own)  call 
him  St.  I'atrick.  He  was  born  about  the  year  410,  and 
most  probably  in  some  part  of  Scotland.  His  parents 
were  Christians,  and  instructed  him  in  the  Gospel. 
Patrick's  tirst  visit  to  the  field  of  his  future  mission  was 
in  his  youth,  as  a  captive  of  pirates,  who  carried  him 
away,  with  many  others,  as  a  prisoner.  Patrick  was 
sold  to  a  chieftain,  who  placed  him  in  charge  of  his  cat- 
tle. His  own  statement  is  that  his  heart  was  turned  to 
the  Lord  during  the  hardships  of  his  captivity.  '  I 
prayed  many  times  a  day,'  he  says.  'The  fear  of  God 
and  love  to  him  were  increasinglj-  kindled  in  me.  Faith 
grew  in  me,  so  that  in  one  day  I  offered  a  hundred 
prayers,  and  at  night  almost  as  many;  and  when  I 
passed  the  night  in  the  woods  or  on  the  mountains,  I 
rose  up  to  pray  in  the  snow,  ice,  and  rain  before  day- 
break. Yet  I  felt  no  pain.  There  was  no  sluggishness 
in  me,  such  as  I  now  find  in  myself,  for  then  the  spirit 
glowed  within  me.'  This  is  extracted  from  what  is 
called  the '  Confession'  of  Patrick,  written  in  bis  old  age. 

"  Some  years  later  he  was  again  taken  by  the  pirates, 
but  soon  regained  his  liberty,  and  returned  home.  His 
parents  urged  him  to  remain  with  them,  but  he  felt  an 
irresistilde  call  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  those  among 
whom  he  had  passed  his  youth  as  a  bondman.  '  I\Iany 
opposed  my  going,'  he  says  in  his '  Confession,'  '  and  said 
behind  my  back,  •'  Why  does  this  man  rush  into  danger 
among  the  h?athen,  who  do  not  know  the  Lord?"  It 
was  not  badly  intended  on  their  part,  but  they  could  not 
comprehend  the  matter  on  account  of  my  uncouth  dis- 
position. IVIany  gifts  were  offered  me  with  tears  if  I 
would  remain.  But,  according  to  (iod's  guidance,  I  did 
not  yield  to  them ;  not  by  my  own  power — it  was  (iod 
who  conquered  in  me,  and  I  withstood  them  all;  so  that 
I  went  to  the  people  of  Ireland  to  publish  the  Gospel  to 
them,  and  suffered  many  insults  from  unbelievers,  and 
many  persecutions,  even  unto  bonds,  resigning  my  lib- 
erty for  the  good  of  others.  And  if  I  am  found  worthy, 
I  am  ready  to  give  up  my  life  with  joy  for  his  sake.' 
In  such  a  spirit  did  this  apostle  to  Ireland  commence 
his  mission,  about  the  year  440;  not  far  from  the  time 
when  Britain  was  finally  evacuated  by  the  Komans.  .  . . 

'*  Patrick  being  acipiainted  with  the  language  and 
customs  of  the  Irish  peoi)lo,  as  a  consequence  of  his  early 
captivity,  gathered  them  about  him  in  large  assemblies 
at  the  beat  of  a  kettle-drum,  and  told  the  story  of  Christ 


so  as  to  move  their  hearts.  Having  taught  them  to 
read,  he  encouraged  the  importation  of  useful  books 
from  England  and  France.  He  established  cloisters 
after  the  fashion  of  the  times,  which  were  really  mis- 
sionary schools  for  educating  the  people  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Gospel,  and  for  training  a  native  ministry 
and  missionaries;  and  he  claims  to  have  baptized  many 
thousands  of  people.  .  .  . 

" '  The  people  may  not  have  adopted  the  outward  pro- 
fession of  Christianity,  which  was  all  that,  perhaps,  in 
the  first  instance  they  adopted,  from  any  clear  or  intel- 
lectual appreciation  of  its  superiority  to  their  former 
religion  ;  but  to  obtain  from  the  people  even  an  outward 
profession  of  Christianity  was  an  important  step  to  ulti- 
mate success.  It  secured  toleration,  at  least,  for  Chris- 
tian institutions.  It  enabled  Patrick  to  plant  in  every 
tribe  his  chiurches,  schools,  and  monasteries.  He  was 
permitted,  without  opposition,  to  establish  among  the 
half-pagan  inhabitants  of  the  country-  societies  of  holy 
men,  whose  devotion,  usefulness,  and  piety  soon  pro- 
duced an  effect  upon  the  most  barbarous  and  savage 
hearts.  This  was  the  secret  of  the  rapid  success  attrib- 
uted to  Patrick's  preaching  in  Ireland.  The  chieftains 
were  at  first  the  real  converts.  The  baptism  of  the 
chieftain  was  immediately  followed  by  the  adhesion  of 
the  clan.  The  clansmen  pressed  eagerly  around  the 
missionary  who  had  baptized  the  chief,  anxious  to  re- 
ceive that  mysterious  initiation  into  the  new  faith  to 
which  their  chieftain  and  father  had  submitted.  The 
requirements  preparatory  to  baptism  do  not  seem  to 
have  been  very  rigorous;  and  it  is,  therefore,  not  im- 
probable that  in  Tirawley,  and  other  remote  districts, 
where  the  spirit  of  clanship  was  strong,  Patrick,  as  he 
himself  tells  us  he  did,  may  have  baptized  some  thou- 
sands of  men.'  .  .  . 

"  When  this  zealous  missionary'  died,  about  the  year 
493,  his  disciples,  who  seem  all  to  have  been  natives  of 
Ireland — a  native  ministry — continued  his  work  in  the 
same  spirit.  The  monasteries  became  at  length  so  nu- 
merous and  famous  that  Ireland  was  called  Insula  Sanc- 
torum, the  '  Island  of  Saints.'  It  gives  a  wrong  idea  of 
I  these  institutions  to  call  them  monasteries,  or  to  call 
j  their  inmates  monks.  '  They  were  schools  of  learning 
and  abodes  of  piety,  uniting  the  instruction  of  the  col- 
lege, the  labors  of  the  workshop,  the  charities  of  the 
hospital,  and  the  worship  of  the  Church.  They  orig- 
inated partly  in  a  mistaken  view  of  the  Christian  life, 
and  partly  out  of  the  necessity  of  the  case,  which  drove 
Christians  to  live  together  for  mutual  protection.  The 
missionary  spirit,  and  consequent  religious  activity,  pre- 
vailing in  the  Irish  monasteries,  preserved  them  for  a 
long  time  from  the  asceticism  and  mysticism  incidental 
to  the  monastic  life,  and  made  them  a  source  of  blessing 
to  the  world.'  The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  was  not  en- 
joined in  those  times.  INIarried  men  were  connected 
with  the  cloisters,  living,  however,  in  single  houses. 
The  Scriiitures  were  read,  and  ancient  books  were  col- 
lected and  studied.  The  missions  which  went  forth 
from  these  institutions,  as  also  those  from  England  and 
Wales,  are  frequently  called  'Cuklee'  missions.  See 
Cui.nKES  and  Iona. 

"  The  names  of  Columba  and  Columbanus  are  famil- 
iar to  the  readers  of  ecclesiastical  history.  Both  were 
Irish  missionaries,  and  both  were  from  the  institulion  at 
Bangor,  in  Ireland.  Colimiba's  mission  was  to  the  Picts 
of  Scotland,  and  was  entered  upon  at  the  age  of  forty- 
two,  in  the  year  5G.3.  This  was  thirteen  hundred  years 
ago,  and  about  seventy  years  after  the  time  of  Patrick. 
He  was  accompanied  by  twelve  associates,  and  was  the 
founder  of  the  celebrated  monastery  on  Iona,  an  island 
situated  on  the  north  of  Scotland,  now  reckoned  one  of 
'  the  Hebrides.  This  school,  which  had  an  enduring 
']  fame,  became  one  of  the  chief  lights  of  that  age.  Con- 
'  tinning  thirty-five  years  under  Columlia's  management, 
it  attained  a  high  reputation  for  Biblical  studies  and 
!  other  sciences;  and  missionaries  went  from  it  to  the 
I  northern  and  southern  Picts  of  Scotland.  an<l  into  Eng- 


MISSIONS 


351 


MISSIONS 


land,  along  the  eastern  coast  to  the  Thames,  and  to  the 
European  continent.  Columbanus  entered  on  his  mis- 
sion to  the  partially  Christianized,  but  more  especially 
to  the  pagan  portions  of  Europe,  in  the  year  589.  That 
he  was  an  evangelical  missionan,^  may  be  confidently 
inferred  from  the  tenor  of  his  life,  and  from  the  records 
of  his  Christian  experience.  He  thus  writes :  '  O  Lord, 
give  me,  I  beseech  thee,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
thy  Son,  my  God,  that  love  which  can  never  cease,  that 
will  kindle  my  lamp  but  not  extinguish  it,  that  it  may 
burn  in  me  and  enlighten  others.  Do  thou,  O  Christ, 
our  dearest  Saviour,  thyself  kindle  our  lamps,  that  they 
may  evermore  shine  in  thy  temple ;  that  they  may  re- 
ceive unquenchable  light  from  thee  that  will  enlighten 
our  darkness  and  lessen  the  darkness  of  the  world.  INIy 
Jesus,  I  pray  thee,  give  thy  light  to  my  lamp,  that  in 
its  light  the  most  holy  place  may  be  revealed  to  me  in 
which  thou  dwellest  as  the  eternal  Priest,  that  I  may 
always  behold  thee,  desire  thee,  look  upon  thee  in  love, 
and  long  after  thee.'  Columbanus  went  first  to  France, 
taking  with  him  twelve  young  men,  as  Columba  had 
done,  to  be  his  co-laborers — men  who  had  been  trained 
under  his  special  guidance.  Here,  as  a  consequence  of 
continual  wars,  political  disturbances,  and  the  remiss- 
ness of  worldly-minded  ecclesiastics,  the  greatest  confu- 
sion and  irregularity  prevailed,  and  there  was  great  de- 
generacy in  the  monastic  orders.  Columbanus  preferred 
casting  his  lot  among  the  pagans  of  Burgundj-,  and 
chose  for  his  settlement  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  castle 
in  the  midst  of  an  immense  wilderness,  at  the  foot  of 
the  Vosges  Mountains.  There  they  often  suffered  hun- 
ger, until  the  wilderness  had  been  in  some  measure  sub- 
dued and  the  earth  brought  under  cultivation.  The 
mission  then  became  self-supporting,  but  we  are  not  in- 
formed by  what  means  the  previous  expenses  were  de- 
frayed. Preaching  was  a  part  of  their  duty,  though 
there  is  less  said  of  this  than  of  their  efforts  to  impart 
the  benefits  of  a  Christian  education  to  the  children  of 
the  higher  classes.  The  surrounding  poor  were  taught 
gratuitously.  All  the  pupils  joined  in  tilling  the  fields, 
and  such  was  their  success  in  education  that  the  Frank- 
ish  nobles  were  forward  to  place  their  sons  under  their 
care.  It  was  the  most  famous  school  in  Burgundy,  and 
there  was  not  room  in  the  abbey  for  all  who  pressed  to 
gain  admittance;  so  that  it  became  necessarN^  to  erect 
other  buildings,  and  to  bring  a  large  number  of  teachers 
over  from  Ireland  to  meet  the  demand.  Here  the  emi- 
nent missionary  pursued  his  labors  for  a  score  of  years. 
As  he  represents  himself  to  have  buried  as  many  as 
seventeen  of  his  associates  during  twelve  years,  the 
number  of  his  co-laborers  must  have  been  large.  The 
discipline  which  Columbanus  imposed  on  the  monastic 
life  was  severe,  but  perhaps  scarcely  more  so  than  was 
required  by  the  rude  spirit  of  the  age;  and  he  took 
pains  to  avoid  the  error,  so  prevalent  in  the  Romish 
Church,  of  making  the  essence  of  piety  consist  in  ex- 
ternals. The  drift  of  his  teaching  was  that  everything 
depended  on  the  state  of  the  heart.  Both  by  precept 
and  example  he  sought  to  combine  the  contemplative 
with  the  useful.  At  the  same  time  he  adhered,  with  a 
free  and  independent  spirit,  to  the  peculiar  religious 
usages  of  his  native  land.  As  these  differed  in  some 
important  respects  from  what  were  then  prevalent  among 
the  degenerate  Prankish  clergy,  he  had  manj'  enemies 
among  them,  who  sought  to  drive  him  from  the  country. 
This  they  at  length  effected,  with  the  aid  of  the  wicked 
mother  of  the  reigning  prince.  Columbanus  was  ordered 
to  return  to  Ireland,  and  to  take  his  countrymen  with 
him.  This  he  did  not  do,  but  repaired  first  to  Germa- 
ny, and  then  to  Switzerland.  He  spent  a  year  near 
the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Lake  Constance,  laboring 
among  the  Suevi,  a  heathen  people  in  that  neighbor- 
hood. This  territory  coming  at  length  under  the  do- 
minion of  his  enemies,  he  crossed  the  Alps,  in  the  year 
612,  into  Lombardy,  and  founded  a  monastery  near  Pa- 
via ;  and  there  this  apostle  to  Franks,  Swabians,  Bava- 
rians, and  other  nations  of  Germany,  passed  the  remain- 


der of  his  days,  and  breathed  out  his  life  Nov.  21,  6L5, 
aged  seventy-two  years.  Gallus,  a  favorite  pupil  and 
follower  of  Columbanus,  remained  behind  in  consequence 
of  illness,  and  became  the  apostle  of  Switzerland.  He 
also  was  an  Irishman,  and  was  characterized,  as  was  his 
master,  by  love  for  the  sacred  volume.  In  what  was 
then  a  wilderness  he  founded  a  monastery,  '  which  led 
to  the  clearing  up  of  the  forest,  and  the  conversion  of 
the  land  into  cultivable  soil,  and  it  afterwards  became 
celebrated  under  his  name,  St.  Gall.'  Here  he  labored 
for  the  Swiss  and  Swabian  population  till  his  death,  in 
the  year  640.  This  monastery  was  pre-eminent  for  the 
number  and  beauty  of  the  manuscripts  prepared  by  its 
monks;  many  of  which,  and,  among  others,  some  frag- 
ments of  a  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Alle- 
manni  language,  about  the  year  700,  are  said  to  be  pre- 
served in  the  libraries  of  Germany. 

"  Neander  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  number  of  mis- 
sionaries who  passed  over  from  Ireland  to  the  continent 
of  Europe  must  have  been  great,  though  of  very  few  is 
there  any  exact  information.  Wherever  they  went, 
cloisters  were  founded,  and  the  wilderness  soon  gave 
place  to  cultivated  fields.  According  to  Ebrard,  there 
were  more  than  forty  cloisters  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Loire  and  Rhone,  which  were  governed  according  to 
the  rules  of  Columbanus,  and  to  which  emigrants  came 
from  Ireland  as  late  as  the  close  of  the  7th  centurj-.  He 
also  affirms  that  Germany  was  almost  wholly  heathen 
when  that  missionary  entered  it.  But  before  the  year 
720  the  Gospel  had  been  proclaimed  by  himself  and  his 
countrymen  from  the  mountains  of  Switzerland  down  to 
the  islands  in  the  delta  of  the  Rhine,  and  eastward  from 
that  river  to  the  River  Inn,  and  the  Bohemian  forest, 
and  the  borders  of  Saxony,  and  still  farther  on  the  sea- 
coast;  and  all  the  really  German  tribes  within  those 
borders  were  in  subjection  to  the  Christian  faith  as  it 
had  been  taught  by  the  Irish  missionaries.  Ebrard's 
earnest  testimony  to  the  evangelical  nature  of  the  Irish 
missions  should  not  be  overlooked.  He  declares  that 
they  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  text,  translat- 
ed them  wherever  they  went,  expounded  them  to  the 
congregations,  recommended  the  regular  and  diligent 
perusal  of  them,  and  held  them  to  be  the  living  Word 
of  Christ.  The  Scriptures  were  their  only  rule  of  faith. 
They  preached  the  inherited  depravity  of  man,  the 
atoning  death  of  Christ,  justification  without  the  merit 
of  works,  regeneration  as  the  life  in  him  who  died  for 
us,  and  the  sacraments  as  signs  and  seals  of  grace  in 
Christ.  They  held  to  no  transubstantiation,  no  purga- 
tory, no  prayers  to  saints,  and  their  worship  was  in  the 
native  language.  But,  though  they  used  neither  pict- 
ures nor  images,  they  seem  to  have  been  attached  to 
the  use  of  the  simple  cross;  and  Gallus,  the  distin- 
guished champion  of  Columbanus,  is  said,  when  mark- 
ing out  a  place  on  which  to  erect  a  monaster}^,  to  have 
done  it  by  means  of  a  cross,  from  which  he  had  sus- 
pended a  capsule  of  relics.  Complete  exemption  from 
superstition  was  perhaps  among  the  impossibilities  of 
that  age"  (Anderson's  Foreign  Missions,  p.  69-82). 

4.  Similar  in  interest,  though  varied  in  detail,  are  the 
stories  of  Augustine's  mission  to  England,  A.D.  596; 
that  of  Boniface  to  Germany,  A.D.  715;  and  that  of 
Anksgar  to  Scandinavia,  A.D.  826 ;  together  with  that 
of  many  of  their  associates  and  successors.  Nor  were 
the  missions  among  the  Sclavonic  races  during  the  9th 
and  10th  centuries  without  many  incidents  of  great  in- 
terest. See  I\lacli'ar's  Missions  in  the  3Iiddles  Ages; 
Milman's  Latin  C/irisliiini/)/ ;  Merivale's  Conversion  of 
the  Northern  Nations;  Guizot's  History  of  Civilization  ; 
etc. 

5.  A  period  has  now  been  reached  when  it  is  neces- 
sary to  take  note  of  another  important  element  in  the 
history  and  character  of  missions,  viz.,  papal  influence. 
Gregory  the  Great,  A.D.  568-604,  was  the  first  of  the 
bishops"  of  Rome  who  exerted  any  decided  official  in- 
fluence on  the  propagation  of  Christianity  by  means  of 
missions.    "  His  project  of  sending  missionaries  to  Eng- 


MISSIONS 


352 


MISSIOXS 


land,  formed  before  his  attaining  the  pontifical  dignity, 
was  among  the  first  to  be  carried  into  execution.  In 
the  year  596  he  despatched  Augustine,  with  forty  assist- 
ant monks,  to  effect  the  conversion  of  the  Anglo-Sax- 
ons. Conversion,  in  the  dialect  of  Kome,  signified  noth- 
ing more  than  proselytism ;  and  it  was  sanguinely  hoped  j 
that  by  influencing  the  chiefs  to  renounce  idolatry  their  j 
subjects  would  soon  be  converted  in  a  mass.  .  .  .  Tlie 
success  of  Augustine  and  his  brethren  was  even  beyond  ; 
their  expectation.  Landing  on  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  they  j 
applied  to  Ethelbcrt,  the  king  of  Kent,  for  permission 
to  preach  in  his  kingdom.  Kthelbert  had  married  a  ; 
Christian  princess,  and  ^vas  therefore  not  unfavorably 
disposed  towards  his  uninvited  guests.  Yet  so  ignorant 
was  he  of  the  nature  of  their  errand  that  he  insisted 
that  their  first  interview  with  him  shoidd  take  filace  iu 
the  open  air,  lest  he  should  fall  a  victim  to  their  magi- 
cal arts.  Augustine's  eloquence,  however,  soon  inspired 
the  king  with  confidence,  and  Kthelbert  then  granted  to 
the  missionaries  an  old,  ruinous  church  at  Canterbury, 
dedicated  to  St.  Martin,  and  which  had  existed  from 
the  time  of  tlie  Komans,  as  their  first  station  for  preach- 
ing the  Gospel.  Ere  long  the  king  yielded  to  the  argu- 
ments of  Augustine  or  the  persuasions  of  his  wife,  and 
his  baptism  was  followed  by  tliat  of  many  of  his  sub- 
jects, no  fewer  than  ten  thousand  being  thus  nominally 
received  into  the  Church  on  a  single  occasion.  .  .  . 
Gregory  was  overjoyed  at  the  success  of  his  mission, 
and  needed  no  solicitations  to  send  a  re-enforcement  of 
preachers,  all  of  whom  were  monks.  lie  next  divided 
the  whole  island  into  two  archbishoprics,  appointing  I 
Augustine  to  be  archbishop  of  London,  and  constituting  : 
York  the  metropolitan  city  of  the  north  when  Christi-  ! 
anity  sliould  have  penetrated  so  far.  As  London  had  | 
not  yet,  liowevcr,  embraced  the  new  religion,  and  was 
not  within  the  domains  of  Ethclbert,  Augustine  made 
Canterbury  his  abode  and  see.  In  the  true  spirit  of 
Roman  arrogance,  Augustine  assumed  to  himself  the 
right  of  governing  all  the  churches  in  Britain,  whether 
planted  by  the  recent  laborers  or  existing  from  earlier 
times.  But  the  ancient  British  churches  were  indig- 
nant at  such  an  encroachment  on  their  independence 
and  liberties.  '  We  are  all  prepared,'  said  Deynoch,  ab- 
bot of  Bangor,  on  one  occasion, '  to  hearken  to  tlie  Church 
of  God,  to  the  pope  of  Kome,  and  to  every  ])ious  Chris- 
tian, so  as  to  manifest  to  all,  according  to  their  several 
stations,  perfect  charity,  and  to  uphold  and  aid  them 
both  by  word  and  deed.  What  other  duty  we  can  owe 
to  him  whom  you  call  7>o/}p,  or  father  of  fathers,  we  do 
not  know ;  but  this  we  are  ready  to  exercise  towards 
him  and  every  other  Christian.'  This  independence 
by  no  means  pleased  Augustine;  and  he  was  heard  to 
say  to  his  Anglo-Saxon  followers,  'Well,  then,  since 
they  will  not  own  the  Anglo-Saxons  as  brethren,  or  al- 
low lis  to  make  known  to  them  the  way  of  hie,  they 
must  regard  them  as  enemies,  and  look  for  revenge.' 
The  horrible  spirit  which  dictated  such  a  speech  is  too 
apparent  to  need  comment,  and  shows  how  little  of  real 
Christianity  the  Boman  missionaries  mingled  with  their 
zeal  for  the  papal  see.  In  the  contests  which  the  new 
Church  tlius  waged  with  the  old,  the  infiuence  of  Au- 
gustine and  his  followers  with  the  Saxon  kings  gener- 
ally enabled  them  to  triumph  ;  and  although  the  British 
churches  long  persevered  in  maintaining  their  freedom, 
they  gradually  became  alisorbed  in  the  Anglican  hie- 
rarchy; and,  long  before  the  Norman  invasion,  those 
who  ventured  to  dissent  from  the  lioman  forms  of  wor- 
ship were  only  to  be  found  in  the  extreme  jjarts  of  the 
island. 

"During  the  pontificate  of  Gregory,  the  Spanish 
Church  also  became  subject  to  the  primacy  of  Kome. 
Before  this  period  the  (ioths,  who  had  established  their 
power  in  Spain,  were  of  the  Arian  ])arty;  but  on  their 
king,  Kcckared,  professing  his  belief  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity,  the  bishops  in  a  body  requested  the  pope 
to  undertake  the  supervision  of  their  affairs— a  request 
with  which  Gregory  was  only  too  hapiiy  to  comply. 


He  attempted,  moreover,  to  obtain  the  subjection  of  the 
French  clergy,  but  in  this  he  could  only  partly  succeed. 
Nevertheless,  he  formed  alliances  with  the  French 
princes,  nobles,  and  bishops;  and,  considering  their 
Church  as  subject  to  his  inspection,  did  not  hesitate  to 
interfere  on  many  occasions  both  with  advice  and  with 
admonition. 

"  It  was,  perhaps,  the  zeal  of  Gregory  for  multiplying 
nominal  converts  to  Christianity  that  led  him  to  intro- 
duce alterations  in  the  forms  of  worship,  which  were  so 
exaggerated  by  succeeding  jrontiffs  as  to  change  the 
solemn  service  of  God  into  a  ridiculous  show.  Observ- 
ing the  influence  which  the  harmonies  of  music  and  the 
beauties  of  painting  and  sculpture  exerted  upon  the 
minds  of  the  Lombards  and  other  half-civilized  tribes, 
he  resolved  to  employ  the  arts  as  handmaids  to  religion" 
{Lives  of  the  Popes,  p.  78-81). 

For  more  than  one  hundred  years  following,  although 
the  papacy  was  constantly  making  advances  towartls 
temjwral  sovereignty,  no  one  of  the  popes  possessed  the 
character  of  (Jregory.  In  715  firegory  II  came  to  the 
papal  chair.  It  was  he  that  sent  Corbinian  as  mission- 
arj-  to  France  and  Boniface  to  Germany.  (Gregory  III, 
about  741,  sent  the  first  ambassador  of  Home  to  France. 
From  the  middle  of  the  8th  century  the  popedom  laid 
claim  to  a  temjioral  sovereignty, and  from  A.U. 800.  when 
pope  Leo  III  crowned  Charlemagne  as  emperor  of  the 
West,  that  monarch  assumed  the  protectorate  of  Chris- 
tendom, and  stood  ready  to  the  extent  of  his  power  to 
promote  the  interests  of  the  Koman  see,  which  he  chief- 
ly did  bj'  means  of  conquest.  From  that  time,  more 
than  before,  missions  were  made  an  agency  for  the  prop- 
agandism  not  merely  of  a  ceremonial  Christianity,  but 
of  the  power  of  the  popes.  Monasticism,  already  wide- 
ly extended,  became  an  auxiliary  of  great  power,  that 
could  be  wielded  for  any  special  object  contemplated  by 
the  Koman  see.  The  po])es  wieldeil  the  prerogative  of 
establishing  and  controlling  the  various  orders  of  monks, 
and, by  granting  them  exemption  from  the  local  super- 
vision of  bishops,  were  able  always  to  hold  them  in  the 
most  direct  subservience  to  their  own  ambitions.  From 
the  middle  of  the  Dth  century  onward  there  was  a  vast 
increase  of  monasteries  in  various  parts  of  Europe.  The 
Benedictine  order  was  in  the  ascendency,  hut,  notwith- 
standing repeated  reforms  of  its  rule  and  practice,  many 
of  the  monks  were  dissolute,  and,  as  the  clergy  of  vari- 
ous countries  were  chiefly  taken  from  the  monasteries, 
anarchy,  simony,  and  concubinage  largely  prevailed. 
This  was  the  sceculum  obscurum,  the  darkest  of  the  dark 
ages;  and,  in  the  general  stagnation  which  ])revailed, 
there  was  but  little  activity  in  any  form  of  missionary 
effort.  Europe  was  considered  Christian,  and  there  were 
no  elements  at  work  to  imjirove  the  type  of  Christian- 
ity it  had  received,  while,  on  the  contrary,  many  germs 
of  evil  that  had  been  sowed  as  tares  were  springing  up 
to  choke  whatever  of  wheat  was  left  to  grow. 

0.  The  Crusades. — About  this  period  rumors  of  vio- 
lence and  insult  to  Christian  pilgrims  in  the  East  began 
to  excite  attention,  and  the  certainty  that  Chrif^tians 
were  greatly  oppressed  by  the  Moslems  at  Jerusalem 
and  throughout  Palestine  became  the  pretext  for  the 
crusades.  The  idea  of  rescuing  by  force  the  Holy  Sep- 
ulchre from  the  pollution  of  the  infidels  was  first  devel- 
oped as  a  duty  of  the  Church  under  pope  Sylvester  II, 
A.I).  l)I)9-10(i;).  It  took  form  and  action  in  eight  suc- 
cessive crusades  or  wars  of  the  cross,  extending  through 
two  centuries  and  a  half.  These  so-called  holy  wars 
scarcely  dittered  iu  principle  from  the  wars  of  Clovis, 
Charlemagne,  and  others,  by  which  the  Church  liad 
been  exteiuled  among  the  nations  and  trilics  of  A'orth- 
ern  Europe ;  and  also  of  Cortez  and  I'izarro,  made  after 
the  discover}'  of  the  New  World,  to  Christianize  (?)  the 
nations  of  Mexico  and  Central  and  South  America.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  crusades  consist!  d  in  the  remoteness 
of  the  land  they  aimed  to  coiupier,  the  resistance  offered 
by  the^Ioslem  races,  and  the  defeats  which  overwhelm- 
etl  in  one  form  or  another  the  armies  of  eight  succcs- 


MISSIONS 


353 


MISSIONS 


sive  crusades,  until,  by  the  loss  of  millions  of  men  and 
treasure,  all  Europe  was  exhausted. 

The  only  proper  view  to  take  of  these  wars  is  to  re- 
gard them'  as  grand  but  mistaken  missionary  expedi- 
tions. As  such  they  were  sanctioned  by  the  popes, 
preached  by  the  monks,  sustained  by  the  people,  and 
enterprised'by  the  warriors,  who  went  forth  prepared  to 
sacrifice  treasure  and  life,  but  confident  of  winning  heav- 
en as  a  result.  Mark  the  history  and  language  of  pope 
Innocent  III,  A.D.  1198-1216 :  '-The  event  of  the  cru- 
sades might  have  crushed  a  less  lofty  and  religious  mind 
than  that  of  Innocent  to  despair.  Armies  after  armies 
had  left  their  bones  to  crumble  on  the  plains  of  Asia 
Minor  or  of  Galilee ;  great  sovereigns  had  perished  or 
returned  discomfited  from  the  Holy  Land.  The  great 
German  crusade  had  ended  in  disgracefid  failure.  All 
was  dissension,  jealousy,  hostility.  The  khig  of  Antioch 
was  at  war  with  the  Christian  king  of  Armenia.  The 
two  great  orders,  tlie  only  powerful  defenders  of  the 
land,  the  Hospitallers  and  the  Templars,  were  in  impla- 
cable feud.  The  Christians  of  Palestine  were  in  mor- 
als, in  character,  in  habits,  the  most  licentious,  most 
treacherous,  most  ferocious  of  mankind.  But  the  dark- 
er the  aspect  of  aftairs  the  more  firmly  seemed  Innocent 
to  be  persuaded  that  the  crusade  was  the  cause  of  God. 
In  every  new  disaster,  in  everj^  discomfiture  and  loss, 
the  popes  had  still  found  unfailing  refuge  in  ascribing 
them  to  the  sins  of  the  Christians,  and  their  sins  were 
dark  enough  to  justify  the  strongest  language  of  Inno- 
cent. It  needed  but  more  perfect  faith,  more  holiness, 
and  one  believer  would  put  to  flight  twelve  millions; 
the  miracles  of  God  against  Pharaoh  and  against  the 
Philistines  would  be  renewed  in  their  behalf.  For  the 
first  two  or  three  years  of  Innocent's  pontificate,  address 
after  address,  rising  one  above  another  in  impassioned 
eloquence,  enforced  the  duty  of  contributing  to  the  holy 
war.  This  was  to  be  the  principal,  if  not  the  exclusive 
theme  of  the  preaching  of  the  clergy.  In  letters  to  the 
bishop  of  Syracuse,  to  all  the  bishops  of  Apulia,  Cala- 
bria, and  Tuscany,  he  urges  them  to  visit  every  city, 
town,  and  castle ;  he  exhorts  not  only  the  nobles,  but 
the  citizens,  to  take  up  arms  for  Jesus  Christ.  Those 
who  cannot  assist  in  person  are  to  assist  in  other  ways, 
by  furnishing  ships,  provisions,  and  money.  Somewhat 
later  came  a  more  energetic  epistle  to  all  archbishops, 
bishops,  abbots,  priors,  and  princes  and  barons  of  France, 
England,  Hungary,  and  Sicily.  The  vicar  of  Christ  him- 
self would  claim  no  exemption  from  the  universal  call; 
he  would,  as  became  him,  set  the  example,  and  in  per- 
son and  in  estate  devote  himself  to  the  sacred  cause. 
He  had  therefore  himself  invested  with  the  cross  two 
cardinals  of  the  Church,  who  were  to  precede  the  army 
of  the  Lord,  and  to  be  maintained,  not  by  any  mendi- 
cant support,  but  at  the  expense  of  the  holy  see.  After 
the  pope's  example,  before  the  next  March,  everj-  arch- 
bishop, bishop,  and  prelate  was  to  furnish  a  certain  num- 
ber of  soldiers,  according  to  his  means,  or  a  certain  rate 
in  money  for  the  support  of  the  crusading  army.  Who- 
ever refused  was  to  be  treated  as  a  violator  of  God's 
commandments,  threatened  with  condign  punishment, 
even  with  suspension.  To  all  who  embarked  in  the 
war  Innocent  promised,  on  their  sincere  repentance,  the 
remission  of  all  their  sins,  and  eternal  life  in  the  great 
day  of  retribution.  Those  who  were  unable  to  proceed 
in  person  might  obtain  the  same  remission  in  proportion 
to  the  bounty  of  their  offerings  and  the  devotion  of 
their  hearts.  The  estates  of  all  wlw  took  up  the  cross 
were  placed  under  the  protection  of  St,  Peter"  (Milman, 
Lat,  Christianity,  v,  75  sq.).  Had  such  language  been 
used,  such  influence  exerted,  and  such  sacrifices  made  in 
harmony  with  the  Saviour's  plan  of  evangelizing  the 
world,  who  can  tell  what  happy  and  far-reaching  re- 
sults might  not  have  been  attained  as  the  issue  ?  But 
bad  efforts  in  a  good  cause,  no  less  than  well-meant  ef- 
forts in  a  bad  cause,  can  only  be  expected  to  result  dis- 
astrousl}'.  Hence  true  Christianity,  instead  of  being 
promoted,  was  perverted  and  antagonized,  till  the  hope 
VI.— Z 


of  its  very  existence  had  well-nigh  fled  the  earth.  Nev- 
ertheless, some  fragments  of  the  true  leaven  still  re- 
mained, sometimes  in  the  Church,  and  sometimes  in 
small  and  obscure  sects  like  the  Waldenses.  A  speci- 
men of  the  higher  and  better  aspirations  cherished  by 
individuals  is  illustrated  in  the  history  of  Raymond  Lull 
(see  Lully),  but  the  difliculties  in  their  way  were  in- 
superable. It  need  not  be  denied  that  the  terrible  evils 
of  the  crusades  were  in  a  subsequent  period  in  many  re- 
spects overruled  for  the  good  of  humanity.  But  as  it 
does  not  enter  into  the  scope  of  providential  action  to 
atone  for  the  crimes  of  men  or  the  errors  of  Christians, 
the  world  and  the  Church  are  destined  to  suffer  perpet- 
ual loss  as  a  result  of  the  milito-missionarv^  fanaticisms 
of  the  mediasval  Church.  What  was  needed  to  bring 
in  the  light  of  truth  and  civilization  into  the  dreary 
centuries  under  consideration  was  the  simple,  earnest 
Gospel,  accompanied  by  the  pure  Word  of  God,  and  illus- 
trated by  the  lives  of  its  teachers.  But  a  long  period 
was  destined  to  elapse  before  that  most  desirable  con- 
summation was  to  be  realized.  Indeed,  it  was  only  by 
slow  degrees,  and  through  long  r.nd  painful  struggles, 
that  the  Church  again  recovered  the  apostolic  idea  of 
missions. 

7.  Roman  Catholic  missions  assumed  a  new  and,  in 
some  respects,  an  impro\-ed  phase  during  the  13th  and 
14th  centuries,  chiefly  through  the  mendicant  and 
preaching  orders  of  Dominic  and  Francis  d'Assisi.  By 
them  a  vigorous  effort  was  made  to  revive  the  Catholic 
faith  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  even  to  extend 
it  by  peaceful  foreign  missions  among  pagans  and  Mo- 
hammedans in  various  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa.  "  Iiv 
one  important  respect  the  founders  of  those  new  orders 
absolutely  agreed — in  their  entire  identification  with  the 
lowest  of  mankind.  At  first  amicable,  afterwards  emu- 
lous, eventually  hostile,  they,  or  rather  their  orders,  ri- 
valled each  other  in  sinking  below  poverty  into  beg- 
gary. They  were  to  live  upon  alms;  the  coarsest  im- 
aginable dress,  the  hardest  fare,  the  narrowest  cell,  wa& 
to  keep  them  down  to  the  level  of  the  humblest.  Both 
the  new  orders  differed  in  the  same  manner,  and  greatly 
to  the  advantage  of  the  hierarchical  faith,  from  the  old 
monkish  institutions.  Their  primary  object  was  not 
the  salvation  of  the  indi\-idual  monk,  but  the  salvation 
of  others  through  him.  Though,  therefore,  their  rules 
within  their  monasteries  were  strictly  and  severely  mo- 
nastic, bound  by  the  common  vows  of  chastity,  poverty, 
and  obedience,  seclusion  was  no  part  of  their  discipline. 
Their  business  was  abroad  rather  than  at  home ;  their 
dwelling  was  not  like  that  of  the  old  Benedictines,  or 
others,  in  uncultivated  swamps  and  forests  of  the  North, 
on  the  dreary  Apennines,  or  the  exhausted  soil  of  Italy, 
in  order  to  subdue  their  bodies,  and  occupy  their  dan- 
gerously unoccupied  time,  merely  as  a  secondary  conse- 
quence, to  compel  the  desert  into  fertile  land.  Their 
work  was  among  their  fellow-men,  in  the  village,  in 
the  town,  in  the  city,  in  the  market,  even  in  the  camp. 
Monastic  Christianity  would  no  longer  flee  the  world; 
it  would  subjugate  it,  or  win  it  by  gentle  violence" (Mil- 
man,  Lat.  Christianity,  v,  238).  But,  being  monastic  still, 
this  form  of  Christianity  lacked  the  vital  elements  of 
evangelical  power,  and  soon  ran  into  fearful  excesses. 
Dominic  himself  personally  took  part  in  the  bloody  cru- 
sade against  the  Albigenses,  which  ere  long  was  followed 
by  the  establishment  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  with' 
Dominican  friars  as  its  generals  and  chief  inquisitors. 
See  Inquisition.  The  pretext  in  both  cases  was  the 
conversion  of  heretics,  for  which  confiscation,  torture, 
and  murder  were  as  relentlessly  applied  to  praying  and 
Bible-reading  Christians  as  to  .lews  and  Moors.  Thus 
the  world  had  still  to  wait  long  centuries  before  the 
apostolic  idea  of  Christian  missions  returned  to  the 
Church. 

V.  Modem  Missions.  — 1.  Roman  Catholic— Trior  to 
the  close  of  the  loth  century,  the  zeal  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  had  been  roused  to  a" fervid  state  of  excitement 
by  the  reported  successes  of  the  missionaries  of  the  men- 


MISSIONS 


354 


MISSIONS 


dicant  orders  who  had  followed  in  the  train  of  Portu- 
guese discoveries  along  the  coast  of  Africa  and  beyond 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  India.  At  lliat  period  the 
New  World  was  discovered,  and  the  fcrandeur  of  the 
fields  that  as  a  consequence  were  opened  to  conquest 
and  adventure  intlamed  anew  the  zeal  of  propagandism. 
The  idea  of  planting  the  cross  upon  the  islands  and  con- 
tinents of  America  was  deemed  sutHcient  to  justify  if 
not  to  hallow  any  violence  necessary  to  subjugate  the 
native  idolators.  Missionaries  sailed  in  every  fleet,  and 
every  new  discovery  was  claimed  by  the  Church  in  the 
name  of  some  Christian  sovereign.  About  the  same 
period  the  order  of  the  Jesuits  was  founded,  which  by 
its  rapid  increase  and  decisive  intiuencc  soon  rivalled 
all  preceding  orders,  sending  forth  its  missionaries  to 
India,  Cliina,  and  Japan.  See  Jesuits.  Thus  a  new 
and  exciting  impulse  was  given  to  agencies  which  suc- 
ceeded in  planting  Latin  Christianity  throughout  re- 
gions of  vastly  greater  extent  than  it  had  ever  before 
occupiecL 

No  unprejudiced  mind  can  become  acquainted  with 
the  vast  extent  of  the  missionary  operations  undertaken 
and  maintained  by  the  missionaries  of  the  Church  of 
Kome  during  the  IGth,  17th,  18th,  and  19th  centuries 
without  according  to  the  actors  in  them  the  meed  of 
high  admiration  for  their  devotion  and  sclf-sacrilice, 
however  he  may  lament  the  defects  and  errors  of  the 
system  in  connection  with  which  they  acted,  and  the 
low  grade  of  Christian  life  they  promoted. 

"In  the  East,  missions  were  founded  in  Hindustan, 
the  East  India  Islands,  Japan,  China,  Tonquin,  Abys- 
sinia ;  in  America,  the  half-civilized  natives  of  Teru  and 
Mexico  were  converted,  and  their  descendants  now  form 
the  mass  of  the  people,  and  the  Cliurch  of  Rome  has 
enrolled  two  of  Indian  blood  among  her  canonized  saints. 
The  nomadic  tribes  from  Labrador  to  Cape  Horn  were 
visited;  many  were  completely  gained,  in  other  parts 
reductions  were  formed,  and  such  as  could  be  persuaded 
to  enter  were  instructed  alike  in  the  truths  of  Christi- 
anity and  the  usages  of  civilized  life.  Close  on  these 
discoveries  came  the  religious  feuds  of  the  IGth  century, 
aiul  the  defection  of  nearl}'  every  prince  in  Northern 
Europe  from  the  Itonian  see.  State  churches  were 
formed  in  many  of  thetierman  states,  tlie  Scandinavian 
kingdoms,  Holland,  England,  and  Scotland,  based  on 
the  doctrines  of  Luther  and  Calvin.  This  led  to  a  new 
species  of  mission:  colleges  were  establislied  in  Catholic 
countries  for  tlie  education  of  their  fellow-believers  in 
the  northern  countries,  and  the  training  of  such  as 
wished  to  enter  tlie  priesthood ;  and  from  these  semina- 
ries missionaries  proceeded  to  their  native  coimtry  to 
minister  to  their  brethren,  and  to  gain  back  such  as 
seemed  to  repent  the  late  change.  Many  suffered  the 
penalty  of  death ;  but  this,  as  usually  hajjpens,  only 
raised  up  others  to  fill  their  places.  From  this  period 
the  Catholic  missions  were  either  home  missions  for  in- 
structing the  ignorant  and  neglected  in  Catholic  coun- 
tries, or  those  in  wliich  tlie  exercise  of  religion  is  per- 
mitted (comp.  Nitzsch,  rraldische  Theolorjie,  vol.  iii, 
pt.  i);  missions  in  rrotestant  countries  to  supf.ly  clergy 
for  the  Catholic  portion  ;  missions  among  schismatics  to 
reunite  them  to  IJome  ;  missions  to  pagan  nations. 
These  missions  l)ecame  at  last  so  important  a  part  of  the 
Church  government  tliat  (iregory  X\'  (ICrJl-'io)  insti- 
tuted the  Congregation  dc  l'roi)agaiiila  Eide  [see  Pitoi-- 
aganda],  which  gave  a  new  iinpnlse  to  the  zeal  and 
fervor  of  missionaries,  and  all  interested  in  the  mission- 
ary cause.  This  congregation  or  departnieiu  consisted 
of  thirteen  cardinals,  two  jiricsts,  a  religious,  and  a  sec- 
retary;  and  to  it  exclusively  was  committed  the  direc- 
tion of  missions  and  Church  matters  in  mission  coun- 
tries. Considerable  sums  were  bestowed  by  public  and 
private  munificence  on  this  department,  and  inider  Ur- 
ban VIII  a  college,  usually  styled  the  Urban  College,  or 
the  Propaganda,  was  erected  and  richly  endowed.  Here 
candidates  for  the  priesthood  and  the  missions  arc  re- 
ceived from  all  quarters  of  the  globe,  aiul  a  printing- 


press  issues  devotional  works  in  a  great  number  of  lan- 
guages. Besides  this  college,  there  soon  rose  the  Arme- 
nian College  at  Venice,  the  Germanic,  English,  Irish, 
and  Scotch  colleges  at  Rome,  the  English  colleges  at 
Kheims  and  Douay,  the  Irish  and  Scotch  at  Paris,  the 
Irish  colleges  at  Lonvain  and  Valladolid,  and  some  oth- 
ers, all  intended  to  train  the  missionaries  for  their  own 
countries;  and  at  a  later  date  the  Chinese  college  at 
Najdes  was  founded  in  the  same  view,  and  of  late  years 
a  missionary  college  has  arisen  at  Drumcondra.  Con- 
vents and  religious  houses  of  various  orders  were  also 
founded  on  the  Continent  for  natives  of  the  British  Isles, 
and  from  these  also  missionaries  annually  set  out  for  the 
missions  in  the  English  dominions.  Most  of  these  lat- 
ter have,  however,  since  disapjieared,  swept  away  by 
the  French  Revolution,  or  transferred  to  England  or  the 
United  States"  (Newcomb,  Ci/clopcedia  of  J/i.tsions,  p. 
299  S(i.).  See  /;»//&/(  lieeieu;  xvi,  421  sq.  We  also 
extract  from  Newcomb  a  detailed  account  of  the  results 
of  these  missionary  operations ;  for  still  later  particulars 
we  refer  the  reader  to  the  articles  on  the  several  coun- 
tries in  this  Cyclopa'dia. 

"I.  Misaionary  Societies.— There  are,  properly  speaking, 
no  niissionai-y  societies  in  the  Catholic  Church  snnilar  to 
those  ainonir  Protestants.   Three  societies,  of  quite  recent 

(III::  111  i!i'  >■„■,,■!  I  /,,!■  the  J'lcjia'fdlioa  of  the  Faith,  cen- 
trii,  ii  I,  .  I  —  ilic  h'aj„,i,i;,ic  Snn'rf'i,  at  Viciuia :  and 
tlii  -  '  .'  'A.  W"///  'V'i7'//»'r,./.  in  France— raise  fimds 
bv  u  .ni.u.  \\'jL:kly  couti'ibiitioii,  wliicli  the  directors  dis- 
tribute to  various  missions,  as  ihey  think  proper,  but  over 
the  missionaries  aud  stations  tliey  exercise  no  control. 
The  various  missions  are  conducted  entirely  independent 
of  this  aid,  relying,  in  default  of  it,  on  otiier  resources. 
The  last-named  society  is  made  up  of  children,  and  has  a 
special  object,  the  raising  of  money  to  save  and  baptize 
children  exposed  to  death  by  their  unnatural  parents  in 
China  and  Auiuini.  Besides  ilie  aid  thus  given,  some 
missions  have  funds  established  before  the  present  cen- 
tury, and  formerly  French,  Sjianish,  aud  PortUj-'Uese  mis- 
sionaries received  a  reirular  stipend  from  the  gtivernnieut. 
Tlie  great  mass  ofilie  inissions  at  present  are  individual 
efforts,  supported  by  the  zeal  aud  sacrifices  of  the  bishops 
aud  clergy  eniiiloyed  on  them. 

"  II.  Jie'reijitx.-  ']  he  amount  raised  11^1852  by  the  Society 
for  the  Proiia<:atioii  olihe  Faith  was  $950,(11)0 ;  by  the  So- 
ciety of  the  Holy  Childhood,  $117,000;  total,  $1,067,000. 

"III.  MissiitiHii-ii  .■<'utiiins.—A.  Eruoi'E.— 1.  Among  the 
Protestant  stales  of  Europe,  the  only  countries  where  the 
Catholic  Chuich  is  still  a  mere  mission  are  Denmark,  Nor- 
way, aud  Sweden.  Here  the  number  of  Catholics  is  very 
small,  and  no  details  are  iiublished,  as  many  severe  civil 
penalties  are  still  enforced  airainst  members,  and  espe- 
cially converts  of  the  P.oniaii  Church.  The  whole  number 
does  not  probably  exreed  if.u.odu. 

"2.  Turkey. — The  I'lnicd  Armenians  have  an  archbishop 
at  Constantiiioi)le  :  the  Latins,  .-e\ri;d  liish(>ps  and  vicars 
apostolic:  lh(!  distinet  missions  aie  tli<  m'  of  the  Francis- 
cans in  Moldavia,  Jesuits  in  Her/..-. .vine,  and  Lazarists 
at  Couslantiuoi)lo  and  Salonica— the  latter  aided  iu  their 
labors  by  the  Sisters  of  Charitj-.  The  whole  number  of 
Latin  Christians  is  estimated  at  613,000,  and  is  constantly 
on  the  increase. 

"3.  Oieece.— In  this  kingdom  there  are  constant  acces- 
sions to  the  Latin  and  Uiiiied  (ireek  ehiirches,  especially 
at  Athens,  PiriPus,  Patras,  Nauplia,  Navariuo.  and  Hera- 
clia.  There  are  in  this  kinL;doni  and  the  Ionian  rejjublic 
thiurishiiur  missions  of  the  Capncliins  and  .lesuits. 

'•■/;.  Asi.v.  — 1.  Tiirlo'ii  ill  vl.v/<(. —  Tlie  Franeiseans  have 
had  ndssions  in  the  Holy  Land  since  the  crusades,  which, 
more  or  less  active  at  times,  are  now  pushed  with  energy. 
The  Jesuits  have  since  their  orit:in  had  missions  among 
the  Eastern  Christians,  won  inanv  back  to  Home,  estab- 
lished schools,  aiul  laised  the  s'landard  of  clerical  in- 
struction. A(  Aiiiinrli  there  arc  Maronite,  United  Greek, 
and  Syriin  ;  !  i  '  '  -,  .-nid  elsewhere  an  Ainu-nian  and 
aChaldic.;    I  ill  in  communion  with  Home;  and 

the  nuinlic  .  i  i  n  -, :  iii>  who  acknowledixe  the  supremacy 
ofPiusiXi^: .ila.ndlion.  -  - 

"2.  J'eittiii. ^in  this  country  there  is  a  mission  directed 
by  the  La/arists  and  protected  by  France,  as  well  as  a 
United  Armenian  t'iiurch  «ell  established  and  tolerated. 

":i.  liidiit. — 'I'tie  Hindu  mission  dates  back  to  the  con- 
quest of  (oia  by  the  I'oitu^'uese  in  l.M(t,  and  was  at  first 
conducted  by  the  Franciscans.  Dominicans,  and  zealous 
secular  luiests.  Its  proi:ress  was.  however,  slow,  till  the 
arrival  of  Francis  Xavier  in  V,A-1.  By  his  labors,  and 
those  of  other  fathers  <if  the  Society  of  Jesus,  numbers 
weie  converted  on  the  Fishery  Coast,  the  islands  of  Ma- 
nar  and  Ceylon,  and  Travaucore,  while  the  former  mis- 
sionaries renewed  their  efl'orts  in  other  parts,  and  gained 
to  Kome  all  the  Chaldaic  Christians  who  had  fallen  into 
Nestori.inism.  The  Jesuit  mission  is,  however,  the  most 
celebrated,  aud,  after  Xavier,  owed  its  cliicf  progress  to 


MISSIONS 


355 


MISSIONS 


Robert  cle  Nobili,  nephew  to  pope  Marcellns  II,  who  orig- 
inated the  plan  of  having  niissioiiaries  for  each  caste, 
adnptin<x  the  life  of  each,  lie  himself  became  a  Brahmiii- 
sama-si.  'I'hc  l)lessed  John  de  Brito  converted  the  Mara- 
vas;  AqiKiviva,  at  Delhi,  won  Akbar  to  the  Christian  re- 
li^iiin  ;  and  (i^cs  traversed  Thibet  aud  Tartary  to  Pekin. 
These  missions  were  affected  by  the  overthrow  of  the 
rortugnese  and  French  power  in  India,  by  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Danes,  by  the  disputes  as  to  the  Malabar  rites, 
by  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuits,  aud  by  the  troubles  of 
the  French  Kevolutiou.  A  large  number  of  converts  had, 
liowever,  been  made,  and  their  descendants  remained 
faithful.  During  the  Dutch  rule  in  Ceylon,  Catholicity 
was  maintained  there  by  the  labors  of  the  Portuguese 
Oratorians.  All  Hindustan  is  now  divided  into  vicariates 
apostolic  for  European  and  native  Chtistians,  the  most 
extensive  Ilinda  missions  Ijeing  those  of  :\lailura,  ron- 
ducted  by  the  Jesuits:  of  ilysov.-,  conducted  l>y  llic  pric-ts 
of  the  Foreign  Missi(nis  ;  and  of  ("I'vlon.  l>y  ihe  ],i  ie-t-  ,<( 
the  Oratory— all  of  which  aie  lapidl)-  L^ainii).'  the  LTomul 
lost  in  darker  days.  Hin(hi--tau  contains  l.'.  vir.n  i.iie.--,  li; 
bishops,  a  large  number  of  priests,  including  6;.hi  native 
clergymen,  aud  nearly  4,000,000  of  Latiu  and  Chaldee 
Chri>tians.  Ceylon  contains  2  vicariates,  3  bishops,  aud 
150,000  Catholics. 

"4.  F((rtli('r  rndid.— The  Toiiquin  mission  was  founded 
by  the  Jesuit  Alexander  KhoiUs,  who  labored  in  that  field 
fi-oni  about  li;j4  to  KUs,  and  -athered  a  Church  of  60,000 
Christians.  Driven  at  last  from  the  couutry,  he  originated 
at  Paris  the  Seminary  of  the  l-'oreiuii  .Mis-ions,  lonndcd 
in  1633,  aud  induced  the  Holy  s,r  to  appoint  l>iMioi,s  to 
Tonquin.  Since  then  the  inie-t-^  of  the  I'oici-ii  :\lis.-ions 
have  had  the  chief  direction  of  the  nli^sion  in  An  nam  and 
the  neighboring  province  of  Su-Tehnen.  in  chitta.  The 
Jesuits  also  continued  their  mission,  and  l>y  the  hiliors  of 
both  many  native  clefgy  were  formed.  'I'he  Coeliin  China 
missiini  was  founded  alioiit  tin'  same  tiim'  bv  F.  loK-i, 
and  pas.-ed  also  to  the  Foivi-n  Mi"ion<.  l;oih  ehiiivhes 
have  undergone  terrible  prrMM-ni  ion-,  even  of  late  years, 
under  the  emperor  .Minh-.Menh.  luii  ha\o  -teadiiy  in- 
creased. Tonquin  contaius  6  vieaiiates  apo-tolir,' L;o^-- 
erned  by  12  bishops.  One  of  these  vhariates  in  l-^4T  con- 
tained 10  European  and  i)l  native  i.iie,-ts,  -jnii  eaterhi-t-, 
aud  about  200,000  Christians.  Anoiher,  -J  l.i>ln>p-,  :;  Kn- 
ropean  and  43  native  i)riestB,  60  caiechists,  and  TO,0(iO 
Christians.  Cochin  China  contaius  3  vicariates  apostolic, 
all  directed  by  clergy  of  the  Seminary  of  the  Foreign  Mis- 
sions and  native  priests. 

" Siaui,  Laos,  and  Cavibodia. — These  missions  are  also 
directed  by  the  priests  of  the  Foreign  Missions  aud  native 
clergymen.  They  have  been  subjected  to  repeated  i^erse- 
cutiins,  i)ut  are  now  at  peace.  Ava,  Peirn,  aird  Malacca 
are  vicariates,  with  2  bishops  andaliottt  la. (inn  ('atlndics. 

"5.  China. — The  Chinese  missiiai  was  alietn|iteil  in  tlie 
13th  ceutury  by  John  de  iMontecorvino,  who  I'ouiuled  ;t 
metropolitan  see  at  Pekin,  which  siilisisted  for  over  a 
century.  Xavier  attempted  to  restore  it  in  V&i.  but  died 
near  Canton.  After  several  other  attemjits,  the  Jesuits 
Ruggieri  and  Pa/.io  founded  a  mission,  which,  under  the 
great  Matthew  Ricci  (15S4-1610),  obtained  a  permanent 
footing  in  the  empire.  The  early  Jesuits  adopted  the 
dress  of  literati,  aud  thus  secured  the  esteem  of  the  em- 
perors, aud  would  probably  have  gained  them  to  Christ 
but  for  the  Tartar  invasion.  After  that  change  persecu- 
tions began,  and  as  differences  arose  between  the  Jesuits 
on  the  cue  side,  aud  the  Dominicans  in  Fokieu  aud  the 
priests  of  Foreign  ^Missions  in  Suchuen  on  the  other,  as 
to  tli€  use  of  certain  ceremonies,  these  dissensions  foriu- 
ed  a  pretext  for  very  severe  edicts.  For  many  years  the 
blood  of  the  Chinese  Christians  and  their  missionaries 
flowed  in  torrents.  At  preseut  the  Church  enjoys  ])ea'M', 
although  the  insurgents  are  decidedly  hostiU^'to"  th,'  ciij. 
uese  Catholics,  and  treat  them  with  unat  >('\.rii\. 
Among  the  celebrated  Chinese  missionaries  mav  Tie 
named  Ricci,  Scliall,  ami  \'crl)ie.-t,  mathematicians;  ]\Ia- 
rin,  an  Amerieati,  who  attemptt'il  a  mission  in  1556;  Lo- 
pez, a  native  i  hiiu-e  priest  and  bishop  :  Denis  de  la  Cruz, 
another  Cliinese,  who  died  at  Cai  ilia-ima,  in  South  Amer- 
ica; Navarretle,  Amiot,  Sanz.  I'erbovre.  a  r.M-cnt  martvr. 
The  suppression  of  the  Je-ii;;-  atid  the  French  Itcvolu- 
tiou  seriously  affected  these  n.is-ionsbv  (  uttiiii; oft' a  sup- 
ply of  learned  aud  adventurous  mi,-sionaries.  Since  the 
restoration  of  peace  in  Europe,  aud  especiallv  since  the 
establishment  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagatiou  of  the 
Faith,  the  mission  has  recovered  much  of  its  former  ex- 
tent. At  the  present  time  China  C(nitain-^  i:.  -ees  or  vi- 
cariates, 16  bishops,  S4  European  and  l:;r,  native  priests, 
mauy  convents  and  houses  of  relijiou-  wonnni,  and  a 
population  of  400,000  Catholics.  Tin-  jivat  ina.-s  of  the 
old  Jesuit  missions  are  directed  by  the  I'lenrh  Fa/.arists; 
the  missions  in  Suchuen,  Yunnan",  Quavch..o,  and  I^'ao- 
toug,  by  the  priests  of  the  Forei-n  Missions;  tln)se  in 
Chausi,  Chensi,  and  llonquaug,  by  Italian  Franciscaus  ; 
those  in  Fokieu  by  Spanish  Dominicans;  and  those  in 
Chautoug  and  Kiaugnau  by  French  Jesuits,  who  have 
recently  returned. 

"6.  Cyrcft.— Christianity  was  introduced  here  from  Chi- 
na about  1632,  and  has  since  grown  amid  persecution  of  the 
severest  kind.  The  history  of  the  Corean  Church  is  writ- 
ten m  blood.    Her  first  neophyte  was  a  martyr;  her  first 


Chinese  apostle,  a  martyr ;  her  first  native  priest,  a  mar- 
tyr; her  first  European  missionaries,  all  martyrs.  The 
number  of  Catholics  is  about  12,000,  directed  by  a  bishop, 
2  Euroi)ean  priests,  if  still  alive,  and  some  native  clergy. 
This  mission  is  intrusted  to  the  Seminary  of  the  Foreign 
Missions. 

"7.  .Miniija!  Tartarij. —Th\s  is  a  Lazarist  mission,  directed 
by  a  lii.-lio]!,  :;  European  and  W  native  priests,  a  college 
seminaiy,  ^  -chools,  and  .5000  Christiaus. 

"S.  Miniii'lr. ria.  —  A  mission  uuder  the  priests  of  the 
Foreign  Missious,  with  a  bishop  aud  some  European  cler- 
gymen. 

"0.  y/tifief.— Missions  were  attempted  here  in  the  13th 
and  14th  centuries  by  Hyacinth  of  Poland,  and  Oderic  of 
Fruili ;  in  the  ITth  century  by  the  Jesuits  and  Capuchins  ; 
but  in  the  interval  Btnidhisin  had  grown  up  and  expelled 
all  but  the  traces  of  Christianitv.  The  mission  was  re- 
stored in  is4(;  by  the  Lazarists  Hue  and  Gabet,  Others 
liave  followed,  and  a  bishop  has  hitely  been  appointed. 

'■  Hnst  I  ml  la  Islands. — Missious  exist  on  some  of  these  of 
ancient  liale,  but  the  data  are  not  very  full  or  recent. 

'■10.  Japan. — Christianity  was  introduced  into  this  em- 
pire in  1549  by  Francis  Xavier,  who  had  converted  a  Jap- 
anese at  Goa.  During  a  sttiy  of  two  years  he  visited  sev- 
eral kingdoms,  and  founded  missions,  wliicli  he  confided, 
to  zealous  priests  of  his  order.  The  faith  spread  rapidly. 
In  1562  the  prince  of  Omura,  aud  soon  after  the  kings  of 
Bungo  and  Arima,  embraced  Christianity,  and  sent  a 
splendid  embassy  to  pope  Gregory  XIII.  Soon  after  Tay- 
cosoma,  a  powerful  general,  iisurped  the  throne,  and  iu 
15S6  issued  a  law  against  Christianity,  which  his  prede- 
cessor, Nabunanga,  had  greatly  favored.  The  number  of 
Christians  increased  with  the  iiersecution,  aud  iu  1038 
they  rose  iu  arms  in  Arima,  but  were  crushed  by  Dutch 
aid.  Since  then  the  faith  has  been  almost  entirely  extin- 
guished. The  number  of  Christians  put  to  death  has 
been  estimated  at  nearly  tw.i  miilions.  and  the  annals  of 
the  Jesuits,  Franciscans,  and  |ioniinican<  tire  filled  with 
narratives  of  the  deaths  ol  inembcr^  of  ilicir  orders  in  Ja- 
jian.  Besides  Xaviei-,  ilie  ^'reat<-t  niis-ionaries  were  Va- 
liirmmi,  father. J.. hn  l!a].ti-t,a  ^pani^h  Franci.^can,  Philip 
of  Jesus,  a  ?tlexican  Franciscan,  l>oth  crucitied  at  Nau'a- 
saki,  father  Clnirie-  Spinola.  etc.  Tile  last  Catholic  i)rie>t 
who  entered  Jaiian  wa^  .M.  Sedotti,  wlio  in  1709  found 
means  to  land,  but  he  was  never  again  heard  of.  Within 
a  few  years  great  eftbrts  have  been  made  to  reach  the  for- 
saken Christians  still  said  to  exist  in  Japan  ;  and  a  bish- 
op appointed  to  the  mission  has  already  founded  stations 
on  the  Lew-Chew  Islands. 

"  C.  Afiiica. — 1.  Comjo. — The  earliest  missions  were 
those  of  Con^o,  begun  by  the  Domitiicans,  Franciscans, 
aud  Jesuits.  From' 1.500 'to  about  1560  the  success  was 
great ;  the  king  and  many  of  his  people  were  converted, 
initive  |)iie-t>  ordained,  and  one  raised  to  the  episcopacy. 
Catholtrity  tlourislied  there  for  many  years,  but  insensi- 
lily  declined  for  want  of  priests.  The  Carmelites  estab- 
lished missious  iu  Guinea,  the  Jesuits  in  Angola  aud  Lo- 
ango :  aud  on  these  chiefiy  the  Catholics  of  Congo  de- 
pelnded  as  late  as  1022.  In  1642  the  Capuchins  undertook 
the  mis-ion,  headed  by  Fray  Francisco  de  Parapeluna, 
once  a  tnilitary  oiVner  of  high  rank.  This  body  aud  their 
successors  ronlinned  the  mission  till  about  \7(tO,  when 
Cistercians  took  tlieir  place.  About  the  middle  of  the 
last  ceutury  the  priests  of  the  Foreign  Missious  estab- 
lished stations  in  Loango,  and  converted  many.  These 
missions  still  exist  in  several  parts. 

"2,  Bavharij.  —  Missions  have  from  the  earliest  times 
been  conducted  there  by  Franciscans,  Dominicans,  Trini- 
tarians, and  Mercedarians ;  still  later  by  the  Jesuits  and 
Lazarists.  The  number  of  Christians  is,  however,  very 
sntail.  and  the  clergy  d<i  not  number  a  score. 

■■::.  /•.','/  v'^—Tlie"  Latin  mission  there  is  due  chiefly  to 
the  .Ic-nit-.  of  whom  father  Sieard  was  the  leader.  Many 
Copts  were  recalled  to  the  Latin  Church,  and  are  now  di- 
rected by  Lazarist  missionaries,  aided  by  brothers  of  the 
Christian  School. 

"4.  vl  6(/.s.s?«/a.— The  Portuguese,  about  1530,  attempted 
to  convert  the  schismatics  of  Al)vssinia,  and  revive  mo- 
ralitvand  learniti-  Imt  the  effort^ainl  the  zeal  of  the  Jes- 
uits'failed  :  the  tni-;onarie<  were  exci'ided,  after  a  long 
persecution.  In  l>:;'.i  the  inis-ion  was  tevived  by  the  Laz- 
arists, and  a  bishop  appointed,  wlnle  the  Galla  couutry 
was  allotted  to  the  Capneliins  in  1S46. 

"5.  Madaga.'icar.—'Vhe  tiist  missions  among  the  Mala^ 
gasies  was  begun  by  tlie  I^azarists  iu  1648,  and  continued 
till  16T4,  when  Loui.s  XIV  forbade  French  vessels  to  stop  at 
the  island.  The  mission  was  revived  in  183T  by  Mr.  Dal- 
mond,  who  founded  the  station  of  Nossibe  in  1840.  Since 
1S45  this  mission  has  been  confided  to  the  Jesuits,  who 
have  made  rapid  progress. 

"6.  Other  Part?.— Missious  have  been  founded  at  dift"er- 
ent  spots  on  the  eastern  and  western  coast,  which  have 
been  discontimied,  or  are  not  yet  firmly  established.  That 
of  Guinea  is  the  most  thriving.  A  bishop  was  at  first  se- 
lected for  it  from  among  the  Catholic  clergy  in  the  United 
States;  but  on  the  faihVre  of  his  health  the  mission  was 
transferred  to  the  Society  of  the  Sacred  Hearts  of  Jesus 
and  Mary,  who  still  administer  it. 

"/>.  OoEANio.v.— The  first  Catholic  mission  in  Oceanica 
was  that  of  Messrs.  Bachelot,  Armand,  and  Short,  of  the 


MISSIONS 


356 


MISSIONS 


'  Congregation  of  the  Sacred  Hearts  of  Jesas  and  Mary,' 
at  the  SaiuUvich  Islands.  Thev  be-jun  it  in  1S-2G,  and  con- 
tinued it  till  Uicir  cxiiiilsii.ii  bv  llu;  frovornnieiit  in  lSS-2. 
Ill  thefollDwiii/  X.   II  x:.  H-  :.|,n>inliru,-iv  npi'iiiiitcd,  aud 

missions  bc-uii  -    ' ■    ,  I   iliili.  .■iml,  lor  a  si'cmd  time, 

al  tbo  .-aiidwi.  i.  I  I  !■■ -'■  nii.-imi.-  arc  diielly  di- 
rected l)vi)rii.-.-i>  oi  ihi  .-w.  a  ; y  ul'  I'icpry  ami  the  Marists. 
Other  stiitiDiis  wi-ie  biL'uii  in  Now  Zealand,  at  Futuua,  in 
the  Marquesas,  Nukahwa,  and  olsewliere.  These  mis- 
sions extended  so  rapidly  that  several  new  vicariates  were 
formed;  and,  in  sjiitc  oV  martyrdom,  disease,  and  ship- 
wreclv,  they  are  still  advancini,'.  Oteanica  now  contains 
8  bishops,  10  vicariates,  and  3ni)  missionaries. 

"A".  Amkiiica.— 1.  .•^jMuii'ili  .!//.«/.;;(.<.— Missions  were  es- 
tablished in  all  Spaiii.-li  Aiiifiiia,  and  <_'reat  minibeis  were 
converted,  especially  in  Mcxiro  and  I'cni.  wlu-re  tlieir  de- 
scendants arc  still  llic  niaj.aity,  niinixlcd  with  the  Span- 
ish race.  Even  in  Cuba  the  Spani.-li  blood  is  much  mixed 
with  Indian  bloml.  'Ilic  nii>>ioiis  anion;,'  the  wild  tribes 
were  of  a  didVirm  (  h.iiaricr.  The  mo>t  celebrated  are 
those  of  the  Jcmiu-  in  PaiaLinay  and  Calilbrnla,  the  mis- 
sions amon^r  the  JMoxos  and  Abipimes  in  Chili  and  Kew 
Grenada.  Few  of  these  are  now  jiropeily  missions,  and 
they  are  matter  for  a  history  rather  than  a  gazetteer. 

"2.  Portuguese  Ninxioiin. — The  missions  of  Brazil  were 
chietiy  concluded  by  Portufrucse  Jesnils,  who  converted 
several  tribes,  although  their  numbers  were  diminished 
by  the  cruelty  of  the  savages  on  land  and  pirates  at  sea. 
Several  of  these  missions  ^till  subsist,  but  details  are  not 
easily  iicce>sil)l('  as  to  llieii-  numbers  and  extent. 

"3.  Unit,;!  Stdtrs  (iii'i  (•(iiitiiia. —'\'\ii-  early  Catholic  mis- 
eious  ill  New  Mexico,  Florida,  and  ('.ilifriiia  were  Span- 
ish. The  natives  of  New  .Mexico  weic  converted,  and, 
heing  now  Christians,  are  not  consideied  a  mission.  In 
Florida,  while  a  Spanish  province,  the  Indians  were  con- 
verted by  Franciscans,  and  formed  vilhiires  on  the  Ajiala- 
cliicola  and  around  the  cilv  of  St.  Auj-'isiine.  The  Imi'j:- 
lish  drove  these  Indian-  IVmh,  tli-;!-  \  illi--.  and  their  de- 
scendants, now  called  SciiihimI.'-.  ,ir  wami'M  er>,  have  lo.-t 
all  traces  of  Cliri>liaiiily.  'Ilie  I  pper  (  aiir..rii::i  mi^^iolls 
were  conducted  by  l''iaiici>caiis.  and  till  a  ifceiil  period 
were  iu  a  verv  llouri^hiiiu'  stale,  but  are  now  dcMr-ixeil. 
The  Canada  inis.-i.  ns  were  beL'uii  by  French  .lesiiit-.  in 
Nova  Scotia  and  .Maine,  about  lOl-J.  The  IJec  .|,ect~  |-,,l- 
lowed,  Micceeile.l  aiTMin  bv  ilie  .lesuii-.  Tlii-  iiii-^iMi,  cm- 
verted  llie  Al.eiiaMUi^  (.r.Nlaiue,  now  loiiniir.-i  u  m  \ill:,L;es 
in  the  ^laIe  of  Maine  and  two  in  Cana.la  ;  ilir  IIiiimi-  ,,f 
Upper  Canada,  a  part  id' whom  are  Calliolir-,  are  Mill  al 
Lorettc,  near  (Quebec;  a  part  of  the  Iroquois,  or  Five  Na- 
tions, who  form  the  three  Catholic  villaL;es  at  Caughna- 
waga,  St.  Regis,  and  the  Lalie  of  tlie  Two  Mountains;  the 
Algompiins,  who  form  a  mission  village  with  the  last- 
named  band  of  Iroquois;  the  Micmacs Of  Nova  Scotia, 
now  attended  by  the  secular  clerirv;  the  Montagnais,  at 
Chicontimi  and  Red  River,  under  a'liishop  and  missiona- 
ries; tlu!  Ottawas  of  Lake  Suiierior,  who.  with  the  Ojib- 
was  and  Meiioinonee.-.  are  now  under  the  care  of  Cana- 
dian cler-.'V  on  the  noilli,  and  on  the  .-ouih  of  bishop  Ba- 
raga, a  philoloL-'i-t,  whose  talents  have  lueii  acknowledged 
by  the  government:  the  Illinois  and  .Miamis,  who^e  de- 
scendants are  now  on  Indian  Ti^rrilory  and  in  Louisiana; 
the  Arkansas,  whose  docemhints.  iimlei-  the  name  of  Ivap- 
pas,  are  also  there,  'i'lie  Calliolics  of  Mariland  be.'aii  u\\>- 
Hions  among  the  neighboriiiL'  triln-,  Imi  i  ril.e  and  mi~-i.in 
have  long  since  disappearecl.  slme  ilie  i;e\  nliKi..ii  ami 
the  establishment  of  a  Catbolir  hi.Tai.liv  in  the  Iniied 
States,  attention  has  been  L'ra.iually  im  ned  lo  ilie  Indian 
missions;  2  vicariates  are  devoleil  lo  ilicni  alone.  Tliat 
of  Upper  .Michi-an  contains  1  liisliop, :.  piie-i-.  r.  schools, 
and  a  lar-e  niimlier  of  Calholic  Oilaw.i-  and  diibwas; 
that  of  IimUoi  i.riiiorv  lia-  a  bi-hop.  ^  rlrrL'Mnen,  -I 
BChooN.  :,-.  .      ■!,,,,._   ,;ni„.   |>,,:i:,u,a;,n,i,^..(l-:l':,r-..Mi- 


.\li 


Ml 


are  in  uv    

Ojibwa  iiii~>ion  ;  in  thai  of  St.  i'aul'.s  .Minnesota,  a  Sioux, 
a  Winnebago,  and  :!  O.jibwa  missi(ms ;  and  in  Oregon 
there  are  missions  among  the  Waskos,  Cavusus,  Pointed 
Hearts,  and  Flatheads— the  Indian  Catholics  of  the  terri- 
tory numbering  H4uii.  Besides  these,  a  few  hundred  con- 
verted Indians  are  to  be  found  iu  California. 

"This  is  an  outline  of  the  widely-extended  and  much- 
divcrsiticd  Catholic  missions.  .\s  to  their  history,  the 
work  of  Henrioii,  llistmrf  (.'/ii/nilf  iirn  MisKioim  Cnthii- 
liqwx;  Wittmann,  />»■  Il<rrlul,bil.',>  dn-  Kirrhe  in  iluei, 
MUiridDcn  (AuLT'^burL',  IMI;;  .Mai>liall,  Missions,  Roman 
Catholic  and  I'rotesiaui  a.oiid.  is,;.',)  ;  and  ttie  annals  of 
the  Society  for  the  l'ropagati.>n  of  ilie  Faith,  will  give  a 
general  idea;  but  the  sources  are  the  acciainis  of  the  va- 
rious religious  bodies  eiiiraged  on  the  several  missions, 
voluminous  works  which  would  ahme  form  a  library." 
See  also  Wetzer  n.  Welie,  Kirchen-Lexikon,  vii,  ]&7  sq.  ; 
(Regensbnrg)  Jteal-Kncrklopidie,  vol.  ix,  8.  v. 

2.  7V/e  fjj-eek  C//"/r/i.— ^lovcments  have  recently  oc- 
curred in  Kussia,  the  princi|)al  stronghold  and  promoter 
of  the  (ircck  Cluircli.  indicating  some  slight  develop- 
ment of  the  modern  missionary  sjiirit. 

A  Russian  lUlile  .Society  has  i)een  organized  at  St. 
Petersburg,  with  the  sanction  of  the  emperor  Alexander. 


I  A  former  society,  which  had  279  auxiliaries,  and  had 
I  circulated  801,000  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  was  sup- 
'  pressed  by  the  emperor  Xieliola.s. 

I      Tlic  Russian  government  has  also  organized  the  e.s- 
;  tablishment  id"  a  missionary  society  f<jr  the  spread  of 
j  the  orthodox  religion  among  the  heathen  ilussnlmen 
I  and  Buddhist.s  witiiin  its  territory.     The  operations  of 
j  the  society  have  primary  reference  to  the  conversion  of 
the  pagan  tribes  of  the  Altai  and  Trans-IJalkan  coun- 
I  try,  the  Caucasus  being  assigned  to  another  society  of 
the  same  kind.     The  following  is  an  account  of  the  in- 
!  auguration  of  the  missionary  society  lirst  referred  to : 
'•In  1870  the  (ireek  Church  of  Kus.sia  organized  an  in- 
stitution  called  'The  Orthodox  Society  on  behalf  of 
Missions,'  the  object  of  which  was  the  conversion  of 
the  non-Christians  of  all  parts  of  the  Russian  empire 
except  the  Caucasian  and  Trans-Caucasian  provinces 
already  provided  for,  and  both  tlie  spiritual  edification 
and  social  advancement  of  the  converts  thus  made.    The 
society  was  inaugurated  at  JIoscow  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Innocent,  metropolitan  of  that  city,  and  there- 
fore known  as  '  the  Apostle  of  Kamtchatka.'     Liturgy 
and  Te  JJeiim.  were  performed,  and  a  sermon  preached 
in  the  cathedral  before  a  crowded  congregation,  among 
whom  were  present  the  governor-general  of  the  prov- 
I  incc  and  others  of  the  liiglicst  ollicials,  although  the 
I  solemnity  liad   no   oHicial  character.     The  society  is 
placed  under  the  patronage  of  the  Russian  empress,  and 
the  ultimate  contnd  of  the  holy  synod.     The  presiilent  is 
the  metropolitan  (d'^Moscow,  aiui  the  .society's  alVairs  are 
ailuiiiiistercd  by  a  council  at  tliat  jilace.     Committees 
are  also  to  be  formed  in  every  city  under  the  local  bish- 
op.    The  society  is  amnially  to  observe  the  day  of  Sts. 
Cyril  and  jMethodius,  May  II  (O.  S.).    Any  person  sub- 
scribing at  least  three  roubles  may  be  a  member  of  the 
society.    Its  council  possesses,  besides  the  jiresident,  two 
vice-presidents,  chosen  for  two  years,  one  by  the  presi- 
i  dent  from  his  coadjutor  bishojis,  and  one  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  society  from  the  laity.    Of  the  twelve  mem- 
!  bers  of  the  council,  four  are  biennially  nominated  Ijy  the 
;  president,  and  the  rest  by  the  members  of  the  society 
at  a  general  meeting." 

3.  Protestant  Missions. — (I.)  Bef/inniiifis  and  Ch-adual 
!  Development. — The  16th  century  covered  tlie  jicriod  of 
the  great  Reformation,  in  wliicli,  l)y  severance  from  the 
Church  of  Rome,  an  effort  was  made  to  escape  from  the 
accumulated  errors  and  abii.ses  of  more  than  ten  centu- 
ries, and  to  establish  Christianity  on  a  Scriptural  basis. 
See  RiiFoiiJi.MioN.  On  the  part  of  the  Reformers,  it  was 
for  a  long  time  a  struggle  for  existence,  and  the  first 
and  everywhere  present  necessity  was  tiie  establishment 
j  of  churches  as  the  nuclei  of  futin'c  action.  I'lihappily 
a  lack  of  unity,  combined  witli  tlie  intierited  spirit  of 
intolerance,  for  a  time  led  to  strifes  among  themselves, 
\vhicli  greatly  retarded  the  development  of  tlie  rrotC!- 
taiit  clnirches,  and  postponed  the  day  of  their  active  ef- 
forts for  the  conversion  of  tlic  world.  Nevertheless  the 
Church  of  Geneva,  as  early  as  155G,  inaugurated  foreign 
missions  by  sending  a  company  of  fourteen  missionaries 
to  Rio  dc  Janeiro,  in  hope  of  being  aide  to  introduce  the 
Reformeil  religion  into  Brazil;  but  the  mission  was  de- 
feated liy  a  combination  of  treachery  with  religious  and 
political  opposition  (see  KiddoT,  iSLetc/ies  of  lirazil,  vol. 
i,  ch.  i).  In  l.'>.')9  a  niis.sionary  was  sent  into  Lapland  by 
the  celebrated  (Justavus  Vasa,  king  of  .Sweden.  Early 
in  the  17th  century  the  Dutch,  having  obtained  posses- 
sion of  Ceylon,  attcmjited  to  convert  the  natives  to  the 
Christian  faith.  ,\bout  the  .same  time,  many  of  the 
Nonconforiiiists  who  had  settled  in  New  England  began 
to  attem])t  the  conversion  of  the  aborigines.  IMayhew 
in  lt;i;>,  and  tlie  laiiorious  Eliot  in  KVKi.  devoted  them- 
selves to  this  apostolic  service.  In  KJIH.  diirin.g  the  pro- 
tectorate of  Cromwell,  there  was  incorporated  liy  act  of 
Parliament  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  (Jos- 
l)el  in  New  I'Lngland."  In  ICtGO  the  society  was  dis- 
solved; but.  on  urgent  application,  it  was  soon  restored, 
and  the  celebrated  liobert  Boyle  was  appointed  its  first 


MISSIONS 


357 


MISSIONS 


governor.  The  zeal  of  this  distinguished  individual 
for  the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel  in  India  and  'America', 
and  among  the  native  Welsh  and  Irish  ;  his  munificent 
donations  "for  the  translations  of  the  sacred  Scriptures 
into  Malay  and  Arabic,  Welsh  and  Irish,  and  of  Eliot's 
Bible  into"  the  Massachusetts  Indian  language,  as  well 
as  for  the  distribution  of  Grotius  de  Veritate  Christianm 
Religionis ;  and,  lastly,  his  legacy  of  £5400  for  the  prop- 
agation of  Christianity  among  the  heathens,  entitle  him 
to  distinct  attention.  Besides  these  incipient  efforts  to 
diffuse  the  Gospel,  glowing  sentiments  on  the  subject 
are  to  be  found  scattered  through  the  sermons  and  epis- 
tolary correspondence  of  the  age,  wliich  show  that  many 
a  Christian  heart  was  laboring  and  swelling  with  tlie 
desire  of  greater  things  than  these.  Still  the.  century 
closed  with  witnessing  little  more  than  individual  and 
unsustained  endeavors.  The  "Society  for  Pronidtiiii; 
Christian  Knowledge,"  which  will  be  noticed  hercilh  r. 
whose  objects,  to  a  certain  extent,  embrace  the  lalicus 
of  missionaries,  was  organized  in  England  in  1G98 ;  but 
it  was  not  till  the  early  part  of  the  18th  century  that 
wliat  has  been  denominated  the  age  of  missionary  asso- 
ciation fairly  began  to  dawn.  It  opened  very  faintly 
and  slowly,  but  nevertheless  it  has  since  been  growing 
brighter  and  brighter  to  the  present  day. 

(2.)  Present  Extent. — To  convey  some  faint  idea  of 
what  has  subseqXiently  been  accomplished,  and  put  in 
the  way  of  accomplishment,  it  is  deemed  proper  now  to 
submit  a  brief  sketch  of  the  principal  missionary  organ- 
izations and  agencies  of  the  Protestant  world.  In  this 
exhibit  a  grouping  is  adopted  which  is  designed  to  show 
primarily  the  countries  in  which  the  several  societies 
originated  and  have  been  sustained ;  secondly,  the  date 
of  their  origin,  and  a  summary  view  of  their  character 
and  early  history;  and,  thirdly,  the  fields  of  their  oper- 
ation, the  amount  of  their  income,  and  the  present  con- 
dition of  their  enterprises.  For  further  particulars,  con- 
sult the  articles  on  each  country  and  society  in  this  Cy- 
clopedia. 

The  principal  Protestant  missionary  societies  may  1)0 
classified  as — I.  Continental ;  II.  British;  III.  -I  /;/-  iiciii>. 


was  wi 
ary,  ha 
stood  ! 


'  I.  Continental  Missionary  Societies. — Danish 


uU,V,-,t„<l      s 


Missions.— As  early  as  the  year  1714  the  Danish  College 
of  Missions  was  opened  in  Copenhagen  by  Frederick  IV, 
king  of  Denmark,  for  tlie  training  of  missionaries.  Dan- 
ish mlssicnis  to  the  heathen  had  been  oninnirnfpd  even 
before  this  period,  agents  havintr  l)e('n  cililaincil  I'lom  ilie 
University  of  Halle,  In  Saxony.  On  .Inly  '.'.  ITim;,  two  iiiis- 
Bionaries  arrived  from  Denmark  on  the  ( '.a-.iniaiHlel  cnast, 
in  India,  and  settled  at  Tranqnebar.  They  inuuedialely 
commenced  the  study  of  Tamil,  the  language  spoken  in 
that  part  of  the  country.  Although  they  had  gone  to  a 
part  of  the  Danish  empire,  and  were  patronized  by  roy- 
alty, the  missionaries  encountered  great  (ippii.^itiiiii  from 
the  prejudices  of  the  natives,  and  even  rrmn  ihe  ])aiii>'h 
.government,  who  on  several  occasions  aiic-leil  and  im- 
prisoned the  missionaries  for  montlis  to^'eiher.  Priva- 
tion, as  well  as  persecution,  was  the  lot  of  the  mission- 
staff  at  an  early  period  of  their  labors.  The  first  remits 
tance  sent  from  Europe,  which  at  that  time  was  greatly 
needed,  was  lost  at  sea,  but  friends  were  raised  np  in 
a  maimer  unexpected,  and  loans  of  money  were  offered 
them  till  they  could  obtain  supplies  from  the  society  at 
home.  When  their  borrowed  stock  was  nearly  exhausted, 
remittances  re.ifiicd  them,  along  with  three  more  mis- 
siouaiies,  in  ITO'.i.  This  was  but;  the  beginning  of  better 
times,  for  shoi'lly  al'teiwards  the  Loudon  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Christian  Knowledge  became  a  liberal  patron  of 
their  mission,  irivinL,'tluMu  not  onlv  an  edition  ofthePor- 
tUfjuese  New  Testament  lor  ciiinlation  anion'.^-;he  jieople, 
but  also  a  iii-imin.j:-l)ress,  with  a  stock  oflvpes  ami  paiiei-, 
and  a  Silesian  printer.  When  opi,o,-iii,.n  to  tlie  mission 
subsided,  and  the  cause  expanded  somewhat,  atype-foun- 
dery  and  paper-mill  were  established,  and  the  work  of 
translation  and  printing  was  prosecuted  with  vigor.  In 
1715  the  Tamil  New  Testament  was  completed,  and  eleven 
years  afterwards  the  Old  Testament  made  its  appearance. 
Several  of  the  elder  missionaries  were  called  away  by 
death,  but  zealous  young  men  were  sent  out  from  Europe 
from  time  to  time,  tiiid'a  native  pastorate  was  raised  up 
as  the  fiuit  of  missionai  y  labor,  which  rendered  good  ser- 
vife  to  the  cause.  In  itf.S  a  mission  was  opened  at  Cal- 
cutta by  one  of  this  .society's  missionaries,  but  at  the  ex- 
pens_e  of  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge. 
In  1762  the  celebrated  missionary  Schwartz,  who  had  al- 
ready been  In  the  Indian  field  for  twelve  years,  com- 
his  labor  in  Trichiuopoly,  in  connection  with 


which  he  fulfilled  along,  honorable,  and  successful  period 
of  labor,  and  finished  his  course  with  joy  in  17i)8.  In  the 
year  1835  the  iirinciiia!  Danish  missions  in  India,  which 
had  been  so  lai--elv  snstnined  by  the  Christian  Knowl- 
edge Society,  wei c  ti  aiisl'ei  red  to  the  Society  for  the  Prop- 
agation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. 

"Missio7i  to  Greenland.— In  1721  the  Danish  mission  to 
Greenland  was  commenced  by  the  Kev.  Hans  Egede,  a 
zealous  Christian  pastor  of  Vogen,  in  Norway.  For  thir- 
teen years  this  good  man  had  prayed  and  planned  for  a 
mission  to  that  dreary  region.  Having  at  length  obtained 
the  consent  and  patronage  of  the  king  of  Dennnnk  to  the 
undertaking,  the  missionary  convened  a  few  friends  to- 
gether, opened  a  subscription  list,  and  in  the  face  of  for- 
midable difficulties  pushed  forward  the  work,  till  a  ship 
was  purchased  to  convey  him  and  a  small  party  of  set- 
tlers to  Greenland.  During  the  voyage,  which  lasted 
eight  weeks,  thev  suffered  much  from  storms,  floating 
mountains  of  ice,  and  a  leak  in  the  vessel,  which  they 
were  obliged  to  sto|)  with  their  clothes.  On  landing  at 
their  destinaiioii,  their  tirst  work  was  to  build  a  house  of 
tuifand  stone,  in  w  liieh  the  natives,  who  ajipeared  friend- 
l\.as-iMe(l  ihem  as  best  they  could,  intimating  by  signs, 
lio\\(\(M',  ili.ii  it  ilu'v  intended  to  live  in  it  they  would  be 
liozen  to  (leatli.  W'hilc  en<];a,L'ed  in  these  exercises,  and 
in  strivin*'  to  at  ipiire  the  stiantre  laiiLrnat^e  of  the  Green- 
landers,  Mi-.  K-eile  eii.M.iinleieii  ilininnerahle  difticulties. 
His  greatest  trial  \\-a<  the  ili-salislai'tion  of  the  colonists, 
several  of  whom  resolved  to  leturu  home,  as  they  were 
very  uncomfortable,  and  found  the  natives  unwilling  to 
trade.  He  was  supported  by  the  courage  and  resolution 
of  his  heroic  wife,  however,  and  by  the  tirrival  of  two 
ships  with  provisi(ms  in  the  summer  of  17'-'-2,  when  their 
stores  were  nearly  exhausted.  The  missionary  found  it 
extremelv  difficult  to  induce  the  people  to  attend  to  re- 
ceive sucii  instruction  as  he  was  able  to  give,  and  it  was 
only  by  ofleriuLT  a  lisli-liook  for  eveiv  lelter  of  the  alpha- 
bet they  learned  that  he  succeeded  in  -ctling  a  few  chil- 
dren to  come  to  school.  The  followiim  y.Mr  another  mis- 
sionary came  to  the  assistance  of  Mr.  K-ede  ;  and  the  mis- 
sion was  carried  on  with  i)raiseworthv  |iersi'verance,  but 
with  little  success  for  a  long  time.  t)ii  the  accession  of 
Christian  VI  to  the  throne  of  Denmark,  -oveninient  aid 
thdrawn  I'lom  the  mission;  but  the  senior  mission- 
xin-  the  option  to  icni.-iin  in  the  coiinli'x-,  noblv 
o  his  poM.  anil  continued  his  laliois  amid  untold 
privations,  troiibles,  and  sullei  iiejs,  not  the  least  of  which 
arose  from  the  introduction  of  small-pox  into  the  settle- 
ment, which  swept  oft'  about  '2000  of  the  natives.  In  1734 
the  mission  was  re-enforced  by  the  appointment  of  three 
new  aixents,  one  of  whom  was  the  son  of  the  pioneer  mis- 
sionarv,  Mr.  Ri.'cde.  The  following  year,  his  lieloved  wife 
haxiii--  been  c.'dled  aAvay  by  death,  jMr.  Ivjede  rcliiriied  to 
Dcnniaik,  lull  siill  exerted  himself  on  lichaU' (.f  I  he  mis- 
h  his  inlliience  the  colony  and  the  mission 
were  re-enloii  |.,l.  hi-  scni  imhlished  a  (iieenland  lexicon, 
the  Scripiuies  \\eic  ti;ui-lated  into  the  native  lan-uage 

of  the  i)e;-ple,  ami  ! iiersoiis  were  reporieil  as  having, 

been  brou-hl,  iiiulei-  reliL;ioiis  instruction,  allhougli  it  is 
admitted  that  very  few  of  them  conh!  1h>  n-arded  as  con- 
verts to  the  faith  of  the  Gosj.el.  The  Danish  mission  to 
Greenland  was  nllimately  translened  to  the  'United 
Brethren.'  Here  should  be  mentioned  the  mission  to 
Lapland  {q.  v.). 

'■^United  JJrethren's  Missions  [see  Moravians]. — The  mis- 
sionary spirit  of  the  Moravian  Church  manifested  itself  at 
an  early  period  after  the  esiablishmenf  of  the  settlement 
at  Herrnhut.  When  I'alsclv  aciiiscd,  and  declared  an  ex- 
ile from  Germanv.  conni,  Zinz.aidoil  -.ive  a  reply  which 
indicated  the  spirit  bv  which  he  was  actuated,  and  the  gen- 
ius of  the  people  with  whom  he  had  cast  in  his  lot.  _  He 
said:  'Now  we  must  collect  a  congrpgatic)ii  of  pilgrims, 
and  train  laborers  to  go  fcn-th  into  all  the  world,  and  i)reach 
Christ  and  his  salvation  to  every  creature.'  He  was  led 
to  this  by  a  visit  made  to  the  Danish  capital  in  1731. 
When  the  new  colony  only  numbered  about  COO  persons, 
all  of  whom  were  poor  exiles,  and  when  just  beginning 
to  build  a  church  for  their  own  accommodation  in  what 
had  lately  been  a  wilderness,  they  resolved  to  labor  for 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen  world.  Within  ten  years 
from  that  date,  1732,  they  sent  missionaries  to  St.  Thomas 
and  St.  Croix,  in  the  West  Indies  ;  to  the  Indians  in  North 
and  South  America  ;  to  Lapland,  Tartarv,  Algiers,  West- 
ern Africa,  the  Cape  or(;ood  Hope,  and  t'eylon.  Abont> 
the  rear  l^iU  an  association  was  formed  in  Loudon,  which 
raised  about  iWrno  i)er  tinnum  in  aid  of  Moravian  mis- 
sions, and  this  i)roveil  a  Lrieat  help  to  the  canse.  Subse- 
quently the  Uniteil  Brethren  sent  out  agents  to  other 
West  India  islands,  including  Jamaica,  Tobago,  Anti.sjua, 
Barbadoes,  and  St.  Christopher's ;  to  South  America,  Lab- 
rador, Greenland,  Egypt,  Persia,  and  India.  The  first  mis- 
sions of  the  Mortivian  Brethren  were  not  very  snocessfnl, 
but  their  agents  persevered  amid  numeroiis  ditticnlties, 

privations,  and  siilTerin-s,  to  which  iIh  '    i; -d   i n  well 

trained  by  the  painlul  exi)erieiice  ol'  lli    :i  '    Uisto- 

rv,  and  the  ultimate  result  has  been  \  cr,   u,  i;  i  . .  i.'.     _ 
" '' Statistics  of  Moravian  Mis.^ions.—A  leceiit  publication 
says:  'The  Moravian  mission  statistics  for  IhiO  show  89 
stations;  313  missionary  agents;  1041  native  assistants 
and  overseers;  20,571  communicants;  16,528  non-com- 


MISSIONS 


358 


MISSIONS 


municants  under  regular  instruction  ;  10,304  candidates, 
"  new  people,"  etc  ,  and  23,2SS  baptized  ciiildren  ;  making 
a  total  i)f  (;s,V51.  The  receipts  have  been  X-i'-'U  fioiii  mem- 
bers of  the  I'.rellu-cnV  (•oii-n'L'.iiicjiis  :  X'.t;-J4  froin  fiicnds 
of  other  deiiDiniiialions  ;  A-ir.75  tVum  the  IJi-elhrcn's  scitie- 
ty  in  PennsvlvMiiia,  and  1,'41:>T  from  k-'.'aties,  endowments, 
etc.;  makin"g  a  total  of  X2(i,S44.  In  Surinam  there  are 
24,1SC  under  instniclion,  12,328  in  Jamaica,  and  smaller 
numbers  in  other  i)arts  of  the  West  Indies,  in  South  Afri- 
ca, South  America,  Greenland,  and  Labrador.' 

''Setherlainls  Mi.sxivnani  Society.— This  institution  was 
formed  at  Kolterdam  in  1796,  mainly  through  the  influ- 
ence of  Dr.Vanderkemp.  Before  the  eccentric  doctor  em- 
barked for  his  distant  sphere  of  labor  in  South  Africa,  to 
which  he  had  been  appointed  by  the  London  Missionary 
•Society,  he  visited  Rotterdam  to  take  leave  of  his  friends, 
and  while  there  he  found  leisure  to  publish  a  Dntch  ver- 
sion of  an  earnest  address  which  bad  emanated  from  the 
London  Sucicty,  the  r('>ull  of  wliicli  was  the  organization 
of  the  Nclhi'iiaiids  Missionary  Society.  For  some  time 
the  tinancial  aid  ofiV  red  to  the  enter))iise  was  very  slen- 
der, and  no  immediate  steps  were  taken  towanis  coin- 
nienciug  operations.  This  interval  was  widely  <  ini>lciyiil 
bv  the  directors  in  endeavoring  to  leaven  ilic  JiiiK  li  mind 
with  the  true  missionary  si)int.  When  the  tiiii(N  wcie 
available,  and  they  contetn])lated  entering  ujion  foi<vgn 
lields  of  labor,  they  were  deterred  from  doing  so  IVoni 
the  loss  of  most  of" the  Dutch  colonies,  whicli  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  France  dniinir  the  war.  'Die  dinrinrs 
therefore  made  an  arranjeincnt  \\  itli  the  I.mimImh  Mi-  -i  ,ii- 
nry  Society  to  sui)ply  men  aini  nie.in-  i^i- .  mi  \  in^  on  the 
work  in  Africa  and 'India  uii(hT  ilieir  .insphc-  and  n:an- 
agement.  In  this  way  they  tiained  and  sent  out  several 
excellent  missionaries  to  the  Cape  ollJood  Hojie  and  the 
East,  where  their  knowlechjc  of  the  Dulch  laiiLniaL'e  was 
at  once  available  for  eanyim:  on  the  work.  In  l^u  Hol- 
land rose  again  to  indiiJ^inleni  e.  :ind  recoveied  its  colo- 
nies, when  the  Nelht  tIhhIs  ^.H  hiv  toidv  immediate  ad- 
vantage of  the  I'avorahh'  rleneje  in  national  aflairs.  and 
sent  out  live  young  mi.--i.innriis  IV.im  their  seminary. on 
their  own  account,  to  enter  favorable  openings  which 
presented  themsehes  in  the  Eastern  Archipelago  among 
the  Malays.  Other  agents  followed  from  year  to  year, 
and  that  part  of  the  world  was  largely  and  well  occupied 
by  the  societj'.  In  1S20  two  missi<inaries  weie  sent  out 
to  India,  and"  a  few  years  afterwards  they  were  followed 
by  Dr.  Gut/laft",  who,  tinding  a  number  of  Chinese  at  Rio- 
sew,  his  appointed  sialinii,  was  ultimately  induced  to  ex- 
lend  his  lalxiis  to  the -Celeslial  Emp.ire."'  A  missien  was 
also  estahli-hed  at  Siiiinam,  in  Dulch  Gui:in:\,  and  the 
Ketherlands  SMciriy  was  able  to  rei'ort  17  stations  and  I'.t 
missionarii's  un<lei'  their  direction,  with  a  goodly  iminber 
of  native  converts  to  the  faith  of  the  (iosjicl  united  in 
Church  fellowship. 

"  (Jtliir  Diitrli  Misxhtna.— It  must  not  be  supposed  that 
the  oriraui/atiou  ofihe  Netherlands  Missionary  Society  is 
all  that  Holland  has  done  for  the  conversion  of  the  hea- 
then. Long  anterior  to  that  event,  even  as  early  as  1612, 
the  famous  Anthony  Walwens  planted  a  seminary  at  Ley- 
den  for  the  iirepaiaiion  of  foreiirn  niissiontuies,  the  Dutch 
East  India  Comi)auy  counlenanciiii:  and  approving  of  the 
institution.  When  Ceylon  came  under  the  jjower  of  Hol- 
land, in  1636,  a  number  of  missionaries  weie  sent  out  to 
propagate  the  Reformed  Kdigion  aini>ng  the  idolatrous 
natives.  A  very  sui)eilicial  mode  of  making  converts 
seems  to  have  been  ailoi.led.  howt'vef,  for  when  they  weie 

only  UMi  coinumnieaiit-.  '1  he  sad  (li-pi-|i. -ri  ion  )  .■\,al-  a 
system  ofaction  whieli  \\:\  not  .mU  lein.  Iieii-il.lr  in  it-elt. 
but  greatly  prejudicial  t.)  all  siil.-e.iienl  mi-.-ionaiy  lahm, 
as  has  been  proved  by  paiulul  e.\pei  ienci'.  ])titcli  mis- 
sionaries were  also  sent  out  at  an  eaily  i)eriod  to  South- 
ern Africa,  Java,  Formosa,  Amboyna.  and  other  places. 

" Bailc  ih'HKiimary  Siirictii.  —  In  tiie  year  isi.^  a  seminary 
was  established  for  Ilie  tra'inin-  ol'  nii-si.uiaries  at  IJasle, 
in  Switzerland.  It  owed  its  oiiL^in  ;..  the  gratitude  of  a 
few  Ijious  people  who  lero-nised  the  providence  of  God 
in  a  violent  storm  which  occmieil  at  a  part  i(iilai- juncture, 
and  which  proved  the  means  of  [Meserving  their  town 
fl-om  ruin  when  the  arnnes  (if  Russia  and  Huiigafv  were 
hurling  slndls  into  il.  The  form  which  the  giaiitiide  <.f 
these  people  assunu'd  was  adesii-e  to  i  .in-   re    |.;    n-  leach- 

ers  to  send  to  the  ln^atheii,  to  make  tl .  iih  d  with 

the  good  news  of  salvation.     The  si  i j|:-ivcry 

small,  with  few  schol.-ii-s,  and  a  slein:'  i  \\.r  .:ii.>  .if  .di'int 
.£5t)  per  annum,  in  the  course  of  a  lew  yeais  a  mission- 
ary colleire  was  built,  and  liberal  supi)oi  I'came  from  Ger- 
many and  France,  as  well  as  from  vaiions  parts  of  Switz- 
erland, so  that  the  income  rose  to  iMioii.  Tliiw  result 
flowed  from  the  formation  of  au.xiliarv  or  branch  socie- 
ties i)i  those  countries.  The  institution  was  n.iw  con- 
ducted with  vigor,  and  furnished  the  Knglish  Chinch  Mi.s- 
pionary  Society  with  some  of  its  most  devoted  laborer.*. 
In  forty  years  after  its  commencement  it  had  sent  forth 
nearly  4(io  missionaries  to  foreign  lands,  and  7;;  were  still 
under  traininLr.  It  was  no  jiart  olthe  original  plan  of  this 
institution   lo   ciiL-age  in  the   support  and  management 

Avork.  in  iv.'l,  howiver,  a  society  was  formed  for  this 
object,  and  from  year  to  year  missionaries  were  tent  to 


I  North  America,  Western  Africa,  India,  and  China.  A  po- 
I  ciety  was  also  organized  for  the  special  purpose  of  d.b- 
scminating  the  Gospel  among  the  Jews.  The  missiona- 
ries of  the'Basle  Society  are  not  all  ministers.  They  send 
out  pious  mechanics  and  agriculturists  to  teach  the  na- 
tives the  arts  of  civilized  life,  at  the  same  time  that  they 
iii-i  11  i';<ni  ill  till'  1  rii,  ;p!es  of  Christianity  by  the 
P'  !    Il    I.   -        I       !;r  establishment  oi" schools. 

'I  1  ■    /  I'         ."/      -        ■      -  ■-•■nerally  conceded  to  have 

lii-i  a.',  i..  :  •  I  all  iii'i'.-i  ill  ndssions  among  tlie  Ger- 
I  mans.  See  Ostertag,  Ki.tiiUliungagcisch.  der  JUiiisioiwgcsell- 
Hcha/t  zn  IJani'l  (1SC5). 

^^  J'mis  J-Jvan/jelical  Misxionary  Society. — The  origin  of 
!  this  institution  is  somewhat  Curious  and  interesting.  In 
;  the  year  ls-.'2  a  meeting  was  convened  at  the  house  of  an 
American  merchant,  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq.,  then  residing  in 
Paris,  to  take  into  consideration  the  best  means  of  propa- 
gating the  Gosjjfl  in  heathen  lands.  There  were  pieseut 
I  the  presidents  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  consisto- 
ries, as  well  as  many  of  the  ministers  of  these  chuiches, 
and  others  of  diflerent  jietsuasions  then  in  the  Fieiich 
metroijolis.  The  result  was  the  formation  of  this  society, 
which,  in  its  commencement,  contemplated  two  objects: 
the  one  to  employ  the  press  as  a  means  to  enlighten  the 
])ublic  mind  on  the  nature  and  character  of  Protestant 
missions,  and  the  other  to  educate  young  men,  who  had 
been  duly  recommended,  in  a  knowledge  of  t lie  lan-iuages 
of  the  East.  The  Rev.  Jonas  King  was  then  in  Paris,  and 
received  an  invitation  to  go  to  the  Holy  Land  with  the 
IJec.  Mr.  Fisk,  the  new  society  charging  itself  with  his 
siippi  It  for  a  certain  period.  "  Subsequently  the  society 
devoted  all  its  eflorts  to  South  Africa,  where  its  agents 
iiave  labored  for  many  years  with  great  advantage  to  sev- 
I  eral  scattered  tribes  of  natives.  In  ls-j'.»  three  missimia- 
I  ries  were  sent  by  the  socitly  to  the  Cajie  of  Good  Hope, 
{  one  of  whom  settled  amoiii.'  the  Fiench  refugees  at  \\  el- 
\  lington,  near  Cajie  Town,  and  the  other  two  proceeded  to 
the  Dechiiaiia  cnnnli'v.  and  commenced  a  station  at  Mo- 
tito.  Re-enr.rceinent's  arrived  from  lime  to  time,  which 
enabled  the  missionaries  to  extend  their  Labors  to  various 
l)arts  (d'a  country  that  stood  in  great  need  of  the  light  of 
the  Gos))(l.  That  iiart  of  the  interior  known  as  Basuto- 
land  was  occupied  by  the  French  missionaries.  New  sta- 
tions we  ••  r'lr.d  -'.  hools  Mere  established,  and  chapels 
built  .at  r.  '1'  M  ;.  Irrisheba,  Thaba.  Bassion,  Me- 
I  kiiatliiij.  i  .  I  -  :  .  -I  i.  r.eiea,  and  Carmel.  At  sev- 
I  oral  ol  iIm-'  i.:,ir-  ,1  'j,un\<\-  number  of  natives  were 
bidiiirlit  t.i  a  saviiitr  kiiowleilL'e  of  the  truth,  and  united 
in  Church  fellowship,  although  the  notorious  chief  Mo- 
shcsh  still  adheied  to  his  beallicnism,  notwithstanding 
his  superior  iutelligeiice.  The  French  mission  in  South 
Africa  lias  repeatedly  stinVied  fnmi  devasiatiif.'  wars 
among  the  natives  and  sell  ;eis.  but  the  greatest  blow  to 
1  its  ].r,>sperilv  was  tlie  war  whicdl  ra-ed  in  Fram  e  in  1^70- 
.'P' 


a  great  measine  cut  oil.     Pi 
friends  in  the  time  of  need,  ; 
''lilieiiish    Miss,;. nam    So, 
known  MS  the  Khenjsl,' Mis. 
in  IM'S  by  the.  atniil-ani.-iIlM 

and  the  work  still  goes  on. 
•ut.i.  —  TUe    iiistiiuiion    now 
ionary  Society  was  organized 
11  of  three  otlier  associations. 

Elherfeid!  iV'irn ;'•!',',  amu".''l. 

lined  a  separate  existence  in 
-lie.     The  society  was  after- 

wards  fai-thei-  slreuL't  liencd 

liy  the  incoi])oraiion  of  sev- 

eral   other  small   associ.atioi 
and  Wesiphalia.     In   l-^-2!l  t 

oul  to  Souih  AlVira.     Tl;e-. 

ns  in  the  Rhenish  provinces 
hrce  missi(maries  were   sent 
•  w.ii'  loUowed  in  aflcr-vcars 

1   ^    .-   ■•■  J'il ■   ^   .-   :,l.;i^lied 

]/•  ;  •     .    ,   I-,    :  ,-.!..  :  '.'  ■     1'  ,•  1..  un- 

,ia'  -  -  ■  ■'■■  '  :.-■  '  '■  -■:■^  :  ..1  '■  :.■;  1  '■■::  .1  ^.  \  <  -•  '•  i,  Re- 
h.dioih.  i;oi/i-\olk.  \\<sley  Vale,  and  Daimeu  in  Nama- 
(pialami,  and  Dainaraland."  Some  of  these  stations  were 
orii;inally  commenced  by  Wesleyau  missionaries  who  had 
for  many  years  labored  on  the  soulh-western  coast  of  Af- 
I  rica.  Bill  in  ISfjl  an  arrangemeiit  was  made  by  wliich 
■  tliey  were  given  over  to  the  Rhenisli  Society,  as  was  also 
'  the  station  at  Nisbett  Bath  a  few  years  afterwards,  the 
Weslevaiis  tinding  it  necessary  to  coiiceiitrate  their  labors 
in  other  localities.  In  ls:;4  tlie  Berlin  Missionary  Society 
sent  two  a::eiils  to  Borneo,  and  others  fidlowed  at  inter- 
vals, who  were  ein])loyed  in  eiliicalioiial  lal>i,rs.  In  1S46 
the  work  was  extended  to  China,  where  sevcial  baptisms 
were  soon  ri'poited  as  haviiii;  taken  place.  Indeial,  undue 
importance  appears  to  ha\e  1  cen  atlached  lo  baptism  by 
the  missioiiniies  of  this  institution,  fcr  when  this  si.eiety 
had  been  in  existence  abcuit  twenty-two  years,  really 
.ViDO  baptisms  were  reiiorted.  when  C(>ini)aratively  few  of 
the  number  could  be  reganled  as  commnnicinls,  oi  Church 
meml'ers.  l'erh;ips  Ibis  and  some  other  |)eciiliarilies  may 
he  ■  .  r-  iieN  !  I'.r  by  tlie  Liilhefaii  lype  of  theology  which 
lh>     I    i  !  11.  raliy  seem  to  have  es|)oused. 

/,./.':   ','      /"//(in/  .'<iifutii. — This  socieiv  was  formallv 

,  or-.mized  III   lv.'4,  but  it  arose  out  of  etl'iiils  which  had 

been  previously  made  for  missionary  objects.     As  early 

as  the  year  180<i  an  institution  was  foiined  in  thel'russiau 

I  capital' by  members  of  tlie  Lutheran  Chinch  to  educate 

pious  voiitbs  for  foi-eiirn  mission  ser\  ice.     During  the  fol- 

hiwiiiL'  iweiitv-tive  v.'.irs  fortv  students  were  so  educated. 

In  ls:;-l  the  Berlin  Slissionary  Society  sent  out   four  mis- 

I  siouaiies  to  South  Africa.    These  were  followed  by  others 


MISSIONS 


359 


MISSIONS 


during  snccessive  years,  and  avrangemeuts  were  made  for 
carrying  on  the  work  on  an  extensive  scale.  One  of  tlie 
first  stations  occupied  by  this  society  was  at  Beaufort, 
and  thence  the  missionaries  went  among  the  Korannas 
and  Kaffirs.  Subsequently  the  work  was  extended  to 
Zoar,  Bethel,  Einmaus,  Bethany,  Priel,  New  Germany, 
and  other  stations,  some  of  which  are  situated  within  the 
boundaries  of  the  Cape  Colony,  others  in  the  Orange  Free 
State,  the  Trans-Vaal  Republic,  KatlVaria,  and  in  tlie  dis- 
tant regions  of  Natal.  According  to  the  la^t  report,  just 
published,  the  Berlin  Missionary  Society  occupies  31  sta- 
tions in  South  Africa,  and  employs  48  laborers;  but  no 
distinction  seems  to  be  made  in  tlie  report  between  or- 
dained missionaries  and  subordinate  agents,  as  in  the  sta- 
tistics of  other  societies.  Altogether,  the  Berlin  Society 
employs  some  eighty  missionaries. 

''Sivedish  Missionary  Society.— T:he  Swedes  made  vigor- 
ous though  unsuccessful  efforts  to  propagate  the  Gospel 
in  heathen  lands  as  early  as  the  year  1559.  The  sphere 
of  their  operations  was  Lapland,  and  their  work  was  con- 
ducted under  royal  auspices.  Gustavus  Vasa  headed  the 
missionary  movement  of  his  country  for  the  enlighten- 
ment of  the  Lajjlaiiilo-e.  ami  Micceed'ing  monarclis'threw 
the  weiL'ht  i>f  tlieir  iiillurin  ,•  inio  tlie  Christian  enteri.rise. 
In  ITTf.  the  New  'le-n,niciii.  tiai. slated  into  Laplaiidesc, 
was  published.  'I'lie  mi-sion  ^vas  far  from  prospernus, 
however,  and,  after  years  ul'  hoping;  ai^ainst  hope,  it  wa-< 
abandoned.  Nor  is  ihi-  to  be  wniHlered  at,  if  mie  liaUOf 
what  has  been  reonle.l  in  relereiire  to  tiie  drinking  and 
other  immoral  habits  of  botli  priests  and  ])eo]ile  is  true. 
After  an  interval  of  nearly  three  centuries,  Lapland  again 
engrossed  the  attention  of  the  Swedes.  In  \<.\Ti  the  Swed- 
ish Missionary  Society  was  formed,  and  sent  lorth  a  pious 
young  man,  named  Carl  Ludovic  Tellstroem,  the  fruit  of 
the  Wesleyau  Mission  in  Stockholm,  as  a  catechist  to 
Lapland.  He  had  many  difficulties  to  encounter  from  the 
migratory  and  dissipated  habits  of  the  i)eo))le:  but  by 
following  them  to  their  markets  and  I'aiis  wltii  liis  Bible, 
to  instruct  them  in  the  truths  of  the  (io^pel,  ihrre  is  rea- 
son to  hope  that  his  labors  were  iirodiictive  of  some  good 
resnlts.  Schools  were  afterwards  established  for  the 
training  of  the  rising  generation,  and  the  children  weie 
taught,  fed,  and  clothed  at  the  expense  of  the  society,  and 
at  the  end  of  two  years  were  sent  home  with  tracts  and 
books  to  interest  and  instruct  their  parents,  families,  and 
friends. 

"Evangelical  Lutheran  Mission.— This  society  was  in- 
stituted in  1836,  with  its  head-quarters  at  Dresden.  The 
seat  of  direction  was  in  1848  removed  to  Leipsic.  Its 
etforts  have  been  chiefly  turned  to  Southern  India,  to  the 
occupation  of  those  fields  of  labor  which  had  been  previ- 
ously cultivated  by  the  Danish  missionaries.  From  a  re- 
port"published  soiiie  time  ago,  it  ai)pears  that  they  had  in 
their  employ  9  missionaries,  with  2  native  candidates,  in 
8  difl'erent  stations,  counting  4.5(10  Chuixh  members  and 
890  scholars  under  ilieir  pa>t..ral  eare.  Tliev  have  also  la- 
bored as  a  soriely  ill  New  South  Wale-,  but  the  results 
did  not  Iohl:'  warrant  tlie  roiii  iiiiiaiice  of  ibis  work. 

"yoi-th  <;,riiiii,i  ilis^i,,iittr'i  >■-»;,/ '.--Tiii-  institution 
was  organized  in  the  year  18:JG,  with  ils  -r.n  lirst  at  Ham- 
burg and  afterwards  at  Bremen.  Tbe  -nne  of  its  earli- 
est labors  was  India,  one  station  ImIh^'  in  ihe  Telogoo 
country,  and  the  other  in  the  Neilghenies.  A  serious 
diminution  in  the  financial  receipts  leil  to  the  transference 
of  the  mission  for  some  years  to  the  United  States  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church.  When  the  linances  revived, 
however,  the  responsibilities  connected  with  carrying  on 
the  work  were  aiiain  assumed  by  the  Bremen  Union,  and 
the  lield  of  effort  has  recently  called  forth  a  large  amount 
of  sympathy  in  North  Germany,  and  12  missionaries  are 
now  employed  in  useful  labor.    - 

'' Sonivnian  Jii.ssiuiiiiry  Society.  —  This  society  was 
formed  in  1S4'_',  and  soon  afterwards  sent  out  missionaries 
to  labor  amons:  the  warlike  Zulus  in  South-eastern  Africa. 
The  aim  of  the  institution  is  to  supply  agents  who  are 
able  and  willing  to  instruct  the  peojile  in  the  arts  of  civil- 
ized-life,  as  well  as  in  religious  knowledge.  With  this 
olyect  an  estate  was  purchased  in  Natal, "and  an  indus- 
trial institution  established,  which  has  already  been  pro- 
ductive of  much  good. 

"  Siredi.fh  {Lund)  Mission.— In  184G  this  societv  was  es- 
tablished at  Lund,  and  three  years  afterwards  it  sent  out  2 
missionaries  to  China,  who  were  killed  bv  pirates.  Other 
agents  were  at  length  sent  out,  who  were  spared  to  take 
their  share  in  attempting  to  evansjelize  the  Chinese,  with 
a  hopeful  prospect  of  success. 

"  i;.'rUii  MKsiniiary  Union  fur  China.— This  society  was 
estaiili.-lied  in  tlie  month  of  June,  1850,  during  a  visit  of 
Dr.  Ciit/lilT  lo  iicrlin.     Dr.  F.  W.  Krummacher  was  ap- 


'rof.  L; 


rv.     The 


to  aid 


ti-aiii  -  1  -  ;  ;  -1)-^.  In  a  field  so  wide  as  the  va>t  Chi- 
ucse  iiuiii;,  il;,  r,>  i^  ample  room  for  all,  and  from  the  last 
publiMied  a<counts  it  is  pleasing  to  learn  that  the  mis- 
sionaries of  this  small  but  useful  association  were  actively 
employed  in  diffusing  abroad  the  light  of  the  Gospel. 

"Of  minor  account  is  the  Evamjelical  Mission  Societii, 
founded  in  1868  by  Giitzlaft",  until  then  a  member  of  tlie 
Berlin  Missionary  Society.  No  stress  is  laid  upon  the  ed- 
ucatiou  of  the  missionarj',  but  the  mission  field  as  a  life- 


home  is  insisted  upon.  This  society  labors  in  New  South 
Wales,  among  the  Papuas,  and  in  the  South  Sea  Islands 
and  East  India. 

"Another  society  worthy  of  notice  here  is  the  Her- 
mannsbnrger  Mission,  with  head- quarters  at  Hanover, 
founded  by  pastor  Harms.    It  labors  in  East  Africa. 

" Miscellaneous  Jeivisli  Societies. — On  the  continent  of 
Europe  there  ai-e  sundry  associations  wliirli  lia\  <■  for  their 
ol)ject  the  evangelization  of  the  lost  sheep  of  the  bouse 
of  Israel,  but  their  labors  are  so  local  tind  i!iver>.tied  that 
they  cannot  well  be  desciilied  separaiely.  'I'lie  Jewish 
Society  at  Berlin  was  toimed  in  Isj-.'.  the  ■I'.remenlehe  So- 
ciety in  1839,  tlie  K'iii'iiisli  WCstphalia  liiion  in  ls43,  the 
HamburEC-Altinia  in  1--44.  the  lle-e  ( 'a-M'l  in  1^4.5,  and  the 
Hesse  Darmstadt  in  184.5.  The-e  are  but  :\  few  id'  the 
many  organizations  which  exist  in  connei.iion  w  iiii  Chris- 
tian churches  of  various  denoininalioiis  for  the  special 
benefit  of  the  Jews,  and  the  interest  in  the  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  Abraham's  seed  is  deepening  and  widening  every 
year. 

"II.  British  Missionary  Societies. — Society  for  the  Propa- 
nntinn  rf  the  Gnxpd  iti  Furririn  /'Hrfe— This  is  the  oldest 
Protestant  missionary  society  in  England,  and  its  origin 
may  lie  tra(  ed  to  a  very  remote  period.  About  the  year 
1044,  while  the  civil  wars  still  continued  in  that  country, 
a  iietition  was  iiresenled  to  Parliament  by  a  eleruyman  of 
the  Church  of  England,  supp(n-ted  by  many  Kn-lish  and 
Scotch  divines,  uriring  the  duty  of  atteniptiiiu  to  convert 
the  natives  of  North  America  to  Christianity.  This,  no 
doubt,  led  to  the  ordinance  passed  on  .July" '27,  1648,  by 
the  Independents  of  the  Commonwealth,  by  "which  a  cor- 
poration was  established,  entitled  'The  IPresident  and 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  New  Eng- 
land.' The  preamble  recites  that  'the  Commons  of 
England  assembled  in  Parliament,  having  received  intel- 
ligence that  the  heathens  iu  New  England  are  beginning 
to  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  feei  bound  to  assist  in 
the  work.'  They  ordered  the  act  to  be  read  in  all  the 
churches  of  the  land,  and  collections  to  be  made  in  aid  of 
the  object.  This  was  the  first  missionarv  association 
formed  in  England,  and  may  tie  considereil  as  the  parent 
of  the  present  'venerable'  Smiet)  for  tin'  I'ro],aLjation  of 
the  Gospel  in  ForeiL'ii  I'arl-.  The  eoionial  settlements 
first  attracted  public  attention  to  the  siiiritiial  wants  of 
their  European  and  heathen  populations.  The  colonists 
of  New  England  from  the  commencement  displayed  great 
zeal  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  The  labors  of 
Eliot,  Mather,  and  others  will  never  be  forgotten  by  the 
Christian  Church.  After  the  b'eMoration  in  Great  Brit- 
ain, Baxter  and  Boyle  distin-uished  themselves  by  iheir 
practical  sympathy  with  the  w^ik  in  wliich  these  excel- 
lent men  were  eii'j-n-ed.  I\Ieaii\\  liile  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land liecaine  inte,:'-ted  in  siijiplviiej-  the  new  colonies 
with  EptM'opalian  mi ii i-ters.  in  iilT.',  ii  was  found  'that 
there  were  scaively  lour  niembers  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land ill  all  the  \a-'t  tiaii-  of  N,m;1i  America.'  In  view  of 
this  laraentalile  state  oi' thitej-.  royalty  was  moved  to  lib- 
erality. Charles  II  was  iniliiceil  iiy  (iannpton,  bishop  of 
London,  to  allow  _i'2ii  for  jia^saie  money  for  ministers  and 
schoolmasters  willing  to  go  out  to  siipjily  the  deficiency, 
and  the  sum  of  j;i200  was  also  granted  to  supply  Ameri- 
can parishes  with  Bibles  and  other  religions  books.  The 
Society  for  the  Propairafion  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreisrn  Parts 
was  oi-LMiii veil  ill  llie  month  (if  June.  ITm.  when  it  received 
a  charier  fiom  William  111.  The  main  object-  for  which 
itwasiiistitiiied  aic-tated  to  bo  twofold.  Ii  was  desin;ned 
'to  provide  for  Ihe  niinistraiions  of  the  Chiirrh  of  Eng- 
land in  Ihe  British  colonic-.  mmI  to  |ir.  ipai'Mlc  ihe  Gospel 
among  the  iiati\e  iiihabiianis  .if  those  coiiiil  i  ic-.' 

"The  iucOHH'  of  the  Society  lor  i  he  ffo)  la- a  t  ion  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Part-  is  ilcri\cd  iVom  \arioiis  sources, 
embracing  Parliamentary  lo  ant-,  collections  in  ciuiiches, 
schoolrooms,  and  )Miblic' balls,  in  which  aniii\crsary  ser- 
nKuis  are  preached  and  mi-sionary  meetings  held,  and 
subscriptions  and  legacies  from  individuals,  "in  this  way 
the  institution  is  lilierally  supported,  and  a  large  amount 
of  agency  is  brouiibt  to  bear  upon  the  people  where  mis- 
sion stat"i(nis  have  been  formed. 

"During  the  long  period  of  its  existence  the  venera- 
l)le  Society  for  the  Projiagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts  has  gradually  extended  its  labors  to  various  parts 
of  the  world,  and  has  been  instruineiital  of  much  s-ood,  es- 
pecially to  Brili-h  colonisis  at  an  early  ]ierio,i  of  their 
stru.srgles.  Ion--  b(4'ore  inodeni  missionarv  societies  had 
commenced  fheii- operations.  This  tiseliirinstiiiiiiini  now 
occupies  important  stations  in  the  British  provinces  of 
North  America,  tlie  Dominion  of  Canada,  British  Colum- 
bia, the  West  lndie<.  Southern  Africa,  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  India,  and  China.  To  all  these  places  Anglican 
bishops  and  clergymen  have  gcnie  forth,  carrying  with 
them  their  own  views  of  Chiirch  order  and  discipline; 
and  in  connection  with  every  important  colony  a  diocese 
has  been  formed,  and  parishes  have  been  orga'uizqd  after 
the  style  of  the  mother  country.  The  main  object  of  the 
institution  is  to  supplv  the  services  and  the  ordinances  of 
the  Church  of  England  to  the  tens  of  thousands  of  British 
emigrants  who  have  been  annuall.y  leaving  the  shores  of 
their  native  country  from  generation  to  generation,,  to 
better  their  condition  in  foreign  lands.  And  with  much 
zeal  and  earnestness  have  the  agents  of  this  society  fol- 


MISSIONS 


360 


MISSIONS 


lowed  their  conntrymeu  iu  all  their  wnnderin^s,  minister- 1 
in^'  to  their  epiriuial  iiecess-iiie^,  iiiid  bringing  home  to  i 
their  ri-colleclioiis  the  lender  associations  of  the  'old  | 
countrv,'  where  thcv  were  lavoieci  in  times  of  yore  to  lis-  \ 
ten  with  i)lea.-ure  to  Ilie  sdiniil  of  the  '  elinreh-goinj;  bell.'  j 
Nor  liave  the  dark,  beiiij:liled  hcailien  i)(.pulation  within  \ 
ihe  biiuiiilaries  ami  in  ihe  neij,'lil)i)i limid  oftlie  respective 
C(ih)iiies  been  iieL'lecled  bv  ihis  liine-bonored  institnlion. 

Manv  ] r  wandeiin-  liuiians  in  Ilie  iiorth-weslern  wilds 

of  Aineiica,  as  well  as  idolatrons  Hindus  in  the  East,  and 
warlike  Kathrs  in  Southern  Africa,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
aliori^'iiies  of  other  lands,  have  been  favored  with  the 
means  of  grace  and  religious  iustrnctiou  through  its  in- 
strunientaVity,  especially  of  late  years,  since  attention 
was  more  particularly  directed  to  this  department  of  the 
work.  I 

"  The  Societii  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knoicledge.  1 
— Althouirh  not  strictlv  niissioiiary  iu  its  primary  object, 
tliis  was  at  a  vetv  enrlv  luMind  an  auxiliary  to  Christian  I 
iiiissidiis.  and  is  -it  ihi^  (l:iv  a  must  jiowerfiil  help  to  the 
fhiu-.'li  uf  KuL'laiid  ill  licr  <h'M-late  places  abroad,  as  well 
a-  ,1  i  .  :,,■■  li  was  Ibundrd  in  Ki'.is,  niainlv  bv  a  private 
,;^  ,  I-.'i'liniuas  IJrav,  who.  subsei|iientlv  acliiif:  as 

, ill  .Maivlami;  ami  seeiii-  Ihe  -leat  iieees- 

m;x  1  .  .  Ml-  liirlher  eflorlat  hnine  r.ir  tlie  advam-eiiirul 
.ifivli-i  .11  in  Ilie  cidonies,  bappilv  sm-ceeilrd  in  inii-in- 
liiililie  nlleiitiiin  to  the  matter,  llaviii-  iit'i,  i  \mii  li-  1  (  .n 
tlie  cliiel'  insiriimeiit  in  the  furinatinn  of  the  (^i^])rl  I'l-.  ji- 
a-ati"ii  Society,  Dr.  Bray  may  be  fairly  c^h-ideied  llic 
founder  of  both  these  institutions,  and  in  them  of  many 
other  noble  societies  which  followed  them,  by  imitation 
or  natural  consequence.  As  early  as  the  year  ITO'J  the 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowledge  estab- 
lished a  connection  with  Ihe  Danish  miesion  to  the  Hin- 
dus at  Traiiquebar,  and  rendered  considerable  aid  towards 
the  supiiort  of  the  work.  The  Taiijore  mission  originat- 
ed in  1T2G,  and  the  one  at  Tricbinopoly  in  17C_',  which, 
with  the  celebrated  Schwarts  as  its  missionary,  was  taken 
up  five  years  afterwards  by  the  Christian  Kiiowledi;e  So- 
ciety, a"ml  prosecuted  with  vigor  and  success.  W'lieii 
other  institiilioiis  of  the  Cluircii  of  IjiL'land  were  after- 
wards oiLraiiized  for  tlie  express  (jurpose  of  i)rol)agatini: 
the  (iospcl  ill  foreign  lands,  the  Christian  Knowledge  So- 
eietv  theiicel'oith  coiitimd  in  aMcnl  i.  m  to  llie  circulation 
of  religious  works-Dil.v-.  I'l  :  ■ 
a  cheap  rate  in  Great  llrii  :i  '  i 
There  are  branch  socn  i:--  :i  .n 
trv,  and  I'.ersoiis  arc  conr-i  ii  irrd  m 
aiinuallv  a  sum  not  less  Uniii  cnu-  -iiiiiea. 

"  The  Chilli  I,  Missiiuntrn  Snririi!  was  instituted  in  Lon- 
don in  llie  month  of  April,  IT'.i'.i.  The  original  design  of 
the  socielv  was  to  act  more  especially  iu  Africa  ami  the 
Kast.  That  fact  was  embodied  iu  its  tirst  designation, 
but  afterwards  dropped.  Though  the  sphere  contemidat- 
ed  bv  the  first  board  of  directors  was  iieillier  small  nor 
unimportant,  this  society  has  i)laiited  missh.ns  over  still 
more  widely-extended  regions.  At  tirst,  and  for  a  Imig 
time  after  its  commeiicemeiit,  this  society  was  simply  sup- 
ported and  governed  by  the  members  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  was  not  in  any  way  subject  to  eccle-iastic  ,il 
authority.  At  length  the  appointment  of  English  bi-boiis 
to  foreign  countries  rendered  a  change  iu  the  admini-iia- 
tiou  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  absolutely  neces- 
sarv:  and  it  was  decided  ilia't  in  future  the  institution 
slnmld  he  conducted  in  strict  conformitv  with  the  ecclesi- 
astinil  piiiK  iph  -  of  the  Establishment.  Hence  all  the 
iiii-iMi    .rl,  -  V,  i ,'v  L'o  out,  ill  its  service  are  iilaceil  iin- 


ries,  to  clergymen  and  teachers  laboring  among  the  scat- 
tered settlers  of  Australia,  and  to  mission  statious  and 
schools  in  several  of  the  British  colonies. 

"  The  London  Sonety  .for  Promotinii  Christianitu  among 
the  Jews  was  founded  in  the  year  ISus,  although  it  was 
not  fully  organized  until  the  f«illowiug  year.  The  consti- 
tution originally  contemplated  two  objects:  'To  relieve 
the  temporal  distress  of  the  Jews,  and  to  promote  their 
spiritual  welfare.'  Public  worship,  and  the  education  of 
the  children  under  the  care  of  the  society,  within  the 
I'niled  Kingdom,  arc  conducted  in  strict  conformity  to 
the  principles  and  formularies  of  the  Church  of  England, 
with  which  it  has  always  been  identitied  both  in  its'man- 
ageineiil  aixl  principal  supp<irt.  The  tirst  sphere  of  its 
action  was  among  the  Jews  iu  London.  In  1^11  a  print- 
ing-press was  established  to  give  emidoymeut  to  ))oor 
Jewish  converts.  Two  years  later  a  chapel  and  stho<ds 
were  ojiened  for  the  benefit  of  seventy-nine  proselytes 
and  their  families.  In  ISIS  the  first  foreign  ndssionary 
was  sent  forth  to  labor  in  Poland,  where  aseminary  was 
soon  afterwards  established  for  the  training  of  Jewish 
converts  as  missionaries.  The  society  also  published  a 
Hebrew  edition  of  the  Sciijituics  for  the  Jews  generally, 
and  |)repaicd  a  .liida. "-polish  version  for  I'oland,  and  a 
Svriac  vei-ion  for  the  C.ibalislic  Jews.  In  1S40  the  Jew- 
i^h  colicL'c  f.'i-  the  complete  liainin-  of  missionarv  agents 
u;i-  .-i;i!ili-lnd.  It  has  prove. i  all  imiionant  auxiliary  to 
•lowi-li  in;>-ions,  nol  only  in  coniiecti.m  with  the  London 
socieiy.  Inn  ;il-..  lo  kind'ird  in?!  li  .u  ions  which  were  af- 
terwards 1  ;i  :<  .1  :!;...,:...,  i  i  ■  l...iidon  Society  has 
above  30  111  1        i  i  lit  of  the  Jews  iu 

Europe,  Asi  I.  .  n  missionaries,  of 

whom  upwiid.  .1  till  .i:>.  c  ii.Liu  .;  l-iaelites;  about  20 
schools,  with  an  aggregate  of  Hebrew  children  during  the 
last  thirty  years  of  upwards  of  Ui,hOO.  This  society  has 
seen  50  of  its  converts  ordained  as  clergymen  of  Christian 
coiiL-n-ji-i  I  -  n-  liome.  and  it  has  distributed  above  60,000 
CO].  .      .  '  ■    '    1 1    111  cw  Sci  i|iliii  es. 

/  /'  tor  I'll]  ii'Ktiiifj  Christian  K7iovledge. 

—Till-   i:,-i;  i,;:..ii   \M,-  r-ial.li>hed  in  Edinburszh  in  the 


ias 


,  1 1  acts,  etc. — at 
il  dependencies. 
Its  of  the  coun- 
by  subscribing 


JgtheAn 
Thrc<.    I 


and  cspeciallv  in  il,.  1 1  :. 
The  pagan  world  sulisc., 
the  directors,  and  called  f 
About  twenty  years  .-ifie 
lered  into  corn 
tions  anion, 
England 
the  aborigines  of  ;  i  .  -.  -.  .  i  •  n 
toward  ciicumstanccs  «  Inrh  on 
i  been  wanting  in  adai)tation 
withdrawn.  In  1741  a  mis^ion 
Delaware  Indians,  which  met  w 
her  of  native  converts  were  k 
baptism,  and  the  heart  <d' 
manifest  tokens  of  Ihe  di 
L'ood  work  was  also  carii 
Indians  of  Lonu'  Island  l.\ 


,  .  -.11  in  Hi,'  iiiili-h  mil. ire, 
!i':i:  M-  iii.d  Miilids  of  S.-.. Hand, 
nciilly  aricsled  the  attention  of 
irtli  their  sympathies  and  elTorls. 
r  its  formation  this  society  en- 


New 


leir  work,  and  were 

-tablished  amoi  g  the 

eat  success.     A  num- 

1  into  the  Church  by 

missionarv  was  cheeied  by 

inesencc  and  blessini:.     A 

II  for  some  time  among  the 

.'_.  n.  \  of  this  society  ;  but 

...  -  -.  iilcd  on  the  banks 


quel 


'J'hc  Sri'tti.-ih  Mi^s^oiiai,;  >iici,i,:  was  instituted  in  the 
month  of  February,  179(5,'  under  the  designation  of  the 
Edinburgh  .Missionary  Socieiy.  The  first  mission  of  this 
society  to   Sierra   Leone   was  not  a   success.    iNolhing 


Mi 


lireclion  oft 
ns.  The  fill 
.plieil  in  the 


Ch 


daunted  bv 
Western  Afi 
sent  out  two 
failed  in  c.n 


lie   comparative   failure 


niti 


md  hi 


the  institution  has    inc 


and  at  jiiililic  meet 

been  supported  in  a  very  liberal  manner.  1 

'•The  principal  spheres  of  labor  entered  upon  and  efh- 
ciently  worked  by  the  agents  of  the  I'huiih  Mis.-ionaiy 
Society  have  becii  in  Western  Africa,  Coiiiinenial  India. 
and  Cevlon,  British  North  Ameiica,and  the  W<sl  Indies. 
In  all  these  countries,  but  esjiecially  in  iheoiielirsl  named, 
the  missionaries,  catechisis,  and  leacbers  of  this  instilu- 
tion  have  toiled  with  commendable  zeal  and  diliirence, 
and  have  been  fav.rcd  to  see  the  fruit  of  their  labor  on  a 
lai-.'c -.■  .'•■  'I'll.-  V--  ■'  .  '  /.■■.■</,-i/ ._rives  slalistics  of  the 
Chunh   Ml   -         .-,   -  ..   l>;;(iaiidls7orespeclively: 

'The  1.1 ..1     1  .  i-ly  tlien  was  xiio.ci;-.' :  now 


of  the  m 

Miss 

This  m 
-ive  and 
of  this  s( 
l.'ussia.  v 


isl 


to 

irv  Society 


■;es 


thev  are  -1,71'.'.  (iiicliidin      .i,.    - 
iu  istVJ  to   the  native  i  hir   'i 
inimber  of  European  ml   -,    n    r 
20:!.     There  was  not  then  ..i;.>  n 
eni)iloved  by  the  society  ;  now  tin  i 
l,lsr,-.';i.herehad  gone  forth  on  fo: 
ti(m  with  the  Church  Missionary 
rious  countries  ami  races;  of  I  he- 
Germans.    Since  that  period  ii  laiji 
clenrymen  have  eiiL'aged  in  mis-i.. 
"the  Colonial  Chinrh  and   N. 7e 
garded  as  suppU'inentarv  lr>  the  C 
elv.     It  has  rendered  valuable  assi 
ries  employed  in  the  far  north 


jferr 


.  ii.'.r.-lergvnian 
. '.'.  Ip  to  .March 
II  \  i.e.  in  coniiec- 
V,  .'.I'.'J  men  of  va- 
.  --  than  121  were 
...1  ti.in  of  English 
\.ik.' 

.. ''  may  be  re- 

Mi^sionary  Soci- 
■  to  the  missiona- 

wilds  of  British 


were  :il-o  s.nl  M  India,  when  l',..inbav  ami  Puna  were  oc- 
laipied  as  principal  stations.  In  ]s:!.1  this  branch  of  the 
woik  was  transferied  to  the  General  Assembly  t>(  the 
Chinch  of  Scotland,  which  had  recently  commenced  oper- 
ations in  India.  In  ls24  a  missi.m  was  organized  for  Ja- 
maica, which  was  productive  of  much  good.  This  pro- 
duced a  mission  t..  Old  Calabar,  W.'sterii  Africa,  which 
has  been  proseculed  with  vigor  and  success.  In  I>>47  the 
stations  of  this  society  in  Jamaica  were  transferied  lo  Ihe 
rnitcd  Presbyterian  Church,  by  which  they  are  now  car- 
ried on  Willi  ellicieiicv  and  success. 

"  Thf  (;i(i.sii(iw  Mia.tuinaiii  >>'i  iftii  was  organized  in  Feb- 
niarv.  17'.h;.  "  Il  sent  missionaries' to  Western  and  South- 
ern Africa,  but  w  iihout  very  marked  success.    In  IS44  the 
Society  were  transferred  to  the 


:-h  of: 


land. 


America,  formerly  included  iu  the  Hudson's  Bay  territo- 


'■  Th,'  Cliinch  „fS,;,tl,i..\:  /  .  M.s^nm  .vvyici/ic— The 

formation  of -cvcial  mi-- ■  ,.- of  a  general  nat- 
ure towiiids  ilu' c|.  .se  of  1 1,.  ::y  appears  to  have 
excited  the  zeal,  if  not  iln,;.  li  ii  ^.  .  :  ilic  Chuicli  <>l  Scot- 
land, and  overtnies  were  pie.-cnUil  to  the  (ieiierid  Assem- 
bly from  diflVrent  synods,  praying.'  thai  attPiilion  might 
be  jiaid  to  the  claims  of  the  heathen  woild.  For  some 
time  these  weie  disregarded;  but  iu  lS-.'4  the  subject  was 
broUL'bt  f.)i\vard  again,  and  a  committee  ^vas  appointed 
to  i)repaie  a  |.rogramme  for  the  organization  of  what  was 
justly  designated  as  'a  pious  and  benevolent  object.'    At 


MISSIONS 


361 


MISSIONS 


the  next  Assembly,  iu  1S25,  the  committee  reported  iu  fo- 
viir  of  British  India  as  a  field  of  labor,  and  advised  the 
establishment  of  a  great  central  seminary,  with  auxiliary 
district  schools  for  the  instruction  of  Hindu  children  and 
youu"  persons  of  both  sexes.  In  1829  the  Kev.  Alexander 
Dufl'°ailed  for  Calcutta  as  the  head  of  the  educational 
institution.  The  ship  was  wrecked  ..fl"  thr  Cape  of  Good 
Hone  tint  willinut  loss  of  life.  Aliri-  M.me  delay  and 
many' ilaimers,  Mr.  andMrs.  Uufl' aiiiwd  at  (  alrutta  on 
Mav"'."T,  ls;;e,  liaving  lost  a  valual.)le  libiary,  and  'beiiis 
nioie  dead  than  alive.'  The  seminary  was  opened  iu  the 
month  of  August,  and  met  with  remarkable  success. 
Witliin  a  few  davs  of  the  opening  200  pupils  were  in  at- 
tendanre.  Both  the  elementary  and  collegiate  sections  of 
the  in-litiitiMU  jno^pered.  The  En-li^li  lanjiiai'e  was 
Cllii>ei!  a-  the  U'a.vliuui  of  instruction  in  I  hi'  !iiL;la'~l  (  ia-M'-. 
but  a~  s'xiU  a>  i;ualilied  teacliers  and  Miiialilc  -i  ImmI  li.  ii.l,^ 
could  be  oljtaiued,  due  attention  was  luiid  to  ilic  m m  a  n- 
lar.  In  1SH5  three  missionaries— tlie  Kev.  .Janic-  Milrlall. 
John  Wilson,  and  Kobeil  ^'isbet— were  traiislci avil  by 
their  own  desire  from  the  Scottish  ^Missionaiy  s.icieiy  lo 
the  General  Assembly's  Mission  ;  and  in  lb4B  still  further 
changes  were  made  by  the  disruption  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, which  issued  iu  the  formation  of  the  Free  Church 
of  Scotland,  to  which  all  the  missionaries  iu  India  ad- 
hered, with  the  buildings,  furniture,  and  proiierty  of  the 
respective  stations.  After  laboring  in  conneeticui  with 
the  Indian  Mission  for  nearly  tliirtv-tivc  years,  Ur.  Duff 
finally  returned  to  his  native  land  in  1SG3,  having  mean- 
while made  but  a  brief  visit  to  Euglaud  and  the  United 
States  iu  1854  and  1855. 

"  The  Free  Church  of  Scotland's  Foreign  Mission.— Thw 
Church,  after  its  organization  iulS43,  made  arrangements 
for  carrying  on  the  missionary  work  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  The  educational  establishment  at  Calcutta,  un- 
der the  able  superinleiulenee  of  Dr.  Duff,  and  the  mission 
stations  at  Bombay,  I'nna,  Xaupore.  Madras,  and  other 
places  iu  India,  as  well  as  ih.  s.-  in  Snutliei-n  Africa,  the 
colonies  of  Canada,  Nova  Smtia.  New  Brunswick,  the 
West  Indies,  Madeira,  tlie  Mediterranean,  Australia,  and 
Natal,  were  prosecuted  with  vigor  and  success  under  the 
new  administration. 

"  The  Ft  ee  Cliurch  of  Scotlaud  also  assumed  the  re- 
sponsibility of  siipptn-tiug  and  carrying  ou  a  mission  to 
the  Jews  which  had  been  organized  a  short  time  before 
the  disruption.  The  history  of  this  branch  of  the  work, 
so  far  as  Hungary  and  Austria  are  concerned,  is  of  more 
than  onliiinrvlnterc^t.  Pesth  was  the  scene  of  a  remark- 
able awakeii'in-  amoii-  tlie  scattefed  sred  of  Abfahani. 
Huii.lreils  ,.r,I,'us.  raaiiy  of  ilaaii  per~ui,s  of  disi  innion, 

of  Christiaiiily.  The' icvilniinii  in  Hungary  caused  tlie 
susjiension  of  the  rais-ion  lor  a  lime,  and  the  despotism 
of  Austria  well-nigli  exiin-ui-lKal  it.  Of  late  years  there 
have  been  consideitUile  eliaiii;-es  in  the  scene  of  its  opera- 
tions, and  Frankfort,  Amsterdam,  Bieslau,  Pesth,  Galatz, 
and  other  places  are  mentioned  in  the  society's  report  as 
places  where  its  agents  ate  now  laboring  for  the  couver- 
sion  of  the  Jews  to  the  faith  of  the  Gospel. 

''Uniteii  rr.:slrit,ri,ii,  SnmxVs  Furciga  J\Iis.mm.—Jn  the 
year  18:15  tlie  iiiiicd  Sci  i^ssiou  Ctuirch  planted  a  mission 
iu  the  West  liiilies  iiy  lite  agency  of  the  Kevs.  William 
Paterson  and  James  Niven.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years 
several  stations  wete  oiiened  in  Jamaica,  Trinidad,  and 
the  Grand  Caymanas.  Tlie  progtese  of  the  mission  to 
these  parts  is  indicated  by  the  followiug  scenes  of  labor, 
aud  the  dates  when  the  work  was  commenced  at  each 
place  respectively:  Jamaica— Stirling,  1835;  NewBrough- 
ton,1835;  Friendship,  1837;  Goshen,  1837  ;  Mount  Olivet, 
1S3'.» ;  Montego  Bay,  1S4S ;  Kingston,  1848.  Trinidad— Port 
of  Spain,  1839 ;  Arattca,  184-.;.  The  Great  Caymanas— 
Georgetown,  1846.  In  1840  a  mission  was  commenced  at 
Old  Calabar,  iu  Western  Africa,  intended  to  be  worked 
chiefly  by  converted  ncLtroes  I'rom  Jamaica.  The  synod 
also  sent  several  missi(, unties  to  Caiitida,  who  have  since 
succeeded  in  foriniiej:  selt-susiaiiiiii'_'  con-regations,  and 
even  in  organi/.inu  lavjv  and  iiiihienttal  presbyteries.  The 
first  work  of  the  United  I'lcslivPaiai:  CliniTh,  formed  in 
May,lS47,was  to  accept  of  tlie  tran-fenaire  ot'tlie  stations 
aud  agents  of  the  Scottish  :Mi--ionai  v  Soriciv  in  Jamaica, 
and  ojf  the  Glasgow  African  Missionary  Society  in  KaftVa- 
ria,  which  it  has  since  conducted  willi  vigor  and  success. 
It  has  also  a  Jewish  mission  to  Algiers,  Aleppo,  aud  other 
places. 

"  English  Preshi/terian  Si/uoiVs  Foreign  jtfitision. — This 
Church  entered  lipou  foiei'jn  inis^ionary  opeiations  in 
1844.  The  principal  scene  of  i;s  ialmr-  is  I'liina,  and  al- 
though   the   work  has    not   as    v. a    lieen    ciiidilrled   oil    a 

large  scale,  it  is  hoped  that  la-tin-  - 1  wdl  br  the  le-iili. 

The  funds  of  the  society  were  considerably  aumnented  a 
few  years  ago  by  the  handsome  bequest  of  the  late  Mr. 
Saudeman,  to  whose  benevolence  and  general  Cliristiaii 
character  a  graceful  tribute  is  paid  in  tlie  annual  report  for 
lSo:>.  Prom, sing  missicm  stations  have  been  lonned  at 
Amoy  and  Swatow,  where  a  few  converted  natives  have 
been  united  in  Church  fellowship,  and  an  additional  mis- 
siimary  has  recenlly  been  ordained  and  sent  forth  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  brethieu  who  have  been  some 
time  in  the  field. 

"7iV/ormed  J'resbijterian  Church  Mission, — Foreign  mis- 


sionary operations  were  commenced  by  this  body  in  1842. 
The  principal  scene  of  its  labor  has  been  the  South  Sea 
Islands,  especially  New  Zealand  and  the  New  Hebrides. 
The  Kev.  John  Inglis  labored  for  many  years  in  the  island 
of  Aneiteum  with  considerable  success.  By  the  blessing 
of  God  on  his  unwearied  efforts  a  goodly  number  of  con- 
verted natives  were  irathered  into  the  fold  of  Christ,  some 
of  whom  iMM-aiiie  ellicient  Church  ollicers  and  teachers  of 
others,  whil.'  tlie  ri-im_'  generation  were  carefully  trained 
in  a  kiiowleilL'c'  cd'tiod's  holy  Word  to  an  extent  which  is 
not  often  witnessed  even  on  nrission  stations.  At  one 
time,  out  of  a  population  of  1900  iu  a  certain  district,  1700 
were  able  to  read  the  Bible— a  proportion  of  readers  per- 
haps scarcely  surpassed  in  any  country. 

"  ///.s/i  rnsh:;t,'n\(ii  chiirrh's  Mission.— The  General  As- 
semldv  of  tlir  i're>li\teiiaii  Church  in  Irelaud  commenced 
its  niissionaiy  .ipiaatious  in  1840.  Their  first  field  was 
India.  (  wM-idrralde  attention  has  also  been  paid  to  the 
r.iitisli  colojiii-  In-  tills  liody,  missionaries  having  been 
sent  out  a.t  ditVrivni  times  t'o  North  America,  Australia, 
Tasmania,  and  New  Zealand.  The  Assembly  has  also 
Jewisii  missions  at  Hamburg,  Bonn,  and  in  Syria. 

^•Scottish  Society  .for  the  Conversion  of  Israel. — This  so- 
ciety was  instituted  in  the  year  1846,  uot  iu  connection 
with  any  particular  branch  of  the  Christian  Church,  but 
ou  a  broad  apd  catholic  basis,  the  directors  being  chosen 
from  difterent  denominations.  It  was  originally  designed 
to  aft'ord  temporal  relief  to  the  migrating  Jews  who  vis- 
ited Glasgow.  Subsequently  it  extended  its  operations 
to  the  seed  of  Aliraham  in  fo"rei-ii  lands,  and  sought  their 
spiritual  benefit  as  well  as  naiiporal  wilfare.  Stations 
were  formed  Jind  asreiits  employed  al  llambuig,  Algiers, 
and  Alexandria:  l)ut  in  l^t,',,  w  lien  the  L'nited  Presbyte- 
rian Cliiiich  oiiL'inated  a  mission  to  the  Jews,  these  for- 
r\'s\\  stations  weic  transferred  to  that  bodv,  from  which 
mo>t  oftlie  funds  had  been  derived,  aud  the  Scottish  So- 
ciety again  contined  its  labors  to  home,  ns  before. 

•■'Fiiinimriih  Mciical  Missionary  .Voia. ,'.'.  — In  il;e  year 
1S41  several' of  the  leading  medi'ctil  jn  artiiioneis  in"  the 
Scotch  metropolis,  in  the  course  of  their  roailing.  having 
come  to  the  cmeliisiini  that  medical  skill  mi-hlbe  greatly 
helpful  to  Christian  missions,  formed  themselves  into  an 
association  lor  this  object.  Their  hrst  efforts  were  di- 
rected to  China,  wheie  the  want  of  medical  knowledge 
was  sorely  felt.  The  constitutiiui  of  the  society  does  not 
restrict  its  operations  to  the  Celestial  empire,  but  leaves 
it  at  liberty  to  aft'ord  its  aid  to  the  missionary  enterprise 
in  any  part  of  the  world.  The  intention  of  its  patrons  is 
to  <rive  L'laluitoiis  ini'iliial  aid  to  the  suffering  poor,  aud 
at  tlie  saiiH-  lime  lo  cmlii  aie  evei'v  oiipoil  unity  of  impart- 
iiiu'  reli-ioiis  instiiniion  to  ilie  d'ark,  benighted  heathens 
who  are  the  objei't^  of  iis  biaievokoire. 

"/.eye/,,//  M  ,.-<.■., .ai,,  i\'  .s.,ra7/.— Towards  the  close  of  the 
vear  lT'.t4  a  spirited  iMpia-  apjieared  in  the  lli-nnyclical 
'Magazine  advoratin-  Ilie  lormation  of  a  mission  to  the 
hea'then  on  the  broadest  possible  basis.  This  led  to  the 
organization  of  the  London  Missionary  Society.  The 
Rev.  David  Bogue,  D.l).,  of  Gosport,  the  author  of  the  i)a- 
per  alluded  to,  mav  therefore  be  regarded  as  the  father 
and  founder  of  tliis  mdde  instituti(Hi ;  and  his  name  will 
ever  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  the  friends  of 
missions.  Two  months  after  the  appearance  of  Dr. 
Bogue's  practical  jiaper,  a  conference  was  held  to  tidce 
steps  for  giving  effect  to  the  laudatile  proposal.  That 
conference  was  attended  by  representatives  frcnii  several 
evangelical  bodies,  in  accordance  with  the  proposed  catho- 
licity of  the  spirit  of  action.  The  result  of  that  conference 
was  a  caiefuUy-prepaied  address  to  the  ministers  aud 
members  oftlie  various  cli  inches,  and  the  appointment  of 
a  committee  to  dilTiise  infoi  mation,  and  to  learn  the  senti- 
ments of  the  Christian  public  upon  tlio  a'  ;<  ri.  A  con- 
ference upon  a  lai-er  scale  was  held  ii,  ->  ,  '  i  -  r.  IT<.I5— 
twelve  months  af.er  the  publication  ol  1",  1,    _  paper. 

The  conference  la-ted  three  days,  and  ■  mpi-rd,  a  large 
and  influential  body  of  Christians.  Tlie  Kev.  Dr.  Haweis 
preached  an  eloquent  and  impressive  sermon  ou  the  occa- 
sion, taking  for  his  subject  the  great  commission  (Mark 
XV,  l(i) ;  and  the  Rev.  J.  Bnrder  and  the  Rev.  Rowland  Hill 
also  took  part  in  the  preliminary  work  which  issued  iu 
the  formation  of  the  institution.  'Thus,  amid  many  pray- 
ers, much  fraternal  love,  and  the  promise  of  large  sup- 
port both  in  counsel  and  contributions,  the  London  Mis- 
.sionarv  Society  was  launched. 

"The  first  question  which  pressed  upon  the  attention, 
of  the  diiectors  oftlie  London  IMissionary  Society  after 
its  formation  was  the  selection  oftlie  most  suitable  fields 
of  labor.  Wishing  to  commence  their  operations  in  a  part 
oftlie  world  where  no  efforts  had  as  \et  been  made  by 
any  other  society  for  the  evan-eli/.ation  of  the  natives, 
and  eiieouiiejed  bv  the  reports  which  had  been  brought 
to  Eimland  Irom  the  South  Seas  by  an  exph.ring  exjie- 
dition  whiih  had  discovered  many  new  islands,  they  de- 
cided, ill  the  first  place,  to  send  missionaries  to  Polynesia. 
The  field  once  chosen,  and  that  choice  published,  it  was 
found  that  neither  aireiits  nor  money  wete  wanting  for 
the enterpiise.  The enth'usiasm  w hich  iirevailed  was  br.)ad 
and  deep,  tiiid  the  readiness  with  which  service  was  of- 
fered and  funds  furnished  cheered  the  hearts  of  the  d.rec- 
tors,  and  was  regarded  by  them  as  a  clear  indication  of 
the  diviue  favor.    In  the  early  part  of  179(5  the  missionary 


mssioxs 


362 


MISSIONS 


ries  were  sent  ont,  and  the  canse  again  prospered.  The 
srood  work  was  afterwards  extended  to  Madras,  Belsraiini, 
Bellarv,  Bangalore,  Mysore,  Salem,  Conibaconum,  t'oima- 
toor,  Travancore,  Chinsarah,  Berhanii)ore,  Benares,  Sural, 
and  oth(M-  parts  of  India.  At  all  these  places  schools  wi  re 
established,  c()n!J:rc<rations  gathered,  the  Gospel  fiiithriilh 


ship  Duff  was  purchased,  and  freighted  with  a  suitable 
car<'o  ■  and  twenty-nine  agents  who  had  volunteered  their 
services  embarked  for  their  distant  sphere  of  labor.  These 
were  not  all  missionaries,  properly  so  called,  only  four  of 
them  being  ordained  ministers,  and  the  rest  mechanics 

or  artisans  of  different  kinds,  inicMKk'd  to  take  a  part  in  ^    ,     ■    ,         -  ,  -  ,      /,u  -     -  u         .     ,■ 

the  "ood  work     Everviliiii_'  :ip|»an'il  providc-ntial  hith-    preached,  and  many  souls  won  for  Christ  through  the 
erto^and  to  crown  all,  -Mr.  .I:iiii(  >  Wilson,  a  retired  cap-    agency  of  this  excellent  institution. 

lain'of  excellent  spirit  iunl  jicat  jirol'cssional  skill,  prof-  "At  an  early  period  of  its  history,  the  London  Mission- 
I'ered  his  services  to  navigaic  ihc  ship  with  its  precious  ary  Society  was  led  to  turn  its  attention  to  the  West  Indies. 
car"o  to  Polynesia.  After  some  detention  at  Portsmouth,  In  lt-07  a  Dutch  planter  in  British  Guiana  made  an  earnest 
tiie  7>"//"  weiit  to  sea  on  Sept.  23,  followed  by  the  earnest  '  appeal  to  the  directors  for  a  missionary,  accompanied  by 
pravers  of  thousands;  and  by  the  good  providence  of  (iod  I  a  liberal  ofier  of  pecuniary  assistance.  This  led  to  the 
"'     1  her  destination  in  safetv,  uotwithistanding  a  se-  |  appointment  of  the  Kev.  John  Wray  as  the  lirst  asrent  of 


reached  her  destination  . ,  . 

vere  storm  which  she  encountered  on  the  Cape  ol  Good 

'"'i'he  missicmary  ship  Dt/jf  arrived  at  Tahiti  on  March 
6,  IT'.iT,  and  anchored  safely  in  Matavia  Bay,  at  a  distance 
of  about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  shore.  In  the 
afternoon  the  captaiu  and  a  member  of  the  mission  land- 
ed, and  were  met  on  the  beach  by  Paitia,  the  aged  chief 
of  the  district,  who  welcomed  them  to  the  country,  and 
offered  them  a  large  native  liouse  lor  their  accommoda- 
tion. It  was  arran-red  that  to  tlie  lour  ordained  ministers 
and  fonrtoieu  of  the  nnnmrrieil  brethren  should  be  con- 
tided  the  eslablislnnent  and  iirosecution  of  Ilie  mission  at 
Taliiti  ;  tliat  ten  slionld  .-luleavor  to  eflect  a  selilenient  at 
ToULra,  one  ol"  the  b'riendly  IsUinds;  and  that  two  should 
proceed  to  tlic  .Maniuesas.  The  a;;cnts  were  distributed 
according  to  this  arrangement,  and  commenced  their  la- 
bors, no  doubt,  with  the  best  intentions.  It  would  be  an 
exercise  of  painful  interest,  if  our  space  permitted  us,  to 
give  the  sequel  of  this  enterprise  in  all  its  particulars.  It 
mav  suthce  to  say  that  in  this  large  band  of  missionary 
agents,  selected  in  such  haste,  there  were  several  men 
who  proved  altogether  deticient  in  mental  power,  moral 
coiiraiiC,  and  other  necessary  <inaliruations  for  the  work 
Consequently,  some  proved  unlaiilif 
enterprise  altogether;  others  were 

few  who  were  stout-hearted  and  eourageotis  labored  un- 
der many  ditlictilties.  In  some  of  the  islands  the  mission 
totally  failed,  several  of  llu^  agents  being  murdered,  and 
the  rest  having  to  llee  for  their  lives.  In  after-years  the 
London  Missionary  Society  learned  to  select  its  nii-^sicnia- 
ries  With  greater  care,  and  seminaries  l>r  tlieir  ])roper 
traininir  were  speedily  eslablishcd.  Afur  numerous  re- 
verses,'disappointmeius,  and  lout:  delav,  ilic  niis-ionnries 
of  the  London  So^.iv  iili  in,  ,Nl;,  pi-  ...  .  -i:,  a  llieir  la1)ors 
in  various  islan.:-  A  I'  <  •  ■  -  ■-  •  i  ii  '  :i!  -  -t  a  most  re- 
markable eliara.  ;■  ,.  ,  .  .  i  i^-i  '"  ''  ■■  i:  -li  Hie  name 
of  John  William-,  i  li-  in  :  '  ;  -T  1  /  ii.,ii  ;  i,  and  those  ol 
other  worlliies,  will  be  handed  down  to  posterity  as  enti- 
tled to  afieclionate  remeiubrance. 

"In  IT'.is,  ;iboul  three  vears  after  its  commencement, 
the  London  IMissionary  Society  sent  forth  four  missiona- 
ries to  Southern  Africa:  Dr.  Vanderkemp  and  Mr.  Ed- 
mcmds  to  labor  in  that  part  of  the  Cape  Colony  which 
bordered  upon  Kaffraria,  and  Messrs.  Kitchener  and  Ed- 
wards were  stationed  north  of  the  colony  among  the 
Bushmen.  In  the  following  year  Dr.  Vanderkemp  and 
his  colleague  penetrated  into  l\alUrland,  and  offered  the 
Gospel  to' the  wariike  natives,  but  with  little  success  nt 
that  time.  They  afterwards  labored  among  the  Ilotten- 
tol^  liviie'  within  tlie  colonial  boundavv,  several  of  whom 
were  sui-resslullv  instrmied  in  the  Ihinirs  of  God,  and 
bnaight  to  a  savin-  kiiowledL'e  of  the  truth.  In  isuti  the 
missionaries  crossed  ilie  oiauL'e  Kiver,  and  commenced 
their  labors  anion l'  ilii'  wild  Nama<iuas.  Here  the  cele- 
brated Robert  Moffatt  began  his  lionorable  and  eventful 
career,  and  was  favored  to  rejoice  over  the  notorious  Hot- 
tentot chief  Africaner.  Mr.  Moffatt  afterwards  estab- 
lished a  prosperous  mission  at  Kuruman,  among  the 
Bechuanas,  many  of  whom  he  saw  gathered  into  the  fold 
of  Christ,  and  into  whose  language  he  translated  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  After  a  long,  laborious,  and  honorable  mis- 
sionarv  career,  extending  over  half  a  century,  Mr.  Moffatt 
tln.illv "returned  to  England  in  1S70,  a  remarkable  instance 


md  abandoned  the    Afier  laboring  at  h 
ed,  and  the  |  risou  was  joined  by 


ippoi 

the  society  in  Demerara.  As  the  work  extended,  addi- 
tional missionaries  were  sent  out,  and  stations  were  ulti- 
mately established  in  George  Town,  Berbice,  and  various 
parts  of  the  colony,  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  poor 
negroes,  who  made  rapid  progress  in  religious  knowledge. 
The  mission  was  progressing  delightfully,  when  it  re- 
ceived a  severe  check  by  the  general  rising  of  the  slaves. 
But  after  the  emancipation  in  ls:;4,  the  London  Mission- 
ary Society  realized  the  henetit  of  the  change  in  common 
with  other  kindred  institutions,  and  their  numerous  sta- 
tions in  Demerara,  Berbice,  tmd  Jamaica  have  been  fa- 
vored with  a  pleasing  measure  of  ])rosperity  under  the 
more  favorable  circumstances  of  entire  and  unrestricted 
freedom. 

"  To  the  London  Missionary  Society  must  be  awarded 
the  honin-  of  organizin<r  the  first  Protestant  mission  from 
England  to  China.  Iiilhe  year  1S07  the  Rev.  Robert  Mor- 
rison was  sent  out,  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  securing,  if 
possible,  a  good  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  dif- 
licult  langiiage  of  the  Chinese  emi)iie.  In  this  he  suc- 
ceeded beyond  the  expectations  of  the  most  sanguine 
friends  of  "the  enterprise.  He  proved  admirably  adapted 
for  the  peculiar  and  untried  sphere  upon  which  he  entered. 

'      "  "      ■  "■  at  ion  for  some  years,  Dr.  Mor- 

missionaries,  and  the  work  of 
preaching  and  teaching  was  commenced  in  good  earnest. 
The  progress  of  the  mfssion  was  slow  at  first,  and  it  was 
not  till  the  yearlsl4  that  the  first  convert  was  bai)t:7.ed. 
Afterwards,"however,  a  ccmsiderable  number  of  Chinese 
were  brought  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and 
gathered  into  the  fidd  of  Christ,  throiigh  the  united  labors 
of  the  missionaries  of  this  society. 

"  But  the  most  interesting  mission  of  the  London  Soci- 
ety was  the  one  which  was  undertaken  to  the  island  of 
JladaL'ascar  in  ^'^l'*  by  the  appointment  of  the  Rev. 
_M^.ss^s.  Jones  and  llevaii  as  tlie  tirst  missionaries.  Re- 
turning for  their  families,  whom  they  had  left  at  the  Mau- 
ritius until  Ihey  should  learn  the  state  of  the  country, 
these  excellent  brethren  ))roceeded  to  Taniatave  in  the 
course  of  the  fidlowing  year,  and  coninicnced  llieir  work. 
Within  seven  weeks  of  their  arrival  five  of  this  little  band 
sickened  and  died,  and  Mr.  Jones  was  left  alone.  He  no- 
blv  resolved  to  persevere  in  his  solitary  work  as  he  best 
could,  and  having  returned  from  the  Mauritius,  whither 
he  was  obliged  to  retire  for  a  season  for  the  recovery  of 
his  health,  h'e  was  joined  by  other  missionaries  from  Eng- 
land, and  their  united  labors  proved  very  successful.  Dur- 
ing the  first  fifteen  jears  of  this  mission  the  entire  Bible 
was  translated  into  the  Malagasy  language,  and  printed 
at  the  mission  press  in  the  capital,  and  the  missionaries 
frequently  preached  to  a  congregation  of  IdOO  persons 
with  the'most  blessed  n-nlis.  Then  came  a  dark  and 
gloomy  nii^lit  of  |  •  :   ^    i,i:.'n.  iliiriiiL'  the  bloody  reign  of  a 


of  (Jod's  preserving  -oodn< 
the  mission  cause.  To  the  i 
re'.'ion  of  the  /ambe/.e,  1) 
wonderful  missionary  tiave 
missi4)n  of  the  London  Soc 
tempted. 
"  British  India  was  the  next  field  of  labor  on  which  the 


uel 
the  ishnuh  humlM  : 
martyrdom  ratlu  i'  ;  1 
ising  mission  was  l;;i 
continued  for  more  t 
the  order  of  divine  \: 
in  186T,  the  way  was 
of  the  Gospel  in  Madagasc 


Dvidi 
pened 


h  of  l!echuanaland,in  the 
iviie'stone  iierformed  his 
lid  tiiere  also  the  ill-fated 
to  the  Makololo  was  at- 


■\Ii 


■d.      In   1M14  the  Rev. 
:>nt 


-■;,:,,   Ml    :        a    M^         ii    oil   the   Coa;  t 

i,    :,    a;  .  I .  .1  ,  Ml         .1     ail  and  Des 
\  i/.a_apal.ou.  uio.  h  lies  about  500 

alriilla.  and  which  was  then  nnoc- 

(irietv's  missioiniries.     There  they 

ception,  and  soon  succeeded  in  es- 

1(1    in   translatinu'   jiorlions   of  ihe 

_.._ iiiL'a  languaize.     In  IsO'^  the  mission 

Was'iT'eatlv  slreiejlheiied  bv  the  conversion  of  a  ce'.ebraled 

Bralmiin,  iianied  Anaiideraver,  an  interesting  account  of  -       ,        ,    . 

whiih   was  .'iven   in   the   Ki-ainu'lintl  M<i'i<iziii<\     In  ]s(i'.1     Chrisliaiiitv  amoni:  the  Jews  ;  but,  bein-:  orL-am 

Mr.  Cr.aii  died,  and  his  colleague,  Mr.  Des  (irange-.  only  ,  moie  calliolic  .and  -eneral  basis,  it  nflords  an  aiq 

survived  him  about  twelve  montlis.     Thus  w.is  \hr  sta-  ;  sj.heie  of  e\an':eli.  al  lahor  in  this  deparlment  ;.f 

tioii  left  desolate  for  a  time;  but  other  zealous  missioua-  1  ary  work  for  r\oiicouformists  of  every  name.     Ihi 


miles  »oiith-w< 
cupied  by  any 
met  with  a  coi 

tal'iisbing   schi 


:—  onaiies  were  driven  from 
ri. liveried  natives  suffered 
\  (  hrist,  and  Ihe  once  iiroin- 
ale.  This  state  oflliinL's  had 
liiarter  of  a  century,  when,  in 
ice,  by  the  death  of  Ihe  queen 
e  more  for  the  preaching 
The  mission  was  now  re- 
...mmeiiced,  and  it  wda  found  that  the  native  Christians 
had  generally  proved  faithful,  numerous  accessimis  also 
haviii'.,'  been' made  to  their  number.  Several  memorial 
churches  were  built  to  commemorate  the  death  of  the 
martyrs,  and  the  work  was  extended  to  various  parts  of 
the  island,  with  the  prospect  of  still  greater  good  in  time 
to  come. 

"The  report  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  for  1S71 
stated  :  '  In  China  there  are  connected  with  the  society  18 
missionaries;  in  India, -I".*;  in  Madagascar,'-';!;  in  South 
Africa,  S2;  in  the  West  Indies,  i:! :  and  in  Ihe  .South  Sea 
district.  27.  The  total  e.\pendiluie  (if  ihe  society,  charge- 
able aL'ainst  home  inronie.  diirini:  Ihe  nasi  yearamounled 
t,)  .i>T.:;'4  li'..-i  '.hi.  A.hliie/  I  lie  expcndiluie  provided  and 
ii,,!M..  I  i.M  ,1  X  .  .  u  (  ;  'j.s.  11,/.,  the  entire  outlay 
n-M  ■..:■!..   -  :!i.  ■!'-:•   .■:;.'..  -<(?.' 

■    /,,      -     >  '   ,         /         'Kilioit  nftlieGoit})el  avtmiff 

/,„.s.— Ihi^  lh^inu;i..ii   \\..-  established  in  London  in 

■  eliief  support  from  the  vari- 

's  in   EiiL'taiid.     Its  object   is 

jial   Society   for  Propagating 


II. 

the  yeai 
ous  Dis 
identica 


ii;  comniuiu 


'(I  on 


iate 


MISSIONS 


363 


MISSIONS 


does  not  aim  so  much  to  baptize  and  found  churches  as  to 
preach  the  Gospel  and  circuhite  the  Scriptures  and  relig- 
ious tracts  amopg  the  seed  of  Abraham  in  various  coun- 
tries. Its  lirst  sphere  of  operations  was  among  the  Jews 
in  the  cities  and  seaport  towns  of  Great  Britain.  It  after- 
wards extended  its  labors  to  the  Continent,  and  opened 
stations  at  Frankfort,  Paris,  Lyons,  Wiirtemberg,  and 
Breslau,  and  also  at  Gibraltar  and  Tunis,  the  place  last 
named  having  been  found  an  excellent  centre  from  which 
to  work  in  Northern  Africa,  as  well  as  a  position  of  great 
influence  from  its  being  in  the  direct  highway  to  the  Holy 
Land.  This  society  has  also  its  mission  college  for  ihe 
Jews,  in  wliich  it  trains  many  of  its  own  agents.  The 
twenty-four  missionaries  employed  by  this  institution  are 
all  converted  Jews,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three, 
more  than  one  half  of  whom  were  trained  at  the  mission 
college.  Nor  are  the  religious  interests  of  the  rising  gen- 
eration neglected.  From  the  beginning  atteutiou  has 
been  paid  to  Sabbath  and  week-day  schools  for  Jewish 
children ;  and  a  few  years  ago  an  orphan  asylum  was  es- 
tablished, in  which  a  considerable  number  of  destitute 
Hebrew  boys  and  girls  are  fed,  clothed,  and  instructed; 
and  when  they  grow  up  they  are  put  to  useful  tiades  and 
occupations,  that  they  may  earn  their  own  livelihood. 

"  Coiigrciiatioual  Unmc  Missions. — The  reiiort  iiresented 
to  the  last'  auniveisary  of  this  associaticm  stated  that  the 
society  consists  ufU^'huiiic  mission  jjastors,  who  occupy 
central  positions  coinpnsiil  of  four,  live,  or  six  vilhiges, 
where,  with  the  help  of  '^:jT  voluntary  lay  preachers,  the 
Gospel  is  preached  in  545  mission  chapels  and  rooms,  the 
attendance  in  which  had  exceeded  50,0U0  persons.  There 
is  in  connection  with  this  organization  a  department  of 
lay  and  colportor  evangelists,  100  of  whom  are  now  at 
work,  who  had  visited  80,000  families  during  the  year,  dis- 
tributed '250,(1(10  tracts,  sold  3000  copies  of  the  Bible,  and 
120,000  periodicals.  One  thousand  members  had  been 
added  to  the  churches  by  means  of  this  agency  during  the 
year. 

"  Ilaj^tist  JFis^tionctri/  Societij. — Like  most  other  great  and 
good  things,  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society  had  a  small 
and  humble  beginning.  Its  early  iiistoiy  is  inseparably 
connected  with  that  of  William  Carey,  who  may  be  fairly 
regarded  as  its  father  and  A)uuder,  as  well  as  its  tirst  mis- 
sionary to  the  heathen  world.  Although  of  humble  par- 
entage" and  low  condition  in  life,  Mr.  Carey  was  a  man  of 
great  mental  eneruty  and  unwearied  perseverance.  While 
plying  his  lowly  avocations,  liist  as  a  shoemaker  and  aft- 
erwards as  a  humble  pastor  and  village  schoolmaster,  he 
conceived  the  grand  idea  of  attempting  to  projjagate  the 
Gospel  among  heathen  nations  ;  and,  to  make  himself 
better  acquainted  with  the  wants  of  the  world,  and  to 
prepare  himself  for  future  action,  he  constructed  maps  of 
various  countries,  read  nuuieious  books,  and  stiulied  two 
or  three  dift'ercnt  lauguaues.  At  length,  in  lTs4,  the  Not- 
tingham Baptist  Association,  to  whicli  he  belongel,  re- 
solved upon  holding  monthly  ronrcits  f  ;r  prayer.  Xn:  Ca- 
rey's one  topic  at  these  niei'iiiiL's  was  the  ileizi-adeii  state 
of  heathen  lands;  but  few  entiicly  symi.atiilzed  with  him 
in  his  views.  Seven  years  later,  w  hen  he  had  removed  to 
Leicester,  he  introduced  his  favorite  theme,  and  pressed  it 
upon  the  attention  of  his  ministoiial  brethren  when  as- 
sembled together.  He  respectfully  siilmiitted  for  their 
consideration,  'Whether  it  was  not  practicable,  and  their 
bouiuleu  duly,  lo  attempt  somewhat  towards  spreading 
the  Gospel  in  the  lieathen  world.'  At  the  next  meeting 
of  the  association,  in  the  month  of  May,  1792,  Mr.  Carey 
preached  his  ever-memoralile  sermon  from  Isa.  liv,  2,  8, 
and  dwelt  with  great  powct'  on  his  two  le.nliiii:  divisions 
— 'Expect  great  thieus  Imm  (iod.  ami  ai;eai]jt  great 
things  for  God.'  The  impression  prodneed  l.y  this  dis- 
course was  so  deep  and  general  that  the  association  re- 
solved upon  instituting  a  mission  to  the  heathen  at  their 
next  meeting  in  autumn.  On  Oct.  2  the  society  was 
formed,  and  although  the  collection  on  the  occasion  only 
amounted  to  £\3  2.s.  Of/.,  ample  funds  speedily  flowed  in 
from  various  quarters. 

'•After  the  formation  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
the  next  great  question  was  in  reference  to  the  specitic 
tield  in  which  operations  should  commence.  Mr.  Carev 
had  thought  long  and  anxiously  about  the  South  Sea  Isl- 
ands, and  held  himself  in  readiness  to  proceed  thither  if 
he  could  be  promised  support  even  for  one  year.  Just  at 
that  time  he  met  with  a  Mr.  Thomas,  from  India,  who  was 
busily  engaged  in  collecting  funds  for  the  establishment 
of  a  Christian  mission  in  Bengal.  In  consequence  of  the 
representations  made  by  this  well-meaning  but  somewhat 
eccentric  stranger,  it  was  arranged  that  Mr.  Carey  should 
accompany  him  to  the  East,  and  that  they  should  unite 
their  efforts  to  establish  a  Baptist  mission  among  the 
Hindus.  After  encountering  numerous  and  complicated 
difficulties,  financial,  domestic,  and  political,  they  at  length 
embarked  for  India  in  the  Primess  Maria,  a  Danish  East 
Indiaraau,  on  June  13,  1793.  They  landed  in  safety  at 
Balasore  on  Nov.  10  ;  but  finding  the  way  closed  by  the 
restrictions  of  the  East  India  Company  against  their 
openly  pursuing  their  sacred  vocation  as  Christian  mis- 
siouaries,  and  being  uncertain  as  to  what  amount  of  sup- 
port, if  any,  they  would  receive  for  themselves  and  their 
lamUies  from  England,  they  went  up  the  country,  and 
took  situations  which  were  offered  to  them  in  connection 


with  establishments  for  the  cultivation  and  manufacture 
of  indigo.  At  the  same  time  they  studied  the  language 
of  the  natives,  held  religious  meetings  with  the  people, 
and  labored  in  every  way  to  bring  them  to  a  saving  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth.  Mr.  Carey,  moreover,  from  the  begin- 
ning gave  great  attention  to  the  translation  of  the  Script- 
ures into  toe  Bengalee  and  other  languages  of  the  East, 
and  the  extent  to  which  he  succeeded  was  perfectly  mar- 
vellous. As  the  prospects  of  success  improved,  additional 
missionaries  were  sent  out  from  England  :  the  head-quar- 
ters of  the  mission  were  removed  to  the  Danish  settlement 
of  Serampore  ;  printing-presses  were  set  up,  and  the  work 
of  translating  and  preaching  the  Gospel  was  carried  on 
in  a  manner  which  has  scarcely  ever  been  equalled  in  any 
other  part  of  the  mission  field.  Mr.  Carey  became  one  of 
the  most  learned  men  in  India,  and  for  several  years  held 
the  high  ofHce  of  professor  of  languages  in  the  Calcutta 
College,  in  addition  to  his  missionary  duties.  After  a 
long  and  honorable  career,  during  which  he  saw  the  Bap- 
tist mission  in  India  greatly  extended,  and  the  whole  or 
parts  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  translated  into  about  forty 
ditferent  languages  of  the  East,  Dr.  Can  \  I'ii  ,1  in  peace  at 
Serampore,  at  the  advanced  age  of  se\  .  >  n  :\Ion- 

day,  June '.»,  1S34,  leavinganoble  exaiii ,   >      r  i  rested 

ze"d  and  entire  devoteduess  to  the  ser\  i^  e  ,,ri  i,;  i-i  among 
the  heathen. 

"The  attention  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society  was 
directed  at  tin  early  period  to  the  West  Indies,  and  in  1S14 
the  tirst  station  was  commenced  at  Falmouth,  in  Jamaica. 
The  first  regular  missionary  appointed  to  this  interesting 
sphere  of  labor  was  tiie  Kev.  John  Rowe,  but  the  ground 
had  been  partially  piepared  by  Mr.  Moses  Baker,  a  man 
of  color  from  America.  The  favorable  reports  sent  home 
by  the  first  missionary  to  Jamaica  induced  the  society  to 
send  out  two  more  laborers  in  the  course  of  the  following 
year.  The  number  of  agents  was  increased  still  further 
afterwards,  till,  in  the  course  of  fifteen  years,  fourteen 
pastors  were  employed,  and  the  Church  members  num- 
bered upwards  of  10,000.  Prosperous  stations  were  estab- 
lished not  only  at  Falmouth,  biit  also  in  Kingston,  Mon- 
tetxo  Bay,  and  in  most  of  the  other  chief  towns  on  the 
island.  All  went  on  well  till  the  year  1831,  when  there 
(iceurred  one  of  those  insurrections  of  the  Negro  slaves 
which  have  repeatedly  been  so  disastrous  in  their  results 
to  the  missionary  enterprise.  As  usual,  the  planters 
strove  to  involve  the  missionaries  in  the  consequences  of 
their  own  folly.  In  their  fury  the  colonists  destroyed 
nearly  all  the  chapels  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society 
th-  u^'hout  the  island,  with  a  view  to  sc-ure  ihe  eximlsiou 
of  ti.eir  agents;  but  in  this  they  were  disappuiiite!!.  The 
value  of  the  property  thus  wantonly  destroyeil  was  esti- 
mated at  £20,000.  Tlie  local  government  gave  no  redress  ; 
but  the  Imperial  Parliament  made  handsome  grants  to 
compensate  for  the  loss,  and  the  British  public  came  for- 
ward most  liberally  to  help  to  restore  the  waste  places  of 
Zion.  When  the  storm  had  passed  over,  the  work  again 
revived  and  prospered,  not  only  in  Jamaica,  but  also  iu 
the  Bahama  Islands,  Trinidad,  Honduras,  St.  Domingo, 
and  other  parts  of  the  West  Indies. 

"In  the  year  1S4S  the  Ba])tist  Missionary  Society  ex- 
tended its  labors  to  Western  Africa,  and  stations  were  es- 
tablished in  the  island  ofFeruando  Po,  and  also  on  the 
banks  of  the  Cainaroons,  in  the  Bight  of  Benin.  The  Kev. 
A.  Saker  was  the  tirst  missionary  to  this  part  of  the  coast, 
and  he  was  spared  to  labor  for  many  years,  and  to  see  the 
fruit  of  his  labor,  while  many  others  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the 
climate  soon  after  their  arrival.  At  length  the  Baptist 
missionaries  were  expelled  fr(mi  Fernando  Po  by  the 
Spanish  government  on  their  taking  possession  of  the  isl- 
and on  the  termination  of  their  agreement  with  the  Eng- 
lish. On  the  mainland,  however,  where  unrestricted  re- 
ligious liberty  was  allowed  by  the  native  chiefs,  the  good 
work  took  deep  root,  and  a  goodly  number  of  hopeful 
converts  were  gathered  into  the  fold  of  Christ.  When 
China  was  thrown  open  to  European  missionaries,  the 
Baptist  Missionary  Society  responded  to  the  call  for  Gos- 
pel preachers,  and  sent  out  two  or  three  agents,  who  suc- 
ceeded in  making  a  good  beginning,  notwithstanding  nu- 
merous difficulties  which  had  to  be  encounrered.  Nor 
has  this  institution  been  unmindful  of  the  claims  of  Eu- 
rope. It  has  recently  appointed  missionaries  to  Norway 
and  Italy;  and  iu  Rome  itself  its  agents  are  taking  their 
share  in  the  glorious  work  of  shedding  the  light  of  divine 
truth  on  the  darkness  of  popish  error  and  superstition.    . 

"According  to  the  last  annual  report,  the  number  of 
European  missionaries  employed  in  various  parts  of  the 
world  by  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society  (not  including 
the  Jamaica  Baptist  Union)  is  58,  in  addition  to  221  native 
pastors  and  preachers,  who  have  been  raised  up  in  distant 
lands  as  the  fruit  of  missionary  labor.  These  occupy  '206 
stations,  and  minister  in  104  chapels  of  various  kinds,  and 
they  have  under  their  pastoral  care  536  European  and  6491 
native  Church  members.  The  number  of  scholars  attend- 
ing the  missi(m  schools  is  3777.  In  connection  with  the 
Jamaica  Baptist  Union  there  are  o7  pastors,  94  churches, 
20,599  Church  members,  and  2'24i  inquirers. 

"  General  Baptist  Missionary  Sucietii. ^The  General  Bap- 
tists, so  called  from  their  general  or  Arminian  views  of. 
redemption,  formed  a  missionary  society  in  1816.  The 
origin  of  this  association  is,  under  God,  traceable  mainly 


3IISSI0NS 


364 


MISSIONS 


to  the  able  ndvocacy  of  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Pike.  Regarding 
the  Held  as  wide  enougli  for  all  the  agents  that  could  be 
sent  into  it,  this  society  also  lirst  luiiied  its  attention  to 
India.  In  the  month  of  Mav,  1S'21,  two  missionaries,  the 
Rev.  Mc-srs.  Hampton  and  i'egi's,  sailed  for  Cuttach,  the 
])rinci|)al  town  in  Orissa,  the  scat  of  the  notorious  idol 
Jiiir.'crnaut.  The  tlrst  of  these  devoted  servants  of  Christ 
siion  liiiisliedhis  course;  bnt  other  agents  followed  at  in- 
tervals, and  opened  new  stations  in  adjoining  districts, 
'i'licy  were  driven,  however,  by  the  force  of  external  cir- 
ciimsiances,  to  make  frequent  changes  in  their  locations 
and  plans  of  action.  'J'heir  chief  work  consisted  in  com- 
bating,' the  prejudices  and  practices  of  idolatry,  and  their 
gtatiiins  were  generally  found  in  the  ueigliborliood  of  the 
head-cjiiarters  of  the  venerated  idols.  The  missionaries 
Biici  ceded  in  establishing  schools  for  both  sexes,  and  an 
asylum  for  orphan  or  destitute  children.  Many  a  preciotis 
life  they  instrumentally  preserved,  which  had  been  de- 
voted til  the  bli)i)(l-staine(l  altar.  As  elsewhere,  the  great 
enemy  to  Chrisijaniiy  in  Orissa  was  caste,  change  of  creed 
beinu'"  attended  by  enormous  sacrifices— not  only  separa- 
tion from  kindred,  but  the  loss  of  the  wonted  means  of 
support.  Despite  all  obstacles,  and  they  Were  many  and 
serious,  the  Gospel  was  ultimately  embraced  by  consider- 
able numbers,  although  the  missionaries  had  to  wait  six 
years  for  their  first  convert.  To  counteract  in  some  meas- 
ure the  evils  which  followed  upon  the  loss  of  caste,  the 
missionaries  set  themselves  to  the  formation  of  villages, 
where  the  converts  might  be  mutually  helpful  to  each 
other.  A  carefully  executed  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
the  Orissa  language,  and  the  preparation  of  a  dictionary 
and  grammar,  were  the  work  of  Jlr.  Sutton,  one  of  the 
society's  missionaries,  who  exerted  himself  nobly  in  this 
department  of  Christian  labor.  In  1S45  this  society  es- 
tablished a  mission  at  Ningpo,  in  Ciiina,  which,  although 
feeble  in  its  commencement,  encourages  the  hope  of  its 
friends  and  patrons  as  to  a  fair  measure  of  success  in  time 
to  come. 

"  WcfleiKin  Methodist  Missionary  Society. — The  name  of 
Dr.  Coke  must  ever  be  associated  with  the  early  history 
of  Methodist  missions.  He  was  raised  up  and  called  by 
tlie  ))rovidence  oftiod  to  this  department  of  Ciiristian  la- 
bor just;  at  the  time  when  his  services  were  specially  re- 
quired. ]\Ir.  Wesley  was  fully  engaged  in  guiding 'that 
great  religious  movement  which  took  place  in  the  United 
Kingdom  in  the  latter  part  of  the  18th  century,  when  the 
foreign  work  was  commenced,  and  could  ill  aft'ord  to  have 
his  attention  called  oil'  to  distant  fields  of  labor.  It  was 
at  this  critical  period  that  Ur.  Coke  appeared  on  the  stage 
of  action.  Wearied  with  the  restrictions  and  petty  an- 
noyances which  he  met  with  in  the  discharge  of  his  du- 
ties as  a  parish  clergyman,  and  with  a  lieaVt  fired  with 
true  mi.-:  ionarv  zeal,  after  his  remarkable  conversion  to 
<io(l.  lie  joiiiecrihe  Methodist connecti. Ml,  and  at  .Mr.  Wes- 
ley's ]e(iuest  took  the  general  siiperintendcncy  <  f  the 
houK-  and  foreign  missions— an  oflice  which  he  tilled  with 
credit  to  hiniseir  and  advantage  to  the  cause  dining  the 
remainder  of  his  lon-j-,  active,  and  useful  life.  In  the  incs- 
eciition  of  his  arduous  duties.  Dr.  Coke  cio~<eil  ilie  Atlan- 
tic eii.'liteeii  times,  established  a  number  of  new  iiii--iMii~, 
and  went  about  from  door  to  door  him-ilf  to  c  nlUri  tie 
means  fortheir  siiiiportiu  the  most  praisrw  ..i  thy  m  inner. 
long  before  the  Missionary  Society  was  regularly  oigan- 
ized. 

"  Methodism  had  only  been  planted  in  the  United  States 
of  .Vmerica  a  few  years  when,  in  ITSO,  the  work  was  ex- 
tended to  Canada";  in  ITs:;,  to  Nova  Scotia;  in  IT'.U,  to 
!Ne\v  ISrniiswick,  and  alioiit  the  same  time  to  Prince  Ivl- 
wanl's  Maud  and  Xewf.mndlaiid.  A  few  vears  ;,fier- 
wards  Weslcyan  mis<ions  were  established  hi  the  lliid- 
son's  Bay  Territory  and  British  Columliia  ;  while  at  the 
same  time  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  siireading 
itself  over  every  state  in  the  Union,  and  planting'  mission 
stations  in  California  and  Oregon,  and  in  other  dNtant 
parts  of  the  great  continent.  Dr.  Coke  wi-  ..ii  ir<  voyage 
to  Nova  Sroiiii  with  three  missionaries — Mi  ~;  -.W  jneiiei-, 
IJammelt,  and  Clarke  — when  the  vessel  m  \\\i<t\,  ihey 
sailed  was  driven  by  a  storm  to  the  \\ Csi  iii(lie~.  Oli- 
serving,  as  they  believed,  the  hand  of  God  in  this  event, 
the  missionaries  at  once  began  to  labor  in  those  interest- 
ing islands,  where  their  services  were  much  i ciiiiiicd  ;  .and 
their  numbers  being  soon  iiicrea-ed,  on  the  reiiini  of  the 
zealous  doctor  to  Juirope,  the  foiiinlalioi,  of  ii  .j,,Mt  .m,! 
glorious  work  was  laid,  which  coiiliniieil  to  'j-iow  ami  e\- 
1'       '  ■ 


if  pe. 
1 inies 
Ainei 


-iii,( 


oke  had  cios-ed  the  All.mlic  eiu-hleen 
ending  and  carrying  on  the  missions  in 
West  Indies,  ami  was  advanced  in  vears 
when,  in  >!:;,  he  conceived  the  grand  idea  of  .Methodist 
iiii--iwii.s  t()  India.  Bent  upon  his  noble  purpose,  he 
]in-ln  il  onwards  through  every  difllcnlly,  and  on  the  last 
diy  .1  the  year  he  sailed  for  the  far-distant  East,  accom- 
]iaiii(  1  by  six  devoted  young  missionaries  aiipointed  to 
till-  Ml  vice  bv  the  Wesfevan  Conference.  On  the  niorn- 
iii_'  oi  Miiv  :!,  1S14,  Dr.  Coke  was  found  dead  in  his  cabin, 
havinj,  it  is  supposed,  expired  in  the  night  in  a  fit  of  :ipo- 
plexv.  The  Hev.  Messrs.  Harvard,  Cloiii:li.Sqii:in,e,Aiilt, 
jM-kine,  .and  I.vnrli  k<>eiilv  felt   the  sudden   removal  of 


the 


to  their  watery  grave  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  they  proceeded 


to  India  in  the  trne  missionary  spirit,  and  by  the  blessing 
of  God  succeeded  in  laying  the  foundation  of  the  present 
prosperous  Wesleyan  mission  in  Ceylon  and  continental 
India. 

"The  burden  of  superintending  and  collecting  for  the 
support  of  the  early  Methodist  missions  devolved  almost 
entirely  on  the  indefatigable  Dr.  Coke,  although  a  nom- 
inal missionary  committee  occasionally  sat  in  London  lo 
transact  business  in  his  absence.  But  when  the  Confer- 
ence sanctioned  his  departure  for  India,  it  was  deemed 
necessary  to  make  new  arrangements  for  carrving  on  the 
work,  to  which  he  could  no  longei-  attend  as  formerlv.  It 
is  believed  that  the  idea  of  forming  a  Methodist  .Mission- 
ary Society  originated  with  the  laie  Rev.  George  :\lorlev. 
It  was  not  till  lsl7  that  the  connectional  socieiv  was  for- 
mally inaugurated,  with  a  code  of  'Laws  anil  Regula- 
tions,' having  the  express  sanction  and  authoritv  of  Con- 
ference ;  but  1S13  and  the  Leeds  meeting  are  regarded  as 
the  true  commencement  of  the  society.  At  I  his  time  Wes- 
leyan foreign  missions  had  been  siiccessfullv  c;irried  on 
for  forty-four  years,  and  upwards  of  one  hundred  mis- 
sionaries were  usefu^N  .nil 1  in  foreiL'U  fields  of  labor. 

Thus  it  will  be  sell  m  I  -t  missions  do  not  owe 

their  origin  to  tb.     ^i  s  iciety,  but  that,  (ni  the 

other  hand,  the  ili-  : -n  n  .  s  ,.  iv  owes  its  origin  to  the 
missions. 

"  When  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society  had  been  fully 
organized,  and  auxifiaries  and  branches  established  in  va- 
rious ])arts  of  the  United  Kingdom,  the  early  foreign  mis- 
sions of  the  connection  were  not  only  maiutained  in  their 
wonted  elliciency  and  good  working'order,  but  they  were 
extended  to  other  countries  from  year  to  year  as  open- 
ings presented  themselves,  and  men  and  means  were 
found  available  for  the  work.  In  Isjl  a  mission  w:is  com- 
menced ill  Western  Africa,  and  the  work  was  extended  to 
Southern  Afiica  in  1^11.  to  Au-lr.ilia  in  lsl.^  to  Tasmania 
inlS21,to  N'  A  /.111  ill  :-_:_'.  p.  ]•:■■  I'riondlv  Islands 
in]82G,to(  1  i  ;  i  i  ,  - :  .  !  ;-  I  ;  ,  i-r.ii.  In' all  these 
countries  cii;.  -i      .  ,;  nl,  churches  or- 

ganized, scb'i"!-  !-■:;.  >;  .■.<.  u,\  |,:  r  •■-  of  wor>hii)  erect- 
ed on  a  s-cale  more  or  less  extensive,  according  to  cir- 
cumstances, and  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society  has 
endeavored  to  take  its  lull  share  in  the  work  of  evan- 
gelizing the  inhiibiiauts  of  those  and  other  distant  regions 
of  the  globe. 

"  According  to  the  report  for  the  year  1S71,  the  Wesley- 
an Missionary  Society  has  now,  in  connection  with  the 
various  fields  of  labor  occupied  by  its  aLrents  in  Europe, 
Africa,  Asia,  America,  and  Australia,  In'i'.t  oicbiined  mis- 
sionary ministers  and  assistants,  includim.' supernumera- 
ries; VT!)  ceiitnl  or  jirincipal  stations,  culled  circuits;  4:;GG 
chapels  and  other  preachiiiL'-iilaces  ;  '.i.Mi-.'4  full  and  :ic- 
crec'iteil  (/Imich  nienibers,  .-ind  144,73?.  scholars  receiving 
instriicti.in  in  the  mi-si. m  schools.  The  total  anionnl  of 
income  fi-oni  all  s.mnes  f.ir  the  year  was  i;i4St,707  rw.  ih?. 
Of  this  M;ni,  x:;'.m;;is  1n,  c,./.  w.is  contributed  by  afliliated 

•■  I,,,,:;,  ■<•  (',,,111,1  Ittr.'  /,,!■  A  ,11,1  iiiratinq  the  Condition  of 
Il.iitii.  ,1  u;>i,,,  ,1.  In  the  vear  is.'.s  the  degraded  condition 
..r  li.Mtli.ii  \v..iiieii  was"brou-ht  to  the  notice  of  a  few 
eniiii'ii  Clni-t  an  ladies  in  London  connected  with  the 
\\  i-li  \:in  .Missionary  Society,  who  at  once  formed  them- 
selves into  a  committee  to  devise  the  means  of  promoling 
their  welfare.  The  first  measure  decided  upon  was  to 
send  out  female  teachers  to  assist  missionaries'  wives  in 
the  schools  alreadv  firmed,  and  up  to  the  present  time  27 
teachers  have  been  sent  abroad:  to  the  West  Indies.  :! ; 
continental  India.  1(1;  Cevlon,  :i;  South  Africa,  7 ;  China, 
;!;  and  Italv,  1.  The  cnnmillee  also  supports  nine  I>il.le 
women  in  .Mvsore.  liaiiLMloie,  Canton,  and  .Jallii.i.  lin- 
liortant  a<-:~;  .n..-  h,-  :ils.)  been  rendered  by  grants  of 
peciiniavv  a:  I  .  r  m  .  iN  to  li!  schools  ill  continental  In- 
dia. 17  in  r.  .  ,..;:.:;  i;,  <  liina,  17  in  South  Africa,  1  in  Ita- 
lv, 1  in  lloii.lui.i-.  ,in.l  :.  in  the  Hudson's  Bav  Territory. 
In  this  good  work  about  i'luno  has  been  collected  and 
spent  annually,  and  Christian  counsel  and  encouragement 
have  often  been  communicated  to  female  teachers  and 
missionaries'  wives  abroad  of  more  value  than  any  mate- 

••iVijsli'iinn  Home  Missions. — Methodism  was  professedly 
mis>ionaiy  in  its  character  from  tin'  beiriuning,  and  il  has 
ev(.r  son-iit  to  sp:.  ;.l  -,  i|ii'  li  i  ,  i  .  ..^  throichout  the 
land.      But  oflate  ^.    ,,-  i    ,    W  .   onfereiic<.  has  ,,r- 

LTaiiized  a  sv-teiii:,'       i     ,,,         ■  •M--ion:,rv  work  lo 

sniiply  and  maintain  r..n:.'^'  ■  n  •,•-  |,  .,•  the  •benefit  of 
the  neglected  iLijiulation  of  our  biige  cities  ami  rural  dis- 
tricts, as  well  :is  lo  afl'ord  aid  to  the  poor,  dependent  cir- 
cuits of  the  United  KiiiL'doin.  Seventy-six  missicmaiy 
ministers  are  n.iw  ..iiii.i.M(vi  in  home  mission  work  in 
England,  S.  -  i  i  \\  il,-.  l.e-ides  ei'.'ht  as  chaplains 
to  minislei'  i  .i  ^lil. .is  in  the  British  army  and 

royal  linvy.      \;.         .. :ir.'  annually  ciuitrilniied  and 

expended  in  ..oiym--  on  thi-  wuh]  work,  with  gratifying 
results,  an<l  much  more  good  nii'.'ht  be  done  if  funds  were 
available  for  the  purpose.  Since  the  commencement  of 
the  work  under  its  iireseni  organization,  lo  the  Confer- 
ence of  1^70,  then'  had  been  an  increase  in  the  home  mis- 
sion circuits  of  M.Cvm;  persons.  In  connection  with  that 
increase,  and  sprin._'ipg  from  it,  the  higher  w.nk  of  sjiiril- 
ual  conversion  to  God  was  everywhere  manifested.    Last 


MISSIONS 


365 


MISSIONS 


year  more  than  800  excellent  people,  constrained  by  the 
love  of  Christ,  aided  the  home  missionary  ministers  iu 
the  work  iu  which  they  were  engaged. 

'Primitive  Methoiliat  JUisnionan/  tivcietij.— Its  ■— 


may  be  divided  into  Home,  Colonial,  and  Foreign,  all  of 
which  are  prosecuted  with  viLjor.  Besides  supplying 
many  neglected  districts  in  England,  Wales,  Scntianrl,  niid 
Irehuid  with  plain,  faithful  preachers  ..fthc  (iosiicl,  it  iia-^ 
sent  forth  foreign  missionaries  to  Bnii-h  .Nmih  Auiciira, 
Australia, Western  and  Southern  Aliica,  and  simuc  .hIk  !■ 
distant  lauds.  The  success  which  has  ulnauly  ati.aal.'d 
the  eftbrts  of  the  society  is  very  encouragiui;,  and  it  l.ids 
fair  to  taive  its  full  share  of  labor  in  seeking  to  cvaii'j(  li/c 
tlie  heathen  at  home  and  abroad.  The  niiuiber  cd  Hll^- 
gionaries  employed  iu  England  is  y-2;  in  Wales,  S  ;  in  Ire- 
land, 7;  in  Scotland,  7;  in  circuits,  '.» ;  in  Victoria,  7;  in 
New  South  Wales,  15;  in  Queensland,  4:  in  Tasmania,  4; 
iu  New  Zealand,  4 ;  in  Canada,  51 ;  in  ^\'este^n  Africa,  ■> : 
iu  Southern  Africa,  1 ;  total,  211.  The  total  number  of 
stations  is  143,  and  of  members,  13,S9S. 

"  Minor  British  Missionary  Societies.— In  addition  to  the 
leading  missionary  societies  of  the  United  Kingdom  which 
carry  on  the  work  of  propagating  the  Gospel  in  heathen 
countries  on  a  large  scale  in  variotis  ])aits  of  the  globe, 
there  are  several  minor  institutions  which  have  l)een  made 
very  nseful,  notwithstandinu'  lb''  (■oiii|iaiatiMdy  limited 
sphere  of  their  influence.  'I'lir-i'  as-^ni  iaiinn-^  have  gen- 
erally been  organized  for  sjniial  olijcci-^  or  single  mis- 
sions, and  have  been  condurinl  wiih  \aiicd  irsults,  ac- 
cording to  circumstances.  Of  these  the  following  may  be 
mentioned  : 

"  IIV/.s/i  Ciilriiii^tif  Methodist  Forciijii  j]fissiiwari/  Societi/. 
—The  tiist  Ibieiuii  mission  of  the  Welsh  Calvinislic  Meth- 
odists was  to  the  noitli-i'ast  district  of  Bengal,  among  the 
Kassias,  one  <d'  the  Inll-tiilies  of  natives.  This  work  was 
nnderlakeii  soon  alier  the  Ibrmation  of  the  society  (1S40), 
and  about  ten  years  subsequently,  in  I'sfiU,  another  -tation 
was  commenced  at  Sythet.  The  niissJMnaiies  did  not 
confine  their  labors  to  preaching  and  leai  hinj; ;  iliey  also 
turned  their  attention  to  those  literary  similes  which  are 
so  necessary  to  success  in  all  evanL;<dieal  eiloits  in  India. 
Messrs.  Jones  and  LewN  Mn-eeeiled  in  translating  the  I' an- 
Gospels  and  the  Acts  ol'  ilie  Apostles  into  the  Kas-la  lan- 
guage; nor  did  thev  laina-  wiihont  sneee-s  in  their  din-ct 

eftbrts  to  turn  the  Ixaitheii  IV ilainl.  idols  to  ^,•rve  the 

true  and  living  Goil.  The  Calviin.Mie  .Methodists  ha\e 
also  established  a  niisshin  in  r.riiiany,  the  laiimiage  of 
that  part  of  the  European  continent  being  similar,  it  is 
said,  to  the  Welsh.  They  have  also  a  mission  to  the  Jews, 
which  has  been  prosecuted  with  as  much  success  as  could 
be  expected  considering  tlie  peculiar  difficulties  of  the  en- 
terprise. 

"  Evamiclical  Continental  Societii.— The  object  of  this  in- 
stitution is  to  disseminate  the  saving  truths  of  the  Gospel 
among  the  various  nations  of  tlie  European  continent. 
Its  principal  fields  of  labor  are  France,  Belgium,  Spain, 
Italy,  and  Bohemia.  Aljout  X40tl0  per  annum  is  raised 
and  expended  iu  carrying  on  this  work,  and  the  results 
have  so  far  been  encouraging. 

"  The  Foreign  Aid  Sucietij. — This  association  exists,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  supporting  and  managing  foreign  mis- 
sions, but  to  aid  such  as  have  been  established  and  are 
carried  on  by  other  societies,  and  es|)e<-ially  for  the  main- 
tenance of  Chvi-tian  seho  ds  for  the  i  raining  of  the  rising 
generation,  lis  pijuiipal  ^jjheres  id'  labor  have  hitherto 
been  on  the  eoniineiiL  of  iOiiropc.  In  Fiance  the  work 
formerly  aided  by  this  society  was  inleriiiptcd  during  the 
prevalence  of  the  late  war,  but  in  Italy  the  work  of  evan- 
gelization was  vigorously  i)rosecuted.  At  Naples  no  fewer 
than  500  children  arc  receiving  instruction  iu  schools  to 
which  this  society  has  regulaVly  contributed  assistance. 
In  Madrid  the  church  under  the  care  of  Setlor  Carraso  has 
been  substantially  assisted,  and  ii50  persons  have  been 
admitted  to  Church  membershii). 

"  Veruacvlar  Education  Snciiiii  for  India. — This  society 
was  instituted  in  1S53  as  a  memorial  (d'the  mutiiiv.  and 
has  for  its  object  the  providing  of  Christian  vern'aeular 
education  and  literature  for  India.  It  has  lis  schools, 
with  512-2  scholars,  who  are  instructed  iu  113  difl'erent  lan- 
guages, at  a  co^t  of  about  Jc-swis  i>er  annum,  and  bids  fair 
to  be  a  powerful  and  useful  auxiliary  to  the  various  mis- 
sionary societies  whicli  are  laboring  for  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel  throughout  tlie  Indian  empire. 

'•\\l.  Aniri  icon  Mi.su'nnarii  Sncietie.i — American  Board 
of  Forei<jn  J//.s.v/.i/(.v.— 1  his  useful  institution  was  organ- 
ized iu  the  month  of  June,  1810,  under  circumstances 
which  clearly  show  the  superintending  providence  of  God 
in  the  interests  of  missionary  work.  A  few  years  before 
a  theological  seminary  had  been  established  at  Andover, 
Mass.,  for  the  support  of  which  a  Mr.  Norris,  of  Salem, 
had  presented  a  donation  of  $10,000,  to  be  devoted  to  the 
education  of  missionaries.  At  the  same  time  a  gracious 
influence  descended  upon  several  of  the  students.  turniiiLr 
their  hearts  esjieciallv  to  the  sidijeet  of  Christian  missions. 
One  of  these,  Samuel  Mills,  ealied  to  mind  witli  feelin-s 
of  deep  emotion  the  words  of  his  behned  niotln  r  with 
reference  to  him:  'I  have  consecrated  this  child  to  the 
service  of  God  as  a  missionary.'  This  young  man  shortly 
afterwards  engaged  with  Gordon  Hall  and  James  Rich- 
mond iu  conversation  and  prayer  upon  the  subject  of 


missions  in  the  retirement  of  a  lonely  glen,  and  was  de- 
lighted to  find  that  their  hearts  also  were  drawn  to  the 
same  subject.  These  three  were  soon  joined  by  Messrs. 
Judson,  Newell,  Nott,  and  Hall,  the  whole  of  whom  of- 
fered thenisi  Ives  lor  mission  work,  and  the  American 
Board  (d'  1 
"As  it  \ 


.Miss 


dt( 


)rtbwith  established, 
iind  the  institution  on  a  broad 
■  the  plan  of  the  London  Mis- 
>ionarv  s,„i,'tv,  Mr.  .Iiid-oii  was  despatched  to  England 
lo  iininiie  inlo'ihc  wcnkiiiL' of  tlial  institution.  The  board 
\\a'  at  iii>t  apjiointed  by  the  General  Association  of  Mas- 
saelui-cii^,  wliich  is  Congregational;  but  since  the  first 
ele(  (ion  there  has  been  no  preference  given  to  any  Chris- 
tian se't.  In  1S31,  of  62  corporate  members,  31  were  Pres- 
byterians, 24  Congregatioualists,  6  Reformed  Dutch,  and 
1  Associate  Reformed.  Of  the  79  ordained  n^s^ionaries 
of  that  period,  30  were  Presbyterians,  2  Kelbinud  Dutch, 
and  the  others  Congregatioualists.  The  missions  are  not 
under  the  control  of  ecclesiastical  sects,  but  are  governed 
as  communities,  where  the  majority  of  the  votes  of  the 
missionaries  is  decisive.  Nor  are  they  regarded  as  per- 
manent, but  as  established  to  plant  churches,  and  to  train 
them  to  self-support,  with  a  view  to  a  still  wider  dift'usion 
ofthe  Gospel.  Hence,  at  an  early  period,  seminaries  were 
o|)ened  for  the  training  of  native  teachers  and  preachers, 
and  also  for  the  education  of  girls  who  might  engage  ac- 
tively iu  foreign  service,  or  prove  suitable  partners  to  mis- 
sicmaries.  From  the  very  commencement  tliis  society  was 
liberally  supported,  and  jiroved  very  sncces.sful. 

"The  first  field  of  labor  oeruided  by  the  agents  ofthe 
American  Boanl  of  Foieijn  Mi^Miui^  was  India.  The 
Rev.  Messrs.  Juds.m,  .Nnii,  New.di,  Hall,  and  IJire  ar- 
rived in  Calcutta  in  June,  isl-j,  mid  were  fidlowed  by 
other  laborers  iu  a  few  months  afterwards.  Numerous 
difficulties  met  them  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  en- 
terprise. The  country  was  involved  in  war;  no  mis- 
sionary operations  were  allowed  bv  soveniment :  Messrs. 
Judson  and  Rice  joiiieil  the  l■,apti-l^.  and  yU:  Newell  pro- 
ceeded to  Maiuiliiis.  where  hi-  wile  and  child  found  an 


At  le 


th.  h 


early  grave 

meiits  and  delays,  the  way  oin-ned  for  the  commencement 
ot  nii-siouary  hibor  in  India,  and  a  station  was  formed  by 
Mes-rs.  Hall  and  Nott  iu  Bombay  in  1S14.  Afterwards 
th'  work  was  extended  to  Ahmednii-ntir,  Satara,  Kolapnr, 
Madura,  Aieot,  Madras,  and  oilier  places,  with  a  measure 
id^nree--  wliich  more  than  comi)ensated  for  the  early  tri- 
als :ind  bereavements  which  were  endured.  In  1817  a 
among  the  Cher- 


ed  bv  this 


Ml 


ofthe  i; 

afterward.-  bv  .M.  — ;-.  Hall  and  \ 
lion  was  called  I'.iainerd.  and  lie 
ofthe  eel. d, rated  ini--ionarics  of 
several  oiiier  stations  wi'ie  iiltiin 
wt)rk  was  carried  on  lor  inan\  ' 
kees,  Choctaws,  Osages,  (_liii  a- 
Ojibwas,  Dakotas,  Abenaquis,  I'a 
of  Nortii  American  Indians.  In 
commenced  in  Syria.  The  first 
Rev.  Messrs.  Parsons  and  Fisk,  who  ; 


ined 


lintment 
nnniths 
iins.  The  first  sta- 
ond  Fdiot.  in  honor 
er  time-.     To  these 

annni--  the  Chero- 
(reidcs,  Ultawas, 
■s,  and  other  tribes 
the  uood  work  was 
-ioiiaries  were  the 

rived  iu  Smvrna  on 


Jan.  15.  They  were  followed  by  other  zealous  laborers, 
who,  amid  many  difficulties,  succeeded  iu  their  literary 
and  evangelical  labors  among  the  Armenians,  Nestorians, 
and  others,  as  well  as  could  be  expected.  In  1828  the 
missionaries  extended  their  labors  to  Greece,  and  shortly 
afterwards  missions  were  commenced  in  China  and  India. 
In  1S33  the  Rev.  J.  L.Wilson  was  npivnuted  to  Cajje  Pal- 
mas,  in  Western  Africa,  and  in  the  fnlowiiiL'  year  the 
Rev  iMe>-rs.  (.roul,  Chaiiipion,  and  Adam-  wn,-  ^ent  out 
to  labor  amon-  llie  Zulu-,  on  the  -oiilli-east<a-n  coast  of 
the  great  African  .-.  nl  inent.  Ibil  jierliaps  the  most  re- 
markable and  siii'ci-.-nd  of  Ihe  society-,,  mis-ions  was 
that  which  was  e-tabli-hed  in  li.e  Sandwicli  I-lands  iu 
isl'.t.  The  Rev.  Me-srs.  Ilin-ham  and  'I'liurstoii  Avere  the 
first  who  were  sent  out  to  the  Pacific,  but  they  were  ac- 
companied by  a  farmer,  a  physician,  a  mechanic,  a  cate- 
chist,  and  a"printer,  with  their  wives,  the  band  in  all 
amountin>:  to  seventeen  souls,  including  John  Houoree, 
Thomas  lloper,  and  William  Temoe,  native  youths  who 
had  been  educated  iu  America.  On  their  arrival  they 
found  that  the  native  idols  had  already  been  destroyed 
and  abolished  by  public  authority,  and  the  people  were 
thus  in  a  measure  prepared  to  receive  the  Gospel,  untram- 
melled by  those  attachments  to  long-cherished  systems 
which  in  other  instances  have  proved  such  a  serious  bar- 
rier to  the  dissemination  of  divine  truth.  From  that  day 
to  this  the  mission  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  has  continued 
to  advance  iu  all  its  departments.  The  Scriptures  have 
been  translated  into  the  native  langnaue  of  tlie  people, 
sehoids  have  been  established  for  the  trainimr  ofthe  rising 
generalion.and  thousands  of  converted  natives  have  been 
united  in  Chan  b  fellowship,  so  that  the  whole  population 
of  those  l)eautiful  islands  are  now  at  least  nominally 
Christian. 

",l;((rr/c„/),  BaptiM  Missionary  Societii.— This  society 
was  established  as  early  as  1814,  but  it  did  not  receive  its 
present  name  till  1846.  It  was  first  called  the  Baptist  Tri- 
ennial Convention  for  Missionary  Purposes,  and  was  com-  • 
menced  in  Philadelphia,  but  afterwards  transferred  to 
Boston.    It  belongs  to  and  is  almost  exclusively  sup- 


IMISSIONS 


366 


MISSIONS 


ported  by  the  Calvinistic  Baptists  of  the  Northern  States,  t 
There  were  some  interestiiii^  circnmstunces  connected  j 
with  the  early  hif^tory  of  this  inp;titittion  which  deserve  a 
passiii!?  notice.  The  Revs.  A.  Jiidson  and  L.  Kice,  of  the 
American  Board  of  Foreij^n  Mii^sious,  nnderwent  a  chan^'e 
of  views  with  regard  to  the  subjects  and  mode  of  baptism 
when  on  their  voyage  to  India,  and  having  resolved  to 
join  the  liaptist  denomination,  they  were  immersed  by 
the  Kev.  Mr.  Ward  at  Serampore,  soon  after  their  arrival 
in  Calcutta.  Tliis  circumstance  was  the  means  of  stirring 
lip  the  missionary  spirit  amon;:  tli.-  H;i|>(ists  in  Ameri'-n, 
and  of  ilu'  forinatiou  of  a  socici)-  lor  ihr  Miii|Mii-t  c,|"  ihc 
new  coiiviMts  in  their  foreign  lalioi-,  an.l  lur  ihr  |ii(.|i,i_M- 
tioii  of  the  (iospel  in  heathen  laii'l>.  'Ihc  !..->  iliiis  sus- 
tained by  one  society  was  gain  to  muoiIrm-,  and  resulted  in 
a  hirge  increase  of  missionary  ngcucy  and  in  a  wide  ex- 
tension of  the  means  of  rcliirious  instruction.    This  soci- 


iier  dc 


ibcd,iilt 


i]]  the  American  continent 
and  results  of  its  labors,  tl 
■ortliy  of  the  high  commc 
itli  wliich  it  has  Iiphu  t'i\ 
in  its  lionoralili'  i  .  .-i-  i.  .- 


W  . 


ttely 
•om- 
and 

a,  to 
to  vai-iMiis  irih.'s  ofln- 

I'.olli  in  the  character, 

institiiiion  lias  proved 
latioii  and  liberal  sup- 

111,  and  it  bids  fair  to 
II.'  the  leading  Amer- 

I'lit  day. 

-,„vV?v.— The  Method- 
\as  itself  the  oftsnriiig 

Wrs- 


^-  M,'},u,l,st   hpi^rojuil  M  ,,,., 

ist  Kiiiscojial  Cliuicli  in  Auirina  v 
ofthc  missionary  zeal  of  English  .\Ic 

ed  to  New  Yo'rl<  inid  Philadelphia  in  ITCy."  Wilh'in  half  a 
century  from  this  i)eriod  the  work  had  spread  over  the 
whole  continent,  reaching  even  to  California  and  Oregon, 
and  in  IslI*  the  missionary  society  was  provisionally  or- 
ganized in  New  Vorlv,  and  was  formally  adopted  as  an 
authoii/eil  iii-tituiiiiii  of  the  Church  by  the  General  Cou- 
feiriire  the  I'olhiw  i  11  l'  vcar.  It  has  for  its  object  the  spread 
of  the  ( iospel  at  home  and  abroad,  among  all  ranks  and 
classes  of  men.  '1  he  bishoj)  in  charge  of  the  foreign  mis- 
sions appoints  the  agents  io  their  respective  spheres  of 
labor,  and  places  a  su|)eriutendent  over  each  station.  The 
pecuniary  interests  of  the  society  are  managed  by  a  board, 
which  is  constituted  in  the  usual  wav.  and  which  meets 
at  stated  jieriods  for  the  transaction  o'f  husincss.  Its  lirst 
tield  of  lahir,  after  arrangements  liad  been  niach!  to  sup- 
ply tlio  siiiritiial  wants  of  German  and  other  JOuropeaii 
immigi-anls,  was  amoui,'  the  Nortli  .\mericaii  Indians.  In 
is:!-.'  the  Kev.  Melville  B.  Cox  was  appointed  as  the  lirst 
Methodisi  missionary  to  Liberia,  in  Western  Africa.  Be- 
fore he  hatl  been  "six  nionths  in  the  country,  how- 
ever, he  liad  been  cut  down  by  malignant  fever,  and 
the  ijeople  were  left  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd. 
Other  zealous  laborers  followed,  and  a  good  work  has 
ever  since  been  carried  on  in  tlie  small  republic  of  Li- 
beria by  this  society,  chiefly  through  tlie  agency  of  col- 
ored missionaries,  who  are  found  "by  experience  to  be 
best  adapted  to  the  climate.  The  work  in  Western  Africa 
has  since  been  organized  into  a  separate  Confeience, 
over  which  a  bishop  has  been  ordained  of  Alriian  de- 
scent, and  himself  the  fruit  of  missionary  labor.  In  1--4T  a 
mission  was  commenced  in  China,  and  soon  al'ierwanls 
in  India,  to  the  great  advantage  of  \:;s;  numheis  of  the 
dark,  beiiiL-hted  lieathens  of  thes  ■  deusely-pnpiilaled  le- 
gions. Xor  has  the  continent  of  lOiirope  lieeu  iie:,'le(ie(l 
by  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  .Metliodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  America.  By  a  remarkable  providence,  some 
of  the  (k'rman  immigrants  converted  lu  America  were 
made  th(!  means  of  conveying  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel 
back  to  their  native  land,  where  a  blessed  work  was  com- 
menced through  tlieir  instrumentality,  wliich  soon  ex- 
tended from  (iermany  to  Sweden,  Norway,  Scandinavia. 
and  other  countries  in  the  North  of  Europe.  By  their 
genuine  missionary  spirit  the  Methodists  of  America 
prove  themselves  worthy  of  their  noble  and  honored  an- 
cestry. 

"  J'rotei^tant  Ejiixcopnl  Doard  of  Jfissionx.— The  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  Protestant  Kpisc 
United  States  of  .Vmerica  was  oi-aii 
Convention  of  1S2(I,  with  the  seat  of. 
delphia.  In  ia%  an  entire  chan-c  « 
Btitation  of  the  society,  when  Mh  lii 
adopted  by  general  consent.  The  lir 
tered  ujioii  l\v  the  missionariis  ,,i- 
Greece,  the  Bevs.  J.  J.  Koberlson  am 
Bingham,  a  printer,  being  sent  out  t 
I'^oM.  'I'hey  lirst  settled  at  Teiios,  li 
moved  to  Atliens,  wliere  they  were  vei 
educalion.-il  l.iliors.  'i'heir  princiiial  ol 
(dylize,  but  to  revive  and  reronii  the  (iiceU  Churcb,  and 
Iheir  labors  were  not  without  friiil.  Sialions  were  also 
forin.'d  in  Svria  and  Crele,  but  aflerwanls  abamlone,!. 
In  ISiit;  the  lioard  exlemled  iheir  lalxH-  lo  We-tcrn  .\IVica, 
by  tlie  commeiicemeni  of  a  slali.ai  at  Cape  I 'almas,  among 
a  dense  populalion  speakinLf  llic  (.le'.io  lan-iia-c.  The 
first  missionaries  weie  the  liev.  Messrs.  P.iiue,  Minor,  and 
Savage,  llie  last  of  whom  was  a  rnedictil  man,  and  his  skil- 
ful services  were  highly  valuable  in  a  country  noted  for 
its  iusiilubrioiis  climate'.    Considerable  success  was  real- 


.pal  CI 
/ed  bv 

un 

h  of  the 
(Jeneral 

petal  i. 

lis 

n  Phila- 

IS  mad 

■  in 

thc  con- 

l'' see  lie 

of 'labor 'ei'i- 

his   ins 

ion   w;is 

.J.W.  Hill. 

and  Mr. 

wards 

hc 

close  of 

11   subs 

eiiii 

eiitlv  re- 

y  siirce 

sfu 

ill  "their 

cci  was 

no 

to  pros- 

ized  in  this  part  of  the  mission  field,  several  converted 
natives  beiu"  gathered  into  Church  fellowship.  Christian 
schools  established,  and  a  small  newspaper  published  in 
Ln.  ;>h  Ml  I  .icl)o,  called  the  Caialla  Mesxemjer.  In  isa4 
ini-  ic  sent  to  Bavaria  and  China'by  this  soci- 

et  :    I'll  years  afterwards  Dr.  Boone  was  conse- 

ei  ;;  ;  t  i  i  iiy  ijiishop,  and  went  out  with  a  large  staff 
of  laborers  Io  siiaiiglnii.  Nor  were  the  heathen  nearer 
home  negleited  by  this  institution.  Mission  stations  were 
commeneed  among  various  trilies  of  North  American  In- 
dians: ;iii(l,  iioiwiihsttinding  numerous  difficulties  which 
hail  to  he  ciicotintered,  arising  from  the  wanderinir  habits 
of  tin-  pc.plc  and  other  causes,  3(ifl  native  children  were 
soon  icpuited  as  being  under  Christian  instruction.  In 
IsoT  bishop  Kemper  consecrated  a  new  church  at  Dutch 
Creek,  and  apiiointed  Solomon  Davis,  a  converted  native, 
as  pastor  over  it,  whose  ministry  was  made  a  blessing  to 
many  of  his  fellow-countrymen. 

"  American  Sonetii  for  Amdinratinr)  the  Condition  of  the 
Jeics.— The  primary  object  of  this  so'ciety,  which  was  or- 
ganized in  1S20,  was  the  temporal  relief  of  persecuted  con- 
verts. It  was  not  until  1S49  that  anything  like  missionary 
effort  was  pnr  forth  for  the  benetit  of  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Isrtiel.  It  was  found  in  1851  that  there  was  a 
Jewish  i)oi)iilati(m  statedly  residing  within  the  United 
Stales  amounting  to  1 -.'0,(100,  in  addition  to  which  there 
were  hundreds  and  tliousands  constantly  moving  from 
l)lace  to  i)lace.  In  this  wide  tield  of  lalior  the  society  at 
an  early  period  employed  ten  missionaries  and  seven  col- 
portors,  who  visited  forly  towns,  in  which  they  endeav- 
ored to  sow  the  good  seed  of  the  kingdom,  withsome  vis- 
ible proofs  of  spiiitinil  success. 

"/•'/•((•/(■///  luijitist  i'driiijn  Missionar;/  f^ncict;/. — The 
founders  of  this  instilutioii  conceived  the  idea,  after  the 
plan  of  the  eccentric  (iossner,  of  rending  forth  missiona- 
ries to  the  hetithen  without  any  iruaraiiteed  suiiporl,  ex- 
pressing great  aversion  to  what  they  called  the  hireling 
system.  Tlieir  principles  were  lacking  in  true  niissioiuiry 
power;  but  at  leugth  the  Rev.  Amos  Sutton,  of  the  Eng- 
lish Baptist  Mission  in  Orissa,  succeeded  in  awakening  ;i 
few  earnest  spirits  out  of  their  deep  slumber— tirst  of  all 
by  a  letter,  and  secondly  by  a  personal  address  while  on 
a  visit  to  the  States  for  the  benetit  of  his  health  in  is.'i.s. 
The  result  was  that  the  Revs.  Eli  Noves  and  Jeremiah 
Phillips  left  for  Orissa  in  Septcml  ^  r.  '-  :..  ,.  c,  .lupanied 
bv:M'.  Stitlim.  with  wliomthev  p  I-     ,;    ■   !      •-ixmoiiihs 

of  Iheir  f.reiirn  residence.     The- : -,  h      -i,  1  \  nccupied 

this  one  mirsioii:  and,  althoii-li  i  In  ;i  ii-  m-h  vcsullered 
much  from  tlie  climate,  their  labois  ha\c  imt  been  with- 
out success,  especially  in  disix'iisjiig  medicine  and  esiab- 
lishiiiLT  Christian  schools.  Some  time  ago  there  were  4  mis- 
s;;inaiics  <'niployed,  with  4  native  preachers,  2  churches, 

'•  /;..[/'  ./  Ini-cign  Mimons  of  the  Presbiiterian  Church 
ill  tin-  r,iit,J  ,<!(itcH  of  America. — The  Presbyterians  of  the 
United  Stales  were  engaged  in  missionary  work  at  a  very 
early  ))eriod.  The  Scottish  Society  for  Promoting'  Chris- 
tian Knowledge  secured  a  board  of  correspoudeiice  iu 
1T41,  and  ajipointed  a  minister  to  the  Indians  on  Long 
Island,  and  in  tlie  following  venr  sent  tlic  disiim:uished 
D.ivid  lirainerd  to  the  Indians  in  Albanv.  John  Uiainerd 
succeeded  his  brother  David  in  ITtT,  and  thev  were  lioth 
parllv  sustained  bv  the  American  Presbyterians.  In  1705 
the  Presbytery  of"New  York  made  a  eolleclion  in  all  the 
chiiivhes  for  the  mission  to  the  Indians.  In  ITiu;  the 
'  New  York  Missionary  Sociely"  was  instituted.  Tliis  was 
followed  in  IT'.iT  by  the  organization  of  the  'Northern 
.Missionarv  Societv;'  and  in  1>>31  these  were  mereed  in 
the  Board"  of  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which 
established  and  conducted  several  interesting  staiions 
ainoiiL'  the  American  Indians,  in  addition  to  tliose  which 
hail  been  i.reviously  commenced.  In  1S32  this  society 
siMit  nut  a  mission  to  Liheiia,  in  Western  Africa,  and  the 
work  was  afterwards  extended  to  the  island  of  Corisco 
and  other  ])laces  on  the  coast,  where  it  ha-  hccn  .  h-  ',  ,1  on 
with  a  varied  measure  of  success  amid  n  m  \  li  ties 
incident  to  the  climate  and  a  di.|.h-iN  ii!,eii 

population.  In  183:!  tlie  Rev.  Mi-sis.  i;.,,i  ,  1  I wiio 
were  sent  out  to  India,  and  smceeiled  in  eslahlishini:  a 
mission  station  in  the  eitv  of  Loiliana,  on  the  River  Sut- 
lez,  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Indus—a  place  far  distant 
from  any  other  scene  of  missionarv  labor.  The  tirst  band 
of  missi"oiiaries  suffered  much  frdin  the  inroads  of  sick- 
ness and  dealli.  but  were  soon  aided  or  fidlowed  by  a  re- 
enforcement  of  laborers,  who  succeeded  in  formini.'  :\  na- 
tive Church  in  IsS.'i,  the  tirst  two  members  of  which  be- 
came eiiiinenlly  useful  as  preachers  of  the  Gosjid  to  their 
fellow-countrymen.  In  ls;is  the  American  Piesl>y;eri.iiis 
commenced  a  mission  at  Sinirapore;  and  after  the  Chi- 
nese wtir  three  stations  were  formed  at  Canton,  .\iiioy, 
and  Nini:po,  to  which  a  f  until  wtis  afterwards  added  iit 
Shaii-hai.  The  societv  suffered  a  severe  blow  in  the 
death  of  llie  Rev.  W.  M".  Lowrie,  who  was  murdered  liy  a 
p.ariy  of  pirates.  The  board  has  also  sent  missionaries"  to 
labor  among  the  Chinese  in  California,  and  in  every  de- 
iiartment  of  the  work  considerable  success  has  been  real- 
ized. 

'•  Hviinarlical  Lutheran  Church  Miiu<io7). — The  Evangel- 
ical Lutheran  Church  of  Nova  Scotia  is  a  religious  com- 
munity which  numbers  only  fonr  or  five  thousand  mem- 


MISSIONS 


367 


MISSIONS 


bers,  chiefly  of  German  extraction,  and  yet  it  has  shown  a 
most  praiseworthy  zeal  in  the  cause  of  missions.  Tills 
Oluirch  entered  upon  its  foreign  missionary  labors  inlSST, 
and  a  few  years  afterwards  it  reported  5  ordained  and  '2 
unordalned  native  preachers  as  engaged  in  the  good  work 
in  India,  with  86  Cliurch  members  and  355  scholars  under 
their  care. 

^•■Seventh-day  Baptist  Missionary  Soacty.^Th\s  institu- 
tion was  organized  in  1842,  and  has  been  engaged  ever 
since  chiefly  In  Western  Africa  and  China,  where  three  or 
four  agents  have  been  usefully  employed.  The  Chinese 
missi(m  was  begun  in  1S4T  in  Shanghai  by  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Carpenter  and  Worden,  who  secured  a  house  within  the 
walls,  fitted  up  a  portion  of  it  as  a  chapel,  and  com- 
meni-eil  ]nililii-  wni'siiip  in  it  soon  afterwards.  A  few  con- 
verts li,(\r  !h(  n  Ljat'icrcil  into  the  fold  of  Christ  as  the  re- 
8Ult  ul'llic'ii-  ('vaIll:('li^lil■  labors. 

''Aiii'jiicaii,  Indian  Mission  Association. —This  society 
was  founded  also  in  1842,  and  is  connected  with  the  Bap- 
tist churches  in  the  south-west,  having  its  executive  in 
Louisville.  The  agents  of  this  society,  numbering  abont 
thirty,  have  labored  among  different  tribes  of  American 
Indians  with  a  consiilcraliU-  measure  of  success,  uotwith- 
staudiiig  the  ditliciiitics  «  liich  they  have  had  to  encoun- 
ter. Tiiev  report  upwards  id'  Hind  converted  native:;  as 
united  in'c'hui-rh  Irll.iw-hip  <m  ihcii-  ic^pri'tivc  statinns. 

"Fr,.-  liapti.'^t  Mt^xinnnni  Suri^l  ■  --This  Miiall  Uut  Um'- 
ful  iiisliimi.ni  was  ,.r-anizrd  in  \-V:.  at  itira,  in  Ilir  Siaic 
ofNew  Y..rk,  on  the  brnad  ( 'lin~:  ian  -r-iind  oiliaviii-  no 
COnncitidii  with  slavery.  l''or  several  years  it  has  had  a 
successlul  inissinii  in  Hayti,  with  1  missionary,  3  female 
assistant.-,  1  native  pastor,  and  4  native  teachers. 

''  AssuciuteJlr/uniictl  I'nshnti'i  inn  C/ini-ch.— This  organ- 
ization dates  from  1>44.  and  has  ^oiit  forth  three  mission- 
aries to  India,  two  to  'I'nrkey,  and  three  to  the  Pacific; 
but  we  have  been  unable  to  gather  any  very  delinite  in- 
formation with  reference  to  the  history  or  the  results  of 
their  labors. 

^'Southern  Baptvst  Convention's  Missions.— The  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Southern  Baptists  was  formally 
instituted  in  1845,  missionaries  having  been  sent  out  to 
Cliina  the  year  before.  Important  stations  were  formed 
at  Macao,  Hong-Kong,  and  Shanghai,  which  were  very 
prosperous.  In  1848  a  gloom  was  cast  over  the  mission 
by  the  loss  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  James,  who  were  drowned  by 
the  upsetting  of  a  boat  when  on  their  way  to  Shanghai; 
but  the  places  of  the  dear  departed  were  soon  supplied  by 
other  laborers,  and  the  good  work  continued  to  advance. 
The  next  field  of  labor  occupied  by  this  society  was  West- 
ern Africa.  Soon  after  a  station  had  been  established  in 
Liberia  the  work  was  extended  to  the  Yarriba  country, 
where  several  colored  missionaries  were  usefully  em- 
ployed, who,  from  their  being  of  African  descent,  could 
better  endure  the  climate.  According  to  the  last  returns, 
this  society  had  40  missionaiies,  i'6  native  assistants,  12-25 
Chureh  in.'nibers,  and  (SS  selr.lars  in  the  mis-ion  schools. 

^•AnhiiK,!  Mi.^.sinniliil  .|.s.-;i/r(V(//(.,/.  —  TIlis  .-orjetv  WES 
fornir;l  ai  .\lhanv,  X.  V.,  in  ihe  vrar  Is-IC.  1  v  llm-e  friends 
of  missions  win',  deelared  thenVrlves  a.-irievrd  by  the 
countenance  given  by  some  other  i)hi!anthropic  in'stitti- 
lions  to  slavery,  polygamy,  aiul  kindred  forms  of  evil. 
Their  avowed  object  was  to  secure  a  broad,  catholic  Viasis 
for  the  co-operation  of  Christians,  but  to  exclude  from 
their  organization  all  persons  living  in  or  connivinu-  at 
the  flagrant  forms  of  iniquity  alluded  to.  The  formation 
of  this  society  was  no  sooner  made  known  than  it  was 
joined  by  other  smaller  institutions,  as  the  'West  India 
Mission,'  the  '  Western  Evangelical  Missionary  Associa- 
tion,' and  the  '  Union  Missiomfry  Society,'  who  transferred 
their  influence  and  their  agencies  to  it,  and  thus  gave  to 
the  new  or-auizatioii  laborers  in  the  We.-t  Indies,  umong 
the  North  American  Indians,  and  in  Wr-imi  Africa.  The 
labors  of  the  society  were  snl)se(|nrnilv  extended  to  Siam, 
the  Saudwicli  Islands,  California,  and  EL^ypt.  In  1807  it 
supported  over  2(i0  missitmaries  at  home  and  abroad. 
Since  that  time  the  pressim;-  needs  of  the  freedmen  of  the 
Southern  States  have  absorbed  almost  all  the  means  at 
the  disposal  of  the  board,  which  they  withdrew  from  other 
work  to  do  this  duty  which  lay  nearest  to  them.  This 
association  have  their  schools  and  churches  scattered 
through  the  f  )rmer  .slave  and  border  states.  The  whole 
number  of  missionaries  and  teachers  commissioned  dur- 
ing the  last  ten  vears  amount  to  3470;  and  schools  have 
been  e-ialilisind"  in  343  localities,  the  pupils  under  in- 
stru.tion  numbering  23,324,  who,  as  a  rule,  make  rapid 
progress  in  learning.  The  interest  and  zeal  of  the  colored 
people  in  urging  their  children's  education  increases  ev- 
ery year,  and  every  year  they  also  become  more  able  to 
assist  in  the  work.  In  a  short  time  both  schools  and 
churches  are  expected  to  become  self-supportintr. 

"American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union.— Thii^  institu- 
tion was  oi'ganized  in  New  York  in  1S49.  It  was,  in  fact,  the 
union  of  three  other  small  societies— the  'Foreign  Evan- 
gelical Society,'  the  'American  Protestant  Society,'  and 
*u  '  f  hilo-Italiau  Society'— which  was  afterward.s'  called 
the  Christian  Alliance.  The  principal  fields  of  labor  culti- 
vated by  these  associations,  both  before  and  after  their 
union,  were  the  papal  countries  of  France,  Belgium,  Swe- 
den, Canada,  Hayti,  and  South  America.  In  18.54,  the  fifth 
year  of  the  new  organization,  it  numbered  140  missiona- 


ries of  all  grades,  one  half  of  whom  were  ordained,  and 
belonged  to  seven  diflerent  nations,  and  a  proportionate 
number  of  converted  natives  united  in  Church  fellowship, 
and  scholars  in  tlie  mission  schools. 

"  French  Canadian  Missionary  Society.— This  society  was 
organized  in  1S39.  Its  object  is  to  evangelize  the  French 
Canadian  Itoman  Catholics,  of  whom  there  are  neai'ly  a 
millicHi  in  the  province  of  Quebec.  It  is  conducted  by  a 
committee  in  Montreal,  and  employs  a  threefold  agency — 
education,  evangelization,  ;ind  colportage.  Above  '240 
scholars  are  supported  in  whole  or  in  part'by  the  mission  ; 
eight  small  French  Protestant  churches  have  beeu  organ- 
ized, and  about  1300  copies  or  portions  of  the  Scriptures 
are  annually  circulatecl,  in  addition  to  other  religious 
works  which  have  been  translated  for  the  purpose. 

"Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Nova  Scotia. — The  board  was  organized  in  1844  in  con- 
sequence of  an  overture  on  foreign  missions  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Prince  Edward's  Island.  The  principal  pro- 
moter of  the  enterprise,  the  Rev.  John  Geddie,  was  the 
first  missionary  who  jiroceedcd  to  Polynesia,  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Isaac  Archibald  as  catechist.  On  reaching  their 
destination,  they  were  kindly  received  by  the  agents  of 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  and  proceeded  to  estab- 
lish a  station  at  Anetteum,  one  of  the  New  Hebrides 
group,  where  Ihey  arrived  in  July,  1S4S.  The  entire  pop- 
ulation of  the  island  soon  renounced  their  pagan  prac- 
tices, and  became  professing  Christians.  An  an.xious  de- 
sire for  religious  instruction  was  manifested,  and  a  goodly 
number  of  the  natives  were  brought  under  gracious  relig- 
ious influences. 

"  2r>  nor  Associations.— There  are  several  minor  mission- 
ary associations,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  concerning 
which  our  limited  space  prevents  a  separate  description." 

In  order  to  make  the  above  list  complete,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  add  the  numerous  Bible  societies  [see  Bi- 
ble Societies],  and  also  Tract  and  Book  publication 
societies,  which  are  in  constant  and  intimate  co-opera- 
tion with  the  regular  missionary  societies,  together  witli 
a  constantly-increasing  number  of  smaller  organizations 
contemplating  missionary  results.  Some  of  the  above 
will  be  inclutled  in  the  subjoined  tabular  exhibit  on 
pages  368  and  oOD. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  points  of  interest 
shown  in  our  tabular  exhibit,  it  is  utterly  impossible  to 
reduce  to  statistics  anything  like  a  full  showing  of  the 
work  accomplished  and  in  progress  by  modern  missions. 
Indeed,  as  human  language  cannot  fully  set  forth  the 
horrors  of  heathenism,  so  no  form  of  description  can  ade- 
quately portray  the  actual  and  possible  results  of  mis- 
sionary efforts  earnestly  and  perseveringly  put  forth  in 
harmony  with  the  divine  plan  for  evangelizing  the  world. 

YI.  General  Viezvs  suggested  by  the  Present  Period  of 
Missiiinarii  Ilistorg  as  compared  with  Preceding  Periods. 
—  1.  Thijidd  of  missionary  operations  is  tiow  more  com' 
prehensire  than  ever  before,  and  more  nearly  illustrative 
of  the  Gospel  design  of  evangelizing  the  v:hole  world.  In 
the  apostolic  period  the  Roman  empire  comprised  the 
then  known  world.  Up  to  the  end  of  the  medieval 
period,  the  world  formerly  known  to  the  Romans  was 
chiefly  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  the  northern  coun- 
tries of  Europe.  Now,  every  continent  and  island  of 
the  globe  is  not  only  known  by  discovery,  but  accessible 
to  Christian  influence.  In  fact,  all  the  important  and 
many  of  the  unimportant  nations  of  the  earth  have 
been  actually  made  the  subjects  of  missionary  instruc- 
tion, in  accordance  with  the  fullest  literal  meaning  of 
the  Saviour's  precepts,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature ;"  "  Go  teach  all 
nations." 

2.  The  Church  of  modern  times  has  returned  to  the 
apostolic  idea  of  Christian  missions.  Hence  missionary- 
operations  now  throughout  the  world  are  peaceful.  No 
more  crusades,  no  more  inquisitions  and  autos  dafe  are 
employed  for  the  pretended  advancement  of  Christian- 
ity, but  rather  preaching  and  teaching  generally  of  the 
pure  Word  of  God  as  a  means  of  persuading  men  to  be- 
come followers  of  Christ. 

3.  The  number  of  worlcers  for  this  object  is  greater 
than  ever  before,  and  is  rapidly  increasing  by  the  enlist- 
ment of  native  converts  in  almost  every  land. 

4.  The  appliances  and  advantages  of  Christian  civil- 
ization, such  as  the  press  and  general  education,  are  ev- 
erywhere brought  to  the  aid  of  missionary  effort. 


MISSIONS 


368 


MISSIONS 


mer  period  could  either  of  our  missionary  societies  have 
attempted  to '  number  Israel' — to  reduce  to  figures  either 
the  geographical  extent  or  the  practical  results  of  its 
influence,  without  having  soon  received,  in  the  cheering 
events  wliich  followed,  a  distinct  but  gracious  rebuke. 
How  erroneous  the  calculation  which  should  have  set 
down  the  first  fifteen  years  of  fruitless  missionary  labor 
in  Greenland,  or  the  sixteen  in  Tahiti,  or  the  twenty  in 


5.  The  sympathies  of  the  Christian  Church  at  large 
are  extensively,  though  as  yet  far  from  fully,  enlisted  in 
the  grand  enterprise  of  Christianizing  the  human  race. 
In  this  enterprise  unity  of  idea  is  to  a  large  extent  neu- 
traUzing  diversity  of  action,  and  making  even  the  rival- 
ries of  different  Christian  organizations  conducive  to  a 
common  advantage. 

6.  The  progress  and  results,  especially  of  Protestant 
missions  within  the  current  centun/,  not  only  justify  all  New  Zealand,  as  years  of  entire  failure!  when,  in  truth, 
the  efforts  of  the  past,  but  gice  7?iost  hopeful  signs  of  prom-  the  glorious  scene  wliicli  then  ensued  was  simply  lliat 
isefor  the  future.  These  results  comprise  not  only  the  I  which  God  was  pleased  to  make  the  result  of  all  that 
conversion  and  salvation  of  individuals  of  every  race  '■  had  preceded— the  explosion,  by  the  divine  hand,  of  a 
and  condition  of  humanity,  but  the  actual  Christianiza-  |  train  which  had  been  lengthening  and  enlarging  during 
tion  of  whole  nations,  and  the  initial  steps  by  which  |  every  moment  of  all  those  years.  Therefore  were  the 
whole  races  of  men  mav  be  expected  at  no  distant  pe-  ;  whole  field  of  missions  to  be  suddenly  vacated,  and  all 
riod  to  receive  the  Gospel.  Of  necessity,  a  large  share  I  its  moral  machinery  at  once  withdrawn,  we  confidently 
of  the  work  of  modern  evangelical  missions  has  thus  '  believe  that  the  amount  of  temporal  good  arising  from 
far  been  preparatory ;  such  as  the  acquisition  of  Ian-  what  has  been  done  will  be  much  greater  twenty  years 
guages,  the  translation  and  printing  of  tlic  Scriptures,  ■  hence  than  it  is  at  present"  (Harris's  Greal  Commission, 
andlhe  education  of  native  ministers  in  heathen  lands,    p.  185, 180). 


If,  therefore,  what  has  been  done  shall  by  the  blessing 
of  the  Head  of  the  Cliurch  be  made  to  act  as  leaven,  ac- 
cording to  our  Saviour's  promise,  we  may  in  due  time 
expect  the  whole  mass  of  human  population;;  to  be 
leavened  with  the  influence  of  Christian  truth. 

"The  social  and  moral  advantages  which  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise  has  conferred  on  the  heathen  are  be- 
fore the  world.     AN'hat  vast  tracts  has  it  rescued  from 


But  happily  there  is  no  prospect  that  the  field  of  mis- 
sionary effort  will  soon  be  vacated.  The  tliirty  years 
that  have  elapsed  since  the  above  paragraph  was  writ- 
ten have  proved  to  be  the  most  productive  of  mission- 
ary results  of  any  similar  period  since  the  days  of  the 
apostles.  During  their  lapse  the  "moral  machinery" 
of  the  Protestant  Church  in  particular  has  become  vast- 
ly augmented  in  volume  and  in  power,  and  has  been  set 


barbarism,  and  with  what  creations  of  benevolence  has  '  to  working  with  great  efficiency  in  many  important  lo- 
it  clothed  them!  How  many  thousands  whom  igno-  calities  which  were  then  wholly  inaccessible.  Tlie  rec- 
rance  and  selfishness  had  branded  as  the  leavings  and  ords  of  even  that  period  fill  numerous  volumes,  and  yet 
refuse  of  the  si)ecies,  if  not  actually  akin  to  the  beasts  ;  the  half  has  not  been  written. 

that  perish,  are  at  tliis  moment  rising  under  its  foster-  |  YH.  Missionary  Aspect  of  the  WorlJ,with  the  Liter- 
ing  care,  ascribing  their  enfranchisement,  under  God,  to  !  aiure  appropriate  to  each  liegion. — So  vast  is  the  field 
its\cnign  interposition;  taking  encouragement  from  its  of  modern  missions,  so  numerous  are  the  workers,  and 
smiles  to  assume  the  port  and'bearing  of  men  ;  and  by  so  various  are  the  departments  of  effort,  that  it  is  diffi- 
their  acts  and  aspirations  retrieving  the  character  and  cult,  though  very  important,  to  form  an  adequate  idea 
the  dignity  of  the  slandered  human  form  !  When  did  of  the  enterprise  as  a  whole.  In  order  to  do  so  even  ap- 
literature  accomplish  so  much  for  nations  destitute  of  a  proximately,  an  inquirer  has  to  glean  from  many  sources, 
written  language  V  or  education  pierce  and  light  up  so  and  to  combine  into  one  view  all  the  various  lines  and 
large  and  (iense  a  mass  of  human  ignorance?  When  I  successive  phases  of  action  which  focalize  towards  the 
did  humanity  save  so  many  lives,  or  cause  so  many  !  contemplated  result.  Tlie  proper  mode  of  studying  this 
sanguinary  'wars  to  cease?'  How  many  a  sorrow  has  1  subject  may  be  indicated  by  a  compreliensive  group- 
it  soothed;  how  many  an  injury  arrested;  how  many  ing  of  the  different  sections  and  countries  of  the  world 
an  asylum  has  it  reared  amid  scenes  of  wretchedness  [  in  reference  to  missionar}'  occupation  and  progress, 
and  oppression  for  the  orphan,  the  outcast,  and  the  suf-  i  coupled  with  such  references  to  the  literature  of  mis- 
ferer!  When  did  liberty  ever  rejoice  in  a  greater  tri-  |  sions  as  will  enable  a  student  to  prosecute  lliorough  in- 
umph  than  that  which  missionary  inslrumentality  has    quiry  into  the  history,  con(hlion,  and  prospects  of  each 


been  the  means  of  achieving?  or  civilization  find  so 
many  sons  of  the  wilderness  learning  her  arts,  and  ag- 
riculture, and  commerce?  or  law  receive  so  much  vol- 
untary homage  from  those  who  but  yesterday  were 
strangers  to  the  name  ?  By  erecting  a  standard  of  mo- 
rality, how  vast  the  amount  of  crime  which  it  has  been 
the  means  of  preventing!  By  asserting  the  claims  of 
degraded  woman,  how  powerful  an  instrument  of  social 
regeneration  is  it  preparing  for  the  future !  And  by  do- 
ing all  this  by  the  principle  and  power  of  all  moral  or- 
der and  exccilence— the  Gospel  of  Christ— how  large  a 
portion  of  the  world's  chaos  has  it  restored  to  light,  and 
harmony,  and  peace ! 

"  But  great  as  are  the  benefits  enumerated,  most  of 
whicli  can  in  a  sense  be  seen  and  measured  and  han- 
dled, we  venture  to  affirm  that  those  which  are  at 
present  comparatively  impalpable  and  undeveloped  are 
greater  still.  The  unseen  is  far  greater  than  that  which 
appears.  The  missionary  has  been  planting  the  earth 
with  principles,  and  these  are  of  as  much  greater  value 
than  the  visible  benelils  which  they  have  already  pro- 
duced as  tl\e  tree  is  more  valuable  than  its  first  year's 
fruit.  Tlie  tradesman  may  take  stock  and  calculate  his 
pecuniary  affairs  to  a  fraction;  the  astronomer  may 
count  the  stars,  and  the  chemist  weigh  tlie  invisible 
element  of  air;  but  he  who  in  the  strength  of  God  con- 
veys a  great  truth  to  a  distant  region,  or  puts  into  mo- 
tion a  divine  principle,  has  performed  a  work  of  which 
futurity  alone  can  disclose  the  residts.     At  no  one  for- 


particular  field. 

It  may  here  be  remarked  that  the  literature  of  mod- 
ern missions  is  already  verj'  extensive.  It  embraces 
two  distinct  classes  of  publications,  of  which  the  first 
may  be  denominated  auxiliary-,  the  second  descriptive. 
To  the  first  belong  versions  of  the  Scriptures,  and  all 
tracts  and  books  designed  for  circulation  in  mission 
fields,  whether  educational,  apologetic,  or  devotional. 
To  the  second  belong  accounts  of  countries,  peoples,  and 
systems  of  false  religion,  also  missionary  explorations, 
experiences,  biography,  and  history.  Publications  of 
the  latter  class  are  specially  interesting  and  valuable  to 
Christian  workers  in  all  lands.  As  there  is  a  common 
brotherhood  in  luiinanity,  which  is  greatly  slrengthencd 
by  the  ties  of  Ciiristian  relationship,  so  the  experiences 
of  foreign  mission  life  become  not  only  interesting  but 
instructive  to  the  agents  and  supporters  of  Christian 
work  in  Christian  lands.  Tlie  converse  of  this  proposi- 
tion is  e(iually  true,  and  thus  it  is  that  liome  missions 
and  regular  Churcli  work  in  Ciiristian  countries  jiracti- 
cally  blend  together  with  missionary  work  in  foreign 
and  pagan  countries,  forming  one  great  system  of  effort 
for  the  evangelization  of  the  world. 

In  proceeding  to  a  brief  i)anoramic  survey  of  ibo  prin- 
cipal divisions  of  the  eartii  in  reference  to  iMi,<>ioiis.  it 
seems  projicr  to  begin  with  the  earlier  scenes  ol  Chris- 
tian occupation  and  lal)or.  and  pass  around  to  tlii'  Aiiur- 
ican  continent  and  islands,  thus  completing  the  circuit 
of  the  habitable  globe. 


MISSIONS 


369 


MISSIONS 


TABULAR  VIEW  OF  MISSIONARY  ORGANIZATIONS  IN  1873, 


Missions 
Com. 


Number  of 

Number  of 

Ordained 

Church 

Missionaries. 

Members. 

305 
21 

20,742 
1,363 

56 

4,056 

35 

1,S51 

71 

3,478 

23 

44 

_ 

19 

114 

10 

4 

2 

}    ~' 

_ 

4 

- 

~ 

— 

1 
^          5 

- 

— 

16 

— 

7 

— 

329 

21,705 

1,071 

158,505 

230 

40,000 

464 

30,000 

S5 

37,426 

14 

~" 

12 

1,000 

23 

563 

28 

1,906 

11 

21S 

11 

130 

40 

5,740 

}.^ 

13,898 

40 

5,656 

7S 

- 

= 

- 

1S22. 
1828. 
1823. 
1815. 

1797. 
1852. 
1842. 
1860. 
1821. 
1SS5. 
1836. 

1842. 
1852. 
1852. 


1854. 
1854. 
1857. 
1S59. 
1S59. 


1844. 
1844. 
1855. 
1816. 
1843. 
1824. 
1840. 


1S60. 
1845. 


I.  Continental. 
Moravian  Missionary  Society 

Paris  Evangelical  Missionary  Society.. 

Rlienish  Missionary  Society 

Berlin  Missionary  Society 

Basle  Evangelical  Missions 

Netherland  Missionary  Society 

Hermansl)urgh  Missionary  Society. . . . 

Norwegian  Missionary  Society 

Utrecht  Missionary  Society 

Danish  Missionary  Society 

North  German  Miss.  Society  of  Bremen.. 

Evangel.  Lutheran  Miss.  Soc.  of  Leipsic. . 
/Gossner's  Evangelical  Missionary  Union 
(    of  Berlin 

Berlin  Woman's  Mission  for  China 

Berlin  Man's  Union  for  China. ..... 

Pilgrim'sMiss.of  St.Krischona.nearBaele 

Kaiserwerth  Deaconesses'  Institute 

Jerusalem  Union,  at  Berlin 

Java  Society,  at  Amsterdam 

The  Ermeloer  Missionary  Society 

/Mission  of  Separatist  Reformed  Church; 
(    at  Karapden 

Netherland  Miss.  Society,  at  Rotterdam. 

Netherland  Ref.  Miss.  Soc,  at  Amsterdam 
(■Mennonite  Association  for  the  Diffusion 
-(  of  the  Gospel  in  the  Dutch  Marine  Pos- 
(    sessions,  at  Amsterdam. 

Netherland  Auxil.  Miss.  Soc,  at  Batavia. 

Netherland  Society  for  Israel. 

Swedish  Miss.  Society  of  Stockholm 

Missionary  Society  of  Lund  for  China. 
(Aliss.  Institute  of  the  Evangelical  Father- 
(    laud's  Foundation  of  Stockholm. 

Missionary  Society  of  Goteborg. 

Finnish  Miss.  Society  of  Helsiugfors. 

II.  British. 
British  and  Foreign  Bihle  Society. 

Prhmpal  Foreign  Missionary  Societies. 
Church  Missionary  Society 

Wesleyan  Missionary  Society. 

London  Missionary  Society 

Society  for  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. . . 

Baptist  Missionary  Society 

Moravian  Missions 

South  American  Missionary  Society 

English  Presbyterian  Missions 

Turkish  Missions'  Aid  Society 

General  Baptist  Missionary  Society 

Free  Church  of  Scotland  Missions 

Church  of  Scotland  Missions 

Irish  Presbyterian  Missions 

United  Presbyterian  Church  Missions.. . 

Colonial,  Jewish,  and  other  Missions, 

fSocietyforPromoting  Christianity  among 
\    the  Jews 

Primitive  Methodist  Missions 

Colonial  and  Continental  Church  Society 

United  Methodists  Free  Churches'  Miss. 

British  Society  for  the  Jews 

Evangelical  Continental  Society 

Colonial  Missionary  Society 

Foreign  Aid  Society 

Home  Missimis. 

London  City  Mission 

Bishop  of  London's  Fund 

Wesleyan  Home  Missions 

Irish  Ch.  Miss,  to  the  Roman  Catholics. . 
Ch.  of  England  Scripture  Readers' Assoc. 

Army  Scripture  Readers'  Society 

British  and  Foreign  Sailors'  Society 

Missions  to  Seamen 

Home  Miss.  Society  (Congregational) 

British  and  Irish  Baptist  Home  Missit)ns 

VI.— A  A 


3. 

1,500 

3,218 


41,941 
264,049 
38,231 


SUO 

1,523 
9,75; 
2,800 
1,300 


42,500 
60,000 
50,000 
105,000 
40,000 
38,500 
20,000 
20,000 

7,500 
18,535 

7,3S5 
20,875 

4,285 

3,855 


4,765 
4,175 


782,200 
784,550 
575,350 
565,020 

193,055 
77,390 
53,595 
47.705 
20,820 
30,000 

136,795 
50,000 
25,000 


165,045 
161,285 
155,065 
69,615 
39,255 
16,030 
i7,.395 
9,195 


149,850 
150,2.SO 
117,225 
62,950 
49,730 
40,370 
41,505 
32,415 
25,410 


(Greenland,  Labrador,  N. 
■i  Amer.,W.  Indies,  S.Af- 
(  rica,  Australia,Thibet. 
(South  Africa,  Senegam- 
(   bia,  Polynesia. 

S.  Africa,  Holland,  E.  In- 

S.  Africa.      [dies,  China, 

W.  Africa,  India,  China. 
fAmbon,Minahassa,S.Cel 
(    ebes,  Java. 

South  Africa,  India. 

South  Africa. 

New  Guinea,  Bali. 

India. 

W.  Africa,  New  Zealand, 

India. 

(Farther  ludia,  Holland; 
\    India,  Australia. 

China. 

China. 

Palestine,  Abyssinia. 

Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Egypt, 

Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Egypt. 

Java,  Sumatra. 

Talaut  Islands. 
(Surinam,  Orange  Repub- 
(    lie. 

Java. 

Java. 


Eastern  Africa, 


fE.  and  W.  Indie?,Turkey 
3  China,  N.  Zealand,  W 
1  Africa,  Mauritius.Mad 
(  agascar,  N.  America. 
rE.:indW.Indies,W.andS. 
^  Africa,  China,  Austra- 
(  lia,Pol}'nesia,N.Anier. 
(South  Sea,  East  and  West 
■^  Indies,  S.  Africa,  Mad 
(    agascar. 

(E.and  W.Indies,S.Arrica, 
-;     Australia,  N.  Zealand 
(    North  America. 
(East  and  West  Indies, W. 
(    Africa,  China. 

South  America. 
China,  East  Indies. 

East  Indies,  China. 

East  Indies,  S.  Africa. 

East  Indies. 

East  Indies,  Syria. 
(East  and  West  ludies.W. 
(    and  South  Africa 


East  and  West  Africa. 


MISSIONS 


370 


MISSIONS 


TABULAR  VIEW  OF  JIISSIONARY  ORGANIZATIONS  IN  1875.— (Corainued.) 


Number  of 

Ordained 

Missionaries. 


Approximate 


1S20. 
1S45. 


II.  BniTisii.— //orjie  Missions.— {Continued.) 

Proteutaut  Reformation  Society 

l\-K\\  Evanfjelical  Society 

Midnight  Meeting  Movement 

The  Prison  Mission 


ISCl. 
1S51. 


Religioim  Edticational  Societies. 
/Christian  Vernacular  Education  Society 
\    for  India 

Wesley  an  Education  Committee 

British  Syrian  School  Association 

Indian  Female  Normal  School  Society. . 

MisccUaiteoua. 

Religious  Tract  Society 

Bible  Translation  Society 


III.  American. 

Forcicin. 

American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. 

(American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  ) 
\    Foreign  Missions j" 

American  Colonization  Society 

American  and  Foreign  Cliristian  Union 

Board  of  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church 

Cumb.  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (South) 

Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

Presb.  Board  of  Foreign  Miss.  (South) 

Presb.Board  of  Foreign  Miss.  (United). .. 

Presbyterian  Church  (Reformed) 

(Protestant  Episcopal  Board  of  Foreign 
\    Missions 

Southern  Baptist  Board  of  Foreign  Miss. 

United  Brethren  (Moravian)  Mission 

AVoman's  ITnion  ■Missionary  Society 

Woman's  For.  M i-s.  s, „■,  (  M .  E.  Church). . 

Nova  Scotia  Pi(-l>v;cii:iii  CluircliMiss. . 

The  Free-Will  IWipiM  .Mi^s.  Society 

Lutheran  Missionary  Society 

American  Missionary  Association 


Jlonie. 

American  Baptist  Home  Miss.  Society. 

American  Female  Guardian  Society 

American  Home  Missionary  Society. . . 

American  Seaman's  Friend  Society 

(Board  of  Missions  of  United  Brethren  in 
(    Canada 

Cnnil).  Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions.. . 

IMetliodist  Episcopal  Missionary  Society. 

Metli.  Kpis.  Board  of  Missions  (South).. .. 

Presbyterian  Hoard  of  Home  Missions. . . 

Presb!  Hoard  of  Home  Miss,  (l-iiilnl) 

Prexb.  Board  or  Sustonl,iti..n  (South) 

Presb.  Ministerial  Relief  Conunitteo 

Presbyterian  Snstentation  Committee.. . . 

Prot.  Epis.  Board  of  Domestic  Missions. . 

Reformed  Church  (Dutch) 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Board 

Southern  Bapt.  Board  ofMis8.(Domestic). 

Freedmen. 

American  Missionary  Association 

IMcth.  Kpis.  FreedmtMi's  Aid  Society 

Prosl).  Committee  of  Miss.  f.>r  Freedmen. 

Presb.  (I'niled)  Board  for  Freedmen 

Protestant  Episcopal  Board  for  Freedmen 

IV.  Colonial. 

/The  Reformed   Church  Mission  at  the 

1     Cajic  of  Good  Hope 

/Society  of  Internal  and  External  Missions,! 
(    Batiivia 

Presbyterian  Missionary  Society 

Melaiiesian  Miss.  Society,  at  Aukland 


Hawaiian  Miss.  Society,  at  Honolulu. 

West  Indian  Missionary  Board 

Palestine  Christian  Union. 
I    Mission  to  Arabs.      


2G,4S0 
28,718 


70 

3,700 

351 


7,397 
14,410 


32 
10,059 

2,113 
1,500 


f20,460 
17,535 
6,3(j0 
15,985 


39,445 
35,165 
40,475 
30,305 


537,995 
11,755 


210,100 

428,693 

33,337 

135,430 

69,323 

1,274 


47,181 
56,251 
9,489 
110,732 
51,023 
77,390 
35,243 
48,500 
7,500 
10,952 


24r).!593 
83,530 

207,091 
05,243 

20,555 
23,728 

345,400 
96,105 

809,2.39 
28,793 
20,234 
81,317 
41,073 

108.252 
37,8(i5 
3.>sl2 
45,784 


329,9.38 
82,719 
69,195 
12,271 
21,308 


/Barmah,  Farther  India 
(    Siani,  China. 
|E.  Indies,  S.  Africa, Tnr- 
■<     key,  China,  Polynesia, 
(    North  America. 


WestAfrica,India,China. 

Japan, N.  and  S.  Amer. 

Mexico,Italy,Bulgaria 

Scandinavia. 
North  America,  China. 
[West  Africa,  India,  Siam, 

China,  Japan,  N.Amer- 
[    ica,  Mexico,  Brazil. 

India, Turkey,  Polynesia. 

Syria. 

fN.  America, West  Africa, 
t    China,  Japan. 

West  Africa,  China. 


New  Hebrides. 

India. 

India,  West  Africa. 
(North  America, West  In- 
dies, Egypt,  Siam,  Pol- 
(    ynesia. 


South  Africa. 

Holland,  India. 

Melbourne,  Australia. 

Melanesia. 

(Micronesia,  Marquesas 
(    Islands. 

West  Africa. 


MISSIONS 


371 


MISSIONS 


1.  The  Continent  of  Europe  presents  at  this  time  the 
interesting  spectacle  of  active  missionary  labor  prose- 
cuted not  only  by  British  but  also  by  American  Protes- 
tants in  most  of  those  old  countries  where  a  ceremoni- 
ous or  a  nominal  Christianity  has  long  held  swa\-.  In 
Northern  Europe,  especially  in  Germany,  Denmark,  Swe- 
den, and  Norway,  the  missionaries  are  in  many  cases 
natives  of  those  countries,  who  as  emigrants  to  the 
United  States  of  America  became  experimental  Chris- 
tians, and  who  have  returned  to  preach  the  doctrines 
of  vital  godliness  to  their  fatherlands.  Protestant  mis- 
sions are  also  established  in  France,  Switzerland,  Aus- 
tria, Portugal,  Spain,  and  Italy.  In  all  these  countries 
the  Scriptures  and  Christian  tracts  are  circulated  more 
freely  and  more  numerously  than  ever  before. 

With  some  correspondence  to  the  activity  of  Protes- 
tants in  the  IJoman  Catholic  countries  of  Europe,  the 
Church  of  Rome  has  become  very  zealous  for  the  recon- 
version of  England  to  medioeval  Christianity.  The  Jes- 
uits expelled  from  Germany  and  the  monks  disfran- 
chised in  Italv  are  sent  there  in  great  numbers.  These 
measures  have  a  tendency  to  stimulate  greater  activity 
among  British  Christians  in  home  missions,  and  thus, 
so  long  as  peaceful  measures  are  employed  on  both  sides, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  mutually  good  results  will  follow. 
Thought  will  be  stimulated,  liberality  increased,  watch- 
fulness will  be  awakened,  and  Christ  will  be  preached, 
even  though  of  contention.  As  the  movements  now 
referred  to  are  for  the  greater  part  quite  recent,  the 
latest  information  respecting  them  must  be  sought  in 
the  current  reports  and  correspondence  of  the  societies 
engaged  in  them,  inclusive  of  the  Bible  and  Tract  socie- 
ties. In  this  field  comparatively  little  has  been  required 
in  the  matter  of  Bible  translations,  but  much  attention 
has  been  given  to  the  revision  of  versions  to  make  them 
as  perfect  as  possible  for  popular  circulation.  See  Rule, 
Mission  to  Gibraltar  and  Spain  ;  Arthur,  Itali/  in  Tran- 
sition; Scott,  TclstrOm  <iiid  [.iijihind :  I!<pi>rl.<  nf  Mission- 
ary Societies ;  Toaso,  11 '•>■/' '/////  Mission  ill  I-'niiirr:  'Slvs. 
Peddie,  Dawn  of  the  Smnvi  l!f>rm,iti„n  in  Sjiain  ;  Ellis, 
Denmark  and  her  Missions ;  J/enderson's  Life  ami  Labors. 
See  also  the  articles  Baptists;  Methodists;  Presby- 
terians; Protestant  Episcopalians  ;  Wesleyans. 
2.  Greece,  Turkey,  Asia  Minor,  and  Western  Asia. — 
The  modern  populations  of  the  northern  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  are  greatly  mingled.  The  Moslem  races 
predominate,  but  nominal  Christians  are  found  in  every 
country  and  under  all  the  governments.  They  consti- 
tute more  than  a  third  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  are  found  in  every  province  of  the  Turk- 
ish empire,  while  in  Persia  they  are  supposed  to  num- 
ber twelve  millions.  Hence  a  wise  plan  for  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Mohammedans  of  thusi"  lands  involved  the 
primary  necessity  of  evangelical  missions  to  the  nomi- 
nal Christians  of  the  East.  T(j  this  task,  as  a  republica- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  Bible  lands,  the  American  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  has  addressed  itself  energetically 
and  perseveringly.  It  has  in  so  doing  established  mis- 
sions in  Greece,  in  Palestine,  in  Syria,  among  the  Jews, 
Mohammedans,  and  Bulgarians  of  Turkey,  the  Armeni- 
ans, the  Nestorians,  and  the  Druses.  A  very  interest- 
ing history  of  these  missions  and  their  adjuncts  has  re- 
cently been  published  by  Dr.  Anderson,  from  which  it 
appears  that,  notwithstanding  many  difficulties,  great 
and  encouraging  results  have  been  attained,  not  only  in 
the  direct  experience  of  the  Christian  life,  but  in  the 
awakening  of  a  general  spirit  of  inquiry,  the  improve- 
ment of  education,  increased  toleration,  and  the  diffu- 
sion of  the  Word  of  God  throughout  the  various  regions 
that  have  been  occupied  and  permeated  by  the  influ- 
ence of  the  missions.  The  printing  of  the  board  has 
been  on  a  very  extensive  scale,  including  the  issue  of 
the  Scriptures  and  other  publications  in  the  following 
languages,  viz.  Italian,  modern  Greek,  Grieco- Turkish, 
ancient  Armenian,  modern  Armenian,  Armeno-Turklsh, 
Osmanli-Turkish,  Bulgarian,  Hebrew,  Hebrew-Spanish, 
modern  Syriac,  and  Arabic.    The  printing  of  the  whole 


Bible  in  Arabic,  at  the  expense  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  was  completed  in  1865.  The  great  work  of  its 
translation  and  conduct  through  the  press  was  accom- 
plished by  the  zeal  and  energy  of  sixteen  years'  labor  on 
the  part  of  two  learned  missionaries  of  the  American 
Board,  Drs.  Smith  and  Van  Dyck.  This  one  publica- 
tion offers  the  Word  of  God  to  the  Arabic  reading  world, 
comprising  a  population  (though  largely  uneducated) 
of  120,000,000  of  people.  See  Anderson,  Oriental  Mis- 
sions; Smith  and  D wight,  Missionai^y  liesearches  in  A  r- 
menia ;  Hartley,  Researches  in  Greece  and  the  Lerant ; 
Perkins,  Kir/hteen  Years  in  Persia;  Grant,  Nestorians ; 
Wortaliet,  .S//r«i  and  the  Syrians;  D\v'vj;ht,  Christianity 
in  Tiirivy;  Churchill,  i?m(fe«ce  in  Mount  I^ebanon; 
Ewald,  Mission  in  Jerusalem ;  Thomson,  The  Land  and 
the  Book;  Wilson,  Greek  Mission;  Yeates,  Gospel  in 
Syria  ;  Wilson,  Lands  of  the  Bible. 

3.  Missions  among  the  Jews. — For  more  than  eighteen 
centuries  the  Jews  have  been  a  cosmopolitan  people. 
The  very  first  missions  of  the  apostles  were  to  the  Jews 
"  scattered  abroad."  In  subsequent  ages  the  once  chosen 
but  now  dispersed  race  was  in  many  countries  made  the 
object  of  cruel  and  wasting  persecution.  StiU  as  a  pe- 
culiar people  the  Jews  have  continued  "  among  all  na- 
tions" to  maintain  their  own  beliefs  and  customs,  and 
especially  an  inveterate  prejudice  against  Christianity, 
See  Jews  ;  Judaisji.  As  such  they  could  not  be  reach- 
ed by  missionarj-  efforts  of  the  usual  type.  Hence  at 
an  early  period  of  the  missionary  movement  of  the  cur- 
rent century  it  was  deemed  important  to  organize  spe- 
cial missions  to  the  Jews  in  the  various  countries  where 
they  resided  in  the  greatest  numbers.  Indeed,  some  be- 
ginnings of  this  character  were  made  in  Holland  and 
Germany  during  the  preceding  century',  and  not  with- 
out good  results.  August  Hermann  Francke  took  a 
lively  interest  in  this  subject.  One  of  the  ablest  work- 
ers raised  up  under  him  was  professor  Callenberg,  who 
in  1728  founded  an  institute  for  the  education  of  Chris- 
tian theologians  in  Hebrew  antiquities  and  the  Rab- 
binic theology.  In  1809  the  London  Society  for  pro- 
moting Christianity  among  the  Jews  was  organized.  In 
1820  the  American  Society  for  ameliorating  the  condi- 
tion of  the.  Jews  was  begun.  In  1849  it  was  greatly  en- 
larged in  its  scope.  In  1842  the  British  Societj'  for  the 
propagation  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Jews  was  organ- 
ized by  the  Dissenting  churches.  In  1839  the  Church 
of  Scotland  commenced  missionary  efforts  in  behalf  of 
the  Jews.  In  1845  the  Scottish  Society  for  the  conver- 
sion of  Israel  was  organized.  Besides  these  principal 
organizations,  there  have  been  various  local  societies  for 
the  same  object  both  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe,  and  also  various  missionary  societies, 
e.  g.  the  American  Board,  the  Presbyterian  Board,  and 
that  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  have  main- 
tained special  missions  to  Jewish  populations.  The 
aggregate  result  of  these  efforts  is  impossible  of  indi- 
cation by  figures,  and  yet  it  is  no  small  thing  to  be 
able  to  say  that  many  thousands  of  copies  of  the  Script- 
ures of  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  have  been 
circulated  among  the  5,000,000  of  Jews  accessible  to 
Christian  effort.  The  versions  used  have  been  Hebrew, 
Hebrew-Spanish,  German,  French,  Portuguese,  and  those 
of  other  European  languages.  The  number  of  mission- 
ary stations  established  is  over  120,  missionaries  em- 
ployed over  200,  mostly  converted  Jews,  and  an  aggre- 
gate of  probably  40,000  professed  converts.  Mhny  of 
these  converts  have  given  the  best  proofs  of  their  sin- 
cerity and  faithfulness  by  the  endurance  of  bitter  perse- 
cution from  their  kindred;  and  many  who  have  not 
identified  themselves  with  the  Christian  Church  are  be- 
lieved to  have  accepted  the  vital  truths  of  Christianity, 
and  to  have  received  to  their  hearts  Jesus  as  the  true 
Messiah.  An  intelligent  writer  says,  "  If  all  things  be 
taken  into  consideration,  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  re- 
sults of  these  labors  (missions  to  the  Jews)  exceed  in 
proportion  rather  than  fall  short  of  those  of  other  val- 
ued missionary  societies." 


MISSIONS 


372 


MISSIONS 


Missions  to  Jews  have  been  prosecuted  in  the  follow- 
ing countries :  (ireat  IJritain, Holland,  Poland, (Jennany, 
France,  Italy,  North  Africa,  Smyrna,  Hungary,  Molda- 
via, Wallacliia,  Turkey,  Egypt,  Palestine,  Persia,  Abys- 
sinia, and  the  United  Status  of  America.  While  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  results  of  these  efforts  have  not 
been  as  great  as  might  have  been  hoped,  yet  they  must 
not  be  undervalued  in  their  past  influence  nor  in  their 
promise  for  the  future.  Creat  changes  are  now  taking 
place  among  the  Jews,  especially  those  inhabiting  the 
more  enlightened  countries,  and  although  certain  forms 
of  rationalism  seem  to  be  most  po])ular  with  many  who 
have  relimiuished  the  faith  of  their  ancestors,  yet  when 
tlie  insufHcioncy  of  these  shall  have  been  proved  they 
may  be  luinid  to  have  served  as  stepping-stones  to 
evangelical  truth.  Should  this  be  the  case,  the  begin- 
nings of  missionary  effort  in  behalf  of  Israel  in  so  many 
lands  may  ere  long  prove  to  be  of  inestimable  value  in 
hastening  the  grand  consummation  of  the  world's  con- 
version. See  Stegcr,  Die  Ecunydhtche  J udmmission,  in 
ilinr  Wichti(jknt  u.  ihreh  geser/eneten  Fortfjantjc  (1847); 
Haiismeister,  Die  Jmknmission  (Heidelb.  1852),  an  ad- 
dress read  at  the  Paris  meeting  of  the  Evunrjdical  Alli- 
ance ;  id.,  I)ii'  traiiiji  I.  Mix^iinn  nnter  Israel  (1861) ;  Ka- 
rens, Ui'Ikt  .JiidiniJii.txioii  (Alidua,  18(')2);  Kalkar, /s?-«e; 
?/.  die  Kirche  (Hamburg,  ISGD);  Halsted,  OiXr  Missions 
(Lond.  1866);  Anderson,  Oriental  Missions;  Reports  of 
societies. 

4.  Et/ypt. — A  form  of  Christianity  has  long  existed 
among  the  Copts  of  Egypt.  But  they,  together  with 
the  followers  of  Mohanlmed,  are  sunk  in  a  state  of  de- 
jih.raljlc  ignorance  and  moral  depravity.  The  United 
Bretliren  were  the  first  to  form  a  mission  in  Egypt,  but, 
meeting  wiih  little  or  no  success,  it  was  relintiuished  in 
17.s;>.  The  missionary  societies  now  operating  are  the 
American  As■^l. rial  ion.  I'nilcd  Prcsltyteriaii  Church,  Kai- 
sersw'erth  1)( ■acou<s.-(^'  Institute,  and  Jerusalem  Union, 
at  Berlin.  The  Bible  versions  in  use  are  the  Coptic 
and  Ethiopic.  The  mission  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  of  America  has  been  particidarly  successful. 
They  have  stations  both  in  Cairo  and  Alexandria,  to- 
gether with  a  number  of  minor  stations.  A  Church  has 
been  organized  with  a  large  and  increasing  membership. 
The  customs  that  doom  women  to  a  life  of  seclusion  and 
degradation  have  been  gradually  invaded.  The  Sabbath 
is  more  and  more  sacredly  revered,  and  the  vicious  and 
idle  habits  so  common  among  the  people  arc  somewhat 
abaiidoned.  See  Boaz,  Egypt ;  Lansing,  Egypt's  Pi-inces ; 
Thompson,  Egypt,  Past  and  Present ;  Miss  Whately,  The 
II Ills  of  Egypt. 

h.  Xorthern  Africa,  with  the  exception  of  Egypt, 
seems  abandoned  to  ^Moslem  predominance.  Owing  to 
its  vast  deserts  of  sand,  it  is  in  fact  but  thinly  inhabited 
— indeed  only  traversed  occasionally  by  trilies  of  wan- 
dering and  savage  Araijs.  The  I'rench  occuiiation  of 
portions  of  Algeria,  ii;cluding  the  locality  of  the  church- 
es of  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  and  Augustine,  has  done  little 
towards  restoring  tlie  Clirislianity  taught  by  those. fa- 
thers, and  for  the  present  the  pros[)ect  of  a  re-evangel- 
ization of  Northern  Africa  is  in  no  sense  hopeful.  See 
Davies,  Voice  from  North  Africa ;  Carthage  and  her  Re- 
mains. 

6.  Western  Africa. — This  title  includes  Scnegambia, 
the  British  colony  of  Sierra  Leone,  the  American  siettle- 
ment  of  Liberia,  and  the  country  of  (iuinea.  In  the 
latter  are  included  the  kingdoms  of  Ashantee  and  Da- 
homey. A  large  proportion  of  the  peojile  are  pagans; 
among  the  remainder  a  very  corrupt  form  of  Moham- 
medanism exists.  The  earliest  efforts  made  by  the 
Protestant  Church  to  Christianize  them  were  made  by 
tlie  Moravian  Brethren  in  173(5.  The  missi<mary  socie- 
ties now  ill  the  field  are  the  Church.  Wesleyan,  Baptist. 
North  German,  Society  of  Bremen,  ICvangelical  ^lission 
at  Basle,  Free  United  Met hodist.s,  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  American  Southern  Baptist,  American  ICjiisco- 
pal  Board,  American  ^Methodist  Episco])al,  and  American 
Presbvteriau.     Some  of  the  Bible  versions  in  use  arc 


the  Berber,  Jlandingo,  Grebo,  Yarriba,  Haussa,  Ibo,  and 
Dualla.  In  all,  twenty-five  dialects  have  been  mastered. 
There  are  now  many  thousands  of  hopeful  converts  to 
Christianity;  also  above  20(J  schools,  with  more  than 
20,000  scholars  under  instruction.     A  very  imjwrtant 

I  result  has  been  achieved  in  the  success  of  native  agency. 

j  See  Wilson,  KVA/er«,-iy/2V(/;  Esi^t.Wtstem  .Africa ;  Mrs. 

j  Scott,  Day-dawn  in  .Ifrica ;  Schiin  and  Crowther,  Expe- 

j  dition  vp  the  Niger;  Beecham,  .Ashantee  and  the  Gold 
Coast;  liandolph.  The  People  of  .Africa  ;  Tucker,  .4  ieo- 
kuta;  A\'alker,  Sierra  Leone;  Bowcn,  Central  .Africa; 
Cruikshank,  Eighteen  Years  on  the  Gold  Coast ;  Fox, 
Westei-n  Coast  of  Africa ;  Liberia  and  its  Resources; 
Life  of  Daniel  West;  iMemoirs  of  M.  B.  Cox;  Waddell, 
Twenty-nine  Years  in  the  West  Indies  and  Central  .Africa; 
Freeman,  Ashantee. 

7.  Southe?-n  .Africa. — The  section  of  Africa  now  un- 
der consideration  comprises  the  six  provinces  of  Cape 
Colony,  British  Kaffraria,  Kaffraria  Proper,  the  sover- 
eignty beyond  the  Orange  Kivcr,  Natal,  and  Amazula. 
The  ideas  of  the  people  about  (iod  were  very  confused 
and  indefinite,  and  there  appeared  to  be  no  ))articular 
form  of  worship  among  them.  The  first  mission  to  the 
tribes  of  Southern  Africa  was  established  by  the  Mora- 
vian Church  in  1737.     The  missionary  societies  now  in 

I  the  field  are  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners, 
Propagation,  London,  Wesleyan,  Free  Church  of  Scot- 
land, United  Presbyterian,  and  Evangelical  jMoravian 
Brotherhood,  with  six  Continental  societies.  The  Bible 
versions  in  use  are  the  Benga,  Namacqua,  Bechuana, 
Sesuto,  Zulu,  and  Kaffir.  There  are  nearly  a  (piarter 
of  a  million  of  communicants.  Numerous  schools  ha%-e 
been  opened,  with  a  large  average  attendance  of  schol- 
ars. As  a  Hottentot  has  expressed  it,  the  missionaries 
have  given  them  a  religion  where  formerly  they  had 
none;  taught  them  morality,  whereas  before  they  had 
no  idea  of^  morality;  they  were  given  up  to  profligacy 
and  drunkenness,  now  industry  and  sobriety  prevail 
among  them.  See  Moffat,  .Vissionai-^y  Labors  in  South 
Africa;  lAxmg&tonc,  Missionary  Travels;  Philips,  7?e- 
searches;  Campbell,  Travels  in  South  .Africa;  11  olden, 
Kaffir  Races ;  Shaw,  Memorials  of  South  .Africa ;  Broad- 
bent,  Martyrs  of  Namaqualand ;  Taylor,  Adventures  in 
South  .Africa. 

8.  Abyssinia  was  formerly  divided  into  three  inde- 
pendent states;  now,  however,  there  is  but  one.  The 
Christianity  of  the  Abyssinians  is  so  impure  as  to  be 
little  better  than  heathenism.  Thus  far  it  has  proved 
a  discouraging  field  for  missionary  effort.  The  Bible 
versions  in  use  are  the  Amharic  and  Ethiopic.  See 
Salt,  IIist07-y  of  .Abyssinia  ;  llotten,  Abyssinia  and  its 
People  (Lond.  18G8);  Gobat,  Three  Years'  Residince  in 
.Abyssitiia;  V\ai\,  .Abyssitiia  ;  Isenberg  and  Stern,  Mis- 
sionary Journals ;    Stem,   The    Captive   Missioiuny  ; 

I  Krapf,  Eighteen  Years  in  Eastern  .Africa.     See  Anvs- 

XIAN  CiiLUcn. 

0.  .Vadagascar  is  one  of  the  largest  islands  in  the 
world,  with  a  population  of  live  millions.  The  native 
religion  is  idolatrous,  but  no  jndilic  worship  is  offered  to 
the  idols.  The  London  ^lissionary  Society  imroduced 
the  Gospel  into  JIadagascar  in  the  year  1>^18.  The 
work  of  that  society  has  been  very  succcsslul.  having 
largely  secured  the  Christianization  of  the  island.  The 
other  missionary  societies  are  the  Church  and  Propaga- 
tion. The  Bible  version  iii  use  is  the  Malagasy.  The 
native  Church  passed  through  a  terrible  ixrsecution  in 
1849.  Two  thousand  persons  suffered  death  rather  than 
renounce  Christ.  So  plentiful  has  been  the  ingathering 
since  that  Madagascar  is  now  in  an  important  sense 
counted  a  Christ  ian  countrj*.  Sec  EUis,  I/islory  of  Mad- 
agascar ;  id.,  .Martyr  Church  of  Madagascar ;  Freeman, 
J^crsecntions  in  Madagascar;  Reports  of  the  London 
Missionary  Societj*. 

10.  .l/auritius.  —  This  island  has  a  population  of 
300,000,  three  (juarters  of  wliom  rei)rcsent  the  races  of 
India.  The  missionary  societits  in  this  lield  are  the 
Loudon,  Propagation,  and  Church.    An  extensive  and 


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promising  work  is  carried  on  among  the  Tamils  and 
Bengali-Hindustani-speaking  coolies,  and  also  by  the 
London  Society  among  the  refugees  and  other  emi- 
grants from  Madagascar.  See  Bond,  Brief  Mevwrials 
of  the  Rev.  J.  Sarjant;  Backhouse, >m«  to  Mauritius; 
Le  Brun,  Letters, 

11.  Ceylon  is  an  island  situated  off  the  south-west 
coast  of  Hindustan.  The  inhabitants  are  divided  into 
four  classes:  the  Singhalese,  who  are  Buddhists;  the 
Tamils,  who  profess  Hinduism ;  the  Moormen,  and  the 
Whedahs.  A  form  of  Christianity  was  introduced  into 
Ceylon  by  the  Jesuits  as  early  as  1505.  Protestant  mis- 
sions were  commenced  by  the  Dutch  in  1G56,  by  the 
London  Jlissionary  Society  in  1804,  by  the  Baptists  in 
1812,  and  by  the  American  Board  in  the  same  year. 
The  Wesleyans  of  England  commenced  their  important 
mission  in  the  same  island  in  1813.  Glorious  triumphs 
have  been  wrought  in  this  field  during  the  last  half- 
century,  and  a  steady  advance  now  characterizes  the 
work.  The  Wesleyan  mission  has  been  very  successful. 
It  reports  1356  members.  The  missionary  societies  are 
the  Baptist,  Church,  Propagation,  and  American  Board. 

.  The  Bible  versions  in  use  are  the  Pali,  Singhalese,  and 
Indo-Portuguese.  See  Tennent,  Christianity  in  Ceylon ; 
Hardy,  Buddhism  in  Ceylon ;  Echard,  Residence  in  Cey- 
lon ;  Harvard,  Mission  in  Ceylon ;  Selkirk,  Recollections 
of  Ceylon ;  Hardj',  Jubilee  Memorials  of  the  Wesleyan 
Mission  in  South  Ceylon. 

12.  India  has  been  divided  by  the  British  into  the 
three  presidencies  of  Bengal,  I?ombay,  and  IVIadras ; 
■these  again  are  subdivided  into  districts.  Its  entire  ex- 
tent is  about  1,357,000  square  miles,  with  a  population 
of  250,000,000.  The  religions  may  be  divided  into  four 
classes:  Hinduism,  Buddhism,  Mohammedanism,  and 
that  taught  by  Zoroaster.  Under  their  individual  and 
united  influence  the  condition  of  the  people  was  de- 
plorable. Children  were  thrown  into  the  River  Ganges 
as  offerings  to  imaginary  deities ;  widows  were  burned 
with  the  dead  bodies  of  their  husbands,  and  numbers 
destroyed  themselves  by  throwing  their  bodies  under 
the  wheels  of  the  cars  of  their  bloodthirsty  idols.  The 
pioneers  of  Protestant  missions  in  this  country  were 
two  Danes,  who  arrived  in  1706.  There  are  now  twen- 
ty-seven missionary  societies  laboring  in  the  field.  Tlie 
following  are  a  few  :  Church,  Propagation,  London,  Bap- 
tist, Wesleyan,  Church  of  Scotland,  American  Presbyteri- 
an, American  Baptist,  and  American  Methodist  Episcopal. 
A  few  of  the  Bible  versions  in  use  are  the  Bengali,  Hindui, 
Urdu  Telinga,  Tamil,  Mahratti,  and  Punjabi.  The  num- 
ber of  native  Christians  at  the  close  of  1871  was  221,161. 
Within  the  preceding  ten  years  an  increase  of  85,430 
took  place.  The  system  of  caste,  which  has  proved  a 
great  barrier  to  the  triumph  of  the  Gospel,  is  becoming 
lax,  and  showing  signs  of  its  coming  dissolution.  Wid- 
ows are  often  remarried.  Females  for  the  first  time 
are  under  education.  There  is  a  better  appreciation  of 
justice,  morality,  and  religion  than  ever  there  was.  The 
native  Church  promises  to  become  gradually  self-sup- 
porting. The  number  of  towns  and  villages  scattered 
over  the  country  inhabited  by  Protestant  Christians  is 
4657.  Statistical  facts,  however,  can  in  no  way  convey 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  work  which  has  been  done  in 
any  part  of  India.  The  Gospel  has  been  working  like 
leaven,  and  the  effect  is  very  great  even  in  places  where 
tliere  are  but  few  avowed  conversions.  Even  Keshub 
Chunder  Sen,  the  leader  of  the  new  Theistic  school,  has 
been  constrained  to  use  the  following  language :  "  The 
spirit  of  Cliristianity  has  already  pervaded  the  whole 
atmosphere  of  Indian  society,  and  we  breathe,  think, 
feel,  and  move  in  a  Christian  atmosphere.  Native  so- 
ciety is  aroused,  enlightened,  and  reformed  under  the 
influence  of  Christian  education,"  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  M-ho 
was  thirty  years  in  India  in  various  official  positions, 
says :  "  I  speak  simply  as  to  matters  of  experience  and 
observation,  and  not  of  opinion,  just  as  a  Roman  pre- 
fect might  have  reported  to  Trajan  or  the  Antonines, 
and  I  assure  you,  whatever  you  may  be  told  to  the  con- 


trarj',  the  teaching  of  Christianity  among  one  hundred 
and  sixty  millions  of  civilized,  industrious  Hindiis  and 
Mohammedans  in  India  is  effecting  changes— moral,  so- 
cial, and  religious — which,  for  extent  and  rapidity  of  ef- 
fect, are  far  more  extraordinary  than  anything  which 
you  or  your  fathers  have  witnessed  in  modern  Europe. 
It  has  come  to  be  the  general  feeling  in  India  that  Hin- 
duism is  at  an  end— that  the  death-knell  has  been  rung 
of  that  collection  of  old  superstitions  which  has  been 
held  together  so  long."  Similar  testimony  has  been 
borne  by  lord  Lawrence  in  his  famous  letter  to  the 
London  Times ;  also  by  lord  Napier,  Sir  William  Bluir, 
colonel  Sir  Herbert  Edwards,  and  others  in  the  civil  and 
military  service  in  India.  The  general  opinion,  not 
only  of  the  missionaries,  but  of  thoughtful  and  intelli- 
gent laymen,  is  that  India  is  much  in  the  condition  of 
Rome  just  previous  to  the  baptism  of  the  emperor  Con- 
stantine.  Idolatry  now  in  India,  as  then  in  Rome,  is 
falling  into  disgrace — men  are  becoming  wiser.  Truth 
in  its  clearness  and  power  is  gradually  entering  their 
minds  and  changing  their  habits  and  lives.  An  intelli- 
gent Hindu  said  to  a  missionary  on  one  occasion :  "  The 
story  which  you  tell  of  him  who  lived,  and  pitied,  and 
came,  and  taught,  and  suffered,  and  died,  and  rose  again 
— that  story,  sir,  will  overthrow  our  temples,  destroy  our 
ritual,  abolish  our  shastras,  and  extinguish  our  gods." 
The  preaching  of  Christ  crucified,  and  the  proclaiming 
of  him  who  is  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,  is  already 
accomplishing  in  some  measure  what  this  Hindu  said  it 
would,  and  we  may  hope,  with  the  divine  blessing,  to 
see  in  the  near  future  a  great  turning  of  the  people  unto 
the  Lord,  and  the  utter  destruction  of  all  idols.  '  See 
Thornton,  India,  its  State  and  Prospects ;  Duff,  India 
and  Indian  Missions;  Kay,  History  of  Christianity  in 
India ;  Butler,  Land  of  the  Veda ;  Hough,  Christianity 
in  India ;  Hoole,  Madixxs  and  Mysore ;  Clarkson,  India 
and  the  Gospel;  Masaie,  Continental  India ;  Tinling,-Ear- 
ly  Roman  Catholic  Missions  in  India  ,•  Weitbrect,  Mis- 
sions in  Bengal;  Wylie,  Benyal ;  UtOTTOw,  India  and 
Christian  Missions ;  Stirling,  Orissa  ;  Arthur,  Mission 
to  Mysore ;  Long,  Bengal  Missions ;  Mullen,  Misdons  in 
South  India;  Memoirs  of  Carey,  Marshman.Ward,  and 
Schwartz ;  Rev.  E.  J.  Robinson,  The  Daughters  of  India ; 
Mary  E.  Leslie,  The  Zenana  Mission, 

13.  Indo-China  comprises  the  kingdoms  between  In- 
dia and  China.  The  whole  district  may  be  divided  into 
four  parts:  the  British  territories,  Burmah,  Siam,  and  Co- 
chin China,  including  Cambodia  and  Tonquin.  Buddh- 
ism is  the  leading  religion.  The  missionary  societies  are 
the  American  Baptist,  American  Presbyterian,  American 
Missionary  Association,  and  Gossner's  Evangelical.  The 
Bible  versions  in  use  are  the  Burmese,  Bghai-Karen, 
Sgau-Karen,  Pwo-Karen,  and  Siamese.  The  Baptists 
have  achieved  great  success  in  these  regions.  Heathen 
customs  are  loosened,  prejudices  are  dissolved.  The  king 
of  Burmah  sends  his  son  to  the  mission  school.  The 
late  king  of  Siam  sought  his  most  congenial  associates 
among  European  Christians.  Evangelization  is  going 
on  with  great  vigor  among  the  Karens  of  Burmah. 
Though  poor,  they  support  their  own  pastors.  See  Mrs. 
Wylie,  Gospel  in  Burmah ;  Mrs.  Judson,  A  merican  Bap- 
tist Mission  to  the  Burman  Emph-e;  Life  of  Judson; 
Malcom,  Travels;  Gutzlaff,  Notices  of  Siam,  Corea,  and 
Loo  Choo  ;  Gammell,  Baptist  Missions. 

14.  The  Indian  Archipelago,  —  This  vast  exteat  of 
islands  forms  a  bridge  as  it  were  to  Australia,  and  from 
thence  northward  to  China.  The  outer  crescent  begins 
with  the  Nicobar  and  Andaman  Islands,  followed  by 
Sumatra  and  Java,  and  then  by  the  Lesser  Sunda  Isl- 
ands. Northward  of  these  are  the  IMohiccas,  which  are 
followed  by  the  Philippines,  and  lastly  by  Formosa.  The 
superficiar  area  is  estimated  at  170,000  square  miles. 
The  population  is  20,000,000.  The  most  ancient  inhab- 
itants were  the  Papoos;  they  were  supplanted  by  the 
Malays;  these  in  turn  are  threatened  with  the  same  fate 
by  the  Chinese  coolies.  The  religions  are  numerous: 
Hindus,  Buddhists,  and  Moliamraedans  form  the  larger 


MISSIONS 


374 


MISSIONS 


proportion  of  the  populations.  The  missionary  societies  | 
arc  tlic  Xetherland  Society  of  Rotterdam  (1797),  Java 
Siicicty  (if  Anistpnlam.  Separatist  Reformed  Church, 
I'trcilit.  Nctlicrland  Society  of  Rotterdam  (1850),  Neth- 
erlaiul  lidonncd,  t'hurcli  of  Eiifflanii,  and  Rhenish.  The 
Bible  versions  in  use  are  the  Malay,  Javanese,  Dajak, 
and  Sundanese.  Considerable  good  has  been  accom- 
plished among  the  Saribas  tribes  and  the  Land  Dyaks  of 
Borneo.  Both  their  moral  and  social  state  testify  to  the 
civili/.ing  power  of  Ciiristianity.  See  Wigger,  J/igt.  of 
Jlissidiix;  Memoirs  of  Munson  and  Lyman;  Hist,  of  the 
Missions  of  the  American  Board. 

15.  China. — This  is  an  extensive  country  of  Eastern 
Asia.  Its  superficial  area  is  equal  to  about  one  third 
that  of  Europe,  and  its  population  is  estimated  at 
400,000,000.  The  empire  is  divided  into  eigliteen  jirov- 
inces.  The  religions  of  China  are  chiefly  Buddhism 
and  Confucianism.  The  first  Protestant  mission  in  China 
was  that  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  founded  by 
Dr.  ISIorrison  in  the  year  1807.  'I'he  missionary  socie- 
ties now  in  the  field  are  twenty-two  in  all,  a  few  of 
which  are  the  following :  London,  American  Board  of 
Comnlis^ioners,  American  Bajitist,  American  Methodist 
Eiiis(n|i;d,  American  Eiiiscopal,  American  Presbyterian, 
Ba|iiisi,  Weslevan,  and  Presbyterian.  The  Bible  versions 
in  use  are  the  Chinese,  Jlandarin,  NingjK),  Canton,  llakka, 
and  other  local  dialects  of  China.  For  several  years  there 
was  little  or  no  visible  fruit  of  tlie  missionary's  labor, 
but  at  length  the  tide  of  success  set  in,  and  a  large  in- 
gathering of  converts  took  place.  All  the  open  jiorts 
are  occupied  by  mission  stations,  and  some  places  that 
are  not  open  by  treaty  stipulations  are  occupied  on  suf- 
ferance. There  are  now  one  hundred  ordained  mission- 
aries, and  one  hundred  and  eighty  native  catechists  and 
teachers.  The  result  of  their  united  labors  is  encour- 
aging as  to  the  past  and  full  of  promise  for  the  future. 
A  review  of  the  results  which  have  been  accom]ilished 
in  India  (see  above),  and  of  the  spiritual  revolution 
■which  is  in  progress  there,  is  in  a  high  degree  encour- 
aging to  those  who  are  laboring  for  the  conversion  of 
the  still  more  populous  empire  of  China.  Missions  in 
China  have  been  established  only  about  half  the  period 
that  they  have  in  India,  and  there  have  been  only  about 
half  as  many  laborers.  When  they  shall  have  been 
continued  for  as  long  a  time,  and  with  as  many  mis- 
sionaries, the  prospect  is  that  there  will  be  an  etiual  or 
greater  number  of  converts,  and  the  prospect  for  the 
utter  overthrow  of  the  religious  systems  of  China  will 
be  ecpially  bright.  The  obstacles  to  the  conversion  of 
the  Chinese  people  are  many  and  great,  but  tliey  are 
not  more  numerous  or  formidable  than  those  wbicli  are 
now  successfully  eiHM.iiniered  in  India.  If  the  Chinese 
are  a  more  maini.ili-iic  p(ii|ile  than  the  Hindus,  and 
their  leading  men  \\\u\-v  sceptically  inclined,  there  is,  on 
the  other  hand,  an  absence  of  the  immense  obstacle  of 
caste:  nor  is  there  any  set  of  men  in  China  that  are 
looked  up  to  with  such  awe  and  reverence,  and  wield 
such  immense  power,  as  the  Brahmins  of  India.  IMore- 
over,  there  is  not  the  same  diversity  of  races  in  the  Chi- 
nese empire,  and  the  number  of  languages  is  but  about 
half  the  inimber  of  those  in  India.  Tiiere  is,  too,  this 
advantage  in  China,  that,  whatever  the  mother-tongue 
may  be,  all  who  have  received  a  good  education  can  read 
books  understandingly,  wliich  are  in  the  general  written 
(unspoken)  language.  The  Chinese  also  are  becoming 
a  ubiquitous  people,  and  of  the  multitudes  who  come  to 
our  own  and  other  Christian  lands,  we  have  good  reason 
to  believe  that  not  a  few  will  return  to  China  i)re]iared 
in  heart  and  mind  to  aid  in  spreading  the  (iospcl  of 
Christ.  The  number  of  Chinese  converts  at  the  pres- 
ent time  is  nine  thousand,  which  is  about  tlic  number 
there  were  in  India  thirty  years  ago,  and  the  stage  of 
progress  of  the  missions  in  other  respects  is  al)ont  the 
same  as  it  was  in  the  latter  country  at  tliat  ))eriod;  but 
the  outlook  in  Cliina  now  is  much  more  encouraging 
than  it  was  in  India  then,  and  all  those  who  are  seek- 
ing the  spiritual  conquest  of  the  most  ancient  and  most 


populous  nation  of  the  world  have  abundant  encourage- 
ment to  press  forward  in  their  cfl'orts.  See  Medburst, 
China  ;  Hue,  Ckiistianiti/  in  China.  Tartary,  and  Thibirt  ; 
Morrison's  Life;  Ahw].  lii-sidtnre  in  China;  K'ldd. Chi- 
na ;  WilWams, Middk-  Klnf/dom  ;  Dooliltle.  (7,/»a  ,-  WW- 
\iamson,Joiirn(  i/s  in  Xnrt/i  China.  M laichuria,  and  Mon- 
golia ;  Lockhart,  J/(f//c((/  Missinnani  in  Cliina;  Jlilne, 
Life  in  China  ;  Matheson,  J'risht/ltrian  Jlission  in  Chi- 
na; Dean,  China  Mission;  AViley,  I'uh-Chau  and  its 
Missions. 

16.  Jajyan. — This  empire  consists  of  three  large  islands 
and  several  smaller  ones,  which  have  a  superliciid  area 
of  90,000  square  miles,  and  a  population  of  4(t.(l()(i.(i(iO. 
The  Japanese  are  divided  into  two  religious  sects,  called 
Sinto  and  Budso,  or  Buddhists.  The  missionary  socie- 
ties are  the  American  Episcopal,  American  Presbyte- 
rian, American  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church,  and  American 
Metliodist  Episcopal  ("hurch.  The  Bible  version  in  use 
is  the  Japanese.  This  peculiar  country,  which,  follow- 
ing the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  17th  century, 
could  not  be  brought  under  missionar}-  influence  from 
being  closed  to  foreigners,  has  now  become  so  freely 
open,  and  brought  into  such  favorable  relations  with 
Christian  nations,  as  to  encourage  the  hojie  that  as  a 
nation  it  will  be  entirely  Christianized  at  no  distant 
period.  See  Smith,  \'isit  to  Japan;  Caddell,  Missions  in 
Japan;  recent /^c^jor/s  of  missionaries;  Mori,  L'du  cation 
in  Japan. 

17.  Australia  is  the  largest  island  in  the  world, being 
nearly  the  size  of  the  whole  of  Europe.  The  j'.liorigines, 
a  race  more  degraded  than  either  the  Hottentot  or  Bush- 
men of  South  Africa,  are  fast  diminishing  in  numbers. 
The  missionary  societies  are  the  Colonial  Presbyterian, 
Gossner's  Evangelical,  Evangelical  Jloravian  Brother- 
hood, and  Weslej-an  Propagation.  The  migratory  hab- 
its of  the  native  tribes  have  stood  in  the  way  of  any 
great  success  of  missionarj-  labors.  Some,  however,  have 
been  reached  by  locdizing  them  on  mission  reserves. 
The  coh)nization  and  occupation  of  Australia  by  (ireat 
Britain  has  introduced  Christian  civilization  anil  Eng- 
lish institutions  throughout  its  vast  extent,  and  made  it 
the  subject  of  evangelical  labor  in  modes  peculiar  to  all 
Protestant  Christian  countries.  See  Young,  ISoulheiii 
World;  Johson,  A  list j-aliu ;  Strachan, /,?ye  of  Sawuil 
Leif/h  ;  Memoijs  ofJiev.  B,  Carvosso,  J).  J.  Draper,  and 
Nathaniel  Tnrner  ;  Angus.  Sarage  Life  in  A7istralia. 

18.  New  Zealand  comprises  a  group  of  islands  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  the  jjtincipal  of  which,  three  in  number, 
are  distinguished  as  the  Northern,  ^liddle,  and  Southern 
Islands.  The  natives  were  savage  cannibals,  wit liout 
any  fixed  idea  of  worshi)),  but  believers  in  a  great  sjiirit 
called  Atua  and  an  evil  sjnrit  called  Wiro.  Tiie  lirst 
missions  to  this  people  were  commenced  in  1814  by  the 
Church  and  Wesleyan  missionary  societies.  The  mis- 
sionary societies  now  in  the  field  are  the  Proimgation, 
Church,  North  (ierman,  and  Wesleyan.  The  Hilile  ver- 
sions in  use  are  the  JIaori  and  New  Caledonian.  The  n.a- 
tives  are  now  chiefly  professed  Christians.  The  Chris- 
tian .Sabbatli  and  Cliristian  ordinances  .ire  observed  all 
over  the  islands,  and  this  triumidi  of  Christianity,  in 
rescuing  such  a  nation  from  the  depths  of  heathenism, 
and  even  from  the  practice  of  the  bloodiest  cannibalism, 
is  indeed  glorious.  See  Yates,  Xew  Zealand;  Thomp- 
son, Stoi-y  ofNeto  Zealand;  Jliss  Tucker,  The  Southern 
Cross  and  Soiitheiii  Crown ;  Brown,  Xew  Zealand  and 
its  Aboriyines;  Memoirs  of  J.  II.  Bumby. 

19.  Tonga  and  /•'//(.— Although  embraced  in  the  gen- 
eric title  of  Polynesia,  and  even  in  the  minor  term 
South  Sea  Islands,  yet  the  insular  groups  known  as 
Tonga  and  Fiji  deserve  special  notice  as  having  exhib- 
ited some  |iecnliar  features  of  savage  life,  and  corre- 
spondingly wonderful  triumphs  of  Christian  labor.  The 
population  of  the  Tonga,  frequently  called  the  Friendly 
Islands,  is  estimateil  at  :)0.000 ;  th.ii  ..f  Fiji,  150.000.  scat- 
tered over  not  less  than  eighty  ditlereut  islands.  Can- 
nilmlism  is  a  characteristic  practice  of  the  heathen  of 
Polynesia.     In  Fiji  it  was  an  institution  of  the  people 


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375 


MISSIONS 


interwoven  in  the  elements  of  society,  forming  one  of 
tlieir  pursuits,  and  regarded  by  the  mass  as  a  refine- 
ment. But  even  this  revolting  crime  has  yielded  before 
the  mild  influence  of  Christianity,  and  is  for  the  most 
part  abolished.  Perhaps  it  may  be  still  secretly  prac- 
ticed by  a  few  in  some  of  the  islands.  The  triumphs 
of  the  Gospel  in  these  remote  parts  of  the  earth  have 
been  in  every  sense  wonderful.  Cruel  practices  and  de- 
grading superstitions  have  given  way  before  Christian 
teaching.  "  Thousands  have  been  converted,  have  borne 
trial  and  persecution,  well  maintained  good  conduct,  and 
died  happy.  Marriage  is  sacred;  the  Sabbath  regard- 
ed ;  family  worship  regularly  conducted ;  schools  estab- 
lished generally;  slavery  abolished  or  mitigated;  the 
foundation  of  law  and  government  laid ;  many  spiritual 
churches  formed,  and  a  native  ministry  raised  up  for 
every  branch  of  the  Church's  work."  The  missionary 
societies  are  the  London,  Wesleyan,  and  a  few  smaller 
organizations.  The  Bible  versions  are  the  Fijian  and 
Rotuman.  See  Williams  and  Calvert,  Fiji  and  the  Fi- 
jians ;  Miss  Farmer,  Tomja  and  the  Friendly  Isles ;  West, 
Ten  Years  in  South  Central  Polynesia ;  Martin,  Tonga 
Islands;  Lawr}-,  Visits  to  the  Friendly  Islands ;  Seemann, 
Mission  to  the  Fiji  Islands;  Turner,  Nineteen  Years  in 
Polynesia ;  Waterhouse,  King  and  People  of  Fiji ;  Me- 
moirs  of  Mrs.  Cargill. 

20.  The  South  Sea  Islands. — The  above  term  is  pop- 
ularly applied  to  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  south  of  the 
equator,  including  the  Marquesas,  the  Austral,  the  Soci- 
ety, the  Georgian,  the  Harvey,  the  New  Hebrides,  and 
the  Solomon  Islands,  as  well  as  the  groups  above  noticed. 
A  mission  was  begun  in  that  distant  and  degraded  re- 
gion as  early  as  1797,  but  the  difficulties  were  so  great 
that  it  came  near  being  abandoned.  But  in  1812  the 
night  of  heathenism  seemed  to  be  suddenly  illuminated 
by  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  It  has  since  been  fol- 
lowed by  a  glorious  awakening.  Up  to  that  time  a  na- 
tive Christian  in  Polynesia  was  unknown.  Two  gener- 
ations later  it  was  difficult  to  find  a  professed  idolator  in 
all  Eastern  or  Central  Polynesia  wliere  Christian  mis- 
sions had  been  established.  "  The  hideous  rites  of  their 
forefathers  have  ceased  to  be  practiced.  Their  heathen 
legends  and  war-songs  are  forgotten.  Their  cruel  and 
desolating  tribal  wars  appear  to  be  at  an  end.  The 
people  are  gathered  together  in  peaceful  village  com- 
munities, and  live  under  recognised  codes  of  law.  On 
the  Sabbath  a  large  proportion  of  them  attend  the  wor- 
ship of  God.  In  some  instances  more  than  half  the 
adults  are  members  of  Christian  churches.  They  edu- 
cate their  children,  they  sustain  their  native  ministers, 
and  send  their  noblest  sons  as  missionaries  to  heathen 
lands  farther  west."  In  fact,  those  islands  are  no  longer 
to  be  regarded  as  heathen.  See  Ellis,  Polynesian  Re- 
searches ;  Williams,  Missionary  Enterjnises  in  the  South 
Sea  Islands  ;  Alartyr  of  Erromanga  ;  Life  of  John 
Williams ;  Gill,  Gems  from  the  Coral  Islands  ;  Lundie, 
Mission  in  Samoa;  Pritchard,  Missionary's  Reward; 
Murray,  Missions  in  Western  Polynesia;  History  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society. 

21.  Sandwich  Islands. — The  Sandwich  or  Hawaiian 
Islands  constitute  the  most  important  Polynesian  group 
north  of  the  equator.  They  have  been  the  locality  of 
one  of  the  most  important  missions  of  the  American 
Board.  That  mission  was  commenced  in  1820,  Its 
history  for  forty  years  following  is  one  of  struggle,  trial, 
perseverance,  and  encouraging  success.  The  report  of 
the  mission  in  1857  said,  '•  When  we  contrast  the  pres- 
ent with  the  not  very  remote  past,  we  are  filled  with 
admiration  and  gratitude  in  view  of  the  wonders  God 
has  wrought  for  this  people.  Everywhere  and  in  all 
things  we  see  the  marks  of  progress.  Instead  of  troops 
of  idle,  naked,  noisy  savages  gazing  upon  ns,  we  are 
now  surrounded  by  well-clad,  quiet,  intelligent  multi- 
tudes, who  feel  the  dignity  of  men.  Instead  of  squalid 
poverty,  we  see  competence,  abundance,  and  sometimes 
luxury.  Instead  of  brutal  bowlings  and  dark  orgies, 
■we  hear  the  songs  of  Zion  and  the  supplications  of 


saints."  The  year  18G0  was  distinguished  for  revivals 
of  religion  over  a  large  part  of  the  islands.  As  a  result, 
nearly  1500  were  received  into  the  churches  during  that 
year,  and  800  the  year  following.  So  great  had  been 
the  success  of  this  mission  that  the  American  Board,  as 
early  as  1848,  incepted  measures  for  creating  an  inde- 
pendent and  self-supporting  Church  in  the  islands. 
Carefully  and  slowly  following  the  leadings  of  Provi- 
dence, the  native  churches  were  by  degrees  educated 
up  to  this  idea,  which  was  happily  consummated  in 
1863,  and  has  since  been  put  in  practice  with  excellent 
results.  Thus,  following  about  fifty  years  of  missionary 
labor,  not  counting  the  good  intermediately  accom- 
plished, the  world  witnesses  the  grand  result  of  a  na- 
tion converted  from  barbarism,  and  a  native  Christian 
community  supporting  its  own  pastors  and  maintaining 
foreign  missions  in  islands  and  regions  beyond.  See 
Stewart,  Missions  to  the  Sandwich  Islands;  Dibble, 
Sandicic/i  Ishiitils  Jfission;  Bingham,  Twenty-one  Years 
in  the  Sundiricli  Js/uiids;  Jarves,  History  of  the  Ilaicai- 
ian  Islands ;  Anderson,  History  of  the  Mission  of  the 
American  Board  to  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

22.  North  America.  —  The  aboriginal  races  of  the 
North  American  continent  have,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  been  the  subjects  of  missionary  labor  almost 
from  the  period  of  the  first  settlements  by  Europeans. 
Eliot's  mission  to  the  Indians  of  Massachusetts  was  be- 
gun in  1646.  The  French  Catholic  mission  to  the  na- 
tives of  Canada  dates  back  to  1613.  Spanish  missions 
were  commenced  in  Florida  in  1566,  in  New  Jlexico  in 
1597,  and  in  California  in  1697.  The  vast  extent  of  the 
continent,  the  lack  of  national  affiliation  among  the  nu- 
merous native  tribes,  the  imperfection  and  multiplicity 
of  languages,  together  with  the  extreme  unsusceptibil- 
ity  of  American  Indians  to  the  influences  and  habits  of 
civilized  life,  have  rendered  this  class  of  missions  pecul- 
iarly 'difficult.  Nevertheless  thej'  have  been  prosecut- 
ed by  Christians  of  various  denominations  with  a  zeal 
and  perseverance  that  have  not  been  without  encourag- 
ing results,  both  as  to  individuals  and  communities.  A 
full  history  of  these  missions  has  never  been  v/ritten, 
yet  many  volumes  have  been  filled  with  sketches  em- 
bodj'ing  material  for  such  a  history.  In  no  part  of  the 
world  have  there  been  greater  personal  sacrifices  or 
more  diligent  toil  to  Christianize  savages  with  resiUts 
less  proportioned  to  the  efforts  made.  Without  enu- 
merating or  discussing  causes,  the  fact  must  be  recog- 
nised that  throughout  the  whole  continent  the  aborig- 
inal races  are  dying  out  to  an  extent  that  leaves  little 
present  prospect  of  any  considerable  remnants  being 
perpetuated  in  the  form  of  permanent  Christian  com- 
munities. Still  missions  are  maintained  in  the  Indian 
territories  and  reservations,  and  the  government  of  the 
United  States  is  effectively  co-operating  with  them  to 
accomplish  all  that  may  be  done  for  the  Christian  civil- 
ization of  the  Indians  and  Indian  tribes  that  remain.  The 
Canadian  government  also  maintains  a  similar  attitude 
towards  the  Indian  missions  within  its  boundaries.  See 
Tracy,  Eliot,  and  jNIayhew,  Gospel  among  the  Indians; 
Lives  of  Eliot  and  Brainerd;  Mather,  History  of  New 
England;  Gookin,  Christian  Indians  of  New  England; 
Shea,  Catholic  Missions;  Kip,  Early  Jesuit  Missiona- 
ries; Winslow,  Progress  of  the  Gospel  in  New  England; 
Hallet,  Indians  of  North  America;  Heckewelder,  Mis- 
sions among  the  Delaivares  and  Mohicam  ;  tiatrobe, 
Moravian  Missions  in  North  America;  Loskiel,  Mora- 
vian Missions  in  North  America;  Hawkins,  Episcopal 
Missions  in  North  American  Colonies;  M'Coy,  Baptist 
Indian  Missions ;  Finley,  Wyandot  Mission;  Hines,  7«- 
dian  Missions  in  Oregon;  Pitezel,  Mission  Life  on  Lake 
Superior ;  Jones,  Ojibway  Imlians ;  West,  Mission  to  the 
Indians  of  the  British  Provinces;  Marsden,  Mission  to 
Nova  Scotia ;  Clnirehlll.  Missionary  Life  in  Nova  Scotia  ; 
Ryerson,  Hudson's  Bay  Mission ;  Tucker,  Rainbow  in  the 
North;  De  Schweinitz,  /.//('  of  Zeisberger. 

23.  The  United  States  and  Canada. — In  no  part  of  the 
world  is  there  more  enlightened  and  perseveruig  activ- 


MISSIONS 


376 


MISSIONS 


ity  in  missionary  effort  than  in  these  great  Christian 
countries.  To  them  the  tide  of  emigration  has  been 
flowing  from  Kurope  for  a  hundred  years,  and  of  late  it 
has  set  in  from  Asia.  Hence,  in  addition  to  the  provi- 
dential call  upon  American  Christians  for  efforts  to 
evangelize  the  Indians  of  their  forests,  tlicre  has  been 
even  a  louder  call  upon  them  to  teach  the  (iospcl  to  the 
foreign  ijopulatiinis  in  their  midst,  including  the  Afri- 
can slaves  and  their  descendants.  In  recognition  of 
this  call,  missions  have  been  prosecuted  with  great  ef- 
fect among  the  German  and  Scandinavian  populations, 
tlie  fruits  of  which  are  already  seen  in  the  American 
missions  to  Europe.  Missions  have  also  been  prosecuted 
to  some  extent  among  the  French  in  America  and  their 
descendants,  but  with  less  success.  Hut,  as  the  ten- 
dency is  strong  towards  the  mingling  of  all  nationalities 
in  a  homogeneous  American  population,  the  greatest  re- 
sidts  have  been  secured  in  the  normal  spreading  of  the 
various  churches  on  the  ever-enlarging  frontier,  and  in 
the  accumulating  masses  of  our  ever-growing  cities.  In 
this  work  of  home  evangelization,  Sunday-schools  [see 
Si;ni)Ay-sciiools]  have  served  as  a  most  efficient  aux- 
iliary. In  addition  to  the  various  general  and  local 
liomc  missionary  societies,  there  have  been  missions  to 
seamen  in  the  ocean  ports  and  along  the  inland  waters 
of  the  nation,  and  also  especially,  since  the  extinction 
of  slaven,',  to  the  freedmen  of  the  South.  Kecently  effi- 
cient missions  have  been  established  among  the  Chinese 
in  California. 

24.  Mexico  and  Central  Amet-ica. — These  countries 
Avere  favorite  fields  of  the  Spanish  Koman  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries, and  by  them  were  pronounced  Christianized 
at  a  comparatively  early  period  in  the  settlement  of 
America.  The  intermediate  history  of  those  countries, 
however,  illustrates  in  a  striking  manner  the  defective- 
ness of  tliat  form  of  Christianization  which  contents  it- 
self with  ceremonious  conversion,  and  the  exclusion  of 
the  Word  of  God  from  the  peojile.  Within  a  recent  pe- 
riod, and  more  particularly  since  the  extinction  of  the 
empire  of  Maximilian,  there  has  been  a  reaction  in 
favor  of  religious  liberty,  in  conseijuence  of  which  Prot- 
estant missions  have  been  established  in  the  city  of 
ilexico,  and  in  several  of  the  more  important  provinces. 
The  Scriptures  in  the  Spanish  language  are  now  freely 
circidated  throughout  Mexico,  and  to  some  extent  i)i 
the  republics  of  Central  America.  The  greatest  obsta- 
cles to  their  influence  on  the  public  mind  are  found  in 
the  prevailing  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  ])eople. 
It  may  be  hoped,  however,  that  these  will  gradually 
pass  away.  See  liobertson.  History  of  Ameiica  ;  I'res- 
cott,  (.'onqiicst  of  J/ptico  ;  History  of  the  British  and 
J-'ortii/n  and  American  Bible  Societies;  Bishop  Haven, 
Letters  from  ^fex^co ;  recent  Reports  of  the  American 
Christian  Union,  the  Presbyterian  Poard,  the  American 
Hoard,  and  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
I'^piscopal  Church;  Crowe,  Gospel  in  Central  America, 
J/oiidiiras,  and  (liiatemala. 

2').  South  A  merica. — With  the  exception  of  Brazil, 
wliich  was  settled  by  the  Portuguese,  the  several  coun- 
tries of  South  America  were  populated  by  colonies  from 
S|)ain.  The  entire  continent  was  long  ago  Christian- 
ized after  the  Koman  Catholic  type.  It  was  in  Para- 
guay, the  centre  of  the  continent,  that  the  Jesuits 
lilanted  and  developed  the  most  remarkal)le  mission 
known  to  their  history,  and  yet  by  Koman  Catholic 
power  they  were  summarily  expelled  both  from  Para- 
guay and  Mrazil.  The  aboriginal  races  of  South  Amer- 
ica liave  to  some  extent  become  mingled  with  the  Eu- 
ro|)ean  and  African  races  that  have  come  to  be  occupants 
of  their  territory,  but  to  a  large  extent  they  have  de- 
clined in  numbers,  giving  omen  of  nltimate  extinction. 
The  tribes  that  have  been  pronounced  Ciiristianized 
resemble  in  superstition  and  their  low  grade  of  intelli- 
gence the  native  races  of  Mexico,  and  their  relii,'ious 
aspirations  are  cciually  hopeless.  Most  of  the  Soutli 
American  governments  maintain  a  limited  toleration, 
under  which  Protestant  missions  have  been  established 


in  Guiana,  Guatemala,  Brazil,  Montevideo,  Buenos  Ayres, 
Peru,  and  Chili.  Most  of  these  missions  have  met  with 
encouraging  success,  which,  although  as  yet  on  a  lim- 
ited scale,  may  prove  the  beginning  of  great  results 
hereafter,  especially  in  elevating  the  standard  of  Christi- 
anity hitherto  prevailing  in  those  vast  regions.  Pata- 
gonia is  still  wholly  abandoned  to  a  sparse  population 
of  cruel  savages.  An  unsuccessful  mission  to  them  was 
attempted  in  1848  by  captain  Allen  Gardiner,  of  the 
English  navy,  and  several  associates.  Nevertheless 
etforts  for  the  evangelization  of  the  Patagonians  are  still 
kept  up  by  English  Christians.  See  Kobertson,  History 
ofAinerica;  Prescott,  Conquest  of  Peru  ;  Southey,  His- 
tory of  Brazil;  Kohl,  Travels  in  Peru;  Muratori,  Mis- 
sions in  Paraguay ;  Bernan,  Missionary  Labors  in  Brit- 
ish Guiana ;  Brett,  Indian  Missions  in  Guiana ;  Kidder, 
Sketches  of  Brazil;  Reports  of  the  Presbyterian  Board 
and  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Missionary  Society; 
Marsh,  Memoir  of  Captain  Gardiner;  Hamilton,  Life  of 
R,  Williams. 

26.  West  Indies.— The  West  India  Islands  are  divided 
into  three  principal  groups:  1,  the  Bahamas;  2,  the 
Greater  Antilles;  3,  the  Lesser  Antilles.  The  popula- 
tion is  estimated  at  about  3,400,000.  Of  these,  about 
two  thirds  are  negroes,  one  fifth  white  men,  and  the  re- 
mainder mixed  races.  Through  cruel  oppression  on  the 
part  of  the  early  European  emigrants  to  these  islands, 
the  native  races,  with  a  few  exceptions,  have  long  been 
extinct.  To  sujiply  their  place  as  laborers,  African 
slaves  were  imported.  The  religion  of  the  negroes  was 
a  mixture  of  idolatry,  superstition,  and  fanaticism.  Obe- 
ism  and  myalism,  species  of  witchcraft,  were  commonly 
practiced.  The  first  missionari-  efforts  among  the  ne- 
groes were  made  by  the  IMoravian  Brethren  in  1732. 
Since  then  the  following  missionary  societies  have  en- 
tered the  field:  the  Wesleyan,  American  Free  Bajitist, 
Propagation,  Baptist,  American  Missionarv,  London, 
Church,  and  United  Presbyterian.  Since  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  1838  the  negroes  have  given  increasing 
heed  to  the  precepts  and  practices  of  Christianity,  and 
thus  secured  a  higher  degree  of  moral  improvement  and 
social  elevation.  The  most  prosperous  society,  the  Wes- 
lej'an,  numbers  44,446  Church  members.  See  Coke, 
History  of  the  West  Indies;  Duncan,  Wesleyan  Mission 
to  Jamaica  ;  Phillippo,  Jamaica,  Past  and  Present  ; 
Samuel,  Missions  in  Jamaica  and  Honduras  ;  Horsford, 
Voice  from  the  West  Indies ;  CaiuWer,  Hayfi ;  KmhY),  Me- 
moirs ;  Memoirs  of  Jenkins,  Bradnack,  and  Mrs,  Wilson  ; 
TroUope,  West  Indies. 

27.  Greettland  and  Labrador. — The  arrival  of  Hans 
Egcde  on  the  shores  of  Greenland  in  1721  marked  an 
epoch  in  the  history  of  modern  missions,  and  the  whole 
subsequent  history'  of  Jloravian  missionary  effort  among 
the  inhabitants  of  tireenland  and  the  coasts  of  Labrador 
is  full  of  intense  though  sometimes  of  melancholy  inter- 
est. In  several  instances  both  the  missionaries  and  tlie 
people  for  whom  they  labored  were  decimated  alike  by 
disease  and  famine.  But,  notwithstanding  all  discour- 
agements, the  missionaries  toiled  on.  By  them  it  was 
effectually  demonstrated  that  the  one  agency  adapted 
to  elevating  degraded  savages  was  the  preaching  of 
Christ  and  him  crucified.  By  this  appointed  agency, 
first  one  and  subsequently  many  of  the  (ireenlanders 
were  awakened  and  converted,  after  which  civilization 
and  education  followed.  From  the  original  nucleus  of 
Christian  effort  at  Disco,  Christianity  has  been  effec- 

!  tively  disseminated  by  missionary  settlements  in  other 
parts  of  the  island.  Five  such  settlements  are  now  oc- 
cupied, and  nearly  two  thousand  souls  are  under  the 
direct  care  of  the  missionaries.  About  one  filth  of  the 
population  of  West  (ireenland  receive  Christian  in- 
struction at  the  mission  settlements,  and  there  are 
scarcely  any  iuiba])tized  (Jreenlanders  on  the  whole 
west  coast  up  to  tlie  seventy -second  degree  of  north 
latitude.  On  the  east  coast  the  inhabitants  are  still 
heathen;  hut  they  are  veri-  few  in  number,  and  practi- 
cally inaccessible  to  foreigners.    The  peninsula  of  Lab- 


MISSIONS 


377 


MISSIONS 


rador  is  sparsely  inhabited  by  Esquimaux,  a  race  of  I 
natives  similar  in  language  and  customs  to  the  Green-  j 
landers.  To  that  land,  therefore,  the  Moravians  ex- 
tended their  efforts  successfully  in  1771,  since  which 
time  they  have  been  extending  Christian  influence  by 
means  of  mission  stations,  of  which  there  are  now  four — 
Nain,  Okak,  Hopedale,  and  Hebron.  At  these  stations 
thirtj'-five  missionary  agents  are  employed,  and  about 
twelve  hundred  natives  are  under  Christian  instruction. 
The  Gospel  has  triumphed  in  frozen  Labrador  as  well 
as  in  Greenland.  See  Crantz,  History  of  Greenland; 
Egede,  Greenland  Mission;  Holmes,  United  Brethren;  j 
Histories  of  Moravian  missions  in  Greenland  and  Ice- 
land. I 

VIII.  Missionary  Geography. — From  the  above  sur-  ' 
vey  it  may  be  seen  that  in  an  important  sense  the 
world  is  already  occupied  as  the  field  of  active  mis- 
sionary enterprise.  A  few  brief  statements  of  results 
accomplished  by  it  during  the  current  centur_y  may 
serve  as  a  just  indication  of  still  greater  results  that 
may  now  be  safelj'^  anticipated  in  time  to  come  from 
its  increasing  and  maturing  agencies. 

The  mission  to  Tahiti  in  1793-1  was  the  first  at- 
tempt in  modern  times  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  an  iso- 
lated and  uncivilized  people.  It  was  commenced  at  a  j 
period  when  the  greater  heathen  nations  of  the  world  ■ 


were  wholly  inaccessible.  In  the  islands  of  the  Bouth- 
ern  seas,  as  upon  a  trial-ground,  all  the  great  problems 
of  humanity  have  since  been  wrought  out.  The  dens- 
est ignorance  has  been  enlightened,  the  fiercest  can- 
nibalism has  been  confronted,  the  lowest  conditions  of 
humanity  have  been  elevated,  and  the  most  abomina- 
ble idolatries  overthrown  and  substituted  by  a  pure 
worship.  The  various  languages  and  dialects  of  the 
islands  of  the  Pacific  have  been  committed  to  writing. 
Dictionaries,  grammars,  translations  of  the  Script- 
ures, and  many  other  books,  have  been  printed  and  in- 
troduced to  the  daily  use  of  the  populations,  a  large 
proportion  of  whom  have  been  taught  by  schools  to 
read  and  write  in  their  own  languages.  The  civil 
condition  of  the  various  communities  has  also  been 
improved  by  modifications  of  their  laws  and  customs 
adapted  to  the  new  and  improved  state  of  public  feel- 
ing and  knowledge. 

It  is  hardly  possible  for  the  processes  of  elevating 
nations  from  pagan  barbarism  to  Christian  civilization 
to  be  better  stated  than  in  the  language  of  John  Wil- 
liams, the  renowned  missionary  martyr  of  Erromanga. 
"I  am  convinced,"  wrote  he,  forty  years  ago,  "that 
the  first  step  towards  the  production  of  a  nation's  tem- 
poral and  social  elevation  is  to  plant  among  them  the 
tree  of  life,  when  civilization  and  commerce  will  en- 


1.  Am.  Board  (Cong.).  2.  Am.  Presb.  M.  S.  3.  Am.  Bapt.  M.  U.  4.  Am.  Meth.  Epis.  M.  S.  5.  Am.  United 
Presb.  M.  S.  6.  Am.  Free  Bapt.  AI.  S.  7.  Am.  Lnth.  M.  S.  S.  Am.  Ref.  (Dutch)  M.  S.  9.  Am.  Miss.  Assoc. 
10.  Eng.  Soc.  Prop.  Go8i)el.  11.  Eu?.  London  M.  S.  12.  Enjr.  Church  M.  S.  13.  Eug.  Bapt.  M.  S.  14.  Eng. 
WesleyauM.S.  1.5.  Euir.  Presb.  M.  S.  16.  Scotch  Estab.  Ch.  M.  S.  17.  Scotch  United  Presb.  M.  S.  18.  Sctch 
Free  Ch.  M.  S.  19.  Irish  Presb.  Ch.  M.  S.  20.  Welsh  Calv.  Meth.  M.  S.  21.  Leipsic  M.  S.  22.  Basle  M.  S. 
23.  Herman usburg  M.  S.  24.  Gossuer's  M.  S.  25.  Danish  M.  S.  26.  Moravian  M.  S.  27.RhmeM.S.  2S.  Dutch 
Zeuding  M.  S. 


MISSIONS 


378 


MISSIONS 


CHINA 

AND 

JAPAN 

ono    300   400  fioo 


1.  Am.  Koard  (Conir.).  '2.  Am.  Piesh.  M.  S.  3.  Am.  rnitecl  Presb.  M.  S.  4.  Am.  Southeru  Presb.  M.  S. 
5.  Am.  Muth.  Ep.  M.  S.  6.  Am.  Soiitheni  Melh.  M.  S.  7.  Am.  Kc-f.  ^D'ltcli)  M.  S.  S.  Am.  h.ipt.  M.  U.  '.).  Am. 
.Soiuhein  ]{apt.  M.  S.  10.  Am.  Scvciith-Uay  liapt.  M.  S.  11.  Am.  Plot.  Kp.  M.  S.  12.  Eiig.  London  I\I.  S. 
i:!.  Enfr.  Cliiirch  M.  S.  14.  En^'.  Wesleyan  M.  S.  15.  Enjr.  Bapt.  M.  S.  10.  Eiig.  Piesb.  M.  S.  17.  Eng.  United 
]«etli.  M.  S.  IS.  Eng.  Meth.  New  Con.  M.  S.  19.  Eng.  China  Inland  M.  S.  20.  Scotch  United  Piesb.  M.  S. 
21.  Irish  Prcsb.  M.  S.    22.  Basle  M.  S.    23.  Khiue  M.  S.    24.  Berlin  M.  S. 


twine  their  tendrils  around  its  trunk,  and  derive  sup- 
])ort  from  its  strength.  Until  the  people  are  brought 
under  the  influence  of  religion  they  have  no  desire  for 
the  arts  and  usages  of  civilized  life,  but  that  invari- 
ably creates  it."  "While  the  natives  are  under  the 
influence  of  their  superstitions,  they  evince  an  inanity 
and  torpor  from  which  no  stimulus  has  proved  power- 
ful enough  to  arouse  thcin  but  the  new  ideas  and  the 
new  jtrinciples  imparted  by  Christianity.  And  if  it  be 
not  already  proved,  the  experience  of  a  few  more  years 
will  demonstrate  the  fact  that  the  niissionarj'  enter- 
prise is  inconiparaldy  the  most  effective  machinery 
that  has  ever  been  brought  to  operate  upon  the  social, 
the  civil,  and  the  commercial,  as  well  as  the  moral  and 
spiritual  interests  of  mankind."  At  the  present  time 
tile  mission  licld  of  the  Soutli  Sea  Islands  presents  cverj' 
variety  of  communities,  from  those  of  the  coral  islets, 
just  emerging  from  barbarism  and  learning  their  first 
lessons  of  Christianity,  to  those  that  have  been  longest 
taught  and  most  thoroughly'  tried  by  intercourse  with 
the  outer  world,  which  has  sonietinios  been  as  destruc- 
tive as  their  original  paganism.  It  has  been  thought 
by  some  that  the  first  experiments  of  modern  missions 
to  the  heathen  were  providentially  directed  to  the 
Bmall  islands  of  Polynesia,  among  an  imprcssii)lo  peo- 
ple, rather  than  to  the  great  and  ancient  nations  of 


I  India  and  China;  that  comparatively  the  easiest  work 
was  given  to  the  churches  at  first,  in  the  jirocess  of 
which  they  might  solve  the  great  problems  of  mis- 
sionary measures  and  economies  preparatory  to  the 
greater  work  awaiting  them  in  larger  and  in  sonie  re- 
spects more  difiicult  fields. 

The  marvellous  rise  and  progress  of  civilization  in 
Australia  during  the  last  half-century  is  largely  due 
to  missionarj'  effort.  Three  generations  ago  there 
was  not  a  civilized  man  on  the  Australian  continent, 
nor  in  the  adjacent  islands  of  Tasmania  and  New  Zea- 
land. Now  there  are  two  millions  of  Knglisii->peaking 
Protestants,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  good  govcrnnuMit,  a 
free  press,  and  all  the  immunities  of  liberty,  education, 
art,  and  commerce.  The  influence  wliicii  the  Austra- 
lian colonies  will  eventually  exert  upon  Polynesia  and 
the  Asiatic  nations,  from  Japan  to  India,  as  well  as 
upon  the  Indian  Archipelago  and  New  CJuinca,  cannot 
fail  to  be  great.  Tliere  is,  moreover,  every  reason  to 
hope  that  it  may  be  both  good  and  Ciiristian.  In  no 
communities  does  there  exist  a  greater  desire  for  the 

,  spread  of  education  and  the  circulation  of  sound  liter- 
ature. In  Sydney,  Jlclbourne,  and  Adelaide  there  are 
excellent  public  libraries.  Whatever  disadvantages 
were  fastened  upon  those  regions  by  the  original  plan 
and  effort  of  England  to  populate  them  with  trans- 


MISSIONS 


379 


MISSIONS 


S.unUpi  .Gnqua  iV^  a^  /  JT     >'| "  'i  pljennaritzburg  3.4.T.n. 
X  S    C.  -^^   •?4i  --      -^^  Port  Natal  1,3,4, 


SOUTH 


C    O    L    O    K    '^<Cp^^T^,fs^ 

.-^vA-^  °^^-^.'^*^o.„     AFRICA 


C.Agulhaa 


200        300       400 


].  Am.  Board  (Cons.).  2.  Eng.  Church  M.  S.  3.  Encr.  Soc.  Prop.  Gospel.  4.  Eng.  Wesleyan  M.  S.  5.  Bug. 
London  M.S.  6.  EnJ.  Moravian  M.  IS.  T.  Scotch  Free  Church  M.  S.  8.  Scotch  United  Presb.  M.  S.  O.Berlin 
M.  S.  10.  Rhine  M.  S.  11.  Herraauusburg  M.  S.  12.  French  Evan.  M.  S.  13.  Norwegian  M.  S.  14.  Holland 
Ref.  of  Natal  M.S. 


ported  criminals,  have  now  been  largeh^  if  not  wholly 
counteracted.  Indeed,  it  is  asserted  by  English  writ- 
ers that  there  is  on  the  whole  a  larger  proportion  of 
■well-informed,  educated  people  in  the  Australian  colo- 
nies than  among  tlie  same  number  of  people  in  Great 
Britain,  while  the  religious  feeling  is  fully  equal.  The 
proportion  of  the  aboriginal  population  is  now  not  only 
small,  but,  notwithstanding  all  influences,  growing  rel- 
atively less,  so  that  the  missionary  activity  of  Austra- 
lian Christians  maj^  be  expected  to  seek  fields  in  the 
surrounding  countries  in  the  midst  of  which  they  are 
placed. 

As  the  voyage  of  Columbus,  by  which  America  was 
discovered,  and  manj'  of  the  expeditions  hj  which  the 
New  World  was  opened  up  to  settlement,  were  in  a 
certain  sense  missionary  in  their  character,  so  from 
that  day  down  to  the  present,  missionary  effort  has 
been  making  geographical  explorations,  and  increas- 
ing both  the  extent  and  thoroughness  of  geographical 
knowledge.  Of  this  the  expeditions  and  journeys  of 
Livingstone  in  Africa  are  a  striking  proof  and  illustra,- 
tion.  Moreover,  the  influence  which  missions  have 
exerted,  and  are  now  more  than  ever  promising  to  ex- 
ert over  vast  portions  of  the  earth,  renders  the  subject 
of  missionary  occupation  in  various  countries  one  of  pe- 
culiar interest.  For  a  full  illustration  of  this  subject 
nothing  less  than  a  missionarj'  map  of  the  world  is 
requisite ;  nevertheless,  very  suggestive  indications 
are  practicable  on  a  condensed  scale,  like  those  here- 
with presented  to  the  reader.  Without  any  attempt 
to  show  the  island  world  of  the  southern  hemisphere, 
to  which  reference  has  been  made  above,  a  miniature 
outline  of  India  is  first  introduced,  followed  by  similar 
outlines  of  other  important  fields,  to  which,  for  lack  of 
space,  we  cannot  further  allude. 

It  would  be  diflicult,  even  with  the  largest  map,  to 


impress  the  mind  adequately'  with  the  extent  and  im- 
portance of  India.  Tliat  ancient  country  embraces  a 
territorj'  twenty-three  times  as  large  as  England,  and, 
leaving  out  Russia  and  Scandinavia,  equal  in  extent 
to  all  Europe.  It  contains  twentA'-one  races  and  thirty- 
five  nations,  while  its  inhabitants  speak  fifty-one  dif- 
ferent languages  and  dialects.  Its  population,  ac- 
cording to  the  census  of  1872,  is  237,552,958,  of  which 
number  191,300,000  are  directly  governed  by  British 
rulers,  and  46,250,000  by  native  governments  depend- 
ent upon  the  British. 

Notwithstanding  some  praiseworthy  efforts  to  intro- 
duce the  Gospel  into  India  during  the  18th  centurj', 
all  such  efforts  were  opposea,  and  to  a  great  extent 
neutralized,  bj'  the  East  India  Company,  which  then 
practically  ruled  the  country  in  the  name  of  Great 
Britain.  It  was  not  till  1815  that  toleration  was  ob- 
tained for  missions  in  India  from  the  British  Parlia- 
ment. Since  that  period  diligent  efforts  have  been 
made,  both  by  English  and  American  Christians,  to 
antagonize  idolatry,  and  introduce  Christian  truth  and 
worship  by  all  appropriate  means.  Yet  the  govern- 
ment connection  with  idolatrous  worship  was  not  fully 
withdrawn  till  1849. 

A  most  interesting  exhibit  of  the  work  and  influence 
of  missions  in  India  may  be  found  in  a  Parliamentary 
Blue-book  ordered  to  be  printed  by  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, April  2, 1873.  From  it  the  following  facts  are 
abridged  and  copied : 

"The  Protestant  missions  of  India,  Burmah,  and  Cey- 
lon are  maintained  by  35  missionary  societies,  in  addition 
to  local  agencies.  They  employ  the  services  of  60G  foreign 
missionaries.  They  o'ccnpy  522  principal  stations  and 
2.')00  subordinate  stations.  A  great  impulse  was  given  to 
these  societies  by  the  changes  in  public  policy  inaugu- 
rated by  the  charter  of  1S33,  and  since  that  period  the 
number  of  missionaries  and  the  outlay  on  their  missions 
have  contiuued  steadily  to  increase." 


mssioxs 


380 


MISSIONS 


1.  Am.  Roai-fl  (Coil!;.).  2.  Am.  Prosb.  M.  S.  3.  Am.  United  Prcsb.  M.  S.  4.  Am.  Hcf.  Prosb.  M.  S.  fi.  Am. 
Sonthurn  P;■e^b.M.S.  C.  Am.  Moth.  Kpis.  M.  S.  7.  Am.  I'lot.  Ki)is.  M.  S.  S.  Am.  lliipt.  ]\I.  S.  9.  Enp.  Chmrh 
M.  S.  111.  Scolfli  E.-tab.  Cli.  M.  S.  11.  Scoich  Ficc  Cli.  M.  S.  12.  Iii.-^h  Presb.  M.  S.  la.  Bishop  Gobol's  M. 
14.  Jenisnlem  Verein.     15.  Kaiscrswerth  Deacmiesse!!.    1(1.  Iiidopeiuleiit  Mi.-sion?. 

Cn-nperatinn  of  }fi»xionarii  .S'()r?W?V/).— "This  l.nrpre  body  I  ciice,  they  hnve  been  led  to  think  inthcr  of  the  iinmcrnnh 
of  European  iind  Amerirau  mif^^ionaries  briiifr  their  vnii-  '  questions  on  which  they  ni'iee  tlian  of  those  on  wliich 
ons  mmnl  inllnciues  to  bear  ujioii  the  conntry  willi  Ilic  ilicv  difliT.  and  iliey  co-operate  lieartily  to;zellier.  Local- 
greater  force  Iierniise  thev  art  tofrether  with  a  coiniimt-  ities  are  divided  anions  tliem  by  fiiendly  arranL'ements; 
iiess  whicli  is  but  little  understood.  Friim  the  natme  o!"  and,  with  few  exceplinns,  it  is  a  Hxed  riile  anions:  them 
their  work,  their  isolalud  potiitiou,  and  their  hjug  cxpcri-    that  tliey  will  uot  interfere  with  each  other's  couverts  aud 


MISSIONS 


381 


MISSIONS 


each  other's  spheres  of  duty.  The  large  bod}*  of  mission- 
aries resident  in  each  of  the  presidency  towns  form  con- 
ferences, hold  periodic  meetings,  and  act  together  on  pub- 
lic matters.  They  have  frequently  addressed  the  Indian 
government  on  important  social  questions  involving  the 
welfare  of  the  native  community,  and  have  suggested  val- 
ual)le  improvements  in  existing  laws." 

Various  Forms  of  Labors.— ''The  labors  of  the  foreign 
missionaries  in  India  assume  many  f<n-ms.  Apart  from 
their  special  duties  as  public  preachers  and  pastors,  they 
constitute  a  valuable  body  of  educators.  They  contribute 
greatly  to  the  cultivation  of  the  native  languages  and  lit- 
erature, and  all  who  are  resident  in  rural  districts  are  ap- 
pealed to  for  medical  help  for  the  sick." 

Knowledge  of  the  Sative  Languages. — "No  body  of  men 
pays  greater  "attention  to  the  study  of  the  native  lan- 
guages: The  missionaries,  as  a  body,  know  the  natives 
of  India  well.  They  have  prepared  hundreds  of  works, 
suited  both  for  schools  and  for  general  circulation,  in  the 
fifteen  most  prominent  languages  of  India,  and  in  several 
other  dialects.  They  are  the  ccmipilers  of  several  diction- 
aries and  grammars  ;  they  have  written  important  works 
on  the  native  classics  and  the  system  of  philosophy ;  and 
they  have  largely  stimulated  the  great  increase  of  the  na- 
tive literature  prepared  in  recent  years  by  native  gentle- 
men." 

Mission  Presses  and  Publications.— "The  mission  press- 
es in  India  are  25  in  number.  During  the  ten  years  be- 
tween 1S02  and  lST-2  they  issued  3410  new  works  iu  thirty 
languages.  They  circulated  1,315,503  copies  of  books-  of 
Scripture,  2,3T5,040  school-books,  and  8,750,129  Christian 
books  and  tracts." 

Schoolsand  Training  Colleges.— "The  missionary  schools 
in  India  are  chiefly  of  two  kinds,  purely  vernacular  and 
Anglo -vernacular.  In  addition  to  the  work  of  these 
schools,  several  missions  maintain  training  colleges  for 
their  native  ministers  and  clergy,  and  training  iustitu- 
tions  for  teachers  of  both  sexes.  .\n  important  addition 
to  the  efforts  made  on  behalf  of  female  education  is  seen 
iu  the  Zenana  schools  and  classes,  which  are  maintained 
and  instructed  in  the  houses  of  Hindu  gentlemen.  The 
great  progress  made  in  the  missionary  schools  and  the 
area  they  occupy  will  be  seen  from  the  following  fact. 
They  now  contain  60,Ono  scholars  more  than  tliey  did 
twenty  years  ago.   In  1ST2  the  scholars  numbered  142,952." 

Christian  Coimnunitics. — "A  very  large  number  of  the 
Christian  communities  scattered  over  India  are  small, 
and  they  contain  severally  fewer  than  a  hundred  com- 
municants and  three  hnndred  converts  of  all  ages.  At 
the  same  time  some  of  these  small  cnusni-gatious  consist 
of  educated  men,  have  considerable  lesuarces,  and  are 
able  to  provide  for  themselves.  From  tlieni  have  sprung 
a  large  number  of  the  native  clergy  and  ministers  in  dif- 
ferent churches,  who  are  now  taking  a  prominent  place  iu 
the  instruction  and  management  of  an  indigenous  Chris- 
tian Church.  Taking  them  together,  the  rural  and  ab- 
origiual  populations  of  India  which  have  received  a  large 
share  of  the  attention  of  the  missionary  societies  now 
contain  among  them  a  quarter  of  a  million  native  Chris- 
tian converts." 

General  Influetice  of  Missions. — "  The  missionaries  iu 
India  hold  the  opinion  that  the  winning  of  these  converts, 
•whether  in  the  city  or  in  the  open  country,  is  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  beneficial  results  which  have  sprung  from 
their  labors.  No  statistics  can  give  a  fair  view  of  all  that 
they  have  done.  They  consider  that  their  distinctive 
teaching,  now  applied  to  the  country  for  many  years,  has 
powerfully  affected  the  entire  population.  The  moral 
tone  of  their  preaching  is  recognised  and  highly  approved 
by  multitudes  who  do  not  follow  them  as  converts.  In- 
sensibly a  higher  standard  of  moral  conduct  is  becoming 
familiar  to  the  people  ;  the  ancient  systems  are  no  longer 
defended  as  they  once  were,  many  doubts  are  felt  about 
the  rules  of  caste,  and  the  great  festivals  are  not  attended 
by  the  great  crowds  of  former  years.  This  view  of  the 
general  influence  of  their  teaching,  and  of  the  greatness 
of  the  revoIuti(m  which  it  is  silently  producing,  is  not 
taken  by  missionaries  only.  It  has  been  accepted  by 
many  distinguished  residents  in  India  and  experienced 
otticers  of  the  government,  and  has  been  emphatically  en- 
dorsed by  the  high  authority  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere.  Vvith- 
out  pronouncing  an  opinion  upon  the  matter,  the  govern- 
ment of  India  cannot  but  acknowledge  the  great  obliga- 
tion under  which  it  is  laid  by  the  benevolent  exertions 
made  by  these  six  handled  missionaries,  whose  blameless 
example  and  self-denying  labors  are  infusing  new  vigor 
into  the  stereotyped  life  of  the  great  populations  placed 
Tinder  English  rule,  and  are  preparing  them  to  be  iu  ev- 
ery way  better  men  and  better  citizens  of  the  great  empire 
in  which  they  dwell." 

The  following  is  the  testimony  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere, 
governor  of  Bombay : 

"I  speak  simply  as  to  matters  of  experience  and  obser- 
vati<m,  and  not  of  opinion— just  as  a  Roman  prefect  might 
nave  reported  to  Trajan  or  the  Antonines— and  I  assure 
you  that,  whatever  you  may  be  told  to  the  contrary,  the 
teaching  of  Christianiti)  among  the  one  hundred  and  sixty 
millions  of  civilized,  industrious  Hind'isand  Mohamme- 
dans in  India  is  effecting  changes,  moral,  social,  and  politi- 


cal, lohich,  for  extent  and  rapiditti  of  effect,  are  far  more 
extraordinary  than  anything  you  or  your  fathers  have  wit- 
nessed in  modern  Europe." 

To  the  above  may  be  fitly  added  the  following  sim- 
ilar authoritative  testimonies : 

"  I  believe,  notwithstanding  all  that  the  English  people 
have  done  to  benefit  India,  the  m,issionaries  have  done 
more  than  all  other  agencies  combined. 

"Lord  Lawkenoe,  viceroy  and  governor-general."  . 

"In  many  places  an  impression  prevails  that  the  mis- 
sions have  not  produced  results  adequate  to  the  efforts 
which  have  been  made ;  but  I  trust  enough  has  been  said 
to  prove  that  there  is  no  real  foundation  for  this  impres- 
sion, and  those  who  hold  such  opinions  know  but  little  of  tlie 
reality.  Sir  Donald  M'Leod, 

"Lieutenant-goveruor  of  the  Punjaub." 

In  the  light  of  such  competent  and  unequivocal  tes- 
timony it  would  seem  impossible  for  any  reasonable 
mind  to  doubt  the  grandeur  or  the  beneficence  of  the 
results  accomplished  by  Christian  missions  during  the 
current  century,  or  to  question  their  still  greater  prom- 
ise iu  time  to  come.  The  above  notices  of  missionary 
work  in  India  may  serve  as  a  sample  of  similar  testi- 
mony which  might  be  adduced  from  various  other  coun- 
tries. In  nearly  all  cases  the  most  that  has  been  done 
is  to  be  regarded  as  in  a  large  measure  preparatory  to 
greater  efforts  and  successes  hereafter. 

The  great  empire  of  China  affords  another  remarkable 
example.  That  most  populous  country  of  all  the  earth 
had  for  ages  maintained  a  rigid  system  of  non-inter- 
course with  the  people  of  foreign  nations,  whom  it  in- 
discriminately stigmatized  as  outside  barbarians.  Until 
within  a  little  more  than  thirty  years  all  Christian  ef- 
forts in  behalf  of  China  had  to  be  made  outside  of  the 
empire,  or  stealthily  if  within  its  borders.  On  the  open- 
ing of  the  '•  Five  Ports"  to  commerce  in  1842  missions 
also  entered,  and,  notwithstanding  multiplied  obstacles, 
have  since  made  wonderful  progress.  Already  there  are 
ten  thousand  native  Christians  in  China.  The  princi- 
pal great  cities  of  the  empire  have  become  recognised 
centres  of  missionary  effort,  from  Canton  on  the  staif  h  to 
the  old  Tartar  capital,  Peking,  on  the  north.  "\Miat  is 
perhaps  most  interesting  of  all  is  the  demonstrated  fact 
that,  nothwithstanding  the  peculiarities  of  the  Chinese 
character,  the  power  of  the  Gospel  has  proved  itself  ad- 
equate to  its  complete  transformation  and  renewal  after 
the  New-Testament  model.  Many  ministers  of  the  Gos- 
pel have  already  been  raised  up.  The  native  churches 
are  also  developing  both  the  capacity  and  the  disposition 
for  self-support.  Thus  all  the  elements  of  a  successful 
and  progressive  establishment  of  Christianity  through- 
out the  empire  of  China  seem  now  to  be  happily  at  worl^. 

In  Japan  a  few  recent  years  have  witnessed  extraor- 
dinary changes  in  favor  of  Christianity.  Not  less  than 
eleven  Protestant  missionaries,  of  whom  nine  are  Amer- 
ican, are  now  energetically  but  peacefully  at  work  with- 
in the  empire,  from  whose  borders,  owing  to  passions 
and  prejudices,  excited  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries  of  the 
IGth  century,  Christianity  had  long  been  excluded  by 
the  most  barbarous  decrees.  Native  churches  have  al- 
ready been  formed,  and  converted  Japanese  are  becom- 
ing apostles  to  their  countrymen,  while  a  system  of  ed- 
ucation, indirectly  under  Christian  influence,  promises 
to  elevate  the  general  intelligence  and  character  of  the 
nation  at  an  early  day.  The  old  edicts  against  Ciiris- 
tians,  if  not  formally  repealed,  are  practically  set  aside, 
and  a  favorable  sentiment  towards  Christianity  has  be- 
come very  general  in  various  grades  of  society. 

In  South  Africa  a  mission  was  commenced  by  the 
IMoravians  as  early  as  1737 ;  but  it  was  withdrawn  in 
17-44,  and  not  effectively  resumed  till  1792.  In  1798  the 
London  Missionary  Society  entered  the  field,  in  1812 
the  Wesleyan,  and  since  various  others.  Although  Hot- 
tentots and  Kaffirs  are  not  promising  subjects  for  mis- 
sionary influence,  yet  the  Gospel,  through  missionary 
agency,  has  not  been  wanting  in  glorious  triumphs 
among  them,  as  well  as  other  native  tribes  of  South 
Africa,  while  it  has  made  substantial  progress  among 


MISSIONS 


382 


MISTLETOE 


the  Dutch  and  English  colonists  who  now  permanently 
occupy  that  portion  of  the  African  continent. 

In  1815  the  Church  of  England  Missionary'  Society 
first  turned  its  attention  to  the  countries  on  the  eastern 
border  of  the  Levant.  In  1819  the  American  Board 
commenced  its  work  in  the  same  regions.  The  missions 
in  Greece,  Turkey,  and  Persia  have  been  mainly  ad- 
dressed to  the  nominal  Christians  of  those  lands.  As  a 
result,  thousands  have  been  converted,  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  evangelical  congregations  have  been  established 
both  in  European  and  Asiatic  Turkey.  Most  interest- 
ing and  promising  also  have  been  the  results  of  the  edu- 
cational etforts  made  in  connection  with  the  Protestant 
missions  in  the  Orient. 

IX.  General  MUsionaiij  Literature.  —  Notwithstand- 
ing the  numerous  references  in  this  article  to  books  re- 
lating to  the  several  fields  of  missionary  effort  through- 
out the  world,  the  subject  of  missions  as  a  whole  would 
be  but  imperfectly  delineated  without  allusion  to  its 
general  literature,  which  embraces  several  classes  of 
valuable  works  not  heretofore  named,  and  which  can 
now  be  but  briefly  indicated. 

1.  Cencnil  llh'tnriis  of  Missions,  by  Wiggers,  Steger, 
Klunipp.  lilunihardt.  I'.rowii.Callcnburg.Clarkson,  Huie, 
Choules  and  Smith,  I'carson  (^I'rojun/dtion  oftlie  Gospel), 

2.  Ci/clojKcdiiis,  Gazetteers,  etc. — Newcombe,  Aikman, 
Hassel  (J'ole  to  Pole),  Moister  {Missionary  World),  Ed- 
wards {Gazetteer),  Iloole  {Year-book),  Grundemann 
{Missions-Atlas,  Gotha,  1867-71). 

.".  Histories  of  Missionary  Societies. — Annates  de  la 
rnijiii'/iilion  de  la  Foi;  Lettres  Kdif antes;  Anderson, 
Ul<i.  i'fih.C.hmial  Church;  Alder,  'w,.<l.  ij.m  Mi.^^ions; 
]\Iiii>iir.  1 1  ■' .-A //((«  Missions;  Bost,  Moniri'ius  :  Cox, 
BapliM  Mla^'wnarii  Society;  Gammell.  JUiptist  MUsion- 
ary  Society;  .luhilee  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society ; 
Ellis,  London  Missionary  Society ;  Kennett,  A  ccounts  of 
the  Society  for  the  J'ropaf/iifinn  off  he  Gospel;  Jubilee  of 
the  Relifiious  Tract  Sorh  hi :  Juliil, ,  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  ;  A  im  rir,ni  J Ulfh-  Society  ;  Tracy, 
Hist,  of  the  A  merican  Hoard;  Si  ricklaiul. .  t  ntcrican  Meth- 
odist Missions;  Ckcu,  J'rest>i)ti  ri, III  M  issinn.f ;  Lowrie, 
Prcslji/tiriiin  Missions;  otticial  Ju/ior/s  .■iiid  periodicals. 

4.  M i.isiiniiiri/  Jiio'/nijihies.  —  Morison,  Lives  of  the 
Fiitio  ,:<:  I'i.  r>oii.  .1  im  rifitn  Missionai-y  Memorial;  Tar- 
liox.  MI.<.<ioi,firi/  I'litriols;  Xow^c,  Pioneers  and  Found- 
ers; VAiW,  Iianyhters  of  the  Cross;  Lives  of  Schwartz, 
Carey,  ^larslmian,  Coke,  Morrison,  Phillips,  Shaw,  Jud- 
son,  Hall,  and  many  others. 

5.  J)i.«-iis.<lons  of  Missionary  Principhs.  —  Harris, 
Gnnt  f.oiniil.^sion;  DuW.  Missions  ihi-  (hi, /'  End  of  the 
Chiirrh;  \\-Aw\\\»n,l.ndand  Aim  of  Missions;  Camp- 
bell, Philosophy  of  Missions;  Kingsmill,  Missions  and 
Misfionaries;  Midler,  On  Missions,  a  lecture  delivered 
at  Westminster  Abbey,  Dec.  3,  1873,  with  an  introduc- 
tory sermon  by  dean  Stanlej' ;  Beecham,  Christianity  the 
Means  of  Civilization  ;  Maitland,  Prize  Essay  ;  Stowell, 
Missionary  Church  ;  Stowe,  Missionary  Enterprises ; 
Wayland,  Moral  iJiynity  of  Missions ;  Liverpool  Con- 
ferences on  Missions ;  Kichard  Watson,  Sermons ;  Mac- 
farlane,  The  World's  Jubilee;  Robert  Hall,  Sermons;  the 
addresses  on  Mi.isions  delivered  at  the  New  York  meet- 
ing of  the  Evangelical  Alliance ;  and  many  others.  The 
following  periodicals  contain  valuable  articles  on  the 
sul)ject  of  missions:  Enylish  7?(?(;.  vii,  42  sq.;  xviii,  354 
Bip  ;  Western  Jiev.  Jan.  IHbi);  July,  185G;  Chrlitian  Rev. 
i,  oib  sq. ;  ii,  449  Sep  ;  vi,  285 ;  x,  566  sq. ;  vol.  xiv,  Nov. ; 
Amer.  Bibl.  Repository,  3d  series,  iv,  453;  vi,  161  sq. ; 
Jan.  1867,  p.  58 ;  Bibl.  Repos.  and  Princet.  Rev.  Oct.  1870, 
p.  613;  AV«-A'«y</Hf/<'r,  viii.  489;  ix,  207;  Princet.  Rev. 
v,  449;  X,  535;  xv,349;  1858,  p.  436;  xvii.  61;  xxxvi, 
324;  July,  1867;  Christian  Framiner,  i,  182;  iii,  265, 
449;  xxix,  51;  xliv,  416;  Bibliotb.  Sacra,  Oct.  1867; 
Brit,  and  For.  Evangel.  Rev.  April,  1871 ;  Fvanyel.  Qu. 
Rev.  Oct.  1870.  p.  373;  Meth.  Qu.  Rev.  vii,  269;  viii,  165 
sq. ;  Baptist  (In.  Oct.  1873,  art.  vii ;  April,  1874,  art.  vi ; 
TlieoL  Medium,. h\\y,  1873,  art.  ii ;  Oct.  art.  ii;  Catlndic 
World,  1870,  p.  114.    See  also  Malcom,  Theol,  Index,  s.  v. 


6.  Missionary  Periodicals. — Their  number  is  legion. 
Every  country  interested  in  missionary  enterprises  is 
publishing  one  or  more.  <  Jermany,  England,  and  Amer- 
ica have  them  by  the  score.  Among  the  most  valuable 
are  the  Missionary  Chronicle  (Lond.),  the  M Usionary 
Magazine  (Lond.),  and  the  Missionary  Herald  {W)S>Um) ; 
also  Mission  Life  (Lond.  1866  sq.),  a  magazine  consist- 
ing chiefly  of  readings  on  foreign  lands  with  reference 
to  the  scenes  and  circumstances  of  mission  life;  the 
Basle  Evany.  Missions-ifayazin  (established  in  1816); 
Burkhardt,  Missionsbibliothek.  A  very  important  under- 
taking is  the  General  Missionary  Periodical,  a  monthly, 
which  is  just  starting  at  Giitersloh,  Germany.  Its  edi- 
tors are  Christlieb,  Grundemann,  and  Warneck.  It  is  to 
be  published  in  English,  and  its  contributors  are  to  be 
of  the  worlil  at  large. 

The  above  outline  will  serve  at  least  as  an  indication 
of  the  great  extent  and  value  of  a  species  of  Christian 
literature  which  is  obviously  destined  to  increase  in  vol- 
ume and  in  interest  from  year  to  year  and  from  ago  to 
age.  Whoever,  by  means  of  the  authentic  information 
now  accessible,  will  acquire  a  full  and  just  comprehension 
of  the  grand  enterprise  of  missions,  as  it  stands  embod- 
ied in  the  active  movements  and  growing  successes  of 
Christian  missionaries  and  churches,  can  iiardly  fail  to 
recognise  with  wonder  and  gratitude  the  rapid  and  sub- 
stantial progress  that  is  now  made  towards  the  f'ullil- 
ment  of  the  Saviour's  great  command,  "Go  teach  all 
nations."     (D.  P.  K.) 

Misson,  Fuan^oisMaximilten,  an  eminent  French 
lawyer,  distinguished  himself  by  his  pleadings  before  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  in  behalf  of  the  Protestants  during 
the  persecution  of  the  Huguenots  in  the  17th  century. 
He  retired  to  England  on  the  revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  and  afterwards  travelled  as  tutor  to  an  Eng- 
lish nobleman.  He  published  A  Voyage  to  Italy  (3 
vols.);  A  Tour  in  England;  and  Le  Theatre  sacre  des 
Revenues,  in  which  the  author  betrayed  his  credulity 
and  fanaticism  by  espousing  the  cause  of  the  French 
prophets.  He  died  in  London  in  1701. — Hoefer,  Xouv. 
Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Missy,  C£;s.vu  de,  a  writer  of  French  parentage,  was 
born  June  2,  1703,  at  Berlin,  and  studied  theology  at 
Frankfort-on-the-Oder;  but  for  his  persistent  refusal  to 
sign  the  official  formula  of  creed  he  was  excluded  from 
the  ministry  in  Prussia.  He  went  to  Holland,  where  he 
allied  with  his  duties  of  a  minister  the  pursuits  of  a 
literary  critic  and  poet.  In  1731  he  was  appoimed  min- 
ister at  the  church  of  Savoy,  London;  in  17(!2,  at  St. 
James's  Chapel.  He  died  at  London,  Aug.  10, 1775.  His 
judgment  was  very  good,  his  taste  refined,  and  his  love 
of  study  iiassionate.  He  numbered  among  his  friends 
several  distinguished  men  of  learning,  as  Beaus<>l)re, 
Formcy,  Jordan.  His  rich  library,  together  with  his 
manuscripts,  went  to  the  library  of  the  didvC  of  Sussex. 
He  left  a  work  in  verse,  Paraboles  ou  fables  et  outres 
narrations  (Tun  citoyen  de  la  republique  Chretienne  da 
dix-huitieme  si'ecle  (Londres,  1769,  1770,  1776,  8vo) : — 
Sermons  sur  divers  textes  (ibid.  1780,3  vols.Svo).  Missy- 
was  also  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Bibliotheque  Britan- 
nique,  of  the  .lournal  Britanniqtte,  and  of  the  Magasin 
Frangais,  of  London.  Other  poetical  productions  and 
critical  articles  of  his  were  published  in  the  Mtrcure  de 
France  and  in  English  newspapers.— Hoefer,  Xouv. Biog. 
Generale,  s.  v. 

Mist  ClX.  ed.  Gen.  ii,  6)  signifies  a  rising  vapor,  a 
fog,  or  cloud,  which  again  distils  upon  the  ground  (Job 
xxxvi,  27).  The  Chaldee  paraphrase  renders  it  X"", 
tlie  cloud. 

Mistletoe  (Anglo-Sax.  misteltan,  Ger.  7nistil;  the 
tan  of  the  Anglo-Saxim  name  means  a  tine  or  prong,  a 
shoot  of  a  tree;  mist, I  is  of  uncertain  etymology,  but 
probably  the  same,  in  meaning  at  least,  as  the  Latin 
riscus),  a  genus  {]'i<cum)  of  small  parasitical  shrubs  of 
the  natural  order  Loranthacece.     This  order  is  exoge- 


MITAKSHARA 


383 


MITCHELL 


Mistletoe  (Viscum  album). 


nons,  and  contains  more  than  four  hundred  Icnown  spe- 
cies, mostly  tropical  and  parasites.  The  leaves  are  en- 
tire, almost  nerveless, 
thick  and  tleshy,  and 
without  stipules.  The 
flowers  of  many  spe- 
cies are  showy.  The 
calyx  arises  from  a 
tube  or  rim,  which 
sometimes  assumes 
the  appearance  of  a 
calyx,  and  is  so  re- 
garded by  many  bot- 
anists ;  what  others 
deem  the  coloreil 
calyx  being  viewed 
by  them  as  a  corolla 
of  four  or  eight  petals 
or  segments.  Within 
this  are  the  stamens, 
as  numerous  as  its  di- 
visions, and  opposite 
to  them.  The  ovary 
is  one  -  celled,  with 
a  solitary  ovule ;  the 
fruit  one-seeded,  gen- 
erally succulent.  The 
stems  are  dichoto- 
mous  (i.  e.  divide  by  forking) ;  the  leaves  are  opposite, 
of  a  yellowish-green  color,  obovate-lanceolate,  obtuse. 
The  flowers  are  inconspicuous,  and  grow  in  small  heads 
at  the  ends  and  in  the  divisions  of  the  branches,  the 
male  and  the  female  flowers  on  separate  plants.  The 
berries  are  about  the  size  of  currants,  white,  translucent, 
and  full  of  a  very  viscid  juice,  which  serves  to  attach 
the  seeds  to  branches,  where  they  take  root  when  they 
germinate,  the  radicle  always  turning  towards  the 
branch,  whether  on  its  upper  or  under  side.  The  mis- 
tletoe derives  its  nourishment  from  the  living  tissue  of 
the  tree  on  which  it  grows,  and  from  which  it  seems  to 
spring  as  if  it  were  one  of  its  branches. 

Superstitious  Use. — The  mistletoe  was  intimately 
connected  with  many  of  the  superstitions  of  the  dif- 
ferent branches  of  the  Aryan  race.  In  the  Northern 
mythology,  Baldur  is  said  to  have  been  slain  with  a 
mistletoe.  Among  the  Celts  the  mistletoe  which  grew 
on  the  oak  was  in  peculiar  esteem  for  magical  virtues. 
Traces  of  the  ancient  regard  for  the  mistletoe  still  re- 
main in  some  old  English  and  German  customs,  as  kiss- 
ing under  the  mistletoe  at  Christmas.  The  British  Dru- 
ids are  said  to  have  had  an  extraordinary  veneration 
for  it,  and  that  mainlj^  because  its  berries  as  well  as  its 
leaves  grow  in  clusters  of  three  united  to  one  stock,  and, 
as  is  well  known,  they  had  a  special  veneration  for  the 
number  three  (comp.  Vallancey,  Grammar  of  the  Irish 
Language^.  Stukeley  {Medallic  History  of  Carausius, 
ii,  163  sq.),  speaking  of  the  Druids'  festival,  the  Jul  (q.  v.), 
and  the  use  of  the  mistletoe,  relates  as  follows :  "  This 
was  the  most  respectable  festival  of  our  Druids,  called 
Yule-tide,  when  mistletoe,  which  they  called  all-heal 
(because  used  to  cure  disease),  was  carried  in  their  hands, 
and  laid  on  their  altars,  as  an  emblem  of  the  salutifer- 
ous  advent  of  Messiah.  .  .  .  The  custom  is  still  pre- 
served in  the  north,  and  was  lately  at  York.  On  the  eve 
of  Christmas-day  they  carry  mistletoe  to  the  high  altar 
of  the  cathedral,  and  proclaim  a  public  and  universal 
liberty,  pardon,  and  freedom  to  all  sorts  of  inferior  and 
even  wicked  people  at  the  gates  of  the  city,  towards  the 
four  quarters  of  heaven."  See  Brand,  Popul.  A  ntiquities 
of  Great  Britain,  i,  521-4. 

Mitakshara  is  the  name  of  several  Sanscrit  com- 
mentatorial  works  of  the  Hindus.  One  of  these  is  a 
commentary  on  the  text-book  of  the  Vedanta  philoso- 
phy; another,  a  commentary  on  the  Mimiinsa  work  of 
Kumarila;  a  third,  a  commentary  on  the  Brihadaran- 
yaka,  etc.  See  Veda.  The  most  renowned  work,  how- 
ever, bearing  this  title  is  a  detailed  commentary  by 


Vijnaneswara  (also  called  Vijnananatha)  on  the  law- 
book of  Yajnavalkya  (q.  v.) ;  and  its  authority  and  in- 
fluence are  so  great  that  "  it  is  received  in  all  the  schools 
of  Hindi!  law  from  Benares  to  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  peninsula  of  India  as  the  chief  groundwork  of  the 
doctrines  which  they  follow,  and  as  an  authority  from 
which  they  rarely  dissent"  (comp.  Tu-o  Treatises  on  the 
IJindu  Law  of  Inheritance,  translated  by  H.  T.  Cole- 
brooke,  Calcutta,  1810).  Most  of  the  other  renowned- 
law-books  of  recent  date,  such  as  the  Smriti-Chan- 
drika,  which  prevails  in  the  south  of  India,  the  Chinta- 
mani,  Viramitrodaya,  and  Mayukha,  which  are  author- 
itative severally  in  jMitliila,  Benares,  and  with  the  Mah- 
rattas,  generally  defer  to  the  decisions  of  the  Mitakshara ; 
the  DAyabhaga  of  Jimiitavahana  alone,  which  is  adopt- 
ed by  the  Bengal  school,  diifers  on  almost  ever^'  dis- 
puted point  from  the  Mitakshara,  and  does  not  acknowl- 
edge its  authority. 

The  INlitakshara,  following  the  arrangement  of  its 
text-work,  the  code  of  Yajnavalkya,  treats  in  its  first 
part  of  duties  in  general ;  in  its  second,  of  private  and 
administrative  law;  in  its  third,  of  purification,  pen- 
ance, devotion,  and  so  forth ;  but,  since  it  frequently 
quotes  other  legislators,  expounding  their  texts,  and 
contrasting  them  with  those  of  Yajnavalkya,  it  is  not 
merel}'  a  commentary,  but  supplies  the  place  of  a  regu- 
lar digest.  The  text  of  the  Mitakshara  has  been  edited 
several  times  in  India.  An  excellent  translation  of  its 
chapter  On  Inheritance  was  published  by  Colebrooke  in 
the  work  above  referred  to ;  and  its  explanation  of  Yaj- 
navalkya is  also  followed  by  the  same  celebrated  scholar 
in  his  Digest  of  Hindu  Law  (Calcutta  and  London,  1801, 
3  vols.). — Chambers,  Ct/clopwdia,  s.  v. 

Mitchell,  Alfred,  a  Congregational  minister,  was 
born  May  22,  1790,  at  Wethersfield,  Conn.  He  gradu- 
ated at  Yale  College  in  1809 ;  was  ordained  pastor  in 
Norwich  Oct.  1814;  and  died  Dec.  19, 1831.  He  pub- 
lished five  occasional  sermons. — Sprague,  A  nnals,  ii,  601. 
Mitchell,  Donald,  a  Scotch  missionary  to  India, 
flourished  in  the  first  half  of  our  century.  Of  his  early 
history  nothing  is  known  to  us.  He  was  the  first  mis- 
sionary sent  out  by  the  Scottish  IMissionary  Society.  He 
settled  at  Bombay,  where  he  labored  with  zeal,  and  saw 
his  efforts  crowned  with  much  success.  His  plan  was  to 
convert  the  people  by  influencing  the  young,  and,  to 
secure  their  confidence,  he  established  schools  for  their 
mental  training.  He  succeeded  in  starting,  in  connection 
with  his  mission,  eight  schools,  which  were  attended  by 
some  three  thousand  pupils.  More  fully  to  fit  himself  for 
the  important  work  in  wliiili  he  was  engaged,  Mr.  Mitch- 
ell mastered  the  difKcult  ]\loratlii  language.  He  preached 
to  the  people,  not  only  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  the  station  which  he  occupied,  but  also  for  many  miles 
along  the  coast  and  in  the  interior,  with  very  encour- 
aging results  for  several  years,  till  called  to  rest  from 
his  labors.  See  The  Missionary  World  (N.  Y,  1873, 
12mo),  p.  493. 

Mitchell,  Elisha,  D.D.,  an  American  scientist  in 
early  years,  and  later  a  popular  preacher,  was  born  at 
Washington,  Conn.,  Aug.  19, 1793,  and  was  educated  at 
Yale  College  (class  of  1813).  From  1816-18  he  taught 
in  his  alma  mater.  In  1817  he  was  elected  professor 
of  mathematics  in  the  North  Carolina  University, 
whither  he  removed  at  once.  In  1825  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  chair  of  chemistry,  and  in  this  position  he 
greatly  distinguished  himself.  In  1831  he  turned  to- 
wards the  ministry,  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Orange,  and  became  noted  as  an  able  preacher  and  a 
good  Biblical  scholar.  He  died  at  Black  JFountain,  N.  C, 
June  27, 1857.  Dr.  Mitchell  contributed  frequently  to 
the  Journal  of  Science.— Drake,  Dict.Ainer.  Biogr.  s.  v. 
Mitchell,  John,  a  Congregational  minister,  editor, 
and  author,  was  born  at  Chester,  Conn.,  Dec.  27,  1794; 
was  educated  at  Yale  College  (class  of  1821)  and  at  An- 
dover  Theological  Seminary ;  edited  the  Christian  Spec- 
tator from  1824  to  1829;  was  then  licensed  to  preach; 


MITCHELL 


384 


MITCHELL 


in  1830  became  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  I 
Church  in  Fair  Haven,  Conn. ;    and  of  the   Kdwards 
Church,  Northampton,  Mass.,  in  1836.    In  1S42  he  went 
abroad  for  liis  heahh.  and  after  his  return  spent  most  of 
his  remaining  years  at  Stamford,  Conn.,  engaged,  as  far 
as  his  strength  allowed,  in  literary  work.     He  died  in  j 
April,  1870.    Mr.  Mitchell  published  Principles  and  Prac- 
tice of  ike  Connrerjutional  Churches  of  New  England  ! 
(Northampton,  Slass.,  1838,  16mo) :— A'o^f5//-ow  Over  I 
Sea  (New  York,  1844,  2  vols.  8vo)  -.—Letters  to  a  Dis-  ] 
believer  in  J'f  rivals  (32rao) ;    and  occasional  sermons 
and  contribiitiinis  to  periodicals  and  news()apers.     See 
Spraguc,  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit  (see  Index); 
Drake.  Dirt.  <>/A  mer.  Bio//,  s,  v. ;  Allibone,  Did.  of  Brit, 
and  A  uier.  A  ulliors,  s.  v. 

Mitchell,  John  Thomas,  a  minister  of  the  :\rcth- 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  was  born  near  the  village  of 
Salem,  IJoanoke  County,  Ya.,  Aug.  20, 1810,  and  enjoyed 
the  advantages  of  a  good  common -school  education. 
In  1817  the  family  moved  to  Illinois,  and  settled  near 
Belleville,  St.  Clair  County.  At  a  conference  camp- 
meeting  he  was  converted,  and  shortly  after  united  with 
the  Cliurch,  but  afterwards  became  careless  and  indiffer- 
ent. In  1830  he  commenced  teaching  school.  About 
the  same  time  he  was  appointed  assistant  superintendent 
of  the  Sabbath-school,  and  becoming  deeply  impressed 
with  a  clear  sense  of  chity,  he  entered  the  ministry, 
April  13,  1831,  at  Hillsborough.  In  1832  he  sot  out 
for  Indianapolis,  Indiana;  in  1837  preached  at  Jack- 
sonville Station,  and  in  1838-39  at  Springfield.  In 
1840  he  was  transferred  to  Rock  River  Conference,  and 
by  the  General  Conference  of  1844  was  elected  assistant 
book-agent  of  the  Western  Book  Concern.  He  died 
May  30, 1851.  Mr.  ^Mitchell  possessed  great  and  grow- 
ing powers,  combining  in  a  very  marked  manner  social, 
intellectual,  and  moral  qualities.  He  was  well  read  in 
theology,  and  had  an  excellent  knowledge  of  philoso- 
ph}',  mathematics,  and  the  classic  languages.  See  An- 
nual Minutes  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  1863,  p.  144.    (J.  L.  S.) 

Mitchell,  Jonathan,  a  Presbyterian  divine  of 
note,  was  born  in  I'^iigland  in  1624.  He  came  to  this 
country  in  16:)').  .lonathan  was  afforded  all  the  advan- 
tages of  education  within  reach.  After  due  preparation, 
he  was  entered  at  Harvard  College,  and  graduated  in  ; 
1647.  He  was  ordained  at  Cambridge,  Aug.  21,  1650,  j 
and  settled  as  minister  in  that  place.  Soon  after  this 
president  Dunstar  embraced  the  principles  of  the  Bap-  j 
tists.  This  was  a  peculiar  trial  to  Mitchell ;  but,  though  \ 
he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  combat  the  principles  of  his 
former  tutor,  he  did  it  with  such  meekness  of  wisdom  as 
not  to  lose  his  friendship.  Mitchell's  controversy  resulted 
in  the  removal  of  president  Dunstar  from  the  college.  In 
1662  he  was  a  member  of  the  synod  which  met  in  Boston 
to  discuss  and  settle  a  (lucstion  concerning  Church-mem- 
bership and  Church  disciiilino,  and  the  report  was  chief- 
ly written  by  him.  The  determination  of  the  question 
relating  to  tlie  liaptism  of  the  children  of  those  who  did 
not  approach  the  Lord's  table,  and  the  sujjport  thus 
given  to  what  is  called  the  half-way  covenant,  was  more 
owing  to  him  than  to  any  other  man.  See  Hai.k-way 
CovKNANT.  Time  has  shown  that  the  views  which 
this  good  man  labored  so  hard  to  establish  on  this  point 
cannot  be  sustained  without  ruining  the  purity  of  the 
churches.  Jonathan  ^litchell  was  eminent  for  piety, 
wisdom,  humility,  and  love.  He  possessed  a  retentive 
memory,  and  was  a  fervent  and  energetic  preacher.  He 
died  July  !),  1668.  He  published  several  letters  and  ser- 
mons, for  which  consult  Justin  Winsor's  Catalogue  of 
the  Prince  Librarg  (Boston,  1870,  royal  8vo).  See  Life, 
bv  C.  Mather ;  Maqnaliu,  iii,  158-185 ;  Hist.  Soc.  vii,  23, 
27,47-52.     (J.  H.\Y.) 

Mitchell,  Orin,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  was  born  in  (iranville.  Licking  Co.,  Ohio, 
Jan.  18. 1809;  was  converted  in  1H29;  licensed  to  pre.ach 
in  1833;  received  on  trial  in  the  Ohio  Annual  Confer- 
ence in  1834,  and  appointed  to  Danville  Circuit.     He 


travelled  on  Ph-mouth,  Grand  River,  and  Lapier  cir- 
cuits, in  ilichigan.  In  Ohio  he  received  appointments 
to  the  station  of  Maumee  and  Perrysburgh ;  to  the  cir- 
cuits of  Portland,  Mexico,  Bucyrus,  Norwich.  Frederick, 
Clarksfield,  Amity,  Jeromeville,  and  Fairfield.  In  1854 
he  took  a  superannuated  relation,  and  died  in  August, 
1869.  Orin  Mitchell  excelled  as  a  pastor,  and  his  labors 
resulted  in  much  good  for  the  Christian  cause. 

Mitchell,  Samuel  C,  a  Presbyterian  minister, 
was  l)oni  in  Overton  Co.,  East  Tennessee,  April  20,1806. 
He  received  a  careful  Christian  training,  early  united 
with  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  and  was  soon 
after  elected  ruling  elder.  He  subsequently  left  Tennes- 
see and  settled  in  Indiana,  and,  becoming  deeply  im- 
pressed with  a  call  to  the  ministrj-,  in  1841  lie  placed 
iiimself  inider  the  care  of  the  ^Yabash  Presbytery,  and 
immediately  commenced  preparation  for  the  ministry. 
He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1843,  and  ordained  at 
Limestone,  Indiana,  in  1846.  He  died  Aug.  6, 1S62.  Mr. 
Mitchell  was  a  plain,  earnest,  and  impressive  preacher. 
See  AYilson,  Presb.  J  list.  A  Imanac,  1863,  p.  415. 

Mitchell,  Thomas  "W.,  a  minister  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Ciuirch,  South,  who  labored  as  a  mission- 
ary among  the  North  American  Indians,  was  born  in  In- 
diana April  15, 1810.  His  father  removed  to  East  Ten- 
nessee when  Thomas  was  but  two  years  old.  Here  he 
was  educated.  He  professed  religion  in  his  eleventh 
year ;  joined  the  Metliodist  Episcopal  Church ;  removed 
to  Missouri,  with  his  parents,  in  1835;  was  licensed  to 
preach  in  1837 ;  admitted  into  the  Missouri  Conference 
the  same  year,  and  filled  the  following  appointments: 
New  jMadrid  Circuit  in  1837,  and  AYeberville  Circuit  in 
1838.  In  1840  he  was  located ;  removed  to  the  Cherokee 
Nation  in  1845,  and  taught  a  public  school  until  1846, 
when  he  was  readmitted  into  the  Indian  Jlis.-^ion  Con- 
ference. From  that  time  to  1851  he  filled  different  ap- 
pointments, and  was  then  appointed  to  i)rcsidc  over  the 
Creek  District.  In  1855'he  was  a])pointed  superintend- 
ent of  Fort  Coffee  and  New  Hope  seminaries,  and  con- 
tinued until  1858.  Then  he  was  transferred  to  the  St. 
Louis  Conference,  where  he  labored  until  1«()2.  During 
the  war-storm  he  retreated  to  Texas,  and,  after  the  open- 
ing of  brighter  days,  in  1866  he  entered  the  Trinity 
Conference,  where  he  labored  until  1869,  when  he  took 
a  superannuated  relation.  In  1S71  he  obtained  a  trans- 
fer and  removed  to  the  Indian  Jlission  Conference,  and 
was  appointed  presiding  elder  of  the  Creek  District.  He 
died  in  the  midst  of  his  work,  March  17,  1872,  in  Oc- 
mulgee,  Creek  Nation.  See  Minutes  of  Conferences,  1872, 
p.  745. 

Mitchell,  William  B.,  a  minister  of  the  Jleth- 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  was  born  in  1815.  He  was  con- 
verted in  1843,  and,  though  engaged  in  a  lucrative  busi- 
ness, turned  aside  to  the  ministry,  to  wliich  he  felt  called 
of  God.  In  1845  he  was  licensed  to  preach;  in  1846 
was  stationed  at  the  Delaware  Jlission,  Delaware  Coun- 
ty, N.  Y.,  under  his  iiresiding  elder;  in  1847  joined  the 
New  York  Conference,  and  was  successively  appointed 
to  AYindham,  Lexington,  Jefferson,  Prattsville,  and 
Kortright  circuits,  and  subsequently  to  Coxsackie  and 
Hyde  Park  stations.  He  died  Oct.  27, 1858.  "His  life 
was  useful  and  consistent;  his  zeal  for  the  interests  of 
the  Church  untiring;  his  anxiety  for  the  salvation  of 
soids  earnest  and  abiding."  See  Smith,  Hacrtd  Memo- 
ries (N.Y.  1870\  p.  99  sq. 

Mitchell,  "William  H.,  D.D.,  an  American  divine 
and  educator  of  the  rrcsbytcrian  communion,  was  born 
Sept.  7.  l«12.at  Monoghan,  Irel.ind.  His  early  training 
he  received  in  his  native  town,  and  even  tiien  distin- 
guished himself  by  superior  abilities  and  unwearied  ap- 
plication. In  his  early  manhood  lie  was  a  jiractitioner  in 
law.  Ill  his  twenty-seventh  year,  a  little  more  than  a 
year  after  his  marriage,  he  came  to  this  countrv.  and  set- 
tled at  Montgomery,  Alabama.  For  a  mmilKT  of  years 
after  this  he  was  engaged  as  teacher.  In  18 13  he  was  li- 
censed to  preach  by  the  presbytery  of  East  Alabama,  and 


MITCHELL 


885 


MITE 


shortly  after  lie  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Wetiimpka,  Alabama.  Possessing  abilities 
of  a  high  order,  and  being  in  all  respects  exemplary  and 
pious,  faithful,  untiring,  and  devoted  to  his  ministerial 
and  pastoral  duties,  he  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  es- 
teem of  all  who  knew  him.  In  August,  1850,  Mitchell 
removed  to  Florence,  Alabama,  and  became  the  pastor 
of  the  church  in  that  place.  He  remained  in  this  pul- 
pit till  June,  1871,  when  the  onerous  and  accumulating 
duties  and  cares  of  the  Synodical  Female  College  of  that 
place,  of  which  he  had  become  president,  in  connection 
with  his  pastoral  responsibilities,  rendered  it  necessary 
that  he  should  devote  himself  more  entirely  to  the  care 
and  interests  of  the  college.  He  died  Oct.  3, 1872,  after 
having  held  the  presidency  of  the  synodical  college  for 
over  sixteen  years.  Personally,  Dr.  Mitchell  was  a  fine- 
looking  man,  rather  low  of  stature,  pleasing  in  his  ad- 
dress, and  courteous  and  dignified  in  his  deportment; 
sometimes  grave  and  serious,  and  at  other  times  humor- 
ous and  entertaining.  When  among  his  most  intimate 
acquaintances  and  friends,  he  was  free  and  unreserved, 
and  abounded  in  anecdote  and  wit.  In  ecclesiastical 
bodies  he  was  usually  a  calm  and  quiet  listener,  speak- 
ing but  seldom,  and  modest  and  diflident  in  advancing 
his  opinions,  but  always  wise,  prudent,  and  conservative, 
yet  decided  and  firm  in  his  convictions.  His  sermons 
were  written  with  care,  and  preached  almost  always 
from  his  manuscript;  but  his  delivery  was  fluent  and 
easy,  and  his  oratory,  without  very  much  action,  was 
earnest,  solemn,  tender,  and  impressive.  See  Memphis 
Presbyterian,  Nov.  9, 1872.     (J.  H.  W.) 

LCitchell,  William  Luther,  a  Presbyterian  min- 
ister, was  born  in  Maur}'  County,  Tenn.,  July  11, 1828  ; 
was  converted  at  the  age  of  twelve ;  graduated  in  1854, 
with  honor,  at  Jefferson  College,  Pa.,  and  in  1857  at 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary;  was  licensed  in  1857 
by  the  presbytery  of  Lafayette,  Mo. ;  in  1857  and  1858 
supplied  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Burlington, 
Iowa ;  and  in  1859  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of 
the  church  at  Hillsborough,  111.,  where  he  died,  Feb.  23, 
1864.  Mr.  Mitchell  was  a  minister  of  more  than  ordi- 
narj"-  ability  and  attainments.  As  a  Christian,  his  life 
was  religion  exemplified ;  as  a  preacher,  he  was  earnest 
and  instructiv-e,  and  often  eloquent  and  impi-essive.  His 
sermons  were  doctrinal,  and  at  the  same  time  intensely 
practical.  See  Wilson,  Presb.  Hist.  Almanac,  1864,  p. 
102. 

Mitchell,  ■William  W.,  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  was  born  in  Virginia  Feb.  16, 
1815.  He  was  educated  with  a  view  to  the  legal  pro- 
fession, and  was  afforded  the  best  advantages  within 
reach.  While  a  student  at  Yale  he  was  converted,  and 
he  became  convinced  that  his  place  was  in  the  pulpit. 
After  much  opposition  at  home,  he  joined  the  Illinois 
Conference  in  1834,  and  was  appointed  to  Lebanon  Cir- 
cuit, where  he  continued  about  six  months,  and  was  then 
removed  to  Vandalia  Station.  He  afterwards  filled  many 
important  appointments  on  circuits,  stations,  and  dis- 
tricts, all  in  Illinois,  except  one  year  in  Kentucky.  Wil- 
liam W.  Mitchell  was  a  good  rather  than  a  great  preach- 
er. His  last  appointment  was  to  Edwardsville  Station. 
During  his  second  year  in  this  station  he  became  se- 
verely affiicted,  so  as  to  disqualify  him  for  pulpit  labors. 
He  consequently  resigned  his  charge  and  removed  to 
Eichview,  Illinois,  where,  after  severe  suffering  for  al- 
most a  year,  he  died,  ]\Iarch  7, 1869,  See  Minutes  of 
Conferences,  1869,  p.  204. 

Mite  is  the  rendering  in  the  Auth.  Vers.  (Luke  xii, 
59 ;  xxi,  2 ;  Mark  xii,  42)  of  the  Greek  term  XtTrro^-  (iliin, 
like  a  scale),  a  minute  coin  (Alciphr.  i,  9 ;  Pollux,  On.  ix, 
92),  of  bronze  or  copper  (see  Smith's  Diet,  of  Class.  A  n- 
tiq.  s.  V.  ^s),  two  of  which  made  a  quadrans  (Mark  xii, 
42),  and  which  was,  therefore,  the  eighth  part  of  the 
Roman  as,  i.  c.  equal  originally  to  a  little  over  one  mill, 
but  in  the  time  of  Christ  about  half  a  mill.  At  Athens 
it  was  reckoned  as  one  seventh  of  the  xwAsove  (Suidas, 
VI.— B  B 


s.  v.  ToKavTiov).  From  l\Iark's  explanation, "  two  mites, 
which  make  a  farthing"  (XetttA  cvo,  o  icrn  KoSpdvTr]^, 
ver.  42),  it  may  perhaps  be  inferred  that  the  KoSpavrr](; 
or  "  farthing"  was  the  commoner  coin,  for  it  can  scarcely 
be  supposed  to  be  there  spoken  of  as  a  money  of  account, 
though  this  might  be  the  case  in  another  passage  (Matt. 
V,  26).     See  Fartiiixg. 

Cavedoni  (Bibl.  Num.  i,  76)  has  supposed  that  Mark 
meant  to  say  "  one  lepton  was  of  the  value  of  one  qua- 
drans," for  had  he  intended  to  express  that  two  of  the 
small  pieces  of  money  were  equal  to  a  quadrans,  then  he 
must  have  written  a  ttrrt  instead  of  b  tan  KoSpavTTjg ; 
and  the  Vulg.  has  also  translated  quod  est,  but  not  qum 
su7if.  This  argument,  however,  is  too  minute  to  be  of 
much  force.  Another  argument  adduced  is  that  (he 
words  of  our  Lord  in  the  parallel  passages  of  Matthew 
(v,  26)  and  Luke  (xii,  59)  prove  that  the  quadrans  is  the 
same  as  the  lepton.  In  the  former  passage  the  words 
are  tcrxaroi'  KoSpdvnjv,  and  in  the  latter  laxaTov 
XtTTTov.  This  argument,  again,  hardly  merits  an  ob- 
servation, for  we  might  as  well  assume  that  because  we 
say  such  a  thing  is  not  worth  a  penny,  or  not  worth  a 
fai-thinf),  therefore  the  j)enmj  and  the  furthinr/  are  the 
same  coin.  A  third  argument,  deemed  by  Cavedoni  to 
be  conclusive,  assumes  that  the  quadrans  only  weighed 
30  grains,  and  that  if  the  quadrans  equalled  two  lepta, 
there  would  be  coins  existing  at  the  time  of  our  Saviour 
of  the  weight  of  15.44  grains.  This  argument  is  suffi- 
ciently answered  by  the  fact  that  there  are  coins  of  the 
ethnarch  Archelaus  and  of  the  emperor  Augustus  struck 
by  the  procurators  weighing  so  low  as  18  to  15  grains, 


Copper  Coin  (XeTrrov  or  "mite")  of  Archelaus. 


and  by  comparing  them  with  others  of  the  same  period 
a  result  can  be  obtained  proving  the  existence  in  Judiea 
of  three  denominations  of  coinage — the  semis,  the  qua- 
drans, and  the  lepton.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  lepton 
was  rarely  struck  at  the  time  of  the  evangelists,  yet  it 
must  have  been  a  common  coin  from  the  time  of  Alex- 
ander II  to  the  accession  of  Antigonus  (B.C.  69^B.C. 
40),  and  its  circulation  must  have  continued  long  in 
use.  The  extreme  vicissitudes  of  the  period  may  only 
have  allowed  these  small  copper  coins  to  be  struck. 
They  were  formerly  attributed  to  Alexander  Jannaeus, 
but  are  now  given  to  Alexander  11.  They  average  in 
weight  from  20  to  15  grains.     See  JIoney. 

It  maj'  be  as  well  to  notice  that  Schleusner  (Lex.  K. 
T.  s.  V.  Ku^pdvTr}(^),  after  Fischer,  considers  the  qva- 
drans  of  the  N.  T.,  of  which  the  lejjfon  was  the  lialf,  not 
to  have  equalled  the  Eoman  quadrans,  but  to  have  been 
the  fourth  of  the  Jewish  as.  The  Jewish  as  is  made  to 
correspond  with  the  half  of  the  half-ounce  Roman  as, 
and  as,  according  to  Jewish  writers,  the  n::p"lS  or 
ni3l"iS  was  the  eighth  part  of  the  assar,  or  Jewish  as 
(Buxtorf,  Lex.  Talm.  s.  v.  T^CS),  and  as  the  evangelists 
have  understood  this  word  rtUl^S  to  be  the  lepton,  it 
follows  that  the  quadrans  equalled  £vo  \t7r-a.  This 
theory,  however,  is  quite  out  of  the  questi^on,  and  a 
comparison  of  the'  coins  of  Judiea  with  those  struck  at 
Rome  clearly  proves  that  the  quadi-ans  in  Jnda?a  was 
the  same  as  the  quadrans  in  Rome.  Moreover,  as  the 
Romans  ordered  that  onlij  Roman  coins,  2cei>/lits,  and 
measures  should  be  used  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  Ro- 
man empire  (Dion.  Cass,  lii,  20),  it  is  certain  that  there 
can  have  been  no  Jeicish  as  or  Jewish  quadrans,  and 
that  all  the  coins  issued  by  the  Jewish  princes,  and  un- 
der the  procurators,  were  struck  upon  a  Roman  stand- 
ard (F.  W.  Madden,  I/ist.  of  Jeicish  Coinage  and  of 
Money  in  0.  and  N.  T.  p.  296-302).— Kitto,  s.  v. 


MITELLI 


386 


MITHRA 


Mitelli,  GiusEPPi  Maria,  a  noted  Italian  painter, 
was  bom  at  Bolofjiia  in  1034.  lie  received  instruction 
from  liis  iatlicr,  who  was  an  eminent  fresco  j)ainter  of 
Bologna,  and  afterwards  entered  the  school  of  Flaminio 
Torre.  He  painted  a  number  of  works  for  the  cliurch- 
es  of  B«h)giia,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  St. 
Reniero  healing  the  sick,  in  S.  ^Maria  della  Vita,  a  Pieta. 
in  the  Nuuziato,  and  Christ  taken  in  the  Gdrdtn,  at  the 
Cappuccini.  1  le  was  more  distinguished  as  an  engraver, 
and  etched  a  number  of  plates  of  the  most  celebrated 
masters,  as  well  as  many  of  his  own  designs — among 
the  latter  the  set  of  twenty-six  plates  illustrating  the 
Twenti/-four  Hours  of  Hainan  Feliciti/.  Bartsch  has 
credite(l  him  with  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  prints, 
but  Nagler  increases  the  list.  He  died  in  1718.  See 
Lanzi's  History  of  Painters,  trans),  by  Koscoe  (Lend. 
1817,3  vols.  8vo),  iii,  138;  Spooner,  Bioff.  History  of  the 
Fine  Arts  (N.  Y.  18G5,  2  vols.  8vo),  ii,  569. 

Mith'cah  (Ileb.  Mithkah',  ^^T\^,  sweetness,  prob. 
of  the  water  found  there;  Sept.  Ma^iKKu),  the  twenty- 
ninth  station  of  tlie  Israelites  in  the  desert,  between  Ta- 
rah  and  Ilaslimonah  (Numb,  xxxiii,  28,  29);  perhaps 
at  the  intersection  of  Wady  el-Ghamr  with  Wady  el-Je- 
rafch.     See  Exode. 

Mith'nite  (Ileb.  Mithni',  "^sri"!?,  patronymic  or 
gentile  a|)parently  from  'T}^,  Me'then,frmness;  Sept. 
Mai^avi  v.  r.  BaiBavi,  Vulg.  Mathanites,  as  if  from 
"jri^,  J/«<7«7i),  an  epithet  of  Josbaphat,  one  of  David's 
body-guard  (1  Chron.  xi,  43) ;  either  from  his  ancestor 
or  native  place,  of  neither  of  which,  liowever,  is  there 
any  other  mention,  or  further  means  of  determination. 

Mithra  or  Mithras  (Greek  Mi'^pac ;  Sanscrit 
Mitra  or  Miti-as),  the  highest  of  the  twenty-eight  sec- 
ond-class divinities  of  the  ancient  Persian  Tautlieon,  is 
generally  regarded  as  the  chief  of  the  Izeds  (Zend.  Ya- 
zata),  the  ruler  of  the  universe.  He  is  spoken  of  as  the 
god  of  the  sun ;  but  he  is  more  prbjierly  the  god  of  day, 
and,  in  a  higher  and  more  extended  sense,  the  god  of 
liglit,  presiding  over  the  movements  and  influence  of 
the  principal  heavenly  bodies,  including  the  five  planets 
of  the  sun  and  moon.  Tlie  primary  signification  of  the 
word  Mitra  is  a  friend,  and  ]\Iitlira  would  therefore  con- 
vey the  representation  of  light  as  the  friend  of  mankind, 
and  as  the  mediator  (/i4(7tr;jc)  between  heaven  and 
earth.  Protector  and  supporter  of  man  in  this  life,  he 
watches  over  his  soul  in  the  next,  defending  it  against 
the  impure  spirits,  and 
transferring  it  to  the 
realms  of  eternal  bliss. 
He  Ls  all-seeing  and  all- 
hear  in  g,  and,  armed 
with  a  club — his  weap- 
on against  Ahriman 
and  tlie  evil  l)evs — he 
unceasingly  '•  runs  his 
course"  between  heav- 
en and  earth.  In  this 
character  of  mediator, 
as  well  as  in  some  otlur 
respects,  he  would  seem 
to  approach  the  charac- 
ter of  .l//»/. 

From  Persia  tlie  cuU 
tus  of  jMithra  and  the 
mysteries  were  import- 
ed into  Asia  ISIinor, 
Syria,  Palestine,  etc., 
and  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  in  some  parts  hu- 
man sacrifices  were 
connected  with  this 
worship.  In  the  days  of 
the  emperors  the  wor- 
ship of  Milhra  f.nnid 
its  way  into  Home,  and 


thence  into  the  different  parts  of  the  Roman  empire, 
and  the  mysteries  of  Mithra  (Hierocoracica,  Cura- 
cica  Sacra),  which  fell  in  the  spring  equinox,  became 
famous  even  among  tlie  many  lloman  festivals.  The 
ceremonies  observed  in  the  initiation  to  tliese  mys- 
teries—symbolical of  the  struggle  between  Ahriman  and 
Ormuzd  (the  Good  and  the  Kvil) — were  of  the  most 
extraordinary  and,  to  a  certain  degree,  even  dangerous 
character.  Baptism  and  the  partaking  of  a  mystical 
liquid,  consisting  of  flour  and  water,  to  be  drunk  with 
the  utterance  of  sacred  formulas,  were  among  the  inau- 
gurative  acts.  The  seven  degrees — according  to  the 
number  of  the  planets— were,  1,  Soldiers;  2,  Lions  (in 
the  case  of  men)  or  Ilyajnas  (in  that  of  women) ;  3, 
Kavens;  4,  Degree  of  Pt-rses ,-  5,  of  Oromios;  G,  of  He- 
lios ;  7,  of  Fathers — the  highest— who  were  also  called 
Eagles  and  Hawks.  At  first  of  a  mern,'  character— thus 
the  king  of  Persia  was  allowed  to  get  drtuik  only  on  the 
Feast  of  the  Mysteries — the  stjlemnities  gradually  as- 
sumed a  severe  and  rigorous  aspect.  Through  liome, 
where  this  worship,  after  many  vain  endeavors,  was  final- 
ly suppressed  in  A.D.  378,  it  miay  be  presumed  that  it 
found  its  way  into  the  west  and  north  of  Europe ;  and 
many  tokens  of  its  former  existence  in  Germany  are  still 
to  be  found,  for  instance,  such  as  the  Mithra  monuments 
at  Heidenbeim,  near  Frankfort -on -the -Main,  and  at 
other  places. 

Among  the  Persians  Mithra  is  pictured  as  a  young 
man,  clothed  with  a  tunic  and  a  Persian  cloak,  and 
having  on  his  head  a  Persian  bonnet  or  tiara.  He 
kneels  upon  a  prostrate  bull,  and  while  holding  it  with 
the  left  hand  by  the  nostrils,  with  the  right  he  plunges 
into  the  shoulder  a  short  sword  or  dagger.  The  bull  is 
at  the  same  time  vigorously  attackeil  by  a  dog,  a  ser- 
pent, and  a  scorpion.  The  ancient  monuments  repre- 
sent him  as  abeautifid  youth,  dressed  in  Phrygian  garb, 
kneeling  upon  an  ox,  into  whose  neck  he  pliniges  a 
knife;  several  minor,  varying,  allegorical  emblems  of 
the  sun  and  his  course  surromiding  the  group.  At  times 
he  is  also  represented  as  a  lion,  or  the  head  of  a  lion. 
The  most  important  of  his  many  festivals  was  his  birth- 
day, celebrated  on  the  25th  of  December,  the  day  sub- 
sequently fixed — against  all  evidence — as  the  birthday 
of  Christ.  In  the  early  <lays  of  the  Church  it  was  not 
an  uncommon  occurrence  to  find  an  apologist  of  the 
inspired  teacher  laying  undue  stress  on  some  [loints  of 
resemblance  between  Mithraism  and  Christianity,  and 
thus  the  triumphant  march  of  the  latter  M-as  much  re- 


MITHREDATII 

tarded.  In  modem  tinies  Christian  writers  have  been 
again  induced  to  look  favorably  upon  the  assertion  that 
some  of  our  iscclesiastical  usages  (e.  g.  the  institution  of 
the  Christmas  festival)  originated  in  the  cultus  of  Mith- 
raism.  Some  writers,  who  refuse  to  accept  the  Chris- 
tian religion  as  of  supernatural  origin,  have  even  gone 
so-far  as  to  institute  a  close  comparison  with  the  founder 
of  Christianity ;  and  Dupuis  and  others,  going  even  be- 
yond this,  have  not  hesitated  to  pronounce  the  Gospel 
simply  a  hrunch  of  Mithraism.  The  ablest  reply  to 
these  theories  we  have  from  Crouzer  and  Hardwick. 

Among  the  cliitf  authorities  on  this  subject  are 
Sainte-Croix,  Ji(c/ii  i-c/k  s  /u's/ariques  et  critiques  sur  les 
mi/steres  dii  jiiii/in/l.<iiii .  cillfrd  l)y  Sylvcstre  de  Sacy  (Par- 
is, 1817);  liunioui.  ,s/(/-  /r  Vucna.  p.  351  sq. ;  Lajard, 
JRecherches  sur  h'  culir  juih/ir  it  hs  mt/sieres  de  Mithra 
(Paris,  1847-8);  (>.  .^ItilkT,  Dtukmalcr  d.  ulteii  Kunst ; 
Creuzer,  Mythohyie  u.  Syinbolik  (id  ed.),  i,  238,  261,  341, 
714  sq. ;  id.  Das  Mitkreuni  (Heidelb.  1838);  Schwenk, 
MytJwlogie  der  Perser  (Frankf.  1850) ;  Seel,  Die  Mithrus- 
geheimnisse  (Aarau,  1823) ;  \i&vamex,Mithriaka  (Vienna, 
1834) ;  Dupuis,  Orit/ine  tie  tous  les  cultes,  i,  37 ;  Hard- 
wick, Christ  and  other  Masters,  ii,  431-438.  See  Pau- 
SEEs;  Zendavesta.     (J.  H.W.) 

Mith'redath  (Heb.  Mitkredatk',  r/linr,  from 
the  Pers.  given  by  Mithras,  see  Gesenius,  Thesaur.  lleh. 
p.  832,  and  comp.  the  Gr.  form  of  the  name  Mi5rpiSdTr]Q, 
'Lat.Mithridates;  Sept.  Mi^pi5uTi]c  and  Mi^paSaTi)^), 
the  name  of  two  Persian  officers  after  the  exile. 

1.  The  "  treasurer"  C^TS)  of  king  Cyrus,  commis- 
sioned by  him  to  restore  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  Tem- 
ple to  Sheshbazzar,  the  Jewish  chief  (Ezra  i,  8).  B.C. 
636. 

2.  One  of  the  governors  of  Samaria,  who  wrote  to 
king  Artaxerxes,  or  Smerdis,  charging  the  Jews  with 
rebellious  designs  in  rebuilding  Jerusalem  (Ezra  iv,  7). 
B.C.  522. 

Mithrida'tes  (Mi^piSaTr^r  or  Mi^padarriQ),  the 
Grrecized  form  {a.  1  Esdr.  ii,  11 ;  h.  I  Esdr.  ii,  16)  of  the 
Heb.  name  Mithredatii  (q.  v.) 

Mitre  is  the  rendering  in  the  Auth.  Vers,  of  the 
Hebrew  word  rSSIi'O  Qnitsne'pheth,  something  7-olled 
around  the  head),  spoken  especially  of  the  turban  or 
head-dress  of  the  high-priest  (Exod.  xxviii,  4,  37,  39 ; 
xxix,  6;  xxxix,  28,  31;  Lev.viii,  9;  Kvi,  4;  for  its  form, 
see  Josephus,  Ant.  in,  7,  8;  Braun,  De  Vesfitu  sacerd. 
Heb.  p.  624  sq. ;  TcippfFer,  De  tiaris  summi  et  minormn 
sace7-dotum,Yitemb.  1722 ;  Funcke,  De  tiara  pontif.  Ebr. 
Gies.  1728),  once  of  a  roj^al  crown  ("diadem,"  Ezek. 
xxi,  26) ;  also  r|"^2^  (tsaniph',  from  the  same  root),  spo- 
ken of  a  tiara  or  head-band,  e.  g.  of  men  (Job  xxix,  14, 
"diadem"),  of  women  (Isa.  iii,  23,  "hood"),  of  the  high- 
priest  (Zech.  iii,  5),  and  once  of  the  king  (Isa.  Ixii,  3, 
"diadem,"  where  the  text  has  rjillS  or  Cj^iJi).  See 
Bonnet;  Crown;  Priest. 

MITRE  is  the  name  given  also  to  the  head-dress 
worn  in  solemn  Church  services  bj'  the  pope,  the  bish- 
ops, abbots,  and  certain 
other  prelates  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  The 
name,  as  probably  the 
ornament  itself,  is  bor- 
rowed from  the  Orient- 
als, although,  in  its 
present  form,  it  is  not 
in  use  in  the  Greek 
Church,  or  in  any  oth- 
er of  the  churches  of 
the  various  Eastern 
rites.  The  Western  mitre  is  a  tall,  tongue-shaped  cap, 
terminating  in  a  twofold  point,  which  is  supposed  to 
symbolize  the  "  cloven  tongues,"  in  the  form  of  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  was  imparted  to  the  apostles,  and  is  fur- 
nished with  two  flaps,  which  fall  behind  over  the  shoul- 
ders. 


587 


MITTARELLI 


Roman  Catholic  Mitre. 


Opinion  is  much  divided  as  to  the  date  at  whicli  the 
mitre  first  came  into  use.  Eusebius,  Gregory  of  Nazi- 
anzum,  Epiphanius,  and  others  speak  of  an  ornamented 
head-dress  worn  in  the  church;  but  there  is  no  very 
early  monument  or  pictorial  representation  which  exhib- 
its any  head-covering  at  all  resembling  the  modern  mi- 
tre. A  statue  of  St.  Peter,  said  to  have  been  erected  in 
the  seventh  century,  bears  this  mark  of  distinction  in 
the  shape  of  a  round,  high,  and  pyramidal  mitre,  such' 
as  those  which  the  popes  have  since  worn,  and  offers, 
perhaps,  one  of  the  earliest  instances  of  its  usage  in 
churches.  The  most  ancient  mitres  were  very  low  and 
simple,  being  not  more  than  from  three  to  six  inches  in 
elevation,  and  they  thus  continued  till  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  Since  the  9th  century  the  mitre  is 
foimd  to  have  been  in  use  quite  extensively.  From  the 
time  of  Leo  IX  until  Innocent  IV  the  mitre  was  worn 
by  cardinals,  and  instances  are  recorded  in  which  the 
popes  granted  permission  to  certain  bishops  to  wear  the 
mitre;  as,  for  example,  Leo  IV  to  Anschar,  bishop  of 
Hamburg,  in  the  ninth  centurv.  In  the  fourteenth 
century,  when  the  mitre  had  come  into  general  use, 
they  gradually  increased  in  height  to  a  foot  or  more, 
and  became  more  superbly  enriched ;  their  outlmes  also 
presented  a  degree  of  convexity  by  which  they  were 
distinguished  from  the  older  mitres. 

The  mitre,  as  an  ornament,  seems  to  have  descended 
in  the  earliest  times  from  bishop  to  bishop.  Among  the 
Cottonian  MSS.  is  an  order,  dated  Jtdy  1,  4  Henrj'  VI, 
for  the  delivery  to  archlishop  Chichely  of  the  mitre 
which  had  been  worn  by  his  predecessor.  It  was  in 
some  cases  a  very  costlj'  ornament.  Archbishop  Peche- 
ham's  new  mitre,  in  12S8,  cost  £173  As.  Id.  The  mate- 
rial used  in  the  manufacture  of  the  mitre  is  very  vari- 
ous, often  consisting  of  the  most  costly  stuffs,  studded 
with  gold  and  precious  stones.  The  color  and  material 
differ  according  to  the  festival  or  the  service  in  which 
the  mitre  is  used,  and  there  is  a  special  prayer  in  the 
consecration  service  of  bishops,  used  in  investing  the 
new  bishop  with  his  mitre.  The  mitre  of  the  pope  is 
of  peculiar  form,  and  is  generally  called  by  the  name  of 
tiara  (q.  v.).  There  are  four  different  mitres  which 
are  now  used  by  the  pope.  These  are  more  or  less 
richly  adorned,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  festivals 
on  which'  they  are  to  be  worn.  The  two  horns  of  the  mi- 
tre are  generally  taken  to  be  an  allusion  to  the  cloven 
tongues  of  fire  which  rested  on  each  of  the  apostles  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost, 

At  first  the  mitre  was  by  special  favor  conferred  on 
certain  bishops ;  gradually  it  became  the  common  right 
of  every  bishop  to  wear  the  mitre,  and  later  its  use  was 
also  permitted  by  special  privilege  to  certain  abbots,  to 
provosts  of  some  distinguished  cathedral  chapters,  and 
to  a  few  other  dignitaries.  (Compare  Walcott,  A  rchoe- 
'^^ogy,  p.  383  sq. ;  Binterim,  Denkwiirdigkeiten  devKirche, 
i,  pt.  ii,  p.  348). 

In  some  of  the  Lutheran  churches  (as  in  Sweden) 
the  mitre  is  worn  ;  but  in  the  Church  of  England,  since 
the  Reformation,  the  mitre  is  no  longer  a  part  of  the 
episcopal  costume ;  it  is  simply  placed  over  the  shield 
of  an  archbishop  or  bishop  instead  of  a  crest.  The  mi- 
tre of  a  bishop  has  its  lower  rim  surrounded  with  a  fillet 
of  gold ;  but  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York 
are  in  the  practice  of  encircling  theirs  with  a  ducal 
coronet,  a  usage  of  late  date  and  doubtful  propriety. 
The  bishop  of  Durham  surrounds  his  mitre  with  an 
earl's  coronet,  in  consequence  of  being  titular  count  pal- 
atine of  Durham  and  earl  of  Sedburgh.  Before  the 
custom  was  introduced  of  bishops  impaling  the  insignia 
of  their  sees  with  their  family  arms,  they  sometimes 
differenced  their  paternal  coat  by  the  addition  of  a 
mitre. 

Mittarelli,  Nicolas-Jacques  (also  known  as  Jean- 
Benoit),  an  Italian  theologian  and  bibliographer,  and 
a  learned  historian,  was  born  at  Venice  Sept.  2, 1707.  At 
an  early  age  he  entered  the  order  of  the  Camaklules, 
and  prosecuted  his.  theological  studies  at  Florence  and 


MITYLENE 


388 


MIXED  MULTITUDE 


at  Rome,  where  he  secured  the  friendship  of  the  cardi- 
nal Kezzonico,  subsequently  Clement  XIV.  Appointed 
to  the  professorship  of  philosophy,  and  afterwards  to 
that  of  theology,  in  tlje  convent  of  Saint-lMicliel,  at 
Murano,  near  Venice,  Mittarelli  banished  from  his  teach- 
ing the  scholastic  method,  and  all  the  idle  questions  to 
which  it  gives  rise.  Nine  years  later  he  was  sent  to 
Treviso  as  confessor  to  the  monastcrj'  of  Saint-l'arisio; 
here  he  was  occupied  in  arranging  the  archives  of  that 
■  house,  acquired  a  taste  for  ecclesiastical  antiquities,  and 
gave  idmself  to  researches  in  this  direction.  His  nom- 
ination in  1747  to  the  office  of  chancellor  of  his  order 
.gave  him  the  opportunity  of  visiting  the  libraries  and 
arcliives  of  a  great  number  of  convents.  lie  then  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  writing  a  history  of  his  congregation. 
The  renown  which  this  well-executed  enterprise  gained 
for  him  caused  his  election  iu  17G0  as  abbot  of  the  con- 
vent of  Saint-JIichcl  at  Murano.  and  in  17()5  as  general 
of  his  order.  In  1770  he  resumed  tlie  government  of 
the  monastery  of  Saint-Michel,  which  lie  k('|)t  until  his 
death.  He  died  Aug.  14,  1777.  Emluwi'd  with  a  pro- 
digious memory  and  a  nice  critical  sense.  Mittarelli  ac- 
quired a  thorough  knowledge  of  Italian  ecclesiastical 
history.  To  all  the  virtues  he  united  an  exemplary 
modesty,  which  many  times  caused  him  to  refuse  the 
honors  offered  liim.  From  his  pen  we  have  Memoi-ie 
della  vida  di  S.Parisio,  Wionaco  Canuddulese  e  del  momis- 
tero  de  SS.-difitina  e  Parisio  di  Treviso  (Venice,  1748, 
8vo)  : — Meino7-ie  del  monastero  della  S.-  I'riniiii  di  Fa- 
enza  (Faenza,  1749,  8vo): — Annalea  ('<ni;(iUhilri,.-'(.t.  qui- 
hus plitra  iiiseruntur  turn  cceleras  lUdicd-innutiKtifas  res, 
turn  kisioi-ium  ecclesiasdcani  remqiie  diplomuticam  illus- 
trantia  (Venice,  1755-1773,  9  vols,  fol.) ;  this  important 
work,  drawn  up  after  the  model  of  the  A  iinules  ordinis 
S.-Benedicti  of  Mabillon,  extends  to  the  year  1764 : — 
Ad Scriptores  rerum  Italicarum  CI.  Muratorii  accessio- 
nes  kislorice  Faventince  (Yenice,  1771,  fol.)  -.—De  Littera- 
fiira  Faventinorum  (Venice,  1775,  fol.): — Bibliotkeca 
codicum  mdnuscriptorum  monasferii  S.-Michaelis  de  Mu- 
riano  Venetiiiritm,  cum  appendice  librorum  impressorum 
scecidi  XV  (Venice,  1769,  fol.).  See  Fabroni,  ]'if(e  Ilalo- 
riim  ;  Tipaldo,  Biogr.degli  Ituliani  illustri,  x,  140;  Jage- 
mann,  Mngazin  der  italidnischen  Literatur,  vol.  iv ;  Ilir- 
sching,  llistor.  liter.  Ilandbuch. — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Ge- 
nertde,  s.  v. 

Mityle'nS  (M(ryXi}i'?;,  Acts  xx.  14;  written  also 
^fi/tik'iir,  Mi'TiXijt'i],  which  is  the  older  and  more  ac- 
curate form  [see  Tzcliucke,  (id  Mil.  II,  ii,  484J  ;  of  un- 
certain etymology),  the  capital  of  the  isle  of  Lesbos 
(Ptolemy,  iv,  2,  29),  in  the  yEgiean  Sea,  about  seven  and 
a  half  miles  from  the  opposite  point  on  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor.  It  was  a  well-built  town,  with  two  harbors,  but 
unwholesomely  situated  ( Vitruvius,  ])e  A  rchitect.  i,  6), 
It  was  the  native  place  of  Pittacus,  Theophanes,  Theo- 
phrastus,  Sappho,  Alcaeus,  and  Diophanes,  and  was  lib- 
erally supplied  with  literary  advantages  (Strabo,  xiii, 
617;  Scnec.  Ilelr.  ix  ;  Pliny,  v,  'S7 ;  comp.  Veil.  Paten, 
ii,  18).  The  town  was  celebrated  for  the  beauty  of  its 
buildings  (•'  .Alitylene  pulohra,"  Horace,  Epist.  1,'xi,  17  ; 
see  Cicero,  Ridl.  ii,  IC).  It  had  the  privileges  of  a  free 
city  (Pliny,  .V.  //.  v,  :59).  The  apostle  Paul  touched  at 
Mitylene  overnight  between  Assos  and  Chios,  during  his 
third  apostolical  journey,  on  the  way  from  Corinth  to 
Jud;ca  (.\cts  XX,  14).  It  may  be  gathered  from  the  cir- 
cumstances of  this  voyage  that  the  wind  was  blowing 
from  the  N.W.;  and  it  is  worth  while  to  notice  that  in 
the  harbor  or  in  the  roadstead  of  Jlitylene  the  ship 


Coiu  of  Mitjiene.     (In  the  British  Museum.) 


would  be  sheltered  from  that  wind.  Moreover,  it  ap- 
pears that  Paid  was  there  at  the  time  of  dark  moon,  and 
this  was  a  sulKcient  reason  for  passing  the  night  there 
before  going  through  the  intricate  passages  to  the  south- 
ward (see  Conybeare  and  llowson's  Life  nf  St.  Paul,  ii, 
210).  It  does  not  appear  that  any  Christian  Church 
was  established  at  this  place  in  the  apostolic  age.  No 
mention  is  made  of  it  in  ecclesiastical  history  until  a 
late  period;  and  in  the  2d  century  heathenism  was  so 
rife  in  ^litylene  that  a  man  was  annually  sacrificed 
to  Dionysus.  In  the  5th,  6th,  7ih,  and  8th  centuries, 
however,  we  find  bishops  of  Mitylene  present  at  several 
councils  (^lagdeburg,  Jlist,  Eccles.  Cetd.  ii,  195;  v,  6;  vi, 
6 ;  vii,  4,  258,  254 ;  viii,  G).  Mitylene  still  exists,  under 
the  designation  of  Metelin,  and  has  given  its  name,  in 
the  form  of  Mglilni,  to  the  whole  island  ;  but  it  is  now 
a  place  of  no  importance  (Tournefort,  Trar.  ii,  1 15 ;  Oli- 
vier, Voyage,  ii,  93  ;  Sonnini,  Travels  in  Greece,  p.  366), 
The  town  contains  alx)ut  700  (Jreek  houses,  and  400 
Turkish ;  its  streets  are  narrow  and  filthy  (Turner,  Tour 
in  the  Lecimt,  iii,  299).  See,  generally,  Pauly's  Pealen- 
cyklop.  V,  372  sq. ;  Anthon's  Class.  Diet.  s.  v. ;  Smith's 
Diet,  of  Class.  Geography,  s.  v. ;  Jl'Culloch's  Gazetteer, 
s.  V. 

Mixed  marriages,  i.  e.  marriages  between  Jews 
and  (lentilcs,  were  strictly  prohibited  by  the  ^Mosaic  law. 
The  New  Testament,  if  it  be  thought  to  contain  no  posi- 
tive prohibition  of  the  intermarriage  of  Christians  and 
heathens,  yet,  to  say  the  least,  strongh'  represents  such 
a  proceeding  as  inconsistent  with  a  Christian  profession 
(1  Cor.  vii,  39 ;  2  Cor.  vi,  14).  The  early  fathers  de- 
nounced the  practice  as  dangerous  and  even  criminal 
(Tertullian,  Ad.Uxor.  lib.  ii,  c.  2-9;  De  Coron.  Mil.  c.  13; 
Cyprian,  .4  d  Quirin,  lib.  iii,  c.  62 ;  Ambrosius,  De  A  bra- 
hamo,  lib.  i,  c.  9 ;  Kp.  lib.  ix,  ep.  70 ;  De  Fide  et  Oper.  c, 
19;  Jerome,  In  Jovin.  lib.  i,  c.  10);  and  it  was  after- 
wards positively  i)rohibited  by  the  decrees  of  councils 
and  the  laws  of  the  empire  {Cone.  Chalced.c.  14 ;  Arelat. 
i,  c.  11 ;  Illiberit.  c.  15, 16, 17;  Aurelian,  ii,c.  18;  Cod.  Jus- 
tin, lib.  i,  tit.  9, 1 , 0 ;  Cod.  Theodos.  lib.  iii,  tit.  7, 1, 2 ;  lib. 
ix,  tit.  7, 1,  5 ;  lib.  xvi,  tit.  8, 1,  6).  These  prohibitions 
extended  to  the  marriage  of  Christians  with  Jews,  Pa- 
gans, ^lohannnedans.  and  certain  heretics,  namely,  those 
wliosc  bapiisiii  was  not  admitted  as  valid  by  the  Church. 
The  first  interdiction  of  marriage  with  heretics  on  rec- 
ord is  one  which  was  made  about  the  middle  of  the 
fourth  century  (Cone.  Laodic.  c.  10,  31 ;  see  also  Cone, 
Agath.  c.  67;  Choked,  c.  14).  It  does  not  appear  that 
such  marriages,  although  prohibited,  were  declared  null 
and  void  whenever  they  had  actually  taken  place:  and 
we  read  of  some  illustrious  examples  of  the  breach  of 
the  rule,  as  in  the  case  of  !Monica,  the  mother  of  Augus- 
tine (Augustine,  Confess,  lib.  ix,  c.  9),  and  Clotildis,  the 
queen  of  Clovis  (( iregorius  Turon.  Hist.  Franc,  lib.  ii,  c. 
28),  who  became  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  their 
respective  husbands  to  Christianity. — Kiddle,  ChrUtian 
Antiquities,  [).7lb-7-i9.     Sec  Divoijce;  JIaki!I.v<;e. 

Mixed  multitude  (3*1?,  e'reft;  Sept.  ts-i/dK-rof, 
Vulg.  promiscnum),  the  designation  of  a  certain  class 
who  went  with  the  Israelites  as  they  journeyed  from 
Kamcses  to  Succoth,  the  first  stage  of  the  exodus  froril 
Egypt  ( I'lxod.  xii,  38).  In  the  Targum  the  jdirase  is 
vaguely  rendered  "  many  foreigners,"  and  Jarchi  ex- 
plains it  as  "  a  medley  of  outlandisli  people."  Abcn- 
Ezra  goes  further,  and  says  it  signifies  "the  Egyptians 
who  were  mixed  with  them,  and  they  are  the  'mixed 
multitude'  (rilDSDX,  Nimib.  xi,  4)  who  were  gathered 
to  them."  Jarchi.  on  the  latter  passage,  also  identifies 
the  "  mixed  multitude"  of  Nimibers  and  Exodus.  Dur- 
ing their  residence  in  Egypt  marriages  were  naturally 
contracted  between  the  Israelites  and  the  natives,  and 
the  son  of  such  a  marriage  between  an  Israelitish  woman 
and  an  Egyptian  is  especially  mentioned  as  being  stoned 
for  blasphemy  (Lev.  xxiv.  11).  the  same  law  holding 
good  for  the  resident  or  naturalized  foreigner  as  for  the 
nat  ive  Israelite  (Josh,  viii,  35).    This  hybrid  race  is  ev- 


MIZAR 


389 


MIZPAH 


idently  alluded  to  by  Jarchi  and  Aben-Ezra,  and  is  most 
probably  that  to  which  reference  is  made  in  Exodus. 
Knobel  understands  by  the  "  mixed  multitude"  the  re- 
mains of  the  Hyksos  who  left  Egj'pt  with  the  Hebrews. 
Dr.  Kalisch  {Comm.  on  Exod.  xii,'dS)  interprets  it  of  the 
native  Egyptians  who  were  involved  in  the  same  op- 
pression with  the  Hebrews  by  the  new  dynasty,  which 
invaded  and  subdued  Lower  Egypt ;  and  Kurtz  {[list,  of 
Old  Gov.  ii,  312,  Eng.  tr.),  while  he  supposes  the  "  mixed 
multitude"  to  have  been  Egyptians  of  the  lower  classes, 
attributes  their  emigration  to  their  having  "endured 
the  same  oppi'ession  as  the  Israelites  from  the  proud 
spirit  of  caste  which  prevailed  in  Egypt,"  in  conse- 
quence of  which  they  attached  themselves  to  the  He- 
brews, "  and  served  henceforth  as  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water."  That  the  "  mixed  multitude"  is  a 
general  term  including  all  those  who  were  not  of  pure 
Israelitish  blood  is  evident;  more  than  this  cannot  be 
positively  asserted.  In  Exodus  and  Numbers  it  proba- 
bly denotes  the  miscellaneous  hangers-on  of  the  He- 
brew camp,  whether  they  were  the  issue  of  spurious 
marriages  with  Egyptians,  or  were  themselves  Egyp- 
tians or  belonging  to  other  nations.  The  same  hap- 
pened on  the  return  from  Babylon,  and  in  Neh.  xiii,  3  a 
slight  clew  is  given  by  which  the  meaning  of  the  "mixed 
multitude"  may  be  more  definitely  ascertained.  Upon 
reading  in  the  law  "  that  the  Ammonite  and  the  Moab- 
ite  should  not  come  into  the  congregation  of  God  for- 
ever," it  is  said  "  they  separated  from  Israel  all  the 
mixed  multitiuk."  The  remainder  of  the  chapter  relates 
the  expulsion  of  Tobiah  the  Ammonite  from  the  Tem- 
ple, of  the  merchants  and  men  of  Tyre  from  the  city, 
and  of  the  foreign  wives  of  Ashdod,  of  Amnion,  and  of 
Moab,  with  whom  the  Jews  had  intermarried.  All  of 
these  were  included  in  the  "  mixed  multitude,"  and  Ne- 
hemiah  adds,  "Thus  cleansed  I  them  from  a\\  foreign- 
ers" The  Targ.  Jon,  on  Numb,  xi,  4  explains  the 
"  mixed  multitude"  as  proselytes,  and  this  view  is  ap- 
parently adopted  by  Ewald,  but  there  does  not  seem  to 
be  any  foundation  for  it. — Smith,  s.  v.  See  Mingled 
People. 

Mi'zar  (Hcb.  3f{tsar',  ""ri'a,  smallness,  i.  o.  a  little 
of  anything,  as  in  Gen.  xix,  20,  etc. ;  Sept.  ^iicpocVulg. 
modicus,  Auth.  Vers,  margin  "  little"),  apparently  the 
name  of  a  summit  on  the  eastern  ridge  of  Lebanon  or 
come  contiguous  chain,  not  far  from  which  David  lay 
after  escaping  from  the  rebellion  of  Absalom  (Psa.  xlii, 
7).  Others  (with  the  versions  above)  understand  it 
merely  as  an  appellation,  "the  small  mountain;"  but 
this  is  a  more  harsh  construction,  and  mention  is  made 
in  the  context  of  the  trans-Jordanic  region  of  Hermon, 
not  tery  far  from  which  was  iMahanaim,  whither  David 
retired  (see  Tholuck's  Comment,  ad  loc,  who  neverthe- 
less renders  "  the  little  hiU").  If  any  particular  spot  is 
intended,  it  must  doubtless  be  sought  in  some  eminence 
of  the  southern  part  of  this  general  range,  perhaps  in 
the  present  Jebel  Ajltin,  which  may  have  properly  been 
so  styled  (i.  q. "  the  little")  in  contrast  with  the  greater 
elevation  of  Lebanon,  Hermon,  and  Gilead. 

Miz'pah  (Heb.  Mitspah',  T^^'S.-q,  Gen.  xxxvi,  49; 
Josh.xi,3;  Judg.x,17;  xi,  11,34;  xx,  1,5.8;  1  Sam. 
vii,r.,  11,12,16;  X,  17;  1  Kings  xv,  22 ;  2  Kings  xxv, 
23,  25 :  2  Chron.  xvi,  6 ;  Neh.  iii,  7, 15, 19 ;  Jer.  xl,  G-15; 
xli,  1, 3,  6, 10, 14, 10 ;  Hos.  v,  1 ;  always  [except  in  Hos. 
V,  1]  with  the  art.  JlSri^Stl ;  Sept.  Uaaar\(pa,\u\g.Mas- 
pha;  but  in  Gen.  xxxi,  49,  Sept.  opafffc, Vulg.  omits;  1 
Sam.  vii,  5-13;  Vulg.  Masphath  ;  1  Kings  xv,  22,  Sept. 
(TKOTTid;  2  Chron.  xvi,  G,  Mao(pd;  Neh.  iii,  19,  Mao-^s 
V.  r.  Ma<T0rti';  Hos.  v,  1,  aKOTrid,  speculatio),  or  Miz'- 
peh  (Heb.  Ifitsjyek',  nsri^,  Josh,  xi,  8;  Judg.  xi,  20; 
1  Sara,  vi,  5,  6,  7 ;  xxii,  3 ;  with  the  art.  Josh,  xv,  38 ; 
xviii,  26 ;  2  Chron.  xx,  24  ;  Sept.  Mao-<T;;0(t,  but  (TKoirid 
in  Judg.  xi,  29;  ^laaaijtpd^m  1  Sara.xxii,3;  Yulg.  J/os- 
pha,  but  Maspfie  in  Josh,  xi,  8;  3tesphe  in  Josh,  xviii, 
26),  the  name  of  several  places  (in  the  Auth.  Vers.  "Miz- 


pah"  in  Gen.  xxxi,  49 ;  1  Kings  xv,  22 ;  2  Kings  xxv, 
23,  25 ;  2  Chron.  xvi,  6 ;  Neh.  iii,  7, 15, 19 ;  Jet.^xl,  xli ; 
Hos.  V,  1-;  elsewhere  "Mizpeh"),  signifying  properly  a 
beacon  or  tvatch-tower  (as  in  Isa.  xxi,  8) ;  hence  also  a 
loft)/  jilcice,  whence  one  can  see  far  and  wide  over  the 
countrv,  whether  furnished  with  a  castle  or  not  (as  in 
2  Chron.  xx,  24). 

1.  A  place  in  Gilead,  so  named  (in  addition  to  its 
other  names,  Galeed  and  Jegar-sahadutha,  both  sig-  ■ 
nifying  the  "heap  of  witness")  in  commemoration  of 
the  compact  formed  by  Jacob  with  Laban,  who  overtook 
him  at  this  spot  on  his  return  to  Palestine  (Gen.  xxxi, 
49,  where  the  word  ilZS^il  has  apparently  fallen  out 
of  the  text  by  reason  of  its  similarity  to  the  name  itself, 
so  that  we  should  read  "  and  he  called  the  obelisk  JNIiz- 
pah"  [see  Gesenius,  T/ies.  p.  1179].  It  would  seem  that 
the  whole  of  verse  49  is  the  language  of  Jacob,  for  it 
contains  a  play  upon  the  Heb.  [Cll?7,  yitsepli]  basis  of 
the  name  Mizpeh,  and  also  appeals  to  Jehovah;  where- 
as Laban  spoke  Aramfean,  and  his  language  is  resumed 
with  vcr.  50).  This  cannot  be  the  Mizpeh  of  Gilead  (see 
below),  for  it  lay  north  of  Mahanaim,  on  Jacob's  route, 
which  was  southward  towards  the  Jabbok  (xxxii,  2, 22). 
We  are  therefore  to  look  for  it  in  some  of  the  eminences 
of  that  vicinity.  It  probably  never  became  an  inhab- 
ited locality. 

2.  Another  place  east  of  Jordan,  called  Mizpaii  of 
Gilead  (Auth,  Vers.  "Mizpeh"),  where  Jephthah  as- 
sumed his  victorious  command  of  the  assembled  Israel- 
ites (Judg.  X,  17;  xi,  11),  and  where  he  resided  (Judg. 
xi,  34),  is  probably  the  same  with  the  Kamath-Miz- 
PEH  of  Gad  (Josh,  xiii,  26),  and  may  be  identified  with 
Ramath-Gilead  (q.  v.).  Eusebius  names  it  as  a  Le- 
vitical  city  in  the  tribe  of  Gad  {Onomast.  s.  v.  Mrtcr^fi). 

3.  Another  place  in  Gilead,  apparently  a  district  in- 
habited by  a  branch  of  the  Hivites,  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Hermon  (Josh,  xi,  3),  and  so  named  from  a  valley  east 
of  Misrephoth-main  and  opposite  Zidon  (Josh,  xi,  8) ; 
possibly  the  tract  immediately  west  of  Jebel  Heish  (see 
Keil,  Comment,  ad  loc).  The  idolatries  practiced  in 
this  vicinit}'  are  alluded  to  in  Hos.  v,  1  (see  Schwarz, 
Palest,  p.  60).  Pressel  (in  Herzog's  Real-Enq/Hop.  s.  v.), 
ingeniously  conjecturing  that  Mizpak  (the  fem.  Heb. 
form  of  the  name)  is  properly  the  country  in  general, 
and  Mizpeh  (the  masc.)  an  individual  place  or  town, 
understands  in  this  case  the  land  to  be  the  entire  plain 
of  Paneas  or  G-esarea  Pliilippi,  now  called  the  Ard  el- 
Huleh,  and  the  vullei/  to  be  that  of  the  eastern  source 
of  the  Jordan  from  Jebel  Heish.  Not  much  different  is 
the  view  of  Knobel  and  others  in  their  commentaries, 
tliinking  of  the  country  from  Hasbeiya  southward,  and 
westward  from  Tell  el-Kady,  the  ancient  Dan,  They 
refer  in  confirmation  of  their  views  to  Eobinson's  ac- 
count {Researches,  iii,  373)  of  a  Druse  village,  built  on 
a  hill  which  rises  200  feet  above  the  level  of  the  plain, 
and  commands  a  noble  view  of  the  great  basin  of  the 
Hiileh;  it  bears  the  name  of  Mululleh  or  Metelleh,  an 
Arabic  word  of  the  same  meaning  as  Mizpah,  and  em- 
ployed to  render  it  in  Gen.  xxxi,  49  by  Saadias.  Comp, 
Seetzen,  Reisen  durch  Si/rien  (Berl.  1857-59),  i,  393  sq.; 
Ritter,  Die  Sinai- Halbinsel,  Faldstina  u.  Syrien  (Berl. 
1850-51),  vol.  ii,  pt.  i,  p.  1121  sq, 

4.  A  city  of  Benjamin  (Josh,  xviii,  26),  where  the 
people  were  wont  to  convene  on  national  emergencies 
(Judg,  XX,  1,  3;  xxi,  1,  5,  8:  1  Sam.  vii,  5-16;  x,  17 
sq.).  It  was  afterwards  fortified  by  Asa,  to  protect  the 
borders  against  the  kingdom  of  Israel  (1  Kings  xv,  22 ; 
2  Chron.  xvi,  6).  In  later  times  it  became  the  resi- 
dence of  the  governor  under  the  Chakteans  (2  Kings 
xxv,  23,  25;  Jer.  xl,  6  sq. ;  xli,  1),  and  was  inhabited 
after  the  captivity  (Neh.  iii,  7,  15,  19).  In  the  Jewish 
traditions  it  was  for  some  time  the  residence  of  the  ark 
(see  Jerome,  Qu.  Hebr.  on  1  Sam.  vii,  2 ;  Reland,  Antiq. 
i,  vi)  ;  but  this  is  possibly  an  inference  from  the  ex- 
pression "before  Jehovah"  in  Judg.  xx,  1.  Josephus 
frequently  mentions  it  (Mao-^a-?/,  Ant.  vi,  2, 1 ;  Maa(pa- 


MIZPAR 


390 


MOAB 


Bd,  vi,  4,  4;  X,  9,  2,  4,  5),  once  identifying  it  with  Ra- 
niab  (Mua(pd,  viii,  13, 4).  From  the  account  in  1  Sam. 
vii,  5-lG,  it  appears  to  have  been  near  Gibeah,  anil  it 
could  not  have  been  far  from  liamah,  since  king  Asa 
fortified  it  wiih  materials  taken  from  that  place;  and 
that  it  was  situated  on  an  elevated  spot  is  clear  from  its 
name.  Uu  these  grounds  Dr.  IJobinson  {Resetux/ies,  ii, 
144)  inclines  to  regard  the  modern  village  of  Xebi/  iSum- 
u-il  ("  the  prophet  Samuel")  as  the  probable  site  of  Miz- 
pah,  especially  as  in  1  Mace,  iii,  4G  it  is  described  as 
"over  against  Jerusalem,"  implying  that  it  was  visible 
from  that  cit;y.  This  place  is  now  a  poor  village,  seal- 
ed upon  the  summit  of  a  ridge,  about  GOO  feet  above  the 
plain  of  Gibeou,  being  the  most  conspicuous  object  in 
all  the  vicinity.  It  contains  a  mosque,  now  in  a  state 
of  decay,  which,  on  the  ground  of  the  apparently  erro- 
neous identification  with  Eamah,  is  regarded  by  Jews, 
Christians,  and  Moslems  as  tlie  tomb  of  Samuel  (see 
Schwarz,  Palest,  p.  127).  Tlie  mosque  was  once  a  Latin 
church,  built  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  upon  older  founda- 
tions, and  probably  of  the  time  of  the  Crusaders.  There 
are  many  traces  of  former  dwellings.  The  modern 
hamlet  clusters  at  the  eastern  side  of  the  mosque.  The 
houses,  about  twelve  in  number,  are  either  ancient  or 
composed  of  ancient  materials.  Their  walls  are  in  places 
formed  of  the  living  rock  hewn  into  shape,  and  some 
of  the  little  courts  are  excavated  to  the  depth  of  sev- 
eral feet.  There  is  thus  an  air  of  departed  greatness 
and  high  anti(|uity  about  the  place,  which,  added  to  its 
c'ommaiuiiiig  situatioH,  gives  it  an  inexpressible  charm 
(I'orter,  J/ninl-boo/:,  p.  216;  comp.  Tobler,  Z/cti  Biichcr 
TitpiKjraphle  von  Jerusalem  u.  seine  V  iiniiJiiiiiqi  ii  \  I'lcrl. 
l«53,'l8o4  I,  ii,  874  sq.).  Mr.  Williams  (in  Smii ir>  Dh-t. 
of  Greek  and  Roman  Geoff,  s.v.)  douhts  ibis  liualion, 
urging  that  Jer.  xli,  5,  6  appears  to  require  a  jjosition 
more  directly  on  the  great  route  from  Jerusalem  to  Sa- 
maria; but  Neby  Samwil  is  exactly  on  the  route  by 
which  Johanan  overtook  the  murderer  of  Gedaliah  (Jer. 
xli,  12 ;  comp.'2  Sam.  ii,  13).  He  suggests  the  modern 
village  Shaphat,  lying  upon  the  ridge  anciently  called 
Scopus,  as  more  likely  to  have  been  Mizpah ;  and  Stan- 
ley {Sinai  and  Palestine,  p.  222)  argues  for  a  similar 
identity  on  the  ground  of  the  common  signification  of 
these  latter  (i.  q.  look-out).  This  last  place,  however,  is 
described  by  Josephus  (.•^H^xi,  8,  5)  in  very  different 
terms  from  Mizpah  {ut  sup.),  and  Jerusalem  is  not  visi- 
ble from  Shaphat  (for  which  Dr.  Honar  likewise  con- 
tends. Laud  of  Promise,  Ai)pond.  viii).     See  Uamah. 

5.  A  town  in  tlie  (ilairis  of  Judah  (Josh,  xv,  38). 
Eusebius  and  Jerome  identify  it  with  a  i)lace  which  in 
their  time  bore  the  name  of  Maspha  {Onomast.  s.  v. 
M«(T(ji«),  on  the  borders  of  Eleutheropolis,  northward,  on 
the  road  to  Jerusalem;  perhaps  the  present  Tell  es-Sa- 
Jieh  (Schwarz,  Palest,  p.  103),  the  Alba  Speruhi  of  the 
Crusaders  (Robinson,  Researches,  ii,  3G2-3G7),  which 
was  probably  the  (iATii  ((j.  v.)  of  later  Biblical  times. 

6.  A  town  of  ;Moab  to  which  David  took  his  parents, 
lest  tlicy  might  be  involved  in  Saul's  persecution  of 
himself  (1  Sam.  xxii,  3).  His  placing  them  there  un- 
der the  protection  of  the  Moabitish  king  implies  that  it 
was  the  chief  city,  or  royal  residence  of  the  Moabites; 
and  under  that  view  we  may,  perhaps,  identify  it  as  an 
appellative  (i.  q.  the  acropolis  or  stronghold  of  JMoab) 
with  KiK-MoAiJ  ((J.  v.)  or  Kerak. 

Miz'par  (Ileb.  .Mispar',  "iSpri,  number,  as  often; 
Sept.  i\I«aiiirto),  one  of  tlie  leading  Israelites  who  ac- 
companied Zerubbal)ol  on  the  return  from  Baliylon 
(Kzra  ii,  2),  in  the  parallel  i)assage  (^Xeh.  vii.  7)  called 
by  the  (Mpiivalent  name  JIi.sim:hi:tii.     l$.t!.  .03C. 

Miz'peh.     SecMizrAii;  ltAMATn-;Mi/,i'Kii. 

Miz'raim  (Heb.  Mitsra'ijim,  C^^^^s,  if  of  Heb. 
origin,  moaning  two  mounds  or  fortresses  [see  Mazou]  ; 
but  the  word  is,  perhaps,  of  foreign  [Egyptian  or  even 
Arabic]  derivation;  Sept.  yXttrfmiv;  but  usually  in  all  \ 
the  versions,  "l^gypt"  or  '•  Kgyptiaus").  the  name  by 
which  the  Hebrews  generally  designated  Egypt,  ai)i)ar- 


ently  from  its  having  been  peopled  bj'  Mizraim,  the 
second  son  of  Ham  (Gen.  x,  G,  13).  B.C.  post  2513,  See 
also  AiiEL-MizKAiM.  The  name  is  in  the  dual  form, 
double  Kffijpt,  and  seems  to  have  originally,  among  the 
Hebrews  at  least,  denoted  lower  and  vpper  Kijtjpt  by 
zeugma,  as  we  now  say  the  two  Sicilies,  for  Sicily  and 
Naples  (Gen.  xlv,  20 ;  xlvi,  34 ;  xlvii,  6,  13).  Tliis  ori- 
gin appears  to  have  been  afterwards  left  out  of  view, 
and  the  dual  form  is  sometimes  so  employed  as  not  to 
include  Pathros  or  Upper  Egypt  (Isa.  xi,  11 ;  Jer.  xliv, 
15).  Some  writers  ineptly  refer  the  dual  form  of  ^liz- 
raim  to  the  two  parts  of  Egypt  as  divided  by  the  Xile. 
Lower  Egypt  appears  to  have  been  designated  by  the 
name  Mazor  (2  Kings  xix,  24;  Isa.  xxxvii,  25).  The 
ancient  Hebrew  name  Mizraim  is  still  preserved  in  the 
abbreviated  form  Muzr,  the  existing  iVrabic  name  of 
Egypt.     See  Egypt. 

Miz'zah  (Heb.  Mizzah',  Tl^"^,  despair;  Sept.  Mo^f, 
in  Chron.  Mo^i),  the  last  named  of  the  four  sons  of 
Keuel,  the  son  of  Esau  by  Bashemath  (Gen.  xxxvi,  13; 
1  Chron.  i,  37),  and  a  petty  chieftain  of  the  Edomites 
(Gen.  xxxvi,  17).  B.C.  considerably  post  1927.  The 
settlements  of  his  descendants  are  believed  by  ^Ir.  For- 
ster  (IJisl.Geoff.o/ Arab.n,  55)  to  be  indicated  in  the 
fifaavirtji;  koXttoc,  or  Yhrai-Misan,  at  the  head  of  the 
Persian  Gulf. 

Mna'son  CSlvdmov,  porh,  remindiiu/),  a  Christian 
with  whom  Paul  lodged  during  his  last  visit  at  Jerusa- 
lem (Acts  xxi,  IG).  A.D.  55.  He  seems  to  have  been 
a  native  of  Cyprus,  but  an  inhabitant  of  Jerusalem,  like 
Barnabas  (comp.  Acts  xi,  19,  20).  He  was  well  known 
to  the  Christians  at  Coesarea,  and  may  have  been  a  friend 
of  Barnabas  (Acts  iv,  3G),  but  appears  not  to  have  been 
before  this  acquainted  with  Paul.  Some  think  tliat  he 
was  converted  by  Paul  and  Barnabas  while  at  Cyjirus 
(Acts  xiii,  9);  but  the  designation  "an  old  disciple" 
(«^Y"'OC  l^'aSrr]T}]c)  has  more  generally  induced  the 
conclusion  that  he  was  converted  by  Jesus  himself,  and 
was  perhaps  one  of  the  seventy  (see  Kuinbl,  Comment. 
ad  loc). 

Mo'ab  (Heb.  Moiib',  3X113,  water  [i.  e.  seed]  of  hat 
father,  with  allusion  to  his  incestuous  origin  [see  be- 
low]; Sept.  M(iiH/3),  the  son  of  Lot  and  his  eldest 
daughter,  and  founder  of  the  Moabitish  people  (Gen. 
xix,  30-38).  B.C.  2063.  ]\Ioab  is  also  used  for  the 
country  or  territory  of  the  Moabites  (Jer.  xlviii,  4) ;  and 
also  for  the  people  of  IMoab  (Numb,  xxii,  3-14;  Judg. 
iii,  30;  2  Sam.  viii,  2;  2  Kings  i,  1 ;  Jer.xlviii,  11,  13). 
The  "  Plains  of  Moab,"  near  Jericho,  was  the  last  station 
of  the  Hebrews  ii>  their  journey  to  Canaan  (Numb,  xxi, 
33 ;  xxii,  1 ;  xxxiii,  48).  The  proper  territory  of  the 
Moabites,  more  fully  called  the  feld  of  ^foab  (1,'uth  i, 

I,  2,  G ;  ii,  6 ;  iv,  3),  lay  on  the  east  of  the  Dead  Sea  and 
the  Jordan,  strictly  on  the  south  of  the  torrent  Arnon 
(Numb,  xxi,  13,  26;  Judg.  xi,  18);  but  in  a  wider  sense 
it  included  also  the  region  anciently  occupied  by  the 
Amoritcs  over  against  Jericho,  usually  calletl  the  jilains 
(deserts)  of  Jfoab  (Numb,  xxii,  1;  xxiv,  3;  xxxi.  12; 
xxxiii,  40,  50;  xxxv,  1 ;  Deut.xxxiv,  1);  or  elsewhere 
simply  the /««(/<;/' J/o((i  (Dent,  i,  5;  xxviii,  G9;  xxxii, 
49  ;  xxxiv,  5) ;  which  latter  region  was  afterwards  as- 
signed to  the  Ileubenites,  but  during  the  cajitivity  was 
again  occupied  by  the  Moabites  (see  Isa.  xv,  xvi;  Jer. 
xlviii).  It  is  now  called  the  district  ^>{ K<rak,  from  the 
city  of  that  name,  anciently  Kir-Moab — Gcsenius.  See 
jMoahitk  ;  Paiiatii-^Ioais. 

As  to  the  etymology  of  the  name,  "  various  explana- 
tions have  been  proposed.  (1.)  The  Sept,  inserts  the 
words  Xeyovrra  '  tK  rov  Trarpog  f-tov,  saying  '  from  my 
father,'  as  if  2S'2.  This  is  followed  by  the  old  inter- 
preters; as  Josephus  (Ant.  i,  11,  5),  Jerome's  Quasi. 
Hebr.  in  Genesim,  the  gloss  of  the  Pseudo-Jon.  Targum  ; 
and  in  modern  times  by  De  Wette  (/iibd),  Tuch  {Geiu 

II.  370),  and  J.  D.  Michaelis  (  />'.  fiir  L'nffdehrtiuX  (2.) 
By  Hiller  (Onovu  p. 414)  and  Simon  (Onom.  p,  479)  it  is 


IMOABITE  31 

derived  from  ::^  XS'l^,  'ingressus,  i.  e.  coitus,  patris.' 
(3.)  KoseumuUer  (see  Schumann,  Genesis,  p.  302)  pro- 
poses to  treat  IB  as  equivalent  for  W^^,  water,ivi  accord- 
ance with  the  figure  employed  by  Balaam  iu  Numb, 
xxiv,  7  (as  above  adoiued).  This  is  countenanced  by 
Jerome—'  aqua  paterna'  {Comm.  in  Mic.  vi,  8)— and  has 
the  great  authority  of  Gesenius  in  its  favor  {Thes.  p. 
775  a)  \  also  of  Furst  {IIa?idwb.\i.707)  and  Bunsen  (Jiibel- 
werk).  (4.)  A  derivation,  probably  more  correct  etymo- 
logically  than  either  of  the  above,"  is  that  suggested  by 
Maurer  from  the  root  SX;;',  '  to  desire'—'  the  desirable 
land'— with  reference  to  the  extreme  fertility  of  the  re- 
gion occupied  by  Moab  (see  also  Furst,  Ilwb.  p.  707  h). 
No  hint,  however,  has  yet  been  discovered  in  the  Bible 
records  of  such  an  origin  of  the  name"  (Smith). 

MOAB,  Plains  of  (2X1^  rS^'}^,  Arboth'  3foab', 
Deserts  of  Moab),  a  plain  east  of  the  Jordan,  opposite 
Jericho  (Numb,  xxii,  1 ;  xxvi,  13 ;  Josh,  xiii,  32),  where 
the  Israelites  under  Moses  pitched  their  encampment 
on  their  way  into  Canaan  (Numb,  sxxi,  12 ;  xxxiii, 
48  sq.;  Deut.  i,  1,  5),  in  the  vicinity  of  Nebo  (Deut. 
xxxiv,  1,  8).  It  is  the  level  spot  in  the  great  depres- 
sion of  the  GhOr  into  which  Wady  Hesban  opens,  be- 
tween Wadys  Kefrein  and  Jerlfeh,  a  part  of  it  being 
called  the  Valley  of  Shettim  (q.  v.).  It  then  belonged 
to  the  Amorites  (Numb,  xxi,  22  sq.),  but  earlier  to  the 
Moabites,  whence  it  had  its  name.  In  the  division  of 
the  country  it  fell  to  the  Gadites  and  Renbenites  (Numb.. 
xxxii,  33  sq. ;  Josh,  xiii,  32). — AViner,  i,  403 ;  ii,  98,    See 

MOABITE. 

Mo'abite  (Heb.  Modbi',  ''SSi^,  a  Gentile  from 
Moub,  Deut.  xxiii,  24 ;  Neh.  xiii"  1 ;  fem.  n-^nxir,  2 
Chron.  xxiv,  26-  or  n^^XI^,  Euth  i,  22,  etc.;"  plur. 
ni^2X"T2,  Ruth  i,  4;  1  Kings  xi,  1,  a  Moabitess,  or 
"woman  of  Moab;"  once  rendered  "Moabitish,"  Ruth 
ii,  6),  the  designation  of  a  tribe  descended  from  Moab 
the  son  of  Lot,  and  consequently  related  to  the  Hebrews 
(Gen.  xix,  37).  In  the  following  account  of  them  we 
largely  follow  that  in  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible. 

I.  Locality  and  Early  History. — Zoar  was  the  cradle 
of  the  race  of  Lot.  Although  the  exact  position  of  this 
town  has  not  been  determined,  there  is  no  doubt  that  it 
was  situated  on  the  south-eastern  border  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
From  this  centre  the  brother-tribes  spread  themselves. 
Ammon  (q.  v.),  whose  disposition  seems  throughout  to 
have  been  more  roving  and  unsettled,  went  to  the  north- 
.  east  and  took  possession  of  the  pastures  and  waste  tracts 
which  lay  outside  the  district  of  the  mountains;  that 
which  in  earlier  times  seems  to  have  been  known  as 
Ham,  and  inhabited  by  the  Zuzini  or  Zamzummim 
(Gen.  xiv,  5 ;  Deut.  ii,  20).  The  Moabites,  whose  habits 
were  more  settled  and  peaceful,  remained  nearer  their 
original  seat.  ThC'  rich  highlands  which  crown  the 
eastern  side  of  the  chasm  of  the  Dead  Sea,  and  extend 
northwards  as  far  as  the  foot  of  the  mountains  of  Gilead, 
appear  at  that  early  date  to  have  borne  a  name,  which 
in  its  Hebrew  form  is  presented  to  us  as  Shaveh-Kiria- 
thaim,  and  to  have  been  inhabited  by  a  branch  of  the 
great  race  of  the  Rephaim.  Like  the  Horim  before  the 
descendants  of  Esau,  the  Avim  before  the  Philistines,  or 
the  indigenous  races  of  the  New  World  before  the  set- 
tlers from  the  West,  this  ancient  people,  the  Emim, 
gradually  became  extinct  before  the  Moabites,  who  thus 
obtained  possession  of  the  whole  of  the  rich  elevated 
tract  referred  to — a  district  fortj-  or  fifty  miles  in  length 
by  ten  or  twelve  in  width,  the  celebrated  Belka  and 
Kerak  of  the  modern  Arabs,  the  most  fertile  on  that 
side  of  Jordan,  no  less  eminently  fitted  for  pastoral  pur- 
suits than  the  maritime  plains  of  Philistia  and  Sharon, 
on  the  west  of  Palestine,  are  for  agriculture.  With  the 
highlands  they  occupied  also  the  lowlands  at  their  feet, 
the  plain  which  intervenes  between  the  slopes  of  the 
mountains  and  the  one  perennial  stream  of  Palestine, 
and  through  which  they  were  enabled  to  gain  access,  at 
pleasure  to  the  fords  of  the  river,  and  thus  to  the  couii- 


1  MOABITE 

try  beyond  it.  Of  the  valuable  district  of  the  high- 
lands they  were  not  allowed  to  retain  entire  posses^ion. 
The  warlike  Amorites— either  forced  from  their  original 
seats  on  the  west,  or  perhaps  lured  over  by  the  increas- 
ing prosperity  of  the  young  nation — crossed  the  Jordan 
and  overran  the  richer  portion  of  the  territory  on  the 
north,  driving  Moab  back  to  his  original  position  behind 
the  natural  bulwark  of  the  Anion.  The  plain  of  the 
Jordan  valley,  the  hot  and  humid  atmosphere  of  which 
had  perhaps  no  attraction  for  the  Amoritish  mountain- 
eers, appears  to  have  remained  in  the  power  of  jMoab. 
When  Israel  reached  the  boundary  of  the  country,  this 
contest  had  only  very  recently  occurred.  Silion,  the 
Amoritish  king  under  whose  command  Heshbon  had 
been  taken,  was  still  reigning  there — the  baUads  com- 
memorating the  event  were  still  fresh  in  the  popular 
mouth  (Numb,  xxi,  27-30). 

Of  these  events,  which  extended  over  a  period,  ac- 
cording to  the  received  Bible  chronology,  of  not  less 
than  500  years,  from  the  destruction  of  Sodom  to  the 
arrival  of  Israel  on  the  borders  of  the  Promised  Land, 
we  obtain  the  above  outline  only  from  the  fragments  of 
ancient  documents,  which  are  found  embedded  in  the 
records  of  Numbers  and  Deuteronomy  (Numb,  xxi,  26- 
30;  Deut.ii,  10,11). 

The  position  into  which  the  Moabites  were  driven  by 
the  incursion  of  the  Amorites  was  a  very  circumscribed 
one,  in  extent  not  so  much  as  half  that  which  tbey  had 
lost.  But  on  the  other  hand  its  position  was  much 
more  secure,  and  it  was  well  suited  for  the  occupation 
of  a  people  whose  disposition  was  not  so  warlike  as  that 
of  their  neighbors.  It  occupied  the  southern  half  of  the 
high  table-lands  which  rise  above  the  eastern  side  of 
the  Dead  Sea.  On  every  side  it  was  strongly  fortified 
by  nature.  On  the  north  was  the  tremendous  chasm  of 
the  Anion.  On  the  west  it  was  limited  by  the  preci- 
pices, or  more  accurately  the  cliffs,  which  descend  almost 
perpendicularly  to  the  shore  of  the  lake,  and  are  inter- 
sected only  by  one  or  two  steep  and  narrow  passes. 
Lastly,  on  the  south  and  east  it  was  protected  by  a  half- 
circle  of  hills,  which  open  only  to  allow  the  passage  of  a 
branch  of  the  Anion  and  another  of  the  torrents  which 
descend  to  the  Dead  Sea. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  description  that 
the  territory'  occupied  by  IMoab  at  the  period  of  its 
greatest  extent,  before  the  invasion  of  the  Amorites,  di- 
vided itself  naturally  into  three  distinct  and  independ- 
ent portions.  Each  of  these  portions  appears  to  have 
had  its  name,  by  which  it  is  almost  invariably  designat- 
ed. (1)  The  enclosed  "corner"  or  canton  south  of  the 
Arnon  was  the  "field  of  Moab"  (Ruth  i,  1,  2,  6,  etc.). 
(2)  The  more  open  rolling  country  north  of  the  Arnon, 
opposite  Jericho,  and  up  to  the  hills  of  Gilead,  was  the 
"land  of  Moab"  (Deut.  i,  5;  xxxii,  49,  etc.).  (3)  The 
sunk  district  in  the  tropical  depths  of  the  Jordan  valley, 
taking  its  name  from  that  of  the  great  valley  itself— the 
Arabah — was  the  Arboth-Moab,  the  dry  regions — in  the 
A.  V.  very  incorrectly  rendered  the  "  plains  of  Moab" 
(Numb,  xxii,  1,  etc.). 

II.  Connectiomcith  the  Israelites. — Outside  of  the  hills, 
which  enclosed  the  "  field  of  Moab,"  or  IMoab  proper,  on 
the  south-cast,  and  which  are  at  present  called  the  Jebel 
Uru-Karaiyeh  and  Jebel  el-Tarfuyeh,  lay  the  vast  past- 
ure-grounds of  the  waste,  uncultivated  countiy,  or  "Mid- 
bar,"  which  is  described  as  "  facing  Moab"  on  the  east 
(Numb,  xxi,  11).  Through  this  latter  district  Israel 
appears  to  have  approached  the  Promised  Land.  Some 
communication  had  evidently  taken  place,  though  of 
what  nature  it  is  impossible  clearly  to  ascertain.  For 
while  in  Deut.  ii,  28,  29  the  attitude  of  the  Moabites  is 
mentioned  as  friendly,  this  seems  to  be  contradicted  by 
the  statement  of  xxiii,  4;  while  in  Judg.  xi,  17,  again, 
Israel  is  said  to  have  sent  from  Kadesh  asking  permis- 
sion to  pass  through  IMoab — a  permission  which,  like 
Edom,  Moab  refused.  At  any  rate,  the  attitude  perpet- 
uated by  the  provisions  of  Deut.  xxiii,  3 — a  provision 
maintained  in  full  force  by  the  latest  of  the  Old-Tes- 


MOABITE 


392 


MOABITE 


lament  reformers  (Neh.  xiii;  1,  2,  23)— is  one  of  hostil- 
ity.   See  Nolileke,  Die  A  malekitm,  etc.  (Gott.  1864),  p,  3. 

1.  But  whatever  the  communication  may  hav?  been, 
the  result  was  tliat  Israel  did  not  traverse  Moab,  but, 
turning  to  the  riiflit,  passed  outside  the  mountains 
througli  the  "wilderness,"  by  tlic  east  side  of  the  ter- 
ritory above  described  (Deut.  ii,  8;  Judg.  xi,  18),  and 
linaliy  took  up  a  position  in  the  country  north  of  the 
Arnon,  from  which  Moab  had  so  lately  been  ejected. 
Here  the  lieail-cpiarters  of  the  nation  remained  for  a 
considerable  time  while  the  conquest  of  Baslian  was  tak- 
ing effect.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the  visit  of 
lialaam  took  place.  The  whole  of  the  country  cast  of 
the  .Jordan,  with  the  exception  of  the  one  little  corner 
occui>ied  by  Moab,  was  in  possession  of  the  invaders, 
and  altiioiigh  at  the  period  in  question  the  main  body 
had  descended  from  the  upper  level  to  the  plains  of 
Shittim,  the  Arboth-Moab,  in  the  Jordan  valley,  yet  a 
great  number  must  have  remained  on  the  upper  level, 
and  the  towns  up  to  the  very  edge  of  the  ravine  of  the 
Arnon  were  still  occupied  by  their  settlements  (Numb. 
xxi,  24 ;  Judg.  xi,  2G).  It  was  a  situation  full  of  alarm 
for  a  nation  which  had  already  suffered  so  severely.  In 
his  extremity  the  Moabitish  king,  Ualak — whose  father 
Zippor  was  doubtless  the  chieftain  who  had  lost  his  life 
in  the  encounter  wifli  Sihon  (Numb,  xxi,  2G) — a])pealed 
to  the  Miilianites  for  aid  (Xumb.xxii,  2-4).  With  a 
nietaphor  highly  appropriate  both  to  his  mouth  and  to 
the  ear  of  the  pastoral  tribe  he  was  addressing,  he  ex- 
claims that  "  this  people  will  lick  up  all  round  about  us 
as  the  ox  licketh  up  the  grass  of  the  field."  What  rela- 
tion existed  between  3Ioab  and  Jlidian  we  do  not  know, 
but  there  are  various  indications  that  it  was  a  closer  one 
than  would  arise  merely  from  their  common  descent 
from  Terah.  The  tradition  of  the  Jews  {Tarr/um  I'seu- 
do-Jomilhun  on  Numb,  xxii,  4)  is  that  up  to  this  time 
the  two  had  been  one  nation,  with  kings  taken  alter- 
nately from  each,  and  that  Balak  was  a  ^lidianite. 
This,  however,  is  in  contradiction  to  the  statements 
of  Genesis  as  to  the  origin  of  each  people.  The  whole 
story  of  Balaams  visit  and  of  the  subsequent  events,  both 
in  the  original  narrative  of  Numbers  and  in  the  remark- 
able statement  of  Jephthah — whose  words  as  addressed 
to  Ammonites  must  be  accepted  as  literally  accurate — 
bears  out  the  inference  already  drawn  from  the  earlier 
history  as  to  the  pacific  character  of  Jloab. 

The  account  of  the  whole  of  these  transactions  in  the 
book  of  Numbers,  familiar  as  we  arc  with  its  phrases, 
perhaps  hardly  conveys  an  adecpiate  idea  of  the  ex- 
tremity in  which  Balak  found  himself  in  his  ui>expected 
encounter  with  the  new  nation  and  their  mighty  Divin- 
ity. We  may  realize  it  better  (and  certainly  with  grat- 
itude for  the  opportunity)  if  we  consider  what  that  last 
dreadfid  agony  was  in  which  a  successor  of  Balak  was 
placed,  when,  all  hope  of  escape  for  himself  and  his  peo- 
I)le  being  cut  off,  the  unhappy  Jlesha  immolated  his 
own  son  on  the  wall  of  Kir-harasetii ;  and  then  remem- 
ber that  Balak  in  his  distress  actually  proposed  the 
same  awfid  sacrifice — "  his  first-born  for  his  transgres- 
sion, the  fruit  of  his  body  for  the  sin  of  his  soul"  (Mic. 
vi,7) — a  sacrifice  from  which  he  was  restrained  only  by 
the  wise,  the  almost  Cliristian  (Matt,  ix,  13;  xii,  7) 
counsels  of  Balaam.  This  catastrophe  will  be  noticed 
in  its  proper  place. 

Tiie  connection  of  Moab  with  ^lidian,  and  the  com- 
paratively inoffensive  character  of  the  former,  are  shown 
in  the  narrative  of  the  events  which  followed  the  de- 
l)arture  of  Balaam.  The  women  of  Jloab  are  indeed 
said  (Numb,  xxv,  1 )  to  have  commenced  the  idolatrous 
fornication  which  proved  so  destructive  to  Israel,  but  it 
is  plain  that  their  sliarc  in  it  was  insignificant  com- 
pared witli  that  of  Midian.  It  was  a  Jlidiauitish  woman 
whose  shameless  act  brought  down  the  jilague  on  the 
camji,  the  ^lidianitish  women  were  especially  devoted 
to  destruction  by  Moses  (xxv,  lG-18;  xxxi,  l(i),  and  it 
was  upon  Midian  that  the  vengeance  was  taken.  V.k- 
cept  in  the  passage  already  meutioued,  Moab  is  not  once 


named  in  the  whole  transaction.  The  latest  date  at 
which  the  two  names  appear  in  conjunction  is  found  in 
the  notice  of  the  defeat  of  Midian  '■  in  the  field  of  Moab" 
by  the  Edomitich  king  Iladad  bcn-Bedad,  which  oc- 
curred live  generations  before  the  establishment  of  the 
monarchy  of  Israel  (Gen,  xxxvi,  35 ;  1  Cliron.  i,  4G). 
By  the  Jewish  interjsreters — e.  g.  Solomon  Jarchi  in  his 
commentary  on  tiie  passage — this  is  treated  as  implying, 
not  alliance,  but  war  between  Moab  and  Midian  (comp. 
1  Chron.  iv,  22). 

It  is  remarkable  that  Moses  should  have  taken  his 
j  view  of  the  Promised  Land  from  a  Jloabitish  sanctuary, 
!  and  been  buried  in  the  land  of  i.Ioab.  It  is  singular, 
j  too,  that  his  resting-i)lace  is  marked  in  the  Hebrew  rec- 
;  ords  only  by  its  proximity. to  the  sanctuary  of  that  deity 
{  to  whom  in  his  lifetime  he  had  been  such  an  enemy. 
He  lies  in  a  ravine  in  the  land  of  Moab,  facing  Betb- 
Peor,  i.  e.  the  abode  of  Baal-Pcor  (Dent,  xxxiv,  G). 

2.  After  the  conquest  of  Canaan  the  relations  of  iloab 
with  Israel  were  of  a  mixed  character.  With  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin,  whose  possessions  at  their  eastern  end  were 
separated  from  those  of  jMoab  only  by  the  Jordan,  they  • 
had  at  least  one  severe  struggle,  in  union  with  their 
kindred  the  Ammonites,  and  also,  for  this  time  only, 
the  wild  Amalekites  from  the  south  (Judg.  iii,  12-30). 
The  i\Ioabitish  king,  Eglon,  actually  ruled  and  received 
tribute  in  Jericho  for  eighteen  years,  but  at  the  end  of 
that  time  he  was  killed  by  the  Benjamitish  hero  Ehud, 
and  the  return  of  the  Jloabites  l)eing  intercepted  at  the 
fords,  a  large  number  were  slaughtered,  and  a  stop  put 
to  such  incursions  on  their  part  for  tlie  future.  A  trace 
of  this  invasion  is  visible  in  the  name  of  Chephar-ha- 
Ammonai,  the  "  hamlet  of  the  Ammonites,"  one  of  the 
Benjamitish  towns;  and  another  is  possibly  preserved 
even  to  the  present  day  in  the  name  of  Mukhmas,  the 
modern  representative  of  Michmash,  which  is  by  some 
scliolars  believed  to  have  received  its  name  from  Che- 
mosh,  the  Moabitish  deity.  The  feud  continued  with 
true  Oriental  pertinacity  to  the  time  of  Saul.  Of  his 
slaughter  of  the  Ammonites  we  have  full  details,  in  1 
Sam.  xi,  and  among  liis  other  conquests  Moab  is  espe- 
cially mentioned  (1  Sam.  xiv,  47).  There  is  not,  how- 
ever, as  we  should  expect,  any  record  of  it  during  Ish- 
bosheth's  residence  at  Mahanaim,  on  the  east  of  Jordan. 
But  while  such  were  their  relations  to  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  the  story  of  Hutli,  on  the  other  hand,  testifies 
to  the  existence  of  a  friendly  intercourse  between  Moab 
and  Bethlehem,  one  of  the  towns  of  Judah.  Jewish 
tradition  (7\irf/iim  JoiiatJ/dii  on  Itulh  i,  4)  ascribes  the 
death  of  iNIahlon  and  Cliilion  to  ]iunishment  for  having 
broken  tlie  commandment  of  Dent,  xxiii,  3,  but  no  trace 
of  any  feeling  of  the  kind  is  visilde  in  the  book  of  Kiitli 
itself— which  not  only  seems  to  imply  a  considcra1>lc  in- 
tercourse between  the  two  nations,  but  also  a  complete 
ignorance  or  disregard  of  the  precept  in  question,  wliich 
was  broken  in  the  most  flagrant  manner  when  Ituth 
became  the  wife  of  Boaz.  By  his  descent  from  Buth, 
David  may  be  said  to  have  had  ^Moabitish  IjIoocI  in  iiis 
veins.  The  relationship  was  suflicieiit,  especially  when 
combined  with  the  blood-fetul  between  IMoal)  and  Ben- 
jamin, already  alluded  to,  to  warrant  his  visiting  the 
\  land  of  his  ancestress,  and  committing  his  parents  to  the 
protection  of  tlie  king  of  I^Ioab,  when  hard  pressed  by 
Saul  (1  Sam.  xxiii,  3, 4).  But  here  all  friendly  relation 
stops  forever.  The  next  time  the  name  is  mentioned 
is  in  the  account  of  David's  war.  at  least  twenty  years 
after  the  last-mentioned  event  (2  Sam.  viii,  2;  1  Chron. 
xviii,  2).  The  abrupt  manner  in  which  this  war  is  in- 
troduced into  the  history  is  no  less  remarkable  than  the 
I  brief  and  passing  terms  in  which  its  horrors  are  record- 
j  ed.  The  account  occupies  but  a  few  words  in  either 
!  Samuel  or  Chronicles,  and  yet  it  nnist  have  been  for  the 
I  time  little  short  of  a  virtual  extirpation  of  the  nation. 
Two  thirds  of  the  people  were  ]iut  to  death,  while  the  re- 
mainder became  bondmen,  and  were  subjected  to  a  reg^ 
1  ular  trii)ute.  An  incident  of  tliis  war  is  probably  re- 
I  corded  in  2  Sam.  xxiii,  20,  and  1  Chron.  xi,  22,     The 


MOABITE 


393 


MOABITE 


spoils  taken  from  the  Moabitish  cities  and  sanctuaries 
went  to  swell  the  treasure  acquired  from  the  enemies  of 
Jehovah,  which  David  was  amassing  fur  the  future 
Temple  (2  Sain,  viii,  11,  12;  1  Chron.  xviii,  11).  It 
was  the  first  time  that  the  prophecy  of  Balaam  had 
been  fultilled — "Out  of  Jacob  shall  come  he  that  shall 
have  dominion,  and  shall  destroy  him  that  remaineth 
of  Ar,"  that  is  of  ]\Ioab.  So  signal  a  vengeance  can 
only  have  been  occasioned  bj^'  some  act  of  perfidy  or  in- 
sult, like  that  which  brought  down  a  similar  treatment 
en  the  Ammonites  (2  Sam.  x).  But  as  to  any  such  act 
the  narrative  is  absolutely  silent.  It  has  been  conject- 
nred  that  the  king  of  Moab  l)etrayed  the  trust  which 
David  reposed  in  him,  and  either  himself  killed  Jesse 
and  his  wife,  or  surrendered  them  to  Saul.  But  this, 
though  not  iuiprobable,  is  nothing  more  than  conjecture. 

It  must  have  been  a  considerable  time  before  Moab 
recovered  from  so  severe  a  blow.  Of  this  we  have  evi- 
dence in  the  fact  of  its  not  being  mentioned  in  the 
account  of  the  campaign  in  which  the  Ammonites  were 
subdued,  when  it  is  not  probable  they  would  have  re- 
frained from  assisting  their  relatives  had  they  been  in  a 
condition  to  do  so.  Throughout  the  reign  of  Solomon 
they  no  doubt  shared  in  the  universal  peace  which  sur- 
rounded Israel;  and  tlie  only  nieution  <if  the  name  oc- 
curs in  the  statement  that  there  were  51o;ibites  among 
the  foreign  women  in  the  loy.il  liaittn.  ami.  as  a  natural 
consequence,  that  the  Mu.il.iii^h  \v<ii>hi|i  was  tolerated, 
or  perhaps  encouraged  (1  Kings  xi,  1,  7,  oo).  The  high 
place  for  Chemosii,  '-the  abomination  of  iSIoab,"  was 
consecrated  "on  the  mount  facing  Jerusalem,"  where  it 
remained  till  its  "  defilement"  by  Josiah  (2  Kings  xxiii, 
13),  nearly  four  centuries  afterwards. 

3.  At  the  disruption  of  the  kingdom,  Moab  seems  to 
have  fallen  to  the  northern  realm,  probably  for  the  same 
reason  that  has  been  already  remarked  in  the  case  of 
Eglon  and  Ehud — that  the  fords  of  Jordan  lay  within 
the  territory  of  Benjamin,  who  for  some  time  after  the 
separation  clung  to  its  ancient  ally,  the  house  of  Ephra- 
im.  But,  be  this  as  it  may,  at  the  death  of  Ahab, 
eighty  years  later,  we  find  Sloab  paying  him  the  enor- 
mous tribute,  apparently  annual,  of  100,000  rams,  and 
the  same  nr.mber  of  wethers  with  their  fleeces;  an 
amount  which  testifies  at  once  to  the  severity  of  the 
terms  imposed  by  Israel,  anil  to  the  remarkable  vigor 
of  character  and  wealth  of  natural  resources  which  could 
enable  a  little  country  to  raise  year  by  year  this  enor- 
mous impost,  and  at  the  same  time  support  its  own  peo- 
ple in  prosperity  and  afiluence.  This  afHuence  is  shown 
bj"  the  treasures  which  they  left  on  the  field  of  Bera- 
choth  (2  Chron.  xx,  25),  no  less  than  by  the  general 
condition  of  the  country,  indicated  in  the  narrative  of 
Joram's  invasion;  and  in  the  passages  of  Isaiah  and 
Jeremiah  which  are  cited  further  on  in  this  article.  It 
is  not  surprising  that  the  Moabites  should  have  seized 
the  moment  of  Ahab's  death  to  throw  off  so  burdensome 
a  yoke;  but  it;  is  surprising  that,  notwithstanding  such 
a  drain  on  their  resources,  they  were  ready  to  incur  the 
risk  and  expense  of  a  war  with  a  state  in  every  respect 
far  their  superior.  Their  first  step,  after  asserting  their 
independence,  was  to  attack  the  kingdom  of  Judah  in 
company  with  tlieir  kindred  the  Ammonites,  and,  as 
seems  probable,  the  Mehunim,  a  roving  semi-Edomitish 
people  from  the  mountains  in  the  south-east  of  Palestine 
(2  Chron.  xx).  The  army  was  a  huge,  heterogeneous 
horde  of  ill-assorted  elements.  The  route  chosen  for 
the  invasion  was  round  the  southern  end  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  thence  along  the  beach,  and  by  the  pass  of  En-gedi 
to  the  level  of  the  upper  country.  But  the  expedition 
contained  within  itself  the  elements  of  its  own  destruc- 
tion. Before  they  reached  the  enemy  dissensions  arose 
betwaen  the  heathen  strangers  and  the  children  of  Lot; 
distrust  followed,  and  finally  panic ;  and  Avhen  the  army 
of  Jehoshaphat  came  in  sight  of  them  they  found  that 
they  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  watch  the  extermination 
of  one  half  the  huge  host  by  the  other  half,  and  to  seize 
the  prodigious  booty  which  was  left  on  the  field.     Dis- 


astrous as  was  this  proceeding,  that  which  followed  it 
was  even  still  more  so.  As  a  natural  consequence  of 
the  late  events,  Israel,  Judah,  and  Edom  united  in  an 
attack  on  Moab.  For  reasons  which  are  not  stated,  but 
one  of  which  we  may  reasonably  conjecture  was  to  avoid 
tlie  passage  of  the  savage  Edomites  through  Judah,  the 
three  confederate  armies  approached,  not,  as  usual,  by 
the  north,  but  round  the  southern  end  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
through  the  parched  valleys  of  Upper  Edom.  As  the' 
host  came  near,  the  king  of  Moab,  doubtless  the  same 
Mesha  who  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Ahab,  assembled  the 
whole  of  his  people,  from  the  youngest  who  were  of  age 
to  bear  the  sword-girdle  (2  Kings  iii,  21),  on  the  boun- 
dary of  his  territory,  probably  on  the  outer  slopes  of  the 
line  of  hills  which  encircles  "the  lower  portion  of  Moab, 
overlooking  the  waste  which  extended  below  them  to- 
wards the  east  (comp.  Nimib.  xxi,  11 — "towards  the 
sun-rising").  Here  they  remained  all  night  on  the 
watch.  With  the  approach  of  morning  the  sun  rose 
suddenly  above  the  horizon  of  the  rolling  plain,  and  as 
his  level  beams  burst  through  the  night-mists  they  re- 
vealed no  masses  of  the  .enemy,  but  shone  with  a  blood- 
red  glare  on  a  multitude  of  pools  in  the  bed  of  the 
wad}"-  at  their  feet.  They  did  not  know  that  these 
pools  had  been  sunk  during  the  night  bj'  the  order  of 
a  mighty  prophet  who  was  with  the  host  of  Israel, 
and  that  they  had  been  filled  by  the  sudden  flow  of 
water  rushing  from  the  distant  highlands  of  Edom.  To 
them  the  conclusion  was  inevitable  :  the  army  had,  like 
their  own  on  the  late  occasion,  fallen  out  in  the  night; 
these  red  pools  were  the  blood  of  the  slain;  those  who 
were  not  killed  had  fled,  and  nothing  stood  between 
them  and  the  pillage  of  the  camp.  The  cry  of  "  Jloab 
to  the  spoil !"  was  raised.  Down  the  slopes  they  rushed 
in  headlong  disorder.  But  not,  as  they  expected,  to 
empt}'  tents;  they  found  an  enemy  ready  prepared  to 
reap  the  result  of  his  ingenious  stratagem.  Then  oc- 
curred one  of  those  scenes  of  carnage  which  can  happen 
but  once  or  twice  in  the  existence  of  a  nation.  The 
Moabites  fled  back  in  confusion,  followed  and  cut  down 
at  every  step  by  their  enemies.  Far  inwards  did  the 
pursuit  reach,  among  the  cities  and  farms  and  orchards 
of  that  rich  district;  nor  when  the  slaughter  was  over 
was  the  horrid  work  of  destruction  done.  The  towns, 
both  fortified  and  unfortified,  were  demolished,  and  the 
stones  strewed  over  the  carefully -tilled  fields.  The 
fountains  of  water,  the  life  of  an  Eastern  land,  were 
choked,  and  all  timber  of  any  size  or  goodness  felled. 
Nowhere  else  do  we  hear  of  such  sweeping  desolation ; 
the  verj'  besom  of  destruclitm  passed  over  the  land.  At 
last  the  struggle  collected  iisiir  at  Kir-haraseth,  appar- 
ently a  newly-constructed  fortress,  which,  if  the  modem 
Kerak — and  there  is  every  probability  that  they  are 
identical — may  well  have  resisted  all  the  eflbrts  of  the 
allied  kings  in  its  native  impregnability.  Here  Mesha 
took  refuge  with  his  family  and  with  the  remnants  of 
his  army.  The  heights  around,  by  which  the  town  is 
entirely  commanded,  were  covered  Avith  slingers,  who — 
armed  partly  with  the  ancient  weapon  of  David  and  of 
the  Benjamites,  partly  perhaps  with  the  newly-invented 
machines  shortly  to  be  famous  in  Jerusalem  (2  Chron. 
xxvi,  15)  —  discharged  their  volleys  of  stones  on  the 
town.  At  length  the  annoyance  could  be  borne  no 
longer.  Then  Mesha,  collecting  round  him  a  forlorn 
hope  of  700  of  his  best  warriors,  made  a  desperate  sally, 
with  the  intention  of  cutting  his  way  through  to  his 
special  foe,  the  king  of  Edom.  But  the  enemy  were 
too  strong  for  him,  and  he  was  driven  back.  And  then 
came  a  fitting  crown  to  a  tragedy  alreadj'  so  terrible. 
An  awful  spectacle  amazed  and  horrified  the  besiegers. 
The  king  and  his  eldest  son,  the  heir  to  the  tin-one, 
mounted  the  wall,  and,  in  the  sight  of  the  thousands 
who  covered  the  sides  of  that  vast  amphitheatre,  the 
father  killed  and  burned  his  child  as  a  propitiatory  sac- 
rifice to  the  cruel  gods  of  his  country.  It  was  the  same, 
dreadful  act  to  which,  as  we  have  seen,  Balak  had  been 
so  nearly  tempted  in  his  extremity.     But  the  danger, 


MOABITE 


394 


MOABITE 


though  perhaps  not  really  greater  than  his,  was  more 
imminent;  and  Mesha  had  no  one  like  Balaam  at  hand 
to  counsel  patience  and  submission  to  a  mightier  Power 
than  ('licmosh  or  Haal-Peor.     See  JIesha. 

Hitherto,  though  aljle  and  ready  to  fight  when  neces^ 
san,',  the  ^Moabites  do  not  appear  to  have  been  a  fighting 
people;  perhaps,  as  suggested  elsewhere,  the  Ammon- 
ites were  the  warriors  of  the  nation  of  Lot,  But  this 
disaster  seems  to  have  altered  their  disposition,  at  any 
rate  for  a  time.  Shortly  after  these  events  we  hear  of 
'•  bands"— that  is,  pillaging,  marauding  parties— of  the 
Moabites  making  their  incursions  into  Israel  in  the 
spring,  as  if  to  spoil  the  early  corn  before  it  was  fit  to 
cut  (2  Kings  xiii,  20).  With  JCdom  there  must  have 
been  many  a  contest.  One  of  these  marked  by  savage 
vengeance — recalling  in  some  degree  the  tragedy  of 
Kir-haraseth  — is  alluded  to  by  Amos  (ii,  1),  where  a 
king  of  Ktlom  seems  to  have  been  killed  and  burned  by 
Moab.  This  may  have  been  one  of  the  incidents  of  the 
battle  of  Kir-haraseth  itself,  occurring  perhaps  after  the 
Edomites  had  parted  from  Israel,  and  were  overtaken 
on  their  road  home  by  the  furious  king  of  Moaib  (Gese- 
nius,  ./f.s-ata,  i,  504);  or,  according  to  the  Jewish  tradi- 
tion (Jerome,  on  Amos  ii,  1),  it  was  a  vengeance  still 
more  savage  because  more  protracted,  and  lasting  even 
beyond  the  death  of  the  king,  whose  remains  were  torn 
from  his  tomb,  and  thus  consumed. 

In  the  "  Burden  of  Jloab"  pronounced  by  Isaiah  (ch. 
XV,  xvi)  we  possess  a  document  full  of  interesting  de- 
tails as  to  the  condition  of  the  nation  at  the  time  of  the 
deatli  of  Ahaz.  king  of  Judah,  B.C.  72G.  More  than  a 
century  and  a  half  had  elapsed  since  the  great  calamity 
to  which  we  have  just  referred.  In  that  interval  Moab 
has  regained  all,  and  more  than  all,  of  his  former  pros- 
perity, and  has  besides  extended  himself  over  the  dis- 
trict which  he  originally  occupied  in  the  youth  of  the 
nation,  and  which  was  left  vacant  when  the  removal  of 
Reuben  to  Assyria,  which  had  been  begun  by  Pul  in  B.C. 
770,  was  completed  by  Tiglath-pileser  about  the  year 
7-10  (1  Chron.  v,  25,  2f)).  This  passage  of  Isaiah  cannot 
be  considered  apart  from  that  of  Jeremiah,  ch.  xlviii. 
The  latter  was  pronounced  more  than  a  century  later, 
about  the  year  IJ.C.  COO,  ten  or  twelve  years  before  the 
inva.-idu  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  by  which  Jerusalem  was 
dostniyed.  In  many  respects  it  is  identical  with  that 
of  Isaiah,  and  both  are  believed  by  the  best  modern 
scholars,  on  account  of  the  archaisms  and  other  pecidiar- 
ities  of  language  which  they  contain,  to  be  adopted 
from  a  common  source — the  work  of  some  much  more 
ancient  prophet.  Isaiah  ends  his  denunciation  by  a 
prediction— in  his  own  words — that  within  three  years 
Moab  should  be  greatly  reduced.  This  was  probably 
witli  a  view  to  Shalmaneser,  who  destroyed  Samaria, 
and  no  doubt  overran  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan  in 
B.C.  -725,  and  again  in  723  (2  Kings  xvii,  3 ;  xviii,  9). 
The  only  .event  of  which  we  have  a  record  to  which  it 
would  seem  possible  that  the  passage,  as  originally  ut- 
tered by  the  older  prophet,  applied,  is  the  above  inva- 
sion of  Pul,  who,  in  commencing  the  deportation  of 
Keuben,  very  probably  at  the  same  time  molested  Moab. 
The  dilliculty  of  so  many  of  the  towns  of  Keuben  being 
mentioned  as  at  that  early  day  already  in  the  posses- 
sion of  iMoab  may  perhaps  be  explained  by  remember- 
ing that  the  idolatry  of  the  neigiiburing  nations — and 
therefore  of  Moab— liad  been  adopted  by  the  trans-Jor- 
danic  tribes  for  some  time  previously  to  the  final  depor- 
tation by  Tiglath-i)ileser  (see  1  Chron.  v,  25),  and  that 
many  ol^thc  sanctuaries  were  probably,  even  at  the  date 
of  the  original  delivery  of  the  denunciation,  in  the  hands 
of  the  priests  of  Chemosh  and  i\lil<'om.  If,  as  Ev.ald 
{(Jegc/i.  iii,  588)  with  much  i)rol)ai)ility  infers,  the  JIo- 
abites,  no  less  than  the  Ammonites,  were  nnder  the  pro- 
tection of  the  powerful  Uzziah  (2  Chron.  xxvi,  8),  then 
the  obscure  expressions  of  the  ancient  seer  as  given  in 
Isa.  xvi,  1-5,  referring  to  a  tribute  of  lambs  (comp.  2 
Kings  iii,  4)  sent  from  the  wild  pasture-griMUids  south 
of  Moab  to  Zion,  and  to  protection  aud  relief  from  op- 


I  pression  afforded  by  the  throne  of  David  to  the  fugitives 
and  outcasts  of  Jloab,  ac(piire  an  intelligible  sense.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  calamities  which  Jeremiah  describes 
may  have  been  inflicted  in  any  one  of  the  numerous 
visitations  from  the  Assyrian  army,  under  which  these 
unhappy  countries  suflered  at  the  period  of  his  prophecy 
in  rapid  succession. 

{  But  the  uncertainty  of  the  exact  dates  referred  to  in 
these  several  deiumciations  does  not  in  the  least  affect 
the  interest  or  the  value  of  the  allusions  they  contain  to 

I  tlie  condition  of  Moab.  They  bear  the  evident  stamp 
of  portraiture  by  artists  who  knew  their  subject  thor- 
oughly. The  nation  appears  in  them  as  high-spirited, 
wealthy,  pojmlous,  and  even  to  a  certain  extent  civil- 
ized, enjoying  a  wide  reputation  and  popularity.  With 
a  metaphor  which  well  expresses  at  once  the  pastoral 
wealth  of  the  country  and  its  commanding,  almost  re- 
gal position,  but  which  cannot  be  conveyed  in  a  trans- 

!  lation,  Moab  is  depicted  as  the  strong  sceptre  (Isa.  xvi, 

I  G;  Jer.  xlviii,  29),  the  beautiful  staff,  whose  fracture 
will  be  bewailed  by  all  about  him,  and  by  all  w  ho  know 
him.  In  his  cities  we  discern  a  ''great  multitude"  of 
people  living  in  "  glory,"  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  great 
"treasure,"  crowding  the  public  squares,  the  housetops, 
and  the  ascents  and  descents  of  the  numerous  high 
]3laces  and  sanctuaries  where  the  "  priests  and  princes" 
of  Chemosh  or  Baal-Pcor  minister  to  the  anxious  devo- 
tees. Outside  the  town  lie  the  -'plentiful  fields,"  lux- 
uriant as  the  renowned  Carmel — the  vineyards,  and  gar- 
dens of  "summer  fruits" — the  harvest  is  in  course  of 
reaping,  and  the  "  hay  is  ^ored  in  its  abundance,"  the 
vineyards  and  the  presses  are  crowded  with  peasants, 
gathering  and  treading  the  grapes,  the  land  resounds 
with  the  clamor  of  the  vintagers.  These  characteristics 
contrast  very  favorably  with  any  traits  recorded  of 
Ammon,  Edom,  Midian,  Amalek,  the  Philistines,  or  the 
Canaanitish  tribes.  And  since  the  descriptions  we  are 
considering  are  adopted  by  certainly  two,  and  probably 
three  prophets — Jeremiah,  Isaiah,  and  the  older  seer — 
extending  over  a  period  of  nearly  200  years,  we  may 
safely  conclude  that  they  are  not  merely  temporary 
circumstances,  but  were  tlie  enduring  characteristics  of 
the  people.  In  this  case  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
among  tlie  pastoral  peojile  of  Syria,  Moab  stood  next  to 
Israel  in  all  matters  of  material  wealth  and  civilization. 
It  is  very  interesting  to  remark  the  feeling  which  act- 
uates the  prophets  in  these  denunciations  of  a  people 
who,  though  the  enemies  of  Jehovah,  were  the  blood- 
relations  of  Israel.  Half  the  allusions  of  Isaiah  and  Jer- 
emiah in  the  passages  referred  to  must  forever  remain 
obscure.  We  shall  never  know  who  the  "  lords  of  the 
heathen"  were  who,  in  that  terrible  night,  laid  waste 
and  brought  to  silence  the  prosperous  Ar-Moab  and  Kir- 
Moab;  nor  the  occasion  of  that  flight  over  the  Anion, 
when  the  Jloabitish  women  were  huddled  together  at 
the  ford,  like  a  flock  of  young  birds,  pressing  to  cmss  to 
the  safe  side  of  the  stream — when  the  dwellers  in  Aroer 
stood  by  the  side  of  the  high-road  which  passed  their 
town,  and  eagerly  questioning  the  fugitives  as  they 
hurried  up, "  What  is  done  ?" — received  but  one  answer 
from  all  alike— "All  is  lost!  Sloab  is  confounded  and 
broken  down !"  Many  expressions  also,  such  as  the 
"  weeping  of  Jazer,"  the  "  heifer  of  three  years  old,"  the 
"shadow  of  Ileshbon,"  the  "lions,"  must  remain  ob- 
scure. But  nothing  can  obscure  or  render  obsolete  the 
tone  of  tenderness  and  affection  whidi  makes  itself  felt 
in  a  hundred  expressions  throughout  these  precious  doc- 
uments. Ardently  as  tlic  prophet  longs  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  enemy  of  his  country  ami  of  Jeliovah,  and 
earnestly  as  ho  curses  the  man  '■  that  doeth  the  w(M-k  of 
Jehovah  deceitfully,  that  keepeth  back  his  sword  from 
blood,"  yet  he  is-  constrained  to  bemoan  and  lament 
such  dreadful  calamities  to  a  peojilc  so  near  him  both  in 
blood  and  locality.  His  heart  mourns — it  sounds  like 
pipes — for  the  men  of  Kir-hercs;  liis  heart  cries  out,  it 
sounds  like  a  harp  for  Moali.  Isaiah  recurs  to  the  sub- 
ject iu  another  passage  of  extraordinary  force,  and  of 


MOABITE 


395 


MOABITE 


fiercer  character  than  before,  viz.  xxv,  10-12,  Here  the 
extermination,  the  utter  annihilation  of  Moab  is  con- 
templated by  the  prophet  with  triumph,  as  one  of  the 
lirst  results  of  tlie  re-estabhshment  of  Jehovah  on  Mount 
Zion:  "In  this  mountain  shall  the  hand  of  Jehovah 
rest,  and  Moab  shall  be  trodden  down  under  him,  even 
as  straw — the  straw  of  his  own  threshing-floors  at  j\Iad- 
menah — is  trodden  down  for  the  dunghill.  And  he 
shall  spread  forth  his  hands  in  the  midst  of  them — 
namely,  of  the  Moabites — as  one  that  swimmeth  spread- 
eth  forth  his  hands  to  swim,  buffet  following  buffet, 
right  and  left,  with  terrible  rapidity,  as  the  strong  swim- 
mer urges  his  way  forward;  and  he  shall  bring  down 
their  pride  together  with  the  spoils  of  their  hands.  And 
the  fortress  of  Blisgab — thy  walls  shall  he  bring  down, 
lay  low,  and  bring  to  the  ground,  to  the  dust."  If,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  interpreters,  this  and  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  (xxiv)  are  understood  as  referring  to 
the  destruction  of  Babylon,  then  this  sudden  burst  of 
indignation  towards  Jloab  is  extremely  puzzling.  But, 
if  the  passage  is  examined  with  that  view,  it  will  per- 
.haps  be  found  to  contain  some  expressions  which  sug- 
gest the  possibility  of  Moab  having  been  at  least  within 
the  ken  of  the  prophet,  even  though  not  in  the  fore- 
ground of  his  vision,  during  a  great  part  of  the  passage. 
The  Hebrew  words  rendered  "  city"  in  xxv,  2 — two  en- 
tirely distinct  terms — are  positively,  with  a  slight  vari- 
ation, the  names  of  the  two  chief  Moabitish  strongholds, 
the  same  which  are  mentioned  in  xv,  1,  and  one  of 
which  is  in  the  Pentateuch  a  synonyme  for  the  entire 
nation  of  Moab.  In  this  light  ver.  2  may  be  read  as 
follows :  "  For  thou  hast  made  of  Ar  a  heap ;  of  Kir  the 
defenced  a  ruin;  a  palace  of  strangers  no  h)nger  is  Ar, 
it  shall  never  be  rebuilt."  Tlie  same  words  are  found 
in  ver.  10  and  12  of  the  preceding  chapter,  in  company 
with  chutsoth  (A.  Vers.  "  streets"),  which  we  know  from 
Numb,  xxii,  39  to  have  been  the  name  of  a  Moabite 
town.  See  Kirjath-iiuzotii.  A  distinct  echo  of  them 
is  again  heard  in  xxv,  3,  4;  and,  finally,  in  xxvi,  1,  5 
there  seems  to  be  yet  another  reference  to  the  same  two 
towns,  acquiring  new  force  from  the  denunciation  which 
closes  the  preceding  chapter:  "Moab  shall  be  brought 
down,  the  ffirtress  and  the  walls  of  Misgab  shall  be  laid 
low;  but  in  the  land  of  Judah  this  song  shall  be  sung, 
Wur  Ar,  our  city,  is  strong.  .  .  .  Trust  in  the  Lord  Je- 
hovah, who  bringeth  down  those  that  d^vell  on  high : 
the  lofty  Kir,  he  layeth  it  low,' "  etc.  It  is  perhaps  an 
additional  corroboration  of  this  view  to  notice  that  the 
remarkable  expressions  in  xxiv,  17,  "  Fear,  and  the  pit, 
and  the  snare,"  etc.,  actually  occur  in  Jeremiah  (xlviii, 
43),  in  his  denunciation  of  Moab,  embedded  in  the  old 
prophecies  out  of  which,  like  Isa.  xv,  xvi,  this  passage 
is  compiled,  and  the  rest  of  which  had  certainly,  as  orig- 
inally uttered,  a  direct  and  even  exclusive  reference  to 
Moab. 

Between  the  time  of  Isaiah's  denunciation  and  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  we  have  hardly  a  reference  to 
Moab.  Zephaniah,  writing  in  the  reign  of  Josiah,  re- 
proaches them  (ii,  8-lOj  for  their  taunts  against  the 
people  of  Jehovah,  but  no  acts  of  hostility  are  recorded 
either  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  From  one  passage 
in  Jeremiah  (xxv,  9-11),  delivered  in  the  fourth  year 
of  Jehoiakim,  just  before  the  first  appearance  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, it  is  apparent  that  it  was  the  belief  of  the 
prophet  that  the  nations  surrounding  Israel — and  Moab 
among  the  rest — were  on  the  eve  of  devastation  by  the 
Chaldajans,  and  of  a  captivity  for  seventy  j'ears  (see  ver. 
11),  from  which,  however,  they  should  eventually  be 
restored  to  their  o^xn  country  (ver.  12,  and  xlviii,  47). 
From  another  record  of  the  events  of  the  same  pe- 
riod, or  of  one  just  subsequent  (2  Kings  xxiv,  2),  it 
would  appear,  however,  that  jMoab  made  terms  with  the 
Chaldaeans,  and  for  a  time  acted  in  concert  with  them 
in  harassing  and  plundering  the  kingdom  of  Jehoiakim. 

Four  or  five  j-ears  later,  in  the  first  year  of  Zedek'iah 
(Jer.  xxvii,  1),  these  hostilities  must  have  ceased,  for 
there  was  then  a  regiUar  intercourse  between  Moab  and 


the  court  at  Jerusalem  (ver.  3),  possibly,  as  Bunsen  sug- 
gests (^Bibelwerl;  Propketen,  p.  536),  negotiating  a  com- 
bined resistance  to  the  common  enemy.  The  brunt  of 
the  storm  must  have  fallen  on  Judah  and  Jerusalem. 
The  neighboring  nations,  including  INIoab,  when  the 
danger  actually  arrived,  probably  adopted  the  advice 
of  Jeremiah  (xxvii,  11),  and  thus  escaped,  though  not 
without  much  damage,  yet  without  being  carried  away 
as  the  Jews  were.  That  these  nations  did  not  suffer  to' 
the  same  extent  as  Juda;a  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
many  of  the  Jews  took  refuge  there  when  their  own 
land  was  laid  waste  (Jer.  xl,  11).  Jeremiah  expressly 
testifies  that  those  who  submitted  themselves  to  the  king 
of  Babylon,  though  they  would  have  to  bear  a  severe 
yoke — so  severe  that  their  very  wild  animals  would  be 
enslaved — yet  by  such  submission  should  purchase  the 
privilege  of  remaining  in  their  own  countrj^  The  re- 
moval from  home,  so  dreadful  to  the  Shemitic  mind,  was 
to  be  the  fate  only  of  those  who  resisted  (Jer.  xxvii,  10, 
11 ;  xxviii,  14).  This  is  also  supported  by  the  allusion 
of  Ezekiel,  a  few  years  later,  to  the  cities  of  Moab,  cities 
formerly  belonging  to  the  Israelites,  which,  at  the  time 
when  the  prophet  is  speaking,  were  still  flourishing, 
"  the  glory  of  the  country,"  destined  to  become  at  a  fut- 
ure day  a  prey  to  the  Bene-kedem,  the  "men  of  the 
East" — the  Bedouins  of  the  great  desert  of  the  Euphra- 
tes (Ezek.  xxv,  8-11). 

III.  Later  History. — After  the  return  from  the  captiv- 
ity, it  was  a  Moabite,  Sanballat  of  Horonaim,  who  took 
the  chief  i)art  in  annoying  and  endeavoring  to  hinder 
the  operations  of  the  rebuilders  of  Jerusalem  (Neb.  ii,  19 ; 
iv,  1 ;  vi,  1 ;  etc.).  He  confined  himself,  however,  to  the 
same  weapons  of  ridicule  and  scurrility  which  we  have 
already  noticed  Zephaniah  resenting.  From  Sanballat's 
words  (Neh.  ii,  19)  we  shoidd  infer  that  he  and  his 
country  were  subject  to  "  the  king,"  that  is,  the  king  of 
Babylon.  During  the  interval  since  the  return  of  the 
lirst  caravan  from  Babylon  the  illegal  practice  of  mar- 
riages between  the  Jews  and  the  other  people  around, 
jMoab  among  the  rest,  had  become  frequent.  So  far  had 
this  gone  that  the  son  of  the  high-priest  was  married  to 
an  Ammonirish  woman.  Even  among  the  families  of  Is- 
rael who  returned  from  the  captivity  was  one  bearing 
the  name  of  PAiiATH-MoAn  (Ezra  ii,  6;  viii,  4;  Neh. 
iii,  11 ;  etc.),  a  name  which  must  certainly  denote  a  Mo- 
abitish connection,  though  to  the  nature  of  the  connec- 
tion no  clue  seems  to  have  been  yet  discovered.  By 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah  the  practice  of  foreign  marriages 
was  strongly  repressed,  and  we  never  hear  of  it  again 
becoming  prevalent. 

In  the  book  of  Judith,  the  date  of  which  is  laid  shortly 
after  the  return  from  the  captivity  (iv,  3),  Moabites  and 
Ammonites  are  represented  as  dwelling  in  their  ancient 
seats,  and  as  obeying  the  call  of  the  Assyrian  general. 
Their  "princes"  (Jpxovrfc)  and  "governors"  {iiyovfxi- 
voi)  are  mentioned  (v,  2;  vii,  8).  The  Maccabees, 
much  as  they  ravaged  the  country  of  the  Ammonites, 
do  not  appear  to  have  molested  jMoab  proper,  nor  is  the 
name  either  of  Moab  or  of  any  of  the  towns  south  of  the 
Arnon  mentioned  throughout  those  books.  Josephns 
not  only  speaks  of  the  district  in  which  Heshbon  was 
situated  as  "Moabitis"  {Ant.  xiii,  15,  4;  also  War,  iv, 
8,  2),  but  expressly  says  that  even  at  the  time  he  wrote 
they  were  a  "  very  great  nation"  (^Ant.  i,  11,  5).  (See  5 
i\Iacc.  xxix,  19.)  Noldeke,  in  his  recent  work,  Ueher 
die  Amalekiter  und  einige  andere  nachharvijlker  der  Is- 
raeliten  (Gijttingen,  1804),  p.  3,  insists  that  the  final 
extinction  of  Ammonites  and  Moabites  dates  from  the 
appearance  of  the  Yemen  tribes  Salib  and  Gassan  in  the 
eastern  districts  of  the  Jordan.  This  would  bring  them 
down  to  about  A.D.  200. 

In  the  time  of  Eusebius  (Onomasf.  Mtti«/3),  i.  e.  cir. 
A.D.  380,  the  name  appears  to  have  been  attached  to 
the  district,  as  well  as  to  the  town  of  Eabbath— both  of 
which  were  called  Moab.  It  also  lingered  for  some  time 
in  the  name  of  the  ancient  Kir-Moab,  which,  as  Cha- 
rakmoba,  is  mentioned  by  Ptolemy  (Reland,  Palxst.  p. 


MOABITE  39 

463),  and  as  late  as  the  Council  of  Jerusalem,  A.D.  536,  ' 
formed  the  see  of  a  bishop  under  the  same  title  (ibid.  p.  i 
533).  Since  that  time  the  modern  name  Kerak  has  su-  ' 
perseded  the  older  one,  and  no  trace  of  Jloab  lias  been  I 
found  either  in  records  or  in  the  country  itself.  I 

IV.  (Uof/riipliy  and  C/iuniclerislics.— Like  the  other 
conntrics  east  of  Jordan,  Moab  has  until  recently  been  | 
very  little  visited  by  Europeans,  and  beyond  its  general 
characteristics  liardly  any  tiling  is  known  of  it.  Of  the 
character  of  t lie  face  of  the  country  travellers  only  give  i 
slight  reports,  and  among  these  there  is  considerable  ' 
variation  even  when  the  same  district  is  referred  to. 
Thus  between  Kerak  and  Kabba,  Irby  (p.  141  a)  found 
"a  line  country,"  of  great  natural  fertility,  with  "reap- 
ers at  work  and  the  corn  luxuriant  in  all  directions;"'  | 
and  the  same  district  is  described  by  liurckhardt  as  ] 
"very  fertile,  and  large  tracts  cultivated"  {Si/r.  July 
15);  while  De  Saulcy,  on  the  other  hand,  pronounces 
that  "from  Shihan  (six  miles  north  of  Kabba)  to  the 
Wady  Kerak  the  country  is  perfectly  bare,  not  a  tree  or 
a  bush  to  be  seen"  (^Voyage,  i,  353);  which,  again,  is 
contradicted  by  Seetzen,  who  not  only  found  the  soil 
very  good,  but  encumbered  with  wormwood  and  other 
shrubs  (Seetzen,  i,  410).  These  discrepancies  are  no 
doubt  partly  due  to  difference  in  the  time  of  year  and 
other  temporary  causes,  but  they  are  not  essentially 
contradictory;  for  wliile  the  whole  region  has  been  de- 
nuded of  all  liabitations  and  larger  forms  of  vegetation, 
it  is  still  a  rich  pasture-ground  for  the  Bedouins  who 
roam  in  every  direction  over  it,  and  who  likewise  till 
its  extensive  tields  of  wheat  and  barley.  In  one  thing 
all  writers  agree — tlie  extraordinary  number  of  ruins 
which  are  scattered  over  the  country,  and  which,  what- 
ever the  present  condition  of  the  soil,  are  a  sure  token 
of  its  wealth  in  former  ages  (Seetzen,  i,  412).  Some  of 
the  most  remarkable  of  these  have  recently  been  de- 
scribed by  Tristram.  The  whole  country  is  undulating, 
and,  after  the  general  level  of  the  plateau  is  reached, 
without  any  serious  inequalities;  and  in  this  and  the 
absence  of  conspicuous  vegetation  has  a  certain  resem- 
blance to  the  downs  of  the  southern  counties  of  England. 

Of  the  lawimuje  of  the  Moabites  we  know  nothing  or 
next  to  nothing.  In  the  few  communications  recorded 
as  taking  place  between  them  and  the  Israelites  no  inter- 
preter is  mentioned  (see  Kuth;  I  Sam.  xxii,  3,  4;  etc.). 
From  the  origin  of  the  nation  apd  other  considerations 
we  may  jjcrliaps  conjecture  that  their  language  was 
more  a  dialect  of  Hebrew  than  a  different  tongue.  This, 
indeed,  would  follow  from  the  connection  of  Lot,  their 
founder,  with  Abraham.  It  is  likewise  confirmed  by  the 
remarkable  inscription  recently  discovereil.  Sec  MiisuA. 
The  narrative  of  Numb,  xxii-xxiv  must  be  founded  on 
a  ^Moabitisli  chronicle,  though  in  its  present  condition 
doubtless  niiicb  altered  from  what  it  originally  was  be- 
fore it  came  into  the  hands  of  the  author  of  the  book  of 
Numbers.  No  attemjit  seems  yet  to  have  been  made  to 
execute  the  dillicult  but  interesting  task  of  examining 
the  record  with  the  view  of  restoring  it  to  its  pristine 
form.  Tlie  following  are  the  names  of  Moabiiish  per- 
sons preserved  in  the  Bible— probably  Hebraized  in  their 
adoption  into  the  Hible  records;  of  such  a  transition 
we  seem  to  have  a  trace  in  Shomer  and  Shimrith  (see 
below):  Zippor,  Ualak,  l'2glon,  Kuth,  Orpah  (nair), 
ISIesha  (Sa"*^),  Itlimah  (1  Cliron.  xi,  46),  Sliom\'r'(2 
Kings  xii,  21),  or  Shimrith  (2  Chron.  xxiv,  26),  Sanbal- 
lat.  Add  to  these — I'^mini,  the  name  by  which  they 
called  the  Kephaim  wlio  originally  inhabited  their  coun- 
try, and  whom  the  .\inmonites  called  Zamzummim  or 
Zu/.itn  ;  Ciiemosli,  or  Chemi.sh  (.ler.  xlviii.  7  ),  the  deity 
of  the  nation.  Of  names  of  places  tiie  following  mav  be 
mentioned:  IMoal),  with  its  comjiounds,  Scdr'-^Ioab.lhe 
lields  of  Moab  (.V.V.  "the  country  of  Moal/');  Arboth- 
:Moab,  the  deserts  (A.  Y.  "  the  plains")  of  Moab,  that  is, 
the  part  of  the  Arabah  occupied  by  the  ^Moabites;  ham- 
Mishor,  the  high  undulating  countr}'  of  Moab  proper 
(A.Y.  "the  plain");  Ar,  or  Ar-Moab  C^i*)  — this  Gcse- 


6  MOABITE 

nius  conjectures  to  be  a  IMoabitish  form  of  the  word 
which  in  Hebrew  appears  as  Ir  ("l^",  a  city);  Amon, 
the  river  ("^:"1S);  Bamoth  Baal,  Beer  Elim,  Beth-dibla- 
thaim,  Dibon  or  Dimon,  Eglaim,  or  perhaps  Eglath* 
Shelishiya  (Isa.  xv,  5),Horonaim,  Kiriathaim,  Kirjath- 
huzoth  (Numb,  xxxii,  39;  comp.  Isa.  xxiv,  11),  Kir- 
haraseth,  -haresh,  -heres;  Kir-Moab,  Luhith,  ^ledeba, 
Nimrim,  or  Nimrah,  Nobah,  or  Xopliah  (Numb,  xxi, 
30),  hap-Pisgah,  hap-Peor,  Shaveh-Kariathaim  (V),  Zo- 
phim,  Zoar.  It  shouUl  be  noticed  how  large  a  propor- 
tion of  these  names  end  in  im. 

For  the  rtUgion  of  the  Moabites,  see  Ciiemosii  ;  Mo- 
lech;  Peoij. 

Of  their  habits  and  customs  we  have  hardh'  a  trace. 
The  gesture  employed  by  Balak  when  he  found  tliat 
Balaam's  interference  was  fruitless  —  "he  smote  his 
hands  together" — is  not  mentioned  again  in  the  Bible, 
but  it  may  not  on  that  account  have  been  peculiar  to 
the  Moabites.  Their  mode  of  mourning,  viz.,  cutting 
off  the  hair  at  the  back  of  the  head  and  cropping  the 
beard  (Jer.  xlviii,  37),  is  one  which  they  followed  in 
common  with  the  other  non-Israeli tish  nations,  and 
which  was  forbidden  to  the  Israelites  (Lev.  xxi,  5),  who 
indeed  seem  to  have  been  accustomed  rather  to  leave 
their  hair  and  beard  disordered  and  untrimmed  when  in 
grief  (see  2  Sam.  xix,  24 ;  xiv,  2). 

Y.  Literature. — As  above  remarked,  through  fear  of 
the  predatory  and  mischievous  Arabs  that  people  it,  few 
of  the  numerous  travellers  in  Palestine  have  ventured 
to  explore  it  (see  BUsching's  Asia,  p.  507.  508).  Seet- 
zen, who,  in  February  and  March,  1806,  not  without 
danger  of  losing  his  life,  undertook  a  tour  from  Damas- 
cus down  to  the  south  of  the  Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea, 
and  thence  to  Jerusalem,  was  the  first  to  shed  a  new  and 
altogether  unexpected  light  upon  the  topography  of 
this  region.  He  found  a  multitude  of  places,  or  at  least 
of  ruins  of  places,  still  bearing  the  old  names,  and  thus 
has  set  bounds  to  the  perfectly  arbitrary  designations 
of  them  on  the  old  charts  (see  U.  I.  Seetzen's  Rdsen, 
etc.,  von  Prof.  Krusc,  etc.,  i,  405-26 ;  ii,  320-77 ;  also  the 
editor's  notes  thereon  in  vol.  iv).  From  June  to  Sep- 
tember, 1812,  Burckhardt  made  the  same  tour  from  Da- 
mascus beyond  the  Jordan  down  to  Kerak ;  whence  he 
advanced  over  Wady  Jlousa,  or  the  ancient  Petra  (which 
he  was  the  first  European  traveller  to  visit),  to  the  bay 
of  Aila,  and  thence  went  to  Cairo  {Travels  in  the  Holy 
Land  and  Syria,  Lond.  1822 ;  sec  also  the  notes  of  Ge- 
senius  to  the  German  translation  [Weimar,  1824],  ii, 
1061-64).  A  party  of  English  gentlemen  —  captains 
Irby  and  ]\Iangles,  ISIr.  Bankes  and  Jlr.  Legh— passed 
through  the  land  of  :Moab  in  returning  from  Petra  in 
1818  (Travels  in  K;/ypt,  etc.  [1822,  8vo;  1847,  12mo], 
ch.  viii;  see  also  Legh's  Supplement  to  Dr.  Macmi- 
cha(jrs  Journey  from  Moscow  to  Constantinople  [1810]). 
The  northern  parts  of  the  country  were  visited  by  ^Nlr. 
Buckingham,  and  more  lately  by  Mr.  George  Kobinsou 
and  by  lord  Lindsay  (see  also  the  plates  to  Laborde's 
new  work,  I'oyrK/e  en  Orient).  Kerak,  the  capital  of  the 
country,  was  penetrated  by  the  party  in  commaiul  of 
Lieut.  Lynch  {Expedition  to  the  Dead  Sea  [1^40]  ) ;  and 
the  region  was  partially  examined  by  51.  Dc  Saulcy, 
January,  1851  {Voyaye  uiitour  de  la  Mer  Morle,  Paris, 
1853;  also  translated  into  English,  Lond.  and  X.York, 
1853).  Tristram,  however,  was  the  first  who  really  ex- 
plored it  accurately  {Land  of  Moab,  Lond.  and  X.  York, 
1873),  and  the  American  engineers  of  the  Palestine  Ex- 
ploration Society  have  triangulated  the  northern  portion 
of  it.  Several  parties  of  tourists  have  also  traversed  it 
in  various  directions  lately.  See  generally  Gesenius, 
Comment,  on  Isa.  xv,  xvi,  Introducl.  translated  by  W.  S. 
Tyler,  with  Xotes  by  Moses  Stuart,  in  Biblical  liepos.  for 
1836,  vii,  107-124;  Keith,  Evidence  from  Prophecy,  p. 
153-165;  and  Land  of  Israel,  p.  279-295;  Kitto,  Pic- 
torial Bible,  Notes  to  Dent,  ii,  2 ;  Isa.  xvi,  xvii ;  Jer. 
xliii;  H.  Scharban,  Parerya  philol.  tlieol.  (Liibeck,  1723 
sq.),  pt.  iii  and  iv ;  G.  Kohlreiff,  Gesch.  d.Philist.  u,  Moab, 


MOABITESS 


397 


MODENA 


(Ratzeb.  1738).  See  also  the  Quarterly  Rev.  Oct.  1873, 
art.  vi ;  Brit,  and  For.  Kv,  Rev.  Jan.  1874,  p.  195 ;  Meth. 
Qu.  Rev.  Jan.  1874,  p.  174;  Luth.  Ev.  Rev.  Jan.  1874,  p. 
140.  For  a  singular  endeavor  to  identify  the  Moabites 
with  the  Druses,  see  Sir  G.  H.  Rose's  pamphlet,  The 
A_ff}jkans  the  Ten  Tribes,  etc.  (Lond.  1852) ;  especially  the 
statement  therein  of  Mr.  Wood,  late  British  consul  at 
Damascus  (p.  154-157).. 

Mo'abitess  (Heb.  Moahhjah',  il^iXi^,  fern,  of 
Moahite ;  Sept.  Moo/Sinc),  a  MoabLtish  woman  (Ruth 
i,  22 ;  ii,  2,  21 ;  iv,  5, 19 ;  2  Chron.  xxiv,  2G).     See  Mo- 

ABITE. 

Moadi'ah  (Nch.  xiii,  17).     See  Maadiah. 

Mobley,  Wili-iam  H.,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1830; 
removed  to  Missouri  in  1852 ;  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
1854,  and  shortly  after  joined  the  St.  Louis  Conference ; 
continued  to  travel  and  preach  regularly  till  1861,  when 
the  troubles  of  war  compelled  his  removal  to  Arkansas, 
where  he  remained  till  1865.  He  then  returned  to  Ken- 
tucky, his  native  state,  and  died  in  Hickman  County, 
July  27, 1865.  Mr.  Mobley  was  a  good  man  and  an  ef- 
ficient preacher. — Minutes  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South, 
1866,  s.  V. 

Mocetto,  GirolaSio,  a  painter  and  engraver  of  the 
Venetian  school,  and  sometimes  called  Ilieronijimis  Mo- 
cetus,  was  a  native  of  Verona,  according  to  Lauzi,  or  of 
Brescia,  according  to  Vasari,  and  was  probably  an  early 
disciple  of  Bellini.  Lanzi  mentions  an  altar-piece  in  the 
church  of  S.  Nazario-e-Celso  bearing  his  name,  and  dated 
1493.  Mocetto  was  chiefly  known,  however,  as  an  en- 
graver, and  his  works  in  tliis  line  are  extremely  scarce 
and  valuable.  Among  others  may  be  mentioned  en- 
gravings of  the  Resurrection ;  the  Sacrifice,  with  many 
tigures;  the  Virr/iii  and  Child,  with  St.  John  the  Baptist- 
and  another  saint,  v.hich  is  now  in  the  British  Museum; 
the  Virgin  and  Child  seated  on  a  Throne,  and  a  wood-cut 
of  the  Entry  of  Christ  into  Jerusalem.  He  died  about 
1500.  See  Spooner,  Biog.  Hist,  of  the  Fine  A7-ts  (N.  Y. 
1865, 2  vols.  Svo),  ii,  590 ;  Lanzi,  Hist,  of  Painting,  transl. 
by  Roscoe  (Lond.  1847,  3  vols.  Svo),  ii,  107;  Revue  des 
Beaux  Arts,  Juin  15, 1859. 

Mocha  OF  Tiberias,  or  Palestine,  a  noted  rabbi, 
who  flourished  shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  8th  cen- 
tury, is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
savans.  Unfortunately  but  little  is  known  of  his  per- 
sonal history.  He  established,  or  at  least  amplified,  the 
interlineary  system  of  vocalization,  called  the  Tiberian, 
or  Palestinian,  which  has  for  centuries  been  generally 
adopted  both  by  Jew  and  Gentile  in  pointed  editions  of 
the  O.-T.  Scriptures,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  superline- 
ary  system,  called  the  Babylonian,  or  Assyrian,  which 
was  invented  or  extended  b}^  Acha  of  Irak  (in  the  first 
half  of  the  6lh  century).  Like  his  predecessor  R.  Acha, 
the  author  of  the  opposite  sj^stem,  R.  IMocha  also  com- 
piled a  large  and  small  ]Masorah,  in  which  are  discussed 
the  writing  of  words  -with  or  without  the  voivel  letters 
(lOni  N^n),  the  affixing  of  certain  accents  (m3152), 
accented  syllables,  Dagesh  and  Raphe,  rare  forms,  ar- 
chaic words,  homonymes,  etc.,  as  is  evident  from  an  an- 
cient MS.  of  the  Pentateuch  by  Firkowitzsch,  where  the 
following  Masoretic  gloss  frequently  occurs:  "Rabbi 
Mocha  writes  this  with  and  tliat  without  the  vowel  let- 
ters." These  IMasoretic  glosses  he  wrote  in  Aramaic, 
and  in  the  Tiberian  dialect— the  language  of  the  Pales- 
tinian Jews — in  order  to  make  his  labors  both  accessible 
and  intelligible  to  all  his  people.  Not  unfrequently, 
however,  these  Masoretic  glosses  are  intermixed  with 
notes  written  in  Hebrew.  See  Pinsker,  Likuti  Kadmo- 
nijot  (Vienna,  1860),  p.  62,  Appendix ;  Griitz,  Gesch.  d. 
Juden,\,  552;  Flirst,  Gesch.  des  Karderthums,  i,  15  sq., 
134  sq.— Kitto,  Cyclop,  of  Bibl.  Lit.  ii,  195. 

Moch'mur,  the  Brook  (o  xitltc'tppoQ  Moxnovp; 
Alex,  omits  Mox- ;  Vulg.  omits),  a  torrent,  i.  e.  a  wady 
— the  word  "brook"  conveys  an  entirely  false  impres- 


sion— mentioned  only  in  Judith  vii,  18 ;  and  there  as  spec- 
ifying the  position  of  Ekrebel— "Near  unto  Chusi,  and 
upon  the  brook  jMochmnr."  Ekrebel  has  been  identi- 
fied, with  great  probability,  by  Mr.  Van  de  Velde  in  Ak- 
rabeh,  a  ruined  site  in  the  mountains  of  Central  Pales- 
tine, equidistant  from  Nabliis  and  Seilun,  south-east  of 
the  former  and  north-east  of  the  latter;  and  the  torrent 
Mochmur  may  be  either  the  Wady  MaJcfuriyeh,  on  the 
northern  slopes  of  which  Akrabeh  stands,  or  the  Wady 
Ahmar,  which  is  the  continuation  of  the  former  cast- 
wards.  The  reading  of  the  Syriac  {Nachol  de-Ptor) 
possibly  points  to  the  existence  of  a  sanctuary  of  Baal- 
Peor  in  this  neighborhood,  but  is  more  probably  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  original  name,  which  was  a]jparently 
"i^'cn^a  (Simon,  Onomasticon  N.  T.  p.  111). — Smith. 

Modalism  is  a  term  applied  to  the  heretical  views 
regarding  the  Trinity  first  espoused  by  Sabellius,  a 
presbyter  of  Ptolemais,  who  flourished  about  the  middle 
of  the  3d  century.  Adopting  the  notions  of  the  earlier 
Monarchians,  he  maintained,  in  opposition  to  the  doc- 
trine propounded  by  Origen  and  his  scliool,  that  the 
appellations  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  were  only 
so  many  different  manifestations  and  names  of  one  and 
the  same  divine  being.  He  thus  converted  the  objec- 
tive and  real  distinction  of  persons  (a  trinity  of  essence) 
into  a  merely  subjective  and  modalistic  view  (the  trin- 
ity of  manifestation).  See,  however,  jMonarchiaxs; 
Sabellianisji.  Compare  also  the  articles  Hvposta- 
sis  and  Trinity. 

Modality  (from  Lat.  modus'),  a  philosophical  term 
applied  by  Kant,  who,  in  treating  of  our  judginents,  re- 
duced them  to  the  four  heads  of  quantity,  qualit}-,  rela- 
tion, and  modality.  In  reference  to  modality,  he  teaches, 
they  are  either  problematic,  or  assertory,  or  apodictical. 
Hence  the  category  of  modality  includes  possibility  and 
impossibility,  existence  and  non-existence,  necessity  or 
contingency.  But  existence  and  non-existence  should 
have  no  place;  the  contingent  and  the  necessary  are 
not  different  from  being.  Kant  was  not,  however,  the 
first  to  use  the  term  modality.  Aristotle  may  not  have 
used  it  himself  in  the  four  ?noc7«Z  propositions  which  he 
defined  and  opposed  (Uepl  tpixr]veiag,  c.  12-14),  but  it  is 
to  be  found  among  his  commentators  and  the  scholastic 
philosophers.  See  Krauth's  Fleming,  Vocabulary  of 
Philos.  (N.  Y.,  Sheldon  &  Co.)  p.  320,  321 ;  Diet,  des  Sci- 
ences Philosoph.  s.  V. 

Modena,  formerly  a  sovereign  duchy  of  Upper  It- 
aly, and  now  a  part  of  the  united  kingdom,  is  situated 
between  Parma,  Lombardy,  Venice,  the  Papal  States, 
Tuscany,  and  the  Adriatic  Ocean,  and  covers  an  area  of 
about  2300  square  miles,  with  604,500  inhabitants  (in 
1870). 

The  ancient  history  of  Modena  affords  evidence  that 
it  enjoyed  at  an  early  period  a  considerable  degree  of 
prosperity;  the  splendor,  wealth,  and  arts  of  its  capital, 
of  like  name,  being  mentioned  by  Cicero,  Pliny,  and 
Strabo.  In  modern  times  Modena  has  shared,  more  or 
less,  the  various  vicissitudes  which  befell  Italy,  and  jiar- 
ticipated  in  the  great  internecine  feuds  of  the  country. 
In  960  a  member  of  the  great  house  of  Este  was  pro- 
claimed marquis  of  Modena,  and  in  1452  the  then  reign- 
ing marquis  was  created  duke  by  the  emperor  Frederick 
HI.  In  1797  Modena  formed  part  of  the  Cisalpine  Re- 
public, but  was  restored  in  1814  by  the  congress  of  Vi- 
enna to  the  reigning  family.  The  duchy  had  at  that 
time  an  area  of  2310  square  miles,  and  a  population  of 
586,000.  In  1848  the  duke  of  Modena  was  temporarily 
deprived  of  his  rights;  and  in  1859  the  population  de- 
finitively expelled  their  unpopular  ruler,  who  carried 
off  all  the  property  and  valuables  within  his  reach,  in- 
cluding the  silver  handles  of  the  palace  doors.  In  the 
beginning  of  JIareh,  1860,  a  plebiscitum  declared  in  fa- 
vor of  ainiexatiou  to  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  which 
is  now  included  in  Italy  as  a  imited  kingdom. 

In  ecclesiastical  history,  Modena  figures  quite  promi- 
nently during  the  Reformatory  movement  of  the  16th 


MODENA 


398 


MODERATION 


centun'.  The  learned  Sicilian,  Paola  Eicci,  labored 
there  successfully  in  1540,  and  the  Komau  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  cardinal  Morone,  at  one  time  gave  the  country 
up  as  Lutheran.  The  duchess  herself,  Kenata  de  Fer- 
rara,  a  sister  of  Francis  I  of  France,  greatly  distin- 
guished herself  as  a  promoter  of  the  new  doctrines.  But 
the  Inquisition  came,  and  from  its  introduction  dates 
the  wane  of  Protestantism  in  Modeua.  See  IxQuisi- 
Tiox;  Italy. 

Modena,  Barnaba  da,  an  esteemed  Italian 
painter  of  the  school  of  Modena,  who  flourished  in  the 
14th  century,  was  among  the  first  artists  who  obtained 
any  reputation  in  Piedmont.  Two  pictures  exist  in  the 
Conventuals  of  Pisa  by  this  master,  one  in  the  church 
and  the  other  in  the  convent;  both  portray  the  Virgin. 
In  the  second  the  coronation  is  represented,  and  the 
Virgin  is  seen  surrounded  by  St.  Francis  and  other  saints 
of  his  order.  Delia  Yalle  speaks  in  high  terms  of  a 
third  picture  of  the  Virf/iii,  remaining  in  the  possession 
of  ilie  Conventuals  of  .-Uba,  which  he  says  is  in  a  grander 
style  than  any  contemporary  works;  and  he  states  that 
it  bears  the  date  1357.  Morrona  extols  the  beauty  of 
his  heads  and  the  delicacy  of  his  coloring,  and  ])refers 
him  to  Giotto.  Hardly  anything  is  known  of  his  per- 
sonal history.  See  Lanzi,  Hist,  of  Painting,  transl.  by 
Koscoe(Lond.  1847,3vols.8vo),ii,345;  iii,292;  Spooner, 
Bioy.  Uist.  of  the  Fine  Arts  (N.  Y.  1865,  2  vols.  8vo).  ii. 
370; 

Modena,  Leon  da.     See  Lkox. 

Modena,  Niccoletto  da,  an  old  Italian  painter 
and  engraver,  flourished  at  Modena  about  the  beginning 
of  tlie  IGth  century.  He  is  principally  known  as  one 
of  the  first  engravers  of  Italy.  His  plates  are  well  de- 
signed, but  are  rudely  executed.  The  principal  produc- 
tions are,  The  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds ;  St.  Sebas- 
tian, with  M  iccoletto  on  a  tablet ;  St.  Jerome ;  St.  George ; 
a  full-length  figure  of  Christ;  St.  Sebastian,  with  his 
arms  ticil  over  his  head  to  a  column,  and  his  body 
pierced  with  six  arrows.  Another  St.  Sebastian,  larger 
tlian  the  preceding,  and  pierced  witli  three  arrows.  JDa- 
i-iil  with  the  head  of  Goliath  ;  St.  A  nthony ;  The  vestal 
Lucca  carrging  water  in  a  sieve  to  prove  her  virginitg ; 
St.  Catharine,  and  a  Saint  bearing  a  large  bag  on  his 
back.  Tlie  date  of  his  death  is  unknown.  See  Jame- 
son and  Eastlake,  /list,  of  our  Lord  (Lond.  18G4,  2  vols. 
8vo),  ii,  57-;  Lanzi,  Uist.  of  Painting,  transl.  by  Roscoe 
(Lond.  1847,  3  vols.  8vo  ),  i,  107;  ii,  346;  Spooner, 
Jiiog.  Uist.  of  the  Fine  A  rts  (N.  Y.  1865,  2  vols.  8vo),  ii, 
571. 

Modena,  Pellegrino  da,  an  Italian  painter,  the 
most  eminent  of  tlie  Modena  school,  was  born  about  the 
middle  of  the  15th  century.  He  is  often  called  Pelle- 
(/rino  .}[unari,  and  sometimes  A  retusi,  but  is  commonly 
known  by  the  title  prefixed  to  this  notice.  According 
to  Lanzi,  he  first  studied  with  his  father,  who  was  also 
an  artist  of  considerable  repute,  and  in  1509  painted  an 
altar-piece  for  the  church  of  St.  Giovanni  at  Jlodena, 
wliich  gained  liim  no  little  reputation.  At  this  time 
the  fame  of  Kaphael  readied  Modena,  and  Pellegrino  at 
once  journeyed  to  Home,  and  placed  himself  under  the 
instruction  of  that  sublime  master,  who,  perceiving  the 
remarkable  talent  of  his  pupil,  employed  him  as  assist- 
ant in  the  famous  works  in  the  Vatican.  At  first  Pelle- 
grino painted  in  the  open  galleries,  but  afterwards  exe- 
cuted from  the  designs  of  Uaphael  tlic  Jlistorg  of  .Jacob  \ 
and  the  History  of  Solomon  in  tlie  Vatican,  which  Lanzi 
says  were  painted  entirely  after  tlie  manner  of  his  mas- 
ter, and  ill  a  style  almost  incomparable.  After  the 
death  of  liaphael  he  continued  to  paint  at  Pome  from 
his  own  designs,  and  executed  some  admiral)le  works  for 
the  dilferent  churches,  particularly  a  work  in  fresco  in 
the  churcli  of  St.  Giacomo,  entitled  tlie  History  of  St. 
Jams.  After  its  completion  he  returned  to  Modena. 
Here  he  painted  his  most  celebrated  jiicture  of  the  Xa- 
tirily  of  our  Lord,  in  the  churcli  of  St.  Paolo,  which  is 
characterized  by  Lauzi  as  '•  breathing  in  every  part  the 


graces  of  him  of  Urbino,"  Pellegrino  met  with  a  tragic 
death  at  the  hands  of  some  Modenese,  who  turned  tlieir 
fury  against  him  because  liLs  son  had  slain  an  antago- 
nist in  a  quarrel,  in  1523.  See  Lanzi,  Hist,  of  Painting, 
transl.  by  Roscoe  (Lond.  1.S47,  3  vols.  8vo),  i,  397:  ii, 
350;  Spooner,  h'iog.  Hist,  of  the  Fine  Arts  (N.  Y.  1865,  2 
vols.  8vo),  ii,  570. 

Moderate.  To  moderate  a  call,  in  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  is,  under  the  presidency  of  one  of  the  clergy, 
to  pul)li(ly  announce  and  give  in  an  invitation  to  a  min- 
ister or  licentiate  to  take  the  charge  of  a  parish ;  which 
announcement  or  invitation,  thus  given  in  the  hearing 
of  the  assembled  parishioners,  is  regarded  as  the  first  le- 
gal step  towards  a  settlement. — Buck,  Theol.  Diet.  s.  v. 

Moderates  is  a  name  applied  to  those  theologians 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland  who  favor  patronage  (pro- 
hibited by  the  I'arliament  of  1692,  and  in  the  Books  of 
Discipline)  and  a  moderate  orthodoxy,  i.  e.  a  mitigatioa 
of  the  strictness  of  the  old  confessions.  The  first  ]Mod- 
erates  flourished  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  un- 
der the  Kobertsonian  administration  (1752-82).  As 
early  as  1720,  however,  the  Moderate  party  had  its  in- 
fluence in  the  Church,  as  is  apparent  from  the  five  prop- 
ositions which  were  condemned  in  a  council  held  at  that 
time  to  suppress  Antinomianism  [  see  Makkow  Contijo- 
VERSv];  and  the  secession  of  1734  was  no  doubt  pro- 
voked by  the  ascendency  of  the  Neonomians,  afterwards 
leaders  in  the  party  of  the  Moderates.  In  many  re- 
spects the  Moderates  are  the  "  Latitudinarians"  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland.  :Many  of  them  adopted  the  ethi- 
cal principles  of  Francis  Hutcheson  (q.  v.).  The  leading 
pulpit  orator  among  the  Moderates — Dr.  Hugh  Blair — 
deficient  in  evangelical  thought  and  feeling,  actually 
defended  Hume  against  the  Assembly;  and  well  he 
might,  for  had  not  his  party  declared  (in  1720)  that  holi- 
ness is  not  necessary  to  salvation  ?  There  were,  however, 
manj'  Jlodcrates  of  an  evangelical  spirit,  and  these  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  Free -church  movement.     See 

SC0TLANI>,  ChL-KCII  Ol'.       (J.  II.  W.) 

Moderation  imports  a  proper  go%-emmcnt  of  pas- 
sion and  [ileasure,  preventing  extremes  of  any  kind. 
The  presence  of  moderation  is  manifest  in  the  exhibi- 
tion of  a  calm  and  temperate  frame  of  mind.  '•  Moder- 
ation," says  Blair,  "ought  to  take  place  in  our  wishes, 
pursuits,  expectations,  pleasures,  and  passions." 

(1.)  We  should  be  moderate  in  our  icishes.  The  ac- 
tive mind  of  man  is  seldom  or  never  satisfied  with  its 
present  condition,  how  prosperous  soever.  Originally 
formed  for  a  wider  range  of  objects,  for  a  higher  sphere 
of  enjoyments,  it  finds  itself,  in  ever}'  situation  of  for- 
tune, straitened  and  confined.  Sensible  ofdeliciency  in 
its  state,  it  is  ever  sending  forth  the  fond  desire,  the  as- 
piring wish  after  something  beyond  what  is  enjoyed  at 
present.  Assuredly  there  is  nothing  unlawful  in  our 
wishing  to  be  freed  from  whatever  is  disagreeable,  and 
to  obtain  a  fuller  enjoyment  of  the  comforts  of  life.  But 
when  these  wishes  are  not  tempered  by  reason  they  are 
in  danger  of  precipitating  us  into  extravagance  and 
foUy.  If  we  suffer  our  fancy  to  create  to  itself  worlds 
of  ideal  happiness;  if  we  feed  our  imagination  with 
plans  of  opulence  and  splendor  far  beyond  our  rank ;  if 
we  fix  to  our  wishes  certain  stages  of  high  advance- 
ment, or  certain  degrees  of  uncommon  reputation  or  dis- 
tinction, as  the  sole  stations  of  felicity,  the  assured  con- 
sequence will  be  that  we  shall  become  unhapi\v  in  our 
present  state,  unfit  for  acting  the  part  and  discharging 
the  duties  that  belong  to  it;  we  shall  discompose  the 
peace  and  order  of  our  minds,  and  foment  many  hurtful 
passions.  Here,  then,  let  moderation  begin  its  reign, 
by  bringing  within  reasonable  bounds  the  wishes  that  wc 
form.  As  soon  as  they  become  extravagant,  let  us  check 
them  by  proper  reflections  on  the  fallacious  nature  of 
those  objects  which  the  world  hangs  out  to  allure  desire. 

(2.)  \\'c  should  be  moderate  in  out  pursuits.  AYhen 
the  active  pursuits  in  which  we  engage  rise  beyond 
moderation,  they  fill  the  world  with  great  disorders, 


MODERATION 


399 


MODERN  QUESTION 


often  with  flagrant  crimes.  Yet  all  ambition  is  not  to 
be  condemned,  nor  ought  high  purposes  on  every  occa- 
sion to  be  checked.  Some  men  are  formed  by  nature 
for  rising  into  conspicuous  stations  of  life.  In  following 
the  impulse  of  their  minds,  and  properly  exerting  the 
talents  ^vith  which  God  has  blessed  them,  there  is  room 
fur  ambition  to  act  in  a  laudable  sphere,  and  to  become 
the  instrument  of  much  public  good,  liut  this  may 
safely  be  pronounced,  that  the  bulk  of  men  are  ready  to 
overrate  their  own  abilities,  and  to  imagine  themselves 
equal  to  higher  things  than  they  were  ever  designed 
for  by  nature.  We  should  therefore  be  sober  in  fixing 
our  aims  and  planning  our  destined  pursuits.  We 
should  beware  of  being  led  aside  from  the  plain  path 
of  sound  and  moderate  conduct  by  those  false  lights 
which  self-flattery  is  always  ready  to  hang  out.  By 
aiming  at  a  mark  too  high  we  may  fall  short  of  what  it 
%vas  in  our  power  to  have  reached.  Instead  of  attain- 
ing to  eminence,  we  may  not  only  expose  ourselves  to 
derision,  but  bring  upon  our  heads  manifold  disasters. 

(3.)  We  should  be  moderate  in  our  expectations. 
When  our  state  is  flourishing,  and  the  course  of  events 
proceeds  according  to  our  v.ish,  we  ought  not  to  suffer 
our  minds  to  be  vainly  lifted  up.  We  ought  not  to 
flatter  ourselves  with  high  prospects  of  the  increasing 
favors  of  the  world  and  the  continuing  applause  of  men. 
By  want  of  moderation  in  our  hopes  we  not  only  in- 
crease dejection  when  disappointment  comes,  but  we  ac- 
celerate disappointment:  we  bring  forward  with  greater 
speed  disagreeable  changes  in  our  state.  For  the  natu- 
ral consequence  of  presumptuous  expectation  is  rashness 
in  conduct.  He  who  indulges  in  confident  security  of 
course  neglects  due  precautions  against  the  dangers  that 
threaten  him ;  and  his  fall  will  be  foreseen  and  predict- 
ed. He  not  only  exposes  himself  unguarded  to  dangers, 
but  he  multiiilies  them  against  himself.  By  presump- 
tion and  vanity  he  either  provokes  enmity  or  incurs 
contempt.  A  temperate  spirit  and  moderate  expecta- 
tions are  the  best  safeguard  of  the  mind  in  this  uncer- 
tain and  changing  state.  They  enable  us  to  pass 
through  the  world  with  most  comfort.  When  we  rise 
in  tlie  world  they  contribute  to  our  elevation,  and  if  we 
fall  they  render  our  fall  the  lighter. 

(4.)  We  should  be  moderate  in  our  pleasures.  It  is 
an  invariable  law  of  our  present  condition  that  every 
pleasure  which  is  pursued  to  excess  converts  itself  into 
poison.  What  was  intended  for  the  cordial  and  refresh- 
ment of  human  life,  through  want  of  moderation,  we 
turn  to  its  bane.  No  sooner  do  we  pass  the  line  which 
temperance  has  drawn  than  pernicious  effects  succeed. 
Could  the  monuments  of  death  be  laid  open  to  our  view, 
they  would  read  a  lecture  in  favor  of  moderation  much 
more  powerfid  than  anj'  that  the  most  eloquent  preacher 
can  give.  We  shoifld  behold  the  graves  peopled  with 
the  victims  of  intemperance ;  we  should  behold  those 
chambers  of  darkness  hung  round  on  every  side  with 
the  trophies  of  luxury,  drunkenness,  ■  and  sensuality. 
So  numerous  should  we  find,  those  martyrs  of  iniquitj"- 
that  it  may  safely  be  asserted  where  war  or  pestilence 
has  slain  its  thousands  intemperate  pleasure  has  slain 
its  ten  thousands. 

(5.)  We  should  be  moderate  in  all  onr  passions.  This 
exercise  of  moderation  is  the  .more  requisite  because 
every  passion  in  human  nature  has  of  itself  a  tendencj- 
to  run  into  excess.  All  passion  implies  a  violent  emo- 
tion of  mind.  Of  course  it  is  apt  to  derange  the  regular 
course  of  our  ideas,  and  to  produce  confusion  within. 
Of  some  passions,  such  as  anger  and  resentment,  the  ex- 
cess is  so  obviously  dangerous  as  loudly  to  call  for  mod- 
eration. He  who  gives  himself  up  to  the  impetuosity 
of  such  passions  without  restraint  is  universally  con- 
demned. Of  the  insidious  growth  of  passion,  therefore, 
we  have  great  reason  to  beware.  Let  us  be  persuaded 
that  moments  of  passion  are  always  moments  of  delu- 
sion; that  nothing  truly  is  what  it  then  seems  to  be; 
that  all  the  opinioils  which  we  then  form  are  erroneous ; 
and  that  all  the  judgments  which  we  then  pass  are  ex- 


travagant. Let  moderation  accustom  us  to  wait  till  the 
fumes  of  passion  are  spent:  till  the  mist  which  it  has 
raised  begins  to  be  dissipated.  On  no  occasion  let  us 
imagine  that  strength  of  mind  is  shown  bj'  violence  of 
passion.  It  is  the  strength  of  one  who  is  in  the  delir- 
ium of  a  fever,  or  under  the  disease  of  madness.  True 
strength  of  mind  is  shown  in  governing  and  resisting 
passion,  and  acting  on  the  most  trying  occasions  accord- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  conscience  and  right  reason.  See ' 
Blair,  Sermons,  vol.  ii,  serm.  xlii. 

Moderator  is  the  name  of  an  ecclesiastical  officer 
in  the  Presbyterian  churches.  His  duty  is  to  preside 
over  a  meeting  or  an  assembly  of  ministers,  to  regulate 
their  proceedings  in  session,  and  to  declare  the  vote  (see 
Preshyt.  Confession,  p.  36G  sq.).  To  moderate  in  a  call 
is  to  preside  over  the  election  of  a  minister.  When  the 
attempt  was  made  to  introduce  episcopacy  into  Scotland, 
one  plan  was  to  have  jjerpetual  moderators  for  presby- 
teries— a  bishop  or  his  vicar  to  be  chosen  to  the  office. 

Moderatus  of  Gapes  (Moderatus  Gaditamis),  a 
distinguished  exponent  of  the  neo-Pj'thagorean  school 
of  philosophy,  surnamed  after  his  native  place,  flourished 
during  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Nero  (A.D.  54-68).  He 
collected  all  the  MSS.  extant  on  the  philosophical  views 
of  Pythagoras,  and  embodied  them  in  his  works :  Lib. 
xi,  De  jilacitis  sectm  PythagoriccB ;  Lib.  v,  Scholaruni 
Pythagoricarum,  which  are  unfortunately  no  longer  ex- 
tant. (Simply  a  fragment  of  his  is  preserved  by  Sto- 
\)«M?,,  Eclog.  p.  3.)  According  to  Porphyry  {Vita  Py- 
thag.  §  32  et  53),  Moderatus  sought  to  justify  the  in- 
corporation into  Pythag'oreanism  of  Platonic  and  neo- 
theological  doctrines,  through  the  hypothesis  that  the 
ancient  Pythagoreans  themselves  intentionally  expressed 
the  highest  truths  in  signs,  and  for  tliat  purpose  made 
use  of  numbers.  The  number  one  was  the  symbol  of 
unity  and  equality,  and  of  the  cause  of  the  harmony 
and  duration  of  all  things,  while  iico  was  the  symbol  of 
difference  and  inequality,  of  division  and  change,  etc. 
See  Neo-Pythagoreanisji.  Moderatus  is  reputed  to 
have  been  a  man  of  considerable  eloquence,  and  not  only 
to  have  been  popular  in  his  day,  but  to  have  found  an 
imitator,  to  some  extent,  in  lamblichus  (q.  v.).  See 
Schoell,  Hktoire  de  la  litterature  Grecque,  vi,  54 ;  U eber- 
weg.  Hist.  PMlos.  i,  232  sq.     (J.  H.  W.) 

Modern  Question,  The,  is  a  term  used  by 
some  to  designate  a  controversy  on  the  doctrine  oi  sal- 
vation. The  question  raised  is,  "Whether  it  be  the 
duty  of  all  to  whom  the  Gospel  is  preached  to  repent 
and  believe  in  Christ  ?"  It  is  called  the  Modern  ques- 
tion because  it  is  supposed  never  to  have  been  agitated 
before  the  early  part  of  the  last  centurj'.  The  following 
is  an  abstract  of  Dr.  Eyland's  history  of  the  controversy, 
which  he  considers  as  having  originated  in  Northamp- 
tonshire, England,  in  the  Baptist  churches  in  which  INIr. 
Davis,  of  Rothwell,  preached ;  though  it  does  not  appear 
that  the  latter  took  an  active  part  in  it.  Mr.  Maurice, 
his  successor,  even  strenuously  opposed  the  negative  side 
of  the  question,  which  had  been  maintained  hy  some  of 
Mr.  Davis's  admirers,  particularly  by  Jlr.  Lewis  Wey- 
man,  of  Kimbolton,  to  whom  Mr.  Maurice  wrote  a  re- 
ply, which,  Mr.  Maurice  dying  beibre  it  was  com- 
pleted, was  published  by  the  celebrated  jMr.  Bradburj-. 
This  was  between  1737  and  1739.  Mr.  Guttcridge,  of 
Oundle,  also  took  the  affirmative  side;  and  in  1743  Islr. 
Brine  the  negative;  as  did  also  the  learned  Dr.  Gill, 
though  he  did  not  write  expressly  en  the  subject.  The 
question  thus  started  agitated  the  Baptists  down  to  the 
time  of  Andrew  Fuller,  who  very  ably  supported  the 
positive  side,  viz.,  that  "  faith  is  the  duty  of  all  men,  al- 
though, tlyrough  the  depravity  of  human  nature,  men 
will  not  believe  till  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Spirit."  On 
the  other  side  it  was  contended  that  "  faith  was  not  a 
duty,  but  a  grace,"  the  exercise  of  which  was  not  re- 
quired till  it  was  bestowed.  Mr.  Fuller,  holding  that 
it  is  both,  published  The  Gosj)el  u-orthy  of  all  Ac- 
ceptation, or  the  Duty  of  all  Men  to  believe  in  Jesus 


MODESTUS 


400 


MODIN 


Christ.  "  The  leading  design  of  this  performance  (says 
Mr.  Morris)  is  to  prove  tliat  men  are  under  indispensa- 
ble obligations  to  believe  whatever  (Jod  says,  and  to  do 
whatever  he  commands;  and  a  Saviour  being  revealed 
in  the  Gospel,  the  law  in  effect  requires  those  to  whom 
be  is  made  known  to  believe  in  him,  seeing  it  insists 
upon  obedience  to  the  whole  will  of  God;  that  the  ina- 
bility of  man  to  comply  with  the  divine  requirements 
is  wholly  of  a  moral  nature,  and  consists  in  the  prev- 
alence of  an  evil  disposition,  which,  being  4:oluntartj,  is 
in  the  highest  degree  criminal."  On  this  subject  Mr. 
Fuller  was  attacked  by  ]Mr.  IJutton,  a  supralapsarian,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  by  Mr.  Daniel  Taylor,  an  ArmiTiian, 
on  the  other;  to  whom  he  replied  by  .1  Defmce  of  his 
former  tract,  and  this  ended  the  controversy.  The  late 
Mr.  Robinson  shrewdlj^  remarks  that  those  ministers  who 
will  not  use  applications,  lest  they  should  rob  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  the  honor  of  applying  the  Word,  should,  for  the 
same  reason,  not  use  explications,  lest  they  should  de- 
prive him  of  the  honor  of  illustrating  it.  See  Kyland, 
Life  of  Fuller,  p.  6-11 ;  Morris,  Life  of  Fuller,  ch.  ii ; 
Wilson,  Dissenting  Churches,  ii,  572;  Ivimey,  English 
Baptists,  iii,  2G2.    See  Salvation. 

Modestus  (1),  St.,  an  apostle  of  the  Church  in  Ca- 
rintliia,  flourished  in  the  8th  century.  He  was  one  of 
six  whom  bishop  Yigilius  of  Salzburg  sent  to  (Jarinthia 
to  preach  the  glad  tidings.  Modestus  lived  but  a  short 
time  after  his  arrival  in  Carinthia,  but  the  success  of  his 
mission  is  manifest  in  the  conversion  of  the  princes  of 
the  ct^untry,  who  are  said  to  have  espoused  the  cause  of 
Christianity  at  this  time.  See  Carinthia.  Modestus  is 
commemorated  in  the  Latin  Church  as  a  saint.  (2.)  An- 
other Modestus  flourished  in  the  7th  centurj'  (G1G-G2G) 
as  patriarch  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem.  He  is  reputed 
as  the  restorer  of  the  holy  church  at  Jerusalem,  wliich 
was  destroyed  by  the  Persians  under  Cliosrocs  H  in  G14. 

Modesty  (Lat.  modestia,  from  modus,  a  measure) 
is  sometimes  used  to  denote  humility,  and  sometimes  to 
express  chastity.  The  (ireek  word  kosmios  signities 
neat,  or  well  arranged.  It  suggests  the  idea  of  simple 
rlegance.  Modesty,  therefore,  consists  in  purity  of  sen- 
timent and  manners,  inclining  us  to  abhor  the  least  ap- 
pearance of  vice  and  indecency,  and  to  fear  doing  any- 
thing which  will  justly  incur  censure.  An  excess  of 
modesty  is  called  bashfulness  or  dithdence,  and  the  want 
of  it  impertinence  or  impudence.  There  is  also  a  false 
or  vicious  modesty,  which  influences  a  man  to  do  any- 
thing that  is  ill  or  indiscreet;  such  as,  through  fear  of 
offending  his  companions,  he  runs  into  their  follies  or 
excesses;  or  it  is  a  false  modesty  which  restrains  a 
man  from  doing  ^vhat  is  good  or  laudable,  such  as  being 
ashamed  to  speak  of  religion,  and  to  be  seen  in  the  ex- 
ercises of  piety  and  devotion. — Buck,  Tiieol.  Diet.  s.  v. 

Modi  or  Mode  (i.  e.  courageous,  from  a  root  cog- 
nate Willi  the  Danish  mod,  and  the  German  muth, 
"couragi;")  is  in  northern  mytliology  the  name  of  a  son 
of  Thor,  wlio,  the  legend  goes,  is  to  survive  the  destruc- 
tion of  tlie  world  at  Kagnariick,  and  in  the  renovated 
world  will  share  with  Jlogni  the  possession  of  their  fa- 
ther's liammer,  and  engage  in  the  extermination  of  all 
strife.  See  Thorpe,  Northern  Mythology,  vol.  i ;  Keycs, 
lidiglon  of  the  Northmen. 

Modigliaiia,  Fkancisco,  a  Bolognese  painter, 
fldurisht  il  aliout  the  beginning  of  the  17th  century. 
Lanzi  says  he  "  was  not  remarkably  powerful,  nor  al- 
ways consistent  with  himself,  but  very  graceful  and 
beautiful,  and  deserving  a  jilace  in  our  lexica."  His 
works  at  Urbino,  where  he  is  known  under  tlie  name  of 
Francisco  da  Forli,  are  a  picture  of  Christ  taken  dovn 
from  the  Cross,  in  oil,  at  St.  Croce,  and  some  Angds,  in 
fresco,  at  St.  Lucia.  His  finest  works,  however,  are  in 
the  churches  at  Forli  and  liimini,  among  wliich  are 
Adam  driven  from  Fden,  the  Deluge,  and  tlie  Tower  of 
Bahrl.  He  died  suddenly,  leaving  his  work  imperfect, 
but  it  was  afterwards  continued  by  Arrigoni,  who  paint- 
ed the  Death  of  Abel  ia  the  same  place.     See  Lanzi, 


Ilisf.  of  Painting,  trausl.  by  Roscoe  (Lond.  1847,  3  vols. 
8vo),  iii,  57. 

Mo'din  (Mo)Ctiv  v.  r.  'Slwcnifi,  Mojiuifi,  Mui^a- 
£1^,  and  in  di.  ii  Mwcffiv;  Joscphus,  Mwfui/j,  and 
once  yiwc itiv;  Vulg.  ,l/o(///( ;  the  Jewish  form  is,  in  the 
Mishna,  D'^~'^Tl'!:n,  in  Joseph  ben-Gorion,  ch.  xx, 
^''"^Twl^ ;  the  Syriac  version  of  ^laccabees  agrees  with 
the  Mishna,  except  in  the  absence  of  the  article,  and  in 
the  usual  substitution  of  r  for  d,  Mora'im),  a  place  not 
mentioned  in  either  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  though 
rendered  immortal  by  its  connection  witli  the  history 
of  tlie  Jews  in  the  interval  between  the  two.  It  was 
the  native  city  of  the  Maccab;i;an  family  (I  Mace,  xiii, 
25),  and  as  a  necessary  consequence  contained  their  an- 
cestral sepulchre  (ra^of)  (ii,  70;  ix,  19),  Hither  Mat- 
tathias  removed  from  Jerusalem,  where  up  to  that  time 
he  seems  to  have  been  residing,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  Antiochian  persecution  (ii,  I).  It  was  here  that 
he  struck  the  lirst  blow  of  resistance,  by  slaying  on  the 
heathen  altar  which  had  been  erected  in  the  place  both 
the  commissioner  of  Antiochus  and  a  recreant  .Jew  whom 
he  had  induced  to  sacrifice,  and  then  demolishing  the 
altar.  Mattathias  himself,  and  subsequently  his  sons 
Judas  and  Jonathan,  were  buried  in  the  family  tomb, 
and  over  them  Simon  erected  a  structure  which  is  mi- 
nutely described  in  the  book  of  Maccabees  (xiii,  25-30), 
and,  with  less  detail,  by  Josephus  {Ant.  xiii,  G,  6),  but 
the  restoration  of  which  has  hitherto  proved  as  difficult 
a  puzzle  as  that  of  the  mausoleum  of  Artemisia. 

At  Modin  the  IMaccabaian  armies  encamped  on  the 
eves  of  two  of  their  most  memorable  victories— that  of 
Judas  over  Antiochus  Eupator  (2  Mace,  xiii,  1-1),  and 
that  of  Simon  over  CendebiBus  (I  Mace,  xvi,  4) — the 
last  battle  of  the  venerable  chief  before  his  assassina- 
tion. The  only  indication  of  the  position  of  the  place 
to  be  gathered  from  the  above  notices  is  contained  in 
the  last,  from  which  we  may  infer  that  it  was  near  '•  the 
plain"  {to  KiHov),  i.  e.  the  great  maritime  lowland  of 
Philistia  (ver.  5).  Bj'  Eusebius  and  Jerome  {Onomast. 
M);('i£f(/[<,  Modim)  it  is  specified  as  near  Diospolis,  i.  e. 
Lj-dda;  while  the  notice  in  the  Mishna  {Pcsachim,  ix, 
2),  and  the  comments  of  Bartenora  and  Maimonides, 
state  that  it  was  flftceu  (lioman)  miles  from  Jerusalem. 
At  the  same  time  the  description  of  tlie  monument 
seems  to  imply  (though  for  this  see  below)  that  the 
spot  was  so  lofty  as  to  be  visible  from  the  sea,  and  so 
near  that  even  the  details  of  the  sculpture  were  dis- 
cernible therefrom.  All  these  conditions,  except  the 
last,  are  tolerably  fullilled  in  either  of  the  two  sites 
called  Lat  run  and  Kubub.  The  former  of  these  is,  by 
the  shortest  road  —  that  through  Wady  Ali  —  exactly 
fifteen  Roman  miles  from  Jerusalem;  it  is  about  eight 
English  miles  from  Lydd,  fifteen  from  the  ^leditorra- 
nean,  and  nine  or  ten  from  the  River  Rubin,  on  which 
it  is  probable  that  Cedron — tlie  position  of  Cendebanis 
in  Simon's  battle — stood.  Kubab  is  a  couple  of  miles 
farther  from  Jerusalem,  and  therefore  nearer  to  Lydd 
and  to  the  sea,  on  the  most  westerly  spur  of  the  hills  of 
Benjamin.  Both  are  lofty,  and  both  apiiarently — La- 
trun  certainly— command  a  view  of  the  iSleiliterranean. 
In  favor  of  Latri'in  arc  the  extensive  ancient  remains 
with  which  the  top  of  the  hill  is  said  to  be  covered 
(Robinson,  Bib.  Pes.  iii,  151 ;  Tobler,  7>nV/e  M'and.  p. 
18G"),  though  of  their  date  and  particulars  we  have  at 
present  no  accurate  information.  The  foundations  of 
tiie  fortress  appear  to  be  of  the  Roman  ago,  or  perhaps 
earlier,  though  the  upper  parts  exhibit  pointed  arches 
and  ligiit  architecture  of  a  much  later  date.  The  view 
from  the  summit  is  conimanding.  and  embraces  the 
whole  plain  to  Jojipa  and  the  Mediterranean  beyond. 
The  name  Latron  appears  to  have  arisen  in  the  IGth 
century,  from  the  legend  wliich  made  this  the  birth- 
place of  the  penitent  thief— '•Castrnm  boni  Latronis" 
((^uaresmius,  ii,  12;  Porter,  //anil-boo/,:  p.  285:  Riland, 
p.  1»0I  ;  Thomson,  Laml  awl  Hook,  ii.  308).  Kubab  ap- 
pears to  possess  no  ruins,  l^ut,  on  the  other  hautl,  its 


MODIN 


401 


MODUS 


name  may  retain  a  trace  of  the  monument.  Ewald 
{Gesch.  iv,  350,  note)  suggests  that  the  name  INIodin 
may  be  still  surviving  in  Deir  Ma' in.  But  this  is  ques- 
tionable on  philological  grounds;  and  the  position  of 
Deir  Ma'in  is  less  in  accordance  with  the  facts  I  han  that 
•  of  the  two  named  in  the  text.  The  mediajval  and  mod- 
ern tradition  (see  Kobinson,  ii,  7)  places  Modin  at  Soba, 
an  eminence  south  of  Kuriet  el-Enab ;  but  this  being  not 
more  than  seven  miles  from  Jerusalem,  while  it  is  as 
much  as  twenty-five  from  Lydd  and  thirty  from  the 
sea,  and  also  far  removed  from  the  plain  of  Philistia,  is 
at  variance  with  everj^  one  of  the  conditions  implied  in 
the  records.  It  has  found  advocates  in  our  own  day  in 
M.  de  Saulcy  {L'A  rt  Judmque,  etc.,  p.  377  sq.)  and  M. 
Salzmann  (Jerusalem,  Etude,  etc.,  p.  37,  38 ;  where  the 
lively  account  would  be  more  satisfactory  if  it  were  less 
encumbered  with  mistakes),  the  latter  of  whom  ex- 
plored chambers  there  which  may  have  been  tombs, 
though  he  admits  that  there  was  notliing  to  prove  it. 
A  suggestive  fact,  which  Dr.  Robinson  first  pointed  out, 
is  the  want  of  unanimity  in  the  accounts  of  the  medi- 
eval travellers,  some  of  whom,  as  William  of  Tyre  (viii, 
1),  place  Modin  in  a  position  near  Emmaus-Nicopolis, 
Nob,  and  Lydda.  51.  Mislin  also — usually  so  vehement 
in  favor  of  the  traditional  sites — has  recommended  fur- 
ther investigation.  If  it  should  turn  out  that  the  ex- 
pression of  the  book  of  Maccabees  as  to  the  monument 
being  visible  from  the  sea  has  been  misinterpreted,  then 
one  impediment  to  the  reception  of  Soba  will  be  removed; 
but  it  is  dilficult  to  account  for  the  origin  of  the  tradition 
in  the  teeth  of  those  which  remain. 

The  descriptions  of  the  tomb  by  the  author  of  the 
book  of  Maccabees  and  Josephus,  who  had  both  appar- 
ently seen  it,  will  be  most  conveniently  compared  by 
being  printed  together : 


1  Mace,  xxiii,  2T-30. 
"And  Simon  made  a  build- 
ing over  the  sepulchre  of  his 
father  and  his  brethren,  and 
raif'ed  it  aloft  to  view  with 
polislied  stone  behind  andbe- 


Josephus,  Ant.  xiii,  6,  6. 

"And  Simon  bnilt  a  very 
large  monument  to  his  father 
and  his  brethren  of  white 
and  polished  stoue.  And  he 
raised  it  up  to  a  great  and 


fore.  Audhe  set  up  npon  it  conspicuous  height,  and 
seven  pyramids,  one  agaiustthrew  cloisters  arouud,  and 
another,  for  his  father  and  set  up  pillars  of  a  single 
hismotheraudhisfonrbreth- stone,  a  work  wonderful  to 
ren.  And  on  these  he  made[ behold:  and  near  to  these 
enginesofwar,  and  set  great!  he  built  seven  pyramids  to 
pillars  round  about,  and  on  his  parents  and  his  hroth- 
the  pillars  he  made  suits  of  ers,  one  for  each,  terrible  to 


behold   both   for   size    and 
beauty. 


And  these  things  are  pre- 
served even  to  this  day." 


armor  for  a  perpetual  mem 
ory ;  and  by  the  suits  of  ar- 
mor ships  carved,  so  that 
they  might  be  seen  by  all 
that  sail  on  the  sea.  This 
sepulchre  he  made  at  Modin, 
and  it  stands  unto  this  day." 

The  monuments  are  said  by  Eusebius  {ut  sup.)  to  have 
been  still  shown  when  he  wrote — A.D.  cir.  320.  Any 
restoration  of  the  structure  from  so  imperfect  an  account 
as  the  above  can  never  be  anything  more  than  conject- 
ure. Something  has  been  already  attempted  under 
Maccabees  (q.  v.).  But  in  its  absence  one  or  two 
questions  present  themselves. 

(1.)  The  "ships"  (TrAoin,  naves').  The  sea  and  its 
pursuits  were  so  alien  to  the  ancient  Jews,  and  the  life 
of  the  Maccabrean  heroes  who  preceded  Simon  was — if 
we  except  their  casual  relations  with  Joppa  and  Jamnia 
and  the  battle-field  of  the  maritime  plain  —  so  uncon- 
nected therewith,  that  it  is  difficidt  not  to  suppose  that 
the  word  is  corrupted  from  what  it  originally  was.  This 
Avas  the  view  of  J.  D.  IMichaelis,  but  he  does  not  pro- 
pose any  satisfactory  word  in  substitution  for  TrXoTn 
(see  his  suggestion  in  Grimm,  ad  loc).  True,  Simon 
appears  to  have  been  to  a  certain  extent  alive  to  the 
importance  of  commerce  to  his  country,  and  he  is  espe- 
cially commemorated  for  having  acquired  the  harbor  of 
Joppa,  and  thus  opened  an  inlet  for  the  isles  of  the  sea 
(1  Mace,  xiv,  5).  But  it  is  difficult  to  see  the  connec- 
tion between  this  and  the  placing  of  ships  on  a  monu- 
ment to  his  father  and  brothers,  whose  memorable  deeds 
had  been  of  a  different  description.  It  is  perhaps  more 
YI.-C  c 


feasible  to  suppose  that  the  scidptures  were  intended  to 
be  symbolical  of  the  departed  heroes.  In  this  case  it 
seems  not  improbable  that  during  Simon's  intercourse 
with  the  Romans  he  had  seen  and  been  struck  with 
their  war-galleys,  no  inapt  symbols  of  the  fierce  and 
rapid  career  of  Judas.  How  far  such  symbolical  repre- 
sentation was  likely  to  occur  to  a  Jew  of  that  period  is 
another  question. 

(2.)  The  distance  at  which  the  "  ships"  were  to  be 
seen.  Here  again,  when  the  necessary  distance  of  Mo- 
din from  the  sea— Latrfin,  fifteen  miles;  Kubab,  thir- 
teen; Lydda  itself,  ten  — and  the  limited  size  of  the 
sculptures  are  considered,  the  doubt  inevitably  arises 
whether  the  Greek  text  of  the  book  of  IMaccabees  accu- 
rately represents  the  original.  De  Saulcy  {UArt  Ju- 
daique,  p.  377)  ingeniously  suggests  that  the  true  mean- 
ing is,  not  that  the  sculptures  could  be  discerned  from 
the  vessels  in  the  Mediterranean,  but  that  they  Avere 
worthy  to  be  inspected  by  those  who  were  sailors  by 
profession. — Smith.  Hitzig  {Gesch.  des  Volkes  Israels, 
p.  449)  insists  upon  it  (1869)  that  Modin  is  recognised 
in  the  modern  little  village  el-BurjIi  (comp.  Robinson, 
iii,  272),  but  the  exact  location  is  by  recent  excavations 
determined  to  be  in  el-Mediyeh,  two  and  a  quarter  hours 
east  of  Lydda  (Quar.  Statement  of  "  Palestine  Explora- 
tion Fund,"  1870,  p.  245  sq.;  1874,  p.  58  sq.). 

Modius.     See  Bushel. 

Modius  (from  Greek  jauSioc,  a  measure)  desig- 
nates, in  the  language  of  archa3ological  sculpture,  a  kind 
of  basket  frequently  found  in  representations  of  heathen 
divinities.  It  was  placed  on  their  heads  in  imitation 
of  the  practice  prevailing  among  the  ancients,  among 
whom  the  women  carried  in  baskets  on  their  heads 
sacrifices  for  the  gods. 

Modoin,  or  Maut-win,  a  noted  early  French  ec- 
clesiastic, was  born  towards  the  latter  part  of  the  8th 
century.  In  his  early  manhood  he  was  a  priest  con- 
nected with  St.  George's  church  at  Lyons.  Later  he 
was  bishop  of  Autun.  The  first  mention  of  his  name  in 
the  Church  records  of  Autun  occurs  in  815.  Soon  after- 
wards he  was  recognised  as  one  of  the  leading  prelates 
in  the  empire.  Louis  "le  Debonnaire,"  in  his  disgrace 
and  adversity,  had  no  adherent  more  faithlul  than  Mo- 
doin, whose  credit  at  the  court  of  Charles  the  Bald  was 
equally  high.  When  Pepin  was  driven  out  of  Aqui- 
taine,  Charles  the  Bald  divided  that  kingdom  into  three 
governments,  the  designated  capitals  of  which  were,  re- 
spectively, Limoges,  Clermont,  and  Angouleme.  The 
ecclesiastical  district  of  Clermont  was  then  assigned  to 
bishop  Modoin.  Later,  after  the  deposition  of  Ago- 
bard,  archbishop  of  Lj^ons,  JModoin  took  an  active  part 
in  the  administration  of  the  archiepiscopal  see.  Florus 
reproaches  him  with  undue  firmness  in  his  treatment  of 
the  Lyonnese  clergj'.  The  reverend  Kouvier  mentions 
jModoin  as  being  numbered  among  the  abbes  of  SIou- 
tier-Saint-Jean,  in  the  diocese  of  Langres.  In  the  9th 
century  it  was  not  uncommon  to  meet  bishops  engaged 
in  the  same  pursuits  with  abbes.  When  Theodulfe, 
bishop  of  Orleans,  was  in  prison  at  Angers,  he  sent  a  po- 
etical composition  to  Modoin,  begging  him  to  interfere 
in  his  favor.  Modoin,  in  reply,  indited  a  short  poem, 
his  only  literary  work  extant.  He  died  about  842. 
See  Gallia  Christ,  vol.  iv,  col.  359 ;  Hist.  Litter,  de  la 
France,  i  v,  547. — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Gen.  s.  v. 

Modus,  in  ecclesiastical  law,  signifies  an  exemption 
from  the  payment  of  tithes,  and  is  of  two  kinds :  first, 
a  partial  exemption,  when  it  is' called  a  modus  deciman- 
di;  secomlly,  a  total  exemption,  when  it  is  called  a  mo- 
dus de  nan  decimando.  There  is  a  third  species  of  ex- 
emption, called  a  real  comjwsition,  where  an  agreement 
is  made  between  the  owner  of  lands  and  the  parson  or 
vicar,  with  the  consent  of  the  patron  and  ordinary,  that 
the  lands'  specified  shall  be  exempt  from  tithes  on  such 
considerations  as  are  contained  in  the  stipulation,  such 
as  land  or  other  real  recompense  given  ui  lieu  and  satis- 
faction of  the  tithes  to  be  relinquished.     The  modus 


MOEBIUS 


402 


MOGILAS 


decimandi  is  that  which  is  generally  meant  when  the 
term  modus  is  used.  It  is  delined  to  be  a  custom  of 
tithing  in  a  particular  manner,  diflerent  from  that 
which  the  general  law  prescribes;  and  the  custom  must 
have  existed  from  time  immemorial.  The  modes  of 
tithing  established  by  these  customs  are  exceedingly 
various:  sometimes  it  is  a  compensation  iu  work  and 
labor,  as  that  the  incumbent  shall  have  only  the  twelfth 
cock  of  hay,  and  not  the  tenth,  in  consideration  of  the 
landowner  making  it  for  him ;  sometimes  it  is  a  less 
(luaiuity  of  tithe  in  a  more  perfect,  in  lieu  of  a  larger 
(luantity  iu  a  crude  and  imperfect  state,  as  a  couple  of 
fowls  ill  lieu  of  tithe  eggs;  sometimes,  and  more  fre- 
quently, it  consists  in  a  pecuniary  compensation,  as  two- 
pence an  acre  for  the  tithe  of  land. 

The  modus  de  non  decimatulo  is  an  absolute  exemp- 
tion from  tithes.  It  exists  in  four  cases :  1.  The  ruler 
may  prescribe  that  he  and  his  progenitors  have  never 
paid  tithes  for  ancient  crown  lands,  and  this  prescription 
will  be  good.  2.  One  Clmrch  officer  does  not  pay  tithes 
to  another  officer  his  superior,  nor  the  superior  to  the 
inferior,  according  to  the  rule  that  ecclesia  ecclesm  deci- 
mus  solvere  non  debet.  3.  An  ecclesiastical  person,  as  a 
bishop,  may  prescribe  to  be  exempt  from  paying  tithes 
on  the  ground  that  the  lands  belong  to  the  bishopric, 
and  that  neither  he  nor  his  predecessors  have  ever  paid 
them.  4.  The  abbeys  and  monasteries  at  the  time  of 
their  dissolution  were  possessed  of  large  estates  of  land, 
a  great  part  of  which  was  held  tithe-free,  either  by  pre- 
scription or  by  unity  of  possession,  which  was,  in  fact, 
no  more  than  prescription,  or  by  the  pope's  bull  of  ex- 
emption, or  by  a  real  composition.  Thus  in  England, 
for  example,  the  statute  of  31  Henry  VIII,  c.  13,  which 
dissolved  the  larger  abbeys,  enacted  that  all  persons 
who  should  come  to  tlic  possession  of  the  lands  of  an 
al)l)ey  then  dissolved  sliould  liuld  them  tithe-free,  in  as 
ample  a  manner  as  the  abbeys  themselves  had  formerly 
held  them.  The  lands  which  belonged  to  the  Order  of 
the  Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  and  to  the  Order 
of  the  Cistercians  are  within  the  protection  of  this  stat- 
ute ;  and  those  of  them,  consequently,  which  were  tithe- 
free  before  they  came  into  the  hands  of  the  king  still 
continue  tithe-free,  in  whosesoever  hands  they  may  now 
be.  Some  lands  have  been  made  tithe-free  by  special 
legislative  acts.  See  Blackstone,  Commentaries,  ii,  28 ; 
Selden,  Jlist.  of  Tithes,  ch.  xiii;  Burton,  Compe7idium 
of  the  Law  of  Real  Property,  p.  3G7  sq. — Eadie,  Eccles. 
Diet.  8.  V. 

Moebius  (or  Mobius),  Georo,  a  Lutheran  divine, 
was  born  at  Laucha,  Thuringia,  Dec.  18,  ICIG;  studied 
at  Jena  and  Leipsic;  became  rector  of  the  gymnasium 
at  Mercersburg  in  1647 ;  professor  and  doctor  of  theology 
at  Leipsic  in  16G8 ;  and  died  Nov.  28,  1G97.  lie  edited 
and  enlarged  Crusius's  Grammatica  Grceca,  and  was  the 
author  of  numerous  essays  in  Latin  on  Biblical  and 
theological  topics,  which  were  afterwards  published  in 
a  collective  edition  (Leips.  IGDS),  4to).  ijee  Jiicher, 
Gelehrten  Lexilcon,  s.  v. 

Moed.     See  Talmud. 

Moedsogdir,  in  Norse  mythology,  is  the  name  Of 

the  highest  class  of  pigmies  who  dwell  in  stones. 

Moehler.     See  Mohi.eii, 

Moelait,  Jacob,  a  Dutch  painter,  was  born  at  Dort 
in  lG4'.t.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Nicholas  Maas,  and  gained 
an  enviable  reputation  as  a  historical  painter,  though 
he  is  better  known  by  his  portraits.  Spooner  mentions 
two  religious  works  by  this  artist  — /ViamoA  and  his 
Host  drowned  in  the  lied  Sea,  and  Moses  striking  the 
Jiocl:  He  died  in  1727.  See  Spooner,  Bioj.  Hist,  of 
the  Fine  Arts  (N.  Y.  18G5,  2  vols.  8vo),  ii,  572. 

Moeller.     See  MOller. 

Moeso- Gothic  Version. 
bio>-. 


See  Gothic  Yek- 


Mo'eth  (MwtS,  Vulg.  Medius~),  a  Levke,  "son  of 
Sabban,"  who  aided  Ezra  in  conveying  the  bullion  from 
Babylon  (1  Esdr.  viii,  G3);  evidently  the  "Noadiau 
(q.  V.)  son  of  Binnui"  of  the  Ileb.  text  (Ezra  viii,  33). 

MofiFatt,  JosiAir,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  was  bom 
in  Chester  County,  S.  C,  May,  IK^G.  His  parents  were 
godly  people,  and  reared  their  children  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord.  He  prosecuted  his  clas- 
sical studies  privately  for  two  years,  entered  Erskine 
College,  Due  West,  S,  C,  in  18o2,  and  graduated  with 
honor  in  1859.  The  next  two  years  he  spent  in  general 
reading  at  the  libraries  of  his  alma  mater.  He  was  re- 
ceived by  the  Second  Presbyter}'  as  a  student  of  theol- 
ogy in  April,  1861;  licensed  in  1864;  and  subsequently 
preached  in  congregations  in  the  First  and  Second  Pres- 
byteries, making  Due  West  his  home.  In  1865  he  re- 
turned to  his  former  home  in  Chester  County,  where  he 
remained  mitil  his  death,  March  18, 1867.  IMr.  ^Moffatt 
was  a  man  of  solid  intellect.  His  writings  were  excel- 
lent specimens  of  composition,  and  full  of  the  marrow  of 
divinity.  Benevolence  and  humility  were  prominent 
features  of  his  character.  See  Wilson,  Presb.  Uist.  A  l- 
manac,  1868,  p.  393.     (J.  L.  S.) 

Mogila(s),  Peter,  a  distinguished  Russian  prelate, 
was  born  in  Moldavia  very  near  the  close  of  the  16th 
century  (about  1597).  He  stutlied  at  the  University  of 
Paris  and  other  high  schools,  afterwards  entered  the 
Polish  army,  and  greatly  distinguished  himself.  Be- 
coming sober-minded,  he  decided  to  devote  himself  to 
the  service  of  the  Church,  was  made  a  monk  at  Kief  in 
1625,  and  rapidly  rose  in  favor.  In  1629  he  was  elected 
archimandrite  of  his  monastery,  and  in  1633  was  ele- 
vated to  the  rank  of  metropolitan  of  Kief,  Galicia,  and 
Little  Eussia.  Mogila  was  the  first  to  introduce  in  the 
study  of  theology  at  Kief  the  developments  which  it 
had  acquired  in  the  European  miiversities.  Indeed, 
IMogila  is  to-day  honored  annually  by  a  panegyrical 
oration  at  the  Academy  of  Kief,  in  recognition  of  his 
services  to  that  institution  of  learning.  He  arranged 
and  improved  the  courses  of  study  in  every  particular ; 
established,  among  other  advantages,  three  classes  in 
philosophy  and  theology  in  the  Latin  and  Polish  lan- 
guages; obtained  from  the  Polish  government  permis- 
sion to  erect  a  printing-press,  invited  many  learned 
men  to  the  academy,  and  settled  upon  them  sources  of 
revenue  which  had  formerly  gone  to  the  metropolitan ; 
and,  besides  affording  all  these  advantages,  gave  them 
his  own  library,  which  was  considered  a  very  rare  and 
valuable  collection  of  books.  He  died  Dec.  31,  1646. 
To  contirm  the  views  and  feelings  of  the  Oriental 
Church  in  opposition  to  the  encroachments  of  Koman 
and  Protestant  elements,  Mogila  wrote  a  Confession  of 
Faith  (Op^oCoiog  6/xo\oyia  r»/t'  Ka^oXiKijQ  Kni  ('nro- 
crro.\i(cr/(;  iKK\)](riaQ  rZ/f  c'tfaroXtKric),  which  occupies 
an  important  place  in  the  history  of  the  I\us.-;ian  Ciuirch. 
In  this  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  arc  presented  in  the 
simple  manner  and  style  of  the  ancient  Church,  but  in 
accordance  also  with  the  latest  developments  they  had 
gradually  attained;  and  as  the  reception  of  the  work  was 
ranked  among  the  three  cardinal  theological  virtues,  it 
has  become  prominent  in  the  practical  system  of  the 
Church  (I Lose,  Ch.  JJist.  p. 481).  '•  The  ICastei-n  churches," 
says  'M.  Boulgakof,  bishop  of  Vinit/.i, "  had  heretofore  no 
symbolic  books  of  their  own  in  which  they  could  find, 
on  matters  of  faith,  sufficient  authoritative  information 
and  direction  ;  no  systematic  exposition  and  ajiology  of 
their  dogmas;  they  had  to  be  satislied  with  short  defi- 
nitions, given  by  oecumenical  and  local  councils,  and 
with  the  rules  of  the  fathers  named  iu  the  cotnicil  in 
Trullo.  For  anything  further  they  had  to  refer  to  the 
other  writings  of  the  fathers,  whicli  did  not  possess  the 
same  authority.  The  Confssion  of  Faith  of  Peter  Mo- 
gila, examined  and  approved  by  two  councils— that  of 
Kief  in  1640,  and  that  of  Jassy  in  16415— and  further 
endorsed  by  the  four  (jecumcnical  patriarchs,  and  by  the 
Russian  patriarchs  Joachim  and  Adrian,  became  the 


MOGTASILAH 


403 


MOHAMMED. 


first  sj-mbolic  book  of  the  Eastern  Church."  This  work, 
which  remains  to  this  day  the  text-book  of  the  Eusso- 
Greek  Church  in  dogmatic  theology,  went  through  nu- 
merous editions  in  Kussian,  was  translated  into  Greek 
(Amst.  1662),  Latin  (Leips.  1693),  and  German  (Berlin, 
1727,  and  Breslau,  1751),  and  has  furnished  the  basis 
for  several  catechisms  in  different  Greek  churches.  See 
Confessions  of  Faitii.  Mogila  published  also  a  Cat- 
echism (Kief,  1645),  and  some  pamphlets.  A  work  con- 
taining biographical  sJietches  of  the  saints,  in  the  Sla- 
vonic language,  he  undertook,  but  did  not  bring  to  com- 
pletion. But  Mogila  gained  some  distinction  also  as  a 
poet,  and  made  dramas,  which  were  acted  by  the  pupils 
of  his  academy ;  one  of  them,  on  the  Nativity  of  Christ, 
was  for  a  long  time  very  popular.  See  IJist.  de  la  IJie- 
rarchie  Eusse,  iii,  735 ;  Dictiounaire  des  A  uteurs  Eccle- 
siastiques  Russes,  s.  v. ;  Otto,  Hist,  of  Russian  Lite?-a- 
ture  (Oxf.  1839,  8vo),  p.  321  sq. ;  Briihl,  Russische  Stu- 
dien  zur  Theologie  u.  Gesch.  (Munst.  1857-58) ;  Ge- 
rebtzof,  Essai  sur  I'Hisfoire  de  la  Civilisation  en  Russie; 
Haag,  Hist,  des  Dogmes  Chretiens,  i,  458;  Kimmel,  Lihri 
symholici  ecclesim  Orientalis  (Jena,  1843,  8vo),  p.  56. 
See  (xKEEK  Church  ;  Russia.     (J.  H.  \V.) 

Mogtasilah  (i.  e.  those  who  wash  themselves')  is 
a  name  which  mediaeval  Arabic  writers  gave  to  a  sect 
of  Christians  said  to  have  flourished  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Recent  investigations  render  ix 
probable  that  they  were  the  Zubians  (from  S-'DiJ  =  S'3:2, 
iSmrri^nv,  to  wash),  or  Mendceans  (q.  v.)  of  the  pres- 
ent day. 

Mogul,  Great,  the  popidar  designation  of  the  em- 
peror of  Delhi,  as  the  impersonation  of  the  powerful 
empire  established  in  Hindustan  by  the  Mongols,  who 
were  called  Moguls  by  the  Persians.  The  first  Great 
Mogul  was  Baber,  the  great-grandson  of  Timiir,  who 
founded  the  Mongul  empire  in  Hindustan  in  1526.  In 
1803  the  Great  Mogul  was  deprived  of  his  throne ;  in 
1827,  of  even  the  appearance  of  authority,  becoming  a 
mere  pensioner  of  the  British ;  and  in  1858,  Mohammed 
Bahadur,  the  last  of  the  dynasty,  was  condemned,  and 
transported  for  complicity  in  the  Indian  mutiny.  See 
Mongols, 

Mohammed  or  Mohammet  (written  also  Ma- 
hommed  or  Mahommet,  and  Mirhamed  or  Muhamet,  an 
Arabic  word  meaning  the  predicted  3fessiah ;  applied 
to  him  in  allusion  to  Hag.  ii,  7;  but  formerly  called, 
according  to  a  tradition  quoted  bj'  Halabi,  Kotham)  ivas 
a  great  Arabian  legislator,  who  not  only  completely 
changed  the  face  of  the  world  in  his  own  age,  but  still 
continues  to  exercise  a  powerful  influence  in  the  civili- 
zation of  the  Eastern  world,  being  best  known  as  the 
founder  of  a  religious  system  which  has  spread  exten- 
sively among  men,  and  is  denominated  Islam,  or,  more 
properly,  after  its  founder,  Mohammedanism  (q.  v.). 

Sources  for  his  Life. — Arabian  literature  is  very  rich 
in  sources  for  a  biography  of  Mohammed.  Besides  the 
Koran,  which  records  the  most  important  events  of  his 
life,  there  exist  numerous  collections  of  traditions  in 
which  the  expressed  views  of  the  Arabian  prophet  on 
various  incidents  and  relations  of  life  are  introduced ; 
then  there  are  biographies  proper,  some  of  which  ex- 
tend as  far  back  as  the  first  century  of  the  Mohamme- 
dan fera.  They  are,  it  is  true,  written  with  a  religious 
prejudice,  and  more  or  less  spiced  with  legends,  but  in 
most  cases  the  historical  part  worth}'  of  credit  is  easilj^ 
discerned.  It  must  not  be  believed  that  these  biogra- 
phies were  allowed  too  free  a  rein  to  fancj',  or  were  per- 
mitted to  distort  facts  or  pass  them  over  in  periect  si- 
lence ;  for  they  had  to  fear  being  convicted  of  mendacity 
and  negligence  by  no  less  an  authority  than  the  Koran 
itself,  already  collected  by  the  contemporaries  of  the 
prophet.  Still  another  circumstance  helps  the  historian 
in  determining  truth,  namely,  that  the  Mohammedans 
rarely  try  to  conceal  the  frailties  of  their  founder,  for  their 
judgment  is  guided  by  a  standard  different  from  that 
of  non-Mohammedans— they  praise  some  of  his  deeds 


and  words  as  virtuous  which  we  brand  as  infamous. 
They  even  proceed  generally  on  the  principle  that  j\Io- 
hammed,  as  a  privileged  individual,  was  exempt  from 
the  common  laws.  Hence,  notwithstanding  the  abun- 
dance of  historical  accounts  on  the  rise  of  Islam  (the 
proper  name  for  the  religion  established  by  Mohammed, 
while  its  professors  are  called  Moslems),  and  the  contin- 
ued lively  intercourse  between  Mohammedans  and 
Christians  in  Syria  and  Palestine,  as  well  as  in  Egypt 
and  Spain,  the  most  perverted  opinions  on  Mohamme- 
danism and  its  author  came  to  prevail  among  the  non- 
Mohammedans,  even  in  the  Occident.  He  was  repre- 
sented either  as  a  sorcerer  or  as  an  idol;  some  believed 
him  the  Antichrist,  others  a  renegade  cardinal.  And  in 
proportion  as  the  later  Mohammedans — especially  the 
Persians,  greedy  of  miracles  and  mysteries— rendered  the 
historical  Mohammed  of  the  ancient  Arabians  scarcely 
recognisable  by  over-much  adoration  and  proximity  to 
the  supernatural,  and  the  more  Mohammedanism  spread 
in  the  Occident  and  threatened  to  become  dangerous  to 
Christianity,  hatred  and  fear  exerted  themselves  to  dis- 
figure Mohammed  and  his  creed  by  ridiculous  and  absurd 
calumnies.  Even  in  modern  times,  after  several  transla- 
tions of  Arabian  biographies  of  Mohammed  had  been 
published,  his  true  character  was  little  understood.  As 
late  as  1829  a  work  appeared  in  London  demonstrating, 
or  rather  aiming  to  demonstrate,  that  Mohammed  was 
foreshadowed  by  the  little  horn  which  issued  from  the 
fourth  monster  described  by  the  prophet  Daniel.  In  a 
still  later  publication,  the  author  endeavors,  at  a  great 
expense  of  learning,  to  prove  that  Mohammed  was  an 
instrument  of  the  devil's  device  and  handling.  But,  as 
observed  in  Weil's  work,  Mohammed der  Prophet,  the  ad- 
vance of  knowledge  in  these  days  requires  the  histor- 
ical characters  handed  down  to  us  from  remote  periods 
to  be  re-examined  by  the  light  of  new  and  of  better- 
classified  authorities,  and  to  be  recast  upon  a  surer  and 
more  truthful  basis. 

Among  characters  of  world-wide  celebrity,  there  is 
none  other  that  calls  more  loudly  for  a  reinvestigation 
of  the  "original  sources"  than  that  of  Mohammed.  Bom 
in  an  obscure  age,  among  a  people  whose  antecedents  are 
dimly  shadowed  out  to  us,  in  a  country  of  all  famous  re- 
gions the  least  explored,  his  own  career  was  a  series  of 
marvels  and  contradictions.  While  searching  earnestly 
for  truth,  he  taught  millions  of  men  to  believe  a  gigantic 
fable ;  and,  while  tormented  with  doubts  agonizing  to  his 
own  breast,  he  inspired  others  with  an  invincible  faith 
in  his  infallibilitJ^  With  too  little  energy  or  too  little 
ambition  to  support  himself,  except  by  the  despised  em- 
ployment of  a  shepherd,  he  withstood  for  years  the  ridi- 
cule, the  malice,  and  the  furious  opposition  of  the  leaders 
of  his  own  family  and  of  the  nation,  and  finally  van- 
quished all  their  efforts.  Over  this  extraordinarj^  and 
seemingly  unfathomable  character  the  disciples  and  the 
opponents  of  his  doctrines  have  alike  combined  to  draw 
an  additional  veil  of  uncertainty.  The  first  Mohamme- 
dans piously  encompassed  their  prophet  with  a  cloud  of 
miracles — '•  the  mythology,"  as  Dr.  Sprenger  calls  it,  of 
Islam.  Romish  prelates  foolishly  distorted  history  to 
calumniate  him;  and  philosophers,  more  impartial  but 
equally  unjust,  endowed  him  with  crimes  of  their  own 
invention,  such  as  they  thought  congenial  to  the  char- 
acter of  an  impostor.  Thus,  while  Khadijah  beheld  him 
shaded  by  angels  on  his  journey  to  Syria,  Prideaux 
accuses  him  of  robbing  orphans  of  their  patrimony,  and 
Voltaire  depicts  him  as  yielding  to  the  indulgence  of  his 
passions  on  his  triumphal  return  to  Mecca — a  triumjih 
of  which  the  greatest  glory  was  his  clemency  and  for- 
bearance. Of  those  who  have  pretended  to  describe  this 
singular  being,  one  party  has  studiously  disguised  or  ■ 
perverted  what  they  knew,  and  another  has  sedulously 
invented  what  they  did  but  suspect  or  hope.  In  fact, 
the  great  difficulty  of  the  Arabic  language,  and  the  rarity 
and  inaccessibility  of  the  MSS.  of  early  Mohammedan 
writers,  were  sufficient  of  themselves,  if  not  to  deter  Eu- 
ropeans from  undertaking  the  biography  of  the  apostle 


M0HA3DIED 


404 


MOHAISDIED 


of  Islam,  at  least  to  cover  the  attempt,  until  a  corapara-  ] 
lively  recent  date,  with  the  disgrace  of  failure.  The 
earliest  and  most  authentic  chronicles  of  the  rise  of  JIo- 
hamraedanism  were  not  known,  even  by  name,  to  those 
who  aspired  to  guide  the  opinions  of  Europe  on  that  ■ 
great  event.  Gibbon,  for  example,  appeals  to  Gagnier's  I 
translation  of  Abulfeda,  a  prince  who  wrote  in  the  four-  j 
tcenth  century,  as  his  "  best  and  most  authentic  guide."  , 
Lut  to  consider  so  late  a  historian  as  Abulfeda  an  au-  ^ 
thority  at  all  would  convict  au  Orientalist  of  the  most  | 
culpable  ignorance  in  Arabic  literature.  Yet  before  we  , 
can  turn  from  the  Jlohammed  as  pictured  by  enthusi-  ] 
astic  Musselmen,  or  the  monks  of  the  MidiUe  Ages  and 
their  successors  among  modern  writers,  to  the  true  his- 
torical ^Mohammed,  as  he  comes  before  us  after  a  jiro- 
found  and  unprcjudicetlstudy  of  the  original  documents, 
it  is  necessary  that  we  take  a  hasty  glance  at  the  con- 
dition of  Arabia,  the  countrj-  that  claims  him  as  her  own, 
at  tlio  time  and  previous  to  the  birth  of  Jloharamed. 

iStaft'  of  A  rab'ui  prtrious  to  the  I  nt  roduclion  of  Islam. 
— From  time  immemorial  tlie  aboriginal  inhabitants  of 
the  peninsula  had  been  divided  into  a  great  number  of 
free  and  wandering  clans,  limited  communities,  and  i)et- 
ty  states,  wliose  peculiarities  of  character,  mode  of  life, 
and  political  institutions,  as  they  were  mostly  depend- 
ent upon  local  circumstances,  were  for  centuries  stanijied 
with  the  same  unalterable  features,  and  had  been  pre- 
serveil  almost  unchanged  even  from  the  time  of  the  pa- 
triarchs of  the  book  of  Genesis.  The  mountainous 
table-land  of  central  Arabia,  abounding  in  rich  pastur- 
age and  fertile  valleys,  but  at  the  same  time  intersected 
and  skirted  with  dreary  wastes  and  sandy  plains,  was 
occupied  by  those  roving  tribes  who,  in  opposition  to 
the  settled  inhabitants,  are  proud  of  the  name  of  Bedou- 
in, or  people  of  the  jilains.  3Iost  of  them  were  addict- 
ed to  a  wandering  pastoral  life,  but  from  being  strongly 
disi)osed  to  war  and  chivalrous  adventures,  their  peace- 
able occupations  were  interrupted,  either  by  conducting 
a  caravan  of  merchants,  or  still  oftener  by  assailing  and 
robljing  their  fellow-tribes.  Every  tribe  was  governed 
by  the  most  aged  or  worthy  sheik  of  that  family  which 
had  been  exalted  above  its  brethren  by  fortune  and  he- 
roic deeds,  or  even  by  eloquence  and  jjoctry.  For  as 
the  heroic  bards  were  at  once  the  historians  and  moral- 
ists by  whom  the  vices  and  virtues  of  their  countrymen 
were  impartially  censured  or  praised,  a  noble  enlhusi- 
iism  for  poetry  animated  those  Arabs,  and  at  an  annual 
fair  at  Okliad  thirty  days  were  consecrated  to  poetical 
emulation,  after  which  the  successful  poem  was  written 
in  letters  of  gold  and  suspended  in  the  temple  of  Mecca. 
These  meetings,  however,  formed  but  a  very  feeble 
bond  of  luiion  among  the  independent  and  hostile  tribes, 
who  only  occasionally,  and  in  times  of  danger  and  war- 
fare, sui)mitted  to  a  supreme  chief,  or  emir  of  emirs, 
and  had  never  yet  been  united  into  one  body.  And  the 
tie  was  still  loss  binding  on  those  inhabitants  who,  being 
collected  in  flourishing  towns  find  cities  on  the  coasts  of 
the  peninsula,  and  mostly  employed  in  trade  and  agri- 
culture, were  regarded  with  supreme  contempt  by  the 
free  IJedouin  as  a  weak  and  degenerate  race  of  slaves. 

Concerning  the  religious  condition  of  the  Arabs  be- 
fore tlie  promulgation  of  iMohammed's  doctrines,  we 
liave  but  scanty  information.  The  IMohammedans 
tlninsclves  disdained  inquiry  into  the  idolatrous  wor- 
ship (pf  tiu'ir  ancestors.  For  wliat  we  do  know  about  it 
we  are  indebted  to  accidental  notices  of  some  of  their 
deities  mentioned  in  tlie  Koran  (([.v.),  and  to  sundrj- 
not  always  trustworthy  accounts  (lifl'used  through  the 
more  ancient  works,  anil  not  to  any  connected  treatise 
upon  the  pagan  religions  of  Arabia.  The  scanty  no- 
tices of  the  tJreeks  and  Homaus  concerning  this  topic 
arc  very  uncertain.  We  must  not.  liowever,  fail  to  I 
mention  the  genealogical  records,  to  which  the  Aral)s 
attribute  great  importance,  as  auxiliary  sources  for  the 
religious  faith  of  the  ancient  Arabians.  From  these  , 
genealogical  tablets  we  learn  the  names  of  some  of  their  j 
idols  and  the  distributiou  uf  their  worship;  for  maiiy  | 


personal  names  relate  to  the  worshipped  deities  or  the 
places  where  they  were  worshipped.  Thus  we  are  not 
altogether  without  some  clew  respecting  Arabian  poly- 
theism, and  secure  the  information  that  no  one  religious 
system  prevailed  throughout  all  Arabia,  or  at  any  given 
time. 

Their  religious  worship,  it  would  appear,  consisted 
chiefly  in  the  adoration  of  the  heavenly  luminaries, 
which  were  considered  as  so  many  tutelar  deities  of  the 
different  tribes;  and  among  these,  after  the  sun  and 
moon,  the  planet  Venus  had  acquired  such  peculiar  pre- 
eminence that  even  to  the  pious  Moslem  Friday  ever 
after  remained  the  sacred  day  of  the  week.  These  dei- 
ties, with  many  other  images  of  the  personified  powers 
of  nature,  rudely  represented  by  idols  of  every  variety 
of  shape,  were  principally  gathered  rounil  the  ancient 
Kaaba — the  Pantheon  of  Arabian  idolatr}- ;  and  their 
worship  was  accompanied,  not  only  with  the  most  hor- 
rid rites  and  shocking  ceremonies  of  a  degraded  jiagan- 
ism,  but  even  with  human  sacrifices  and  cruelties  of  ev- 
ery description.  Even  children  were  immolated  by 
some  of  the  ruder  clans  to  the  idols,  while  others,  as 
the  Kendites,  buried  their  daughters  alive  (.S'(/?-.  vi,  137 ; 
xvi,  58 ;  Ixxxi,  8) ;  and  we  need  scarcely  remark  that, 
except  a  vague  belief  of  the  soul  becoming  transformed 
into  an  owl,  and  hovering  round  the  grave,  there  is  no 
indication  that  the  Arabian  idolaters  believed  in  a  future 
life  and  final  retribution.  (Comp.  Pococke,  Specimen 
Ilistoricp  Arabum,  ed.  White,  180G.) 

Arabian  idolatry  centred  in  Mecca,  whither  annual 
pilgrimages  were  made  by  all  Arabians.  See  !Mecca. 
Its  temple,  which  tradition  claimed  to  have  been  found- 
ed by  Abraham  and  Ishmael,  was,  so  to  speak,  the  hotel 
(khan),  where  the  most  diverse  idols  of  the  various  Ara- 
bian tribes  were  lodged.  It  was  the  object  of  high 
veneration  for  the  whole  Arabian  peninsula.  Every 
tribe  had  its  particular  deity  represented  here,  as  well 
as  its  own  chief.  See  Kaaba.  13ut  there  were  also 
man}'  Arabs  who  acknowledged  a  supreme  being,  and 
regarded  all  idols  as  subordinate  to  this  principal  being. 
Some  were  even  converts  to  Judaism  or  to  Christianity, 
especially  those  who  had  much  intercourse  with  Jews 
and  Christians.  As  a  rule,  however,  religious  life  occu- 
pied but  little  the  minds  of  the  Bedouin,  so  much  en- 
grossed with  their  material  wants  and  affairs,  and  to 
this  day  religious  fanaticism  is  rarely  found  among  the 
children  of  the  desert.  The  particular  wishes  of  the 
votaries  were  brought  before  the  idols  and  their  priests, 
and  their  advice  was  desired;  but  if  expectation  were 
disappointed,  the  idols  were  broken  to  pieces  and  their 
priests  insulted  and  maltreated.  Besides  the  idolaters, 
in  a  literal  sense  of  the  word,  there  lived  in  Arabia 
single  tribes,  who  worshipped  the  sun,  moon,  and  other 
celestial  bodies,  or  inclinetl  to  the  religion  of  the  Jlagi- 
ans ;  vestiges  of  hero-worship,  and  worship  of  trees  and 
stones  are  also  traceable. 

Among  the  foreign  settlers  in  Arabia,  we  pass  over 
in  silence  the  few  adherents  of  Zoroaster,  scattered 
along  the  Persian  (Julf,  and  the  Sab;uans,  on  the  south- 
ern coast  of  the  peninsula,  who,  even  from  the  time  of 
David  and  Solomon,  stored  their  rich  emporiums  of 
Ophir,  Saba,  and  afterwards  Aden,  with  Indian  nierchan- 
dise,  and  who,  as  is  clear  from  many  good  arguments, 
were  undoubtedly  of  llindtl  origin.  The  Christian  re- 
ligion had  long  been  established  in  several  parts  of 
Arabia,  but  the  Christianity  of  the  Oriental  Church  at 
that  time  almost  resembled  paganism,  being  associated 
with  monachism,  and  with  the  worship  of  martyrs,  rel- 
ics, and  images.  Among  the  heretic.d  sectaries  who, 
absorbed  in  their  mouoiihysitical  and  other  abstruse  dog- 
matical controversies,  looked  upon  each  other  with  the 
utmost  hatred,  we  find  particularly  mentioned  the  Xes- 
torians,  Jacobites,  ^larcionites,  and  Mauich:fans.  be- 
sides some  other  obscure  sects,  such  as  the  I'nUyridi.ans, 
who,  deifying  the  mother  of  Christ,  and  adoring  her  as 
the  third  person  in  the  Trinity,  probably  gave  rise  to 
the  Christian  tritheism  so  ofteu  dwelt  on  bv  the  author 


MOHAMMED 


405 


MOHAMMED 


''of  the  Koran.  The  Jews  were  at  this  time  in  Arabia 
in  great  numbers.  After  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
many  of  them  had  retired  hither,  where,  owing  to  the 
loose  connection  and  the  jealousy  of  the  aboriginal 
tribes,  they  had  gained  considerable  power.  Some  of 
them,  adopting  the  fierce  manners  of  the  desert,  chose 
a  wandering  life,  connected  with  all  its  dangers  and 
adventurous  strife,  and  a  poem  composed  by  a  Jewish 
Bedouin  has  been  preserved  in  the  Hamasa,  which 
breathes  the  true  spirit  of  Arabian  chivalry  {Hamasa, 
p.  49,  ed.  Freytag).  But  in  general  the  Jews  were 
peacefully  settled  in  towns  and  fortified  castles,  princi- 
pally along  the  coast,  or  dispersed  among  the  inhabi- 
tants of  large  cities.  (Comp.  Krehl,  Vorislamitisclie  Re- 
ligionen  [Leips.  1863]  ;  Zeitschrift  d.  deufsch,  Morgenl. 
Gesellsch.  x,  61  sq. ;  xix,  262;  xx,  284;  Malcom,  His- 
tory of  Persia,  i,  1G8  sq.,  180  sq.)     See  Akabia. 

Early  Zf/K— Since  ]\Iohammed  was  by  birth  any- 
thing but  a  prince,  nothing  certain  is  known  about  its 

'  time,  and  even  tlie  oldest  sources  do  not  agree  as  to  the 
date.  According  to  the  most  probable  reckoning,  he 
was  born  in  AprU,  A.D.  571,  at  Mecca.  This  city  was 
at  that  time  a  considerable  commercial  centre,  where 
caravans  from  Southern  Arabia,  Abyssinia,  Persia,  and 
India  crossed  those  from  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Mesopota- 
mia, and  exchanged  their  agricultural  and  industrial 
products.  This  happened  particularly  at  the  time  of 
the  pilgrimage.  By  descent  Mohammed  belonged  to 
the  aristocracy  of  Mecca,  but  the  branch  of  which  he 
was  an  offspring  was  very  much  impoverished.  His 
mother,  Aminah,  possessed,  it  is  said,  a  peculiarlj'  ner- 
vous temperament,  and  used  to  fancy,  while  between 
sleeping  and  waking,  that  she  was  visited  by  spirits. 
It  is  probable  that  Mohammed  inherited  from  her  his 
constitutional  tendenc}^  to  epilepsy,  as  well  as  his  most 
remarkable  mental  peculiarities.  Mohammedan  au- 
thors have  labored  to  endow  the  birth  of  their  prophet 
with  miraculous  events,  and  in  consequeoce  many  mar- 
vellous stories  are  told.  It  is  related,  among  other 
things,  that  his  mother  experienced  none  of  the  pangs 
of  travail.  As  soon  as  her  child  was  born,  he  raised  his 
eyes  to  heaven,  exclaiming,  "  There  is  no  God  but  God, 
and  I  am  his  prophet !"  That  same  night,  it  is  related, 
also  with  the  same  inclination  to  extravagance,  that  the 
fire  of  Zoroaster,  which,  guarded  by  the  Magi,  had  biu-ned 
uninterruptedly  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  was 
suddenly  extinguished,  and  all  the  idols  in  the  world 
fell  do\vn.  When  only  two  months  old,  Mohammed's 
father  died  (according  to  some  accounts,  he  died  two 
months  before  the  birth  of  Mohammed).  Aminah  for 
a  short  time  nursed  the  infant  herself;  but  sorrow  soon 
dried  the  fountains  of  her  breast,  and  the  young  child, 
after  much  exertion  to  meet  this  extra  expenditure,  was 
committed  to  the  care  of  a  nurse,  with  whom  he  re- 
mained about  five  years.  It  is  related  by  Mohamme- 
dans that  when  the  nurse,  who  was  a  shepherd's  wife, 
showed  the  child  to  a  celebrated  soothsayer,  who  was 
an  idolater,  the  latter  exclaimed,  "  Kill  this  child !" 
Halimah  snatched  away  her  precious  charge  and  fled. 
Afterwards  the  soothsayer  explained  to  the  excited 
multitude :  "  I  swear  by  all  the  gods  that  this  child 
will  kill  those  who  belong  to  your  faith;  he  will  de- 
stroy your  gods,  and  he  Avill  be  victorious  over  you." 
When  Mohammed  was  six  years  old  he  lost  his  mother, 
and  the  poor  orphaned  child  fell  to  the  care  of  relatives. 
He  was  taken  charge  of  by  his  grandfather,  Abdul 
Mutalib,  who  was  then  the  chief  priest  of  the  Kaaba. 
Upon  his  decease  the  care  of  the  child  fell  to  his  uncle. 
Abu-Talib;  but  he  was  so  indigent  that  he  could  not 
long  afford  to  keep  his  nephew,  and  Mohammed  was 
obliged  to  earn  his  livelihood  as  a  shepherd — an  occu- 
pation to  which  only  the  lower  class  of  the  population 
resorted,  while  the  more  opulent  engaged  in  trade. 
Later  (in  his  twenty-fifth  j'ear)  he  entered  the  service 
of  a  rich  widow  (Kadijah),  attended  to  her  affairs  in 
Southern  Arabia,  according  to  some  accounts  also  in 
Syria,  where  he  is  said  to  have  become  conversant  with 


monks,  who  gave  him  information  regarding  Christian- 
ity. Mohammed  soon  gained  Kadijah's  confidence  to 
such  a  degree  that  she  offered  him  her  hand  in  matri- 
mony, which  he  accepted,  though  she  was  much  his 
senior — she  was  forty  years  old. 

Preparation  for  his  Mission. — Placed  in  affluent  cir- 
cumstances by  marriage,  Mohammed  gradually  aban- 
doned commercial  enterprises  and  gave  himself  up  to 
religious  contemplation,  to  which  he  may  have  been  in- 
duced by  a  cousin  of  his  consort,  who,  like  many  Arabs- 
of  his  time,'had  relinquished  idolatry,  and  had  been  con- 
verted first  to  Judaism,  then  to  Christianity,  but  had 
failed  to  find  satisfaction  in  either.  Mohammed  was  no 
scholar — it  is  even  doubtful  whether  he  acquired  read- 
ing and  M-riting  in  later  years — his  education  had  cer- 
tainly been  neglected  in  his  earlier  years  by  reason  of 
circumstances.  Chirography  had  only  been  introduced 
into  Arabia  a  short  time  previously,  though  poetry 
was  highly  cultivated — for  this,  however,  in  spite  of  his 
oratorical  talent,  he  had  little  aptitude.  On  the  whole, 
his  visionary  character  and  piety  formed  a  great  con- 
trast to  the  sober  and  robust  Arabs  of  his  time,  who  in- 
dulged in  wine,  gambling,  and  sensuality  as  the  main 
objects  of  life ;  while  he,  though  not  insensible  to  terres- 
trial enjoyments,  was  more  disposed  to  religious  reflec- 
tion. Ketired  in  solitude,  he  made  God,  the  future  life, 
and  revelation  the  themes  of  his  thoughts,  and  reviewed 
the  various  systems  of  religion  known  to  him  by  oral 
tradition,  in  order  to  form  from  them  a  new  religion 
adapted  to  Arabia.  There  were  at  this  time  Ebionitish 
Christians  in  the  country — the  Rakusi  and  the  Hanifs. 
To  the  first  belonged,  according  to  Sprenger's  conjecture 
{Leben  v.  Lehre  des  Mohammed,  i,  43  sq.),  Koss,  who 
preached  at  jNIecca  the  unity  of  God  and  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead,  and  for  this  purpose  also  visited  the 
fair  at  Okhad,  where  Mohammed  had  heard  him.  The 
Hanifs  were  (as  Sprenger  will  have  it)  Essencs,who 
had  lost  nearly  all  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  and  had  sub- 
mitted to  various  foreign  influences,  but  professed  a 
rigid  monotheism.  Their  religious  book  was  called  the 
"  Koll  of  Abraham."  In  the  time  of  Mohammed  several 
members  of  this  sect  were  living  at  INIecca  and  JMedina, 
and  Mohammed  himself,  who  originally  had  worshipped 
the  gods  of  his  people,  became  a  Hanif.  The  doctrine 
of  the  Hanifs  was  "  Islam" — i.  e.  submission  to  the  one 
God ;  they  were  themselves  "  Moslem" — i.  e.  men  char- 
acterized by  such  submission.  Besides  his  knowledge 
from  such  connections,  Mohammed  enjoyed  the  instruc- 
tion of  Jewish  scholars,  among  whom  are  particularly 
mentioned  a  celebrated  rabbi,  Abdallah  Ibn-Salaam, 
and  Waraka,  the  nephew  of  his  wife.  (Comp.  Abrah. 
Geiger,  Was  hat  Mohammed  avs  dem  Judenihume  avf- 
genommen,  Bonn,  1833.)  The  Arabs,  Moliammed  kncAv, 
were  ready  for  a  new  faith,  and  he  desired  the  establish- 
ment of  a  religious  system  which  should  embody  the 
essentials  of  all  that  his  countrymen  were  acquainted 
with.  Idolatry  was  already  on  the  wane.  The  idols  were 
considered  by  the  poets  and  other  intelligent  Arabs  as 
powerless  beings,  at  most  as  mediators  between  the  su- 
preme God  (Allah)  and  mankind;  and  there  were  some 
who  even  accepted  the  belief  in  a  future  life,  as  enter- 
tained among  the  Jews  and  Christians  of  Arabia.  The 
greatest  opposition  he  had  reason  to  fear  was  from  relig- 
ious indifference,  scepticism,  and  selfishness.  According 
to  the  Koran,  from  which  alone  we  can  correctly  gather 
Mohammed's  religious  views,  he  laid  down  the  following 
fundamental  doctrines:  The  existence  of  a  monotheistic 
divinity,  a  being  superior  to  all ;  a  revelation,  but  only 
by  special  inspiration  (by  which  alone  the  prophets 
were  distinguished,  while  in  all  other  respects  on  an 
equality  with  the  rest  of  mankind) ;  and,  finally,  a  life 
hereafter,  in  which  the  virtuous  were  to  be  rewarded 
and  the  vicious  punished.  In  his  opinion,  this  was  the 
religion  of  Abraham,  who,  as  the  Koran  says,  was  nei- 
ther Jew  nor  Christian,  but  a  pious,  (iod-fearing  man. 
Moses  and  Christ  were  prophets;  but  their  revelation 
had  been  distorted  by  Jews  and  Christians.     He  there- 


MOHAMMED 


406 


MOHAMMED 


fi)re  determined  that  some  of  the  laws  and  ordinances 
of  the  Old  Testament,  not  suitable  for  Arabia,  should 
be  set  aside ;  and  of  the  New,  many  dogmas,  which  were 
looked  upon  by  him  and  his  contemporaries  as  border- 
ing on  idolatry,  should  be  revoked,  in  order  to  success- 
fully convert  his  people  to  monotheism. 

Moliammed  having  arrived  at  these  results  by  reflec- 
tion and  tradition,  notwithstanding  the  prejudices  of 
his  time,  from  which  he  was  by  no  means  himself  free, 
and  endowed  with  a  ner\^ous  constitution  and  a  lively 
imagination,  it  was  not  at  all  unnatural  for  him  to  come, 
after  a  time,  to  regard  himself  as  actually  called  of  God 
to  build  up  his  people  in  a  new  faith.  Mohammed,  as 
we  gatlier  from  the  oldest  and  most  trustworthy  narra- 
tives, was  an  epileptic,  and  as  such  was  considered  to  be 
])ossessed  of  evil  spirits.  At  first  he  believed  the  same ; 
but  gradually  he  came  to  the  conclusion,  confirmed  by 
his  friends,  that  d;i'mons  had  no  power  over  so  pure  and 
pious  a  man  as  he  was,  and  he  conceived  the  idea  that 
he  was  not  controlled  by  evil  spirits,  but  that  he  was 
visited  by  angels,  whom  he,  disposed  to  hallucinations 
of  vision  and  audition,  and  afflicted  with  a  morbid  state 
of  body  and  mind,  saw  in  dreams,  or  even  while  awake 
conceived  he  saw.  What  seemed  to  him  good  and  true, 
after  such  epileptic  attacks,  he  esteemed  revelation,  in 
which  he,  at  least  in  the  first  stage  of  his  prophetic 
course,  firmly  believed,  and  which  imparted  to  his  pen- 
sive, variable  character  the  necessary  courage  and  en- 
durance to  brave  all  mortifications  and  perils. 

Mokdinmed  as  n  Rtliijiou s  Teacher.  —  Mohammed 
was,  according  to  iMohammedan  reports,  forty  years  of 
age  when  lie  began  to  act  the  part  of  a  prophet,  and 
this  he  did  first  among  his  nearest  relatives  and  friends. 
He  claimed  to  have  been  "  moved"  to  teach  a  new 
faith  by  a  special  "divine"  communication  which  he 
had  received  in  the  solitude  of  the  mountain  Hira,  near 
Mecca.  Gabriel,  he  asserted,  had  appeared  to  him,  and 
in  the  name  of  (Jod  commanded  him  to  "  read" — i.  e.  to 
preach — the  true  religion,  and  to  spread  it  abroad  by 
committing  it  to  writing  {Sur.  xcvi).  In  three  years 
he  made  only  fourteen  converts;  but  among  these  were 
the  high-spirited,  devoted,  and  indomitable  AH,  who 
was  aftenvards  surnamed  the  "  ever-victorious  Lion  of 
God,"  and  Abu-Bekr,  whose  character  for  good-sense, 
benevolence,  and  straightforward  integrity  contributed 
not  a  little  to  the  respectability  and  ultimate  success  of 
the  new  religion.  In  the  fourth  year  of  his  mission,  in 
obedience,  as  he  alleges,  to  an  express  command  from 
heaven,  he  resolved  to  make  a  public  declaration  of  his 
faith.  He  addressed  himself  to  the  Koreish  and  others, 
asking  them,  '•  If  I  were  to  tell  you  that  there  is  an 
army  on  the  other  side  of  that  mountain,  would  you  be- 
lieve me  ?"  "  Yes,"  they  answered,  "  for  we  do  not  con- 
sider thee  to  be  a  liar."  He  then  said,  "  I  come  to  warn 
you;  and  if  you  do  not  believe  me,  a  great  punishment 
will  befall  you ;"  he  told  them  they  must  renounce  idol- 
atry, and  make  a  profession  of  the  one  true  God ;  that 
unless  they  did  so  tliey  could  have  no  true  happiness  in 
this  life  nor  salvation  in  the  life  to  come. 

The  people  listened  to  the  precepts  of  the  moralist, 
and  though  they  were  enraptured  by  the  force  of  his 
eloquence,  very  few  were  yet  inclined  to  desert  their 
hereditary  and  long-cherished  ceremonies,  and  to  adopt 
a  spiritual  faith  the  internal  evidence  of  which  they 
were  unable  to  comprehend.  Mohammed  was  repeat- 
edly urged  by  them  to  confirm  his  divine  mission  by 
miracles,  but  he  ])rudently  appealed  to  the  internal 
truth  of  his  doctrine,  and  expressly  declared  that  won- 
ders and  signs  would  depreciate  the  merit  of  faith  and 
aggravate  the  guilt  of  infidelity.  The  only  miraculous 
act  which  Mohammed  i)r()fessed  to  have  accomplished, 
and  which  has  been  greatly  exaggerated  by  his  credu- 
lous adherents,  is  a  nocturnal  journey  from  the  temple 
of  Jlecca  to  .Jerusalem,  and  thence  through  the  heav- 
ens, which  he  pretended  tn  have  performed  on  an  im- 
aginary animal  like  an  ass,  called  liorak  (lightning) ; 
but  we  need  scarcely  remark  that  the  simple  words  of 


the  Koran  (^Sur.  xvii)  may  as  well  be  taken  in  the  alle- 
gorical sense  of  vision.  The  few  converts  he  made  wure 
of  the  lowest  class,  the  aristocracy  in  the  mean  time 
growing  more  decided  in  their  opposition  to  the  enthu- 
siast and  innovator.  Hitherto  they  had  contented 
themselves  by  mocking  him  and  deriding  him  as  a  sor- 
cerer and  demoniac,  but  as  the  number  of  converts  was 
gradualh'  increasing,  and  there  seemed  danger  that  the 
sacredness  of  Mecca  might  be  disturbed  by  the  new  re- 
ligionists, and  thus  the  city  be  deprived  of  her  chief  glory 
and  the  aristocracy  of  the  ample  revenues  of  the  pilgrim- 
ages, they  rose  in  fierce  opposition  against  the  new 
prophet  and  his  adherents,  who  dared  to  call  their  an- 
cient gods  idols,  and  their  ancestors  fools.  Many  of  the 
converted  slaves  and  freedraen  had  to  undergo  terril^le 
punishments,  and  others  suffered  so  much  at  the  hands 
of  their  own  relatives  that  they  were  fain  to  revoke 
their  creed ;  so  that  the  prophet  himself  advised  his  fol- 
lowers to  emigrate  to  Abyssinia.  Mohammed  himself, 
now  belonging  to  the  aristocracy,  and  further  protected 
by  the  strong  arm  of  Abu-Talib,  had  of  course  noth- 
ing personal  to  fear;  but  yet  he  became  so  low-spirited 
and  fearful  lest  his  attempt  shouhl  fail  altogether  that 
he  decided  to  appeal  once  more  to  the  prejudices  of 
the  aristocracy,  and  he  even  went  so  far  as  to  raise  the 
idols,  which  hitherto  he  had  represented  as  naught,  to 
intermediate  beings  between  God  and  man — a  dictum, 
however,  which  he  soon  revoked,  as  an  inspiration  of 
Satan,  thereby  increasing  the  hatred  of  his  adversaries, 
at  whose  head  stood  two  members  of  the  family  of 
Machzum,  Al-Walid  and  Abulhakam  Amr  (called  by 
Mohammed  '•  Father  of  Foolishness"),  and  who  in  every 
way  tried  to  throw  ridicule  on  him. 

Several  years  elapsed  in  this  unsettled  state,  iloham- 
nied  all  the  while  actively  engaged  in  the  propagation 
of  his  new  doctrines.  Apparently  but  little  progress  had 
been  made,  when  he  suddenly  received  vigorous  sup- 
port by  the  conversion  of  several  of  the  noblest  citizens, 
such  as  Abu-Obeida,  Hamza,  an  uncle  of  Mohammed, 
Othman,  and  the  stern  and  inflexible  Omar,  who  were 
successively  gained  by  the  moderation  and  influence  of 
Abu-Bekr,  with  whom,  by  marrying  his  only  daughter 
Ayesha,  the  prophet  had  become  more  nearly  allied  after 
the  death  of  his  wife  Kadijah.  With  this  revival 
of  the  new  faith  hostility  against  its  author  became 
more  decided,  and  the  jealous  leaders  of  the  Koreish- 
ites,  directing  their  animosity  and  violence  against 
the  whole  line  of  Hashem,  now  demanded  that  JIo- 
hammed  should  be  delivered  into  their  hands  for  pun- 
ishment: and  when  compliance  with  this  request  was 
refused  them,  they  finally  pronounced  excommunica- 
tion against  the  whole  tribe  of  tlie  Hashemitcs.  The 
feud  thus  kindled  between  the  different  parties  also 
obliged  the  few  adherents  of  the  prophet  v.ho  had  thus 
far  remained  to  quit  Mecca,  and  the  new  religionists 
spread  through  the  country.  Mohammed's  enemies 
t  now  came  forth  in  ojien  revolt,  and  it  was  formally  and 
'.  imblidy  resolved  that  he  shoidd  be  slain.  In  order  to 
j  baffle  the  vengeance  of  the  Hashemitcs,  and  to  divide 
the  guilt  of  his  death,  it  was  agreed  that  one  man  from 
j  every  family  should  at  the  same  moment  ]iliingc  his 
sword  into  the  heart  of  their  victim.  Notliing  now  re- 
I  mained  for  ]Mohammed  but  death  or  instant  Hight.  At 
the  dead  of  night,  accompanied  by  his  faithfid  friend 
Abu-Bekr,  he  took  his  flight  to  Yatreb,  afterwards  known 
by  the  name  of  Meduia  (Medinat  al-nabi),  or  the  City 
of  the  Prophet. 

About  a  league  from  IVIecca,  at  the  cave  of  Thor,  the 
fugitives  halted,  and  there  they  remained  hiding  for 
three  days  from  their  Jleccan  pursuers.  According  to 
one  account,  these,  after  exploring  every  hiding-|)lace 
in  the  vicinity,  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  cave.  But  a 
spider  having  providentially  spread  her  web  over  the 
entrance,  tlie  Koreishites,  deeming  it  impossible  that 
Mohammed  could  liave  entered  there,  turned  back  from 
their  jjursuit.  Perhaps  a  more  proliablc  ex|ilanalion  is 
that  as  the  Koreishites  knew  Jledina  to  be  the  destina- 


MOHAMMED 


407 


MOHAMMED 


tion  of  the  fugitives,  they  never  suspected  that  they 
could  be  concealed  in  the  cave  of  Thor,  which  lay  in  an 
opposite  direction.  While  they  were  in  the  cave,  the 
legend  goes,  Abu-Bekr,  contrasting  their  weakness  with 
the  strength  of  their  enemies,  said,  trembling,  "  We  are 
but  two."  "  No,"  replied  Mohammed,  "  there  is  a  third : 
it  is  God  himself."  On  the  fourth  night  the  prophet  and 
his  companion  left  their  hiding-place,  and,  riding  on 
camels  which  the  servant  of  Abu-I5ekr  had  brought,  ar- 
rived safely  at  Medina  sixteen  days  after  their  flight 
from  Mecca. 

IMoharamed's  reason  for  turning  his  face  towards  Me- 
dina may  be  found  in  the  sympathy  which  the  Medi- 
nans  had  frequentlj'  manifested  towards  the  prophet. 
They  had  been  moved  to  this  by  various  causes.  Mo- 
hammed's mother  was  a  Medinau,  on  account  of  which 
her  clansmen  considered  themselves  under  obligation 
to  take  sides  with  him.  There  was  another  motive 
still :  the  Mediiians,  jealous  of  the  authority  of  INIecca  as 
a  place  of  pilgrimage,  might  have  hoped  to  attain  the 
ascendency  over  Mecca  by  the  aid  of  Mohammed  and 
his  followers.  There  were,  moreover,  many  adherents 
to  the  new  cause  among  the  inhabitants  of  Medina,  who 
had  paid  homage  to  the  prophet  while  he  was  yet  at 
Mecca.  There  were  some  who  looked  to  him  as  per- 
chance the  Messiah  expected  by  the  Jews.  According- 
ly a  considerable  part  of  Medina  was  enthusiastic  in  the 
new  cause,  and  when  Mohammed's  approach  was  made 
known  to  them,  hundreds  of  its  citizens  advanced  in 
procession  to  meet  the  coming  prophet,  welcoming  him 
with  loud  acclamations;  and  he  who  a  few  days  before 
had  left  his  native  city  as  a  fugitive,  with  a  price  upon 
his  head,  now  entered  Medina  more  like  a  king  return- 
ing victorious  from  battle  than  an  exile  seeking  a  place 
of  refuge.  This  separation  or  flight  of  Mohammed  from 
the  city  of  his  nativity,  called  in  Arabic  Hejrah,  or  an- 
glicized Hegira  (q.  v.),  formed  not  only  an  auspicious 
turning-point  in  the  prophet's  own  life,  but  became  the 
point  of  departure  in  the  Jlohammedan  movement. 

His  earhest  attention  after  his  arrival  at  Medina  was 
given  tovv'ards  the  consolidation  of  the  new  worship  and 
the  minor  arrangements  in  the  congregation  of  his  flock. 
At  this  time  jNIohammed  endeavored,  by  various  con- 
cessions, to  gain  the  Jews  over  to  his  faith.  He  select- 
ed Jerusalem  as  the  point  of  direction  in  prayer,  ap- 
pointed the  tenth  day  of  the  first  month  as  a  day  of 
fasting,  and  allowed  the  new  converts  to  celebrate  their 
Sabbath.  But  when  the  Jews,  notwithstanding  these 
advances,  would  not  acknowledge  him  as  prophet,  rid- 
iculed his  pretension  to  be  the  Messiah,  and  enraged 
him  by  their  constant  taunts,  he  soon  abrogated  his 
concessions,  became  their  bitterest  enemy,  sought  closer 
alliance  with  the  heathenish  Arabs,  and  substituted 
practices  likely  to  please  them.  In  prayer  the  worship- 
per was  now  directed  to  turn  towards  Mecca,  the  month 
Ramadan  was  henceforth  fixed  upon  as  a  fasting-time, 
and  Friday  as  the  day  of  rest. 

Gradually  Mohammed  now  appears  in  a  new  charac- 
ter. His  internal  arrangements  perfected,  his  follow- 
ers increased,  and  his  allies  concluding  to  yield  him 
armed  assistance,  he  was  no  longer  content  to  convert 
his  adversaries  by  words ;  he  was  no  longer  come  to  give 
peace,  but  to  make  war;  where  the  warnings  of  the 
prophet  had  failed  to  convince,  the  strong  arm  of  the 
conqueror  must  compel,  and  the  persecuted  apostle  ap- 
pears suddenly  transformed  into  the  triumphant  soldier. 
He  who  had  formerly  insisted  upon  liberty  of  conscience 
for  himself,  and  had  opposed  religious  violence,  now 
maintained  that  Islam  should,  if  necessary,  be  defended 
and  propagated  by  the  sword.  "  The  sword,"  said  he, 
"  is  the  key  of  heaven  and  of  hell :  a  drop  of  blood  shed 
in  the  cause  of  God,  or  a  night  spent  in  arms,  is  of  more 
avail  than  two  months  of  fasting  and  prayer ;  whoever 
falls  in  battle,  his  sins  are  forgiven  him,  and  at  the  day 
of  judgment  the  loss  of  his  limbs  shall  be  supplied  by 
the  wings  of  cherubim."  This  was  a  sort  of  manifesto, 
directed  mainly  against  the  Meccaus,  and  he  was  not 


long  in  carrying  his  new  principles  into  practice.  Not 
powerful  enough  to  warrant  an  open  fight  with  his  ene- 
mies, he  determined  to  weaken  their  strength  by  at- 
tacks and  pillage  upon  the  caravans  of  the  Meccans, 
which  on  their  commercial  expeditions  to  Syria  passed 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Medina,  and  ere  long  plunder  and 
robbery  were  sanctioned,  even  during  the  sacred  months 
— yea,  many  an  assassination,  consequent  u]3on  these  at- 
tacks, was  instigated  by  Mohammed  himself. 

Henceforth  Mohammed  ceases  to  be  a  religious  leader 
in  the  eyes  of  the  impartial  biographer;  he  cannot  pos- 
sibly have,  at  this  time,  fancied  himself  inspired  of  God, 
and  as  acting  according  to  divine  pleasure;  for,  aside 
from  the  circumstance  that  some  pretended  revelations 
concerned  only  his  own  advantage,  or  even  sometimes 
solely  the  gratification  of  his  lust,  he  frequently  with- 
held them,  and  waited  for  the  temper  of  his  adherents 
to  manifest  itself  before  he  dared  to  proclaim  them. 
Thus,  to  mention  one  instance  of  his  irresolution  and 
trickery,  he  commanded  one  of  his  votaries  to  waylay  a 
caravan  which  he  was  cognizant  could  be  reached  only 
in  a  sacred  month ;  and  when  the  order  had  been  com- 
plied with,  and  great  dissatisfaction  prevailed  on  ac- 
count of  this  desecration  of  the  holy  month,  he  main- 
tained not  to  have  arranged  the  same,  for  he  had  given 
the  order  in  so  ambiguous  a  manner  that  he  could  clear 
himself  of  the  responsibility  of  an  act  execrated  by  all 
Arabia. 

Mohamvied  as  an  Impostor. — ^^Vhile  at  Mecca  the 
prophet  had  kept  unflinchingly  in  his  path,  through 
mockery  and  persecution.  No  threats,  no  injuries, 
I  had  hindered  him  from  preaching  to  his  people  the 
unity  and  the  righteousness  of  God,  and  exhorting 
to  a  far  purer  and  better  morality  than  had  ever  been 
I  set  before  them.  He  had  claimed  no  temporal  power, 
j  no  spiritual  domination ;  he  had  asked  but  for  simple 
toleration,  for  free  permission  to  win  men  by  persuasion 
into  the  way  of  truth.  He  claimed  to  be  sent  neither 
to  compel  conviction  b}''  miracles,  nor  to  constrain  out- 
ward profession  by  the  sword.  He  was  but  a  preacher, 
sent  to  warn  men  that  there  is  one  God,  and  that  there 
is  no  other;  that  all  that  He  requires  is  that  men  should 
do  justice  and  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  their 
God,  and  as  the  sanction  of  all,  that  there  will  be  a  res- 
urrection of  the  dead,  as  well  of  the  just  as  of  the  unjust. 
Such  had  been  his  teachings  at  Mecca,  and  in  his  own 
person  he  had  fulfilled  the  duties  urged  upon  others — a 
thoroughly  good  and  righteous  man,  according  to  his 
light,  with  nothing  to  be  alleged  against  his  life,  even 
if  judged  by  a  higher  morality  than  that  of  the  Koran. 
His  virtues  7nay  have  been  hypocrisy,  his  mission  vwy 
have  been  imposture,  but  as  a  resident  of  Mecca  all  his 
actions  outwardly  had  created  a  presumption  in  his  fa- 
vor. With  his  arrival  at  Medina,  however,  tne  scene 
shifts,  and  with  the  days  of  power  and  victory  of  the 
propagandist  opens  a  dark  and  bloody  page  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  East.  From  the  moment  when  the  formerly 
despised  "  madman  and  impostor"  was  raised  to  the  po- 
sition of  highest  judge,  lawgiver,  and  ruler  of  Medina, 
and  of  the  two  most  powerful  Arabic  tribes — thus  open- 
ing a  vast  theatre  to  the  enthusiasm  and  ambition  of 
Mohammed  —  his  revelations  assumed  a  much  higher 
claim.  He  now  inculcated  as  a  matter  of  religion  and 
of  faith  the  waging  of  war  against  the  infidels ;  and  the 
sword  once  drawn  at  the  command  of  heaven,  from  that 
time  remained  unsheathed  until  the  tribes  of  all  Arabia 
and  the  adjacent  countries  had  joined  in  the  profession 
i  that  there  is  no  God  but  Allah,  and  that  Mohammed  is 
his  apostle. 

Acts  of  such  character,  Mohammed,  even  if  not  en- 
dowed with  a  very  delicate  ethic  sense,  must  have 
known  to  be  wrong,  and  could  have  approved  solelj'  for 
a  selfish  end.  Even  before  his  emigration  to  Medina 
he  had,  in  several  instances,  deviated  from  the  truth, 
where  it  seemed  to  answer  his  purpose  best.  Thus  he 
had  related  the  whole  historv'  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
tament prophets,  spiced  by  Jewish  and  Christian  tradi- 


MOHAIVIMED 


408 


MOHAMINIED 


dons,  and  had  claimed  them  as  communicated  to  him 
by  the  aii^el  Gabriel — an  assertion  which  was  of  course 
discredited  by  the  Meccans,  who  guessed  rightly  that  he 
owed  tliis  knowledge  to  his  conversations  with  foreign 
scriptural  scholars.  Revelations  also  concerning  his  own 
person,  and  which  he  can  certainly  not  have  believed 
iiimself,  abound  in  the  Koran.  Thus  he  had  restricted 
the  number  of  legitimate  wives  to  four,  but  exempted 
himself  from  that  restraint,  and  after  the  death  of  his 
lirst  wife  married  twelve  others.  Another  time  he  fell 
ill  love  with  a  female  slave,  and  when  his  consorts  ex- 
]iressed  their  displeasure  he  swore  that  he  would  forsake 
iier.  A  few  months  subsequently  he  bad  himself  re- 
leased from  his  oath  by  some  verses  of  the  Koran,  and 
threatened  his  women  with  divorce  if  they  should  con- 
tinue to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  voluptuousness.  His 
rc'lation  to  Zeineb  or  Zaid,  the  spouse  of  his  former  slave 
anil  later  adopted  son,  throws  a  still  worse  light  on 
liis  revelations.  Zaid,  observing  that  Mohammed  paid 
uiuhie  attention  to  his  wife,  caused  himself  to  be  di- 
vorced from  her.  Mohammed  took  her  in  matrimony, 
lint  when  this  marriage  was  found  very  reprehensible, 
because  he  had  shown  so  little  regard  to  Zaiil's  feelings, 
and  because  an  adopted  son  with  the  Arabs  was  deemed 
equal  to  a  son  german,  wherefore  matrimony  contract- 
ed with  his  wife,  even  after  divorce,  was  considered  ille- 
gal, Mohammed,  in  the  name  of  God,  branded  as  ab- 
surd, first,  the  usage  hitherto  in  vogue  calling  an  adopt- 
ed male  child  a  son,  and  in  future  declared  such  proced- 
ure even  sinful,  by  actual  proof  drawn  from  the  Koran, 
and  announced  that,  far  from  having  advised  Zaid  to 
separate  himself  from  his  wife,  he  had  rather  tried  to 
dissuade  Zaid  from  such  a  course ;  and,  in  the  second 
jilace,  that  he  (Mohammed),  even  after  the  separation, 
afraid  of  men's  judgment,  had  hesitated  to  marry  her, 
until  God  commanded  him,  in  order  to  demonstrate  that 
lie  who  acted  according  to  the  Lord's  will  need  not  care 
for  the  talk  of  men,  and  in  order  that  he  might  add,  by 
the  force  of  his  own  example,  more  vigor  to  the  law  re- 
specting adopted  sons. 

But  to  return  to  the  extemal  history  of  IMohammed 
and  his  votaries.  First  of  all  our  attention  is  claimed 
by  the  first  battle  proper,  fought  near  Badr,  situated  be- 
tween Mecca  and  Medina,  which,  though  insigniScant 
as  to  the  numbers  of  the  combatants,  was  of  material 
consequence.  The  original  object  was  the  pillage  of  a 
Meccan  caravan.  The  Meccans,  having  been  advised 
of  this  intention,  despatched  succor  to  their  people,  and, 
as  was  supjiosed,  were  thus  prepared  to  meet  the  Ila- 
shemites  and  IMedinans.  Yet  the  IVIeccans,  although 
superior  in  number,  were  nevertheless  defeated  by  Mo- 
hammed's  adherents.  Some  Moslem  writers  will  have 
it  that  .3000  angelic  warriors,  on  white  and  black  steeds. 
guided  and  assisted  the  faithful.  The  prophet  himsell, 
during  tlic  fight,  was  engaged  in  jirayer.  In  most  of 
the  later  wars,  also,  Mohammed  generally  kept  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  melee.  He  obtained  many  a  victory,  to 
Ije  sure,  by  skilful  disposition  of  his  forces,  but  he  dis- 
tinguislied  himself  by  no  means  as  a  brave  warrior. 
Tliis  is  es^iecially  manifest  in  the  expedition  immedi- 
ately following,  and  undertaken  by  the  Meccans  to  take 
revenge  for  the  defeat,  by  which  "they  had  suffered  not 
only  severe  loss  of  lives  and  property,  but  had  added 
booty,  glory,  and  increase  to  tlie  new  religionists.  Mo- 
hammed, namely,  when  the  jNleccans,  a  few  thousand 
strong,  advanced  .against  Medina,  wanted  to  retire  to  the 
city  and  to  confine  himself  to  its  defence,  and  only  when 
his  diseijiles  declared  this  plan  dishonorable,  he  "unwill- 
ingly turne<l  out  against  the  enemy,  and  was  vanquished 
near  IMimiit  Oiiod.  Many  of  the  faithful  covered  the 
battle-lield  with  their  corpses.  Mt)hammed  himself  was 
woinided  slightly;  he  wore  a  double  coat  of  mail  and  a 
closed  helmet,  so  that  the  jNIeccans  <lid  not  recognise  liim, 
and  his  companions  ])romptly  seeureil  his  safety.  When 
the  ]\[eecans  advanced  a  second  time  with  a  superior 
force,  ^lohammed's  advice  to  his  own  to  fortify  them- 
selves in  the  city  was  promptly  complied  witli,  and  the 


Meccans,  inexperienced  in  siege  operations,  and  by  JIo- 
hammed's  intrigues  having  fallen  out  with  their  confed- 
erates, were  obliged  after  a  few  weeks  to  retire  without 
accomjjlishing  anything. 

We  pass  over  the  wars  waged  by  Mohammed  against 
the  Jews  in  Medina  and  in  other  parts  of  Arabia,  all  of 
which  were  marked  by  great  cruelty  on  his  side,  also 
the  conflicts  which  he  waged  against  several  Arabian 
tribes  allied  with  the  Meccans,  and  remark  only  that,  in 
spite  of  many  a  failure,  in  the  sixth  year  of  the  Hegira 
(A.D.  ()28)  lie  felt  sufticiently  confident  to  venture  at 
the  head  of  his  votaries  on  a  jiilgrimage  to  Mecca.  Yet, 
though  he  exhorted  to  this  jiilgrimage  in  the  name  of 
God,  it  was  not  participated  in  to  the  degree  expected, 
and  nothing  remained  to  him  but  the  hope  that  the 
Jleccans  would  be  afraid  to  shed  blood  in  the  holy 
month,  though  he  himself  had  violated  it  long  ago  by 
robbery  and  murder.  AN'hen  he  arri\-ed  at  the  bounda- 
ry of  the  iNIeccan  territory,  he  was  bidden  to  stop,  and 
threatened  with  force  in  case  he  should  attempt  to  pen- 
etrate into  the  city.  After  protracted  negotiations, 
however,  many  ISIeccans  being  desirous  of  peace  on  ac- 
count of  their  commercial  interests,  concluded  it,  and, 
among  other  terms,  it  was  fixed  that  Mohammed  shoidd 
be  allowed  to  partake  of  the  pilgrim  celebration  the  en- 
suing year.  This  treaty  of  peace,  by  which  ilohammed 
was  recognised  as  an  equal  power,  increased  his  author- 
ity, and  permitted  him  to  despatch  his  emissaries  to  all 
parts  of  Arabia,  to  make  proselytes  and  enter  into  alli- 
ances. Soon  he  felt  strong  enough  to  avail  himself  of 
an  opportune  pretext  to  break  the  peace,  and  ou  a  sud- 
den surprised  IMecca,  without  any  formal  declaration  of 
war,  at  the  head  of  10,000  men.  The  chief  magistrates 
of  the  city  were  obliged  (A.D.  G30)  to  make  their  sub- 
mission, and  acknowledged  him  not  oidy  as  secular 
ruler,  but  as  a  plenipotentiary  of  the  Deity.  Sec  Ko- 
KEiSH.  With  this  the  victory  of  the  new  religion  was 
secured  in  all  Arabia.  While,  however,  employed  in 
destroying  all  traces  of  idolatry  in  the  besieged  city,  and 
fixing  the  minor  laws  and  ceremonies  of  the  true  faith, 
Mohammed  heard  of  new  armies  which  several  warlike 
Arabic  tribes  had  sent  against  him,  and  which  were 
concentrated  near  Taif  (G30).  He  went  forth  to  en- 
counter the  enemy,  was  again  victorious,  and  his  domin- 
ion and  creed  extended  further  and  further  even,'  day. 
From  all  parts  tlocked  the  deputations  to  do  homage  to 
him  in  the  name  of  the  various  tribes,  either  as  the 
messenger  of  God,  or  at  least  as  the  Prince  of  Arabia, 
and  the  year  8  of  the  Hegira  was  therefore  called  the 
year  of  the  Deputations. 

Even  before  the  capture  of  Mecca,  Mohammed  had 
l)e(ii  Iinld  enough  to  summon  the  princes  of  the  coun- 
tries auti-iioiis  to  Arabia — Chosroes  (of  Persia),  the  em- 
pirnr  IleiMclius  (of  Constantinople),  the  king  of  Abys- 
sinia, and  several  Byzantine  and  Persian  provincial  gov- 
ernors— to  be  converted  to  his  faith.  His  letter  to  the 
king  of  Abyssinia  has  been  discovered  on  a  leaf  of  parch- 
ment, which  served  as  a  cover  to  a  manuscript,  in  a  Cop- 
tic monastery  in  Upper  Egypt,  and  accords  tolerably 
with  what  we  know  from  Arabian  biographers.  It  reads 
as  follows:  "In  the  name  of  (iod,  the  all-gracious  and 
all-merciful,  from  Mohammed,  the  servant  and  ambas- 
sador of  (iod,  to  Alniucaucas,  tlic  prefect  of  tlie  Coi>t3. 
Hail  to  him  who  follows  the  divine  guidance!  I  sum- 
mon thee  to  confess  the  Islam.  If  thou  comiiliest  with 
this  summons,  thy  salvation  is  secured,  and  God  will 
give  thee  a  double  reward  for  thy  devotion.  But  if 
thou  refuscst,  the  guilt  of  the  Copts  rests  on  thee.  Oh, 
ye  men  of  the  Scriptures!  approach  and  become  our 
equals  by  professing  that  we  ailore  only  Allah,  unasso- 
ciated  with  terrestrial  beings,  and  own  as  Lord  none  be- 
side him.  If  you  will  not  agree  to  this,  testify  that  we 
are  God-resign"ed  and  faithful."  The  governor  of  ICgypt 
was  no  more  converted  than  Heraclius  and  Chosroes. 
He,  however,  received  the  delegates  of  Jlohammed  hos- 
pitably, and  sent  him,  besides  other  valualile  presents, 
two  Abyssinian  female  slaves,  ouc  of  whom  (Mariam  or 


MOHAMMED 


409 


MOHAMMED 


Blaria)  charmed  the  prophet  to  such  a  degree  that  he 
neglected  his  other  wives  on  her  account. 

The  execution  of  one  of  Mohammed's  emissaries  by 
Amru,  the  chief  of  the  Christian  Arabs  on  the  Syrian 
frontier,  occasioned  the  first  war  between  Mohammed 
and  the  Byzantines,  terminating  unfavorably  to  the 
former.  Nor  had  a  second  campaign  the  desired  suc- 
cess, for  he  did  not  secure  the  wished-for  participation 
of  the  pagan  allies,  and  he  had  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
homage  of  a  few  minor  princes  on  his  way  to  the  fron- 
tiers, and  returned  without  having  carried  out  his  in- 
tention. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  10th  year  of  the  Hegira  he 
undertook,  at  the  head  of  at  least  40,000  Moslems,  his 
last  solemn  pilgrimage  to  IMecca,  and  there  (on  the 
Mount  Arafat)  instructed  them  in  all  the  important 
laws  and  ordinances,  chiefly  of  the  pilgrimage;  and  the 
ceremonies  observed  by  him  on  that  occasion  were  re- 
corded in  the  Koran  and  fixed  for  all  time.  He  again 
solemnly  exhorted  his  believers  to  righteousness  and 
piety,  and  chiefly  recommended  them  to  protect  the 
weak,  the  poor,  and  the  women,  and  to  abstain  from 
usury.  Among  the  most  important  of  his  ordinances 
at  this  time  are  to  be  noticed  the  abolishment  of  the 
leap-year,  which  the  Arabs,  in  common  with  the  Jews, 
had  been  accustomed  to  observe,  and  in  its  place  in- 
troduced the  pure  lunar  year,  by  which  alone  the  sa- 
cred months  as  well  as  the  pilgrimage  and  the  month 
of  fasting  were  fixed.  Another  very  important  com- 
mandment which  he  gave  at  this  time  was  that  thence- 
forth the  sacred  city  of  Mecca  was  to  be  entered  only 
by  Mohammedans,  and  that  even  outside  of  it  idolaters 
were  to  be  entirely  exterminated.  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians were  to  be  tolerated,  if  they  would  humbly  sub- 
mit and  pay  a  capitation  tax.  His  caliph  —  Omar — 
added  to  the  commandment,  in  order  to  humiliate  those 
of  another  faith,  several  oppressive  restrictions  for  the 
nations  conquered  by  him,  and  the  succeeding  caliphs, 
according  to  the  degree  of  tolerance  or  fanaticism  actu- 
ating them,  mitigated  or  aggravated  the  same.  Non- 
Mohammedans,  in  order  to  be  easily  recognised  as  infi- 
dels, were  obliged  to  distinguish  themselves  by  the  color 
of  their  turbans,  the  Jews  being  enjoined  to  wear  black, 
the  Christians  blue  ones,  Thej^  were  forbidden  to  car- 
ry arms,  were  ordered  to  ride  on  asses  (not  on  horses),  on 
the  streets  to  yield  the  way  to  the  IVIohammedans,  and 
in  public  assemblies  to  rise  before  them.  Their  houses 
must  not  be  higher  than  those  of  the  faithful;  nor  were 
they  permitted  to  hold  public  processions  nor  ring  bells, 
nor  make  proselytes,  nor  keep  any  Moslem  slaves,  nor 
acquire  any  captives  or  other  military  persons,  nor  pos- 
sess any  seal  with  Arabic  letters,  nor  have  any  intimacy 
with  Moslem  females.  Jews  and  Christians  should  not 
be  employed  in  offices  of  chancery — an  interdiction  en- 
acted by  Omar,  but  rarely  observed  because  of  the  igno- 
rance of  the  primitive  Arabians  as  well  as  later  Turks, 
who,  for  want  of  knowledge  of  state  affairs,  found  the 
services  of  Jews  and  Christians  in  various  administra- 
tive branches  indispensable. 

After  his  return  from  Mecca,  IMohammed  busih'  ap- 
plied himself  to  the  fitting-out  of  a  new  expedition 
against  the  Byzantines.  In  the  very  midst  of  his  war- 
like preparations  he  was  suddenly  taken  dangerously  ill 
with  fever.  One  night,  while  severely  suffering,  we  are 
told  by  Mohammedan  chroniclers,  Mohammed  went  to 
the  cemetery  of  Jledina,  and  prayed  and  wept  upon  the 
tombs,  praising  the  dead,  and  wishing  that  he  himself 
might  soon  be  delivered  from  the  storms  of  this  world. 
For  a  few  more  days  he  went  about ;  at  last,  too  weak 
further  to  visit  his  wives,  he  chose  the  house  of  Aye- 
sha,  situated  near  a  mosque,  as  his  abode  during  his 
sickness.  He  continued  to  take  part  in  the  public  pray- 
ers as  long  as  he  could ;  until  at  last,  feeling  that  his 
hour  had  come,  he  once  more  preached  to  the  people, 
recommending  Abu-Bekr  and  Usama,  the  son  of  Zaid,  as 
the  generals  whom  he  had  chosen  for  the  army.  He 
then  asked,  luce  Samuel,  whether  he  had  wronged  any 


one,  and  read  to  them  passages  from  the  Koran,  preparing 
the  minds  of  his  hearers  for  his  death,  and  exhorting 
them  to  peace  among  themselves,  and  to  strict  obedience 
to  the  tenets  of  the  faith.  A  few  days  afterwards  he 
asked  for  writing  materials,  probably  in  order  to  fix  a 
successor  to  his  office  as  chief  of  the  faithful ;  but  Omar, 
fearing  he  might  choose  Ali,  while  he  himself  inclined 
to  Abu-Bekr,  would  not  allow  him  to  be  furnished  with 
them.  In  his  last  wanderings  he  only  spoke  of  angels 
and  heaven.  He  died  in  the  lap  of  Ayesha,  about 
noon  of  Monday,  the  12th  (11th)  of  the  third  month,  in 
the  year  11  of  the  Hegira  (June  8,  632),  Mohamme- 
dan biographers  maintain  that  their  prophet  died  of  the 
consequences  of  eating  roast  mutton  poisoned  by  a 
Jewess,  who  is  said  to  have  sought  the  revenge  of  a 
brother  whom  the  Islamites  killed  in  the  campaign  of 
Cheibar,  But,  as  this  campaign  took  place  four  years 
previous  to  Mohammed's  death,  it  might  have  been  a 
diflicult  task  to  the  contemporary  Arabian  physicians  to 
prove  it,  even  if  the  attempt  at  poisoning  were  verified. 
It  is  much  more  probable  (what  also  occurred  in  the 
case  of  Abu-Bekr,  the  later  caliph)  that  such  a  story 
was  concocted  to  have  him  die  a  martyr's  death ;  for 
the  Arabs  regard  as  martyrs  those  who  perish  in  a  holy 
war,  i,  e.  in  a  war  carried  on  againsc  infidels. 

Many  fictions  were  resorted  to  in  the  first  century  of 
the  Mohammedan  a^ra  to  glorify  their  deceased  prophet. 
Fanatic  Sloslems  represent  him  to  have  enjoyed  special 
favors  from  on  high  from  the  day  of  his  birth,  We  re- 
cur to  the  exclamation  he  is  said  to  have  uttered  as 
he  made  his  ajijiearance  in  the  world ;  as  a  man,  we  are 
told  the  desert  was  covered  with  shade-trees  as  he  wan- 
dered through  the  same,  and  even  rocks  saluted  him  as 
the  apostle  of  the  Lord,  A  man  created  before  all  cre- 
ated beings,  as  tradition  has  it  (at  whose  birth  there 
were  supernatural  manifestations),  must  not  die  of  a 
common  illness:  he  must  perish  at  least  as  a  martyr. 
It  is  difficult  to  decide  how  much  Mohammed  himself 
has  contributed  to  these  legends;  certain  it  is  that  he 
frequently,  in  order  to  attain  his  ends,  did  not  despise 
any  means  of  imposture  and  delusion,  and  made  the 
angel  Gabriel  play  a  part  as  bearer  of  divine  revelations 
in  which  he  did  not  himself  believe.  He  probably 
feared  the  destruction  of  his  whole  work — a  work  which, 
after  naive  credulity  and  religious  enthusiasm  had  been 
succeeded  by  sober  sense,  he  cannot  possibly  have  con- 
sidered salutary  for  his  people,  certainly  not  if  his  new 
doctrines  were  to  be  forced  upon  them  by  the  sword  and 
persecution.  The  inconsistency  of  his  course  is  cer- 
tainly marvellous,  for  he  introduced  those  verj'  meas- 
ures against  which  he  had  himself  declaimed  so  loudly 
until  suddenly  transformed  from  the  subject  to  the  ruler. 
It  may  be  granted  even  that  he  frequently  played  the 
deceiver  for  the  good  of  a  cause  which  he  believed  just 
and  worthy  of  his  best  strength,  and  for  which  he  judged 
'  his  people  ill  prepared  unless  he  could  claim  the  author- 
ity of  a  divine  messenger;  but  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
if  Mohammed  actually  strove  to  elevate  his  people,  as 
we  believe  he  did  at  first,  he  continued  the  deceiver 
after  he  had  attained  power  suflScient  to  enforce  his 
dicta,  and  that  he  not  unfrequently  did  so  to  further  his 
own  personal  purposes,  often  onlj'  for  a  transient  accom- 
modation, as,  for  instance,  when  he  represented  God  as 
commanding  that  nobody  should  enter  his  house  unless 
invited,  and  to  retire  immediately  after  taking  a  meah 
"  The  Prophet  hesitates  to  dismiss  you,  even  if  you  are 
tedious ;  but  God  does  not  hesitate  to  tell  you  the  truth." 

As  much  as  his  public  life  and  his  appearance  as 
prophet  and  legislator  may  be  liable  to  censure,  his  pri- 
vate life,  excepting  his  sensuality,  if  his  biographers 
report  the  truth,  was  exemplarj-.  He  was  affable,  con- 
versed with  everj'body,  was  plain  in  dress  and  diet,  and 
so  little  pretentious  as  to  forbid  external  reverence  from 
his  companions,  and  to  refuse  from  his  slaves  a  service 
which  he  could  perform  himself.  He  was  often  seen  in 
the  market  buying  provisions,  and  at  home  milking 
goats  and  mending  clothes.     He  visited  the  sick,  and 


MOHAMMED 


410 


MOHAMMED 


was  in  sympathy  with  sufferers;  he  was  generous  and 
forbearing,  if  policy  did  not  dictate  a  contrary  course. 
His  benevolence  and  liberality  were  especially  marked; 
and  indeed  they  must  have  been  great,  for  he  left  no 
riches,  though  the  war-booty  which  he  shared,  and  the 
presents  which  flowed  to  liim  from  all  sides,  must  have 
placed  large  means  at  his  command.  Upon  the  whole, 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  Mohammed  improved  and  ele- 
vated the  political  and  religious  condition  of  Arabia, 
lie  united  the  dispersed,  mutually  inimical,  idolatrous 
Arabian  tribes  into  a  great  nation,  allied  by  a  faith  in 
God  and  a  belief  in  a  future  life.  In  place  of  bloody 
vengeance  for  murder  and  of  rude  force,  he  instituted 
an  inviolable  code,  which,  in  spite  of  deficiencies,  still 
forms  the  fundamental  law  of  the  Islamitic  kingdoms. 
On  the  women  he  bestowed,  in  spite  of  some  restric- 
tions, many  rights  which  they  had  not  enjoyed  before 
him.  He  "mitigated  the  lot  of  the  slaves,  as  far  as  the 
spirit  of  his  age  permitted,  and  declared  emancipation  to 
be  a  work  agreeable  to  the  Deity.  He  cared  like  a  fa- 
ther for  the  poor,  the  widows,  and  orphans;  condemned 
the  vices  which  degrade  humanity  and  ha\'e  a  disturb- 
ing influence  on  social  life,  and  exhorted  to  the  virtues 
recommended  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

This,  in  briefest  outline,  is  the  history  of  Mohammed's 
career.  \Ve  have  not  been  able  to  dwell,  as  we  could 
wish,  at  any  length,  either  on  the  i)eculiar  circum- 
stances of  his  inner  life,  which  preceded  and  accompa- 
nied his  •'  prophetic"  course,  nor  on  the  part  which  idol- 
atry, Judaism,  Christianity,  and  his  own  reflection  re- 
spectively, bore  in  the  formation  of  his  religion;  nor 
have  we  been  able  to  trace  the  process  by  which  his 
"  mission"  grew  upon  him,  as  it  were,  and  he,  from  a 
simple  admonisher  of  his  family,  became  the  founder  of 
a  faith  to  wliich  above  130,000^000  are  said  to  adhere. 

J^rxo/iid  (_  'h(inicteristics.—ln  appearance,  Mohammed 
was  of  middling  size,  had  broad  shoulders,  a  wide  chest, 
and  large  bones ;  and  he  was  fleshy,  but  not  stout.  The 
immoderate  size  of  his  head  was  partly  disguised  by  the 
long  locks  of  hair,  which  in  slight  curls  came  nearly  down 
to  the  lobe  of  his  ears.  His  oval  face,  though  tawny,  was 
rather  fair  fur  an  Arab,  but  neither  pale  nor  high-colored. 
The  forehead  was  broad,  and  his  fine  and  long  but  nar- 
row eyel^rows  were  separated  b\'  a  vein,  which  you  coidd 
sec  throbbing  if  he  was  angrj-.  Under  long  eyelashes 
sparkled'^loodshot  black  eyes  through  wide -slit  eyelids. 
His  nose  was  large,  prominent,  and  slightly  hooked,  and 
the  tip  of  it  seemed  to  be  turned  up,  but  was  not  so  in 
reality.  The  mouth  was  wide;  he  had  a  good  set  of 
teeth,  and  the  fore-teeth  were  asunder.  His  beard  rose 
from  the  cheek-bones,  and  came  down  to  the  collar- 
bone; he  clipped  his  mustaches,  but  did  not  shave 
tliem.  He  stoojied,  and  was  slightly  hump -backed. 
His  Kait  was  careless,  and  he  walked  fast  but  heavily, 
as  if  lie  were  ascending  a  liill;  and  if  he  looked  back, 
he  turned  round  his  whole  body.  The  mildness  of  his 
countenance  gained  him  the  confidence  of  every  one; 
but  he  coidd  not  look  straight  into  a  man's  face:  he 
turned  his  eyes  usually  outwards.  On  his  back  he  had 
a  round  fleshy  tumor  of  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg;  its 
furrowed  surface  was  covered  with  hair,  and  its  base 
was  surrouniled  by  black  moles.  This  was  considered 
as  the  seal  of  his  prophetic  mission,  at  least  during  the 
latter  ])art  of  his  career,  by  his  followers,  who  were  so 
devout  that  they  found  a  cure  for  their  ailings  in  drink- 
ing the  waters  in  which  he  had  bathed;  and  it  must 
have  been  verj'  refreshing,  for  he  perspired  profusely, 
and  his  skin  exhaled  a  strong  smell.  He  bestowed  con- 
siderable care  on  his  person,  and  more  particularly  on 
his  teeth,  which  he  rubl)ed  so  frc(iuontly  witli  a  piece 
of  wood  that  a  Sliiah  author  was  induced  to  consider  it 
as  one  of  the  signs  of  his  prophetic  mission.  He  l)athed 
frequently,  washed  several  times  a  day,  and  oiled  his 
head  profusely  after  washing  it.  At  times  he  dyed  liis 
hair  and  beard  red  with  heinia,  in  imitation  of  his  gran<l- 
fatlicr,  who  imported  this  hal)it  from  Yemen.  Though 
he  did  not  comb  himself  regularly,  he  did  it  now  and 


then.  At  first  he  wore  his  hair  like  the  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians; for  he  said,  "In  all  instances  in  which  God  has 
not  given  me  an  order  to  the  contrary,  I  like  to  follow 
their  example ;"  but  subsequently  he  divided  it,  like 
most  of  his  countrymen.  Every  evening  he  ajjplied 
antimony  to  his  eyes :  and  though  he  had  not  mai.y  gray 
hairs  even  when  he  died,  he  concealed  them  by  dyeing 
or  oiling  them,  in  order  to  please  his  wives,  many  of 
whom  were  young  and  inclined  to  be  giddy,  and  whose 
numbers  he  increased  in  proportion  as  he  became  more 
decrepit.  The  prophet  was  usually  dressed  in  a  white 
cotton  shirt,  or  blouse,  with  pockets,  and  sleeves  which 
reached  to  his  wrists.  He  had  a  skull-cap  aird  a  turban 
on  his  head,  the  extremities  hanging  down  the  back ; 
and  sandals,  with  two  leather  straps  over  the  instep,  on 
his  feet.  In  the  house  he  wore  merely  a  piece  of  cloth 
tied  round  his  temples,  leaving  the  crown  of  the  head 
inicovered.  Sometimes  he  wore,  instead  of  the  shirt,  a 
"  suit  of  clothes,"  which  consisted  of  an  apron — that  is  to 
say,  a  piece  of  cloth  tied  round  the  waist  and  hanging 
in  folds  down  to  the  legs,  like  a  woman's  petticoat — and 
a  sheet,  or  square  shawl,  which  was  thrown  over  the  left 
shoulder  and  wrapped  round  the  body  under  the  right 
arm.  Sometimes  he  wrapped  himself  in  a  blanket.  In 
temperament,  Mohammed  was  melancholic,  and  in  the 
highest  degree  nervous.  He  was  generally  low-spirit- 
ed, thinking,  and  restless;  and  he  spoke  little,  and  never 
without  necessity.  His  eyes  were  mostly  cast  to  the 
ground,  and  he  seldom  raised  them  towards  heaven. 
The  excitement  under  which  he  composed  the  more 
poetical  Surahs  of  the  Koran  was  so  great  that  he  said 
that  they  had  caused  him  gray  hair ;  his  lips  were  quiv- 
ering and  his  hands  shaking  while  he  received  the  in- 
spiration. Any  offensive  smell  made  him  so  uncomfort- 
able that  he  forbade  persons  who  had  eaten  garlic  or 
onions  to  come  into  his  place  of  worship.  In  a  man  of 
semi-barbarous  habits  this  is  remarkable.  He  had  a 
woollen  garment,  and  was  obliged  to  throw  it  away 
when  it  began  to  smell  from  perspiration,  "  on  account 
of  his  delicate  constitution."  When  he  was  taken  ill, 
he  sobbed  like  a  woman  in  hysterics;  or,  as  Ayesha 
says,  he  roared  like  a  camel;  and  his  friends  reproached 
him  for  his  unmanly  bearing.  During  the  battle  of 
Badr  his  nervous  excitement  seems  to  have  bordered 
on  frenzy.  Tlie  faculties  of  his  mind  were  extremely 
unequally  developed ;  he  was  unfit  for  the  common  du- 
ties of  life,  and  even  after  his  mission  he  was  led  in  all 
practical  questions  by  his  friends.  But  he  had  a  vivid 
imagination,  the  greatest  elevation  of  mind,  refined  sen- 
timents, and  a  taste  for  the  sublime. 

Tlic  articles  Kokan  and  Mohammedanism  contain 
some  further  details  on  his  doctrine  and  its  history. 

Mohammed  Abd-el -Wahab,  the  founder  of 
the^Iohainincdan  sect  nanie<l  after  him  \V(ihahit(s,wtia 
born  in  TS'cjed  or  Nejd,  Central  Arabia,  about  the  close 
of  the  17th  century,  in  the  tribe  of  Temim,  and  claimed 
descent  from  Mohammed  the  prophet.  Like  his  proto- 
type, the  great  Mohammed,  he  spent  the  early  ])art  of 
his  life  in  trading  expeditions  to  Bassora,  Bagdad,  and 
Damascus.  Tradition  even  claims  for  him  extensive 
journeys,  reaching  to  India  on  the  east  and  to  Constan- 
tinople on  the  west.  He  was  a  prudent  and  sagacious 
young  man,  and  greatly  devoted  to  his  studies  in  the 
law  and  tlio  Koran,  and,  like  a  faithful  ISIoslem,  he 
made  a  ])ilgriniage  to  Mecca  and  ^Icdina,  Tlicre  he 
became  fired  with  such  an  ascetic  fanaticism  that  on 
his  return  he  was  compelled  to  (piit  his  native  village 
for  Deraijeh,  in  the  central  higldands  of  Arabia,  soon 
to  become  the  capital  of  the  new  theocracy.  Like  the 
projthet  of  the  crescent,  when  he  looked  abroatl  over  the 
degenerate  state  of  his  countrymen.  Abd-il-Wahal)  saw 
that  his  co-religionists  h.ad  fallen  away  from  the  inirity 
of  life  and  l)elief  which  made  Islam  master  of  all  the 
civilized  world  save  a  corner  of  Kurope.  and  he  resolved 
to  bring  them  liack  to  the  truth.  He  scouted  the  tradi- 
tions which  had  buried  the  pure  Koran  under  I  heir  mass, 
he  condemned  the  idolatry  which  regarded  Mohammed 


MOHAMMED 


411 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


as  more  than  a  mere  man  inspired  by  the  one  God,  and 
he  enforced  with  a  fanatical  earnestness  fasting,  alms- 
giving, prayer,  and  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  while  he 
forbade  the  gratification  of  all  vice  and  luxury,  whether 
drinking,  gambling,  smoking,  debauchery,  usury,  false 
witnesses,  tine  dresses,  or  grand  tombs.  Being  a  man  of 
talent  and  eloquence,  he  soon  gained  followers.  At  first 
his  progress  was  slow,  but  gradually  his  doctrines  be- 
came popular,  and  he  ultimately  succeeded  in  spreading 
them  widelj',  and  in  establishing  his  power  likewise. 
He  died  near  the  close  of  the  18th  century;  but  the 
WahaUtes  have  continued  to  grow  in  strength  and 
numbers  all  over  Asia,  particularly  India,  until  there  is 
now  scarcely  a  city  of  any  size  in  Northern  India  in 
%vhich  followers  of  his  are  not  to  be  found.  For  the  last 
ten  years  the  Wahabites  have  been  subject  to  rigor- 
ous searching  on  the  part  of  the  British  government, 
and  it  woidd  now  appear  that  they  have  joined  to  their 
religious  a  political  creed  which  is  dangerous  to  the 
welfare  of  Western  society  in  the  East.  See  Moham- 
WEDAN  Sects;  Wahabites.     (J. II.  W.) 

Mohammed  Aben-Kerram,  founder  of  a  Mo- 
hammedan sect,  was  born  at  Serenj  about  A.D.  820. 
After  teaching  in  his  native  city,  he  came  to  Khorassan, 
where  he  met  a  celebrated  hermit,  Ahmed  ben-Harb,  who 
induced  him  to  visit  the  Kaaba.  On  his  return  to  Kho- 
rassan, after  a  five  years'  sojourn  in  jMecca,  he  taught 
his  new  doctrines  in  Nichapur.  He  was  imprisoned 
by  Mohammed  ben-Thaher,  but  finally  escaped  and 
found  refuge  in  Jerusalem.  He  is  the  founder  of  the 
Anthropomorphites,  or  Mochehihes.  He  died  in  Jerusa- 
lem in  8G8. 

Mohammed  al-Darazi,  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
sect  of  the  Druses,  was  born  near  Bokhara  about  A.D. 
960.  In  1010  he  came  to  Egypt,  where  he  was  convert- 
ed to  the  doctrines  of  Hakim  al-Mokanna.  This  doc- 
trine admitted  incarnation  consecutive  with  divinity  in 
dillVrent  persons.  He  was  the  first  to  regard  Hakim 
al-]\I()kanna,  then  ruling  in  Egypt,  as  the  last  of  these 
incarnates.  He  published  a  book  in  which  he  set  forth 
the  successions  of  incarnation  since  Adam.  The  caliph 
Hakim  was  so  influenced  by  him  as  to  intrust  to  him 
virtually  the  management  of  all  government  affairs. 
Darazi,  having  published  his  work,  read  it  in  a  mosque 
at  Cairo,  whereupon  the  people,  greatlj'  displeased  with 
his  innovations,  attempted  to  slay  him.  Hakim  ap- 
peared to  disapprove  of  the  conduct  of  Darazi,  but  se- 
cretly furnished  him  with  money  to  quietly  advance 
his  cause,  and  advised  him  to  preach  his  doctrines  in  the 
mountains  of  Syria,  where  he  successfully  taught  his 
dogmas,  permitting  liis  followers  the  use  of  wine,  forni- 
cation, and  incest.  Mohammed  afterwards  returned  to 
Egypt,  where  he  set  himself  up  as  the  true  imam, 
brought  about  a  revolt  against  authority,  and  in  the 
conflict  lost  his  life  in  1019.  See  works  referred  to  in  the 
article  Druses  ;  Isjiaei.ites. 

Mohammed  Hakim  Ispahan!  (Hfji),  a 
Parsee  doctor,  was  born  at  Ispahan  about  1790.  He  was 
the  mollah  of  a  religious  sect  known  as  the  Basmian.^ 
or  old  orthodox  Parsees.  His  writings  reveal  interest- 
ing facts  concerning  what  is  left  at  Bombay  of  the  Par- 
sees,  or  fire-worshippers.  For  the  good  of  his  sect,  Mo- 
hammed wrote,  in  Persian  and  in  English,  Kathib  fi 
hilan  Ashat  al-Kahiseh,  or  "Selections  of  Mohammed 
from  History,  forming  a  perfect  Illustration  of  the  pres- 
ent Theological  Discussions  of  the  Parsees"  (Bombay, 
fol.  1827),  in  which  he  aims  to  prove  that  the  old  Per- 
sian intercalary  asra  is  of  the  remotest  antiquity,  and, 
in  fact,  originated  in  the  days  of  Zoroaster.  The  be- 
lievers of  other  Parsee  sects,  however,  such  as  the 
Chahinchahmians,  Kodmians,  and  Churigarians,  would 
have  it  date  onlj'  from  Yezdegerd  HI,  the  last  of  the 
Sassanide  kings.  In  answer  to  certain  books  written 
by  his  opponents  on  religious  matters,  Mohammed  wrote 
Dafakh  al-IIazl,  being  a  refutation  of  mollah  Firuz's 
■work,  entitled  Ressana  Moussumal  badallah,  etc.  (Bom- 


bay, 1832,  4to).  Mohammed  Hakim  Ispahan!  died  at 
Bombay  about  184C.  See  Zenker,  Bibl.  Orient,  s.  v. ; 
Spiegel,  Chrtstomathia  Persica. — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog. 
Geueni/r,  xxxv,  759. 

Mohammedanism,  called  by  its  professors  Isla?7), 
meaning  "resignation"  or  "entire  submission"  (i.  e.  to 
the  will  of  God),  in  accordance  with  the  Koran,  which, 
as  we  have  already  seen  in  the  article  imder  that  head- 
ing, is  the  Bible  of  the  Mohammedan,  and  in  the  days 
of  the  Prophet  was  the  only  sacred  book  in  use,  the  sole 
exponent  of  duty  and  privilege  to  the  Moslem,  as  the 
Mohammedan  calls  himself.  The  Koran,  however,  be- 
ing a  miscellaneous  collection  of  hymns,  prayers,  dog- 
mas, sermons,  occasional  speeches,  narratives,  legends, 
laws,  orders  for  the  time  in  which  they  wtre  given, 
without  any  chronological  arrangement,  and  full  of  rep- 
etitions and  contradictions,  owing  to  the  manner  of  its 
collection,  which  took  place  subsequent  to  Mohammed's 
death,  soon  proved  too  disconnected  to  be  continued, 
even  by  the  most  ardent  disciple  of  Islam,  as  the  sole 
guide  of  authority.  Neither  dogmas  nor  laws  are  here 
reduced  to  a  system  ;  they  had  been  inserted  by  piece- 
meal just  as  they  had  been  written  down,  or  even  after- 
wards discovered  in  the  reminiscences  of  Mohammed's 
companions.  But,  aside  from  these  imperfections  of  con- 
tradictions, repetitions,  and  the  want  of  system,  it  was 
manifest  also  that  the  Koran  was  lacking  in  instruction 
on  many  important  theological  questions,  in  which  light 
the  Mohammedan  is  accustomed  to  regard  all  ritual, 
dogmatic,  and  juridical  matters.  The  Moslem  therefore 
resorted,  in  the  first  place,  to  oral  tradiHon,  and  by  the 
aid  of  reported  expressions  of  the  Prophet,  and  exam- 
ples in  his  public  and  private  life  (Ifadiik  and  Siimiah'), 
supplemented  the  deficiencies  and  elucidated  the  ob- 
scure passages  of  the  Koran  (q.  v.).  When  this  resource 
failed  to  meet  all  wants,  the  decrees  of  the  imams,  i.  e. 
of  the  caliphs  as  spiritual  heads,  were  raised  to  the  au- 
thority of  divine  laws  and  doctrines.  Thus  a  religious 
structure,  extended  by  analogy  and  induction,  supported 
by  the  Koran,  by  tradition,  and  by  decrees  of  the  imams, 
comprising  juridical,  ritualistic,  and  dogmatic  doctrines, 
was  gradually  completed  into  a  systematic  whole,  sufli- 
cient  for  all  purposes  as  a  guide  to  the  Moslem.  But 
we  need  hardly  add  that  into  such  a  peculiar  construc- 
tion contradictions  in  theory  and  practice  have  foimd 
their  way,  according  to  the  different  traditions  and  de- 
cisions of  the  imams  or  expounders  of  the  law,  besides 
the  various  interpretations  put  upon  the  Koran  itself 
within  the  pale  of  the  different  Mohammedan  sects  that 
have  arisen  since  the  days  of  the  Prophet.  See  JIo- 
iiammeuan  Sects.  For  the  historical  and  ethical  cir- 
cumstances that  conduced  to  the  origin  and  progress  of 
Mohammedanism,  see  the  article  Moiiamjied. 

Moslemism  consists  of  a  dogmatical  or  theoretical 
part,  called  "Iman"  (i.  e.  faith),  and  a  practical  part, 
called  "  Din"  (i.  e.  religion.)  (See  Yambery,  Der  Islam 
im  neunzehnten  Jahrhundert  [Leips.  1875]). 

I.  Dogmas. — The  doctrines  of  Islam,  as  originally  insti- 
tuted upon  its  foundation,  may  be  reduced  to  three  lead- 
ing propositions,  viz. :  (1)  the  doctrine  of  one  Deity,  (2) 
of  the  revelation  or  prophetic  vision  of  Mohammed,  and 
(3)  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  latter  being  closely 
interlinked  with  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  of  paradise,  and  of  hell,  the  day  of  judgment,  and 
the  rewarding  of  the  good  and  faithful,  as  well  as  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked  and  of  infidels.  Though 
these  doctrines  are  plain  and  simple,  they  became,  nev- 
ertheless, even  in  the  first  century  of  the  Mohammedan 
tera,  subjects  of  the  most  violent  polemics.  A  man  like 
IMohammed,  in  whom  not  the  least  trace  of  scholarly 
education  is  to  be  found,  was  unable  to  set  up  a  sys- 
tematic structure  of  doctrines.  True,  we  find  in  sundry 
passages  of  the  Koran  that  God  is  the  creator  and  pre- 
server of  the  world ;  that  he  is  One,  omniscient,  omnip- 
otent, eternal,  just,  and  gracious.  But  the  Arabs,  after 
becoming  acquainted  with  Persian  religions  and  ideas, 
and  with  Grecian  philosophy,  would  not  be  satisfied  with 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


412 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


such  simplicity.  Their  desire  for  knowledge  led  them 
to  further  iiu|uiries,  for  which  they  found  no  solution  in 
the  Koran,  and  which  therefore  gave  occasion  to  dis- 
sensions, the  more  irreme<lialjle  as  they  were  in  part 
connected  with  political  differences.  At  the  very  ear- 
liest epoch  reflective  minds  among  the  faithful  took 
offence  and  exception  to  many  dogmas,  particular!}'  on 
tlie  essence  of  the  Deity  and  its  relation  to  mankind,  as 
well  as  to  the  irrational  doctrines  concerning  the  Ko- 
ran itself.  Thus  the  orthodox  taught  that  the  divine 
attributes  existed,  so  to  speak,  by  the  side  of  Deity; 
while  the  Motazelites,  i.  e.  the  Separatists,  considered 
the  Deity  itself  as  the  essence  of  wisdom,  beneficence, 
power,  and  other  qualities.  The  doctrine  of  the  justice 
of  God  led  the  latter  (i.  c.  the  dissenters)  further  to  ac- 
cept the  dogma  of  human  free  will,  while  the  orthodox 
inclined  more  or  less  to  the  Augustinian  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination and  grace.  Tliis  same  doctrine  induced  the 
liberal  Mohammedans  to  assume  a  gradation  of  sin  and 
punishment;  while,  according  to  the  opinion  of  the 
strictly  orthodox,  every  ^loslem  who  commits  only  one 
sin,  and  departs  this  life  without  repentance,  is  con- 
signed to  eternal  punishment.  (See  below.)  Thus 
also  the  absolute  unity  of  the  Deity  induced  the  Sepa- 
ratists to  maintain  that  the  Koran  was  created,  since 
otherwise  two  (things)  beings  must  have  existed  from 
eternity ;  the  orthodox,  on  the  contrary,  regard  the  Ko- 
ran as  something  uncreated,  lest,  God  being  immutable, 
it  be  viewed  as  not  belonging  to  his  being,  and  tliereby 
the  whole  doctrine  of  revelation  become  undermined. 
The  latter  dogma  was  fiercely  disputed  under  the  caliph 
Mamun,  who  instituted  a  formal  inquisition,  and  perse- 
cuted to  the  utmost  the  adherents  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
eternity  of  tlie  Koran. 

Much  controversy  arose  also  concerning  the  dogma  of 
divine  foreordination,  and  both  contending  parties  found 
no  difficulty  in  bringing  proof  from  the  Koran,  which 
is  especially  rich  in  contradictions  on  this  point.  In  one 
passage  it  reads :  '■  To  him  who  wants  this  world  we 
give  directly  according  to  our  pleasure ;  but  he  will  be 
rejected  and  derided  in  the  future  state,  and  burned  in 
hell."  In  another  passage  it  is  said :  "  Follow  tlie  most 
beautiful  sent  to  you  from  your  Lord,  before  punisliment 
befalls  you,  and  you  find  no  more  assistance ;  before  the 
soul  exclaims.  Woe  to  me!  I  have  sinned  and  was  of  the 
mockers;  or.  If  God  would  have  guided  me,  I  would  have 
feared  liini;  or.  Could  I  return  to  the  earth,  I  would  jirac- 
tice  the  good.  Not  so;  my  signs  (the  verses  of  the 
Koran)  have  come  to  thee,  thou  hast  declared  them  lies, 
thou  wast  haughty  and  unbelieving."  While  these  and 
similar  passages,  as  well  as  the  continual  threats  and 
l)r(imises,  speak  clearly  in  favor  of  a  d  >gma  of  hinnan 
free  will,  there  are  others  which  make  the  acts  of  man 
dependent  on  the  divine  will,  and  render  man,  as  to  vir- 
tue and  vice,  a  blind  instrument  of  divine  arbitrariness. 
Tims  we  read  :  '■  For  those  who  are  unbelievers,  it  is  the 
same  whether  thou  ((iod  is  speaking  to  Moliammed) 
admonishcst  them  or  not;  they  believe  not.  (iod  has 
sealed  their  hearts,  and  over  their  eyes  and  ears  there 
is  a  covering."  And  further :  "  The"  infidels  say,  Why 
docs  God  not  send  any  miracles  to  him  (Mohammed)  ? 
Say,  The  Lord  leaves  in  error  whom  he  chooses,  and 
guides  those  who  turn  to  him  who  believe,  and  whose 
hearts  find  rest  at  tlic  thought  of  Divinity."  Very  fre- 
(piently  we  meet  in  the  Koran  with  the  phrase:  "(iod 
guides  whom  he  pleases,  and  leaves  in  error  whom  he 
jileases."  These  and  similar  verses,  however,  if  we  sur- 
vey the  whole  without  any  bias,  can  be  interpreted  as 
meaning  that  (Jod  in  his  wisdom  appoints  at  what  time 
and  wliioii  ])eople  he  will  bless  by  his  revelation,  and  tliat 
lie  strengthens  by  faith  the  men  who  desire  the  g<ioil  and 
true  in  tlieir  aspirations,  while  lie  aljandons  those  in  j 
wlidui  the  propensity  for  evil  predominates,  to  their  ' 
m;)re  and  more  increasing  corrui)tion,  and  thus  measur- 
alily  liardens  their  hearts.  Again:  if  the  doctrine  of  [ 
j>re(le>tination  is  stidly  adopted,  not  to  come  in  conflict 
witli  divine  justice,  the  doctrine  of  original  sin— i.  e.  of  I 


an  internal  corruption  of  mankind  in  consequence  of  the 
sin  of  Adam — must  also  be  assumed.  But  such  a  dogma 
is  not  mooted  in  the  Koran  ;  on  the  contrary,  in  several 
places  the  idea  of  accountability  for  the  sins  of  others  ia 
controverted.  There  is,  to  be  sure,  in  the  Koran,  as  in 
the  Old  Testament,  the  narrative  of  the  first  human 
couple  residing  in  paradise,  of  their  disobedience  against 
God's  interdiction,  and  of  their  expulsion  from  it ;  how- 
ever, when  Adam  repented  of  his  sin,  (iod  pardoned  him, 
and  said  to  him :  "  Leave  the  paradise,  but  my  guide 
(revelation)  will  come  to  you;  he  who  follows  it  has 
nothing  to  fear  and  never  will  know  sorrow,  but  the  in- 
fidels who  declare  our  signs  lies  will  be  eternal  inmates 
of  hell."  Thus  it  is  evidently  taught  that  the  curse 
which  rested  on  the  human  race  by  Adam's  sin  is  avert- 
ed; divine  grace  manifests  itself  by  revelation,  and 
eveiy  prophet  from  Adam  to  Mohammed,  who  desig- 
nated himself  as  the  last  one  for  the  seal  of  prophecy, 
is  a  Saviour  for  every  one  who  believes  in  revelation, 
and  acts  according  to  its  precepts.  Of  a  further  grace 
to  purify  mankind  from  original  sin,  and  enable  them 
to  regain  the  beatitude  of  paradise,  no  mention  is  made, 
consequently  the  idea  of  being  predestined  to  damna- 
tion would  not  be  compatible  with  divine  justice. 

The  history  of  the  prophets  also  occupies  a  very 
large  space  in  the  Koran.  Besides  the  Olil  Testament, 
several  other  prophets  are  named,  who  are  said  to  have 
been  sent  to  the  extinct  tribes  of  Arabia.  The  history 
of  all  these  so-called  divine  messengers  is  embellislied 
with  many  legends,  partly  to  be  found  in  the  Talmud 
and  in  the  Midrash,  but  by  Mohammed  fashioned  to  suit 
his  purpose,  in  order  to  inspire  his  antagonists  with  fear 
and  his  votaries  with  consolation.  He  likes  to  identify 
himself  with  the  Biblical  prophets,  puts  into  their  mouth 
such  words  as  he  addressed  to  the  jMeccans,  represents 
also  those  messengers  of  God  as  disregarded  by  their 
contemporaries,  and  that  hence  (iod's  wrath  is  inflamed, 
and  infidels  are  caused  to  perish  with  ignominy,  until 
finally,  however,  truth  comes  to  prevail,  and  the  perse- 
cuted prophet  triumphs,  surrounded  by  the  few  who  be- 
lieved in  him  previous  to  the  divine  punishment.-  In 
pursuance  of  this  system,  Jlohammed,  to  be  consistent, 
cannot  accept  the  crucifixion  of  Christ ;  for  no  man  ought 
to  atone  for  the  sins  of  others,  nor  ought  a  prophet  to  be 
forsaken  b\'  (iod.  Therefore  the  Koran  teaches  it  was 
not  Christ  who  was  crucified,  but  an  infidel  Jew  whom 
(iod  invested  with  the  form  of  Christ,  whom  the  Jews 
crucified  in  his  stead.  "  Verily,  Christ  Jesus,  the  son  of 
JMary,  is  the  apostle  of  God.  and  his  word,  which  he  con- 
veyed unto  ^lary,  and  a  spirit  iimceoding  from  him,  hon- 
orable in  this  world  and  in  tlie  world  to  come;  and  one 
of  those  who  approach  near  to  the  presence  of  (iod.  Yet 
Jesus  was  a  mere  mortal,  and  not  the  son  of  (iod;  his 
enemies  conspired  against  his  life,  but  a  phantom  was 
substituted  for  him  on  the  cross,  while  he  was  translated 
to  heaven"  (Sur.  iii,  5t ;  iv,  156, 150).  There  is  also  other 
mention  and  estimate  expressed  in  the  Koran  concern- 
ing Christ.  He  is  called  the  living  Word  and  Spirit 
of  God.  The  miraculous  birth  of  Christ  has  nothing 
offensive  to  ]\Iohammed,  for  Adam  h.ad  also  been  created 
by  the  breath  of  (iod.  Neither  does  he  hesitate  to  re- 
ceive all  miracles  related  in  the  (iospels,  since  similar 
ones  had  been  performed  by  Abraham  and  Closes. 
Even  the  ascension  is  to  him  neither  new  nor  incredi- 
ble, as  the  same  is  reported  of  Klijah  and  Fnoch.  Be- 
sides the  crucifixion,  he  abhors  in  the  Cliristian  dogmas 
the  supposition  that  a  prophet  with  his  mother  are  placed 
next  to  the  Deity,  and  declares  the  Trinitarian  view  to 
be  an  impious  fiction  of  the  priests.  Tiie  Jloham- 
mcdan  doctrine  of  God's  nature  and  attributes  coincides 
with  the  Cliristian,  inasmuch  as  he  is  by  both  taught 
to  be  the  creator  of  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth,  who 
rules  and  preserves  all  things,  without  beginning,  om- 
nipotent, omniscient,  oniniiiresont,  and  full  of  mercy. 
Yet,  according  to  the  Mohammedan  belief,  lie  has  no 
oft'spring:  "  He  begetteth  not,  nor  is  lie  begotten."  Xor 
is  JeAis  called  anything  but  a  prophet  and  an  apostle, 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


413 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


althougn  Mohammed  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  the 
birth  of  Christ  was  due  to  a  miraculous  divine  opera- 
tion. But  after  all  it  is  taught  that,  as  the  Koran  super- 
seded the  Gospel,  so  Mohammed  supersedes  Christ,  and 
he  is  declared  to  be  by  far  the  most  illustrious  apostle 
(Sur.  xxiii,  40).  Of  particular  importance  for  Moham- 
metl  is  the  annunciation  of  a  Paraclete,  which  he  applied 
to  himself,  either  pretending  or  even  actually  believing  it 
to  be  himself.  Of  equal  significance  for  him,  and  there- 
fore treated  by  him  with  great  predilection,  is  Abraham, 
first,  because  of  his  simple  doctrines,  to  which  Moham- 
med himself  adhered  in  the  early  period  of  his  prophetic 
mission ;  and,  secondly,  on  account  of  the  sacred  places 
and  relics  in  Mecca  of  which  he  (Abraham)  is  called  the 
founder;  and,  thirdly  and  finally,  because  he  was  the 
father  of  Ishmael,  from  whom  iMoharamed  and  his  race 
claim  descent.  The  Sunnites  look  in  quite  a  different 
light  upon  the  prophets.  They  regard  them,  as  a  class, 
as  the  simple  carriers  of  revelation,  but  in  all  other  re- 
spects declare  them  to  be  common  men,  liable  to  human 
infirmities;  while  the  Shiites  pronounce  them  perfectly 
pure  and  sinless,  like  the  angels,  instruments  of  God, 
who  only  execute  and  always  have  executed  his  orders, 
except  Iblis,  who  on  account  of  his  disobedience  was 
rejected,  and,  as  Satan,  tries  to  seduce  men.  An  impor- 
tant dogma  with  the  Shiites  is  that  of  the  Imamat,  or 
hereditary  succession  of  descendants  of  the  Prophet  by 
his  daughter  Fatima,  consort  of  Ali — a  doctrine  which 
the  Sunnites  do  not  acknowledge.  Many  of  them  see  in 
the  caliphate  merely  a  political  institution,  which  ought 
to  have  the  welfare  of  the  nations  for  its  foundation  and 
supreme  end. 

A  prominent  dogma  in  Islam  is  the  belief  in  angels, 
whom  they  thus  picture :  Created  of  fire,  and  endowed 
with  a  kind  of  uncorporeal  body,  they  stand  between 
God  and  man,  adoring  or  waiting  upon  the  former,  or 
interceding  for  and  guarding  the  latter.  The  four  chief 
angels  are  "  The  Holy  Spirit,"  or  "  Angel  of  Revelations" 
— Gabriel;  the  special  protector  and  guardian  of  the 
Jews — Michael;  the  "Angel  of  Death" — Azrael  (Ra- 
phael, in  the  apocryphal  gospel  of  Barnabas),  and  Isra- 
fil — Uriel,  whose  oihce  it  will  be  to  sound  the  trumpet 
at  the  resurrection.  It  will  hardly  be  necessary,  alter 
what  we  have  said  under  Mohamjied,  to  point  out,  in 
every  individual  instance,  how  most  of  his  "  religious" 
notions  were  taken  almost  bodily  from  the  Jewish  le- 
gends ;  this  angelolog}',  however,  the  Jews  had  them- 
selves borrowed  from  the  Persians,  only  altering  the 
names,  and,  in  a  few  cases,  the  offices  of  the  chief  angelic 
dignitaries.  Besides  angels,  there  are  good  and  evil 
genii,  the  chief  of  the  latter  being  Iblis  (Despair),  once 
called  Azazil,  who,  refusing  to  paj'  homage  to  Adam,  was 
rejected  by  God.  These  Jin  are  of  a  grosser  fabric  than 
angels,  and  subject  to  death.  They,  too,  have  different 
names  and  offices  (Peri,  Fairies ;  Div,  Giants ;  Takvins, 
Fates,  etc.),  and  are,  in  almost  every  respect,  like  the 
Shedim  in  the  Talmud  and  Midrash.  A  further  point 
of  belief  is  that  of  certain  God-given  Scriptures,  reveal- 
ed successively  to  the  different  prophets.  Four  only  of 
the  original  one  hundred  and  four  sacred  books,  viz. 
the  Pentateuch,  the  Psalms,  the  Gospel,  and  the  Koran, 
are  said  to  have  survived;  the  three  former,  however, 
in  a  mutilated  and  falsified  condition.  Besides  these,  a 
certain  apocryphal  gospel,  attributed  to  St.  Barnabas, 
and  the  writings  of  Daniel,  together  with  those  of  a  few 
other  prophets,  are  taken  notice  of  by  the  Moslems,  but 
not  as  canonical  books.  The  number  of  prophets,  sent 
at  various  times,  is  stated  variously  at  between  two  and 
three  hundred  thousand,  among  whom  313  were  apostles, 
and  six  were  specially  commissioned  to  proclaim  new 
laws  and  dispensations,  which  abrogated  the  preceding 
ones.  These  were  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  jMoses,  Je- 
sus, and  Mohammed — the  last  the  greatest  of  them  all, 
and  the  propagator  of  the  final  dispensation. 

The  belief  in  the  resurrection  and  the  final  judgment 
is  another  important  article  of  faith.  The  dead  are  re- 
ceived iu  their  graves  by  an  angel  annoiuicing  the  com- 


ing of  the  two  examiners,  Monker  and  Nakir,  who  put 
questions  to  the  corpse  respecting  his  belief  in  God  and 
Mohammed,  and  who,  in  accordance  with  the  answers, 
either  torture  or  comfort  him.  This,  again,  is  the  Jew- 
ish "  Chibbut  hak-keber,"  the  Beating  of  the  Grave,  a 
hyperbolical  description  of  the  sufferings  during  the  in- 
termediate state  after  death.  The  soul,  awaiting  the 
general  resurrection,  enters  according  to  its  rank,  either 
immediately  into  paradise  (prophets),  or  partakes,  in  the  . 
shape  of  a  green  bird,  of  the  delights  of  the  abode  of 
bliss  (martyrs),  or — in  the  case  of  common  believers — is 
supposed  either  to  stay  near  the  grave,  or  to  be  with 
Adam  in  the  lowest  heaven,  or  to  remain  either  in  the 
well  of  Zem-Zem,  or  in  the  trumpet  of  the  resurrection. 
According  to  others,  it  rests  in  the  shape  of  a  white  bird 
under  the  throne  of  God.  The  souls  of  the  infidels 
dwell  in  a  certain  well  in  the  province  of  Hadramaut 
(Heb.  Courts  of  Death),  or,  being  first  offered  to  heav- 
en, then  oifered  to  earth,  and  rejected  by  either,  become 
subject  to  unspeakable  tortures  until  the  day  of  resur- 
rection. 

Mohammedan  theologians  are  verj'  much  divided  in 
regard  to  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection.  Mohammed 
himself  seems  to  have  held  that  both  soul  and  body  will 
be  raised,  and  the  "  Bone  Luz"  of  the  Jewish  Haggadah 
was  by  him  transformed  into  the  bone  Al-Ajb,  the  rump- 
bone,  which  will  remain  uncorrupted  until  the  last  day, 
and  from  which  the  whole  body  Avill  spring  anew,  after 
a  forty-days'  rain.  Among  the  signs  by  which  the  ap- 
proach of  the  last  day  may  be  known — nearly  all  taken 
from  the  legendarj'  part  of  the  Talmud  and  Midrash, 
where  the  signs  of  the  coming  of  the  Jlessiah  are  enu- 
merated— are  the  decay  of  faith  among  men,  the  ad- 
vancing of  the  meanest  persons  to  highest  dignities, 
wars,  seditions,  and  tumults,  and  consequent  dire  dis- 
tress, so  that  a  man  passing  another's  grave  shall  say : 
"  Would  to  God  I  were  in  his  place !"  Certain  prov- 
inces shall  revolt,  and  the  buildings  of  Medina  shall  reach 
to  Yahab.  Again:  the  sun  will  rise  in  the  west;  the 
Beast  will  appear ;  Constantinople  will  be  taken  by  the 
descendants  of  Isaac;  the  Antichrist  will  come,  and  be 
killed  by  Jesus  at  Lud.  There  will  further  take  place 
a  war  with  the  Jews,  Gog  and  Magog's  (Jajug  and  Ma- 
juj's)  eruption,  a  great  smoke,  an  eclipse,  the  Moham- 
medans will  return  to  idolatry,  a  great  treasure  will  be 
found  in  the  Euphrates,  the  Kaaba  will  be  destroyed  by 
the  Ethiopians,  beasts  and  inanimate  things  will  speak, 
and,  finally,  a  wind  will  sweep  away  the  souls  of  those 
who  have  faith,  even  if  equal  only  to  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  so  that  the  world  shall  be  left  in  ignorance. 

The  time  of  the  resurrection  even  Mohammed  could 
not  learn  from  Gabriel :  it  is  a  mystery.  Three  blasts 
will  announce  it :  that  of  consternation,  of  such  terrible 
powers  that  mothers  shall  neglect  the  babes  on  their 
breasts,  and  that  heaven  and  earth  will  melt ;  that  of 
exanimation,  which  will  annihilate  all  things  and  be- 
ings, even  the  angel  of  death,  save  paradise  and  hell, 
and  their  inhabitants;  and,  forty  years  later,  that  of 
resurrection,  when  all  men,  Slohammed  first,  shall  have 
their  souls  breathed  into  their  restored  bodies,  and  will 
sleep  in  their  sepulchres  mitil  the  final  doom  has  been 
passed  upon  them.  The  day  of  judgment,  lasting  from 
one  to  fifty  thousand  years,  will  call  up  angels,  genii, 
men,  and  animals.  The  trial  over,  the  righteous  will 
enter  paradise,  to  the  right  hand,  and  the  wicked  will 
pass  to  the  left,  into  hell ;  both,  however,  have  first  to 
go  over  the  bridge  Al-Sirat,  laid  over  the  midst  of  hell, 
being  finer  than  a  hair,  and  sharper  than  the  edge  of  a 
sword,  and  beset  with  thorns  on  either  side.  The  right- 
eous will  proceed  on  their  path  with  ease  and  swiftness, 
but  the  wicked  will  fall  down  headlong  to  hell  below. 
Paradise  is  divided  from  hell  by  a  partition  (Orl"),  in 
which  a  certain  number  of  half-saints  will  find  place. 
The  blessed,  destined  for  the  abodes  of  eternal  delight 
(Jannat-Aden ;  Heb.  Gan-Eden)— of  which  it  is,  how- 
ever, not  quite  certain  whether  it  is  already  created — 
will  first  drink  of  the  Pond  of  the  Prophet,  which  is 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


414 


MOHA^DIEDANISM 


supplied  from  the  rivers  of  paradise,  whiter  than  millt,  I 
and  more  odoriferous  than  musk.     Arrived  at  one  of 
the  eight  gates,  they  will  be  met  by  beautiful  youths 
and  angels ;  and  their  degree  of  righteousness  (propli- 
ets,  religious  teachers,  martyrs,  believers)  will  procure  i 
for  them  the  corresponding  degree  of  happiness.     It 
may,  however,  not  be  superfluous  to  add  that,  according  ! 
to  the  Mohammedan  doctrine,  it  is  not  a  person's  good 
works  or  merits  which  gain  his  admittance,  but  solely 
God's  mercy;  also  that  the  poor  will  cuter  paradise  live 
hundred  years  before  the  rich ;  and  that  the  majority 
of  the  inhabitants  of  hell  are  women. 

As  to  tlie  various  felicities  which  await  the  pious 
(and  of  which  there  are  about  a  hundred  degrees),  they 
are  a  wild  conglomeration  of  Jewish,  Christian,  Magian, 
and  other  fancies  on  the  subject,  to  which  the  Prophet's 
own  exceedingly  sensual  imagination  has  added  very 
considerabl}-.  Feasting  in  the  most  gorgeous  and  deli- 
cious variety,  the  most  costly  and  brilliant  garments, 
odors  and  music  of  the  most  ravishing  nature,  and, 
above  all,  the  enjoyment  of  the  Hilr  Al-Oyun,  the  black- 
eyed  daughters  of  paradise,  created  of  pure  musk,  and 
free  from  all  the  bodily  weaknesses  of  the  female  sex, 
are  held  out  as  a  reward  to  the  commonest  inhabitants 
of  paradise,  who  will  always  remain  in  the  full  vigor  of 
their  youth  and  manhood.  For  those  deserving  a  higher 
degree  of  recom])ense,  rewards  will  be  prepared  of  a 
purely  spiritual  kind— i.  e.  the  "  beholding  of  God's  face" 
(Shecliinah)  by  night  and  by  day.  A  separate  abode 
of  liappiness  will  also  be  reserved  for  women ;  but  there 
is  considerable  doubt  as  to  the  manner  of  their  enjoy- 
ment. That  they  are  not  of  a  prominently  spiritual  nat- 
ure is  clear  from  the  story  of  the  Prophet  and  the  old 
woman.  The  latter  solicited  Mohammed  to  intercede 
with  God  that  she  might  be  admitted  into  paradise, 
whereupon  he  replied  that  old  women  were  not  allowed 
in  paradise;  which  dictum — causing  her  to  weep — he 
further  explained  by  saying  that  they  would  first  be 
made  young  again. 

Regarding  the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  thelMoslcm 
has  received  detailed  information  from  the  Prophet. 
According  to  him,  hell  is  divided  into  seven  stories  or 
apartments,  one  below  anotlier,  designed  for  the  recej)- 
tion  of  as  many  distinct  classes  of  the  damned.  The 
first,  which  is  called  Jeheniim,  is  the  receptacle  of  those 
who  acknowledged  one  God,  that  is,  the  wicked  Mo- 
hammedans, who,  after  having  been  iiunished  according 
to  their  demerits,  will  at  length  be  released ;  the  second, 
named  lAidha,  they  assign  to  the  Jews;  the  third,  named 
(d-IIiitiima,  to  the  Christians;  the  fourth,  named  ul- 
.Sdir,  to  the  Sabians;  the  fifth,  named  Sakar,  to  the 
Magians ;  the  sixth,  named  ul-Jahin,  to  the  idolaters ; 
and  the  seventh,  which  is  the  lowest  and  worst  of  all, 
and  is  called  al-I/airi/at,  to  the  hypocrites,  or  those  who 
outwardly  professed  some  religion,  but  in  their  hearts 
were  of  none.  Over  each  of  these  apartments  they  be- 
lieve there  will  be  set  a  guard  of  angels,  nineteen  in 
numljer,  to  whom  the  damned  will  confess  the  just  judg- 
ment of  God,  and  beg  them  to  intercede  with  him  for 
some  alleviation  of  their  pain,  or  that  they  may  be  de- 
livered by  being  annihilated.  Mohammed  has,  in  his 
Koran  and  traditions,  been  very  exact  in  describing  the 
various  torments  of  hell,  which,  according  to  him,  the 
wicked  will  suffer  both  from  intense  heat  and  excessive 
cold.  We  shall,  however,  enter  into  no  detail  of  them 
here;  but  only  observe  that  the  degrees  of  these  pains 
will  also  vary  in  proportion  to  the  criines  of  the  sufferer, 
and  the  apartment  he  is  condemned  to;  and  that  he 
who  is  ])unished  the  most  lightly  of  all  will  be  shod  with 
shoes  of  fire,  the  fervor  of  wliich  will  cause  liis  skull  to 
boil  like  a  caldron.  The  condition  of  these  imliap]n' 
wretches,  it  is  taught,  cannot  be  ijrojterly  called  either 
life  or  death;  and  their  misery  will  he  greatly  increased 
by  their  despair  of  being  ever  delivered  from  that  jilace, 
since,  according  to  that  frequent  exprcssio;i  in  the  Ko- 
ran, "  they  must  remain  therein  forever."  It  must  be 
remarked,  however,  that  the  infidels  alone  wUl  be  liable 


to  eternity  of  damnation ;  for  the  Moslems,  or  those  who 
have  embraced  the  true  religion,  and  have  been  guilty 
of  heinous  sins,  will  be  delivered  thence  after  they  shall 
have  expiated  their  crimes  by  their  sufferings.  The 
time  which  these  believers  shall  be  detained  tliere,  ac- 
cording to  a  tradition  handed  down  from  their  Proplict, 
will  not  be  less  than  nine  hundred  years,  nor  more  than 
seven  thousand.  As  to  the  manner  of  their  deliver- 
ance, they  saj'  that  they  shall  be  distingiushed  by  the 
marks  of  prostration  on  those  parts  of  their  bodies  with 
which  they  used  to  touch  the  ground  in  prayer,  and 
over  which  the  fire  will  therefore  have  no  power;  and 
that,  being  known  by  this  characteristic,  they  will  be 
released  by  the  mercy  of  God,  at  the  intercession  of 
Mohammed  and  the  blessed ;  whereupon  those  who  shall 
have  been  dead  will  be  restored  to  life,  as  has  been  said ; 
and  those  whose  bodies  shall  have  contracted  any  soot- 
iness  or  filth  from  the  flames  and  smoke  of  hell  will 
be  immersed  in  one  of  the  rivers  of  paradise,  called 
the  Kiver  of  Life,  which  will  wash  them  whiter  than 
pearls. 

11.  Practical  Duties. — Our  consideration  is  next  re- 
quired for  an  examination  of  that  part  of  Islam  called 
the  "  Din,"  or  practical  part,  which  Mohammedan  jurists 
and  theologians  divide  into  two  principal  sections:  («) 
the  religious  or  ceremonial  lata  (parts  of  which,  how- 
ever, according  to  our  Western  notions,  belong  to  the 
category  of  state  rights) ;  and  (b)  the  civil  law,  includ- 
ing police  and  special  laws. 

(«)  The  ceremonial  law,  or  Ritual  of  Islam,  contains 
(1)  the  various  regulations  concerning  purification, 
which  is  to  precede,  especially,  prayer  and  other  re- 
ligious obligations,  or  the  approach  to  or  touch  of  sa- 
cred things.  Here  is  taught  what  is  to  be  considered 
as  impure,  and  requires  a  purification  after  touching; 
what  kind  of  water  is  to  be  used  for  ablution,  or  how, 
in  want  of  water,  sand  is  to  be  applied;  what  parts  of 
the  body  are  to  be  washed;  what  conditions  of  body 
require  a  second  ablution;  how  women,  after  parturi- 
tion or  during  menstruation,  have  to  conduct  them- 
selves. Religious  purifications  are  of  two  kinds:  the 
Ghusl,  or  total  immersion  of  the  body,  required  as  a  re- 
ligious ceremony  on  some  special  occasions ;  and  the 
Wudu,  a  partial  ablution,  to  be  performed  immediately 
before  the  prayer.  This  is  of  primary  importance,  and 
consists  of  the  washing  of  hands,  face,  ears,  and  feet  up 
to  the  ankles— a  proceeding  generally  accompanied  at 
each  stage  by  corresponding  pious  sentences,  and  con- 
cluded by  the  recital  of  the  !>7th  chapter  of  the  Koran. 
"  The  practice  of  religion  being  founded  on  cleanliness, 
it  is  not  sufficient  that  the  believer  himself  should  be 
purified,  but  even  the  ground  or  the  carpet  upon  which 
he  prays  must  be  clean;  hence  the  use  of  a  special 
prayer-carpet"  (Scgaddeli). 

(2)  The  precepts  winch  have  for  their  object  the 
performance  of  prayer — "  the  key  of  paradise."  They 
refer  to  the  time  at  which  the  five  daily  devotions  are 
to  be  held ;  to  the  prayers  on  Fridays  and  festival  days; 
at  eclipses  of  the  sun  and  moon,  or  in  seasons  of  drought; 
and  to  the  position  of  the  body  in  prayer.  They  treat 
further  of  the  prayer  of  women,  of  things  which  invali- 
date prayer,  of  the  abbreviation  of  prayer  during  travel 
or  in  i)eril  of  life,  of  the  direction  while  praying,  and 
the  jilaees  where  prayers  must  not  be  said.  In  this 
section  the  Shafiites  adduce  the  prohibition  for  men 
to  wear  silk  clothing,  or  gold  and  silver  ornaments,  as 
well  as  the  various  ceremonies  to  be  observed  at  funer- 
als :  how  the  corpse  is  to  be  washed,  dressed,  and  placed 
in  the  grave;  how  the  dead  is  to  l)e  (irayed  for;  how 
the  tomb  is  to  be  constructed;  how  the  deceased  is  to 
be  lamented  for,  the  family  of  the  departed  to  be  com- 
forted, etc. 

The  praj'ers  (.Salah)  performed  by  every  Jlohamme- 
dan  five  times  daily  consist  partly  of  extracts  from  the 
Revealed  Hook,  the  Koran  (Fard),  partly  of  pieces  or- 
dained by  the  Pr(>i)hot.  without  allegation  of  a  divine 
order  (Sunnah),     The  first  time  of  prayer  commences 


MOPIAMMEDANISM 


415 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


at  the  Maghrib,  or  about  sunset;  the  second  at  the 
Eshe,  or  nightfall ;  the  third  at  Subh,  or  daybreak ;  the 
fourth  at  the  Duhr,  or  about  noon ;  the  fifth  at  the  Asr, 
or  afternoon.  The  believers  are  not  to  comnnence  their 
prayers  exactly  at  sunrise,  or  noon,  or  sunset,  lest  they 
might  be  confounded  with  the  infldel  sun-worshippers. 
These  several  times  of  prayer  are  announced  by  the 
muezzins  (q.  v.)  from  the  minarets  or  madnehs  of  the 
mosques.  Their  chant,  sung  to  a  very  simple  but  sol- 
emn melody,  sounds  harmoniously  and  sonorously  down 
the  height  of  the  mosque,  through  the  mid-day  din  and 
roar  of  the  cities;  but  its  impression  is  one  of  the  most 
strikingly  poetical  in  the  stillness  of  night ;  so  much  so 
that  even  many  Eiuropeans  cannot  help  congratulating 
the  Prophet  on  his  preferring  the  human  voice  to  either 
the  Jewish  trumpet-call  of  the  time  of  the  Temple,  or 
the  Christian  church-beUs.  The  day-call  (the  Adan) 
consists  chiefly  of  the  confession  of  faith  (God  is  most 
great;  Mohammed  is  God's  apostle;  come  to  prayer; 
come  to  security),  repeated  several  times;  the  night- 
calls  (Ula,  the  tirst;  Ebed,  the  second),  destined  for  per- 
sons who  desire  to  perform  supererogatory  acts  of  devo- 
tion, are  much  longer.  The  believer  often  changes  his 
posture  during  his  prayers;  and  a  certain  number  of 
such  inclinations  of  head  and  knees,  prostrations,  etc.,  is 
called  a  Rekah.  It  is  also  necessary  that  the  face  of 
the  worshipper  should  be  turned  towards  the  Keblah 
(q.  v.),  that  direction  being  marked  in  the  exterior  wall 
of  tlie  mosque  by  a  niche  (Mehrab).  All  sumptuous 
and  pompous  apparel  is  laid  aside  before  the  believer 
approaches  the  sacred  place ;  and  the  extreme  solemnity 
and  decorum,  the  unaffected  humility,  the  real  and  all- 
absorbing  devotion  which  pervade  it,  have  been  unani- 
mously held  up  as  an  example  to  other  creeds.  The 
Moslems,  it  may  be  remarked  here,  do  not  pray  to  Mo- 
hammed, but  simply  implore  his  intercession,  as  they  do 
that  of  the  numerous  saints,  the  relatives  of  the  Proph- 
et, and  the  first  propagators  of  Islam.  For  the  particu- 
lars of  the  service  in  the  mosque,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  that  heading.  It  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that 
Mohammedanism  has  no  clergy  in  our  sense  of  the 
word,  the  civil  and  religious  law  being  bound  up  in  one. 
See  also  MoLLAii ;  Mufti. 

(3)  Instructions  about  the  taxes  of  property  to  be 
paid  to  the  state,  and  the  manner  of  their  application. 
Taxable  articles  are  fruits  of  the  field,  domestic  animals, 
silver,  gold,  and  merchandise,  lying  M'ith  the  owner  a 
year.  The  taxes  (the  varying  amounts  we  pass  by)  are 
to  be  used  to  aid  the  poor,  for  the  conversion  of  infidels, 
for  the  redemption  of  slaves  and  prisoners,  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  debts  of  the  indigent,  for  the  aid  of  travel- 
lers in  distress,  and  in  general  for  purposes  pleasing  to 
God  ;  as,  for  instance,  the  erection  of  mosques,  schools, 
hospitals,  and  the  like. 

(4)  The  precepts  about  fasting,  particularly  in  the 
month  of  Ramadan.  Here  is  specified  what  is  com- 
manded and  forbidden  to  the  one  who  fasts,  how  fasting 
is  interrupted,  who  is  entitled  to  be  dispensed  from  fast- 
ing, and  what  must  be  done  in  expiation  for  not  fasting. 
In  this  section  are  mentioned  also  the  various  regulations 
for  an  individual  who  during  the  Ramadan  wishes  to 
retire  from  the  world  and  pass  his  time  in  devotion  in 
the  mosque,  and  thus  to  lead  a  kind  of  monastic  life. 
It  was  Mohammed's  special  and  express  desire  that  no 
one  should  fast  who  is  not  quite  equal  to  it,  lest  it  might 
prove  injurious  to  health.  But  there  are  very  few  Mos- 
lems who  do  not  keep  the  Ramadan — the  jMohamme- 
dau  Lent — even  if  they  neglect  their  other  religious  du- 
ties; at  all  events,  thej'  all  pretend  to  keep  it  most 
strictly,  fasting  being  considered  "one  fourth  part  of 
the  faith,"  nay,  "  the  gate  of  rehgion." 

(5)  The  precepts  concerning  the  jnlgiimaffe,  an  obli- 
gation which  a  Moslem  has  to  meet  at  least  once  in  his 
life.  He  who  neglects  to  perform  this  duty  "  might  as 
well  die  a  Jew  or  a  Christian."  Various  preparations  are 
necessary  for  pilgrimage.  Certain  holy  places  are  to 
be  visited,  mostly  such  as  were  sacred  even  before  Mo- 


hammed, and  are  connected  with  legends  about  Abra- 
ham and  Hagar;  certain  prayers  and  ceremonies  are  to 
be  performed,  and  sacrifices  to  be  slaughtered,  the  meat 
of  which  is  in  part  to  be  distributed  among  the  poor.  It 
is  forbidden  to  wear  sewed  dresses  during  the  journey. 
Men  are  not  allowed  to  cover  their  heads  nor  women 
their  faces ;  the  nails  of  the  fingers  and  toes  are  not  to 
be  cut ;  the  hair  is  not  to  be  combed  nor  shorn ;  the  use 
of  unguents  and  perfumes  is  forbidden ;  the  contracting 
of  marriage  is  forbidden,  as  well  as  the  gratification  of  ' 
sexual  passion.  Finally,  it  is  explained  how  the  pil- 
grimage is  considered  interrupted,  or  as  not  performed, 
and  how  the  transgression  of  any  prohibition  is  to  be 
atoned  for. 

(G)  There  are  various  regulations  referring  to  food. 
Wine  and  intoxicating  beverages  are  not  allowed ;  also 
the  drinking  of  the  blood  even  of  clean  animals  is  inter- 
dicted. Quadrupeds  and  birds  must  be  killed  according 
to  certain  fixed  rules,  God  being  invoked  before  the 
slaughter;  but  game  shot  by  a  hunter  may  be  eaten. 
The  eating  of  carnivorous  animals  of  prej',  quadrupeds 
as  well  as  birds,  is  prohibited ;  and  particularly  the 
flesh  of  swine,  dogs,  cats,  mice,  etc.  Of  fish,  such  as 
have  no  scales,  and  those  resembling  serpents,  are  for- 
bidden. As  the  same  laws  are  in  force  also  among  the 
Jews,  a  Moslem  may  partake  of  a  Jew's  meal;  with 
Christians  he  can  dine  only  if  he  know  that  he  con- 
forms to  the  laws  of  Islam ;  but  with  pagans  he  must 
not  eat  at  all,  even  when  the  food  has  been  prepared  in 
a  proper  manner,  because  it  has  been  prepared  without 
the  religious  ceremonies  that  make  it  fit  for  the  believ- 
er's table. 

(7)  Among  the  "  positive"  ordinances  of  Islam  may  also 
be  reckoned  the  "  Saghir,"  or  minor,  and  the  "  Kebir," 
or  great  festivals.  The  first  (Al-Fetr,  or  breaking  the 
fast),  following  immediately  upon  the  Ramadan,  begins 
on  the  1st  day  of  the  month  of  Shawal,  and  lasts  three 
days.  The  second  (Fed  Al-Kurban,  or  sacrifice)  begins 
on  the  10th  of  Dsu'l  Heggeh,  when  the  pilgrims  perform 
their  sacrifice,  and  lasts  three  or  four  days.  Yet,  al- 
though intended  to  be  the  most  important  of  the  two, 
the  people  have  in  most  places  changed  the  order,  and, 
by  way  of  compensation  for  the  previous  fast,  they 
make  the  lesser  fegtival  which  follows  the  Ramadan 
the  most  joyful  and  the  longest  of  the  two.  The  day 
set  aside  for  the  weekly  day  of  rest  is  Friday  —  not, 
as  is  generally  supposed,  because  both  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath and  the  Christian  Sunday  were  to  be  avoided,  but 
because,  from  times  long  before  Mohammed,  the  people 
used  to  hold  public  assemblies  for  civil  as  well  as  relig- 
ious purposes  on  that  day.  The  celebration  of  the  Mos- 
lem days  of  religious  solemnity  is  far  less  strict  than  is 
the  custom  with  the  other  Shemitic  religions.  Service 
being  over,  the  people  are  allowed  to  return  to  their 
worldly  affairs,  if  they  cannot  afford  to  give  themselves 
up  entirely  to  pleasure  or  devotion  for  the  rest  of  the 
sacred  period. 

(8)  One  of  not  the  least  important  duties  laid  upon 
the  Moslem  by  the  Koran  is  that  of  giving  alms.  These 
are  twofold — legal  (Zekah)  and  voluntary  (Sadakah; 
Heb.  Zedekah,  piety,  righteousness);  but  the  former 
(Sur.  ii,  3),  once  collected  by  the  sovereign  and  applied 
to  pious  uses,  has  now  been  practically  abrogated.  The 
Sadakah  is,  according  to  the  law,  to  be  given  once  every 
year,  of  cattle,  money,  com,  fruits,  and  wares  sold,  at 
about  the  rate  of  two  and  a  half  up  to  twentj'  per  cent. 
Besides  these,  it  is  usual  to  bestow  a  measure  of  provi- 
sions upon  the  poor  at  the  end  of  the  sacred  month  of 
Ramadan. 

(9)  Before  we  quit  this  department  of  Mohamme- 
dan law,  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  mention  the 
procedure  against  apostates.  To  prevent  the  faithful 
from  ever  falling  back  into  idolatry,  the  laws  relating 
to  images  and  pictures  have  been  made  very  stringent. 
Whoever  makes  an  imitation  of  any  living  being  in 
stone,  wood,  or  any  other  material,  shall  on  the  day  of 
judgment  be  asked  to  endow  his  creation  with  life  and 


MOHA^OIEDANISM 


416 


MOHAmiEDANISM 


soul,  and  on  his  protesting  his  inability  to  do  so,  shall 
undergo  the  punishment  of  hell  for  a  certain  period. 

(b)  The  cifil  law  of  the  Mohammedans  comprises  the 
following  main  sections : 

(1)  Commercial  relation,  including  rules  to  govern 
relations  of  commerce,  of  various  contracts,  of  pawn  and 
mortgage,  of  power  of  attorney,  of  debt  obligations,  and 
other  property  rights;  excepting,  however,  hereditary 
and  matrimonial  claims.  We  cannot,  of  course,  enter 
into  details  here,  but  we  may  remark  that  the  law  of 
trade  contains  many  restrictions  very  burdensome  for 
modern  conditions  of  society.  Thus,  for  instance,  it  is 
not  permitted  txi  make  a  diiference  whether  the  price  is 
paid  immediately  or  only  in  instalments.  The  re-sale 
of  articles  not  yet  in  possession  of  the  purchaser  is  in- 
valid ;  nor  can  objects  of  value  which  are  not  the  undi- 
vided property  of  single  persons  be  subjects  of  tratle. 
Furtlier,  trade  in  things  whose  use  is  forbidden  to  the 
JMoslem,  e.  g.  liquors  and  unclean  animak,  is  prohibited. 
A  bargain  concluded  on  a  Friday,  at  the  time  of  the  noon 
prayer,  is  void.  The  buying  up  of  merchandise,  espe- 
cially of  victuals,  in  order  to  produce  a  rise  of  prices,  is 
unlawful.  In  lending  money,  it  is  forbidden  to  receive 
interest.  In  case  of  insolvency,  or  refusal  to  pay  a  debt, 
the  creditor  can  require  the  arrest  of  the  debtor's  person. 
A  pledge  is  not,  as  according  to  European  law,  a  means 
of  security  for  the  payment  of  debt,  but  only  a  proof 
that  such  a  debt  exists.  Only  when  a  pledge  has  been 
given  in  a  condition  of  decided  insolvency  does  the  cred- 
itor acquire  the  right  to  secure  redemption  of  the  pledge. 

(2)  The  law  of  in/iei-itance  and  the  testament.  We 
pass  over  the  details  of  the  first,  and  only  observe  that 
the  law  of  primogeniture  does  not  exist  in  the  Moham- 
medan code,  and  that,  as  a  rule,  brothers  or  sons,  and 
male  heirs  generally,  enjoy  many  advantages  over  fe- 
males. A  testament,  in  order  to  be  valid,  must  not 
contain  allusions  to  any  articles  prohibited  by  law,  such 
as  swine,  blood,  wine,  and  the  like.  A  legacy  in  favor 
of  strangers,  if  persons  able  to  succeed  legal  inheritance 
exist,  must  not  go  beyond  the  amount  of  one  third ; 
among  the  relatives  themselves  the  division  is  at  pleas- 
ure. A  testament,  whether  written  or  oral,  must  be  ex- 
ecuted before  two  witnesses  of  the  male  sex.  A  testa- 
ment in  favor  of  minors,  bondmen,  and  infidels  is  not 
valid  in  law. 

(3)  The  marricifje  law.  A  man  is  allowed  to  see 
but  the  hands  and  the  face  of  the  maiden  or  widow 
■whom  he  intends  to  wed;  then  follows  the  courting  in 
person  or  by  proxy ;  a  marriage-contract  is  concluded,  in 
•which  the  nuptial  gift  is  fixed,  i.  e.  what  is  allotted  to 
the  wife  in  case  the  husband  dies  or  has  himself  di- 
vorced; and  the  ecclesiastic  consecrates  the  marriage. 
A  free  man  can  marry  four  free  women  ;  a  female  slave 
he  is  only  allowed  to  marry  if  he  have  not  the  means  to 
contract  marriage  with  a  free  person.  Polygamy  is  al- 
lowed among  Jlohammedans,  we  see,  then,  surrounded 
by  a  number  of  restrictions.  Hear  the  Koran  on  this 
point:  "Take  in  marriage  of  the  women  who  please 
you,  two,  three,  or  four;  but  if  ye  fear  that  ye  cannot 
act  equitably,  .one,  or  those  whom  your  right  hand  has 
acquired"— i.  e.  slaves  (Sur.  iv,  3).  Minor  girls  can  be 
forced  by  their  father  or  grandfather  to  enter  into  mat- 
rimony as  long  as  they  are  single  ;  if  widows,  they  have 
their  own  choice.  ^Marriage  of  near  relatives,  among 
which  niece,  nurse,  and  milk-sister  are  enumerated,  is 
proliibited.  A  Moslem  may,  if  urged  l)y  excessive  love, 
or  if  unable  to  obtain  a  wife  of  Ids  own  creed,  marry  a 
Christian  woman  or  a  .Jewess,  but  a  Jlohammedan  wom- 
an is  not,  under  any  circumstances,  to  marry  an  unbe- 
liever. In  all  cases,  however,  the  child  born  of  a  ^Mos- 
lem,  whatever  the  mother's  faith,  is  a  .Moslem  ;  nor  docs 
the  wife,  who  is  an  unbeliever,  inherit  at  lier  husband's 
death,  .Sec  also  Mauui.vci:,  ^Matrimony  is  annulled 
by  insanity,  apostasy  from  Islam,  impotence  of  the  male, 
or  corporeal  disability  for  .sexual  intercourse  of  the  fe- 
male. See  DivoucE.  The  husband  is  to  treat  bis  wives 
equally;  only  newly-married  women  are  privileged  for 


a  few  days.  The  Shiites  sanction  also  temporarj'  mar- 
riage. The  free  man  can  give  a  divorce  to  his  wife 
twice  and  retake  her,  even  without  her  consent,  if  three 
menstruations  or  three  months  have  not  elapsed,  and 
then  only  if  in  the  mean  while  she  had  contracted  an- 
other marriage  which  has  been  dissolved  by  death  or 
divorce.  On  this  point  tlie  ^Mohammedan  law  differs 
from  the  ^losaic  law,  by  which  a  divorced  woman  who 
has  contracted  another  marriage  is  forever  forbidden  to 
the  first  husband.  According  to  the  Mosaic  law,  the 
i  marriage  between  uncle  and  niece  is  permitted,  but  not 
between  aunt  and  nephew.  Pregnant  -women  are  al- 
lowed to  remarry  only  after  their  confinement ;  if  not 
pregnant,  after  four  months  and  ten  days.  If  a  man  ac- 
cuses his  wife  of  adidtery,  he  must  either  bring  wit- 
nesses to  confirm  his  statement,  or  he  must  himself  swear 
four  times  in  the  mosque  before  a  number  of  men  that 
he  speaks  the  truth,  adding,  "  The  curse  of  God  may 
strike  me  if  I  speak  false."  The  woman  is  then  con- 
sidered an  adulteress,  the  marriage  is  dissolved,  and  can 
never  be  renewed.  But  if  the  woman  afterwards  swear 
four  times  against  the  accusation,  declaring  at  the  same 
time  that  (Jod's  wrath  may  strike  her  if  her  Imsband 
have  spoken  true,  the  marriage  is  annulled,  but  the  wom- 
an is  not  considered  an  adulteress.  Children  of  divorced 
wives  must  be  cared  for  by  the  mother  to  the  seventh 
year;  later,  the  child  can  choose  whether  it  will  live 
with  the  father  or  the  mother.  The  woman  has  a  right 
to  ask  for  divorce  if  the  husband  cannot  support  her. 

(4)  The  ]xn(d  law  and  procedure.  An  intentional 
murder  is  punished  by  death  ;  the  relatives  of  the  mur- 
dered, however,  possessing  the  right  to  avenge  his  blood, 
may  take  a  ransom  instead,  (ilodern  practices  in  Tur- 
key deviating  from  these  laws  are  in  harmony  with 
those  of  Christian  countries.)  Manslaughter  not  inten- 
tional is  expiated  by  a  ransom,  estimated  according  to 
the  intent  of  the  slayer  to  injure  the  slain.  For  the 
murder  of  a  woman  only  half  price  is  paid ;  for  that  of  a 
Jew  or  a  Christian,  a  third;  for  that  of  a  pagan,  a  fif- 
teenth part.  In  case  of  mutilation,  revenge  or  ransom 
may  satisfy.  Adultery  is  punished  by  death,  if  the 
marriage  between  adulterer  and  adulteress  be  forbidden 
on  account  of  consanguinity ;  or  if  the  adulterer  mar- 
ry the  adulteress  without  having  previously  atoned  for 
his  crime  according  to  precepts ;  or  if  a  non-^Ioslcm  is 
the  criminal.  Other  cases  of  adultery  are  punislied  by 
one  hundred  lashes  and  one  year  of  baiushment.  He 
who  charges  another  with  adultery  without  being  aide 
to  prove  his  accusation  is  i)unished  by  eighty  lashes. 
Drinking  wine  is  punished  by  forty  lashes.  Pederasty 
and  sodomy  are  jjunishable  with  death,  like  adultery. 
He  who  steals  for  the  first  time  is  to  have  his  right 
hand  cut  off;  for  the  second  time,  his  left ;  for  the  third 
time,  his  right  foot;  for  the  fourth  time,  the  left  foot. 
(The  Turkish  government  has  substituted  tlie  ordinary 
punishments  of  imprisonment,  hard  labor,  and  the  bas- 
tinado.) Highway  robbers,  if  they  have  committed  a 
murder,  are  to  be  crucified  ;  if  they  only  threatened  to 
murder,  they  are  to  receive  corporeal  punishment  and  to 
be  imprisoned.  A  jMoslem  apostatizing  from  his  faith, 
and  persevering  in  liis  apostasy,  or  denying  only  one  of 
the  obligations  of  Islam,  is  to  be  punished  with  death. 

Of  the  Mohammedan  procedure,  we  mention  oidy  the 
peculiarity  as  regards  witnesses.  In  civil  suits  the  tes- 
timony of  two  men,  or  of  one  man  and  two  women,  or 
of  one  man  in  conjunction  with  the  plaintiff,  is  required. 
In  affairs  of  tutelage,  as  testament,  divorce,  guardian- 
ship, and  the  like,  tlie  testimony  of  two  men  only  is  ac- 
ceiited.  In  affairs  whicli  concern  only  women,  as,  for 
instance,  birth,  female  infirmities,  nurses,  the  testimony 
of  four  women  is  necessary.  In  crimes  of  sodomy  and 
pederasty  and  adultery,  four  mak  witnesses  are  re- 
{[uired;  in  other  crimes,  as  tlicft.  partaking  of  forbidden 
food  and  drink,  apostasy  from  the  faith,  the  testimony 
of  tv.o  men  is  sufficient.  Non  -  ^Moslems,  or  Jloslcras 
known  as  hardened  sinners,  are  not  admitted  as  wit- 
nesses. 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


41' 


(5)  War  on  Infidels. — The  Koran  abounds  in  contra- 
dictions respecting  the  right  and  duty  of  the  faithful  to 
make  war  on  infidels ;  for  Jlohamraed,  while  he  was  the 
weaker  party,  showed  himself  very  tolerant,  and  com- 
manded to  convert  only  by  the  power  of  the  word  ;  but 
later,  when  he  became  more  potent,  he  issued  severer 
ordinances  against  those  who  would  not  submit  to  his 
faith.  His  successors,  therefore,  have  established  the 
following  doctrines,  and  declared  null  and  void  the  pas- 
sages of  the  Koran  adverse  to  them.  Every  major  Mos- 
lem fit  for  military  service  is  in  duty  bound  to  partici- 
pate in  holy  wars  against  infidels  who  will  not  submit 
to  the  dominion  of  Moslems,  and  against  the  faithful  who 
refuse  obedience  to  the  legitimate  prince,  or  adhere  to 
dogmas  contrary  to  the  faith.  In  a  war  against  Mos- 
lemite  rebels  or  heretics  it  is  not  allowed  to  kill  prison- 
ers of  war,  nor  to  attack  the  wounded  or  pillage  prop- 
erty. As  for  infidel  prisoners  of  war,  who  do  not  adopt 
the  Islam  before  their  capture,  women  and  children  are 
made  slaves ;  men  can,  according  to  the  pleasure  of  the 
prince  or  political  exigency,  either  be  killed,  ransomed, 
or  exchanged  for  Moslem  prisoners;  or  even,  as  cir- 
cumstances may  dictate,  be  released  or  be  made  slaves. 
Children  of  infidels  will  be  educated  as  Moslems,  if  their 
father  or  mother  have  been  converted  to  Islam,  if  they 
have  been  captured  without  parents,  or  if  they  are  found 
on  Islamitic  territory.  We  omit  the  direction  for  the 
distribution  of  booty  and  conquered  lands,  as  we  have 
already  alluded  to  the  treatment  to  be  accorded  to  Jews 
and  Christians.  We  only  remark  that,  in  accordance 
with  the  letter  of  the  Koran,  as  well  as  the  principles  of 
the  early  imams,  war  against  non-Mohammedans  is  de- 
clared permanent ;  if  it  is  carried  on  against  pagans,  to 
extinction  ;  against  Christians,  to  subjection ;  and  that, 
therefore,  in  earlier  times,  when  the  Islamitic  powers  de- 
cided to  discontinue  hostilities,  they  simply  concluded  a 
truce.  In  the  precepts  of  this  kind,  the  Moslems  come  to 
realize  that  their  sacred  scripture  contains  laws  and  or- 
dinances not  applicable  and  practicable  for  all  times  and 
circimistances,  nor  to  all  countries  and  people ;  for  the 
most  orthodox  idemas  cannot  think  of  urging  the  sul- 
tan to  declare  war  against  Russia  or  Austria,  or  to  for- 
bid Europeans  living  in  Constantinople  to  ride  on 
horseback  or  dwell  in  palaces  surpassing  in  height  the 
houses  of  the  INIoslems.  Again,  in  spite  of  Koran  and 
Sunnah,  the  idolaters  and  fire-worshippers  were  no  more 
exterminated  than  the  Christians  were  humbled  and 
made  to  pay  capitation  tax.  Many  fire-worshippers  in 
Persia  retained  not  only  their  lives,  but  preserved  in 
several  places  also  their  pyres.  It  even  occurred  that 
the  M(jhammedan  government  corrected  ecclesiastics 
because  they  wished  to  transform  temples  of  the  Gue- 
bers  into  mosques.  The  strict  execution  of  the  relig- 
ious precept  would  have  compelled  them  to  massacre 
all,  since  their  character  is  very  tenacious — a  proceeding 
which  would  prove  of  great  injury  to  the  Islamitic  state, 
and  apparentlj'  be  regarded  as  too  cruel  even  for  execu- 
tion by  bloodthirsty  Arabs.  The  government  was  not 
unmerciful  against  those  who  remained  true  to  their 
faith,  but  it  knew  no  bounds  against  those  converted  to 
the  Islam  who,  abhorring  it  in  their  heart,  conspired  se- 
cretly against  the  Islam  and  the  State,  and  tried  to  un- 
dermine the  first  by  old  Parsee  doctrines  and  philo- 
sophic speculation,  and  the  latter  by  the  revival  of  Per- 
sian nationality. 

(fi)  Slave  Laws. — According  to  the  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  Islam,  only  captives  of  war  made  in  an  infidel 
country  are  slaves ;  in  all  Moslem  countries,  however, 
negroes  and  Abyssinian  slaves  also  are  kept  in  bondage 
by  ruse  or  force.  If  slaves  of  an  infidel  become  converts 
to  Islam,  the  master  is  obliged  to  sell  them  to  a  Moslem 
for  a  price  customary  in  the  count^^^  The  Koran  enun- 
ciates distinctly  their  equality  with  the  freemen  before 
God  ;  and  a  tradition  worthy  of  credit  says  :  "  He  who 
manumits  a  faithful  slave  is  delivered  from  the  torments 
of  hell."  Female  slaves,  by  whom  their  master  has  be- 
gotten children,  at  his  death  obtain  their  libertv,  pro- 
VI.— D  D 


MOHAMMEDANISM 

vided  one  of  the  children  is  alive ;  the  children  are  bom 
free,  and  even  over  the  mother  the  master  has  a  re- 
stricted control ;  he  is  not  permitted  to  sell  or  marry  her 
to  another.  There  are  in  the  Koran  still  other  precepts 
favorable  to  the  slaves. 

III.  Ethics. — The  moral  law  of  the  Koran  may  be  con- 
sidered as  the  most  perfect  part  of  this  remarkable  book. 
The  ethics  of  the  Koran,  an  element  of  Islam  which 
(because  not  to  be  circumscribed  and  defined  by  doctors) 
has  undergone  the  least  change  in  the  course  of  time, 
most  distinctly  reveals  the  mind  of  its  author.  It  is,  to 
be  sure,  as  disconnected  and  unsystematically  arranged 
as  other  matters,  but  the  most  beautiful  moral  princi- 
ples and  precepts  permeate  like  a  thread  of  gold  this 
whole  texture  of  religion,  enthusiasm,  superstition,  and 
delusion.  Injustice,  falsehood,  pride,  revenge,  calum- 
ny, mockery,  avarice,  prodigality,  debauchery,  mistrust, 
and  suspicion  are  inveighed  against  as  ungodly  and 
wicked;  while  benevolence,  liberality,  modesty,  for- 
bearance, patience  and  endurance,  frugality,  sincerity, 
straightforwardness,  decency,  love  of  peace  and  truth, 
and,  above  all,  trusting  in  God,  and  submitting  to  his 
wiU,  are  considered  as  the  pillars  of  true  piety,  and  the 
principal  signs  of  a  true  believer.  Thus,  c.  g.  the  Ko- 
ran contains  passages  like  the  following,  which  is  in  a 
sort  of  dialogue  form  :  "  Speak  (thus  God  addressed  Mo- 
hammed) :  Approach  !  I  will  read  to  thee  what  God  has 
forbidden  thee.  Thou  shalt  not  associate  witli  him  any 
other  being;  thou  shalt  honor  father  and  mother ;  thou 
shalt  not  kill  thy  children  for  fear  of  poverty,  for  we 
feed  thee  and  them ;  thou  shalt  not  live  unchaste,  nei- 
ther ])rivately  nor  publicly;  thou  shalt  not  kill  any  be- 
ing which  Allah  has  commanded  to  hold  sacred,  unless 
thou  art  (legally)  empowered  to  do  so ;  further,  thou 
shalt  not  stretch  out  thy  hand  after  the  property  of  or- 
phans, unless  it  be  for  their  benefit,  till  they  are  of  age ; 
thou  shalt  give  good  measure  and  weight ;  thou  shalt 
not  lay  on  anybody  a  burden  heavier  than  he  can  per- 
form. If  thou  give  judgment,  be  just  even  if  the  person 
concerned  be  a  relation,  and  hold  fast  to  the  covenant 
of  God."  By  the  prohibition  of  gambling  and  drinking 
wine  and  other  intoxicathig  beverages,  many  an  excess 
and  vice  is  of  course  prevented,  and  quarrel  and  enmity 
avoided.  Particularly  mockery,  haughtiness,  and  slan- 
derous talk  are  warned  against :  "  O  ye  faithful  (says 
the  Koran),  deride  not  one  another ;  for  it  might  happen 
that  those  on  wliora  ye  look  contemptuously  are  better 
than  yourself.  Do  not  insult  each  other,  and  do  not 
give  each  other  ignominious  bynames !  Such  words 
are  abominable  in  the  mouth  of  the  faithfid.  He  who 
does  not  correct  this  habit  is  counted  with  malefactors. 
O  ye  faithfid !  beware  of  too  great  suspiciousness,  for 
many  a  suspicion  is  sinful.  Be  not  eavesdroppers,  and 
do  not  speak  ill  of  each  other.  Would  ye  fain  eat  the 
fiesh  of  your  brother,  if  he  be  dead?  As  ye  abhor  this, 
do  not  soil  his  honor  to  his  back !  O  ye  people,  we 
have  created  you  of  one  wife  and  one  man,  and  divided 
you  in  different  nations  and  tribes  (think  of  that !),  that 
you  may  know  that  only  the  most  pious  is  the  most 
notable  before  God."  In  another  passage  it  is  said : 
"  Do  not  strut  this  earth  in  self-conceit !  Thou  canst 
not  perforate  the  earth,  nor  attain  the  height  of  the 
mountains  (i.  e.  the  lifeless  earth  extends  farther  in 
depth  and  in  height  than  thou)."  In  conclusion  we 
read :  "  Piety  does  not  consist  in  turning  your  face  to- 
wards the  east  or  west ;  but  he  is  pious  who  believes  in 
the  Deity,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  in  the  angels,  in  the 
scripture  and  the  prophets ;  who,  though  fond  of  prop- 
erty, disposes  of  the  same  to  relatives,  the  poor,  orphans, 
travellers,  and  other  indigent  persons,  or  uses  it  fcjr  the 
deUvery  of  slaves  and  prisoners ;  who  prays  to  God  and 
pays  his  poor- tax  (alms);  who  complies  with  everj' 
bargain  entered  into,  and  bears  patientlj'  distress,  op- 
pression, and  all  kinds  of  war-calamities  :  these  are  the 
really  pious,  these  are  the  God-fearing." 

Mohammed  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  obliged  to  pro- 
claim equality  and  fraternity  of  all  believers  as  a  relig- 


MOHA^BIEDANISM 


418 


M0HA]M3iIEDANISM 


ious  principle;  for  he  himself,  as  already  mentioned, 
belonged  not  to  the  ruling  party  in  Mecca,  and  his  first 
adherents  were  for  the  most  part  of  the  lower  class,  so 
that  the  Meccans  retorted  on  lum  :  "  If  God  had  pleased 
to  send  a  prophet,  he  would  have  selected  him  from  a 
more  prominent  family."  Mohammed  was  frequently 
censured  for  being  surrounded  by  slaves,  freedmen,  and 
a  promiscuous  crowd.  It  is,  therefore,  natural  that  he 
combated  with  all  his  might  prejudices  of  birth  and 
rank  of  every  description.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  JIo- 
hammed  is  reported  lo  have  said  :  "  He  who  was  of  the 
nobility  in  paganism  remains  so  in  Islam,  if  he  bow  be- 
fore true  wisdom ;"  this  sentence  is  probably  to  be  placed 
in  that  time  when  he  was  inclined  to  all  sorts  of  conces- 
sions, in  order  to  make  proselytes  also  among  the  higher 
classes.  At  any  rate,  he  revoked  it  when  the  Meccan 
nobility  persisted  in  their  opposition  against  his  doc- 
trine; as  he  retracted,  for  a  similar  reason,  his  opinion 
which  represented  the  idols  as  mediators  between  God 
and  man,  and  in  a  measure  representatives  of  spirits  or 
angels,  and  branded  it  even  as  a  sentiment  of  Satan. 
But  however  decidedly  Mohammed  pronounced  in  favor 
of  equality  of  all  men,  i.  e.  all  the  faithful,  he  failed  in 
the  attem|)t  to  abolish  slavery  altogether,  though  he  mit- 
igated its  lot  in  many  respects.  Nor  was  he  more  suc- 
cessful in  emancipating  woman,  albeit  he  protected  her 
against  the  arbitrariness  of  man,  and  granted  her  many 
rights  which  she  had  not  enjoyed  in  Arabia  before  his 
time.  While  he  prescribed  to  the  faithful  to  take  not 
more  than  four  women,  and  allowed  intercourse  with 
female  slaves  only  to  the  unmarried,  he  proclaimed  rev- 
elations by  which  God  relieved  him  of  restrictions  bind- 
ing upon  others.  He  had  the  riglit  to  request  every  faith- 
ful to  divorce  his  wife,  if  he  desired  marrying  her  himself. 
He  claimed  to  contract  for  himself  and  others  any  mat- 
rimonial connection,  without  the  consent  of  the  girl  or 
her  protector.  He  was  permitted  to  marry  as  many 
women  as  he  pleased,  and  he  indeed  increased  their 
number  to  thirteen,  and  felt  not  bound  to  treat  them 
alike.  The  excessive  jealousy  of  the  legislator  had  the 
most  grievous  consequences  for  the  women.  It  extend- 
ed so  far  that  his  women  not  only  remained  excluded 
from  all  intercourse  with  other  men  during  his  life,  but 
were  also  prohibited  remarrying  after  his  death.  Later, 
all  other  faithfid  women  were  also  ordered  to  wear  a 
close  veil,  leaving  only  the  eyes  free,  when  going  out, 
and  even  in  the  house  not  to  show  themselves  unveiled 
except  to  their  nearest  relatives.  Thus  women  who, 
with  pagan  Arabs,  were  the  spice  of  public  and  social 
life,  were  by  Mohammed's  jealousy  confined  entirely  to 
the  home  and  the  family  circle.  The  fair  sex,  with  the 
Bedouins  as  well  as  with  the  raediaival  knights  of  the 
Occident  objects  of  veneration  and  worship,  was  changed 
by  the  Islam  into  a  subject  of  pity  and  mistrust.  The 
place  of  their  abode  was,  it  is  true,  called  Harem— i.  e. 
sanctuary — but  it  was  understood  to  be  a  sanctuary  re- 
quiring veil  and  curtain,  and  finally  lock  and  bolt  and 
eunuchs  to  protect  it  against  violation.  This  system 
of  close  confinement  had,  of  course,  the  saddest  conse- 
quences for  the  male  sex.  The  husband  found  only 
sensual,  but  no  cordial  and  mental  enjoyment  in  his  ha- 
rem, and  fell  more  and  mr)re  into  rudeness  and  unnatu- 
ral vices.  Mohammed,  by  his  own  life  and  by  his  or- 
dinances concerning  women,  has  impressed  the  charac- 
ter of  transitoriness  and  liuman  weakness  on  himself 
and  his  revelations.  Here  is  manifest  in  the  "  reformer" 
himself  the  want  of  a  strictly  moral  sentiment,  and  in 
his  precepts  sanctioning  polygamy  and  seclusion  of 
woman  he  lias  left  a  legacy  which  prevents  the  profess- 
ors of  his  faith  making  any  considerable  progress  in 
civilization,  and  raising  themselves  by  a  sound  family 
life  to  a  prosperous  life  of  state.  The  Jews,  on  the  oth- 
er hand,  to  whom  the  IMosaic  law  allows  a  plurality  of 
wives,  have  found  a  rabbi  from  whom  they  liave  accept- 
ed monogamy  as  a  law,  even  in  countries  where  polyg-  ' 
amy  is  not  forbidden.  The  :\Iosleni  may  soon  also,  like 
the  Jew  of  our  times,  learn  to  make  a  distinctiou  be-  i 


j  tween  eternal  truths  and  laws  and  ordinances  enacted 
for  transient  external  circumstances.  Tlie  Moslem  in 
general  is  not  so  firmly  attached  to  his  faith  as  the  Jew. 
We  observe  this  in  those  Arabs  and  Turks  who  have 
lived  a  few  years  in  Christian  countries,  and  have  par- 
I  ticipated  in  European  civilization.  Should  the  politi- 
j  cal  independence  of  the  Moslems,  which  owes  its  exist- 
ence only  to  the  mutual  jealousies  of  the  European 
powers,  cease,  their  religion,  as  it  is  fomided  on  illusion, 
spread  by  the  sword,  and  leaning  on  secular  force,  will 
not  long  survive  it.  The  professors  of  Islam  will  then 
suffer  great  change.  There  will  be  some  who  will  re- 
lapse into  former  indifferentism  to  religion,  while  others 
will  adopt  the  faith  of  their  conquerors,  and  probably 
the  larger  number.  For  a  revival  of  the  caliphate,  i.  e. 
a  Jlohammedan  empire  ruled  by  a  head  of  a  supremacy 
at  once  spiritual  and  secular,  the  necessarj-  elements 
are  lacking — unity  of  faith  and  nationality.  Shiites 
and  Sunnites  are  still  as  hostile  towards  each  other  as 
they  were  a  thousand  years  ago ;  and  to  the  old  incom- 
patibility of  the  Arabian  and  Persian  element  a  third 
one  is  added,  semi-Mongolian  —  the  Osmanic  —  consid- 
erably increasing  the  rupture.  A  new  universal  blaze 
of  fanaticism,  even  if  it  could  prevail  against  rified  can- 
non and  iron-plated  frigates,  is  no  more  to  be  appre- 
hended.   (G.W.) 

IV.  Mohammedanum  and  Christianity. — The  friends 
and  advocates  of  Mohammedanism  have  repeatedly,  es- 
pecially in  our  day  of  comparative  religious  research, 
urged  upon  the  Christian  world  a  consideration  of  the 
claims  Islam  has  in  the  advance  of  humanitarian  prin- 
ciples and  the  propagation  of  civilizing  infiuences.  Is- 
lamism,  it  is  declared,  started  as  the  outspoken  foe  of 
all  creature-worship;  with  emphasis  proclaimed  the  su- 
periority and  sublimity  of  God ;  and,  like  the  Jew  and 
the  Christian,  the  Moslem  based  his  faith  upon  the  re- 
vealed book  known  as  the  Bible.  It  is  further  urged  in 
defence  of  the  Arabian  religion  that  its  successes  and 
rapid  spread  over  a  vast  portion  of  the  then  known 
world  would  stamp  the  religion  of  Moslem  with  the  ap- 
])roval  of  the  Most  High.  As  a  matter  of  history,  we 
have  to  record  that  scarcely  a  century  had  elapsed  after 
Mohammed's  death  when  Islam  reigned  supreme  over 
^Vrabia,  Syria,  Persia,  Egypt,  the  whole  of  the  northern 
coast  of  Africa,  even  as  far  as  Spain;  and,  notwith- 
stantling  the  subsequent  strifes  and  divisions  in  the  in- 
terior of  this  gigantic  realm,  it  grew,  and  grew  out- 
wardly, until  tiie  Crescent  was  made  to  gleam  from  the 
spires  of  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople,  and  the  cry  "Al- 
lah il  Allah"  resounded  before  the  gates  of  Vienna,  and 
that  but  for  the  successful  opposition  of  Charles  jNIartel, 
the  Moslems  might  not  only  have  caused  the  downfall 
of  the  Romish  hierarchy,  but  even  extirpated  Christian- 
ity itself.  Sec  Sakacexs.  If,  however,  we  inquire  into 
the  causes  of  these  successes  of  the  Crescent,  we  find 
that  Mohammed's  law  was  artfully  and  marvellously 
adapted  to  the  corrupt  nature  of  man ;  and,  in  a  most 
particular  manner,  to  the  manners  and  opinions  of  the 
Knstcrn  nations,  and  the  vices  to  which  they  were  nat- 
urally addicted:  for  the  articles  of  the  faith  which  it 
jiroposed  were  few  in  number,  and  extremely  simple; 
and  the  duties  it  required  were  neither  many  nor  diffi- 
cult, nor  such  as  were  incompatible  with  the  empire  of 
appetites  and  passions.  It  is  to  be  observed,  further, 
that  the  gross  ignorance  under  which  the  Arabians, 
Syrians,  Persians,  and  the  greatest  part  of  the  Eastern 
nations  labored  at  this  time  rendered  many  an  easy 
prey  to  the  artifice  and  eloquence  of  this  bold  advent- 
urer. To  these  causes  of  the  progress  of  Jlohammedan- 
ism  we  may  add  that  these  victories  of  the  Crescent 
w'cre  secured,  not  b^'  tlic  spread  of  the  Koran,  but  by 
armies  in  hostile  array,  invading  peaceful  countries  for 
spoil  and  devastation.  It  is  an  error  even  to  place  the 
first  conquests  and  the  rapid  S])rcad  of  Islam  to  the  credit 
of  Arabian  religious  fanaticism.  We  must  refiect  that 
military  glory  ami  Iniotv  to  the  Bedouins,  who  formed 
the  tlower  of  the  first  Arabian  armies,  were  not  less  eu- 


MOHAMINIEDANISM 


419 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


ticing  than  the  pleasure-gardens  with  everblooming 
virgius  [see  Houkis]  voucheafed  to  the  faithful.  Nor 
must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  state  of  the  countries  and 
nations  conquered  by  the  Arabs  was  decayed  and  rotten, 
fiilling  to  pieces  at  the  first  touch.  In  Persia  and  Syria, 
as  well  as  in  Egypt,  in  Barbary,  in  Sicily,  and  in  Spain, 
the  Arabs  were  victorious  because  the. population  was 
dissatisfied  with  their  governments,  and  often  in  secret 
understanding  with  the  enemy.  Persia  was  weakened 
by  long  wars  with  Byzantium,  and  divided  by  the  no- 
bility ruling  the  court ;  while,  besides,  many  of  its  in- 
habitants, of  Arabian  origin,  especially  in  the  Western 
provinces,  sympathized  with  the  kindred  troops.  A 
similar  condition  of  things  prevailed  in  Syria,  where 
also  the  Shemitic  population  predominated,  looking 
upon  the  Byzantines  as  their  oppressors.  In  Egypt,  to 
the  antipathy  between  Copts  and  Greeks  was  added  an 
ecclesiastical  pressure  against  the  Monophysites  by  the 
Byzantine  court,  which  held  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
double  nature  of  Christ,  For  the  subjugation  of  Sicily 
the  Saracens  were  mostly  indebted  to  the  traitor  Eu- 
phemius,  and  count  Julian  made  way  for  the  Arabs  in 
the  conquest  of  Spain,  the  more  rapidly  accomplished 
sisice  a  part  of  the  maltreated  people  were  indifferent 
spectators  of  the  struggle,  while  another  part  even  aided 
the  enemy.  Thus  it  is  explained  how  the  Islam,  within 
a  short  century,  victoriously  raised  its  standard  from  the 
Guadalquivir  to  the  Indus.  But  thus  rapidly  it  also 
went  to  decline,  when  the  caliphs  became  effeminate, 
and  were  controlled  by  foreign  mercenaries ;  when  rude 
force  obstructed  every  scientific  elevation ;  and  internal 
feuds,  in  consequence  of  no  appointed  succession  by  Mo- 
hammed, consumed  its  best  energies.  If  undisputed  le- 
gitimate foundation  was  formerly  wanting  to  strengthen 
monarchy,  because  the  adherents  of  Ali  believed  only 
his  descendants  worthy  of  succession,  this  difRculty  is 
still  greater  under  the  Osmanlis,  who  are  not  looked 
upon  as  legitimate  dynasts  even  by  the  Sunnites,  and 
hence  it  has  happened  twice  in  our  day  that  Christian 
bayonets  have  had  to  defend  the  sultan  against  an  Ara- 
bian army  commanded  by  an  ambitious  Turk  (Ali  and 
Ibrahim  Pasha).  How  long  European  diplomacy  will 
succeed  in  nursing  the  sick  empire  cannot  be  predicted ; 
but  it  is  certain  that  if  no  other  reforms  than  those 
hitherto  introduced,  and  these  mostl}'  on  paper,  impart 
a  fresh,  vigorous  spirit  to  the  Mohammedan  states  and 
the  Islam  faith,  both  will  verge  on  ruin. 

The  Christian  must,  moreover,  refuse  all  credit  to  Is- 
lam as  a  civilizing  influence,  because  it  has  failed  to  prove 
itself  such  after  a  trial  of  centuries.  In  the  East,  as  we 
have  already  conceded,  it  has  done  some  good.  But 
let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  it  scarcely  accomplished  as 
much  as  Judaism  could  have  secured.  Had  Moham- 
medanism been  confined  to  the  limits  of  Arabia,  it  would 
have  accomplished  a  mission,  an  appointment — possibly 
even  divine — for  it  would  have  fitted  that  countrj'  for 
Christianity  as  such,  as  the  IMosaic  institutions  fit  for 
the  higher  laws  of  Christianity.  And,  as  has  been  well 
said,  "  were  it  not  for  the  all-important  fact  that  Chris- 
tianity had  been  preached  in  the  interval,  the  mission 
of  Mohammed  would  appear  exactly  analogous  to  that 
of  Moses.  If  the  religion  of  Mohammed  Avas  imperfect, 
so  was  that  of  IMoses ;  if  the  civil  precepts  of  Moham- 
med were  adapted  only  to  a  single  nation,  so  were  those 
of  Moses  also.  Indeed,  in  some  respects,  Mohamme- 
danism is  a  clear  advance  upon  Judaism.  It  more  dis- 
tuictly  represents  God  as  the  God  of  the  whole  world, 
and  not  of  one  nation  only ;  it  preaches  with  more  clear- 
ness the  doctrines  of  God's  general  providence,  of  a  res- 
urrection, and  of  a  final  judgment.  ...  In  short,  had 
Mohammedanism  only  preceded  Christianity,  it  might 
have  been  accepted  as  another  step  towards  it;  the 
mosque  might  have  been  an  appropriate  and  friendly 
halting-place  between  the  synagogue  and  the  church. 
As  it  is,  Mohammedanism,  coming  after  Christianity, 
has  proved  its  deadliest  enemy.  Its  claim  to  be  to 
Christianity  what  Christianity  was  to  Judaism  is  belied 


by  the  fact  that  this  supposed  reformed  and  developed 
Christianity  is  in  fact  a  retrogression,  denying  nearly 
all  those  points  in  which  Christianity  is  a  reformed  and 
developed  Judaism.  .  .  .  Mohammed  saw  that  many 
Christians  of  his  time  were  practical  idolaters,  and  he 
too  hastih'  confounded  the  worship  of  Christ  with  the 
worship  of  his  mother  and  his  servants.  Christianity 
was  distracted  and  confounded  by  miintelligible  dis- 
putes as  to  the  divine  nature  and  attributes  of  Clirist ; 
jMohammed  hastily  cast  them  all  aside  as  alike  viola- 
tions of  the  divine  unity.  Too  many  Christians  had 
made  then>selves  many  mediators;  Mohammed  too  has- 
tily rejected  the  one  true  Mediator,  and  represented  Je- 
sus as  a  mere  preacher  like  himself  (Freeman,  Sara- 
cens, p.  60  sq.). 

The  effects  of  the  Mohammedan  conquests  on  the  re- 
ligion of  the  conquered  have  been  very  various.  In  Chris- 
tian countries  where  the  Moslem  power  has  not  been 
lasting,  as  in  Spain,  Sicily,  and  those  parts  of  Eastern 
Europe  conquered  by  the  Turks,  no  trace  of  them  is  left 
except  buildings,  and  some  popular  customs  and  super- 
stitions. But  where  their  dominion  has  endured,  as  in 
Western  Asia  and  Northern  Africa,  Christianity,  once 
supreme,  has  now  almost  perished.  This  has  been 
caused  partially  by  individual  conversions — for  no  Chris- 
tian population,  except  perhaps  that  of  Crete,  has  ever 
in  a  body  apostatized — but  mainly  by  the  substitution 
of  a  Moslem  for  a  Christian  population.  Baptism  and 
the  teaching  of  Christianity  were  forbidden  ;  Chris- 
tian women  were  forced  into  the  harems  of  Mohamme- 
dans; Christian  children  were  forcibly  brought  up  as 
Moslems;  indignities,  burdensome  taxes,  and  personal 
duties  were  imposed  on  Christians;  from  time  to  time 
violent  persecutions  took  place.  Moreover,  in  many 
countries  heresy  largely  prevailed,  which  is  unable  to 
furnish  any  firm  ground  of  faith.  Heretics  frequently 
invited  or  combined  with  Mohammedans  for  the  sake 
of  overthrowing  their  orthodox  rivals  (comp.  on  Egypt, 
Lane,  ii,  27G;  Gibbon,  vi,  332,  428;  Sj'ria  and  North 
Africa,  Finlav,  Byzantine  Empire,  i,  159;  Asia  Slinor, 
ib.  i,  198). 

One  remarkable  effect  of  the  IMohammedan  spirit  of 
conquest  must  be  noticed.  Smce  it  attacked  Christian- 
ity as  a  religion,  at  first  defence,  and  subsequently  repri- 
sals, on  the  part  of  the  Church  became  a  religious  dut}'. 
The  unwarlike  spirit  of  the  early  Church  entirely  passed 
away,  and  in  its  stead  appeared  that  military  Christi- 
anity which  is  so  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  the  Cru- 
sades (see  Milman,  Latin  Christianity,  ii,  220-222  ; 
Lecky,  Hist,  of  European  Morals,  ii,  262-268),  In 
heathen  countries  the  inhabitants  usually  embraced, 
after  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  the  Bloslem  faith.  Per- 
sia, since  its  first  conciuest,  has  undergone  many  vicissi- 
tudes between  heathenism  (under  the  Mongols),  Sun- 
nism,  and  Shiism,  the  last  of  which  is  now  the  national 
faith,  and  has  become  in  many  points  assimilated  to  the 
ancient  Magianism.  In  India,  during  the  Moslem  do- 
minion, Islam  was  confined  to  the  ruling  classes  at  the 
various  courts,  and  found  little  acceptance  with  the  na- 
tives. The  emperor  Akbar  discarded  Mohammedan  pe- 
culiarities, and  was  a  simple  deist.  In  many  points 
Islam  has  approximated  to  Brahminism.  Persecution 
has  done  its  work  here  also,  even  in  modern  times,  es- 
pecially by  Tippu  Saib  of  Mysore  (Dijllinger,  p.  15, 16). 
The  sword  and  persecution  have  ever  been  the  means 
of  propagating  Islam ;  no  missionary  organization  has 
at  any  time  existed,  and  individual  efforts  for  voluntary 
conversion  have  been  rare  and  accidental.  Yet  instances 
are  frequent— the  Turks  (11th  century),  the  Mongols 
(13th  century)— of  whole  heathen  nations,  brought  in 
contact  with  Mohammedans,  having  voluntarily  ac- 
cepted Islam.  Astonishing  progress  was  thus  made  in 
Central  Africa ;  while  in  China  and  the  Asiatic  islands 
also  it  made  many  converts  (Diillinger,  Muhammad's 
Religion,  etc.,  p.  16-20 ;  Mohler,  Ueber  das  Verhdltniss, 
etc.,  i,  386). 

The  causes  of  the  success  and  rapid  extension  of  Is- 


MOHAMMEDANISM! 


420 


M0HA3IMEDANISM 


lam  may  be  thus  summarized:  (1)  The  great  power 
over  iKjinadic  and  Eastern  races — as  were  the  Saracens 
and  Turks — of  IMuhammeil's  personal  character  and  re- 
ligion. Even  in  his  faults  he  nearly  corresponds  with 
their  ideal ;  and  his  religion  suits  their  habits  and  ways 
of  tliought,  (2)  Extension  by  the  sword,  as  a  religioits 
principle,  together  with  the  intense  and  burning  relig- 
ious zeal  of  the  Moliammedans,  fanned  by  hopes  of  im- 
mediate bliss — sensual  or  spiritual,  to  suit  different  tem- 
peraments— to  those  who  died  lighting  for  the  faith. 
(3)  Want  of  religious  depth  and  earnestness  among  the 
Christians  to  ^vhom  Islam  was  opposed.  In  early  times 
this  was  in  great  measure  the  result  of  widespread  her- 
esy, which  Aveakened  faith,  caused  indifference  through 
weariness  of  controversy,  and  created  numerous  divi- 
sions and  discords;  in  later  times,  of  discords  between 
the  Komau  and  Eastern  churches  and  Protestants. 
Christendom  was  divided;  jMohammedanism  was,  at 
the  time  of  its  successes,  absolute  unity,  spiritual  and 
temporal.  (4)  The  outward  character  presented  by  JIo- 
hammedanism.  The  permission  in  this  life,  and  prom- 
ise in  the  next,  of  sensuality  influenced  low  and  coarse 
minds;  asceticism  in  the  long  and  strict  fast,  regular 
prayers  and  ablutions,  almsgiving,  abstinence  from  in- 
toxicating liquors,  and  other  burdensome  precepts,  and 
a  generally  austere  and  scrupulous  spirit,  suited  higher 
characters  (see  Hallam,  Middle  Ai/es  [ed.  1872],  ii,  il7), 
(5)  The  inward  truth  in  the  religion,  namely,  the  in- 
tense acknowledgment  of  (Jod's  sole  supremacy,  hatred 
of  idolatry,  and  of  everything  that  trenched  upon  his 
prerogatives.  (6)  The  military  skill  and  wise  policy  of 
both  Saracens  and  Turks  in  dealing  with  Christians, 
and  the  consequent  strength  of  their  government  as  op- 
posed to  the  weakness  and  discords  among  Christian 
powers. 

The  cause  of  Mohammedan  decline  is  mainly  that 
Islam  is  especially  designed  for  nomad  and  half-nomad 
races;  hence  when  they  settle  they  lose  the  strength 
which  arises  from  their  nomadic  life,  and  their  religion 
loses  its  purity  and  po^ver.  They  degenerate,  become 
luxurious  and  inactive ;  internal  dissensions  and  divi-  ', 
sions  arise ;  the  same  doctrine  (e.  g.  fatalism)  that  ' 
Strengthened  them  in  their  success  weakens  them  in  I 
their  depression.  Jloreover,  the  opposition  to  progress 
innate  in  Islam  tends  to  keep  Mohammedan  nations  ; 
stationary,  while  Cliristian  powers  advance  in  strength  i 
and  wealth.  Says  Mr.  I'algrave,  who  has  given  the 
latest  and  best  account  of  Mohammedanism  in  Central 
and  Southern  Arabia:  "Islam  is  in  its  essence  station- 
ary, and  was  framed  thus  to  remain.  Sterile  like  its 
God,  lifeless  like  its  First  Principle  and  Supreme  Orig- 
inal, in  all  tliat  constitutes  true  life— for  life  is  love, 
participation,  and  progress,  and  of  tliese  the  Koranic 
Deity  has  none— it  justly  repudiates  all  change,  all  ad- 
vance, all  development.  To  borrow  the  forcible  words 
of  lord  Ilougliton,  the  'written  book'  is  the  'dead  man's 
Land,'  stiff  autl  motii)iik'ss,  and  wliatever  savors  of  vi- 
tality is  Ijy  tliat  aliiiie  convicted  of  heresy  and  defec- 
tion. IJut  Cliristianity,  witii  its  living  and  loving  God, 
begetter  and  begotten,  spirit  and  movement;  nay,  more 
— a  Creator  made  creature,  tlie  JIaker  and  made  exist- 
ing in  one;  a  Divinity  communicating  itself  by  unin- 
terrupted graduation  and  degree  from  the  intimate 
union  far  off  to  the  faintest  irradiation,  through  all  it 
has  made  for  love  and  governs  in  love;  One  who  calls 
his  creatures,  not  slaves,  not  servants,  but  friends— nay. 
sons— nay,  gods;  to  sum  up,  a  religion  in  whose  real 
secret  '(iod  in  man  is  one  witli  man  in  (iod'  must  also 
be  necessarily  a  religion  of  vitality,  of  progress,  of  ad- 
vancement. The  contrast  between  it  and  Islam  is  that 
of  movement  with  lixechuss,  of  participation  with  ste- 
rility, of  development  willi  barreimess,  of  life  with  petri- 
faction. The  lirst  vital  princijde  and  the  animating 
si)irit  of  its  birth  must,  indeed,  abide  ever  the  same ; 
but  the  outer  form  must  change  with  the  changing 
days,  and  new  offshoots  of  fresh  sap  and  greenness  be 
continually  thrown  out  a3  witnesses  to  the  vitality  with- 


I  in ;  else  were  the  vine  withered  and  the  branches  dead. 
1  I  have  no  intention  here — it  would  be  extremely  out  of 
I  place — of  entering  on  the  maze  of  controversy,  or  dis- 
cussing whether  any  dogmatic  attempt  to  reproduce  the 
religious  phase  of  a  former  age  is  likely  to  succeed.  I 
only  say  that  life  supposes  movement  and  growth,  and 
both  imply  change;  that  to  censure  a  living  thing  for 
growing  and  changing  is  absurd ;  and  that  to  attempt 
to  hinder  it  from  so  doing,  by  pinning  it  down  on  a 
written  label,  or  nailing  it  to  a  Procrustean  framework, 
is  tantamount  to  killing  it  altogether.  Now  Christian- 
ity is  living,  must  grow,  must  advance,  must  change, 
and  was  meant  to  do  so ;  onwards  and  forwards  is  a  con- 
dition of  its  verj'  existence;  and  I  cannot  but  think 
that  those  who  do  not  recognise  this  show  themselves 
so  far  ignorant  of  its  true  nature  and  essence.  On  the 
other  hand,  Islam  is  lifeless ;  and,  because  lifeless,  cannot 
grow,  camiot  advance,  cannot  change,  and  was  never 
intended  so  to  do." 

The  effects  of  Mohammedanism,  as  shown  in  life  and 
character,  must  be  briefly  noticed.  The  minuteness  of 
the  ritual  and  social  rules,  together  with  the  hardness 
j  and  coldness  of  the  morality  taught,  produces  a  great 
I  amount  of  formalism.  The  name  of  God  and  pious 
ejaculations  are  constantly  on  the  lips,  even  in  the  midst 
of  the  most  indecent  conversation.  Mohammedans  often 
saj'  the  "  Bismillah"  before  committing  a  crime  (Spren- 
ger,  ii,  206).  Hence  the  most  scrupulous  observance 
of  outward  duties  is  not  unfrequently  united  with  the 
grossest  habitual  immorality  and  crime  (Dullinger,  p. 
20-29) ;  religion  and  morality  seem  completely  sundered. 
Another  great  evil  results  from  the  minuteness  of  the 
laws  concerning  marriage  and  divorce.  :Many  volumes 
have  been  written  to  explain  them,  entering  into  the 
closest  and  most  disgusting  details,  forming  "a  mass  of 
corruption,  poisoning  the  mind  and  morals  of  every  Mo- 
hammedan student"  (Jluir,  iii,  302),  and  utterly  defiling 
the  very  language.  Hence  arises  the  prevalence  not 
only  of  the  most  indecent  language  and  conduct,  but 
also  of  extreme  profligacy  among  both  sexes.  Unnat- 
ural vice  is  fearfully  common.  The  jiictures  of  the  joys 
of  paradise  contribute  in  some  degree  to  this  profligacy; 
these  come  to  be  the  object  of  their  thoughts,  and  are 
anticipated,  as  far  as  possible,  on  earth.  The  doctrine 
of  predestination,  or,  rather,  fatalism,  produces  extreme 
apathy  and  want  of  energy  in  acticm ;  while  the  notion 
that  all  Mohammedans  are  (lod's  chosen  in  a  special 
sense,  tliough  causing  a  deep  brotherly  feeling  among 
tliemselves,  which  is  fostered  by  the  precepts  and  alms- 
giving, leads  them  to  a  bitter  contempt  and  hatred  of 
all  other  religions. 

It  remains  to  sum  up  the  good  and  evil  sides  of  Mo- 
hammedanism. On  the  one  hand,  it  is  a  rigid  foe  to 
idolatry,  as  it  teaches  the  unity,  perfection,  providence, 
and  government  of  God,  and  hence  submission  and  res- 
ignation to  his  will,  together  with  the  great  doctrine  of 
a  judgment  and  eternal  retribution.  It  inculcates,  more- 
over, brotherly  love  and  union  with  fellow-believers, 
and  many  social  virtues;  with  almsgiving,  temperance, 
and  a  certain  standard  of  morality.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  perpetuates  the  great  evils  of  the  East — polygamy, 
slavery,  and  absolute  despotism;  it  opposes  all  political 
and  social  progress,  wliile  the  semi-civilized,  arbitrary 
character  tif  its  law  and  justice  renders  pro])crty  inse- 
cure. Its  doctrine  of  propagation  by  the  sword  leads  to 
constant  wars  and  rebellions,  with  an  utter  contempt  for 
human  life.  It  is  in  fact  a  semi-barbarous  religion.  On 
its  religious  side  it  fails  to  satisfy  the  natural  longing 
for  some  mediator  between  (iod  and  man,  while  yet  it 
bows  before  (iod  as  an  irresistible  power;  its  morality, 
in  itself  defective,  is  dry,  cold,  hard,  lifeless,  without 
any  amiable  traits;  and,  finally,  as  sul)stituting  ]Mo- 
hammed  for  Christ,  it  is  essentially  anti -Cliristian. 
Wiiile  it  may  be  an  advance  on  heatlienism,  it  is  an  ad- 
vance which  almost  excludes  the  further  advance  of 
Cliristianity,  missionary  efforts  being  well-nigh  without 
result. 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


421 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


Christian  and  Mohammedan  Polemics. — The  contest 
of  Christianity  with  Islam,  so  far  as  it  has  been  a 
struggle  of  argument  and  not  of  the  sword  [see  Sara- 
cens], offers  few  remarkable  points.  In  the  first  sweep 
of  Mohammedan  conquest,  when  the  Christians  suc- 
cumbed not  only  in  the  East  but  even  in  the  West, 
there  was  no  field  for  a  question  of  truth.  But  among 
nations  which  were  removed  from  the  peril,  and  yet  suf- 
ficiently in  contact  to  entertain  the  question  of  the 
claims  of  the  Mohammedan  religion,  a  consideration  of 
its  nature,  regarded  as  a  system  of  doctrine,  naturallj^ 
enough  arose.  Accordingly  in  Constantinople,  and  in 
Spain  and  the  other  parts  of  Western  Europe  which 
came  into  connection  with  the  Moors,  works  of  this 
character  appeared.  The  history  may  be  conveniently 
arranged  in  three  periods,  each  of  which  is  marked  by 
works  of  defence,  some  called  forth  by  danger,  a  real 
demand,  but  subsiding  into  or  connected  with  inquiries 
prompted  only  by  literary  tastes.  The  first  is  from  the 
12th  to  the  middle  of  the  16th  century;  the  second  dur- 
ing the  17th  and  18th;  the  third  during  the  present 
century. 

1.  A  notice  of  the  Mohammedan  religion  exists  in  a 
work  of  John  of  Damascus  (q.  v.),  who  flourished  in  the 
8th  century;  and  Euthymius  Zigabenus  (q.  v.),  a  By- 
zantine writer  of  the  12th:  but  the  first  important 
treatise  written  directly  against  it  was  prepared  in  1210 
— Richardi  Confututio,  edited  in  1543  by  Bibliander 
from  a  Greek  copy.  The  refutation  of  Averroes  bj' 
Aquinas,  about  1250,  can  hardly  be  quoted  as  an  instance 
of  a  work  against  the  Mohammedan  religion,  being 
rather  against  its  philosophy.  The  ablest  Christian  po- 
lemic who  waged  war  against  Islam  in  the  13th  century 
was,  however,  the  well-known  Eaymond  Lully  (q.  v.), 
whose  zeal  could  not  fail  to  stir  up  many  laborers  for 
the  mission-field,  especially  that  branch  of  it  aiming  at 
the  conversion  of  ]\Iohammedans.  Thus  we  read  of  a 
monk  who  penetrated  the  great  mosque  at  Cairo  in  1345 
to  require  the  sultan  himself  to  become  a  follower  of 
Christ  crucified ;  and  so  powerful  was  his  appeal  that  a 
renegade  who  had  lapsed  into  Islam  returned  into  the 
bosom  of  the  Church.  Then  we  find  Ethier,  the  father 
confessor  of  the  infanta  of  Aragonia,  jjreacliing  Christ  to 
the  Moslems  in  1370 ;  and  his  example  followed  in  1439 
by  the  papal  legate  Albert  of  Larzana  and  two  assist- 
ants, etc. 

But  if  we  return  to  works  aimed  to  defend  Christian- 
ity against  Mohammedanism,  we  meet  with  a  treatise 
by  John  Cantacuzene,  written  a  little  after  1350,  which 
is  to  be  explained  probably  by  the  circumstance  that 
the  danger  from  Mohammedan  powers  in  the  East  di- 
rected the  attention  of  a  literary  man  to  the  religion 
and  institutions  which  they  professed.  Thus  far  the 
works  were  called  forth  by  a  real  demand.  A  series  of 
treatises,  however,  commences  about  the  time  of  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Moors  from  Spain,  the  cause  of  the  exist- 
ence of  which  is  not  so  easy  of  explanation.  Such  are 
those  in  Spain  by  Alphonso  de  Spina,  1487,  and  by  Tur- 
recremata  (see  Eichhorn,  Gesch  der  Lit.  vol.  vi) ;  by 
Nicholas  de  Cuza,  published  in  1543;  in  Italy  about 
1500  by  Ludovicus  Vives,  and  Volterranus;  one  by 
Philip  Melancthon  in  reference  to  the  reading  of  the 
Koran ;  and  a  collection  of  treatises,  including  those  of 
Richardus,  Cantacuzene,  Vives,  and  Melancthon,  pub- 
lished by  Bibliander  in  1548.  Probably  the  first  two  of 
this  list  may  have  been  a  relic  of  the  crusade  of  Chris- 
tianity against  the  Moorish  religion ;  the  next  two  pos- 
sibly were  called  forth  by  the  interest  excited  in  refer- 
ence to  Mohammedans  by  reason  of  their  conquests,  or, 
less  probably,  by  the  influence  of  their  philosophy  at 
Padua.  The  last  two  are  hardly  to  be  explained,  ex- 
cept by  supposing  them  to  be  an  offshoot  of  the  Kenais- 
sancc,  and  called  forth  by  the  largeness  of  literary  taste 
and  inquiry  excited  by  that  event. 

2.  When  we  pass  into  the  17th  century  we  find  a  se- 
ries of  treatises  on  the  same  subject,  which  must  be  ex- 
plained by  the  cause  j  ust  named— the  newly  acquired 


interest  in  Arabic  and  other  Eastern  tongues.  We 
meet,  however,  with  others,  called  forth  by  the  mission- 
ary exertions  which  had  brought  the  Christians  into 
contact  with  Mohammedans  in  the  East. 

The  treatise  by  Bleda  {De/ensio  Fidei  Christiance, 
1610)  stands  alone,  unconnected  with  any  cause.  It 
was  partly  a  defence  of  the  conduct  of  Christians  to- 
wards the  Mohammedans.  A  real  interest,  however, 
belongs  to  the  work  of  Guadagnoli,  in  1631.  A  Cath- 
olic missionary,  Hieronymo  Xavier,  had  composed  in 
1596  a  treatise  in  Persian  against  Mohammedanism,  in 
which  the  general  principle  of  theism  was  laid  down  as 
opposed  to  the  Mohammedan  doctrine  of  absorption ; 
next,  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  Christianity  was  stated ; 
and,  lastly,  a  contrast  was  cbrawn  between  the  two  relig- 
ions. (See  Lee's  Tracts  on  Christianity  and  Mohamme- 
danism, Pref.  p.  5  sq.)  This  work  was  answered  in  1621 
by  a  Persian  nobleman  named  Ahmed  ibn-Zain  Elebidin. 
The  line  adopted  by  him  was— (1)  to  show  that  the 
coming  of  Mohammed  was  predicted  in  the  0.  T.  (Hab. 
iii,  3) ;  (2)  to  argue  that  Mohammed's  teaching  was  not 
more  opposed  to  Christ's  than  his  was  to  that  of  Moses, 
and  that  therefore  both  ought  to  be  admitted,  or  both 
rejected;  (3)  to  point  out  critically  the  discrepancies  in 
the  Gospels ;  (4)  to  attack  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity 
and  Christ's  deity  (Lee,  Pref.  p.  41  sq.).  It  was  written 
in  golden  characters,  and  sent  to  pope  Urban  VIII,  with 
a  challenge  to  refute  its  contents.  A  person  competent 
to  deal  with  it  was  carefully  selected,  and  the  work  was 
ably  answered  (1631)  by  a  treatise  in  Latin  by  Philippo 
Guadagnoli,  dedicated  to  pope  Urban  VIII.  It  is  divid- 
ed into  four  parts :  (1)  respecting  the  objections  about 
the  Trinity;  (2)  the  Incarnation;  (3)  the  authority  of 
Scripture;  (4)  the  claims  of  the  Koran  and  of  Moham- 
med (Lee,  Pref.  p.  108  sq. ;  who  also  gives  references 
[p.  113]  to  a  few  other  writers,  chiefly  in  the  17th  cen- 
tury). 

The  further  works  of  defence  produced  in  this  cen- 
tury arose,  as  it  were,  accidentally.  The  lengthy  sum- 
mary of  the  Mohammedan  controversy  in  Hoornbeek's 
Summa  Controversiarum  (1653,  p.  75  sq.)  was  either 
introduced  merelj'  to  give  completeness  to  the  work  as 
a  treatise  on  polemics,  or  was  called  forth  by  considera- 
tions connected  with  missions,  as  is  made  probable  by 
his  work  De  Conversione  Gentilium  et  Indoi-um.  Le 
Moyne's  publication  on  the  subject  in  the  Varia  Sacra 
(1685,  vol.  i)  arose  from  the  accidental  discovery  of  an 
old  treatise,  Bartholomcei  Edess.  Confutatio  Hagareni. 
A  third  work  of  this  kind,  Blaraccio's  Criticism  on  the 
Koran  (1698),  arose  from  the  circumstance  that  the 
pope  would  not  allow  the  publication  of  an  edition  of 
the  Koran  without  an  accompanying  refutation  of  each 
part  of  it.  This  effort  remains  to  our  day  the  chef- 
d'oeuvre  in  Christian  polemics  against  the  Koran.  The 
work  of  Hottinger  {Hist.  Orient,  bk.  i),  Pfeiffer's  Theol. 
Judaica  et  j\fahom.,  and  Kortholt's  De  Relig.  Mahom. 
(1663),  form  the  transition  into  an  independent  literary 
investigation ;  which  is  seen  in  the  literary  inquiries 
concerning  the  life  of  Mohammed,  as  well  as  his  doc- 
trine, in  Pocock,  Prideaux  (1697),  Keland  (1707),  Bou- 
lainvilliers  (1730),  and  the  translation  of  the  Koran  by 
Sale  (1734).  A  slightly  controversial  tone  pervades 
some  of  them.  The  materials  collected  by  them  were 
occasionally  used  by  deist  and  infidel  writers  (e.  g.  by 
Chubb)  for  instituting  an  unfavorable  comparison  be- 
tween Christ  and  jMohammed.  The  great  literary  his- 
torians of  that  period  give  lists  of  the  previous  writers 
connected  with  the  investigation.  (See  J.  A.  Fabricius, 
Bibliotheca  Graca,  ed.  1715,  vii,  136 ;  Walch,  Biblioth. 
Theol.  Sel.  vol.  i,  chap,  v,  §  9.)  A  summary  of  the  ar- 
guments used  in  the  controversy  is  given  in  J.  Fabricius, 
Delectus  A  ryumentorum,  p.  41  sq. ;  and  Stapfer's  Inst. 
Theol.  Polem.  iii,  289  sq. 

3.  In  the  present  century  the  literature  in  reference 
to  Mohammedanism  is,  as  in  the  former  instances,  two- 
fold in  kind.  Part  of  it  has  been  called  forth  by  mis- 
sionary contests  in  the  East ;  part  by  literary  or  historic 


moham^iedanis:m 


422 


MOHAJ^OIEDANISM 


tastes,  and  the  modern  love  of  carrying  the  comparative 
method  of  study  into  every  part  of  liistory. 

The  first  class  is  illustrated  by  the  discussions  at  Shi- 
raz,  in  1811,  between  the  saintly  Henry  Jlartyn  (q.v.) 
ami  some  Persian  mollahs.  The  controversy  was  open- 
ed by  a  tract,  sophistical  but  acute,  written  by  Mirza 
Ibrahim  (Lee,  p.  1-39),  the  object  of  which  was  to  show 
the  superiority  of  the  standing  miracle  seen  in  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  Koran  over  the  ancient  miracles  of 
Christianity.  Jlartyn  replied  to  this  in  a  series  of 
tracts  (Lee,  p.  80  sq.),  and  was  again  met  by  Moham- 
med lln/.a.  of  Hamadan  in  a  much  more  elaborate  work, 
in  wliicii,  among  other  arguments,  the  writer  attemjits 
to  sliow  predictions  of  Mohammed  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  in  the  New,  applying  to  him  the  promise  of  the 
Paraclete  (Lee,  p.  101-450).  These  tracts  were  trans- 
lated in  1824,  with  an  elaborate  preface  containing  an 
account  of  the  preceding  controversy  of  Guadagnoli,  by 
Professor  S.  Lee,  of  Cambridge  {Controvi-rsial  7 rails  on 
Christianity  and  Mohammedanism,  which  is  the  work  so 
frecjuently  cited  above).  To  complete  the  history,  it  is 
necessary  to  add  that  a  discussion  was  held  a  few  years 
ago  between  an  accomplished  M(>hamme<lan  and  Mr. 
Frencli,  a  learned  missionary  at  Agra.  Since  then  a 
very  able  defence  of  Cliristianity  and  an  attack  on  Mo- 
hammedanism was  published  by  Dr.  I'fander,  "  a  highly 
respected  missionary  of  the  English  Church  Missionary' 
Society"  (1864),  which,  though  forbidden,  found  its  way 
to  Constantinople  and  to  ^Mohammedan  families,  and  was 
replied  to  by  several  Moslems.  In  1805  a  jNIoslem  doc- 
tor of  India,  Syud  Ahmed  Khan,  and  P.  Scudder  Amin, 
actually  brought  out  a  bilingual  commentary  on  the 
Holy  Hible  in  English  and  Urdu,  placing  the  Bible  and 
Koran  upon  the  same  footing,  and  equally  binding  on 
the  Moslems.  The  Kev.  J.  T.  Gracey,  in  a  review  of 
this  work,  sent  from  Bareilly,  India,  September  26, 1860, 
and  published  in  the  Methodist,  says  :  '"A  resume  of  the 
relative  bearings  of  this  book  might  be  interesting ;  but, 
as  nothing  is  more  baffling  than  the  study  of  contempo- 
raneous history,  I  dislike  to  venture  my  speculations 
about  what  is  indicated  in  such  a  publication,  or  the 
probable  influence  it  will  exert.  1.  Its  bearings  on 
the  Mohammedan  controversy  with  Christianity  are 
important.  The  IMohammedan  mind  is  thoroughly  im- 
pregnated with  the  belief  that  the  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian Scriptures  have  been  corrupted,  and  hence  are  un- 
worthy of  credit.  Accordingly,  when  we  have  urged 
that,  since  Mohammed  based  his  claims  on  the  Jewish 
and  Cliristian  Scriptures,  Mohammedans  were  under  ob- 
ligation to  regard  these,  and  reconcile  with  them  the 
Koran,  they  have  always  assented  to  the  proposition 
abstractly,  but  have  charged  that  interpolations  of  the 
Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures  were  the  cause  of  the 
discrepancies  m  doctrine  which  appear.  Mohammedan- 
ism has,  however,  it  is  claimed,  always  had  a  philosoph- 
ical school,  which  ignored  many  popular  hilhj's.  Syud 
Ahmed  is  of  this  class,  and,  after  examining  the  Co- 
lenso  controversy,  asserts  essential  integrity  for  the  rec- 
ord. His  book  is  among  the  first  attempts  to  popularize 
this  belief,  however  esoterically  it  may  have  been  held 
by  a  school ;  anil  as  the  book  lias  had  considerable  cir- 
culation among  the  most  intluential  persons  in  the  va- 
rious communities,  it  can  scarcely  fail  in  time  to  mate- 
rially modify  the  popular  notion  of  the  lack  of  authen- 
ticity of  the  Scriptures.  2.  In  comparison  with  the 
IIiudA,the  Mohammedan  mind  of  India  has  been  roused 
but  little  from  its  wonted  apatJiy  by  its  contact  with 
Western  civilization.  A  heavy  prize  offered  in  Calcutta 
recently  for  the  best  essay  on  a  suhject  familiar  to  the 
Mohammedan  mind  called  forlli  less  than  half  a  dozen 
moiiogra]dis,  none  of  which  merited  tlie  jirize.  A  like 
offer  to  llindCls  would  have  met  a  very  different  fate. 
But  this  book  is,  I  hope,  a  harbinger  of  a  better  state 
of  affairs,  and  may  do  much  to  induce  it,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact,  which  tlie  author  assures  me  in  personal 
correspondence,  that  the  limited  sale  of  this  second  vol- 
ume does  not  justify  his  completing  the  scries,  though 


he  has  the  matter  prepared.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in 
this  he  may  prove  to  be  in  error.  3.  This  volume 
clearly  supports  the  opinion  expressed  in  advance  by 
me,  tliat  those  who  talked  of  this  commentary  as  being 
about  to  furnish  a  refutation  of  Colenso  were  simply 
guilty  of  idle  gossip.  It  contains  on  the  Noachian  del- 
uge a  respectable  compilation,  from  archdeacon  Pratt 
mainly,  of  certain  arguments  in  favor  of  a  partial  del- 
uge ;  but  there  is  not  an  original  respectable  argument 
in  it,  so  far  as  I  know,  bearing  on  tlie  controversy  with 
Colenso  and  the  Reviewers.  Nor  is  any  one  who  knew 
the  Jlohammedan  mind  disappointed  in  this,  simply 
because  none  such  expected  it  to  be  otherwise  than  it 
is.     It  contains,  true  to  the  Mohammedan  mind,  an 

j  amount  of  mere  puerilities,  amid  a  mass  of  matter  that 

j  shows  a  keen  appreciation  of  nice  points  in  a  contro- 
versy.    It  adds  nothing  to  European,  though  it  does 

.  add  much  to  Asiatic  Biblical  criticism." 

The  literar)'  aspect  of  the  subject  —  not,  however, 
wholly  free  from  controversj- — was  opened  by  White  in 
the  Hampton  Lectures  for  1784,  and  abundant  sources 

;  have  lately  been  furnished.  Among  them  are  a  new 
translation  of  the  Koran  by  the  Kev.  J.  M.  Rodwell, 
where  the  Suras  are  arranged  chronologically.  The 
f(dlowing  ought  also  to  be  added  :  Dr.  JIacbride's  Mo- 
hammedan lieliijion  Explained  (1857) ;  Arnold,  Koran 
and  Jiible  (1st  edit.  1859;  2d  edit.  1806) ;  Tholuck,  Ver- 
mischte  Schriften,  i,  1-27;  Die  Wander  Mohammed's 
und  der  Charakter  des  Religionstifters ;  Dr.  Stanley's 
Lectures  on  the  History  of  tlie.  Eastern  Church  (lect.  viii, 
and  the  references  there  given) ;  Maurice,  Reliyions  of 
the  World;  licxmxi.  Etudes  d'llistoire  Rtliyieuse,  ess.  i%-. 
The  modern  study  has  been  directed  more  especially  to 
attain  a  greater  knowledge  of  Mohammed's  life,  char- 
acter, and  writings,  the  antecedent  religious  condition 
of  Arabia,  and  the  characteristics  of  ilohammedanism 
when  put  into  comparison  with  other  creeds,  and  when 
viewed  psychologically  in  relation  to  the  human  mind. 
The  materials  also  for  a  study  of  the  Mohammedan  form 
of  philosophy,  both  in  itself  and  in  its  relation  to  the 
religion,  have  been  furnished  by  Aug.  Schmoelders, 
Essai  sur  les  Ecoles  I'hilosophiques  chez  les  A  rabes 
(1842).  See  also  fitter's  Christliche  Fhilosnphie,  iii,  065 
sq.;  iv,  1-181. 

V.  statistics.— It  remains  for  us  to  consider  the  num- 
ber of  Islam's  adherents  in  our  day,  and  the  countries 
that  contain  them.  There  arc  believed  to  be  over 
185,000,000  of  :\Iohammedans  in  the  world,  and  there 
are  a  number  of  countries,  outside  of  Turkey  and  Egypt, 
in  which  Mohammedanism  is  the  predommant  religion, 
or  at  least  a  great  power.  Europe  contains  only  0,500,000 
of  the  Crescent's  adherents,  but  Asia  is  the  home  of 
nearly  80,000,000  Mohammedans,  and  Africa  is  assert- 
ed to  have  even  many  more.  Islamism  is  still  the 
predominant  religion  of  the  entire  north  of  Africa,  and 
its  rule  extends  far  down  eastward,  and  into  the  centre 
of  the  continent;  and  it  is  believed  that  fully  one  half, 
or  about  100,000,000  souls,  may  be  set  do\vn  as  iloham- 
medans.  It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance,  however, 
that  by  far  the  most  powerful  Jlohammcdan  ruler  of 
the  globe — the  sultan  of  Turkey — resides  in  Europe, 
where  the  Islam  has  only  a  population  of  about  4,500,000 
in  the  Turkish  and  2,000,000  in  the  Jtussian  dominions. 
Even  the  sultan  himself  has  in  the  Euro]iean  division 
of  his  empire  more  Christian  subjects  tiian  Moham- 
medan. In  Asia,  Jlohammedanism  strongly  predomi- 
nates in  Asiatic  Turkey,  which  has  a  Jlohainmedan  pop- 
ulation of  at  least  i:!,(iiHt,0(it).  Persia,  with  its  5.000,000, 
is  an  almost  exclusively  ^lohammedan  country.  The 
same  is  the  case  with  Afghanistan,  lieloochistan,  and 
the  khanates  of  Independent  Tartary.  In  China  the 
Jlohaminedans  constitute  a  comi).act  body,  both  in  the 
north-west  and  in  the  south-western  provinces.  In 
both  places  they  have  endeavored  to  establish  their  in- 
dependence. In  the  nortli-west  they  have  so  far  suc- 
ceeded that  the  new  Mohammedan  empire  of  Yakoob 
Kushbegi  has  for  several  years  successfully  maiutained 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


423 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


its  independence,  and  is  still  extending  its  boundaries. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Mohammedan  rebels  in  the 
south-west,  the  so-called  Panthay,  have  during  the  pres- 
ent year  succumbed  to  the  victorious  Chinese  armies. 
The  death  of  their  sultan  and  the  destruction  of  ttieir 
capital,  Talifu,  and  their  other  principal  places,  seem  for 
the  present  to  have  put  an  end,  not  only  to  their  rule 
in  those  regions,  but  even  to  their  political  intiuence. 
In  the  vast  British  empire  of  India  the  IMohammedan 
population  is  estimated  at  about  40,000,000,  and  pre- 
dominates in  a  number  of  the  native  states  which  are 
British  dependencies.  The  Mohammedans  also  consti- 
tute a  majority  of  the  population  of  the  large  and  im- 
portant island  of  Java,  where  they  are  rapidly  increas- 
ing ;  and  on  the  island  of  Sumatra  they  control,  among 
others,  the  kingdom  of  Achln,  which  has  recently  at- 
tracted attention  by  its  contiict  with  the  Netherlands. 
Russia  has  in  its  Asiatic  possessions  a  Mohammedan 
population  of  about  4,500,000.  In  Africa,  Jlohamme- 
danism  has,  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
made  great  progress  in  the  negro  states,  and  has  in  par- 
ticular become  the  controlling  power  of  Central  Africa, 
and  advanced  westward  as  far  as  Liberia.  Morocco, 
Algeria,  Tunis,  Tripoli,  Egypt,  Zanzibar,  are  all  Mo- 
hammedan states ;  in  the  south  and  south-west  they  do 
not  anywhere  predominate,  although  they  are  found 
everywhere  in  increasing  numbers.  But  although  Mo- 
hammedanism, since  the  beginning  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, has  been  making  these  advances  in  Central  Africa, 
the  number  of  real  and  thorough  believers  is  infinitely 
small ;  and  since  it  has  left  off  conquering,  it  has  lost 
also  that  energy  and  elasticity  which  promises  great 
things.  Its  future  fate  will  depend  chiefly,  we  should 
say,  on  the  progress  of  European  conquest  in  the  East, 
and  the  amount  of  Western  civilization  which  this  will, 
for  good  or  evil,  import  into  those  parts. 

Mohammedanism  may  be  said,  even  in  its  most  suc- 
cessful field — Africa — to  be  everywhere  in  a  condition 
of  steadUy  progressing  decay.  The  most  intelligent 
travellers  of  modern  times  show  a  remarkable  agree- 
ment with  regard  to  this  point.  H.  von  Maltzahn,  who 
visited,  in  the  disguise  of  a  Mohammedan  pilgrim,  all 
the  countries  from  Timbuctoo  to  INIecca,  and  the  Hunga- 
rian, Vambe'ry,  who  in  the  same  disguise  travelled  from 
Teheran  to  Samarcand ;  Henry  Earth,  who  penetrated 
into  Central  Africa  as  far  as  Timbuctoo ;  and  Palgrave, 
who  in  18G2  visited  Central  and  Eastern  Arabia,  and  iii 
particular  the  empire  of  the  Wahabites,  all  bear  witness 
to  this  decay  of  the  Islam.  The  baron  of  Maltzahn,  in 
his  book  of  the  Pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  which  he  joined 
in  1860,  under  the  name  of  Sidi  Abd'er  Kahman  ben- 
Mohammed  es-Shikdi,  says:  "The  Islam  has  long  been 
undermined,  but  now  it  appears  to  be  on  the  eve  of  a 
general  collapse ;  all  that  formerlj'  constituted  its  glory 
— science,  scholarship,  art,  industry — has  long  left  it; 
its  pohtical  power  has  become  a  laughing-stock,  its 
commerce  has  been  reduced  to  zero;  one  thing  only 
seems  to  stay  for  a  time  the  impending  collapse — relig- 
ious fanaticism.  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  decline 
of  Mohammedanism  is  shown  in  the  decrease  of  the 
population  of  the  large  cities.  Thus  Bagdad,  which  at 
the  time  of  the  caliphate  had  2,000,000  inhabitants,  has 
now  only  100,000 ;  the  popidation  of  Basrah  has  been 
reduced  from  200,000  to  80,000 ;  that  of  Aleppo  from 
200,000  to  90,000;  that  of  Samarcand  from  180,000  to 
20,000 ;  that  of  Katsena,  which  in  the  17th  centurj'  was 
the  first  city  of  Central  Soudan,  from  100,000  to  8000. 
Even  the  population  of  the  holy  city  of  Mecca,  the 
most  licentious  city  of  the  East,  has  been  reduced  from 
100,000  to  45,000.  The  only  country  of  the  Moham- 
medan world  which,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  has 
made  real  and  important  progress  is  Egypt;  but  its 
progress  is  clearly  traceable  to  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tian countries.  Most  of  the  rulers  of  the  house  of  Me- 
hemet  Ali  have  shown  their  appreciation  of  the  supe- 
riority of  Western  civilization,  and  made  earnest  ef- 
forts to  elevate  Egypt  to  a  level  with  it.     All  the 


sons  of  the  present  khedive  have  received  a  Euro- 
pean education:  one  has  been  instructed  in  Paris,  a 
second  one  in  England,  and  a  third  one  is  to  enter  the 
Prussian  army.  Industrial  departments  have  been  cre- 
ated, as  in  the  constitutional  monarchies  of  Europe,  and 
a  council  of  state  lias  been  created  to  advise  the  khedive 
in  all  the  important  affairs  of  the  state.  The  most  in- 
fluential among  the  Egyptian  ministers,  and  for  many 
years  the  chief  adviser  of  the  khedive,  is  an  Armenian 
Christian,  Nubar  Pasha.  Even  an  assembly  of  depu-- 
ties  meets  annually  since  1866,  which,  as  it  is  officially 
expressed,  is  to  control  the  administration  and  to  fix 
the  budget.  Sweeping  reforms  have,  in  particular,  been 
effected  in  the  department  of  public  education.  Since 
1868  public  schools  have  been  established  by  the  gov- 
ernment in  all  the  important  places  of  the  country. 
They  numbered  in  1870  about  4000  pupils,  who  received 
from  the  government  not  only  gratuitous  instruction, 
but  their  entire  support,  inclusive  of  clothing.  These 
schools  embrace  both  the  primary  and  the  secondary 
instruction.  The  former  embraced  Arabic  reading  and 
writing,  arithmetic,  drawing,  French,  or,  according  to 
the  location  of  the  place,  some  other  foreign  language. 
From  the  elementary  school  the  pupils  pass  into  the 
preparatory  department  of  the  secondary  school.  The 
course  lasts  three  years,  and  embraces  the  study  of  the 
Arabic, Turkish, French, and  English  languages;  math- 
ematics, drawing,  historj',  and  geography.  After  com- 
pleting this  preparatory  course,  the  pupil  enters  one  of 
the  special  schools  which  are  to  finish  his  education  for 
the  service  of  the  state.  These  special  schools  are:  1. 
The  Polytechnic  School,  the  course  of  which  lasts  four 
years.  As  in  France,  its  pupils  are  permitted  to  choose 
between  the  civil  and  the  military  career.  In  the  for- 
mer case  the  pupil  enters  for  two  years  the  School  of 
Administration,  and  afterwards  the  service  of  the  state ; 
in  the  latter  case  he  enters  the  Military  Academy  of 
the  Abbassieh  at  Cairo.  The  Polytechnical  School  had 
in  1871  seventy-one  pupils.  2.  The  Law  School.  The 
students  study  the  law  of  the  Islam,  especially  that  of 
Egypt,  which  is  now  in  the  course  of  a  radical  transfor- 
mation, and  also  the  Roman  law  and  the  present  laws 
of  the  European  countries.     3.  The  Philological  School. 

4.  The  School  of  Arts  and  Industry,  founded  at  Bulak 
by  Mehemet  Ali,  and  greatly  perfected  by  Ismail  Pasha. 

5.  The  Medical  School,  with  which  is  connected  a  School 
of  Midwifery,  the  only  one  which  exists  in  the  East.  6. 
The  Naval  School  in  Alexandria.  Quite  recently  the 
Egyptian  government  has  called  the  celebrated  German 
Orientalist,  H.  Brugsch,  of  Gtittingen,  to  Cairo,  in  order 
to  organize  there  an  academy  for  archaologj',  and,  in 
particular,  Egyptological  studies.  All  these  reforms  are 
making  wide  breaches  into  the  walls  by  which  Moham- 
medan fanaticism  has  so  long  tried  to  isolate  itself  from 
the  remainder  of  the  world.  Still  more  is  this  the  case 
with  the  construction  of  the  canal  of  Suez,  which  opens 
to  the  civilization  of  the  Christian  coimtries  a  new  and 
wide  road  to  the  intellects  and  minds  of  the  Egyptian 
Mohammedans,  which,  it  is  believed,  no  obstruction  will 
ever  be  able  again  to  block  up.  The  results  of  this  con- 
tact between  Egypt  and  Christian  Europe  and  America 
are  already  apparent.  Tlie  fanatical  customs  which  the 
Mohammedans,  like  those  of  other  countries,  used  to  in- 
dulge in  with  regard  to  Christians  begin  to  disappear 
one  by  one.  The  growth  of  some  of  the  Egyptian  cities 
is  marvellous.  Alexandria,  which  at  the  close  of  the 
18th  century  had  only  6000,  in  1820  only  15,000  inhab- 
itants, has  now  over  200,000.  The  rule  of  the  khedive 
has  been  extended  far  southward  into  Central  Africa 
and  on  the  coasts  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  it  appears  to  be 
highly  probable  that  his  ambitious  scheme  of  building 
up  a  vast  civilized  African  empire  has  good  prospects  of 
being  realized."  Detailed  accounts  of  the  several  na- 
tional branches  of  Jlohammedans  are  given  under  the 
articles  treating  of  the  respective  countries.  In  an  ar- 
ticle under  Saracens  we  will  consider  the  political 
history  of  the  Moslems  since  the  days  of  their  great 


MOHAMMEDANISM 


424 


MOHAMMEDAX  SECTS 


Prophet  to  the  present,  especially  their  conquests  in  the 
Western  world  and  the  sacred  places  of  the  East. 

"VI.  Literature.— (i)  Among  the  Jlohammedan  biog- 
raphies of  the  Prophet,  those  »(  "Wackidi,  llishani,  and 
Tabari  are  perhaps  the  most  important.  Dr.  Ferdinand 
Wilstenfeld  has  edited  and  brought  out  in  a  European 
dress  "J'/ie  Life  of  Muhdinmed,  based  on  Muhammed 
Ibn  Ishak,  by  AlJd  el-Malik  Ibn  Hisham  (Lond.  IHtIO, 
8vo,  pp.  102(5),  and  the  Kev.  .James  L.  iMcrrick  has 
brought  out  in  English  The  Life  ami  lielirjion  of  Mo- 
hammed, as  contained  in  the  .Shiite  traditions  of  the 
Hyal-Ul-Kuloob  (Bost.  1850,  8vo).  Abulfeda's  work, 
formerly  considered  an  authority,  is  now  ignored  (see 
art.  :M()1iammi-;d,  p.  397).  Among  European  and  Amer- 
ican biographies  of  the  Prophet  of  Islam  are  those  of 
Maraccius  (Padua,  1688);  Gagnier  (Gibbon's  chief  de- 
pendence ;  Amsterdam,  1732) ;  Hampohli  (Home,  1822) ; 
Bush  (N.  Y.  1832);  Vergers  (Paris,  183:5);  Haramer- 
Purgstall  (Leips.  1837) ;  Green  (N.  Y.  1810) ;  Weil  (Stutt- 
gafd,  1843) ;  Caussin  de  Perceval  (1847) ;  Washington 
Irving  (N.  Y.  1852).  But  the  three  lives  which  proba- 
bly present  the  greatest  research  are  those  by  Sir  Will- 
iam IMuir  (Lond.  1858),  by  Dr.  Sprenger  (Berlin,  18G9 
et  sq.,  G  vols.  8vo),  and  by  Noldeke  (Lond.  18G3).  Tlie 
last  of  these  is  popular  in  character,  but  rests  substan- 
tially on  original  investigation,  though  the  labors  of 
Weil,  Caussin,  Muir,  anil  Sprenger  have  been  used. 
These  works  suggested  a  series  of  essays  to  M.  Barthe- 
lemy  St.  Ililaire,  Mahomet  et  le  Coran  (Paris,  1865), 
which  arc  considered  valuable.  But  none  of  these, 
though  liberal  in  their  judgments,  are  satisfactory  to 
the  Syud  Ahmed,  who  has  published  some  essays  in 
English  (Lond.  1870)  on  Mohammed  and  subjects  sub- 
sidiary thereto,  and  who  explains  in  his  preface  the  rea- 
sons why  he  prefers  some  contemporary  accounts  that 
Europeans  have  less  valued,  and  he  writes  with  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  counteracting  the  eflfect  of  Muir  upon 
young  Mohammedan  students  of  English.  The  fiftieth 
chapter  of  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Full  (reprinted  sepa- 
rately also)  is  probably  the  strongest  vindication  that 
INIohammed  has  received  from  a  European.  Carlyle,  in 
his  Heroes  and  Ilero-tuorship,  has  also  taken  the  pallia- 
tive side,  and  he  is  followed  by  Kingsley  in  his  Alexan- 
dria and  her  Schools,  who  assents  to  Carlyle's  "  true  and 
just  description  of  a  much-calumniated  man." 

(2)  Of  the  different  works  treating  on  Jlohammedan- 
ism  and  its  founder,  or  only  the  former,  one  of  tlic  oldest 
European  works,  by  White  {Bampton  Lectures,  1784), 
treats  of  this  faith  in  the  usual  derogator^y  way.  Price's 
work  (Lond.  1811-21,  4  vols.  4to),  compiled  from  orig- 
inal Persian  authorities,  and  tracing  the  history  from 
the  death  of  Mohammed  to  1556,  is  generally  commend- 
ed. So  also  is  Mill's  Hist,  of  Mohamiiiidanism  ( Lond. 
1812),  and  likewise  Sale's  English  version  of  t lie  Koran, 
prefixed  by  a  dissertation,  regarded  as  '"one  of  the  best 
of  the  descriptive  and  liistorical  surveys."  De  Tassy's 
works — Doctrines  et  Devoirs  de  la  Religion  Musulmane, 
tires  du  Goran,  and  his  Memoire  sur  des  Particularites 
de  la  lielirjion  Musulmane  dans  I'Inde — are  valuable. 
Neale's  L'^lamism,  its  Rise  and  Progress,  is  an  ordinary 
compilation  simply,  and  Taylor,  J/ist.  of  Mohammedan- 
ism, treats  mainly  of  the  sects;  but  indispensable  to  ev- 
ery student  of  Mohammeilanism  is  Von  Ilammer-l'urg- 
stall's  Gesch.  des  OsmaiiMcken  Reiches  (Pesth,  1827-35, 10 
voU.  8vo).  One  of  the  best  treatises  is  by  Diillinger — 
ifuhammed's  Religion  nach  ihrer  innern  Entvickelung 
u.  ihrem  Einjlusse  auf  das  Leben  der  Volker  (Katisbon, 
1838).  Useful  are  Kenan's  Mah.  et  les  ori[;ines  de  ils- 
lami.ime  (I'ar.  1857,7th  rev.  ed.  1864),  and  Arnold's  Ko- 
ran and  liible  (Lond.  1866;  rewritten  and  published  in 
1874,  entitled  L^lam,  its  History,  Gharacter,  and  Rela- 
tion to  Ghrustianity).  The  Islamisme  of  the  learned  Dr. 
Dozy,  of  Leyden,  is  a  superior  work,  and  deserves  an  Va\- 
glish  dress.  It  is  full  in  its  account  of  the  historical  cir- 
cumstances and  preparations  out  of  which  iMoliamme- 
danism  sprang,  and  gives  a  well-compiled  account  of  its 
subsequent  iiitlueuce  on  the  world,  aud  of  its  sects  aud 


I  actual  position  at  the  present  day.  A  very  interesting 
'  and  valuable  contribution  is  the  work  by  Krenier — Ge- 
■  schichte  der  herrschenden  Ideen  des  Islams  (I^ips.  1868, 
8vo).  Worth  mentioning  are  also  the  Lectures  on  Mo- 
hammedanism by  Freeman  (( )xf.  and  Lond.  1870, 18mo), 
l)ySmith(Ivond.  1874, 8vo),  aud  Brown. .!/«//(; w«(«/</«i.<7«, 
its  present  Gondilion  and  Iiijhuua  in  India  (Lond.  1873, 
12mo).  See  also  Ilardwick,  Ghrist  and  other  Masters ; 
Clarke,  Ten  great  Religions,  ch.  xi ;  Milman,  Hist,  of 
Latin  Ghristianity,  ii,  108  sc). ;  Stanley,  Hist,  of  the  East- 
ern Ghurch,  lect.  viii;  Wright,  Early  Ghristianity  in 
A  rahia,  p.  152  sq. ;  Neander,  Ghurch  History,  iii,  84  sq. ; 
Cox,  Latin  and  Teutonic  Christendom ;  D'Herbelot, /i«6- 
lioth'eque  Orientale;  Malcom,  Hist,  of  Persia  (2  vols. 
4to) ;  Cazenove,  Mohammediinism  (Lond.  1855;  reprinted 
from  the  Ghiistian  Remembrancer,  Jan.  1855) ;  Deutsch, 
IJtirary  Remains  (Lond.  and  N.  Y.  1874;  containing  ar- 
ticles reprinted  from  the  Quarterly  Review,  Lond.  18(!9, 
1870).  In  many  travels,  especially  those  in  Arabia,  the 
condition  and  liistory  of  Mohammedanism  are  dwelt 
upon,  as  in  Burckhardt ;  and  Warburton  gives  a  chajjter 
to  it  in  his  Grescent  and  the  Gross.  See  also  Wcllsted, 
Travels  to  the  Gity  of  the  Galiphs  (Lond.  1840,  2  vols. 
8vo) ;  Lane,  The  Moslem  Egyptians  (5th  edition,  Lond. 
1871);  Zincke,  Egyj^t  of  the  Pharaohs  and  the  Khedive; 
General  Daumas,  La  vie  A  rahe  et  la  Societe  Musulmane. 
See  also  JIarj>er's  Monthly,  xiv,  1  sq. ;  Ghristian  Exam- 
iner, 1830,  iv,  360  sq. ;  Xorth  Amer.  Rev.  1831,  p.  257; 
A'orth  lirit.  Rev.  1850,  p.  101  sq.;  ,Ian.  and  Aug.  1855; 
Christian  Remembrancer,  .Ian.  1S55,  art.  iii;  Eree-u-iU 
BaptUt  Qu.  Jan.  1855,  art.  i ;  Edinburgh  Rev.  Oct.  1857 ; 
July,  18G6;  Nat.  Qu.  Rev.  March,  1861,  art.  vi;  Sept. 
art.  v;  Jahrb.  deutscher  Theologie,  x,  166;  1862,  p.  385; 
Revue  des  deux  Mamies,  Sept.  1865;  Prospect.  Rev.  ii, 
159 ;  Journal  ofJSacred  Lit.  vols,  xxi  and  xxiv ;  (Lond.) 
Quarterly  Rev.  cxxvii,  293  sq. ;  Oct.  1869,  p.  160 ;  Bibli- 
otheca  Sacra,  April,  1870;  Meth.  Qu.  Rev.  1864,  p.  141; 
1865,  p. '283;  18G6,  p.  G02;  1871,  p.  62;  West m.  Rev. 
1868,  p.  245;  Jan.  1873,  p.  124;  July,  p.  115  sq.;  Brit. 
Qu.  Rev.  Jan.  1872,  p.  100  scj.  On  Mohammedan  law 
are  works  by  JIuradgea,  D'Ohsson,  Knijzer,  Von  Tor- 
naw,  and  Perron. 

Mohammedan  Sects.  "IMy  community,"  the 
Pro))lul  of  I>l.iui  is  reported  to  have  said,  "  will  separate 
itsulf  into  SLventy-three  sects;  one  onl\'  will  be  saved 
— all  the  others  sliall  perish."  This  prophecy,  if  it  were 
ever  made,  has  in  a  large  measure  been  fuliillcd.  The 
Mohammedans  are  divided  into  fifty-five  orthodox  and 
eighteen  liberal  sects.  I'robably  the  prophecy  was 
made  after  the  division  had  taken  place.  (A  verj-  im- 
portant and  instructive  treatise  on  this  subject  was  pre- 
sented by  Silvestre  de  Sacy  to  the  Institute  of  France. 
It  is  based  on  the  writings  of  the  Slohammedan  writer 
Sheristani,  and  also  on  Macrisi.)  But,  be  this  as  it 
may,  differences  of  opinion  arose  among  the  Pro])het's 
followers  even  during  his  own  lifetime,  and  nudtiplicd 
rapidly  after  his  death.  A  perusal  of  the  articles  Ko- 
ran and  jMoiiammedanism  will  reveal  clearly  that  the 
fundamentals  of  Islam  were  by  no  means  unequivocal, 
and  hence  a  great  variety  of  interpretation  of  the  Ko- 
ran has  resulted.  To  add  to  the  poetical  uncertainty 
of  the  Koranic  principles,  a  vast  lumiber  of  oral  tradi- 
tions accutnulated  in  Islam,  and  were  circulated  as  an 
expansive  corollary  of  the  Koran.  Political  causes  soon 
came  to  assist  the  confusion  and  contest,  and  religion 
was  made  the  pretext  for  faction-fights,  wliich  in  reaUty 
had  their  origin  in  the  ambition  of  certain  men  of  infiu- 
ence.  Thus  "  sects"  increased  in  far  larger  numbers  even 
than  the  Prophet  is  said  to  have  foretold,  and  though 
their  existence  was  but  short-lived  in  most  instances, 
they  yet  deserve  attention,  were  it  only  as  signs  and 
tokens  of  the  ever-fresh  life  of  the  human  spirit,  which, 
though  fettered  a  thousand  times  by  narrow  and  hard 
formulas,  will  break  these  fetters  us  often,  and  i)rove  its 
everlasting  riglit  to  freedom  of  thought  ami  action. 
Tlic  bewildering  mass  of  these  currents  of  controversy 
has  by  the  .tVrabic  historians  been  brought  under  four 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS 


425 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS 


chief  heads  or  fundamental  bases.  The  first  of  these 
relates  to  the  divine  attributes  and  unity.  Which  of 
these  attributes  are  essential  or  eternal?  Is  the  om- 
nipotence of  God  absolute  ?  If  not,  what  are  its  limits '? 
Furtlier,  as  to  the  doctrine  of  God's  predestination  and 
man's  liberty — a  question  of  no  small  purport,  and  one 
which  has  been  controverted  in  nearly  all  religions — 
How  far  is  God's  decree  influenced  by  man's  own  will  ? 
How  far  can  God  countenance  evil?  and  questions  of  a 
similar  kind  belonging  to  this  province.  The  third  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  comprehensive  "  basis,"  and  the  one 
that  bears  most  directly  upon  practical  doctrines — viz., 
the  promises  and  threats,  and  the  names  of  God,  to- 
gether witli  various  other  questions  chiefly  relating  to 
faith,  repentance,  infidelitj',  and  error.  The  fourth  is 
the  one  that  concerns  itself  with  the  influence  of  reason 
and  history  upon  the  transcendental  realm  of  faith.  To 
this  chapter  belong  the  mission  of  prophets,  the  office 
of  Imam,  or  head  of  the  Church,  and  such  intricate 
subtleties  as  to  what  constitutes  goodness  and  badness ; 
how  far  actions  are  to  be  condemned  on  the  ground  of 
reason  or  the  "  law,"  etc, 

I.  One  broad  line,  however,  came  to  be  drawn,  in  the 
course  of  time,  among  these  innumerable  religious  divi- 
sions— a  line  that  separated  them  all  into  orthodox  sects 
and  heterodox  sects;  orthodox  being  those  only  who 
adopted  the  oral  .traditions,  or  Sunna  (q.  v.).  Of  these 
Sunnites,  i.  e.  traditionists,  or  believers  in  the  Sunna, 
there  are  four  divisions,  which,  though  at  issue  on  most 
points,  are  yet  acknowledged  by  each  other  as  Jh  it /if til, 
and  capable  ofsalfation.  They  are  severally  designated 
by  the  name  of  the  men  who  in  leadership  attained  to 
greatest  authority.  Each  of  these  guides  also  to  this 
day  continues  the  expounder  of  the  sect  by  a  manual 
which  each  left  to  his  adherents  as  a  compend  of  theol- 
ogy and  jurisprudence. 

1.  The  first  of  these  sects  are  the  Uanefites,  founded 
by  Abu  Hanefa,  who  died  150  years  after  the  Hegira. 
They  are  emphatically  called  "  the  followers  of  reason," 
while  the  other  three  are  guided  exclusively  by  tradi- 
tion. They  allow  reason  to  have  a  principal  sliare  on 
decisions  in  their  legal  and  other  points.  To  this  sect 
belong  chiefly  the  Turks  and  Tartars. 

2.  The  second  sect  are  the  Makkites,  founded  by 
IMalek  Ibn  Ans,  who  died  about  180  of  the  Hegira  at 
Medina.  As  one  of  the  chief  proofs  of  his  piety  and 
humility,  it  is  recorded  that  when  asked  for  his  decision 
on  forty-eight  questions,  he  would  only  decide  on  six- 
teen, freely  confessing  his  ignorance  on  the  others.  In 
Barbary  and  other  portions  of  Africa  the  greatest  part 
of  his  adherents  are  found. 

3.  Mohammed  al-Shafei,  born  in  Palestine  in  150  of 
the  Hegira,  but  educated  in  Mecca,  is  the  founder  of 
the  third  sect,  Shajiites.  He  was  a  great  enemy  to 
the  scholastic  divines,  and  seems  altogether  to  have 
been  of  an  original  cast  of  mind.  He  never  swore  by 
God,  and  always  took  time  to  consider  whether  he  should 
at  all  answer  any  given  questions  or  hold  his  peace.  The 
most  characteristic  saying  recorded  of  him  is,  "  Whoso- 
ever pretends  to  love  both  the  work  and  the  Creator  at 
the  same  time  is  a  liar."  He  is  accounted  of  such  im- 
portance that,  according  to  his  contemporaries,  "  he  was 
as  the  sun  to  the  world,  and  as  health  to  the  body;" 
and  all  the  relations  of  the  traditions  of  Mohammed 
Avere  said  to  have  been  asleep  until  he  came  and  awoke 
them.  He  appears  to  have  been  the  first  who  reduced 
Moslem  jurisprudence  to  a  method,  and  thus  made  it, 
from  a  number  of  vague  sayings,  a  science.  His  follow- 
ers are  now  chiefly  found  in  Arabia  and  Persia. 

4.  Ahmed  Ibn  Hanbal  founded  the  fourth  sect,  the 
Hanbalites.  He  was  born  in  164  of  the  Hegira,  and 
was  a  most  intimate  friend  of  Shafei.  His  knowledge 
of  the  traditions  (of  wliich  he  could  repeat  no  less  than 
a  million)  was  no  less  famed  than  was  his  piety.  He 
taught  that  the  Koran  was  not  created,  but  everlastingly 
subsisted  in  the  essence  of  God— a  doctrine  for  which  he 
was  severely  punished  by  caliph  Al-Motasena.    On  the 


day  of  his  death,  the  Mohammedans  would  have  us  be- 
lieve, no  less  than  20,000  unbelievers  (Jews,  Christians, 
and  Magians)  embraced  the  Mohammedan  faith.  Once 
very  numerous,  the  Hanbalites  are  now  but  very  rarely 
met  with  outside  of  Arabia. 

5.  In  recent  times  a  new  orthodox  Mohammedan 
sect  has  sprung  up,  called  Wahabis  or  Wahabites, 
after  their  founder,  Mohammed  Abd-el-Wahab  (q.  v.). 
They  are  intent  upon  restoring  the  primitive  and  vig- 
orous Mohammedanism  which  the}'  claim  does  not  now 
exist  under  the  Turks  and  Persians,  whom  they  call 
idolatrous.  The  Wahabis  are  a  sort  of  Puritanic  icono- 
clasts, and  their  power  is  fast  spreading.  But  their  re- 
cent history  is  so  mystified  that  we  defer  them  for  con- 
sideration under  the  heading  Wahabites. 

II.  Much  more  numerous  than  the  orthodox  divisions 
are  the  lieterodox  ones.  Immediately  after  Mohammed's 
death,  and  during  the  early  conquests,  the  contest  was 
chiefly  confined  to  the  question  of  the  Imamat.  But  no 
sooner  were  the  first  days  of  warfare  over  than  thinking 
minds  began  to  direct  themselves  to  a  closer  examina- 
tion of  the  faith  itself,  for  which  and  through  which  the 
world  was  to  be  conquered,  and  to  the  book  which 
preached  it,  the  Koran.  The  earliest  germs  of  a  relig- 
ious dissension  are  found  in  the  revolt  of  the  Khare- 
gites  against  Ali,  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  the 
Hegira  (see  Ockley,  flist.  of  the  Saracens,  ii,  50) ;  and 
several  doctors  shortly  aftenvards  broached  heterodox 
opinions  about  predestination  and  the  good  and  evil  to 
be  ascribed  to  God.  These  new  doctrines  were  boldh', 
and  in  a  very  advanced  form,  openly  preached  by  Wasil 
Ibn  Ata,  who,  for  uttering  a  moderate  opinion  in  the 
matter  of  the  '•  sinner,"  had  been  expelled  from  the  rig- 
orous school  of  Basrah.  He  then  formed  a  school  of  his 
own — that  of  the  Separatists  or  Motazilites,  who,  to- 
gether with  a  number  of  other  "  heretical"  groups,  are 
variously  counted  as  one,  four,  or  seven  sects. ' 

1.  The  first  of  these  heretical  groups,  the  Motazilites 
— also  called  Moattalites,  i.  e.  those  who  divest  God  of 
his  attributes ;  and  Kadarija,  i.  e.  "  those  who  hold  that 
man  has  a  free  will,  and  deny  the  strict  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination"— is  traced  back  even  to  Mabad,  who,  in  the 
time  of  Mohammed  himself,  already  began  to  question 
predestination,  by  pointing  out  how  kings  carry  on  un- 
just wars,  kill  men,  and  steal  their  goods,  and  all  the 
while  pretend  to  be  merely  executing  God's  decrees. 
Tlie  real  founder  of  the  sect,  as  such,  however,  is,  as  we 
have  already  indicated,  Wasil  Ibn  Ata.  He  denied 
God's  "qualities" — such  as  knowledge,  power,  will,  life 
— as  leading  to,  if  not  directly  implying,  polytheism. 
As  to  predestination  itself,  this  he  only  allowed  to  exist 
with  regard  to  the  outward  good  or  evil  that  befalls 
man,  such  as  illness  or  recovery,  death  or  life,  but  man's 
actions  he  held  to  be  entirely  in  his  own  hands.  God, 
he  said,  had  given  commandments  to  mankihd,  and  it 
was  not  to  be  supposed  that  he  had,  at  the  same  time, 
preordained  that  some  should  disobey  these  command- 
ments, and  that,  further,  they  should  be  punished  for  it. 
jNIan  alone  was  the  agent  in  his  good  or  evil  actions,  in 
his  belief  or  unbelief,  obedience  or  disobedience,  and  he 
is  rewarded  according  to  his  deeds.  («)  These  doctrines 
were  further  developed  by  his  disciple,  Abul-Hudail, 
who  did  not  deny  so  absolutely  God's  "qualities,"  but 
modified  their  meaning  in  the  manner  of  the  Greek 
philosophers,  viz.  that  every  quality  was  also  God's  es- 
sence. The  attributes  are  thus  not  without,  but  within 
him,  and,  so  far  from  being  a  multiplicity,  they  merely 
designate  the  various  ways  of  the  manifestations  of  the 
Godhead.  God's  will  he  declared  to  be  a  peculiar  kind 
of  knowledge,  through  which  God  did  what  he  foresaw 
to  be  salutary  in  the  end.  Man's  freedom  of  action  is 
only  possible  in  this  world.  In  the  next  all  will  be  ac- 
cording to  necessary  l&ws  immutably  preordained.  The 
righteous  will  enjoy  everlasting  bliss ;  and  for  the  wick- 
ed everlasting  punishment  will  be  decreed.  Another 
very  dangerous  doctrine  of  his  system  was  the  assump- 
tion that  before  the  Koran  had  been  revealed  man  had 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS 


426 


M0HA]S1]MEDAN  SECTS 


already  come  to  the  conclusion  of  right  and  wrong.  By 
his  inner  intellect,  he  held,  everybody  must  and  does 
know— even  without  the  aid  of  the  divinely  given  com- 
mandments— whether  tlie  thing  he  is  doing  be  right  or 
wrong,  just  or  unjust,  true  or  false,  lie  is  further  sup- 
posed to  have  held  that,  unless  a  man  be  killed  by  vio- 
lent means,  his  life  would  neither  be  prolonged  nor 
shortened  by  '•supernatural"  agencies.  His  belief  in 
the  traditions  was  also  by  no  means  an  absolute  one. 
There  was  no  special  security,  he  said,  in  a  long,  un- 
broken chain  of  ^vitnesses,  considering  that  one  fallible 
man  among  tliem  could  corrupt  the  whole  truth.  (6) 
Many  were  tlie  branches  of  these  Motazilites.  There 
were,  apart  from  the  disciples  of  Abul-Hudail,  the  Job- 
haians,  who  adopted  Abu  Ali  al-Wahhab's  (Al-Jobbai's) 
opinion,  to  the  effect  that  the  knowledge  ascribed  to 
God  was  not  an  "attribute;"  nor  was  his  knowledge 
"necessary;"  nor  did  sin  prove  anything  as  to  the  be- 
lief or  unbelief  of  him  who  committed  it,  who  would 
anyhow  be  subjected  to  eternal  punishment  if  he  died 
in  it,  etc.  (c)  Besides  these,  there  were  the  disci|)les  of 
Abu  Ilashem — the  Hmhemik'S — who  held  that  an  intidcl 
was  not  the  creation  of  God,  who  could  not  produce  evil. 
((/)  Another  branch  were  the  disci|)les  of  Ahmed  Ibn 
Hayet,  who  held  that  Christ  was  the  eternal  Word  in- 
carnate, and  assumed  a  real  body;  that  there  were  two 
gods,  or  creators,  one  eternal,  viz.  the  Most  High  God, 
and  the  other  not  eternal,  viz.  Christ — not  unlike  the 
Socinian  and  Arian  theories  on  this  subject;  that  there 
is  a  successive  transmigration  of  the  soul  from  one  body 
into  another,  and  that  the  last  body  will  enjoy  the  re- 
ward or  suffer  the  punisliments  due  to  each  soul;  and 
that  God  will  be  seen  at  the  resurrection  with  the  eyes 
of  the  understanding,  not  of  the  body,  (p)  Four  more 
divisions  of  this  sect  are  mentioned,  viz.  the  JuheMians, 
whose  master's  notion  about  the  Koran  was  that  it  was 
"a  body  that  might  grow  into  a  man,  and  sometimes 
into  a  beast,  or  to  have,  as  others  put  it,  two  faces — one 
human,  the  other  that  of  an  animal,  according  to  the 
different  interpretations."  He  further  taught  them 
that  the  damned  would  become  tire,  and  thus  be  at- 
tracted by  hell;  also,  that  the  mere  belief  in  God  and 
the  Prophet  constituted  a  "  faithful."  {f)  Of  rather 
different  tendencies  was  Al-Mozdar,  the  founder  of  the 
branch  of  the  Mozdariuns.  He  not  only  held  tlic  Ko- 
ran to  be  uncreated  and  eternal,  but,  so  far  from  deny- 
ing God  the  power  of  doing  evil,  he  declared  it  to  be 
possible  for  God  to  be  a  liar  and  unjust,  (y)  Another 
branch  was  formed  by  the  Pasharians,  who,  while  they 
carried  man's  free  agency  rather  to  excess,  yet  held  that 
God  might  doom  even  an  infant  to  eternal  punishment 
— all  the  while  granting  that  he  would  be  unjust  in  so 
doing.  (A)  The  last  of  these  Motazilite  sectarians  we 
shall  mention  are  the  Thamamians,  who  held,  after  their 
master,  Thamama,  that  sinners  would  undergo  eternal 
damnation  and  punishment;  that  free  actions  have  no 
producing  author;  and  that,  at  the  resurrection,  all  infi- 
dels, atheists,  .lews.  Christians,  Magians,  and  heretics 
should  be  returned  to  dust. 

We  cannot  in  this  place  enlarge  upon  the  different 
schools  founded  by  the  ;\rotazilitts,  nor  upon  their  sub- 
seijuent  fate  (see  for  details,  Steiner,  Mntazilitm  ;  Weil, 
Gesc/i.  (I.  Islam.  Vulker,  and  his  Gesch.  d.  KhaUfai).  The 
vast  cyclopsedic  developmeut.however,  which  their  doc- 
trines begot,  and  which  resulted  in  the  encyclopiedic 
labors  called  "The  Treatises  of  the  Sincere  Brethren 
and  True  Friends,"  will  be  considered  in  the  article  SiN- 
CEUn  Bhetiiken  (q.  v.). 

2.  We  now  come  to  the  second  great  heretical  group, 
the  Sefatians,  or  attril)iitionists,  who  held  a  precisely 
contrary  view  to  that  of  the  Mot.izilitcs.  With  them 
God's  attributes,  whether  essential  or  operative,  or  what 
they  in  more  recent  times  have  called  declarative  or 
historical,  i.  e.  used  in  liistorical  narration  (eyes,  face, 
hand),  antliropomorphisms,  in  fact,  were  considered 
eternal.  But  here,  again,  lay  the  germs  for  more  dis- 
sensions and  more  sects  in  tlieir  own  midst.    Some,  tak- 


I  ing  this  notion  of  God's  attributes  in  a  strictly  literal 
sense,  assumed  a  likeness  between  God  and  created 
things ;  others  gave  it  a  more  allegorical  interpreta- 

t  tion,  without,  however,  entering  hito  any  particidars 
beyond  the  reiterated  doctrine  that  God  had  no  com- 

I  panion  or  similitude.  («)  The  different  sects  into  which 
they  split  were,  first,  the  Asharians,  so  called  from 
Abul  Hasan  al-Ashari,  who,  at  first  a  Motazilite,  disa- 
greed with  his  masters  on  the  point  of  (iod's  being 
bound  to  do  always  that  which  is  best.  He  became  the 
founder  of  a  new  school,  which  held  (1)  that  God's  at- 
tributes are  to  be  held  distinct  from  his  essence,  and 
that  any  literal  understanding  of  the  words  that  stand 
for  God's  limbs  in  the  Koran  is  reprehensible.  ("2) 
That  predestination  must  be  taken  in  its  most  literal 
meaning,  i.  e.  that  God  preordains  everything.  The 
opinions  on  this  point  of  man's  free  will  are,  however, 
much  divided,  as  indeed  to  combine  a  predestination 
which  ordains  every  act  with  man's  free  choice  is  not 
easy;  and  the  old  authors  hold  that  it  is  well  not  to 
inquire  too  minutely  into  these  things,  lest  all  jirecepts, 
both  positive  and  negative,  be  argued  away.  The  mid- 
dle path,  adopted  by  the  greater  number  of  the  doctors, 
is  expressed  in  this  formula :  There  is  neither  compul- 
sion nor  free  liberty, but  the  way  lies  between  the  two; 
the  power  and  will  being  both  created  by  God,  though 
the  merit  or  guilt  be  imputed  to  man.  Itegarding  mor- 
tal sin,  it  was  held  by  this  sect  that  if  a  believer  die 
guilty  of  it  without  repentance,  he  will  not,  for  all  that, 
always  remain  a  denizen  of  hell.  God  will  either  par- 
don him,  or  the  Prophet  will  intercede  on  his  behalf,  as 
he  says  in  the  Koran :  "  My  intercession  shall  be  em- 
ployed for  those  among  my  people  who  shall  have  been 
guilty  of  grievous  crimes;"  and  further,  that  he  in 
whose  heart  there  is  faith  but  of  the  weight  of  an  ant 
shall  be  delivered  from  hell-fire,  (b)  From  tliis  more 
philosophical  opinion,  however,  departed  a  number  of 
other  Sefatian  sects,  who,  taking  the  Koranic  words 
more  literally,  transformed  God's  attributes  into  grossly 
corporeal  things,  like  the  Mosshahehites,  or  assimilators, 
who  conceived  God  to  be  a  figure  composed  of  limbs 
like  those  of  created  beings,  either  of  a  bodily  or  spirit- 
ual nature,  capable  of  local  motion,  ascent  or  descent, 
etc.  The  notions  of  some  actually  went  so  far  as  to 
declare  God  to  be  "  hollow  from  the  crown  of  the  head 
to  the  breast,  and  solid  from  the  breast  downward ;  he 
also  had  black  curled  hair."  (e)  Another  subdivision 
of  this  sect  were  the  Jaharians,  who  deny  to  man  all 
free  agency,  and  make  all  his  deeds  dependent  on  God. 
Their  name  indicates  their  religious  tendency  suffi- 
ciently, meaning  "  Necessitarians." 

HI.  The  third  principal  division  of  "heretical  sects" 
is  formed  by  the  Kharerjites,  or  "  rebels"  from  the  law- 
ful prince — i.  e.  ^Vli — the  first  of  whom  were  the  12,000 
men  who  fell  away  from  him  after  having  fought  under 
him  at  the  battle  of  Seffein,  taking  offence  at  his  sub- 
mitting the  decision  of  his  right  to  the  caliphate  (.against 
Moawiyyah)  to  arbitration.  Their  "heresy"  consisted, 
first,  in  their  holding  that  any  man  might  be  called  to 
the  Imamat  though  he  did  not  belong  to  the  Koreish, 
nor  was  even  a  freeman,  provided  he  was  a  just  and 
pious  man.  and  fit  in  every  other  respect.  It  also  fol- 
lowed that  an  unrighteous  imam  might  be  deposed,  or 
even  put  to  death;  and  further,  that  there  was  no  ab- 
solute necessity  for  any  imam  in  the  world. 

IV.  The  fourth  jjrincipal  sect  arc  the  ShUli.t.  or  sec- 
taries, so  called  by  the  .Sunnites,  or  orthodox  ^Moslems, 
because  of  their  heretical  tendencies.  The  Shiitos,  as 
they  are  now  generjilly  called,  were  origiuatcd  by  Ali 
Ibn  Abi  Talob,  and  prefer  to  call  themselves  Al-Adeliat, 
.Sect  of  the  Just  Ones,  or  familiarly,  "Followers  of  Ali," 
because  they  believe  that  the  Imamat,  or  supremo  rule, 
both  spiritual  and  temiioral,  over  all  Mohammedans  was 
originally  vested  in  him  whom  they  acknowledge  as 
their  founder,  and  that  the  Imamat  now  of  right  be- 
longs to  his  descendants.  In  the  opinion  of  the  Shiites, 
the  vicarship  of  the  Prophet  was  not  to  be,  like  an 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS 


427 


MOHAI^OIEDAN  SECTS 


earthly  kingdom,  the  mere  prize  of  craft  or  of  valor.  It 
was  the  inalienable  heritage  of  the  sacred  descendants 
of  the  Prophet  himself.  They  therefore  consider  the 
caliphs  Abu  Bekr,  Omar,  and  Othman,  the  first  three 
incumbents  of  the  caliphate  after  Mohammed,  unright- 
eous pretenders  and  usurpers  of  the  sovereign  power, 
which  properly  ought  to  have  gone  to  Ali  direct  from 
the  Prophet.  For  the  same  reason  the  Shiites  abom- 
inate the  memory  of  the  Ommayad  caliph  who  executed 
Hossein,  a  son  of  Ali,  and  still  mourn  his  death  at  its 
anniversar}-.  (This  most  pathetic  story  is  perhaps  gen- 
erally remembered  from  the  pages  of  Gibbon ;  it  should 
be  read  in  its  full  detail  in  those  of  Ockley  and  Price.) 
The  Shiites  likewise  reject  the  Abbasside  caliphs,  not- 
withstanding their  descent  from  jNIohammed,  because 
they  did  not  belong  to  All's  line.     See  Kaliph. 

The  Shiites  have  special  observances,  ceremonies, 
and  rites,  as  well  as  particular  dogmas  of  their  own. 
They  believe  in  metempsychosis  and  the  descent  of 
God  upon  his  creatures,  inasmuch  as  he,  omnipresent, 
sometimes  appears  iii  some  individual  person,  such  as 
their  imams.  They  are  subdivided  into  five  sects,  to 
one  of  which,  that  of  Haidar,  the  Persians  belong — the 
present  dynasty  of  Persia  deriving  its  descent  from  Hai- 
dar. Their  five  subdivisions  they  compare  to  five  trees, 
with  seventy  branches:  for  their  minor  divisions  of 
opinions,  on  matters  of  comparatively  unimportant  points 
of  dogma,  are  endless.  The  Shiites  and  Smmites  are, 
then,  represented  respectivelj'  by  the  two  great  Moham- 
medan powers,  the  former  being  upheld  by  the  Persian 
dynasty,  the  latter  by  the  Ottomans.  This  division  be- 
tween Turk  and  Persian  on  doctrine  dates  chiefly  from 
the  calipliate  of  IMothi  Lilla,  the  Abbasside,  in  363  of  the 
Hegira,  when  political  dissensions,  which  ended  in  the 
destruction  of  Bagdad  and  the  loss  of  the  caliphate  of 
the  jMoslems,  assumed  the  character  of  a  religious  war. 
But  it  may  be  stated  here  also  that  the  Shiites  are  by 
no  means  confined  to  Persia.  They  have  indeed,  in 
greater  or  lesser  numbers,  been  dispersed  throughout 
all  the  countries  of  the  empire  of  the  Mussulmans. 
They  have  possessed  several  kingdoms  both  in  Asia  and 
Africa.  They  are  now  dominant,  outside  of  Persia, 
in  half  the  territory'  ruled  over  by  the  princes  of  the 
Uzbecks,  and  situated  beyond  the  river  Gihon;  and 
there  are  some  Mohammedan  kings  of  the  Indies  who 
make  profession  of  the  Shiite  faith.  Jloharamed's  life, 
as  represented  by  Shiite  tradition,  has  been  furnished 
in  an  English  dress  bj'  the  Rev.  James  L.  Merrick  (Bost. 
1850). 

V.  It  remains  now  only  to  mention  a  few  of  the  more 
prominent  of  the  mau}^  pseudo-prophets  who  have  arisen 
in  the  bosom  of  Islam,  drawing  a  certain  number  of  ad- 
herents around  them,  and,  as  it  would  appear  to  us  "  out- 
siders," threatening  by  this  decentralization  the  verj' 
life  of  Mohammedanism,  but  by  the  Moslems  them- 
selves alleged  as  a  sign  of  the  purity  of  their  creed. 
Christianity,  they  say,  an  improvement  on  Judaism, 
can  boast  of  more  sects  than  Judaism ;  Islam,  an  im- 
provement on  Christianitj',  can  boast  of  more  sects  than 
Christianity. 

The  pseudo-prophets  who  have  arisen  have  invaria- 
bly either  declared  themselves  the  great  Prophet's  legal 
successors,  or,  utterly  renouncing  his  doctrines,  have 
sought  to  build  up  on  the  ruins  of  Islam.  The  first  and 
most  prominent  among  these  was  Mosaylima  (i.  e.  little 
IMoslem),  who  was  a  rival  of  the  Prophet  in  his  life- 
time. Mosaylima  belonged  to  the  clan  Dul,  a  division 
of  the  tribe  of  the  Bani  Hanifah,  of  Yamama  in  Nejed. 
The  traditions  about  his  life  and  age  appear  to  be  ex- 
tremely legendary.  It  is,  however,  tolerably  clear  that  he 
had  risen  to  a  certain  eminence  in  his  tribe  as  a  relig- 
ious teacher  before  IMohammed  assumed  his  prophetical 
office.  The  name  he  was  known  by  among  his  friends 
was  Rahman,  the  Benignant  or  INIerciful ;  a  term  which 
Mohammed  adopted  as  a  designation  of  God  himself. 
This  word,  which  is  Aramaic,  was  a  common  divine  epi- 
thet among  the  Jews,  from  whom  Mohammed  took  it, 


together  with  a  vast  bulk  of  dogmas  and  ceremonies 
and  legends.  If,  however,  as  is  supposed  by  some,  ]\Io- 
saylima  assumed  that  name  in  the  meaning  of  Messiah, 
Saviour,  it  would  prove  that  he  had  anticipated  Mo- 
hammed in  the  apostleship,  which  is  commonly  denied. 
It  was  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  Hegira  that,  at  the  head 
of  an  embassy  sent  by  his  tribe,  he  appeared  before  Mo- 
hammed, in  order  to  settle  certain  points  of  dispute. 
The  traditions  are  very  contradictory  on  the  circum- 
stance whether  or  not  Mosaylima  was  then  already  the 
recognised  spiritual  leader  of  his  tribe.  When  they 
were  introduced  to  Mohammed  in  the  mosque,  they 
greeted  him  with  the  orthodox  salutation  of  Moslems, 
"Salam  alayk"  (Peace  upon  thee),  and,  after  a  brief 
parley,  recited  the  confession  of  faith.  Shortly  after 
this  event,  Mosaylima  openly  professed  himself  "to  be  a 
prophet,  like  Mohammed.  The  latter  sent  a  messenger 
to  him,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  this,  to  request  him  to  re- 
iterate publicly  his  profession  of  Islam.  Mosaylima's 
answer  was  a  request  that  INIohammed  should  share  his 
power  with  him.  "From  Mosaylima,  the  apostle  of 
God,"  he  wrote,  according  to  Abulfeda,  "  to  Mohammed, 
the  apostle  of  God.  Now  let  the  earth  be  half  mine, 
and  half  thine."  Mohammed  speedily  replied :  "  From 
Mohammed,  the  apostle  of  God,  to  MosayUma,  the  liar. 
The  earth  is  God's :  he  giveth  the  same  for  inheritance 
unto  such  of  his  servants  as  he  pleases,  and  the  happy 
issue  shall  attend  those  who  fear  him."  Yet  notwith- 
standing these  testimonies,  of  probably  late  dates,  it 
seems,  on  the  other  hand,  quite  certain  that  Mohammed 
made  very  great  concessions  to  his  rival — concessions 
that  point  to  his  having  secretly  nominated  IMosaylima 
his  successor,  and  that  he  bj'  this  means  bought  Jlosay- 
lima's  open  allegiance  during  his  lifetime.  It  was  not 
a  question  of  dogmas,  though  they  each  had  special 
revelations,  but  a  question  of  supremacy,  which  was 
thus  settled  amicably.  "jMohammed,"  Mosaylima  said, 
•'is  appointed  by  God  to  settle  the  principal  points  of 
faith,  and  I  to  supplement  them."  He  further  had  a 
revelation,  in  accordance  with  Mohammed's :  "  We 
have  sent  to  every  nation  its  own  prophet,"  to  the  ef- 
fect: "AVe  have  given  unto  thee  [Mosaylima]  a  num- 
ber of  people ;  keep  them  to  thyself,  and  advance.  But 
be  cautious,  and  desire  not  too  much ;  and  do  not  enter 
into  rival  fights."  When  Mohammed  was  at  the  point 
of  death,  he  desired  to  write  his  will.  Whatever  he 
may  have  wished  to  ordain  is  uncertain ;  it  is  well 
known,  at  all  events,  that  his  friends  did  not  obey  his 
order,  and  refused  to  furnish  him  with  writing  mate- 
rials, very  probably  because  they  did  not  like  to  be 
bound  by  his  last  injunctions.  Sprenger  supposes  that 
he  wished  formally  to  appoint  Mosaylima  his  successor, 
and  that  it  was  just  this  which  his  surrounding  rela- 
tions feared.  Mosaylima  then  openly  declared  against 
Islam,  and  many  parodies  of  the  Koran  sprang  up  in  the 
Nejed,  ascribed  to  him.  In  the  eleventh  year  of  the 
Hegira  it  at  last  came  to  an  open  breach  between  the 
two  rival  powers.  Abu  Bekr,  the  caliph,  sent  Khalid, 
"the  Sword  of  the  Faith,"  with  a  number  of  clioice 
troops,  to  compel  Mosaylima  to  submission.  Mosaylima 
awaited  the  enemy  at  Rowdah,  a  village  in  the  Wadi 
Hanifah.  So  formidable  indeed  was  Mosaylima's  force 
that  Khalid  is  said  to  have  hesitated  for  a  whole  day 
and  night  before  he  undertook  an  assault  unanimously 
disapproved  of  by  his  council.  On  the  second  morning, 
however,  he  advanced,  and,  in  a  battle  which  lasted  un- 
til the  evening,  contrived,  with  fearful  losses  of  his  own, 
to  gain  the  victory.  Mosajdima  fell  by  the  hands  of  a 
negro  slave,  and  his  head  was  cut  off  by  the  conqueror, 
and  placed  at  the  head  of  a  spear,  to  convince  both 
friends  and  foes  of  his  death.  Khalid  then  advanced 
to  the  slain  prophet's  birthplace,  in  order  to  slay  all  its 
inhabitants.  They,  however,  by  a  clever  stratagem, 
contrived  to  conclude  an  honorable  peace,  and  embraced 
Islam.  The  Mosayliman  "heresy"  was  thus  stamped 
out,  and  only  a  few  scattered  remnants  of  the  new  faith 
contrived  to  escape  to  Hasa  and  Basrah,  where  they 


MOHAMMEDAN  SECTS 


428 


MOHL 


may  have  laid  the  foundation  of  the  later  Karmathian 
creed.  See  Kakmatiiiaxs.  It  is  extremely  difficult 
to  come  to  any  clear  notion  of  Mosaylima's  real  doc- 
trines, as  all  the  accounts  that  have  survived  of  tliem 
come  from  victorious  adversaries — adversaries  who  have 
not  hesitated  to  invent  the  most  scandalous  stories 
about  him.  Thus  a  love-adventure  between  Mosaylima 
and  the  prophetess  Sajah,  the  wife  of  a  soothsayer  of 
yam;'ima,  who  is  supposed  to  have  stayed  three  days  in 
his  tent,  is  told  with  great  minuteness,  even  to  the  ob- 
scene conversation  that  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place 
between  them  during  that  time;  the  fact  being  that 
this  story,  which  is  still  told  with  much  relish  by  the 
natives,  is  without  the  slightest  foundation.  From  the 
same  source  we  learn  that  Mosaylima  tried  to  deceive 
his  followers  by  conjuring  tricks.  It  seems,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  he  was  of  much  higher  moral  standing 
than  jNIohammed  himself.  For  it  is  said  that  Mosay- 
lima enjoined  the  highest  chastity  even  among  married 
people:  unless  there  were  hope  of  begetting  children, 
there  should  be  restriction  of  conjugal  duty.  1-3 ven  the 
nickname  "  Little  Moslem"  given  to  him  seems  to  in- 
dicate that  he,  too,  preached  the  unity  of  God,  or  Islam, 
as  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  faith.  How  far  his  re- 
ligion had  a  socialistic  tendency,  and  offered  less  show  of 
dignity  and  outward  morality  to  its  followers,  or  whether 
it  rejected  fatalism,  contained  an  idea  of  incarnation,  and 
invested  its  preachers  and  teachers  with  a  semi-media- 
torial character,  as  the  latest  explorer  of  the  Nejed,  Mr. 
Palgrave  tells  us,  we  have  no  means  of  judging.  But 
we  must  receive  these  conclusions,  probably  drawn  from 
the  information  of  the  natives,  with  all  the  greater  cau- 
tion, as  that  story  of  the  prophetess  Sajiih,  whom  he  re- 
ports, after  his  informants,  not  only  to  have  been  prop- 
erly married  to  Mosaylima,  but  to  have  become,  after  bis 
death,  a  devout  partisan  of  Islam,  and  to  have  entered 
an  "orthodox  alliance,"  does  not,  as  we  have  said  be- 
fore, according  to  the  best  European  authorities  on  Mo- 
hammedanism, deserve  the  slightest  credence. 

Next  to  Mosaylima  figures  prominently  Al-Aswad, 
originally  called  Aihala,  of  the  tribe  of  Ans,  of  which,  as 
well  as  of  that  of  a  number  of  other  tribes,  he  was  gov- 
ernor. He  pretended  to  receive  certain  revelations  from 
two  angels,  Sohaik  and  Shoraik.  Certain  feats  of  leger- 
demain and  a  natural  eloquence  procured  him  a  numl)er 
of  followers,  by  whose  aid  he  made  himself  master  of 
several  provinces.  A  counter-revolution,  however,  broke 
out  the  night  before  Mohammed's  death,  and  Al-As- 
wad's  head  was  cut  off;  whereby  an  end  was  put  to  a 
rebellion  of  exactly  four  months'  duration,  but  already 
assuming  large  proportions. 

In  the  same  year  (11  of  the  Hegira),but  after  Mo- 
hammed's death,  a  man  named  Toleiha  set  up  as  a 
prophet,  but  with  very  little  success.  He,  his  tribe, 
and  followers  were  met  in  open  battle  by  Khalid,  at  the 
head  of  the  troops  of  the  Faithful,  and,  being  beaten, 
had  all  liually  to  submit  to  Islam. 

A  few  words  ought  also  to  be  said  regarding  the 
"  Veiled  Prophet,"  .1  l-Mokanna,  or  Borkai,  whose  real 
name  was  Hakera  Ibn  Hashem,  at  the  time  of  Al-Mohdi 
the  third  Abbasside  caliph.  He  used  to  hide  the  deform- 
ity of  his  face  (he  had  also  but  one  eye)  by  a  gilded 
mask,  a  circumstance  which  his  followers  explained  by 
the  s|ilendor  of  his  countenance  being  too  brilliant  (like 
that  of  ."\Ioses)  to  be  borne  by  ordinary  mortals.  Being 
•a  proficient  in  jugglery  besides,  which  went  for  the 
power  of  working  miracles,  he  soon  drew  many  disciples 
and  followers  around  him.  At  last  he  arrogated  the  of- 
fice of  the  Deity  itself,  which,  by  continual  transmigra- 
tions from  Adam  downwards,  had  at  last  resided  in  the 
body  of  Abu  Jloslem,  the  governor  of  Kliorassan,  whose 
secretary  this  new  jirophet  had  been.  Tiie  caliph,  find- 
ing him  growing  more  and  more  furmidaiilc  every  day, 
sent  a  force  against  lum,  which  finally  drove  him  back 
into  one  of  his  strongest  fortresses,  where  he  first  poi- 
soned and  then  burned  all  his  family;  after  wliich  he 
threw  liirasclf  into  the  flames,  which  consumed  him 


completely,  except  his  hair.  He  had  left  a  message, 
however,  to  the  effect  that  he  would  reappear  in  the 
shape  of  a  gray  man  riding  on  a  gray  beast,  and  many 
of  his  followers  for  many  years  after  expected  his  re- 
appearance. They  wore  as  a  distinguishing  mark  noth- 
1  ing  but  wliite  garments.  He  died  about  the  middle  of 
]  the  2d  centurj'  of  the  Hegira.  See  Mokaxna. 
I  Of  tlie  Karmeithiurts  and  the  Ismaelians  we  have 
i  spoken  under  their  respective  headings.  We  can  scarce- 
{  ly  enumerate  among  the  prophets  Abul  Teyeb  Ahmed 
al-Motanebbi,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  Arabic  poets, 
who  mistook,  or  pretended  to  mistake,  his  poetical  in- 
spiration for  the  divine  afflatus,  and  caused  several 
tribes  to  style  him  prophet,  as  his  surname  indicates, 
and  to  acknowledge  his  mission.  The  governor  of  his 
province,  Lxilfi,  took  prompt  steps  to  stifle  any  such 
pretensions  in  the  bud  by  imprisoning  him,  and  mak- 
ing him  formally  renounce  all  absurd  pretensions  to  a 
prophetical  office.  The  poet  did  so  with  all  speed.  He 
was  richly  rewarded  by  the  court  and  many  princes 
for  his  minstrelsy,  to  which  thenceforth  he  clung  exclu- 
sively ;  but  the  riches  he  thus  accumulated  became  the 
cause  of  his  death.  Robbers  attacked  him  while  he  was 
returning  to  his  home  in  Kufa,  there  to  live  ujion  the 
treasure  bestowed  upon  him  by  Adado'ddawla,  sultan  of 
Persia. 

The  last  of  the  new  prophets  to  be  mentioned  is  Eaha, 
who  appeared  in  Amasia,  in  Natolia,  in  1221  of  the  He- 
gira, and  who  had  immense  success,  chiefly  with  the 
Turcomans,  his  own  nation,  so  that  at  last  he  found  him- 
self at  the  head  of  nearly  a  million  men,  horse  and  foot. 
Their  war-cry  was,  God  is  God,  and  Baba— not  IMoham- 
nied — is  his  prophet.  It  was  not  until  both  Christians 
and  Mohammedans  combined  for  the  purpose  of  self-de- 
fence that  this  new  and  most  formidable  power  was  an- 
nihilated, its  armies  being  routed  and  put  to  the  sword, 
while  the  two  chiefs  were  decapitated  by  the  execu- 
tioner. SeeBABiSTS.  See  Clianibcrs,  rycfo;).x,  G-lOsq., 
by  which  we  have  been  largely  aided ;  Weil,  Gesch.  der 
Kkali/en;  and  his  Gesc/i.  des  Mohdmmedanismus ;  Taj'- 
loT,IIist.qfJ\fofifimmed(ini!<7}i;  and  the  works  referred 
to  in  the  article  Moiiaji.^iedanism. 

Moharram,  any  thing  sacred  or  forbidden  by  the 
Mussulman  law.  It  is  likewise  the  name  of  the  first 
month  of  the  Arabic  j'car,  before  the  time  of  ^Nloham- 
medanism,  and  was  so  called  because  the  ancient  Arabs 
were  forbidden  to  make  war  against  one  another  during 
this  month.  The  first  ten  days  of  the  month  Jlohar- 
ram  arc  called  by  the  Mohammedans  A  ium  al-mudulat, 
that  is,  the  reckoned  ditijs,  because  thej-  believe  that 
during  these  ten  days  the  Koran  was  sent  down  from 
heaven  to  be  communicated  to  men.  The  last  of  these 
ten  d.ays  is  called  Ashur. — Broughton,  iWi'oM.  IlUlor, 
Sacra,  ii,  IIG. 

Mohdi  (i.  e.  the  Director')  is  the  title  among  the 
Mohammedans  for  that  descendant  of  Mohammed  whose 
coming  is  to  be  one  of  the  signs  of  the  general  resurrec- 
tion. Concerning  this  person,  Mohammed  prophesied 
that  the  world  shoidd  not  have  an  end  till  one  of  his  own 
family  shoidd  govern  the  Arabians,  whose  name  should 
be  like  his  own  name,  and  whose  father's  name  should 
also  be  like  tliat  of  his  own  father.  The  Mohdi  is  to  fill 
the  earth  with  Righteousness.  The  Shiites  (q.  v.)  be- 
lieve the  Mohili  to  be  now  alive,  and  concealed  in  some 
secret  place  till  the  proper  time  of  his  manifestation  ;  and 
they  suppose  him  to  be  none  other  than  the  last  of  the 
twelve  imams,  named  Jlohammed  Abulkasem,  and  the 
son  of  Hassan  al-.\skcri,  the  eleventh  of  that  succession. 
— Broughton,  liiblioth.  llktor.  Sacra,  ii,  IIG.     See  Mo- 

nAMMEl).\NISM. 

Mohl,  .lii.iis  VON.  an  eminent  Germ.an  Oriental 
scholar,  was  born  at  Stuttgard  in  1800.  After  hav- 
ing studied  at  the  gymnasium  in  that  city,  he  entered 
the  Protestant  seminarj-  in  the  University  of  Tubingen 
in  1818,  received  his  diploma  as  doctor  of  philosophy  in 
1820,  and  won  the  prize  in  theology  in  1822.    His  taste 


MOHLER 


429 


MOHLER 


for  Oriental  languages,  which  he  had  pursued  diligently 
amid  all  the  duties  of  his  college  life,  induced  him  to 
remove  to  Paris,  where  he  studied  under  Sylvestre  de 
Sacy  and  Eemusat.  In  1826  he  was  appointed  profess- 
or of  Oriental  literature  at  Tubingen,  but  he  never  oc- 
cupied that  chair,  preferring  to  continue  his  studies, 
which  he  pursued  in  1826-7  and  1830-1  at  London  and 
Oxford,  In  1840  he  became  assistant  secretary  of 
the  Asiatic  Society  ;  in  1844  succeeded  Burnouf,  sen.,  as 
a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions;  the  same 
year  was  installed  professor  of  the  Persian  language 
and  literature  at  the  College  of  France ;  and  in  1852 
succeeded  Burnouf,  jun.,  as  inspector  of  Oriental  typog- 
rapliy  at  the  imperial  printing-house.  He  died  in  1874. 
Jlohi  constantly  sought  to  improve  the  standard  of 
Oriental  philology.  His  philosophic  views  on  the  sub- 
ject, together  with  his  warm  enthusiasm,  have  contrib- 
uted not  a  little  to  facilitate  and  extend  recent  inves- 
tigations in  that  science.  His  principal  works  are : 
Fragments  relatifs  a  la  religion  de  Zoroaster  (Paris, 
1829,  8vo),  published  anonymously  :  —  Confucii  Chi- 
Kiiig,  ex  Latino  P.  Lacharme  interpret.  (Stuttgard,  1830, 
8vo) :  —  Y.-King,  antiquissimus  Sinarum  liber,  ex  Latiiia 
interpret.  P.  Regis  (ibid.  1834^9,  2  vols.  8vo)  i—Livre  des 
Jiois,  par  Ahdoul  Kasim  Firdousi  (Paris,  1836-55,  fol.)  : 
—Firdousi's  Schahnameh  (ib.  1838-66,  5  vols.  8vo) ;  and 
mail}'  contributions  of  great  value  to  different  Oriental 
societies  in  France,  England,  and  Germany,  of  which 
he  had  the  honor  to  be  a  member.  See  Hoefer,  Noiiv. 
Biog.  Generale,  xxxv,  s.  v. ;  Brockhaus,  Conversations- 
LexikoR,  s.  v. ;  Vapereau,  Diet,  des  Contemporains,  s.  v. 
(J.H.W.) 

Mohler,  Johann  Adaji,  one  of  Germany's  most 
distinguished  Roman  Catholic  theologians — the  Schlei- 
ermacher,  as  he  has  apth'  been  caOed,  of  his  branch  of 
the  Christian  Church — was  born  of  humble  parentage, 
May  6, 1796,  at  Igersheim,  near  jNIergentheim,  in  Wiir- 
temberg.  lie  received  his  preparatory  training  at  the 
gymnasium  in  Mergentheim,  and  in  his  seventeenth 
year  removed  to  Elhvangen  and  there  studied  at  the 
lyceum  until,  in  1815,  the  faculty  was  transferred  to 
Tubingen,  and  he  repaired  to  that  well-known  high- 
school  to  continue  his  theological  studies.  He  com- 
pleted his  course  at  the  episcopal  seminary  in  Eotten- 
burg,  and  in  1819  was  made  priest,  and  became  vicar 
of  Riedlingen.  He  continued,  however,  but  a  short 
time  in  the  pastorate.  In  1820  he  returned  to  Tubin- 
gen University,  and  there  lectured  and  studied.  Prof- 
fered a  permanent  position  in  the  university,  he  decided, 
in  order  to  tit  himself  the  more  thoroughly  for  it,  to 
spend  some  time  in  making  himself  acquainted  with 
the  routine  of  the  theological  courses  of  other  universi- 
ties— as  Gottingen,  Berlin,  Prague,  Vienna,  etc. ;  and  in 
consequence  of  this  thorough  preparation,  so  success- 
fully met  his  engagement  that  in  1826,  though  still 
very  young,  he  was  made  extraordinary  professor,  and 
only  two  years  later,  shortly  after  receiving  his  doctor- 
ate in  divinity,  was  lionored  with  the  full  or  ordinary' 
professorship  in  Church  history  and  patrology.  This 
position  afforded  him  a  controlling  influence  over  the 
Koman  Catholic  young  men  studying  with  a  view  to 
the  priesthood,  and  he  aimed  to  awaken  among  them,  by 
the  description  of  great  ecclesiastical  characters  of  the 
early  Catholic  Church,  such  as  Athanasius  and  Anselm, 
a  spirit  of  speculative  inquiry  in  the  sphere  of  faith  and 
in  connection  with  ecclesiastical  fellowship ;  and  he 
also  renewed  the  old  confessional  controversy  on  the 
principles  of  the  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  creeds 
by  the  publication  of  a  work  on  Symbolism,  in  which 
the  Reformation,  though  mucli  of  the  Protestants'  labors 
are  recognised  as  relatively  justifiable  and  worthy,  is 
stamped,  in  contrast  with  an  ideal  Roman  Catholicity,  as 
a  mistake.  This  book  came  not  only  to  be  regarded  as 
a  remarkable  Avork,  but  actually  fixed  the  attention  of 
the  whole  theological  world  upon  him  ;  and  it  has  been 
well  said  that  "his  reputation,  both  posthumous  and 
among  his  own  contemporaries,  rests  mainly  on  his 


Si/mbolik'"  (in  English  entitled  Symbolism ;  or  the  Doc- 
trinal Differences  betiveen  Catholics  and  Protesta7its,  us 
represented  by  their  Public  Confessions  of  Faith,  translat- 
ed by  J.  R.  Robertson,  2  vols.  London,  1843 ;  New  York, 
1844  ;  and  since  republished).  D'Aubigne  pronounced 
it  "one  of  the  most  important  writings  produced  by 
Rome  since  the  time  of  Bossuet"  {History  of  the  Ref, 
iv,  326).  It  was  first  published  in  1832,  passed  through 
five  large  editions  in  the  next  six  years,  was  translat- 
ed into  all  the  leading  European  languages,  and  drew 
forth  numerous  criticisms  and  rejoinders  from  the  Prot- 
estant world,  of  which  the  most  important  are :  Bauer, 
Gegensatz  des  Katholicismus  u.  Protestantismus,  nach  den 
Principien  u.  Ilauptdogmen  der  beiden  Lehrbegriffe  (Ttib. 
1834,  8vo)  ;  Nitzsch,  Prot.  Beantwortung  der  Symbolik 
Mohlers  (in  Studien  u.  Kritiken,  1834-35,  and  later  sep- 
arately reprinted) ;  Marheineke,  Recension  der  Mohler- 
scken  Symbolik  (in  Jahrhuchfiir  ivissenschaftliche  Kri- 
tik,  Berlin,  1833).  To  these— particularly,  however,  the 
attack  by  Bauer — Mohler  replied  in  his  Neue  Unter- 
suchungen  der  Lehrgegensdtze  (Mayence,  1834;  2d  edit. 
1835).  The  polemical  bitterness  evoked  by  these  coi>- 
troversies  made  it  desirable  that  Mohler  should  leave 
Tubingen,  where  Bauer  then  also  lectured ;  and  after 
refusing  various  positions  proffered  him  by  different 
celebrated  German  universities,  he  accepted  in  1835  a 
professorship  at  ]\Iunich,  then  in  the  first  flush  of  its 
efficiency  under  king  Louis.  Mohler's  first  appoint- 
ment was  nominally  the  chair  of  Biblical  exegesis,  but 
he  really  devoted  himself  to  the  department  of  Cluirch 
history,  in  wliich  his  opening  course  was  eminently 
successful.  His  uninterrupted  and  severe  labors,  how- 
ever, had  taxed  him  to  the  utmost,  and,  after  refusing  to 
accept  a  renewed  and  very  tempting  offer  from  Bonn, 
he  reluctantly  consented  to  change  his  place  at  the 
university  for  the  deanery  of  Wiirzburg,  which  the 
king  had  urged  upon  him.  Shortly  after  appointment 
to  this  new  position  he  was  completely  prostrated,  and 
died  of  consumption  April  12, 1838.  Mohler  is  not  only 
generally  acknowledged  to  have  been  a  good  and  pious 
man,  but  is  universally  recognised  also  as  the  greatest 
theologian  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  produced 
since  Bellarmine  and  Bossuet.  He  was  certainly  the 
most  acute  and  the  most  philosophical  of  the  modern 
controversialists  of  his  Church.  He  helped  Romanism 
again  to  self-consciousness,  and  breathed  into  it  a  new 
polemic  zeal  against  Protestantism ;  although  he  be- 
trayed the  influence  which  the  study  of  Protestant  the- 
ology, especially  that  of  Schleiermacher,  and  of  modern 
culture  generally,  had  exercised  on  his  own  idealistic 
apprehension  and  defence  of  the  Roman  dogmas  and 
usages.  He  did  not,  indeed,  write  a  Church  history,  or 
discuss  the  scriptural  or  traditional  evidences  of  the  pe- 
culiar doctrines  of  Roman  Catholicism,  but  rather  de- 
voted himself  to  the  exposition  of  the  points  and  the 
grounds  of  the  doctrinal  differences  of  modern  sects; 
yet  all  his  writings  have  more  or  less  to  do  with  the 
historical  sphere,  particularly  with  the  history  of  doc- 
trines, and  are  remarkable  for  their  freshness  of  spirit 
and  a  vigorous  and  animated  style.  Says  Hagenbacli 
{Ch.  Hist,  of  the  18th  and  19?/*  Cent,  ii,  446),  "  Whatever 
vigorous  vitality  is  possessed  by  the  most  recent  Cath- 
olic theological  science  is  due  to  tlie  labors  of  this  man, 
who  was  cut  off  early  in  the  midst  of  his  work."  "  He 
sent  rays  of  his  spirit,"  says  Kurtz  {Ch.  Hist,  from  the 
Reformation,  p.  391),  "deep  into  the  hearts  and  minds 
of  hundreds  of  his  enthusiastic  pupils  by  his  writings, 
addresses,  and  by  his  intercourse  with  them  ;  and  what 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  the  present  possesses  of 
living  scientific  impulse  and  feeling  was  implanted,  or 
at  least  revived  and  excited  by  him.  .  .  .  His  '  Sym- 
bolik' combats  Protestant  doctrines  with  tlie  weapons 
of  Proteistant  science,  and  silently  ennobles  and  subli- 
mates those  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Did  the 
Protestants  up  to  this  time  generally  despise  or  ignore 
the  contributions  of  Roman  Catholic  theologians,  here  a 
scientific  power  of  the  highest  significance  approached,' 


MOIINIKE 


430 


MOIRA 


them,  to  despise  which  would  have  been  a  sign  of  weak- 
ness. In  fact,  long  as  was  the  o[)position  which  existed 
between  both  churches,  no  work  from  the  camp  of  the 
Koman  Catholics  produced  as  much  agitation  and  ex- 
citement in  the  camp  of  the  Protectants  as  this."  Yet 
no  work  produced  by  a  Komaiiist  has  been  of  greater 
service  than  this  polemic.  Written  after  a  thorough 
study  of  the  subject,  it  lias  gathered  a  mass  of  material 
invaluable  to  the  Protestant  student,  and  in  this  Cyclo- 
pcedia  we  have  not  unfreciuently  referred  to  Jlohler's 
"  Symbolik"  with  great  pleasure.  The  other  principal 
works  from  Miihler's  pen  are :  Die  Eiuhtit  in  der  Kirche 
oder  das  Princip  des  Kutholicismus  (Tiibing.  1825,  8vo  ; 
translated  into  French  by  Ph.  Bernard)  •.—Athanasius 
d,  Grosse  u.  d.  Kirche  seiner-  Zeit  im  Kanipje  mii  dem 
A  rianismus  (Mayence,  1827 ;  2d  ed.  1844,  8vo :  translat- 
ed into  French,  Paris,  1841,  3  vols.  8vo)  : — Patroloyie 
oder  cluMiche  Literaturijeschichte  (Itatisb.  1839,2  vols. 
8vo;  translated  into  French  by  Cohen,  I'aris,  1842, 2  vols. 
8vo).  His  Nachgelassene  Sckriften  were  published  by 
Dijllinger  (Ratisb.  1839^0),  and  his  rairolor/ie  oder 
t'hrisll.  Literaturgesch.  bv  Keithmaver  (Kegensb.  1869). 
See  lioda  AVeber,  Charaicterhilder  (Frankf.  1853) ;  D.  F. 
Strauss,  Kldne  Schri/ten,  etc.  (Leips.  18(52);  Hare,  Vin- 
dication of  Luther,  p.  167-169 ;  Schaff,  Hht.  of  the  Apos- 
tol.  Ch.  p.  60;  Ffoulkes,  Divisions  in  Christendom,  vol.  i, 
§53;  ll&se,  Protestant ische  Polemik;  Werner,  Gesch.d. 
Kalholirismus ;  and  particularly  the  biographical  sketch 
preceding  the  5th  edition  of  the  "  Symbolik."  See  also 
Hoefer,  Xoiii:  Jiiotj.  Geitcrale,  xxxv,734;  Herzog,  Peal- 
EncykhijK  ix.  iHiJ :  /.'//'/.  .Surra,  Jan.  1850,  p.  61 ;  English 
Jiev.  ii.  7:  c/u-ls/un,  /../-//,////«•,  xxxvii,  119;  Brit,  and 
For.  Er.  J,;  riru;  July,  I  .S(iS,  p.  591.      (J.  H.  W.) 

Mohnike,  Gottlieb  Christian  Friedrtcii,  a 
German  divine  of  note,  was  bom  at  Grimmen,in  Pome- 
rania,  in  1 7.sl ;  studied  theology  at  Greifswalde  and  Jena ; 
in  181 1  became  rector  of  the  city  school  at  Greifswalde ; 
m  1813  entered  the  pastorate,  and  gained  a  name  uni- 
versallj'  honored  and  revered.  lie  was  made  councillor 
of  the  Consistory  after  having  removed  to  Stralsund 
about  1830,  and  died  July  0, 1841.  Besides  several  sec- 
ular publications,  we  have  from  his  pen  Uliich  Ilutten's 
Jugendkbvn  (Greifsw.  1816) : — Ilymnologische  Forschun- 
(jen  (ibid.  1831-32,  2  vols.). 

Moine,  Etienxe  le,  a  very  learned  French  Prot- 
estant minister,  was  born  at  Caen,  in  October,  1624,  and 
became  well  skilled  in  the  Oriental  and  classical  lan- 
guages, besides  attaining  great  distinction  as  a  theolo- 
gian even  while  yet  a  student  at  the  Protestant  serai- 
narj'  in  Sedan  and  the  University  of  Leyden.  After 
liis  graduation  he  was  appointed  pastor  at  Rouen,  and 
rapidly  rose  in  favor  with  his  brethren.  For  political 
reasons  he  was  imprisoned  for  a  short  time,  and  upon 
his  release  negotiated  for  an  appointment  at  his  Dutch 
alma  mater,  where  he  was  finally  appointed  a  profess- 
or, and  successfully  taught  for  some  time.  He  was 
honored  with  the  rectorate,  and  in  various  other  ways, 
and  his  learning  was  acknowledged  even  in  England. 
Oxford  University  conferred  the  doctorate  of  divinity 
on  him  in  1677.  He  died  at  Leyden  Ajiril  4, 1689.  Sev- 
eral dissertations  of  his  are  i)rinte<l  together,  and  enti- 
tled Varia  Sacra  (Leyden,  16«5,  1694,  2  vols.  4to).  He 
also  wrote  other  works,  l)ut  none  of  them  are  now  of 
any  value.    See  Hoefer,  Xouv.  Jiiog.  Gen.  s.  v. 

Moira  (MoTpa,  a  share),  the  classical  personifica- 
tion of  that  mysterious  yet  irresistible  power  whose  in- 
visible sceptre  controls  and  directs  human  events,  and 
assigns  to  each  individual  his  fate  or  share.  Homer, 
with  a  single  exception  (//.  xxiv,  29),  speaks  of  but  one 
Moira,  a  jiersonitication  of  fate,  whom  he  represents  as 
spiiming  the  thread  of  each  man's  life,  and  though  coun- 
selling with  the  other  gods,  yet  as  having  supreme  au- 
thority in  directing  and  controlling  the  fate  of  each  indi- 
vidual, and  yieldiiit,'oh(isancc  only  to  Zeus.  Hesiod,  liv- 
ing a  little  later,  di>iiiigui.slips  three  Moine,  and  names 
them  as  Clotho,  or  the  siiiuning  fate ;  Lachesis,  or  the 


one  who  assigns  man  his  fate ;  and  A  tropos,  or  the  fate 
that  cannot  be  avoided.  These  he  calls  the  daughters 
of  Zeus  and  Thermis,  a  genealogy  from  which  late; 
writers  differ.  Other  mythographers  picture  Clotho  as 
holding  the  distaff,  and  ever  furnishing  the  present ; 
Lachesis,  twirling  the  spindle,  lays  out  the  future ;  and 
Atropos  severs  the  past  by  cutting  the  thread  with 
her  fatal  scissors.  The  representations  of  the  character 
and  nature  of  the  Moira?,  as  varied  as  they  are  numer- 
ous, may,  for  our  purpose,  be  classed  in  two  divisions : 
1st,  those  in  which  the  Moirx  are  but  allegorical  rep- 
resentations of  the  duration  of  human  life ;  2d,  those 
in  which  the  Moira?  are  considered  strictly  as  divini- 
ties of  fate.  As  used  in  the  first  sense,  it  is  supposed 
the  Greeks  originally  conceived  of  but  one  Moira,  but 
on  further  consideration  of  her  nature  and  attributes 
adopted  the  idea  of  two,  representing  life's  two  bounda- 
ries of  birth  and  death.  Ultimately  the  number  be- 
came three,  and  personified  past,  present,  and  future. 
Considering  the  Moir.T2  as  strictly  divinities  of  fate,  they 
are  viewed  as  independent,  meting  out  individual  desti- 
nies in  accordance  with  eternal  laws  which  know  no 
variations  or  exceptions.  The  gods  as  well  as  mortals 
are  subject  to  their  authority,  and  even  Zeus  is  some- 
times represented  as  powerless  to  annul  their  decrees. 
Oftener,  however,  Zeus  is  pictured  as  in  the  background, 
weighing  out  power  to  them,  and  interfering  with  their 
decrees  when  disposed  to  save  his  favorites  or  destroy 
those  with  whom  he  is  angry.  This  twofold  view  of 
the  Moira;,  considering  them  sometimes  as  possessed  of 
supreme  power,  and  issuing  irrevocable  decrees,  and  at 
other  times  as  interfered  with  and  overrided  by  Zeus,  is 
easily  accounted  for  in  the  vain  attempts  of  uninspired 
man  to  harmonize  the  seemingly  inconsistent  meting 
out  of  fate.  By  this  means  the  ancients  were  enal>led 
to  interi)ret,  satisfactorily  to  themselves,  the  varying 
freaks  of  fickle  fortune,  and  account  for  apjiarcnt  favor- 
itism and  injustice.  It  proved  a  magic  key  to  open  the 
mysteries  of  the  dealings  of  Providence,  and  shifted 
the  burden  of  human  complaints  from  the  shoulders  of 
their  beloved  Zeus  to  those  of  the  hated  Moinv,  while 
all  the  praise  for  sudden  prosperity  or  escape  from  dan- 
ger and  death  was  given  to  Zeus  for  his  kindly  inter- 
ference with  the  will  of  the  fates.  Without  the  aid  of 
this  double  view  of  the  relationship  existing  between 
Zeus  and  the  Moirre,  the  Greeks  coidd  see  in  the  strange 
events  of  national  and  personal  histon,'  naught  but  the 
workings  of  an  imperfect  divinity ;  but  with  this  ex- 
planatory means  they  were  enabled  to  clothe  Zeus 
with  a  robe  interwoven  with  threads  both  of  justice 
and  mercy.  For  the  sake  of  conceiving  a  blameless  di- 
vinity, they  were  willing  even  to  admit  the  occasional 
absence  of  supreme  authority.  Like  the  Erinyes,  with 
whom  they  are  often  confounded,  the  MoiriE  differ  sin- 
gularly from  all  the  other  gods  in  that  they  have  no 
sympathy  whatever  for  man,  their  iron  sceptres  nev- 
er being  Avielded  by  the  hands  of  mercy.  Yet  they 
were  worshipped  in  many  parts  of  Greece,  and  had 
sanctuaries  at  Corinth,  Sparta,  Olympia,  and  Thebes. 
The  ancient  artists  and  poets  give  us  many  fanciful  pict- 
ures of  the  Moira?.  The  earliest  of  the  former  rep- 
resent them  as  goddesses  holding  staffs  or  scejitres  in 
their  hands  as  emblematic  of  their  dominion.  In  later 
works  of  art  they  form  a  triplet  of  grave  though  beau- 
tiful maidens:  Clotho  holding  a  spindle  or  a  roll  (the 
book  of  fate) ;  Lachesis  pointing  with  her  staff  to  the 
globe ;  while  Atropos  holds  a  pair  of  scales,  a  sun-dial, 
or  some  cutting  instrument.  By  the  poets  they  are 
sometimes  i)icturcd  as  aged  and  decrepit  women,  typ- 
ical of  the  slow  and  often  sorrowful  march  of  fated 
events,  and  the  various  e])ithets  applied  to  them  are 
not  so  much  the  outburstings  of  human  hate  as  poetical 
pencillings  of  the  severity,  inflexibility,  and  sternness  of 
fate.  See  Vollmer,  .vfilhoL  WOrtabuch,  s.  v.:  Smith, 
IHct.  Greek  and  Roman  JUng.  tuid  Mi/thol.  s.  v. ;  Dwight, 
Classical  ^fgthol.  s.  v. ;  tirote,  JJist.  of  Greece,  iv,  197  sq. 
(H.W.T.) 


MOISE 


431 


MOLANS 


Moi'se,  FRAN901S  Xavikr,  a  French  theologian, 
was  born  at  Gras,  in  Franche-Comte,  in  1742.  He  was 
professor  of  theology  at  Dole  when  the  Revolution  broke 
out ;  and,  taking  the  oath  of  loyalt_v  to  the  civil  con- 
stitution, in  1791  was  elected  bishop  for  the  Jura  dis- 
trict. During  the  reign  of  terror  he  had  to  conceal  him- 
self in  the  mountains.  But  being  a  learned  canonist, 
and  conversant  with  theology  and  the  Levantine  lan- 
guages, his  country  needed  his  services,  and  he  was 
called  out  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the  discussions 
which  marked  the  national  councils  held  in  Paris  during 
the  years  1797  and  1801.  At  the  expiration  of  the  lat- 
ter year  he  resigned  his  sacerdotal  functions,  together 
with  abbe  Gregoire,  with  whom  he  was  intimately  ac- 
quainted, left  Paris  soon  thereafter,  and  retired  to  his 
farm  at  jMorteau.  Bishop  Lecoz  then  bestowed  upon 
him  the  title  of  honorary  canon  of  Besan<;,on.  Jloise 
died  at  Morteau  in  1813.  He  wrote :  Repoiises  critiques 
a  2}liisieurs  qxiestions  jiroposees  par  les  incredules  mo- 
dernes  sur  divers  endroits  des  Livres  Saints  (Paris,  1783, 
18mo) : — De  VOpinion  de  M.  Gregoire  dam  le  proces  de 
Louis  AT/.  (1801);  together  with  some  articles  in  the 
Annates  de  la  Religion,  La  Chronique  Religieuse,  etc. 
— Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Mokanna  (i.  e.  the  Concealed')  is  the  name  of  a 
Mohammedan  prophet  who  flourished  about  A.D.  778. 
He  was  so  called  because,  as  the  Mohammedans  say, "  he 
shrouded  from  his  followers  the  excessive  glory  of  his 
human  face  divine  with  a  golden  mask."  He  was  the 
first  who  introduced  into  Islamism  the  doctrine  of  the 
transmigration  of  souls.  IMokanna  taught  that  God  had 
assumed  a  human  form,  had  commanded  the  angels  to 
adore  the  first  man,  and  from  that  time  the  divine  nat- 
ure had  descended  from  prophet  to  prophet  to  Abu 
Moslem,  the  founder  of  the  Abassides,  and  finally  to  him- 
self. He  afterwards  added  the  Indian  dogma  of  the 
incarnation  of  the  human  and  divine  nature,  as  well  as 
the  metempsychosis  adopted  by  the  Ghullats.  See  Mad- 
den, Hist,  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  ii,  169.  See  Moh.oi- 
3IKDAN  Sects. 

Moket,  Richard,  an  English  theologian,  was  bom 
in  Dorsetshire  in  1578,  and  was  educated  at  Oxford 
University,  of  which  he  finally  became  fellow  and  doc- 
tor, distinctions  that  opened  to  him  several  prominent 
positions,  of  which  he  finally  accepted  that  of  provost 
of  All-Souls'  College,  Oxford.  He  was  also  appointed 
one  of  the  roj'al  commissioners  to  supervise  ecclesias- 
tical affairs.  He  translated  into  Latin  the  Liturgy, 
sundry  catechisms,  the  constitution,  and  several  other 
instruments  and  documents  relative  to  the  Anglican 
Church,  in  order  to  distribute  them  as  models  worthy 
of  imitation  by  foreign  Church  establishments.  The  col- 
lection was  printed  at  London  (1616,  folio).  But  it  had 
hardly  been  given  to  the  public  when  theologians  and 
schoolmen  raised  such  a  hue  and  cry  against  the  work 
as  finally  consigned  it  to  the  fire.  According  to  Hej'lin 
(Life  of  Laud,  p.  70),  this  proscription  was  due  solely 
to  the  unintentional  omission  on  the  part  of  the  hapless 
translator  of  one  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  English 
Church.  The  whole  edition  of  his  work  was  utterly  de- 
stroj'ed.  One  of  the  treatises  which  it  contained — De 
Polita  Ecclesice  Anglicance — was  reprinted  at  London, 
1G83, 8vo.  Moket  died  at  Oxford  in  1618.  See  Wood, 
A  thence  Oxon. ;  Hoefer,  Xouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. ;  Alli- 
bone.  Diet,  of  British  and  American  Authors,  s.  v. 

Mol,  Peter  van,  a  Flemish  painter,  was  born  in 
Antwerp  in  1590.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Rubens,  and 
painted,  in  the  style  of  his  master,  many  noted  works 
for  the  churches  of  Flanders  and  Brabant.  In  the  ca- 
thedral of  Antwerp  is  his  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  which 
is  a  superior  work.  Another  remarkable  work  by  him 
was  in  the  gallery  of  the  Louvre,  representing  Christ 
after  the  Crucifixion,  with  the  Marys,  Joseph  of  Arima- 
thaja,  and  John.  The  time  of  his  death  is  unknown. 
See  Spooner,  Biographical  Hist,  of  the  Fine  Arts,  ii, 
574. 


Mola,  a  term  derived  from  the  sacramental  immo- 
lation of  Christ,  alludes  to  the  middle  of  an  altar,  signed 
with  the  dedication  cross,  and  covering  the  sepidchre 
of  relics. — Walcott,  Sac.  A  rchceol.  s.  v. 

Mola,  Giovanni  Battista,  a  French  painter  of 
the  Bolognese  school,  was  born  about  1620,  and  was  a 
scholar  of  Albano.  He  copied  a  vast  work  of  Paul  Ver- 
onese for  cardinal  Bichi.  Lanzi  gives  but  one  example 
of  his  works  from  the  collection  of  the  marchesi  Rinuc- 
cini,  at  Florence,  the  Repose  in  Egypt.  Mrs.  Jameson 
mentions  a  fine  Holy  Family  by  him  in  the  Louvre,  in 
which  the  Virgin  watches  with  upturned  eyes  while 
Joseph  and  the  Child  sleep.  Mola  died  in  1661.  See 
Lanzi,  Hist,  of  Painting,  transl.  by  Roscoe,  iii,  92;  Mrs. 
Jameson,  Legends  of  the  Madonna,  p.  241. 

Mola,  Pietro  Francesco,  an  eminent  Italian 
painter  and  architect,  was  born  in  the  diocese  of  Como 
in  1612.  He  studied  successively  under  Giuseppe  Al- 
bano and  Guercino.  In  his  earlier  life  the  works  of 
the  latter  master  were  greatly  admired  by  him,  but  sub- 
sequently he  went  to  Venice,  where  he  devoted  himself 
to  Titian  and  Veronese.  From  the  result  of  this  course 
of  study  he  formed  a  style  peculiar  to  himself,  combin- 
ing parts  of  all  those  from  whom  he  had  studied,  and 
his  fame  spread  throughout  all  Italy.  He  went  to 
Rome  in  the  pontificate  of  Innocent  X,  by  whom  he 
was  immediately  employed  in  executing  numerous 
works,  among  which  are  St.  Peter  delivered  from  Prison 
by  the  A  ngel  and  the  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,  in  the 
chapel  of  the  church  Del  Gesu.  He  was  also  patronized 
by  pope  Alexander  VII,  for  whom  he  painted,  in  the 
pontifical  palace  of  Monte  Cavallo,  his  most  celebrated 
work,  Joseph  making  himself  knotvn  to  his  Brethren.  At 
Milan  are  two  of  his  most  admired  productions,  in  the 
church  of  S.  IMaria  della  Vita,  St.  John  in  the  Wilderness 
and  <S7.  Paul  the  Hermit.  Mrs.  Jameson  mentions  sev- 
eral works  by  this  artist,  among  which  are  Jacob  wrest- 
ling u-ith  the  A  ngel,  the  Meeting  of  Jacob  and  Rachel, 
and  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  in  which  an  angel  is  disrob- 
ing the  Saviour.  Mola  died  suddenly  at  Rome  in  1668, 
while  preparing  to  set  out  for  Paris,  whither  he  had 
been  invited  by  the  king  of  France,  who  had  appointed 
him  court-painter,  with  a  liberal  pension.  See  Lanzi, 
Hist,  of  Painting,  transl.  by  Roscoe,  i,  402 ;  ii,  535 ;  iii, 
92;  Spooner,  Biographical  Hist,  of  the  Fine  Arts,  ii,  574; 
Jameson  and  Eastlake,  History  of  our  Lord,  i,  151, 153, 
297. 

Mola'dah  (Heb.  Moladah',  tTl^i-O  [in  Nehemiah 
ITlb'a],  birth;  Sept.  MwXa^d  v.  v^  MuicaCa,  etc.),  a 
city  in  the  southern  part  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  towards 
the  Edomitish  border  (Josh,  xv,  26),  which  fell  within 
the  portion  set  off  to  Simeon  (Josh,  xix,  2 ;  1  Chron.  iv, 
28).  It  was  also  occupied  after  the  exile  (Neh.  xi,  26). 
Reland  (Palcest.  p.  901)  thinks  it  was  the  Malatha 
(MaXaS'a)  mentioned  by  Josephus  {Ant.  xviii,  6,  2)  as 
a  castle  of  Idumrea,  to  which  Agrippa  retired  in  chagrin 
after  his  return  from  Rome.  Eusebius  and  Jerome 
(Onomast.  s.  v.  'Apajuci)  allude  to  it  (MaXa^i)  as  a  place 
four  Roman  miles  distant  from  Arad,  which  latter  they 
describe  as  an  ancient  city  of  the  Amorites  situated  in 
the  wilderness  of  Kadesh,  and  twenty  miles  from  He- 
bron, on  the  road  to  Aila  (see  Reland,  Palcest.  p.  885). 
At  a  later  period  jMalatha  became  a  Roman  colony  (Re- 
land, p.  231).  Dr.  Robinson  (Researches,  ii,  621)  finds 
the  locality  in  the  present  el-Milh,  first  observed  by 
Schubert  (Reise,  ii,  454),  consisting  of  extensive  ruins 
with  a  well,  situated  at  the  required  distance  from  the 
site  of  Arad  (comp.  Schwarz,  Pcdest.  p.  100).  The  pres- 
ent name,  signifying  "salt,"  has  little  alfinity  with  the 
Heb.  appellation,  but  may  be  a  corruption  of  it  (Wilson, 
Lands  of  the  Bible,  i,  346 ;  Van  de  Velde,  Memoir,  p.  335 ; 
Ritter,  Pal.  und  Syr.  i,  124;  Tristram,  Land  of  Israel, 
p.  369  sq. ;  Stewart,  Tent  and  Khan,  p.  217). 

Molans,  Philibert  de,  founder  of  the  Order  of 
St.  George,  was  born  at  Molans,  France,  and  flourished 


MOLANUS 


432 


MOLAY 


in  the-  14th  century.  He  belonged  to  one  of  the  oldest  I 
families  in  the  countrj'.  The  duke  of  Burgundy,  Philip 
the  Bold,  took  him  into  liis  service  as  equerry.  Molans  | 
followed  his  master  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  was  very 
useful  to  him.  In  return  for  his  efficiency,  the  duke 
appointed  him  general  inspector  of  the  ducal  arsenals. 
Molans  afterwards  went  again  to  Palestine,  and  is  said 
to  have  brought  back  the  remains  of  one  St.  (Jeorgc, 
presenting  these  relics  to  the  church  at  Kougemont,  ' 
which  instituted  special  services  in  honor  of  them.  In 
1390  Molans  established  an  order  under  the  inspiration 
of  the  alleged  martyr.  In  order  to  become  a  member 
of  this  association  one  had  to  be  a  native  of  the  duchy 
or  county  of  Burgundy,  and  show  not  less  than  sixteen 
quarterings  on  his  shield.  Each  chevalier  of  St.  George 
had  to  take  a  vow  to  devote  his  life  and  fortune  to  the 
vindication  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  the 
protection  of  the  oppressed,  the  virgins,  and  the  or- 
phans. The  distinctive  badge  of  the  order  was  a  gold 
image,  suspended  from  a  blue  ribbon,  and  representing 
St.  George  smiting  a  dragon  to  the  ground.  .tMthough 
this  society  had  a  purely  moral  aim,  the  Besan(;on  Par- 
liament persistently  declined  to  legalize  it.  The  Order 
of  St.  (icorge  continued  in  France  until  the  lievolution. 
Historians  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  place  and  date  of 
Molans's  death.  The  latter  part  of  his  life  was  shroud- 
ed in  obscurity.  Great  Britain,  Bavaria,  Spain, and  Rus- 
sia have  each,  in  turn,  created  an  Order  of  St.  George. 
See  Thomas  Yarin,  EUit  de  Villustre  Confrerie  de  Saint- 
Georges  en  16C3;  Pointier  de  Gouhelans,  Statufs  de  VOi- 
dre  de  Saint-Georges,  avec  la  iiste  des  Chevaliets  deptiis 
1390  (Besan<;on,  1768,  8vo);  John  Mihier,  IJistorical 
and  Critical  Inquirg  into  the  Existence  and  Character 
of  St.  George;  Heylin,  IJistor;/  of  St,  George. — Hoefer, 
Nour.  Biog.  Generale,  xxxv,  789. 

Molanus,  Gerhard  Walther,  a  German  Lu- 
theran theologian,  was  born  at  Ilameln,  on  the  Weser, 
Nov.  1, 1G33.  He  studied  at  the  University  of  Hclm- 
sttidt  under  Calixtus  (q.  v.).  In  1G59  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics  in  the  University  of  Rinteln,  but 
in  1664  was  made  extraordinary,  and  soon  after  ordinary 
l)rofessor  of  theology  in  the  same  university,  which  po- 
sition lie  retained  until  1677.  In  the  mean  time  he 
published  various  works,  partly  mathematical,  partly 
theological.  Among  the  latter  we  notice  De  cammiuii- 
catioui  1 1  jirdiliciiliiiiii  iili'oiiKi/iiiii.  ijiiii  iiiti  r  <i/i(i  (i.</ni- 
ditur  Jnnnninuii  Christ;  mihir.in,   ,  j-l nn.o  ci,s   <.„/„,>,./,,;- 


tern  upj- 


^11, 1 


i;i 


and  method  of  Calixtus.  In  1674  duke  John  Frederick 
of  Hanover  appointed  him  director  of  the  consistory  for 
that  province,  and  in  1677  he  became  abbot  of  the  con- 
vent of  Loccum.  He  was  very  active  in  promoting 
union  conferences  with  the  Reformed  and  Roman  Catli- 
olic  theologians,  and,  although  without  success,  he  ac- 
quired the  well-earned  reputation  of  a  peace-maker. 
This  was  especially  shown  in  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
French  Reformed,  whom  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  had  driven  to  seek  refuge  in  Germany.  Duke 
John  Frederick,  who  had  himself  returned  to  Roman- 
ism, wished  to  induce  Molanus  to  follow  his  example, 
but  the  latter  withstood  all  his  offers.  Having,  in  his 
efforts  for  a  union  with  the  Romish  Church,  come  in 
contact  with  Bossuct,  Molanus  conceded  that  the  Eu- 
charist "quodammodo  proprie  dici  sacriticium ;"  also 
that  "de  conciliis  oecumenicis  legitime  celebratis  dico: 
Christus  nuncpiam  permittct  ut  ecclcsia  universalis  in 
concilio  aliiiuid  fidei  contrarium  pronuntict,"  etc.  Yet 
he  would  not  recognise  as  "legitime  eelebratum"  the 
Council  of  Trent,  which  had  condemned  the  Protestants 
without  a  hearing,  and  which  was  not  universally  rec- 
ognised, for  instance,  in  Germany.  IMolanus  was  ac- 
cused of  having  gone  over  to  Romanism,  and  therefore 
published  in  his  defence  Mig<n  venaks  s.  i-tfntat.  calnm- 
niar.  etc.  (1698).  He  died  Sept.  7, 1722.  See  J.  v.  Esi- 
nem,  Leben  G.  W.  ^folani  (Magdeb.  1724,  8vo) ;  Kapp, 
Summlung  einige  Briffe  ilher  d,  Vereinigung  d.  liith.  u. 
ref.  Theol.  (Leips,  1745.  8vo) ;   Schlegel,  Kirchengesch. 


d.  18"»  Jahrh.  i,  559  sq. ;  ii,  213  sq. ;  Schrockh,  Kirch- 
engesch. vii,  83, 103  sq.     (.1.  N.  P.) 

Molanus  (Vermeulen),  John,  a  Belgian  the- 
ologian of  some  note,  was  born  at  Lille  in  1633.  He 
was  educated  at  Louvain,  and  there  obtained  the  doc- 
torate in  1570,  and  then  taught  theology  for  several 
years.  By  different  publications  he  called  attention  to 
his  learning,  and  gradually  gained  favor  at  the  court 
and  at  Rome.  He  was  made  a  canon  of  the  church  of 
St.  Peter,  and  director  of  a  seminarv-  then  founded  at 
Louvain.  He  died  Sept.  IH,  1585.  Baronius  pays  him 
great  homage  in  the  preface  to  his  Murtyrologe  Re- 
main. JMolanus  published:  De  I'ictin-is  et  Imagiuibus 
saciis  (Louvain,  1570,  1574, 1595,  8vo)  :  —  De  I/istoria 
sucrarum  Imaginum  et  I'icturartim,  lib.  iv ;  Theologie 
des  peintres,  sculpteurs,  et  dessinateiirs  (Paris,  1765, 
r2mo)  : — Annates  urhis  Louruniensis  ac  obsidionis  illius 
histoj-ia  (Louvain,  1572,  4to) : — Calendarium  Kccksias- 
ticum  (Anvers,  1574, 12mo) : — Defide  hcereticis  servanda, 
lib.  iii;  quartus  item  dejide  rebtUibus  servanda,  et  quin- 
tvs  defide  ac  Juramento  qua;  a  tgrannis  exiquantur  (Co- 
logne, 1584)  -.—Depiis  Testumentis  (Cologne,  1584, 1661, 
8vo)  : — Theologice  jiracticm  Compendium  (Cologne,  1585, 
1590,  8vo)  : — Orationes  III  de  agnis  Dei,  de  decimis 
dandis  et  de  decimis  recipiendis  (Cologne,  1587,  8vo) : — 
De  Canonicis,  \ih,  iii  (Cologne,  1587,  8vo): — Militia  sa- 
cra Ducum  ac  Princium  BiHibantiw  cum  annntat.  Petri 
Lourvii  (Anvers,  1592, 8vo)^ — Medicorum  ecclesiasticum 
Diarixtm  (Louvain,  1595,  8vo) : — Bibliolheca  materia- 
rum  Theologica  quce  a  quibus  auctoribus,  qmtm  antiquis, 
turn  receiitioribus,  sint  pertractce  (Cologne,  1618,  4to). — 
Hoefer,  Nouv,  Biog.  Genei-ule,  s.  v. 

Molay,  Jacquks  de,  the  last  grand-master  of  the 
Knights  Templars,  was  born  about  the  year  1244  in  Bur^ 
gundy,  of  the  families  of  Longvic  and  Raon.  He  was 
admitted  to  his  order  at  Baune,  in  the  diocese  of  Au- 
tun.  Of  his  subsequent  history  but  little  is  known  un- 
til he  was  promoted  to  the  grand-mastership  about  the 
year  1298.  Pierre  Dupuy,  a  French  writer,  insiiuiates 
that  he  did  not  obtain  his  election  by  his  own  merits, 
but  through  the  intrigues  of  the  nobility  of  France.  If 
this  were  true  it  might  account  for  the  suspicions  and 
fears  which  animated  Philip  lY.  against  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Order  of  the  Temple  in  France  just  at  this 
time,  when  monarchy  was  endeavoring  to  rear  itself  on 
the  political  abasement  of  the  Church  and  the  feudal 
lordships.  But  there  is  nothing  to  prove  this  assertion, 
for  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  the  nobility  of  France 
could  infiueiice  an  election  contested  at  such  a  dis- 
tance. The  affairs  of  Christianity  in  the  East  were 
at  this  time  in  a  grievous  condition.  Several  impor- 
tant towns  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Jlohamme- 
dans.  IMany  of  the  last  defenders  of  tlie  Cross  had  per- 
ished. One  of  the  most  illustrious  grand-masters  of  the 
order  had  recently  died.  Syria  was  lost  to  the  Chris- 
tian arms,  and  the  Templars  and  Hospitallers  had  taken 
refuge  in  Cyprus  and  Tortosa,  whence  they  invoked 
the  aid  of  the  Hoh'  See,  the  princes  and  people  of 
Euro]ie.  All  Europe  being  engaged  in  great  internal 
contests  —  monarchy  and  feudalism  and  the  Church 
arrayed  against  each  other — help  was  looked  for  in 
vain  by  the  poor  Christians  of  the  I-last.  Besides, 
the  Cross  had  not  fallen  in  Palestine  without  embit- 
tering luimbers  against  the  cause,  leading  many  to  say 
that  men  should  not  persist  in  a  contest  which  God 
himself  had  abandoned.  Jacques  de  ]Molay,  however, 
had  no  sooner  been  put  at  the  helm  than  he  went  for- 
ward with  his  task.  He  did  not  wait  for  succor  from 
Europe,  but  endeavored  to  derive  some  benefit  from  the 
projects  of  the  I\logul  Tartars  of  Persia  against  F'gypt 
and  Syria;  so  that  in  the  spring  of  1299.  when  the 
grand  khan  assembled  a  powerful  force,  Jacques  de 
]\Iolay  commanded  one  of  the  wings  of  the  Tartar  army.- 
With  the  troops  contided  to  him  he  invaded  Syria,  and 
subsequently,  under  the  conduct  of  the  Tartar  general, 
recovered  Jerusalem  from  the  infidels.    This  unexpect— 


MOLAY 


433 


MOLAY 


ed  event  was  received  with  delight  by  the  Christian 
world.  The  IMogiil  Tartars,  counselled  doubtless  by 
some  of  the  Christian  chiefs,  sent  messengers  16  Eu- 
rope, to  the  pope  and  the  kings  of  France  and  England, 
urging  them  to  engage  in  a  new  crusade,  which  should 
strike  a  final  blow  at  the  Mohammedan  power  in  the 
East.  But  the  Tartar  messengers  had  scarcely  returned 
before  reverses  and  treason  had  destroyed  the  army  of 
the  grand  khan.  Jerusalem  was  lost  in  1300,  and  the 
Templars  under  Jacques  de  Molay  were  obliged  to  re- 
tire to  the  island  of  Tortosa,  near  Tripoli,  whence  they 
could  simply  watch  and  harass  the  movements  of  the 
enemy.  But  in  1302  they  were  finally  surprised  and 
defeated,  and  the  grand -master,  with  those  that  re- 
mained of  the  order,  took  refuge  in  Cyprus,  now  and 
then  renewing  the  contest  by  sudden  incursions  upon 
the  jMohammedans.  The  brother  and  successor  of  the 
grand  klian  still  looked  for  aid  from  Europe,  and  even 
approached  the  pope,  but  the  replies  were  evasive. 
Philip  IV,  in  his  attempt  to  check  the  feudal  power 
and  all  ecclesiastical  control,  feared  that  the  papacy 
might  recover,  in  an  institution  like  that  of  the  Temple, 
the  military  force  it  needed  to  defend  its  theocracy.  He 
dreaded  leaving  to  the  nobility  an  order  so  entirely  filled 
with  its  members  and  benefit-s,  and  an  organized  consti- 
tution as  a  means  of  rallying  and  defence ;  for  the  Tem- 
plars had  become  in  almost  every  kingdom  of  the  West 
a  formidable  repubUc,  governed  by  their  own  laws,  an- 
imated by  the  closest  corporate  spirit,  under  the  severest 
internal  discipline,  and  an  all-pervading  organization; 
independent  alike  of  the  civil  power  and  of  the  spiritual 
hierarchy;  possessing  fifteen  thousand  of  the  bravest 
and  best-trained  sokliers  in  the  world,  armed  and  ac- 
coutred in  the  most  splendid  fashion  of  the  time,  ready 
at  the  summons  of  the  grand-master  to  embark  on  any 
service,  their  one  aim  being  the  aggrandizement  of  the 
order.  Philip,  fearing  the  strength  and  the  wealth  of 
the  order,  claiming  allegiance  only  to  the  pope,  as  the 
supreme  head  of  the  Church,  and  greatly  desirous  of 
possessing  their  lands,  munitions,  arms,  ships,  and  treas- 
ures, determined  upon  its  destruction ;  but,  lest  his  in- 
liuence  might  be  overpowered  in  an  open  contest,  he  re- 
solved to  make  the  pope  his  instrument.  A  new  cru- 
sade, he  saw  clearly,  would  only  revive  religious  pas- 
sions favorable  to  the  Hoh'  See,  and  render  necessary, 
inviolable,  more  important,  and  more  powerful  still, 
these  soldier-monks ;  consequently  Philip  promptly  op- 
posed the  opening  of  a  new  crusade.  June  6,  1306, 
Clement  V  summoned  the  grand-masters  of  the  Tem- 
l)lars  and  Hospitallers  to  Europe,  under  pretext  of  con- 
sulting them  in  regard  to  the  proposed  crusade,  and 
some  previously  advanced  plans  for  uniting  the  two  or- 
ders of  Tem])lars  and  Hospitallers.  Promptly  Molay 
returned  to  Europe,  but  the  manner  in  which  he  came 
was  not  of  a  nature  to  stille  the  ambitious  designs  of 
his  enemies.  With  sixty  of  the  most  distinguished 
knights  of  the  order  and  a  vast  amount  of  treasure,  he 
made  an  ostentatious  entry  iiito  Paris,  August,  1306, 
where  he  was  received  by  the  king  with  great  courtesj-. 
If  De  JMolay  had  been  of  a  less  generous  and  unsuspi- 
cious character,  he  would  have  understood  that  every 
motive  that  influenced  Philip  was  concentrated  in  great 
intensity  against  his  order.  The  grand-master,  lulled 
into  security  by  the  apparent  kindness  of  the  French 
king,  proceeded  to  Poitiers  to  pay  his  allegiance  to  the 
pope,  and  to  present  two  memorials  drawn  up  by  him- 
self, relative  to  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  East,  and  the 
projected  union  of  the  different  existent  military  orders, 
which  he  opposed  on  the  ground  that  by  such  act  tlieir 
power  n-ould  only  be  augmented,  and  thus  consequently 
provoke  greater  envy,  of  which  even  now  there  was 
more  than  enough ;  and,  so  far  from  suppressing  pre- 
vailing jealousies  among  the  knights,  it  would  only 
embitter  the  strife  among  the  brethren,  and  cause  more 
frequent  collisions.  He  begged  the  pope  to  examine 
into  thesinister  rumors  which  had  spread  abroad  concern- 
ing the  faith,  morals,  and  secret  mysteries  of  the  order; 
VI.— E  E 


for  they  had  been  accused  of  treachery,',  murder,  idola- 
try, Islamism,  and  many  other  villainies ;  and  demanded 
a  rigid  investigation,  in  order  that,  if  proved  innocent, 
they  might  receive  public  absolution  ;  if  culpable,  suffer 
condemnation.  Under  these  pretexts,  Philip  strongly 
urged  the  pope  to  proceed  against  the  Temple,  and  the 
latter,  finally  yielding  to  the  king's  importunity  and 
threats,  inaugurated  the  investigation,  and  sent  to  Philip 
for  all  possible  information.  Philip  affected  to  take  the 
request  for  information  as  a  permission  to  proceed  against 
the  order  himself.  Accordingly,  on  Oct.  13, 1307,  every 
Templar  in  the  realm  was  made  a  prisoner.  Jacques 
de  j\Iolay  was  seized  in  the  house  of  the  Temple,  and 
summoned  before  the  Inquisition  of  France,  Oct.  24, 
1307.  According  to  the  reijort  of  his  interrogatorj',  he 
made  fidl  confession  of  having  denied  Christ,  and  of 
having  been  guilty  of  other  crimes.  Confession  was 
bribed  out  of  some  by  offers  of  indulgence ;  wrung  from 
others  by  the  dread  of  torture,  or  bj'  actual  torture. 
The  pope,  enraged  by  the  king's  liberty,  suspended  the 
powers  of  the  inquisitor,  and  forbade  the  bishops  to  con- 
tinue their  proceedings  against  the  Temple.  Philip 
IV  simulated  ready  and  complete  submission;  but  at 
the  same  time  he  urged  all  the  princes  of  Europe  to 
follow  his  example,  endeavored  to  embitter  the  French 
against  the  Templars,  and  finally  invented  a  circular 
letter  from  the  grand -master  to  all  the  brethren  and 
subjects  in  prison,  advising  them  to  acknowledge  the 
crimes  he  himself  had  confessed.  Aug.  20, 1308,  Jacques 
de  Molay  himself  was  subjected  to  a  second  examina- 
tion by  a  special  commission  of  cardinals  and  agents  of 
the  king;  but  as  the  commission  proved  very  treacher- 
ous in  their  conduct  towards  him,  he  finally  tired  of  the 
proceedings,  and  demanded  that  he  be  brought  before 
the  Roman  pontiff;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  to  the  pope  alone 
belongs  the  power  of  judging  the  grand-master  of  the 
order,  and  to  his  judgment  I  refer."  March  2, 1310,  he 
was  again  summoned  by  the  papal  commission,  but  per- 
sisted in  his  determination  to  be  judged  by  the  pope 
only.  While  the  papal  commission  was  still  in  session, 
Philip  IV,  tiring  of  their  slow  progress,  and  fearing  that 
the  power  of  the  Temple  was  not  yet  crushed,  sum- 
moned fifty-four  more  of  the  Templars  before  a  council 
at  Paris,  and  caused  them  to  be  burned  the  same  day. 
May  11, 1310.  The  pope  now  became  anxious  for  his 
own  authority,  appointed  a  new  commission  to  hasten 
a  decision  in  the  case  of  Jacques  de  Molay,  and  he  was 
by  it  condemned  to  death.  Just  as  the  fatal  sentence 
was  about  to  be  pronounced,  De  Molay  arose,  and  in  a 
calm,  clear  voice  thus  addressed  his  judges:  '-Before 
heaven  and  earth,  on  the  verge  of  death,  where  the 
least  falsehood  bears  like  an  intolerable  weight  upon 
the  soul,  I  protest  that  we  have  richly  deserved  death, 
not  on  account  of  any  heresy  or  sin  of  which  we  our- 
selves or  our  order  have  been  guiltv,  but  because  we 
have  yielded,  to  save  our  lives,  to  the  seductive  words 
of  the  pope  and  of  the  king ;  and  so  by  our  confessions 
brought  shame  and  ruin  on  our  blameless,  holy,  and  or- 
thodox brotherhood."  The  cardinals  stood  confounded, 
the  people  could  not  repress  a  profound  sj^mpathy,  and 
the  assembly  was  hastily  broken  up  to  meet  another 
day.  But  the  king,  who  had  been  informed  of  all,  or- 
dered the  grand-master  to  be  burned  immediate!}'.  He 
was  led  forth  to  the  flames,  a  feeble  old  man,  loaded 
with  fetters,  bent  and  whitened  by  age  and  captivi- 
ty. He  sustained  his  sufferings  with  perfect  firmness 
and  resolution,  protesting  to  the  end  in  favor  of  the 
innocence  of  his  order,  and  perishing  bravely  —  the 
last  champion  of  Christianity  against  the  Orient,  the 
last  liberator  of  Jerusalem,  the  last  grand -master  of 
the  Temple.  See  Porter,  History  of  the  Knights  of 
Malta,  i,  180,  190  sq.;  Sutherland,  Achievements  of 
the  Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  i,  eh.  ix;  IMilman,  History 
of  Latin  Chi-istianity,  vol.  vi,  bk.  xii,  ch.  i  and  ii ;  Hase, 
Church  History,  p.  319;  and  especially  the  excellent 
article  in  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generak,  xxxv,  79  sq. 
(J.P.L.) 


MOLCIIO 


434  MOLDAVL\  AXD  WALLACHIA 


Molcho,  Solomon,  or  Diogo  Pires,  as  he  was  call- 
ed when  a  Marrauo  or  Xeo-Christian,  was  born  about 
A.D.  1501  in  Portugal.  He  not  only  received  a  liberal 
education,  Avhich  enabled  liim  to  hold  a  state  office  as 
'■  escrivao  aos  ouvidores  na  casa  da  supplica(;:ao,"  but 
was  i)robabIy  also  made  acquainted  in  his  childhood 
with  Hebrew  and  Talmudic  lore,  as  he  is  the  author  of 
a  Hebrew  work  and  a  synagogal  ]ioem  written  in  the 
Aramaic  language  (comp.  Zunz,  Lileraturyesrh.  d.  si/iki- 
goff.  Poesie,  p.  534).  About  this  time  a  man  named 
David  Ki'ubcni  appeared  in  the  court  of  the  king  of 
Portugal.  He  announced  that  he  had  come  from  India, 
and  was  sent  by  his  brother,  the  king  of  the  Jews,  to 
propose  an  alliance  in  order  to  recover  the  Holy  Land 
from  the  sultan  Solyman.  Many  of  the  Neo-Cliristians 
believed  in  him.  He  passed  through  Spain,  where  he 
made  many  proselytes;  into  France  to  Avignon,  and 
into  Italy.  He  inscribed  banners  with  the  holy  name 
of  God.  In  many  cities — Bologna,  Ferrara,  Mantua — 
numbers  believed  that  he  was  commissioned  to  be  the 
leader  of  the  army  of  Israel.  He  even  had  an  interview 
with  pope  Clement  YII.  Coming  to  Portugal,  Molcho 
sought  his  acquaintance  in  order  to  rind  out  whether 
his  visionary  revelations,  which  liad  al)  Jlessianic  back- 
ground, were  in  harmony  with  Keubeni's  commission. 
The  latter  treated  Molcho  very  coolly,  and  told  him 
that  his  military  commission  had  nothing  to  do  with 
his  cabalistic  mj'sticism,  being  himself  no  adept  in  this 
branch  of  science.  ]\Iolcho,  however,  misunderstood 
Eeubeni,  believing  as  he  did  that  this  prince  and  would- 
be  Messiah  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  him  since 
he  had  not  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  and  he  thus  apos- 
tatized to  Judaism,  jierforming  the  rite  of  circumcision 
himself,  which  operation  became  to  him  the  cause  of  a 
severe  sickness.  When  Keubeni  was  ac(|uainted  with 
this  fact  he  was  ver}-  angry,  and  feared  tliat  he  might 
be  suspected  as  the  author  of  Jlolcho's  apostasy.  The 
Jews  relate  that  Molcho  was  utterly  ignorant  while  he 
was  a  Christian ;  but  immediately  on  his  circumcision 
"the  Lord  gave  him  wisdom,  and  he  became  wiser  than 
all  men  in  a  very  short  time,  and  many  wondered  at 
him."  His  preaching  was  of  such  an  insjuring  elo- 
quence that  the  Jews  believed  it  to  be  dictated  by  an- 
gels. He  preached  Judaism  before  kings;  even  pope 
Clement  VII  admitted  him  to  an  audience,  and  gave 
him  the  privilege  to  dwell  wherever  he  would.  Solo- 
mon Molcho  seems  to  have  been  permitted  to  pour  out 
his  apocalyptic  rhapsodies  (pages  of  them  may  be  read 
in  the  Chronicles  of  li.  Joseph  ben-Joshua  ben-Me'ir,  the 
Sephardi,  ii,  152-189)  without  restraint.  Kishops  and 
princes — the  bishop  of  Ancona  and  the  duke  of  L'rbino, 
Francesco  Maria  della  Kovere  I — from  credulity,  curi- 
osity, or  compassion,  protected  him  against  his  enemies. 
Two  of  his  prophecies,  inundations  of  the  Til)crin  Kome 
and  earth(iuakes  in  Lisbon,  could  hardly  fail  of  accom- 
plishment (the  former  took  place  October  8,  15.S0;  the 
latter,  January  26, 1531).  But  he  came  to  a  woful  end. 
He  attempted  to  convert  the  emperor  Charles  Y.  at 
Katisbon ;  but  Charles  was  hard-hearted,  and  ordered 
him  to  be  put  in  prison  with  his  friend  Hi-idicni,  whom 
he  met  after  he  was  obliged  to  leave  Home.  When 
peace  was  restored  with  Sdlyman  the  Turk,  the  emperor 
betook  himself  to  Italy,  and  both  prisoners  were  con- 
veyed to  Jlantua.  ^Mulcho,  who  was  an  object  rather 
for  a  lunatic  asylum  tlian  the  stake,  was  condemned  to 
be  burned  as  an  apostate  Cliristian.  '•  Witli  a  bridle  on 
his  jaw-bones  to  prevent  his  speaking  to  I  lie  people,"  as 
the  Jewish  chronicle  relates.  "  they  brouglit  him  out, 
and  all  tlie  city  was  moved  about  him,  and  the  fire 
burned  before  him.  And  one  of  the  nol)les  of  the  em- 
jieror  said,  'Take  the  bridle  from  between  his  teeth,  for 
I  have  a  message  unto  him  from  the  king;'  and  they 
did  so.  An<l  he  said  unto  him, '  The  emperor  hath  sent 
me  untothee.  saying.  "If  thou  turn  from  thy  ways,  shalt 
thou  not  be  act-epted  and  live?"  And  lie  will  maintain 
thee,  and  thou  shalt  be  before  him  ;  and  if  not,  evil  is 
determined  agaiu:^t  thee.'      But   he   answered   like  a 


saint,  like  an  angel  of  Go<J,  and  said,  *  Because  I  walked 
in  that  rehgion,  my  heart  is  bitter  and  grieved ;  and 
now  what  is  good  in  your  sight  do,  and  my  soul  shall 
return  unto  the  Father's  house  as  in  its  youth,  for  then 
it  will  Ijc  better  with  it  than  now.'     He  was  cast  into 
the  fire,  and  the  Lord  smelled  the  sweet  savor,  and 
j  took  to  him  his  spotless  soul,  and  is  Avith  him  as  one 
brought  u])  with  him,  rejoicing  always  before  him." 
Molcho  died  in  November  or  December,  1532 ;  yet  there 
were  Jews  who  believed  that  the  lire  had  no  power  over 
j  him,  and  that  he  departed— God  only  knows  whither. 
!  Comp.  Basnage,  Histoire  des  Juifs  (Engl,  translation), 
I  p.  722;  Lindo,  Ulitortj  of  the  Jtus  in  Spain  and  I'ortu- 
(jdl,  p.  .Stil  sq.;  'SVilman.  II istiiiy  oftheJeirs,  iii,  3G7  sq.; 
The  Chninichs  of  Rabbi  Jvsijdi  ben-Joshua  ben-Mtlr, 
j  the  Sejihardi  (transl.  from  the  Hebrew  into  English  bv 
I  C.  H.  F.  Hiallol)l(.tzky,  London,  183t;),  ii,  150-192;  Jost, 
(I'eschichic  d.  Jiidiiithinus  u.  s.  liekten,  iii,  125;  Kayser- 
ling,  (Jeschirhte  der  Juden  in  Portugal,  p.  17G  sq.,  192  sq. ; 
Cassel,  l.tilfaden  fur  judische  Geschichte  und  Literatur 
(Beriin,  1872),  p. 92  scj. ;  Flirst,  Bibliolh.  Jmhiica,  ii,  387; 
Griitz,  deschichte  der  Juden.  ix.  2()4-285;  the  same  in 
Frankel's  M,matssrhrift  (!><."»(;). p. 205,241, 2G0sq.  (B.P.) 
Moldavia  and  Wallachia,  two  states  forming 
the  so-called  Daiiubian  Principalities,  but  since  Decem- 
ber 23, 1801,  united  under  one  prince  and  administration, 
are  now  officially  bearing  the  name  Roumunia.     We 
treat  them  unitedly  in  this  article,  as  this  is  the  custom 
generally  among  geographers. 

1.  IMoi.DAViA  (Ger.  Mohlav,  Turk.  Pogdan  or  Kera- 
Islak)  is  bounded  on  the  N.  and  E.  by  Russia,  on  the  S. 
by  Wallachia  and  the  Danube,  and  on  the  W.  by  the 
Austrian  empire.  Greatest  length  from  nortli-west  to 
south-east,  280  miles;  greatest  breadth,  128  miles;  area, 
20,118  stpiare  miles;  jjopulation  about  2,000,000.  The 
countr}"  forms,  geographically,  part  of  the  great  undulat- 
ing pastoral  jilains  or  steppes  of  South  Kussia,  except 
towards  the  west,  where  spurs  from  the  Carpathians 
give  it  a  somewhat  mountainous  character.  It  is  wa- 
tered by  the  Pruth,  the  Sereth,  and  the  Danube,  and  is 
almost  everywhere  fertile.  The  forests  of  Moldavia  are 
also  of  great  extent  and  importance.  But  the  riches 
of  the  country  consist  mainly  in  its  cattle  and  horses, 
of  which  immense  numbers  are  reared  on  its  sjjlendid 
and  far-stretching  pastures.  Swine  and  sheep  are  also 
numerous:  and  the  rearing  of  bees,  owing  to  the  multi- 
tude of  lime-trees,  is  extensively  carried  on.  Tlie  great 
plagues  of  tlie  land  are  locusts  and  earthquakes.  ISIin- 
erals  and  precious  metals  are  said  to  be  abundant,  but 
they  have  not  as  yet  been  worked.  The  capital  is  Jassy, 
but  the  great  centre  of  trade  is  Galatz.  The  principal 
exports  are  wool,  lambskins,  hides,  feathers,  maize,  tar, 
tallow,  honey,  leeches,  cattle,  and  salt  (in  blocks) ;  the 
imports  are  chiefly  the  manufactured  products  of  West- 
ern Europe. 

2.  Watxac'iiia,  the  larger  of  the  united  Danubian 
Principalities,  is  bounded  on  the  N.  by  the  Austrian 
empire  and  Moldavia,  ou  the  E.  and  S.  by  the  Danube, 
and  on  the  W.  by  the  Austrian  empire  and  the  Danube. 
Length  from  the  western  frontier  to  Cape  Kaliakra  on 

I  the  Black  Sea,  305  miles;  greatest  breadth.  130  miles; 
I  area.  27.930  scpiare  miles:  ])0]iulation,  2,400.920.  The 
1  greater  part  of  Wallachia  is  quite  flat;  hut  iu  the  north, 
I  where  it  liorders  on  Hungary  and  Transylvania,  it  grad- 
ually rises  up  into  a  great  mountain-wall,  impassable 
save  in  live  jilaces.  It  is  destitute  of  wood  throughout 
almost  its  whole  extent,  and  (especially  along  the  banks 
of  the  Daniilie)  is  covered  with  marshy  swamps  miles 
upon  miles  in  breadth.  The  princi])al  river  Howing 
through  the  country  is  the  Aluta,  which  joins  the  Dan- 
ube at  Nikojiol.  The  climate  is  extreme  ;  the  summer 
heats  are  intense,  while  in  winter  the  land  lies  under 
deep  snow  for  four  months.  The  soil  is  rich,  and  woidd 
leave  nothing  to  be  desired,  were  it  not  for  the  ravages 
of  locusts  and  the  calamitous  summer  droughts.  The 
principal  products  are  corn,  maize,  millet,  w  ine,  liax,  to- 
I  bacco,  and  olive-oil.     The  vast  treeless  heaths  aflford 


MOLDAVIA  AND  WALLACHIA  435   MOLDAVIA  AND  WALLACHIA 


sustenance  to  great  herds  of  cattle,  sheep,  and  horses. 
As  in  Moldavia,  agriculture  is  ail  important  branch  of 
industry.  In  minerals — especiall}'  gold,  silver,  copper, 
and  rock-salt — the  soil  is  rich,  but  only  the  last  of  these 
is  extensively  worked.  The  imports  and  exports  are  the 
same  as  in  Moldavia.  In  both  countries  they  might  be 
more  than  doubled,  as  scarcely  one  half  of  the  soil,  which 
is  said  to  be  everywhere  good,  is  under  cultivation. 

3.  Hlstori/. — In  ancient  times  what  now  constitutes 
Roumania  formed  an  important  part  of  Dacia.  At  the 
period  of  the  migration  of  nations,  and  in  the  following 
centuries,  it  was  the  scene  of  the  struggles  between  the 
Gothic,  Hunnic,  Bulgarian,  and  Slavic  races,  who  left 
their  traces  among  the  Romanized  Dacian  inhabitants, 
and  helped  to  form  that  composite  people,  the  modern 
Wallachs,  who  in  the  11th  century  were  converted  to 
the  Christianity  of  the  Eastern  or  Greek  Church.  Their 
incursions,  however,  frightfully  devastated  the  country. 
In  the  11th  century  the  Kumans,  a  Turkish  race,  estab- 
lished in  Moldavia  a  kingdom  of  their  own.  Two  cen- 
turies later  the  great  storm  of  Mongols  broke  over  the 
land.  It  now  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Nogai  Tartars, 
who  left  it  utterly  wasted,  so  that  only  in  the  forests  and 
mountains  was  any  trace  left  of  the  native  Wallachian 
population.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  13th  century  a 
petty  Wallach  chief  of  Transylvania,  Radu  Negru  of 
Fogarasch,  entered  Wallachia,  took  possession  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  country,  divided  it  among  his  nobles,  founded 
a  senate  of  twelve  members  and  an  elective  monar- 
ch}^, and  gradually  conquered  the  whole  of  Wallachia. 
Rather  less  than  a  century  later  (1354)  a  similar  attempt, 
also  successful,  was  made  by  a  Wallach  chief  of  the  Hun- 
garian Marmarosh,  of  the  name  of  Bogdan,  to  repeople 
Moldavia.  In  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century  both 
principalities  placed  themselves  under  the  protection  of 
the  porte,  and  gradually  the  nobles  or  boyars  lost  the 
right  of  electing  their  own  ruler,  whose  office  was  bought 
in  Constantinople.  After  1711  the  Turks  governed  the 
countries  by  Fanariot  princes,  who  in  reality  only  farmed 
the  revenues,  enriched  themselves,  and  impoverished  the 
land.  In  1802  the  Russians  wrested  from  Turkey  the 
right  of  surveillance  over  the  principalities.  A  great 
number  of  the  nobles,  through  family  marriages  with 
the  Fanariots,  were  now  of  Greek  descent,  the  court 
tongue  was  Greek,  and  the  religious  and  political  sym- 
pathies of  the  country  were  the  same  :  hence  the  effort 
of  the  principalities  in  1821  to  emancipate  themselves 
from  Turkish  authority,  which  was  only  the  prelude  to 
the  greater  and  more  successful  struggle  in  Greece  itself. 
In  1822  Russia  forced  Turkey  to  choose  the  princes  or 
hospodars  of  AVallachia  and  Moldavia  from  natives,  and 
not  from  the  corrupt  Greeks  of  Constantinople,  and  after 
1829  to  allow  them  to  hold  their  dignity  for  life.  The 
principalities  were  united,  as  has  been  already  mentioned, 
under  one  ruler  in  1858,  and  under  one  administration  in 
18G1.  In  1866  the  Wallachians  refused  to  endorse  the 
reign  of  Cusa,  and,  with  the  consent  of  Turkey  and  the 
great  Powers,  prince  Charles  of  HohenzoUern  was  called 
to  govern  the  united  principalities.  He  was  the  first  to 
call  the  country  Roumania.  To  this  day  (1875)  he  re- 
mains its  ruler. 

4.  Social  Condition.  —  The  Roumanians,  claiming  to 
be  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Dacians,  betray  that 
origin  largely  in  their  language,  which  is  a  Latin  dia- 
lect, three  fourths  of  the  words  being  Latin  (the  Dacian 
has  disappeared),  the  other  fourth  being  made  up  of 
words  indicating  a  Grecian,  Gothic,  Slavic,  or  Turkish 
origin.  A  Grammaiica  Daco-Romana  was  published 
by  Johann.  Alexi  (Vienna,  1826),  and  a  Historia  Lin- 
gum  Baco-Romance  by  Laurianus  (Vienna,  1849).  A 
large  Latin-Romanic-Hungarian  Dictionary  was  care- 
fully executed  by  the  bishop  of  Fogarasch,  Job.  Bob 
(Klausenburg,  1839,  3  vols.).  The  nobles  of  the  land 
generally  speak  French,  and  indeed  French  ideas  and 
customs  are  in  favor  with  the  Roumanians,  particularly 
the  young.  Tliere  is  no  middle  class.  The  common 
people,  though  very  poor,  are  on  the  whole  good-hu- 


mored, frugal,  sober,  and  cleanly;  murder  and  larceny 
are  almost  unknown.  Their  dwellings,  however,  are, 
as  may  be  supposed,  of  the  most  wretched  description ; 
composed  chiefly  of  interlaced  ivillow-withes,  covered 
with  mud,  cane,  and  straw ;  and  often,  even  in  the  large 
towns,  they  are  only  of  mud ;  a  cloak  serves  for  a  bed, 
and  the  whole  house-furniture  is  comprised  in  a  few 
kitchen  utensils.  The  education  of  the  countrj^  is  not 
in  a  very  forward'  condition,  but  promises  under  the 
present  administration  to  take  advanced  ground.  The 
trade  of  the  country  is  largely  in  the  hands  of  foreign- 
ers, especially  Jews,  who  fare  badly.  Gypsy  communi- 
ties are  an  important  element  in  the  population;  up- 
wards of  150,000  of  this  mysterious  race  are  serfs  be- 
longing to  the  rich  boyars  and  th6  monasteries.  In 
1844  about  30,000  were  emancipated,  and  settled  in  col- 
onies in  different  parts  of  the  land ;  they  are  rided  by  a 
Bataf,  or  king,  of  their  own  choice,  of  which  every 
gypsy  village  has  one :  they  call  themselves  Romnitschel 
or  Romni. 

5.  Religion. — (1)  Ecclesiastical  Status. — The  establish- 
ed religion  of  '•  Roumania"  is  that  of  the  Greek  Church, 
but  all  forms  of  Christianity  are  tolerated,  and  their  pro- 
fessors enjoy  equal  political  rights.  At  the  head  of  the 
Greek  clergy  stands  a  metropolitan  archbishop  chosen 
by  the  general  assemblj^  of  the  different  estates,  con- 
firmed in  his  office  by  the  prince,  and  serving  4,275,000 
members.  Every  bishop  is  assisted  by  a  council  of 
clergy,  and  has  a  seminary  for  priests;  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  preaching  clergy  is  the  Proto-pajja  of 
the  diocese.  In  INIoldavia  there  are  1795  churches,  3268 
priests,  and 491  deacons;  also  7622  married  secular  cler- 
gy and  60  monasteries,  of  which  the  richest  is  that  of 
Niamtz,  with  1300  monks.  In  AVallachia  there  are  4171 
churches  (of  which  2587  are  wooden),  36,638  persons 
belonging  to  the  families  of  married  priests,  10,749  dea- 
cons, 9500  monks  and  nuns,  and  202  monasteries  and 
nunneries.  The  property  belonging  to  the  priesthood 
of  the  principalities  is  immense,  and  at  present  (1875) 
efforts  are  being  made  by  the  government  to  have  it 
secularized.  The  Roumanians  are  very  superstitious, 
and  care  little  for  human  life.  The  catechism  of  their 
morals  contains  scarcely  anything  more  than  fasting 
and  hospitality.  They  hate  all  foreigners  except  the 
Latin  races,  and  are  especially  severe  against  the  Jews, 
who  are  there  in  large  numbers,  and  are  invaluable  for 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  country.  They  number 
over  400,000.  Public  persecutions  against  Jews  have 
continued  until  very  recently,  and  in  consequence  the 
great  powers  have  threatened  armed  intervention.  The 
United  States  has  pursued  a  humane  policj'  in  select- 
ing a  Jewish  representative.  (2)  Evangelism. — Christi- 
anity must  have  early  made  its  way  to  these  parts,  and 
been  strengthened  during  Gothic  invasion.  St.  Nicetas, 
who  flourished  about  400,  is  regarded  as  the  apostle  of 
Roumania,  The  barbarians  in  part  removed  Christian 
influences,  and  in  861  Cyril  attempted  anew  the  Chris- 
tianizing of  the  people,  especially  the  Bulgarians. 
In  consequence  the  Slavonian  language  secured  a  foot- 
hold, and  in  the  conflict  between  Constantinople  and 
Rome  this  Danubian  country  sided  with  the  Eastern 
Church.  Rome  made  repeated  efforts  to  regain  her 
hold,  but  ineffectually.  For  political  reasons  princes 
now  and  then  favored  Rome,  but  in  the  15th  century, 
when  it  became  a  dependency  of  the  Turks,  the  Greek 
Church  gained  absolute  adherence.  In  the  days  of  the 
Reformation  Wallachia  remained  unmoved,  but  in  Mol- 
davia John  Heraclides  (Jacob  Basilius),  an  adventurer 
who  had  gained  the  throne,  favored  Protestantism 
(1561-63).  Twenty  years  later  the  prince  was  again 
Protestant  —  Jankcd  Sass,  "the  Lutheran"  (f  1584). 
From  that  time  but  Uttle  was  heard  for  Protestantism, 
and  even  to-day,  though  ruled  by  a  Prussian  prince, 
there  is  only  1  Protestant  for  6  Armenians,  50  Roman- 
ists, 1450  Greek  Catholics,  and  280  Jews.  Protestant 
societies  exist  at  Bucharest  (one  Lutheran  and  one  Re- 
formed), at  Crajona,  in  Wallachia,  and  at  Jassy  and 


MOLDEXHAWER 


436 


MOLE 


Galatz,  in  Moldavia.  Besides  these,  Protestants  live 
scattered  in  ditfercnt  places.  See  Michel  de  Koyalm'- 
tchan,  Ilistoire  de  la  Valucliie,  de  la  Moldarie,  et  des 
Valaques  Transdunnbiens ;  the  Reports  of  the  Gustavus 
Adolphus  Societv,  St.  John,  in  Lond.  Acad.  Aug.  If), 
1874,  p.  181 ;  Prof.  Wells,  in  Meth.  Qu.  Rev.  Jan.  1873, 
art.  i ;  Stanley,  JJasf.  Cli.  p.  10-1. 

Moldenhawer,  Joiiann  IIkiniucii  Daniel,  a 
German  tlicdln^^ian,  was  born  at  Halle,  Oct.  29,  1709. 
He  was  ((liicaU'd  at  the  '■  Colleij;ium  Fridericianum," 
and  later  at  the  University  of  Ktinigsberg,  where  he 
was  a  diligent  student  in  ancient  languages,  especially 
the  Greek  and  Hebrew.  He  was  appointed  in  1733 
deacon  at  Krenzbiirg,  and  in  1737  to  the  Sackheinsche 
Kirche  at  Kiinigsljerg,  but  had  very  many  difficulties  in 
this  new  position,  and  did  not  live  in  harmony  with  his 
colleagues.  He  therefore  gladly  accepted  a  call  to  the 
University  of  Kfinigsbcrg  as  professor  of  divinitj'  in 
1744.  He  published  there  in  1745  his  Jutrodudw  in  li- 
hros  sacros  Vetei-is  et  Novi  Testamenti,  of  which  Home 
says  that  few  treatises  of  the  kind  are  more  useful  than 
this.  He  shows  the  canonical  authority  of  the  Bible  in 
general,  and  treats  of  the  author,  time  of  writing,  argu- 
ment, scope,  chronology,  etc.,  of  each  book  in  particu- 
lar. He  was  appointed  in  175(1  ecclesiastical  counsellor, 
and  also  librarian  of  the  Wallenrodsche  library.  He 
received  a  call  in  17G5  as  minister  to  Hamburg,  where 
he  died,  April  8, 1790.  Besides  several  contributions  to 
journals,  he  published  Diss.  I  et  II  Acta  apostoli  Panli 
ckronolof/ice  dif/esfa  (Kfinigsbcrg,  1744,  4to)  : — Einltit- 
ung  in  die  A//i  li/iiimi  r  </, /■  .l-:f/i//,fiii,  Jinhji,  Crhrlnii. 
und  Romer  (il.id.  17.'il,  Svoi-,-  i ;  fiimirtrh,  Krliinl,  nii,;i- 
en  der  schin  n  n  Sl,ll,n  <h  r  l„U',ii,n  lilhhd-  (Ax  uiiuii 
Testaments  (Leipzig  und  Kiinigsberg,  17t)3-70,  4  vols.): 
— Betrachtumjen  iiher  das  Vaternnser  (Hamburg,  17G5, 
8vo): — Ilaiiptinhalt  der  Betracliiumjen  iiber  die  Ueils- 
wakrheiten,  welche  in  den  Mo/iiat/s-Betstunden  in  der 
Domkirche  17G6-68  vorgetragen  warden  sind  (Hamburg, 
1768,  8vo): — Der  Brief  Pauli  an  die  Romer,  nach  dem 
Gi-undtext  iibersetzt,  nehst  Erkldrungen  und  Anmerkunr/- 
en  (ibid.  1770,  gr.  8vo).  He  also  translated  and  wrote 
commentaries  on  all  the  most  important  books  of  the 
New  Testament.  He  was  likewise  the  author  of  A  iis- 
fuhrliche  Prufimr]  desfiinften  Fragments  axis  der  Wolf- 
enbiittelschen  Bibliothek  von  der  A  riferstehitng  Jesu  diirch 
welche  zvgleich  die  Au/'o-stekunr/sgeschichte  Christi  be- 
stdtigt  und  eridutert  wird  (Hamburg,  1779,  8vo): — 
Ausfiihrliche  Prufunf]  des  dritten  Fragments  aus  der 
Wolfenbiittelschen  Bibliothek.  von  dem  Durchgange  der 
Israeliten  dvrclCs  rothe  Meer  (ibid.  1779,  8vo) : — Aus- 
fiihiihhr  P  III  I'll  IK/  ih.<  ::ir(i/(ii  Fragments  aus  der 
'\Volj\„l,i}il,h,j„i,  ):;i,i:<,lh,h  m,,  ,l,r  UnmOglichkdleiner 
OJ'iiihuniii'i.  die  iilli  Mntsclini  an f  cine  gegriindete  Art 
glauben  konnen  (ibid.  1782,  gr.  8vo)  :  —  iJer  Ilaupt- 
zvceck  des  Leidens  und  Sterbens  Jesu  (Kiithen,  1787, 
8vo).  Sec  Dciring,  Gclehrle  Theol.  Veutschlands,  ii, 
557-02. 

Mole  is  tlic  rondering  in  the  Auth.  Vers,  of  the 
Heb.  T'Cwiri,  tiiishe'meth,  in  Lev.  xi,  30,  where,  how- 
ever, it  probably  signifies  some  species  of  the  lizard 
tribe;  but  in  Lev.  xi,  18;  Deut.  xiv,  16,  it  is  rendered 
"swan,"  where  it  evidenlly  refers  to  some  kind  of  bird. 
It  thus  appears  to  denote  two  very  different  kinds  of 
animal,  but  in  neither  case  tlie  mole.  See  CuAsiicr.KON ; 
Swan.  The  mole  is  thought  to  be  represented  by  the 
Heb.  "iVn,  cho'led,  rendered  '•weasel"  in  Lev.  xi,  29. 
This  is  an  animal  very  aljundant  in  Palestine.  See 
Weasel.  Tlic  word  elsewhere  occurs  only  in  the  dif- 
ficult expression,  Isa.  ii,  20,  rii~B  "Ens,  lachphor'  pe- 
roih'  (if  regardeil  as  two  words,  perhaps,  to  the  hole  of 
the  rats  or  burrowcrs,  Sept.  rolt,"  //orniod.-,  Vulg.  talpas, 
Auth.  Vers.  "  to  the  moles"),  wJiich  (lesenius  {Com- 
ment, ad  loc.)  thinks  should  be  pointed  as  one  word, 
mQ"lSHb,  lachapharperoth'.,  indicating  an  animal, 
n"iE"iSH,  chapharperah' ,  so  called  from  digging  into 


the  walls  of  houses,  probably  the  rat,  a  creature  com- 
mon in  every  habitable  part  of  the  world. 

Many  scholars  "  consider  the  aanaXa'i  of  the  Greeks 
to  be  the  creature  intended  by  at  least  the  first  of  the 
above  Hebrew  words.  ^Vhether  this  \sa3  what  modern 
zoologists  would  call  a  mole  is,  however,  rather  doubtful. 
Aristotle,  in  his  history  of  the  aspalur,  evidently  derived 
from  personal  and  careful  examination,  describes  it  as 
absolutely  blind.  Now  the  eyes  of  our  common  mole 
(Talpa  Juiropo'a),  though  they  arc  very  minute,  and  so 
imbedded  in  the  fur  as  to  be  readily  overlooked  by  a  cur- 
sory examiner,  are  distinctly  open,  and  could  not  escape 

'  the  detection  of  so  accurate  a  |)hysiologist  as  Aristotle. 
Hence  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  a.yialax  could  not 
have  been  a  Talpa  ;  and  another  animal  lias  been  found 
to  inhabit  the  east  of  Europe  and  west  of  Asia,  which, 

j  while  possessing  much  of  the  form,  and  even  the  pecul- 

j  iar  structure  of  the  moles,  together  with  their  burrow- 
ing powers,  is  absolutely  and  totally  void  of  sight,  the 

I  eyes,  which  are  rudimentary  specks,  being  completely 
covered  by  the  skin  of  the  face,  which  is  quite  imper- 
forate. For  a  while  it  seemed  certain  that  this  was  the 
creature  intended ;  and  accordingly  the  genus  was  tech- 
nically named  Aspalax  by  Olivier,  the  species  receiv- 
ing the  appellation  of  ti/phlus.  But  still  more  recently 
a  species  of  true  mole,  now  called  Talpa  cteca,  has  been 

I  discovered  inhabiting  Greece,  in  which  the  eyes  are  as 
minute,  and  as  useless,  because  as  completely  covered 

j  by  the  skin,  as  in  the  a.yxdar.  As  the  aspalax  is 
larger  and  more  conspicuous  than  the  blind  talpa,  which, 
moreover,  appears  to  be  rare,  on  the  assumption  that 
the  former  is  the  tinshemeth  we  here  devote  a  few  words 
to  its  apijearance  and  habits.  It  belongs  to  the  family 
Muridai  among  the  Rodents,  and  is  in  fact  a  rat  under  the 
guise  of  a  mole.  Hence  it  has  been  called  the  mole-rat. 
The  animal  is  from  eight  inches  to  a  foot  in  length, 
with  a  great  round  head,  no  external  ears  or  eyes,  the 
nostrils  opening  beneath,  the  limbs  very  short,  with 
strong  nails  formed  for  digging;  the  body  clothed  with 
a  short,  thick,  soft  fur  of  an  ashy  hue,  and  the  naked 
skin  of  the  muzzle  white.  It  is  particularly  abundant 
in  the  south  of  Russia,  excavating  the  surface  of  the 
vast  steppes  or  level  plains,  and  forming  long  burrows 
beneath  the  turf,  with  many  lateral  ramifications.  The 
object  of  its  pursuit  is  not  earthworms  or  subterraneous 
larva;,. which  form  the  prey  of  the  true  mole;  for  the 
mole-rat  is  exclusively  a  vegetable  feeder,  and  it  drives 


ti/plilus. 

its  runs  solely  for  bulbs  and  roots,  especially  for  tho 
flesliy  root  of  an  umbelliferous  ))lant,  the  charophyllum. 
At  frequent  intervals  the  burrow  comes  to  the  surface 
of  the  soil,  and  here  hillocks  are  cast  up  a  couple  of 
yards  in  circumference,  and  of  proportionate  height. 
Altogether  its  work  closely  imitates  that  of  the  mole, 
but  on  a  somewhat  larger  scale.  It  is  said  to  work  en- 
ergetically and  rapidly,  and  on  the  approach  of  an  en- 
cmj",  of  which  it  is  warned  probably  by  an  acute  sense 
of  smell,  it  instantly  turns  downward  and  penetrates 
the  earth  perpcndicidarly.     It  is  said  to  devour  corn, 


MOLE 


437 


MOLECH 


and  to  gather  large  quantities,  which  it  lays  up  in  its 
deeper  galleries  for  winter  supply,  in  this  respect  agree- 
ing with  many  other  of  the  Murida.  Like  the  mole,  it 
can  proceed  forward  or  backward  in  its  burrow  with 
equal  celerity.  During  the  early  hours  of  the  day  a 
ipair  may  often  be  seen  near  the  entrance  of  a  hole, 
basking  in  the  sun,  but  instantly  disappearing  on  alarm. 
The  least  noise  excites  it ;  though  it  cannot  see,  it  lifts 
its  head  to  listen,  in  a  menacing  attitude,  and  if  its  re- 
treat is  cut  off,  it  becomes  animated  with  rage  and  feroc- 
ity, snorting  and  gnashing  its  teeth,  and  biting  severely, 
yet  uttering  no  cry,  even  when  wounded.  The  super- 
stitious peasants  of  the  Ukraine  believe  that  miraculous 
healing  powers  are  communicated  to  the  hand  which 
has  suffocated  one  of  these  creatures.  The  specimens 
which  have  been  brought  from  Syria  are  smaller,  and 
may  possibly  possess  specilic  distinctness.  Hasselquist 
testifies  to  their  abundance  on  the  plains  of  Sharon. 
He  had  never  seen  any  ground  so  cast  up  by  moles  as 
in  the  region  between  Kamah  and  Jaffii,  The  mole- 
hills were  scarcely  a  yard  apart  {Trav.  p.  120). 

"  The  other  term,  chaphurperoth,  rendered  '  moles'  in 
Isa.  ii,  20,  is  rather  a  descriptive  periplirase  than  an  ap- 
pellative. It  might  be  literally  rendered  'the  dig- 
holes.'     The  Sept.  has  adopted  a  different  construction : 

' his  idols  .  .  .  which  he  had  made  for  the  purpose 

of  bowing  down  to  the  vanities,  to  the  bats.'  Perhaps 
the  words  may  be  taken  generically,  of  any  creatures 
which  burrow  in  ruined  and  desolate  places.  Travellers 
describe  the  ruins  of  Babylon  '  as  perforated  throughout 
with  cavities  which  are  inhabited  by  doleful  creatures.' 
Buckingham  speaks  of  the  'dens  of  wild  beasts,'  the 
'  quantities  of  porcupine  quills'  in  the  cavities,  and  the 
numbers  of  bats  and  owls  {Trav.  ii,  30).  'These  sou- 
terrains,'  observes  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter,  '  are  now  the 
refuge  of  jackals  and  other  savage  animals'  {Trav.  ii, 
342).  '  The  mound,'  says  major  Keppel,  '  was  full  of 
large  holes  .  .  .  strewed  with  the  carcasses  and  skele- 
tons of  animals  recently  killed'  {Nar.  i,  180).  The  total 
and  final  degradation  of  idols,  and  their  removal  out  of 
sight  and  remembrance,  we  may  understand  by  the 
phrases  employed"  (Fairbalrn). 

Mole,  Francois  Ren^,  a  French  comedian,  de- 
mands our  notice  for  his  impious  conduct  during  the 
great  French  Revolution.  Mole,  who  was  born  at  Paris 
in  1734,  had  made  his  debut  on  the  stage  in  1754,  and 
gained  great  notoriety  as  an  actor  after  17(50.  He  had 
a  kind  heart  and  lovely  disposition,  and  therefore  be- 
came a  favorite  with  aU  who  knew  him.  But  he  was 
as  blasphemous  as  he  was  kind-hearted;  and,  without  a 
hope  of  a  hereafter,  he  sought  openly  to  bring  reproach 
upon  the  cause  of  God.  During  the  progress  of  the 
Revolution  he  became  an  associate  of  the  Jacobins,  and 
impiously  officiated  in  the  church  of  St.  Roch  as  the 
priest  of  the  goddess  of  Reason.     He  died  in  1802. 

Mo'lech  (Heb.  Mo'lel;  ~^^,  ^ing,  always  with 
the  art.  T|352fl,  except  in  1  Kings  xi,  7;  Sept.  cipx^v 
in  Lev.  xvill,  21;  xx,  2,  3,  4;  MtX^wv  v.  r.  (iaaikivQ 
in  1  Kings  xi,  7;  Mo\6x  6  f3aai\ivg  in  Jer.  xxxii,  35; 
and  simply  MoXo^  in  2  Kings  xxiii,  10,  as  Aquila, 
Symmachus,  and  Theodotion  everywhere  render;  Vulg. 
Moloch),  called  also  Moloch  (Amos  v,  25 ;  Acts  vii, 
43),  MILCO^[  (1  Kings  xi,  5,  33;  2  Kings  xxiii,  13), 
Malcham  (Zeph.  i,  5),  and  Melcom  (marg.  Jer.  xlix,  1, 
3,  text  "  their  king"),  is  chiefly  found  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament as  the  national  god  of  the  Ammonites,  to  whom 
children  were  sacrificed  by  fire. 

1.  The  Name.— The  root  of  the  word  IMolech  is  the 
same  as  that  of  T\?_'0,  me'lek,  or  "king,"  and  hence  he 
is  identified  with  Malcham  ("  their  king")  in  2  Sam. 
xii,  30 ;  Zeph.  i,  5,  the  title  by  which  he  was  known  to 
the  Israelites,  as  being  invested  with  regal  honors  in 
his  character  as  a  tutelary  deity,  the  lord  and  master  of 
his  people.  Our  translators  have  recognised  this  iden- 
tity in  their  rendering  of  Amos  v,  26  (where  "  your 
Moloch"  is  literally  "  your  king,"  as  it  is  given  in  the 


margin),  following  the  Greek  in  the  speech  of  Stephen, 
in  Acts  vli,  43.  Dr.  Geiger,  in  accordance  with  his 
theory  that  the  worship  of  jMolech  was  far  more  widely 
spread  among  the  Israelites  than  appears  at  first  sight 
from  the  Old  Testament,  and  that  many  traces  are  ob- 
scured in  the  text,  refers  "  the  king,"  in  Isa.  xxx,  33,  to 
that  deity  :  "  For  Tophet  is  ordained  of  old  ;  yea,  for  the 
king  it  is  prepared."  Again,  of  the  Israelitlsh  nation, 
personified  as  an  adulteress,  it  is  said,  "  Thou  wentest  to 
the  king  with  oil"  (Isa.  Ivii,  9) ;  Amaziah,  the  priest  of 
Bethel,  forbade  Amos  to  prophesy  there,  "  for  it  is  the 
king's  chapel"  (Amos  vll,  13)  ;  and  in  both  these  in- 
stances Dr.  Geiger  would  find  a  disguised  reference  to 
the  worship  ofMolech  {Urschrift,  etc.,  p.  299-308). 

Traces  of  the  root  from  which  Molech  is  derived  are 
to  be  found  in  the  Miiichus,  Malica,  and  JMalcander  of 
the  Phoenicians;  with  the  last  mentioned  ma}'  be  com- 
pared Adrammelech,  the  fire-god  of  Sepharvalm.  The 
fire-god  Molech,  as  the  tutelary  deity  of  the  children  of 
Amnion,  was  essentially  identical  with  the  Moabitish 
Chemosh.  The  Hebrew  form,  as  an  undoubted  proper 
name,  likewise  occurs  with  some  variety,  as  seen  above, 
Solomon  had  in  his  harem  many  women  of  the  Am- 
monitish  race,  who  "  turned  away  his  heart  after  other 
gods,"  and,  as  a  consequence  of  their  influence,  high, 
places  to  Molech,  "  the  abomination  of  the  children  of 
Ammon,"  were  built  on  "  the  mount  that  is  facing  Jeru- 
salem"— one  of  the  summits  of  Olivet  (1  Kings  xi,  7). 
Two  verses  before,  the  same  deity  is  called  Milcoji, 
and  from  the  circumstance  of  the  two  names  being  dis- 
tinguished in  2  Kings  xxiii,  10, 13,  it  has  been  inferred 
by  Movers,  Ewald,  and  others,  that  the  two  deities  were 
essentially  distinct,  IMovers  {Phonicier,  i,  358)  is  prob- 
ably correct  in  regarding  the  latter  as  merely  an  Ara- 
maic pronunciation.  It  is  true  that  in  the  later  histor}' 
of  the  Israelites  the  worship  of  Molech  is  connected 
with  the  valley  of  Hinnora,  while  the  high  place  of  IMil- 
com  was  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  that  no  mention 
is  made  of  human  sacrifices  to  the  latter.  But  it  seems 
impossible  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  in  1  Kings  xi, 
"  Milcom  the  abomination  of  the  Ammonites,"  in  ver.  5, 
is  the  same  as  "Molech  the  abomination  of  the  children 
of  Ammon,"  in  ver.  7.  To  avoid  this  Movers  contends, 
not  very  convincingly,  that  the  latter  verse  is  by  a  dif- 
ferent hand.  Be  this  as  It  may,  in  the  reformation  car- 
ried out  by  Josiah,  the  high  place  of  Milcom,  on  the 
riglit  hand  of  the  mount  of  corruption,  and  Tophet  in 
the  valley  of  the  children  of  Hlnnom  were  defiled,  that 
"  no  man  might  make  his  son  or  his  daughter  to  pass 
through  the  fire  to  Molech"  (2  Kings  xxiii,  10, 13).  In 
the  narrative  of  Chronicles  these  are  included  under  the 
general  term  "  Baalim,"  and  the  apostasy  of  Solomon  is 
not  once  alluded  to.  Tophet  soon  appears  to  have  been 
restored  to  its  original  uses,  for  we  find  it  again  alluded 
to,  in  the  reign  of  Zedekiah,  as  the  scene  of  child- 
slaughter  and  sacrifice  to  Molech  (Jer.  xxxii,  35).  Kim- 
chi,  following  the  Targum,  takes  the  word  ]\Illcom  as 
an  appellative,  and  not  as  a  proper  name,  while  with 
regard  to  sikkuth  (n^lSO,  A.  V.  "  tabernacle")  he  holds 
the  opposite  opinion.  His  note  is  as  follows :  "  Sikkuth 
is  the  name  of  an  idol ;  and  (as  for)  malkekem  he  speaks 
of  a  star  which  was  made  an  idol  by  its  name,  and  he 
calls  it  'king,'  because  they  thought  it  a  king  over 
them,  or  because  it  was  a  great  star  in  tlie  host  of 
heaven,  which  was  as  a  king  over  his  host ;  and  so  '  to 
burn  Incense  to  the  gueen  of  heaven,'  as  I  have  explained 
in  the  book  of  Jeremiah."  Gesenius  compares  with  the 
"  tabernacle"  of  Molech  the  sacred  tent  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians mentioned  by  Diodorus  (xx,  65).  Rosenmlil- 
ler,  and  after  him  Ewald,  understood  by  sikkuth  a  pole 
or  stake  on  which  the  figure  of  the  idol  was  placed.  It 
was  more  probably  a  kind  of  palanquin  in  which  the 
image  was  carried  in  processions,  a  custom  which  is  al- 
luded to  in  Isa.  xlvi,  1 ;  Epist.  of  Jer.  4  (Selden,  Be  Bis 
Si/r.  synt.  1,  c.  6). 

There  remains  to  be  noticed  one  passage  (2  Sam.  xii, 


MOLECH 


438 


MOLECH 


31)  in  wliich  the  Hebrew  written  text  has  '25"?,  mal- 
ken,  while  the  marginal  reading  is  '23p,  malben,  which 
is  adopted  by  our  translators  in  their  rendering  "  brick- 
kiln." Kimchi  explains  mullcm  as  '-the  place  of  Mo- 
lech,"  where  sacrifices  were  offered  to  hira,  and  the 
children  of  Ammon  made  their  sons  to  pass  through  the 
fire.  jMilcom  and  Malken,  he  says,  are  one.  On  the 
other  hand,  Movers,  rejecting  the  points,  reads  ")3??, 
malkdn,  "  our  king,"  which  he  explains  as  the  title  by 
which  he  was  known  to  the  Ammonites. 

2.  liiblical  Recount  of  this  Deilt/.— There  is  some  dif- 
ficulty in  ascertaining  at  what  period  the  Israelites  be- 
came ac([uainted  with  this  idolatry;  yet  four  reasons 
render  it  probable  that  it  was  before  the  time  of  Solo- 
mon, the  date  usually  assigned  for  its  introduction. 
First.  Jlolech  appears — if  not  under  that  name,  yet  un- 
der the  notion  that  we  attach  to  it — to  have  been  a 
principal  god  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Canaanites,  whose 
other  idolatries  the  Israelites  confessedly  adopted  ver\' 
early.  Secondly,  there  are  some  arguments  which  tend 
to  connect  IMolech  with  Baal,  and,  if  they  be  tenable, 
the  worship  of  Molcch  might  be  essentially  as  old  as 
that  of  the  latter.  Thirdly,  if  we  assume,  as  there  is 
much  apparent  ground  for  doing,  that,  wherever  human 
sacrifices  are  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament,  we  are 
to  understand  them  as  being  offered  to  Jlolech — the  ap- 
parent exception  of  the  gods  of  Sepharvaim  being  only 
a  strong  evidence  of  their  identity  with  him — then  the 
remarkable  passage  in  Ezek.  xx,  26  (comp.  ver.  31) 
clearly  shows  that  the  Israelites  sacrificed  their  first- 
born by  fire  when  they  were  in  the  wilderness.  Fourth- 
ly, the  rebuke  contained  in  Amos  v,  26,  as  quoted  in 
Acts  vii,  43,  appears  to  imply  that  some  idol  similar  to 
this  was  secretly  worshipped  as  early  as  the  exodus. 
See  Ciiiux.  Moreover,  tliose  who  ascribe  the  Penta- 
teuch to  jNIoses  will  recognise  both  the  early  existence 
of  the  worship  of  this  god  and  the  apprehension  of  its 
contagion  in  that  express  prohibition  of  his  bloody  rites 
which  is  found  in  the  ^Mosaic  law.  The  offender  who 
devoted  his  offspring  to  IMolech  was  to  be  put  to  death 
by  stoning;  and  in  case  the  people  of  the  land  refused 
to  inflict  upon  him  this  judgment,  Jehovah  would  him- 
self execute  it,  and  cut  him  off  from  among  bis  people 
(Lev.  xviii,  21 ;  xx,  2-5). 

Nevertheless,  it  is  for  the  first  time  directly  stated 
that  Solomon  erected  a  high  place  for  Molech  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives  (1  Kings  xi,  7) ;  and  from  that  period 
his  worship  continued  uninterruptedly  there,  or  in  To- 
phet,  in  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  until  Josiah  defiled  both 
places  (2  Kings  xxiii,  10, 13).  Jehoahaz,  however,  the 
son  and  successor  of  Josiah,  again  "  did  what  was  evil 
in  the  sight  of  Jehovah,  according  to  all  tliat  his  fathers 
had  done"  (2  Kings  xxiii,  32).  The  same  broad  con- 
demnation is  made  against  the  succeeding  kings,  Jchoi- 
akim,  Jehoiachin,  and  Zedekiah ;  and  Ezekiel,  writing 
during  the  captivity,  says,  "Do  ye,  by  offering  j-our 
gifts,  and  by  making  your  sons  pass  through  the  fire, 
pollute  yourselves  with  all  your  idols  until  this  (hit/,  and 
shall  I  be  iiuiuired  of  by  you?"  (xx,  31).  After  the 
restoratifin,  all  traces  of  this  idolatry  disappear. 

Molech,  "  the  king,"  was  the  lord  and  master  of  tlie 
Ammonites;  their  country  was  his  jwssession  (Jer.  xlix, 
1),  as  Jloab  was  the  heritage  of  ( 'hemosh ;  the  princes 
of  the  land  were  the  princes  of  ;\IaUhani  (Jer.  xlix,  3; 
Amos  i,  15).  His  priests  were  men  of  rank  (Jer.  xlix, 
3),  taking  precedence  of  the  princes.  So  the  priest  of 
Hercules  at  Tyre  was  second  to  tlie  king  (.lustin,  xviii, 
4,  §  5),  and  like  Molech,  the  god  himself,  Baal  Cham- 
man,  is  Melkart,  "the  kinf/  of  the  city."  The  priests  of 
Molech,  like  those  of  other  idols,  were  called  Chemarim 
(2  Kings  xxiii,  5;  Hos.  x,  5;  Zeph.  i,  4). 

Most  of  the  Jewish  interpreters,  Jarchi  (on  Lev. 
xviii,  21),  Kimclii,  and  ^Liimonitles  (.)for.  Xeh.  iii,  38) 
among  the  number,  say  that  in  the  worslii])  of  Molech 
the  children  were  not  burned,  but  made  to  pass  between 
two  burning  pyres,  as  a'  purificatory  rite.     But  tlie  al- 


lusions to  the  actual  slaughter  are  too  plain  to  be  mis- 
taken, and  Aben  Kzra,  in  his  note  on  Lev.  xviii,  21, 
says  that  '•  to  cause  to  pass  through"  is  the  same  as  "  to 
burn."  "They  sacrificed  their  sons  and  their  daughters 
unto  devils,  and  shed  innocent  blood,  the  blood  of  their 
sons  and  of  their  daughters,  whom  they  sacrificed  unto 
the  idols  of  Canaan"  (Psa.  cvi,  37,  38)."  In  Jer.  vii,  31, 
the  reference  to  the  worship  of  Jlolech  by  human  sacri- 
fice is  still  more  distinct :  '•  They  have  built  the  high 
places  of  Tophet  .  ,  .  to  burn  their  sons  and  their 
daughters  in  the  fire,''  as  "  burnt-offerings  unto  Baal," 
the  sun-god  of  Tyre,  witli  whom,  or  in  whose  character, 
IMolech  was  worshipped  (Jer.  xix,  5).  Compare  the 
statements  in  Deut.  xii,  31;  Ezek.  xvi,  20,  21;  xxiii, 
37 ;  the  last  two  of  which  may  also  be  adduced  to  show 
that  the  victims  were  slaughtered  before  they  were 
burned.  But  the  most  remarkable  passage  is  that  in  2 
Chron.  xxviii,  3,  in  which  the  wickedness  of  Ahaz  is 
described :  "  Aloreover,  he  burned  incense  in  the  valley 
of  the  son  of  Hinnom,  and  burned  ("^^2*1)  his  chililrea 
in  the  fire,  after  the  abominations  of  tlie  nations  whom 
Jehovah  had  driven  out  before  the  children  of  Israel." 
Now,  in  the  parallel  narrative  of  2  Kings  xvi,  3,  instead 
of  "i>22i1,  "and  he  burned,"  the  reading  is  'l''2"rt,  "he 
made  to  pass  through,"  and  Dr.  Geiger  suggests  that 
the  former  may  be  tlie  true  reading,  of  which  the  latter 
is  an  easy  modification,  serving  as  a  euphemistic  ex- 
pression to  disguise  the  horrible  nature  of  the  sacrificial 
rites.  But  it  is  more  natural  to  suppose  that  it  is  an 
exceptional  instance,  and  that  the  true  reading  is  ~2>^1, 
than  to  assume  that  the  other  passages  have  been  in- 
tentionally altered.  We  may  infer  from  the  expression, 
"  after  the  abominations  of  the  nations  whom  Jehovah 
had  driven  out  before  the  children  of  Israel,"  that  the 
character  of  the  Molech-worsliip  of  the  time  of  Ahaz 
was  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  the  old  Canaanites, 
although  Movers  maintains  the  contrary. 

The  sacrifice  of  children  is  said  by  Clovers  to  have 
been  not  so  much  an  expiatory  as  a  purificatory  rite,  by 
which  the  victims  were  purged  from  the  dross  of  the 
body  and  attained  union  with  the  deity.  In  support  of 
this  he  quotes  the  myth  of  Baaltis  or  Isis,  whom  Mal- 
cander,  king  of  Byblus,  employed  as  nurse  for  liis  child. 
Isis  suckled  the  infant  witli  her  finger,  and  each  night 
burned  whatever  was  mortal  in  its  body.  A\'hen  As- 
tarte,  the  mother,  saw  this  she  uttered  a  crj'  of  terror, 
and  the  child  was  thus  dejirived  of  immortality  (Plu- 
tarch, Is.  and  Os.  ch.  16).  But  the  sacrifice  of  !Mesha, 
king  of  Moab,  when,  in  despair  at  failing  to  cut  his  way 
through  the  overwhelming  forces  of  Judah,  Israel,  and 
Edom,  lie  offered  up  his  eldest  son  a  burnt-offering, 
probably  to  Chemosh,  his  national  divinity,  has  more 
of  tlie  character  of  an  expiatory  rite  to  appease  an  angry 
deity  than  of  a  ceremonial  purilication.  Besides,  the 
passage  from  Plutarch  bears  evident  traces  of  Egyptian, 
if  not  of  Indian  iiifiuence. 

The  worship  of  3Iolech  is  evidently  alluded  to,  though 
not  expressly  mentioned,  in  connection  with  star-wor- 
ship and  the  Avorship  of  Baal  in  2  Kings  xvii,  16, 17; 
xxi,  5,  6,  which  seems  to  show  that  jSIolech,  the  flame- 
god,  and  Baal,  the  sun-god,  whatever  llieir  distinctive 
attributes,  and  whether  or  not  the  latter  is  a  general 
appellation  including  the  former,  were  worshipped  with 
the  same  rites.  Another  argument  might  be  drawn 
from  Jer.  iii,  24,  in  which  Ilab-hosheih,  "  the  shame,"  is 
said  to  have  devoured  their  flocks  and  herds,  their  sons 
and  daugliters.  Now,  as  Bosheth  is  found,  in  tlie  names 
Ishboshelh  and  Jerubbcshetli.  to  alternate  with  Baal, 
as  if  it  were  only  a  contemptuous  perversion  of  it,  it 
would  appear  that  human  sacrifices  are  here  again  as- 
crilied  to  Baal.  Further,  whereas  Baal  is  the  chief 
name  under  which  we  find  the  principal  god  of  the 
Plia-nicinns  in  the  Old  'i'estament.  aiul  wliereas  only 
the  two  above-cited  passages  mention  the  liiiman  vic- 
tims of  Baal,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  (ireek  and  Latin 
authors  give  abundant  testimony  to  the  human  sacri- 


MOLECH 


439 


MOLECH 


fices  which  the  PhcEiiicians  and  their  colonies  offerod  to 
their  principal  god,  in  whom  the  classical  writers  have 
almost  always  recognised  their  own  Kpuvo(;  and  Saturn. 
Thus  we  are  again  brought  to  the  difficulty  [see  Baal] 
of  reconciling  Molech  as  Saturn  with  Baal  as  the  sun 
and  Jupiter.  In  reality,  however,  this  difficulty  is  in 
part  created  by  our  association  of  classical  with  She- 
mitic  mythology.  When  regarded  apart  from  such  for- 
eign affinities,  Molech  and  Baal  may  appear  as  the  per- 
sonifications of  the  two  powers  that  give  and  destroy 
life,  which  early  religions  regarded  as  not  incompatible 
phases  of  the  same  God  of  nature. 

3.  Information  from  other  Sources. — Fire-gods  appear 
to  have  been  common  to  all  the  Canaanitish,  Syrian,  and 
other  tribes,  who  worshipped  the  destructive  element 
under  an  outward  symbol,  with  the  most  inhuman  rites. 
Among  these  were  human  sacrifices,  purifications,  and 
ordeals  by  fire,  devoting  of  the  first-born,  mutilation, 
and  vows  of  perpetual  celibacy  and  virginity.  To  this 
class  of  divinities  belonged  the  old  Canaanitish  Molech, 
as  well  as  Chemosh,  the  fire-god  of  Moab,  Urotal,  Du- 
sares,  Sair.  and  Thyandrites,  of  the  Edomites  and  neigh- 
boring Arab  tribes,  and  the  Greek  Dionysus,  who  were 
■worshipped  under  the  symbol  of  a  rising  flame  of  fire, 
■which  was  imitated  in  the  stone  pillars  erected  in  their 
honor  (Movers,  Pkon.  i,  c.  9).  Tradition  refers  the  or- 
igin of  the  fire-worship  to  Chaldaea.  Abraham  and  his 
ancestors  are  said  to  have  been  fire-worshippers,  and  the 
Assyrian  and  Chaldaaan  armies  took  with  them  the  sa- 
cred fire  accompanied  by  the  magi. 

As  the  accounts  of  this  idol  and  his  worship  found  in 
the  Old  Testament  are  very  scanty,  the  more  detailed 
notices  which  Greek  and  Latin  writers  give  of  the 
blood}'  rites  of  the  Phcenician  colonies  acquire  peculiar 
value.  Mlinter  has  collected  these  testimonies  with 
great  completeness  in  his  Relifion  der  Karthager.  Many 
of  these  notices,  however,  only  describe  late  develop- 
ments of  the  primitive  rites.  Thus  the  description  of 
the  image  of  Molech  as  a  brazen  statue,  wliich  was 
heated  red  hot,  and  in  the  outstretched  arms  of  which 
the  child  was  laid,  so  that  it  fell  down  into  the  flaming 
furnace  beneath — an  account  which  is  first  found  in  Di- 
odorus  Siculus,  as  referring  to  the  Carthaginian  KpovoQ, 
but  which  was  subsequently  adopted  by  Jarchi  and 
others — is  not  admitted  by  Movers  to  apply  to  the  Mo- 
lech of  the  Old  Testament. 

According  to  Jewish  tradition,  from  what  source  we 
know  not,  the  image  of  Molech  was  of  brass,  hollow 
within,  and  was  situated  without  Jerusalem.  Kimchi 
(on  2  Kings  xxiii,  10)  describes  it  as  "set  within  seven 
cliapels,  and  whoso  offered  fine  flour,  thej'  open  to  him 
one  of  them ;  (whoso  offered)  turtle-doves  or  young  pig- 
eons, they  open  to  him  two ;  a  lamb,  they  open  to  him 
three;  a  ram,  they  open  to  him  four;  a  calf,  they  open 
to  him  five ;  an  ox,  they  open  to  him  six ;  and  to  who- 
ever offered  his  son,  they  open  to  him  seven.  And  his 
face  was  (that)  of  a  calf,  and  his  hands  stretched  forth 
like  a  man  who  opens  his  hands  to  receive  (something) 
of  his  neighbor.  And  they  kindled  it  with  fire,  and 
the  priests  took  the  babe  and  put  it  into  the  hands  of 
]\Iolech,  and  the  babe  gave  up  the  ghost.  And  why 
was  it  called  Tophet  antl  Hinnom?  Because  they  used 
to  make  a  noise  with  drums  (tophim),  that  the  father 
might  not  hear  the  cry  of  his  child  and  have  pity  upon 
him,  and  return  to  him.  Hinnom,  because  the  babe 
wailed  (QHJ^,  menaheni),  and  the  noise  of  his  wailing 
went  up."  Another  opinion  (is  that  it  was  called)  Hin- 
nom, because  the  priests  used  to  say — "May  it  profit 
(nsni)  thee !  may  it  be  sweet  to  thee !  may  it  be  of 
sweet  savor  to  thee !"  All  this  detail  is  probably  as  fic- 
titious as  the  etymologies  are  unsound,  but  we  have 
nothing  to  supply  its  place.  Selden  conjectures  that 
the  idea  of  the  seven  chapels  may  have  been  borrowed 
from  the  worship  of  Mithra,  who  had  seven  gates  corre- 
sponding to  the  seven  planets,  and  to  whom  men  and 
women  were  sacrificed  (De  Lis  Syr,  synt.  i,  c.  G).    Ben- 


jamin of  Tudela  describes  the  remains  of  an  ancient 
Ammonitish  temple  which  he  saw  at  Gebal,  containing 
a  stone  image  richly  gilt  seated  on  a  throne.  On  either 
side  sat  two  female  figures,  and  before  it  was  an  altar 
on  which  tlie  Ammonites  anciently  burned  incense  and 
offered  sacrifice  {Early  Travels  in  Palestine,  p.  79,  Bohn). 
By  these  chapels  Lightfoot  explains  the  allusion  in 
Amos  V,  26 ;  Acts  vii,  43,  to  "  the  tabernacle  of  Molech ;" 
"  these  seven  chapels  (if  there  be  truth  in  the  thing) 
help  us  to  understand  what  is  meant  by  Molech's  taber- 
nacle, and  seem  to  give  some  reason  why  in  the  prophet 
he  is  called  Sikkuth,  or  the  Covert  Gorf,  because  he  was 
retired  within  so  many  Cancelli  (for  that  word  Kimchi 
useth)  before  one  could  come  at  him"  (Comm.  on  Acts 
vii,  43).  It  was  more  probably  a  shrine  or  ark  in  ■which 
the  figure  of  the  god  was  carried  in  processions,  or  which 
contained,  as  Movers  conjectures,  the  bones  of  children 
who  had  been  sacrificed,  and  were  used  for  magical  pur- 
poses. The  crown  of  Malcham,  taken  by  David  at 
Kabbah,  is  said  to  have  had  in  it  a  precious  stone  (a 
magnet,  according  to  Kimchi),  which  is  described  by 
Cyril  on  Amos  as  transparent  and  like  the  day-star, 
whence  Molech  has  groundlessly  been  identified  with 
the  planet  Venus  (Vossius,  Be  Orig.  Idol,  ii,  c.  5,  p.  331). 
A  legend  is  told  in  Jerome's  Quwstiones  Hehraic(E  (1 
Chron.  xx,  2)  that,  as  it  was  unlawful  for  a  Hebrew  to 
touch  anything  of  gold  or  silver  belonging  to  an  idol, 
Ittai  the  Gittite,  who  was  a  Philistine,  snatched  the 
crown  from  the  head  of  Milcom,  and  gave  it  to  David, 
who  thus  avoided  the  pollution. 

Many  instances  of  human  sacrifices  fire  found. in  an- 
cient writers,  which  may  be  compared  -with  the  de- 
scriptions in  the  Old  Testament  of  the  manner  m  which 
Molech  was  worshipped.  The  Carthaginians,  accord- 
ing to  Augustine  {De  Civit.  Dei,  vii,  19),  offered  children 
to  Saturn,  and  by  the  Gauls  even  grown-up  persons 
were  sacrificed,  under  the  idea  that  of  all  seeds  the  best 
is  the  human  kind.  Eusebius  (Prwjj.  Ev.  iv,  16)  col- 
lected from  Pori)hj'ry  numerous  examples  to  the  same 
effect,  from  wliich  the  following  are  selected.  Among 
the  Ehodians,  a  man  was  offered  to  Kronos  on  the  6th 
of  July;  afterwards  a  criminal  condemned  to  death  was 
substituted.  The  same  custom  prevailed  in  Salamis, 
but  was  abrogated  by  Diiphilus,  king  of  Cyprus,  who 
substituted  an  ox.  According  to  Manetho,  Amosis  abol- 
ished the  same  practice  in  Egypt  at  Heliopolis  sacred  to 
Juno.  Sanchoniatho  relates  that  the  Phoenicians,  on 
tlie  occasion  of  any  great  calamity,  sacrificed  to  Saturn 
one  of  their  relatives.  Istrus  says  the  same  of  the  Cu- 
retes,  but  the  custom  was  abolished,  according  to  Pal- 
las, in  the  reign  of  Hadrian.  At  Laodicea  a  virgin  was 
sacrificed  yearly  to  Athene,  and  the  Dumatii,  a  people 
of  Arabia,  buried  a  boy  alive  beneath  the  altar  each 
year.  Diodorus  Siculus  (xx,  14)  relates  that  the  Car- 
thaginians, when  besieged  by  Agathocles,  tyrant  of  Sic- 
ily, offered  in  public  sacrifice  to  Saturn  200  of  their  no- 
blest children,  while  others  voluntarily  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  number  of  300.  His  description  of  the 
statue  of  the  god  differs  but  slightly  from  that  of  Mo- 
lech, ■which  has  been  quoted.  The  image  was  of  brass, 
with  its  hands  outstretched  towards  the  ground  in  such 
a  manner  that  the  child,  when  placed  upon  them,  fell 
into  a  pit  full  of  fire. — Smith;  Kitto. 

4.  Literature.— E.  F.  Rivinus,  Be  reKvoBvaig.  Judceo- 
rum  (Lips.  1735) ;  M.  F.  Cramer,  Be  Molocho  (Viteb. 
1720);  N.  W.  Schroeder,  Be  tahernac.  Molochi  et  stella 
dei  Remphan  (IMarb.  1745) ;  P.  Viret,  Bes  sacrifices  d'en- 
fans  faits  a  Moloch  (in  his  Vraye  et  fausse  religion, 
1682, "p.  599) ;  H.Witsius,  Be  cultu  Molochi  (in  his  Mis- 
cell,  sac?:  i,  485) ;  J.  Braun,  Selecta  Sac7-a,  p.  449  sq. ; 
Deyling,  Observ.  sac?:  ii,  444  sq. ;  Dietzsch  and  Ziegra, 
in  Ugolini  T/iesaur.xoL  xxiii;  Movers, Phd)2ic.  p.  65  et 
al. ;  Creuzer,  Symbol,  ii,  431  sq. ;  Buttmann,  Mythol.  ii, 
28  sq.;  Buddei  Histor.  eccl.  V.  T.  i,  609;  llug,  in  the 
F?-eib.  Zeitschr.  vii,  82  sq.;  Gesenius,  Thes.  Ileb.  p.  794; 
J.  G.  Kotch,  Molocholatria  Judmorum  (Lips.  1689) ;  C. 
T.  Zieger,  De  immolatione  libero?-um   (Viteb.  1684); 


MOLESWORTII 


440 


MOLTXA 


Schwab,  De  Moloch  et  Remphan  (Yiteb.  1667;  also  in 
the  Thes.  Theol.  Philol.  ii,  444  sq.).     See  Saturn. 

Molesworth,  Sir  William,  an  English  states- 
man and  cikbrateJ  writer  on  philosophy  and  political 
economy,  was  born  in  Surrey  in  1810.  He  was  at  an 
early  age  reach'  for  college  and  sent  to  Cambridge  Uni- 
versity, where,  however,  he  failed  to  complete  his 
course  of  study,  because  of  a  quarrel  in  which  he  en- 
gaged with  one  of  his  tutors,  whom  he  even  challenged 
to  a  duel.  He  finally  continued  his  studies  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  and  subsequently  went  abroad, 
and  studied  for  some  time  in  the  high-schools  of  (Jer- 
many.  In  1831  he  became  prominent  in  the  political 
affairs  of  liis  iiative  country,  and  soon  rose  to  distinction 
in  Engli-li  jiarliamontary  society.  He  also  largely  iden- 
tified liimself  witli  literary  labors,  and  in  1834  founded 
the  London  Rirhn-,  sliortly  after  merged  into  the  West- 
minster Revieir,  (if  wliirli  he  was  for  many  years  an  ed- 
itorial associate  with  the  late  John  Stuart  Mill  (q.  v.). 
Sir  William  was  alc3  the  intimate  friend  of  James  Mill 
and  of  Hentham,  and  was  generally  regarded  as  the  par- 
liamentary representative  of  the  '•  philosophical  Radi- 
cals." He  is,  however,  of  particular  interest  to  us  as 
the  student  of  Hobbes,  whom  Sir  William  greatly  ad- 
mired. He  accumulated  materials  for  a  life  of  the 
"Philosopher  of  IMalmesbury,"  which  remain  in  IMS. 
luicompleted.  He  was  more  successful  in  the  publi- 
cation of  an  edition  of  llobbes's  works — which  he  com- 
menced in  ]83',),  and  carried  to  completion  at  a  cost 
of  many  thousand  pounds — consisting  of  a  reprint  of 
the  entire  miscellaneous  and  voluminous  writings  of 
Hobbes  (Lond.  1842-45,  11  vols.  8vo),  and  constituting 
a  valual)le  contribution  to  the  republic  of  letters.  By 
Sir  William's  munificence  the  works  of  Hobbes  were 
placed  in  most  of  the  university  and  provincial  put)lic 
libraries.  The  publication,  however,  did  him  great  dis- 
service in  public  life,  his  opponents  endeavoring  to  iden- 
tify him  with  the  freethinUing  opinions  of  Hobbes  in  re- 
ligion, as  well  as  with  the  great  pbiloso|ihers  conclusions 
in  favor  of  despotic  government;  yet  he  continued  a  par- 
liamentary career  of  the  greatest  energy  and  usefulness. 
Indeed,  even  for  his  political  connections  he  deserves 
our  notice.  He  was  the  first  to  call  attention  to  the 
evils  connected  with  the  transportation  of  criminals, 
and  as  chairman  of  a  parliamentary  committee  brought 
to  light  all  the  horrors  of  the  convict  system,  and  by 
untiring  labors  remedied  this  abuse,  as  well  as  the  dis- 
orders generally  in  colonial  administration.  In  1855 
he  became  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies,  and  no 
doubt  would  have  greatly  distinguished  himself  by  his 
wholesome  measures,  but  he  died  soon  after,  Oct.  22, 1855. 
The  London  Times  called  him  the  '-liberator  and  re- 
generator of  the  colonial  empire  of  Great  Britain." 
See  Kiiiilish  Cyclop,  s.  v. ;  Fraser's  Mitf/azine,  xvii,  338  ; 
Lond.  (I'l-ntli-iiian's  Mor/iizine,  1845,  pt.  ii,  p.  645 ;  Bliick- 
wood'a  Mdijdziiie,  xx.xviii,  506;  xliii,  519;  xliv,  625. 
See  also  IIonuES.     (.1.  H.W.) 

Mo'li  (\fooX(,  Vulg.  Mokolt),  given  (1  Esdr.  viii. 
47)  instead  of  Maiili  (q.  v.),  the  son  of  Levi  (Ezra  viii. 
18). 

Mo'lid  (Heb.  .l/(-W,  n-^r-S,  her/etter;  Sept.  Mw- 
Xt/o  v.  r.  MwXa^,  MwXi'i",  and  M(U)}X\  the  last  named 
of  the  two  sons  of  Abishur,  of  the  trilie  of  Judah,  by 
Abiliail  (1  Chron.  ii,  20).     B.C.  long  after  1612. 

Molieres,  JosKiMi  Bhivat  dk..  a  French  philosoph- 
ical wrilcr  of  some  note,  was  l)orn  at  Tarascon  in  1677. 
He  liccaine  a  member  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Ora- 
tory; but,  having  embraced  the  ])liili)sii]ibical  doctrines 
of  Malel)rauche,  he  quitted  the  society  after  the  death 
of  Malebranche  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  jihysics  and 
mathematics.  He  was  made  professor  of  philosophy  at 
the  royal  college,  and  became  a  zealous  advocate  of  the 
Cartesian  views.  He  died  May  12.  1742.  His  works 
range  within  the  departments  of  mathematics,  physical 
science,  and  philosophy.  In  the  last-named  field  he 
published  Philosophical  Lectures  (Paris,  1732,  4  vols. 


8vo).  See  Saveriens,  Nisf.  des  Philosophes  Modernes,  vi, 
217  sq. ;  Revue  Chrelietine,  1869,  p.  725. 

Molin,  Lairest,  a  Swedish  theologian,  who  flour- 
ished towards  the  close  of  the  17th  century  as  a  pro- 
fessor at  Upsala,  was  born  in  1657,  and  died  Sept.  19, 
1724.  He  published  De  Cluvihus  I 'eteritm  (Upsala,  1 684, 
4to):  — /A'  Orifpne  Lucorum  (ibid.  1689):  — a  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  in  the  .Swedish  language  (Stockholm, 
1710,  12mo). 

Molina,  Antonio  de,  a  Spanish  theologian,  was 
born  at  Villa-Xueva-de-los-Infantes,  Castile,  about  the 
middle  of  the  16th  century.  He  became  a  member  of 
the  Order  of  the  Augustines,  among  whom  he  taught 
theology,  and  was  promoted  to  the  posititm  of  superior. 
The  desire  to  lead  a  still  more  retired  life  led  him  to 
forsake  his  official  connection,  and  take  refuge  in  a  small 
convent  at  Mirafiores,  where  he  died,  Sept.  21,  1612. 
He  wrote  many  works  which  have  a  considerable  repu- 
tation ;  among  others,  Instruccion  de  sacerdotes  (Barcelo- 
na and  i^Iadrid).  This  book  had  already  passed  through 
seven  editions  when  it  was  translated  into  Latin  by  P. 
Nicolas  Jassenboy  (Anvers,  1618,  8vo).  Tliere  existed 
also  a  French  (1639),  an  English  (1652),  and  an  Italian 
version  •.—Exercicios  e.ipirituules  de  las  exctlencias  pro- 
vcrho  (Burgos,  1615, 4to;  jNIadrid,  1653) ;  also  translated 
into  Italian.— Hoefer,  Xouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Molina,  Luis,  a  distinguished  Spanish  theologian, 
was  born  at  Cuenc^a,  in  New  Castile,  in  153.5.  In  1.553 
he  entere<l  the  Order  of  the  Society  of  .Jesus,  studied 
at  Coimbra,  and  afterwards  served  for  twenty  years 
as  professor  of  theology  in  the  L'niversity  of  Evora,  in 
Portugal.  He  died  at  jVladrid,  Oct.  12,  1601.  In  his 
writings,  which  treat  especially  of  grace  and  free-will, 
he  propounded  a  system  of  doctrine  which  has  since 
been  called  Molinism,  after  him.  It  was  while  writing 
a  commentary  on  Tliomas  Aquinas  (published  at  Cuen- 
(ja,  1593,  2  vols,  fol.)  that  he  was  led  to  attempt  the  old 
Pelagian  Controversy  by  a  conciliation  of  free-will  in 
man  with  the  divine  foreknowledge,  and  with  predesti- 
nation, and  he  finally  advocated  his  system  in  his  De 
liberi  arbitrii  concordia  cum  gratien  donis,  Divina  Prw- 
scientia,  Providentia,  Prccdestinatione,  et  Reprobatione 
(Lisbon,  1588,  4to).  This  book,  dedicated  to  the  grand 
Inquisition  of  Portugal,  at  once  gave  rise  to  a  violent 
controversy.  Molina  rejects  the  sufficiency  of  grace, 
asserting  that  grace  is  sometimes  sufficient,  sometimes 
insufficient,  according  as  the  will  is  co-operating  with 
or  resisting  it.  According  to  his  theorj-,  the  efficacy  of 
grace  is  the  residt  of  the  consent  of  the  human  will; 
not  that  this  consent  gives  it  any  strength,  but  because 
this  consent  is  requisite  in  order  that  grace  should  be 
efficient.  He  therefore  says  that  man  requires  grace  in 
order  to  do  good,  but  that  God  never  fails  to  grant  this 
grace  to  those  who  ask  it  with  fervor;  he  also  asserts 
that  man  has  it  in  his  power  to  answer  or  not  to  the 
calling  of  grace.  These  opinions,  which  had  found 
many  followers,  wore  first  attacked  by  the  Spanish  Do- 
minicans as  being  of  a  Pelagianizing  tendency,  while 
they  themselves  were  firmly  attached  to  tlie  doctrine 
of  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  came  hence  to  be  named 
Thomists  (q.  v.).  The  innovation  was  afterwards  at- 
tacked also  l>y  the  Calvinists  as  opposing  the  theology 
of  Augustine,  and  also  by  the  Jansenists.  Indeed,  so 
much  o])position  had  been  encountered  by  the  Moli- 
niits,  as  the  propagators  of  this  peculiar  doctrine  were 
called,  tliat  it  was  thought  wise  in  1594  to  liring  the 
matter  to  the  consideration  of  pope  Clement  VIII,  who 
enjoined  silence  on  both  parties,  and  pnmiised  to  com- 
mit the  decision  of  the  dispute  to  a  congregation  of  the- 
ologians. U]ioii  this  the  Dominicans  used  their  influ- 
ence witli  Pliilii)  II  to  induce  tlie  jiope  to  reopen  the 
question  at  once;  and,  the  king's  persuasion  prevailing, 
the  pope  in  1597  organized  for  that  special  pur]iose  a 
congregation  called  De  Aurilivt.  consisting  of  a  presi- 
dent, cardinal  Malnici,  the  bishop  of  Trent,  of  three 
other  bishops,  and  seven  theologians  of  different  frater- 


MOLINA 


441 


MOLINIER 


nities.  It  was  made  their  task  to  inquire  into  the  nat- 
ure of  the  assistance  derived  from  grace,  and  its  mode 
of  operation.  On  Jan.  16, 1598,  the  opinions  of  Molina 
were  thus  summarized :  (1)  A  reason  or  ground  of  God's 
predestination  is  to  be  found  in  man's  right  use  of  his  free- 
will. (2)  In  order  that  the  grace  which  God  bestows  to 
enable  men  to  persevere  in  religion  may  become  the  gift 
of  perseverance,  it  is  necessary  that  they  may  be  fore- 
seen as  consenting  and  co-operating  with  the  divine 
assistance  offered  them,  which  is  a  thing  within  their 
power.  (3)  There  is  a  mediate  prescience  which  is 
neither  the  free  nor  the  natural  knowledge  of  God,  and 
by  which  he  knows  future  contingent  events  before  he 
forms  his  decree.*  (-1)  Predestination  may  be  consid- 
ered as  either  general  (relating  to  whole  classes  of  per- 
sons), or  particular  (relating  to  individual  persons).  In 
general  predestination  there  is  no  reason  or  ground  for 
it  beyond  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  or  none  on  the  part 
of  persons  predestinated ;  but  in  particular  predestina- 
tion (or  that  of  individuals)  there  is  a  cause  or  ground 
in  the  fjreseen  good  use  of  free-will.  In  1601,  finally, 
the  decision  of  the  congregation  was  rendered.  It  pro- 
nounced in  favor  of  the  Thomistic  opinions.  But  not- 
withstanding this  decision,  the  Jesuits,  who  were  al- 
most en  masse  with  the  Molinists,  succeeded  in  prevail- 
ing on  Clement  VIII  to  reopen  the  case;  and  a  new 
congregation  was  appointed,  consisting  of  fifteen  cardi- 
nals, five  bishops,  and  nine  doctors,  over  whom  the 
pope  himself  presided  on  seventy-eight  different  occa- 
sions between  March  20,  1602,  and  Jan.  22,  1605;  but 
when  about  to  pronounce  sentence  he  died,  and  the 
congregation's  sittings  had  to  be  continued  under  his 
successor,  Paul  V,  from  September,  1605,  until  March, 
1606.  Yet  even  after  the  expiration  of  such  a  long  pe- 
riod of  deliberation,  covering  over  two  hundred  sittings, 
a  settlement  of  the  question  seemed  less  likely  than 
ever ;  and  pope  Paul,  not  wishing  to  condemn  or  to  ap- 
prove either  partly,  public  policy  requiring  that  the 
pope  should  not  make  an  enemy  of  France  by  deciding 
against  the  Jesuits,  nor  of  Spain  by  deciding  against  the 
Dominicans,  quietly  concluded  to  discontinue  the  sit- 
tings, simply  announcing  that  he  reserved  to  himself 
the  right  of  giving  his  verdict  when  he  should  see  fit. 
Only,  in  dismissing  the  contending  parties,  in  1607,  he 
forbade  their  publishing  anything  more  on  the  subject. 
This  command,  however,  was  but  little  regarded,  and  the 
Scientia  media  of  Molina  came  to  be  substantially  adopt- 
ed by  Jesuit  theologians,  while  all  his  adversaries,  the 
upholders  of  "  efficacious  grace,"  have  protested  against 
this  system  as  semi-Pelagianism.  Jansenius,  for  in- 
stance, accuses  Molina  of  disregarding  St.  Augustine, 
and  of  misrepresenting  his  opinions,  etc.  Bossuet  says, 
in  answer  to  this  reproach  of  semi-Pelagianism  (see  his 
ans^ver  to  Jurieu,  Avertisseme>it  aux  Protestants),  "As 
for  M.  Jurieu's  objection  of  our  Molinists  being  semi- 
Pelagians,  if  he  had  only  opened  their  books  he  would 
have  seen  that  they  recognised  in  all  the  elect  a  gra- 
tuitous preference  on  the  part  of  divine  grace — a  grace 
ever  predisposing,  ever  necessarj^  for  all  pious  deeds. 
This  we  never  find  among  the  semi-Pelagians.  Go- 
ing further,  or  making  grace  to  be  preceded  by  some 
purely  human  acts  with  which  it  is  then  connected,  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  no  Roman  Catholic  will 
contradict  me  when  I  say  that  this  would  be  a  fearful 
mistake,  which  would  take  away  the  very  foundation 
of  humility,  and  that  the  Church  would  never  tolerate 
it,  after  having  so  often  decided,  and  lately  in  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent,  that  everything  good,  even  to  the  first  dis- 
position of  the  sinner  to  be  converted,  comes  from  an 
impelling  and  predisposing  grace,  which  is  preceded  by 


*  In  Molina's  theology  the  "uatiin-.l"  knowledge  of 
God  is  that  of  what  he  effects  by  his  direct  power  or  by 
second  causes.  His  "  free"  knowledge  is  that  of  what  he 
purposes  of  his  own  free-will.  His  mediate  "  knowledge" 
("scientia  media")  is  that  of  what  will  depend  on  the  free- 
will of  his  cieatnres,  whose  actions  he  foresees  by  a 
knowledge  of  all  the  forces  hv  which  those  actions  will 
be  brouglit  about  and  controlled. 


no  merit."  Molina  wrote  also  Be  Justitia  et  Jure  (Cuen- 
9a,  1592,  6  vols.  fol. ;  Mayence,  1659).  See  Antonio, 
Nova  Bibliotheca  Hispano ;  Alegambe,  De  Script.  Soc. 
Jesti,  p.  314  sq. ;  Ahrege  de  VHist.  de  la  Congregation  de 
A  uxiliis ;  Bossuet,  A  vertissement  aux  Protestants ;  Encycl. 
des  Gens  du  Monde  ;  Fleury,  Eccl.  Hist,  clxxxiii,  4 ;  Le 
Clerc,  Bibl.  Unii:  et  Hist.  vol.  xiv ;  Aug.  le  Blanc,  Hist. 
Congreg.  de  AuxiL  Gratia:  Divin,  (Domin.)  ;  IMeyer, 
Hist.  Controv.  de  Divin.  Gratia  AuxiL  (Jesuit) ;  Kuhn, 
Kathol.  Dogmatik,  i,  291  sq. ;  Ranke,  Hist,  of  the  Papacy, 
i,  587  sq. ;  ii,  90  sq. ;  Nicolini,  Hist,  of  the  Jesuits,  p. 
231,  232 ;  Walch,  Religiose  Sti-eitigkeiten  ausser  d.  lather. 
Kirche,  1,  269  sq. ;  Schrcickh,  Kirchengeschichte  s.  d.  Ref. 
iv,  295  sq. ;  Hagenbach,  Hist.  Doctrines,  ii,  202,  278,  280, 
288 ;  Bickersteth,  Christian  Student,  sec.  iv,  p.  233 ;  Wet- 
zer  u.  Welte  (Roman  CaihoYic),  Kirchen-Lexikon,yi\, 
199  sq. 

Molineeus.     See  Moulin,  De. 

Molinari,  Antonio,  a  Venetian  painter,  who 
flourished  in  the  early  part  of  the  18th  century,  was  a 
pupil  of  Antonio  Zanchi,  whose  maxims  he  afterwards 
renounced,  creating  a  style  of  his  own.  Molinari  paint- 
ed some  excellent  works  for  several  of  the  Venetian 
churches,  but  his  pictures  were  very  unequal  in  merit. 
Lanzi  says  that  in  his  best  works,  "  as  the  History  of 
Hosea,  in  the  Corpus  Domini  at  Venice,  he  displays  a 
style  no  less  solid  than  pleasing,  which  equally  satisfies 
the  judgment  and  the  eye.  There  is  a  study  of  both 
design  and  expression,  ample  beauty  of  forms,  richness 
of  drapery,  with  a  taste  and  harmony  of  coloring  not 
surpassed  by  any  artist  of  the  time."  See  Lanzi,  Hist, 
of  Painting,  transl.  by  Roscoe,  ii,  295 ;  Spooner,  Biog. 
Hist,  of  the  Fine  A  rts,  ii,  575. 

Molinari,  Giovanni,  an  eminent  painter  of  the 
school  of  Piedmont,  was  born  at  Savigliano  in  1721. 
He  was  a  pupil  of  Cavaliere  Beaumont,  and  executed  a 
number  of  works  of  art  for  the  various  churches  at  Tu- 
rin and  adjacent  cities.  A  picture  in  the  church  of  S. 
Bernardo  di  Vercelli,  representing  a  number  of  saints, 
is,  according  to  Lanzi,  "  well  disposed,  with  good  action, 
and  conducted  with  great  care."  In  Turin  there  is  an 
Addolorata  by  him  at  the  Regio  Albergo  della  Virtu; 
in  other  places  in  the  state  are  numerous  religious  works, 
among  which  a  »S7.  John  the  Baptist,  in  the  abbey  of  S. 
Benigno,  is  worthy  of  mention.  His  character  was  nat- 
urally timid,  reserved,  and  modest;  and  Lanzi  saj's  he 
did  not  paint  history  as  much  as  he  should.  Lanzi  does 
not  give  the  date  of  his  decease,  but  Spooner  places  his 
death  in  1793.  See  Lanzi,  Hist,  of  Painting,  transl.  by 
Roscoe,  iii,  315;  Spooner,  Biog.  Hist,  of  the  Fine  Arts, 
ii,  575. 

Molinet,  Claude  du,  a  French  ecclesiastical  anti- 
quary, was  born  at  Chalons-sur-!Marne  in  1620,  and  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  his  life  occupied  the  position  of 
canon  regular  and  procurator  general  of  the  Congrega- 
tion of  St.  Genevieve,  Paris.  He  was  the  author  of 
several  works,  based  mainly  upon  his  researches  in  ec- 
clesiastical antiquities,  the  most  prominent  of  which  are 
an  edition  of  The  Epistles  of  Stephen,  Bishop  ofTournay, 
with  notes,  and  The  Hisioiy  of  the  principal  Popes,  as 
taken  from  Medals,  The  latter  work  extends  from 
JIartin  V  to  Innocent  XI,  and  includes  a  description  of 
medals  from  1417  to  1678.  In  addition  to  his  labors  in 
numismatics,  he  collected  a  great  many  rare  curiosities 
and  relics,  and  some  very  remarkable  Greek  and  Orien- 
tal MSS.  The  library  of  St.  Genevieve  owes  much  to 
him  for  its  present  renown  on  account  of  its  great  col- 
lection and  careful  preservation  of  antiquities,  wliich 
have  not  only  proved  of  public  interest,  but  of  great  his- 
torical value.     He  died  Sept.  2, 1687,     (H.  Wi  T.) 

Molinier,  Etienne,  a  French  Roman  Catholic, 
born  at  Toulouse  about  the  latter  part  of  the  16th  cen- 
tury, began  life  with  the  study  of  law,  and  became 
counsellor  to  the  parliament  of  his  native  city ;  but  sub- 
sequently took  orders,  and  became  doctor  of  theology 
and  of  civil  and  canon  law.     He  preached  with  great 


MOLINIER 


442 


:molinos 


success  in  the  principal  churches  of  Trovence  and  Paris, 
aud  even  preached  before  Louis  XIII,  when  that  mon- 
arch was  crowned  in  1610.  lie  died  in  1650.  Molinier 
wrote  Sermons  pour  les  dimanches  de  I'annee  (Toulouse, 
1631,  2  vols.  8vo) :  —  /(/.  sur  le  mi/stere  de  la  Croix 
(1635,  8vo) :—/(/.  pour  V Octave  de  Saint  Sacrement 
(Toulouse,  1640,  8vo)  -.—Id.  sur  le  symbole  de  la  Croix 
(Rouen,  1650, 8vo).  These  sermons  evince  much  depth 
of  thought  as  well  as  vast  erudition.  See  Bioffrapkie 
Toulousaine  ;  Dictionnuire  portatif  des  Predicateurs. — 
Hoefer,  Xouv.  Bh'fj.  Generulc,  8.  v. 

Molinier,  Jean-Baptiste,  a  French  divine,  was 
born  at  Aries  in  1675,  began  his  studies  in  his  own 
country,  and  contuuied  them  at  Pezenas,  under  the  fa- 
thers of  the  Oratory;  he  then  entered  the  army,  but 
finally  quitted  the  sword  to  take  holy  orders.  lie 
taught  theology  at  Aries,  and  entered  the  Congregation 
of  the  Oratory  in  1700.  He  was  subsequently  sent  to 
the  seminary  of  Saint-Magloire  of  Paris,  and  to  JIacon 
and  <  irenoble.  He  evinced  remarkable  talent  for  preach- 
ing, and  was  very  successful  at  Toulouse,  Lyons,  Or- 
leans, and  at  Paris.  Massillon,  hearing  him,  was  im- 
pressed by  his  eloquence,  but  at  the  same  time  surprised 
at  the  inequality  of  his  talent,  which  sometimes  rose  to 
the  sublime,  and  again  sank  heavily  to  the  obscure  and 
commonplace.  Biographers  say  that  when  Jlolinier 
devoted  much  labor  to  his  discourses,  he  equalled  the 
most  celebrated  French  orators;  but  he  relied  too  much 
upon  his  talent,  and  did  not  sufficiently  moderate  the 
impetuosity  of  his  imagination.  His  discourses  are  the 
production  of  a  happy  genius,  which  expresses  itself 
with  much  fire,  energy,  force,  dignity,  and  ease.  He 
only  lacked  taste;  his  style  is  incorrect,  unequal,  and 
marred  by  common  phrases,  which  form  a  strange  con- 
trast to  many  parts  full  of  life  and  grandeur.  Molinier 
left  the  Oratory  in  1720,  and  retiretl  to  the  diocese  of 
Sens,  whence  lie  returned  to  Paris  to  resume  his  preach- 
ing, but  -was  prohibited  from  doing  so  by  M.  de  Vinti- 
mille.  No  longer  permitted  to  preach,  Molinier  wrote. 
He  left  the  following  works :  Traduction  nourcUe  of  tlie 
Imitation  de  Je-ius-Ch^ist  (Paris,  1725,  12mo) :  —  Ser- 
mons Choisis  (1732-3i,  3  vols.  12mo) ;  the  sermon  JJu 
Ciel  is  considered  his  principal  production: — Paneijij- 
riques  (1732-34,  3  vols.  12mo) : — Discours  sur  la  virile 
de  la  religion  Chretienm  (1732-34,  2  vols.  12mo) :— /n- 
structions  et  Prieres propres  a  soutenir  les  dmes  dans  les 
voies  de  la  penitence,  etc.  (r2mo) ;  a  sequel  to  the  Direc- 
teur  des  ames  penitentes  of  Vaiige: — Exercice  du  penitent, 
with  an  OJice  de  la  penitence  (18mo) : — Les  Psaumes, 
translated  into  French,  with  ^ome  Notes  litterales  et  mo- 
rales (12rao) : — Paraphrase  du  psaume  Afiserere: — Sur 
FArianisme  (1718,  4to);  very  rare.  He  retired  from 
public  life  but  a  short  time  before  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred iu  Paris,  March  15, 1745.  See  Bougerel,  Hist  aire 
des  Ilommes  illustres  de  Provence ;  Chaudont  and  Delan- 
dine,  Diet.  hist.  s.  v. — Hoefer,  A'ouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Molinism,  the  name  given  to  the  system  of  grace 
and  election  taught  by  Louis  Jlolina  (q.  v.).  The  kind 
of  prescience  denominated  in  the  Homish  schools  Scien- 
tia  m^dia  is  that  f(jreknowledgc  of  future  contingencies 
which  arises  from  an  ar(niaintance  with  tlie  nature  and 
faculties  of  rational  beings,  of  the  circumstances  in 
which  they  shall  be  placed,  of  the  objects  that  shall  be 
presented  to  them,  and  of  the  influence  which  their  cir- 
cumstances and  objects  must  have  on  their  actions. 
This  system  has  been  commonly  taught  in  the  Jesuit 
schools;  but  a  modification  of  it  was  introduced  by  the 
celebrated  Spanish  divine,  Suarez  ((i.  v.\  in  order  to 
save  the  doctrine  of  special  election.  Suarez  held  that  al- 
though God  gives  to  all  men  grace  absolutely  sufficient  for 
their  salvation,  yet  he  gives  to  the  elect  a  grace  which 
is  not  alime  in  itself  sufficient,  but  which  is  so  attem- 
pered to  their  disposition,  their  o|)portunities,  aud  other 
circumstances,  that  they  infallil)ly.  although  yet  (juite 
freely,  yield  to  its  influence.  This  niodilication  of  ^loli- 
na's  system  is  called  Conuki;i.s.m.     Molinism  must  not 


be  confounded  either  with  Pelagianism  or  semi-Pela- 
gianisra,  inasmuch  as  Molinism  distinctly  supposes  the 
inability  of  man  to  do  any  supernatural  act  without 
grace  (().  v.).     See  Thomists;  Wiix,  Fkke. 

Molinos,  Miguel  de,  a  Spanish  theologian,  found- 
er of  the  Quietists,  was  born  of  noble  parentage  near  Sar- 
agossa,  December  21, 1627.  He  studied  at  Pampeluna, 
aud,  after  finishing  his  studies  at  the  University  of  Co- 
imbra,  took  holy  orders,  and  in  1669  went  to  Home, 
where  his  pious  conduct  and  the  purity  of  his  life  caused 
many  to  choose  him  for  their  spiritual  director.  He 
acquired  great  reputation,  but  steadily  refused  all  eccle- 
siastical preferment.  In  1675  he  published  his  Wag  or 
Guide  to  what  the  Mystics  call  a  spiritual  or  contem- 
plative life.  This  book,  written  in  Spanish,  was  sup- 
ported by  the  recommendations  of  some  of  the  greatest 
and  most  respectable  men.  In  1681  it  was  published  at 
Rome  in  Italian,  though  it  had  appeared  in  that  lan- 
guage some  time  before  in  other  places.  Afterwards  it 
was  translated  into  the  Dutch,  French,  and  Latin  lan- 
guages; and  was  very  often  printed  in  Holland,  France, 
and  Italy.  The  Latin  translation,  under  the  title  of 
Manuductio  spirituulis,  was  published  by  A.  H.  Franke 
(Halle,  1687, 12mo).  In  Italian  it  bore  the  title  of  Guida 
Spirituale.  But  though  the  work  added  greatly  to  Mo- 
linos's  celebrity,  it  also  became  the  subject  of  bitter  op- 
position. It  was  soon  attacked.  There  were  not  want- 
ing many  who  in  the  specious  but  visionary  principles 
of  this  work  discovered  the  seeds  of  a  dangerous  and 
seductive  error.  Among  these  the  celebrated  preacher 
Segneri  was  the  first  who  ventured  publicly  to  call  its  or- 
thodoxy into  (piestion ;  but  his  strictures  were  by  iloli- 
nos's  friends  ascribed  to  jealousy  of  the  influence  which 
Jlolinos  had  acquired  with  the  people.  By  degrees, 
however,  reports  unfavorable  to  the  practical  results  of 
this  teaching,  and  even  to  the  personal  conduct  and 
character  of  its  author,  or  of  his  followers,  began  to  find 
circulation;  and  eventually  the  Jesuits  took  decided 
ground  against  him,  and  he  was  accused  of  heresy. 
The  substance  of  his  system,  which  his  friends  interpret 
in  one  way  and  his  opponents  in  another,  amounted  to 
this:  Christian  perfection  consists  in  the  peace  of  the 
soul,  in  renouncement  of  all  external  and  temporal 
things,  in  the  pure  love  of  God,  free  from  all  considera- 
tions of  interest  or  hope  of  reward.  Thus  a  soul  which 
desires  the  supreme  good  must  renounce  not  only  all  sen- 
sual pleasures,  but  also  all  material  and  sensual  things; 
silence  every  impulse  of  its  mind  and  will,  and  concen- 
trate and  absorb  itself  in  God.  Molinos's  enemies  ac- 
cused him  and  some  of  his  disciples  of  reviving  the 
abuses  of  the  Gnostics,  and  of  teaching,  both  by  their 
precepts  and  their  example,  the  most  objectionable  prin- 
ciples of  Quietism,  According  to  the  propositions  which 
were  condemned  by  the  Inquisition,  he  pushed  to  such 
an  extreme  the  contemplative  repose  which  is  the  com- 
mon characteristic  of  Quietism  as  to  teach  the  utter 
indifference  of  the  soul,  in  a  state  of  perfect  contempla- 
tion, to  all  external  things,  and  its  entire  independence 
of  the  outer  world,  even  of  the  actions  of  the  very  body 
which  it  animates;  insomuch  that  this  internal  perfec- 
tion is  compatible  with  the  worst  external  excesses, 
since  these  are  of  no  importance  so  long  as  the  soul 
remains  in  communion  with  God.  See  (iiiKTissi.  It 
is  very  probable  that  the  opposition  to  him,  especially 
that  of  the  Jesuits  and  others  who  watched  over  the 
interests  of  the  Romish  cause,  was  provoked  because 
they  perceived  tliat  Molinos's  system  tacitly  accused 
the  Romish  Church  of  a  departure  from  true  religion. 
Molinos,  though  he  had  a  vast  number  of  friends,  and 
though  the  pontiff  himself.  Innocent  XI.  was  partial  to 
him,  was  in  ItWJ  cited  before  the  Intpnsition,  and  sub- 
mitted to  close  im|irisonment  and  examination.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  opinions  coiUaiued  in  his  book,  a  prodig- 
ious mass  of  papers  and  letters,  to  the  number,  it  is 
said,  of  20,000,  foimd  in  his  house,  were  produced  against 
him,  and  he  was  himself  rigorously  examined  as  to  liis 
I  oi)inions.    The  trial  lasted  two  years;  and  in  1687  sixt^-- 


MOLKENBUHR 


443 


MOLLER 


eight  propositions  contained  in  his  book  were  solemnly 
condemned.  By  a  decree  of  Aug.  28,  1687,  he  was  de- 
clared to  have  taught  false  and  dangerous  dogmas,  con- 
trary to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  and  to  Christian 
piety.  On  Sept.  3  following  he  was  brought  out  in  a 
yellow  scapular,  with  a  red  cross  before  and  behind, 
made  to  kneel  on  a  scaffold  in  front  of  the  church  of  the 
Dominicans,  and  there  compelled  to  recant  all  he  had 
taught  in  liis  books;  after  which  he  was  compelled  to 
pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  prison.  A  bull  of  In- 
nocent XII,  of  Nov.  19,  confirmed  the  action  of  the  In- 
quisition, and  condemned,  in  fflobo,  the  sixty-eight  prop- 
ositions. A  refutation  of  JNIolinos's  doctrine  is  to  be 
found  in  Fenelon's  works  (Versailles,  1820),  and  in  Bos- 
suet,  JEtats  d'Oraison.  See  Moreri,  Diet,  histor. ;  Plu- 
quet.  Diction,  des  heresies;  Recueil  de  diverses  pieces 
concernant  le  Quietisme  et  les  Quietistes.  ou  Molinos,  ses 
sentinieiis  et  ses  disciples  (Amsterd.  1688,  8vo) ;  Letti-es 
ecrits  de  Rome  touchanl  le  Quietisme;  ou  Molinos,  ses 
sentiments,  etc.  (Amsterd,  1688) ;  Herzog,  Recd-Encyklo- 
pddie,  ix,  698  ;  Mosheim,  Eccles.  I/ist.  iii,  339  sq. ;  Ber- 
gier,  Diet,  de  Theolor/ie,  iv,  420;  Wetzer  u.Welte,  Kir- 
chen-Lexikon,  vii,  2113  sq. ;  Scharling,  in  Niedner's  Zeit- 
sclirift,  185-4,  p.  325  sq.,  489  sq. ;  1855,  p.  3  sq. ;  Baum- 
garten-Crusius,  Compend.  d.  Dogmen  Gesch.  i,  407  sq.; 
Hodgson,  Reformers  and  Martyrs;  Heinroth,  Gesch.  u. 
Kritik  d.  Mysticismus,  pt.  iii,  ch.  iii;  Walch,  Religiose 
Streitigkeiten  ausser  der  lather.  Kirche,  i,  293  sq. ;  ii,  982 
sq. ;  Schrockh,  Kirchengeschichte  s.  d.  Ref.  vii,  453  sq. 
See  Mysticism. 

Molkenbuhr,  Marcellin,  a  German  Eoman 
Catliolic  theologian,  was  born  at  Minister,  Sept.  1, 1741, 
and  was  educated  in  the  convents  of  the  Rhenish  coun- 
try. In  1758  he  entered  the  Order  of  St.  Francis  at 
Hanau,  but  was  ordained  to  holy  orders  Oct.  27,  1764, 
and  for  nine  years  taught  philosophy  and  mathematics, 
and  for  twelve  years  divinity  and  moral  theology  at  Pad- 
erborn.  He  then  retired  to  the  convent  of  St.  Francis  at 
Minister ;  but  in  1811,  when  it  was  abolished,  lie  lived  for 
a  while  privately.  In  1815  he  re-entered  monastic  life 
in  tlie  convent  of  St.  Francis  at  Paderborn,  and  died  there 
iu  1831.  Some  of  his  most  important  works  are:  Das 
Zeitulter  der  Vernunft  herausgegeb&i  von  Thomas  Paine, 
widerlegt,  etc.  (Paderborn,  1797,  2d  edition;  Minister, 
1802): — Neue  Auslegungsart  des  alten  Testaments  von 
Wecklein,  Prof,  zu  Miinster,  widerlegt  (Dorsten,  1806)  : — 
Neue  der  GottheitJesu  nachtheilige  A  uslegung  des  I  Capi- 
iel  des  Evangel.  Jok.  von  Muth,  Prof,  in  Erfurt,  widfi-legt 
(ibid.  1807)  : — Wo  ist  die  dlteste  und  vornehmrste  hischOfli- 
che  Kirche  in  derganzen  Christenheit  ?  Bei  den  Griechen 
oder  bei  den  Lateinern?  (Paderborn,  1815) : —  Ueher  die 
Ankunfl  des  hi.  Apostel  Petrus  nach  Rom  und  Antio- 
chia,  und  einige  vorgehliche  alte  Streitigkeiten  mehrei-er 
Bischofe  wider  die  Pdpste  (ibid.  1816) : — Anmerkungen 
iiher  die  neuen  deutschen  Uehersetzungen  des  N.  T.  durch 
Carl  und  Leander  van  Esz,  auch  besonders  iiber  den  be- 
straften  Cephas  (ibid.  1817) : — Ilistoria  religionis  Chris- 
tiancB  in  compendio  et  ordine  chronico  exhibita,  tom.  i, 
ab  anno  1-326  (ibid.  1818).  See  Waitzenegger,  Gelehr- 
ten-  laid  Schrifhteller  Lexikon  der  deutschen  katholischen 
Geistlichkeit,  ii,  18  sq. 

Mollah  (Arab,  maula,  Turk,  meida,  i.  e.  ruler)  is 
the  name  of  a  Turkish  superior  judge,  who  is  an  ex- 
pounder of  civil  and  criminal  law,  and  of  the  religion 
of  the  state ;  he  is  therefore  necessarily  both  a  lawyer 
anil  an  ecclesiastic.  Under  him  is  the  cadi  or  judge, 
who  administers  the  law,  and  superior  to  him  are  the 
kadhiasker  and  the  mufti  (q.  v.).  They  all  are,  how- 
ever, subject  to  the  Sheik  al-lslam,  or  supreme  mufti. 
In  Persia,  the  office  of  mollah  is  similar  to  what  it  is  in 
Turkey ;  but  his  superior  there  is  the  "  sadr,"  or  chief 
of  the  mollahs.  In  the  states  of  Turkestan,  the  mol- 
lahs  have  the  whole  government  in  their  hands. — Cham- 
bers, Cyclop,  s.  v.    See  Mullah, 

Moller,  Heinrich,  popularly  known  as  Henry 
von  Ziitpken,  one  of  the  early  Protestant  martyrs,  was 


born  in  1488,  in  the  county  of  Ziitphen,  in  the  Nether- 
lands. In  1504  he  joined  the  Augustinians,  and  in  1515 
went  to  the  then  newly-established  University  of  Wit- 
tenberg. Here  he  became  intimate  with  Luther.  In 
1516,  on  his  return  home,  he  was,  notwithstanding  his 
youth,  made  prior  of  the  Augustinian  convent  of  Dort, 
but  was  finally  obliged  to  leave  it  iu  1520  on  account  of 
his  reformatory  opinions,  went  to  Antwerp,  and  there 
became  sub-prior  of  the  Augustinian  convent.  This 
place  also  he  was  obliged  to  leave  in  December,  1520, 
his  favorable  opinion  of  the  Reformers  having  made 
him  many  enemies  in  the  body,  and  in  March,  1521,  we 
find  him  back  at  Wittenberg,  occupied  in  studies.  But 
when,  in  consequence  of  the  Edict  of  Worms,  the  evan- 
gelical party  began  to  be  persecuted  in  the  Nether- 
lands, he  returned,  in  1522,  to  Dort  and  to  Antwerp, 
and  there  by  his  example  encouraged  the  Augustinians 
to  spread  the  principles  of  the  Reformation.  The  In- 
quisition quickly  recognised  in  him  a  leading  spirit,  and 
he  was  marked  as  one  whose  head  should  fall.  Ou 
Sept.  29  he  was  arrested,  but  the  people  rallied  and  re- 
leased him.  Satisfied  that  safety  could  be  found  only 
in  flight,  he  then  bade  adieu  to  his  Christian  friends, 
and  went  successively  to  Amsterdam  and  Ziitphen,  with 
the  expectation  of  making  his  way  back  to  Wittenberg. 
But  he  was  stopped  in  Bremen,  and  entreated  by  the 
people  to  stay  there  and  preach  the  new  doctrines.  Con- 
senting, after  much  urgent  solicitation,  he  was  made 
pastor,  and  by  his  preaching  soon  gained  the  greater 
portion  of  the  people  to  the  cause  of  the  Reformation. 
In  November,  1524,  when  his  friends  felt  satisfied  that 
the  cause  had  been  so  efficiently  served  as  to  make  a 
falling  away  to  Romanism  well-nigh  impossible,  he 
left  for  Meldorf,  in  Denmark,  where  he  was  desired 
to  introduce  the  Reformation.  He  encountered  great 
opposition,  and,  though  the  authorities  of  tlie  place 
were  in  his  favor,  he  was  seized  on  the  10th  of  Decem- 
ber by  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  and  their  dupes,  and 
burned  the  next  day  as  a  heretic.  The  news  as  it 
reached  the  different  German  Reformers  caused  great 
sorrow.  The  loss  sustained  seemed  irreparable.  Me- 
lancthon  wrote  a  hymn  of  praise  over  him,  Luther  a  let- 
ter of  sympath}'  to  the  Christians  of  Bremen,  and  an  ac- 
count of  his  martyrdom.  In  the  cemetery  of  Meldorf, 
where  iNIolIer's  remains  had  been  deposited  after  a  se- 
vere struggle  with  the  drunken  rowdies  who,  fired  by 
religious  fanaticism,  had  caused  his  death,  a  monument 
was  erected  to  his  memory,  June  25, 1830.  See  Luther, 
Vom  Bruder  Heinrich,  etc.,  in  Werke,  vol.  xxvi  (Er- 
langen  edition) ;  Heckel,  Die  Mdrtyrer  in  d.  evangel. 
Kirche,  edited  by  Wichern  (Hamb.  1845  and  1849); 
Rudelbach,  Christliche  Biographic  (Leips.  1849) ;  Flied- 
ner,  Buch.  d.  Mdrtyrer,  vol.  ii ;  Schlegel,  Kirchen  u. 
Reformationsgesch.  v.  Norddeutschland,  vol.  ii;  Ranke, 
Deutsche  Gesch.  im  Zeitalter  d.  Reform,  vols,  i  and  ii ; 
Hist,  of  the  Reformation  (Austin's  transl.  Phila.  1844, 
8vo) ,  bk.  i ;  Motley,  John  ofBameveld  (N.  Y.  1874),  i,  283 
sq. ;  Zeitschr.f.  hist,  theol.  1868,  p.  485;  Pierer,  Univer- 
sal-Lexikon,  xi,367;  Hevzog,  Real-Encyklopddie,  ix,704. 
(J.H.W.) 

Moller,  Henry,  a  Lutheran  minister,  noted  for  his 
valuable  labors  in  the  Lutheran  interests  in  the  L'nited 
States,  was  born  in  Hamburg,  Germany,  in  1"49.  When 
only  a  youth  of  fourteen  he  migrated  to  this  country, 
and  went  to  Philadelphia.  There  he  was  one  day, 
shortly  after  his  arrival,  met  in  the  street  by  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  Muhlenberg,  who  had  known  his  people,  and 
who  recognised  in  the  young  man  so  striking  a  family 
resemblance  as  to  induce  him  to  stop  and  inquire  his 
name.  Identified  by  the  doctor,  Henry  Avas  at  once  giv- 
en a  place  in  his  own  house,  and  everything  was  done  to 
promote  his  welfare.  The  doctor  also  gave  him  an  ap- 
pointment as  assistant  in  a  school  in  which  he  liimself 
was  then  teaching,  while  MoUer's  leisure  hours  were 
devoted  to  the  study  of  theology,  under  the  direction 
of  his  patron.  Moller  was  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel 
by  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  willing  to  share 


MOLLIUS 


444 


MOLUCCAS 


the  privations  and  sufferings  incident  to  those  early  days, 
when  the  members  of  churches  were  scattered  through 
the  wilderness,  like  sheep  without  a  shepherd.  He  en- 
gaged in  i)reaching  the  (Jospel  to  the  poor,  in  collecting 
congregations  and  rearing  churches,  in  extending  the 
principles  of  the  Lutheran  faith,  and  ])romoting  the  in- 
terests of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  During  the  Kevo- 
lutionary  War  he  was  chaplain  of  a  German  regiment  in 
the  army  commanded  by  general  Washington.  jMiJl- 
ler's  first  regular  pastoral  charge  was  Reading,  I'a. 
Thence  he  removed  to  I'liiladelphia,  and  later  settled  at 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  where  he  built  the  first  Lutheran  church, 
and  promoted  the  interests  of  his  sect.  In  1788  he  re- 
ceived and  accepted  a  call  to  Xew  Holland,  Pa.,  and 
labored  there  until,  in  1795,  he  was  induced  to  take  the 
Lutheran  flock  at  Harrisburg,  and  he  served  them  most 
acceptably  for  seven  years.  In  1802  MiiUer  returned 
to  Albany,  and  for  six  years  more  served  the  people 
to  whom  he  had  in  his  first  connection  so  greatly  en- 
deared himself.  He  next  accepted  a  call  to  the  united 
churches  of  Sharon  and  Xew  Hliinebeck,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  labored  until  physical  infirmities  rendered  him  un- 
able to  attend  to  the  active  duties  of  his  profession. 
Cheered  by  domestic  affection  and  Christian  hope,  the 
last  six  years  he  lived  were  spent  in  retirement,  "  al- 
though," says  a  contemporary,  "his  whole  life  was  de- 
voted to  the  interests  of  his  divine  Master.  Lentil  the 
end  he  sought  opportunity  to  do  good,  and  to  make 
himself  useful  to  those  around  liim."  He  died  as  he 
had  lived,  full  of  faith,  calm  and  confident  in  the  groat 
truths  of  that  blessed  religion  which  he  had  faithfully 
preached,  Sept.  16, 1829.  As  a  preacher,  Mciller's  talents 
were  not  brilliant,  yet  he  accomplished  greater  things 
than  the  more  highly  gifted.  As  a  man,  his  whole  life 
was  marked  by  integrity,  truthfulness,  and  a  contempt 
of  everything  mean  or  dishonorable.  See  (Lutheran) 
Evanfjel.  Q'l.Rn:  (memoirs  of  deceased  ministers),  18G5, 
p.  273  sq. ;  Sprague,  A  nnals  of  the  A  mer.  Pulpit,  vol.  ix 
(Lutherans).     (J.  H.W.) 

Mollius  or  Mollio,  G iovanxi,  a  distinguished  Ital- 
ian martyr  in  the  Protectant  cause,  was  a  native  of  Mon- 
t  ilcino,  in  the  territory  of  Siena,  and  the  descendant  of  a 
very  respectable  family.  He  was  born  near  the  opening 
of  the  16th  centurj'.  When  only  twelve  years  of  age 
he  was  placed  in  the  monastery  of  Gray  Friars,  where 
he  made  rapid  progress  in  arts,  sciences,  and  languages. 
He  entered  the  order  of  Minorites  while  yet  a  youtli, 
and  took  priest's  orders  when  only  eighteen.  Every 
minute  was  improved  in  study  of  polite  letters  and  the- 
ology, and  he  came  soon  to  be  noted  for  his  learning 
and  industrj'.  After  having  pursued  his  studies  six 
years  longer  at  Ferrara,  he  was  made  theological  lect- 
urer in  the  university  of  that  city.  He  subsequently 
lectured  at  the  universities  of  Brescia,  Milan,  and  Pavia, 
and  was  appointed  professor  of  theology  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Bologna  about  l.')33.  'Ihere,  on  reading  several 
treatises  of  the  Reformers,  he  became  at  heart  a  zealous 
Protestant,  and  began  to  expound  in  its  purity  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Romans.  Immense  crowds  soon  attended 
his  lectures,  and,  the  report  coming  to  Rome,  he  was 
seized  by  order  of  the  pope,  and,  being  denied  a  public 
trial,  gave  an  account  of  his  opinions  in  writing,  con- 
firming them  by  scriptural  authority.  Mollius  defended 
himself  with  such  aliilily  and  address  that  the  judges 
appointed  by  Paul  HI  to  try  the  case  were  forced  to  ac- 
quit him,  in  the  way  of  declaring  that  the  sentiments 
which  he  had  maintained  were  true,  although  tliey 
were  such  as  could  not  be  publicly  taught  at  tiiat  time 
without  prejudice  to  the  apostolical  see.  He  was  there- 
fore sent  back  to  Bologna,  with  an  admonition  to  abstain 
for  the  future  from  explaining  tlie  same  doctrine  (i.  e. 
justification  i)y  faith).  But  continuing  to  expound  the 
epistles  of  Paul  as  formerly,  and  with  still  greater  ap- 
plause from  his  hearers— even  the  monks  of  difl'erent 
convents,  many  of  the  nobility,  and  individuals  of  epis- 
copal orders,  attending  them — cardinal  Campeggio  ])ro- 
cured  an  order  from  the  pope  to  remove  him  from  the 


university  (Pontaleon,  Rerum  in  Eccl.  Gest.  lib.  ix,  fol. 
263).  Mollius  did  not  remain  idle  when  relieved  of  liis 
duties  at  the  university,  but  continued  his  studies,  and 
grew  in  strength  among  his  fellows.  He  finally  became 
lecturer  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Lorenzo  at  Naples.  But 
even  here  he  was  persecuted;  and  in  1542  the  opposi- 
tion grew  so  decided  that  he  was  frequently  in  great 
danger.  He  was  several  times  imprisoned,  but  always 
escai)ed  until  the  time  of  the  accession  of  pope  Julius 
HI,  when  he  was  hunted  down  at  Ravenna,  and  trans- 
ported to  Rome.  On  .Sept.  5,  1553,  a  public  assembly 
of  the  Inquisition  was  held  with  great  pomp,  and  Mol- 
lius was  brought  before  that  body,  attended  by  six  car- 
dinals and  their  episcopal  assessors.  All  the  prisoners 
brought  forward  in  this  session  recanted  and  performed 
penance  except  Mollius  and  another,  a  native  of  Perugio 
named  Tisserano,  who  refused  to  do  violence  to  their  con- 
science. When  the  articles  of  accusation  against  Mol- 
lius were  read}-,  permission  was  given  him  to  speak. 
He  defended  the  doctrines  which  he  had  taught  respect- 
ing justification,  the  merit  of  good  works,  auricular  con- 
fession, and  the  sacraments;  pronounced  the  power 
claimed  by  the  pope  and  his  clergy  to  be  usurped  and 
antichristian ;  and  addressed  his  judges  in  a  strain  of 
bold  and  fervid  invective,  which  silenced  and  chained 
them  to  their  seats,  at  the  same  time  that  it  cut  them 
to  the  quick;  and  when  he  had  finished  his  address,  he 
threw  the  flaming  torch  which  he  held  in  his  hand  on 
the  ground  and  extinguished  it,  thus  showing  to  his 
accusers  that  he  would  rather  extinguish  life  than  suf- 
fer them  to  force  a  lie  from  him.  Of  course  mercy  to 
such  a  criminal  was  not  within  the  gift  of  Rome,  and 
he  was  consequently  condemned,  together  with  his 
companion,  to  instant  death.  They  were  at  once  con- 
veyed to  the  place  of  execution,  first  hung,  and  then 
burned  to  ashes.  See  Hist,  des  Martijrs,  p.  264,  265; 
(ierdesius,  Ital.  Reform,  p.  103 ;  IM'Crie.  Rtf.  in  Italy,  p. 
95, 124,  261 ;  Young,  Life  of  Pulmrio,  ii,  113  sq.  Fox, 
Book  of  Martyrs,  p.  184,  gives  jMollius's  history  inaccu- 
rately.    (J.  li.W.) 

Molloy,  Francis,  an  Irish  divine  of  some  celebrity, 
flourished  in  the  College  of  St.  Isidor  at  Rome,  Italy,  in 
the  second  half  of  the  17th  century,  as  professor  of  the- 
ology. He  wrote  Sacra  Theolofjia  (Rome,  1666,  8vo) : 
— Lucema  Fiddium  (1676,  8vo),  a  Roman  Catholic  Cat- 
echism in  Irish  : — Grammatica  Latino-I/ibernica  com- 
pendiata  (1677, 12mo).  Shingel,  who  gives  an  abstract 
of  the  last  work  in  his  A  rcheeoloficul  Britannica,  saya 
that  it  was  the  most  complete  Irish  grammar  then  ex- 
tant, although  imperfect  as  to  syntax,  etc.  See  Ware, 
Writers  <f  Ireland,  vol.  ii. 

Mo'loch  (lleb.  Me'lek,  T|^^,  kint/,  as  often;  Sept. 
and  N.  T.  .MoXox),  the  name  of  an  Ammonitish  idol 
(Amos  i  v,  2() ;  Acts  vii,  43) ;  usually  called  Molecii  (q.  v.). 

Molokans.     See  Malakans. 

Molten  Image.     See  Idou 

Molten  Sea.     See  Sea,  Molten. 

Moluccas  (or  Royal  or  Spice  Islands),  a  num- 
ber <if  islands  of  the  Jlalay  Archipelago,  in  tlie  Indian 
Ocean.  Tiie  term  comprehends,  in  its  most  exten- 
sive sense,  all  the  islands  between  Celebes  and  New 
Guinea,  situated  to  the  east  of  the  Molucca  passage,  in 
long,  126^,  particularly  those  of  (iilolo;  but,  in  a  more 
limited  sense,  it  is  usually  restricted  to  the  Dutch  Spice 
Islands:  (1)  Ternate,  the  most  important,  lies  in  0=  55' 
X.  lat,  and  127°  10'  E.  long.,  and  is  25  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence. It  has  a  population  of  7,500,  of  whom  oidy  about 
400  are  Europeans,  Its  natives  are  maiidy  Mohamme- 
dans, It  was  formerly  the  residence  of  sultans,  who 
ruled  over  large  territories,  and  could  call  out  100,000 
fighting-men.  The  island  is  fertile  and  well  watered. 
Rice,  cotton,  tobacco,  etc,  are  cultivated,  and  a  trade  is 
supported  with  the  adjacent  islands.  (2)  Tidore,  south 
of  Ternate,  in  0=  45'  N.  lat.  and  127^  25'  E.  long,,  is  30 
miles  in  circumference,  and  rises  towards  the  interior. 


MOLUCCAS 


445 


MOLUCCAS 


Of  its  population  of  8000,  the  natives  are  less  gentle 
but  more  inelustrioiis  than  those  of  Ternate,  and  dili- 
gently cultivate  the  soil,  weave,  and  fish.  They  are 
also  Mohammedans,  and  have  many  mosques.  The 
sultans  of  Ternate  and  Tidore  are  subsidized  by  and 
subject  to  the  Netherlands,  being  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  Moluccas,  and  exercising  their  authority 
under  the  surveillance  of  the  resident.  (3)  Makian,  in 
0=  18'  30"  N.  lat.  and  127°  2-i'  E.  long.,  is  very  fertile- 
yields  much  sago,  rice,  tobacco,  canary-oil,  etc.,  and  has 
important  fishings,  (4)  Farther  north  is  the  island  of 
j\Iutir,  which  is  uninhabited,  but  formerly  yielded  a 
considerable  quantity  of  cloves,  and  later  sent  much 
earthenware  to  all  the  Spice  Islands.  (5)  Batjan,  the 
only  remaining  Roval  Island,  situated  between  0°  13'- 
03  55'  S.  lat.  and  127°  22'-128°  E.  long.,  is  50  miles  in 
length  and  18  in  breadth,  and  has  many  mountain-peaks 
from  1500  to  4000  feet  in  height,  the  sources  of  numer- 
ous rivers.  The  greatest  part  of  this  beautiful  island 
is  covered  with  ebony,  satin-wood,  and  other  valuable 
timber-trees,  which  give  shelter  to  numerous  delicately- 
plumaged  birds,  deer,  wild  hogs,  and  reptiles.  Sago, 
rice,  cocoa-nuts,  cloves,  fish,  and  fowls  are  plentiful, 
and  a  little  coffee  is  cidtivated.  Coal  is  abundant ;  gold 
and  copper  are  found  in  small  quantities.  The  inhabit- 
ants, who  are  lazy  and  sensual,  are  a  mixed  race  of  Port- 
uguese, Spaniards,  Dutch,  and  natives.  All  the  above- 
named  islands  are  volcanic,  Ternate  being  a  moun- 
tain, sloping  upwards  to  7000  feet,  to  which  Tidore 
bears  a  striking  resemblance.  Makian  is  an  active  vol- 
cano, and,  SI)  late  as  December,  1861,  threw  forth  im- 
mense quantities  of  lava  and  ashes,  by  wliich  326  lives 
were  lost,  and  15  villages  in  part  or  in  whole  destroyed. 
Motir  is  a  trachj^te  mountain,  2296  feet  in  height;  and 
Batjan  a  chain  with  lofty  peaks.  The  total  population 
of  the  Moluccas  proper  is  21,500.  (6)  To  the  south- 
west of  Batjan  lie  the  Obi  group,  consisting  of  Obi  Ma- 
jor, Obi  Minor,  Typha,  Gonoma,  Pisang,  and  Mava. 
Obi  Major,  in  1°  35'  S.  lat.  and  from  127°  to  128° 'e. 
long.,  is  by  far  the  largest  of  these,  it  having  an  area  of 
598  square  miles.  It  is  hill^'  and  fertile,  being  covered, 
like  the  smaller  islands  of  the  group,  with  sago  and 
nutmeg  trees.  The  Obi  group  are  uninhabited,  and 
serve  simply  as  lurking-places  for  pirates  and  escaped 
convicts.  In  1671  the  Dutch  built  a  block-house,  call- 
ed the  Bril ;  and  a  few  years  later  the  sultan  of  Batjan 
sold  them  tlie  group,  but  the  unhealthy  climate  caused 
its  abauiloument  in  1738. 

The  Moluccas,  or  Spice  Islands,  in  the  broad  use  of 
the  terra,  lie  to  the  east  of  Celebes,  scattered  over  nearly 
eleven  degrees  of  latitude  and  longitude,  between  3°  S.- 
8°  N.  lat.  and  126°-135°  E.  long.,  including  all  the  ter- 
ritories formerly  ruled  over  by  the  sultans  of  Ternate 
and  Tidore.  They  are  now  tributary  to  Holland,  and 
are  virtually  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  governors  ap- 
pointed by  the  Dutch,  and  are  divided  into  the  residen- 
cies of  Amboyna,  Banda,  and  Ternate ;  a  fourth  resi- 
dency, under  the  governor  of  the  Moluccas,  being  Me- 
nado.  Over  the  northern  groups  of  the  Spice  Islands 
the  Netherlands  exercise  an  indirect  government,  the 
sultans  of  Ternate  and  Tidore  requiring  to  have  all  their 
appointments  of  native  officials  ratified  by  the  resident. 
The  southern  groups  are  directly  under  European  rule. 
The  residency  of  Amboyna  contains  that  island — some- 
times called  Ley-Timor,  or  Hitu,  from  the  two  penin- 
sulas of  which  it  is  formed— Burn,  the  Uliassers  group, 
and  the  west  part  of  Ceram.  That  of  Banda  includes 
the  Banda,  Keffing,  Key,  Arru,  and  other  islands ;  also 
the  eastern  part  of  Ceram.  Under  the  residency  of 
Ternate  are  placed  the  Moluccas  proper,  Gilolo,  the 
neighboring  islands,  and  the  north-west  of  Papua.  The 
population  ruled  over  by  the  governor  of  the  Moluccas 
is  707,000.  Amboyna,  the  Banda  and  Uliasser  islands, 
chiefly  supply  the  cloves,  nutmegs,  and  mace  which 
form  the  staple  exports.  The  Banda  Islands  are  Neira, 
or  Banda-Neira,  Great  Banda,  Ay  or  Way,  Rhun,  Ko- 
ziugain,  and  Goenong-Api,  containing  an  area  of  588 


square  miles.  Of  the  population,  which  is  about  6000, 
400  are  Europeans;  in  the  whole  residency,  the  inhab- 
itants number  about  110,000,  including  the  eastern  part 
of  Ceram.  The  principal  island  of  the  group  is  Neira, 
south-east  from  Amboyna,  in  4°  33'  S.  lat.  and  130°  E. 
long.,  separated  by  narrow  straits  from  Goenong-Api  on 
the  west,  and  Great  Banda  on  the  east.  The  coast  is 
steep,  and  surmounted  by  several  forts  and  batteries, 
which  command  the  straits  and  roadstead.  The  town 
of  Neira,  on  the  south  side  of  the  island,  is  the  capital 
of  the  Dutch  residency  of  Banda.  It  has  a  Protestant 
church,  school,  and  hospital.  The  Banda  Islands  have 
a  rich  soil,  and  are  planted  with  nutmeg-trees,  producing 
upwards  of  a  million  pounds  of  nuts  and  over  a  quarter 
of  a  million  pounds  of  mace.  Pine-apples,  the  vine, 
banana,  cocoa-nut,  and  other  fruit-trees  thrive,  and  are 
abundant.  Ay  is  the  prettiest  and  most  productive  of 
the  group.  Goenong-Api  is  a  lofty  volcano.  The  cli- 
mate is  not  particularly  healthy.  The  east  monsoon  be- 
gins in  May,  and  the  west  in  December,  and  both  are  ac- 
companied with  rain  and  storms.  The  Uliassers,  which, 
with  Amboyna,  produce  the  cloves  of  commerce,  are 
Saparoua,  Oma  or  Haroukou,  and  Nousa-Laut.  They 
lie  to  the  east  of  Amboyna,  in  3°  40'  S.  lat.  and  128° 
33'  E.  long.,  and  have  an  area  of  107^  square  miles. 
Saparoua  is  the  largest,  and  is  formed  of  two  mountain- 
ous peninsulas,  joined  in  the  middle  by  a  narrow  strip 
of  undulating,  grassy  land.  The  population  amounts 
to  11,655,  of  whom  7340  are  Christians,  having  twelve 
schools,  with  a  very  large  attendance  of  scholars.  Oma, 
separated  from  Saparoua  by  a  strait  of  a  league  in 
width,  has  eleven  villages,  of  which  Harouka  and  Oma 
are  the  chief.  It  is  mountainous  in  the  south,  and  has 
several  rivers  and  sulphurous  springs.  The  beautiful 
village  of  Harouka,  on  the  west  coast,  is  the  residence 
of  the  Dutch  postholder,  who  is  president  of  the  council 
of  chiefs.  Here  is  the  head  office  of  the  clove  produce. 
There  are  two  forts  on  Oma,  several  churches,  and  six 
schools,  with  700  pupils.  Population  7188;  one  half 
Christians,  the  other  Mohammedans,  Nousa-Laut  lies 
to  the  south-east  of  Saparoua.  It  is  planted  with  clove- 
trees,  which  in  1853  produced  120,283  pounds.  There 
are  upwards  of  30,000  cocoa-nut-trees.  The  inhabit- 
ants, who  were  formerly  pirates  and  cannibals,  amount 
to  3479  souls,  are  all  Christians,  and  have  schools  in  ev- 
ery village — in  1859  they  were  attended  by  870  pupils. 

The  Spice  Islands  generally  are  healthy  both  for  Eu- 
ropeans and  Asiatics ;  and,  though  the  plains  are  some- 
times very  hot,  mountains  are  always  near,  where  it  is 
pleasantly  cool  in  the  mornings  and  evenings.  Besides 
the  spice-trees,  the  bread-fruit,  sago,  cocoa-nut,  banana, 
orange,  guava,  papaw,  also  ebony,  iron-wood,  and  other 
valuable  timber-trees,  are  abundant. 

The  natives  of  some  of  the  islands  are  Alfoers;  of 
others,  Malays  on  the  coasts,  and  A  Ifoers  in  the  interior. 
In  Ceram  are  also  Papuan  negroes,  brought  originally 
from  Bali  and  Papua  as  slaves.  These  are  harshly 
treated  and  poorly  fed.  The  governor  of  the  IVIohic- 
cas  has  a  salary  of  $8500,  gold,  and,  with  the  secretary 
and  other  officials,  resides  in  the  cit^'  of  Amboyna,  the 
streets  of  which  are  broad,  planted  with  rows  of  beauti- 
ful trees,  and  cut  each  other  at  right  angles.  There 
are  two  Protestant  churches,  a  town-house,  orphanage, 
hospital,  and  theatre,  besides  a  useful  institution  for 
training  native  teachers,  with  which  is  connected  a 
printing-press. — Chambers,  s.  v. 

History,  etc. — The  Moluccas  were  first  discovered  by 
Europeans  in  1511,  when  the  Portuguese,  under  Antonio 
de  Abreu  and  Francisco  Serrao,  landed  there.  Tliey 
found,  however,  that  the  Arabians  had  already  been 
there,  and  had  made  converts  of  the  natives  along  the 
coast — the  IMalays.  In  the  mountains  thej'  found  the 
Papuans  (q.  v.),  but  these  Oriental  negroes  were  sav- 
ages, and  in  a  large  measure  remain  so  to  this  day.  The 
king  of  Portugal  claimed  the  island,  and  held  undis- 
puted sway  until  1599,  when  the  Nethcrlanders  took 
Tidore.    In  1623  tliey  drove  out  the  English  from  these 


MOLUCCAS 


446 


MOMIERS 


islands,  of  which  they  had  taken  possession,  and  in 
1G63  the  Netherlanders  akme  remained  to  lord  it  over 
the  Moluccas.  Though  for  a  time  the  British  got  a  hold 
in  the  island,  the  Dutch  finally  became  its  possessors. 
The  islanders  have  frequently  attempted  to  throw  oft' 
the  Dutch  yoke,  but  have  failed  thus  far.  The  wars 
with  the  Alfoers  of  Ccram,  in  1859  and  1800,  have 
brought  them  more  fully  under  Dutch  rule.  Recently 
new  sultans  of  Tcrnate  and  Tidore  have  been  appointed, 
with  less  po>vtr  than  their  predecessors.  Tlie  natives 
along  the  coast  speak  a  dialect  of  the  Malay  tongue, 
mixed  with  many  foreign  words;  but  the  ancient  I^Io- 
lucca  or  Tirnata  language  appeared  to  tlie  eminent  Asi- 
atic linguist,  Dr.  Leyden,  to  have  been  an  original 
tongue.  They  have  adopted  many  of  the  tenets,  or 
rather  observances,  of  the  Brahminical  system ;  but 
many  of  them,  named  Shorifs,  boast  of  their  descent 
from  3Ioliammcd,  and  are  held  in  great  respect,  espe- 
cially if  they  have  performed  the  pilgrimage  to  Jlecca. 
The  Papuans  have  been  rapidly  decreasing,  and  have 
wholly  disappeared  in  most  of  the  smaller  islands.  But 
they  still  exist  in  many  of  the  more  eastern  islands, 
and  hold  undisturbed  possession  of  New  Guinea.  The 
houses  on  these  islands  are  generally  raised  on  pil- 
lars eight  or  ten  feet  high,  on  account  of  the  moisture, 
and  are  entered  by  means  of  a  ladder,  which  is  after- 
wards drawn  up.  The  color  of  the  natives  is  a  deep 
mixture  of  black  and  yellow,  and  their  dispositions  un- 
civiL  They  subsist  chiefly  on  sago.  The  men  wear 
little  covering,  except  a  hat  of  leaves,  and  a  piece  of 
cloth  round  the  middle;  and  the  women  are  dressed  in  a 
large  wide  garment  like  a  sack,  with  a  remarkably  broad 
hat  on  their  heads.  Their  arras  are  a  kind  of  light 
tough  wood,  arrows  of  reeds,  pointed  with  hard  wood, 
and  bucklers  of  black  liard  wood,  ornamented  with  de- 
signs in  relievo,  made  with  beautiful  white  shells.  The 
Moluccans  liave  themselves  but  little  intercourse  with 
natives  of  civilized  countries;  indeed  they  know  con- 
siderably less  of  them  than  others  in  the  archipelago. 
They  seldom  see  a  European  vessil. 

Missionai-y  Labors. — The  native  tribes  of  the  moun- 
tains remain  very  largely  in  heathen  ignorance.  ]Many 
of  the  Moluccans  were  made  converts  to  Mohammedan- 
ism even  before  the  appearance  of  Christians  on  the 
soil,  and  Islamism  is  gaining  new  adherents  daily. 
Christianity,  on  the  other  hand,  has  thus  far  secured 
but  few  in  number,  as  the  first  impression  made  by  the 
Portuguese  did  not  result  \  ery  favorably.  The  Inquisi- 
tion at  Goa  extended  its  power  to  these  parts,  and  tried 
hard  to  carry  the  Moluccans  into  the  Christian  fold,  but 
failed  utterly. 

The  exchange  of  ownership  imported  the  Protestant 
doctrines,  but  the  natives  have  failed  to  see  much  dif- 
ference between  Romanism  and  the  Reformed  faith, 
and  Islam  is  still  ahead.  All  efforts  until  1815  made 
by  Protestants  are  hardly  worth  mentioning.  In  that 
year  Jos.  Kasse,  in  the  employ  of  the  Ruttcnlam  Mis- 
sionary .iocii'tji  (Zenddinggcnootschap"),  inaugurated 
successful  efforts  fur  the  conversion  of  the  Moluccans, 
and  for  eighteen  years  apostolic  labors  were  perform- 
ed there.  In  1811)  missionary  Jungmichel  inaugurat- 
ed successful  labors  at  Tcrnate  and  in  the  Sangur  Isl- 
ands. At  the  same  time  valuable  enterprises  were  in- 
augurated also  at  Timor  and  Amboyna.  To  tlie  for- 
mer Lebrun  went,  lie  sottle<l  at  Cupang.  tlie  seat  of 
the  Dutch  governor,  on  the  south  coast  of  Timor.  Por 
twenty  years  there  had  been  no  Christian  minister 
among  the  natives  there,  who  jirofess  Christianity. 
With  so  much  greater  eagerness  did  they  now  crowd  to 
the  missionary's  preaching;  and  in  the  very  first  year 
ninety  pagans  were  admitted  to  the  Church,  which  al- 
ready consisted  of  3000  professed  Christians.  More- 
over, the  rajah  of  Rotti  submitted  himself  to  Christ  cru- 
cified; and  in  1823  Lebnin  baptized  in  Little  Timor, 
Kissor,  Lctti,  and  Moa,  -106  persons.  The  Friciutly  So- 
ciety whicJi  he  established  was  subscribed  to  even  by 
some  of  the  pagan  princes,     lie   everywhere  formed 


schools,  and  to  the  remote  churches  he  addressed  pas- 
toral letters,  after  the  manner  of  the  apostles,  of  the 
good  effect  of  which  there  are  verj-  pleasing  testimo- 
nies. A  few  years  before  his  death,  which  took  place 
in  1829,  eight  missionaries  more  arrived,  who  distrib- 
uted themselves  among  various  stations,  and  made  it 
one  part  of  their  business  to  establish  more  fundamen- 
tally in  Christianity  the  churches  and  congregations 
that  had  been  gained  to  it.  Their  work,  in(ltc(",  is  often 
exceedingly  harassing  and  fatiguing.  The  centre,  how- 
ever, of  missionary  labors  in  the  archipelago  is,  and  al- 
ways has  been,  Amboyna.  Its  uihabitaiits  have  since 
1850  been  regarded  as  Christians.  The  Rotterdam  So- 
ciety has  a  number  of  stations  there,  and  a  seminary  for 
the  education  of  native  teachers.  These  stations  are 
now  subject  to  the  Church  at  Batavia,  and  it  is  antici- 
pated that  the  Dutch  government  will  recognise  the 
missionaries  as  stationed  pastors,  and  contribute  for 
their  support.  See  Sonncrat,  Voyofje  to  ihc  Sjiice  Isl- 
ands; Forrest,  Voyage  to  New  Guinea ;  Crawford,  Hist, 
of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  i,  18  sq. ;  Earl,  .Yr;//r<-  Races 
of  the  Indian  A  rchipelago,  ch.  vi ;  Daniel,  llandbuch 
der  Geographic,  i,  323  sq. ;  Grundemann,  Missions-At- 
las, pt.  ii,  No.  6 ;  Newcomb,  Cyclop,  of  Missions,  p.  485 
sq. 

Molyneux,  William,  an  Irish  mathematician  and 
pliilosiiiiliir,  who  was  born  at  Dublin  April  17,  1G56, 
was  educated  at  the  university  of  his  native  place,  and 
afterv.-ards  studied  law,  is  noted  as  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  "  Dublin  IMiilosophical  Society,"  of  which  he  was 
(irst  secretary  (1083),  and  then  president,  and  as  the 
author  of  twenty-seven  papers  on  miscellaneous  subjects 
inserted  in  the  "  Philosophical  Transactions"  between 
1084  and  1716,  and  of  a  Translation  of  the  six  Mela- 
physical  Bissei-futions  of  Descartes,  together  uilh  the 
Objections  against  them  hy  Thomas  Ilolbes  (Lond.  1671). 
Jlolyneux  was  a  devoted  Protestant,  and  during  the 
political  disturbances  was  obliged  to  seek  refuge  in 
England  in  1088.  After  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  he  re- 
turned again  to  Ireland.  Among  the  many  ])ersons  of 
literary  eminence  with  whom  !Molyncux  maintained  a 
correspondence,  Locke  was  held  by  him  in  particular 
esteem,  and  in  the  last  year  of  his  life  lie  went  to  Eng- 
land for  the  purpose  of  visiting  that  philosopher.  Mol- 
yneux  died  in  Dublin  Oct.  11, 1698.     (J.  H.  ^^'.) 

Mom'dis  (IMo/icm'c  v.  r.  Mo^/t^joc),  given  (1  Esdr. 
ii,  4)  in  place  of  Maadai  (q.  v.)  of  the  Heb.  (Ezra  x, 
34). 

Moment  ("5"^,  re'ga,  the  u-inh  of  an  eye,  i.  e.  an 
insteint ;  ffrty/u'/,  a  point  of  time,  Luke  iv,  5). 

Momiers  or  Mummers  (from  the  French  word 
momerie — mummiry,  hypocrisy)  is  a  name  of  contempt 
given  to  a  sect  of  Calvinistic  IMethodists  in  French 
Switzerland.  In  the  first  part  of  the  present  century 
we  find  in  Switzerland,  as  in  Germany,  a  conflict  be- 
tween the  old  confessional  faith  and  Rationalism.  The 
Genevan  school  had  broken  loose  from  rigid  Calvinism, 
and  the  heresies  of  Arianism  and  Sociniaiiism  were 
taught  and  believed.  But  after  the  great  political 
events  of  the  years  1813-15  we  see  the  old  evangelical 
faith  beginning  once  more  to  assert  itself,  young  the- 
ologians in  (ieneva  and  the  canton  Vaud  declaring  in 
favor  of  orthodox  preaching,  and  avowing  the  then 
almost  forgotten  doctrines  of  Christ's  divinity  and  of 
total  human  depravity.  Their  preaching  caused  great 
bitterness  of  feeling.  Emjiaytaz,  genoriilly  recognised 
as  the  first  ]>rcacher  of  the  IVIoiniers  at  that  time,  was  in 
1810  obliged  to  quit  Geneva,  and  in  1817  the  "Venera- 
ble Comiiagnie  des  Pasteurs"  (i.  c.  the  Presbytery  of 
(ieneva)  issued  a  formal  prohibition  against  preaching 
on  those  doctrines  which  had  ever  been  held  as  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Reformed  Church.  Tliis 
arbitrary  action  led  to  an  open  rupture  bttwcen  the 
evangelical  and  rationalistic  parties.  A  number  of 
preachers — among  fhem.Malan  (q.v.),  Enipaytaz.Gaus- 
sen,  Bost,  Galland,  and  Drummond  (a  British  Method- 


MONA 


447 


MONARCHIA 


ist)— refused  to  obey,  and  actually  separated  from  the 
state  Church,  organizing  their  own  independent  evangel- 
ical congregations.  Their  adherents  were  all  more  or 
less  influenced  by  Methodist  tendencies,  and  inclined  to 
a  sombre  view  of  life.  They  were  called  by  the  people 
"  Moraiers,"  as  if  to  say  hypocrites,  and  exjjosed  to  the 
insults  of  the  popidace.  Many  vexatious  occurrences 
took  place  ;  they  were  much  disturbed  in  their  worship, 
particularly  at  (xeneva,  where  they  had  erected  a  church 
by  funds  secured  in  England;  but  they  were  at  last 
oihcially  tolerated.  In  the  canton  Vaud,  however, 
where  they  had  spread  considerably,  their  assemblies 
•were  entirely  forbidden  by  the  authorities  by  special  act 
(j\Iay  20, 1824),  and  in  consequence  the  pastors  Scheler, 
Olivier,  Chavannes,  Professor  Monnard,  and  others,  were 
obliged  to  leave  their  flocks  or  suffer  heavy  penalties. 
But  the  old  experience  that  persecution  only  strength- 
ens a  persecuted  cause  proved  true  here  also.  The 
sect  gladly  took  to  itself  the  name  given  in  reproach, 
and  the  "Momiers,"  in  spite  of  interdict,  continued  to 
increase,  and  finally  caused  the  formation  of  an  inde- 
pendent Church  (Eglise  separe).  In  183-1  the  right  of 
assembling  together,  and  free  exercise  of  their  religious 
convictions,  was  granted  them  by  the  state,  and  they 
spread  now  more  than  ever.  They  found  adherents 
also  in  German  Switzerland.  Thus  in  Berne  a  Wiirt- 
emberger  named  Mohrli,  and  a  physician  from  Wei- 
mar named  Yalenti,  actively  proselyted  for  the  new 
doctrines.  In  Neuenburg  also,  and  in  other  Protestant 
cantons  of  the  little  European  republic,  this  peculiar 
"  Methodism"  spread  and  flourished.  A  paper  was  also 
started,  the  Gazette  Ecancjelique,  and  it  rapidly  gained 
a  large  circulation.  While  the  Evangelical  Society  of 
Geneva  [see  the  articles  Malan  and  Haldane  broth- 
ers] owes  its  origin  and  strength  largely  to  the  influ- 
ence and  zealous  co-operation  of  this  sect,  the  great  re- 
sults of  this  schism  are  embodied  in  a  free  evangelical 
Church  union,  called  the  "  I^glise  libre,"  which  was  or- 
ganized by  the  different  nonconforming  congregations 
in  1848.  See  Malan,  Siviss  Tracts,  i,  20  sq. ;  Les  Proges 
dti  Methodkme  en  Geneve  (1835) ;  Hagenbach,  Ch.  Hist. 
ISth  and  Wth  Cent,  ii,  406  sq. ;  Bist.  veritable  des  Mo- 
miei-s  de  Geneve  (Paris,  1824) ;  Schweizer,  Die  Jdrchl. 
Zerwiirfnisse  im  Kanton  Waadt ;  Mestral,  Mission  de 
VEglise  libre  (1848) ;  Bost,  Defense  des  f  deles  de  VE:)lise 
de  Geneve  (Paris,  1825) ;  Von  Goltz,  Die  reform,  Kirche 
Genfs  im  19  Jahrh.  (Basle  and  Gen.  18G2) ;  Cheneviere, 
Quelques  mots  sur  la  Geneve  religieuse  dii  baron  de  Goltz 
(Gen.  1803) ;  Aschbach,  Kirchen-Lex.  iv,  259._ 

Mona  (i-iovij)  is  a  term  applied  to  females  who  as- 
sumed the  monastic  life.  The  common  name  applied 
to  female  recluses  is  mm?w,  from  7ionna  ;  Gr.  vdvi'i],  aunt. 
See  Nuns. 

Monacensis,  Codex.     See  Munich  MS. 

Monachism.     See  JIonasticism. 

Monaco,  Francisco  -  Maria  del,  an  Italian 
theologian,  a  native  of  Sicily,  was  born  in  1593.  In 
1618  he  entered  holy  orders,  but,  instead  of  preaching, 
devoted  himself  to  pedagogy.  He  taught  for  a  time  at 
Padua,  and  was  subsequently  employed  in  different  of- 
fices. In  1644  he  came  to  France,  welcomed  by  cardinal 
IMazarin,  who  appointed  him  his  successor.  He  preach- 
ed successfully  before  the  court  and  in  the  churches  of 
Paris.  He  was  appointed,  through  the  influence  of  the 
prime  minister,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  but  died  shortly 
after  at  Paris  (1651).  He  wrote  II  Sole,  panegirico 
(Venice,  1618,  4to)  -.—La  Penna,  panegirico  (1620,  4to) : 
— Patrum  Clericorum  regularium  XIV  Elogia  (Padua  ; 
Milan,  1G21,  8vo) : — In  adores  et  spectatores  comcedia- 
rum  nostri  temporis  Pnrmnesis  (Padua,  1621,  4to):  — 
Ilorce  subcesivce  (1625,  4to)  :—De  Paupertate  evangelica 
(Rome,  1644,  folio) ;  a  work  which  his  departure  for 
France  obliged  him  to  leave  unfinished  i—De  Fidei  vni- 
tate,  III,  ad  Carolum,  Britanniarum  regem.  (Paris,  1648, 
folio)  -.—In  vniversam  A  ristotelis  Philosophiam  Com- 
mentaria  (Paris,  1652,  folio).     Other  works  of  his  ^re 


preserved  in  manuscript  at  Palermo.  See  Silos,  Hist. 
Cleric,  reg.  part  iii,  bk.  viii ;  L.  Allatius,  De  Viris  Illustr. 
p.  108 ;  F.  M.  Maggi,  De  Vita  UrsulcB  Benincasce ;  Mon- 
gitore,  Bibl.  sicula.  i,  225 ;  Uomini  illustri  della  Sicilia, 
vol.  iv. 

Monaco,  Lorenzo,  a  Genoese  painter,  sometimes 
called  the  '■  Jlonk  of  the  Isole  d'Oro,"  flourished  in  the 
14th  century.  He  was  a  favorite  of  the  king  and  queen 
of  Aragon,  to  whom  he  presented  several  illuminated 
missals.  A  beautiful  A  ngel■,^^\ith  arms  crossed  over  his 
bosom,  and  floating  in  the  air,  is  credited  to  him  in  the 
Florence  gallery;  also  7'Ae  Flight  into  Fggpf,  in  the  Are- 
na at  Padua,  in  which  picture  INIary  and  Joseph  are  at- 
tended by  Salome  and  three  youths.  But  very  little  is 
known  of  this  artist.  He  died,  according  to  Lanzi,  in 
1408.  See  Lanzi's  History  of  Painting,  trausl.  by  Ros- 
coe  (London,  1847,  3  vols.  8vo),  iii,  233 ;  Mrs.  Jameson, 
Legends  of  the  Madonna  (ibid.  1857,  8vo),  p.  231 ;  Sacred 
and  Legendary  Art  (ibid.  1857,  2  vols.  8vo),  i,  120;  ii, 
796. 

Monadology  (from  Gr.  jiovae,,  unity,  and  Xo-yof, 
discourse}  is  the  term  applied  to  the  doctrine  or  science 
of  Monads,  which  was  fuUy  developed  by  the  German 
philosopher  Leibnitz.  "  He  conceived  the  whole  uni- 
verse, bodies  as  well  as  minds,  to  be  made  up  of  monads, 
that  is,  simple  substances ;  each  of  which  is,  by  the  Cre- 
ator, in  the  beginning  of  its  existence,  endowed  with 
certain  active  and  perceptive  powers.  A  monad,  there- 
fore, is  an  active  substance,  simple,  without  parts  or 
figure,  which  has  within  itself  the  power  to  produce  all 
the  changes  it  undergoes  from  the  beginning  of  its  ex- 
istence to  eternity.  The  changes  which  the  monad  un- 
dergoes, of  what  kind  soever,  though  they  may  seem  to 
us  the  effect  of  causes  operating  from  without,  are  only 
the  gradual  and  successive  evolutions  of  its  own  inter- 
nal powers,  which  would  have  produced  all  the  same 
changes  and  motions  although  there  had  been  no  other 
being  in  the  universe"  (Reid,  Lifell.  Poivers,  essay  ii,  ch. 
15).  "  Monadology,"  says  Cousin,  "  rests  upon  this  ax- 
iom :  every  substance  is  at  the  same  time  a  cause,  and, 
every  substance  being  a  cause,  has  therefore  in  itself 
the  principle  of  its  own  development ;  such  is  the  mo- 
nad— it  is  a  simple  force.  Each  monad  has  relation  to 
all  others ;  it  corresponds  with  the  plan  of  the  universe ; 
it  is  the  universe  abridged ;  it  is,  as  Leibnitz  saj'S,  a 
living  mirror  which  reflects  the  entire  universe  under 
its  own  point  of  view.  But  every  monad  being  simple, 
there  is  no  immediate  action  of  one  monad  upon  anoth- 
er ;  there  is,  however,  a  natural  relation  of  their  respec- 
tive development,  which  makes  their  apparent  commu- 
nication ;  this  natural  relation,  this  harmony,  which  has 
its  reason  in  the  wisdom  of  the  sujireme  Director,  is 
pre-established  harmony"  {Hist,  of  Mod.  Philos.  ii,  86). 
See  Ueberweg,  Hist.  Philos.  ii,  92  sq.,  107  sq.;  also  p.  27, 
54,  130,  145, "312,  316,  336,  507.  See  also  Leibnitz; 
Neo-Platonism, 

Monarchae  was  the  title  occasionally  bestowed  in 
the  Christian  churches,  especially  in  those  of  the  East, 
instead  of  the  more  familiar  metropolitan  (q.  v.).  In  the 
6th  canon  of  the  Council  of  Sardica,  which  was  held  in 
344,  we  find  metropolitans  distinguished  by  the  title 
jyrinceps  jjrovincice  (J^npxoQ  rijg  iirapxiac) ;  but  else- 
where, in  references  of  those  days,  they  are  entitled 
monarchce.     See  Riddle,  Christian  Antiquities,  p.  224. 

Monarchia  is  the  term  by  which  is  designated  the 
leading  or  opening  statement  in  the  orderly  enunciation 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  (q.  v.),  i.  e.  the  doctrine 
that  there  is  one  and  only  one  'Apxn,  principle  or  foun- 
tain of  Divinity,  God  the  Father,  the  first  person  in  the 
Trinity,  who  only  is  Avro^eoc,  "  God  of  and  from  him- 
self" (Pearson  [Expos,  of  the  Creed  (1741,  fol.),  p.  39]  is 
very  particular  on  the  form  of  this  statement,  and  takes 
exception  to  Bull,  who  uses  the  word  •'  from" — "  of  and 
from  himself,"  which  Pearson  considers  a  contradiction). 
The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  assumes  that  the  Son  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  derive  their  divinity  from  the  Father- 


MOXARCHIANS 


448 


MOXARCHIANS 


as  tlip  nno  'Apx'/'  The  scriptural  and  only  true  idea  I 
of  God  involves  in  its  development  the  idea  of  the  tri- 
uiiity ;  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Monarchia  may  be  ap- 
proached either  from  the  side  of  the  unity  of  God  or  , 
from  the  side  of  the  trinity  of  persons.  Coming  to  it 
on  the  side  of  the  unity,  there  is  presented  to  the  mind,  j 
first,  the  existence  of  God,  then  the  unity  of  God,  then 
the  undcrived  nature — that  is,  his  self-existence.  Com- 
ing to  the  doctrine  on  the  side  of  the  trinity  of  persons, 
Scripture  reveals  God  the  Son,  who  is  Gftif  tie  Qtov  by 
an  eternal  generation  ;  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  is 
Ofof  t/c  Btui)  by  an  eternal  procession.  This  refers  us 
to  the  first  person  of  the  Trinit}-,  as  him  from  whom  1 
the  second  and  tliird  persons  derive  their  divinity.  The  | 
doctrine  of  the  Monarchia,  flowing  as  it  does  directly 
from  the  unity  of  God,  in  its  expression  guards  that  ! 
unity;  while  at  the  same  time  it  renders  it  possible  that 
the  Son  is  (Jod,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  God,  by  a  dcriva-  ! 
tion  of  Godhead ;  the  full  doctrine  of  the  Godhead  of  the 
second  and  third  persons  being  maintained  by  the  fur- 
ther doctrine  of  the  perichoresis.  It  is  to  be  remarked 
that  as  apx'l  lias  the  meaning  of  "  beginning"  with  ref- 
erence to  time,  as  well  as  the  meaning  of  "  principle" 
■with  reference  to  origin,  so  with  regard  to  the  former  , 
meaning  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  are  dvapxoi  as 
well  as  the  Father.  Ahia,  cause,  is  also  used  in  the 
enunciation  of  this  doctrine  :  the  Father  himself,  airia, 
is  avcdriot;;  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  are  ahiaroc 
and  aiTiaru::  Scripture  and  the  Church  avoid  the  ap- 
pearance of  tritheism  by  tracing  back  (if  we  may  so 
say)  the  infinite  perfection  of  the  Son  and  Spirit  to  him 
whose  Son  and  Spirit  they  are.  They  are,  so  to  express 
it,  but  the  new  manifestation  and  repetition  of  the  Fa- 
ther ;  there  being  no  room  for  numeration  or  compari- 
son between  them,  nor  any  resting-place  for  the  contem- 
plating mind,  till  thej-  are  referred  to  liim  in  whom  they 
centre.  On  the  other  hand,  in  naming  the  Father,  we 
imply  the  Son  and  Spirit,  whether  they  be  named  or 
not.  This  is  the  key  to  much  of  the  language  of  holy 
Scripture  which  is  otherwise  difficult  to  understand,  as, 
e.  g.  1  John  V,  20 ;  1  Cor.  xii,  4-G ;  John  xiv,  16-18 
(Newman's  A  rians,  p.  192).  Viewing  this  doctrine  on 
the  side  of  the. second  and  third  persons  of  the  Trinity, 
it  becomes  the  doctrine  of  their  subordination  to  the 
Father.  In  nature,  in  perfection  of  substance,  equal  to 
the  Father;  in  authority,  in  origin,  the  Son  and  Hol\' 
Spirit  are  subordinate.  Bull  expresses  it  thus :  "  Pater 
igitur  minor  est  Filius  kcit  alriav.  yEqualis  vero  est 
I'atri  Filius  KaTu  ipvaiv.  Deus  ac  Dominus  est  Filius 
a;quc  ac  Pater ;  et  in  hoc  solo  discrepat  a  Patre  Filius, 
quod  Deus  et  Dominus  sit  a  Patre  Deo  ac  Domino ;  hoc 
est,  Deus  licet  de  Deo  sit,  de  vero  tamen  Deo  Deus  verus 
est,  ut  definivit  synodus  ipsi  Nicajna"  (Bull's  Worlcs, 
Burton's  ed.,  vi,  707).  The  like  things  may  be  said  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  This  subordination,  and  the  ministra- 
tions of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  executing  the 
counsels  of  the  individual  society  of  the  Godhead,  is 
styled  the  economy  of  the  Holy  Trinity. — Blunt,  Diet, 
of  Doct.  and  Hist.  T/ieol.  p.  4S().     See  Puockssion. 

Moiiarcliians  is  a  name  given  to  those  Christians 
of  th(?  early  Churcli  who  denied  the  distinction  of  per- 
S0II.1  in  the  divine  nature.  They  insisted  on  the  divine 
unity,  which  they  thougiit  was  infringed  by  the  com- 
mon and  orthodox  doctrine  of  tlie  Trinity.  "Jlonar- 
chiam  tenemus"wa8  tlieir  fre()nent  assertion  when  com- 
paring themselves  with  the  orlliodox  fathers,  whom 
they  accordingly  charged  with  Tritheism.  Yet  it  is 
apparent  that  the  Monarchians  did  not  properly  use 
the  term  i^MV(tft\ia — at  least  not  in  the  catholic  sense, 
as  maintaining  that  there  is  only  one  apxi),  source  or 
fountain  of  Deity,  the  Father,  which  sense  implies  the 
existence  of  the  Begotten  Son  and  Proceeding  Spirit  as 
distinct  Persons ;  nor  in  the  sense  of  unity,  for  unity  can 
only  be  asserted  when  there  is  plurality  (in  which  lies 
the  misuse  of  the  term  by  the  Unitarians)  ;  nor,  again, 
in  the  sense  of  God's  sole  government,  which  atlirms 
nothing  concerning  the  existence  or  non-existence  of  a 


distinction  of  Persons  in  the  Godhead ;  but  they  used  it 
ill  the  sense  of  simple  oneness,  from  which  oneness  they 
argued  that  the  Godhead  is  so  simple  a  being  as  to  be 
Hot'OTTpuawTToc — a  solitary,  single  Hypostasis.  That 
this  was  the  meaning  in  which  they  used  the  term  jxo- 
vnpxid  is  apparent  on  the  very  face  of  the  controversy. 
Thus  Tertullian  goes  on  to  assert  that  monarchia  means 
nothing  else  than  '•  singulare  et  unicum  imperium." 

The  Monarchians  are  generally  credited  as  the  ad- 
herents of  Praxeas,  a  writer  of  the  Grecian  school.  They 
were  sometimes  called  rat)ip<us{cms,hecause  theirviews 
led  to  the  conclusion  that,  if  the  union  between  God  the 
Father  and  his  Son  Jesus  were  so  intimate  as  they  af- 
firmed, then  the  former  must  be  supposed  to  have  suf- 
fered with  the  latter  all  the  aflliciions  of  his  life  and 
death.  Praxeas  held  that  the  Word  of  God  (Jesus 
Christ)  meant  nothing  more  than  the  word  of  his  mouth 
— the  emissions  of  his  voice,  to  which  distinct  agency 
had  been  metaphorically  ascribed.  These  heretics  con- 
sidered that  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  with  respect  to 
the  ])ers(inalily  of  the  Son  was  a  disparaging  represen- 
tation of  Christ,  whom  they  held  to  be  the  supreme  God 
himself,  and  who,  in  a  way  he  had  never  done  besides, 
had  revealed  himself  in  human  nature,  and  had  appear- 
ed in  a  human  body.  They  taught  that  God  was  to 
be  considered  in  two  different  relations :  1,  the  hidden 
Being,  as  he  was  before  the  Creation — ike  Father;  and, 
2,  in  so  far  as  he  revealed  himself,  the  Son  of  the  Logos  ; 
and  it  was  only  in  virtue  of  these  considerations  that 
Christ,  as  the  most  perfect  revelation  of  God  the  Father, 
was  called  the  Son  of  (Jod.  They  maintained  that 
this  doctrine  was  most  eminently  calculated  to  dignify 
Christ.  (See,  however,  below.)  The  Monarchians  re- 
ceived both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  held 
doctrines  somewhat  resembling  modern  Unitarianism. 
This  general  class,  however,  comprehended  many  who 
differed  more  from  each  other  than  they  did  even  from 
those  reputed  orthodox,  and  who,  indeed,  had  nothing 
in  common  but  a  great  zeal  for  ilonotheism.  and  a  fear 
lest  the  unity  of  God  should  be  endangered  by  the  hy- 
postases of  the  Alexandrian  fathers.  Thus  Theodotus, 
Arteraon,  and  I'aul  of  Samosata  were  placed  by  the  side 
of  Praxeas,  Noetus,  Beryllus  of  Bostra,  and  Sabcllius, 
between  whom  and  themselves,  on  every  essential  point 
of  Christian  doctrine,  there  was  an  unmistakable  oppo- 
sition. 

Monarchianism  is  generally  su[)posed  to  have  origi- 
nated about  the  end  of  the  2d  century.  It  seems  to  us, 
however,  that  this  heresy  may  be  traced  to  the  very 
earliest  times  of  Christianity.  Justin  Martyr  expressly 
denounces  it,  and  his  notice  guides  us  to  its  source,  for 
he  finds  the  heresy  to  exist  both  among  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians. He  condemns  the  Jews  for  thinking  that,  when 
God  was  said  to  have  appeared  to  the  patriarchs,  it  was 
(iod  the  Father  who  appeared.  Such,  he  says,  are  just- 
ly convicted  of  knowing  neither  the  Father  nor  the  Son ; 
for  the\-  who  say  that  the  Son  is  the  Father  are  con- 
victed of  neither  understanding  the  Father  nor  of  know- 
ing that  the  Father  of  the  universe  has  a  Son,  who,  be- 
ing the  first-born  Logos  of  God,  is  likewise  (iod  (First 
Apol.  eh.  Ixiii).  In  the  Dialogue  with  Trjplio  he  han- 
dles the  same  topic,  and  extends  the  charge  to  Chris- 
tians. "  I  am  aware  that  there  are  some  who  wish  to 
meet  this  by  saying  that  the  power  which  aiipeared 
from  the  Father  of  the  universe  to  Jloses,  or  Aliraham, 
or  Jacob,  is  called  an  Angel  in  his  coming  among  men, 
since  by  this  the  will  of  the  Father  is  made  known  to 
men ;  he  is  also  called  (ilory,  since  he  is  sometimes  seen 
in  an  unsubstantial  appearance  ;  sometimes  he  is  called 
a  Man,  since  he  ajipears  under  such  forms  as  the  Father 
pleases;  and  they  call  him  the  Word,  since  he  is  also 
the  bearer  of  messages  from  the  Father  to  men.  But 
they  say  that  this  power  is  unseparatetl  and  luidivided 
from  the  Father,  in  the  same  manner  that  the  light  of 
tlie  sun  when  on  earth  is  unseparated  aiul  uiulividcd 
from  the  sim  in  heaven,  and  when  the  sun  sets  the  light 
is  removed  with  it ,  so  the  Father,  thev  sav,  when  he 


MONARCHIANS 


449 


MONARCHIANS 


wishes,  makes  his  power  go  forth,  and  when  he  wishes 
he  brings  it  back  again  to  himself"  (Dial.  c.  Tryph.  cc. 
127, 128).  It  appears,  then,  there  were  persons  in  Jus- 
tin's time  who  called  themselves  Christians,  but  who 
believed  that  the  Son  was  merely  an  unsubstantial  en- 
ergy or  operation  of  the  Father  (see  Bull,  Lef.  Fid. 
Nic.  can.  ii,  qu.  iv,  4 ;  Burton,  Bampt.  Led.  note  103). 
Now  in  this  the  Jews  had  deserted  the  better  teachings 
of  their  earlier  rabbins ;  for  these  ascribed  a  divine  per- 
sonalitv  to  the  angel  of  the  Presence,  and  the  doctrine 
of  the  "holy  and  undivided  Trinity  subsisted,  though  in 
a  less  developed  form,  in  the  synagogue  of  old  (see  Mill, 
Panth.  Prin.  pt.  ii,  p.  92  sq.).  The  cause  of  this  declen- 
sion in  doctrine  was,  that  opposition  to  the  Incarnate 
Word,  when  he  really  appeared,  seemed  to  have  predis- 
posed them  to  accept  a  heathen  philosophy,  and  to  rep- 
resent the  Logos  as  Philo  did— as  the  manifest  God  not 
personally  distinct  from  the  concealed  Deity.  This  er- 
ror found  its  way  into  Christianity  through  the  Gnos- 
tics, who  were  largely  indebted  to  the  Platonic  school 
of  Alexandria.  It  appears  as  the  foundation  of  the  sys- 
tem of  Simon  Magus,  who  taught  that  the  originating 
principle  of  all  (which  he  assorted  to  be  Fire,  for  "God 
is  a  consuming  fire")  is  of  a  twofold  nature,  having  a 
secret  part  and  a  manifest  part,  corresponding,  as  Hip- 
poly  tus  remarks,  to  the  potentiality  and  energy  of  Aris- 
totle. If  this  be  nothing  else  than  Philo's  representa- 
tion of  the  Logos,  there  is  some  sure  ground  for  the  no- 
tion that  Simon  held  the  heresy  afterwards  called  Sa- 
bellian.  Burton  rejects  the  notion,  inasmuch  as  the 
doctrine  of  emanations  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the 
theory  of  Sabellius ;  but  Hippolytus  (whom  Burton  did 
not  possess)  shows  that  the  Logos,  in  Simon's  theory, 
employed  certain  portions  of  the  divine  fulness,  which 
portions  he  called  ^ons ;  and  that  the  Logos,  although 
Simon  uses  the  word  Begotten,  is  really  the  manifest 
God  not  personally  distinct  from  the  concealed  Deity 
(see  Burton,  Hampton  Lect.  note  46).  Although,  there- 
fore, the  doctrine  of  emanations  is  not  to  be  confounded 
with  the  doctrine  of  Sabellius,  it  had  in  its  original  form, 
as  constructed  by  Simon,  a  foundation  of  Sabellianism. 
Traces  of  Sabellianism  are  found  even  in  the  later 
schools  of  Gnostics,  and  the  later  Sabellianism  approach- 
ed to  an  emanation  theory.  A  resemblance  has  been 
noticed  between  the  tenets  of  Valentinus  and  those 
of  Sabellius  (Peturius,  Dogm.  Tlieol.  II,  i,  6;  Wormius, 
Hist.  Sabel.  ii,  3),  and  Neander  is  inclined  to  think  that 
Marcion  may  have  adopted  some  of  the  Patripassiau 
doctrines  in  Asia  Minor  (Church  Hist,  i,  796 ;  Burton, 
Hampton  Lect.  note  103).  The  leading  tenet  of  the 
Monarchians  thus  appears  to  have  been  introduced  into 
Christianity  principally  through  the  Alexandrian  Jews 
and  the  Gnostics.  It  may  also  have  been  derived  im- 
mediately from  heathen  philosophers,  as  in  the  case  of 
Noetns  it  is  ascribed  by  Hippolytus  immediately  to 
Herachtus  (see  NoiiTiANs). 

But  whatever  its  origin  in  its  development,  Monarch- 
ianism  must  be  carefully  distinguished  among  two  oj)- 
posite  classes  claiming  to  be  Monarchians :  the  rational- 
istic or  dynamic  Monarchians,  who  denied  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  or  explained  it  as  a  mere  power  (^Avvafiic) ; 
and  the  patripassiau  Monarchians,  who  identified  the 
Son  with  the  Father,  and  admitted  at  most  only  a  modal 
trinity,  a  threefold  mode  of  revelation.  "The  first 
form  of  this  heresy,"  says  Schaff,  "  involved  in  the  ab- 
stract Jewish  monotheism,  deistically  sundered  the  di- 
vine and  the  human,  and  rose  little  above  Ebionism. 
The  second  proceeded,  at  least  in  part,  from  pantheistic 
preconceptions,  and  approached  the  ground  of  Gnostic 
docetism.  The  one  prejudiced  the  dignity  of  the  Son, 
the  other  the  dignity  of  the  Father ;  yet  the  latter  was 
by  far  the  more  profound  and  Christian,  and  according- 
ly mei  with  the  greater  acceptance." 

1.  The  Monarchians  of  the  first  class  saw  in  Christ  a 

mere  man,  filled  with  divine  power;  but  conceived  this 

divine  power  as  operative  in  him,  not  from  the  baptism 

only,  according  to  the  Ebionitish  view,  but  from  the 

A'L— F  F 


beginning;   and  admitted  his  supernatural  generation 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.     To  this  class  belong : 

(1)  The  A  logians,  a  heretical  sect  in  Asia  Minor  about 
A.D.  170,  of  which  very  little  is  known.    See  Alogians. 

(2)  The  Theodotians,  so  called  from  their  founder, 
Theodotus,  who  flourished  near  the  close  of  the  2d 
century.  He  denied  Christ  in  a  persecution,  with  the 
apology  that  he  only  denied  a  man ;  but  still  held  him 
to  be  the  supernaturally  begotten  Messiah,  He  taught 
that  Jesus  was  born  of  the  Virgin  according  to  the  will 
of  the  Father,  and  that  at  his  baptism  the  higher  Christ 
descended  upon  him.  But  this  higher  Christ  Theodo- 
tus conceived  as  the  Son  of  him  who  was  at  once  the 
Supreme  God  and  the  Creator  of  the  world,  and  not 
(with  Cerinthus  and  other  Gnostics)  as  the  son  of  a 
deity  superior  to  the  God  of  the  Jews.  See  Theodo- 
tians. 

(3)  The  A  rtemonites,  or  adherents  of  Artemon,  who 
came  out  somewhat  later  at  Rome  with  a  similar  opin- 
ion, declaring  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  an 
innovation,  and  a  relapse  to  heathen  polytiieism.  They 
asserted  that  until  the  time  of  Victor,  bishop  of  Rome, 
their  doctrine  was  the  reigning  one  in  the  Roman 
Church,  and  that  it  was  first  proscribed  by  Victor's  suc- 
cessor, Zephyrinus  (after  A.D.  200).  This  was  an  un- 
reasonable charge,  but  may  have  been  made  jjossible 
by  the  indefiniteness  of  the  earliest  formulas  of  the 
Christian  Church.  The  Artemonites  were  charged  with 
placing  EucUd  and  Aristotle  above  Christ,  and  esteem- 
ing mathematics  and  dialectics  above  the  Gospel.  See 
Artemonites. 

(4)  Paid  of  Samosafa,  bishop  of  Antioch  in  the  sec- 
ond half  of  the  3d  century,  who  denied  the  personality 
of  the  Logos  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  considered 
them  merely  powers  of  God,  like  reason  and  mind  in 
man ;  but  granted  that  the  Logos  dwelt  in  Christ  in 
larger  measure  than  in  any  former  messenger  of  God ; 
anil  taught,  like  the  Socinians  in  later  times,  a  gradual 
elevation  of  Christ,  determined  by  his  own  moral  devel- 
opment, to  divine  dignity  (a  ^toTroit]aie  t/c  irpoKonriQ). 
His  overthrow  by  the  emperor  Aurelius  in  272  decided 
the  fall  of  the  Monarchians,  though  they  still  appear 
at  the  end  of  the  4th  century  as  condemned  heretics, 
under  the  name  of  Samosatenians  (q.  v.),  Paulianists 
(q.  v.),  and  Sahellians  (q.  v.). 

2.  The  second  class  of  ISIonarchians,  called  by  Ter- 
tullian  Patripassians  (as  afterwards  a  branch  ^  the 
Monophysites  was  called  Theopaschites),  together  with 
their  unitarian  zeal,  felt  the  deaper  Christian  impulse 
to  hold  fast  the  divinity  of  Christ;  but  they  sacrificed 
to  it  his  independent  personality,  which  they  merged  in 
the  essence  of  the  Father. 

(1)  The  first  prominent  advocate  of  this  class  of  Mo- 
narchians, rather  than  the  founder  of  Monarchianism, 
was  Praxeas,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken  above. 
No'etiis  of  Smyrna,  who  differed  but  little  from  Praxeas, 
is  frequently  recognised  as  the  leader  of  a  branch  of  this 
class;  and  Callistus  (pope  Calixtns  I),  who  adopted  and 
advocated  the  doctrines  of  Noetus,  as  the  leader  of  a 
third  branch.  Those  who  strictly  followed  him  were 
called  Callistians,  in  distinction  from  the  direct  follow- 
ers of  Noetus,  who  were  called  NoUiam  (q.  v.).  Noetus 
taught  (according  to  Hippolytus,  Philos.  ix,  7  sq.)  that 
the  one  God  who  created  the  world,  though  in  himself 
invisible,  had  yet  from  most  ancient  times  appeared 
from  time  to  time,  according  to  his  good  pleasure,  to 
righteous  men ;  and  that  this  same  God  had  himself  be- 
come also  the  Son,  when  it  pleased  him  to  submit  to 
being  born ;  he  was  consequently  his  own  son,  and  iu 
this  ^identity  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  consisted  the 
"  monarchia"  of  God.  An  associate  and  disciple  of  No- 
etus was  Epigonus,  who  brought  the  doctrine  he  pro- 
fessed to  Rome ;  and  his  pupil,  again,  was  Cleomenes, 
who  defended  the  doctrine  of  Noetus  m  the  time  of  bish- 
op Zephyrinus,  the  successor  of  Victor.  With  this  Cle- 
omenes, according  to  Hyppolytus,  Callistus,  the  successor 
of  Zephyrinus,  was  on"  terms  of  friendship,  and  was  of 


MONARCHIAXS 


450 


MONARCHIANS 


like  opinions.  Callistus  decbred  the  Son  to  be  merely  the 
manifestation  of  the  Father  in  human  form ;  the  Father 
animating  the  Son,  as  the  spirit  animates  the  body  (John 
xiv,  11),  and  suffering  with  him  on  the  cross.  "The 
Father,"  says  he,  "  wlio  was  in  the  Son,  took  fiesh  and 
made  it  God,  uniting  it  with  himself,  and  made  it  one. 
Father  and  Son  were  therefore  the  name  of  the  one 
God,  and  this  one  person  {npoaojTzop)  cannot  be  two ; 
thus  the  Father  suffered  with  the  Son."  After  tlie 
death  of  this  pope,  Patripassianism  virtually  disappear- 
ed from  the  Koman  Church. 

(2)  The  stepping-stone  from  simple  Patripassianism 
to  what  we  shall  presentl}'  deal  with  as  Sabellian  mo- 
dalism  constitutes  the  doctrine  advanced  by  Beryllus 
of  liostra,  in  Arabia.  From  him  we  have  only  a  some- 
what obscure  and  verj^  variously  interpreted  passage  in 
Euscbius  (//.  E.  vi,  33).  He  denied  the  personal  pre- 
existence  ('l^i'n  ovtriaQ  inpiypa<pr],  i.  e.  a  circumscribed, 
limited,  separate  existence),  and  in  general  the  inde- 
pendent divinity  (Idia  Stdr/jt-)  of  Christ,  but  at  the 
same  time  asserted  the  indwelling  of  the  divinity  of  the 
Father  ('H  TrarpiKO  SrtoTijg)  iu  him  during  his  earthly 
life. 

(3)  The  Sabellian  modalism  had  its  starting-point  in 
the  views  evolved  by  Sahellius  ((j.  v.),  who  flourished  in 
the  beginning  of  the  2d  century,  lie  differed  from  the 
ortliodox  standard  mainly  in  denying  the  trinity  of  es- 
sence and  the  permanence  of  the  trinity  of  manifesta- 
tion; making  tlie  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  only 
temporary  phenomena,  which  fulfil  their  mission  and 
return  into  the  abstract  monad,  lie  differed  from  the 
other  jMonarchians  by  embracing  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his 
speculation,  and  thereby  reached  a  trinity;  not  a  simul- 
taneous trinity  of  essence,  however,  but  only  a  succes- 
sive trinity  of  revelation.  He  starts  from  a  distinction 
of  the  monad  and  the  triad  in  the  divine  nature.  His 
fundamental  thought  is  that  the  unity  of  God,  without 
distinction  in  itself,  unfolds  or  extends  itself  ('H  no- 
vug  TrXaTVV^iiaa  -ytyovf  Tptac)  in  the  course  of  the 
world's  development  in  three  different  forms  and  periods 
of  revelation  (Ovopara,  irpoffunra — not  in  the  ortho- 
dox sense  of  the  term,  however,  but  in  the  primarj-^ 
sense  of  mask,  or  part  [in  a  play]),  and,  after  the  com- 
pletion of  redemption,  returns  into  unity.  The  Father 
reveals  himself  in  the  giving  of  the  law  or  the  Old-Tes- 
tament economy  (not  in  the  creation  also;  this,  in  his 
view,  precedes  the  trinitarian  revelation) ;  the  Son,  in 
the  incarnation ;  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  inspiration.  He 
illustrates  the  trinitarian  relation  by  comparing  the  F'a- 
ther  to  the  disk  of  the  sun,  the  Son  to  its  enlightening 
power,  the  Spirit  to  its  warming  influence.  His  view 
of  the  Logos,  too,  is  peculiar.  Tiie  Logos  is  not  identi- 
cal with  the  Son,  but  is  the  monad  itself  in  its  transi- 
tion to  triad;  that  is,  God  conceived  as  vital  motion 
and  creating  principle — the  speaking  God  {^log  \aXwi>), 
in  distinction  from  the  silent  God  {^eog  ontnrwv).  Each 
vpoffioTTov  is  another  CiaXeyi(T^ai,  and  the  three  Trpoa- 
(J7r«  together  are  onl}'  successive  evolutions  of  the 
Logos  or  the  worldward  aspect  of  the  divine  nature. 
As  the  Logos  proceeded  from  God,  so  he  returns  at  last 
into  liim,  and  the  process  of  trinitarian  development 
(^leiXt^ig)  closes  (comp.  Uaur,  Gesc/i.  d.  Dreieiny/keits- 
lehre,  on  this  point).  Athanasius  traced  the  doctrine 
of  Sabellius  to  the  Stoic  philosophy;  and  it  must  be 
confessed  that  in  the  Pythagorean  system  also,  in  the 
Gospel  of  the  Egyptians,  and  even  in  the  pseudo-Clem- 
entine homilies,  there  are  kindred  ideas.  Hut,  notwith- 
standing these,  it  is  now  generally  conceded  that  Sabel- 
lius was  in  all  respects  original  in  the  propounding  of 
his  theory  of  the  Trinitarian  doctrine.  Says  Schaff 
{Ch.  Hist,  i,  293) :  "  Sabellius  is  by  far  the  most  original, 
ingenious,  and  profound  of  the  Monarchians.  His  sys- 
tem is  known  to  us  only  from  a  few  fragments,  and 
some  of  these  not  altogether  consistent,  in  Athanasius 
and  other  fathers.  It  was  very  fully  developed,  and 
has  been  revived  in  modern  times  by  Schleiermacher 
(  Uvbtr  den  Gef/ensatz  dtr  ISahtUianischai  u.  A  l/iuiuisiun- 


ischen  Vorstellung  v.  d.  Triniidt)  in  a  peculiarly  modified 
form."  Since  the  writing  of  the  above  by  Dr.  Schaff, 
the  general  Jlonarchian  view  of  the  incaniation  has 
been  revived  by  the  Kev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  who  in 
his  Lift  of  Christ  (X.  Y.  1871",  8vo),  vol.  i,  denies  the 
union  of  the  human  and  divine  nature  in  Christ,  and 
asserts  that  he  was  God  dwelling  in  and  subject  to  the 
inlirmities  and  limitation  of  the  human  flesh— a  view 
which  he  supports  largely  from  ch.  ii  of  Hebrews.  See 
Arians  ;  Incarnation  ;  MoNornYsixES ;  Patripas- 
siANS;  Sabellians;  Unitarians. 

From  this  cursory  glance  at  the  history  of  Monarch- 
ianism,  there  is  apparent  an  endeavor  (o  escape  from  the 
revolting  tenet  of  Patripassianism,  and  to  retain  or  sup- 
ply that  which  the  nature  of  man  almost  instinctively 
requires— a  superhuman  mediation  and  atonement.  The 
working  of  these  two  motives,  as  the  llonarchian  adopted 
either  the  Arian  or  the  Patripassian  alternative,  is  very 
remarkable;  inasmuch  as  the  return  to  catholicity  ap- 
pears to  be  much  easier  in  the  school  which  adopted  the 
former  alternative.  Where  Patripassianism  was  at  once 
and  decisively  rejected,  it  was  open  to  the  !Monarchian  to 
satisfy  the  need  for  a  mediator  by  magnifying  the  di- 
vine element  in  our  Lord,  which  at  first  he  considered 
to  be  only  the  highest  degree  of  prophetic  grace,  and 
passing  through  stages  of  Arianism  and  semi-Arianism 
to  approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  truth.  Whereas, 
when  Patripassianism  had  been  adopted,  and  the  need 
was  felt  for  freeing  the  mind  from  a  tenet  at  which  one 
shudders,  it  was  only  done  by  diminishing  the  divine  nat- 
ure in  Christ,  through  the  stages  of  supposing  it  to  be  a 
portion  of  the  divine  fulness,  then  an  emanation  from  the 
Godhead.  The  result  was  a  deliberate  Psilanthropism. 
Regarding  the  heresy  itself  of  pseudo-Monarchianism, 
the  main  points  for  consideration  are  the  following: 
First,  an  eternal  mind  must  needs  have  in  it  from  eter- 
nity an  tvvoia  or  \oyoc,  a  notion  or  conception  of  itself, 
which  the  schools  term  verbum  mentis:  nor  can  it  be 
conceived  without  it.  "  This  Word  iu  God  cannot  be, 
as  it  is  in  us,  a  transient,  vanishing  accident,  for  then 
the  divine  nature  would  indeed  be  compounded  of  sub- 
stance and  accident,  which  would  be  repugnant  to  its 
simplicity  ;  but  it  must  be  a  substantial,  subsisting 
Word"  (IJull,  Cath.  Doct.  concerning  the  blessed  Trinity), 
The  Monarchians  denied  this  (TtXnoTUTov  Kai  tCovra 
Ka'i  avTOv  Toi'  Trpwrov  voii  Xuyou  t/iiZ-fYor).  Deny- 
ing this,  they  denied  also  that  substantial  i-inculum  cari- 
tdtis  in  which  the  Father  and  the  Son  are  one  ivonjn 
IlviviJiaTog.  Secondly,  thus  is  destroyed  that  avrap- 
Ktia  which  we  attribute  to  God,  i.  e.  his  self-sufficiency 
and  most  perfect  bliss  and  happiness  in  himself  alone, 
before  and  without  all  created  beings.  For  this  we 
cannot  well  conceive  without  acknowledging  a  distinc- 
tion of  persons  in  the  Godhead.  The  Monarchians,  it 
is  clear,  denied  this  individual  society  of  the  Trinity 
(comp.  Plinit,  Diet,  of  Sects,  Heresies,  etc.,  p.  332).  See 
Mcihler,  Athanasius  der  Giosse  (Mainz,  1827),  bk.  i  {Der 
Gluube  der  Kirche  der  drei  ersten  Jahrh.  in  L'etrejf'der 
Trinitdt,  etc.),  p.  1-1 IC ;  Baur,  Die  christl.  Lehre  ron  der 
Dreieinii/keit  u.  Menschtrerdung  Gottes  in  ihrer  geschickt- 
lichen  Kntu-ickelung  (Tilb.  1841-43,  3  vols.),  i,  129-341 ; 
^leier,  Die  Lehre  von  der  Trinitdt  in  ihrer  hist.  Etttwicke- 
lung  (Hamb.  1844, 2  vols.),  i,  45-134 ;  Dorner,  Entwicke- 
lungsqeschichte  der  Lehre  ron  der  Person  Christi  (1839; 
2d  ed.  Stuttg.  u.  Berl,  1845-56,  2  vols.),  i,  122-747; 
Lange,  Gesch.  d.  Lehrbegriffes  der  Unilarier  tor  der  nicd- 
nisciien  Si/node  (Leips.  1831);  Schleiermacher,  Weike, 
i,  2,  p. 485-574 ;  Vogt,  Leh?e  des  Alhcntasitis  ion  Alex- 
andrius  (Bremen,  1801) ;  Ua(Xcnhach,JJist.  of  Doctrines, 
i,  G2  sq.,  IIG  sq.,  131  sq.;  Moshcim,  Comment.  Eccles. 
Hist,  (sec  Index) ;  Jlilman,  Hist,  of  Christianitij,  and 
Latin  ChrUlidiiity,  i,  70-73 ;  Pressense,  Ear/i/  Years  of 
Christianity,  Ih  nsy,  and  Christian  Doctrine  (N.  Y.  1873, 
12mo).  ch.  v;  ^vaudvr.  Hist.  Dot/mas  (see  Index  in  voL 
ii),  and  Ch.  Hist.  vol.  i ;  UeberAveg,  Hist.  Phi/os.  ii,  306- 
1 1 ;  Ebrard,  Dogmtngi sch.  vol.  i ;  I lase,  Ch.  Hist.  p. 98  sq, 
196,704;  iidiaff,Ch'.Hist.\ul.i,  §81  and 83. 


MONARCHY 


451 


MONARCHY 


Monarchy,  Israelitish  (see  Kale,  De  potestate 
regia  iiu/eiiie  Hebr.  Havn.  1749).  According  to  the  sense 
of  the  Mosaic  constitution,  the  Hebrews  were  erected 
into  a  kind  of  republic  under  the  immediate  dominion 
of  Jehovah,  forming  a  strict  theocracy  (q.  v.);  the  law 
of  the  kingdom  (Deut.  xvii,  14-20)  being  partly  ex- 
pounded by  the  Pentateuch  itself,  which  alludes  to  it  as 
a  future  institution,  and  partly  organized  on  a  perma- 
nent basis  by  Solomon,  largely  independent  of  the  Mo- 
saic law  (see  Stitudlein  in  Eertholdt's  Theol,  Journ.  iii, 
259,  361  sq. ;  Hengstenberg,  Pentat.  ii,  240  sq.).  It  was 
inaugurated  by  Samuel  in  compliance  with  a  general 
request  of  the  people,  which  had  grown  out  of  the  bitter 
experience  of  many  years,  rendering  it  an  inevitable  ne- 
cessity sooner  or  later  (Ewald,  Israel.  Gesch.  ii,  140  sq.), 
as  the  order  of  judges  was  but  a  temporary  and  precari- 
ous safeguard  against  total  anarchy.  The  king,  how- 
ever, was  only  empowered  to  administer  the  theocratic 
government  as  a  viceroy  of  Jehovah,  the  heavenly  sov- 
ereign (Psa.  ii,  2),  and  ^vas  bound  to  this  law  as  the 
higliest  authority,  so  as  to  exclude  the  idea  of  an  inde- 
pendent and  absolute  monarch.  In  particular  cases  the 
Urim  and  Thummim,  or  a  prophet,  or  some  other  me- 
dium of  divine  communication  (1  Sam.  xxviii,  6 ;  xxx, 
7  sq. ;  2  Sam.  ii,  1 ;  1  Kings  xxii,  7  sq. ;  comp.  John  xi, 
51),  might  be  referred  to  in  order  to  direct  and  confirm 
the  theocratic  regent  as  to  the  will  of  Jehovah,  so  that 
in  this  way  the  monarchical  administration  still  retained 
the  charaitcr  of  a  divine  government,  and  the  kings 
were  reminded  of  their  dependency  (see  Kalkar,  Over  de 
Israel.  Godi-srer/erlnri,  in  liis  Verhandling  van  het  Haag- 
sche  Genoofschap,  etc.,  ii,  3  sq.).  But  in  practice  the 
Israelitish  kings  assumed  the  right  of  declaring  war 
and  concluding  peace  (1  Sam.  xi,  5  sq.),  as  well  as  of 
exercising  judicial  functions  in  the  highest  cases  (2 
Sam.  XV,  2 ;  1  Kings  iii,  16  sq. ;  comp.  Jer.  xxi,  12),  and 
of  pronouncing  amnesty  (2  Sam.  xiv).  The  king  was 
also  the  patron  of  the  religious  cultus  (1  Kings  viii ;  2 
Kings  xii,  4  sq. ;  xviii,  4  sq. ;  xxiii,  1  sq.),  and  in  war 
he  was  likewise  the  usual  leader  of  his  troops  (1  Sam. 
viii,  20).  Despotism  was  held  in  check  sometimes  by 
a  sort  of  coronation-oath — a  Magna  Charta,  as  it  were 
(1  Sam.  X,  25 ;  2  Sam.  v,  3 ;  1  Kings  xii,  4  sq. ;  2  Kings 
xi,  17 ;  comp.  Josephus,  War,  ii,  1, 2) — and  sometimes  by 
a  mass  meeting  of  the  tribes  (1  Chron.  iv,  41  sq. ;  the 
heads  of  families  formed  a  kind  of  popular  representa- 
tives, 1  Chron.  xxix,  1  sq. ;  comp.  xiii,  2);  and  there 
even  occurs  an  example  of  the  direct  intervention  of  the 
people  (1  Sam.  xiv,  45  sq.) ;  but  especially  the  proph- 
ets, who  from  the  time  of  Samuel  were  set  to  guard  the 
theocracy,  and  constituted  a  species  of  continually  self- 
renewing  order,  often  made  the  most  unshrinking  oppo- 
sition to  the  prince,  either  by  introducing  themselves 
officially  into  the  royal  cabinet  (Nathan,  Isaiah),  or  by 
demanding  a  special  audience  (1  Kings  xx,  22  sq.,  38; 
2  Kings  i,  15,  etc.),  and  even  went  so  far  as  open  resist- 
ance, by  their  severe  invectives  at  least,  to  unlawful 
measures  of  government  (compare  1  Sam.  xxii,  17  sq.). 
See  Prophet. 

The  regular  succession  was  confined  to  the  house  of 
David.  Usually  the  first-born  son  (even  when  a  minor 
[2  Kings  xi,  21]— there  is  found  no  provision  for  a  guar- 
dian or  regent  [yet  see  the  Sept.  at  1  Kings  xii,  24] ; 
the  queen-dowager,  however,  seems  to  have  a  position 
as  counsellor  in  such  cases  [Jer.  xiii,  18 ;  comp.  2  Kings 
xxiv,  12])  appears  to  have  as  a  matter  of  course  as- 
sumed the  reins  of  government,  but  occasionally  the  fa- 
ther is  stated  to  have  designated  a  particular  son  to  the 
throne  (1  Kings  i,  17,  20 ;  2  Chron.  xi,  22) ;  sometimes 
the  people  themselves  interfered  (2  Kings  xxi,  24 ;  xxiii, 
30),  and  even  foreign  powers  at  length  imposed  rulers 
as  their  own  vassals  upon  the  nation  (2  Kings  xxiii,  34 ; 
xxiv,  17),  In  the  kingdom  of  Israel  the  first  king  was 
inducted  into  office  by  a  prophet  (1  Kings  xi,  31  sq.), 
and  the  succession  was  thenceforth  hereditary  (descend- 
ing to  the  son,  or,  when  the  direct  line  failed,  to  the 
brother,  2  Kings  iii,  1) ;  but  the  brief  dynasties  followed 


each  other  with  many  interruptions  through  extinction, 
conspiracy,  or  deposition  (1  Kings  xvi,  9,  16,  21),  and 
several  interregna  occurred.  An  association  in  the 
throne,  or  rather  viceroyship,  of  the  successor  in  conse- 
quence of  the  disability  of  the  ruling  monarch  is  men- 
tioned in  2  Chron.  xxvii,  21 ;  and  numerous  other  in- 
stances are  rendered  probable  by  the  discrepancies  in 
the  regnal  years.  See  Chronology.  In  the  election 
of  a  king,  ancient  nations  had  great  regard  to  personal 
size  (1  Sam.  x,  23)  and  beauty  (1  Sam.  xvi,  12;  Ezek. 
xxviii,  12;  comp.  Psa.  xl,  3;  Homer,  //.  iii,  106  sq. ; 
Herod,  iii,  20;  Strabo,  xv,  699;  xvii,  822;  Athen.  xii, 
566;  Barhebr.  Chron.  p.  384;  see  also  Dougtsei  Analect. 
i,  131);  and  Hebrew  kings  were  required  to  be  native 
citizens  (Deut.  xvii,  15).  Those  who  instituted  a  new 
d3'nasty  sought  to  strengthen  their  power  by  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  previous  reigning  family  (1  Kings  xvi, 
11 ;  2  Kings  x,  11,  17;  xi,  1 ;  comp.  Josephus,  Ant,  xv, 
7, 10),  as  is  customary  stUl  in  the  East  (Tavernier,  Voy- 
age, i,  253).  The  first  kings,  Saul  (1  Sam.  ix,  16 ;  x,  1 ; 
XV,  1, 17)  and  David  (1  Sam.  xvi,  12  sq. ;  2  Sam.  ii,  4; 
V,  3 ;  xii,  7),  also  Solomon  (1  Kings  i,  34,  39 ;  v,  1 — so 
likewise  Absalom  unlawfully,  2  Sam.  xix,  11),  were 
regularly  anointed  by  a  prophet  or  the  high-priest; 
but  in  later  times  this  was  done  only  in  the  case  of  Jo- 
siah,  whom  the  priesthood  restored  to  the  throne  in 
place  of  the  usurping  Athaliah  (2  Kings  xi,  12),  and  Je- 
hoahaz  his  son,  whom  the  people  raised  to  the  throne 
(2  Kings  xxiii,  30),  besides  Jehu  of  the  kingdom  of  Is- 
rael, who  established  a  new  dynasty  (2  Kings  ix,  1  sq.) ; 
the  principle  apparently  being  in  these  cases  to  supply 
the  lack  of  the  hereditary  right.  The  Anointed  of  Je- 
hovah (frin^  H'^p'a),  or  simply  the  Anointed,  accord- 
ingly appears  (in  the  sacred  style)  as  the  official  title  of 
the  regular  sovereign  (1  Sam.  ii,  10,  35 ;  xvi,  0 ;  xxiv, 
6  ;  xxvi,  10,  23;  2  Sam.  xix,  22;  xxii,  51;  Psa.  ii,  2; 
Lam.  iv,  20,  etc.).  No  other  ceremony  of  investiture 
seems  to  have  been  enjoined ;  although  we  occasionally 
find  a  popular  assembly  (1  Sam.  x,  24;  1  Kings  i,  25, 
39;  2  Kings  ix,  13;  xi,  13;  2  Chron.  xxiii,  11;  comp. 
Josephus,  War,  i,  33,  9),  a  coronation  (2  Kings  xi,  12), 
music  (1  Kings  i,  40),  and  thank-offerings  (1  Kings  i, 
24).  The  roj'al  beast  of  burden  is  also  mentioned  (1 
Kings  i,  38).  See  Fort.  Scacchi  Dissert,  de  inaugurat. 
7-egiim  Israel,  in  Ugolini  Thesaur.  vol.  xxxii.  Eegal 
costumes,  consisting  of  costly  and  elaborate  garments, 
were  also  used  (at  least  armlets,  2  Sam.  i,  19 ;  1  Mace. 
X,  20,  62;  xi,  5;  xiv,  43),  in  accompaniment  with  the 
simple  diadem  ("iT3,  2  Sam.  i,  10;  2  Kings  xi,  12),  jew- 
elled crown  (il^bi^)  2  Sam.  xi,  30  ;  Cant,  iii,  11 ;  comp. 
Ezek.  xxi,  26;  1  Mace,  x,  20),  the  sceptre  (L33"d),  and 
the  throne  (XB3).  See  each  word.  Later  occurs  the 
purple  mantle  (1  Mace,  vi,  15 ;  x,  20,  62 ;  xiv,  43 ;  comp. 
Acts  xii,  21). 

The  income  of  the  Israelitish  kings,  with  which  they 
defrayed  the  expenses  of  their  court  and  administration, 
was  derived  from  voluntary  but  (as  still  in  the  East; 
see  Kampfer,  Aman.  p.  95)  valuable  presents  from  their 
subjects  in  Palestine  and  the  dependencies  (1  Sam.  x, 
27;  xvi,  20;  2  Sam.  viii,  2,  11;  1  Kings  x,  25;  comp. 
Herod,  iii,  87,  97;  ^lian,  V.  II.  i,  31 ;  Heeren,  Ideen,  I, 
i,  225  sq.,  483),  from  public  domains  and  royal  posses- 
sions, consisting  of  lands,  vineyards,  and  olive-yards  (1 
Sam.  viii,  14 ;  1  Chron.  xxvii,  26  sq. ;  2  Chron.  xxvi, 
10;  comp.  Josephus,  Ant.  vi,  13,  10;  xiv,  10,  6),  which 
sometimes  fell  to  the  crown  by  confiscation  of  private 
property  (1  Kings  xxi,  16  sq. ;  comp.  Ezek.  xlvi,  18; 
see  Kampfer,  ut  siip.  p.  96),  from  monopolies  (I  Kings 
X,  11  sq.,  26  sq. ;  Amos  vii,  1),  from  public  services  (1 
Kings  V,  13  ;  ix,  21 ;  comp.  1  Sam.  viii,  13),  and  from 
regular  taxes  in  kind  (comp.  1  Sam.  viii,  15;  xvii,  25), 
which  were  farmed  by  head  collectors  (Isa.  xvi,  1 ;  Ec- 
cles.  ii,  8).  At  times  there  is  mention  of  an  extraor- 
dinary levy  upon  personal  property  (2  Kings  xxiii, 
35) ;  and  the  king  also  claimed  a  share  of  the  booty  ob-: 


MONARCHY 


452 


MONASTERY 


tained  in  war  (2  Sam.  viii,  11  sq.)-     See  Assessmkxt. 
Hence  came  the  at  times  so  considerable  royal  treasures 
(1  Kings  X,  '21;   xiv,  2G;   2  Kings  xiv,  14),  the  rich 
wardrobes  (2  Kings  x,  22),  the  palaces  and  parks  (1 
Kings  vii,  9;  xix,  2;  2  Kings  xxi,  18;  xxv,  4;  Jer. 
xxxix,  4;  lii,  7;  Cant,  viii,  11),  the  sumptuously  served 
table  (1  Kings  iv,  22  sq. ;  comp.  Dan.  v,  1  sq. ;  Esth.  i,  j 
3  sq.),  to  which  it  was  esteemed  a  great  distinction  to 
be  invited  as  a  regular  guest  (2  Sam.  ix,  7 ;  see  Morier, 
Second  Journey,  p.  148  ;  Kosenmiiller,  Morgenl.  iii,  1G3  ; 
comp.  2  Kings  xxv,  29;  Dan.  i,  5;   Herod,  iii,  132; 
Hecren,  hkert,  I,  i,  217).     An  especial  mark  of  royal  , 
luxury  was  a  well-stocked  harem  (2  Sam.  v,  13 ;  1  Kings  ' 
xi,  1  sq. ;  xx,  8 ;  comp.  Quint.  Curt,  iii,  3,  24 ;  Athen. 
xii,  514;  Plutarch,  Artax.  c.  43),  which  was  guarded 
by  eunuchs,  and  descended  to  the  succeeduig  king  (2 
Sam.  xii,  8;  comp.  Herod,  iii,  ti8;   the  regulation  in 
Deut.  xvii,  17  was  interpreted  as  a  limit  of  eighteen 
wives,  Schickard,  Jus.  recj,  p.  175).     See  Harem.     To 
aspire  to  a  connection  witli  this  was  equivalent  to  being 
a  pretender  to  the  throne  (2  Sam.  xvi,  22;  1  Kings  ii, 
21  sq. ;  comp.  Movers,  Phonic,  i,  491).     See  Absaloji. 
Among  the  holidays,  the  day  of  the  king's  birth  or  as- 
cension was  prominent  (IIos.  vii,  5;  Matt,  xiv,  6;  comp. 
Gen.  xl,  20;  Herod,  i,  133;  ix,  109;  Josephus, /I  «^  vii, 
3, 1).     Music  at  court  and  table  is  early  mentioned  (2  | 
Sam.  xix,  35;  Eccles.  ii,  8).     Kings  expressed  their  fa- 
vor by  rich  presents,  especially  of  arms  and  apparel  [sec 
Gikt]  ;  and  on  royal  festive  days  malefactors  were  par- 
doned or  their  punishment  was  postponed  (1  Sam.  xi, 
13;  2  Sam.  xix,  22  sq. ;  comp.  Gen.  xl,  20;  see  Pliilo, 
ii,  529).     It  was,  however,  a  still  more  distinguished 
honor  when  the  king  invited  any  one  to  sit  at  his  right 
hand  (1  Kings  ii,  19 ;  comp.  Sueton.  Nero,  13 ;  Wetstein, 
N.  T.  i,  45G).     The  reverence  paid  to  the  monarch  was 
very  great  (Prov.  xxiv,  21);  persons  fell  prostrate  in 
liis  presence,  so  as  to  touch  the  forehead  to  the  earth  (1 
Sam.  xxiv,  9;  xxv,  23;  2  Sam.  ix,  6;  xix,  18;  even 
females  of  royal  rank  did  the  same,  1  Kings  i,  16),  dis- 
mounted in  the  street  on  meeting  him  (1  Sam.  xxv, 
23),  and  greeted  him  with  salvos  in  the  streets  and  at 
audiences  (Dan.  ii,  4;  iii,  9;  comp.  Josephus,  War,  ii, 
1,  1 ;  see  Eosenm  idler,  Morgenl.  iv,  350).     A  high  no- 
tion was  entertained  of  his  sagacity  (2  Sam.  xiv,  17; 
xix,  27  ;  comp.  Kosenmiiller,  Morgenl.  iii,  142  sq.).     His 
entrance  into  a  citj'  was  signalized  by  pomp  (2  Kings 
ix,  13;  1  Sam.  xviii,  G  sq. ;  comp.  .losephus,  Ant.  xvi,  2, 
1).     Of  the  rank  of  the  early  Hebrew  kings  of  course 
nothing  can  be  particularly  said ;  but  in  later  times 
those  created  by  the  Komans  held  the  honor  of  the  sen- 
atorial order  (comp.  Josephus,  .1  nt.  xiv,  10,  G).    Whether 
in  their  edicts  the  Israelitish  monarchs,  like  the  Persian 
(Ezra  i V,  18 ;  vii,  24),  Syrian  (I  Jlacc.  x,  19 ;  xi,  31 ;  xv, 
19),  and  Egyptian  (3  Mace,  iii,  14 ;  vii,  2),  issued  their 
edicts  in  the  plural  number  (see  Fromann,  Opusc.  i,  202 
Sq.),  is  uncertain  (comp.  Theodoret,  Quasi,  in  Genes.  19). 
Any  infringement  of  the  regal  majesty  was  followed  by 
the  death  pCiialty  (1  Kings  xxi,  10),  or  if  perpetrated 
by  a  member  of  tlie  royal  family,  it  incurred  an  igno- 
minious expulsion  from  court  (2  Sam.  xiv,  24,  25).     In 
general  Hebrew  kings  were  quite  as  popular  as  other 
Oriental  monarchs  (Ksth.  i,  14;  iv,  11;  Herod,  i,  99; 
iii,  140;  Diod.  Sic.  ii,  21 ;  iii,  47;  Agatharch.  ed.  Hud- 
son, i,  G3;  Strabo,  xvii,  821 ;  Harmer,  ii,  95;  LlUlecke, 
Beschr,  d.  tiirk.  Reichs,  p.  27G),  often  exhibited  tliem- 
selves  in  the  midst  of  their  subjects  (2  Sam.  xix,  8;  1 
Kings  XX,  39;  xxii,  W;  2  Kings  vi,  2G;  vii.  17;  Jer. 
xxxviii,7),  and  were  affable  with  them  (1  Kings  iii,  15; 
2  Kings  vi,  2G  sq. ;  viii,  3  sq.,  etc.),  even  to  the  extent 
of  (lersonal  intercourse  (1  Kings  xxi,  2  sq. ;  for  later  in- 
dications, see  the  IMislina,  iSanhedr.  ii,  2  sq.).     After 
their  death  the  kings  were  laid   in   royal  scpulclires 
(tho.se  of  Judah  in  Jerusalem)  (1  Kings  ii,  10;  xi,  43; 
xiv,  31,  etc.),  but  tlic  wicked  ones  were  sometimes  de- 
nied this  honor   (2   Chron.  xxviii,  27   [?  xxvi,  23]), 
which,  nevertheless,  does  not  argue  tlie  adi>i)tion  of  a 
death-tribunal  on  the  Israelitish  monarclis  (IJosenmilUer, 


Morgenl.  iii,  269  sq.),  after  the  Egyptian  custom  (Diod. 
Sic.  i,  22).  The  consorts  of  deceased  kings  remained 
in  high  honor,  and  even  held  the  title  of  queen-mother 
(nH^;5,  miitress,  1  Kings  xv,  13;  2  Kings  x,  13;  Jer. 
xiii,  18;  xxix,  2).  The  title  "king"  was  applied  to  the 
])rinces  of  the  royal  house  as  well  (Jer.  xvii,  20;  comp. 
2  Chron.  xxxii,  4).  ISIonarchs  expressed  their  regard 
for  each  other  by  rich  presents  (1  Kings  x,  2)  and  dip- 
lomatic embassies,  the  latter  to  convey  especially  their 
well-wishes  and  compliments  (2  Sam.  xx,  2;  2  Kings 
XX,  12  sq. ;  comp.  Herod,  vi,  39).     See  Salctatiox. 

The  following  official  courtiers  are  mentioned:  (1.) 
Chief  major-domo  or  head  palace-marshal  (^V  T5D 
n^2n  or  n^sn  b?  -l-rx,  l  Kings  iv,  6;  xviii,  3;  2 
Kings  xxiii,  18;  xix,  2;  Isa.  xxii,  15),  who  directed  the 
court  state  (Kampfer,  p.  78),  but  was  also  occupied  v»ith 
civil  duties.  Among  his  subordinates  were  the  palace 
doorkeepers  (C'^"l"iy,  2  Kings  vii,  11).  (2.)  Chief  hai- 
lifip-sri  br  -iirSSt,  2  Sam.  XX,  24;  1  Kings  iv,  6;  xii, 
18;  comp.  xi,  28).     (3.)  Chief  warder  of  the  icardrobe 

(nnnban  bv  -idx,  2  Kings  x,  22,  or  c'l'irisn  -.-cii', 

2  Kings  xxii,  14 ;  2  Chron.  xxxiv,  22),  (4.)  Superin- 
tendent of  the  exchequer  and  lands  (w1S"iil  ""^'J,  1 
Chron.  xxvii,  25  sq.),  who  had  the  oversight  of  the 
royal  herds  and  domains  (perhaps  the  tTriTpoTrog  of 
Luke  viii,  3).  Similar  were  the  financial  officers  of  Sol- 
omon in  the  twelve  districts  (C^ZS",  1  Kings  iv,  7  sq.). 
The  chamberlains  proper  were  usually  eunuchs  (2  Kings 
viii,  G;  Jer.  lii,  25);  among  whom  probably  was  the 
cup-bearer  (rtp'l^^,  1  Kings  x,  5;  comp.  Josephus,  Ant. 
XV,  17, 4,  xiv,  li,  4;  xvi,  8, 1 ;  see  Kiimpfer,  p.  81  sq.). 
A  kind  of  chamberlain  or  valet  is  apparently  designated 
in  Jer.  lii,  25;  2  Kings  xxv,  19  ^rsi  "^sH^:  W't*.^^ 
"^52!!),  unless  the  expression  indicates  generally  the 
highest  officers  of  the  court  and  state.  "What  official  is 
denoted  in  Jer.  li,  GO  (nnn:"3  "lb)  is  doubtful;  Hitzig 
has  perhaps  conjectured  rightly,  the  ftU-marshal.  Fi- 
nally, here  belong  the  royal  life-guard,  who  had  to  keep 
watch  of  the  castle  or  palace  (2  Kings  xi,  5),  but  .also 
saw  the  royal  mandates  executed  in  cases  of  capital 
punishment  (2  Sam.  xv,  1).     See  Cheretiiite. 

See  generally  W.  Schickard,  Jus.  regium  Ihhrceor. 
(Tubing.  1621,  with  notes  by  J.  B.  Carpzov,  Lips.  1674; 
also  in  Ugolini  Thesau r.  yo\.  xxiv);  Carpzov,  Appar. 
Crit',  p.  52  sq. ;  INIichaclis,  Mos.  Recht,  i,  298  sq. ;  Jahn, 
Archdol.  II,  ii,  218  sq. ;  Paulsen,  i?fy«Vr.  d.  Morgcnldnd. 
(Altona,  1755) ;  Otho,  Lex.  Rubb.  p.  575.— Winer,  i,  666. 
See  KiN(;. 

Monasteria  is  a  term  which  was  sometimes  used 
in  the  early  Church  to  designate  the  places  of  worship 
belonging  to  the  Egyptian  Therapeuta;.  Thus  Euse- 
bius  (Hist.  Eccles.  lib.  ii,  c.  177)  uses  it  (Moi^aar/jpioi')- 
Afterwards,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  it  became  usual  to  give 
I  this  name  (monasteria)  to  large  parochial  and  cathedral 
churches ;  hence  the  word  minster  (q.  v.).  See  Kiddle, 
Christian  Antiquities,  p.  705. 

Monastery  (Latin,  Monasticum;  Greek,  Mora- 
(TTtiptav  ;  from  /(oi't/irrZ/p,  equivalent  to  lAovtiffTi'ig,  a 
solitary,  a  inonk ;  from  i.ioi't'iZ(iv,  to  be  alone,  to  live  in 
solitude:  from  /k'h'oc;,  alone)  is  tlic  name  of  a  residence 
of  persons,  male  or  female,  who  have  bound  themselves 
1  by  monastic  vows.  We  contine  this  article  to  Christian 
I  monasteries  of  the  Western  world,  and  refer  for  jire- 
Christian  monasticism  to  the  article  Moxasticism  ; 
and  for  Oriental  and  Kussian  monasteries  to  the  article 
Monks,  Eastern. 

1.  Monasteries  received  various  distinctive  appella- 
tions, derived  from  the  names  of  the  founders  of  the  or- 
der; from  that  of  the  patron  or  guardian  saint  to  whom 
they  were  dedicated;  from  the  site  which  they  occu])ied; 
from  the  peculiar  design  ofthe  foundation  or  occupation  of 
the  monks:  from  the  parlicular  color  ofthe  habit  worn 
witliin  the  walls,  and  other  circumstances.    See  Monk. 


MONASTERY 


453 


MONASTERY 


To  one  or  other  of  the  four  leading  orders  a  monas- 
tery was  usually  referred :  (1)  the  Order  of  Basil,  in- 
cluding all  the  Greek  monks  and  Carmelites;  (2)  the 
OxA&roi Augustine,  in  its  three  classes— canons  regular, 
monks,  and  hermits,  together  with  the  congregations  of 
nuns ;  (3)  the  Order  oi  Benedict,  with  its  various  branch- 
es, male  and  female ;  (4)  the  Order  of  Francis,  with  its 
numerous  ramifications. 

The  common  appellation  of  monasteries  are  the  fol- 
lowing :  (1)  M.ovaaTi]piov,  monastery,  as  being  the  res- 
idence of  monasterium,  fiovd^ovrtc,  l-iovaxoi,  fxovaxai, 
/.wvai,  or  religious  solitaries.  (2)  Claustrum  or  claus- 
tra,  cloister;  literally,  a  place  of  confinement.  This 
was  the  prevailing  name  in  the  West,  and  the  choice 
of  the  name  indicates  the  strict  seclusion  which  pre- 
vailed. (3)  Coenobiam,  a  common  dwelling-place.  (4) 
Laura,  \avpa  or  \a/3prt,  which  is  the  old  name  for  the 
residence  of  the  anchorites.  It  appears  to  denote  a  nar- 
row, confined,  and  inconvenient  abode.  According  to 
Epiphanius  {Hmres.  p.  G9),  it  was  the  name  of  a  narrow, 
dirty  street  in  Alexandria,  whence  it  was  applied  to  the 
wretched  habitations  of  anchorites  in  the  Thebaid,  Pal- 
estine, and  Syria.  By  Latin  writers  laura  is  usuallj- 
employed  in  contradistinction  from  cmiobia.  (5)  Sf^u- 
viiov,  which  is  the  name  applied  by  Philo  to  the  abodes 
or  places  of  resort  of  the  Therapeutre,  and  hence  it  was 
sometimes  given  to  monasteries.  The  Latins  retained 
the  word  sumnium  (simnium,  or  scimnium).  (6)  'AaKt]- 
Ti'ipioT,  i.  e.  d(TKr)ru)v  Karayuyi],  a  place  of  religious  ex- 
ercise or  contemplation.  We  find  various  words  of  sim- 
ilar form  to  the  Latin  asceterium ;  such  as  archisterium, 
architerium,  arcisterium,  architrium,  etc.  (7)  <i>ovTi- 
ariipiov  is  the  same  as  aaKi]Tr)piov,  but  with  special  ref- 
erence to  meditation  and  spiritual  exercises.  jNIonas- 
teries  retained  this  name  chiefiy  on  account  of  their 
schools.  (8)  '][{(jvx»<yri)piov,  place  of  silence  and  re- 
jMse.  This  term  was  applicable  to  those  monasteries  in 
which  silence  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  imposed  on  the 
members.  (9)  Conventus,  a  convent,  in  reference  to  the 
common  life  of  the  inmates.  (10)  'Ryov^uvtiov,  de- 
noting properly  the  residence  of  the  president  (y'lyovfie- 
vog  or  t'lyovfjLevj]),  was  used  for  the  whole  building. 

(11)  MdvSpa,  a  word  which  means  a  pen,  or  sheep/old, 
and  refers  to  the  residence  of  the  anchorites  in  remote 
districts,  or  to  their  congregating  together  in  flocks. 
Hence  the  president  was  sometimes  called  ai-cMmandrite. 

(12)  I/astly,  the  Sj'rians  and  Arabians,  almost  without 
exception,  used  the  word  daira,  dairon  (Arab,  deir),  to 
denote  a  monastery.  The  word  is  derived  from  another, 
which  is  especially  applied  to  the  tents  and  other  habi- 
tations of  the  nomadic  tribes  (see  Du  Gauge,  in  the  Glos- 
sarium  medice  et  inJimcB  Latinitatis,  under  the  respective 
words). 

The  word  monastery,  in  a  most  strict  acceptation,  is 
confined  in  its  modern  and  Western  application  to  the 
residences  of  monks,  or  of  nuns  of  the  cognate  orders  (as 
the  Benedictine),  and,  as  such,  it  comprises  two  great 
classes,  the  Abbey  and  the  Priory.  The  former  name 
was  given  only  to  establishments  of  the  highest  rank, 
governed  by  an  abbot,  who  was  commonly  assisted  by 
a  prior,  sub-prior,  and  other  minor  functionaries.  An 
abbey  always  included  a  church,  and  the  English  word 
Minster,  although  it  has  now  lost  its  specific  applica- 
tion, has  its  origin  in  the  Saxon  and  German  Miinster 
(Lat.  motuisterium).  A  Priory  supposed  a  less  extensive 
and  less  numerous  community.  It  was  governed  by  a 
prior,  and  was  generally,  although  by  no  means  uni- 
formly, at  least  in  later  times,  subject  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  an  abbey.  Many  priories  possessed  extensive 
territorial  domains,  and  of  these  not  a  few  became  en- 
tirely independent.  The  distinction  of  abbey  and  pri- 
ory is  found  equally  among  the  Benedictine  nuns.  In 
the  military  orders,  the  name  of  Gommandery  and  Pre- 
cpptory  corresponded  with  those  of  abbey  and  priory  in 
the  monastic  orders.  The  establishments  of  the  Blen- 
dicaut,  and,  in  general,  of  the  modern  orders,  are  some- 
times, though  less  properly,  called  monasteries.     Their 


more  characteristic  appellation  is  Friary  or  Convent, 
and  they  are  commonly  distinguished  into  Professed 
Houses  (called  also  Residences),  Novitiates,  and  Colleges, 
or  Scholastic  Houses.  The  names  of  the  superiors  of 
such  houses  differ  in  the  different  orders.  The  common 
name  is  Rector,  but  in  some  orders  the  superior  is  called 
Guardian  (as  in  the  Franciscan),  or  Master,  Major, 
Father  Supeiior,  etc.  The  houses  of  females — except 
in  the  Benedictine  or  Cistercian  orders — are  called  in- 
differently Convent  and  Nunnery,  the  head  of  which  is 
styled  Mother  Superior  or  Reverend  Mother,  The  name 
Cloister  properly  means  the  enclosure ;  but  it  is  popu- 
larly used  to  designate,  sometimes  the  arcaded  ambula- 
tory which  runs  around  the  inner  court  of  the  building, 
sometimes  in  the  more  general  sense  of  the  entire  build- 
ing, when  it  may  be  considered  as  synonymous  with 
Convent. 

2.  During  the  persecutions  in  the  early  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity many  believers  sought  shelter  in  the  mountains 
and  deserts;  where  they  gradually  acquired  a  taste  for 
solitude  and  devotion.  In  process  of  time  disorders 
arose  among  the  various  monastic  orders,  and  it  was 
found  expedient  to  collect  the  monks  into  large  socie- 
ties, living  under  a  common  government,  and  within 
the  walls  of  separate  buildings,  appropriated  to  the  pur- 
pose. In  the  year  340  Pachomius  built  a  large  canobium, 
or  monastery,  on  an  island  of  the  Nile,  and  the  example 
was  soon  extensively  followed.  In  these  establishments, 
which  in  some  places  were  very  large,  the  members  lived 
in  strict  subordination  to  their  superiors. 

The  monastery  was  divided  into  several  parts,  and 
directors  were  appointed  over  each.  Ten  monks  were 
subject  to  one  who  was  called  decanus,  or  dean,  from  his 
presiding  over  ten ;  every  hundred  had  another  supe- 
rior, called  centenarius,  from  his  presiding  over  one 
hundred.  Above  these  were  pati-es,  or  fathers  of  the 
monasteries,  called  also  abbates,  abbot,  from  the  Hebraeo- 
Greek  word  «/3/3a,  a  father;  and  hegumeni,  presidents; 
and  archiniamlrites,  from  mandra,  a  sheepfold,  they  be- 
ing, as  it  were,  the  keepers  or  rulers  of  these  sacred  folds 
in  the  Church.  The  business  of  the  deans  was  to  exact 
every  man's  daily  task,  and  bring  it  to  the  ceconomus, 
or  steward  of  the  house,  who  himself  gave  a  monthly 
account  to  the  father  of  them  all  (Bingham,  Origines 
Ecclesiastics,  bk.  vii,  ch.  iii,  §  11). 

The  rules  and  regulations  of  these  houses  varied  ac- 
cording to  the  difference  of  the  founders,  and  other  cir- 
cumstances. To  give  some  impression  of  the  routine 
of  a  conventual  house,  we  recite  the  ride  of  St.  Benedict 
as  in  operation :  "  The  abbot  represented  Christ ;  called 
all  his  monks  to  council  in  important  affairs,  and  adopt- 
ed the  advice  he  thought  best :  he  required  obedience 
without  delay,  silence,  humility,  patience,  manifestation 
of  secret  faults,  contentment  with  the  meanest  things 
and  employments.  Abbot  selected  by  the  whole  society; 
his  life  and  prudence  to  be  the  qualifications,  and  to  be 
addressed  dominns  or  pater.  Prior  appointed  hy  the  ab- 
bot ;  deposable  for  disobedience.  A  ikan  set  over  every 
ten  monks  in  larger  houses.  The  monks  to  observe 
general  silence ;  no  scurrility,  idle  words,  or  exciting  to 
laughter;  to  keep  head  and  eyes  inclined  downwards; 
to  rise  to  church  two  hours  after  midnight;  to  leave 
the  church  together  at  a  sign  from  the  superior.  No 
property ;  distribution  according  to  every  one's  necessi- 
ties. To  serve  weekly,  and  by  turns,  at  the  kitchen 
and  table.  On  leaving  their  weeks,  both  he  that  left  it 
and  he  that  began  it  to  wash  the  feet  of  the  others;  and 
on  Saturday  to  clean  all  the  plates  and  the  linen  which 
wiped  the  others'  feet.  To  render  the  dishes  clean  and 
whole  to  the  ceUarer,  who  was  to  give  them  to  the  new 
hebdomary.  These  officers  to  have  drink  and  food 
above  the  common  allowance,  that  they  might  serve 
cheerfully.  Daily  routine— Work  from  jirime  till  near 
ten  o'clock,  from  Easter  to  October ;  from  ten  till  near 
twelve,  reading.  After  refection  at  twelve,  the  merid- 
ian or  sleep,  unless  any  one  preferred  reading.  After 
nones,  labor  again  till  the  evening.     From  October  to 


MONASTERY 


454 


MONASTERY 


Lent,  readinp;  till  eight  A.M.,  then  tierce,  and  after- 
wards labor  till  nones;  after  refection,  reading  or  psal- 
mody. In  Lent,  reading  till  tierce;  doing  what  was 
ordered  till  ten :  delivery  of  boo'.vs  at  this  season  made. 
Senior  to  go  around  the  house,  and  see  that  the  monks 
were  not  idle.  On  Sunday,  all  reading  except  the  ofK- 
cers.  Workmen  in  the  house  to  labor  for  the  common 
profit.  If  possible— to  prevent  evagation — water,  a  mill, 
garden,  oven,  and  all  other  mechanical  shops,  to  be 
within  or  attaclied  to  the  house,  licfvction  in  silence, 
and  reading  Scripture  during  meals:  what  was  wanted 
to  be  asked  for  by  a  sign.  Kcader  to  be  appointed  for 
the  week.  Two  different  dishes  at  dinner,  with  fruit. 
One  pound  of  bread  a  day  for  both  dinner  and  supper. 
No  meat  but  to  the  sick.  Three  quarters  of  a  pint  of 
wine  per  day.  From  Holyrood-day  to  Lent,  dining  at 
nones ;  in  Lent,  till  Easter,  at  six  o'clock ;  from  Easter 
to  Pentecost  at  six ;  and  all  summer,  except  on  Wednes- 
days and  Fridays,  then  at  nones.  Collation  or  spiritual 
lecture  every  night  before  compline  (after  sujiper) ;  and 
compline  finished, silence.  [See  IJkeviary;  Compline.] 
Particular  abstinence  in  Lent  from  meat,  drink,  and 
sleep,  and  especial  gravity.  Rule  mitigated  to  children 
and  the  aged,  who  have  liberty  to  anticipate  the  hour 
of  eating.  Dormitory,  light  to  be  burning  in.  To  sleep 
clothed,  with  their  girdles  on,  the  young  and  old  inter- 
mixed. Monks  travelling  to  say  the  canonical  hours 
wherever  they  happened  to  be.  When  staying  out  be- 
yond a  day,  not  to  eat  abroad  without  the  abbot's  leave. 
Before  setting  out  on  a  journey  to  have  the  previous 
prayers  of  the  house,  and  upon  return  to  pray  for  par- 
don of  excesses  on  the  way.  No  letters  or  presents  to 
be  received  without  the  abbot's  permission.  Precedence 
according  to  the  time  of  profession.  Elders  to  call  the 
juniors  brothers;  the  seniors  to  call  the  elders  nonnos. 
When  two  monks  met,  the  junior  was  to  ask  benedic- 
tion from  the  senior;  and  when  he  passed  by  the  junior 
was  to  rise  and  give  him  his  seat,  and  not  to  sit  down 
till  he  bade  him.  Imi)ossible  things  ordered  by  the  su- 
perior to  be  humbly  represented  to  him;  but  if  he  per- 
sisted, the  assistance  of  (Jod  to  be  relied  on  for  the  exe- 
cution of  them.  Not  to  defend  or  excuse  one  another's 
faults.  No  blows  or  excommunication  without  the  ab- 
bot's permission.  Mutual  obedience,  but  no  preference 
of  a  private  person's  commands  to  those  of  the  superiors. 
Prostration  at  the  feet  of  the  superiors  as  long  as  they 
were  angry.  Strangers  to  be  received  with  prayer,  the 
kiss  of  peace,  prostration,  and  washing  their  feet,  as  of 
Christ,  whom  they  represented ;  then  to  be  led  to  praj'- 
er;  the  Scripture  read  to  them;  after  which  the  prior 
might  break  his  fast  (except  on  a  high  fast).  Abbot's 
kitchen  and  the  visitors'  separate,  that  guests  coming 
in  at  unseasonable  hours  might  not  disturb  the  monks. 
Porter  to  be  a  wise  old  man,  able  to  give  and  receive 
an  answer;  wlio  was  to  have  a  cell  near  the  gate,  and  a 
junior  for  liis  companion.  Church  to  be  used  only  for 
prayer.  A  dmusion — Novices  to  be  tried  by  denials  antl 
hard  usage  before  admission.  A  year  of  probation. 
Rule  to  be  read  to  them  in  the  interim  every  fourth 
month.  Admitted  by  a  petition  laid  upon  the  altar, 
and  prostration  at  the  feet  of  all  the  monks.  Parents 
to  offer  their  children  by  wrapping  their  hands  in  the 
pall  of  the  altar:  promising  to  leave  nothing  to  them 
(that  they  might  have  no  temptation  to  quit  the  house) ; 
and  if  they  gave  anything  with  tliem,  to  reserve  the 
use  of  it  during  their  lives.  Priests  requesting  admis- 
sion to  be  tried  by  delays;  to  sit  near  the  abbot;  not  to 
exercise  sacerdotal  functions  without  leave,  and  conform 
to  the  rule.  lyUcipl'me — Upon  successless  admonition 
and  public  rejirehension, excommunication;  and, in  fail- 
ure of  this,  corporal  punishment.  For  liglit  fault.s,  the 
smaller  excommunication,  or  eating  alone  after  tlie  oth- 
ers had  done.  For  great  faults,  .sejiaration  from  the  ta- 
ble, prayers,  and  society,  and  neither  himself  nor  his 
food  to  receive  the  benediction :  those  who  joined  him 
or  spoke  to  him  to  be  themselves  excommunicated.  The 
abbot  to  send  seniors  to  persuade  him  to  humility  and 


making  satisfaction.  The  whole  congregation  to  pray 
for  the  incorrigible,  and  if  unsuccessful,  to  proceed  to 
expulsion.  No  person  expelled  to  be  received  after  the 
third  expulsion.  Children  to  be  corrected  with  discre- 
tion, by  fasting  or  whipping"  ("Sanctorum  Patrum 
Kegulie  ]Monastic£e,"  in  Fosbrooke's  British  Monachism, 
p.  109).  By  the  strict  law  of  the  Church,  called  the 
law  of  cloister  or  enclosure,  it  is  forbidden  to  all  except 
members  of  the  order  to  enter  a  monastery ;  and  in  al- 
most all  the  orders  admission  of  females  to  the  monas- 
teries of  men  is  denied.  Yet  must  they  have  been  at 
times  admitted,  if  we  may  believe  the  accusal  ions  brought 
against  the  chastity  of  monastics,  especially  since  the 
Middle  Ages.  In  the  Greek  Church  the  law  of  enclos- 
ure is  far  more  rigidly  enforced  than  in  the  West.  Thus 
in  the  celebrated  enclosure  of  Mount  Atlios,  not  onlj' 
women,  but  all  animals  of  the  female  sex  are  rigorously 
excluded. 

3.  In  the  East  monasteries  are  supposed  to  have  ex- 
isted about  the  time  of  Christ's  stay  on  earth.  See  Mo- 
xASTicisM.  In  the  West  the  first  monasteries  were 
founded  by  St.  Martin  of  Tours,  about  300,  at  Liguge,  near 
I'oictiers,  and  at  Marmoutier.  The  chiefs  only  of  these 
monasteries  were  in  orders,  and  women  who  entered  the 
monasteries  were  permitted  to  relintiuish  the  monastic 
state  and  marry  down  to  the  Gth  century.  See  Celi- 
HAcv.  The  regular  life  of  the  community  was  intro- 
duced by  Eusebius  of  Vercelli  about  350.  Theodoret 
mentions  a  large  number  of  monasteries,  both  in  the 
East  and  West,  some  foimded  by  St.  Basil  about  358, 
others  by  St.  Augustine  in  Africa  about  390,  and  some 
by  St.  Ambrose  at  Milan  in  377.  On  British  soil  St. 
I'atrick  is  supposed  to  have  started  the  first  monasteries 
near  the  opening  of  the  Gth  centurj',  when  he  Nourished 
as  bishop  of  Ireland.  During  thirty-three  years  he 
worked  at  the  conversion  of  the  people  to  the  Christian 
faith,  and  filled  the  island  with  schools  and  monasteries, 
the  sites  of  which  are  still  to  be  distinguished  by  the 
round  towers  that  served  as  belfries  for  the  conventual 
churches.  The  prefix  "kill"  is  the  Latin  "cella,"  and 
marks  the  "  religio  loci"  of  innumerable  localities  in  Ire- 
land ;  and  well  has  Macaulay  said  that  "  without  these 
Christianizing  institutions  the  population  would  have 
been  made  up  of  beasts  of  burden  and  beasts  of  prey." 
A  missionary  spirit  has  always  distinguished  the  Irish 
Church.  Its  monks,  as  harily  navigators,  established 
themselves  in  the  Hebrides,  with  lona  for  their  capital, 
and  passed  over  to  the  western  districts  of  Britain; 
whence  they  settled  upon  the  coasts  of  Brittany,  to- 
gether with  the  British  population  expelled  by  Saxon 
invasion  in  the  4th  and  Stli  centuries.  It  was  a  province 
of  Gaul  that  had  remained  comparatively  free  from  Ro- 
man rule,  and  preserved  old  Celtic  habits,  while  the  rest 
of  Gaul  was  Komanized.  The  missionary  sjiirit  of  his 
race  impelled  Columban  to  settle  in  (iaul,  and  to  found 
the  monastery  of  Luxeuil,  in  Burgundy,  the  mother  of 
numerous  conventual  establishments,  and  the  capital  of 
Monastic  (Jaul  (Milman,  Laliit  C/nisliduiti/,  iv.  5).  He 
has  been  termed  the  Irish  Benedict,  and  various  legends 
are  connected  with  his  name,  which  are  only  re|)roduc- 
tions  of  Benedictine  fable.  Though  he  treated  the  Ko- 
man  see  with  respect,  he  never  sacriticed  his  own  inde- 
pendence of  opinion  to  its  authority ;  and  he  gave  to  the 
see  of  Jerusalem  precedence  in  point  of  honor  {Kp,  v, 
sec.  18).  He  also  gave  his  monks  a  rule,  but  its  exces- 
sive severity  prevented  its  extended  use;  and  it  was 
superseded  by  the  Benedictine  rule,  which  finally  be- 
came the  universal  law  of  monasiicism.  Tlie  County 
Down  monastery,  on  the  north-west  coast  of  Ireland, 
and  Clonfcrt  were  towns  of  monks  rather  than  monas- 
teries. The  former  contained  more  than  three  thousand 
tmder  religious  vow  in  the  time  of  Patricius.  The 
founder  having  been  accompanied  by  learned  monks 
from  Gaul  and  Lcrin,  these  monasteries  soon  became 
renowne<l  for  their  sound  learning,  as  well  as  for  a  pure 
faith.  In  ICngland  all  the  most  ancient  sees  have  been 
established  upon  pre-existing  monastic  foundations.    At 


MONASTERY 


455 


MONASTERY 


the  close  of  the  oth  century  Dubricius,  bishop  of  Caer- 
leon,  founded  Llaudaff  monastery.  St.  David,  liis  suc- 
cessor at  Caerleon,  built  the  monastery  at  St.  David's,  a 
site  indicated  to  him  by  St.  Patrick,  the  wild  promon- 
tory on  which  the  cathedral  now  stands.  He  also  re- 
built the  convent  at  Glastonbury;  and  it  was  in  honor 
of  St.  David  that  the  privilege  of  asylum  was  indulged 
to  sites  in  any  way  connected  with  his  name— a  privi- 
lege that  may  occasionally  have  secured  innocence 
against  oppression  and  wrong,  but  which  became  intol- 
erable from  abuse  in  later  years.  St.  Asaph,  in  its  or- 
igin, was  a  convent  of  nine  hundred  and  sixty-five 
monks,  founded  at  the  end  of  the  6th  century  by  Ken- 
tigern,  himself  a  monk  and  missionary  bishop  among 
the  southern  Scots  and  Picts.  Bangor,  on  the  Dee, 
was  founded  by  Ittud,  a  fellow-disciple  with  St.  David 
at  St.  Germain  of  Auxerre,  It  contained  within  its 
"  wide  precincts"  a  whole  army  of  monks.  Yet  it  was 
only  a  little  more  than  half  the  size  of  the  Irish  estab- 
lishment of  the  same  name.  The  diocese  of  Bangor 
owes  its  origin  to  the  foundation  of  Daniel,  a  disciple 
of  Dubricius,  at  the  commencement  of  the  6th  century. 
Winchester,  first  established  as  a  monastery  by  Cen- 
walch,  king  of  Wessex,  under  a  promise  to  his  dying 
father,  was  made  an  episcopal  see  by  the  same  king 
about  the  middle  of  the  7th  century.  Eipon  was  a 
monastery  founded  by  Alfrid,  king  of  Northumberland, 
having  Wilfrid  for  its  first  abbot.  He  repaired  and 
beautified  the  cathedral  at  York,  of  which  see  he  be- 
came bishop,  and  built  the  priory  of  Hexham  in  the 
most  elaborate  style ;  the  church  was  said  to  have  been 
the  most  beautiful  on  this  side  of  the  Alps.  Wilfrid 
was  the  first  of  a  series  of  clerical  and  monastic  archi- 
tects who  for  several  centuries  made  Anglican  ecclesi- 
astical buildings  the  glory  of  Europe.  It  is  curious  to 
find  that  the  churchwarden's  sovereign  cure  for  all  de- 
fects was  also  introduced  by  him  :  "  Parietes  lavans  .  .  . 
alba  calce  miritice  dealbavit"  (Montalembert,  iv,  235). 
Ely  was  at  first  a  double  monastery  for  monks  and  nuns 
of  the  foundation  of  Ethelreda,  queen  of  Northumber- 
land: "virgo  bis  nupta."  Columba,  like  Pelagius,  is 
the  classical  equivalent  for  a  Celtic  name.  He  is  not  to 
be  confounded  with  Columban,  the  Celtic  founder  of 
Luxeuil.  Columba  (born  A.D.  521,  died  A.D.  597),  after 
founding  thirty-seven  monasteries  in  Ireland,  passed 
over  to  the  Hebrides,  selected  lona,  the  most  desolate 
of  those  desolate  islands,  flat-lying  and  sandy,  as  the 
site  of  a  monastery,  and  made  it  the  "glory  of  the 
West,"  and  the  cradle  of  the  civilization  of  North  Brit- 
ain. See  loNA.  From  lona,  Aidan  went  forth  as  the 
apostle  and  bishop  of  the  Northumbrians;  and,  having 
found  a  site  as  desolate  and  unattractive  as  lona  on  Lin- 
disfarne  (since  called  Holy  Island),  there  founded  a  mon- 
astery, which  became  the  mother-church  of  all  the  prov- 
inces north  of  the  Humber.  The  character  of  sanctity 
impressed  upon  it  by  St.  Aidan  long  distinguished  it : 
and  its  abbots,  like  himself,  mostly  became  bishops  of 
the  northern  provinces.  His  great  and  benevolent  char- 
acter has  been  nobly  drawn  by  Bede  (//.  E.  iii,  3,  5, 17). 
Hilda,  foundress  (A.D.  658)  and  abbess  of  Whitby,  re- 
ceived the  veil  from  him.  The  feminine  love  of  what- 
ever is  beautiful  in  nature  led  to  the  selection  of  a  most 
noble  site  for  her  abbey,  and  contrasts  strongly  with  the 
masculine  austerity  and  contempt  for  {esthetics  that  led 
the  Celtic  monks  to  choose  lona  and  Lindisfarne.  The 
influence  of  Hilda  was  everywhere  felt:  kings  and 
princes  sought  her  counsel;  she  was  a  "  mother"  by  en- 
dearment to  the  very  poorest  who  received  alms  at  the 
abbey  gate.  Bede  (//.  E.  iv,  23)  speaks  in  enthusiastic 
terms  of  her  tender  care  and  administrative  tact.  A 
convent  for  monks  as  well  as  nuns  was  under  her  rule, 
and  Bede  notes  that  six  prelates,  eminent  for  their  piety 
and  learning,  received  their  training  at  Whitby  under 
her  eye.  To  Hilda  also  we  are  indebted  for  having 
drawn  the  earliest  Saxon  poet,  Caidmon,  from  his  ob- 
scurity. He  was  a  common  herdsman,  but  at  her  per- 
suasion became  a  monk.     He  anticipated  Milton  in 


taking  as  a  theme  for  poetic  song  the  fall  of  Satan  and 
the  sin  of  our  first  parents.  The  foundation  of  Wear- 
mouth  Abbey  by  Benedict  Biscop,  a  monk  of  Lindis- 
farne (A.D.  665),  was  remarkable  for  the  introduction 
of  painted  glass.  Workmen  were  brought  from  the 
Continent,  who  instructed  the  Saxon  monks  in  the  mys- 
tery of  their  craft  (Milman,  Latin  Christianity,  iv,  -l). 
The  sister-foundation,  Jarrow,  endowed  with  a  domain 
granted  by  Egfrid,  was  the  monastery  in  which  the 
venerable  Bede  had  his  cell.  In  South  Britain  the 
most  ancient  monastery  was  that  founded  by  Augustine 
at  Canterbury,  and  placed  under  Benedictine  rule.  The 
deed  of  gift  whereby  king  Ethelbert  conveyed  the  site 
(A.D.  605)  is,  according  to  Palgrave,  the  earliest  exist- 
ing document  of  the  public  records  of  England.  Greg- 
ory followed  up  the  mission  with  a  colony  of  monks, 
who  also  imported  all  that  could  be  required  for  the  ob- 
servance of  the  Komish  ritual.  Thus  the  subjugation 
of  England  to  the  see  of  Rome  was  the  work  of  the 
Benedictine  monks.  One  of  their  number,  Mellitus, 
first  bishop  of  London,  founded  Westminster  Abbey. 
The  first  metropolitan  recognised  by  all  England  was 
Theodore,  an  Oriental  monk,  a  native  of  Tarsus,  and 
placed  in  the  see  of  Canterbury  by  pope  Vitalianus, 
A.D.  668.  The  council  held  at  Whitby  on  the  subject 
of  Easter  (A.D.  664)  showed  that  strong  traces  still  re- 
mained of  the  Oriental  tendencies  of  the  British  Church ; 
and  an  African  monk,  Adrian,  was  sent  with  the  bishop 
elect  as  a  safeguard  and  trusty  envoy :  "  ne  quid  ille 
contrarium  veritati  et  fidei,  Gr£Bcorum  more,  in  eccle- 
siam  cui  pr;i2cesset,  introduceret"  (Bede,  //.  E.  iv,  1). 
To  him  is  due  the  creation  of  the  parochial  system,  by 
persuading  the  territorial  proprietors  to  build  and  en- 
dow churches,  retaining  the  advowson  in  their  own 
hands.  The  Church-rate  is  of  co-ordinate  date.  The- 
odore was  a  laborious  student,  and,  with  the  assistance 
of  Adrian,  he  gradually  made  the  monasteries  of  Eng- 
land schools  of  sound  learning.  The  principal  sees 
having  sprung  from  monastic  origin,  the  canons  were 
naturally  monks.  After  the  Conquest  disputes  arose 
between  the  secular  and  the  regular,  i.  e.  between  the 
parochial  and  monastic  clergy;  and  an  attempt  was 
made  by  Walkelin,  bishop  of  Winchester,  to  supersede 
the  monastic  chapter  by  a  body  of  forty  secular  clergy. 
Lanfranc,  however,  vigorously  opposed  the  change,  and 
obtained  from  pope  Alexander  a  constitution  in  confir- 
mation of  the  capitular  rights  of  the  monasteries  affect- 
ed (Fleury,  H.  E.  Ixi,  53 ;  comp.  also  Soames,  Latin  Ch. 
during  the  A  nglo-Saxon  Times  [Lond.  1848, 12mo]  ;  and 
Soames,  The  Anglo-Saxon  Ch.  [Lond.  1856,  12mo,  4th 
ed.]). 

4.  In  550  the  rule  of  St.  Basil,  followed  by  all  Greek 
monasteries,  was  introduced  at  Rome ;  but  St,  Benedict 
gradually  absorbed  all  other  monks  into  his  great  rule. 
In  585  St.  Columban's  rule  of  prayer,  reading,  and  man- 
ual labor  was  founded  in  Gaul.  In  649  the  Monothelite 
persecution  in  the  East  transferred  manj^  monks  to  the 
Western  Church,  and  in  the  8th  century  the  Iconoclasts 
were  the  cause  of  a  still  larger  assimilation.  In  the 
13th  century  St.  Dominic  prevailed  on  women  to  observe 
a  stricter  rule.  The  first  written  rule — that  of  St. 
Basil,  bishop  of  Ciesarea  in  the  4th  century,  who  em- 
bodied the  traditional  usages,  was  derived  from  that  of 
Pachomius,  and  aimed  at  the  combination  of  prayer  and 
manual  toil ;  it  was  modified  by  St.  Benedict,  the  pa- 
triarch of  Western  monks,  but  in  the  11th  century  was 
still  vigorous  in  Naples.  Polydore  Yergil  says  that  in 
373  St.  Basil  first  enacted  the  triple  vows  of  chastity, 
poverty,  and  obedience.  In  410  Lerins  was  founded. 
The  Benedictine  rule  spread  rapidly  in  Italy  before 
his  death  in  543.  Maurus  and  Placidus  extended  it  in 
France  and  Sicily;  others  introduced  it  into  Spain, 
where  monasteries  are  said  to  have  existed  in  380; 
and  in  less  than  two  centuries  all  the  monastic  orders 
in  the  West  were  affiliated  to  it.  St.  Columban  built 
the  first  abbey  in  England  in  563,  as  he  had  done  in 
Ireland ;  in  the  latter  instance  it  was  preceded  only  by 


MONASTERY 


456 


MONASTERY 


the  St.  Bridget's  cell  at  Kiklare,  which  was  famous  in 
521,  being  established  probably  by  a  pupil  of  St.  Patrick. 
In  802  the  Council  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  decreed  that  the 
Benedictine  rule  should  be  universally  adopted.  From 
the  10th  century  it  put  forth  branches:  Clugny  in  910, 
under  its  abbots,  embraced  the  rule;  so  did  the  Camal- 
dolesi  in  1020,  from  St.  liomuald;  the  Cistercians  in 
1098,  from  St.  Kobert;  the  Carthusians  in  1080,  from 
St.  Bruno;  the  Valombrosans  in  lOGO,  from  John  Gual- 
berte;  the  Celestines  in  1294,  from  Peter  di  Merona; 
and  the  Ulivetans  in  1319.  At  Bangor  in  003  there 
was  a  monastery  with  seven  portions,  each  consisting 
of  ^hrce  hundred  monks,  with  their  jjrovosts  or  rectors. 
Benedict  Biscop  in  G77  built  the  monasteries  at  Wear- 
moutli  and  Yarrow  of  stone;  and  in  1035  Lanfranc 
united  all  the  English  abbeys  into  one  congregation. 
St.  Maur  in  1G21  was  the  last  instance  of  its  reform. 
The  lands  possessed  by  monasteries  were  held  under 
the  same  tenure  as  all  other  land ;  and,  till  a  compara- 
tively late  period,  the  abbots  themselves  led  their  quota 
of  troops  into  the  field.  In  the  time  of  Charlemagne 
fourteen  monasteries  of  the  empire  furnished  their  pro- 
portion of  soUliers.  In  982  the  bishop  of  Augsburg  and 
the  abbot  of  Fulda  were  killed  in  the  same  battle. 
Charles  Martcl  was  opposed  by  troops  collected  and 
headed  by  an  abbot  of  Fontenelle. 

Monasteries  were  called  inrjenua  if  exempt  from  their 
fomulation,  or  libera  if  the  grant  or  privilege  had  been 
matle  subsequently.  Those  which  were  not  exempt 
were  compelled  to  render  to  the  bishop  obedience ;  an- 
nual fees  called  jus  synodale,  or  circadas;  procurations, 
or  the  provision  of  entertainment;  solemn  processions, 
and  the  right  of  celebrating  mass  in  their  minsters. 
All  abbots,  however,  despite  their  repugnance,  certainly 
after  the  9th  century,  were  compelled  to  make  the  pro- 
fession of  canonical  obedience  to  the  diocesan  when  re- 
ceiving his  benediction,  and  this  implied  his  right  to 
give  holy  orders,  consecrate  churches,  altars,  and  ceme- 
teries, and  grant  chrism  and  dismissory  letters  when 
the  abbots  travelled  out  of  the  diocese. 

5.  In  their  lirst  institution,  and  in  their  subsequent 
uses,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  monasteries  were  among 
the  most  remarkable  instances  of  Christian  munificence, 
and  they  certainly  were,  in  the  so-called  Dark  Ages, 
among  the  beneficial  adaptations  of  the  talents  of  Chris- 
tians to  pious  and  charitable  ends.  The  foundation  of 
the  monastery  was  the  dictate  of  religious  motives  in  the 
youth  of  the  Church,  but  the  reward  of  piety  was  tem- 
poral also ;  the  estates  of  the  founder  were  im|)roved,  the 
vassals  educated,  order  introduced,  the  sick  and  aged 
tended,  and  handicraft  and  useful  arts  taught.  "The 
services,"  says  Blunt,  "  that  monasticism  has  rendered 
to  civilization  in  the  transition  of  society  from  ancient 
times  to  the  Middle  Ages  have  been  most  important. 
Monks  were  the  skilled  agriculturists  of  the  period ;  and 
many  terms  in  rural  life,  and  in  the  fauna  and  botany 
of  all  Northern  Europe,  may  be  traced  back  througli 
them  to  Greek  and  Latin  terms;  e.  g.  'hawky,'  ciici, 
harvest-home ;  and  '  ranny,'  arunea,  a  shrew-mouse ; 
'  chervil,'  \t]p6<pv\\ov.  The  belladonna,  which  is  now 
found  indigenous,  was  introduced  first  among  the  phar- 
maceutical herbs  of  tlie  convent-gardens,  for  the  monks 
were  the  physicians  of  the  period.  As  men  of  letters 
also  and  energetic  missionaries  they  kept  the  lamp  of 
knowledge  and  civilization  from  expiring  in  the  verj' 
darkest  j)eriods ;  and  whatever  was  done  in  the  way  of 
educating  the  young  was  carried  on  within  the  walls  of 
the  monastery."  ^lonasteries,  indeed,  were  the  sole 
preservers  of  learning  in  the  Dark  Ages.  Tlie  Bene- 
dictines, bound  by  the  rides  of  their  order  to  mental  as 
well  as  bodily  labor,  performed  a  work  that  has  been  of 
priceless  value.  That  anything  at  all  has  come  down 
to  us  from  classical  antiquity  is  owing  in  great  part  to 
their  diligence  as  transcribers.  Gerbert,  an  al)bot,  and 
afterwards  po|)e  Silvester  II  (999),  speaks  of  liis  care  in 
collecting  books,  and  of  the  host  of  copiers  that  were 
fouml  in  every  town :  "  Tu  sai  ecu  quanta  premura  io 


raccolga  da  ogni  parte  libri;  tu  sai  quanti  scrittiri  e 
nelle  cittii  e  nelle  ville  d'ltalia  in  ogni  luogo  s'incontri- 
no"  (Muratori,  Lit.  It.  Ill,  i,  29).  Desiderius,  abbot  of 
Monte  Casino,  and  subsequently  pope  Victor  III,  em- 
ployed many  copyists,  "  antiquarii,"  as  they  were  called 
(Muratori,  Stor.  IV,  ch.  xxviii;  Mabillon,  Act.  J.'tiied.). 
Three  offsets  from  the  Benedictine  stock  have  also  n  n- 
dered  invaluable  sersices  to  literature;  the  Clugniac 
monks,  dating  from  the  early  part  of  the  10th  century; 
the  Carthusians  (1084);  and  the  Cistercians  (1090). 
They  created  a  craving  for  the  luxury  of  books,  beauti- 
fully written  and  sumptuously  illuminated;  and  libra- 
ries, gradually  increasing  in  size,  soon  grew  up  from 
their  labors.  "  It  was  their  pride  to  collect,  and  their 
business  to  transcribe  books"  (Hallam,  Literature  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  i,  82);  and  their  collections  were  the 
"germ  whence  a  second  and  more  glorious  civilization" 
should  in  due  time  spring  (Macaulay,  Hist,  of  Jiiu/land, 
ch.  i).  But  the  evils  which  grew  out  of  these  societies 
more  than  counterbalanced  the  good.  Being  often  ex- 
empted from  all  civil  or  foreign  ecclesiastical  authority, 
they  became  hotbeds  of  insubordination  to  the  state 
and  of  corruption  to  the  Church.  The  temptations 
arising  out  of  a  state  of  celibacy,  too  often  enforced  in 
the  first  instance  by  improper  means,  and  always  bound 
upon  the  members  of  these  societies  by  a  religious  vow, 
were  the  occasion  of  great  scandals.  ^Moreover,  the 
enormous  wealth  with  which  some  of  them  were  en- 
dowed brought  with  it  a  greater  degree  of  pride  and 
ostentation  and  luxury  than  was  becoming  in  Chris- 
tians ;  and  still  more  in  those  who  had  vowed  a  life  of 
religious  asceticism.  Thus  it  came  that  tlie  intrigues 
of  the  friars,  the  accumulation  of  wealtli,  and  the  decay 
of  discipline  wrought  the  fall  of  the  monasteries.  See 
Monasticism  ;  Monk.  The  monasteries  of  England 
were  the  first  to  feel  the  displeasure  of  the  outside 
world.  Corruption  had  become  so  apparent  in  the  8th 
century  as  to  call  for  the  founding  of  the  Clugniac  order 
on  British  soil.  But  this  order,  in  turn,  though  begin- 
ning in  the  10th  century  with  a  strict  rule,  sank  into  lux- 
ury in  the  12th ;  the  Cistercians  then  started  to  shame 
them,  but  soon  lost  all  moral  vigor;  next  the  Franciscan 
mendicants  appeared,  but  they  degenerated  more  com- 
pletely in  the  first  quarter  of  a  centurj-  after  their  intro- 
duction into  England  than  other  orders  had  in  three  or 
four  centuries  (comp.  Matt.  Paris,  A.D.  1243 ;  see  Brake- 
lond,  Chron.  A  bb.  IS.  Edmundi ;  Tho. Elmham.  JJist.  Man. 
St.  Any.  Cantuar. ;  Hugh  de  Poitiers,  Monast'ere  de  Ve- 
eelai).  No  wonder,  then,  that  an  opposition  found  ready 
utterance  and  prompt  organization,  and,  led  successively 
by  the  greatest  of  Anglican  schf)lars  and  divines,  as 
Wykeham,  Fisher,  Alcock,  Chichely,  Beckington,  the 
countess  of  Salisbury,  and  cardinal  Wolsey,  claimed 
the  monastic  endowments  for  university  foundations. 
"What,  my  lord,"  said  Oldham  to  Fox  in  1513,  "shall 
we  build  houses  and  provide  livelihoods  for  a  com- 
pany of  bussing  monks,  whose  end  and  fall  we  may 
live  to  seeV"  See  Kkfok.mation,  English.  Thus  it 
was  not  reserved  for  the  period  of  the  Keformation  to 
inaugurate  opposition  to  monasteries.  Their  dissolu- 
tion was  commenced  in  England  as  early  as  1312.  when 
the  Order  of  Temjilars  was  suppressed,  and  a  portion  of 
their  possessions  given  to  the  Knights  of  St.  .John  of 
.Jerusalem.  During  the  15th  century  many  other  houses 
were  dissolved,  and  their  revenues  transferred  to  the 
universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Henry  VIII 
obtained  an  act  of  Parliament  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
monasteries,  and  the  transfer  of  their  revenues  to  tlie 
crown.  Kome  itself  had  furnished  a  precedent  for  Hen- 
ry's attack  on  the  monastic  institutions.  About  the 
year  1517  cardinal  Wolsey  was  desirous  of  building  and 
endowing  two  splendid  colleges — one  at  Ipswich,  the 
place  of  his  birth  ;  the  other  at  Oxford,  the  jdace  of  his 
academical  education.  For  this  purpose  Clement  VII 
granted  him  a  bidl,  which  empowered  him  to  visit  and 
supjiress  certain  monasteries.  A  number  of  tliese,  vari- 
ously stated  at  from  uinelceu  to  forty,  were  consequently 


MONASTERY 


45Y 


MONASTERY 


dissolved,  and  their  revenues  applied  by  Wolsey  to  the 
purpose  contemplated. 

The  following  calculation  has  been  made  as  to  the 
number  and  wealth  of  the  religious  houses  in  England 
dismantled  and  scattered  at  the  period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion :  "  The  number  of  houses  and  places  suppressed 
from  first  to  last  in  England,  so  far  as  any  calculations 
appear  to  have  been  made,  seems  to  be  as  follows : 
Of  lesser  monasteries,  of  which  we  have  the  valua- 
tion      374 

Of  greater  monasteries 186 

Beionging  to  the  Hospitallers 4S 

Colleges 90 

Hospitals 110 

Chantries  and  free  chapels 2374 

Total 3182 

These  are  in  addition  to  the  friars'  houses,  and  those 
suppressed  b}'  Wolsey,  and  many  small  houses  of  which 
■we  have  no  particular  account.  The  sum  total  of  the 
clear  yearly  revenue  of  the  several  houses  at  the  time 
of  their  dissolution,  of  which  we  have  any  account,  seems 
to  be  as  follows : 

Of  the  greater  monasteries i;i04,919  13    3 

Of  all  those  of  the  lesser  monasteries  of 

which  we  have  the  valuation 29,702    1  10 

Knights  Hospitallers,  head  house  in  Lon- 
don         2,385  12    S 

We  have  the  valuation  of  only  twenty-eight 

of  their  houses  in  the  couutry 3,026    9    5 

Friars'  houses,  of  which  we  have  the  valu- 
ation    751    2    0 

Total ^140,784  19    2 

If  proper  allowances  are  made  for  the  lesser  monasteries 
and  houses  not  included  in  this  estimate,  and  for  tlie 
plate,  etc.,  which  came  into  the  hands  of  the  king  by 
the  dissolution,  and  for  the  valuation  of  money  at  that 
time,  which  was  at  least  six  times  as  much  as  at  present, 
and  also  consider  that  the  estimate  of  the  lands  was  gen- 
erally supposed  to  be  much  under  the  real  worth,  we 
must  conclude  their  whole  revenues  to  have  been  im- 
mense. It  does  not  appear  that  any  exact  computation 
has  been  made  of  the  number  of  persons  contained  in 
the  religious  houses. 
Those  of  the  lesser  monasteries  dissolved  by  27 

Henry  VllI  were  reckoned  at  about 10,000 

If  we  suppose  the  colleges  and  hospitals  to  have 
contained  a  proportionable  number,  these  will 

make  about 6,347 

If  we  reckon  the  number  in  the  greater  monasteries 
according  to  the  proportion  of  their  revenues, 
they  will  be  about  35,000;  but  as,  probably,  they 
had  larger  allowances  in  proportion  to  their  num- 
ber tluui  those  of  the  lesser  monasteries,  if  we 
abate  upon  that  account  5000,  they  will  then  be . .  30,000 

One  for  each  chantry  and  free  chapel 2,374 

Total 47,721 

But  as  there  was  probably  more  than  one  person  to  offi- 
ciate in  several  of  the  free  chapels,  and  there  were  other 
houses  which  are  not  included  within  this  calculation, 
jierhaps  they  may  be  computed  in  one  general  estimate 
at  about  50,000.  As  there  were  pensions  paid  to  almost 
all  those  of  the  greater  monasteries,  the  king  did  not 
immediately  come  into  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  whole 
revenues ;  however,  by  means  of  what  he  did  receive, 
he  founded  six  new  bishoprics— viz.  those  of  Westmin- 
ster (which  was  changed  by  queen  Elizabeth  into  a 
deanery,  with  twelve  prebends  and  a  school),  Peterbor- 
ough, Chester,  Gloucester,  Bristol,  and  Oxford.  And 
in  eight  other  sees  he  founded  deaneries  and  chapters, 
by  converting  the  priors  and  monks  into  deans  and 
prebendaries  —  viz.  Canterbury,  Winchester,  Durham, 
Worcester,  Rochester,  Norwich,  Ely,  and  Carlisle.  He 
founded  also  the  colleges  of  Chris't  Church  in  Oxford 
and  Trinity  in  Cambridge,  and  finished  King's  College 
there.  He  likewise  founded  professorships  of  divinity, 
law,  physic,  and  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  tongues,  in 
both  the  said  universities.  He  gave  the  house  of  Gray 
Friars  and  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  to  the  city  of 
London,  and  a  perpetual  pension  to  the  poor  knights  of 
Windsor,  and  laid  out  great  sums  in  building  and  forti- 
fying many  ports  in  the  channel"  (Baxter,  Hist,  of  the 
Church  of  England).    Compare  Hook,  Lives  of  the  A  rch- 


bishops  of  Canterbury,  vol  i  (Lond.  1868,  8vo) ;  Fuller, 
Church  Hist,  i,  115  sq. ;  Burnet,  Hist,  of  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  Soames,  Ref  Ch.  of  Englatul,  vol.  i,  especially  the 
Introd. ;  Fosbrooke,  Bi-it.  Monachism,  ch.  i-v,  and  Ixii ; 
Hill,  English  Monasticisvi,  its  Rise  and  Influence  (Lond. 
1867,  8vo),  p.  488  sq.,  515  sq. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  all  the  Reformed 
churches  in  the  16th  century  discarded  the  practice  of 
monachism,  and  suppressed^  monasteries  as  useless.  In 
some  of  the  German  states',  however,  the  temporalities 
of  the  suppressed  monasteries  were  retained,  and  were 
granted  at  pleasure  by  the  sovereign,  to  be  enjoyed  to- 
gether with  the  titular  dignity.  In  Roman  Catholic 
countries  also,  as,  e.  g.,  France,  Spain,  Austria,  and  It- 
aly, the  suppression  of  monasteries  has  been  more  or 
less  general  in  more  recent  times.  See  Monasticism. 
But,  as  count  Montalembert  has  well  put  it  in  his  cele- 
brated work  on  the  Moitks  of  the  West  (Edinb.  1861-7,  5 
vols.  8vo),  "  this  work  of  spoliation,  which  may  be  said 
to  have  fairly  set  in  with  the  Reformation,  is  now  pro- 
ceeding with  methodical  gravity."  In  the  five  years 
from  1830  to  1835  no  less  than  "3000  monasteries 
have  disappeared  from  the  soil  of  Europe."  In  Portu- 
gal some  300  were  destroyed,  200  in  Poland,  and  the 
number  annihilated  bj'  queen  Christina  of  Spain,  though 
it  has  never  been  estimated,  was  certainly  not  much 
smaller  than  in  Poland.  The  destruction,  however,  has 
proved  greatest  in  the  recent  reforms  in  France,  and 
especially  in  Italy.  The  great  monastery  of  Clairvaux, 
which  once  held  St.  Bernard  and  his  five  hundred 
monks,  is  now  a  prison  with  five  hundred  convicts  in 
i  it.  The  celebrated  abbey  at  Clugny,  which  figures  so 
largely  in  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages,  has  been 
turned  into  stud-stables,  and  in  1844  the  place  of  the 
high-altar  was  "  the  starting-post  of  the  stallions."  The 
abbey  of  Le  Bee,  in  Normandy,  from  which  Lanfranc 
and  Anselm  came  forth  successively  to  fiU  the  see  of 
Canterbury,  has  been  utilized  in  the  same  fashion,  and 
horses  fatten  where  monks  once  fasted  and  prayed.  A 
china  manufactory  is  carried  on  in  the  Chartreux  of 
Seville,  and  swine  have  taken  possession  of  the  cells  in 
the  Cistercian  abbey  of  Cadouin.  Everj^vhere,  as  the 
count  informs  us,  the  work  of  ruin  proceeds.  "  Some- 
times," saj-s  he,  "the  spinning-mill  is  installed  under 
the  roof  of  the  ancient  sanctuary.  Instead  of  echoing 
night  and  day  the  praises  of  God,  these  dishonored 
arches  too  often  repeat  only  the  blasphemies  and  ob- 
scene cries,  mingling  with  the  shrill  voice  of  the  ma- 
chinery, the  grinding  of  the  saw,  or  the  monotonous 
clank  of  the  piston."  Nor  is  this  all.  John  Knox  has 
been  sometimes  stigmatized  as  a  barbarian  for  the  en- 
couragement which  he  is  said  to  have  given  the  popu- 
lace in  demolishing  Christian  edifices  where  the  relics 
of  idolatrj'  were  enshrined ;  j'et  even  where  the  excited 
rabble  diil  their  worst,  the  ivied  ruin  still  remains  to 
tell  of  a  grandeur  which  has  passed  away,  and  to  mark, 
for  the  present  and  other  generations,  the  spot  where 
their  fathers  prayed.  But  in  France,  it  appears,  the 
work  of  demolition  is  done  much  more  scientifically  and 
thoroughly.  They  are  not  content  there  with  confisca- 
tion, plunder,  profanation;  they  overthrow,  raze  from 
the  foundation,  leave  not  a  single  stone  standing  on  an- 
other. "  The  empire  of  the  East,"  says  the  count,  "has 
not  been  ravaged  by  the  Turks  as  France  has  been  and 
still  is  by  the  band  of  insatiable  destroyers  who,  after 
having  purchased  these  vast  constructions  and  immense 
dominions  at  the  lowest  rate,  work  them  like  quarries 
for  sacrilegious  profit.  I  have  seen  with  my  own  eyes 
the  capitals  and  columns  of  an  abbey-church  which  I 
could  name  employed  as  so  much  material  for  the  neigli- 
boring  road."  And  again :  "  What  remains  of  so  many- 
palaces  raised  in  silence  and  solitude  for  the  products  of 
art,  for  the  progress  and  pleasure  of  the  mind,  for  disin- 
terested labor?  Masses  of  broken  wall  inhabited  by 
owls  and  rats,  shapeless  remains,  heaps  of  stones,  and 
pools  of  water.  Everywhere  desolation,  filth,  and  dis- 
order" (Introduction,  ch.  viii).     The  yomig  and  free 


MONASTERY 


458 


MONASTERY 


kingdom  of  Italy  has  not  been  slow  to  perceive  that 
a  sacerdotal  class,  with  interests  alien,  if  not  antagonis- 
tic, to  society  and  to  the  family,  is  necessarily  and  log- 
ically a  foe  to  civil  and  political  liberty.  By  a  law 
enacted  June  28,  1866,  all  monasteries  and  similar  re- 
ligious corporations  in  the  kingdom  of  Italy  were  sup- 
pressed, their  members  pensioned,  and  their  property 
sold  and  funded  for  the  maintenance  of  public  schools. 
Monte  Casino  and  San  ^Nlarco,  of  Florence,  were  alone 
exempted.  The  former  is  left  as  a  venerable  monu- 
ment of  the  past ;  the  latter  is  spared  in  honor  of  Savo- 
narola and  the  beautiful  frescos  of  Fra  Angelico  da  Fi- 
esole.  Tliis  law  has  been  executed  with  great  rigor : 
and  in  spite  of  allocutions,  excommunications,  and  all 
the  brutum  fulnmi  of  tlie  Vatican,  the  work  of  secular- 
ization is  already  finished.  Some  of  the  monks  have 
gladly  seized  the  opportunity  of  bettering  their  condi- 
tion by  marriage;  others  have  returned  to  their  homes 
or  accepted  the  refuge  offered  by  charity ;  but  the  great 
majority  of  these  unfortunates,  whose  only  crime  con- 
sists in  having  been  misplaced  in  chronology  by  being 
born  several  centuries  too  late,  and  whose  habits  are  too 
fixed  and  inveterate  to  be  easily  changed,  hire  houses 
and  live  in  clubs  on  the  subsidies  of  the  government. 
While  in  Italy  and  France,  the  two  most  Catholic  na- 
tions, the  monastic  system  is  thus  rapidly  disappearing, 
the  tendency  to  introduce  similar  institutions  in  Protes- 
tant countries,  especially  the  effort  of  the  Ritualists  of 
the  Anglican  communion,  under  the  pretence  (more  or 
less  honest)  of  promoting  Christian  charities,  can  only 
be  regarded  as  a  fatal  retrogression  and  dangerous  de- 
generacy. 

In  1870  revelations  of  corruption,  bestiality,  and 
cruelty  in  a  Polish  convent  contributed  more  than  all 
else  to  quicken  the  Protestant,  and  we  may  well  say 
general  dislike  for  monastic  institutions.  The  story  of 
Barbara  Ubryk,  the  Polish  nun,  however  exceptional, 
could  not  but  raise  a  sense  of  horror  throughout  Europe, 
and  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  pr(  judice  such  an  in- 
stance excites  is  in  a  great  degree  just.  It  is  one  thing 
to  hear  of  an  exceptional  instance  of  individual  crueltj' ; 
it  is  another  thing  to  know  that  such  cruelty  can  be 
practiced  in  the  name  of  religion,  and  in  institutions 
which,  under  its  shelter,  claim  peculiar  immunities. 
There  is  great  force  in  the  plea  that  one  such  case  sub- 
stantiated justifies  the  public  control  of  all  similar  es- 
tablishments. In  England,  the  famous  trial  of  "Saurin 
V.  Starr"  revealed  wliat  spiritual  tj-ranny  and  moral 
degradation  might  be  concealed  in  conventual  institu- 
tions under  the  most  harmless  exterior.  The  convent 
which  Miss  Saurin  entered  was  one  of  those  for  which 
the  plea  is  advanced  that  they  do  practical  service  in 
the  cause  of  education  and  charity.  It  is  not  difficult 
to  imagine  that  a  hotheaded  Protestant  might  have 
been  for  the  time  confused  if  he  had  been  taken  to  see 
Miss  Saurin  and  her  fellow-sisters  patiently  devoting 
themselves  to  the  instruction  of  their  scholars.  Yet, 
whatever  the  technical  result  of  the  trial,  it  left  all  im- 
partial readers  with  a  most  painful  impression  of  the 
degrading  and  demoralizing  atmosphere  of  the  convent. 
And  in  conserpience  Parliament  was  moved  to  appoint, 
March  20,  1870,  a  select  committee  to  make  inquiries 
concerning  conventual  or  monastic  institutions  in  (Ireat 
Britain.  The  result  of  sudi  investigation  wjis  unfavor- 
able ill  that  country,  and  has  turned  popidar  opinion 
against  their  existence.  In  Poland  also  the  Itussian 
government  has  in  very  recent  times  found  itself  faced 
with  a  most  alarming  spread  of  treason  and  corruption 
generated  and  fostered  in  monasteries,  and  the  days  of 
monasticism  may  be  said  to  be  numbered  even  there. 
As  what  is  said  of  English  Christianity  is  so  well 
applicable  to  all  other  Protestant  countries,  we  quote 
Mr.  Bhmt  here  in  conclusion  of  this  subject:  "The 
da_v  of  monasticism  has  forever  set.  .  .  .  There  is  no 
longer  any  need  for  its  existence,  even  if  it  could  be 
set  up  again  in  its  best  condition.  iMore  than  Benedic- 
tiue  learning  sheds  a  ray  of  glory  on  our  colleges.     Our 


Poor-laws  render  unnecessary'  the  alms  for  the  monas- 
tery wicket;  and  such  doles  would  become  a  positive 
evil  now  as  an  encouragement  to  idleness  and  sloth. 
Our  clergy  are  welcome  visitors  at  the  cottage  fireside, 
where  the  monk  of  later  days  was  not,  with  his  contri- 
butions for  the  house.  The  glor>'  of  monasticism  was 
the  fidelity  with  which  it  discharged  its  earlier  mission; 
the  self-sacrifice  with  which  it  taught  men  to  rise  supe- 
rior to  the  trials  and  calamities  of  life;  the  unfeigned 
piety  with  which  the  monk  resigned  every  eartldy  ad- 
vantage that  he  might  win  a  heavenh'  reward.  But  it 
survived  its  reputation,  and  there  is  more  hope  of  re^ 
covering  to  life  the  carcass  around  which  the  eagles 
have  gathered  than  of  renovated  monkdom.  The  rib- 
aldry of  Boccaccio  and  Pabelais,  the  Ep.  ohscuror.  tit., 
and  the  more  measured  terms  of  Piers  Ploughman  and 
Chaucer,  were  mainly  instrumental  in  bringing  about 
the  downfall  of  monasticism  ;  but  this  was  after  it  had 
already  been  shorn  of  its  splendor,  and  when  scarcely  a 
ray  remained  to  it  of  its  former  glory"  (comp.  ^Nlurphy, 
Terra  Incor/nita,  or  the  Convents  of  the  United  Kinrjdom 
[Lond.  1873,  8vol ;  I'auli,  Pictures  of  Old  England 
[Lond.  1861,  12moJ,  chap.  iii). 

6.  In  architectural  arrangement,  monastic  establish- 
ments, whether  abbeys,  priories,  or  other  convents,  fol- 
lowed nearly  the  same  plan.  The  great  enclosure  (va- 
rying, of  course,  in  extent  with  the  wealth  and  im- 
portance of  the  monasterj'),  generally  with  a  stream 
running  beside  it,  was  surrounded  by  a  wall,  the  princi- 
pal entrance  being  through  a  gatetcog  to  the  west  or 
north-west.  This  gateway  was  a  considerable  building, 
and  often  contained  a  chapel,  with  its  altar,  besides  the 
necessary  accommodation  for  the  porter.  The  alinerg, 
or  place  where  alms  were  distributed,  stood  not  far 
within  the  great  gate,  and  generally  a  little  to  the  right 
hand :  there,  too,  was  often  a  chapel  with  its  altar.  I'ro- 
ceeding  onwards,  the  west  entrance  of  the  church  ap- 
peared. The  church  itself  was  always,  where  it  received 
its  due  development,  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross;  i.e., 
a  cross  of  which  the  transepts  are  short  in  proportion 
to  the  nave.  Moreover,  in  Norman  churches,  the  east- 
ern limb  never  approached  the  nave  or  western  limb  in 
length.  Whether  or  not  the  reason  of  this  preference  of 
the  Latin  cross  is  found  in  the  domestic  arrangements 
of  the  monastic  buildings,  it  was  certainly  best  adapted 
to  it;  for  the  nave  of  the  church,  with  one  of  the  tran- 
septs, formed  the  whole  of  one  side  and  part  of  another 
side  of  a  quadrangle;  and  an}'  other  tlian  a  long  nave 
would  have  involved  a  small  quadrangle,  while  a  long 
transept  would  leave  too  little  of  another  side,  or  none 
at  all,  for  other  buildings.  How  the  internal  arrange- 
ments were  aflected  by  this  adaptation  of  the  nave  to 
external  requirements  we  have  seen  under  the  head  Ca- 
THEDUAL,  to  which  also  we  refer  for  the  general  de- 
scription of  the  conventual  church.  Southward  of  the 
church,  and  parallel  with  the  south  transept,  was  car- 
ried the  western  range  of  the  monastic  offices;  but  it 
will  be  more  convenient  to  examine  their  arrangement 
within  the  court.  We  enter,  then,  by  a  door  near  the 
west  end  of  the  church,  and  passing  though  a  vaulted 
passage,  find  ourselves  in  the  cloister  court,  of  wliich 
the  nave  of  the  church  forms  the  northern  side,  the 
transept  part  of  the  eastern  side,  and  other  buildings, 
in  the  order  to  be  presently  described.  com|ilete  the 
([uadrangle.  The  cloisters  themselves  extended  around 
the  whole  of  the  (pia<lrangle,  serving,  among  other 
purposes,  as  a  covered  Avay  from  every  part  of  the 
cj)nvent  to  every  other  part.  They  were  furnished, 
perhaps  always,  with  lavatories,  on  the  decoration  and 
construction  of  wliich  nuieh  cost  was  expended;  and 
sometimes  also  with  desks  and  closets  of  wainscot, 
which  served  the  purpose  of  a  scriptorium.  Com- 
mencing the  circuit  of  the  cloisters  at  the  north-west 
corner,  and  turning  southward,  wc  have  first  the  ffor- 
mitory  or  dorter,  the  use  of  which  is  sufficiently  in- 
dicated by  its  name.  This  occupied  tlie  whole  of  the 
western  side  of  the  quadrangle,  and  sometimes  had  a 


MONASTICISM 


459 


MONASTICISM 


groined  passage  beneath  its  whole  length,  called  the 
twibulatory,  a  noble  example  of  which,  in  perfect  pres- 
ervation, remains  at  Fountains.  The  south  side  of  the 
quadrangle  contained  the  refectory,  with  its  correlative, 
the  coquina  or  kitchen,  which  was  sometimes  at  its  side, 
and  sometimes  behind  it.  The  refectory  was  furnished 
with  a  pulpit,  for  the  reading  of  some  portion  of  Script- 
ure during  meals.  On  this  side  of  the  quadrangle  may 
also  be  found,  in  general,  the  locutorium  or  parlor,  the 
latter  word  being,  at  least  in  etymology,  the  fidl  equiv- 
alent of  the  former.  The  abbofs  lodge  commonly  com- 
menced at  the  south-east  corner  of  the  quadrangle;  but, 
instead  of  conforming  itself  to  its  general  direction, 
rather  extended  eastwards,  with  its  own  chapel,  hall, 
parlor,  kitchen,  and  other  offices,  in  a  line  parallel  with 
the  choir  or  eastern  limb  of  the  church.  Turning  north- 
wards, still  continuing  within  the  cloisters,  we  come 
first  to  an  open  passage  leading  outwards,  then  to  the 
chapter-house  or  its  vestibule;  then,  after  another  open 
passage,  to  the  south  transept  of  the  church.  Immedi- 
ately before  us  is  an  entrance  into  the  church,  and  an- 
other occurs  at  the  end  of  the  west  cloister.  The  parts 
of  the  establishment  especially  connected  with  sewerage 
were  built  over  or  close  to  the  stream ;  and  we  may  re- 
mark that  both  in  drainage  and  in  the  supply  of  water 
great  and  laudable  care  was  alwa3-s  taken.  The  stream 
also  turned  the  abbey  mill,  at  a  small  distance  from  the 
monastery.  Other  offices,  such  as  stables,  bretvhouses, 
bakehouses,  and  the  like,  in  the  larger  establishments 
usually  occupied  another  court,  and  in  the  smaller  were 
connected  with  the  chief  buildings  in  the  only  quadran- 
gle. It  is  needless  to  say  that,  in  so  general  an  account, 
we  cannot  enumerate  exceptional  cases.  It  may,  how- 
ever, be  necessary  to  say  that  the  greatest  difference  of 
all,  that  of  placing  the  quadrangle  at  the  north,  instead 
of  the  south  side  of  the  church,  is  not  unknown ;  it  is  so 
at  Canterbury  and  at  Lincoln,  for  instance  (comp.  Hook, 
Church  Diet.  p.  414,  415).  This  branch  of  the  subject 
may  be  followed  out  in  the  several  plans  of  monasteries 
scattered  among  topographical  works,  and  especially  in 
Parker,  Glossary  of  Architecture,  p.  146  sq. 

Literature. — The  large  number  of  works  treating  of 
Monasticism  (q.  v.)  should  be  consulted  by  the  student, 
especially  the  Church  histories.  See  also  Walcott,  Sa- 
a-ed  A  rchceol.  s.  v. ;  Blunt,  Theol.  Diet.  s.  v. ;  Eadie,  Eccl. 
Diet.  s.  v.;  Riddle,  Christian  Antiquities,  p.  781-783. 
The  best  materials  for  a  history  of  the  series  of  confisca- 
tions that  ensued  in  England  are  in  Three  Chapters  of 
Letters  relating  to  the  Suppression  of  Monasteries  (Lond., 
Camden  Society,  1843). 

Monasticism  (Gr.  novuZtiv,  to  dwell  apart  in  sol- 
itude ;  whence  fiovaxog,  a  monk),  a  state  of  religious 
retirement,  more  or  less  complete,  accompanied  by  con- 
templation and  by  various  devotional,  ascetical,  and 
penitential  practices,  is  in  truth  Asceticism  (q.  v.),  with 
the  elements  of  religious  solitude  superadded.  Monas- 
ticism, until  the  beginning  of  the  study  of  comparative 
religion,  was  regarded  as  a  strictly  Christian  institution, 
but  recent  researches  reveal  it  as  having  entered  into  va- 
rious religious  systems,  both  ancient  and  modern.  In- 
deed, it  is  now  clearly  apparent  that  the  Western  theory 
of  the  ascetic  life  travelled  from  the  East  to  the  West, 
but  the  question  of  the  time  when  it  originated  in  the 
East  is  still  clouded  in  mystery.  "The  origin  of 
monasticism,"  writes  Mr.  Johnson  in  his  little  work 
on  the  Monls  before  Christ,  "will  ahvays  be  en- 
veloped in  mystery.  'Its  history  is  shrouded  in  the 
same  obscurity  as  the  source  of  the  mighty  stream 
upon  tlie  banks  of  which  the  first  ascetics  commenced 
the  practice  of  their  austerities' "  (p.  51,  52).  The 
probability  is  that  monachism  is  a  strictly  Asiatic 
institution,  and  originated  among  heathen  nations. 
We  certainly  do  not  think  that  monasticism  can  prove 
a  Christian  or  even  Jewish  origin;  it  is  not  heav- 
enly, but  earthly.  Yet  do  we  not  desire  to  have  our 
development  theorists  infer  that  we  agree  with  them 
that  it  is   one  of  the  early  religious  forms  of  man.) 


Says  one,  "  The  older  the  religion,  the  older  its  ascetic 
practices ;  for  the}'  were  among  the  first  forms  assumed 
by  the  religious  impulse,  and  not  among  the  later  and 
better  ones.  They  belong  to  the  religion  of  the  passions 
and  emotions,  and  not  to  the  religion  of  reason;"  and 
then  he  logically  infers  that  therefore  "  monasticism  is 
as  old  as  religion  itself;  for  it  does  not  gain  favor  with 
the  progress  of  new  ideas,  but  is  gradually  falling  in  the 
estimation  of  all."  We  are  far  from  believing  that  mo- 
nasticism is  a  primitive  institution,  and  is  forsaken  by 
modem  civilization.  Quite  the  contran,',  we  hold  that 
ascetic  practices  prevail  largely  among  semi-civilized 
or  civilized  nations,  and  only  after  a  clear  conception 
has  been  formed  of  man's  dependence  on  a  higher  Be- 
ing, and  a  desire  is  manifest  for  future  existence.  The 
inspired  religion  prepares  the  way  for  these,  and  from 
religious  excesses  or  alienation  spring  the  ascetic  prac- 
tices. In  the  far  East  the  very  notion  of  the  supreme 
Lord  faded  for  ages  from  the  grasp  of  philosophy,  and 
became  too  subtle  and  refined  a  concejition  for  any  to 
retain  it  in  their  knowledge ;  but  the  inherent  evil  of 
matter,  of  flesh,  of  sense,  and  of  human  life  has  remain- 
ed to  stimulate  the  curiosity,  to  exhaust  the  efforts  of 
the  melancholy  victims  of  the  grim  delusion,  and  to 
shape  in  various  forms  the  fact  that  man's  incumbent 
duty  has  ever  been  to  escape  from  the  contamination, 
and  rise  above  the  conditions  of  the  flesh.  Indeed,  we 
believe  that  ascetic  tendencies  in  general,  and  monasti- 
cism in  particular,  are  the  outgrowth  of  a  religious  en- 
thusiasm, seriousness,  and  ambition  likely  to  be  pursued 
only  by  those  who  have  once  believed  in  revealed  re- 
ligion and  have  retrograded,  having  gone  from  the 
presence  of  their  God  to  the  idol  they  reared  to  repre- 
sent him.  But,  whatever  may  be  the  dilferences  of 
opinion  as  to  the  relation  of  the  heathen  religions  to 
the  revealed,  it  is  generally  conceded  that  monasticism 
cannot  prove  its  heavenly  origin,  nor  honestly  identify 
itself  with  the  Christian  religion,  as  it  is  known  to  be 
much  older  than  Christianity.  In  times  far  anterior  to 
the  Gospel,  prophets  and  martyrs,  "in  sheepskins  and 
goatskins,"  wandered  in  the  Oriental  world  over  moun- 
tains and  deserts,  and  dwelt  in  caves  and  dens  of  the 
earth,  as  have  likewise  evangelical  monks. 

I.  Pagan  Monachism.  —  1.  Its  Monumental  Ilistory, 
— In  examining  the  inscriptions  which  have  been  dis- 
covered in  South-western  Asia  and  Egypt,  we  find  an 
abundance  of  representations  of  priests  and  religious 
ceremonies.  We  learn  from  these  that  many  of  the 
priests  shaved  the  head,  and  always  wore  a  peculiar 
habit,  which  in  historic  times,  we  are  told,  was  white. 
We  learn  furthermore  that  these  priests  taught  that  the 
body  must  be  kept  pure  by  fasting  and  other  ascetic 
observances.  No  doubt,  as  our  knowledge  in  hiero- 
glyphics shall  progress,  our  information  on  this  subject 
will  be  greatly  enriched.  In  Arabia  and  India  the 
modern  traveller  comes  across  numberless  "rock -cut 
temples."  We  now  know  that  nearly  600  years  B.C.  the 
artificial  caves  of  India  were  occupied  by  Buddhistical 
monks,  and  there  is  conclusive  evidence  that  they  had 
served  the  Brahmins  for  a  like  purpose  long  before  that. 
(Comp.  the  occasional  notices  of  the  Indian  gymnoso- 
phists  in  Strabo  [lib.  xv,  c.  1,  after  accounts  from  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Great  J,  Arrian  l^Exped.  Alex.  lib. 
vii,  c.  1-3  ;  and  Hist.  Lnd.  c.  11],  Pliny  [Hist.  Nat.  vii, 
2],  Diodorus  Siculus  [lib.  ii],  Plutarch  [Alex.  c.  64], 
Porphyry  [Z)e  abstinent,  lib.  iv],  Lucian  [Fugit.  c.  7], 
Clemens  Alex.  [Strom,  lib.  i  and  iii],  and  Augustine 
[De  cicit.  Dei,  lib.  xiv,  c.  17:  "Per  opacas  India?  soli- 
tudines,  quum  quidam  nudi  philosophentur,  unde  gym- 
nosophistie  nominantur;  adhibenttamen  genitalibus  teg- 
mina,  quibus  per  cjetera  membrorura  carent;"  and  lib. 
XV,  c.  20,  where  he  denies  all  merit  to  their  celibacj^, 
because  it  is  not  "secundum  fidem  summi  boni,  qui  est 
Deus"].  With  these  ancient  representations  agree  the 
narratives  of  Fon  Koueki  [about  A.D.  400,  transl.  by 
M.A.Remusat,  Paris,  1836],  Marco  Polo  [1280],  Ber- 
nier  [1670],  Hamilton  [1700],  Papi,  Niebuhr,  Orlich, 


MONASTICISM 


460 


MONASTICISM 


Sonncrat,  and  others.)  The  manner  of  the  construction 
of  these  caves  of  India  and  Arabia  leads  to  the  supposi- 
tion that  they  were  ortf/imil/i/  intended  for  monkish 
abodes,  and,  if  so,  the  exceedini^  f^reat  antiquity  of  mo- 
nasticism  can  no  longer  be  doubted.  These  temples 
and  caves  are  the  oldest  monuments  of  the  countries  in 
which  they  arc  found. 

2.  Earliest  icritten  I/istoiy  of  Monachism. — If  from 
these  monuments  we  descend  to  an  examination  of  the 
■written  books  of  the  ancients,  and  search  in  "  The  Na- 
batii-an  Agriculture,"  which  is  believed  to  have  been 
written  about  the  time  of  Nebuchadnezzar  (or  B.C.  600), 
we  find  in  this  historj'  of  Chaldaia,  reaching  back  sev- 
eral thousands  of  years  before  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  tera,  that  in  the  verj'  earliest  historj-  of  which 
this  work  gives  any  account  there  flourished  Azada,  an 
apostle  of  Saturn,  who  "  founded  the  religion  of  renun- 
ciation or  asceticism,"  and  that  "  his  partisans  and  fol- 
lowers were  the  subjects  of  persecution  by  the  higher 
and  cultivated  classes ;  but  that  to  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple, on  the  contrarj',  they  were  the  objects  of  the  high- 
est veneration."  Another  ascetic  whom  it  mentions 
flourished  about  B.C.  2000.  He  is  said  to  have  inveigh- 
ed against  tlie  godliness  of  those  who  believed  it  possi- 
ble to  preserve  the  human  body  from  decay,  after  death, 
by  the  employment  of  certain  natural  agents.  "Not 
by  natural  means,"  warmly  replies  Dhagrit,  "can  man 
preserve  bis  body  from  corruption  and  dissolution  after 
death,  but  only  through  good  deeds,  nlii/ions  exercises, 
and  offering  of  sacrifices — by  invoking  the  gods  by  their 
great  and  beautiful  names — by  j^rmjcrs  durinf/  the  night, 
and  fasts  diiriiif/  the  day.''  Then  Dhagrit  goes  on,  in 
his  monkish  zeal,  to  give  the  names  of  various  saints  of 
Babylonian  antiquity  whose  bodies  had  long  been  pre- 
served, after  death,  from  corruption  and  change,  and 
says:  "These  men  had  distinguished  themselves  by 
piety,  by  abstemiousness,  and  by  their  manner  of  life, 
■which  resembled  that  of  angels;  and  the  gods,  there- 
fore, by  their  grace,  had  preserved  the  bodies  of  these 
men  from  corruption ;  whereby  those  of  later  times,  in 
view  of  the  same,  were  encouraged  in  piety,  and  in  the 
imitation  of  those  holy  modes  of  life."  See  Chwolson, 
Uebcr  die  Ueberreste  der  nltbabylonischen  Literaiiir  (St, 
Petersburg,  1859) ;  M.  le  Baron  de  St.  Croix,  Recherches 
Ulstoriques  et  Critiques  sur  les  Myst'eres  du  Paganisme 
(Paris,  1817). 

Turning  from  these  written  sources,  still  the  subjects 
of  much  discussion  as  to  their  authenticity,  to  the  well- 
established  records  of  India,  Persia,  and  China,  the  old- 
est written  records  in  existence  aside  from  the  sacred 
Scriptures  (viz.  the  Veda  [q.  v.]  and  the  Laws  of  JIanu 
[q.  v.| — the  sacred  books  of  the  Brahmins;  the  Zend- 
Avesta  [q.  V.]— the  sacred  book  of  the  Persians  or  Zoro- 
astrians;  and  the  Shu-King  [see  Conix-cii;s]— the  sa- 
cred book  of  China),  we  find  the  hoary  parent  of  mo- 
nastic rule  dwelling  in  the  far  East,  and  gathering  obe- 
dient millions  under  her  ample  folds,  long  before  the 
introduction  of  Christianity,  even  if  we  should  trace 
Christian  monasticism  back  to  St.  Bartholomew  and 
St.  Thomas. 

Among  the  HindCls  (q.  v.),  we  learn  from  the  Brah- 
minical  writings — especially  the  Rig -Veda,  portions  of 
which  are  assigned  to  a  period  as  far  back  as  B.C.  2400, 
the  Laws  of  Manu,  whicli  were  certainly  completed  be- 
fore the  rise  of  Buddhism  (that  is,  six  or  seven  centu- 
ries before  our  a>ra),  and  the  numerous  other  sacred 
books  of  the  Indian  religi"n— that  there  was  enjoined  by 
example  and  precept  entire  abstraction  of  thought,  se- 
clusion from  tlie  world,  and  a  variety  of  penitential  and 
meritorious  acts  of  self-mortification,  by  which  the  dev- 
otee assumes  a  proud  superiority  over  the  vulgar  herd 
of  mortals,  and  is  absorbed  at  last  into  the  divine  foun- 
tain of  all  being.  Says  Spence  Hardy.  "Tiie  practice 
of  asceticism  is  so  interwoven  with  Brahminism,  \uKler 
all  the  phases  it  has  assumed,  that  we  cannot  realize  its 
existence  apart  from  the  principles  of  the  ascetic." 
(Comjmre  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  xvi,  38;  I'avie,  in 


Revue  des  deux  Mondes,  1854;  Hardwick,  Christ  and 
other  Masters,  i,  351.) 

3.  Probable  Origin  of  Eastern  ^fonachism.  —  "At  an 
early  period  of  the  present  a-ra  of  Brahminic  manifesta- 
tion," the  legend  goes,  in  the  Rig -Veda,  "Dhruva,  the 
son  of  Cttanapada,  the  son  of  Manu  Swayambhuva, 
who  was  '  born  of  and  one  with  Brahma,'  began  to  per- 
form penance,  as  tnjuined  by  the  sages,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Yamuna.  Wliile  his  mind  was  wholly  absorbed  in 
meditation,  the  mighty  Hari,  identical  with  all  natures, 
took  possession  of  his  heart.  Vishnu  being  thus  pres- 
ent in  his  mind,  the  earth,  the  supporter  of  elemental 
life,  could  not  sustain  the  weight  of  the  ascetic.  The 
celestials  called  Yamas,  being  excessively  alarmed,  then 
took  counsel  with  Indra  how  they  should  interrupt  the 
devout  exercises  of  Dhruva;  and  the  divine  beings 
termed  Kushmandas,  in  company  with  their  king,  com- 
menced anxious  efforts  to  distract  his  meditations.  One, 
assuming  the  semblance  of  his  mother,  Suniti,  stood 
weeping  before  him,  and  calling  in  tender  accents, '  Jly 
son,  my  son,  desist  from  destroying  thy  strength  by  this 
fearful  penance !  What  hast  thou,  a  child  but  five  years 
old,  to  do  with  rigorous  penance  ?  Desist  from  such 
fearful  jiracticcs,  that  yield  no  beneficial  fruit.  First 
comes  the  season  of  youthful  pastime,  and  when  that  is 
over  it  is  the  time  for  study ;  then  succeeds  the  period 
of  worldly  enjoyments;  and.lastly,  that  of  austere  devo- 
tion. This  is  thy  season  of  pastime,  my  child.  Hast 
thou  engaged  in  these  practices  to  put  an  end  to  exist- 
ence ?  Thy  chief  duty  is  love  for  me ;  duties  are  ac- 
cording to  time  of  life.  Lose  not  thyself  in  bewildering 
error — desist  from  such  unrighteous  actions.  If  not,  if 
thou  wilt  not  desist  from  these  austerities,  I  will  termi- 
nate my  life  before  thee.'  But  Dhruva,  being  wholly 
intent  on  seeing  Vishnu,  beheld  not  his  mother  weeping 
in  his  presence,  and  calling  upon  him  ;  and  the  illusion, 
crying  out, '  Fly,  fly,  my  child ;  the  hideous  spirits  of  ill 
are  crowding  into  this  terrible  forest  with  uplifted  weap- 
ons,' quickly  disappeared.  Then  advanced  frightful 
rakshasas,  wielding  terrible  arms,  and  with  countenan- 
ces emitting  fiery  Hame ;  and  nocturnal  fiends  thronged 
around  the  prince,  uttering  fearful  noises,  and  whirling 
and  tossing  their  threatening  weapons.  Hundreds  of 
jackals,  from  whose  mouths  gushed  flame  as  they  de- 
voured their  prey,  were  howling  around  to  appall  the 
boy,  wholly  engrossed  by  meditation.  The  goblins 
called  out, '  Kill  him !  kill  him  ! — cut  him  to  pieces  ! — 
eat  him  !  eat  him !'  and  monsters,  with  the  faces  of 
camels  and  crocodiles  and  lions,  roared  and  yelled  with 
horrible  cries  to  terrify  the  prince.  But  all  these  un- 
couth speeches,  appalling  cries,  and  threatening  weap- 
ons made  no  impression  upon  his  senses,  whose  mind 
was  completely  intent  on  Govinda.  The  son  of  the 
monarch  of  the  earth,  engrossed  by  one  idea,  beheld  un- 
interruiitedly  Vishnu  seated  in  his  soul,  and  saw  no 
other  object."  How  like  the  legends  of  Christian  mon- 
achism are  these  pagan  descriptions !  The  desert  has 
always  been  the  abode  of  asceticism,  whose  devotees,  in 
their  struggle  against  the  flesh,  peopled  its  sands  with 
horrible  monsters  of  every  kind — with  devils,  hobgob- 
lins, and  giants,  who  (in  the  minds  of  the  people)  have 
held  possession  ever  since.  The  Vedas  also  command 
that  the  tonsure  be  performed,  but,  so  far  as  known,  they 
prescribed  no  rules  with  regard  to  the  monastic  life. 
Their  teachings  seem  to  be  contined  solely  to  asceticism. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  Laws  of  Manu  rules  are  given 
for  the  conduct  of  monastics ;  and,  as  these  rules  were  in 
the  possession  of  the  peojile  of  India  long  before  they 
were  committed  to  writing,  it  is  no  wonder  that  monas- 
ticism is  believed  to  have  been  practiced  for  thousands 
of  years  before  the  time  of  Christ.  Hardwick.  by  no 
means  a  superficial  student,  is  led  even,  in  the  face  of 
these  conditions,  to  say  that  "  India  was  the  real  birth- 
place of  monasticism"  {Christ  and  other  Masters,  i.351). 

A  large  portion  of  the  Laws  of  JIanu  are  taken  up  by 
regulations  to  be  observed  by  those  who  wish  to  attain 
to  the  ultimate  good  by  the  practice  of  monastic  ob- 


MONASTICISM 


461 


MONASTICISM 


servances.  The  rule  of  St.  Benedict  itself  does  not  af- 
ford a  more  decided  proof  of  the  existence  of  the  ascetic 
life.  The  work  is  divided  into  twelve  books.  The  sixth 
book  is  entitled  "  Duties  of  the  Anchorite  and  of  the  As- 
cetic Devotee."  The  subject  of  the  eleventh  book  is 
"  Penitences  and  Expiations."  The  Dwijas,  for  whom 
these  rules  are  principally  laid  down,  are  described  as  a 
sort  of  monks,  who  practiced  tonsure,  wore  girdle,  car- 
ried staff,  asked  alms,  fasted,  lacerated  the  body,  and 
dwelt  for  the  most  part  in  tlie  deserts  and  forests.  We 
have  space  but  for  a  few  illustrations,  which  will  suffice, 
however,  to  show  the  character  of  this  work.  From  the 
sixth  book, "  Duties  of  the  Anchorite  and  of  the  Ascetic 
Devotee,"  we  quote  as  follows  : 

"  IT  '24.  The  Dwija,  who  dwells  alone,  should  deliver 
himself  to  austerities,  increasing  constantly  in  their  se- 
verity, that  be  may  wither  up  his  mortal  substance. 

"  IT  27.  Let  him  receive  fi'om  the  Brahminical  anchorites, 
who  live  in  houses,  such  alms  as  maybe  necessary  to  sup- 
port his  existence."  (The  case  was  similar  in  early  Chris- 
tian times:  Simon  the  Stylite,  and  a  host  of  others,  were 
thus  provided  for.) 

"H  49.  Meditating  with  delight  on  the  supreme  soul, 
seated,  wanting  nothing,  inaccessible  to  all  sensual  de- 
sire, without  other  society  than  his  own  soul,  let  him  live 
here  below  in  the  constant  expectancy  of  the  eternal  be- 
atitude. 

"IT  75.  In  subduing  his  organs,  in  accomplishing  the 
pious  duties  prescribed  by  the  Vedas,  and  in  submitting 
one's  self  to  the  most  austere  i)ractices,  one  is  able  to  at- 
tain here  below  to  the  supreme  end,  which  is  U>  become 
identified  with  Brahma."  ("Their  whole  doctrine  of 
spirit,  of  the  supreme  Being,  and  the  relation  of  man  to 
God,  must  have  made  the^Brahmins  ascetics  from  the 
very  first.  So  that,  when  the  origin  of  this  religion  can 
he  ascertained,  we  may  say,  without  further  examination, 
monasticism  was  there,  and  gave  birth  to  it"  [Johusou, 
Monha  before  Christ,  p.  70].) 

"IT  87.' The  novice,  the  married  man,  the  anchorite,  and 
the  ascetic  devotee  form  four  distinct  orders,  which  derive 
their  origin  from  the  superior  of  the  house. 

"IT  91.  The  Dwijas,  who  belong  to  these  four  orders, 
ought  always  to  practice  with  the  greatest  care  the  ten 
virtues  which  compose  their  duty. 

"  IT  92.  Resignation,  the  act  of  rendering  good  for  evil, 
temjierance,  probity,  purity,  the  subjugation  of  the  senses, 
the  knowledge  of  the  Shastras,  that  of  the  supreme  soul, 
veracity,  and  abstinence  from  choler— such  are  the  ten 
virtues  in  which  their  duty  consists." 

From  the  eleventh  book,  "Penitences  and  Expia- 
tions," we  make  the  following  extracts : 

"IT  211.  The  Dwija,  who  undergoes  the  ordinary  peni- 
tence called  Prajapatya,  ought  to  eat  during  three  days 
only  in  the  morning;"  during  the  next  three  days,  only  at 
night;  during  the  following  three  days,  he  t-liouUl  partake 
only  of  such'food  as  persons  may  give  him  voluntarily, 
without  his  begging  fur  it ;  and,  finally,  let  him  fust  three 
days  entirely. 

'"'  t  214.  A  Brahmin,  accomplishing  the  severe  penitence 
(Taptakrichra),  ought  to  swallow  nothing  but  warm  wa- 
ter, warm  milk,  cold  clarified  butter,  and  warm  vapor, 
employing  each  of  them  three  days  in  succession. 

"  H  215.  He  who,  master  of  his  senses  and  perfectly  at- 
tentive, supports  a  fast  of  twelve  d.iys,  makes  the  peni- 
tence called  Paroka,  which  expiates  aH  of  his  faults. 

"  TI  216.  Let  the  penitent  who  desires  to  make  the  Chan- 
drayana,  having  eaten  fifteen  mouthfuls  on  the  day  of  the 
full  moon,  diminish  his  nourishment  by  one  mouthful 
each  day  during  the  fifteen  days  of  obscuration  which  fol- 
low, in  such  a  manner  that  on  the  fourteenth  day  he  shall 
eat  but  one  mouthful,  and  then  let  him  fast  on  the  fif- 
teenth, which  is  the  day  of  the  new  moon  ;  let  him  aug- 
ment, on  the  contrary,  his  nourishment  by  one  mouthful 
each  day  during  the'next  fifteen  days,  commencing  the 
first  day  with  one  mouthful. 

"H  289.  Great  criminals,  and  all  other  men  gnilty  of  di- 
vers faults,  arc  released  from  the  consequences  of  their 
sins  by  austei  ities  i)racticed  with  exactitude. 

"If  251.  By  reciting  the  Hovichyantiya  or  the  Nata- 
manha  sixteen  times  a  day  for  a  month,  or  by  repeating 
inaudibly  the  hymn  Porucha,  he  who  has  defiled  the  bed 
of  his  spiritual  master  is  absolved  from  all  fault." 

"  The  ascetic  system,"  says  Schaft',  "  is  essential  alike 
to  Brahminism  [see  Hinduism]  and  Buddhism  (q.v.), 
the  two  opposite  and  yet  cognate  branches  of  tlie  Indian 
religion,  which  in  many  respects  are  similarly  related 
to  each  other  as  Judaism  is  to  Christianity,  or  as  Ro- 
manism to  Protestantism.  Buddhism  is  a  later  refor- 
mation of  Brahminism.  .  .  .  But  the  two  religions  start 
from  opposite  principles.  Brahminic  asceticism  pro- 
ceeds from  a  pantheistic  view  of  the  world — the  Buddh- 


istic from  an  atheistic  and  nihilistic,  yet  very  earnest 
view ;  the  one  is  controlled  by  the  idea  of  the  absolute 
but  abstract  unity,  and  a  feeling  of  contempt  of  the 
world— the  other  by  the  idea  of  the  absolute  but  unreal 
variety,  and  a  feeling  of  deep  grief  over  the  emptiness  and 
nothingness  of  all  existence ;  the  one  is  predominantly 
objective,  positive,  and  idealistic — the  other  more  sub- 
jective, negative,  and  realistic;  the  one  aims  at  absorp- 
tion into  the  universal  spirit  of  Brahma — the  other  con- 
stantly at  an  absorption  into  nonentity."  "  Brahminism," 
says  Wuttke,  "  looks  back  to  the  beginning.  Buddhism  to 
the  end ;  the  former  loves  cosmogony,  the  latter  escha- 
tology.  Both  reject  the  existing  world ;  the  Brahmin 
despises  it  because  he  contrasts  it  with  the  higher  being 
of  Brahma;  the  Buddhist  bewails  it  because  of  its  un- 
realness;  the  former  sees  God  in  all,  the  other  empti- 
ness in  all"  {Das  Geistesleben  der  Chinesen,  Japcmer,  und 
Indier,  1853,  p.  593,  constituting  pt.  ii  of  his  History  of 
Heathenism).  "Yet,"  adds  Schaff,  "as  all  extremes 
meet,  the  abstract  all-entity  of  Brahminism  and  the 
equally  abstract  non-entity  or  vacuity  of  Buddhism 
come  to  the  same  thing  in  the  end,  and  may  lead  to  the 
same  ascetic  practices.  The  asceticism  of  Brahminism 
takes  more  the  direction  of  anchoretism,  while  that  of 
Buddhism  exists  generally  in  the  social  form  of  regular 
convent  life."  The  Hindii  monks,  the  Vanaprastha, 
or  Gymnosophists  (q.  v.),  as  the  Greeks  called  them,  are 
Brahminical  anchorites  (q.  v.),  who  live  in  woods  or  caves, 
on  mountains  or  rocks,  in  poverty,  celibacy,  abstinence, 
contemplation :  sleeping  on  straw  or  the  bare  ground, 
crawling  on  the  belly,  macerating  the  body,  standing 
all  day  on  tiptoe,  exposed  to  the  pouring  rain  or  scorch- 
ing sun  with  four  tires  kindled  around  them,  presenting 
a  savage  and  frightful  appearance,  yet  greatly  revered 
by  the  multitude,  especially  the  women.  As  procrea- 
tion of  at  least  one  child  is  strictly  enjoined  by  Brah- 
minism, some  take  their  wives  along,  but  never  have 
intercourse  with  them  except  at  such  times  as  they  are 
most  likely  to  conceive.  They  are  reputed  to  perform 
miracles,  and  not  unfrequently  complete  their  austeri- 
ties by  suicide  on  the  stake  or  in  the  waves  of  the 
Ganges.  Thus  they  are  described  bj"-  the  ancients  and 
by  modern  travellers  (see  Dubois,  Description  of  the 
Character,  Manners,  and  Customs  of  the  People  of  India 
[Philadelphia,  1818]). 

The  Buddhist  monks  are  less  fanatical  and  extrava- 
gant than  the  Hindu  Yogis  (q.  v.)  and  Fakirs  (q.  v.). 
They  depend  mainly  on  fasting,  prayer,  psalmody,  in- 
tense contemplation,  and  the  use  of  the  whip,  to  keep 
their  rebellious  flesh  in  sidjjection.  See  Buddhism; 
GoT.VMA.  They  have  a  fully  developed  system  of  mo- 
nasticism in  connection  with  their  priesthood,  and  a 
large  number  of  convents;  also  nunneries  for  female 
devotees.  The  laws  of  Buddha,  it  is  true,  are  often 
purely  moral,  and  they  do  not  profess  to  be  tiie  tran- 
script of  a  liigher  than  a  human  mind.  Yet  they  aimed 
at  reducing  the  entire  company  of  the  faitliful  to  strictly 
monastic  ride,  to  the  mortification  of  all  human  passion, 
to  the  separation  and  isolation  of  the  sexes,  to  mendi- 
cancy, and  to  the  cessation  and  relinquishing  of  all  per- 
sonal and  individual  rights.  Hence  India,  thougli  she 
expelled  Buddhistic  rule,  and  princes  and  professors 
from  her  soil,  yet  shows  at  a  hundred  points  the  deep 
furro^v  which  Buddhist  monasticism  has  drawn  across 
the  more  hoary  superstitions  and  more  agonizing  as- 
ceticism of  Hindu  philosophy;  and  her  monuments  and 
literature  bear  witness  to  the  brave,  self-sacrificing  de- 
votion of  these  sons  and  daughters  of  Buddha,  and  to 
the  fact  that  they  went  into  all  Eastern  lands  to  preach 
the  faith  of  their  sires,  to  build  monasteries,  to  organize 
worship,  to  multiply  their  sacred  books,  to  perlbrm  pil- 
grimage to  holy  shrines  of  their  faith,  to  adore  the  rel- 
ics of  saints  and  martyrs,  and  work  miracles  by  their 
aid,  and  to  adapt  themselves  to  such  var>-ing  populations 
as  the  cultivated  philosophers  of  Nepaul,  the  ingenious 
and  susceptible  Japanese,  the  Cingalese,  and  Burmese, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  pontifical  empire  of  Thibet  (q.  v.), 


MONASTICISM 


462 


mo:n^asticism 


where,  to  the  present  day,  the  monks  still  grasp  a  ] 
mighty  sovereignty,  where  whole  cities  are  tilled  with  j 
mona-stic  populations,  and  where  the  temples,  ritual,  in- 
cense, tonsure,  and  vestments  resemble  the  mediaival 
worship  of  the  Komish  Church  so  strongly  as  to  deceive  1 
the  unwarj'.  At  the  present  day  the  canonization  of  [ 
departed  worth  continually  takes  place  in  China,  Tar- 
tary,  and  Thibet.  Tem])les  are  erected  in  honor  of  med-  ■ 
itative  and  hysteric  damsels,  who  have  gone  through 
prodigies  of  self-sacriiice  and  communion  with  the  gods, 
and  have  entered  into  their  final  rest.  See  Lamaisji. 
Up  to  the  present  century,  the  learning,  tlie  science,  the 
art,  and  literature  of  China  have  been  largely  promoted 
by  the  priesthood.  The  conflict  between  a  caste  and  a 
true  priesthood,  the  victory  of  the  "religious  order" 
over  the  sacred  tribe,  the  triumph  of  monkerj'  over  he- 
reditary privilege,  cannot  be  exclusively  claimed  for 
Christian  recluses  and  Catholic  corporations.  Buddha 
commenced  this  mighty  strife-  six  centuries  before 
Christ.  Indeed,  Buddhist  monasticism  bears  such  a  re- 
markable resemblance  to  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  that  Romish  missionaries  believed  it  necessarj' 
to  brand  the  olJer  as  a  diabolical  imitation.  But,  as 
has  been  well  said,  "  The  original  always  precedes  the 
caricature."  (See  the  older  accounts  of  Romish  mission- 
aries to  Thibet  in  Finkerton,  Collection  of  Voymjes  and 
Travels,  vol.  vii,  and  also  the  recent  work  of  Hue,  a 
Trench  missionary  priest  of  the  Congregation  of  St.  La- 
zare — Souvenirs  d'un  Voyatje  duns  la  Tartarie,  le  Thibet, 
et  la  Chine,  pendayt  les  annees  1844-1846,  translated  into 
English,  and  published  by  the  Harpers  [N.  Y.  1855,  2 
vols.  I'irao].  Comp.  also  on  the  whole  subject  the  two 
works  of  R.  S.  Hardy — Eastern  Monuchism,  and  A  Man- 
ual of  Buddhism  in  its  viodem  J)evelr>pment,  translated 
from  Cingalese  MSS.  [Lond.  1850].  The  striking  af- 
finity between  Buddhism  and  Romanism  extends,  by 
the  way,  beyond  monkery  and  convent  life  to  the  hie- 
rarchical organization,  with  the  grand  lama  for  pope, 
and  to  the  worship,  with  its  ceremonies,  feasts,  proces- 
sions, pilgrimages,  confessional,  a  kind  of  mass,  prayers 
for  the  dead,  extreme  unction,  etc.  The  view  is  cer- 
tainly at  least  plausible,  to  which  the  great  geographer 
Carlliitter  [Erdkunde,  ii,  283-299,  2d  ed.]  has  given 
the  weight  of  his  name,  that  the  Lamaists  in  Thibet 
borroweil  their  religious  forms  and  ceremonies  in  part 
from  the  Xestorian  missionaries.  But  this  view  is  a 
mere  hypothesis,  and  is  rendered  improbable  by  the 
fact  that  Buddhism  in  Cochin  China,  Tonquin,  and  Ja- 
pan, where  no  Nestorian  missionaries  ever  were,  shows 
the  same  striking  resemblance  to  Romanism  as  the  La- 
maism  of  Thibet,  Tartary,  and  North  China.  Respect- 
ing the  singular  tradition  of  Prester  John,  or  the  Chris- 
tian priest-king  in  Eastern  Asia,  which  arose  about  the 
11th  century,  and  respecting  the  Nestorian  missions, 
see  Ritter,  I,  c.  See  also  Johnson,  Mo7iks  before  Christ, 
p.  100-108). 

4,  Organization  and  Development  of non- Christian  Mon- 
achism. — (1.)  Indian.— Whut  St.  Benedict  became  to 
the  monks  of  Christendom,  Gotama  Buddha  was  to  those 
of  India.  At  least  a  thousand  years  before  the  former 
enunciated  his  law  from  the  top  of  Mount  Cassino — that 
Sinai  <r(  Western  monasticism — Buddha,  the  Benedict 
of  Eastern  monachism,  flourished  at  Kapilawastii.  Up 
to  this  time  Eastern  asceticism  appears  to  have  been 
without  a  settled  rule  or  organization.  The  Laws  of 
Maim,  it  is  true,  specifled  the  manner  of  conducting 
many  austere  observances,  and  contain  rules  for  nearly 
all  the  monastic  obser\'ances,  such  as  the  tonsure,  fast- 
ing, celibacy,  mendicancy,  novitiate,  etc.;  but  each 
monastery  was  accustomed  to  arrange  its  own  inner  life, 
and  stood  quite  independent  of  any  other. 

The  f/rouih  (fmonaslici.im  must  have  been  somewhat 
after  this  manner :  First  came  austere  practices  with- 
out separation  from  society;  then  the  devotee  sought 
the  solitude,  like  the  Christian  anchorite  (q.  v.).  Some 
one  who  was  particularly  celebrated  for  the  holiness  of 
his  life,  or  more  inventive  than  others  in  methods  of 


bodily  torment,  soon  began  to  gather  admirers  and  im- 
itators al)out  him.  They  came  and  dug  their  caves  or 
built  their  huts  in  the  neighborhood  of  his:  and  thus 
arose  the  second  form  of  lite  corresponding  to  the  Chris- 
tian Caiiobites  (q.  v.).  Sometimes  the  community  was 
assembled  under  one  roof;  at  other  times,  as  in  the  The- 
baid,  they  dwelt  apart.  As  yet,  however,  their  mode 
of  life  was  by  no  meaiis  settled  or  uniform.  Now  was 
the  time  for  a  lawgiver;  and  the  people  of  India  found 
theirs  in  the  person  of  Buddha  (the  Enlightened),  who 
was  born  B.C.  624.  He  early  manifested  a  love  for  con- 
templation, and  was  determined  to  the  ascetic  mode  of 
life  by  seeing  a  monk  who  carried  an  alms-bowl,  and 
whose  external  ai)pearance  spoke  of  inward  i>eace  and 
composure.  His  father  was  king  of  Kapilawastu,  who, 
having  detected  the  dreamer  in  his  son,  married  him, 
while  yet  quite  young,  to  a  princess,  who  gave  birth  to 
a  child  before  Buddha  divorced  himself  from  her.  The 
circumstances  which  led  him  to  take  this  step  are  thus 
narrated  by  J,  Bartht'lemy  Saint-IIilaire  {Le  Buddha  et 
sa  Religion) :  "  One  daj'  when  the  prince,  with  a  large 
retinue,  was  driving  through  the  eastern  gate  of  the 
city,  on  the  way  to  one  of  his  parks,  he  met  on  the  road 
an  old  man,  broken  and"  decrepit.  One  could  see  the 
veins  and  muscles  over  the  whole  of  his  body ;  his  teeth 
chattered;  he  was  covered  with  wrinkles,  bald,  and 
hardly  able  to  utter  hollow  and  unmelodious  sounds. 
He  was  bent  on  his  stick,  and  all  his  limbs  and  joints 
trembled,  'Who  is  that  man?'  said  the  prince  to  his 
coachman,  '  He  is  small  and  weak ;  his  flesh  aiid  his 
blood  are  dried  up;  his  muscles  stick  to  his  skin;  his 
head  is  white;  his  teeth  chatter;  his  body  is  wasted 
away;  leaning  on  his  stick  he  is  hardly  able  to  walk, 
stumbling  at  every  step.  Is  there  something  peculiar 
in  his  family,  or  is  this  the  common  lot  of  all  created 
beings  ?'  '  Sir,'  replied  the  coachman, '  that  man  is  sink- 
ing under  old  age ;  his  senses  have  become  obtuse,  suf- 
fering has  destroyed  his  strength,  and  he  is  despised  by 
his  relations.  He  is  without  support  and  useless;  and 
people  have  abandoned  him,  like  a  dead  tree  in  a  forest. 
But  this  is  not  peculiar  to  his  family.  In  every  creat- 
ure youth  is  defeated  by  old  age.  Your  father,  your 
mother,  all  your  relations,  all  your  friends,  will  come  to 
the  same  state :  this  is  the  appointed  end  of  all  creat- 
ures,' 'Alas!'  replied  the  prince,  'are  creatures  so  ig- 
norant, so  weak,  and  so  foolish  as  to  be  proud  of  the 
youth  by  which  they  are  intoxicated,  not  seeing  the 
old  age  which  awaits  them  ?  As  for  me,  I  go  awaj'. 
Coachman,  turn  my  chariot  quickly.  What  have  I — 
the  future  prey  of  old  age — what  have  I  to  do  with 
pleasure?'  And  the  young  prince  returned  to  the  city 
without  going  to  his  park.  Another  time  the  prince 
was  driving  through  the  southern  gate  to  his  pleasure- 
garden,  when  he  perceived  on  the  road  a  man  suffering 
from  illness,  parched  with  fever,  his  body  wasted,  cov- 
ered with  mud,  without  a  friend,  without  a  home,  hardly 
able  to  breathe,  and  frightened  at  the  sight  of  himself 
and  the  approach  of  death.  Having  questioned  his 
coachman,  and  received  from  him  the  answer  which  he 
expected,  the  young  prince  said,  'Alas!  health  is  but 
the  sport  of  a  dream,  and  the  fear  of  suffering  must  take 
this  frightful  form.  Where  is  the  wise  man  who,  after 
having  seen  what  he  is,  could  any  longer  think  of  joy 
and  pleasure?'  The  prince  turned  his  chariot  and  re- 
turned to  the  city.  A  third  time  he  was  driving  to  his 
pleasure-garden  through  the  western  gate,  when  he  saw 
a  dead  body  on  the  road,  lying  on  a  bier,  and  covered 
with  a  cloti).  The  friends  stood  about,  cr^-ing.  sobbing, 
tearing  their  hair,  covering  their  heads  with  dust,  strik- 
ing tlieir  breasts,  and  uttering  wild  cries.  The  prince, 
again  calling  his  coachman  to  witness  this  painfid  scene, 
exclaimed,  "Oh,  woe  to  the  youth  which  must  be  de- 
stroved  by  old  age!  Woe  to  health  which  must  be  de- 
stroyed by  so  many  diseases !  Woe  to  this  life,  where 
a  man  remains  so  short  a  time!  If  there  were  no  old 
age,  no  disease,  no  death;  if  these  could  be  made  cap- 
1  live  forever!'     Then,  betrayhig  for  the  first  time  his 


MONASTICISM 


463 


MONASTICISM 


intentions,  the  young  prince  said, '  Let  us  turn  back :  I 
must  think  how  to  accomphsh  deliverance.'  A  last 
meeting  put  an  end  to  his  hesitation.  He  was  driving 
through  the  northern  gate,  on  the  way  to  his  pleasure- 
gardens,  when  lie  saw  a  mendicant,  who  a])peared  out- 
warilly  calm,  subdued,  looking  downwards,  wearing  with 
an  air  of  dignity  his  religious  vestment,  and  carrying 
an  alms-bowl.  'Who  is  this  man?'  asked  the  prince. 
'  Sir,'  replied  the  coachman,  '  this  man  is  one  of  those 
who  are  called  bhikshiis,  or  mendicants.  He  has  re- 
nounced all  pleasures,  all  desires,  and  leads  a  life  of  aus- 
terity. He  tries  to  conquer  himself.  He  has  become 
a  devotee:  without  passion,  without  envy,  he  walks 
about  asking  for  alms.'  '  This  is  good  and  well  said,' 
replied  the  prince.  '  The  life  of  a  devotee  has  always 
been  praised  by  the  wise.  It  will  be  my  refuge,  and 
the  refuge  of  other  creatures :  it  will  lead  us  to  a  real 
life,  to  happiness  and  immortality.'  With  these  words, 
the  young  prince  turned  his  chariot,  and  re-entered 
the  city"  (translated  in  MuUer's  Essays  on  the  Science 
of  ReU()ion).  Buddha  then  declared  to  his  father  and 
wife  his  determination  to  become  a  recluse,  and  soon 
after  escaped  from  his  palace  in  the  night  while  the 
guards  had  fallen  asleep.  The  religion  which  he  es- 
tablished is  now,  after  a  lapse  of  2000  years,  professed 
by  one  third  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  entire  globe.  One 
king  is  said  to  have  founded  84,000  monasteries  for 
his  order,  that  being  the  number  of  discourses  which 
Buddha  pronounced  during  his  lifetime.  The  "  Law" 
which  he  gave  to  his  order  is  contained  in  the  first  of  the 
three  Pitakas,  and  was  orally  handed  down  until  about 
B.C.  100,  when  it  was  committed  to  writing  in  the  isl- 
and of  Ceylon.  It  is  called  the  Winaya  Pitaka,  and 
contams  rules  for  everj'  conceivable  monastic  observ- 
ance. It  is  composed  of  42,250  stanzas.  To  alms-giv- 
ing Buddha  attached  an  extraordinary  importance.  He 
declares  that  "  there  is  no  reward  either  in  this  world 
or  in  the  next  that  may  not  be  received  through  alms- 
giving." Ton  centuries  later,  Chrysostom  wrote,  '"Hast 
thou  a  penny?  purchase  heaven.  Heaven  is  on  sale, 
and  in  the  market,  and  yet  ye  mind  it  not!  Give  a 
crust,  and  take  back  paradise;  give  the  least,  and  re- 
ceive the  greatest;  give  the  perishable,  and  receive  the 
imperishable ;  give  the  corruptible,  and  receive  the  in- 
corruptible. Alms  are  the  redemption  of  the  soul.  .  .  . 
Alms-giving,  which  is  able  to  break  the  chain  of  thy 
sins.  .  .  .  Alms-giving,  the  queen  of  virtues,  and  the 
readiest  of  all  ways  of  getting  into  heaven,  and  the  best 
advocated  there"  (comp. Taylor,  Anc.  Christianity).  Ac- 
cording to  the  Winaya  Pitaka,  "  The  wise  priest  never 
asks  for  anytliing ;  he  disdains  to  beg :  it  is  a  proper 
object  for  which  he  carries  the  alms-bowl;  and  this  is 
the  only  mode  of  solicitation."  Celibacy,  poverty,  the 
tonsure,  a  particular  garb,  confession  of  sins,  etc.,  are 
made  compulsory.  The  vows,  however,  are  not  taken 
for  life;  and  a  monk  may  retire  from  the  order  if  he 
finds  it  impossible  to  remain  continent.  A  novitiate  is 
provided  for ;  and  there  are  "  nuns"  or  "  sisters"  who 
live  in  houses  by  themselves.  The  novice  usually  be- 
gins her  connection  with  the  order  in  the  school,  where 
she  is  sent  while  yet  quite  j'oung.  Foundlings  were 
often  given  to  the  early  Christian  monasteries,  by  whom 
they  were  reared  for  the  ascetic  life.  No  Buddhist  can 
attain  to  Nirwana  unless  he  has  served  a  time  as  an  as- 
cetic. There  are  five  modes  of  meditation  specified  by 
the  Pitaka:  l,Maitri;  2,Mudita;  3,  Karuna ;  4,  Upeksha'; 
5,  Asublia.  We  read  of  a  monk  who  was  so  profoundly 
sunk  in  contemplation  that  he  did  not  wash  his  feet  for 
thirty  years;  so  that  at  last  the  divine  beings  called  Jer- 
vas  could  smell  him  a  thousand  miles  off.  The  monk  re- 
frains from  severely  injuring  his  bodj',  so  that  he  may 
practice  as  long  as  possible  his  ascetic  rites.  Their 
mode  of  reasoning  on  this  subject  is  illustrated  by  the 
following  quotation  from  the  Milinda-prasna,  a  work  in 
Pali  and  Cingalese :  "  Milbida.  Do  the  priests  respect 
the  hoAy '>—Nagasena.  'So.  —  Milinda.  Then  why  do 
they  take  so  much  pains  to  preserve  it  ?     Do  they  not 


by  this  means  say,  'This  is  me,  or  mine?' — Nagasena. 
Were  you  ever  wounded  by  an  arrow  in  battle? — Mi- 
linda.  Yes. — Nagasena.  Was  not  the  wound  anointed  ? 
Was  it  not  rubbed  with  oil  ?  And  was  it  not  covered 
with  a  soft  bandage  ? — Milinda.  Yes. — Nagasena.  Was 
this  done  because  you  respected  the  wound,  or  took  de- 
light in  it? — Milinda.  No;  but  that  it  might  be  healed. 
— Nagasena,  In  like  manner,  the  priests  do  not  preserve 
the  body  because  they  respect  it,  but  that  they  may 
have  the  power  required  for  the  keepuig  of  the  pre- 
cepts." 

(2.)  Persian  Monachism The  Zend-Avesta,  written, 

it  is  generally  agreed,  about  B.C.  500,  contains  no  allusion 
to  ascetic  rites ;  but  this  fact  would  go  no  further  to  dis- 
prove the  existence  of  monastic  life  among  the  Persians 
than  the  absence  of  such  allusion  from  the  N.  T.  would 
disprove  the  existence  of  Jewish  monks.  The  Avesta  is 
not  of  a  historical  character;  and  what  was  said  about 
the  Vedas  is  particularly  true  of  it — prayers  and  hymns 
make  up  almost  its  entire  contents.  Zoroaster  originally 
dwelt  with  the  Brahminical  or  Sanscrit  branch  of  the 
Aryan  family ;  and  we  know  that  monasticism  was  rife 
among  them  before  the  separation  took  place.  It  is  not 
Ukely  that  they  ever  shook  off  this  institution,  which  is 
as  universal  as  religion  or  intemperance.  We  are  told 
that  there  was  a  class  of  "  solitaries"  among  them.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Desatir,  the  Dobistan,  and  the  old  Ira- 
nian histories,  "  there  was  a  great  king  of  that  branch 
of  the  Aryan  people  known  as  Kai-Khuero,  who  was  a 
prophet  and  an  ascetic.  He  had  no  children ;  and,  after 
a  '  glorious  reign  of  sixty  years,'  he  abdicated  in  favor 
of  a  subordinate  prince,  also  an  ascetic,  who,  after  a  long 
reign,  resigned  his  throne  to  his  son  Gushtasp.  It  was 
during  the  reign  of  Gushtasp  that  Zoroaster  appeared. 
Gushtasp  was  succeeded  by  Bohman,  his  grandson." 
These  were  not  kings  of  Persia,  but  they  reigned  at 
Balkh,  and  lived  many  centuries  before  Persia  became 
an  independent  kingdom.  This  would  place  the  origin 
of  asceticism  anterior  to  Zoroaster,  who  lived,  the  Greeks 
said,  5000  years  before  the  Trojan  war,  or  6000  before 
Plato — an  antiquity  greater  than  that  assigned  to  it  by 
the  "  Nabatsean  Agriculture." 

(3.)  Chinese  llonachism. — An  examination  of  the 
Chou-King,  the  sacred  book  par  excellence  of  China, 
is  without  fruit  for  our  purpose.  It  is  a  significant 
fact,  however,  that  the  word  "priest"  is  written  in 
Chinese  "Cha-men,"  or  "Sang-men,"  which  mean,  re- 
spectively, one  who  exerts  himself,*  or  one  who  re- 
strains himself.  The  Chou-King  was  transcribed  by 
Confucius  (Life  and  Teachinr/s  of  Confucius,  by  James 
Legge,  D.D.  [Phila.  1867])  about  B.C.  480,  and  to  him 
we  owe  its  preservation.  It  is  only  one  out  of  a  large 
number  of  books  upon  religious  topics  which  must  have 
existed  in  his  time.  Lao-Kiiin,  who  lived  several  gen- 
erations before  Confucius,  was  a  great  ascetic,  advocated 
perfect  freedom  from  passion,  and  passed  much  of  his 
time  in  the  mountains.  Of  Confucius,  it  is  known  that 
he  taught  no  new  doctrines,  but  insisted  upon  a  more 
faithful  observation  of  the  ancient  law.  He  flourished 
in  the  5th  century  B.C.  (551-479).  At  nineteen  years 
of  age  he  divorced  himself  from  his  wife,  after  she  had 
given  birth  to  a  son,  to  devote  himself  to  study  and 
meditation;  and  his  last  days  were  passed  in  a  quiet 
valley,  where  he  retired  with  a  few  of  his  followers. 
He  fasted  quite  frequently,  and  advocated  many  other 
monkish  observances:  such  as  retirement,  contempla- 
tion, and  agricultural  employment.  (See  Schott,  Werhe 
des  chinesischen  Weisen  Kong-Fu-DsU  [  Halle,  1826  ]. 
Comp.  also  Meng  Tseu,  ed.  Stanislaus  Julien,  lib.  i,  c.  5, 
par.  29 ;  c.  6,  p.  29 ;  and  article  Confucius.)  Mencius, 
an  apostle  of  Confucius,  who  flourished  in  the  3d  cen- 
tury B.C.,  says,  "  Though  a  man  may  be  wicked,  yet,  if 
he  adjust  his  thoughts,  fast,  and  bathe,  he  may  sacri- 


*  There  is  a  remarkable  similarity  between  the  deriva- 
tion of  this  word  and  that  of  ascetic  (from  uaiieiv,  to  exer- 
cise, or  practice  gymnastics). 


MONASTICISM 


464 


MOXASTICISM 


fice  to  God."  (Compare  Johnson,  Monks  before  Christ, 
their  Spirit  and  thtir  J/islor;/  [  Host.  1870, 18mo],  ch.  ii.) 
(4.)  Greek  Monachlwi. — The  Hellenic  heathenism  was 
less  serious  and  contemplative,  indeed,  than  the  Orien- 
tal. The  first  monastic  society  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledf^e  are  the  J'l/t/iafjoreans  (q.  v.),  who,  no  doubt, 
are  an  importation  from  Ej^yptian  or  even  from  Indian 
soil  (see  Clement  Alexandrinus,  Stroinat.  lib.  iii ;  Ueber- 
weg,  Jlist.  Philos.  i,  42  sq.).  "  The  mysteries  of  Bac- 
chus and  Ceres  were  copied  after  those  of  Osiris  and 
Isis.  These  latter,  in  some  respects,  resembled  Frec- 
masonrj-  more  than  they  did  monastic  orders.  They 
forbade,  however,  all  sensuous  enjoyment,  enjoined  con- 
templation, loni^-protracted  silence,  etc.  INIoreover,  it 
is  probable  that  l'ythaij;oras  found  here  many  of  those 
ascetic  observances  which  he  after^vards  introduced  into 
his  own  order"  (Johnson,  Monks  before  Chi'igi,  p.  87). 
Bunsen  says  that  the  rules  for  the  conduct  of  Egyptian 
priests,  as  described  by  Chaeremon  and  preserved  by 
Porphyry,  remind  one  of  the  Laws  of  Manu  and  the  A^e- 
das;  so  that  if  the  conjectures  of  this  Egyptologist  be 
accepted,  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that  Hellenic  mo- 
nasticism  came  from  the  Hindus  through  the  Egyp- 
tians, unless  the  theory  be  accepted  that  the  Greeks 
borrowed  it  directly  from  the  Indians  during  their  in- 
tercourse in  the  5th  and  Gth  centuries  B.C.  But  what- 
ever our  opinion  on  this  point,  certain  it  is  that  more 
than  2000  years  before  Ignatius  Loyola  assembled  the 
nucleus  of  his  great  "  society"  in  a  subterranean  chapel 
in  the  city  of  Paris  there  was  founded  at  Crotona,  in 
Greece,  an  order  of  monks  whose  principles,  constitu- 
tion, aims,  method,  and  final  end  entitle  them  to  be 
called  the  "  Pagan  Jesuits"  (see  Zcller,  Pi/t/idf/oi-as  ?/. 
die  Piitha()ora-Su()a.  in  liis  Vortrajje  ri.  Ablinndhnififn 
[Leips.  1«'g.5];  Johnson,  J/W.-.v  b,fi>re  C/nisf,  p.H7,8K). 
The  f'Xtinotion  of  Pythagoroanism  (soon  after  15.C.  400) 
by  no  means  did  away  with  asceticism  in  Greece.  The 
philosophical  mantle  of  the  Pythagoreans  fell  upon  a 
new  school,  among  whom  Epimenides  and  Plato  are 
usually  reckoned;  and  the  Platonic  view  of  matter  and 
of  Ijody  not  only  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  Gnostic  and 
]\Ianicha?an  asceticism,  but  had  much  to  do  with  the 
ethics  of  Origen  and  the  Alexandrian  school. 

(5.)  Jeu-ish  Monachism. — The  origin  and  extent  of 
Jewish  monasticism  is  shrouded  in  much  uncertainty  and 
doubt.  Yet  it  is  clearly  manifest  from  the  records  that 
have  come  down  to  us  that  Judaism  was  not  altogether 
alien  to  asceticism.  As  far  back  as  the  days  of  Moses, 
while  the  Israelites  were  yet  in  the  wilderness,  a  special 
law  was  made  for  those  who  should  seek  an  ascetic  life ; 
and  the  Nazarites  (q.  v.),  though  they  did  not  sepa- 
rate themselves  from  the  other  people,  yet  did  set 
themselves  ajmrt  for  special  divine  worship  (Xumb.  vi, 
1-21 ;  Judg.  xiii,  5;  1  Sam.  i,  11 ;  Luke  i,  15).  Later, 
in  Palestine,  the  Jews  had  tlieir  Essenes  (q.  v.),  and  in 
Egypt  their  Therapeutw  (q.  v.),  though  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  these  betray  the  intrusion  of  foreign  ele- 
ments into  the  Mosaic  religion,  and  so  receive  no  men- 
tion in  the  New  Test.,  unless  the  allusion  in  Matt,  xix, 
12  refers  to  these  ascetics,  which  i>  Ik  Hex ccl.  however, 
by  only  a  few  Biblical  scholars.  (Sec,  In  >i(lr>  iho  works 
quoted  in  the  article  I'^sskni-.s,  Zillcr,  ^ /  /-  r/,-/'/itl<>.i.  vol. 
iii,  pt,  ii,  p.  .589;  and  Tlicdh.Jiihrb.  185t),  iii,  358;  Kcim, 
Jhr  Geschichtliche  ChriMiis  \  Zurich,  1805],  p.  15;  Lan- 
gen,  Das  Judenthum  in  1'ulu.stina  zur  Zeit  Cliristi  [Freib. 
18GG],  p.  18G.) 

(G.)  Mohammedan  Monar/nsm. — "  The  two  most  suc- 
cessful religious  impostures,"  says  Cunningham, "  which 
the  world  has  yet  seen  are  Buddhism  and  Mohamme- 
danism. Each  creed  owed  its  origin  to  the  enthusiasm 
of  a  single  individual,  and  each  was  rapidly  pr(i|>agated 
by  numbers  of  zealous  followers.  But  here  the  parallel 
ends;  for  the  Koran  of  Mohammed  was  addressed 
wholly  to  tlie  'passions'  of  mankind,  by  the  ])romised 
gratification  of  human  desires  both  in  this  world  and  in 
the  next;  while  the  Dharma  of  .Siikya  ^Iinn  was  ad- 
dressed wholly  to  the  'intellect,'  and  sought  to  wean 


mankind  from  the  pleasures  and  vanities  of  this  life  by 
pointing  to  the  transitoriness  of  all  human  enjoyment. 
.  .  .  The  former  propagated  his  religion  by  the  merci- 
less edge  of  the  sword;  the  latter  by  the  persuasive 
voice  of  the  missionary.  The  sanguinarv-  career  of  the 
Islamite  was  lighted  by  the  lurid  flames  of  burning  cit- 
ies; the  peaceful  progress  of  the  Buddhist  was  illumi- 
nated by  the  cheerful  faces  of  the  sick  in  monastic  hos- 
l)itals  [  for  the  cripjjlcd,  the  deformed,  the  destitute], 
and  by  the  happy  smiles  of  travellers  reposing  in  Dhar- 

'  masalas  by  the  road-side.  The  one  was  the  personifi- 
cation of  bodily  activity  and  material  enjoyment;  the 
other  was  the  genius  of  corporeal  abstinence  and  intel- 
lectual contemplation"  {HhiUa  Topes,  p.  53,  54).  These 
words  of  Cunningham  may  apply  to  the  early  history 
of  the  two  religions,  but  they  are  hardly  in  place  in 
their  history  of  more  modern  times.  It  is  true,  indeed, 
that  Mohammedanism  was  the  religion  of  the  sword, 
but,  its  concpiests  over,  it  has  studied  the  religions  of 
the  world,  and  to-day  Islam  emlxjdies  much  from  every 
creed  in  the  universe.  Its  founder  had  been  especial- 
ly careful  to  rigidly  exclude  monasticism,  and  himself 
declared  "«o  monachum  in  Islam,"  yet  to-day  the 
dervishes  of  the  East  are  to  be  met  almost  wherever 
Islam  has  its  adherents.  See  Dervishes.  Celibacy 
is  not  likely  to  get  a  great  hold  in  IMohammedan  na- 
tions, but  ascetic  practices,  hermitage,  and  mendicancy 
prevail  to  a  large  extent  among  them.  Mr.  Kuffner,  in 
his  Fathers  of  the  Desert  (N.  Y.  1850,  2  vols.,  a  work 

,  popular  in  form,  and  full  of  valuable  and  curious  infor- 
mation), has  furnished  an  extended  description  of  Mo- 
hammedan monasticism,  and  goes  so  far  as  to  assert 
that  the  Christians  derived  it  largely  from  them,  who, 
in  turn,  borrowed  from  the  Buddhists  (see  vol.  i.ch.ii-ix); 
but  such  a  view  can  hardly  be  reconciled  with  the  great 
place  of  the  phenomenon  in  history,  and  would,  more- 
over, stamp  as  heretics  many  of  the  Christian  fathers 
who  were  among  the  greatest  and  best  representatives 
both  East  and  West.  (See  below.)  The  probability  is 
that  monachism,  so  far  as  it  exists  in  tlie  ^Mohammedan 
world,  was  introduced  either  direct  from  the  heathen 
world  around  it,  or  came  from  the  Christians  of  the  Post- 
Nicene  age,  especially  the  churches  of  Africa,  and  Egypt 
in  particular. 

II.  Christian  Monachism. — 1.  Origin  of  Monasticism 
in  the  Church. — The  advocates  of  Christian  monasti- 
cism claim  for  it  an  evangelical  origin.  They  think  they 
find  at  once  its  justification  and  primitive  form  in  the 
Gospel  exhortation  to  voluntary-  poverty  (the  instance 
in  which  Christ  charged  the  rich  young  man  to  sell  all 
he  had,  that,  as  a  follower  of  his,  he  should  receive  a  hun- 
dred-fold more,  "with  persccution,"^Iatt.xix,21).  "But 
this  monastic  interpretation  of  primitive  Christianity," 
as  Dr.  Schaff  has  well  said,  "  mistakes  a  few  incidental 
points  of  outward  resemblance  for  essential  identity, 
measures  the  spirit  of  Christianity  by  some  isolated  pas- 
sages, instead  of  explaining  the  latter  from  th«  former, 
and  is  upon  the  whole  a  miserable  emaciation  and  cari- 
cature. The  (iospel  makes  upon  all  men  virtually  the 
same  moral  demand,  and  knows  no  di>tinclion  of  a  re- 
ligion for  the  masses  and  another  for  the  few."  Jlona- 
chism,  in  this  light,  is  at  variance  with  the  |nire  spirit 
of  Christianity,  inasmuch  as  it  impels  men.  instead  of 
remaining  as  a  salt  to  the  corrupt  world  in  which  tlicy 
live,  outwardly  to  withdraw  from  it.  and  to  i)ury  the  tal- 
ent which  otherwise  they  might  use  for  the  benefit  of  the 
many.  "Jesus,  tlie  model  for  all  believers,  was  neither  a 
ccrnobite  nor  an  anchoret,  nor  an  ascetic  of  any  kind,  but 
the  perfect  pattern  man  for  universal  imitation.  There 
is  not  a  trace  of  monkish  austerity  and  ascetic  rigor  in 
his  life  or  precepts,  but  in  all  his  acts  and  words  a  won- 
derful harmony  of  freedom  and  purity,  of  the  most  com- 
lirehensive  charity  and  spotless  holiness.  He  retired  to 
the  moimtains  and  into  solitude,  but  only  temporarily, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  renewing  his  strength  for  active 
work.  Amid  the  society  of  his  disciples,  of  both  sexes, 
with  kindred  and  friends,  in  Cana  and  Ikthany,  at  the 


MONASTICISM 


465 


MONASTICISM 


table  of  publicans  and  sinners,  and  in  intercourse  with 
all  classes  of  the  people,  he  kept  liimself  unspotted  from 
the  world,  and  transfigured  the  world  into  the  kingdom 
of  God.  His  poverty  and  celibacy  have  nothing  to  do 
with  asceticism,  but  represent,  the  one  the  condescen- 
sion of  his  redeeming  love,  the  other  his  ideal  unique- 
ness and  his  absolutely  peculiar  relation  to  the  whole 
Church,  which  alone  is  tit  or  worthy  to  be  his  bride. .  . . 
The  life  of  the  apostles  and  primitive  Christians  in  gen- 
eral was  anything  but  a  hermit  life ;  else  had  not  the 
Gospel  spread  so  quickly  to  all  the  cities  of  the  Roman 
world.  Peter  was  married,  and  travelled  with  his  wife 
as  a  missionary.  Paul  assumes  one  marriage  of  the 
clergy  as  a  rule,  and  notwithstanding  his  personal  and 
relatiVe  preference  for  celibacy  in  the  then  oppressed 
condition  of  the  Church,  he  is  the  most  zealous  advo- 
cate of  evangelical  freedom,  in  opposition  to  all  legal 
bondage  and  anxious  asceticism." 

As  little  as  we  find  in  the  life  of  Christ  or  his  apos- 
tles any  authority  for  the  monastic  life,  so  little  do  we 
find  it  represented  in  the  life  of  primitive  Christians 
generally.  It  is  true  in  the  infant  Church,  for  a  time, 
all  things  were  in  common,  but  even  in  this  community 
of  life,  certainly  the  oldest  or,  rather,  earliest  phase  of 
Christianity,  monasticism  finds  no  authority;  for  if  it 
had  been  intended  to  serve  as  such,  it  would  have  been 
perpetuated.  It  failed  because  it  was  a  social  impossi- 
bility. "It  gives  a  beautiful  picture  of  what  Christi- 
anity might  be,  when  all  are  of  one  mind  and  one  spir- 
it ;"'  but  it  was  incompatible  with  the  general  course  of 
human  affairs,  and  it  ceased  to  be.  While,  therefore, 
not  even  the  Christian  primitive  communism  can  have 
been  the  germ  from  which  monachism  in  the  Church 
started,  the  theory  of  the  monastic  institution  may  pos- 
sibly have  been  thereby  suggested.  Not  even  the  as- 
ceticism of  the  infant  Church  can  be  made  to  account 
for  this  institution.  Severe  asceticism,  it  is  true,  was  the 
religion  of  thousands  throughout  the  Christian  world, 
but  those  who  practiced  it  neither  separated  themselves 
from  the  world  nor  from  its  social  and  political  duties. 
They  were  simply  a  standing  memorial  of  the  solemn 
nature  of  the  Christian  baptismal  vow  in  the  heart  of 
the  families  of  the  people.  The  most  rigid  monastic 
rule  could  have  added  neither  severity  to  their  self-dis- 
cipline nor  higher  temper  to  their  chastened  spirit  (see 
Neander,  Ch.  Ilist.  ii,  223  sq.). 

But  though  monasticism  was  not  a  form  of  life  that 
sprang  originally  and  purely  out  of  Christianity,  yet 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  by  Christianity  a  new  spirit 
was  infused  into  this  foreign  mode  of  life,  whereby  with 
many  it  became  ennobled  and  converted  into  an  instru- 
ment of  effecting  much  which  could  not  otherwise  have 
been  effected  by  any  such  mode  of  living.  Unless  this 
view  is  taken,  it  would,  as  Dr.  Schaflf  has  well  said, 
"involve  the  entire  ancient  Church,  with  its  greatest 
and  best  representatives  both  East  and  West — its  Atha- 
nasius,  its  Chrysostom,  its  Jerome,  its  Augustine — in 
apostasy  from  the  faith."  And,  as  he  aptly  adds,  "  no 
one  will  now  hold  that  these  men,  who  all  admired  and 
commended  the  monastic  life,  were  antichristian  error- 
ists,  and  that  the  few  and  almost  exclusively  negative 
opponents  of  that  asceticism,  as  Jovinian,  Helvidius,  and 
Vigilantius,  were  the  sole  representatives  of  pure  Chris- 
tianity in  the  Nicene  and  next  following  age"  (comp. 
Kingsley,  Hermits,  p.  14,  15).  We  shall  come  to  con- 
sider the  good  and  evil  influences  in  another  part  of  this 
article.  Here  we  have  to  deal  simply  with  its  origin 
and  relation  to  primitive  Christianity.  In  the  article 
AscETicisji  it  has  been  shown  that  a  distinction  must 
be  made  between  it  and  the  monastic  life,  which  was 
not  known  until  the  4th  century.  That  class  of  ascet- 
ics known  as  Hermits  flourished  probably  as  early  as 
the  age  succeeding  Christ's  stay  on  earth ;  indeed,  it  is 
barely  possible  that  its  origin  may  be  traced  to  John 
the  Baptist  and  his  surroundings.  There  were,  no 
doubt,  many  in  the  early  Church  who,  with  a  view  to 
more  complete  freedom  from  the  cares,  temptations,  and 
TI.— G  o 


business  of  the  world,  withdrew  from  the  ordinary  in- 
tercourse of  life,  and  took  up  their  abode  in  natural 
caverns  or  rudely  formed  huts  in  deserts,  forests,  moun- 
tains, and  other  solitary  places.  The  pagan  deprava- 
tion of  manners  must  have  in  no  small  degree  contrib- 
uted to  it.  Then  there  must  naturally  have  been  mul- 
titudes of  outwardly  professing  Christians,  especially  in 
large  cities,  who  sickened  the  heart  of  those  earnest 
souls  whose  spirit  and  disposition  led  to  a  nearness  with 
Christ.  Hence  we  find  that  hermits  are  generally  spoken 
of  as  emanating  from  large  cities,  which  were  seats  of 
corruption,  tliereby  indicating  clearly  that  in  the  prim- 
itive Church  the  ascetic  desire  was  prompted  by  man's 
noblest  impulses.  In  the  writings  of  the  Church  fa- 
thers we  can  trace  these  germs  of  Christian  monachism 
back  to  the  middle  of  the  2d  century.  Thus  writes 
Ricaut,  when  speaking  of  Mount  Athos  (^Present  State 
of  the  Greek  and  Armenian  Churches  [A.D.  1G78J,  p. 
218):  "Though  St.  Basil  was  the  first  author  and 
founder  of  the  order  of  Greek  monks,  so  that  before  his 
time  there  could  be  none  who  professed  the  strict  way 
of  living  in  convents  and  religious  societies — I  mean  in 
Greece — yet  certainly,  before  his  time,  the  convenience 
of  the  place,  and  the  situation  thereof,  might  invite 
Hermites,  and  persons  delighting  in  solitary  devotions, 
of  which  the  world,  in  the  first  and  second  century,  did 
abound"  (corap.  Origen,  Ep,  ad  Horn.  c.  iii;  Mohler, 
Gesch.  d.  Monchthums  in  s.  ersten  Entstehung,  etc.,  ia 
Vermischte  Schriften,  ii,  165  sq.).  Yet  it  is  as  late  as 
the  midille  of  tlie  3d  centurj',  in  which  falls  the  Decian 
persecution  (A.D.  249-251),  that  there  are  first  brought 
to  light  numerous  instances  of  a  retirement  of  devoted 
Christians  to  the  desert  (comp.  Sozomen,  Hist.  Eccles. 
lib.  vi,  cap.  43).  But  even  these  hermits  were  not  mo- 
nastics in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word.  They  were 
accustomed  to  live  singly,  each  according  to  his  own 
inclination,  without  any  specific  form  of  union,  and  that 
u-ithin  the  precincts  of  the  Church  to  which  they  sever- 
ally belonged,  unless  personal  safety  required  removal 
to  more  distant  parts.  It  was  reserved  for  the  4th  cen- 
tury— the  very  age  which  gave  state  aid  and  perpetu- 
ity to  Christianity — to  develop  that  branch  of  asceticism 
which  has  ever  since  contiinied  to  flourish  in  a  part  of 
the  Church,  and  to  this  day  figures  in  the  history  of 
Christian  civilization,  sometimes  to  advantage,  and  oft- 
entimes to  great  disadvantage. 

2.  Development  of  Monachism.  —  In  what  has  pre- 
ceded it  is  clearly  foreshadowed  that  the  historical  de- 
velopment of  the  monastic  institution  was  neither  sud- 
den nor  rapid,  but  that  it  passed  through  several  stages 
before  it  finally  took  the  shape  under  which  it  is  now 
known  to  us.  Dr.  Schaff  distinguishes  four  stages 
— the  first  three  complete  in  the  4th  century;  the  re- 
maining one  reaches  maturity  in  the  Latin  Church  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  («)  The  first  stage  covers  the  ascetic 
life,  neither  organized  nor  separated  from  the  Church. 
It  comes  down  from  the  ante-Nicene  age,  and  is  noticed 
in  the  article  Asceticism  (q.  v.).  In  the  4th  century 
it  took  the  form,  for  the  most  part,  of  either  hermit  or 
coenobite  life,  and  continued  in  the  Church  itself,  espe- 
cially among  the  clergy,  who  might  be  called  half- 
monks.  (6)  The  second  stage,  which  is  hermit-life  or 
anchoretism  [see  Anachokets],  arose  in  the  beginning 
of  the  4th  centur)'',  gave  asceticism  a  fixed  and  i)erma- 
nent  shape,  and  pushed  it  even  to  external  separation 
from  the  world.  It  took  the  prophets  Elijah  and  John 
the  Baptist  for  its  models,  and  went  beyond  them  (comp. 
Lond.  Qu.  Rev.  April,  1855,  p.  164).  kot  content  with 
partial  and  temporan,'  retirement  from  oonmion  life, 
which  may  be  united  with  social  intercourse  and  useful 
labors,  the  consistent  anchoret  secluded  himself  from  all 
society,  even  from  kindred  ascetics,  and  came  only  ex- 
ceptionally into  contact  with  human  affairs,  either  to 
receive  the  visits  of  admirers  of  every  class,  especially 
of  the  sick  and  the  needy  (^vhich  were  very  frequent  in 
the  case  of  the  more  celebrated  monks),  or  to  appear  in 
the  cities  on  some  extraordinary  occasion,  as  a  spirit  from 


MOXASTICIS:\I 


MONASTICISM 


another  world.  His  clothing  was  a  hair  shirt  and  a 
wild-beast's  skin ;  his  food  bread  and  salt ;  his  dwelling 
a  cave;  his  employment  prayer,  affliction  of  the  body, 
and  conflict  with  satanic  powers  and  wild  images  of 
fancy.  They  were,  as  Montalcmbert  says,  "  naifs  com- 
me  des  enfauts,  et  forts  comme  des  geants;"  though 
Villemain,  forming  a  more  unimpassioned  estimate  of 
monasticism  and  its  results,  says,  "  De  cette  rude  ecole 
du  desert  il  sortait  des  grands  hommes  et  des  fous;" 
heroes  and  madmen  (Meluiif/es  Elo<j.  C'kret.  p.  356).  The 
anchorets  maintained  from  choice,  after  the  cessation  of 
the  persecutions,  the  seclusion  to  which  they  had  orig- 
inally resorted  as  an  expedient  of  security ;  and  a  later 
development  of  the  same  principle  is  found  in  the  still 
more  remarkable  psychological  phenomenon  of  the  cel- 
ebrated Pillar  Saints  (q.  v.). 

The  founder  of  the  anclioretic  mode  of  life  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  one  certain  Paul  of  Thebes,  but  St. 
Anthony  is  generally  looked  ujwn  as  "the  father  of  mo- 
nasticism" (Neander,  ii,  229) ;  and  though  this  is  per- 
haps going  a  little  too  far,  he  must  certainly  be  regarded 
as  the  principal  influence  in  tlie  anchoretic  movement. 
Says  Neander  {Ch.  IJist.  ii,  228,  229),  '•  In  the  4th  cen- 
tury' men  were  not  agreed  on  the  question  as  to  who 
was  to  be  considered  the  founder  of  monasticism,  whether 
Paul  or  Anthony.  If  by  this  was  to  be  understood  the 
individual  from  whom  tlie  spread  of  this  mode  of  life 
proceeded,  the  name  was  unquestionably  due  to  the  lat- 
ter: for  if  Paul  was  tlie  first  Christian  hermit,  yet  he 
must  have  remained  unknown  to  the  rest  of  the  Chris- 
tian world,  and  without  the  influence  of  Anthony  would 
have  found  no  followers.  (IJefore  Anthony,  there  may 
have  been  many  who,  by  inclination  or  by  peculiar  out- 
ward circumstances,  were  led  to  adopt  this  mode  of  life; 
but  they  remained,  at  least,  unknown.)  The  first  whom 
tradition — which  in  this  case,  it  must  be  confessed,  is 
entitled  to  little  confidence,  and  much  distorted  by  fa- 
ble— cites  by  name  is  the  above-mentioned  Paul.  He 
is  said  to  have  been  moved  by  the  Decian  persecution, 
which  no  doubt  raged  with  peculiar  violence  in  his 
native  land,  the  Thebaid,  in  Ujjper  Egypt,  to  withdraw 
himself,  when  a  j'oung  man,  to  a  grotto  in  a  remote 
mountain.  Uy  degrees  he  became  attached  to  the  mode 
of  life  he  had  adopted  at  first  out  of  necessity.  Nour- 
ishment and  clothing  were  supj)licd  him  by  a  palm-tree 
that  had  sprung  up  near  the  grotto.  Whether  every- 
thing in  this  legend,  or,  if  not  everything,  what  part  of 
it,  is  historically  true,  it  is  impossible  to  determine. 
According  to  the  tradition,  Anthony  (q.  v.)  .  .  .  having 
heard  of  Paul,  visited  him,  and  made  him  known  to 
others.  But  as  Athanasius,  in  his  life  of  Anthony,  is 
wholly  silent  as  to  this  matter,  which  he  certainly  would 
have  deemed  an  important  circumstance — though  he 
states  that  Anthony  visited  all  ascetics  who  were  expe- 
rienced in  tlie  spiritual  life — the  story  must  be  dismissed 
as  unworthy  of  credit." 

It  was  really  Anthony  who  gave  to  his  age  a  pattern, 
which  was  seized  with  love  and  enthusiasm  by  many 
hearts  that  longed  after  Christian  perfection,  and  wliicli 
excited  many  to  emulate  it.  Like  Paul,  Anthony  was 
a  native  of  Kgypt,  and  being  himself  of  a  noble  family, 
his  influence  was  considerable,  and  he  persuaded  many 
members  of  the  old  Egyptian  families  to  join  him,  and 
spread  his  ascetic  views  and  practices  throughout  all 
Kgypt;  even  the  deserts  of  this  country,  to  the  borders 
of  Lybia,  were  sprinkled  witli  numerous  anachoretic  so- 
cieties. Hence  the  institution  spread  to  Palestine  and 
Syria,  and  Anthony,  indeed,  was  visited  not  only  by 
Egyptian  ascetics,  but  also  by  those  coming  from  Jeru- 
salem (sec  Palladii  Lavsiuai,  c.  20,  Biblwtli.patnnn  I'n- 
rkieiisix,  t.  xiii,  fol.  939).  Thus  it  was  that  Anthony, 
"without  (inn  conscious  desiipi  of  his  own"  (Neander), 
became  the  founder  of  this  new  mode  of  Christian  liv- 
ing; for  it  in  truth  happened  of  its  own  accord,  with- 
out any  special  efforts  of  his,  that  persons  of  similar  dis- 
position attached  themselves  to  him,  and,  building  their 
cells  around  his,  made  him  their  spiritual  guide  and 


governor,  and  thus  constituted  the  first  societies  of  Ana- 
chorets,  who  lived  scattered,  in  single  cells  or  huts, 
united  together  under  one  superior  —  demonstrating, 
moreover,  that  in  monasticism  prevailed  the  same  law 
as  in  every  other  intellectual  movement.  An  idea 
exists  long  in  a  state  of  free  solution,  till  the  master- 
mind is  revealed,  destined  to  give  it  fixity  and  perma- 
nence; and  from  that  time  it  becomes  a  nucleus  around 
which  system  gathers  and  crystallizes.  Thus  the  re- 
cluses of  the  desert  continued  to  gain  in  strength  and 
number  until  gathered  by  Anthony ;  the  connecting  tie 
being  a  triple  vow  of  chastity,  jioverty,  and  manual  la- 
bor for  the  common  good.  Thenceforth  the  attention 
of  Christendom  was  attracted  to  the  Thebaid;  all  who 
needed  it  found  there  an  asylum.  Put  it  was,  after  all, 
only  for  the  East,  and  not  for  the  world.  Christianity 
had  proved  itself  adapted  to  the  wants  of  all ;  this  form 
of  asceticism  could  prevail  only  where  the  climate  fa- 
vored a  hermit's  life.  It  was  too  eccentric  and  unprac- 
tical for  the  West,  and  hence  less  frequent  there,  espe- 
cially in  the  rougher  climates.  To  the  female  sex  it 
was  entirely  unsuited.  An  order  of  widows,  emplojed  in 
charitable  works,  and  supported  from  the  offerings  of  the 
faithful,  was  ajiparently  one  of  the  primitive  institutions 
of  the  apostles  (Lea,  CtUbucy,  p.  100 j;  yet  they  were  not 
separated  from  the  world,  but  moved  in  it.  See  Dea- 
conesses. There  was,  to  be  sure,  a  class  of  hermits,  the 
Saruhiiites  (q.  v.)  in  Egypt,  and  the  Rhevioboths  (q.  v.) 
in  Syria;  but  their  quarrelsomeness,  occasional  intem- 
perance, and  opposition  to  the  clergy  brought  them  into 
ill-repute. 

((■)  The  third  step  in  the  progress  of  the  monastic 
life  brings  us  to  Ccenobilism  or  cloister  life — monasti- 
cism in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word.  The  necessi- 
ties of  the  religious  life  itself — as  the  attendance  at 
public  worship,  the  participation  of  the  sacraments, 
the  desire  for  mutual  instruction  and  edification — nat- 
urally enough  led  gradually  to  moditications  of  the 
degree  and  of  the  nature  of  the  solitude.  First  came 
the  simplest  form  of  common  life,  which  sought  to 
combine  the  jiersonal  seclusion  of  individuals  with  the 
common  exercise  of  all  the  public  duties ;  an  aggrega- 
tion of  separate  cells  into  the  same  district,  called  by 
the  name  Laura,  with  a  common  church,  in  which  all 
assembled  for  prayer  and  public  worship.  From  the 
union  of  the  common  life  with  personal  solitude  is  de- 
rived the  name  canohite,  i.  e.  common  life,  by  which 
this  class  of  monks  is  distinguished  from  the  strict  sol- 
itaries, as  the  anchorets  or  eremites.  In  this,  too,  is 
involved,  in  addition  to  the  obligations  of  poverty  and 
chastity,  which  were  vowed  by  the  anchorets,  a  third 
obligation  of  obedience  to  a  superior,  which,  in  con- 
junction with  the  two  former,  has  ever  been  held  to 
constitute  the  essence  of  the  religious  or  monastic  life. 
See  MoNASTEUY. 

Like  all  the  other  ascetic  institutions,  the  monastic 
life  also  found  its  home  in  Egypt.  The  country  was 
certainly  favorable  to  the  production  and  expansion 
of  just  such  an  institution.  "The  land  where  Orien- 
tal and  Grecian  literature,  philosophy,  and  religion. 
Christian  orthodoxy  and  Gnostic  heresy,  met  both  in 
friendship  and  in  hostility,"  was  in  every  way  adapte(> 
to  be  "the  native  land"'  of  the  monastic  life.  We  may 
add  also  that  "monasticism  was  favored  and  promoted 
here  by  climate  and  geographic  features,  by  tlie  oasis- 
like seclusion  of  the  country,  by  the  bold  contrast  of 
barren  deserts  with  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Nile,  by 
the  superstition,  the  contemplative  turn,  and  the  pas- 
sive endurance  of  the  national  character,  by  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Therapeuta^  and  bj'  the  moral  principles 
of  the  Alexandrian  fathers;  especially  by  Origen's 
theory  of  a  higher  and  lower  morality,  and  of  the  merit 
of  voluntary  jwverty  and  celil)acy."  Even  back  in 
the  days  of /Elian  we  arc  told  by  him  that  the  Egyp- 
tians bear  the  most  exquisite  torture  without  a  mur- 
mur, and  would  rather  be  tormented  to  death  than 
compromise  truth.      Such  natures,  once  seized  with 


MONASTICISM 


467 


MONASTICISM 


religious  enthusiasm,  were  certainly  very  eminently 
qualified  for  saints  of  the  desert.  No  wonder,  then, 
that  the  monastic  life  soon  gained  general  favor.  Pa- 
chomius  (292-348),  a  disciple  of  Anthonj^,  is  recognised 
as  the  founder  of  this  peculiar  ascetic  life.  Palla- 
dius,  himself  a  convert  in  these  earl}'  daj's  to  this  in- 
stitution, furnishes  an  account  of  its  progress  in  con- 
nection with  an  account  of  its  author,  which  Neander 
thus  presents:  "Pachomius,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
4th  century,  when  a  young  man,  after  having  obtained 
his  Telease  from  the  military  service,  into  which  he 
had  been  forced,  attached  himself  to  an  aged  hermit, 
with  whom  he  passed  twelve  jears  of  his  life.  Here 
he  felt  the  impulse  of  Christian  love,  which  taught  him 
that  he  ought  not  to  live  merel}'  so  as  to  promote  his 
own  growth  to  perfection,  but  to  seek  also  the  salva- 
tion of  his  brethren.  He  supposed — unless  this  is  a 
decoration  of  the  legend — that  in  a  vision  he  heard 
the  voice  of  an  angel  giving  utterance  to  the  call  in 
his  own  breast — it  was  the  divine  will  that  he  should 
be  an  instrument  for  the  good  of  his  brethren,  by  rec- 
onciling them  to  God  {Vita  Pachom.  §  15).  On  Ta- 
benna;,  an  island  of  the  Nile,  in  Upper  Egypt,  be- 
twixt the  Nomes  of  Tenthyra  and  Thebes,  he  founded 
a  society  of  monks,  which  during  the  lifetime  of  Pa- 
chomius himself  numbered  three  thousand,  and  after- 
wards seven  thousand  members ;  and  thus  went  on 
increasing  until,  in  the  first  half  of  the  oth  century,  it 
could  reckon  within  its  rules  fifty  thousand  monks 
(Lauiiaca,  vi,  1,  c.  909;  also  c.  38,  fol.  957;  Hierony- 
mi  Prcpfat.  in  regidam  Pachomii,  §  7)."  We  are  told 
that  when  Athatiasius  visited  Pachomius  three  thou- 
sand monks  passed  before  him  in  procession,  chanting 
liymns,  and  exhibiting  practical  proofs  of  direct  piety 
under  the  monastic  rule.  Nor  was  the  new  movement 
confined  to  the  Tabennse  region.  The  development  in 
the  Nitrian  and  Thebaid  deserts  was  equally  rapid ; 
so  that  Rufinus  {V.Patr.  ii,  7)  affirms  that  the  monas- 
tic population  of  Egypt  equalled  the  inhabitants  of  the 
towns.  In  the  single  district  of  Nitria,  we  are  told, 
there  were  no  fewer  than  fifty  monasteries  (Sozomen, 
Ecdes.  Hist,  vi,  31),  and  the  civil  authorities  even  found 
it  expedient  to  place  restrictions  on  their  excessive 
multiplication.  Neither  was  the  movement  confined  to 
Egypt.  Arabia,  Sj'ria,  Palestine,  and  more  especially 
the  region  of  Mount  Sinai,  soon  swai-med  with  recluses, 
and  were  thicklj'  studded  with  monasteries.  "We 
dail}-  receive  monks,"  saj's  Jerome  (346-420),  writing 
at  Bethlehem,  "from  India,  and  Persia,  and  Ethiopia." 
The  entire  Eastern  Church  gave  this  practice  confi- 
dence, and  tlie  greatest  teachers  of  the  Church — as 
Gregory  Nazianzen  (329-389),  Basil  the  Great  (328- 
379),  and  the  golden-tongued  Chrysostom  (342-407) — 
became  its  enthusiastic  admirers  and  promoters.  Nor 
did  the  desert  remain  the  home  of  the  new  life.  Mo- 
nastic institutions  were  soon  transplanted  to  the  towns, 
and  in  agitated  times  these  places  became  safe  houses 
of  refuge  from  the  troubles  of  the  world.  Indeed,  it 
must  be  conceded  hj  all  honest  students  of  early  eccle- 
siastical history  that  the  example  of  the  monasticism 
of  the  early  Eastern  Church  had  a  powerful  influence 
in  forwarding  the  progress  of  Christianity ;  although 
it  is  also  certain  that  the  admiration  which  it  excited 
occasionally  led  to  its  natural  consequence  among  the 
members,  by  eliciting  a  spirit  of  pride  and  ostentation, 
and  bj'  provoking,  sometimes  to  fanatical  excesses  of 
austeritj',  sometimes  to  hypocritical  simulations  of 
rigor.  The  abuses  which  arose,  even  in  the  early 
stages  of  monachism,  are  deplored  by  the  very  fathers 
who  are  most  eloquent  in  their  praises  of  the  institu- 
tion itself.  These  abuses  prevailed  chiefly  in  a  class 
of  monks  called  Sarabaites  (q.  v.),  who  lived  in  small 
communities  of  three  or  four,  and  sometimes  led  a 
wandering  and  irregular  life.  Yet  though  many  took 
exception  to  any  abuses  growing  out  of  the  institution, 
but  few  were  found,  like  Jovinian,  to  assail  the  princi- 
ple.   And  even  emperors,  as,  e.  g.,  Valens  and  his  suc- 


cessors, sought  in  vain  to  arrest  the  too  rapid  increase 
of  monachism.  A  picture  is  drawn  by  Theodoret,  in 
his  Iteligious  Histories,  of  the  rigor  and  mortification 
practiced  in  some  of  the  greater  monasteries,  which 
goes  far  to  explain  the  assertion  of  Protestant  writers 
that  the  monks  were  commonh'  zealots  in  religion; 
and  that  much  of  the  bitterness  of  the  religious  contro- 
versies of  the  East  was  due  to  their  unrestrained  zeal ; 
and  that  the  opinions  which  led  to  these  controversies 
originated  for  the  most  part  among  the  theologians  of 
the  cloisters.  (Most  famous  among  these  was  an  or- 
der called  Ac(£met(B  [Gr.  sleepless^,  from  their  main- 
taining the  public  services  of  the  Church  day  and  night 
without  interruption.     See  Image-worship  ;  Mono- 

PHYSITES;    MOXOTHEHTES;    NeSTORIANS.) 

Under  the  growing  influence  of  the  Byzantine  em- 
perors, the  Eastern  Church,  and  with  it  Eastern  mon- 
achism, lost  all  vitality  and  became  petrified.  No 
attempts  were  made  to  revive  its  declining  vigor  hy 
creating  new  organizations,  and  though  there  have 
indeed  been  occasional  examples  of  splendid  benevo- 
lence in  Oriental  monachism,  these  are  after  all  iso- 
lated instances.  "As  a  general  rule,"  says  Stanley, 
"there  has  arisen  in  the  East  no  society  like  the  Bene- 
dictines (see  below),  held  in  honor  wherever  literature 
or  civilization  has  spread ;  no  charitable  orders,  like 
the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  which  carr}'  light  and  peace  in 
the  darkest  haunts  of  suffering  humanity"  {Eastern 
Church,  p.  114).  Traditionally  all  the  Eastern  monks 
have  followed  up  to  the  present  day  the  so-called  rule 
of  Pachomius,  or,  as  they  prefer,  of  St.  Anthony.  They 
remain  numerous  in  all  the  Eastern  churches,  and 
some  of  their  establishments,  as  the  convents  of  Mount 
Atlios,  are  still  celebrated  for  their  literary  treasures 
or  political  influence  [see  Monks,  Eastern]  ;  but  they 
have  ceased  to  be  powerful  agencies  of  religious  influ- 
ence. This  is  of  course  easily  to  be  accounted  for  on 
general  principles.  The  Eastern  Church  is  b}'  us  of 
the  West  recognised  as  stationary/  and  immutable,  while 
our  own  motto  is  progress  and  jlexilility.  Hence  ac- 
tive life  is,  on  the  strict  Eastern  theory,  an  abuse  of 
the  system.  And  while  the  monastic  life,  as  we  shall 
presently  examine  it  in  detail,  in  the  Western  world  is 
characterized  by  literary'  and  agricultural  activity,  the 
Eastern  monks,  whether  in  Egypt  or  Greece,  have  al- 
ways passed  a  passive  life,  turning  aside,  and  that  only 
occasionally,  simply  to  secure  the  necessaries  for  their 
subsistence.  Some  monks,  it  is  true,  devoted  a  por- 
tion of  their  time  to  mechanical  trades,  among  which 
we  find  ship-building,  and  to  agriculture;  but  allJ^heir 
occupations  and  rules  Avere  after  all  designed  to  over- 
come the  desires  of  the  body,  and  to  make  it  a  willing 
servant  and  instrument  of  the  soul  in  its  excessive  re- 
ligious aspirations.  Annihilation  of  individualism  was 
aimed  at,  in  order  to  be  wholly  possessed  and  owned 
by  God.  The  wildest  individual  excesses  of  a  Bruno 
or  a  Dunstan  seem  poor  beside  the  authorized  national, 
we  may  almost  saj'  imperial,  adoration  of  the  pillar 
saints  of  the  East.  Thus  also,  e.  g.,  amid  all  the  con- 
troversies of  the  5th  centur}-,  on  one  religious  subject 
the  conflicting  East  maintained  its  unity — in  the  rever- 
ence of  the  hermit  on  the  pillar.  The  West  certainly 
has  never  had  a  Simeon  St3-lites  (q.  v.). 

It  is  clearlj'  apparent,  then,  to  the  careful  student 
of  ecclesiastical  history  that  monasticism  proper,  in 
its  first  stage,  was  developed  in  the  Eastern  Church. 
But  we  shall  see  presently  that  monasticism  was  ear- 
ly transplanted  to  the  West  also.  We  will  see  it, 
however,  in  a  modified  form,  really  constituting  the 
fourth  and  last  stage  of  asceticism,  or  the  second  stage 
of  monasticism  proper.  Before  we  pass  to  its  consid- 
eration, it  may  not  be  amiss  to  regard  here  the  third 
stage  in  its  relation  to  the  other  two  that  preceded  it. 
Pachomius  himself,  as  we  have  seen,  was  originally  a 
hermit.  It  will  be  found  upon  examination  that  all 
other  ascetics  who  are  marked  as  the  most  celebrated 
order-founders  of  later  days  were  also  originally  her- 


MONASTICISM 


468 


MOXASTICISM 


mits.  Cloister  life,  indeetl,  is  a  regular  orjianization 
of  the  ascetic  life  on  a  social  basis,  recognising  as  it 
does,  at  least  in  a  measure,  the  social  element  of  hu- 
man nature,  and  representing  it  in  a  narrower  sphere 
secluded  from  the  larger  -world.  Hence  hermit  life 
led  to  cloister  life,  and  the  cloister  life  became  not  only 
a  refuge  for  the  spirit  weary  of  the  world,  but  also  in 
manj'  ways  a  school  for  practical  life  in  the  Church. 
We  must  certainly  confess  that  it  formed  ttie  transi- 
tion from  isolated  to  social  Christianity ;  for  it  con- 
eists  in  an  association  of  a  number  of  anchorets  of  tlie 
same  sex  for  mutual  advancement  in  ascetic  holiness. 
The  coenobites,  living  somewhat  according  to  tlie  laws 
of  civilization,  under  one  roof,  and  under  a  superin- 
tendent or  abbot,  divide  their  time  between  connnon 
devotions  and  manual  labor,  and  devote  their  surjdus 
provisions  to  charity;  except  the  mendicant  monks, 
who  themselves  live  by  alms. 

In  this  modified  form  monasticism  became  available 
to  the  female  sex,  to  which  the  solitary  desert  life  was 
utterly  impracticable ;  and  with  the  cloisters  of  monks 
there  appear  at  once  cloisters  also  of  nuns.  Antho- 
nj'  and  Pachomius,  we  are  told  by  their  biographers, 
were  tended  by  their  sisters;  Ammonius  l)y  his  wife; 
and  crowds  of  heroic  women  confided  their  honor  to 
the  wilderness  rather  than  to  the  caprices  of  fortune 
in  times  of  trouble.  Hence  this  germ  of  nunneries 
developed  their  growth  even  as  rapidly  as  the  monas- 
teries, and,  though  the  cause  no  longer  exists,  cloisters 
for  female  ascetics  abound  to  this  day  in  the  East  and 
in  the  West.     See  Nunneries. 

((/)  Fuurth  Slage  of  Monasticism. — The  same  social 
impulse,  finally,  which  produced  monastic  congrega- 
tions, led  afterwards  to  monastic  orders,  unions  of  a 
number  of  cloisters  under  one  rule  and  a  common  gov- 
ernment. In  this,  the  fourth  and  last  stage,  monasti- 
cism presents  itself  in  the  West,  and  played  no  little 
part,  we  gladly  confess,  for  the  diffusion  of  Christian- 
ity and  the  advancement  of  learning,  becoming  in  one 
sense  even  the  cradle  of  the  German  Keformation 
(comp.  Schaff,  Ch.  Hist,  ii,  158,  17C). 

We  have  seen  above  that  Athanasius,  one  of  the 
Western  Church  fathers,  was  in  the  East,  and  enjoyed 
a  personal  association  with  Anthony  and  Pachomius. 
When  Athanasius  returned  to  Home  (about  A.D.  341), 
he  determined  to  introduce  the  practice  of  the  monas- 
tic life  into  the  Western  Church.  He  brought  home 
with  him  some  Egyptian  monks  for  the  purpose  of  ini- 
tiating the  Romans,  and  in  order  to  exhibit  to  them  liv- 
ing evidence  of  the  sanctifying  principles  of  the  new 
"religio."  Their  uncouth  and  savage  appearance, 
however,  excited  disgust  and  ridicule,  and  for  a  time 
the  cflFort  failed.  But  Athanasius,  in  nowise  discon- 
certed, published  a  biographical  account  of  St.  Antho- 
ny, which,  being  early  translated  into  Latin,  had  great 
influence  on  the  people.  Besides,  respectable  bishops 
of  the  West,  w  ho  had  been  banished  to  the  East  dur- 
ing tlie  Arian  controversies,  brought  back  with  them, 
on  their  return,  an  enthusiasm  for  the  monastic  life. 
In  Rome  especially  the  feeling  of  ridicule  gave  way 
to  enthusiastic  admiration,  and  men  and  women  of  rank 
were  impelled  bj'  the  ascetic  spirit  which  was  spread 
by  Jerome  (346-421))  during  liis  residence  in  that  city 
to  retire  from  the  great  world,  in  which  they  had  shone, 
and  devote  themselves  to  the  monastic  life.  Patri- 
cians, rich  merchants,  and  men  of  letters  adopted  the 
distinctive  dress  of  the  anchorite,  and  with  it  the  three 
self-denying  vows  of  the  ascetic  life.  Senators  and 
matrons  transformed  their  palaces  and  country-seats. 
Villas,  bearing  the  names  of  Gracchus,  Scipio,  Camil- 
lus,  and  Marcellus,  were  converted  liy  the  represent- 
atives of  these  great  names  into  monasteries  (the  ru- 
ins of  the  Anician  palace,  of  vast  extent,  were  still  to 
be  seen  in  the  middle  of  the  8th  century  at  tlie  gate  of 
Nursia  [comp.  Montalembert,  ii,  8]  ;  and  the  family 
from  whence  it  had  its  name  is  renowned  in  the  annals 
of  monasticism  as  the  stock  of  which  Benedict  and 


I  Gregory  the  Great  were  descendants).  From  Rome 
I  the  movement  spread  through  the  provinces,  and  es- 
■  tablished  itself  in  the  isles  of  the  Mediterranean ;  chief- 
ly through  the  energetic  action  of  Eusebius  of  Vercelli, 
who,  like  Athanasius,  had  oVttained  a  temporary  rest- 
ing-place in  the  Thebaid  when  driven  from  his  see. 
Men  ])Ossessing  such  great  influence  as  Ambrose  of  Mi- 
lan, John  Curianus,  Martin  of  Tours,  the  presbyter 
,  Jerome  (q.  v.),  also  contributed  subsequently,  in  the 
I  course  of  the  4th  century,  still  further  to  awaken  and 
diffuse  this  tendency  of  the  Christian  spirit  in  Italy 
an<l  in  Gaul. 

Everywhere  the  institution  now  spread  rapidly,  in 
the  same  general  forms  in  which  the  monasteries  were 
built  up  in  the  EasJ.  Pachomius  had  started  some  of 
these  and  given  them  monastic  shape,  but  it  was  re- 
served for  Basil  the  Great  (.328-37'J)  to  give  perfect 
!  organization  to  the  vast  army  of  monks,  and  to  bind 
them  by  a  formal  vow  of  chastity,  poverty  (involving 
I  the  duty  of  self-support  by  manual  labor),  and  obedi- 
I  ence  to  authority.  But  even  Basil's  work  was  vague 
and  desultory,  and  St.  Augustine  was  not  a  little  tried 
in  his  endeavors  to  diffuse  monasticism  in  North  Africa 
and  Italy.  He  condemned  the  idleness  of  the  monks, 
ever  fearing  the  danger  which  would  spring  from  af- 
fording too  great  freedom  to  men  who  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  severe  corporeal  labor  and  to  rigid  restraint. 
Many  there  were  who  would  be  right  well  disposed  to 
exchange  a  needy,  sorrowful,  and  laborious  life  for  one 
free  from  all  care,  exempt  from  labor,  and  at  the  same 
time  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  being  looked  up  to  with 
universal  respect.  Those  who  discarded  the  obligation 
to  manual  labor  ventured,  in  defending  their  princi- 
ples, to  pervert  many  passages  of  the  New  Testament. 
When  that  precept  of  the  apostle  Paul  in  2  Thess.  iii, 
12  was  objected  to  them,  they  appealed,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  those  misconceived  passages  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  in  which  all  cai-e  for  the  wants  of  the  mor- 
row, hence  all  labor  to  acquire  the  means  of  sustenance 
for  the  morrow,  were  forbidden.  Christian  perfection 
was  made  to  consist  in  this — that  men  should  expect, 
without  laboring  for  their  support,  to  be  provided  for 
by  the  hand  of  God,  like  the  fowls  of  the  air.  Tliis 
precept  of  Christ,  they  contended,  Paul  could  not  mean 
to  contradict ;  the  laboring,  accordingly,  as  well  as  the 
eating,  in  those  words  of  Paul,  must  be  understood  not 
in  the  literal,  but  in  a  spiritual  sense — as  referring  to 
I  the  obligation  of  communicating  the  nourishment  of 
the  divine  Word,  which  men  had  themselves  received, 
I  to  others  also — an  example  of  the  perversion  of  Script- 
I  ure  worthy  to  be  noticed.  But  not  only  Augustine — 
other  friends  of  monasticism  soon  came  to  apprehend 
'  the  obstacles  likely  to  face  Christian  activity,  and  a 
I  Church  Council,  that  of  Chalcedon  (A.D.  451),  found  it 
necessary  to  pass  canons  for  the  regulation  of  monks. 
Yet  these  changes  could  affect  only  the  East,  the  West 
having  no  part  in  its  deliberations,  and  having  as  its 
1  representatives  only  four  jiapal  legates.  Hence,  while 
{  in  the  East  some  jirovisions  were  made  for  the  safety 
of  Christian  asceticism,  in  the  garb  of  monasticism, 
the  Western  Church  was  constantly  and  considerablj- 
I  modifying  the  Eastern  practices,  until  the  relaxations 
of  Western  monastics  threatened  apostasy  and  heresy 
unlimited.  The  inmates  of  difl'erent  cells  under  the 
1  same  head  varied  in  their  observance,  each  recluse  re- 
j  taining  his  accustomed  usage  when  admitted  into  the 
!  community.  And,  in  truth,  no  rule  could  well  be  uni- 
j  versal.  In  Gaul  the  monks  declaimed  against  the  se- 
I  vore  rule  of  fasting  imported  from  the  East.  A  disci- 
!  plinc  that  was  practicable  under  a  burning  Sj'rian  sun 
I  required  modification  to  suit  the  colder  latitude  of 
i  Gaul.  Discontent  and  laxity  were  taking  hold  everj'- 
where,  and  monachism  would  perhaps  have  been  una- 
!  lile  to  withstand  the  destructive  influences  which,  in 
'  this  and  the  following  times,  were  spreading  far  and 
w  ide ;  and  the  irregularities  prevailing  in  the  spirit- 
I  ual  order  would  have  become  more  widelv  diffused  in 


MONASTICISM 


469 


MONASTICISM 


Western  monachism,  which  had  a  still  laxer  constitu- 
tion, had  not  a  remarkable  man  introduced  into  the 
monastic  life  a  more  settled  order  and  a  more  rigid 
discipline,  and  given  it  the  shaping  and  direction  of  a 
hierarchical  religious  order,  by  which  it  became  so  influ- 
ential an  instrument  to  Christianity,  particularly  for  the 
conversion  and  the  culture  of  rude  nations  (Neander, 
ii,  25t»).  This  remarkable  man  was  Benedict,  an  Ital- 
ian monk  of  the  early  part  of  the  Gth  century.  His 
religious  rules  were  at  first  intended  and  framed  mere- 
\y  for  the  government  of  the  convent  Monte  Cassino 
(q.  v.),  over  which  he  presided,  but  the}'  afterwards  were 
adopted  hy  or  forced  upon  a  verj'  great  number  of 
monasteries.  His  rule  was  founded  on  that  of  Pacho- 
miiis,  though  in  many  respects  it  deviated  from  it. 
His  great  object  seems  to  have  been  to  render  the  dis- 
ci])line  of  the  monks  milder,  their  establishment  more 
solid,  and  their  manners  more  regular  than  those  of 
other  monastic  establishments.  "Benedict,"  saj's  Ne- 
ander,  "aimed  to  counteract  the  licentious  life  of  the 
irregular  monks — who  roamed  about  the  country,  and 
spread  a  corrupting  influence  both  on  manners  and  on 
religion — by  the  introduction  of  a  severer  discipline 
and  spirit  of  order."  The  dominant  principles  of 
Benedict's  rule  are  obedience  and  labor;  being  ad- 
ministrative rather  than  creative  in  its  origin,  and  pre- 
supposing the  existing  rules  of  chastity  and  poverty. 
The  founder  speaks  of  his  rule  as  merely  a  beginning, 
a  tentative  ordinance — "  Hanc  minimam  inchoationis 
regulam,"  etc.  (c.  73).  The  principal  of  every  estab- 
lishment was  enjoined  to  take  counsel,  either  of  the 
whole  house  in  capitular  assembly,  or  of  the  decanal 
bod  J'  chosen  from  the  different  decades  of  the  communi- 
ty. A  candidate  for  the  novitiate  was  long  kept  with- 
out the  walls  to  try  his  constanc}'.  When  admitted 
within,  he  was  placed  for  two  months  under  the  tuition 
and  surveillance  of  an  experienced  monk,  and  warned 
daily  with  respect  to  the  hardships  and  discipline  of  the 
monastery.  If  the  novice  still  wished  to  take  the  vow, 
the  laws  of  the  society  were  read  over  to  him,  and  per- 
mission given  him  to  return  to  the  world  if  he  so 
pleased.  The  same  opportunity  was  three  times  re- 
peated during  the  jear  of  novitiate,  at  the  expiration 
of  which  time  he  was  admitted  as  a  member  of  the 
community.  The  sixty-three  heads  under  which  the 
rule  is  arranged  refer  to  the  relative  duties  of  the 
principal  and  subordinate  members — divine  worship, 
discipline,  household  economj',  and  various  ordinances 
referring  to  hospitality,  missions,  nursing,  etc.  The 
prescribed  dress  was  in  all  probability  that  which  had 
ahvaj's  been  adopted  by  recluses,  for  it  is  almost  the 
same  coarse  garb  as  that  which  Columella  {De  Re  Rus- 
tlca,  xi,  1)  recommends  for  the  f;irm  serf  in  all  kinds  of 
weather.  The  whole  time  of  the  monks  of  his  order  he 
directed  to  be  divided  between  praj'er,  reading,  the  ed- 
ucation of  j'outh,  and  other  pious  and  learned  labors. 
All  who  entered  his  order  were  obliged  to  pi-omise 
when  they  were  received  as  novitiates,  and  to  repeat 
their  promise  when  thej-^  were  admitted  as  full  mem- 
bers of  the  society,  that  they  would  in  no  respect  and 
on  no  account  attempt  to  change  or  add  to  the  rules 
which  he  had  instituted.  Doubtless  aware  that  the 
ascetic  severity  of  manj'  of  the  monastic  orders  in  the 
East  was  unsuited  to  the  rude  men  of  the  West,  and 
also  to  the  more  unfriendly  climate,  Benedict  did  not 
require  of  his  monks  many  of  the  mortifications  which 
were  sometimes  imposed  upon  those  of  the  East,  and 
allowed  them  several  indulgences  Avhich  were  there 
sometimes  forbidden.  His  rule  was  consequently  em- 
braced by  nearly  all  the  monks  of  the  West.  In  some 
of  the  more  isolated  churches,  as,  for  instance,  that  of 
Britain,  it  would  seem  that  the  reformations  of  St. 
Benedict  were  not  introduced  until  a  late  period;  and 
in  the  churches  of  that  country',  as  well  as  those  of  Ire- 
land, the}-  were  a  subject  of  considerable  controversy. 
Benedict  admitted  botli  tlie  learned  and  unlearned 
into  his  order ;  it  was  the  dutv  of  the  first  to  assist 


at  the  choir,  of  the  latter  to  attend  to  the  household 
economy  and  temporal  concerns  of  the  monastery. 
At  this  period,  it  may  be  observed,  the  recitation  of 
the  divine  office  at  the  choir  (as  it  is  called  by  the 
Roman  Catholics)  was  confined  to  the  monks ;  after- 
wards it  was  established  as  the  duty  of  all  priests, 
deacons,  and  sub-deacons.  The  Benedictines  at  first 
admitted  none  into  their  order  who  were  not  well  in- 
structed how  to  perform  it ;  but  it  was  not  necessary 
that  they  should  be  priests,  or  even  in  holy  orders. 
Afterwards  many  were  admitted  who  were  ignorant 
of  the  duty  of  the  choir ;  they  were  employed  in  meni- 
al duties  :  hence  the  introduction  of  Lai/  Brothers  into 
the  Benedictine  order.  When  first  introduced,  they 
were  not  considered  as  a  portion  of  the  monastic  es- 
tablishment, but  as  merely  attached  and  subordinate 
to  it;  but  in  course  of  time  both  the  order  and  the 
Church  acknowledged  them  to  be,  in  the  strictest  sense 
of  the  word,  professed  religious.  All  other  religious 
orders,  both  men  and  women,  following  the  example 
of  the  Benedictines,  have  admitted  lay  brothers  and 
sisters.  In  1322  the  Council  of  Vienna  ordered  all 
monks  to  enter  into  the  order  of  priesthood.  The 
monks  of  Vallombrosa,  in  Tuscany,  are  the  first  among 
whom  lay  brothers  are  found  under  that  appellation. 
See  Lay  Brother  ;  Priesthood.  One  of  the  most 
important  modifications  of  monachism  in  the  West, 
it  will  be  noticed  by  the  careful  reader,  regarded 
the  nature  of  the  occupation  in  which  the  monks  were 
to  be  engaged  during  the  times  not  directly  devoted 
to  prayer,  meditation,  or  other  spiritual  exercises. 
In  the  East,  manual  labor  formed  the  chief,  if  not  the 
sole  external  occupation  prescribed  to  the  monks ;  it 
being  held  as  a  fundamental  principle  that  for  each 
individual  the  main  business  of  life  was  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  his  own  soul.  In  the  West,  besides  the  labor 
of  the  hands,  mental  occupation  was  also  prescribed, 
not,  it  is  true,  for  all,  but  for  those  for  whom  it  was  es- 
pecially calculated.  From  an  early  period,  therefore, 
the  convents  of  the  West  became  schools  of  learning, 
and  training-houses  for  the  clergy  and  the  missionary. 
At  a  later  period,  most  monasteries  possessed  a  scnp- 
toriuni,  or  writing-room,  in  which  the  monks  were  em- 
ployed in  the  transcription  of  MSS. ;  and  though  much 
of  the  work  so  done  was,  as  might  naturally  be  expect- 
ed, in  the  department  of  sacred  learning,  yet  it  is  to 
the  scholars  of  the  cloister  we  owe  the  preservation  of 
most  of  those  masterpieces  of  ancient  classic  literature 
which  have  reached  our  age  (comp.,  however,  Leckey, 
Hist.  Europ.  Morals,  ii,  220  sq.).  Thence  also  went 
out  those  who  became  founders  of  Christianity  in  hea- 
then countries.  In  this  way  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land were  converted.  In  these,  as  well  as  in  the  Sla- 
vic countries,  it  was  not  only  by  preaching,  but  still 
more  by  the  establishment  of  convents  having  the 
character  of  agricultural  establishments,  that  conver- 
sion was  advanced  (comp.  Maclear, /7i«<.  of  Chistian 
Missions  in  the  Middle  Ages,  p.  40G  sq.). 

3.  Degeneracy  of  3Ionachism,  and  its  Extension. — 
The  irruption  of  the  Lombards  into  Italy  and  of  the 
Saracens  into  Spain,  and  the  civil  wars  in  France  af- 
ter the  death  of  Charlemagne,  as  well  as  the  many 
favors  received  from  the  Church,  which  had  come  to 
regard  recluses  as  a  higher  class  of  Christians,  hav- 
!  ing  facilitated  the  growth  of  moral  corruption  among 
the  monastics,  and  having  introduced  great  disorder 
also  among  the  Benedictines,  several  attempts  at  re- 
form were  made,  and  for  many  centuries  the  history 
of  monachism  now  comes  to  present  a  continual  strug- 
gle of  reformers  with  the  laxity,  indifference,  or  immo- 
rality obtaining  in  a  larger  or  lesser  number  of  the 
convents  of  those  times.  The  first  and  most  noted  of 
the  reformers  was  Benedict  of  Aniane  (f  821),  whose 
commentary  on  the  rule  of  Benedict  of  Nursia  obtain- 
ed later  an  equally  authoritative  character.  Next  in 
order  stands  Berno,  the  founder  of  the  Clugny  Congre- 
gation (q.  v.),  afterwards  reformed  by  bis  successor, 


MOXASTICISM 


4:10 


MOXASTICISM 


St.  Odo.  Several  monasteries  adopted  Odo's  reforms ; 
but  it  was  Clugny  alone  that  enjo^-ed  tlie  greatest 
privileges,  and  it  was  generally  looked  upon  as  the 
main  pillar  of  the  reformatory  party.  It  controlled 
nearly  all  the  important  convents  of  Gaul  and  Italy. 
In  the  11th  century  the  Benedictine  order  again  fell 
from  its  original  purity  and  strictness.  This  gave  rise 
to  many  attempts  to  restore  it  to  its  pristine  form  and 
object ;  hence  arose  the  Carthusians,  the  Camalduks, 
the  Cileglines,  the  Cistercians,  the  monks  of  Grammont, 
the  CoHf/regation  of  St.  Maur,  and  the  celebrated  monks 
of  La  Trtippe. 

In  the  .sth  century  a  kind  of  middle  order  between 
the  monks  and  the  clergy  had  been  formed,  called  the 
canons  regular  of  St.  Augustine.  Their  dwellings 
and  tible  were  in  common,  and  they  assembled  at 
lixed  hours  for  the  divine  service.  In  these  respects 
they  resembled  the  monks  ;  but  they  diflfercd  from 
them  in  taking  no  vows,  and  thcj'  often  officiated  in 
churches  committed  to  their  care.  Having  degener- 
ated in  the  12th  centurj',  pope  Nicholas  II  introduced 
a  considerable  reformation  among  them.  At  this  pe- 
riod they  seem  to  have  divided  into  several  branches 
of  the  original  order;  some  formed  themselves  into 
communities,  in  which  there  was  a  common  dwelling 
and  table,  but  each  monk,  after  contributing  to  the 
general  stock,  employed  the  fruits  of  his  benefices  as 
he  deemed  proper.  At  the  head  of  another  union  was 
the  bishop  of  Chartres.  They  adopted  a  more  rigid 
and  austere  mode  of  life,  renounced  their  worldly  pos- 
sessions, all  private  property,  and  lived  exactly  as  the 
strictest  order  of  monks  did.  This  gave  rise  to  the 
distinction  between  the  secular  and  regular  canons. 
The  former  observed  the  decree  of  pope  Nicholas  II ; 
the  latter  followed  the  bishop  of  Chartres,  and  were 
called  the  regular  canons  of  St.  Augustine,  because  they 
were  formed  on  the  rules  laid  down  by  .St.  Augustine 
in  his  Epistles.  They  kept  public  schools  for  the  in- 
struction of  youth,  and  exercised  a  variety  of  other 
employments  useful  to  the  Church.  A  reform  was 
effected  in  the  Augustines  by  St.  Norbert ;  and,  as  he 
presided  over  a  convent  at  Primontre,  in  Picardy, 
those  monks  who  adopted  his  rule  were  called  Pre- 
monstratenses.  They  spread  throughout  Europe  with 
great  rapidity. 

Other  orders  also  arose,  mainly  devoted  to  special 
benevolent  or  religious  purposes.  Thus,  e.  g.,  the  Or- 
der of  St.  Anthony  (1095)  and  the  Ilosjntallcrs  (1078)  de- 
voted themselves  to  the  nursing  of  the  sick,  the  Order 
of  Fontevraud  (IQO-i)  to  the  correction  of  lewd  women, 
and  the  Ttinitarinns  (1198)  to  the  redeeming  of  Chris- 
tian prisoners.  Even  the  warlike  tendencies  of  those 
times  sought  a  union  with  the  monastic  spirit  by  the 
establishment  of  several  orders  of  knights,  such  as 
the  Knights  of  St.  John,  the  Templars,  the  Teutonic 
Knights,  the  orders  of  St.  Jago,  Calatrava,  Alcantara, 
Avis,  and  St.  JIaurice.  See  Knighthood.  During 
this  period  convents  of  nuns  were  also  established,  the 
institutes  and  regulations  of  which  were  similar  to 
those  adopted  by  the  Benedictines  and  Augustines,  or 
to  the  reformed  branches  springing  from  those  two 
great  orders. 

We  sec  in  all  tliis  that  in  the  remarkable  religious 
movement  whicii  characterized  the  Church  of  the  l-2th 
century  the  principle  of  monachism  underwent  consid- 
erable modification  ;  and  yet,  however  active  and  con- 
sistent these  different  orders  might  be,  they  were  still 
too  impsrfectly  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  fast  ap- 
proaching l.'Uh  century.  Tliere  was  yet  too  much 
self-indulgence  in  the  inhabitants  of  the  cloister,  and 
too  little  for  the  general  want  in  tlic  semi-monastic 
orders  of  the  knights.  The  latter  were  too  much  con- 
fined to  special  wants  in  life  only  ;  the  former,  as  men 
who  had  renounced  the  l)usiness  of  this  world  to  make 
themselves  another  in  the  cloisters  where  tlioy  lived 
and  died,  kept  too  far  aloof  from  secular  concerns;  and 
even  where  they  had  been  most  assiduous  in  the  duties 


of  their  convent,  their  attachment  to  it  often  indis- 
posed  them  to  stand  forward  and  do  battle  with  the 
numerous  sects  that  threatened  to  subvert  Christianity 
itself.  Something  ruder  and  more  practical,  less  wed- 
ded to  peculiar  spots  and  less  entiingled  by  superflu- 
ous property,  was  needed  if  the  Church  was  to  retain 
its  rigid  and  monastic  form  (comp.  Hardwick,  Ch.  Hist. 
.1/.  .1.  p.  230).  The  want  was  made  peculiarly  ap- 
parent when  the  Albigenses  began  to  lay  unwonted 
stress  on  their  own  j)overty  and  to  decry  the  self- 
indulgence  of  the  monks  ;  and  the  Church  itself,  fear- 
ing for  its  safety,  declared  against  the  further  extension 
of  the  monastic  power  in  the  Lateran  Council  of  121.5. 
At  this  juncture  arose  the  two  mendicant  orders,  (1) 
the  Minors  or  Franciscans  (q.  v.),  and  (2)  the  Preach- 
ers or  Dominicans  (q.  v.),  both  destined  for  two  centu- 
ries to  play  a  leading  part  in  all  the  fortunes  of  the 
Church.  See  Mkndicants.  They  aimed  at  being 
;  the  best  soldiers  of  the  Church  militant,  and  they  had 
I  therefore  a  marked  influence  on  subsequent  Church 
history.  Thej'  renounced  every  kind  of  worldly  goods, 
and  founded  what  was  termed  an  "  order  of  penitence" 
(the  third  estate  of  friars),  composed  of  the  laity  (espe- 
cially the  working  classes),  who,  while  pledged  to  do 
the  bidding  of  the  pope  and  to  observe  the  general 
regulations  of  the  institute,  were  not  restricted  by  the 
vow  of  celibacy,  nor  compelled  to  take  their  leave  en- 
tirely of  the  world.  AVe  thus  sec  that  the  spiritual 
egotism,  so  to  speak,  of  the  early  monachism,  which  in 
some  sense  limited  the  work  of  the  cloister  to  the 
sanctification  of  the  individual,  gave  place  to  the  more 
comprehensive  range  of  spiritual  duty,  and  made  the 
spiritual  and  even  the  temporal  necessities  of  one's 
neighbor,  equally  with  if  not  more  than  one's  own,  the 
object  of  the  work  of  the  cloister.  But  more  than  that. 
The  mendicants  thus  created  for  themselves  a  numer- 
ous and  influential  party  among  the  laity  by  these  ter- 
tiaries,  and  the  Church,  prizing  this  hold  on  the  com- 
munity, stood  ready  to  give  place  to  such  aids.  They 
wandered  overall  Europe,  instructing  the  people,  both 
old  and  young,  and  exhibiting  such  an  aspect  of  (sanc- 
tity and  self-denial  that  they  speedily  became  olijects 
of  universal  admiration.  Their  churches  were  crowd- 
ed, while  those  of  the  regular  parish  priests  were  al- 
most wholly  deserted ;  all  classes  sought  to  receive  the 
sacraments  at  their  hands  ;  their  advice  was  eagerly 
courted  in  secular  business,  and  even  in  the  most  intri- 
cate political  affairs ;  so  that  in  the  13th  and  two  fol- 
lowing centuries  the  mendicant  orders  generally,  but 
more  especially  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  were 
intrusted  with  the  management  of  all  matters  both  in 
Church  and  State.  They  also  secured  many  of  the 
chairs  of  the  theological  schools  in  spite  of  the  secular 
clerg}',  and  the  most  illustrious  representatives  of  the 
1  13th  and  14th  centuries  (Thomas  Aquinas,  Bonaventu- 
ra,  Albertus  Magnus,  Alexander  of  Hales,  etc.)  were 
either  Dominicans  or  Franciscans.  Several  of  their 
number  tilled  the  highest  ecclesiastical  positions,  even 
the  papal  chiir.  They  certainly  raised  monachism  to 
I  the  zenith  of  its  power,  influence,  and  prosperity.  Be- 
j  sides  the  Franciscans  and  the  Dominicans,  there  were 
I  the  Carmelites  and  the  Hermits  of  St.  Augustine,  but 
I  both  of  these  were  much  inferior  in  number,  reputa- 
tion, and  influence  to  tlie  Franciscans  and  Dominicans. 
Having  thus  become  both  important  and  powerful, 
the  mendicants  rapidly  multiplied,  and  the  most  seri- 
I  ous  results  were  likely  to  arise,  as  they  were  generally 
independent  of  episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  were  rivals 
to  bishops  and  priests.  The  high  estimation,  more- 
over, into  which  monachism  had  risen,  more  particu- 
larly through  the  wide-spread  influence  of  the  bogging 
friars,  awakened  a  spirit  of  bitter  hostility,  not  simply 
in  all  orders  of  the  clergy,  but  also  in  the  universities. 
In  England  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  in  France 
the  University  of  Paris,  arduously  laliored  to  overthrow 
j  its  now  spreading  ])Owcr.  Pope  (iregory  X,  with  a 
I  view  to  check  the  overgrown  evil,  went  so  far  even  as 


MONASTICISM 


471 


MONASTICISM 


to  issue  n.  decree  prohibiting  all  the  orders  which  had 
originated  since  the  time  of  Innocent  III  (A.D.  1200), 
and  reduced  the  mendicants  to  four  orders — tlie  Do- 
minicans, Franciscans,  Carmelites,  and  Augustinians. 
'I  he  Church  of  Rome,  says  Butler,  "  has  acknowledged 
onlv  these  four  orders  to  be  mendicant,"  and  the  rea- 
son given  is  that  "an  order  is  considered  to  be  mendi- 
cant, in  the  proper  import  of  that  word,  when  it  has  no 
fixed  income,  and  derives  its  whole  subsistence  from 
casual  and  uncertain  bounty,  obtained  by  personal 
mendicity'.  To  that  St.  Francis  did  not  wish  his  breth- 
ren to  have  recourse  till  they  had  endeavored  to  earn 
a  competent  subsistence  by  labor,  and  found  their  earn- 
ings insufficient.  But  soon  after  the  decease  of  St. 
Francis,  the  exertions,  equally  incessant  and  laborious, 
of  his  disciples  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  faithful 
appeared,  in  the  universal  opinion  of  the  Church,  to  be 
both  incompatible  with  manual  labor  and  much  more 
than  a  compensation  to  the  public  for  all  they  could 
possibly  obtain  from  it  by  mendicity.  This  opinion 
was  unequivocally  expressed  by  St.  Thomas  Aquinas, 
and  sanctioned  by  a  bull  of  pope  Nicholas  III ;  since 
that  time  the  friars  have  not  used  manual  labor  as  a 
means  of  subsistence,  but  resorted  in  the  first  instance 
to  mendicity."  Mendicitj'  seems  to  have  made  no 
part  of  the  original  rules  of  the  Dominicans,  Carmel- 
ites, or  Hermits  of  Augustine  ;  and,  in  consequence  of 
the  evils  attendant  on  it,  the  Council  of  Trent  confined 
mendicity  to  the  Observantines  and  Capuchins,  allow- 
ing the  other  Franciscan  establishments,  and  almost 
all  the  establishments  of  the  three  other  orders,  to  ac- 
quire permanent  property. 

In  the  14th  century,  though  partly  checked  by  the 
mendicant  orders,  a  general  degeneracy  of  monachism 
commenced,  and  the  corruption,  from  which  hardly  a 
single  order  kept  itself  entirely  free,  became  so  over- 
whelming that  towards  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages 
the  name  monk  was  often  used  by  writers  as  synony- 
mous with  rudeness  and  ignorance.  "The  monks," 
says  Hardwick,  "  gorged  with  the  ecclesiastical  en- 
dowments, lost  the  moral  elevation  they  had  shown 
throughout  the  early  periods  of  the  Church,  and  with 
it  forfeited  their  hold  on  the  affections  of  the  people. 
Except  the  Order  of  Carthusians,  none  of  them  ad- 
hered to  the  letter  of  their  institute.  Their  intellect- 
ual vigor  at  the  same  time  underwent  a  corresponding 
deterioration,  insomuch  that  few  if  any  works  of  mer- 
it, either  in  the  field  of  science  or  in  that  of  theology-, 
proceeded  in  this  age  from  the  cloisters  of  the  West" 
(Ch.  Hist.  M.  A.  p.  343;  comp.  Gieseler,  Ecdes.  Hist. 
iii,  85  sq.,  286  sq.).  The  monks,  like  a  swarm  of  lo- 
custs, covered  all  Europe,  proclaiming  everywhere  the 
obedience  due  to  the  holy  mother  Church,  the  rever- 
ence due  to  the  saints  (and  more  especially  to  the  Vir- 
gin Mary),  tlie  efficacy  of  relics,  the  torments  of  purga- 
toni',  and  the  blessed  advantages  arising  from  indul- 
gences. Reformatory  attempts  were  vainly  made  in 
every  centurj^  Different  new  orders — as  tlie  Jesuits, 
Brigittines,  Serritcs,  Hieronymiles,  and  others  —  were 
founded  ;  but  their  influence  was  weak  in  comparison 
with  that  of  their  predecessors,  and  frequently,  after 
an  existence  of  fifty  or  one  hundred  years,  they  them- 
selves were  as  far  astray  from  the  primitive  standard 
of  rigid  asceticism.  "  The  progress  of  monasticism," 
says  Cramp,  "was  distinguished  for  several  centuries 
b)'  unexampled  prosperity  and  its  ordinary'  attendant, 
corruption.  Replenished  with  wealth,  which  the  igno- 
rant and  superstitious  people  lavished  upon  them, 
thinking  to  gain  favor  with  God  thereby,  the  monks 
indulged  in  every  kind  of  licentious  excess,  till  they 
were  as  infamous  for  vice  as  their  predecessors  had 
been  renowned  for  piety.  Reformation  was  frequent- 
ly attempted,  and  many  new  orders  arose,  professing 
at  first  great  zeal  for  purity,  and  adopting  the  strictest 
modes  of  discipline,  verging  sometimes  to  the  extrem- 
ity of  human  endurance.  But  these  also  soon  shared 
'the  general  fate,  and  sank  to  the  same  low  level  of 


shameless  sensuality"  (comp.  Concil.,  Labbe  et  Cos- 
sart,  ed.  Mansi,  tom.  xviii,  270 ;  Gieseler,  Eccles.  Hist. 
ii,  120).  The  councils  of  Constance  (A.D.  1415)  and 
Basle  (A.D.  1431),  in  their  endeavors  to  brace  up  mo- 
nastic discipline  afresh,  devised  reformatory  measures ; 
but  the}'  produced  only  transitory  changes,  and  those 
onl)'  in  few  places.  As  a  whole,  it  was  daily  more  ap- 
parent that  monasticism  was  growing  almost  incorri- 
gible, and  was  ripening  daily  for  the  scythe.  One  of 
the  strongest  evidences  of  such  a  tendency  was  the 
formation  of  four  spiritual  associations  to  take  the 
place  of  the  monastic  orders.  Thus  flourished,  in  spite 
of  the  indiscriminate  denunciation  of  pope  and  priest 
and  persecution  bj'  the  Inquisition,  the  Bernards  or 
Beguines,  who  must  be  regarded  as  an  oftVhoot  of  mo- 
nasticism, though  they  exhibited  a  freer  and  less  hie- 
rarchical spirit.  They  flourished  mainly  in  Germany 
and  the  Netherlands ;  but  other  groups,  in  which  the 
Beguard  influence  was  apparent,  began  to  spread  rap- 
idly throughout  the  West.  They  were  religious  broth- 
erhoods and  sisterhoods,  distinguished  for  their  zeal  in 
visiting  the  sick,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  those  to  whom 
the  name  of  Lollords  (q.  v.)  was  popularly  given,  for 
singing  at  funerals,  and  for  otherwise  assisting  in  the 
burial  of  the  dead.  This  associational  principle  was 
further  developed  by  the  Brethren  of  the  Free  Spirit, 
a  confraternity  which  owed  their  origin  to  Gerhard 
Groot  (middle  of  the  14th  century),  and  who  for  some 
time  seemed  to  be  preparing  the  waj'  for  an  entirely 
new  phase  of  monachism.  In  their  reformatory  labors 
'  they  frequently  came  into  collision  with  the  highest 
Church  authorities,  especially  the  Inquisition,  though 
this  did  not  prevent  their  spread.  Their  numerous  so- 
cieties were  equalty  distinguished  for  their  mj-sticism 
and  their  usefulness.  Some  of  the  brethren  were  en- 
gaged in  instruction,  others  employed  themselves  in 
various  kinds  of  handicraft  for  their  livelihood.  One 
of  their  chief  objects  was  always  to  advance  the  relig- 
ious education  of  the  common  people,  and  especially  to 
raise  up  from  them  a  pious  clergy,  so  that  they  soon 
I  became  fruitful  nurseries  for  monks.  This  activity, 
I  and  the  respect  in  which  the  brethren  were  held  by 
I  the  people,  excited  powerfullj'  the  envy  of  the  men- 
dicants, but  thej'  gradually  slackened  their  opposi- 
I  tion  when  they  found  their  own  numbers  increasing 
'  through  the  labors  of  these  Fratres  communis  ritce. 
The  most  remarkable  of  the  new  orders  established 
in  this  period  was  that  of  the  Minimi.  Their  found- 
er, Francis  of  Paula,  a  small  town  in  Calabria,  after 
having  lived  for  a  short  time  in  an  unreibrmed  Fran- 
ciscan convent,  established  himself  as  a  hermit  in  the 
neighborhood  of  his  native  city,  and  from  1J57  gather- 
ed around  him  a  society  of  those  who  shared  his  views. 
I  The  fame  of  his  miraculous  power  soon  extended  his 
society,  which  was  confirmed  bj'  Sixtus  IV  (1474),  un- 
1  der  the  name  of  the  Eremitte  s.  Francisci,  first  in  Ita- 
j  h',  and  afterwards  in  France,  where  the  superstitious 
Louis  XI  had  summoned  the  founder  of  the  order  to 
!  his  aid  in  the  last  extremity  (1482)  ;  and  at  a  later  pe- 
1  riod  in  Spain.  The  order,  distinguished  always  from 
i  the  rest  of  the  Franciscans  by  the  observance  of  the 
I  vita  quadragesimalis,  received  afterwards  a  rule  from 
its  founder,  and,  to  distinguish  themselves  from  the 
Fratres  Minores,  and  to  go  one  step  bej'ond  them,  as- 
sumed the  name  of  "  Ordo  minimorum  fratrum  eremi- 
tarum  Fratres  Francisci  de  Paula."  See  Minims. 
The  Reformation  of  the  IGth  centurj'  maj'  well  be 
j  called  the  Revolutionary  period  in  the  historj'  of  mon- 
achism. The  deep  decline  which  this  institution  had 
suffered  during  and  immediately  following  the  Cru- 
sades, a  period  in  which,  as  we  have  seen,  even  the 
knights  and  barons  subjected  their  profession  of  wai'- 
riors  to  the  forms  of  monkish  laws,  had  been,  it  is  true, 
to  a  very  great  extent  relieved  by  a  period  of  spiritual 
activity,  ushered  in  by  the  mendicants.  At  tiieir  com- 
mencement thej'  undoubtedh'  contributed  to  the  resto- 
ration of  primitive  simplicity,  their  avowed  object,  but 


MONASTICISM 


472 


MONASTICISM 


gradually  most  of  them  also  became  disorderly  and 
worldly ;  and  a  leading  feature  in  the  corrui)tion  of  the 
Church  was  perceived  to  be  in  those  very  orders  found- 
ed to  promote  apostolic  simplicity  in  tlie  Christian 
Church.  Tlie  best  and  most  influential  men  in  the 
Church  cordially  joined  in  the  demand  for  a  thorough 
reformation  ;  they  willingly  and  frankly  admitted  that 
the  crisis  had  been  in  ])art  occasioned  by  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  clergy,  secular  as  well  as  monastic,  and 
they  urged,  in  particular,  the  imperious  necessity  of  a 
reformation  of  the  religious  orders  (comp.  Gieseler, 
Eccles.  Hist,  iv,  131-15G).  The  protest  of  the  Reform- 
ers met  with  a  cordial  response  in  the  breasts  of  mul- 
titudes whose  attachment  to  the  Church  of  Home  was 
warm  and  almost  inextinguishable.  In  Italy  attempts 
were  made  to  renovate  their  youth;  but  on  the  Conti- 
nent, espocially  in  Germany  and  the  Netherlands,  the 
people  would  be  satisfied  with  notiiing  short  of  the  dis- 
solution of  monicery  (Kanke,  Papacy,  i,  129,  3S4):  they 
were  determined  that  no  monasteries  or  convents  should 
longer  subsist.  This  opposition  had  been  engendered 
partly  by  a  gradual  alienation  of  all  monastics  from 
the  people,  but  even  more  by  the  attacks  that  had  been 
made  upon  it  by  many  of  the  leading  Reformers,  who 
sought  reformation  within  tiie  Church.  Foremost 
among  them  was  that  declared  foe  of  all  superstition, 
the  inmiortal  Erasmus  (q.  v.).  In  his  early  days  he 
had  tasted,  bj'  constraint,  sometliing  of  monkish  life, 
and  his  natural  abhorrence  of  it  was  made  more  in- 
tense by  his  bitter  recollection,  and  by  the  trouble  it 
cost  him,  after  he  had  become  famous,  to  release  him- 
self from  the  thraldom  to  which  his  former  associates 
were  inclined  to  call  him  back.  He  was  very  com- 
petent, therefore,  to  bear  testimony  for  or  against  the 
monkish  life,  and  wiien  he  became  its  opponent  his 
opinions  commanded  the  attention  of  all  the  thought- 
ful. And  not  only  became  he  now  an  opponent,  but  a 
lifelong  warfarer  against  the  monks  and  their  ideas 
and  practices.  His  tongue  and  his  pen  also  were  used 
freely.  His  Praise  of  Follij,  and,  in  particular,  the 
Colloquies,  in  which  the  idleness,  illiteracj',  self-indul- 
gence, and  artificial  and  useless  austerities  of  "  the  re- 
ligious" were  handled  in  the  most  diverting  style,  were 
read  with  infinite  amusement  by  all  who  sympathized 
with  the  new  studies,  and  by  tliousands  who  did  not 
calculate  the  effect  of  this  telling  satire  in  abating 
popular  reverence  even  for  the  Church  establishment 
as  a  whole.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered,  then,  that  popes, 
bishops,  and  councils  urged  upon  the  reformers  within 
the  religious  orders  to  speed  the  day  of  transformation. 
Indeed,  the  internal  history  of  nearly  ever^'  order  re- 
cords, at  this  point  of  time,  strong  resolutions  in  favor 
of  an  enforcement  of  the  rigorous  primitive  rules.  "As 
early  as  1520,"  sa3'S  Ranko,  "and  since,  in  proportion 
to  the  advances  made  by  Protestantism  in  Germany, 
there  arose  in  countries  which  had  not  yet  been  readied 
by  it,  a  feeling  of  the  necessity  of  a  new  amelioration 
of  the  hierarchical  order.  This  feeling  made  its  wa}- 
even  rn  the  religious  orders  themselves;  sometimes  in 
one,  sometimes  in  anotlier  of  them."  Even  the  Order  | 
of  the  Camaldoli,  secluded  as  they  were,  owned  them- 
selves implicated  in  the  general  corruption,  and  insti-  j 
tuted  reforms,  l>y  founding  in  1522  a  new  congrega- 
tion, tliat  of  Monte  Corona  (comp.  Helyot,  Jliat.  des 
ordres  monastiques,  v,  271),  Its  leader,  Paul  Giustini- 
ani,  held,  in  order  to  tlie  attainment  of  Christian  per- 
fection, three  things  to  lie  essential,  viz.  solitude,  vows, 
iind  the  separation  of  the  monks  into  separate  cells. 
Those  small  colls  and  oratories,  such  as  are  j-et  to  be 
found  here  and  there,  on  the  highest  liills,  in  charming 
wilds,  such  as  seem  to  comluct  the  soul  at  once  to  sub- 
lime flights  and  to  more  profound  tranquillity,  are 
spoken  of  by  him  in  some  of  his  letters  with  special 
satisfaction.  The  reforms  of  the  hermits  of  Jlonte 
Corona  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  Hut  not 
only  in  the  smaller  orders  did  this  spirit  of  reform  bear 
fruit.     In  the  most  numerous  and  powerful  order,  that 


of  the  Franciscans,  who  had  perhaps  become  the  most 
profoundly  corrupt  of  any,  yet  another  new  effort  at 
reformation  was  attempted,  in  addition  to  the  many 
tliat  had  been  made  before.  The  more  rigorous  party 
achieved  a  complete  success  over  those  inclined  to- 
wards laxity,  and  several  new  reformed  congregations 
branched  off  from  them,  among  wliich  the  Capuchins 
were  the  most  prominent.  These  friars  contemplated 
the  restoration  of  the  regulations  of  their  original 
founder — divine  service  at  midnight,  prayers  at  ap- 
pointed hours,  discipline,  and  silence ;  in  short,  the 
whole  severe  rule  of  life  laid  down  in  the  original  in- 
stitution. One  cannot  but  smile  at  the  importance 
which  they  attaclicd  to  things  of  no  consequence  ;  but, 
setting  that  aside,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  they 
again  behaved  with  great  courage,  as,  for  example, 
during  the  pestilence  of  1528. 

Besides  the  reformation  of  the  old  orders,  the  Church 
showed  itself  most  prolific  in  producing  new  ones, 
and  the  character  of  the  times  is  clearly  apparent  in 
manj-  of  these  new  organizations.  The  monastic  in- 
stitutions of  former  daj's  had  been,  as  religious  com- 
munities, essentially  contemplative ;  the  new  ones  were 
predominantly  operative,  the  mendicant  orders  form- 
ing, so  to  speak,  a  connecting  link  between  the  two. 
Preaching,  teaching,  visiting  the  sick  and  poor,  and 
similar  objects,  formed  the  chief  occupations  of  the 
new  orders,  to  which  the  greatest  energy  was  directed. 
Thus  arose  the  Thtalines  (q.  v.)  in  1524,  started  by  Ca- 
jetan  of  Thiene  ;  "a  man,"  says  Ranke,  "  of  a  peace- 
ful, quiet,  and  soft  temper,  of  few  words,  and  prone  to 
indulge  in  the  ecstasies  of  a  spiritual  enthusiasm ;  of 
whom  it  was  said  that  he  wanted  to  reform  the  world, 
but  without  its  being  known  tliat  he  was  in  the  world" 
{Papacy,  ii,  131).  The  Theatines  did  not  call  them- 
selves monks,  but  regular  clergy ;  they  were  priests 
bound  by  monkish  vows,  but  expressl}'  declared  that 
neither  in  life  nor  worship  should  any  mere  custom 
oblige  the  conscience.  Their  desire,  no  doubt,  was  to 
prevent  the  spread  of  reformatory  opinions  leading  to 
alienation  from  the  Church  of  Rome ;  and,  themsidves 
Italians,  they  sought,  in  the  resumption  of  clerical  du- 
ties under  the  monastic  vow,  to  raise  up  a  new  supply 
for  the  priesthood  free  from  the  objections  of  the  times. 
They  became  pretty  numerous,  not  only  in  Italy,  but 
also  in  Spain,  South  Germany,  and  in  France.  An- 
other of  these  orders  was  that  of  the  Barnahites  (q. 
v.),  also  founded  in  Italy  in  1532,  suggested  at  Milan 
b}^  the  ravages  of  war  and  the  consequent  sufferings 
of  the  people,  which  the  order  was  intended  to  mitigate 
by  active  beneficence,  as  well  as  to  remove  the  disor- 
derly habits  which  it  had  brought  in  its  train,  bj'  in- 
struction, preacliing,  and  good  example.  Somewhat 
later,  St.  Philip  Neri,  an  active  and  remarkable  devo- 
tee of  the  papacy  at  Florence,  founded  the  order  Fa- 
thers of  the  Oratory,  wliich  was  confirmed  by  pope 
Gregory  XIII  in  1577,  and  spread  not  only  in  Italy, 
but  to  this  daj'  continues  to  flourish,  especially  in 
France. 

But  whatever  might  be  accomplished  by  all  these 
congregations  in  tlieir  own  circles,  either  tiie  limited 
extent  of  their  object,  as  in  tlie  instance  wo  have  last 
mentioned,  or  that  circumspection  of  their  means, 
which  was  involved  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  as  on  the 
part  of  the  Theatines,  hindered  their  exercising  a  gen- 
eral and  thoroughly  efficient  influence.  They  are  re- 
markable as  signalizing,  in  the  spontaneity  of  their 
origin,  a  powerful  tendency,  which  contributed  im- 
mensely to  the  restoration  of  Roman  Catholicism  ;  but 
other  forces  were  requisite  in  order  that  the  bold  ad- 
vance of  Protestantism  might  be  eftectually  withstood. 
These  forces  <leveloped  themselves  in  a  similar,  but  in 
a  very  unlooked-for  and  extremely  peculiar  manner; 
and  as  heretofore,  so  even  now,  monasticism  proved 
Rome's  strongest  ally,  and  the  papacy  once  more  leaned 
on  the  new-born  babe  of  the  monastic  spirit.  Leo  X 
had  died,  leaving  the  fierce  flamo  of  insubordinatioa 


MONASTICISM 


473 


MONASTICISM 


untrammelled,  and  Paul  III  had  vainly  tried  to  sub- 
due the  indomitable  will  of  that  fierce  monster,  the 
Keformation,  when  suddenly  there  arose  in  the  Iberian 
peninsula  a  semi-monastic  organization,  which,  grow- 
ing out  of  the  Capuchin  order,  laid  the  foundation  for 
the  strongest  religious  society  the  world  has  ever 
known.  The  Society  of  Jesus,  or  Jesuits,  as  it  is  gener- 
ally called,  took  a  middle  rank  between  monks  and  the 
secular  clergy,  approaching  nearer  to  the  regular  can- 
ons than  to  any  other  order.  They  lived  separate  from 
the  multitude,  and  were  bound  by  religious  vows  ;  but 
they  were  exempt  from  stated  hours  of  worship,  and 
other  strict  observances,  by  Mhich  the  monks  were 
bound.  In  short,  instead  of  spending  their  time  in  de- 
votion and  penance  and  fasting,  they  gave  themselves 
to  the  active  service  of  the  Church.  Their  principal 
duty  was  to  direct  the  education  of  j'outh  and  the  con- 
sciences of  the  faithful,  and  to  uphold  the  cause  of  the 
Church  by  their  missions,  and  their  pious  and  learned 
labors.  They  were  divided  into  three  classes,  the  first 
of  which  were  the  professed  members.  These,  besides 
the  ordinary  vows  of  povertj^,  chastit}',  and  obedience, 
bound  themselves  to  go,  without  murmur,  inquiry,  de- 
liberation, or  delay,  wherever  the  pope  should  think 
fit  to  send  them :  they  were  monastics  without  prop- 
erty. The  second  class  comprehended  the  scholars: 
these  were  possessed  of  large  revenues ;  their  duty 
was  to  teach  in  the  colleges  of  the  order.  The  third 
class  comprehended  the  novices,  who  lived  in  the  houses 
of  probation.  (Sec,  however,  the  article  Jesuits.)  The 
constitution  of  the  Jesuits  was  controlled,  more  than 
that  of  any  other  order  before  or  after,  by  the  principle 
of  an  absolute  submission  to  the  Church  and  the  pope. 
The  order  was  to  be  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the 
Church  ;  the  individual,  therefore,  was  advised  to  be- 
come, with  regard  to  the  commands  of  his  superior,  as 
destitute  of  self-will  "as  a  corpse,"  or  "as  a  cane  in 
the  hands  of  an  old  man."  No  order  ever  carried  out 
its  fundamental  principle  more  faithfully,  and  in  sub- 
sequent battles  of  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church  the 
Jesuits  stood  in  the  front  rank.  Other  orders  also 
were  founded  which  proved  more  or  less  valuable  sup- 
ports of  the  papac}%  There  arose  even  several  female 
orders,  among  them  the  Elizabethines  (q.  v.),  the  Ursu- 
lincs  (q.  v.),  and  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  Sec  Charity, 
SiSTEKS  OF.  One  of  the  strongest  orders  which  arose 
in  the  17th  centurj'  was  the  Lazarist  (q.  v.). 

The  culture  of  literature,  against  which  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  some  founders  of  monastic  orders  had  ex- 
pressly warned  their  members,  showed  itself,  after  the 
IGth  century,  so  great  a  necessity  that  it  was  practi- 
cally observed  by  all  orders,  though  but  few  gave  it 
special  attention.  Among  those  orders  which  thus 
greatly  distinguished  themselves,  the  French  Orato- 
rians  and  the  Benedictines  of  St.  Maur  hold  by  univer- 
sal consent  not  only  the  most  prominent  position,  but 
thej'  are  even  assigned  a  distinguished  place  among 
the  great  literary  societies  of  the  world.  Indeed  the 
cause  of  education,  especially  the  cause  of  primarj'  in- 
struction, became  gradual!}^  a  subject  of  more  or  less 
interest  to  all  the  religious  orders.  Many  congrega- 
tions, both  male  and  female,  were  instituted  for  the 
special  purpose  of  controlling  primary  instruction,  es- 
peciall}-  in  France,  and  a  large  number  of  schools  have 
ever  since  been  under  the  direction  of  monastics. 

If  the  Romish  Church  sought  to  strengthen  itself 
hy  the  new  measures  adopted  by  monasticism  in  pro- 
viding such  education  for  the  coming  generations  as 
the  Church  could  endorse,  another  measure  was  still 
needed  to  give  the  Church  strength  abroad.  Great 
loss  of  territorj' and  numbers  had  been  suffered  in  con- 
sequence of  the  Reformation.  This  want  also  the  mon- 
astics soon  provided  for.  They  became  very  exten- 
sively missionary  organizations.  Instead  of  confining 
their  labors,  as  was  their  wont  to  do,  to  the  home 
work,  they  now  directed  their  attention  to  the  foreign 
missionary  cause.     Most  of  the  larger  orders,  espe- 


cially the  mendicants  and  the  Jesuits,  engaged  in  it 
with  great  zeal  and  emulation.  The  latter  even  took, 
besides  the  usual  three  vows,  a  fourth  obligation,  viz. 
to  go  without  hesitation  as  missionaries  to  any  country 
where  it  might  please  the  pope  to  send  them.  In  con- 
sequence, the  extent  of  their  missionary  operations  in 
Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America  excelled  anything 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  bad  done  in  this  field  be- 
fore. See  Missions.  Indeed,  the  great  majority  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  missions  in  all  pagan  countries  have 
ever  since  been  conducted  by  the  members  of  religious 
orders  (see  Harper's  Monthly  for  February,  1875). 

4.  Present  Condition  of  Roman  Catholic  Monachism. 
— In  the  17th  century  the  attention  of  many  monastics 
was  more  specially  directed  towards  the  necessity  of 
bringing  back  their  institutions,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
the  rules  and  laws  of  their  order,  and  the  monks  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  churches  now  became  divided  into  the 
Reformed  and  the  Unreformed,  and  some  real  effort  to 
restore  the  monasteries  and  nunneries  to  their  original 
state  was  attempted.  But  whatever  necessitj'  existed 
for  these  institutions  in  an  age  of  barbarism  and  vio- 
lence, it  had  now  ceased.  The  printing-press  was 
proving  a  more  powerful  preservative  of  the  Bible  and 
religious  literature  than  the  cells  of  the  monks,  and 
long  experience  had  demonstrated  that  to  shut  one's 
self  out  from  the  world  was  but  a  sorry  way  to  keep 
unspotted  from  it.  Such  a  time  was  not  likelj'  to  give 
life  to  new  monastic  institutions,  and  hence  we  find 
the  productivity  of  the  Church  as  regards  monachism 
very  greatly  decreased.  In  the  18th  century  only  one 
larger  order,  the  Redemptorists,  or  the  Congregation  of 
the  Most  Holy  Redeemer,  founded  by  St.  Alfonso  di 
Liguori,  sprang  up.  Most  of  the  orders,  indeed,  in  the 
second  half  of  this  century,  relapsed  either  into  torpor 
or  corruption,  and  made  but  a  very  feeble  resistance 
when  the  rationalistic  views  which  became  so  preva- 
lent among  the  educated  classes  in  every  European 
country.  Catholic  as  well  as  Protestant,  declared  against 
them  a  war  of  destruction.  Hence  in  many  countries 
the  state  authorities  interfered  anew  to  destroy  conven- 
tual life.  In  Austria,  Joseph  II  suppressed  as  useless 
all  convents  of  monks  not  occupied  in  education,  pasto- 
ral duties,  or  the  nursing  of  the  sick ;  and  many  Roman 
Catholic  writers  demanded  the  extirpation  of  monasti- 
cism altogether,  after  stamping  it  as  both  an  outgrowth 
and  a  promoter  of  fanaticism.  Even  the  papacy  was 
influenced,  and  the  incumbent  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome 
had  no  other  alternative  left  him  than  to  yield  to  the 
general  pressure.  The  consequence  was  the  abolish- 
ment of  the  most  powerful  of  the  orders,  the  Jesuits. 
The  French  Revolution  threatened  the  very  life  of 
monachism,  and  had  that  movement  proved  successful 
the  monastic  institutions  would  have  passed  out  of  ex- 
istence probably  in  all  Europe. 

The  downfall  of  the  Napoleonic  rule  gave  brighter 
prospects  to  the  friends  of  monasticism,  and  as  an  evi- 
dence of  its  revival  ma}'  be  cited  the  re-establishment 
of  the  Jesuits  by  Pius  VII  in  1814.  These  now  rap- 
idly rose  again  to  considerable  strength  and  influence 
wherever  they  were  not  forcibly  suppressed.  See 
Jesuits.  In  the  countries  of  the  Latin  races,  both  in 
Europe  and  America,  the  fate  of  monachism  was  close- 
ly allied  with  the  political  strife  of  the  conservative 
and  the  liberal  or  progressive  parties,  the  former  pat- 
ronizing it,  together  with  all  other  ecclesiastical  insti- 
tutions ;  the  latter  subjecting  it  to  prohibitive  rules,  or 
suppressing  it  altogether.  In  consequence  of  the  suc- 
cesses of  the  liberals,  monachism  was  greatty  reduced 
in  South  America,  and  in  Italy  (in  1848,  and  again  in 
1859, 1860, 1866,  and  1870,  until  it  is  now  on  the  eve  of 
complete  suppression  by  law  of  the  state,  1875).  See 
Monastery.  It  was  also  wellnigh  extinguished  in 
Spain  (1835),  and  especially  in  Portugal  (1834).  In 
France  alone  the  vicissitudes  of  political  rule  have 
thus  far  failed  to  affect  monasticism — indeed,  the 
rapid  growth  of  monastic  institutions  in  that  country 


MONASTICISM 


474 


MOXASTICISM 


have  not  been  in  point  of  zeal,  activitj-,  and  general 
prosperity  behind  what  they  had  been  during  the 
golden  a;ra  of  their  existence.  Under  the  Bourbons, 
and  under  Louis  Philippe,  the  liberal  party  occasion- 
ally demanded  coercive  measures  against  them  ;  but 
since  tlie  establishment  of  the  republic  in  1848  even 
the  liberals,  liaving  given  a  wider  interpretation  to 
religious  liberty  than  Americans  have  ever  dared  to 
give,  have  accustomed  themselves  no  longer  to  refuse 
the  free  right  of  association  to  the  members  of  relig- 
ious orders.  Nearly  every  one  of  the  old  orders  es- 
tablished itself  in  France,  and  a  number  of  new  con- 
gregations were  formed,  and  there  is  at  present  a 
greater  variety  of  monastic  institutions  in  that  countrj' 
than  any  state  has  possessed  at  any  previous  period. 
In  July,  1860,  M.  Dupin,  in  a  speech  before  the  senate 
of  France,  stated  that  tliere  were  then  in  the  country 
4932  authorized  and  2870  unauthorized  establishments, 
and  since  tlien  tlieir  number  has  somewhat  increased. 
Next  to  France,  they  arc  most  numerous,  wealthv,  and 
influential  in  Uelgiuni,  where,  as  in  France,  public  in- 
struction is  ver}-^  largely  under  their  control. 

Among  tlie  Teutonic  nations  the  monastic  establish- 
ments have,  throughout  the  British  possessions,  Hol- 
land, and  North  America  (see  below ;  see  also  Sisters 
of  Charity),  partalien  more  or  less  of  the  blessings  of 
liberal  institutions,  and  can  hardly  be  accused  of  de- 
parture from  their  rules  except  in  isolated  instances. 
Public  opinion,  however,  has  provided  for  one  measure 
in  their  constitution  not  known  elsewhere,  viz.  that 
any  member  wishing  to  leave  their  establishments 
shall  have  liberty  to  do  so.  Austria  protected  mo- 
nastieisin,  but  kept  the  inhabitants  of  convents  under 
a  bureaucratic  guardiansliip  until  1848,  when  it  was 
changed  into  a  zealous  support  and  encouragement. 
Since  186G,  however,  the  monasteries  have  been  under 
a  shadow,  and  it  is  more  than  likely  that  ere  long  mo- 
nastic institutions  will  be  done  away  with  in  that  Ro- 
man Catholic  countr}'.  In  many  of  the  other  German 
countries,  the  revolution  of  1848  Ims  procured  for  mo- 
nasticism  a  favorable  position  ;  and  in  lands  where  for- 
merly it  was  either  proscribed  or  but  barely  tolerated,  it 
has  since  flourished.  Even  those  states  whose  codes  re- 
tain laws  against  their  admission  in  general,  as  Sax- 
ony and  tlie  neighboring  countries  of  Sweden  and 
Denmark,  have  admitted  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  See 
Deaconksses  and  Sisterhoods.  In  Russia  the  mo- 
nastics suflTered  severe  losses,  but  in  Turkey  they 
have  as  missionaries  done  much  to  build  up  the  Chris- 
tian faith. 

The  number  of  monastic  associations  founded  in  our 
century  is  so  considerably  in  advance  of  any  former 
period  of  equal  length,  that  to  a  superficial  observer  it 
would  indicate  a  growth  of  the  monastic  spirit.  This  is, 
however,  due  solelv  to  the  concentration  of  Romanism 
in  this  direction,  the  papacy  finding  these  its  best  and 
perhaps  only  never-failing  support.  A  peculiar  feat- 
ure which  characterizes  tliem  as  the  ofl^spring  of  the 
present  age,  and  distinguishes  them  from  the  preced- 
ing orders,  is  easily  discovered  in  all  of  them ;  the 
marks  which  externally  distinguish  them  from  the 
non-monastic  world  are  less  visil)le,  and  the  social 
wants  of  ecclesiastical  and  civil  society  stand  pre-emi- 
nently forth  as  tlie  primary  cause  of  their  origin  and 
the  chief  object  of  their  labors.  A  large  number  of 
them  are  devoted  to  the  Instruction  of  \'0uth.  Such 
are  several  congregations  of  scliool-brothers  and  scliool- 
sisters,  Brotliers  and  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph,  Brothers 
and  Daughters  of  the  Holy  Cross,  etc.  Many  others 
bind  themselves  to  the  service  of  the  sick  and  the  poor, 
as  tiic  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  the  most  numerous  and 
popular  among  them.  Not  a  few  cultivate  the  mission 
field  ;  either  the  foreign  missions,  as  tlie  Pirpus  Societi/, 
the  Oblates,  the  Brothers  and  Daughters  of  Zim  (both 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews,  the  latter  consisting 
exclusively  of  converts),  or  the  home  missions,  as  the 
Paulists. 


In  the  United  States,  monachism,  because  modified 
to  suit  the  nature  and  exigencies  of  the  times,  is  a 
flourishing  and  important  institution,  and  serves  as  the 
great  feeder  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Most  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  schools  are  more  or  less  directly 
connected  with  these  institutions,  and  under  the  care 
of  "fathers"  or  "sisters."  The  rigor  which  charac- 
terized the  monasteries  and  nunneries  when  they  were 
devoted  wholly  or  chiefly  to  devotional  uses  is  some- 
what relaxed  here,  and  they  are  simply  working  insti- 
tutions. "  In  the  schools  connected  with  these  mo- 
nastic establishments,  especially  in  those  for  girls," 
says  a  contemporary,  "secular  branches  are  taught, 
but  commingled  with  the  Romish  theology;  and  the 
pupils  are  brought  under  influences,  both  strong  and 
subtle,  upon  the  imagination  and  the  feelings,  in  favor 
oftlie  Romish  communion  ;  while  the  effect  of  the  edu- 
cation (we  speak  of  the  result  both  of  personal  obser- 
vation and  of  inquiry  among  pupils  in  these  schools) 
is  to  divert  the  mind  from  the  more  solid  to  the  more 
superficial  branches — from  mathematics  and  the  scien- 
ces, to  painting,  drawing,  music,  and  needle-work  ;  and 
to  base  such  studies  as  are  taught  rather  upon  author- 
ity than  upon  anj'  habits  of  personal  and  individual 
investigation.  It  is  impossible  to  obtain  the  statistics 
of  these  conventual  schools,  for  they  are  carefully  con- 
cealed; we  have,  however,  instituted  some  inquiries 
upon  this  point,  with  the  following  results:  There  are 
in  the  United  States  to-da^',  at  the  verj'  least,  300  nun- 
neries and  128  monasteries,  besides  112  schools  for  the 
education  of  girls,  and  400  for  the  education  of  boys. 
Of  the  nunneries  and  monasteries  (as  such)  we  have 
found  it  impossible  to  obtain  any  trustworthy  informa- 
tion, either  as  to  discii)line  or  number  of  inmates ;  but 
the  112  girls'  schools  acknowledge  the  charge  of  22,176 
young  women,  and  this  we  have  excellent  reasons  for 
believing  to  be  far  below  the  real  number,  for  the  dis- 
position to  conceal  the  actual  work  done  is  so  marked 
tliat  even  their  own  ofiicial  organs  admit  the  impossi- 
bility of  obtaining  stsitistics.  Thus,  there  are  known 
to  be  400  Roman  Catholic  schools  for  boys :  but  there 
are  only  returns  from  178  procurable.  The  archdio- 
cese of  Baltimore  alone  contains  21  convents — one  of 
colored  sisters — in  all  of  which  education  is  carried 
on.  Besides  these,  there  are  in  Baltimore  at  least  a 
dozen  colleges  and  young  girls'  seminaries  under  Ro- 
man Catholic  spiritual  direction;  also  50  pay  and  free 
schools  taught  by  the  "  brothers  and  sisters  of  Chris- 
tian schools,"  "Sisters  of  Notre  Dame,"  "Sisters  of 
Mercy,"  etc.,  who  also  have  charge  of  13  orphan  asy- 
lums, and  various  other  charitable  and  pious  sodali- 
ties. And  the  archdiocese  of  Baltimore  only  represents 
what  is  done  all  over  the  country.  These  figures 
—  and  thej'  are  far  from  complete  —  certainly  under- 
rate rather  than  oveiTate  the  work."  The  Rev.  Sam- 
uel W.  Barnum,  a  learned  and  careful  writer,  and  the 
latest  Protestant  author  on  Romanism  in  this  country 
{Romanism  as  it  is,  p.  332),  has  brought  together  the 
scattered  and  incomplete  statistics  of  monastkism  in 
the  L'nited  States  of  America,  and  comes  to  the  con- 
clusion that  there  are  "about  30  religious  orders  and 
congregations  for  men,  and  about  oO  for  women,  the 
whole  numbering  more  than  2o00  males  (including 
Jesuits)  and  more  than  8000  females,  and  having  un- 
der their  care  considerably  more  tlian  2o0,0l(0  ciiildren 
and  youth  in  the  process  of  education.  ^Morc  than  ona 
half  of  the  male  religious  are  priests,  and  more  than 
300  Jesuits." 

In  a  literary  point  of  view  monastics  do  not  at 
present  share  the  reputation  of  their  predecessors  in 
former  centuries,  though  men  like  Lacordaire,  Ravig- 
na,  (Jratry,  and  Ilyacinthe  in  France,  Rosmini  and 
Secclii  in  Italy,  and  Haneberg  in  Germany,  occupy  a 
liigh  place  in  the  annals  of  contemporaneous  literature. 
In  respect  to  their  present  moral  condition,  Ronian 
Catholics  admit  the  existence  in  some  places,  particu- 
larly in  Central  and  South  America,  of  considerable 


MONASTICISM 


475 


MONASTICISM 


corruption  and  ignorance  in  many  convents  of  the  older 
orders.  In  some  of  them,  also,  the  ancient  constitutions 
have  fallen  more  or  less  into  disuse.  The  regular  con- 
nection of  the  general  superiors  with  their  subordi- 
nates has  been  in  great  part  interrupted,  and  the  hold- 
ing of  general  assenililies  has  ceased.  The  present 
pontiff  at  the  commencement  of  his  reign  proclaimed 
it  as  one  of  his  chief  tasks  to  carry  out  a  thorough  re- 
form of  monastic  orders ;  and  in  some  orders,  as  the 
Dominicans,  an  extensive  reformation  has  since  taken 
place.  The  whole  number  of  monastic  institutions 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  throughout  the  world 
was  estimated  by  the  Catholic  Almanac  for  1870  to  be 
8000  establishments  for  males,  with  an  aggregate  of 
117,500  members,  and  10,000  for  females,  with  an  ag- 
gregate membership  of  189,000,  making  a  grand  total 
of  300,500  members.  It  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this 
work  to  give  in  this  place  a  list  of  all  the  monastic  or- 
ganizations; they  are  severally  treated  under  their 
respective  names.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place,  how- 
ever, to  call  the  reader's  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
different  monastic  institutes  of  the  West  are  almost 
all  offshoots  or  modifications  of  the  Benedictines  (q.  v.) ; 
of  whom  the  most  remarkable  are  the  Carthusians, 
Cistercians,  Grammonites,  Clugniacs,  Pi-mmonstratensians, 
and  above  all  the  Maurists,  or  Benedictines  of  St.  Maur 
(q.  v.).  Among  the  eremitical  orders  are  the  Hermits 
of  St.  Augustine,  who  trace  their  origin  to  the  early 
father  of  that  name,  but  are  subdivided  into  several 
varieties,  which  had  their  rise  in  the  11th,  12th,  and 
13th  centuries ;  also  the  Camaldolese,  founded  by  St. 
Eomuald  in  1012  ;  the  Celestines,  a  branch  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans, established  by  Peter  IMurrone,  afterwards  pope 
Celestine  V;  the  Hieronymites  (q.  v.),  established 
first  in  Castile  in  the  14th  century,  and  thence  intro- 
duced into  other  parts  of  Spain  and  into  Italv  by  Lope 
d'Olmeda  in  1424 ;  and  the  Paulites,  so  called  from  St. 
Paul,  the  first  hermit,  but  an  institute  of  the  13th  cen- 
tury, which  had  its  origin  in  Hungary,  and  attained  to 
a  wider  extension  and  a  greater  popularity  than  per- 
haps any  other  among  the  eremitical  orders. 

5.  Monasticism  in  the  Protestant  Church. — The  Refor- 
mation of  the  16th  century  rejected  monachism,  as  sup- 
ported by  the  papacy  and  the  patriarchat?,  as  being 
based  on  the  false  principle  of  the  meritoriousness  of 
good  works.  One  small  denomination,  the  Dunkers, 
have  retained  nearly  the  whole  of  the  monastic  organ- 
ization. Solitarj'  voices  among  the  Protestant  theo- 
logians of  the  16th,  17th,  18th  centuries,  and  even  of 
our  own  more  advanced  age,  have  expressed  a  regret 
that,  with  the  monachism  of  the  old  churches,  the 
principle  of  forming  religious  communities  of  men  and 
women  for  the  more  efficient  fulfilment  of  tlie  duties 
of  charity  had  been  altogether  discarded.  Since  the 
beginning  of  this  century  both  the  "Evangelical"  and 
"High  Lutheran"  schools  of  Germany  have  approved 
the  establishment  of  houses  of  deacons  (q.  v.)  and  dea- 
conesses (q.  v.),  also  called  brothei'-houses  and  sister- 
houses,  the  inmates  of  which  associate  for  the  purpose 
of  teaching,  of  attending  the  sick,  of  taking  charge  of 
public  prisons,  and  for  other  works  of  Christian  char- 
ity. Institutions  of  this  kind  are  rapidly  spreading  in 
German}'  and  the  adjacent  countries.  In  the  Church 
of  England  and  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of 
the  United  States,  sisterhoods  (q.  v.)  have  been  formed 
at  various  times,  and  have  recently  greatly  multiplied. 
There  have  also  started  in  England,  under  the  auspices 
of  what  is  commonl}'  called  the  High-Church  party, 
several  male  monastic  organizations,  but  they  have 
not  found  favor  generally,  and  are  not  likely  to  con- 
tinue long  in  existence.  The  principal  leader  in  this 
Protestant  monastic  establishment  in  Britain  is  Mr. 
Lyne,  better  known  as  Father  Ignatius,  who  assumes 
the  monkish  dress,  and,  with  shaven  crown  and  san- 
dalled feet,  reminds  one  of  the  monastics  of  the  Middle 
Ages  (see  St.  James's  Magazine,  March,  1870). 

6.  Nature  and  Effect  of  Monasticism. — We  have  al- 


ready indicated  in  some  measure  the  character  of  mon- 
achism, as  we  have  traced  its  origin  and  progress.  It 
remains  to  consider  briefly  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  re- 
sults of  monasticism.  In  sui-veying  monasticism  as 
an  institution  coming  down  from  the  4th  century  till 
the  Reformation,  we  freely  admit  that,  in  the  circum- 
stances in  which  the  world  found  itself  placed  dur- 
ing that  period  of  time,  it  was  far  from  being  an  un- 
mitigated evil.  In  its  origin,  at  least,  it  was  a  great 
human  effort  to  remedy  the  moral  disorder  hy  which 
mankind  in  all  ages  are  infected.  When  children  raise 
a  ladder  upon  the  hill-top  with  the  design  that  upon  it 
they  may  climb  upwards,  and  thus  draw  near  to  God, 
we  cannot  make  light  of  their  motives,  even  though 
we  should  smile  at  their  plans ;  and  so  every  attempt 
of  man  to  eradicate  the  selfishness  of  his  nature,  to 
turn  back  the  tide  of  the  world's  corruption,  and  to  el- 
evate himself  in  the  scale  of  moralit}-,  is  so  far  praise- 
worthy, even  though  we  have  no  faith  that  this  is  to 
be  done  by  men  and  women  entering  voluntai-ily  into 
a  prison,  shutting  themselves  up,  and  barring  the  world 
out.  "  It  was  the  spirit  of  monachism,"  says  Nean- 
der,  "  which  gave  special  prominence  to  that  Christian 
point  of  view  from  which  all  men  were  regarded  as  orig- 
inally equal  in  the  sight  of  God ;  which  opposed  the 
consciousness  of  God's  image  in  liuman  nature,  to  the 
grades  and  distinctions  flowing  out  of  the  relations  of 
the  state.  .  .  .  The  spirit  of  contempt  for  earthly  show, 
the  spirit  of  universal  philanthrop}',  revealed  itself  in 
the  pure  appearances  of  monachism,  and  in  much  that 
proceeded  from  it"  (ii,  251 ;  comp.  p.  238).  In  the  dark- 
est of  the  ages,  souls  trul}'  pious,  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
often  withdrew  to  such  places  that  thej'  might  without 
distraction  prepare  for  another  world.  In  times  of 
lawless  force  and  bloodshed,  every  one  knows  that  the 
monaster}'  was  an  asylum  where  weak  and  timorous 
spirits,  ill  able  to  cope  with  the  rude  society  ia  which 
tliey  found  themselves,  could  retire  for  shelter  and 
safety.  The  old  monks,  in  their  earliest  and  best  days, 
before  their  indolence  was  fostered  by  wealth  and  lux- 
ury, were  often  the  only  examples  of  peaceful  industry 
in  a  district,  and  taught  their  less  skilful  neighboi-s 
how  to  till  the  earth,  and  draw  from  the  reluctant  soil 
a  more  generous  return  for  their  labor.  In  their  lonely 
cells  they  often  spent  their  leisure  in  copying  valua- 
ble manuscripts  and  producing  original  works,  which, 
though  seldom  rising  to  the  rank  of  classics,  have  pre- 
served many  valuable  facts,  and  are  true  photographs  of 
the  bright  and  the  dark,  the  comely  and  ungainly  feat- 
ures of  their  times.  "The  cloisters,  moreover,"  says 
Neander,  "  were  institutions  of  education,  and,  as  such, 
were  the  more  distinguished  on  account  of  the  care 
they  bestowed  on  religious  and  moral  culture,  because 
education  generally  in  this  period  .  .  .  had  fallen  into 
neglect"  (ii,  252).  Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  in  the  deluge  of  barbarism  that  overflowed  the 
civilization  of  Christendom  in  the  early  mediseval  ages, 
the  Scriptures  and  the  classics  must  have  perished  had 
it  not  been  that  they  were  deposited  in  those  monastic 
edifices,  for  which  the  wildest  pagans,  in  many  in- 
stances, entertained  a  superstitious  respect.  More- 
over, in  cases  without  number,  the  monastery  was  a 
missionary  training-school,  planted  within  the  limits 
of  some  heathen  land,  from  which  the  monks  went 
forth  courageously  and  devotedly  to  propagate  the  re- 
ligion of  the  age,  such  as  it  was,  in  the  surrounding^ 
districts — to  be  the  pioneers  of  civilization  and  the  ad- 
vance-guard of  Christianity  among  a  rude  and  idola- 
trous population.  The  conversion  of  the  pagan  Eng- 
lish, and  particularly  of  the  southern  kingdoms,  to  the 
faith  of  Christ,  was  mainly  due  to  the  energy  and  sac- 
rifice of  the  monks  and  bishops  of  Rome,  and  it  was 
accompanied  by  a  parallel  conversion  to  the  authority 
of  St.  Peter.  It  was  at  that  time  a  vast  and  unspeak- 
able blessing  to  England  to  be  brouglit  in  this  way 
into  association  with  other  people,  and  to  become  thus 
an  integral  part  of  the  Christian  commonwealth.    The 


MONASTICISM 


476 


MOXASTICISM 


ideal  of  the  divine  life  which  was  set  before  the  young 
and  crude  converts  was  impressive,  and  upon  the  whole 
beneficial,  even  though  it  lacked  the  freedom  and  nat- 
uralness of  true  life,  and  cramped  and  resisted  the 
grace  of  God.  Dean  Slilman  tells  us  that  the  calm 
example  of  the  domestic  virtues  in  a  more  polished, 
but  often,  as  regards  sexual  intercourse,  more  corrupt 
state  of  morals,  is  of  inestimable  value,  as  spreading 
around  the  parsonage  an  atmosphere  of  peace  and  hap- 
piness, and  offering  a  living  lesson  on  the  blessings  of 
conjugal  fidelity.  But  such  Christianity  would  have 
made  no  impression  on  a  people  who  still  retained 
something  of  their  Teutonic  severity  of  manners,  and 
required,  therefore,  sometliing  more  imposing — a  stern- 
er and  more  manifest  self-denial — to  keep  up  their  re- 
ligious veneration.  The  detachment  of  the  clergy  from 
all  earthly  ties  left  them  at  once  more  unremittingly 
devoted  to  their  unsettled  life  as  missionaries.  It  is 
probable  tliat  the  isolation  and  the  self-torture  of  the 
monks  did  produce  a  deep  impression  on  those  wlio 
had  neither  moral  energy  nor  mental  concentration 
equal  to  such  a  task.  It  is  possible  that  the  claims  of 
a  hierarchy  were  more  rapidly  introduced  by  tliese 
means,  so  that  it  became  more  easy  to  create  new  insti- 
tutions, to  organize  Christian  worship,  to  build  vast  ec- 
clesiastical edifices,  to  promote  literature,  to  divide  the 
labor  of  Christian  workmen,  as  soon  as  the  available 
strength  of  young  Christendom  was  all  brought  under 
severe  drill,  taught  to  monopolize  the  highest  grace, 
and  investsd  with  preternatural  powers.  In  old  feudal 
times,  when  the  strong  were  so  ready  to  domineer  over 
the  weak,  and  societ}'  had  so  little  thought  of  provid- 
ing for  the  unfortunate,  in  the  monastery,  spirits 
bruised  and  bleeding  found  advice,  the  sick  found 
medicine,  the  hungrj'  poor  found  bread,  and  the  be- 
nighted and  storm-stayed  traveller  entertainment  and 
rest.  It  would  be  uncandid  not  to  admit,  with  very 
little  exception  indeed,  the  statement  of  count  Monta- 
lembert  that  the  monasteries  ''were  for  ten  centuries 
and  more  the  schools,  the  archives,  the  liljrarics,  tlie 
hostelries,  the  studios,  the  penitentiaries,  and  the  hos- 
pitals of  Christian  society." 

But  while  acknowledging  the  great  services  which 
the  monks  liave  rendered  to  the  world  in  the  medi;cval 
period,  there  is  another  view  of  the  case  to  which  we 
cannot  close  our  eyes.  Monasticism,  instead  of  being 
"one  of  the  greatest  institutions  of  Christianitj',"  has 
no  claim  whatever  to  be  divine  in  its  origin ;  Christ  and 
his  apostles  were  not  monks,  neither  did  they  enjoin 
upon  their  followers  to  renounce  the  society  of  their 
kind,  and  immure  themselves  in  the  solitude  of  a  clois- 
ter. On  the  contrary,  tlie  leaven  was  to  be  put  into  the 
meal ;  tlie  true  religion  was  to  come  in  contact  with 
humanity,  and  strive  to  gain,  to  direct,  to  improve  it. 
Asceticism  is  a  mere  human  attempt  to  perform  upon 
human  nature  a  work  wliich  tlie  Gospel  has  made  am- 1 
pie  provision  for  performing  in  a  more  effective  way. 
"Monasticism,"  saj-s  Schaff,  "withdrew  from  society 
many  useful  forces;  diffused  an  indifference  for  the 
family  life,  the  civil  and  military  service  of  the  state,  j 
and  all  public  practical  operations;  turned  the  chan- 
nels of  religion  from  the  world  into  the  desert,  and  so 
hastened  the  decline  of  Egypt,  Syria,  Palestine,  and 
the  whole  Roman  empire.  It  nourished  religious  fa- 
naticism, often  raised  storms  of  popular  agitation,  and  , 
rushed  passionately  into  the  controversies  of  theolog-  j 
ical  parties;  generally,  it  is  true,  on  the  side  of  ortho- 
dox)', but  often,  as  at  the  Kphesian  'council  of  rob-  \ 
bers,'  in  favor  of  heresy,  and  especially  in  behalf  of  the  ' 
crudest  superstition.  Tor  the  simple,  divine  way  of 
salvation  in  the  Gospel,  it  substituted  an  arbitrarv, 
eccentric,  ostentatious,  and  pretentious  sanctit3\  It 
darkened  the  all-sufficient  merits  of  Christ  by  the  glit- 
ter of  the  ovcr-nioritorious  works  of  man.  It  measured 
virtue  Uy  the  quantity  of  outward  exercises  instead  of  ! 
the  quality  of  the  inward  disposition,  and  disseminated  ' 
self-righteousness  and  an  anxious,  legal,  and  mechan-  I 


]  ical  religion.  Monasticism,  indeed,  lowered  the  stand- 
,  ard  of  general  morality  in  proportion  as  it  set  itself 
above  it,  and  claimed  a  corresponding  higher  merit; 
and  it  exerted  in  general  a  demoralizing  influence  on 
,  the  people,  who  came  to  consider  themselves  the  pro- 
\fanum  vulr/us  mundi,  and  to  live  accordingly"  (comp. 
Xeander,  ii,  255-257).  Grant  that  the  cloister  has  often 
j  sheltered  the  helpless  and  unfortunate ;  it  has  often 
I  sheltered,  too,  the  ignorant,  the  superstitious,  the  crim- 
j  inal,  the  polluted,  the  despot,  the  knave.  Brigands 
j  have  been  known  to  use  abbeys  as  the  storehouse  of 
;  their  plunder,  and  kings  have  used  their  rich  revenues 
for  pensioning  their  mistresses,  supporting  their  bas- 
tards, and  rewarding  the  most  unscrupulous  of  their 
tools.  The  education  received  in  the  cloisters  was  es- 
sentially of  a  narrow  kind,  dwarfing  the  intellect,  and 
robbing  it  of  that  expansiveness  and  freedom  essential 
to  high  culture  and  to  real  progress.  If  they  opened 
their  door  to  the  feeble  and  innocent  in  days  of  onpres- 
j  sion  and  danger,  it  cannot  be  i)retended  that  tliere  is 
the  same  need  for  them  now,  when  law  and  order  are 
established,  when  society  provides  ample  means  for 
alleviating  every  want  and  woe  that  it  is  possible  to 
relieve,  when  the  printing-press  has  given  a  perpetuity 
to  literature  which  neither  Goth  nor  Vandal  can  de- 
stroj',  and  when  the  claims  of  the  poor  and  the  defence- 
less meet  with  favorable  consideration  from  every  gov- 
ernment in  Christendom. 

It  is  not,  however,  monasticism,  as  such,  which  has 
proved  a  blessing  to  the  Church  and  the  world ;  for  the 
monasticism  of  India,  which  for  three  thousand  years 
has  pushed  the  practice  of  mortilication  to  all  the  ex- 
cesses of  delirium,  never  saved  a  single  soul,  nor  pro- 
duced a  single  benefit  to  the  race.  It  was  Christianity 
in  monasticism  which  has  done  all  the  good,  and  used 
this  abnormal  mode  of  life  as  a  means  for  carrying  for- 
ward its  mission  of  love  and  peace.  In  proportion  as 
monasticism  was  animated  and  controlled  by  the  spirit 
of  Christianity,  it  proved  a  blessing;  while  separated 
from  it,  it  degenerated  and  became  a  fruitful  source  of 
evil.  Monasticism,  moreover,  seems  even  to  have  lost 
its  power  of  propagating  Christianity  in  any  type; 
there  is  no  instance  since  the  Reformation  of  an)'  pa- 
gan nation  being  Christianized  by  monks.  Indeed 
we  cannot  concede  that  it  should  be  the  aim  of  the 
Christian  missionary  to  create  a  well-organized  society 
under  the  dictation  of  one  great  ecclesiastical  rule, 
such  as  monasticism,  if  it  labored  at  all,  would  make 
its  object  and  end.  We  indignanth'  repudiate  the  posi- 
tion that,  in  order  to  teach  men  to  become  Christians, 
to  recommend  the  law  of  Christ,  convert  the  untu- 
tored savage,  stem  the  fierce  passions  of  a  pagan 
world,  recreate  the  springs  of  national  and  social  life, 
any  such  methods  were  necessary,  or  even  peculiar!}' 
adapted  to  the  purpose,  as  monasticism  enii>l(iy<il  in 
its  missionary  work.  The  Western  monks  accepted, 
as  the  Eastern  monks  had  done  before  them,  an  anti- 
social theory  which  strikes  at  the  very  heart  of  the 
providence  of  God,  and  which  sprang  first  of  all,  and 
springs  still,  from  a  dualistic  scepticism  of  the  love  of 
the  supreme  Father,  from  a  jaundiced  estimate  of  the 
world,  from  a  grievous  misUike  as  to  the  seat  of  evil 
and  the  .nature  of  sin.  They  ennobled  the  theory; 
thej'  consecrated  it  to  higher  issues  than  any  of  which 
paganism  ever  dreamed  ;  they  hallowed  it  as  they  hal- 
lowed other  things,  hiding  its  evil  root  with  the  influ- 
ence of  their  virtues,  but  they  did  not  change  the  char- 
acter of  the  root.  It  always  had  led  to  spiritual  pride, 
and  fostered  the  very  propensities  it  professed  to  hold 
in  abe^'ance.  True,  it  provided  for  ages  an  asylum  for 
broken  hearts;  it  stood  in  its  corporate  capacity  and 
strength  between  forces  of  the  state ;  it  furnished  op- 
portunities for  great  intellectual  and  artistic  feats;  it 
(juickened  and  subtilized  the  faculties  of  men  to  en- 
counter the  diflicult  problems  of  jiure  thought,  and  fur- 
nished various  agencies  of  a  civilizing  character  ;  liut  it 
contained  within  itself  the  seeds  of  its  own  dissolution. 


MONASTICISM 


4T7 


MONASTICISM 


It  perished  finally,  not  from  sacrilegious  hands  nor 
Protestant  animosities,  but  from  its  own  inherent  vices. 

jM.  de  Montalembert,  the  latest  and  perhaps  ablest  de- 
fender of  monachism,  breaks  ground  with  a  vindication 
of  monasteries  from  the  charge  of  being  the  asylums 
of  broken  hearts ;  for  weak,  exhausted,  and  disap- 
pointed energies;  for  men  and  women  tired  of  the 
world,  and  unfit  for  the  strife  and  battle  of  life  ;  main- 
taining that  they  were  peopled  rather  by  the  young 
and  the  brave,  and  bj'  those  who,  as  far  as  this  world 
is  concerned,  had  everything  to  lose  in  assuming  mo- 
nastic vows ;  by  those  who  had  a  large  surplusage  of 
dauntless  energy  for  the  conquest  of  nature,  for  indus- 
trious grappling  with  the  barrenness  of  the  desert,  or 
the  riotous  prodigality  of  the  prima3val  forest.  He 
also  asserts  that  these  mysterious  precursors  of  civili- 
zation and  order,  these  men  of  praj'er  and  faith,  solved 
the  mysterj'  of  life,  and  showed  to  a  barbaric  and 
selfish  world  the  secret  of  real  happiness ;  and  urges 
that,  so  far  from  wishing  to  escape  from  their  vows,  or 
from  the  fellowship  of  the  cloister,  thcj'  conceived  a 
passionate  attachment  for  each  other  and  to  their  self- 
imposed  restraints ;  that  their  mutual  aftection  was 
stronger  than  death  ;  and  that,  instead  of  morose  and 
hopeless  abnegation  of  humanity— benignitas,  sim- 
plicitas,  hilaritas — gayetj'  and  songs  of  joy  transformed 
their  exile  from  the  world  into  the  paradise  of  God. 
But  "monasticism,"  Dr.  Schatf  has  well  said,  "is  not 
the  normal  form  of  Christian  pietj'.  It  is  an  abnormal 
phenomenon,  a  humanly  devised  service  of  God  (conip. 
Colos.  ii,  lG-23),  and  not  rarely  a  sad  enervation  and 
repulsive  distortion  of  the  Christianitj'^  of  the  Bible. 
It  is  to  be  estimated,  therefore,  not  by  the  extent 
of  its  self-denial,  not  by  its  outward  acts  of  self-dis- 
cipline (which  may  all  be  found  in  heathenism,  Juda- 
ism, and  Mohammedanism  as  well),  but  by  the  Chris- 
tian spirit  of  humilitj'^  and  love  which  animated  it. 
For  humility  is  the  groundwork,  and  love  the  all-ruling 
principle  of  the  Christian  life,  and  the  distinctive  char- 
acteristic of  the  Christian  religion.  "Without  love  to 
God  and  charitj'  to  man,  the  severest  self-punishment 
and  the  utmost  abandonment  of  the  world  are  worth- 
less before  God  (comp.  1  Cor.  xiii,  1-3).  .  .  .  Even  in 
the  most  favorable  case  monasticism  falls  short  of  har- 
monious moral  development,  and  of  that  symmetry  of 
virtue  which  meets  us  in  perfection  in  Christ,  and  next 
to  him  in  the  apostles.  It  lacks  the  finer  and  gentler 
traits  of  character,  which  are  ordinarilj'  brought  out 
onlj'  in  the  school  of  daily  family  life  and  under  the 
social  ordinances  of  God.  Its  morality  is  rather  neg- 
ative than  positive.  There  is  more  virtue  in  the  tem- 
perate and  thankful  enjoyment  of  the  gifts  of  God  than 
in  total  abstinence;  in  charitable  and  well-seasoned 
speech  than  in  total  silence;  in  connubial  chastity 
than  in  celibac3^;  in  self-denying  practical  labor  for 
the  Church  than  in  solitary  asceticism,  which  only 
pleases  self  and  profits  no  one  else."  Believing  this, 
we  are  constrained  to  maintain  further  that,  although 
the  monastic  orders  have  done  much  to  promote  the 
good  of  man,  the  ideal  which  they  have  proposed  to 
themselves  is  no  more  that  of  genuine  sacrifice  than  a 
collection  of  probable  statements  is  history.  The  high- 
est forms  of  self-surrender  are  those  of  which  the  world 
knows  nothing,  and  whose  beauty  is  derived  not  from 
the  halo  of  sacerdotal  sentiment,  but  from  the  quiet 
discharge  of  unromantic  and,  it  may  be,  irksome  duties. 

Montalembert  also  makes  light  of  the  charges  brought 
against  monasticism,  even  in  its  decline,  and  repu- 
diates the  right  of  any  layman  to  cast  a  stone  at  the 
accumulations  of  wealth  and  luxury  under  which  at 
length  it  succumbed.  In  an  introductory  chapter 
on  the  decline  of  monastic  institutions,  he  admits  that 
their  corruption  and  abuses  were  denounced  by  the 
monks  themselves,  that  the  shield  which  religion  had 
thrown  over  them  was  pierced  and  shattered  from 
within,  and  that  the  most  eff"ective  instrument  in  their 
downfall  was  what  he   terms   the    infamous    "com- 


mende"  by  which  the  title  of  abbot  was  conferred  on 
those  who  were  ignorant  of  monastic  institutions ;  al- 
beit this  step,  so  loathsome  in  his  judgment,  was  the 
work  of  infallible  popes  and  Catholic  kings.  Catho- 
lics have  their  own  institutions  and  the  great  dignita- 
ries of  their  own  Church  to  blame  for  the  most  con- 
spicuous illustrations  and  examples  of  spoliation  and 
robbery.  The  enormous  wealth  accumulated  by  these 
monasteries  was  too  tempting  a  prize  to  be  resisted, 
first  by  rapacious  abbots,  then  by  bishops  hunger- 
ing for  temporal  power  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  influ- 
ence, then  by  needy  kings,  and  at  last  hy  unprincipled 
popes.  They  turned  from  one  to  the  other  for  protec- 
tion, and  found  the  spoiler  rather  than  the  friend.  The 
utter  and  ignominious  fall  of  more  than  three  thousand 
monasteries  in  Europe,  and  the  ruthless  destruction 
even  of  their  ruins  in  countries  which  had  never  repu- 
diated the  authority  of  the  Roman  See,  is  a  startling 
fact,  which,  although  our  author  recounts,  he  fails  to 
explain  on  his  own  theory  of  the  supreme  and  God- 
given  claims  of  the  Church  ;  while  the  jeremiad  that 
he  wails  over  the  base  uses  to  which  these  gorgeous 
buildings  have  returned  is  out  of  harmony  with  his 
vivid  appreciation  of  modern  ideas  of  progress.  One 
might  suppose  that  on  the  fall  of  the  monastery  the 
spirit  of  humanity,  all  care  for  the  sick  and  dying,  all 
science,  art,  and  literature,  all  brave  adventure,  all 
subjugation  and  replenishing  of  the  earth,  and  mis- 
sionary enterprise  had  utterly  vanished ;  while,  on 
the  contrarj',  the  fact  of  the  case  is  that  the  mighty 
spirit  generated  by  the  contact  of  Christianity  with 
modern  thought  was  too  strong  to  be  retained  in  the 
crisp  and  worn-out  skins  of  monastic  orders ;  and  when 
these  burst,  neither  the  spirit  nor  the  fragrance  was 
lost.  New  life  demanded  new  institutions,  and  it  is 
too  late  in  the  day  to  prove  that  modern  civilization  is 
only  a  feeble  parody  on  that  which  we  readily  allow 
took  its  origin  in  the  cloister.  Grand  and  even  wor- 
thy attempts,  to  be  sure,  have  been  made  at  various 
times  to  recover  the  ancient  prestige  of  monasticism, 
and  there  is  a  kind  of  work  that  none  perhaps  can  do 
so  well  as  the  Society  of  Jesus ;  but  the  fuel  which 
even  now  promotes  the  flame  of  monastic  piety  is  that 
morbid  view  of  the  nature  of  the  human  will  which  is 
fostered  by  materialistic  science,  that  mischievous  es- 
timate of  human  life  which  proceeds  from  the  scepti- 
cism of  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  and  that  neo-Platonic 
or  Gnostic  repudiation  of  the  true  brotherhood  of  all 
mankind  which  is  perpetual  dishonor  to  the  word  and 
spirit  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  do  not  wonder  that  ill  the 
light  of  these  truths  a  celebrated  English  savant  writes 
that  the  continued  violation  of  the  most  distinctive  at- 
tributes of  human  nature  is  the  recorded  secret  of  the 
failure  of  monachism.  "  Its  principle  of  poverty  has 
ever  outraged  man's  original  conception  of  property; 
as  a  celibate,  it  is  directly  opposed  to  the  social  nature 
of  man ;  and  its  law  of  solitary  striving  for  religious 
perfection  is  antagonistic  to  the  first  principle  of  Chris- 
tian communion  and  spiritual  intercourse.  The  pro- 
fession of  povertj'  frequently  ended  in  the  most  insa- 
tiable avarice  and  cupiditj',  while  vows  of  perpetual 
virginity  resulted  in  unbounded  licentiousness.  That 
which  began  witii  a  sincere  desire  for  perfect  purity, 
ended  in  the  diffusion  of  licensed  corruption."  For 
these  reasons  we  do  not  feel  justified  in  dissenting 
from  the  general  opinion,  which  is  that,  "however  ser- 
viceable the  monastery  may  have  been  as  an  institu- 
tion in  the  mediaeval  ages,  preserving,  as  in  an  ark, 
the  treasures  of  religion  and  learning  from  the  waves 
of  barbarism  which  in  rapid  succession  broke  over 
Europe,  it  has  lost  to  a  great  extent  its  beneficial  pow- 
er, and  in  the  present  state  of  societj'  has  no  peculiar 
functions  of  a  useful  nature  to  discharge  ;  and  that  the 
truly  good  of  both  sexes  would  better  serve  the  end  of 
their  being  by  mixing  in  society,  and  trying  to  im- 
prove it,  than  by  turning  monks  and  nuns,  and  look- 
ing out  on  the  world  from  behind  the  bars  of  a  prison, 


MOXASTICISM 


478 


MONBODDO 


■within  which  they  have  by  their  own  consent  submit- 
ted to  be  encaged"  {Brit,  and  For.  Rev.  1868,  p.  450). 

Literature.— (i.)  Greek  miters :  Socrates,  JI.  Eccles. 
lib.  iv,  cap.  23  sq. ;  Sozomcn,  //.  E.  lib.  i,  cap.  12-14 ; 
iii,  14;  vi,  28-34;  Palladius,  Ilistoria  Lausiaca  (laro- 
(Hu  irpug  Aavaov,  a  court-officer  under  Theodosius  II, 
to  whom  the  work  was  dedicated),  composed  about 
421,  with  enthusiastic  admiration,  from  personal  ac- 
quaintance, of  the  most  celebrated  contemporaneous 
ascetics  of  Egypt ;  Theodoret  (j  457),  Ilistoria  reliffiosa, 
seu  ascetica  vicendi  ratio  ((piKoitoQ  iaropic),  biogra- 
phies of  thirty  Oriental  ancliorets  and  monks,  for  the 
most  part  from  personal  observation  ;  Nilus  the  elder 
(t  about  450),  Be  vita  ascetica,  Be  exercitatione  moruis- 
tica,  Epistolm  355,  and  otlier  writings.  (2.)  Latin  writ- 
ers: Kulinus  (t  410),  Hist.  Eremitica,  s.  Vitoe  Pat  rum; 
Sulpicius  Severus  (about  400),  Bialorji  III  (the  first 
dialogue  contains  a  livel}'  and  entertaining  account  of 
the  Egyptian  monks,  whom  he  visited;  the  two  others 
relate  "to  Martin  of  Tours) ;  Cassianus  (f  432),  Insti- 
tutiones  coenobiati/:,  and  Collationes  Patrum  (spiritual 
conversations  of  Eastern  monks).  Also  the  ascetic 
writings  of  Athanasius  (Yita  Antonii),  Basil,  Greg- 
ory Nazianzen,  Chrysostom,  and  Isidore  of  Pelusium 
among  the  Greek  ;  Ambrose,  Augustine,  Jerome  (his 
lives  of  anchorets,  and  his  letters),  Cassiodorus,  and 
Gregory  the  Great  among  the  Latin  fathers.  (3.) 
Later  literature:  Ilolstenius  (a  Roman  convert).  Co- 
dex regularum  monastic.  (Kom.  1661 ;  enlarged,  Paris 
and  Augsb.  6  vols,  fol.)  ;  the  older  Greek  Menoloyia 
(^firjvoXoyui)  and  Mencea  (jU?/vaT«),  and  the  Latin  Ca- 
lendaria  and  Marlyrolotjia — i.  e.  Church  calendars  or 
indices  of  memorial  days  (days  of  the  earthly  death 
and  heavenly  birth)  of  the  saints,  with  short  biograph- 
ical notices  for  liturgical  use  ;  Herbert  Rosweyde  (Jes- 
uit), Vit^  Patrum,  sire  Ilistorim  Erem'Jicce,  lib.  x  (Ant- 
werp, 1628)  ;  Acta  Sanctorum,  qiijfquot  toto  orbe  colun- 
tur  (Antwerp,  1643-178G,  53  vols.  fol. ;  begun  by  the 
Jesuit  Uollandus,  continued  by  several  scholars  of  his 
order,  called  BoUandists,  down  to  October  11  in  th3 
calendar  of  saints'  days,  and  resumed  in  1845,  after 
long  interruption,  by  Theiner  and  others)  ;  D'AcIiciy 
and  Mabillon  (Benedictines),  Acta  Sanctorum  ord'nis 
S.  Benedicli  (Paris,  1GG8-1701,  9  vols,  folio  [to  1100])  ; 
Helj'ot  (Franciscan),  Ifistoire  des  ordres  monasti'iiies 
religieux  et  mili/aires  (Par.  1714-19,  8  vols.  4to ;  new 
ed.,  with  an  additional  vol.  on  the  modern  history  of 
monachism  by  Migne,  1849,  4  vols.) ;  Butler  (H.  C), 
The  Lives  of  the  Fathers,  Martyrs,  and  other  principal 
Saints,  arranged  according  to  the  Catholic  calendar, 
and  completed  to  December  31  (1745,  and  often  since  ;  I 
best  ed.  Lond.  1812-13,  12  vols. ;  another,  Baltimore,  ' 
1844,  4  vols.)  ;  Gibbon,  chap,  xxxvii  ("Origin,  Prog- 
ress, and  Effects  of  Monastic  Life  ;"  verj'  unfavorable, 
and  written  in  lofty  philosophical  contempt)  ;  Ilenrion 
(R.  C),  Ilistoire  des  ordres  reliffieux  (Par.  1835)  ;  Bie- 
denfeld,  Ursprung  siinimtlicher  Monchsorden  in  Onent 
u.  Occident  (Weimar,  1837,  3  vols.) ;  Schmidt  (R.  C), 
Bie  Monchs-,  Nonnen-,  it.  geistlichen  Ritterorden  nebst 
Ordmsregeln  v.  .{bbildmigcn  (Augsb.  1838  sq.) ;  Paul 
Lacroix,  Militari/  and  Religious  Life  in  the  Middl'  Ages 
and  at  the  Period  oflh-  Ri  naissance ;  Daj',  Monastic  In- 
stitutions: their  Origin,  Progress,  etc.  (Lond.  1846,  2d 
ed.)  ;  Milman  (Anglican  i,  /listorg  of  Ancient  Christian- 
%  (l)k.  iii,  chap,  xi),  and  his  Latin  Christianily ;  Ruff- 
ner  (Presbj'terian),  The  Fathers  of  the  Beser't  (N.  Y., 
1850,  2  vols.),  full  of  curious  information,  in  popular 
form;  Montaleml)ert  (R.  C),  Les  Moines  d' Occident 
depuis  St.  Benoit  jusquii  St.  Bernard  (Paris,  1860  sq. ; 
translated  into  English,  The  Mottles  of  the  West,  etc., 
Edinb.  and  Lond.  1861  sq.);  another  extensive  work 
has  been  in  preparation  for  some  time  by  the  Bene- 
dictine Dom  Gueranger,  of  France  ;  ZocldcT,  Kritische 
Gcschichte  der  Askese  ( Frankfurt-am -Main,  1863); 
comp.  also  Ilefele,  Coticilingeschichte  (the  several  vol- 
umes); Wessenberg,  Kirchen  verstiminlungen,  i,  119  sq. 
(sec  Index  in  vol.  iv) ;  Ozanam,  Etudes  Germaniques ; 


Guizot,  nisi.  Civilization,  ii,  279  sq. ;  and  the  relevant 
sections  of  Tillemont,  Kleury,  Schrockh  (vols,  v  and 
viii),  Neander,  Schaff,  and  ( jieseler.  Regarding  Chris- 
tian monasticism  as  compared  tcith  other  forms  of  ascet- 
icism, see  Hospinian,  Be  origins  et  progressu  tnonacha- 
tus,  lib.  vi  (Tig.  1588;  enlarged,  Geneva,  1669,  folio) ; 
Moliler  (R.  C),  G'eschichte  des  Monchthums  in  der  Zeit 
seiner  Entstehung  u.  ersten  A  usbildutig  (1836  ;  collected 
works,  Regensb.  vol.  ii,  p.  165  sq. ;  Taj'lor  (Independ- 
ent), Ancient  Christiinitg  (Lond.  1844),  i,  299  sq. ;  Yo- 
gel,  "Ueber  das  Monchthum"  (Berlin,  1858),  in  the 
Beutsche  Zeilschtiftf.christl.  \Vissenschaft,etc.;  Schaff, 
"  Ueber  den  Ursprung  und  Charakter  des  Monch- 
thums," in  Dorner's,  etc.,  Jahrbiicher  fur  deulsche  The- 
ologie  (1861),  p.  555  sq. ;  Cropp,  Origines  et  Causa:  mo- 
tiachatus  (Gott.  1863) ;  Lea,  Ilist.  Sacerdotal  Celibaci/, 
chap,  vii,  x.xx  ;  Lecky,  Hist.  Ratiotialism  (see  Index); 
id..  Hist.  European  Morals  (see  Index) ;  Gould,  Ori~ 
gin  of  Religious  Belief  (N.Y.,  1871,  2  vols.  8vo),  i,  339 
sq. ;  Editiburgh  Review,  Jan.,  1849 ;  Eclectic  Magazine, 
April,  1849;  English  Review,  ii,  77 ,  i'li  ;  \_Lond. ^  Quar. 
Ree.  cxxvii,  July,  1861;  Eclectic  Revietv,  July,  1859; 
Brit,  and  For.  Ev.  Rev.  July,  1868  ;  British  Quar.  Rev. 
art.  viii,  July,  1868 ;  Edinb.  Rev.  April,  1868 ;  St.  Jatties's 
Magizine,  March,  1870. 

Monboddo,  James  BuuNiiT,  Lord,  a  Scotch  writ- 
er, noted  for  liis  eccentric  speculations  of  primitive  his- 
tory, ^vas  born  at  the  family  scat  of  Jlonboddo,  in 
Kincardineshire,  Scotland,  in  1714.  He  was  educated 
at  the  University  of  Aberdeen,  and  at  Groningen,  Hol- 
land. On  his  return  to  Scotland  in  1737,  he  was  admit- 
ted to  the  bar,  and  succeeded  in  gaining  considerable 
practice.  In  1767  he  was  promoted  to  the  judicial 
bench,  and  became  titled  as  Lord  INIonboddo.  But  he  by 
no  means  confined  himself  to  the  legal  profession.  He 
employed  his  pen  in  various  departments  of  speculative 
philosophy,  in  which  he  displayed  a  profound  rather 
than  a  useful  learning.  He  was  thoroughly  versed  in 
Greek  literature,  of  which  he  became  such  an  enthu- 
siastic admirer  as  almost  to  scorn  modern  learning. 
His  great  work,  Or^igin  and  Progress  of  Languages,  first 
appeared  in  1773.  In  this  he  affirms,  and  endeavors  to 
demonstrate,  the  superiority  of  his  favorite  ancients 
over  tlieir  present  degenerate  posterity,  and  discourses 
at  large  on  the  honor  due  the  Greek  language.  This 
work  met  with  no  very  marked  success,  being  read 
more  on  accoimt  of  its  eccentricities  than  for  its  prac- 
tical utility.  Monboddo  was  in  a  certain  sense,  how- 
ever, the  forerunner  of  the  now  so  well-known  English 
naturalist,  Charles  Darwin.  Like  the  latter,  Monboddo 
expressed  his  belief  in  the  theory  that  men  were  orig- 
inally monkeys,  and  he  went  even  so  far  as  to  insist 
that  a  nation  still  exists  possessed  of  tails.  His  pecid- 
iar  views  were  the  subject  of  much  memment  and  rid- 
icule by  Dr.  Johnson,  who  represents  lord  Monboddo  as 
asking  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  who  had  made  a  visit  to  Bot- 
any Bay,  whether  he  had  met  this  strange  race  in  his 
travels.  On  receiving  a  negative  answer,  he  was  much 
disappointed.  Lord  ISIonboddo's  pen  furnished  the  pub- 
lic also  with  a  work  on  Ancient  Metaphysics,  in  6  vols., 
the  first  part  of  which  apjiearcd  in  1778.  In  this  he 
endeavors  to  dissect  the  jihiiosopliy  of  Sir  Isaac  Xcwton; 
and,  as  in  the  former  work,  he  sliows  an  extravagant 
fondness  for  Grecian  learning  and  philosophy.  I  le  seems 
to  lack  the  ability  of  placing  these  ideas  within  the  easy 
grasp  of  modern  thought,  though  he  shows  his  own 
thorough  knowledge,  of  Aristotle  particularly.  In  this 
work  he  further  explains  and  supports  his  Darwinian 
ideas.  Sir  James  Edward  Smith  draws  a  pen-picture 
of  this  eccentric  genius,  and  represents  him  as  '"a  plain, 
elderly  man,  wearing  an  ordinary  gray  coat,  leather 
breeches,  and  coarse  worsted  stockings,  conversing  with 
great  affability  about  various  matters — lamenting  the 
decline  of  classical  learning,  and  claiming  credit  for 
having  adopted  the  Norfolk  husl)andry."  Lord  Mon- 
boddo resided  in  Edinl)urgh  until  his  death.  May  26, 
1799.     Sec  Edittb.  Review,  lviii,45;  Cooper,  Biog.  Bid, 


MONCADA 


479 


MONCONYS 


s,  V. ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of  British  and  American  Authors, 
s.  V. ;  Chambers,  Cycloj^cedia,  s.  v. ;  English  Enq/clop. 
s.  V. ;  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1799  ;  Tytler,  Life  of  Lord 
Karnes.     (H.  W.  T.) 

Moncada.Loi'is-ANTOisi:  de  Belluga  i>E,a  Span- 
ish prelate,  was  born  at  Motril,  in  the  kingdom  of  Granada, 
Nov.  30, 1G62.  He  entered  the  Church,  where  his  distin- 
guished birth  placed  many  ecclesiastical  honors  within 
his  power,  but,  with  pious  modesty,  he  refused  them  all. 
Philip  V  appointed  him  bishop  of  Carthagena  and  jNIur- 
cia  in  1705.  Soon  after  the  archduke,  who  disputed  the 
crown  with  Philip,  invaded  Spain.  Moncada  remained 
faithful  to  his  sovereign,  and  so  strongly  evinced  his 
devotion  that  Philip  rewarded  him  with  the  titles  of 
viceroy  of  Valencia  and  captain-general  of  Murcia  in 
1706.  But,  notwithstanding  these  royal  favors,  his 
zeal  did  not  degenerate  into  servility,  and  he  resisted 
the  court  when  he  thought  the  interests  of  the  Church 
were  compromised.  Thus  he  obstinately  opposed  a  duty 
placed  on  the  property  of  the  clergy.  At  the  height  of 
his  quarrel  with  the  king's  party,  he  was  included  in  a 
promotion  of  cardinals ;  but,  believing  in  faithful  sub- 
mission to  the  administration  of  his  country,  though  a 
prelate,  he  declared  that  he  would  not  accept  the  pur- 
ple without  the  king's  consent.  This  permission  had 
only  been  delayed  to  test  the  bishop's  constancy,  and, 
according  to  Saint-Simon,  "  the  affair  ended  with  un- 
equalled glory  for  Belluga."  "  Subsequently,"  adds 
Saint-Simon,  "  Belluga,  who  had  more  zeal  than  discre- 
tion, wished  to  institute  some  reforms,  which  the  bishops 
of  Spain  could  not  permit.  They  opposed  his  plans 
with  great  success,  and  Belluga,  not  being  able  to  pro- 
cure for  his  country  the  advantages  he  proposed,  be- 
came greatly  disgusted,  and  entreated  the  king  to  re- 
lease him  from  the  bishopric  of  Murcia,  and  permit  him 
to  retire  to  Rome."  He  was  there,  as  in  Murcia,  a  very 
faithful  subject  to  his  king,  and  still  preserved  an  anx- 
ious interest  in  all  his  affairs.  His  virtue,  which  lifted 
him  above  all  politics,  acquired  for  him  a  veneration 
and  consideration  during  the  whole  course  of  his  long  life. 
1  le  (lied  at  Kome,  Feb.  22, 1743.  See  Moreri,  Grand  Diet. 
IliMiir.  s.  V. ;  Saint-Simon,  Memoires,  xi,  197-199  (edit. 
Clieiuel). — Hoefer,  N'ouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Monceaux  {Moncmus),  FRAsgois  de,  a  French 
writer  noted  for  his  studies  in  comparative  archaeology, 
was  a  native  of  Arras,  and  flourished  in  the  second  half 
of  the  16th  century.  He  took  quite  an  active  part  in 
the  political  affairs  of  France  and  Italy,  but  neverthe- 
less found  time  to  write :  Depoiiis  civitatis  JudcB  etfori 
judicioriunque  in  Us  exercendorum  prisco  ritu  (Paris, 
1587,  4to)  : — Bucolica  Sacra,  sive  Cantici  Canticorum 
poetica  paraphrasis  et  in  eamdem  lucubrationum,  lib.  ii 
(ibid.  1587,  4to;  1589,  8vo) : — Apparitionum  divinarum 
qum  de  Ruho  et  quce  in  yEgypto  revertenti  in  diveisorio 
Moysi  facta  Historia  (Arras,  1592, 12mo  ;  1597,  4to)  : — 
In  Psalnium  xliv  Pai-aphrasis  poetica  (Douai,  4to) : — 
Aaron  purgatus,  seu  de  vitulo  aureo,  lib.  ii  (Arras,  1606, 
8vo;  Leipsic,  1689,  in  Antiquitates  Biblicce,  and  in  vol. 
ix  of  Pearson's  Critici  Sacri.  The  Church  of  Rome  ex- 
purgated it  in  1609) : — Responsio  jwo  vitulo  aureo  non 
aureo  (Paris,  1608,  8vo),  a  reply  to  Viseur's  Destruction 
du  "  Veaux  d'or purge"  (ibid.  1608, 8vo).  See  Andre,  Bih- 
liothecn  Belgica,  s.  v. — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Monclar,  Jean-Pierre-Francois  de  Ripert, 
Marqnix  de,  a  French  religious  writer,  noted  as  a  de- 
fender of  the  Huguenots,  was  born  Oct.  1, 1711,  at  Apt, 
Provence.  He  was  descended  from  the  family  of  the 
dauphiness,  and  was  the  son  of  a  magistrate  whom  the 
chancellor  Daguesseau  had  surnamed  L' Amour  du  bien. 
Dec.  19,  1732,  he  succeeded  his  father  as  procurator- 
general  to  the  Parliament  of  Provence;  he  was  then 
twenty-one  years  of  age.  He  was  a  ready  orator,  a 
brilliant  law3'er,  and  profoundly  versed  in  public  law. 
From  1749  he  energetically  declared  himself  in  favor  of 
the  Protestants,  and  endeavored  to  obtain  for  them  civil 
rehabilitation  and  liberty  of  conscience.     In  his  article 


on  the  clandestine  marriages  of  tlie  Reformed,  he  raised 
his  voice,  in  the  name  of  justice  and  humanity,  against 
the  iniquitous  laws  which  ctmdemned  to  ignominy  and 
illegitimacy  the  fruits  of  their  unions;  and  at  the  same 
time  he  demonstrated,  by  learned  calculations,  that  it 
was  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the  state  to  favor  the 
progress  of  population.  In  1752  the  republic  of  Geneva, 
a  prey  to  civil  dissensions,  rendered  homage  to  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  magistrate  by  choosing  him  as  arbiter  for 
the  two  parties  in  collision.  "At  this  time,"  says  M. 
Villemain,  "  an  event  occurred  which  developed  the  tal- 
ents of  several  men  in  the  parliaments  of  the  kingdom ; 
this  was  the  trial  and  expulsion  of  the  celebrated  society 
of  the  Jesuits.  Monclar  took  a  lively  and  active  inter- 
est in  this  affair,  and  his  expose  of  their  doctrines  was  a 
masterpiece  of  method  and  clearness,  without  exaggera- 
tion, and  without  false  eloquence.  In  the  remonstrances 
that  he  was  charged  to  draw  up  in  the  name  of  those 
opposed  to  the  Jesuits,  Monclar  knew  how  to  unite  a 
dignified  firmness  with  the  respect  due  to  the  sovereign, 
and  to  avoid  that  rather  republican  severity  with  which 
Voltaire  reproaches  Malesherbes."  He  was  instrumen- 
tal in  restoring  Venaissin  to  France  (in  1768),  and  re- 
ceived for  his  services  from  Louis  XV  a  pension  and  the 
title  of  marquis  (October,  1769).  Monclar,  after  forty 
years  of  active  life,  withdrew  to  his  estate  of  Saint-Sa- 
turnin,  where  he  died,  Feb.  12,  1773.  Romanists  claim 
that  Monclar  in  his  dying  hour  made  kno^vn  to  his  con- 
fessor a  regret  for  what  he  had  said  against  the  Holy 
See  and  the  Society  of  Jesus.  But  there  seems  to 
be  no  ground  for  the  declaration,  as  the  whole  life  of 
the  marquis  speaks  against  any  such  change.  He  wrote 
Memoire  theologique  et  politique  au  sujet  des  mariages 
clandesthis  des  Protestants  en  France  (1755, 8vo) ;  at  the 
time  of  its  appearance  it  aroused  a  warm  discussion: 
more  than  twenty  pamphlets  were  published  for  or 
against: — Compte  rendu  des  Constitutions  des  Jesuites 
(1762,  2  vols.  12mo) ;  reprinted  since  with  the  Requisi- 
toire  du  4  Janvier,  1763,  and  the  Conclusions  du  5  Mars, 
1765,  on  the  bull  Apostolicum  pascendi  (Paris,  1769,  2 
vols.  4to  and  8vo).  The  complete  works  of  Monclar, 
comprising  8  vols.  8vo,  were  published  in  1855.  See 
Borely,  Eloge  de  Monclar,  pronounced  November,  1843 ; 
Achard,  I)ict.  de  Provence,  s,  v. ;  Villemain,  Tableau  du 
dix-huitihne  siecle,  9«  le^on ;  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Gene- 
rate, s.  V. 

Moncon,  Jean  de,  a  Spanish  theologian,  who  ad- 
vanced heretical  opinions  on  the  doctrine  of  the  immac- 
ulate conception,  was  born  at  ]\Ionteson,  Aragon,  about 
1360.  He  joined  the  brotherhood  of  St.  Dominic,  taught 
theology  at  Valentia,  and  in  1383  went  to  Paris,  where 
he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  four  years  later.  Hav- 
ing in  his  theses  advanced  some  propositions  contrary 
to  the  belief  of  the  immaculate  conception  of  the  Virgin, 
he  saw  them  condemned  by  the  faculty,  and  Pierre" 
d'Orgcmont,  then  bishop,  forbade  their  maintenance 
under  pain  of  excommunication.  This  quarrel  led  to 
great  trouble  in  the  university ;  those  partisans  of  the 
Spanish  monk  who  refused  to  retract  were  thrown  into 
prison,  and  he  himself  was  excluded  from  all  the  Do- 
minican courts.  Moncon  thereupon  appealed  to  Clem- 
ent VII,  schismatic  pope,  residing  at  Avignon;  but,  per- 
ceiving that  the  commissioners  given  him  were  not 
favorable,  he  took  to  flight  (January,  1389),  and  was 
found  in  Aragon,  where  he  was  excommunicated.  In 
order  to  revenge  himself  for  the  persecution,  he  entered 
the  service  of  pope  Urban  IV,  and  wrote  against  Clem- 
ent VH.  Peace  was  not  concluded  until  1403,  and  only 
by  the  intervention  of  many  princes  and  of  the  pope  of 
Avignon,  Benedict  XIII.  In  1412  he  was  instructed  by 
the  duke  Alfonso  to  sustain  his  right  to  the  crown  of 
Aragon.  His  works  have  never  been  printed.  See 
Echard  and  Quetif,  Script,  ord.  Prmdicatorum. —  Univer- 
selle  Biog.  s.  v. 

Monconys,  Bai.tiiasar,  Dr.,  a  French  traveller, 
noted  for  his  Oriental  studies,  was  born  at  Lyons  near 


MONCRIEFF 


480 


MONEGOXDE 


the  opening  of  the  ITthrentury.  After  receiving  a  lib- 
tral  education  at  the  University  of  Salamanca,  he  vis- 
ited tlie  East,  for  tlie  purpose  of  tracing  the  remains  of 
the  pliilosophy  of  Trismegistus  and  Zoroaster;  but  re- 
turned without  accomplishing  the  object  of  his  mission, 
and  died  in  IGGo.  His  travels  were  published  by  his 
learned  friend,  Jean  IJerthet,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
(Paris,  IGGo-G,  3  vols.  4to;  reprinted  in  Holland,  1G9G, 
5  vols.  12mo).    See  Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biorj.  Generale,  xxxv, 

MoncrieflF,  Sir  IIknuy,  Bart.,  D.D.,  a  Scottish  di- 
vine, son  of  the  Kev.  Sir  WiDiam  Moncrieff,  was  born 
in  Blackford,  I'ertlishire,  Feb.  G,  1750.  After  receiving 
an  elementary  education  in  his  native  place,  he  reiiaired 
to  the  University  of  (ilasgow  for  the  purpose  of  litting 
himself  for  the  pulpit.  In  the  midst  of  his  collegiate 
course  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  father.  The 
patrons  of  the  charge  thus  left  vacant,  moved  by  a 
strong  affection  for  Sir  William,  and  a  confidence  in  the 
more  than  ordinary  tsilent  displayed  by  his  son,  reserved 
the  pastorate  for  "Sir  Harry,'"  as  he  was  familiarly 
called.  He  repaired  to  Edinburgh,  and  there  entered 
upon  a  theological  course,  which  he  completed  in  Au- 
gust, 1771 ;  was  then  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  and  installed  as  successor  to  his  father. 
His  talents  were  too  remarkable  to  allow  of  his  remain- 
ing long  in  this  huml)le  position,  and  the  attention  he 
attracted  soon  caused  him  to  be  called  to  Edinburgh, 
where,  in  1775,  he  became  the  officiating  minister  of  St. 
Cuthbert's,  the  largest  parochial  charge  in  the  Scottish 
capital.  Though  the  numerical  strength  of  his  parish 
prevented  him  from  coming  into  frequent  personal  con- 
tact with  all,  still  he  seems  to  have  been  dearly  beloved 
as  a  pastor  and  frientl.  He  had  a  commanding  appear- 
ance, was  gifted  with  a  powerfully  argumentative  ora- 
tory, and  was  zealous  as  well  as  learned.  In  the  pulpit 
his  style  Avas  characterized  by  force  more  than  by  ele- 
gance. Avoiding  flights  of  fancy  and  displaj's  of  rhe- 
torical talent,  he  used  his  cultured  intellectual  strength 
to  make  truth  strike  the  heart  rather  than  please  the 
brain.  In  his  time  the  moderate  party  held  the  major- 
ity in  the  Scottish  Church,  but  his  hatred  of  intoler- 
ance and  love  of  freedom  led  him  to  take  a  stand  with 
the  liberal  and  evangelical  party,  while  his  natural  in- 
dependence of  character  made  his  position  one  of  bold- 
ness and  prominence.  Tlie  deliberations  of  the  General 
Assemljly,  wliitii  met  yearly  at  Edinburgh,  were  of  a 
niixctl  poliiii^al  and  religious  nature.  In  tliese  meet- 
ings Sir  Harry  took  an  active  part,  and  his  talents  as  a 
debater  soon  ranked  him  among  the  ablest  of  Scotland's 
platform  orators.  In  1785  he  was  unanimously  chosen 
as  moderator  of  the  Assembly,  an  honor  which  was  con- 
ferred on  him  several  times  thereafter.  In  these  relig- 
ious discussions  he  showed  great  abhorrence  of  every- 
thing savoring  of  bigotry'  or  intolerance,  and  was  ever 
ready  to  listen  to  and  engage  iu  any  argument  which 
aimed  at  the  discover}'  of  truth.  Yet  his  religious  be- 
liefs were  tenaciously  adhered  to  and  boldly  advocated. 
Politically  also  he  was  active,  and,  to  use  his  own  ex- 
pression, as  "a  Whig  of  1G88."  He  earnestly  opposed 
all  civil  disabilities  for  religious  creeds,  and  heartily 
supj)orted  "the  constitution  as  founded  upon  the  rock 
of  lawful  resistance  by  the  patriots  of  the  first  James 
and  Charles's  time,  and  as  linally  jmrilied  by  those  of 
the  Ivevolution."  Indeed,  it  has  been  truly  said  that 
'•in  him  Scotland  found  a  warm-hearted  lover  of  man- 
kind, a  strung  advocate  of  political  ami  religious  free- 
dom, and  a  zealous  party  leader."  He  continued  to  la- 
bor iu  this  wide  Held  of  usefulness  as  pastor  of  St.  Cuth- 
bert's and  leader  of  the  lil)eral  party  until  the  time  of 
his  death,  June  14, 1827.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he 
adopted  the  additional  surname  of  Wki.i.wdod:  but  he  ' 
is  better  known  as  "  Sir  Harry,"  he  being  in  his  day  the  I 
only  man  of  noble  rank  who  ministered  in  the  Cluirch  ' 
of  Scotland.  He  published  several  treatises  concerning  i 
the  ecclesiastical  discussions  of  his  time,  also  />/,svo(/r.s'c,s-  ; 
on  the  Evidences  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  lievelalioits  I 


(1815),  and  an  Account  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Dr. 
John  Ershine  (1818).  His  Sermons,  with  a  memoir  by 
his  son,  have  also  been  published  in  three  volumes 
(1829-yi).  "Those  who  read  these  sermons,"  says  a 
critic  in  the  Edinb.  Rev.  (vi,  112),  "will  never  be  dis- 
turbed with  the  author's  admiration  of  himself  or  his 
misconception  of  the  subject;  nor  will  their  impatience 
be  excited  by  anything  puerile,  declamatory,  verbose, 
or  inaccurate.  They  will  find  everywhere  indications 
of  a  vigorous  and  independent  understanding  ;  and, 
though  they  may  not  always  be  gratified  with  flights 
of  fancy  or  graces  of  composition,  they  can  scarcely  fail 
to  be  attracted  by  the  unaffected  expression  of  goodness 
and  sincerity  which  runs  through  the  whole  publica- 
tion." See  Edinb.  Rev.  xlvii,  242 ;  Enci/clop.  Britannica, 
s.  V. ;  Chambers,  Biog.  Diet,  of  Eminent  Scotsmen,  iv, 
45G;  Bhtclctrood's  Magazine,  xxii,  530;  Allibone,  Did. 
of  Brit,  and  A  mer.  A  uthors,  s.  v.     (H.  W.  T.) 

Mondonville,  Jeanne  Jiliard,  Dame  Turles 
i)E,  a  French  Roman  Catholic  woman,  noted  as  the 
foundress  of  a  pious  order,  was  born  at  Toulouse  in  1G26. 
The  daughter  of  a  president  of  the  Parliament  of  Tou- 
louse, Jeanne  Juliard  was  distinguished  for  her  mind 
and  her  beauty.  In  1G4G  she  married  Turles,  lord  of 
IMondonville,  who  left  her  a  widow  while  still  young, 
but  endowed  with  a  considerable  fortune.  IJefusing 
many  honorat)le  offers  of  marriage,  she  determined  to 
devote  herself  to  the  instruction  of  the  poor  and  the  re- 
lief of  the  sick.  In  order  the  more  completely  to  effect 
her  object,  she  founded  in  1G52,  with  the  approbation 
of  ]\rarca,  archbishop  of  Toulouse,  the  congregation 
called  Les  Filles  de  VEnfance.  This  institution  was  au- 
thorized in  10G3  by  pope  Alexander  VII,  and  approved 
by  letters  [)atent  of  eighteen  bishops  and  many  doctors 
in  theology.  The  congregation  was  progressing  finely, 
and  already  counted  many  chapels,  when  it  was  sud- 
denly and  violently  attacked  by  the  Jesuits,  on  the 
ground  that  the  constitution  of  the  new  congregation 
contained  maxims  dangerous  to  religion  and  morals. 
They  obtained  the  nomination  of  commissioners  to  ex- 
amine the  criminated  points,  and  exerted  themselves  so 
effectively  that  the  congregation  of  the  Filks  de  FEn- 
fance  was  suppressed  by  a  decree  of  council  in  1C8G. 
Madame  de  Mondonville  was  imjirisoned  at  the  Ilospi- 
talieres  of  Coutanccs,  where  she  died  in  1703,  after 
twenty  years  of  the  most  rigorous  confinement.  The 
Jesuits  did  not  wait  for  that  event  before  they  confis- 
cated the  property  of  the  dissolved  congregation,  and 
established  in  its  stead  seminaries  and  houses  of  their 
own  order.  An  old  Jesuit  and  lawyer,  lieboulet,  in  his 
llistoire  des  FiUes  de  la  Congregation  de  VEnfance 
(Avignon,  1734),  accuses  Madame  de  iMondonville  of 
having  given  an  asylum  to  men  of  treasonable  views 
towards  the  state,  that  she  had  furnished  some  of  them 
with  means  of  leaving  the  kingdom,  and  that  she  li.ad 
printed  in  her  house  many  libels  on  the  conduct  of  the 
king  and  his  council ;  and  the  Jesuits  as  an  order  fought 
these  unfortunate  women  as  if  they  had  been  redoubta- 
ble enemies,  and  very  soon  despoiled  them  of  all  tlieir 
goods.  But  when,  subsequently,  circumstances  changed, 
and  the  credit  of  the  Jesuits  declined  rapidly,  the  I'ar- 
liament  of  Toulouse,  at  the  re<iuest  of  the  abbe  Juliard, 
a  relation  of  ^ladame  de  Mondonville,  condemned  Ke- 
boidet's  work  to  the  fiames  as  calumnious  and  false.  See 
Xecrologe  dis  Amis  de  la  Verite. — Hoefer,  Xmir.  Biog, 
Ceneralc,  s.  v. 

Monegoiide,  Sainti:,  a  French  Ponian  Catholic 
woman,  noted  as  the  foundress  of  a  religious  onler.  was 
bom  at  Chartres  in  the  early  part  of  the  Gtli  century. 
She  was  the  descendant  of  a  noide  family,  and  was  mar- 
ried, contrary  to  her  own  wishes,  in  ol)ediencc  to  her 
])arents'  will,  and  had  two  daughters,  who  died  at  an 
early  age.  The  period  of  mourning  having  passed,  she 
withdrew  to  a  narrow  cell,  with  no  other  opening  th.tn 
a  shutter,  where  she  received  a  little  barley-Hour,  which 
she  kneaded  into  bread.     This  was  her  sole  nourish- 


MONERGISM 


481 


MONEY 


jnent,  and  even  in  this  she  indulged  only  when  pressed 
by  extreme  hanger.  After  a  considerable  period,  Sainte 
Monegonde  left  the  city  of  Chartres  in  order  to  continue 
the  same  kind  of  life  at  Tours,  near  the  tomb  of  St. 
Martin.  The  sensation  produced  by  the  miracles  at- 
tributed to  her  aroused  her  husband  and  many  of  her 
friends,  who  took  her  back  to  Chartres ;  but,  convinced 
by  her  urgent  solicitations,  they  permitted  her  to  return 
to  Tours,  where  she  formed  a  small  religious  order  of 
women,  called  Les  Filles  spirituelles,  with  whom  she 
continued  her  austerities  until  her  death.  St.  Gregory 
of  Tours  refers  to  her  so-called  miracles,  and  aided  her 
in  building  a  monastery,  called  Saint-Pierre-le-Puellier. 
This  edifice  became  a  collegiate  church  for  secular  can- 
ons. It  was  burned  in  1502  by  the  Calvinists,  and 
Sainte  Monegonde's  body  perished  in  the  flames.  She 
died  at  Tours,  July  2,  570,  and  this  day  is  still  observed 
in  her  honor.  See  St.  Gregoire,  De  Gloi-ia  Confessorum ; 
MartijroL  Rem.  (July  2) ;  Bailiet,  Vie  des  Saints,  vol,  ii 
(July  2) ;  Eicliard  and  Giraud,  Bibliotheque  Sacree, — 
Butler,  Lices  of  the  Saints,  iii,  16  sq. 

Mouergism  (from  fxuvog,  sole,  and  tpyov,  u-orF)  is 
a  term  used  to  designate  the  doctrine  that  in  regenera- 
tion there  is  but  one  efficient  agent,  viz.  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  held  by  monergists  that  "  the  will  of  sinful  man 
has  not  the  least  inclination  towards  holiness,  nor  any 
power  to  act  in  a  holy  manner,  until  it  has  been  acted 
upon  bj'  divine  grace;  and  therefore  it  cannot  be  said 
with  strictness  to  co-operate  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  since 
it  acts  in  conversion  only  after  it  is  quickened  by  the 
Holy  Spirit."  The  doctrine  is  opposed  to  synergism, 
whiLh  teaches  that  there  are  two  efficient  agents  in 
regeneration — the  human  soul  and  the  divine  Spirit — 
co-operating  together,  a  theory  which  accordingly  holds 
that  the  soul  has  not  lost  all  inclination  towards  holi- 
ness, nor  all  power  to  seek  for  it  under  the  influence  of 
ordinary  motives.     See  SvNEEGisar. 

Monestier,  Blaise,  a  French  philosopher,  who  did 
great  service  in  combating  the  evil  influences  of  the 
infidel  schools  which  abounded  in  France  towards  the 
close  of  the  18th  century,  was  born  April  18,  1717,  at 
Antezat,  diocese  of  Clermont.  After  belonging  to  the 
Jesuits  for  some  time,  he  abandoned  that  order  to  allow 
himself  more  liberty  for  the  cultivation  of  his  taste  for 
study.  He  taught  mathematics  at  Clermont-Ferrand 
and  philosophy  at  Toulouse,  where  he  died  in  1776.  He 
is  the  author  oi  Dissertation  sur  la  Nature  et  la  Forma- 
tion de  la  Grele  (Bordeaux,  1752, 12mo),  which  won  a 
prize  at  the  Academy  of  Bordeaux : — Dissertations  sur 
VAnalogie  du  Son  et  la  Lumi'ere,  et  sur  le  Temps,  which 
also  drew  a  prize  at  the  Academy  of  Nancy,  and  was 
printed  in  the  collection  of  that  company  in  1754: — 
Principes  de  la  Piete  Chretienne  (Toulouse,  1756,  2  vols. 

12mo) : — La  vi-aie Philosojjkie, 'pavVAhh&M (Brux- 

elles  and  Par.  1774, 8vo),  a  work  directed  against  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  Encyclopaedists,  and  particularly  against 
Le  Systeme  de  la  Nature,  and  published  by  Needham. 
"  In  order  to  gain  an  idea  of  La  vraie  Pkilosophie,"  says 
a  reviewer, "  we  should  not  permit  ourselves  to  be  re- 
pelled by  the  violent  declamations  and  bad  taste  pre- 
sented by  each  page,  above  all  in  the  preface,  nor  by 
the  indecision  of  the  plan  and  the  disorder  in  the  suc- 
cession of  ideas  which  result  from  it.  The  doctrine 
which  it  contains  is  an  experimental  and  eclectical  spir- 
itualism, equally  distant  from  the  theory  of  innate 
ideas  and  from  the  S3'stem  of  transformed  sensation,  but 
where  Cartesianism  occupies  the  greatest  place."  After 
having  placed  sensations  and  sentiments  in  the  heart, 
Monestier  analyzes  reason,  which  he  divides  into  prim- 
itive ideas  (ideas  of  unity,  being,  time,  space,  affirma- 
tion, negation,  with  the  axioms  of  geometry  and  mor- 
als), the  faculty  of  generalizing  and  abstracting,  the 
idea  of  the  infinite,  and  the  faculties  of  induction  and 
reasoning.  The  idea  of  the  infinite,  imprinted  as  it  is 
on  all  nature's  work,  attests  to  us  the  existence  of  God 
and  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  at  the  same  time  that 
VI.— H  H 


it  instructs  us  in  regard  to  our  own  destiny.  The  au- 
thor closes  by  a  discussion  of  free  will.  See  Diet,  des 
Sciences  2^hilos,  iv,  289-291,  s.  v. — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog. 
Generale,  s.  v, 

Moneta,  an  Italian  theologian  and  member  of  the 
order  of  the  Dominicans  at  Cremona,  flourished  in  the 
13th  century.  He  was,  before  entering  the  order,  pro- 
fessor in  the  University  of  Bologna.  He  was  noted  for 
his  sense  and  his  zeal  against  the  false  teachers  of  his 
time.  He  died  about  1240.  Moneta  left  a  Summa  con- 
tra Catharos  et  Waldenses  (Rome,  1643).  He  is  also 
supposed  to  be  the  author  of  Compendium  logicce  propter 
minus  eruditos.  See  Arisius,  Cremona  literata ;  Echard, 
Bibliotheca  Prcedicatorum  (Paris,  1719-31,  2  vols,  fol.), 
i,  122 — Wetzer  u.Welte,  Kirchen-Lexihon,  xii,  800,807. 

Money  (Heb.  ClO?,  ke'seph,  silver,  as  often  rendered, 
Chald.  t]03,  Icesaph',  Gr.  apyvpiov,  silver,  or  a  piece  of 
silver,  as  often  rendered;  also  Kipjia,  coin,  i.  q.  vojuaiia, 
lit.  a  standard  of  valuation ;  x<^^i^oq,  brass,  as  some- 
times rendered ;  and  XP^1F<^^  l>t.  whatever  is  used  in  ex- 
change). In  the  present  article  we  shall  confine  our 
attention  to  the  consideration  of  the  subject  in  general, 
leaving  the  discussion  of  particular  coins  for  the  special 
head  of  Numismatics.  The  value  of  the  coins  is  a  rel- 
ative thing,  depending,  with  respect  to  the  several 
pieces  and  kinds  of  metal,  in  part  upon  the  ascertained 
weight  (i.  e.  intrinsic  value,  for  which  see  METnoLOCJv), 
and  in  part  upon  the  interchange  of  the  mintage  of  va- 
rious ages  and  countries  prevalent  in  Palestine  (i.  e.  cur- 
rent value;  see  Coin);  but,  in  point  of  fact,  still  more 
upon  the  depreciation  of  the  precious  metals  as  a  stand- 
ard of  value  in  comparison  with  purchasable  articles, 
arising  from  the  fluctuating  balance  of  supply  and  de- 
mand (i.  e.  mercantile  value).  In  the  following  discus- 
sion we  make  large  use  of  the  articles  in  Kitto's  and 
Smith's  Dictionaries. 

I.  Non-metallic  Currency.  —  Different  commodities 
have  been  used  as  money  in  the  primitive  state  of  soci- 
ety in  all  countries.  Those  nations  which  subsist  by 
the  chase,  such  as  the  ancient  Kussians  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  North  American  Indians,  use  the  skins  of  the 
animals  killed  in  hunting  as  money  (Storch,  Traite 
d'Lconomie  Politique,  tome  i).  In  a  pastoral  state  of 
society  cattle  are  chiefly  used  as  money.  Thus,  ac- 
cording to  Homer,  the  armor  of  Diomede  cost  nine 
oxen,  and  that  of  Glaucus  one  hundred  (Iliad,  vi,  235). 
The  etymology  of  the  Latin  word  pecimia,  signifying 
money,  and  of  all  its  derivatives,  affords  sufficient  evi- 
dence that  cattle  (pecus)  were  the  first  money  of  the 
Komans.  They  were  also  used  as  money  by  the  Ger- 
mans, whose  laws  fix  the  amount  of  penalties  for  par- 
ticular offences  to  be  paid  in  cattle  (Storch,  I.  e.).  In 
agricultural  countries  corn  would  be  used  in  remote 
ages  as  money,  and  even  at  the  present  day  it  is  not 
unusual  to  stipulate  for  corn  rents  and  wages.  Various 
commodities  have  been  and  are  still  used  in  different 
countries.  Smith  mentions  salt  as  the  common  money 
of  Abj'ssinia  (Wealth  of  Nations,  i,  4).  A  species  of 
cyprcea,  called  the  cou-ry,  gathered  on  the  shores  of  the 
Maldive  Islands,  and  of  which  6400  constitute  a  rupee, 
is  used  in  making  small  payments  throughout  India, 
and  is  the  only  money  of  certain  districts  in  Africa. 
Dried  fish  forms  the  money  of  Iceland  and  Newfound- 
land; sugar  of  some  of  the  West  India  Islands;  and 
among  the  first  settlers  in  America  corn  and  tobacco 
were  used  as  money  (Holmes's  A7nerican  Annals). 
Smith  mentions  that  at  the  time  of  the  publication  of 
the  Wealth  of  Nations  there  was  a  village  in  Scotland 
where  it  was  customary  for  a  workman  to  carry  nails  as 
money  to  the  baker's  shop  or  the  alehouse  (i,  4). 

II.  Bullion  as  a.  Circulating  Medium. — 1.  A  long  pe- 
riod of  time  must  have  intervened  between  the  first  in- 
troduction of  the  precious  metals  into  commerce  and 
their  becoming  generally  used  as  money.  The  peculiar 
qualities  which  so  eminently  fit  them  for  this  purpose 
would  only  be  gradually  discovered.    They  would  prob- 


MONEY 


482 


MONEY 


ably  be  first  introduced  in  their  gross  and  unpurified 
state.  A  sheep,  an  ox,  a  certain  quantity  of  corn,  or 
any  other  article,  would  afterwards  be  bartered  or  ex- 
changed for  pieces  of  gold  or  silver  in  bars  or  ingots,  in 
the  same  way  as  they  would  formerly  liavc  been  ex- 
changed for  iron,  copper,  cloth,  or  anything  else.  The 
merchantis  would  soon  begin  to  estimate  their  proper 
value,  and,  in  effecting  exchanges,  would  first  agree 
upon  the  quality  of  the  metal  to  be  given,  and  then  the 
quantity  which  its  possessor  had  become  bound  to  pay 
■would  be  ascertained  by  weight.  This,  according  to 
Aristotle  and  Pliny,  was  the  manner  in  which  the  pre- 
cious metals  were  originally  exchanged  in  Greece  and 
Italy.  The  same  practice  is  still  observed  in  different 
countries.  In  many  parts  of  China  and  Ab.yssinia  the 
value  of  gold  and  silver  is  always  ascertained  by  weight 
(Goguet,  De  VOrigine  dfs  Loix,  etc.).  Iron  was  the 
first  money  of  the  Lacedajmoniaus,  and  copper  of  the 
Romans.    See  Mktal. 

In  the  many  excavations  which  have  been  made  in 
Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Babylonia,  no  specimen  of  coined 
money  has  yet  been  discovered.  Egyptian  money  was 
composed  of  rings  of  gold  and  silver;  and  in  Assyria 
and  Babylonia  only  clay  tablets  commemorating  grants 
of  money  specified  by  icevjht  have  been  found  in  consid- 
erable numbers;  while  in  Phoenicia  no  pieces  of  an  an- 
tiquity earlier  than  the  Persian  rule  have  yet  come  to 
light  (Hawlinson,  Herod,  i,  G8-t).  Nor,  indeed,  is  coined 
money  found  in  the  time  of  Homer,  but  traffic  was  pur- 
sued either  by  simple  barter  {Iliad,  vii,  472 ;  xxiii,  702 ; 
Odij.is.  i,  430);  or  by  means  of  masses  of  unwrought 
metal,  like  lumps  of  iron  {Iliad,  xxiii,  826;  Odyss.  i, 
184) ;  or  by  quantities  of  gold  and  silver,  especially  of 
gold  {Iliad,  ix,  122,  279;  xix,  247;  xxiii,  2G9;  O'di/ss. 
iv,  129;  viii,  393;  ix,  202,  etc.),  which  latter  metal, 
called  by  Homer  rdXavrov  xpuaov,  seems  to  be  the 
only  one  measured  by  weight.  Before  the  introduction 
of  coined  money  into  Greece  by  Pheidon,  king  of  Argos, 
there  was  a  currency  of  ojitXiaKoi,  '-spits"  or  "skew- 
ers," six  of  which  were  considered  a  handful  {cpaxf-nf)- 
Colonel  Leake  thinks  that  they  were  small  pyramidal 
pieces  ofsilrer  {Xu7n.  Chron.  xvii,  203 ;  Num.  Ilellen.  p.  1, 
appendix),  but  it  seems  more  probable  that  they  were 
nails  of  iron  or  copper,  capable  of  being  used  as  spits  in 
the  Homeric  fashion.  This  is  likely,  from  the  fact  that 
six  of  them  made  a  handful,  and  that  they  were  there- 
fore of  a  considerable  size  (Kawlinson,  Herod  App.  i, 
688).      See  ■Weights. 

It  is  well  known  that  ancient  nations  which  were 
without  a  coinage  weighed  the  precious  metals,  a  prac- 
tice represented  on  the  Egyptian  monuments,  on  which 
gold  and  silver  are  shown  to  liave  been  kept  in  the 
form  of  rings  (see  cut  under  the  art.  Balancks).  The 
gold  rings  found  in  the  Celtic  countries  have  been  held 
to  have  had  the  same  use.  It  has  indeed  been  argued 
that  this  coidd  not  have  been  the  case  with  the  latter, 
since  they  show  no  monetary  sj-stem ;  yet  it  is  evident 
from  their  weights  that  they  all  contain  complete  mul- 
tiples or  i)arts  of  a  unit,  so  that  we  may  fairly  suppose 
that  the  Celts,  before  they  used  coins,  had,  like  the  an- 
cient Egyptians,  the  practice  of  keeping  money  in  rings, 
which  tliey  weighed  when  it  was  necessary  to  pay  a 
fixed  amount.  We  have  no  certain  record  of  the  use 
of  ring-money  or  other  uncoined  money  in  antiquity 
excepting  among  the  Egyptians.  With  them  the  prac- 
tice mounts  up  to  a  remote  age,  and  was  probably  as 
constant,  and  jjcrhaps  as  regulated  with  respect  to" the 
weiglit  of  the  rings,  as  a  coinage.  It  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  that  the  highly  civilized  rivals  of  the  Egyp- 
tians—the Assyrians  and  Babylonians— adopted,  if  they 
did  not  originate,  this  custom,  clay  tablets  having  been 
found  specifying  grants  of  money  by  weight  (Kawlinson, 
Herod,  i,  (Wl);  and  there  is  therefore  every  probability 
that  it  obtained  also  in  I'alestine,  although  seemingly 
unknown  in  (ireece  in  the  time  before  coinage  was  tlicre  I 
introduced.  There  is  no  trace  in  Egyjif,  however,  of  i 
any  different  size  in  the  rings  represented,  so  that  there  I 


is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  this  further  step  was 
taken  towards  the  invention  of  coinage. 

2.  The  first  notice  in  the  Bible,  after  the  flood,  of  un- 
coined money  as  a  representative  of  property  and  me- 
dium of  exchange,  is  when  Abraham  came  up  out  of 
Egypt  "verj'  rich  in  cattle,  in  silver,  and  in  gold"  (Gen. 
xiii,  2;  xxiv,  35).  In  the  furtlier  histon,-  of  Abraham 
we  read  that  Abimelech  gave  the  patriarch  "a  thou- 
sand [pieces]  of  silver,"  apparently  to  purchase  veils  for 
Sarah  and  her  attendants;  but  the  passage  is  extremely 
difficult  (Gen.  xx,  16).  The  Sept.  understood  shekels 
to  be  intended  {xiXia  cicpa\pa,  I.  r.  also  ver.  14).  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  tliat  they  were  right,  though  the 
rendering  is  accidentally  an  unfortunate  one,  their  cfiuiv- 
alent  being  the  name  of  a  coin.  We  next  find  "money" 
used  in  commerce.  In  the  purchase  of  the  cave  of  >Iach- 
pelah  it  is  said,  "And  Abraham  weighed  (^p"i"^^  to 
Ephron  the  silver  which  he  had  named  in  the  audience 
of  the  sons  of  Heth,  four  hundred  shekels  of  silver  cur- 
rent with  the  merchant"  C^HSp  "3";  Sept.  coKifiov 
tfjiiTopoig,  Gen.  xxiii,  16).  Here  a  currency  is  clearly 
indicated  like  that  which  the  monuments  of  Egypt  show 
to  have  been  there  used  in  a  very  remote  age;  for  the 
weighing  proves  that  this  currency,  like  the  Egyptian, 
did  not  bear  the  stamp  of  authority,  and  was  therefore 
weighed  when  employed  in  commerce.  A  similar  pur- 
chase is  recorded  of  Jacob,  who  bought  a  parcel  of  a  field 
at  Shalem  for  a  hundred  kesitahs  (xxiii,  18,  19).  The 
occurrence  of  a  name  different  from  shekel,  and,  unlike  it, 
not  distinctly  applied  in  any  other  passage  to  a  weight, 
favors  the  idea  of  coined  money.  But  what  is  the  kesi- 
tah  (n::"'wp)?  The  old  interpreters  supposed  it  to 
mean  a  lamb,  and  it  has  been  imagined  to  have  been  a 
coin  bearing  the  figure  of  a  lamb.  There  is  no  known 
etymological  ground  for  this  meaning,  the  lost  root,  if 
we  compare  the  Arabic  kasat,  '■  lie  or  it  divided  equal- 
ly," being  perhaps  connected  with  the  idea  of  division. 
Yet  the  sanction  of  the  Sept.,  and  the  use  of  weights 
having  the  forms  of  lions,  bulls,  and  geese,  by  the  Egyp- 
tians, Assyrians,  and  probably  Persians,  must  make  us 
hesitate  before  we  abandon  a  rendering  so  singularly 
confirmed  by  the  relation  of  the  hat'in  pectinia  aiid  pe- 
dis. Throughout  the  histon,-  of  Joseph  we  find  evi- 
dence of  the  constant  use  of  money  in  preference  to  bar- 
ter. This  is  clearly  shown  in  the  case  of  tlic  famine, 
when  it  is  related  that  all  the  money  of  Egypt  and  Ca- 
naan was  paid  for  com,  and  that  then  the  Egyptians 
had  recourse  to  barter  (xlvii,  13-26),  It  would  thence 
appear  that  money  was  not  very  plentiful.  In  the  nar- 
rative of  the  visits  of  Joseph's  brethren  to  Egypt,  we 
find  that  they  purchased  corn  with  money,  which  was, 
as  in  Abraham's  time,  weighed  silver,  for  it  is  spoken  of 
by  them  as  having  been  restored  to  their  sacks  in  "  its 
[full]  weight"  (xliii,  21).  At  the  time  of  the  exodus 
money  seems  to  have  been  still  weighed,  for  the  ransom 
ordered  in  the  law  is  stated  to  be  half  a  shekel  for  each 
man — "  half  a  shekel  after  the  shekel  of  the  sanctuarj-, 
[of]  twenty  gerahs  the  shekel"  (Exod.  xxx,  13).  Here 
the  shekel  is  evidently  a  weight,  and  of  a  sjiecial  system 
of  which  the  standard  examples  were  probably  kejit  by 
the  priests.  Tliroughout  the  law  money  is  spoken  of 
as  in  ordinary  use;  but  only  silver  money,  gold  being 
mentioned  as  valuable,  but  not  clearly  as  used  in  the 
same  manner.  This  distinction  appears  at  the  time  of 
the  conquest  of  Canaan.  When  .Fericho  was  taken, 
Achan  embezzled  from  the  spoils  200  shekels  of  silver, 
and  a  wedge  (Heb.  tongue)  of  gold  {yXuxiaav  ftiav  \pv- 
ai)v)  of  50  shekels'  weight  (.losh.  vii,  21),  Throughout 
the  period  before  the  return  from  Babylon  this  distinc- 
tion seems  to  obtain:  whenever  anything  of  the  vhiir- 
acler  of  money  is  mentioned  the  usual  metal  is  silver, 
and  gold  generally  occurs  as  the  material  of  ornaments 
and  costly  works.  Thus  silver,  as  a  medium  of  com- 
merce, may  be  met  with  among  the  nations  of  the  Phi- 
listines (Gen.  XX.  16;  Judg.  xvi,  5,  18;  xvii,  2  sq.\  the 
Midianites  (Gen.  xxxvii,  28),  and  the  Syrians  (2  Kings 


MONEY 


483 


MONEY 


V,  5,  23).  By  the  laws  of  Moses,  the  value  of  laborers 
and  cattle  (Lev.  xxvii,  3  sq.;  Numb,  iii,  45  sq.),  houses 
and  fields  (Lev.  xxvii,  14  sq.),  provisions  (Deut.  ii,  6, 
28 ;  xiv,  26),  and  all  fines  for  offences  (Exod.  xxi,  xxii), 
were  determined  b\'  an  estimate  in  money.  The  contri- 
butions to  the  Temple  (Exod.  xxx,  13 ;  xxxviii,  26), 
the  sacrifice  of  animals  (Lev.  v,  15),  the  redemption  of 
the  first-born  (Numb,  iii,  45  sq. ;  xviii,  15  sq.),  the  pay- 
ment to  the  seer  (1  Sam.  ix,  7  sq.) — in  all  these  cases 
the  payment  is  always  represented  as  silver.  It  seems 
probable  from  many  passages  in  the  Bible  that  a  sys- 
tem of  jewel  currency  or  ring-money  was  also  adopted 
as  a  medium  of  exchange.  The  case  of  Kebekah,  to 
whom  the  servant  of  Abraham  gave  "a  golden  ear-ring 
of  half  a  shekel  weight,  and  two  bracelets  for  her  hands 
of  ten  shekels'  weight  of  gold"  (Gen.  xxiv,  22),  proves 
that  the  ancients  made  their  jewels  of  a  specific  weight, 
so  as  to  know  the  value  of  the  ornaments  in  employing 
them  as  money.  That  the  Egyptians  kept  their  bull- 
ion in  jewels  seems  evident  from  the  plate  given  by  Sir 
Gardner  Wilkinson,  copied  from  the  catacombs,  ^vhere 
they  are  represented  as  weighing  rings  of  sih-er  and  gold ; 
and  is  further  corroborated  by  the  fact  of  tlie  Israelites 
having,  at  their  exodus  from  Egypt,  borrowed  "jewels 
of  silver  and  jewels  of  gold,"  and  "spoiled  the  Egyp- 
tians" (Exod.  xii,  35,  36).  According  to  the  ancient 
drawings,  the  Egyptian  ring-money  was  composed  of 
perfect  rings.  So,  too,  it  would  appear  that  the  money 
used  by  the  children  of  Jacob,  when  they  went  to  pur- 
chase corn  in  Egypt,  was  also  an  annular  currency  (Gen. 
xlii,  35).  Their  money  is  described  as  "bundles  of 
money"  (Sept.  StajJioi),  and  when  returned  to  them,  was 
found  to  be  "of  [full]  weight"  (Gen.  xliii,  21).  The 
account  of  the  sale  of  Joseph  by  his  brethren  affords 
another  instance  of  the  employment  of  jewel  ornaments 
as  a  medium  of  exchange  (Gen.  xxxvii,  28) ;  and  that 
the  Midianites  carried  the  whole  of  their  bullion  wealth 
in  the  form  of  rings  and  jewels  seems  more  than  proba- 
ble from  the  account  in  Numbers  of  the  spoiling  of  the 
Midianites — "We  have  therefore  brought  an  oblation 
for  the  Lord  what  every  man  hath  gotten  (Heh.  found), 
of  jewels  of  gold,  chains,  and  bracelets,  rings,  ear-rings, 
and  tablets,  to  make  an  atonement  for  our  souls  before 
the  Lord.  And  Moses  and  Eleazar  the  priest  took  the 
gold  of  them,  even  all  wrought  jewels"  (xxxi,  50,  51). 
The  friends  of  Job,  when  visiting  him  at  the  end  of 
the  time  of  his  trial,  each  gave  him  a  piece  of  money 
(niS^bp)  and  an  ear-ring  of  gold  (3lnt  CtS;  Sept.  re- 
TpdSpaxfiov  xpvaov  Kai  aff>)nov),  thus  suggesting  the 
employment  of  a  ring-currency.  (For  this  question,  see 
W.  B.  Dickinson  in  the  Nujn.  Ckron.  vols,  vi  to  xvi,  pas- 
sini).  A  passage  in  Isaiah  has  indeed  been  supposed 
to  show  the  use  of  gold  coins  in  that  prophet's  time : 
speaking  of  the  makers  of  idols,  he  says,  "  They  lavish 
gold  out  of  the  bag,  and  weigh  silver  in  the  balance" 
(xlvi,  6).  The  mention  of  a  bag  is,  however,  a  very 
insufficient  reason  for  the  supposition  that  the  gold  was 
coined  money.  Kings  of  gold  may  have  been  used  for 
money  in  Palestine  as  early  as  this  time,  since  they  had 
long  previously  been  so  used  in  Egypt ;  but  the  passage 
probably  refers  to  the  people  of  Babylon,  who  may  have 
had  uncoined  money  in  both  metals  like  the  Egyptians. 
Supposing  that  the  above-quoted  passages  relative  to 
a  gold  medium  of  exchange  be  not  admitted,  there  is  a 
passage  recording  a  purchase  made  in  gold  in  the  time 
of  David.  The  threshing-floor  of  Oman  was  bought 
by  David  for  600  shekels  of  gold  by  weight  (1  Chron. 
xxi,  25).  Yet  even  this  is  rendered  doubtful  by  the 
parallel  passage  mentioning  the  price  paid  as  50  shekels 
of  silver  (2  Sam.  xxiv,  24). 

It  seems  then  apparent,  from  the  several  authorities 
given  above,  that  from  the  earliest  time  silrer  was  used 
b}'  the  Hebrews  as  a  medium  of  commerce,  and  that  a 
fixed  weight  was  assigned  to  single  pieces,  so  as  to  make 
them  suitable  for  the  various  articles  presented  in  trade. 
Unless  we  suppose  this  to  be  the  case,  many  of  the 


above-quoted  passages  (especially  Gen.  xxiii,  16 ;  comp. 
2  Kings  xii,  4  sq.)  would  be  difficult  to  understand 
rightly.  In  this  latter  passage  it  is  said  that  the  priest 
Jehoiada  "  took  a  chest  and  bored  a  hole  in  the  lid  of 
it,  and  set  it  beside  the  altar,"  and  "the  priests  that 
kept  the  door  put  in  all  the  money  that  was  brought 
into  the  house  of  the  Lord."  These  passages  not  onlj' 
presuppose  pieces  of  metal  of  a  definite  weight,  but  also 
that  they  had  been  recognised  as  such,  either  in  aii  un- 
wrought  form  or  from  certain  characters  inscribed  upon 
them.  The  system  of  weighing  (though  the  Bible 
makes  mention  of  a  balance  and  weight  of  money  in 
many  places— Gen.  xxiii,  16;  Exod.  xxii,  17;  2  Sam. 
xviii,  12 ;  1  Kings  xx,  39 ;  Jer.  xxxii,  9, 10)  is  not  likely 
to  have  been  applied  to  every  individual  piece.  In  the 
large  total  of  603,550  half-shekels  (Exod.  xxxviii,  26\ 
accumulated  by  the  contribution  of  each  Israelite,  each 
itulividual  half-shelcel  could  hardly  have  been  weighed 
out,  nor  is  it  probable  that  the  scales  were  continually 
emploj^ed  for  all  the  small  silver  pieces  which  men  car- 
ried about  with  them.  For  instance,  that  there  were 
divisions  of  the  standard  of  calculation  is  evident  from 
the  passage  in  Exod.  xxx,  13,  where  the  half-shelcel  is 
to  be  paid  as  the  atonement  monej',  and  "  the  rich  shall 
not  give  more,  and  the  poor  shall  not  give  lesi'  (ver. 
15).  The.  fourth  part  of  the  shekel  must  also  have  been 
an  actual  piece,  for  it  was  all  the  silver  that  the  servant 
of  Saul  had  at  hand  to  pay  the  seer  (1  Sam.  ix,  8,  9). 
If  a  quantity  of  pieces  of  various  weights  were  carried 
about  by  men  in  a  purse  or  bag,  as  was  the  custom  (2 
Kings  V,  23;  xii,  10;  Gen.  xlii,  35),  without  having 
their  weight  marked  in  some  manner  upon  them,  what 
endless  trouble  there  must  have  been  in  buying  or  sell- 
ing, in  paying  or  receiving.  From  these  facts  we  may 
safely  assume  that  the  Israelites  had  already,  before  the 
exile,  known  silver  pieces  of  a  definite  weight,  and  used 
them  in  trade.  By  this  is  not  meant  coins,  for  these  are 
pieces  of  metal  struck  under  an  authority.  A  curious 
passage  is  that  in  Ezekiel  (xvi,  36),  which  has  been 
supposed  to  speak  of  brass  money.  The  Hebrew  text 
has  T^ri'i^na  ~S"^"f7  "i?!';  which  has  been  rendered  by 
the  Vulg.  "  quia  effusum  est  ses  tuum,"  and  by  the  A.  Y. 
"because  thy Jillhiness  was  poured  out."  As  brass  was 
the  latest  metal  introduced  for  money  into  Greece,  it 
seems  very  unlikely  that  we  shoulil  have  brass  money 
current  at  this  period  in  Palestine:  it  has,  however, 
been  supposed  that  there  was  an  independent  copper 
coinage  in  farther  Asia  before  the  introduction  of  silver 
money  by  the  Seleucidte  and  the  Greek  kings  of  Bactri- 
ana.  The  terms  ClOD  i^n  (Psa.  Ixviii,  30)  and  rTni:!* 
J]t33  (1  Sam.  ii,  36)  are  merely  expressive  of  any  small 
denomination  of  money.     See  Silver. 

III.  Coined  Money. — 1.  The  Antiquity  of  Coinage.— 
There  are  two  generally  received  opinions  as  to  who 
were  the  inventors  of  the  coining  of  money.  One  is 
that  Phidon,  king  of  Argos,  coined  both  gold  and  silver 
money  at  vEgina  at  the  same  time  that  he  introduced 
a  system  of  weights  and  measures  (Ephor.  ap.  Strabo, 
viii,  376;  Pollux,  ix,  83;  ^lian,  Var.  Hist,  xii,  10; 
Marm.  Par.).  The  date  of  Phidon,  according  to  the 
Parian  marble,  is  B.C.  895,  but  Grote  places  him  be- 
tween 770  and  730,  while  Clinton,  Bcickh,  and  Mliller 
place  him  between  783  and  744  (Grote,  Hist,  of  Greece, 
iv,  419,  note).  The  other  statement  is  that  the  Lyd- 
ians  "  were  the  first  nation  to  introduce  the  use  of  gold 
and  silver  coin"  (Herod,  i,  94).  This  latter  assertion 
was  also  made,  according  to  Pollux  (ix,  6,  83),  by  Xe- 
nophanes  of  Colophon,  and  is  repeated  by  Eustathius 
(ap.  Dionys.  Perieg.  v,  840).  The  early  coins  of  ^Egina 
and  Lydia  have  a  device  on  one  side  only,  the  reverse 
being  an  incuse  square  {quadratum  incusum).  On  the 
obverse  of  the  yEginetan  coins  is  a  tortoise,  and  on  those 
of  the  Lydian  the  head  of  a  lion.  The  reverse,  how- 
ever, of  the  uEginetan  coins  soon  shows  the  incuse  square 
divided  into  four  parts  by  raised  lines,  the  fourth  quar- 
ter being  again  divided  by  a  diagonal  bar,  thus  forming 


MONEY 


484 


MOXEY 


four  compartments.  Apart,  however,  from  the  historj- 
relative  to  these  respective  coinages,  which  decidedly  is 
in  favor  of  a  Lydian  origin  (Kawlinson,  Ilerod.  i,  083 ; 
Grotefend,  Xnm.  Citron,  i,  235)  against  the  opinion  of  the 
late  colonel  Loake  {Num.  JIM.  App.),  the  Lydian  coins 
seem  to  be  ruder  than  those  of  ^gina,  and  it  is  probable 
that  while  the  idea  i){ impress  may  be  assigned  to  Lydia, 
the  perfecting  of  the  silver  and  adding  a  reverse  t>jpe, 
thereby  completing  the  art  of  coinage,  may  be  given  to 
iEgina  (\V.  H.  Dickinson,  Num.  Chron.  ii,  128).  It  may  be 
remarked  that  Herodotus  does  not  speak  of  the  coins  of 
Lydia  when  a  kingdom,  which  coins  have  for  their  typo 
the  heads  of  a  lion  and  bull  facing,  and  which  in  all 
probability  belong  to  Croesus,  but  of  the  electrum  staters 
of  Asia  JMinor.  If  we  conclude  that  coinage  commenced 
in  European  and  Asiatic  Greece  about  the  same  time, 
the  next  question  is  whether  we  can  approximately  de- 
termine the  date.  This  is  extremely  difficult,  since  there 
are  no  coins  of  a  known  period  before  the  time  of  the 
expedition  of  Xerxes.  The  pieces  of  that  age  are  of  so 
archaic  a  style  that  it  is  hard,  at  first  sight,  to  believe 
that  there  was  any  length  of  time  between  them  and  the 
rudest,  and  therefore  earliest,  of  the  coins  of  .Egina  or 
the  Asiatic  coast.  It  must,  however,  be  recollected  that 
in  some  conditions  the  growth  or  change  of  art  is  ex- 
tremely slow,  and  that  this  was  the  case  in  the  early 
period  of  Greek  art  seems  evident  from  the  results  of 
the  excavations  on  what  we  may  believe  to  be  the  old- 
est sites  in  Greece.  The  lower  limit  obtained  from  the 
evidence  of  the  coins  of  known  date  may  perhaps  be 
conjectured  to  be  two,  or  at  most  three,  centuries  before 
their  time;  the  higher  limit  is  as  vaguely  determined 
by  the  negative  evidence  of  the  Homeric  writings,  of 
which  we  cannot  guess  the  age,  excepting  as  being  before 
the  first  Olympiad.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  reasonable  to 
earn,'  up  (Jreek  coinage  to  the  8th  century  B.C.  Purely 
Asiatic  coinage  cannot  be  taken  up  to  so  early  a  date. 
The  more  archaic  Persian  coins  seem  to  be  of  the  time 
of  Darius  Ilystaspis,  or  possibly  of  Cyrus,  and  certainly 
not  much  older,  and  there  is  n<>  A>iuic-  iiKincy,  unless  of 
Greek  cities,  that  can  be  reasonably  .i— imied  to  an  ear- 
lier period.  Croesus  and  Cyrus  innlialily  originated  this 
branch  of  the  coinage,  or  else  Darius  Ilystaspis  followed 
the  example  of  the  Lydian  king.  Coined  money  may 
therefore  liave  been  known  in  I'alestine  as  early 
as  the  fall  of  Samaria,  but  only  through  com- 
merce with  the  Greeks,  and  we  cannot  suppose 
that  it  was  then  current  there.  The  earliest 
coined  money  current  in  Palestine  is  supposed  to 
be  the  Daric  (see  below). 

2.  The  principal  Monetary  Systems  of  A  ntiq- 
wiVy.— This  subject  has  already  been  ably  treated 
by  Jlr.  K.  S.  Poole  {Knciidopiedia  Britannica,  s.  v. 
Numismatics),  and  in  the  present  article  it  will  be 
sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  menlion  Iniotly  tlie 
different  talents  (((.v.). 

i.  The  Attic  talent  was  that  employed  in  most 
Greek  cities  before  the  time  of  Alexander,  who 
adopted  it,  and  from  that  time  it  became  almost  univer- 
sal in  (Jrcek  coinage.  Its  drachm  weighed  about  G7.o 
grains  Troy,  and  iis  tctradrachm  270  grains.  In  prac- 
tice it  rarely  reached  (liis  standard  in  coins  after  the 
Punic  War ;  at  Alexander's  time  its  tctradrachm  weighed 
about  2(')4  grains. 

ii.  The  JCi/inetan  talent,  which  was  used  at  as  early  a 
perioil  as  the  Attic,  was  employed  in  Greece  and  in  the 
islands.  Its  drachm  had  an  average  maximum  weight 
of  about  'M'l  grains,  and  its  didracbm  about  102  grains. 
When  abolished  under  Aicxandor,  lliis  weight  had  fallen 
to  about  180  grains  for  the  didraclini. 

iii.  The  Alerandrian  or  Ptolemaic  talent,  which  mav 
also  be  called  the  Earlier  Phnnician.  and  also  Macedo- 
nian, as  it  was  used  in  the  earlier  coinage  of  the  cities 
of  Macedon,  and  by  tiic  ^lacedonian  kings  before  Alex- 
ander the  (ireat,  was  restored  during  the  sway  of  the 
Ptolemies  into  the  talent  of  Egypt.  In  the  former  case 
its  drachm  weighed  about  112  grains,  and  its  so-called 


tetradrachm  about  224,  but  they  gradually  fell  to  much 
lower  weights.  In  the  latter  case  the  drachm  weighs 
about  50  grains,  and  the  tetradrachm  alxjut  220. 


of  Archelaus,  king  of  Macedon. 


iv.  The  later  Phanician  or  Carlhayinian  talent  was 
in  use  among  the  Persians  and  Phoenicians.  It  was 
also  employed  in  Africa  by  the  Carthaginians.  Its 
drachm  (or  hemidrachm)  weighed,  according  to  Mr, 
Burgon  (Thomas,  Sale  Cat.  p.  57),  about  59  grains,  and 
its  tetradrachm  (or  didrachm)  about  23G. 

V.  The  Euboic  talent  in  Greek  money  had  a  didrachm 
of  129  grains;  but  its  system  of  division,  though  coming 
very  near  the  Attic,  was  evidently  different.  The  weight 
of  its  didrachm  was  identical  with  that  of  the  Daric, 
showing  the  Persian  origin  of  the  system.  The  order 
of  origin  may  be  thus  tabulated  : 

Macedonian,      22-1  didrachms. 

I 
.iEginctan,         19C         " 


Attic-Solouian,  135 


Euhoic,  129. 

Later  Phoenician,  236. 


Respecting  the  Eoman  coinage,  we  may  here  state 
that  the  origin  of  the  weights  of  its  gold  and  silver 
money  was  undoubtedly  Greek,  and  that  the  denarius, 
the  chief  coin  of  the  latter  metal,  was  under  tlie  early 
emperors  equivalent  to  the  Attic  drachm,  then  greatly 
depreciated.  The  first  Koman  coinage  took  place,  accord- 
ing to  Pliny  {llkt.  Nat.  xxxiii,  3),  in  the  reign  of  Ser- 
vius  TuUius,  about  550  years  before  Christ;  but  it  was 
not  until  Alexander  of  IMacedon  had  subdued  the  Per- 
sian monarchy,  and  Julius  Cwsar  had  consolidated  the 
Roman  emjiire,  that  the  image  of  a  living  ruler  was  per- 
mitted to  be  stamped  upon  the  coins.    Previous  to  that 


Early  Roman  Coin. 

period  heroes  and  deities  alone  gave  currency  to  the 
money  of  imperial  Rome.  In  the  British  ]Muscimi  there 
is  a  specimen  of  the  original  Roman  as,  the  surface  of 
which  is  nearly  the  size  of  a  brick,  with  the  figure  of  a 
bull  impressed  upon  it. 

3.  Coined  ^foney  mentioned  in  the  Bible. — The  earliest 
mention  of  coined  money  in  the  Bible  refers  to  the  Per- 
sian coinage.  In  Ezra  (ii,  C9)  and  Xehemiah  (vii,  70) 
the  word  Cri-^SI^  occurs,  and  in  Ezra  (viii,  27)  and 
1  Chron,  (xxix,  7)  the  word  D-'rsn'^X,  both  rendered 
in  the  Sept.  l)y  \pv(yoi<c^  nnd  in  the  ^'ulg,  by  solidus 
and  drachma.  ^Many  opinions  have  been  put  forward 
concerning  the  derivation  of  the  words  adarlon  and 
darkemnn ;  but  a  new  suggestion  has  recently  Ix-en 
made,  which,  though  ingenious,  will  not,  we  think, 
meet  with  tnuch  siipiwrt.  Dr.  Levy  (./«</,  Miinzen,  p. 
19,  note)  thinks  that  the  root-word  is  "*'^,  "to  stretch," 
"tread,"  "step  forward,"  from  the  forward  placing  of 


MONEY 


485 


MONEY 


one  foot,  which  a  maii  does  in  bending  the  bow.  and 
that  from  this  word  was  formed  a  nomi,  '|13"|1,  or  with 
the  Aleph  prefixed  'pDIIN,  "archer,"  which  is  the  type 
upon  these  coins,  especially  as  the  ancients  called  the 
old  Persian  coins  ro^orai.  That  the  more  extended 
form  "|1^D"l1  could  have  been  formed  from  the  simple 
'pD"lT  is  very  possible,  as  the  Mem  could  easily  have 
been  inserted.  All,  however,  agree  that  by  these  terms 
the  Persian  coin  Daric  is  meant.      This  coin  was  a 


Daric.  (Obverse  :  Kiug  of  Persia  to  the  right,  kneeling, 
bearing  bow  and  javelin.  Keverse:  Irregular  incuse 
square.    British  Museum.) 

gold  piece  current  in  Palestine  imder  Cyrus  and  Ar- 
taxerxes  Longimanus.  The  ordinarj'  Daric  is  not  of 
uncoiitimon  occurrence;  but  Levy  (/.  c.)  has  given  a 
representation  of  a  double  piece,  thereby  making  the  or- 
dinarily received  Daric  a  half-Dark.  Of  the  double 
piece,  he  says,  only  three  are  known.  In  this  he  is  mis- 
taken, as  Mr.  Borrell,  the  coin-dealer,  has  a  record  of 
not  less  than  eight  specimens  (F.  W.  Madden,  Hist,  of 
Jewish  Coinage,  etc.,  p.  272,  note  4).  Besides  these  gold 
pieces,  a  silver  coin  also  circulated  in  the  Persian  king- 
dom, named  the  sighs.  See  Daric.  Mention  is  prob- 
ably made  of  this  coin  in  the  Bible  in  those  passages 
which  treat  of  the  Persian  times  (Neh.  v,  15;  comp.  x, 
32).  Of  these  pieces  twenty  went  to  one  gold  Daric 
(Mommsen,  Geschichte  des  Rom.  Munzwesens,  p.  13  and 
855),  which  would  give  a  ratio  of  gold  to  silver  of  one 
to  thirteen  (Herod,  iii,  95).  These  coins  also  ha\'e  an 
archer  on  the  obverse.  As  long,  then,  as  the  Jews  lived 
under  Persian  domination,  they  made  use  of  Persian 
coins,  and  had  no  struck  coins  of  their  own.  In  these 
coins  also  were  probablj'  paid  the  tributes  (Herod,  iii,  89). 

On  the  overthrow  of  the  Persian  monarchy  in  B.C. 
833,  by  Alexander  the  Great,  Palestine  came  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Greeks.  During  the  lifetime  of  Alex- 
ander the  country  was  governed  by  a  vice-regent,  and 
the  high-priest  was  permitted  to  remain  in  power.  Jad- 
dua  was  at  this  time  high-priest,  and  in  high  favor  with 
Alexander  (Josephus,  ^/^^  xi,  8, 5).  At  this  period  only 
Greek  coins  were  struck  in  many  cities  of  Palestine. 
The  coinage  consisted  of  gold,  silver,  and  copper.  The 
usual  gold  coins  were  staters,  called  by  Pollux  'A\t^(n>- 
cpiioi.  The  silver  coins  mostly  in  circulation  were  te- 
tradrachms  and  drachms.  There  are  two  specimens  of 
the  tetradrachms  struck  at  Scythopolis  (the  ancient 
Bethshan),  preserved  in  the  Gotha  and  Paris  collec- 
tions. There  are  also  tetradrachms  with  the  initials 
ion  struck  at  Joppa,  which,  being  a  town  of  consid- 
erable importance,  no  doubt  supplied  Jerusalem  with 
money.  Some  of  the  coins  bear  the  monograms  of  two 
cities  sometimes  at  a  great  distance  from  each  other, 
showing  evidently  some  commercial  intercourse  between 
them.  For  instance,  Sycamina  (Hepha)  and  Scythop- 
olis (Bethshan),  Ascalon  and  Philadelphia  (Eabbath- 
Ammon)  (jM tiller,  Numismatique  d'A  kxandre  le  Grarul, 
1464,  pi.  XX). 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great,  in 
B.C.  324,  Palestine  fell  into  the  hands  of  Ptolemy  I 
Soter,  the  son  of  Lagus,  from  whom  Antigonus  wrested 
it  for  a  short  time,  until,  in  B.C.  301,  after  the  battle  of 
Ipsus,  it  came  again  into  his  hands,  and  afterwards  was 
under  the  government  of  the  Ptolemies  for  nearly  one 
hundred  j'ears. 

The  same  system  of  coinage  was  continued  under  the 
Seleucidfe  and  Lagida?,  and  we  find  the  same  and  other 
mints  in  Palestine.  The  history,  from  that  time  to  B.C. 
139,  will  be  found  under  Ajjtiochus,  jMaccabees,  and 
other  names,  and  would  be  out  of  place  in  an  article 
which  more  especially  treats  only  of  money. 


The  next  distinct  allusion  to  coined  money  is  in  the 
Apocrypha,  where  it  is  narrated  in  the  first  book  of 
Maccabees  that  Antiochus  VH  granted  to  Simon  the 
Maccabee  permission  to  coin  money  with  his  own  stamp, 
as  well  as  other  privileges  (Kai  intTpiipd  aoi  Trotijo-at 
Ku/ifia  'tSiov  vofiifffia  T?j  X^P^  <^'"^-  ^^>  ^)'  '^  '"'^  "^'^^ 
in  the  fourth  year  of  Simon's  pontificate,  B.C.  140.  It 
must  be  noted  that  Demetrius  II  had  in  the  first  year 
of  Simon,  B.C.  143,  made  a  most  important  decree  grant- 
ing freedom  to  the  Jewish  people,  which  gave  occasion 
to  the  dating  of  their  contracts  and  covenants — '•  In  the 
first  year  of  Simon,  the  great  high-priest,  the  leader, 
and  chief  of  the  Jews"  (xiii,  34-42),  a  form  which  Jose- 
phus  gives  differently — "  In  the  first  year  of  Simon,  ben- 
•efactor  of  the  Jews,  and  ethnarch"  {Ant.  xiii,  6).  This 
passage  has  raised  many  opinions  concerning  the  Jew- 
ish coinage,  and  among  the  most  conspicuous  is  that  of 
M.  de  Saulcy,  whose  classification  of  Jewish  coins  has 
been  generally  received  and  adopted.  It  has  been  fully 
treated  upon  by  ]\Ir.  J.  Evans  in  the  Numismatic  Chron- 
icle (xx,^  sq.).  See  Numismatics.  The  Jews,  being 
the  worshippers  of  the  one  only  true  God,  idolatry  was 
strictly  forbidden  in  their  law  ;  and  therefore  their 
shekel  never  bore  a  head,  but  was  impressed  simply 


Early  Jewish  Shekel. 

with  the  almond  rod  and  the  pot  of  manna.  Later 
shekels  of  copper  bore  likewise  other  devices.  See 
Shekel. 


Hebrew-Samaritan  Copper  Coin,  in  the  Cuiico-Borgian 
Museum. 

4.  Money  inthe New  Testament. — The  coins  mentioned 
by  the  evangelists,  and  first  those  of  silver,  are  the  fol- 
lowing :  the  stater  is  spoken  of  in  the  account  of  the 
miracle  of  the  tribute  money.  The  receivers  of  di- 
drachms  demanded  the  tribute,  but  Peter  found  in  the 
fish  a  stater,  which  he  paid  for  our  Lord  and  himself 
(Matt,  xvii,  24-27).  This  stater  was  therefore  a  tetra- 
drachm,  and  it  is  very  noteworthy  that  at  this  period 
almost  the  only  Greek  imperial  silver  coin  in  the  East 
was  a  tetradrachm,  the  didrachm  being  probably  un- 
known, or  very  little  coined. 

The  didrachm  is  mentioned  as  a  money  of  account  in 
the  passage  above  cited,  as  the  equivalent  of  the  He- 
brew shekel. 

The  denarius,  or  Eoman  penny,  as  well  as  the  Greek 
drachm,  then  of  about  the  same  weight,  is  spoken  of  as 
a  current  coin.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  latter 
is  merely  employed  as  another  name  for  the  former.    In 


Roman  Denarius  (from  the  British  Museum). 


MONEY 


486 


MOXGIN 


the  famous  passages  respecting  the  tribute  to  Cajsar,  the 
Komau  denarius  of  the  time  is  correctlj'  described  (Matt, 
xxii,  15-21 ;  Luke  xx,  19-25).  It  bears  the  licad  of  Ti- 
berius, who  has  tlie  title  Cajsar  in  the  accompanying 
inscription,  most  later  emperors  having,  after  their  ac- 
cession, the  title  Augustus :  here  again  therefore  we  have 
an  evidence  of  the  date  of  the  Gospels.  See  Dkna- 
Eius;  DKACii.>r. 

Of  copper  coins  the  farthing  and  its  half,  the  mite, 
are  spoken  of,  and  these  probably  formed  the  chief  na- 
tive currency.     See  Farthing;  Mite. 

From  tlie  time  of  Julius  Cassar,  who  first  struck  a  liv- 
ing portrait  on  his  coins,  the  Koman  coins  run  in  a  con- 
tinued succession  of  so-called  CiBsars,  their  queens  and 
crown-princes,  from  about  B.C.  48  down  to  Komulus 
Augustulus,  emperor  of  the  West,  who  was  dethroned 
by  Odoaoer  about  A.D.  475  (Quarieily  liavkw,  Ixxii, 
358).     Sec  Coin. 


Copper  Coin  of  Vespasian  commemorating  the  Capture  i 

MOXEY-CIIANGER  (KoWvPiari'ic,  Matt,  xxi,  12  ; 
INIark  xi,  15;  John  ii,  15).  According  to  Exod.  xxx, 
13-15,  every  Israelite,  whether  rich  or  poor,  who  had 
reached  or  passed  the  age  of  twenty,  must  pay  into  the 
sacred  treasury,  whenever  the  nation  was  numbered,  a 
hall-shekel  as  an  offering  to  Jehovah.  Maimonides 
(^Shekdl.  cap.  1)  says  that  this  was  to  be  paid  annually, 
and  that  even  paupers  were  not  exempt.  The  Talmud 
excmi)ts  priests  and  women.  The  tribute  must  in  ev- 
ery case  be  paid  in  coin  of  the  exact  Hebrew  half- 
shekel,  about  15i(/.  sterling  of  English  money.  The 
premium  for  obtaining  by  exchange  of  other  money  the 
half-shekel  of  Hebrew  coin,  according  to  the  Talmud, 
was  a  KoWvlioc  (colh/bns),  and  hence  the  money-broker 
who  made  the  exchange  was  called  KoWvjiiffriii:  The 
collyhus,  according  to  the  same  authority,  was  equal  in 
value  to  a  silver  obolus,  which  has  a  weight  of  12  grains, 
and  its  money  value  is  about  \hl.  sterling.  The  money- 
changers (KoWvfiitJTai)  whom  Christ,  for  their  imiiie- 
ty,  avarice,  and  fraudulent  dealing,  expelled  from  the 
Temple,  were  the  dealers  who  supplied  half-shekels,  for 
such  a  premium  as  they  might  be  able  to  exact,  to  the 
Jews  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  who  assembled  at  Je- 
rusalem during  the  great  festivals,  and  were  required  to 
pay  their  tribute  or  ransom  money  in  the  Hebrew  coin ; 
and  also  for  other  purposes  of  exchange,  such  as  would 
be  necessary  in  so  great  a  resort  of  foreign  residents  to 
the  ecclesiastical  metropolis.  The  word  Tpa7ri'Ciri]Q 
{trapeziles),  which  we  find  in  Matt,  xxv,  29,  is  a  gen- 
eral term  for  banker  or  broker,  so  called  from  the  table 
(rpoTTi^j/r)  at  whicli  they  were  seated  (like  the  modern 
"  bank,"  i.  e.  heiicli).  See  ExcitAN(;KK.  Of  this  l)ranch 
of  business  we  find  traces  very  early  botli  in  the  Orien- 
tal and  classical  literature  (comp.  JIatt.  xvii,  24-27 :  see 
Lightfoot,  Jfor.  Ileh.  on  JIatt.  xxi,  12;  IJuxtorf,  Lex. 
Rabbin,  col.  20.32). — Smith.  It  is  mentioned  by  Volney 
that  in  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Turkey,  when  any  considera- 
ble payments  are  to  be  made,  an  agent  of  exchange  is 
sent  for,  who  counts  paras  by  thousands,  rejects  jiieces 
of  false  money,  and  weighs  all  the  seipiins  either  sepa- 
rately or  together.  It  has  hence  been  suggested  tliat 
the  "current  money  with  the  merchant"  mentioned  in 
Scripture  (<ien.  xxiii,  10),  niiglit  have  been  such  as 
was  approved  of  by  competent  judges,  whose  business  it 


was  to  detect  fraudulent  money  if  offered  in  payment. 
The  Hebrew  word  "iniO,.socA<-/',  signifies  one  who  goes 
about  from  place  to  place,  and  is  supposed  to  answer  to 
the  native  exchange-agent  or  money-broker  of  the  East, 
now  called  shroff.  See  Merchant.  It  appears  that 
there  were  bankers  or  money-changers  in  Judaia,  who 
made  a  trade  of  receiving  money  in  deposit  and  paying 
interest  for  it  (Matt,  xxv,  27).  In  the  Life  of  A  ratus,  by 
Plutarch,  there  is  mention  of  a  banker  of  Sicyon,  a  city 
of  I'eloponnesus,  who  lived  240  years  before  Christ,  and 
whose  wiiole  business  consisted  in  exchanging  one  species 
of  money  for  another. — Kitto.   See  Changer  ok  Money. 

MONEY,  LOVE  OF  {(piXapyvpia,  1  Tim.  vi,  10,  «i-- 
arice  or  cupidity).     See  Covetousness. 

MONEY,  PIECE  OF  (n-Jiirp,ic5t/a^',Gen.xxxiii, 
19 ;  Job  xlii,  II;"  piece  of  silver,"  Josh,  xxiv,  32 ;  ara- 
W/p,  Matt,  xvii,  27).     See  Kesitam  ;  Stater. 

Money,  Ecclesiastical.    See  Nu 

MIS.MATICS;    USLRY. 

Money-stoue  is,  in  ecclesiastical  lan- 
guage, tlie  upper  slab  of  a  tomb,  on  which 
payments  were  made  by  or  to  ecclesiastics. 

lere  is  one  at  Carlisle,  at  Y'ork,  and  at 
Dunilrv,  in   England. — Walcott,  ISacred 

A  rvha'ol.  s.  v. 

Monfort,  David,  D.D.,  a  Presby- 
terian divine,  was  born  in  Adams  County, 
'a., March  7, 1790.  His  ancestors  were  the 
Huguenot  De  Monforts  of  France,  who  were 
f  Jerusalem,  driven  to  Holland, and  afterwards  emigrated 
to  this  country  about  1640.  David  Monfort 
was  educated  at  Transylvania  University,  in  Lexing- 
ton, Ky.,  and  graduated  in  the  theological  seminary  at 
Princeton,  N.  J.,  in  1817 ;  was  licensed  by  Miami  Pres- 
bytery in  1818,  and  continued  all  his  life  a  missionarj' 
preacher,  acting  at  different  times  as  the  stated  supply 
of  Bethel  Church,  in  Oxford  Presbytery;  Terre  Haute 
Church,  Ind. ;  Sharon  Church,  at  Wilmington,  Ohio; 
and  a  church  in  Franklin,  Ind.,  where  he  labored  for 
twenty  years.  In  1854  he  became  stated  jiastor  of  the 
church  at  Knightstown,  Ind. ;  and  in  1857  he  removed 
to  Macomb,  111.,  where  he  remained  until  his  death, 
Oct.  18,  1800.  Dr.  Monfort  was  a  thoroughly  trained 
minister,  an  able  expositor,  an  excellent  linguist,  and 
an  eloquent  preacher.  He  published  two  sermons  on 
Baptism  and  one  on  Jiistificatiuti,  which  appeared  in  a 
volume  called  Orir/inal  Sermons  by  Presbyterian  Dicines 
in  the  3Iississippi  Valley.  See  Wilson,  Presh.  Hist.  Al- 
manac, 1802,  p.  104.     (J.  L.  S.) 

Monfort,  Peter,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  was 
born  in  Adams  County,  Pa.,  March  14, 1784.  He  was, 
like  the  above,  descended  from  the  Huguenot  De  Jlim- 
forts.  He  attained  his  education  through  great  effort, 
pursuing  his  course  with  much  dilliculty  for  want  of 
teachers  and  books.  After  several  years  of  private  tu- 
ition in  the  classics  and  theology,  he  was  licensed  in 
the  spring  of  1813,  and  ordained  in  1814  by  Miami  Pres- 
bytery ;  was  pastor  four  years  at  Yellow  Springs,  Ohio, 
and  eleven  years  in  Unity  and  Pisgah,  near  liis  early 
home ;  subseiiuently  he  undertook  the  work  of  a  domes- 
tic missionary  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  where  he  laliored  for 
three  years.  In  183G  he  transferred  his  relations  from 
the  Presbyterian  to  the  Associate  Reformed  Church, 
and  in  that  connection  preached  at  Syracuse,  in  Hamil- 
ton County,  Ohio;  Jacksonburg,  Quincy,  and  Aliddle- 
burg,  Ohio;  and  at  College  Corner.  He  died  Nov.  13, 
1805.  Mr.  Monfort  showed  much  ability  as  an  expos- 
itor of  the  Scriptures,  and  as  an  advocate  of  sound  doc- 
trinal theology.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  religious  expe- 
rience, uniform  life,  and  lowliness  of  mind.  See  Wilson, 
Presb.  Hist.  A  Imaiiar,  1807,  p.  301.     (J.  L.  S.) 

Mongin,  I:i).moni>e,  a  French  Roman  Catholic 
preaclior,  nntrd  lor  his  jtulpit  oratory,  was  born  in  1008 
at  Baroville,  diocese  of  Langres.     At  the  age  of  iiiue- 


MONGITORE 


487 


MONGOLIA 


teen  he  gave  proofs  of  his  talent  for  the  pulpit,  and  in 
after-years  the  French  Academy  successively  awarded 
him  three  different  prizes  for  eloquence.  He  was  in- 
trusted with  the  education  of  Louis-Henri  de  Bourbon 
and  of  Charles  de  Chamlais,  princes  of  the  house  of 
Conde.  Elected  a  member  of  the  Academy  in  the  place 
of  the  abbe  Gallois,  he  was  received  March  1, 1708,  and 
it  was  in  this  capacity  he  pronounced  in  the  chapel  of 
the  Lou\Te  the  funeral  oration  of  Louis  XIV.  He  was 
appointed  in  1711  abbe  of  Saint-Martin  d'Autun,  and 
became  bishop  of  Bazas  Sept.  24, 1724,  devoting  him- 
self entirely  to  the  administration  of  his  diocese.  In 
the  midst  of  the  unfortunate  quarrels  which  troubled 
the  Church  of  France  he  was  as  remarkable  for  his 
moderation  as  for  his  wisdom.  "  Believe  me,"  said  he 
to  an  over-zealous  prelate,  "  we  should  speak  much  and 
write  little."  Mongin  died  at  Bazas,  May  6, 1746.  He 
has  left  some  sermons,  some  panegyrics,  some  funeral 
orations  (among  others,  that  of  Henri  de  Bourbon,  prince 
de  Conde),  and  several  different  academical  pieces,  col- 
lected into  one  volume  (Paris,  1745,  4to).  D'Alenibert 
says  that  "  his  works  evince  more  taste  than  warmth, 
more  thought  than  emotion,  more  wisdom  than  imagi- 
nation ;  but  there  is  found  throughout  all  a  noble  and 
simple  tone,  a  sweet  sensibility,  an  elegant  and  pure 
diction,  and  that  sound  instruction  which  should  be 
the  basis  of  Christian  eloquence"  (^Hist.  des  Membres  de 
VAcademie  Fran^aise,  vol.  v). — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Ge- 
nerale,  s.  v. 

Mongitore,  Amtonino,  an  Italian  ecclesiastic,  noted 
mainly,  however,  for  his  literary  labors,  was  born  at 
Palermo,  May  1,  1GG3,  entered  the  priesthood,  and  was 
made  dean  of  the  cathedral  of  his  native  place,  and 
finally  became  one  of  the  papal  counsellors.  He  died 
June  6, 1743.  Besides  his  Bibliotlieca  Sicida  (Palermo, 
1708-14,  2  vols,  fol.),  which  contains  a  history  of  Sicily 
and  its  writers,  secular  and  ecclesiastic,  we  should  note 
Breve  Compendia  della  Vita  di  S.  Francisco  di  Sales 
(1695, 12mo):  —  Vita  de  due  Sante  Mamiliani,  arcives- 
covi  di  Palermo  (1701,  4to) ;  and  the  biographies  of 
other  celebrated  ecclesiastics,  and  also  a  histor}'  of  the 
Teutonic  order  of  knighthood.  See  Du  Pin,  Bihlioth. 
des  Auteurs  ecclesiast.  du  dix-huitieme  si'ecle. — Hoefer, 
Nouv.  Bioij.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Mongolia,  an  Asiatic  country,  now  a  part  of  China, 
situated  between  lat.  35°  and  52°  N.  and  long.  82°  and 
123°  E.,  is  bounded  by  the  Russian  government  of  Ir- 
kutsk in  Siberia,  N.E.  by  Mantchuria,  S.  by  the  Chinese 
provinces  of  Chili  and  Shan-si  and  the  Yellow  River, 
S.W.  by  Kansu,  and  W.  by  Cobdo  and  Hi,  and  has  an 
area  of  1,400,000  square  miles,  with  a  population  of 
2,000,000.     See  China. 

Geographical  Features. — It  is  chiefly  a  high  plain, 
3000  feet  above  the  sea,  almost  destitute  of  wood  and 
water.  In  the  central  part  is  the  great  sandy  desert  of 
Gobi,  which  stretches  from  N.E.  to  S.W.,  with  an  area 
estimated  at  600,000  square  miles.  The  chief  moun- 
tain ranges  of  Mongolia  are  the  Altai  and  its  various 
subordinate  chains,  which  extend  eastward,  under  the 
names  of  Tangnu,  Khangai,  and  Kenteh,  as  far  as  the 
Amur;  and  the  Alashan  and  Inshan  ranges,  which 
commence  in  lat.  42°  N.  and  long.  107°  E.,  and  run  N.E. 
and  N.  to  the  Amur,  in  lat.  53°  N.  The  rivers  of  Mon- 
golia are  chiefly  in  the  north.  The  Selenga,  Orkhon, 
and  Tula  unite  their  streams  and  flow  into  Lake  Bai- 
kal. The  Kerlon  and  Onon  rise  near  each  other,  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  Kenteh  range,  and  flow  in  a  N.E. 
direction  to  the  Amur.  In  the  south,  the  Siramuren 
and  its  branches  unite  in  the  Lian  River.  Lakes  are 
numerous,  and  some  of  them  are  large.  South  of  the 
desert  of  Gobi  are  the  Oling  and  Dzaring,  and  the  Ko- 
ko-nor  or  Blue  Sea,  which,  according  to  the  Chinese  ac- 
counts, is  190  miles  in  length  and  60  in  breadth.  In 
the  N.W.  part  of  the  country  lakes  abound,  the  largest 
of  which  are  the  Upsa-nor,  Altai-nor,  Alak-nor,  and  the 
Iki-ural.     Mongolia  is  divided  into  four  principal  re- 


gions :  1,  Inner  Mongolia,  lying  between  the  great  wall 
and  the  desert  of  Gobi ;  2,  Outer  Mongolia,  between  the 
desert  and  the  Altai  mountains,  and  reaching  from  the 
Inner  Hingan  to  the  Tien-shan ;  3,  the  country  about 
Koko-nor;  4,  Uliassutai  and  its  dependencies.  Inner 
jMongolia  is  divided  into  6  corps  and  24  tribes,  which 
are  again  divided  into  49  standards,  each  comprising 
about  2000  families  and  commanded  by  hereditary 
princes.  The  Kortchin  and  the  Ortus  are  the  princi- 
pal tribes.  Another  large  tribe,  the  Tsakhars,  occupy 
the  region  immediately  north  of  the  great  wall.  Outer 
]\Iongolia  is  divided  into  4  circles,  each  of  which  is  gov- 
erned by  a  khan,  or  prince,  who  claims  descent  from 
Genghis  Khan.  The  Khalkas  is  the  principal  tribe, 
and  their  4  khanates  are  divided  into  86  standards,  each 
of  which  is  restricted  to  a  particular  territory,  from 
which  it  is  not  allowed  to  wander.  The  country  about 
Lake  Koko-nor  is  occupied  by  Turguths,  Hoshoits,  Khal- 
kas, and  other  tribes,  arranged  under  29  standards.  Uli- 
assutai is  a  town  of  2000  houses,  in  the  western  part  of 
Mongolia,  and  lies  in  a  well-cultivated  valley  upon  the 
River  Iro.  Its  dependent  territories  comprise  1 1  tribes 
of  Khalkas,  divided  into  31  standards  {Amer.  Cjjclop.). 

But  little  is  accurately  known  of  the  natural  history 
of  Mongolia,  except  that  its  immense  plains  and  gloomy 
forests  are  inhabited  by  multitudes  of  wild  animals. 
The  camel,  double-humped  or  Bactrian,  exists  in  both 
the  wild  and  domesticated  state.  In  the  latter  condi- 
tion it  is  the  cow  and  horse  of  that  region.  It  gives 
milk  excellent  in  qualitj',  and  from  it  butter  and  cheese 
are  prepared,  and  at  the  same  time  it  is  the  camel 
which  serves  the  Mongolian  frequently  as  a  beast  of 
burden,  etc.  Very  little  of  Mongolian  soil  is  fit  for  culti- 
vation, rain  or  snow  rareh'  falling  in  sufficient  quanti- 
ties, except  on  the  acclivities  of  the  mountain  ranges. 
It  is  noticed,  however,  that  Avherever  agriculture  has 
been  attempted  the  climate  has  been  more  or  less  in- 
fluenced, and  changes  have  been  wrought ;  as  e.  g.  iu 
Southern  Mongolia,  where  the  Ghinese,  far  advanced 
beyond  the  Mongols  proper  in  culture,  introduced  agri- 
culture, Avith  the  cultivation  of  cereals,  which  formerly 
did  not  grow.  As  a  rule,  the  winter  lasts  nine  months, 
and  is  suddenly  succeeded  by  three  months  of  intense 
heat. 

Inhabitants. — The  natives  of  Mongolia  are  a  part  of 
the  Mongolian  race,  a  division  of  mankind  numerous 
and  widely  spread— according  to  Prof.  Dieterici's  esti- 
mate, in  1859,  counting  as  many  as  528,000,000  souls,  or 
about  half  the  human  race  ;  the  second  in  the  classifica- 
tion of  Blumenbach,  and  corresponding  in  almost  every 
respect  with  the  branch  designated  as  Turanian  by 
more  recent  ethnologists.  See  Origin  of  Man.  Under 
the  designation  of  Mongolians  are  included  not  only  the 
Mongols  proper,  but  the  Chinese  and  Indo-Chinese,  Thi- 
betans, Tartars  of  all  kinds,  Burmese,  Siamese,  Japanese, 
Esquimaux,  Samoieds,  Finns,  Lapps,  Turks,  and  even 
Magyars.  Collectively,  they  are  the  great  nomadic 
people  of  the  earth,  as  distinguished  from  the  Arj-ans, 
Shemites,  and  Karaites.  The  physical  characteristics 
of  the  Mongolians  in  their  primitive  state  are  thus  de- 
scribed by  Dr.  Latham  in  his  Bescn'jjtive  Ethnohgy : 
"  The  face  of  the  Mongolian  is  broad  and  flat.  This  is 
because  the  nasal  bones  are  depressed  and  the  cheek- 
bones stand  out  laterally ;  they  are  not  merely  project- 
ing, for  this  thej"-  might  be  without  giving  much  breadth 
to  the  face,  inasmuch  as  they  might  stand  for;vard.  .  .  . 
The  distance  between  the  eyes  is  great,  the  eyes  them- 
selves being  oblique,  and  their  carunculai  being  concealed. 
The  eyebrows  form  a  low  and  imperfect  arch,  black  and 
scanty.  The  iris  is  dark,  the  cornea  yellow.  The  com- 
plexion is  tawny,  the  stature  low.  The  ears  are  large, 
standing  out  from  the  head;  the  hps  thick  and  fleshy 
rather  than  thin,  the  teeth  somewhat  oblique  in  their 
insertion,  the  forehead  low  and  flat,  and  the  hair  lank 
and  thin."  Of  course,  such  a  description  as  this  cannot 
be  understood  as  applying  to  the  more  civilized  nations 
of  Mongol  origin,  such  as  the  Turks  and  Magyars,  es- 


MONGOLIA 


488 


MONGOLIA 


pecially  the  latter,  who  in  physical  appearance  differ 
but  little,  if  at  all,  from  other  European  nations. 

The  Monjjols  are,  with  a  few  exceptions,  nomadic  in 
their  mode  of  life,  living  in  tents  and  subsisting  on  ani- 
mal food,  tlie  product  of  their  Hocks  and  herds.  The 
Mongol  tent,  for  about  three  feet  from  the  ground,  is 
cylindrical  in  form ;  it  then  becomes  conical,  like  a 
pointed  hat.  Its  wood-work  is  composed  below  of  a 
trellis-work  of  crossetl  bars,  which  fold  up  and  expand 
at  pleasure.  Above  these  a  circle  of  poles,  fixed  in  the 
trellis-work,  meets  at  the  top,  like  the  slicks  of  an  um- 
brella. Over  the  wood-work  is  stretched  a  thick  cover- 
ing of  coarse  felt.  The  door  is  low  and  narrow,  and  is 
crossed  at  the  bottom  by  a  beam  which  serves  as  a 
threshold.  At  the  top  of  the  tent  is  an  opening  to  let 
out  the  smoke,  which  can  at  any  time  be  closed  by  a 
piece  of  felt  hanging  above  it,  to  which  is  attached  a 
long  string  for  the  purpose.  The  interior  is  divided 
into  two  compartments — that  on  the  left  being  for  the 
men,  while  that  on  the  right  is  occupied  by  the  women, 
and  is  also  used  as  a  kitclien,  the  utensils  of  which  con- 
sist chiefly  of  large  earthen  vessels  for  holding  water, 
wooden  pails  for  milk,  and  a  large  bell-shaped  iron  ket- 
tle. A  small  sofa  or  couch,  a  small  scpiare  press  or  chest 
of  drawers  (the  top  of  which  serves  as  an  altar  for  an 
idol),  and  a  number  of  goats'  horns  fixed  in  the  wood- 
work of  the  tent,  on  wliich  hang  various  utensils,  arms, 
and  other  articles,  complete  the  furniture  of  this  primi- 
tive habitation.  The  odor  pervading  the  interior  of 
the  Jlongol  tent  is,  to  those  not  accustomed  to  it,  dis- 
gusting and  almost  insupportable.  "This  smell,"  says 
M.  Hue,  "so  potent  sometimes' that  it  seems  to  make 
one's  heart  rise  to  one's  throat,  is  occasioned  by  the 
mutton-grease  and  butter  with  which  everything  on 
and  about  a  Tartar  is  impregnated.  It  is  on  account 
of  this  habitual  filth  that  they  are  called  Tsao-Ta-Dze 
('stinking  Tartars')  by  the  Chinese,  themselves  not 
altogether  inodorous,  or  bj'  any  means  particular  about 
cleanliness."  Household  and  family  cares  among  the 
Mongols  are  assigned  entirely  to  the  women,  who  milk 
the  cows,  make  the  butter  and  cheese,  draw  water, 
gather  fuel,  tan  skins,  and  make  cloth  and  clothes.  The 
occupation  of  the  men  consists  chiefly  in  conducting 
the  flocks  and  herds  to  pasture,  which,  as  they  are  ac- 
customed from  infancy  to  horseback,  is  an  amusement 
rather  than  a  labor.  They  sometimes  hunt  wild  ani- 
mals for  food  or  for  their  skins,  but  never  for  pleasure. 
When  not  on  horseback,  the  men  pass  their  time  in  ab- 
solute idleness,  sleeping  all  night  and  squatting  all  day 
in  their  tents,  drinking  tea  or  smoking.  Their  educa- 
tion is  very  limited.  Tlie  only  persons  who  learn  to 
read  are  the  lamas  or  priests,  who  are  also  the  painters, 
sculptors,  architects,  and  physicians  of  tlie  nation.  The 
training  of  the  men  who  are  not  intended  for  priests  is 
confined  to  the  use  of  the  bow  and  the  matchlock,  and 
a  thorough  mastery  of  horsemanship.  JI.  Hue  says: 
"When  a  mere  inl^ant,  the  Mongol  is  weaned,  and  as 
soon  as  he  is  strong  enough  he  is  stuck  upon  a  liorse's 
back  behind  a  man,  tlie  animal  is  put  to  a  gallop,  and 
the  juvenile  rider,  in  order  not  to  fall  off,  has  to  cling 
with  both  hands  to  his  teacher's  jacket.  The  Tartars 
thus  become  accustomed  from  a  very  early  age  to  the 
movement  of  tlie  horse,  and  by  degrees  and  the  force 
of  haliit  tliey  identify  tliemselves,  as  it  were,  with  the 
animal.  Tlierc  is  perhaps  no  spectacle  more  exciting 
than  that  of  Mongol  riders  in  cliase  of  a  wild  horse. 
Tiiey  are  armed  witli  a  long,  heavy  |)(ile,  at  the  end  of 
whicli  is  a  running-knot.  They  galloj)— they  Hy  after 
the  horse  they  arc  ptirsinng.  down  rugged  ravines  and 
up  precipitous  liills,  in  and  out,  twisting  and  turning  in 
their  rapid  course,  until  tliey  come  up  with  their  game. 
Tliey  then  take  the  bridle  of  their  own  liorsc  in  tlicir 
teeth,  seize  with  both  liands  tlieir  heavy  pole,  and, 
bending  forward,  throw  by  a  jiowerful  etlort  the  run- 
ning-knot around  the  wild  horse's  ncik.  In  tins  exer- 
cise the  greatest  vigor  must  be  combined  willi  the 
greatest  dexterity,  in  order  to  enable  tlicm  to  stop  short 


the  powerful  untamed  animals  with  which  they  have 
to  deal.  It  sometimes  happens  that  the  cord  and  pole 
are  broken  ;  but  as  to  a  horseman  being  thrown,  it  is  an 
occurrence  we  never  saw  or  heard  of.  Tlie  Mongol  is 
so  accustomed  to  ride  on  horseljack  that  he  is  like  a 
tish  out  of  water  when  he  sets  foot  on  the  ground.  His 
step  is  heavy  and  awkward;  and  his  bowed  legs,  his 
chest  bent  forward,  and  his  constant  looking  about  him, 
all  indicate  a  person  who  spends  the  greater  portion  of 
his  time  on  the  back  of  a  horse  or  a  camel.  The  Mon- 
gols marry  very  young,  and  their  marriages  are  regu- 
lated entirely  by  their  parents,  who  make  the  contract 
without  considting  the  young  jjcople  at  all.  Xo  dowry 
is  given  with  tlie  bride,  but,  on  the  contrary',  the  bride- 
groom's family  pay  a  considerable  price  for  the  maiden. 
A  plurality  of  wives  is  permitted,  but  the  first  wife  is 
always  the  mistress  of  the  household.  Divorce  is  very 
frequent,  and  is  effected  without  the  intervention  of 
either  the  civil  or  the  ecclesiastical  authorities.  The 
husband  wlio  wishes  to  repudiate  his  wife  sends  her 
back  to  her  parents  without  anj'  formality,  except  a 
message  that  he  does  not  require  her  any  longer.  This 
proceeding  does  not  give  offence,  as  the  family  of  the 
lady  retain  the  cattle,  horses,  and  other  property  given 
to  them  at  the  time  of  the  marriage,  and  have  an  op- 
portunity of  selling  her  over  again  to  a  fresh  purchaser. 
The  women,  however,  are  not  oppressed,  and  are  not 
kept  in  seclusion ;  thej'  come  and  go  at  pleasure,  ride 
on  horseback,  and  visit  from  tent  to  tent.  In  their 
manners  and  appearance  they  are  like  the  men — haugh- 
ty, independent,  and  vigorous.  The  chiefs  of  the  Jlon- 
gol  tribes  and  all  their  blood-relations  form  an  aristoc- 
racy, who  hold  the  common  people  in  a  mild  species  of 
patriarchal  servitude.  There  is  no  distinction  of  man- 
ners nor  of  mode  of  living  between  these  classes ;  and 
though  the  common  people  are  not  allowed  to  own 
lands,  they  frequently  accumulate  considerable  property 
in  herds  and  flocks.  Those  who  become  lamas  are  en- 
tirely free." 

History. — The  IMongolians,  as  a  race,  are  supposed  to 
be  the  same  who,  in  remote  antitpiity,  founded  what  is 
called  the  "Median  empire"  in  Lower  ChaUUva — an  em- 
pire, according  to  Rawlinson,  that  flourished  and  fell  be- 
tween 2458  and  223-1  B.C.,  that  is,  before  Nineveli  be- 
came known  as  a  great  city.  Thus  early  did  some  of 
these  nomadic  tribes,  forsaking  their  original  pastoral 
liabits,  assume  the  character  of  a  nation.  Another 
great  offshoot  from  this  slock  founded  an  empire  in 
China,  the  earliest  date  of  winch  it  is  impossilile  to 
trace,  but  which  certainly  had  reached  a  state  of  liigh 
civilization  at  least  2000  years  B.C.  In  early  Greek 
history  they  figure  as  Scytliiaiis,  and  in  late  Koman  as 
Huns,  carrying  terror  and  desolation  over  the  civilized 
world.  In  the  Middle  Ages  they  appear  as  IMongols, 
Tartars,  and  Turks.  In  tlie  beginning  of  the  13th  cen- 
tury Genghis  Khan,  originally  the  chief  of  a  small  ]\Ion- 
gol  horde,  conquered  almost  the  whole  of  Central  and 
Kastern  Asia.  His  sons  and  grandsons  were  equally 
successful,  and  In  1240-41  the  3Iongol  empire  extended 
from  the  sea-board  of  China  to  the  frontiers  of  Germany 
and  Poland,  including  Russia  and  Hungary,  and  tlic 
whole  of,\sia,  with  the  exceiilion  of  Asia  IMinor,  Arabia, 
India  and  the  Indo-Chinese  states,  and  Nortliern  Sibe- 
ria, This  vast  empire  soon  broke  up  into  a  number  of 
independent  kingdoms,  from  one  of  which,  Turkestan, 
arose  an()ther  tide  of  Mongol  invasion,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  Timftr  or  Tamerlane,  wlio  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  14th  century  reduced  Turkestan,  Persia,  Hindustan, 
Asia  Minor,  and  (icorgia  under  bis  sway,  and  broke  for 
a  time  tlie  Turkish  ])()wer.  On  the  death  of  liis  son, 
shah  Rokli,  tlie  Mongol  empire  was  subdivided,  and 
linally  absorbed  by  the  Persians  and  Usbeks ;  but  an 
otl'shoot  of  Timfir's  family  founded  in  the  IGth  century 
tlie  great  Mogul  empire  of  Delhi.  After  the  decline  of 
Timftr's  empire,  the  Turkish  branch  maintained  the 
glory  of  the  race,  and  spread  terror  to  the  very  heart  of 
Western  Europe.     In  the  Dili  century  the  Magyars,  a 


MONGOLIA 


489 


MONHEIM 


Iribe  of  Ugrians,  also  of  Mongol  extraction,  under  their 
leader  Arpad,  established  themselves  in  Hungarj',  where 
in  process  of  time  they  became  converted  to  Christian- 
ity, and  founded  a  kingdom  famous  in  European  history. 
See  Georgia;  Hungary;  Turkey. 

Religion.  —  («)  Heathenism. — The  primitive  religion 
of  the  Mongolians  was  no  doubt  largely  induenced  by 
the  inspired  faith,  if  it  did  not  to  some  extent  prevail 
among  them  for  some  time.  The  earliest  traces  reveal 
them  as  mostly  adherents  to  Shamanism  (q.v.).  There 
are,  however,  among  them,  according  to  the  different 
countries  in  which  they  reside,  and  to  the  several  names 
of  which  the  reader  has  been  referred,  various  other  re- 
ligions, as  Buddhism,  Confucianism,  Taouism,Jire-icor- 
ship,  payanism  of  different  kinds,  Mohammedanism,  and 
Christianity.  In  Mongolia  proper,  that  species  of  Buddh- 
ism known  as  Lamaism  (q.  v.)  was  introduced  in  the 
13th  centurj'  of  the  Christian  asra,  and,  like  the  Buddh- 
ists of  Thibet,  they  recognise  as  their  spiritual  head 
the  grand  lama  at  Lassa.  The  people  are  verj'  devout, 
and  generous  to  a  fault  in  their  support  of  religious  in- 
stitutions, and  hence  the  country  abounds  in  well-en- 
dowed lamasaries,  constructed  of  brick  and  stone  with 
elegance  and  solidity,  and  ornamented  with  paintings, 
sculptures,  and  carvings.  "  The  most  famous  of  these 
monasteries  is  that  of  the  great  Kuren,  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Tula,  in  the  country  of  the  Kalkas.  Thirty 
thousand  lamas  dwell  in  the  lamasary,  and  the  plain 
adjoining  it  is  alwaj-s  covered  with  the  tents  of  the  pil- 
grims who  resort  thither  from  all  parts  of  Tartary.  In 
these  lamasaries  a  strict  monastic  discipline  is  maintain- 
ed, but  each  lama  is  at  liberty  to  acquire  property  by 
practicing  as  physician,  by  casting  horoscopes,  or  by 
working  as  sculptor  or  painter,  or  in  any  occupation  not 
inconsistent  with  his  priestly  character.  Almost  all 
younger  sons  of  the  free  Mongols  are  devoted  from  in- 
fancy to  the  priesthood,  and  this  tendency  to  monasti- 
cism  is  encouraged  by  the  Chinese  government,  in  order 
to  keep  down  the  growth  of  population  among  the  Mon- 
gols. Almost  every  lamasary  of  the  first  class  possesses 
a  living  Buddha,  who,  like  the  grand  lama  of  Thibet,  is 
worshipped  as  an  incarnation  of  the  deity.  The  intlu- 
ence  of  these  personages  is  very  great;  and  the  Chinese 
emperors,  who  are  constantly  in  dread  of  the  Alongols, 
watch  the  living  Buddhas  with  constant  care,  and  spare 
no  pains  to  conciliate  them  and  win  over  to  their  inter- 
est those  who  manage  these  deities." 

(V)  Christianity. — The  Nestorians  (q.  v.),  who  dwelt 
in  large  numbers  among  the  Mongolians,  seem  to  have 
exerted  but  little  if  any  intiuence  on  this  heathen  peo- 
ple. What  was  by  the  early  Christians  regarded  as  an 
indication  of  their  leaning  towards  the  religion  and 
cidture  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  proves  to  have 
been  only  a  temporary  accommodation.  The  Western 
or  Roman  Church  has  made  repeated  attempts  to  con- 
vert the  Mongols.  In  the  13th  century,  when  their  in- 
vasion threatened  to  overthrow  European  society  and 
civilization,  the  Western  pontiff.  Innocent  IV  (1245), 
sent  two  embassies,  one  to  charge  these  sanguinary 
warriors  to  desist  from  their  desolating  inroads,  the 
other  to  win  them  over  to  Christianity.  The  first  of 
these,  consisting  of  Dominicans,  headed  by  one  named 
Ascelin  (Neander,  Kirchenyeschichte,  vii,  66),  approach- 
ed the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Mongol  forces  in  Per- 
sia, but  was  unsuccessful.  The  other,  consisting  of 
Franciscans,  headed  by  an  Italian,  Johannes  de  Piano 
Carpini,  a  disciple  and  devoted  friend  of  Francis  d'As- 
sisi,  pushed  quite  to  the  Tartaric  court,  and  approached 
the  khan  in  person  (1246) ;  but  though  they  secured  a 
hearing  before  the  Mongolian  throne,  they  yet  failed  to 
accomplish  more  than  that  the  Mongol  chief,  like  Vladi- 
mir of  Russia,  gave  a  patient  hearing  to  Romanist,  Nes- 
torian,  Buddhist,  and  Mohammedan,  who  each  in  their 
turn  sought  his  conversion  and  influence.  In  1253 
Louis  IX,  hearing  of  the  jMongolian's  tendency  towards 
Christianity,  despatched  another  Franciscan,  William  de 
jKubruiquis  (Neander,  vii,  69) ;  but  he  reported  that  the 


Mongolian  chief  listened  patiently  to  Christian  emissa- 
ries, '-filled  with  the  idea  that  the  Mongol  conquests 
would  come  to  an  end  unless  the  gods  of  foreign  coun- 
tries were  propitiated."  Onlj'  one  Christian  Church  had 
been  founded.  Rubruiquis,  however,  succeeded  in  bap- 
tizing about  sixty  persons ;  yet,  after  all,  Rubruiquis's 
success  was  not  flattering,  and  he  finally  returned  to 
Europe  disheartened.  The  removal,  five  years  later,  of 
the  capital  of  the  Mongol  empire  to  China  (q.  v.),  fur- 
ther obstructed  the  progress  of  Christianity  in  Mongo- 
lia. There  developed,  however,  among  its  simple  pas- 
toral tribes  an  article  of  belief  which  promised  much  for 
the  final  establishment  of  Christianity,  viz.  the  belief  in 
the  existence  of  one  almighty  Being.  In  their  heathen 
views,  of  course,  they  could  not  content  themselves  with 
acknowledging  an  earthly  ruler  unless  a  supernatural  ori- 
gin could  be  assigned  to  him,  and  they  made  the  khan 
the  son  of  this  one  almighty  Power,  an  earthl}'  ruler 
whom  all  men  were  bound  to  obey.  While  thus  there 
was  room  for  the  most  comprehensive  toleration,  there 
was  room  also  for  every  kind  of  superstition ;  and  the 
desire  to  bring  the  one  Sujireme,  living  apart  in  awful 
isolation,  into  nearer  communion  with  his  feeble  wor- 
shipper— to  bridge  over  the  awful  chasm  between  them 
— predisposed  the  people  to  a  composite  religion  of 
Buddhism  and  Lamaism  (see  Hardwick,  Christ  and  other 
Af asters,  vol.  ii,  Append.  2  ;  iii,  89 ;  Middle  Ayes,  p.  235). 
Still,  "  the  son  of  Heaven"  entertained  a  respect  for  all 
religions,  and  not  least  for  Christianity.  Jlarco  Polo, 
who  had  been  sent  there  by  Gregory  X  in  1274,  reports 
Kublai  Khan  as  saying :  '■  There  are  four  great  proph- 
ets who  are  reverenced  by  the  different  classes  of  man- 
kind. The  Christians  regard  Jesus  Christ  as  their  God ; 
the  Saracens,  IMohammed ;  the  Jews,  Moses ;  the  idol- 
ators,  Sakyamuni  Buddha,  the  most  eminent  among 
their  idols.  I  honor  and  respect  all  the  four"  {Travels, 
p.  167,  ed.  Bohn,  1854).  One  of  the  most  successful  of 
the  early  Christian  laborers  from  the  West  was  John  de 
Jlonte  Corvino,  who  went  to  Pekin  in  1292,  and  for 
eleven  years  kept  alive  the  flickering  spark  of  Christian- 
ity in  the  Tartar  realm.  He  translated  the  Scriptures 
for  its  people,  educated  their  youth,  and  trained  a  na- 
tive ministry.  Yet  even  his  labors  bore  fruit  only  while 
he  was  on  earth;  for  soon  after  the  close  of  his  life,  in 
1330, "  every  vestige  of  his  work  was  obliterated"  (Gie- 
seler,  Eccles.  Hist.\y,  259,  260 ;  Hardwick,  Ch.  Hist.  M. 
A .  p.  235,  237^.  This  was  caused  no  doubt  in  a  large 
measure  by  the  termination  of  the  Mongolian  rule  in 
China,  and  the  accession  of  the  Ming  dynasty  in  1370, 
which,  fearing  everj'thing  foreign,  banished  Christian- 
ity as  dangerous  to  their  interests.  It  remained  for  the 
Jesuits  to  plant  Christianity  anew.  The  missionary 
work  performed  in  Persia,  and  in  the  border  lands  of  the 
Caspian  Sea  and  in  Middle  Asia,  was  so  insignificant  that 
it  is  not  even  worth  mentioning.  See  Maclear,  Hist,  of 
Christian  Missions  in  the  M.  A.  (Loud.  1863,  12mo),  p. 
370-77 ;  Assemani,  Bibl.  Orient,  iii,  2  sq. ;  Hue,  Journey 
throvyh  the  Chinese  Empire;  Recollections  of  a  Journey 
through  Tartary  and  Thibet;  Schmidt,  Forschungen  im, 
Gebiete  der  dlteren  reliyiosen,  politischen,  u.  literarischen 
Bildiinysgeschichte  der  Mongolen  u.  Tibeter  (St.  Petersb. 
1824) ;  Tumerelli,  Kazan,  the  ancient  Capital  of  the  Tar- 
tar Khans.  (Lond.  1854,  2  vols.  12mo) ;  Neumann,  Die 
Vulker  des  siidlichen  Russlands  (Leipsic,  1847) ;  Aboul- 
Ghaze  Bihsidour  Khan,  Uistoire  des  Moyols  et  des  Tar- 
tares  (St.  Petersb.  1874),  vol.  ii ;  Daniels,  Handb.  d.  Geogr. 
i,  346  sq. ;  A  m.  Cyclop,  s.  v.     See  Tartary. 

Mongul,  Peter.     See  Monophysites. 

Monheim,  Johannes,  a  follower  of  the  great  De- 
siderius  Erasmus,  and  a  noted  teacher  of  the  16th  cen- 
tury, was  born  of  humble  parentage  at  Claussen,  near 
Elberfeld,  in  1509.  His  father  was  a  linen-draper,  and 
Monheim  entered  his  business  when  quite  young.  But 
his  superior  mental  endowments  soon  led  him  into  a 
different  course ;  and,  though  not  privileged  with  the 
advantages  of  a  careful  training,  he  yet  managed  to  ac- 


MONIALES 


490 


MOXIGLIA 


quire  a  good  classical  education.  It  is  said  that  he 
studied  with  Erasmus,  but  Hamelmann's  assertion  that 
IMimheim  studied  at  Miinster  and  Cologne  deserves 
more  credit.  When  but  twenty-three  years  old,  he  was 
elected  rector  of  the  school  at  Essen,  and  four  years  later 
he  received  a  call  to  Cologne  as  rector  of  the  schola 
melropnlitame  eccksice  Cohniensis.  Here  he  enjoyed 
intimate  connections  with  the  leaders  of  Erasmianism, 
and  in  a  short  time  became  so  popular  as  a  teacher  that 
he  attracted  students  from  every  direction.  In  1545 
he  received  and  accepted  a  very  Hattering  call  from  duke 
Willielm  of  Cleve  to  take  the  rectorship  of  the  newly 
founded  institute  at  DUsscldorf,  and  only  five  years 
after  his  inauguration  in  this  new  position  Monheim 
wrote  to  a  friend  that  his  scholars  outnumbered  most 
(ierman  universities,  more  than  2000  young  men  being 
just  then  matriculated  (see  Frid.  Keiffenbergii  e  8oc. 
Jesu  Presbytcri  Hist.  Sodetatis  Jesu,  i,  89).  Monheim, 
in  opposition  to  other  humanists,  insisted  on  a  religious 
instruction,  anil  published  numerous  catechisms,  the  best 
known  of  which  is  his  Catechismus  in  quo  ChrisiiatuB 
rdifjionis  deitienta  sincere  simpUciterque  explicantui- 
(Diisseldorf,  1560,  with  an  introduction ;  and,  edited  and 
revised,  it  was  recently  published  by  Dr.  Sack,  Bonn, 
1847).  Though,  outwartUj'-  at  least,  Monheim  belonged 
to  the  Church  of  Kome,  his  catechism  proves  beyond 
doubt  that  he  taught  and  believed  the  evangelical  doc- 
trines as  set  forth  in  the  teachings  of  Calvin.  The  book 
was  severely  attacked.  The  theological  faculty  of  the 
University  of  Cologne  issued  a  Censura  et  docta  expli- 
catio  erroimm  Catechismi  Johannis  Monheimii  (Cologne, 
1560);  and  a  number  of  other  essays,  partly  in  defence, 
partly  in  opposition  to  IMonheira,  were  published.  Mon- 
heim, however,  himself  remained  quiet ;  but  Martin 
Chemnitz,  enraged  at  the  open  and  secret  attacks  of  the 
Cologne  Jesuits  on  the  learned  man.  edited  his  Theolofjiiv 
Jesui/druni  prcPcipHa  capita,  ex  rjiiin/iiiii  <■(  n.-nn-a,  qutn 
Coloni(P  anno  1500  edita  est  (Lips.  l.')H:!  i.  wliich.  together 
with  his  Examcn  Concilii  Tridentii.  ><i  cnil littered  pope 
Paul  IV  that  he  requested  duke  William  to  depose  and 
banish  "that  arch-heretic"  Johannes  Monheim.  Mon- 
heim was  cited  before  the  duke,  and  obliged  to  sign  an 
agreement  in  which  he  promised  to  abstain  from  teach- 
ing Protestant  doctrines,  either  openly  or  secretly  (see 
Zeitschrift  d.  herffischen  Geschichtsvereins,  ii,  255).  The 
pope,  however,  was  not  satisfied  even  with  this.  He 
insisted  upon  an  open  judgment  on  Monheim,  especially 
as  the  pardoning  of  a  heretic  was  not  within  the  duke's 
jurisdiction — "nee  princops  ha?retico  publico  quicqnam 
ignoscere  potuit,"  Further  steps  of  the  papal  court  were 
made  umiecessary  by  Monheim's  sudden  decease,  Sept. 
it,  15()4.  Monheim  wrote  a  great  number  of  learned 
books,  but  his  most  valued  work  is  the  above-mentioned 
catechism,  which  Theo.  Strack  calls  Cafechiwinm  or- 
ihodoxum,  in  quo  Reformatorum  doctrina,  quce  hodie 
Luthero-Calrinixmi  nomine  odiose  traducitu);  accurate 
confirmatur.  ^Monheim  lacked  strength  of  character  to 
take  a  decided  position  in  the  great  struggle  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. He  preferred,  although  thoroughly  Protes- 
tant in  all  his  views,  to  remain  in  the  Church  of  Kome. 
"  He  belonged,"  said  one,  "  to  that  class  of  actors  on  the 
scene  of  life  who  have  always  appeared  as  the  harbin- 
gers of  great  social  men  gifted  with  the  power  to  dis- 
cern and  the  hardihood  to  proclaim  tnnhs  of  which  they 
want  the  courage  to  encounter  the  infallible  result." 
See  JMidiler,  Symbolik;  Beck,  Protestant,  heantwortnng 
der  Si/mbolik  Malikr's,  —  llerzog,  Real-Enajklopddiv, 
XX,  174  sq. 

Moniales.     See  Xins. 

Monica,  St.,  the  mother  of  St.  Augustine,  "count- 
ed," says  Schaff,  "among  the  most  noble  and  pious 
women  who  ailorn  the  temple  of  Church  history,"  was 
born,  according  to  tradition,  of  Christian  parents,  in 
Africa,  about  the  year  332.  1  laving  attained  to  the  age 
of  womanhood  she  was  married  to  I'atricc  of  Tag.iste,  a 
heathen  of  Numidia,  bv  whom  she  had  two  sons  and 


one  daughter.  She  was  instrumental  in  the  conversion 
of  her  husband  a  year  before  his  death,  after  having 
spent  with  him  years  in  hardship  and  sore  trial.  He 
was  of  violent  temperament,  and  unfaithful  to  her  in 
conjugal  duties,  yet  she  met  all  his  shortcomings  by  a 
Christian  spirit  of  forgiveness  and  love,  and  thus  at  last 
confjuered  in  the  name  of  her  Saviour,  whom  she  adored 
and  faithfully  followed.  "  Her  highest  aim,"  says 
Schaff,  "  was  to  win  him  over  to  the  faith — not  so  much 
by  words  as  by  a  truly  humble  and  godly  conversation, 
and  the  most  conscientious  discharge  of  her  household 
duties"  {Life  o/  Ht,  Auffustine,  p.  hi).  The  same  ear- 
nestness which  she  displayed  for  the  conversion  of  her 
husband  she  manifested  also  for  the  spiritual  safety  of 
her  children.  She  -was  specially  anxious  for  her  son 
Augustine,  who  in  his  youth  was  given  to  dissipation, 
having  inherited  from  his  father  strong  sensual  pas- 
sions, and  who  had  embraced  the  Manich:pan  heresy, 
which  she  feared  would  idtimately  ruin  his  spiritual  life. 
For  thirty  years  she  therefore  uninterrujitedly  prayed 
for  his  conversion.  "A  son  of  so  many  prayers  and 
tears,"  says  SchafF,  "  could  not  be  lost,  and  the  faithful 
mother,  who  travailed  with  him  in  s|)irit  with  greater 
pain  than  her  body  had  in  bringing  him  into  the  world 
(.\ugustine.  Con/ess.  ix,  c.  8),  was  permitted,  for  the  en- 
couragement of  future  mothers,  to  receive,  shortly  be- 
fore her  death,  an  answer  to  her  prayers  and  expecta- 
tions, and  was  able  to  leave  this  world  with  joy  without 
revisiting  her  earthly  home."  Augustine  had  embraced 
Christianity  at  Milan,  whither  he  had  gone  in  384. 
Hither  his  mother  followed  him,  and  together  they 
worshipped  under  the  ministration  of  St.  Ambrose.  In 
the  spring  of  387,  shortly  after  his  baptism,  thej-  had 
quitted  Kome  to  return  to  Africa,  and  it  was  on  this 
homeward  journey  that  Monica  died,  in  Ostia,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Tiber,  in  387,  in  the  arms  of  her  son,  after 
enjoying  with  him  a  glorious  conversation  that  soared 
above  the  confines  of  space  and  time,  and  was  a  fore- 
taste of  the  eternal  Sabbath-rest  of  the  saints.  She  re- 
gretted not  to  die,  aj'e,  not  even  in  a  foreign  land,  be- 
cause she  was  not  far  from  God,  who  would  raise  her 
up  at  the  last  day.  "  Bury  my  body  anywhere,"  was  her 
last  request,  "and  trouble  not  yourselves  for  it;  only 
this  one  thing  I  ask,  that  you  remember  me  at  the  altar 
of  my  God,  wherever  you  may  be."  Augustine,  in  his 
Confessions,  has  erected  to  Monica  the  noblest  monu- 
ment, and  it  can  never  perish.  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church  keeps  May  4  in  commemoration  of  her.  Pope 
Martin  Y  gives  an  account  of  the  translation  of  her  re- 
mains to  Kome  in  1430.  See  St.  Augustine,  Confessions; 
Godescard,  1 7c  des  Saints;  Bmune,  Monica  u.  Aiif/nsfi- 
mis  (184G);  Petet,  Ilistoire  de  Sainte-Monique  (1848); 
Schaff,  Life  and  iMhors  of  St.  A  ur/ustine  (N.  Y.  1854), 
ch.  i,  iv,  viii ;  Mrs.  Jamieson,  Legends  (see  Index) ; 
Schaff,  Ck.  Hist,  iii,  991, 992 ;  Neander,  Ch.  Hist,  ii,  227. 
See  ArcusTiNE.     (J.  II.  W.) 

Moniglia,  Tom.maso-Yincexzo,  an  Italian  theo- 
logian, was  bom  August  18, 1686,  in  Florence.  Having 
received  his  education  at  the  University  of  Pisa,  he  re- 
turned to  Florence,  and  entered  the  Order  of  St.  Dom- 
inic. \cry  soon  after  he  contracted  a  close  friendship 
with  the  English  .imbassador,  Henr}-  Newton.  Se- 
duced by  his  promises,  he  tied  from  the  convent  and  re- 
paire<l  to  London.  His  pecuniary  resources  being  ex- 
hausted, he  was  forced  to  support  himself  by  teaching. 
After  an  absence  of  three  years  he  succeeded,  by  the 
favor  of  the  grand  duke,  in  returning  to  his  own  coun- 
try, -where  he  was  kindly  received  and  his  errors  par- 
doned. From  that  time  he  devoted  himself  to  preach- 
ing with  indefatigable  zeal,  and  taught  theology  at 
Florence  and  Pisa.  Moniglia  had  an  extensive  knowl- 
edge of  nearly  all  the  sciences,  and  was  well  versed  in 
sacred  and  profane  literature.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
among  the  Italians  to  refute  the  opinions  of  Locke,  of 
Hobbes,  of  Helvetius.  and  of  Bayle,  but  not  always  to 
advantage.  He  died  at  Pisa.  Feb.  1.5,  1767.  He  is  the 
author  of  De  Origine  sacrantni  precum  rosarii  li.M, 


MONISM 


491    MONITA  SECRETA  SOC.  JESU 


Virginis  (Eome,  1725, 8vo)  ;  which  dissertation  he  com- 
posed by  order  of  his  superiors  and  to  refute  the  Bol- 
landists,  who  do  not  believe  that  St.  Dominic  is  the 
author  of  these  prayers : — De  annis  Jesu-Chi-isti  ser- 
vatoris  et  de  religione  utrimque  Philippi  A  ugusti  (Rome, 
1741,  4to)  i^Contro  i  Fatalisti  (Lucca,  1744,  2  parts, 
8vo) : — Contro  i  Maierialisti  e  altri  increduli  (Padua, 
1750,  2  vols.  8vo)  : — Osserfazioni  critico-jilosofiche  con- 
tro i  matei-uilisti  (Lucca,  1760, 8vo) : — La  mente  umana 
spii-ito  immortale,  non  materia  pensante  (Padua,  1766, 2 
vols.  8vo).  See  Fabroni,  VitcB  Italorum,  vol.  ku — Hoe- 
fer,  Nouv,  Biog,  Generale,  s.  v. 

Monism.     See  Monads. 

Monita  Secreta  Societatis  Jesu,  or  secret 
instructions  for  the  Jesuitic  order,  is  a  work  which  has 
been  the  cause  of  much  dispute,  both  as  to  its  authen- 
ticity and  as  to  the  veracity  of  its  contents.  In  Europe 
the  book  has  attracted  some  attention,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, some  controversy ;  but  in  America  it  has  been 
the  subject  of  a  very  animated  discussion,  and  we  are 
therefore  warranted  in  giving  a  detailed  history  of  the 
book,  and  the  position  of  the  acknowledged  authorities 
in  such  difficulties. 

I.  History  of  its  Origin,  Editions,  etc. — The  Monita 
was  first  printed  in  Latin,  from  the  Spanish,  at  Cracow, 
the  capital  of  Poland,  with  this  title  :  Monita  Privata 
Societatis  Jesu,  Notobirgas,  Aimo  1612,  by  an  unknown 
editor,  with  various  "  Testimonies  of  several  Italian  and 
Spanish  Jesuits"  confirmatory  of  the  truth  of  the  Mo- 
nita. The  "  Constitutions  of  the  Society,"  though  print- 
ed as  earh'  as  1558,  had  never  been  published.  Ev- 
erj'thing  connected  with  the  rules  of  the  order  had  been 
carefully  concealed  from  the  public  eye.  The  Monita, 
therefore,  was  rapidly  bought  and  everj^where  circulat- 
ed, not  only  in  Poland,  but  in  Germany,  Italy,  and 
France.  It  gratified  an  intense  curiosity,  and  was  gen- 
erally recognised  at  once  as  a  faithful  portraiture  of 
Jesuitism.  Claude  Acquaviva.  "  the  ablest  and  most 
profound  politician  of  his  time,"  and  "  the  beau  ideal 
of  Jesuitism,"  was  the  general  of  the  order,  exercising 
over  it  a  complete  control.  The  Monita  was  regarded 
then,  as  it  has  been  since  by  Yan  Mastricht  and  many 
other  judicious  scholars,  as  the  product  of  his  pen. 
The  book  certainly  does  not  misrepresent  him.  The 
tactics  are  his,  and  may  well  have  derived  their  inspi- 
ration from  his  wily  brain.  It  does  not  appear  that  he 
ever  denied  them.  He  took  no  steps  to  prove  the  pub- 
lication a  forgery.  Down  to  the  day  of  his  death  (Jan- 
uary 31, 1615),  nearly  three  j'ears,  the  book  passed  un- 
molested, though  the  Jesuits  were  all-powerful  in  Po- 
land. The  circulation  of  the  Monita  finally  occasion- 
ed the  appointment  of  a  commission,  July  11, 1615,  by 
Peter  Tylick,  bishop  of  Cracow.  His  confessor  was  a 
Jesuit,  as  was  the  king's.  Tylick  admitted  that  "  noth- 
ing is  certainly  known  of  its  author ;  but,"  he  affirmed, 
"  it  is  reported,  and  the  presumption  is,  that  it  was  ed- 
ited by  the  venerable  Jerome  Zaorowski,  pastor  of 
Gozdziec."  The  commission  were  instructed  October 
7th  to  inquire  whether  "  at  any  time  or  place  Zaorowski 
had  been  heard  to  speak  approvingly  of  such  a  famous 
libel,  or  to  affirm  that  the  contents  were  true,  or  to  say 
anything  of  the  kind  from  which  it  can  be  gathered 
that  he  is  the  author,  or,  at  least,  an  accomplice  in  the 
writing  of  this  libel."  The  papal  nuncio,  Diotallenius, 
a  few  weeks  after  (November  14),  added  his  sanction  to 
the  investigation.  Yet  the  author  was  not  found,  and 
there  remamed  no  other  step  for  the  Papists  than  the 
condemnation  of  the  book  to  prevent  its  circulation. 
It  was  therefore  put  on  the  "  Index"  May  10, 1616,  and  a 
professor  of  Ingolstadt,  the  learned  Gretser,  commission- 
ed to  prepare  a  refutation  of  the  Monita's  disclosures. 
This  refutation,  entitled  Libri  Ti-es  Apologetici  contra 
Famosum  Lihellum,  was  published  August  1,  1617,  and 
a  second  decree  was  issued  by  the  "  Index"  in  1621  to 
make  sure  of  suppressing  the  circulation  of  the  Monita. 

Notwithstanding  these  eftbrts  on  the  part  of  the  Jes- 


uits to  disprove  the  authenticity  of  the  work,  their  op- 
ponents continued  to  assert  it  genuine.  Thus  e.  g.  in 
1633  Caspar  Schoppe  (Scioppius),  a  German  scholar, 
himself  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  a  genuine  hater  of  the 
Jesuits,  published  his  Anatomia  Societatis  Jesu,  in 
wliich,  among  other  things,  he  presents  a  critique  on  a 
book  that  had  come  into  his  hands,  which  he  calls  "  In- 
structio  Secreta  pro  Superioribus  Societatis  Jesu."  His 
analysis  of  the  book  proves  it  to  have  been  the  same, 
with  slight  differences,  as  the  Monita  Privata.  l3ut 
his  copy  could  not  have  been  of  the  1612  edition,  for  he 
attributes  the  discovery  of  the  work  to  the  plundering 
of  the  Jesuit  coUege  at  Paderborn,  in  Westphalia,  by 
Christian,  duke  of  Brunswick.  That  was  in  February, 
1622,  ten  years  later.  If  his  copy  had  been  of  the  Cra- 
cow edition,  he  could  not  have  made  so  gross  a  mistake. 
This,  then,  was  another  source,  independent  of  the  first, 
from  which  the  book  was  derived.  It  was  credibly  re- 
ported that  another  copy  had  been  found  at  the  capture 
of  Prague  in  1631,  only  two  years  before.  The  Jesuit 
Lawrence  Forer  thereupon  pointed  out  the  apparent 
anachronism  in  his  Anatomia  Anatomia,  but  he  fail- 
ed to  convince  Schoppe,  nor  could  he  shake  the  pop- 
ular belief.  This  position  now  seems  reasonable  indeed, 
for  there  is  in  the  British  Museum  Library  a  volume 
printed  at  Yenice  in  1596,  and  containing,  at  the  end  of 
the  book,  several  manuscript  leaves  on  which  the  whole 
of  the  Monita  Seci-eta  is  inscribed,  the  writing  being 
evidently  of  ancient  date.  The  remote  date  would 
rather  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  this  work  came  from 
some  convent,  probably  Jesuitical,  in  which  the  Monita 
had  been  introduced  for  service.  The  book  had  now  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  people  everywhere ;  not  only 
all  over  the  Continent,  but  even  in  England  the  Monita 
was  sought  after,  and  so  great  was  the  demand  that  an 
edition  appeared  in  England  in  Oliver's  time  (1658). 
On  the  Continent  several  editions  were  sent  forth.  A 
French  version,  entitled  Secreta  Monita,  ou  Adris  Se- 
:  crets  de  la  Societe  de  Jesus,  was  published  in  1661  at 
Paderborn,  under  the  eaves  of  the  Jesuit  college.  A 
second  edition  of  Schoppe's  Anatomia  appeared  in 
1668.  To  aggravate  the  difficulty,  the  next  year  Henry 
Compton,  canon  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  and  after- 
wards bishop  successively  of  Oxford  and  London,  pub- 
lished, in  9  sheets  4to,  The  Jesuits'  Intrigues,  tcith  the 
Private  histructions  of  that  Society  to  their  Emissaries. 
The  latter  had  been  "  lately  found  in  MS.  in  a  Jesuit's 
closet  after  his  death,  and  sent,  in  a  letter,  from  a  gentle- 
man at  Paris  to  his  friend  in  London."  This,  too,  was 
the  Monita  Secreta,  entirely  independent  of  the  others. 
At  Strasburg,  in  1713,  Henri  de  St.  Ignace,  under  the 
pseudonym  of  '•  Liberius  Candidus,"  a  Flemish  divine 
of  the  Carmelite  order,  published  his  Tuba  Magna,  ad- 
dressed to  the  pope  and  all  potentates,  on  the  "  neces- 
sity of  reforming  the  Society  of  Jesus."  In  the  ap- 
pendix the  Monita  Secreta  is  reproduced  in  fidl.  In 
proof  of  its  authenticity,  he  gives  these  three  reasons : 
"  1.  Common  fame.  2.  The  character  of  the  document — 
wholly  Jesuitical.  3.  Its  exact  conformity  with  their 
practices.  Besides,  its  having  been  found  in  the  Jesuit 
colleges."  The  Jesuit,  Alphonso  Huylenbrock,  publish- 
ed his  "  Yindications"  of  the  society  in  the  following 
year.  De  Ignace  could  not  be  shaken  from  his  belief 
in  the  authenticity  of  the  book,  and  issued  a  second 
edition  in  1714,  in  which  he  says  that  "  nothing,  or  next 
to  nothing,  is  contained  therein  that  the  Jesuits  have 
not  reduced  to  practice."  A  third  edition  of  the  Tuba 
Magna  was  published  in  1717,  and  a  fourth  in  1760. 
In  1717  the  Monita  was  published  by  John  Schipper, 
at  Amsterdam,  from  a  copy  purchased  at  Antwerp,  with 
the  significant  title  of  Machiavelli  Mus  Jesniticusi 
This  was  followed,  in  1723,  by  an  edition  in  Latin  and 
English,  published  at  London  by  John  Walthoe,  Jun., 
and  dedicated  to  Sir  Robert  Walpole.  A  second  edi- 
tion was  issued  in  1749.  Another  edition  in  French 
(probably  a  reprint  of  the  Paderborn  edition  of  1661) 
was  issued  at  Cologne  in  1727. 


MONITA  SECRETA  SOC.  JESU     492 


MONITION" 


After  the  suppression  of  the  order  in  1773,  several 
MSS.  of  the  work  were  found  in  Jesuitic  haunts,  partic- 
ularly in  their  colleges.  A  JIS.  was  even  found  in  Korae 
which  was  printed  in  1782  under  the  title  Monita  Se- 
creta  Pairuiii  Societalii  Jesit,  "  nunc  primum  typis  ex- 
pressa."  Evidently  its  editor  had  never  heard  of  a 
published  copy  of  "the  Monita.  It  contains  numerous 
errors,  such  as  are  very  likely  to  creep  into  a  MS.  The 
New  York  Union  Theological  Seminary  possesses  a  copy 
of  this  printed  edition.  The  early  restoration  of  the 
order  to  power,  in  1814,  prevented  the  unearthing  of 
copies  direct  from  Jesuitic  hands. 

II.  Di'finders  of  its  A  uthenticity ;  recent  Editors,  etc. — 
As  far  back  as  the  17th  century,  after  the  authenticity 
of  the  Monita  had  been  a  matter  of  dispute  for  more 
than  a  liundred  years,  we  find  that  astute  Lutheran  the- 
ologian Dr.  Johann  (ierhard,  whose  familiarity  with  po- 
lemic divinity  was  perfectly  marvellous,  make  mention 
of  Schoppe's  Anatomia  in  his  great  work  Confessio 
Calholica  (Frankfort  and  Leipsic,  1C79),  and  refer  to 
the  Monita  Secreta  as  a  work  of  undoubted  authentic- 
ity. This  opinion  has  been  generally  quoted  and  en- 
dorsed l;y  ecclesiastical  historians,  especially  of  the  Prot- 
estant Church, with  only  one  exception  (Gieseler,  A'n-c7i- 
enr/esc/i.vol.  iii,  pt.  ii,  p.  65G  sq.).  In  1831,  after  "careful 
investigation,"  an  edition  was  jjublished  at  Trinceton, 
K  J.,  by  the  learned  Dr.W.  C.  IJrownlee,  under  the  au- 
spices of  the  "American  Protestant  Society,"  containing 
the  original,  an  English  translation  based  upon  that  of 
■\Valthoe  (1723),  aud  a  "Historical  Sketch."  Dr. Hodge, 
in  reviewing  the  case  in  the  Biblical  Repository  (iv, 
138),  takes  occasion  to  say  that  the  authenticity  of  the 
•work  has  never  been  disproved.  "Attempts,"  he  says, 
'•  ha\e  been  made  to  cry  down  this  work  as  a  forgery. 
.  .  .  We  cannot  imagine  that  these  doubts  can  be  se- 
riously entertained  by  those  who  peruse  the  historical 
essay  which  is  prefixed  to  it.  Facts  and  authorities  are 
there  adduced  which  we  cannot  help  thinking  ought  to 
satisfy  every  mind,  not  only  of  the  authenticity  of  the 
work,  but  also  of  the  entire  justice  of  the  representations 
which  it  gives  of  the  society  whose  official  instructions 
it  professes  to  exhibit."  In  1813,  shortly  after  an  edi- 
tion of  the  Monita  had  been  issued  by  Seeley,  IMr. 
Edward  Dalton,  the  secretary  of  the  "Protestant  Asso- 
ciation of  Great  Britain,"  took  occasion  thus  to  comment 
on  it  in  his  The  Jesuits;  their  Principles  and  Acts  :  "  If 
we  weigh  well  the  evidence  which  has  been  handed 
down  to  us  by  historians ;  if  we  peruse  the  writings  of 
the  Jesuits  themselves,  and  maturely  consider  the  doc- 
trines therein  promulgated,  and  their  practical  tendency, 
we  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  convinced  of  the  authenticitj' 
of  the  Secreta  Monita."  In  1844  an  edition  was  again 
published  in  the  United  States,  this  time  under  the  au- 
spices of  the  "American  and  F'oreign  Christian  Union." 
It  then  became  the  subject  of  considerable  agitation, 
several  Protestant  writers  of  note  taking  the  ground 
that  the  ^vork  had  not  a  real  basis  in  Jesuitism,  and  had 
been  ])roved  spuriinis.  In  consequence,  the  learned  pro- 
fessor Henry  INI.  Haird,  of  the  New  York  University, 
contributed  the  following  additional  testimony :  "  In 
proof  of  the  authenticity  of  the  '  Secret  Instructions,'  we 
have  the  testimony  of  a  gentleman  who  as  a  historical 
investigator  has  scarcely  a  peer — certainly  no  superior. 
I  refer  to  :M.  Louis  Prosper  (Jachard,  the  'archiviste- 
general'  of  the  kingdom  of  Belgium,  to  whose  rare  sa- 
gacity, profound  erudition,  and  indefatigable  industry 
our  own  (li^liuguishod  historians,  Prcscott  and  ^Motley, 
pay  such  frequent  and  deserved  compliments;  the  lat- 
ter, in  the  preface  to  his  Dutch  Hepublic,  remarking: 
'It  is  unnecessary  to  aild  that  all  the  publications  of 
]M.(;acliard — particularly  the  invaluable  correspondence 
of  Pliilip  II  and  of  William  the  Silent,  as  well  as  the 
"Archives  et  Correspondance"  »)f  the  Orange  Nassau 
family,  edited  by  the  learned  and  distinguished  Groeu 
van  Priusterer— have  been  my  constant  guides  tlirough 
the  tortuous  labyrinth  of  Spanish  aiul  Netherland  poli- 
tics.'   In  M.  Gachard's  Analectes  Belyiques,  a  volume 


from  which  Mr.  Prescott  draws  much  of  the  material 
of  the  first  chapter  of  his  Philip  the  Second,  I  find  a 
short  article  devoted  to  '  The  Secret  Instnictions  of  the 
Jesuits'  (p.  C3).  'When  the  Monita  Secreta  Societutis 
Jesu  were  published,  a  lew  years  since,'  says  M.  Ga- 
chard, '  many  persons  disputed  the  authenticity  of  this 
book  ;  others  boldly  maintained  that  it  had  been  forged, 
with  the  design  of  injuring  the  society  by  ascribing  to 
it  principles  which  it  did  not  possess.  Here  are  facts 
that  u-ill  dissipate  all  uncertainty  in  this  respect:  At  the 
suppression  of  the  order  in  the  Low  Countries  in  1773, 
there  were  discovered  in  one  of  its  houses,  in  the  College 
of  Kuremonde  (everywhere  else  they  had  been  carefully 
destroyed  at  the  first  tidings  of  the  bull  fulminated  by 
Clement  XIV),  the  most  important  and  most  secret  pa- 
pers, such  as  the  correspondence  of  the  general  with  the 
provincial  fathers,  and  the  directions  of  which  the  lat- 
ter alone  could  have  had  cognizance.  Among  these  pa- 
pers were  the  Monita  Sec?-eta.  A  translation  of  them 
was  made,  by  order  of  the  yovej-nnunt,  by  the  "  subslitut 
procureur-general"  of  Brabant,  De  Ik'rg.  It  still  exists 
in  the  archives  of  the  kingdom,  and  /  can  vouch  that  it 
differs  in  nothing  substantially  ((plant  au  fond)y)-o;«  that 
which  has  been  rcmkrcd  jinUic' '" 

In  1869  the  Kev.  Dr.  Edwin  F.  Hatfield  ably  review- 
ed the  case  of  the  "Secret  Instructions"  in  the  New  York 
Observer,  and  since  that  time  but  little  has  been  ad- 
vanced either  pro  or  con.     Prof.  Schem,  well  known  for 

j  his  ecclesiastical  learning,  and  himself  educated  at  the 
Jesuitical  college  in  Kome,  but  now  a  Protestant  in  the- 
ology,  in  the  article  Jeslits  in  this  Cyclopcedia  took 
ground  against  the  authenticity  of  the  Monita,  and,  as  he 
is  entitled  to  a  hearing,  we  did  not  there  dissent  from  his 
article.  Our  own  judgment,  however,  is  to  accept  the 
Monita  as  a  Jesuitical  production,  containing  the  in- 
structions of  the  order.  In  the  article  "Jesuits"  in  the 
Encyclop.  Britannica,  Dr.  Isaac  Taylor,  its  author,  states 
that  the  Monita  is  "  believed  to  be  a  spurious  produc- 
tion," but  he  by  no  means  anywhere  indicates  that  he 

1  himself  believeil  it  spurious;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  more 

[  than  likely  that  he  held  it  to  be  genuine.     (J.  II.  W.) 

Monition,  a  term  in  ecclesiastical  law,  used  now 
only  in  the  Church  of  Kome  and  the  Church  of  England 
and  its  dependencies,  and  the  Protestant  ICpiscopal 
Church.    It  designates  a  formal  notice  from  a  bishop  to 

,  one  of  the  subordinate  clergy  recpiiring  the  amendment 
of  some  ecclesiastical  offence.  The  general  admonition 
was  anciently  made  publicly  and  solemnly,  so  that  it 

'  could  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  person  in  fault, 

1  and  when  it  expressed  his  name  it  was  called  "  nomi- 
nal." Lindewood  defines  canonical  monition  as  recjuir- 
ing  three  several  proclamations,  or  one  for  all,  with  a. 
proper  interval  of  time  allowed.  The  name  of  the  per- 
son should  be  distinctly  mentioned,  where  law  or  custom 
demands  it ;  this  is  called  monition  "  in  specie,"  a  gen- 
eral monition  being  known  as  "  in  genere."  A  public 
monition  in  sj'nod  by  the  bishop  is  ecpiivalent  to  three 
monitions  otherwise  given.  If  the  offender  did  not 
comply  after  the  third  monition,  he  was  formally  sub- 
jected to  excommunication  ;  because  the  term,  distinct- 
ly named,  gave  to  the  monition  the  character  of  an  in- 
troductory sentence,  aud  after  its  expiration  no  otter  of 
explanation  was  admitted.  No  monition  is  required 
when  the  superior  gives  sentence  of  excommunication, 

I  or  when  au  inferior  does  not  submit  to  his  sui>crior  in 
the  discharge  of  his  special  right,  as  in  the  ofiice  of  vis- 
itation ;  or,  after  he  has  been  visited,  when  he  refuses  to 
pay  procurations  which  are  due,  as  these  are  cases  of 
positive  and  manifest  contumacy.  But  if  the  sujierior 
proceeds  as  judge,  and  punishes  offences,  p.ist  or  present, 
monition  is  necessary  before  the  fulmination  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical censure.  Although  three  monitions  were 
held  to  be  fair,  yet  one  wouM  suffice,  provided  a  suitable 
delay  elapsed  between  it  and  the  sentence.  Any  in- 
cumbent or  curate  allowing  unauthorized  persons  to  of- 
ficiate in  his  church  is  liable  to  be  called  before  the 
bishop  in  person,  and  to  be  publicly  or  privately  mon- 


MONITOIRE 


493 


MONK 


ished.  When  a  living  has  been  for  one  year  sequester- 
ed, the  person  who  holds  it,  if  he  neglect  the  bishop's 
monition  to  reside,  is  deprived ;  and  so  also  for  drunken- 
ness or  gross  immorality,  after  monition.  Sentence  of 
monition  ought  not  to  be  given  without  a  previous  ad- 
monition, unless  where  the  oflFence  is  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  require  immediate  suspension  ;  and  if  in  ordinarj- 
cases  suspension  should  be  given  without  monition, 
there  may  be  cause  of  appeal. — Blunt,  Did.  of  Doctr. 
and  Hist.  Theol.  s.  v. ;  Lea,  Studies  in  Ch.  Hist.  p.  417, 443. 

Monitoire  or  Monitory,  the  technical  term  for 
ecclesiastical  censure,  ex[ilained  under  Monition,  s.  v. 

Monk  (derived  from  the  Latin  monackus,  and  that 
from  the  Greek  fioraxoc,  i.  e.  solitarj',  which  in  its 
turn  is  derived  from  the  word  fiovoc,  Lat.  solus,  desig- 
nating a  person  who  lives  sequestered  from  the  com- 
pany and  conversation  of  the  rest  of  the  world)  is  a 
term  applied  to  those  who  dedicate  themselves  wholly 
to  the  service  of  religion,  in  some  building  set  apart 
for  such  ascetics,  and  known  as  a  monastery  (q.  v.)  or 
religious  house,  and  who  are  under  the  direction  of  some 
particular  statute  or  rule.  Those  of  the  female  sex 
who  lead  such  a  life  are  denominated  Nuns  (q.  v.). 

Riddle  (Christian  Antiquities,  p.  777  sq.)  furnishes 
the  following  as  the  chief  names  by  which  monks  have 
been  designated :  (V)'AaKi]Ti]Q,\.&.  ascetic.  This  name, 
borrowed  from  the  Greek  profane  writers,  was  orig- 
inally applied  to  athletes,  or  prize-fighters  in  the  pub- 
lic games.  In  early  ecclesiastical  writers  it  is  usually 
equivalent  to  lyKpari'ic,  continent ;  and  Tertullian  ren- 
ders both  words  alike  by  continens  (in  a  technical 
sense).  Sometimes  they  use  ao-K-jjr/'/e  ii  the  sense  of 
dyai^oQ,  Calebs,  unmarried.  (2)  Moi^oxoi,  or  (more 
rarely)  i.(ovdZovTfg,  i.  e.  solitaries,  is  a  term  Avhich  de- 
notes generally  all  who  addict  themselves  to  a  retired 
or  solitary  life  ;  and  it  was  usuallj'  applied,  not  merely 
to  such  as  retired  to  absolute  solitude  in  caves  and  des- 
erts, but  also  to  such  as  lived  apart  from  the  rest  of 
the  world  in  separate  societies.  Since  the  3d  and  4th 
centuries  this  name  has  been  almost  universally  em- 
ployed as  the  common  designation  of  religious  solita- 
ries, or  members  of  religious  societies,  and  has  passed 
into  various  languages  of  Europe.  The  Syrians  trans- 
late it  hy  jechidoje  (solitarii).  (3)  The  term  ava\ujpi]- 
Tcil,  anachoretce  or  anachorita^,  Engl,  anchorite,  is  used 
in  the  rule  of  Benedict  as  synonj'mous  with  iptji^urai, 
eremita,  hermits.  Other  writers  observe  a  distinction 
in  conformity  with  the  et3'mology  of  the  two  words, 
restricting  the  application  of  the  term  annckoretce  to 
those  persons  who  led  a  solitarv  life,  without  retire- 
ment to  a  desert,  and  of  eremitxe  to  those  who  actually 
retired  to  some  remote  or  inhospitable  region.  The 
Sj'rians  contracted  the  word  anachoreta  into  nucherite ; 
thej'  translated  eremitcc  into  madberoje.  (4)  The  term 
ccenobitcB,  cenobites,  is  evidently  derived  from  the 
Greek  koivoq  jiiog  (vita  communis),  and  refers  at  once 
to  the  monastic  custom  of  living  together  in  one  place, 
hence  called  koivui3iov,  canolium,  and  to  that  of  pos- 
sessing a  community  of  property,  and  observing  com- 
mon rules  of  life.  The  term  ffvvo^lrat,  synoditm  (Cod. 
Thcodos.  lib.  xi,  tit.  31, 1.  37),  has  the  same  signification, 
being  derived  from  avvocoi; ;  so  that  it  may  be  ren- 
dered conventualis.  The  Syrians  express  the  same  bj- 
the  words  dairoje  and  oumroje.  (5)  In  the  rule  of 
Benedict  we  find  mention  oi  gyrovagi,  certain  wandei-- 
ing  monks,  who  are  there  charged  with  having  occa- 
sioned great  disorder.  (6)  ^rvXl-ni.stylita;  pillarists, 
a  kind  of  monk  so  called  from  their  practice  of  living 
on  a  pillar.  Simeon  Stylites  and  a  few  others  made 
themselves  remarkable  by  this  mode  of  severe  life, 
but  it  was  not  generall}'  adopted  (Evagr.  Hist.  Eccl. 
lib.  i,  c.  13;  lib.  vi,  c.  23;  Theodor.  Led.  lib.  ii).  (7) 
We  find  also  a  large  number  of  other  classes  of  monks 
and  ascetics,  which  are  worthy  of  remark  only  as  fur- 
nishing a  proof  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  a  monastic 
life  was  held  in  the  early  Church.    Such  are :  i.  STroi;- 


Saloi  (stndiosi).,  a  sect  of  ascetics  who  practiced  un- 
conimon  austerities  (Euseb.  Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  vi,  c.  11 ; 
Epiphan.  Expos.  Fid.  c.  22).  ii.  'EkXiktoi,  or  iKXtKTwv 
tKXiKTorepoi,  the  elect,  or  elect  of  the  elect  (Clem. 
Alex.  Quis  Dives  Salv.  n.  3G).  iii.  'AicoiYijjroi,  insom- 
nes,  the  sleepless,  or  the  watchers ;  a  term  applied  es- 
pecially to  the  members  of  a  monastery  (ty-ovhor') 
near  Constantinople  (Niceph.  Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  xv,  c.  23 ; 
Baron.  Annal.  a.  459).  iv.  Boctkoi,  i.  e.  the  grazers; 
so  called  because  they  professed  to  subsist  on  roots 
and  herbs,  like  cattle  (Sozomen,  Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  vi,  c. 
33 1  Evagr.  Hist.  Eccl.  lib.  i,  c.  21).  v.  'navxaarai, 
quiescentes,  or  quietistce,  quietists,  monks  who  lived  by 
themselves  in  perpetual  silence  (Justin.  Novc II.  v,  c.  3; 
Suicer.  Thesaitr.  Eccl.  s.  v.  iiavxaaTric).  vi.  'Awo-a^a- 
ixtvoi,  renunciantes,  renouncers;  so  called  from  their 
formal  renunciation  of  the  world  and  secular  enjoj-- 
ments  (Pallad.  Hist.  Lavs.  c.  15).  vii.  Culdai,  Colidei, 
Keldei,  Keledei,  certain  ancient  monks  in  Scotland  and 
the  Hebrides,  supposed  to  have  been  so  called  as  culto- 
res  Dei,  worshippers  of  God,  because  they  were  wholly 
occupied  in  preaching  the  Gospel.  Some  suppose  that 
they  were  priests;  others  regarded  them  as  canons 
regular;  others,  again,  that  they  constituted  a  secret 
society,  and  were  the  forerunners  of  the  modern  Free- 
masons, viii.  Apostolici,  apostolicals,  monks  in  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Benedic- 
tines, with  Augustine,  at  the  latter  end  of  the  6th  cen- 
tury. 

There  were  the  following  orders  of  monks  :  1,  those 
of  Basil — Greek  monks  and  Carmelites;  2,  those  of 
Augustine,  in  three  classes^ — canons  regular,  monks, 
and  hermits  ;  3,  those  of  Benedict ;  and,  4,  those  of  St. 
Francis :  all  of  which  names  may  be  consulted  in  their 
respective  places.  Monks  are  now  distinguished  by 
the  color  of  their  habits  into  black,  white,  gray,  etc. 
The  ancient  dress  was  the  colobium  or  lehitus,  a  linen 
sleeveless  dress ;  a  melotes  or  per(r,  a  goatskin  habit ; 
a  cowl,  covering  the  head  and  shoulders  ;  the  mafovta, 
a  smaller  cowl,  cross-shaped  over  the  shoulders ;  and 
a  black  pall.  St.  Benedict  introduced  during  manual 
labor  the  lighter  scapular,  reaching  from  the  shoulders 
down  the  back,  and  the  cowl  became  a  habit  of  cere- 
mony, and  worn  in  choir.  Borrowing  the  language  of 
the  regular  and  secular  canons,  the  monks  at  length, 
when  in  their  common  habits  they  attended  choir, 
called  it  ordinary  service  days,  "dies  in  cappis,"  in  dis- 
tinction to  "dies  in  albis,"  days  in  surplices  or  festivals, 
the  cope  being  black  like  the  frock.  There  are  diff'erent 
classes  of  monks :  some  are  called  monks  of  the  choir, 
others  professed  monks,  and  others  lay  monies;  which 
latter  are  destined  for  the  service  of  the  convents,  and 
have  neither  clericate  nor  literature.  Cloistered  monks 
are  those  who  actually  reside  in  the  house,  in  opposi- 
tion to  extra  monks,  who  have  benefices  depending  on 
the  monastery.  Blonks  are  also  distinguished  into  re- 
formed,  whom  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority 
have  made  masters  of  ancient  convents,  and  enabled 
to  retrieve  the  ancient  discipline,  which  had  been  re- 
laxed ;  and  ancient,  who  remain  in  the  convent,  to  live 
in  it  according  to  its  establishment  at  the  time  when 
they  made  their  vows,  without  obliging  themselves  to 
anj'  new  reform. 

Among  the  remarkable  institutions  of  Christianity 
which  have  prevailed  in  the  Roman  Catholic  and  the 
Greek  Church,  there  is  none  that  makes  a  more  con- 
spicuous figure  than  the  institution  of  monachism  or 
monkery ;  and,  if  traced  to  its  origin,  it  will  be  found 
strikingly  to  exemplify  the  truth  of  the  maxim  that, 
as  some  of  the  largest  and  loftiest  trees  spring  from 
very  small  seeds,  so  the  most  extensive  and  wonderful 
effects  sometimes  arise  from  very  inconsiderable  causes. 
In  times  of  persecution  during  the  first  ages  of  the 
Church,  while  "the  heathen  raged,  and  the  rulers  took 
counsel  together  against  the  Lord,  and  against  his 
anointed,"  many  pious  Christians,  male  and  female, 
married  and  unmarried,  justly  accounting  that  no  hu- 


MONK 


494 


MONK 


man  felicity  ought  to  come  in  competition  with  their  I 
fidelity  to  Christ,  and  diffident  of  their  own  ability  to  ! 
persevere  in  resisting  the  temptations  with  which  they  | 
were  incessantly  harassed  by  their  persecutors,  took  I 
the  resolution  to  abandon  their  professions  and  worldly  , 
prospects,  and,  while  the  storm  lasted,  to  retire  to  un-  | 
frequented  places  far  from  the  haunts  of  men  (the  i 
married  with  or  without  their  wives,  as  agreed  be- 
tween them),  that  they  might  enjoy  in  quietness  their  i 
feith  and  hope,  and,  exempt  from  the  temptations  to  ^ 
apostasy,  employ  themselves  principally  in  the  wor- 
8hip  and  service  of  their  Maker.     The  cause  was  rea-  ; 
sonable  and  the  motive  praiseworthy,  but  the  reason-  i 
ableness  arose  solely  from  the  circumstances.     "When 
the  latter  were  changed  the  former  vanished,  and  the 
motive  could  no  longer  be  the  same.     When  there  was 
not  tlie  same  danger  in  society,  there  was  not  the  same 
occasion  to  seek  security  in  solitude.     Accordingly, 
when  persecution  ceased,  and  the  profession  of  Chris-  [ 
tianity  was  rendered  perfectly  safe,  many  returned  j 
without  blame  from  their  retirement  and  resumed  their 
stations  in   society.      Some,  indeed,  familiarized  by 
time  to  a  solitary  life,  at  length  preferred,  through 
habit,  what  they  had  originally  adopted  through  neces- 
sity.    See  Ascetics  ;  Heumits.     They  did  not,  how- 
ever, waste  their  time   in  idleness :  they  supported 
themselves  by  their  labor,  and  gave  the  surplus  in  j 
charity.     But  they  never  thought  of  flattering  them- 
selves b}'  vows  or  engagements,  because  by  so  doing 
they  must  have  exposed  their  souls  to  new  tempta- 
tions and  perhaps  greater  dangers.     It  was,  therefore, 
a  very  different  thing  from  that  system  of  monkery 
which  afterwards  became  so  prevalent,  though  in  all 
probability  it  constituted  the  first  ftep  towards  it. 

Egypt,  the  fruitful  parent  of  superstition,  afforded 
the  first  exp.mple,  strictly  speaking,  of  the  monastic 
life.  The  first  and  most  noted  of  the  solitaries  was 
Paul,  a  native  of  Thebes,  who,  in  the  time  of  Atha- 
nasius,  distributed  his  patrimony,  deserted  his  fam- 
ily and  house,  and  took  up  his  residence  among  the 
tombs  and  in  a  ruined  tower.  After  a  long  and  pain- 
ful novitiate,  he  at  length  advanced  three  days'  jour- 
ney into  the  desert,  to  the  eastward  of  the  Nile, 
where,  discovering  a  lonely  spot  which  possessed  the 
advantages  of  shade  and  water,  he  fixed  his  last  abode. 
His  example  and  his  lessons  infected  others,  whose 
curiosity  pursued  him  to  the  desert ;  and  before  he 
quitted  life,  which  was  prolonged  to  the  term  of  one 
hundred  and  five  years,  he  lieheld  a  numerous  progeny 
imitiiting  his  original.  The  prolific  colonies  of  monks 
multijilied  with  rapid  increase  on  the  sands  of  Lj'bia, 
upon  the  rocks  of  Thebais,  and  the  cities  of  the  Nile. 
But  there  were  no  bodies  or  communities  of  men  em- 
bracing this  life,  nor  anj'  monasteries  built,  until 
Pachomius,  who  flourished  in  the  peaceable  reign  of 
Constantino,  caused  some  to  be  erected  [see  jMonas- 
tery].  Once  the  custom  established,  thej'  soon  mul- 
tiplied, and  even  to  the  present  day  tlie  traveller  may 
explore  the  ruins  of  fifty  monasteries  which  were 
planted  to  the  south  of  Alexandria  by  the  disciples  of 
Pachomius.  Inflamed  by  tliis  example,  a  Syrian 
youth,  whose  name  was  Hilarion,  fixed  his  dreary 
abode  on  a  sandy  bcacb,  between  the  sea  and  a  morass, 
about  seven  miles  from  Gaza.  The  austere  penance 
in  which  he  persisted  for  forty-eight  years  diffused  a 
similar  enthusiasm,  and  innumerable  monasteries  were 
soon  distributed  over  all  Palestine.  Not  long  after, 
Eustathius,  bishop  of  Sebastia,  Ijrought  monks  into  Ar- 
•  mcnia,  Paphlagonia,  and  Pontus.  While  Macarius, 
the  Egyptian,  peopled  the  deserts  of  Scethis  with 
monks,  Gregorj-,  the  apostle  of  Armenia,  did  the  like 
in  tliat  country.  But  St.  Basil  is  generally  considered 
as  the  great  father  and  patriarch  of  the  Eastern  monks. 
It  was  he  who  reduced  the  monastic  life  to  a  fi.xed  I 
state  of  uniformit}-;  who  united  the  anchorets  and 
coenoliites,  and  obliged  them  to  engage  themselves  by  I 
solemn  vows.     It  was  St.  Basil  who  prescribed  rules  | 


for  the  government  and  direction  of  the  monasteries, 
to  which  most  of  the  disciples  of  Anthony,  Pachomius, 
Macarius,  and  the  other  ancient  fathers  of  the  deserts 
submitted  ;  and  to  this  day  all  the  Greeks,  Nestorians, 
Melchites,  Georgians,  Mingrelians,  and  Armenians  fol- 
low the  rule  of  St.  Basil.  In  the  AVest,  Alhanasiua 
(about  A.D.  340)  taught  the  anchorets  of  Italy  to  live 
in  societies;  and  a  little  later  Martin  of  Tours,  "a 
soldier,  a  hermit,  a  bishop,  and  a  saint,"  established 
the  monasteries  of  Gaul,  and  the  progress  of  monkery 
is  said  not  to  have  been  less  rai)id  or  less  universal 
than  that  of  Christianity  itself.  Every  province,  and 
at  last  every  city  of  the  empire,  was  filled  witii  their 
increasing  multitudes.  The  disciples  of  Pachomius 
spread  themselves  wherever  Christianity  found  a  foot- 
hold. The  Council  of  Saragossa,  in  Spain  (A.I).  '■j>*0), 
in  condemning  the  practice  of  clergymen  who  atlected 
to  wear  the  monastical  habits,  aftords  proof  that  there 
were  monks  in  that  kingdom  in  the  4th  century,  be- 
fore St.  Donatus  went  thither  out  of  Africa,  with  sev- 
enty disciples,  and  founded  the  Monastery  of  Sirliita. 
Augustine,  sent  into  England  by  Gregory  the  Great, 
in  the  year  596,  to  preach  the  faith,  at  that  time  intro- 
duced the  monastic  state  into  British  territory,  and  it 
made  so  great  a  progress  there  that,  within  the  space 
of  two  hundred  years,  there  were  thirty  kings  and 
queens  who  preferred  the  religious  habit  to  their 
crowns,  and  founded  stately  monasteries,  where  they 
ended  their  days  in  retirement  and  solitude.  The 
monastery  of  Bangor,  in  Flintshire,  a  few  miles  south 
of  Wrexham,  contained  above  two  thousand  monks, 
and  from  thence  a  numerous  colony  was  dispersed 
among  the  barbarians  of  Ireland,  where  St.  Patrick 
is  regarded  as  the  founder  of  monasticism  ;  and  so 
readily  did  the  monasteries  multiply  there  that  it  was 
called"  "the  Island  of  Saints."  lona,  also,  one  of  the 
western  isles  of  Scotland,  which  was  planted  by  the 
Irish  monks,  diffused  over  all  northern  regions  a  ray 
of  science  and  superstition. 

The  ancient  monks  were  not,  like  the  modern,  dis- 
tinguished into  orders,  and  denominated  from  the 
founders  of  them  ;  but  they  had  their  names  from  the 
places  which  they  inhabited,  as  the  monks  of  Scethis, 
Tahennesus,  Kitra,  Canopiis,  in  Egypt,  etc.,  or  else 
were  distinguished  by  their  different  ways  of  living. 
Of  these,  the  most  remarkable  were :  1.  The  anchorets, 
so  called  from  their  retiring  from  society  and  living  in 
private  cells  in  the  wilderness.  2.  The  coenol)ites,  so 
denominated  from  their  living  together  in  common. 
All  monks  were  originally  no  more  than  laymen  ;  nor 
could  the}-  well  be  otherwise,  being  confined  by  tlieir 
own  rules  to  solitary  retreats,  where  there  could  be  no 
room  for  the  exercise  of  the  clerical  functions.  Ac- 
cordingly, St.  Jerome  tells  us  the  office  of  monk  is  not 
to  teach,  but  to  mourn ;  and  St.  Anthony  himself  is  re- 
ported to  have  said  that  "  the  wilderness  is  as  natural 
to  a  monk  as  water  to  a  fish,  and  therefore  a  monk  in 
a  city  is  quite  out  of  his  element,  like  a  fish  u])(in  dry 
land."  Theodosius  actually  enacted  that  all  who 
made  profession  of  the  monastic  life  should  bo  obliged 
by  the  civil  magistrate  to  betake  themselves  to  the 
wilderness,  as  their  proper  habitation.  Justinian  also 
made  laws  to  the  same  purpose,  forbidding  the  East- 
ern monks  to  appear  in  cities  except  to  defend  Ciiris- 
tianity  from  heretics  (as  was  done  e.  g.  by  Anthony, 
to  confute  Arianism),  and  to  despatch  their  secular  af- 
fairs, if  they  had  any,  through  their  apnrrisdrii  or  re- 
sponsdles— that  is,  their  proctors  or  syndics,  which  ev- 
er}' monastic  company  was  allowed  for  that  purpose. 
The  Council  of  Chalcedon  (A.D. 451)  expressly  distin- 
guishes the  monks  from  the  clerg\-,  and  reckons  them 
witii  the  laymen.  Gratian  (A.D.  1150)  himself,  the 
noted  Benedictine  writer,  who  is  most  interested  for 
the  moderns,  owns  it  to  be  plain  from  ecclesiastical 
history  that,  to  the  time  of  i)opes  Siricius  (.\.D.  324- 
398)  and  Zosimus  (died  418)  the  monks  were  only  sim- 
ple monks,  and  not  of  the  clergy.    In  some  cases,  how- 


MONK 


495 


MONK 


ever,  the  clerical  and  monastic  life  were  capable  of  be- 
ing conjoined — as,  first,  when  a  monaster}'  happened  to 
be  at  so  great  a  distance  from  its  proper  church  that 
the  monlis  could  not  ordinarily  resort  thither  for  divine 
service,  which  was  the  case  with  the  monasteries  in 
Egj'pt  and  other  parts  of  the  East;  in  this  case,  some 
one  or  more  of  the  monks  were  ordained  for  the  per- 
formance of  divine  offices  among  them.  Then  it  also 
happened  that  some  of  the  clergy,  and  even  bishops 
themselves,  embraced  the  monastic  life  bj^  a  voluntary 
renunciation  of  property,  and  enjoyed  all  things  in 
common.  This  was,  however,  as  late  as  the  middle  of 
the .4th  century  ;  until  tliat  time  it  was  generally  un- 
derstood that  not  onlj'  should  monks  never  enter  the 
priesthood,  but  also  that  priests  should  never  turn  mo- 
nastics. This  appears  clearly  from  the  letters  of  St. 
Gregory  [see  below].  Eusebius  of  Vercillensis  (A.D. 
315-370)  was  the  first  who  brought  this  way  of  living 
among  the  clergy  of  Hippo,  and  thus  constituted  what 
may  be  denominated  the  monastico-clerical  condition. 

The  Church  however,  in  her  early  days,  recognised 
onh'  one  style  of  monastics,  i.  e.  the  coenobites,  and 
for  them  alone  were  certain  laws  and  rules  of  govern- 
ment specially  provided.  They  were  in  substance 
that  every  one  should  not  be  allowed  to  turn  monk 
at  pleasure,  because  there  were  certain  classes  so  con- 
ditioned that  they  could  not  enter  that  state  with- 
out damaging  the  interests  of  others.  Thus,  e.  g., 
the  civil  law  forbade  anj'  of  those  officers  called  curi- 
ales  to  become  monks,  unless  they  parted  with  their 
estates  to  others,  who  might  serve  their  countrj'-  in 
their  stead.  For  the  same  reason  servants  were  not 
admitted  into  any  monastery  without  their  masters' 
leave.  Justinian,  however,  afterwards  abrogated  this 
law  by  an  edict  of  his  own,  which  first  set  servants 
at  liberty  from  their  masters  under  pretence  of  betak- 
ing themselves  to  a  monastic  life.  The  same  precau- 
tions were  observed  in  regard  to  married  persons  and 
children  ;  the  former  were  not  to  embrace  the  monas- 
tic life  unless  with  the  mutual  consent  of  both  parties. 
This  precaution  was  afterwards  set  aside  by  Justinian, 
but  the  Church  never  approved  of  this  innovation. 
As  to  children,  the  Council  of  Gangra  (about  the  sec- 
ond half  of  the  4th  centurj')  decreed  that  if  anj^  such, 
under  pretence  of  religion,  forsook  their  parents,  they 
should  be  anathematized;  but  Justinian  enervated  the 
force  of  this  law  likewise,  forbidding  parents  to  hinder 
their  children  from  embracing  the  monastic  or  clerical 
life.  And  as  children  were  not  to  turn  monks  without 
the  consent  of  their  parents,  so  neither  could  parents 
oblige  their  children  to  embrace  a  monastic  life  against 
their  own  consent — at  least  not  until  the  fourth  Coun- 
cil of  Toledo  (A.D.  633),  which  set  aside  this  precau- 
tion, and  decreed  that  whether  the  devotion  of  their 
parents,  or  their  profession,  made  them  monks,  both 
should  be  equally  binding,  and  there  should  be  no  per- 
mission to  return  to  secular  life  again. 

The  manner  of  admission  to  the  monastic  life  was  usu- 
ally by  some  change  of  habit  or  di-ess,  not  to  signify 
any  religious  m3-stery,  but  only  to  express  gravit}' 
and  a  contempt  of  the  world.  Long  hair  was  alwaj's 
thought  an  indecenc}'  in  men,  and  savoring  of  secular 
vanity ;  and,  therefore,  they  polled  every  monk  at  his 
admission,  to  distinguish  him  from  seculars  ;  but  they 
never  shaved  any,  for  fear  they  should  look  too  like 
the  priests  of  Isis.  This,  therefore,  was  the  ancient 
tonsure,  in  opposition  to  both  these  extremes.  As  to 
their  habit  and  clothing,  the  rule  was  the  same :  the}' 
were  to  be  decent  and  grave,  as  became  their  profes- 
sion. The  monks  of  Tabennesus,  in  Thebais,  seem  to 
have  been  the  only  monks,  in  those  early  days,  who 
were  confined  to  any  particular  habit.  St.  Jerome, 
who  often  speaks  of  the  habit  of  the  monks,  intimates 
that  it  differed  from  others  only  in  this,  that  it  was  a 
cheaper,  coarser,  and  meaner  raiment,  expressing  their 
humility  and  contempt  of  the  world,  without  any  sin- 
gularity or  affectation.     That  father  is  very  severe 


against  the  practice  of  some  who  appeared  in  chains 
or  sackcloth ;  and  Cassian  blames  others  who  carried 
wooden  crosses  continually  about  their  necks,  which 
was  only  proper  to  excite  the  laughter  of  the  specta- 
tors. In  short,  the  Western  monks  used  only  a  com- 
mon habit,  the  philosophic  pallium,  as  many  other 
Christians  did.  Salvian  seems  to  give  an  exact  de- 
scription of  the  habit  and  tonsure  of  the  monks 
when,  reflecting  on  the  Africans  for  their  treatment  of 
them,  he  says,  "  they  could  scarce  ever  see  a  man  with 
short  hair,  a  pale  face,  and  habited  in  a  pallium,  with- 
out reviling  and  bestowing  some  reproachful  language 
on  him."  We  read  of  no  solemn  vow  or  profession  re- 
quired at  their  admission  ;  but  they  underwent  a  three 
years'  probation,  during  which  time  they  were  inured 
to  the  exercises  of  the  monastic  life.  If,  after  that 
time  was  expired,  thej-  chose  to  continue  the  same  ex- 
ercises, they  were  then  admitted  without  any  further 
ceremony  into  the  community.  This  was  the  method 
prescribed  by  Pachomius.  No  direct  promise  of  celi- 
bacy was  at  first  made ;  nay,  there  appear  to  have  been 
married  monks.  Isor  yet  was  there  any  vow  of  pov- 
erty, though,  when  men  renounced  the  world,  they 
generally  sold  their  estates  for  charitable  uses,  or  keep- 
ing them  in  their  own  hands,  made  a  distribution  reg- 
ularly of  all  the  proceeds.  The  Western  monks  did 
not  alwajs  adhere  to  this  rule,  as  appears  from  some 
imperial  laws  made  to  restrain  their  avarice.  But  the 
monks  of  Egypt  were  generallj'  just  to  their  preten- 
sions, and  would  accept  of  no  donations  but  for  the  use 
of  the  poor. 

As  the  monasteries  had  no  standing  revenues,  all 
the  monks  were  obliged  to  exercise  themselves  in  bod- 
ily labor  to  maintain  themselves  without  being  bur- 
densome to  others.  Monks  therefore  labored  with 
their  own  hands  at  a  great  varietj'  of  occupations,  and 
their  industry  is  often  commended.  "A  laboring 
monk,"  said  thej',  "was  tempted  \)\  one  devil,  but  an 
idle  monk  by  a  legion."  The  Church  would  tolerate 
no  idle  mendicants.  Sozomen  tells  us  that  Serapion 
presided  over  a  monastery  of  10,000  monks,  near  Ar- 
sinoe,  in  Egypt,  who  all  labored  with  their  own  hands, 
by  which  means  they  not  only  maintained  themselves, 
but  had  enough  to  relieve  the  poor.  To  their  bodily 
exercises  thej'  joined  others  that  were  spiritual,  viz., 
penitence,  fasting,  and  prayer  —  all  supposed  to  be 
more  extraordinary  in  intensity  and  frequency  than 
could  be  practiced  in  the  world.  The  most  important 
of  these  was  perpetual  repentance,  whence  the  expres- 
sion of  Jerome  that  the  life  of  a  monk  is  the  life  of  a 
mourner.  In  allusion  to  this,  the  isle  of  Cauopus, 
near  Alexandria,  formerly  a  place  of  great  lewdness, 
was,  upon  the  translation  and  settlement  there  of  the 
monks  of  Tabennesus,  called  Insiilm  Metanoecf,  the  Isle 
of  Repentance.  Next  in  importance  they  regarded 
fasting.  The  Egyptian  monks  kept  every  day  a  fast 
till  three  in  the  aifternoon,  excepting  Saturdays,  Sun- 
days, and  the  fifty  days  of  Pentecost.  Some  exer- 
cised themselves  with  very  great  austerities,  fasting 
two,  three,  four,  or  five  daj'S  togetlier ;  but  this  prac- 
tice was  not  generally  approved.  They  did  not  think 
such  excessive  abstinence  of  any  use,  but  rather  a  dis- 
service to  religion.  Pachomius's  rule,  which  was  said 
to  be  given  him  by  an  angel,  permitted  every  man  to 
I  eat,  drink,  and  labor  according  to  his  bodily  strength. 
Thus  fasting  was  a  discretionarj'  thing,  and  matter 
of  choice,  not  compulsion.  Their  fastings  were  ac- 
companied with  extraordinarj'  and  frequent  returns  of 
devotion.  The  monks  of  Palestine,  Mesopotamia,  and 
other  parts  of  the  East,  had  six  or  seven  canonical 
hours  of  pra3'er;  besides  which  they  had  their  con- 
stant vigils,  or  nocturnal  meetings.  The  monks  of 
Egypt  met  only  twice  a  day  for  public  devotion ;  but 
in  their  private  cells,  while  they  were  at  work,  they 
were  always  repeating  psalms,  and  other  parts  of 
Scripture,  and  intermixing  prayers  with  their  bodily 
labor.      St.  Jerome's  description  of  their  devotion  is 


MONK 


496 


MONK 


very  lively:  "When  they  are  assemhled  together," 
says  that  father,  "psalms  are  sung  and  Scriptures 
read;  then,  prayers  l)ein<^  ended,  the}'  all  sit  down, 
and  the  father  begins  a  di.<course  to  them,  which  they 
hear  with  the  profoundest  silence  and  veneration.  His 
words  make  a  deep  impression  on  them ;  their  ej'es 
overflow  with  tears,  and  the  speaker's  commendation 
is  the  weeping  of  his  hearers.  Yet  no  one's  grief  ex- 
presses itself  in  an  indecent  strain.  I5ut  when  he 
comes  to  speak  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  of  future 
happiness,  and  the  glor}'  of  the  world  to  come,  then 
one  may  observe  each  of  them,  with  a  gentle  sigh,  and 
eyes  lifted  up  to  heaven,  say  within  himself,  '  O  that 
I  had  tlie  wings  of  a  dove,  for  then  would  I  flee  away 
and  l)e  at  rest !'  "  In  some  places  they  had  the  Script- 
ures read  during  their  meals  at  table.  This  custom 
was  first  introduced  in  the  monasteries  of  Cappadocia, 
to  prevent  idle  discourses  and  contentions.  But  in 
Egypt  they  had  no  occasion  for  this  remedy,  for  they 
were  taught  to  eat  their  food  in  silence.  Palladius 
mentions  one  instance  more  of  their  devotion,  which 
was  only  occasional ;  nameh',  their  psalmody  at  the 
reception  of  any  brethren,  or  conducting  them  with 
singing  of  psalms  to  their  habitation. 

The  laws  forbade  monks  to  participate  in  public 
affairs,  either  ecclesiastical  or  civil ;  and  those  who 
were  called  to  any  employment  in  the  Church  were 
ol)liged  to  quit  their  monasteries  thereupon.  Nor 
were  they  permitted  to  encroach  upon  the  duties  or 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  secular  clergy,  unless  the 
clerical  and  monastic  life  were  united,  as  when  the  bish- 
ops took  monastics  for  the  service  of  the  Church,  which 
did  not  happen  until  the  monasteries  had  become 
schools  of  learning.  Such  monastics  when  removed 
were  by  the  Greeks  stjded  ifpo/ioi'oYoi,  i.  e.  clerg}-- 
monks.  As  the  monks  of  the  ancient  Church  were 
under  no  .'■oloim  vow  or  profession,  they  were  at  liber- 
ty to  betake  themselves  to  a  secular  life  again.  Ju- 
lian himself  was  once  in  the  monastic  habit.  The 
same  is  observed  of  Constans,  the  son  of  Constantine, 
who  usurped  the  empire  in  Britain.  The  rule  of 
I'achomius,  by  which  the  Egyptian  monks  were  gov- 
erned, has  nothing  of  any  vow  at  their  entrance,  nor 
any  punishment  for  such  as  deserted  their  station  af- 
terwards. In  process  of  time  it  was  thought  proper 
to  inflict  some  punishment  on  such  as  returned  to  a 
secular  life.  The  civil  law  excluded  deserters  from 
the  privilege  of  ordination.  Justinian  added  another 
punishment ;  which  was  that  if  they  were  possessed 
of  anj'  substance,  it  should  be  all  forfeited  to  the  mon- 
astery which  they  had  deserted.  The  censures  of  the 
Church  were  likewise  inflicted  on  deserting  monks  in 
the  5th  century.  Thus  when  a  monk  deserted  and 
married,  he  Avas  declared  incapable  ever  after  of  holy 
orders.  After  the  establishment  of  monasteries  under 
the  rule  of  St.  Basil,  the  actions  of  a  monk,  his  words, 
and  even  his  tlioughts,  were  determined  l)y  an  inflex- 
ible rule  and  a  capricious  superior;  the  slightest  of- 
fences were  corrected  by  disgrace  or  confinement,  ex- 
traordinary fasts  or  bloody  flagellations;  and  disobe- 
dience, murmur,  or  delay  were  ranked  in  the  catalogue 
of  the  most  heinous  sins.  Whenever  monastics  were 
permitted  to  step  beyond  the  precincts  of  the  monas- 
tery, two  jealous  companions  were  the  mutual  guards 
antl  spies  of  each  other's  actions ;  and  after  their  re- 
turn they  were  condemned  to  forget,  or  at  least  to  sup- 
jiress,  -whatever  they  had  seen  or  heard  in  the  world. 
Strangers  who  professed  the  orthodox  faitli  were  hos- 
pitably entertained  in  a  separate  apartment ;  but  their 
dangerous  conversation  was  restricted  to  some  chosen 
ciders  of  approved  discretion  and  fidelity.  Except  in 
their  presence,  the  monastic  slave  might  not  receive 
the  visits  of  his  friends  or  kindred ;  and  it  was  deemed 
highly  meritorious  if  he  afflicted  a  tender  sister  or  an 
aged  parent  by  the  obstinate  refusal  of  a  word  or  look. 

By  their  special  addiction  to  an  ascetic  life,  indicat- 
ing superior  sanctity  and  virtue,  the  monastics  secured 


great  favor  with  the  multitude,  and  speedily  acquired 
for  themselves  such  popularity  and  influence  that  the 
clergy  could  not  but  find  in  them  either  powerful  allies 
or  formidable  rivals.  When  they  began  to  form  large 
and  regular  establishments,  it  was  needful  that  some 
members  of  their  body  should  be  ordained,  in  order  to 
secure  the  regular  performance  of  divine  worship ;  and 
at  length,  not  only  was  it  usual  for  many  members  of 
a  monastery  to  be  in  holy  orders,  but  it  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  an  advantage  for  the  clergy  to  possess  the 
additional  character  of  monastics.  From  the  4th  cen- 
tury, in  the  West,  at  the  request  of  the  people  or  their 
abbot,  the  monks  verj-  frequently  took  orders;  and  in 
the  East  at  the  instance  of  the  bishops,  the  archiman- 
drites being  sometimes  elevated  to  the  episcopate,  or 
acting  as  bishops'  deputies  at  councils,  and  tlieir  monks 
ranking  after  priests  and  deacons,  they  frequently  went 
to  study  in  the  cloister.  It  was  not  until  the  Cth 
centurj'  that  the  coenobites  left  the  desert  for  tlie  sub- 
urbs of  cities  and  towns,  but  as  early  as  the  close  of 
that  century  they  were  known  as  monastics,  having 
come  to  be  distinguished  from  the  populace,  and,  en- 
dowed with  much  opulence  and  many  houoralde  priv- 
ileges, found  themselves  in  a  condition  to  claim  an 
eminent  station  among  the  pillars  and  supporters  of  the 
Christian  community.  The  fame  of  their  \nety  and 
sanctity  was  so  great  that  bishops  and  presbyters  were 
often  chosen  out  of  their  order;  and  the  passion  for 
erecting  edifices  and  convents,  in  which  the  monks  and 
hoi}-  virgins  might  serve  God  in  the  most  commodious 
manner,  was  at  that  time  carried  beyond  all  bounds. 
"So  much  was  the  world  infatuated  by  the  sanctimo- 
nious appearance  of  the  recluses  that  men  thought  they 
could  not  more  effectually  purchase  heaven  to  them- 
selves than  by  beggaring  their  offspring,  and  giving 
all  they  had  to  erect  or  endow  monasteries  ;  that  is,  to 
supply  with  all  the  luxuries  of  life  those  who  were  bound 
to  live  in  abstinence,  and  to  enrich  those  who  had  sol- 
emnly sworn  that  they  would  be  forever  poor,  and  who 
professed  to  consider  riches  as  the  greatest  impediment 
in  the  road  to  heaven.  Large  monasteries,  both  commo- 
dious and  magnificent,  more  resemhling  the  |ialaces  of 
princes  than  the  rude  cells  which  the  primitive  nionks 
chose  for  their  abode,  were  erected  and  endowed.  Leg- 
acies and  bequests  from  time  to  time  flowed  in  upon 
them.  Mistaken  piety  often  contributed  to  the  evil, 
but  oftener  superstitious  profligac}-.  Oppression  her- 
self commonly  judged  that  to  devote  her  wealth  at  last, 
when  it  could  be  kept  no  longer,  to  a  religious  house, 
was  full  atonement  for  all  the  injustice  and  extortion 
by  which  it  had  been  amassed.  But  what  set  in  a 
stronger  light  the  pitiable  brutishness  to  which  the 
people  were  reduced  bj-  the  reigning  superstition,  was 
that  men  of  rank  and  eminence,  who  had  shown  no  par- 
tiality to  anything  monastical  during  their  lives,  gave 
express  orders,  when  in  the  immediate  view  of  death, 
that  their  friends  should  dress  tlicm  out  in  monkish 
vestments,  that  in  these  they  might  die  and  lie  liuriod, 
thinking  tliat  the  sanctity  of  their  garb  would  prove  a 
protection  against  a  condemnatory  sentence  of  the  om- 
niscient Judge"  (Cramp,  Text-book  of  Pope  ri/,  p.  323). 
Nevertheless,  although  many  monastics  greatly  dis- 
tinguislu'd  tlieinselves,  and  established  such  a  popu- 
lar interest  in  monasticism  as  to  cause  eminent  eccle- 
siastics to  adopt  the  monastic  life,  yet  it  was  not  the 
custom  to  place  monks,  as  such,  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  clergy.  They,  indeed,  were  not  tlien  reck- 
oned as  S(rcul(ire.i,  but  were  distinguislied  by  the  name 
of  reltgiosi  or  rer/ulures  (canonici),  and  they  were  first 
regarded  as  part  of  the  clerical  bod}-  in  the  lOth  cen- 
tury ;  but  even  then  a  distinction  was  carefidly  made 
between  clerici  strculares,  i.  e.  parish  priests  and  all 
who  were  charged  witii  the  cure  of  souls,  and  clerici 
reffulares,  i.  e.  those  belonging  to  monastic  orders ;  and 
the  former  vehemently  protested  against  the  riglit  of 
the  latter  to  interfere  with  their  own  peculiar  duties. 
In  fact,  no  complete  amalgamation  of  the  two  bodies 


MONK 


497 


MONK 


ever  took  place ;  and  all  monasteries  continued  to  in- 
cliide  a  certain  number  of  lay  brethren,  or  conversi, 
who,  without  discharging  strictly  spiritual  functions, 
formed,  as  in  the  ancient  Church,  a  middle  order  be- 
tween the  clergy  and  the  laity.  In  the  9th  century 
there  existed  also  the  monachi  sceciilares,  who  were 
members  of  religious  fraternities,  living  under  a  cer- 
tain rule  and  presidency,  but  without  submitting  to 
the  confinement  of  a  cloister.  They  were  the  fore- 
runners of  the  religious  fraternities  which  arose  in 
France,  Italy,  and  Germany,  and  greatly  multiplied 
and  extended  during  the  15th  and  16th  centuries.  The 
members  of  these  fraternities  formed  a  class  between 
the  laity  and  clergj'.  However,  their  licentiousness, 
even  in  the  Gth  centurj',  became  a  proverb ;  and  they 
are  said  to  have  excited  the  most  dreadful  tumults  and 
sedition  in  various  places. 

The  monastic  orders,  as  we  have  alreadj'  indicated, 
were  at  first  under  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the 
bishops,  but  they  were  exempted  from  them  by  the 
Roman  pontiff  about  the  end  of  the  7th  century  (Boni- 
face IV) ;  and  the  monks,  in  turn,  devoted  themselves 
wholly  to  advancing  the  interests  and  to  maintaining 
the  dignity  of  the  bisliop  of  Eome.  ' '  The  partiality  of 
the  popes  for  monastic  orders,"  says  Cramp,  "  is  easily 
accounted  for.  They  constitute  a  peculiar  and  dis- 
tinct body,  so  estranged  from  society  that  they  can 
give  undivided  attention  and  solicitude  to  any  object 
that  is  presented  to  their  notice.  That  object  has  uni- 
formly been  the  aggrandizement  of  the  Church — that 
is,  the  See  of  Rome.  Incorporated  by  pontifical  au- 
thority, exempted  to  a  degree  from  episcopal  jurisdic- 
tion, and  endowed  with  many  privileges  and  favors 
from  which  the  rest  of  the  faithful  are  excluded,  the}^ 
are  bound  in  gratitude  to  make  the  pope's  interest 
their  own.  Histor}'  records  that  they  have  ever  been 
ready  to  come  forward  in  support  of  tlie  most  glaring 
enormities  of  the  papal  sj'stem,  and  that  to  their  inde- 
fatigable diligence  and  adroit  management  the  trium- 
phant progress  of  that  system  was  mainly  indebted. 
They  formed  a  sort  of  local  militia,  stationed  in  every 
country  in  Europe,  always  prepared  to  uphold  the 
cause  to  which  tlie}'  had  attached  themselves,  by  ag- 
gression, defence,  or  imposture,  as  the  case  might  re- 
quire" (Text-book  of  Popery,  p.  359).  The  immunity 
which  the  monks  thus  obtained  was  a  fruitful  source 
of  licentiousness  and  disorder,  and  largelj^  occasioned 
the  vices  with  which  they  were  afterwards  so  justly 
charged.  In  the  8th  century  the  monastic  discipline 
was  extremely  relaxed,  and  all  efforts  to  restore  it 
were  ineffectual.  Nevertheless,  this  kind  of  institu- 
tion was  in  the  highest  esteem ;  and  nothing  could 
equal  the  veneration  that  was  paid  about  the  close  of 
the  9th  century  to  such  as  devoted  themselves  to  the 
gloom  and  indolence  of  a  convent.  This  veneration 
caused  several  kings  and  emperors  to  call  monks  to  their 
courts,  and  to  employ  them  in  civil  affairs  of  the  great- 
est moment.  Their  reformation  was  attempted  by 
Louis  the  Meek,  but  the  effect  was  of  short  duration. 
In  the  11th  century  they  were  exempted  Ijy  the  popes 
from  the  authority  established ;  liut  this  caused  such 
laxity  that  in  the  Council  of  Lateran,  in  1215,  a  decree 
was  passed,  bj'  the  advice  of  Innocent  III.  to  prevent 
any  new  monastic  institutions ;  and  several  were  en- 
tirely suppressed.  In  the  15th  and  16th  centuries,  it  ap- 
pears, from  the  testimony  of  the  best  writers,  that  the 
monks  were  generally  lazy,  illiterate,  profligate,  and 
licentious  epicures,  whose  views  in  life  were  confined 
to  opulence,  idleness,  and  pleasure.  "  Whenever  a 
general  council  was  assembled,"  says  Cramp,  "  the  ir- 
regularities or  usurpations  of  the  monastic  orders 
commonly  occupied  a  large  share  of  the  proceedings. 
Canon  after  canon  was  issued,  and  still  the  interposi- 
tion of  ecclesiastical  authorit)'  was  constant!}'  required. 
An  abstract  of  the  decree  passed  on  this  subject  in  the 
twentj'-fifth  session  of  the  Council  of  Trent  will  place 
before  the  reader  the  then  existing  condition  of  that 
YI.-I  I 


portion  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  It  was  enact- 
ed that  care  should  be  talien  to  procure  s'trict  observ- 
ance of  the  rules  of  the  respective  professions  ;  that  no 
regular  should  be  allowed  to  possess  any  private  prop- 
erty, but  should  surrender  ever^'thing  to  his  superior; 
that  all  monasteries,  even  those  of  the  mendicants  (tlie 
Capuchins  and  friars  minor  Observantines  excepted  at 
their  own  request),  should  be  permitted  to  hold  estates 
and  other  wealth  ;  that  no  monk  should  be  suffered.to 
undertake  any  office  whatever  without  his  superior's 
consent,  nor  quit  the  convent  without  a  written  per- 
mission ;  that  nunneries  should  be  careful!}'  closed, 
and  egress  be  absolutely  forbidden  the  nuns,  under  any  ^ 
pretense  whatsoever,  without  episcopal  license,  on  pain 
of  excommunication — magistrates  being  enjoined  un- 
der the  same  penalty  to  aid  the  bishop,  if  necessary, 
bj'  employing  force,  and  the  latter  being  urged  to  their 
duty  by  the  fear  of  the  judgment  of  God  and  the  eter- 
nal curse ;  that  monastics  should  confess  and  receive 
the  eucharist  at  least  once  a  month  ;  that  if  anj'  pub- 
lic scandal  should  arise  out  of  their  conduct,  they 
should  be  judged  and  punished  by  the  superior,  or,  in 
case  of  his  failure,  bj'  the  bishop ;  that  no  renunciation  ■* 
of  property  or  pecuniary  engagement  should  be  valid 
unless  made  within  two  months  of  taking  the  vows  of 
religious  profession  ;  that  immediately  after  the  novi- 
tiate, the  novices  should  either  be  dismissed  or  take 
the  vow,  and  that  if  thej'  were  dismissed,  nothing 
should  be  received  from  them  but  a  reasonable  pav- 
ment  for  their  board,  lodging,  and  clothing  during  the 
novitiate ;  that  no  females  should  take  the  veil  with- 
out previous  examination  by  the  bishop ;  that  whoever 
compelled  females  to  enter  convents  against  their  will, 
from  avaricious  or  other  motives,  or,  on  the  otiier  hand, 
hindered  such  as  were  desirous  of  the  monastic  life, 
should  be  excommunicated ;  that  if  any  monk  or  nun 
pretended  that  they  had  taken  the  vows  under  the  in- 
fluence of  force  or  fear,  or  before  the  age  appointed  by 
law,  they  should  not  be  heard,  except  within  five  years 
after  their  profession — if  thej'  laid  aside  the  habit  of 
their  own  accord,  tliey  should  not  be  permitted  to  make 
the  complaint,  but  be  compelled  to  return  to  the  monas- 
tery, and  be  punished  as  apostates,  being  in  the  mean 
time  deprived  of  all  the  privileges  of  their  order.  Fi- 
nally, with  regard  to  the  general  reformation  of  the 
corruptions  and  abuses  which  existed  in  convents,  the 
council  lamented  the  great  difficulty  of  applying  any 
effectual  remed}-,  but  hoped  that  the  supreme  pontiff 
would  piously  and  prudenth'  provide  for  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  case  as  far  as  the  times  would  bear"  (Text- 
book of  Poperij,  p.  359).  However,  the  Reformation 
had  a  manifest  influence  in  restraining  these  excesses, 
and  in  rendering  monastics  more  circumspect  and  cau- 
tious in  their  external  conduct.  See  Monastery  and 
MoNASTicisM  ;  also  Monks,  Eastern.     (J.  H.  W.) 

Monk,  George,  Duke  of  Albemarle,  a  noted 
British  general  of  the  days  of  the  Commonwealth,  cel- 
ebrated for  the  services  he  rendered,  first  to  the  Pro- 
tectorate and  afterwards  to  the  crown,  causing  the 
restoration  of  king  Charles,  was  born  in  the  parisli  of 
Merton,  Devonshire,  Dec.  6,  1608.  He  devoted  him- 
self early  to  militarj'  life,  and  had  acquired  some  ex- 
perience in  the  wars  on  the  Continent  when  the  war 
broke  out  (1638)  between  Charles  and  the  Scotch. 
Monlc  enlisted  in  the  English  service,  and  was  made 
lieutenant- colonel.  In  16-11  he  served  against  the 
Irish  reliels;  and  in  the  following  j'ear,  upon  the  out- 
break of  the  war  between  Charles  and  Parliament,  he 
obtained  a  full  colonelcy.  He  was  verj'  popular  with 
his  soldiers,  and  to  the  last  remained  their  idol.  For  a 
while  his  loyalty  to  the  king  was  questioned ;  but  he 
soon  regained  the  confidence  of  the  throne,  and  was 
suffered  to  take  the  field.  He  rapidly  acquired  rep- 
utation as  an  able  officer ;  but  was  made  prisoner  at 
Nantwich  in  January,  1644,  by  the  Roundheads,  and 
confined  in  the  Tower  of  London  more  than  a  year. 
While  himself  immured,  matters  outside  turned  very 


MONK 


498 


MOXK 


much  against  the  king,  who  was  finally  taken  pris- 
oner, thus  terminating  the  civil  war.      Efforts  were 
now  made  bv  Parliament  to  secure  Monk's  services. 
His  known  abi!it_v  and  favor  witli  the  soldiers  made 
him  a  desirable  acquisition.     Clarendon  insists  upon 
it  that  Monk  was  bouglit  bj'  Parliament  (vii,  3S2) :  but 
there  is  no  proof  for  such  an  assertion,  though  his  final 
acts  in  the  scene  of  Restoration  would  point  that  way. 
In  all  prol)ability  Monk  felt  the  king's  cause  lost,  and 
was  tluis  persuaded  to  serve  Parliament.     The  silence 
whicli  he  ever  after  preserved  would  confirm  such  a 
belief.     This  seems  reasonable  also  when  it  is  consid- 
ered that  originally  Monk  must  have  been  in  sympa- 
thy with  the  people's  cause,  for  he  was  suspected  by 
tlic  RoA'alists.     Most  likely,  too,  Monk  was  influenced 
by  tlie  condition  of  affairs.     He  liked  to  be  with  the 
winning  side,  and,  though  he  liad  come  to  be  an  admir- 
er of  the  splendor  and  attraction  of  court,  lie  would  yet 
fain  resign  all  these  rather  than  serve  the  minority. 
Ho  finally  in  1G17  consented  to  take  a  commission  in 
tiie  Parliamentarian  army.     He  first  commanded  for 
his  new  masters  in  Ireland,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  greatly.      He  afterwards  acted  as  lieutenant- 
general  under  Cromwell  in  Scotland,  wliere  he  aided 
much  in  gaining  the  victory  of  Dunbar.     Cromwell 
finally  left  him  with  6,000  men  to  complete  the  subju- 
gation of  Scotland,  a  work  which  Jlonk  effectually 
performed.     He  was  next  employed  as  an  admiral  of 
the  Commonwealth's  fieet,  and  he  shared  in  the  perils 
and  the  glories  of  the   desperate   struggle  with  the 
Dutch  navy,  which  Blake  so  successfully  conducted. 
After  being  rewarded  with  many  honors  at  the  hand 
of  Cromwell  and  the  Parliament,  Jlonk  was  sent  back 
to  his  command  in  Scotland,  where  fresh  troubles  had 
broken  out.      He  was  at  this  time  in  a  very  embarrass- 
ing position,  and  j'et  he  discharged  himself  of  his  task 
with  satisfaction  to  all.     His  own  soldiers  were  tlie 
most  restless  and  fanatical  of  the  army.     Besides,  he 
had  to  contend  with  lord  ISIiddloton,  with  whom  the  | 
Eoj'alists  had  risen  in  the  Highlands,  and  the  people  | 
generally,  who  were  discontented  and  ready  for  rebel- 
lion.    His  vigilance,  activity,  and  good  sense  in  this 
position  were  remarkable.    "The  countr}',"  writes  Gui- 
zot,  "submitted ;  the  arm}'  did  not  quit  it  till  it  had, 
by  means  of  a  certain  number  of  garrisons,  secured  the 
payment  of  taxes,  which  the  Highlanders  bad  hitherto 
thought  they  could  refuse  with  impunity ;  and  order 
was  established  in  those  sanctuaries  of  plunder  with 
such  efltect  that  the  owner  of  a  strayed  horse,  it  is 
said,  recovered  it  in  the  country  b}'  means  of  a  crier"  I 
(p.  80).     He  was  also  instrumental  in  bringing  about  i 
the  union  which  was  estal)lished  under  the  Protector-  ! 
ate  between  England  and  Scotland  ;  and  thus  likewise 
strengthened  the  Cromwellian  efi"orts.     Indeed,  it  is 
genpialiy  conceded  that  Monk  was  always  attached  to  | 
Cromwell  from  the  moment  he  openly  espoused  the  I 
poiHilar  cause,  and  was  never  suspected  of  disloyalty 
while  the  Protector  lived.     This  is  manifest  also  from  \ 
]\Ionk's  prompt  action  when  importuned  by  Charles  i 
for  his  cause.     The  king  sent  Monk  a  letter  expres- 
.«;ive  of  confidence,  and,  instead  of  reply,  IMonk  turned 
the  letter  over  to  Cromwell.     In  ICoo  Monk  was  made 
one  of  the  commissioners  for  the  government  of  Scot- 
land, and  he  largely,  if  not  wholly,  controlled  the  action 
of  tlie  council  of  state.     That  in  this  position  also  he 
pleased  Cromwell  is  evident  from  the  way  in  which  , 
he  was  remembered  in  the  Protector's  last  hour.    Crom-  ; 
well  on  his  death-bed  is  said  to  have  recommended 
him  to  his  son  and  successor,  who  as  soon  as  installed 
likewise  received  Monk's  support.     But  Uichard's  fail- 
ure turned  Monk  away.     !Monk  soon  discovered  the 
weakness  of  the  new  ruler,  and  determined  to  follow 
tiiat  policy  by  which  he  would  both  connect  himself 
with  the  strongest  party,  and  also  lay  that  under  the  ' 
greatest  possil)le  oliligation  to  him.      Ho  temporized 
for  some  months;    listening  to  the   advances   of  all  I 
sides,  and  saying  little  in  return.     He  had,  no  doubt,  i 


I  made  up  his  mind  that  the  Royalist  cause  was  the 
I  strongest,  and  that  Richard  was  not  fitted  to  give  sta- 
j  bility  to  the  government;  and  though  when  circum- 
'  stances  compelled  him  to  act  he  declared  for  the  Par- 
liament against  the  army  and  decided  upon  marching 
to  London,  there  were  many,  even  at  the  time  when 
he  tluis  declared  himself,  who  altogether  discredited 
I  his  sincerity,  and  believed  him  to  be  at  heart  a  Royalist, 
seeking  to  restore  the  king  as  soon  as  it  might  be  done 
with  safety;  and  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  he 
even  then  was  determined  to  promote  the  Restoration. 
We  give  Mr.  Ilallam's  opinion  on  this  point:  "I  in- 
cline, upon  the  whole,  to  believe  that  Monk,  not  ac- 
j  customed  to  respect  the  Rump  Parliament,  and  inca- 
pable, both  by  his  temperament  and  by  the  course  of 
1  his  life,  of  any  enthusiasm  for  the  name  of  liberty,  had 
satisfied  himself  as  to  the  expediency  of  the  king's 
restoration  from  the  time  that  the  Cromwells  ha<l  sunk 
below  his  power  to  assist  them ;  though  his  jjrojects 
j  were  still  subservient  to  his  own  security,  which  he 
was  resolved  not  to  forfeit  by  any  premature  declara- 
tion or  unsuccessful  enterprise"  {Const.  Hist,  ii,  384). 
When  Monk  arrived  in  London  he  was  lodged  in  the 
apartments  of  the  prince  of  Wales.  He  addressed  the 
Parliament,  was  invited  to  occupy  his  place  there,  was 
made  a  member  of  the  council  of  state,  and  charged 
I  with  the  executive  power.  With  his  usual  address,  he 
continued  to  use  the  power  of  his  army  as  a  means  of 
I  awing  Parliament,  and  the  assertion  of  duty  owed  to 
the  Parliament  as  a  means  of  controlling  his  army. 
At  length  in  IGGO  the  "Rump"  became  so  unpopular, 
and  the  cries  for  a  free  Parliament  so  loud,  that  the  city 
of  London  refused  the  payment  of  taxes.  Jlonk  obeyed 
an  order  from  the  Parliament  to  march  into  the  city 
and  subdue  it;  but  his  subservience  to  them  did  not 
last  long.  He  sent  them  a  harsh  letter,  ordering  them 
innnediatcly  to  fill  up  the  vacant  seats,  fixing  a  time 
for  their  dissolution,  and  the  Gth  of  May  for  the  elec- 
tion of  a  new  and  free  Parliament^  The  restored  mem- 
bers appointed  him  general  of  the  forces  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland  ;  and  the  Republicans,  as  a  last 
resource,  listened  to  his  continued  protestations  against 
the  king,  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the  bishops,  and  al- 
lied themselves  to  him.  Every  day  his  personal  power 
increased ;  he  was  offered  the  Protectorate,  which  he 
declined  ;  continuing  the  line  of  conduct  he  had  always 
followed — "that  is  to  say,  steadfast  in  var^-ing  his  lan- 
guage according  to  the  individual — he  gave  no  handle 
to  any  definite  opinions  with  respect  to  himself."  The 
expectation  of  the  Restoration  daily  increased,  and 
some  indications  in  the  conduct  of  Monk,  who  was 
gradually  dismissing  persons  and  removing  objects 
that  might  prove  obnoxious  to  the  king,  showed  plain- 
ly that  the  event  was  not  far  distant.  Moreover,  the 
Presliyterians  were  in  constant  communication  with 
Monk,  and  this  of  itself  speaks  volumes.  They  were 
in  favor  of  Charles's  restoration,  and  in  Monk  thoy 
found  a  ready  helper.  He  was  warmly  attached  to 
them,  and  thus  may  have  been  easih'  persuaded  to 
throw  his  infiuence  in  favor  of  the  exiled  king.  That 
he  preferred  Presbyterianism  to  the  Episcopal  Church 
ho  had  not  feared  to  declare  in  one  of  his  speeches 
in  Parliament,  when,  after  repeated  declarations  in  fa- 
vor of  a  republic,  he  yet  dared  to  speak  for  Prcsl)yteri- 
anism.  Said  he,  "  As  to  a  government  in  the  Cliurch, 
moderate,  not  rigid,  Presbyterianism  appears  at  pres- 
ent to  be  the  most  indifferent  and  acceptable  way  to 
the  Church's  settlement"  (Pari.  J/lst.  iii,  1580).  '  At 
length  the  farce  was  brought  to  a  close,  and  Monk 
openly  declared  for  the  king.  It  was  on  the  IDth  of 
March  when  the  royal  requests  for  his  assistance  came, 
and  to  royal  iiromisos  of  high  reward  he  yielded,  agreed 
to  the  king's  return,  and  directed  the  manner  in  which 
he  wished  it  to  lie  brought  about.  The  king,  by 
Monk's  advice,  went  from  Brussels  to  Breda,  and  on 
the  1st  of  May  sent  letters  to  the  new  Parliament 
drawn  up  as  Monk  desired,  and  the  king  was  immedi- 


MONK 


499 


MONKS,  EASTERN 


ately  acknowledged  and  proclaimed.  On  the  23d  of 
May,  Monk  received  him  on  the  beach  at  Dover,  was 
embraced  hy  him,  and  addressed  with  great  affection. 
Monk  obtained  many  offices  and  titles,  of  which  the 
principal  was  the  duke  of  Albemarle.  As  such  he 
changed  again  to  be  an  Episcopalian,  after  he  had  in 
turn  worshipped  as  Independent  and  Presbj-terian, 
and  by  this  change  forever  set  at  rest  all  hopes  for  the 
disestablishment  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  The  fail- 
ure of  the  Independent  and  Presbyterian  cause  may 
thus  be  truly  laid  to  Monk,  and  he  therefore  figures  in 
no  inconsiderable  way  in  the  ecclesiastical  as  well  as 
political  history  of  England,  and  even  of  Great  Britain. 
From  this  time  forth  but  little  influence  remained  to  him 
except  as  he  wielded  it  through  the  king.  He  went 
to  sea  again  in  1GG6,  against  his  old  enemies  the  Dutch, 
and  maintained  his  reputation  for  courage  and  con- 
duct. Ho  died  in  1670.  "Monk,"  says  one  of  his  bi- 
ographers, "had  strong  nerves,  strong  common-sense, 
a  cold  heart,  an  accommodating  conscience,  a  careful 
tongue,  an  unchanging  countenance,  and  an  imper- 
turbable temper.  He  sliowed  considerable  skill  in 
civil  government  as  well  as  in  military  affairs.  He 
had  shrewdness  enough  to  see  what  was  best  for  the 
nation's  interest;  and,  if  it  also  promoted  his  own,  he 
had  ability  and  vigor  enough  to  bring  it  to  pass.  He 
was  never  unsettled  by  enthusiasm  in  determining  his 
ends,  and  he  was  never  checked  by  principle  in  choos- 
ing his  means."  M.  Guizot  would  hardlj'  concede  all 
this.  He  acknowledges  that  Monk  "  was  a  man  capa- 
ble of  great  things,"  but  confesses  that  "he  had  no 
greatness  of  soul."  It  certainly  was  not  to  England's 
interest  to  restore  Charles,  but  he  only  brought  him 
back  because  he  was  disappointed  in  Richard  Crom- 
well, and  dared  not  himself  assume  the  reins  of  the 
government.  See  Clarendon,  Hist.  Rehellion  and  Civil 
Wars  of  England,  vii,  373  sq. ;  Skinner,  Life  of  Monk; 
Gmzot,  Memoirs  of  Monk,  ah\y  edited  by  the  late  lord 
Wharncliffe ;  Maseres's  Tracts;  Pepys  and  Evelj'n, 
Memoirs ;  Stoughton,  Eccles.  Hist.  Chwch  of  England 
(Restoration),  i,"44  sq. ;  Hallam,  Const.  Hist.  p.  393-406 ; 
Macaulay,  JJist.  of  England,  i,  143-146,  296 ;  Stephen, 
Hist,  of 'the  Church  of  Scotland,  ii,  350,  370,  376,  380; 
State  Papers  of  Charles  II  (Lond.  1866)  ;  Retrospectice 
Review,  vol.  xiii  (1826).     (J.  H.  W.) 

Monk,  James  Henry,  D.D.,  an  English  prel- 
ate, was  born  at  Huntingford,  Herts,  in  the  early  part 
of  1784.  His  preparatory  education  was  received  at 
the  Charterhouse,  and  he  then  entered  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  where  he  became  a  fellow  in  1805.  Two 
years  later  he  occupied  the  position  of  assistant  tutor, 
and  in  1808  succeeded  Porson  as  regius  professor  of 
Greek.  While  in  this  chair  he  applied  himself  faith- 
fully to  critical  analyses  of  various  Greek  texts.  He 
"published,  in  conjunction  with  C.  J.  Bloomfield,  D.D., 
The  Posthumous  Tracts  of  Richard  Poison.  During  his 
professorship  an  exciting  dispute  arose  concerning  the 
occupancy  of  the  chair  of  botany,  and  Sir  James  Ed- 
ward Smith,  president  of  the  Linnsean  Society,  London, 
being  disappointed  in  not  securing  the  position,  made 
bitter  use  of  his  pen  concerning  it.  In  reply,  JMonk 
published  A  Vindication  of  the  Universitg  of  Cambridge 
(1818),  which,  from  the  prominence  of  both  parties, 
caused  considerable  stir  in  literary  circles  {Lond.  Quart. 
xix,  434-446).  In  1822  he  resigned  his  professorship 
to  accept  the  deanery  of  Peterborough,  and  eight  years 
later  was  made  bishop  of  Gloucester.  During  this  year 
(1830)  he  published  a  Life  of  Richard  Bentley,  D.D. 
This  work  not  only  possesses  literary  excellence  and 
biographical  interest,  but  also  comprises  a  large  portion 
of  the  Uterary  annals  of  the  first  half  of  the  last  centurj-, 
besides  valuable  historical  facts  concerning  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge.  "  The  style  is  generally  plain  and 
masculine,  and  if  sometimes  negligent,  and  at  others 
elaborate,  its  ordinary  tone  is  that  of  a  writer  of  strong 
sense  and  of  elegant  and  scholarlike  accomplishment" 
{Lond,  Quart  xlvi,  120).     Many  minor  inaccuracies 


have  been  justly  and  severely  criticised  (Edinh.  Rev.  li, 
321),  but  its  general  merit  caused  it  to  receive  a  hearty 
welcome  by  the  literati.  In  1836  Bristol  was  added  to 
Gloucester,  and  he  became  the  bishop  of  the  united  di- 
oceses. This  otfice  he  held  until  his  death  at  Stapleton, 
near  Bristol,  June  6,  1856.  See  Stubbs,  Registrum  Sa- 
crum Anglicanum  (Oxf.  1858,  8vo) ;  Allibone,  Diet,  of 
Brit,  and .  1  mer.  A  uthors,  s.  v. ;  Hallam,  Hist.  Lit.  ii,  275 ; 
and  the  Reviews  quoted.     (H.  W.  T.) 

Monkey-god  is  a  divinity  of  the  Hindus,  very 
common  in  tlie  temples  of  the  Deccan.  He  is  said  to 
have  been  a  favorite  general  of  the  god  Rama,  and  was 
named  Hanvman,  but,  being  an  aboriginal,  the  Puranas 
transformed  him  into  a  monkey.  See  Trevor,  India,  its 
Xatires  and  Jli^-sioiis,  p.  82. 

.  Monks,  Eastern.  The  Oriental  Church  differs 
in  many  respects  from  the  Latin  or  Western,  but  in 
no  particular  more  than  in  its  paucity  of  monastic  or- 
ders. In  the  early  ages  of  the  Church,  these  flourish- 
ed especially  in  the  East ;  indeed,  that  part  of  the 
world,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  article  Moxasticism, 
was  the  home  of  Christian  monks.  But  the  downfall 
of  the  Roman  empire  despoiled  the  Church  more  or 
less,  and  the  monastic  institution  became  a  part  of  the 
Western  Ciiurch,  while  in  the  East  it  gradually  de- 
generated and  declined. 

i.  Oriental  Monks. — The  conflict  with  the  Saracens 
contributed  to  the  weakening  of  the  monastic  orders  ; 
and  thougli  there  are  remains  of  ancient  monastic  in- 
stitutions in  all  the  provinces  of  European  Turkey  and 
Greece,  especially  in  Bulgaria,  Thrace,  Macedonia, 
Thessaly,  the  Morea,  the  islands  of  the  ^gean,  and 
the  sea-borders  of  Asia  Minor,  those  used  as  such  in 
our  day  arc  comparatively  few. 

Among  the  monasteries  still  existing,  the  most  re- 
markable are  those  of  Mount  Athop,  Metcora,  Mount 
Sinai,  and  of  the  Princes  Islands.  The  first  of  these  is 
under  the  control  of  both  the  Oriental  and  the  Russo- 
Greek  Church.  The  latter  established  a  monastery 
on  this  mount,  occupied  b}'  about  twenty  monks,  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  the  empress  Catharine.  See  below ; 
compare  also  the  article  Athos.  Two  of  the  exist- 
ing monasteries,  on  the  west  side,  were  founded  by 
a  king  of  Servia  in  the  12th  century,  and  are  occu- 
pied by  Bulgarian  monks,  using  the  Slavonic  tongue 
in  religious  worship.  Most  of  the  monasteries,  how- 
ever, were  founded  and  richly  endowed  b}'  tlie  Greek 
emperors.  There  are  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
hermitages  ;  and  the  number  of  chapels,  oratories,  and 
shrines,  in  a  space  not  exceeding  ten  leagues  in  diam- 
eter, is  estimated  at  nine  hundred  and  thirtJ^  The 
monasteries  of  Princes  Islands  were  former]3'  the  most 
flourishing  in  Turkey,  but  they  are  now  nearly  aban- 
doned by  monastics,  and  have  become  places  of  pleas- 
ure and  recreation  in  the  summer  months.  "  The 
empty  cloisters  of  one  or  two,"  says  a  recent  visitor, 
"are  trodden  by  a  few  pale  and  wretchedly  poor 
monks,  some  deposed  patriarchs  and  disgraced  priors, 
or  other  subordinates  of  theirs,  flitting  through  the 
sombre  porches  and  gliding  along  the  deserted  church- 
es like  the  ghosts  of  the  former  inmates."  The  near- 
ly ruined  monasteries  of  Metcora  (seven  in  all),  in 
Thessaly,  are  situated  in  the  wildest  part  of  Mount 
Pindus,  man}^  of  them  perched  on  the  peaks  of  the 
mountain  and  on  summits  of  precipitous  rocks,  the 
only  access  to  which  is  bj'  nets  attached  to  ropes  and 
pulleys,  by  means  of  which  visitors  are  drawn  up,  or 
by  ladders  fixed  to  the  rock.  There  are  aliout  sixty 
monks  remaining  in  the  ruins  of  those  now  dilapidated 
monasteries.  The  famous  Greek  monastery  of  Mount 
Sinai  is  exceedingly  austere.  It  contains  aljout  one 
hundred  monks,  under  a  superior  styled  archbishop 
and  head  of  Mount  Sinai.  He  is  chosen  by  election, 
but  receives  investiture  from  the  patriarch  of  Jerusa- 
lem.    See  Sinai. 

The  rule  of  the  Oriental  monks  has  continued  to  be 


MONKS,  EASTERN  500  MONKS,  ExVSTERN 


Jacobite  !Mouk. 


Etliiopiau  Mouk. 


Jlaronitc  ilouk. 


Ariiieuiau  Mouk- 


Coptic  Mouk. 


Montolivetiau  Monk. 

(A  Weattru  Order.) 


Eussiau  Mouk. 


MONKS,  EASTERN 


501 


MONKS,  EASTERN 


that  of  Pachomius  or  of  Basil.  They  are  divided  into 
two  classes — coenobites,  or  ordinary  communities,  and 
anchorets  (idiorithmes),  who  live  separately,  unless  on 
certain  festivals  (in  recent  times)  when  they  eat  in 
common.  Each  monastery  is  governed  by  a  prior  (he- 
gumenos),  whose  office  is  for  life,  or  in  his  absence 
(or  the  non-existence  of  one)  by  a  provider  or  steward 
(epitropos),  elected  annually  by  the  community.  The 
brethren  are  divided  into  ordinary  monlvs  (monachi) 
and  consecrated  monks  (hieromonachi) ;  the  latter  are 
the  learned  portion  of  the  communit}' — but  these  are 
few  indeed.  In  1545,  when  Belon  visited  Mount  Athos 
(less  than  a  century  after  the  conquest),  he  found  six 
thousand  caloyers,  or  monks,  in  the  different  monas- 
teries, and  of  that  number,  he  states,  "it  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  find  more  than  two  or  three  in  each  monastery 
who  can  read  or  write."  Recent  travellers  find  no 
change.  Madden  says  :  "  This  was  the  state  of  things 
in  all  the  monasteries  I  have  visited  in  the  Greek  isl- 
ands, in  European  Turkej',  in  Sj'ria,  and  in  Egypt. 
But  among  the  few — the  very  small  minority  of  monks 
who  could  read  and  write  in  the  monasteries  I  visited 
— there  was  generall}'  one  monk,  sometimes  two  of  the 
brotherhood,  who  were  addicted  to  studj',  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  ancient  Greek,  had  a  knowledge  of 
ecclesiastical  history  and  of  the  writings  of  the  Greek 
fathers,  and  some  acquaintance  with  the  principal 
works  or  rarest  MSS.  of  their  several  libraries"  {Turk- 
ish Empire,  ii,  83).  The  time  of  Oriental  monastics 
is  divided  between  religious  duties  and  manual  labor, 
providing  food  and  other  necessaries,  tending  cattle, 
and  domestic  afl:airs. 

Down  to  the  period  of  the  Greek  revolution  and  its 
termination  in  the  Hellenic  kingdom,  but  especially  till 
1821,  the  monasteries  were  unmolested  by  the  Turks, 
and  consequently  the  literary  treasures  remained  un- 
injured, except  by  the  ignorant  members  of  their  com- 
munities. But  the  successes  of  the  Greeks  in  the  Mo- 
rea  in  1821  led  to  irreparable  mischief  to  the  monastic 
libraries  of  several  parts  of  Greece,  and  particularly  of 
the  monasteries  of  Mount  Athos,  at  the  hands  of  the 
infuriated  Turks,  and  vast  numbers  of  rare  books  and 
still  more  valuable  and  irreplaceable  MSS.  were  de- 
stroj'ed.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  ere  long  the  treasures 
still  remaining  will  be  in  the  hands  of  European  schol- 
ars, and  their  contents  become  the  possession  of  the 
world  of  letters. 

II.  Bussian  Jfonks. — Eussian  monasticism  is  so  un- 
like that  of  the  other  Christian  countries  in  which  the 
institution  has  gained  a  footing,  that  we  devote  a  spe- 
cial section  to  its  orders.  In  the  consideration  of  this 
subject  we  must  dismiss  from  our  minds  all  the  West- 
em  ideas  of  beneficence,  learning,  preaching,  etc.,  such 
as  we  attribute  to  the  Benedictines  or  Franciscans;  of 
statecraft,  subtlet}^  and  policy,  such  as  we  ascribe  to 
the  Jesuits.  In  the  dark  forests  of  Muscovy  is  carried 
out  the  same  rigid  system,  at  least  in  outward  form, 
that  was  born  and  nurtured  in  the  burning  desert  of 
the  Thebaid.  There  is  no  variety  of  monastic  orders 
in  Russia.  The  one  name  of  the  Black  Clergy  is  ap- 
plied to  all  alike ;  the  one  rule  of  St.  Basil  (q.  v.)  gov- 
erns them  all.  For  convenience'  sake  they  might  be 
divided  into  two  classes — the  Hermits  and  the  Monks. 

1.  The  Hermits. — Even  at  the  present  day  the  influ- 
ence of  a  hermit  in  Russia  is  be3'ond  what  it  is  in  anj' 
other  part  of  the  world,  and  in  earlier  times  their  sanc- 
tity had  acquired  the  strongest  hold  over  all  who  came 
witiiin  their  reach.  Anthony  and  Theodosius,  in  the 
caves  of  Kief,  were  known  far  and  wide  for  their  piety 
and  asceticism,  and  their  dried  skeletons  still  attract 
pilgrims  from  the  utmost  bounds  of  Kamtchatka.  The 
pillar-hermits  never  reached  the  West,  but  were  to  be 
found  in  the  heart  of  Russia.  Fletcher,  in  his  Russian 
Commonu-ealth  (p.  117),  describes  them  thus  :  "  There 
are  certain  eremites  who  use  to  go  stark  naked,  save  a 
clout  about  their  middle,  with  their  hair  hanging  long 
and  wildly  about  their  shoulders,  and  many  of  them 


with  an  iron  collar  or  chain  about  their  necks  or  mid- 
dles, even  in  the  very  extremity  of  winter.  These 
they  take  as  prophets  and  men  of  great  holiness,  giv- 
ing them  a  liberty  to  speak  what  they  list  without  any 
controlment,  though  it  be  of  the  very  highest  himself. 
So  that  if  he  reprove  any  openly,  in  what  sort  soever, 
they  answer  nothing  but  that  it  is  'Po  Grecum''  {for 
their  sins).  The  people  liketh  very  well  of  them,  be- 
cause they  are  as  pasquils  [pasquins]  to  note  their 
great  men's  faults,  that  no  man  else  dare  speak  of.  .  .  . 
Of  this  kind  there  are  not  many,  because  it  is  a  very 
hard  and  cold  profession  to  go  naked  in  Russia,  espe- 
cially in  winter."  Of  the  numerous  hermits,  we  men- 
tion Basil  of  Moscow,  "that  would  take  upon  him  to 
reprove  the  old  emperor,  the  terrible  Ivan,  for  all  his 
cruelty  and  oppression  done  towards  the  people.  His 
body  the}'  have  translated  into  a  sumptuous  church 
near  the  emperor's  house  in  Moscow,  and  have  canon- 
ized him  for  a  saint."  That  sumptuous  church  re- 
mains a  monument  of  the  mad  hennit.  It  is  the  ca- 
thedral immediately  outside  the  Kremlin  walls,  well 
termed  "^/«e  dream  of  a  diseased  imagination.'"  Hun- 
dreds of  artists  were  kidnapped  from  Liibeck  to  erect 
it,  and  of  all  the  buildings  in  Moscow  it  makes  the 
deepest  impression. 

2.  Monks  and  Monasteries. — The  Russian  monasteries 
sprang  mostly  out  of  the  neighborhood  of  hermitages, 
like  their  Egyptian  prototypes.  Russian  nionachism 
was  a  modification  of  the  Eastern  S3'stem.  In  Russia, 
as  in  the  East,  the  monks  lived  a  solitary  life,  but  in 
their  own  cells,  which  they  themselves  had  built 
within  the  immediate  surroundings  of  the  monastery. 
With  their  own  hands  they  worked  for  the  means  of 
subsistence,  devoting  the  rest  of  their  time  to  solitary 
spiritual  exercises,  and  assembling  only  twice  a  day 
for  common  prayers.  This  solitary  way  of  living  was 
the  original  sj'stem  of  Russian  monachism,  while  liv- 
ing together  in  convents  was  introduced  in  the  14th 
centurj'  only.  It  never  was  universally  adopted,  and 
both  modes  of  living  are  practiced  to  this  day.  The 
Russian  monasteries  are  controlled  either  by  an  archi- 
mandrite (q.  v.)  (i.  e.  abbot),  a  hegumen  (i.  e.  prior), 
or  a  stroitel  (i.  e.  superior).  Convents  with  stroitels, 
or  superiors,  are  usually  under  the  care  of  a  larger 
monastery.  At  first  the  monks  elected  their  own  su- 
periors, but  afterwards  the  bishop  or  regent  nominated 
them.  All  monasteries  were  originally  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  bishop  in  whose  diocese  they  were.  This 
strict  superintendence,  however,  soon  became  onerous ; 
and  already  in  early  times,  but  especiallj'  in  the  16th 
and  17th  centuries,  we  find  the  more  influential  con- 
vents exempted  from  episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  under 
the  immediate  care  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople 
or  of  the  Russian  metropolitan.  Those  monasteries 
which  are  exempt  from  episcopal  jurisdiction,  and 
which  are  nowada3's  under  the  superintendence  of 
the  Synod  of  St.  Petersburg,  are  called  laitropigia  or 
laura;  while  those  under  episcopal  jurisdiction  are 
named  cenohia,  monasteria,  or  erorieka. 

Monachism  in  Russia  has  three  degrees.  The  first 
degree  comprises  the  novitiate.  The  novice  does  not 
take  any  vow  upon  himself,  but  has  to  live  according 
to  the  monastic  regulations  ;  his  dress  is  a  black  rhar- 
so,  or  coat  with  a  black  cape.  After  a  preparation  of 
three  years  the  novice  enters  the  second  degree,  and 
becomes  a  monk.  He  takes  the  solemn  vows  before 
the  archimandrite,  changes  his  name,  and  receives  the 
tonsure.  Men  are  not  allowed  to  take  these  vows  un- 
til thej'  are  thirty  years  old,  while  women  are  not  ad- 
mitted until  they  have  reached  their  fiftieth  year.  The 
third  degree  comprises  the  perfect  ones.  They  are 
dressed  in  a  long  black  coat,  with  a  wide  hood  which 
conceals  the  face  entirely.  The  peculiarities  of  this 
class  consist  in  very  strict  spiritual  exercises,  restrain- 
ing of  all  bodily  appetites  for  the  purpose  of  mortify- 
ing the  sensual  nature,  and  allowing  the  spirit  to  be 
absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  divine  things  only. 


MONKS,  EASTERN 


502 


MONMOREL 


They  are  not  allowed  to  leave  the  convent,  and  must 
renounce  all  and  every  connection  with  the  world.  | 
They  are  veri'  highly  esteemed,  exempt  from  episco- 
pal jurisdiction,  and  stand  under  the  immediate  care 
of  the  Synod  of  St.  Petersburg.  Monks  of  this  third 
degree  are  very  rare.  Different  from  Western  mona- 
chism,  priests  and  deacons  are  found  among  the  Rus- 
sian monks.  Very  manj'  enter  the  monasteries,  not 
for  inclination's  or  piety's  sake,  but  simply  to  gain 
clerical  influence  and  position.  For  the  monks,  al- 
though their  learning  is  small,  are  looked  up  to  as  of 
superior  education,  and  the  monastery  is  therefore  the 
only  road  in  Russia  to  important  clerical  positions.  ! 
The  income  of  the  monasteries, which  often  was  enor- 
mous, was  at  first  under  the  care  of  the  archimandrite. 
His  administration,  however,  was  subject  to  the  inspec- 
tion of  the  bishop.  Ivan  IV  Vasilivitch  was  the  first 
regent  who  seized  the  property  of  the  monasteries  at 
Novgorod  in  1500.  Peter  the  Great  obliged  the  mon- 
asteries to  take  care  of  the  invalids  and  poor.  The 
empress  Catharine  I  deprived  the  archimandrites  of 
their  ancient  rights,  and  put  the  administration  of  ! 
monastic  goods  into  the  hands  of  a  special  committee 
(172o).  This  committee  was  subsequently  abolished 
(1712),  and  the  empress  Elizabeth  transferred  the  ad- 
ministration of  monastic  incomes  to  the  holy  synod. 
In  17G2  Peter  III  tried  to  secularize  all  convents  and 
monasteries ;  but  the  plan  was  not  executed  until  1764, 
when  Catharine  II  secularized  all  monasteries  with 
their  pecuniary  income  and  vassals,  and  thereby  se- 
cured to  the  crown  more  than  900,000  peasants  and 
enormous  riches.  The  Russian  monasteries  at  present 
are  most  of  them  very  poor,  and  the  monks  live  in 
apostolical  j^overty  and  simplicitj'.  But  though  this 
be  tiie  rule,  there  are  some  remarkable  exceptions. 
The  67.  Pttershurg  Gazette,  late  in  1871,  furnished  some 
interesting  statistics  as  to  the  revenues  of  tiie  most  im- 
portant monasteries  in  Russia,  from  which  it  is  clearly 
apparent  that  some  of  the  monasteries  of  Russia  are 
well  provided  for  in  a  temporal  sense.  The  Gazette 
savs  that  the  receipts  of  the  priors  of  the  monasteries 
of' the  first  class  (lauras)  vary  from  40,000  to  G0,000 
rubles  (£5000  to  £7500),  and  of  the  other  priors  from 
1000  to  10,000  rubles.  The  income  of  the  monastery 
of  Troilzki-Sergiev,  near  Moscow,  which  formerly  con- 
tained aliout  100,000  persons,  now  amounts  to  500,000 
rubles  (£02,500).  That  of  the  Kief  monastery  is  even 
greater,  as  it  derives  a  considerable  profit  from  the  sale 
of  wax-lights.  The  Alexander-Nevski  monastery  at 
St.  Petersburg  has  a  special  source  of  revenue,  besides 
its  ordinary  one,  in  the  shape  of  a  share  of  all  the  corn 
imported  into  the  capital.  How  large  this  revenue  is 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  a  short  time  ago 
the  city  wished  to  compound  for  it  by  a  yearly  pay- 
ment of  a  million  rubles,  and  that  the  monastery  de- 
clined the  offer.  Next  to  the  monasteries  of  the  first 
class,  the  largest  revenue  possessed  bj'  a  monastery  in 
Russia  is  that  of  the  Iversk  chapel  in  Moscow  (a  branch 
of  the  Perevinsk  monastery),  whose  yearly  receipts 
are  calculated  on  an  average  at  100,000  rubles.  In 
the  ecclesiastical  district  of  Novgorod  the  wealthiest 
monastery  is  that  of  Vuriev,  whose  bare  capital  alone 
is  said  to  amount  to  740,821  rubles. 

The  monasteries  have  really  been  a  great  help  and 
advantage  to  the  Russian  nation,  as  all  its  bishops, 
artists,  and  scholars  were  educated  in  them.  No 
schools  or  educational  institutions  were  to  be  found 
outside  of  tliem  until  verj'  recently.  Tlieir  mission  in 
Russian  history  was  peculiar.  Not  only  wore  they 
the  nurseries  of  Christianitj',  transjibinting  with  great 
struggles  and  dangers  the  benevolent  doctrines  of 
Christ  among  the  heathen  of  the  steppes  and  mountains, 
but,  like  tlie  convent  of  Sinai  and  the  convents  of 
Greece,  they  are  tlie  refuges  of  national  life,  or  "the 
monumonts  of  victories  won  for  an  oppressed  popula- 
tion against  invaders  and  conquerors." 

3.  Jiuasian  nunneries  existed  in  a  verj'  early  period  of 


that  Church.  The  nuns  arc  either  virgins  or  widows. 
They  adopt  the  rules  of  St.  Basil.  They  mostl}'  live 
together  in  a  convent  under  the  control  of  a  hcgumena, 
or  prioress,  elected  by  them.  Their  hal>it  is  a  long 
black  woollen  dress,  made  after  the  Oriental  fashion,  a 
long  black  tunic  or  mantle,  and  a  black  veil.  Former- 
ly monks  and  nuns  sometimes  lived  together  in  the 
same  monastery ;  but  as  this  gave  rise  to  great  immo- 
rality and  disorder,  it  was  strictly  prohibited  by  the 
council  in  1503. 

4.  Monastery  of  Troitza. — There  is  no  more  celebrat- 
ed monastery  in  Russia  than  this  monasters'  of  Troitza 
(i.  e.  the  Holy  Trinity).  It  was  founded*  A.D.  1338, 
when  during  the  Tartar  dominion  tlie  clergy  showed 
themselves  the  deliverers  of  their  country.  About 
sixty  miles  from  Moscow,  in  the  midst  of  a  wild  forest, 
rises  the  immense  pile  of  the  ancient  convent.  Like 
the  Kremlin,  it  combines  the  various  institutions  of 
monastery,  nniversit}',  palace,  cathedral,  and  churches, 
planted  within  a  circuit  of  walls.  Hither  from  all 
parts  of  the  empire  stream  innumerable  pilgrims.  No 
emperor  comes  to  Moscow  without  ])aying  his  devo- 
tions there.  The  office  of  archimandrite,  or  abbot,  of  it 
is  so  high  that  for  many  years  it  has  never  been  given 
to  any  one  but  a  metropolitan  of  Moscow;  and  the 
actual  chief,  the  hegumen,  is  one  of  the  highest  digni- 
taries of  Russia. 

The  founder  of  it  was  St.  Sergius  (A.D.  1315-1392), 
whose  career  is  encircled  with  a  halo  of  legend.  'When 
the  heart  of  the  grand-duke  Demetrius  failed  in  his 
advance  against  the  Tartars,  it  was  the  remonstrance, 
the  blessing,  and  the  praj^ers  of  Sergius  that  supported 
him  to  the  field  of  battle  on  the  Don  (1380).  No  his- 
torical picture  or  sculpture  in  Russia  is  more  frequent 
than  that  which  represents  the  youthful  warrior  receiv- 
ing the  benediction  of  the  aged  hermit. 

See  Herzog,  Real-Encyhlop.  ix,  G75  sq. ;  Aschbach, 
Kirchen-Lexi/con,  iv,  251  ;  Stanley,  Eastern  Church,  p. 
440  sq.  ;  King,  Greek  Church  in  Iius,^ia,  p.  24  sq.  ;  Mou- 
ravieff.  History  of  the  liusHan  Church,  trans,  by  Black- 
more  (Oxford,  1842)  ;  Fletcher,  Iiii.<sian  Commonwealth ; 
Curzon,  Ancient  Monasteries  of  the  East;  Eckhart,  ^fod- 
ern  Russia  (Lond.  1870,  8vo),  p.  210  sq.  ;  Dixon,  Free 
Russia  (N.  Y.  1870,  12mo),  p.  29  et  al. ;  Montalembcrt, 
3Ionk-s  of  the  West,  i,  38-133. 

Moulezun,  Jean-Jistin,  a  Swiss  ecclesiastic  and 
historian,  was  born  at  Saramon,  near  Auch,  in  1800. 
He  studied  at  the  College  of  Aire,  consecrated  his  first 
labors  to  the  instruction  of  youth  destined  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  altar,  and  was  subsequently  appointed  to  the 
parish  of  Castelnau  d'Arbieu,  near  Lictoure,  and  in  \Xoi 
to  that  of  Barran  (canton  of  Auch).  Tlie  archbisliop 
of  Auch  appointed  him  in  1847  titular  canon  of  his  met- 
ropolitan see.  He  died  in  1859.  Besides  numerous 
articles  published  in  different  journals  and  historical 
collections,  Monlezun  wrote,  Jlistoire  de  la  Gascoi/ne, 
di'puis  les  temps  les  plus  reculesjusqu''a  nos Jours  (Auch, 
1840-50,  7  vols.  8vo) ;  this  begins  with  the  3d  century 
before  the  Christian  a;ra,  and  closes  at  the  end  of  the 
last  century  -.—EEglise  anyelique,  ou  Ilistoire  de  I'Eylise 
de  Notre-Dame  du  Puy,  et  des  etablUsements  rtliyieux 
qui  Ventourent  (Clermont,  1854,  18mo)  -.—Notice  hisio- 
rique  sur  la  ville  de  Mirande  (185G,  8vo) : — Vie  dea 
saints  Eccqiirs  dc  la  metropole  dWuch  (1857,  8vo). — 
Ilocfcr,  Xoiir.  Jiiog.  Genhale,  s.  v. 

Monmorel,  Cifarlks  i.ic  Boiro  dk,  a  French 
preacher,  was  born  at  Pont-.'Vudcniar  about  the  middle 
of  the  17th  century.  In  l<i97  lie  became  almoner  to 
the  duchess  of  Botirgogne.  and  was  provided  with  the 
abbey  of  Laimoy.  in  Flanders,  by  the  influence  of  !Ma- 
dame  dc  ^laintonon.  He  dicil  in  1719,  and  loft  a  high- 
ly esteemed  collection  oi  llomiliis  sur  les  eranr/ilis  des 
(limaiwhfs,  sur  la  passion,  sur  hs  mt/steres,  et  sur  tons  les 
jours  du  carcme  (Paris,  ]('>98.  10  vols.  12mo).  The 
method  ho  follows  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  fathers 
of  the  Church,  who  familiarly  explain  the  Holy  Script- 


MONMOUTH 


503 


MONOD 


ures :  he  paraphrases  all  the  verses,  one  after  the  other, 
draws  from  each  some  moral,  and  employs  a  simple  and 
precise  style.  —  Did.  imrtaiif  des  Predicateurs,  s.  v. ; 
Hoefer,  Nom.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Monmouth,  James,  Duke  of,  reputed  natural  son 
of  king  Charles  II  of  England,  deserves  a  place  here  for 
the  part  he  had  in  the  agitation  provoked  by  the  Rom- 
ish Titus  Gates  plot,  and  for  his  relation  to  the  Scotch 
Covenanters.  He  was  born  at  Rotterdam  in  1649,  and 
was  brought  to  England  by  his  mother,  Lucy  Walters, 
in  1656,  during  the  Commonwealth.  They  were  both 
imprisoned  for  a  time,  but  finally  James  was  intrusted 
to  the  care  of  a  nobleman,  and  on  the  Restoration  was 
handsomely  provided  for  by  the  court.  He  had  scarcely 
completed  his  sixteenth  year  when  he  was  married  to  a 
woman  selected  for  him  at  court,  and  was  tlien  created 
duke  of  Monmouth.  About  1670  he  was  put  forward 
by  lord  Shaftesbury  as  the  crown  rival  of  the  duke  of 
York  (later  James  11,  q.  v.),  and  during  the  revelations 
of  the  Titus  Gates  plot  (1678),  when  the  feeling  against 
Romanists  and  all  who  favored  them  ran  high,  public 
opinion  was  so  decidedlj'  in  his  favor,  and  so  indignant 
against  the  duke  of  York,  that  the  latter  was  compelled 
to  quit  the  kingdom ;  and  a  bill  was  brought  forward 
b}'  Parliament  for  excluding  the  duke  of  York  from  the 
succession;  but  Charles  suddenly  dissolved  it,  and  a 
document  was  at  the  same  time  issued  by  the  king,  sol- 
emnly declaring  that  he  had  never  been  married  to 
Lucy  Walters.  Monmouth  himself  was  sent  into  Scot- 
land in  1679  to  quell  the  rebellion.  He  defeated  the 
Covenanters  at  Both  well  Bridge;  but  his  humanity  to 
the  fleeing  and  wounded  was  so  conspicuous,  and  his 
recommendations  to  pardon  the  prisoners  were  so  ur- 
gent, as  to  bring  upon  him  the  violent  censures  of  the 
king  and  of  Lauderdale.  He  thus  became  the  idol  of  the 
English  Nonconformists.  The  return  of  the  duke  of 
York  and  the  exile  of  Monmouth  having  followed,  the 
latter  went  to  Holland,  and  aUied  himself  with  the  lead- 
ers of  the  Nonconformist  party,  exiled  like  himself;  and 
when  he  was  allowed  to  return  to  London,  he  was  re- 
ceived with  such  demonstrations  of  joy  that  Monmouth 
felt  that  he  was  the  people's  choice.  In  1680  he  made 
a  semi-roj'al  progress  through  the  west  of  England, 
■with  the  design,  probably,  of  courting  the  Nonconfor- 
mists, who  were  more  numerous  there  than  in  any  other 
part  .of  the  country,  except  London  and  Essex.  In 
1682  he  traversed  some  of  the  northern  counties.  The 
king  and  his  brother  were  alarmed;  and  Monmouth 
was  arrested  at  Staiford,  and  bound  over  to  keep  the 
peace.  He  meanly  confessed  his  participation  in  the 
Rye-House  plot,  accusing  himself  and  others  of  a  design 
to  seize  the  king's  person,  and  subvert  his  government. 
The  king  pardoned  him,  on  his  solemn  promise  to  be  a 
loyal  subject  to  the  duke  of  York,  in  case  the  latter 
should  survive  the  king.  In  1684  Monmouth  fled  to 
Antwerp,  and  remained  abroad  until  the  death  of  the 
king,  when  he  embarked  for  England,  landed  (June  11, 
1685)  at  Lyme-Regis,  and  issued  a  manifesto  declaring 
James  to  be  a  murderer  and  usurper,  charging  him  with 
introducing  popery  and  arbitrary  power,  and  asserting 
his  own  legitimacy  and  right  by  blood  to  be  king  of 
England.  He  was  received  with  great  acclamations 
at  Taunton,  where  he  was  proclaimed  as  king.  At 
Frome  he  heard  the  news  of  the  defeat  of  Argyle,  who, 
at  the  head  of  the  Scottish  exiles,  had  attempted  to 
raise  an  insurrection  in  Scotland.  Money  and  men  were 
now  abundant;  but  arms  were  lacking,  and  thousands 
went  home  for  want  of  them.  (3n  July  5  he  was  per- 
suaded, with  only  2500  foot  and  600  horse,  to  attack  the 
king's  forces,  which,  imder  the  command  of  the  earl  of 
Feversham,  were  encamped  at  Sedgemoor,  near  Bridge- 
water.  Monmouth  lost  ground,  and,  having  himself 
set  a  cowardly  example  of  flight,  his  troops  were 
slaughtered  like  sheep.  About  300  of  his  followers  fell 
in  the  battle ;  but  1000  were  massacred  in  the  pursuit. 
Monmouth  was  found  concealed  in  a  ditch,  and  was 
brought  to  London.     He  made  the  most  humiliating 


submissions,  and  obtained  a  personal  interview  with 
James.  "He  clung,"  says  MacaiUay,  "in  agonies  of 
supplication  round  the  knees  of  the  stern  uncle  he  had 
wronged,  and  tasted  a  bitterness  worse  than  that  of 
death,  the  bitterness  of  knowing  that  he  had  humbled 
himself  in  vain."  Even  his  prayer  for  "  one  day  more," 
that  he  might  "go  out  of  the  world  as  a  Christian 
ought,"  was  brutally  refused.  On  July  15  he  was 
brought  to  the  scaffold,  and  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill; 
the  executioner  performing  his  office  so  unskilfully  that 
five  blows  were  struck  before  the  head  was  severed.  See 
Robert,  Life  of  Duke  of  Monmouth  (18-44);  the  .histories 
of  Macaulay,  Hume,  and  Lingard;  Stoughton,  Eccles. 
Hist,  since  the  Restoration ;  Chambers,  Cyclop,  s.  v. ;  and 
the  article  Jajies  II  in  this  Cyclopaedia. 

Monnard,  Charles,  a  noted  Swiss  literary  char- 
acter, deserves  our  attention  specially  on  account  of  his 
humanitarian  struggles  in  Switzerland.  He  was  born 
at  Berne  in  1790,  and  was  educated  first  at  the  academy 
in  Lausanne,  and  then  at  Paris,  where  he  enjoyed  the 
friendship  of  the  truly  great,  though  himself  a  youth. 
In  1817  he  returned  to  Lausanne,  to  become  professor  of 
French  literature,  and  quickly  rose  to  distinction  for  his 
great  eruciition,  and  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  ap- 
proached his  subject.  He  had  taken  orders,  expecting 
to  enter  the  service  of  the  Church,  but,  turned  aside  by 
this  appointment,  he  now  devoted  his  leisure  hours  to 
the  study  of  ecclesiastical  and  civil  law.  That  Mon- 
nard largely  profited  by  the  knowledge  thus  acquired 
was  manifest  shortly  after,  when  the  obnoxious  law- 
passed,  May  30,  1824,  depriving  men  of  the  free  exer- 
cise of  the  dictates  of  their  conscience,  intended,  of 
course,  mainly  to  stay  the  inroads  which  new  Protestant 
doctrines  were  making  in  Switzerland,  particularly  those 
of  the  jMomiers  (q.  v.).  Monnard  came  forward  as  a  de- 
fender of  religious  liberty,  and  declared  the  law  micon- 
stitutional.  He  enjoyed  at  this  time  the  intimate  as- 
sociation of  the  learned  Swiss  divine,  Alexandre  Ro- 
dolphe  Yinet  (q.  v.),  and  brought  out  for  this  friend  the 
treatises  De  la  liberte  des  cultes  (1826),  and  Observations 
sur  les  sectaires  (1829).  This  action  resulted  in  Mon- 
nard's  suspension  from  his  professorship  and  removal  to 
Geneva,  where,  however,  he  soon  found  as  warm  friends 
as  he  had  left  at  Lausanne,  both  among  the  learned  and 
those  seeking  knowledge.  Political  changes  finally 
permitted  his  return  to  Canton  Yaud,  and  he  was  pub- 
licly honored,  and  called  to  fill  several  civic  offices. 
After  the  revolution  of  1845,  Monnard  retired  altogether 
from  political  life.  It  was  supposed  by  his  friends  that 
he  would  now  enter  the  Church ;  but  he,  having  found 
that  much  ill-feeling  still  existed  against  him  among 
the  clergy  for  the  position  he  had  taken  in  behalf  of  the 
IMomiers,  finally  resolved  to  quit  Switzerland,  and  ac- 
cepted a  chair  in  the  University  of  Bonn,  which  he 
held  until  his  death,  Jan.  12, 1865.  See  Journal  de  Ge- 
neve, Jan.  13, 1865;  Augshurger  Allgemeine Zeitung,  Feb. 
1865.     (J.H.W.) 

Monniotte,  Jean-Franqois,  a  French  Benedictine 
monk,  was  bom  at  Besancjon  in  1723.  He  early  entered 
the  Congregation  of  St.  Jlaur,  and  subsequently  taught 
philosophy  and  mathematics  in  the  abbej^  of  St.  Ger- 
main-des-'Pres,  at  Paris.  After  the  suppression  of  his 
order,  he  withdrew  to  the  village  of  Tigerj^,  near  Cor- 
beil,  where  he  died,  April  29, 1797.  He  was  the  editor  of 
the  Institutiones  Philosophic  of  Franc^ois  Rivard  (Paris, 
1778  and  1780,  4  vols.  12mo).  It  is  an  erroneous  opin- 
ion which  Courbier  and  other  bibliographers  have  enter- 
tained that  Monniotte  should  be  considered  the  author 
of  L'Art  du  Facteur  d'Orgues,  published,  under  the 
name  of  Bedos  de  Celles,  in  the  Description  des  A  rts  et 
Metiers  (11 6'A,^o\.).  SfieFe]ler,Dict. Biog. s.v.;  Hoefer, 
Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Monod,  Adolphe,  one  of  the  distinguished  divines 
of  this  century,  was  born  at  Copenhagen  Jan.  21, 1802. 
He  belongs  toa  family  to  which  France  is  indebted  for 
an  uncommonly  large  number  of  celebrated  clergy- 


MOXOD 


504 


MONOD 


men.  Mis  father,  Jean  Monod,  who  was  a  native  of 
Switzerland,  born  about  1700,  was  at  tlie  time  pastor 
of  a  French  Protestant  church  ;  but  in  1808,  having  re- 
ceived a  call  from  a  church  at  Paris,  he  removed  thither 
with  bis  family,  and  there  enjoyed  much  distinction. 
He  was  president  of  the  Reformed  Consistorj-  until  1834, 
and  died  in  18o(l.  Adolphe  was  educated  at  the  Col- 
lege Bonaparte  at  Paris,  and  after  the  completion  of  his 


edge.  His  Christian  character  was  the  foundation  of 
his  activity  and  his  oratorical  power.  Of  many  a  cele- 
brated man  it  is  said,  "He  was  a  perfect  man;"  all  those 
who  knew  Monod  say,  "  He  was  a  perfect  Christian." 
Since  the  moment  when  his  heart  was  touched  by  Jesus, 
his  whole  life  belonged  to  him.  He  saw  and  felt  what 
he  believed,  and  so  he  preached  to  others.  Gifted  with 
many  talents  for  the  Christian  ministry,  he  proved  i 


studies  there  he  pursued  a  course  in  theology  in  the  i  perfect  model  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel.  One  princi- 
UniversityofGeneva,  where  he  remained  until  1824.  In  i  pie  characterizes  all  his  speeches — that  is,  to  save  ira- 
182.J  he  made  a  journey  to  Italy,  during  which  he  felt  I  mortal  souls  from  destruction.     His  noble  appearance. 


drawn  nearer  to  God,  and  decided  to  preach  the  (iospel 
to  the  little  Protestant  congregation  of  Naiiles.  There 
lie  remained  until  1827.  On  his  return  he  was  appoint- 
ed pastor  of  Lyons ;  here,  however,  his  earnest  Christian 
exhortations  proved  distasteful  to  a  worldly  congre- 
gation, and  his  removal  was  asked  for  and  granted. 
Strengthened  and  encouraged  by  the  spirit  of  the  Lord, 
he  now  continued  to  preach  and  to  teach.  The  Church 
of  the  state  was  locked  for  him.  His  congregation 
met  in  a  jjrivate  room,  which  was,  however,  soon  ex- 
changed for  a  spacious  chapel,  where  numerous  peo- 
ple were  fed  with  the  bread  of  eternal  life.  Thirty 
years  have  passed  since,  and  at  present  the  Evangelical 
Churcli  of  Lyons  is  a  great  association,  with  four  pastors, 
many  evangelists,  and  eight  chapels.  The  government 
— either  touched  by  the  religious  activity  of  Monod, 
or  wishing  to  make  good  the  wrong  it  had  done  to  him 
— appointed  him  professor  of  theology  at  Montauban, 
where  he  remained  eleven  years.  During  this  time  he 
held  prayer-meetings  every  Sunday,  and  in  the  vaca- 
tions travelled  in  Southern  France  to  i)reach  and  to  in- 
struct. Wherever  he  appeared,  multitudes  of  people 
followed  him,  attracted  by  the  spiritual  power  of  his 
orations.  Li  1847  the  Consistory  of  Paris  appointed 
him  minister  of  the  Reformed  Church  there,  the  govern- 
ment conlirming  the  selection  and  he  accepting.  He 
labored  there  with  remarkable  success  for  seven  years. 
The  churches  where  he  preached,  especially  the  large 
Oratoire,  were  filled  every  Sunday  by  pious  people.  In 
the  smaller  room  of  the  Oratoire  he  gave  Bible-lessons 
every  Sunday ;  and  a  great  many  of  his  liearers,  sur- 
prised by  his  beautiful,  practical  remarks  on  the  AVord  of 
God,  by' his  great  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  and  by 
his  si)iritual  experience,  preferred  the  Bible-lessons  to 
his  greater  sermons.  In  185G  he  was  suddenly  stricken 
down  by  disease ;  but,  with  his  Christian  resignation, 
he  acknowledged  in  sickness  also  the  voice  of  (iod  to 
his  servant — '"Lo,  I  come  quickly."  The  physicians 
jironounced  his  disease  incurable ;  Monod  quietly  heard 
the  announcement,  and  prepared  himself  for  departure 
to  his  Master.  His  faith  grew  stronger  daily;  not  only 
a  full  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  but  a  great  joy 
lilled  his  soul  even  in  his  greatest  pain.  Every  Sunday, 
in  the  afternoon,  his  friends  gathered  around  his  bed. 
One  of  them  read  the  Scriptures,  preached,  and  prayed 


kind  looks,  classic  style,  combined  with  the  purest  pro- 
nunciation— his  high  seriousness,  which  impressed  ev- 
ery hearer  that  his  own  heart  was  deeply  touched  by 
the  feelings  which  he  wished  to  awaken  in  them — his 
humility  in  confessing  his  own  doubts  and  struggles,  for 
the  purpose  of  seeking  together  with  his  hearers  the 
way  of  salvation  and  true  happiness — all  these  (jualities 
were  combined  for  the  one  purpose,  to  gain  souls  for  his 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  literary  works  of  Adolphe  Monod  are  few,  being 
mainly  sermons.  In  1830  he  published  three  of  them, 
which  bear  evidence  of  his  great  talents.  In  the  first  of 
these  sermons  he  speaks  with  a  divine  power  about  the 
relation  of  error  and  sin  and  that  of  virtue  and  truth. 
In  his  second  and  third  sermons  he  treats  of  the  wretch- 
edness of  sin  and  the  great  mercy  of  God.  In  1844  he 
published  a  volume  of  sermons,  the  first  of  which  (/.a 
cridulite  de  Vincredule),  covering  G8  pages,  is  considered 
the  most  excellent  apologetic  of  modern  days.  Before, 
as  after  his  death,  many  other  sermons  of  his  were  pub- 
lished ;  two  of  these  about  the  duties  of  Christian  wom- 
en {Lajhnme),  and  five  about  the  apostle  Paul,  are  es- 
pecially celebrated.  In  these  ]Monod  answers  the  ques- 
tion, often  heard,  "AVhy  has  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  so  little  success  in  our  century  in  comparison 
with  the  time  of  the  apostles?"  thus:  "The  Word  of 
God  is  as  living  and  powerful  now  as  then,  but  our  sin- 
ful example  in  life  is  the  cause  of  the  little  success  of 
our  preaching.  The  life  of  the  ancient  Christians  was 
the  world-coiKjuering  power  of  their  witness.  Restore 
that  life  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  she  will  be  able  to 
perform  wonders  as  of  old."  The  apostle  I'aul  was  to 
him  witness  of  this  truth,  which  he  unfolded  in  five  ser- 
mons, entitled  The  Work  of  Paul,  His  Chvistntniiij  or  Ms 
Tears,  His  Conrcrsion,  JJis  Weakness,  and  his  Jixample 
for  us.  In  the  days  of  his  sickness  iMonod  gathered 
all  his  writings.  Three  volumes  of  sermons  were  pub- 
lished after  his  death,  namely,  two  volumes  containing 
those  preached  at  Lyons  and  at  Montauban,  and  a  third 
volume  containing  the  sermons  preached  at  Paris.  See 
Christian  Qii.  Oct.  1873,  p.  5G5;  Neio-Knglander,  July, 
1873,  p.  5i»4;  Wcnoa,  Real-Eneyklopddie,  s.  v.;  Hase, 
Ch.  J/isf.  ]\  CO!) ;  Vapereau,  Diet,  des  Contemjiorains, 
s.v.     (J.  H.W.) 

Monod,  Frederic,  D.D.,  brother  of  the  above, 
and,  like  him,  celebrated  for  his  great  attainments  as  a 


after  this  he  himself  liegan  to  speak  to  them,  teaching  . 

them,  and  bearing  testimony  to  the  Word  of  God.  Never  \  divine,  was  born  at  Monnaz,  Canton  de  A  and,  ;>witzer- 
were  his  words  so  impressive  as  just  before  his  death,  \  land,  iSIay  17,  171)4.  He  entered  the  "li'n^'fry  in  1820, 
occurring  April  0, 1856,  which  was  Sunday,  while  in  all 
the  churches  of  Paris  prayers  were  ascending  to  the 
throne  of  (iod  for  his  recovery,  the  Protestant  Church 
of  Franco  fairly  treiiibliiig  under  the  great  loss  that 
was  iicfaUing  it. 

iSIonod  was  iiossessed  of  more  than  ordinary 


A<l..lpl 

ntcHigcnce,  a  kind,  sympathizing  heart,  and  a  lofty  im- 
igination.  He  had  allied  to  these  a  great  taste  for  the 
leautiful,  and  a  mind  aspiring  after  Christian  perfection 
His  knowledge  of  the  German,  English 


and  was  a  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Paris  until 
1849.  In  1824  he  began  the  publication  of  the  Ar- 
chives du  Christiaiilime,  a  leading  organ  of  the  evangel- 
ical portion  of  French  Protestantism,  and  he  remained 
its  editor  while  he  lived.  At  the  time  of  the  French 
Revolution,  in  1848,  Frederic  Monod  was  the  leader  of 
a  movement  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of 
the  union  of  free  evangelical  churches.  The  original 
intention  of  the  movement  was  to  restore  the  synodical 
constitution  of  the  Reformed  State  Church,  and  to  re- 


and  Italian  languages  supi)lied  him  with  the  treasures  1  adoi)t  a  rule  of  faith  which  would  exclude  the  Rational- 
ists. When  this  attempt  failed,  Monod,  count  de  (ias- 
])arin,  and  some  of  their  friends,  left  the  state  Church 
(1849)  and  organized  indepemlent  congregations,  which 
soon  after  formed  the  "Union  of  Evangelical  Free 
Churches."  See  Fuanck.  !Monod  was- constantly  re- 
elected j)resident  of  the  different  synods,  and  always  re- 
mained one  of  the  leading  spirits  of  this  new  dcnouiina- 


of  the  literatures  of  those  nations,  which  he  esteemed 
very  much.  Concerning  his  theological  knowledge,  his 
earlier  studies  might  have  been  imperfect;  but  thisim- 
])crf<ction  was  afterwards  fully  repaired,  especially  in 
the  eleven  years  of  his  professorship.  The  Bible,  which 
he  daily  read  in  the  original  languages,  was  the  foiui- 
taiu  from  which  he  drew  most  of  his  theological  kiiowl- 


MONOD 


505 


MONOGRAM 


tion,  which,  although  small  in  comparison  with  the  two 
Protestant  state  churches  (the  Lutheran  and  the  Re- 
formed), contains  some  of  the  best  and  most  influential 
men  of  French  Protestantism — as  count  de  Gasparin, 
E.  do  Pressense,  and  pastor  Fisch,  who  attended  the  last 
general  session  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  held  in  New 
York  City  in  1873.  The  hope  of  bringing  over  the  ma- 
jorit}'  of  the  French  Protestants  to  the  evangelical  free 
churches  was  not  realized ;  but  the  existence,  spiritual- 
ity, and  prosperity  of  the  Free  Church  greatly  strength- 
ened the  evangelical  party  in  the  state  Church,  which 
has  since  steadily  gained  in  influence,  and  appears  to 
be  at  present  in  undisputed  ascendency.  (Comp.  Zeit- 
schriftfur  historkche  T/ieoloffie  [1851],  No.  III.)  Mo- 
nod,  like  all  the  members  of  the  free  evangelical  church- 
es, was  an  ardent  admirer  of  American  institutions.  He, 
with  his  friends,  pointed  to  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State  as  it  exists  here,  and  to  the  great  amount  of 
civil  liberty  which  Americans  are  enjoying,  as  model 
institutions  which  the  people  of  Europe,  and  especially 
of  France,  would  do  well  to  follow  as  much  as  lies  in 
their  power.  The  favoralile  opinion  which  he  had  al- 
ways held  of  the  United  States  was  greath'  strength- 
ened by  a  journey  he  made  through  this  country  about 
1855.  After  the  outbreak  of  the  American  rebellion,  he 
showed  himself  one  of  the  warmest  European  friends  of 
the  Northern  cause.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  all 
the  demonstrations  which  the  Protestant  clergy  made 
in  favor  of  the  Union,  and  in  which  they  manifested  a 
greater  unanimity  than  the  Protestant  clergy  of  any 
other  country  in  the  world.  Monod  was  himself  one 
of  the  originators  of  the  address — signed  by  the  great 
majority  of  Protestant  French  ministers,  and  objected 
to  by  not  a  single  one — in  which  Protestant  France, 
through  her  clergy,  recorded  her  opinion  that  "  the  tri- 
umph of  the  rebellion  would  throw  back  for  a  century 
the  progress  of  Christian  civilization  and  of  humanity, 
would  cause  angels  in  heaven  to  weep,  and  would  re- 
joice dtemons  in  hell;  would  throughout  the  world 
probably  raise  the  hopes  of  the  favorers  of  slavery  and 
the  slave-trade,  quite  ready  to  come  forth  at  the  first 
signal,  in  Asia,  in  Africa,  and  even  in  our  refined  cities 
of  Europe ;  would  give  a  sad  blow  to  the  work  of  evan- 
gelical missions  ;  and  what  a  terrible  responsibility 
would  it  impose  upon  the  Church  which  should  remain 
mute  while  witnessing  the  accomplishment  of  this  tri- 
umph." The  address  is  noted  for  the  change  of  opinion 
it  wrought,  not  only  in  France,  but  also  in  England. 
Frederic  Monod  died  Dec.  30, 18G3,  mourned  not  only  by 
his  own  country,  but  by  the  Protestant  world,  which 
recognised  in  him  a  zealous  champion  of  the  evangelical 
cause  the  world  over.  He  was  so  busy  with  his  pen  for 
all  humanity  that  he  found  but  little  time  for  extensive 
composition.  Most  of  his  writings  are  embodied  in  the 
Archives  which  he  edited.  He  published,  besides,  a 
few  pamphlets  and  several  of  his  sermons.  See  A  rchives 
du  Christianisme,  Jan.  1864  ;  and  Dr.  M'Clintock  in  the 
N.  Y.  Methodist,  Jan.  30, 18G1.     (J.  H.  W.) 

Monod,  Jean.     See  Monod,  Adolphe. 

Monod,  Pierre,  a  learned  Savoyard  Jesuit,  was 
born  at  Bonaeville  in  158(5.  He  entered  the  Order  of 
Jesuits  in  1(503,  taught  belles-lettres  and  philosophy  in 
different  colleges  of  his  order,  and  finally  became  prin- 
cipal of  that  of  Turin.  Appointed  confessor  to  the 
duchess  Christine,  sister  of  Louis  XHI  of  France,  he 
exercised  much  influence  over  that  princess,  and  shared 
largely  in  the  direction  of  political  affairs.  In  1636  he 
was  sent  to  Paris  to  reclaim  the  honors  of  royalty  for 
the  house  of  Savoy,  but  he  was  unable  to  obtain  an  in- 
terview with  P.ichelieu.  Irritated  by  having  his  de- 
mands eluded,  he  allied  himself  with  the  enemies  of  the 
ministry,  especially  with  Caussin,  confessor  to  Louis 
XIII,  with  the  object  of  overthrowing  the  cardinal. 
Richelieu,  partly  divining  these  intrigues,  sent  Monod 
back  to  Turin,  when  the  latter  endeavored  to  withdraw 
Christine  from  the  French  alliance.     Then  the  cardinal 


attempted  to  remove  him  from  the  service  of  the  duch- 
ess; but  Monod  knew  how  to  preserve  his  authority 
over  her.  In  1640  he  was  arrested  by  the  order  of 
Richelieu,  imprisoned  first  at  Pignerol,  and  subsequently 
at  Cuneo,  but  found  means  of  escaping;  and  was  finally 
retaken  and  transferred  to  Miolans,  where,  in  spite  of 
the  interposition  of  the  pope,  he  remained  until  his 
death,  March  31, 1644.  He  is  the  author  of  Recherches 
hisioriques  sur  les  alliances  de  France  et  de  Savoie  (Ly- 
ons, 1621,  4to): — Amedeus padficus,  seu  de  Eugenii  IV 
et  Amedei  Subaudice  duds,  in  sua  ohedientia  Felids  V 
nuiicujjati,  controversiis  (Turin,  1624,  4to;  Paris,  1626, 
8vo) ;  reproduced  in  the  seventeenth  volume  of  the  Aii- 
uales  of  Baronius: — Apologie  pour  la  Maison  de  Savoie 
contre  les  scandaleuses  invectives  de  la  Premiere  et  Se- 
coude  Savoysienm  (Chambery,  1631,  4to) ;  followed  by 
a  Second  Aptologie,  which,  translated  into  Italian  by  the 
author,  appeared  at  Turin  (1632,  4to) : — Trattuto  del 
titolo  regio  dovuto  alia  casa  di  Savoya,  con  un  rutretto 
delle  revoluzioni  del  Reame  di  Cijiii  e  ragioni  della  casa 
di  Savoya  sopra  di  esso  (Turin,  1633,  fol.) ;  this  work, 
published  at  the  same  time  in  Latin,  was  the  cause  of  a 
quarrel  between  Savoy  and  Venice;  it  was  attacked 
with  violence  by  Graswinckel:  —  II  Capricorno  ossia 
VOroscopo  d' Augusta  Cesare  (Turin,  1633,  8vo) ;  ficti- 
tious : — Extirpation  de  Vlleresie,  ou  declaration  des  mo- 
tifs que  le  roi  de  France  a  d'abandonner  la  protection  de 
Geneve;  the  second  part  remains  unedited,  as  well  as 
the  following  works,  preserved  in  MS.  in  the  university 
library  of  Turin : — Annales  ecclesiasfid  et  civiles  Sahau- 
dice ;  Vita  B.  Margaritce  Sabaudice,  viarchionissm  Mon^ 
tisferrati;  etc.  See  Rosetti,  Scriptores  Pedemontii,  p. 
470 ;  Richelieu,  Memoires,  vol.  x ;  Le  Vassor,  Hist,  de 
Louis  XIII ;  Botta,  Hist,  d' Italie.— Roefei,  Nouv.  Biog. 
Generale,  s.  v. 

Monogamy.     See  Marriage. 

Monogram  (Greek  yiovoc,  single,  and  ypuf^ipa,  let- 
ter), a  character  composed  of  two  or  more  letters  of  the 
alphabet,  often  interlaced  with  other  lines,  and  used  as 
a  cipher  or  abbreviation  of  a  name,  is  found  to  be  of  fre- 
quent occurrence  in  the  annals  of  early  ecclesiastical 
history,  and  seems  to  have  been  introduced  into  the 
early  Church  from  the  heathen  nations. 

I.  The  use  of  monograms  began  at  a  very  early  date. 
They  are  found  on  Greek  coins,  medals,  and  seals,  and 
are  particularly  numerous  on  the  coins  of  Macedonia 
and  Sicily.  Both  on  coins  and  in  MSS.  it  was  the  prac- 
tice to  represent  the  names  of  states  and  cities  by  mono- 
grams, of  which  above  500  are  known,  but  some  have 
not  been  deciphered.  Monograms  occur  on  the  family 
coins  of  Rome,  but  not  on  the  coins  of  the  earlier  Roman 
emperors.  Constantine  placed  on  his  coins  one  of  the 
earliest  of  Christian  monograms,  which  is  to  be  traced 
in  the  recesses  of  the  catacombs,  composed  of  the  first 
and  second  letters  of  XPioroc  (Chi-istus),  a  monogram 
which  also  appeared  on  the  Labarum,  and  was  contin- 
ued on  the  coins  of  the  succeeding  emperors  of  the  East 
down  to  Alexander  Comnenus  and  Tlieodore  Lascaris. 
We  often  find  it  combined  with  the  first  and  last  letters 
of  the  Greek  alphabet  (Rev.  i,  8).  Another  well-known 
monogram  is  that  of  the  name  of  Jesus,  IHS,  from  the 
first  three  letters  of  'IWEovc.  (See  below,  Mnnogram 
of  Christ.')  Popes,  emperors,  and  kings,  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  were  in  the  practice  of  using  a  monogram, 
frequently  replacing  by  it  their  signatures.  Painters 
and  printers  used  it ;  and,  unintentionally  on  the  part 
of  its  authors,  the  monogram  has  frequently  served  in 
modern  times  to  determine  the  age  of  a  MS.,  and  even 
of  early  printed  works.  See  Home,  Introduction  to  Bib- 
liography, vol.  ii ;  BruUiot,  Diet,  des  Monogrammes  (Mu-  - 
nich,  1832-34).  See  also  Iconography;  Illumina- 
tion, Art  of. 

II.  Monogram  of  Christ.— The  sign  used  to  represent 
the  name  of  Christ.  This  name  is  usually  given  to  the 
combination  of  the  first  two  letters  forming  his  name  ia 
Greek ;  but  there  is  also  a  monogram  of  the  name  of 


MONOGRAM 


506 


MONOGRAM 


Jesus,  which  is  of  great  antiquity,  and  of  both  names 
together.     We  wilfexamine  them  successively. 

(1)  For  the  name  of  C'/iri'it.     The  monogram  used  in 
the  primitive  Church  is  communicated  to  us  by  the  an- 
cient ecclesiastical  writers,  and  also  by  the  numerous 
Christian  monuments  of  that  period  which  are  still  ex- 
tant.    We  lind  it  generally  formed  by  one  of  the  two 
combinations  of  the  letters  XP,  the  1'  being  set  inside 
of  the  X,  which  latter  is  cither  an  erect  X  or  reversed, 
giving  the  forms  ^  and  f.     The  first  is  the  form  de- 
scribed by  Eusebius  (Vita  Co)is(ant.  i,  31)  and  Paulhius 
of  Nola  (Poem,  xix,  de  Felic.  Nat.  xi,  v.  Orig.  0pp.  ed. 
Muret.  p.  481) ;  the  other  is  described  by  Lactantius  {De 
7iwrt.  persecut.  c.  44),  M  we  can  hardly  make  out  his 
expression  concerning  the  truiiseersa  X,  the  point  of 
which  is  bent,  to  signify  anything  else  than  the  +,  the 
upright  part  of  which  is  made  into  a  1'.     These  two 
forms  give  rise  to  two  others,  by  merely  turning  the  P 
the  other  way,  thus,  ^  and  •J.     There  are  also  in- 
stances of  other  less  usual  combinations.    For  a  descrip- 
tion of  all  the  various  forms,  see,  besides  the  special 
works  on  the  monograms  of  Christ,  jNIamachi,  Oriff.  et 
ant'tq.  Christ,  liii,  G2  sq. ;  Jlunter,  Sinnbilder,  pt.  v,  p.  34- 
37;  V>\i\ron,  Ironofjr.Chret.  ^.AOl  sq.;  Letronne, /:,>«»«. 
arvheol.  de  deux  quest,  siir  la  croix  ansee  Erpjpt.  {Mem. 
de  VA  cad.  dts  Inscript.  vol.  xvi,  pt.  ii,  p.  284) ;  Twining, 
Sijmhols  and  Emblems,  pt.  i,  iii,  iv.     If  we  now  inquire 
into  the  further  significance  of  these  two  forms  of  the 
monogram,  in  order  to  see  whether  it  contain  some 
further  meaning  of  importance,  m'C  must  first  consider 
whether  it  is  indeed  always  a  distinctive  mark  of  Chris- 
tian monuments.     Here  we  find  that  the  form  J  is  ex- 
clusively used  by  Christians,  and  is  the  sign  of  the  name 
of  Christ.     Yet  it  must  be  observed  that  it  closely  re- 
sembles the  Egyptian  hooped  cross,  ^,  the  symbol  of 
life,  which  is  often  represented  in  the  band  of  the  Egyp- 
tian deities,  and  then,  in  consequence  of  little  irregular- 
ities on  both  sides,  the  two  monograms  happen  some- 
times to  be  exactly  alike ;  even  the  Egyptian  Christians 
sometimes  used  the  Egyptian  sign  for  that  of  the  cross 
(see  Letronne,  Exam,  urcheol.  in  Memoires  de  FA  cad. 
des  Inscript.  xvi,  285  sq.).     The  other  form,  ^,  a  com- 
bination of  XP,  is  essentially  of  heathen  origin.     We 
find  it  on  (ireek  money  greatly  anterior  to  Christ,  name- 
ly, on  the  Attic  tetradrachma  (Eckhel,  Doclr.  numm.  ii, 
210),  as  also  on  the  coins  of  Ptolcmajus,  a  specimen  of 
which,  with  the  head  of  Zeus  Ammon  on  the  one  side, 
and  on  the  other  an  eagle  holding  the  monogram  ^^ 
in  his  claws,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  collection  of  coins  at 
Berlin  (No.  428).     It  is  also  found  in  an  inscription  on 
a  monument  erected  to  Isis,  in  Egypt,  in  the  year  B.C. 
137-8  (see  Biickh,  Corp.  Inscr.  Gr.  n.  4713,  b).     At  the 
same  time  such  heathen  monuments  are  very  scarce; 
and  where  the  sign  is  found  on  tombs,  it  may  generally 
be  taken  fur  granted  that  it  is  there  as  the  Christian 
emblem.     In  afier-timcs  the  signification  of  this  sign 
was  altered,  especially  among  the  Greek  writers,  where 
wc  seldom  find  ^  used  to  designate  Christ.     It  most 
generally  stands  for  Xf)vuua-o^inQ,  and  in  the  construc- 
tion lloXv  ]\o\vxpovio^  ;  it  is  also  used  as  an  abbrevi- 
ation for  xpvaeov  (see  IMontfaucon,  Paleogr.  Gr.  p.  344). 
On  the  otlier  hand,  in  the  (Jreek  calendar,  since  the 
11th  century,  -^  iraaxa  is  used  for  XpiaTiavCjv  ira- 
a\a,  in  op])ositi(in  to  vo/tiKoi/  Trdaya  (see  Piper,  Karl's 
des  Gmssiu  Kalemlarium  v.  Oshrla/il,  j).  130  sq.).     It 
has   long   l)ecn   a   much   coiUr<>v<  rted   point  to   know 
whether  this  monogram  were  introduced  only  by  the 
emperor  Constant ine,  or  whether  it  were  in  use  anterior 
to  his  reign.    It  seems,  however,  jiretty  nnich  established 
that  the  monuments  which  have  been  referred  to  in  or- 
der to  prove  its  greater  antiquity  are  either  spurious  or 
doubtful  (see  Mamachi,  Orif/.  et  aiiliq.  Christ,  c.  i,  p.  tA, 
n.  3);    and  the  oldest  monument  of  ascertained  date 
which  bears  it  is  a  grave-stone  at  Home  of  the  year 


331,  where  the  monogram  -^  stands  between  branches 
of  palm,  and  preceded  by  the  words  IN  SIGNO,  which 
recall  the  apparition  of  Constantine  (Piper,  I'ther  den 
ChrUtlichen  Bilderkreis,  p.  4,  G5,  with  a  plate,  fig.  1). 
Yet  another  inscription,  lately  discovered  in  the  cata- 
combs of  Melos,  and  containing  the  monogram,  is  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  the  2d  century  (see  Koss,  In- 
script. Gr.  ined.  fasc.  iii,  n.  24(5,  b,  p.  8).     It  is  further 
probable  that,  since  in  the  early  part  of  the  2d  century 
the  first  two  letters  of  the  name  of  Jesus  were  already 
used  in  that  manner,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  the 
same  was  already  done  also  with  the  name  of  Christ; 
and  also  that,  from  the  moment  Constantine  wished  to 
adopt  a  general  sign,  he  would  more  likely  have  adojited 
one  previously  in  use  than  invented  a  new  one.    After 
Constantino  it  became  verj'  numerous  in  private  monu- 
ments, and  especially  on  the  graves,  and  that  in  most 
Christian  countries.     In  Germany  we  find  many  such 
inscriptions,  with  either  the  ^  or  the  f,  at  Treves 
(Hersch,  Centralmuseum,  pt.  iii,  Nos.  5G,  61 ;  Le  Blant, 
Inscrip.  Ckret.  de  la  Gaule,  vol.  i,  No.  230,  244),  and  at 
Cologne  (Hersch,  p.  i.  No.  95, 96 ;  Le  Blant,  vol.  i.  No.  355, 
359).     They  are  also  found  on  tilings  deposited  in  the 
graves,  as,  for  instance,  on  lamps  and  glass  vessels, 
and,  finally,  on  things  used  in  daily  life,  as  on  stones, 
rings,  etc.  (D'Agincourt,  Scult.  pi.  ix,  fig.  1,  24).    Under 
Constantine  the  Great  the  monogram  came  to  be  used 
on  public  monuments.     He  caused  it  to  be  inscribed  on 
the  Lahaiinn  (q.  v.),  doubtless  in  the  form  ^^  (Euse- 
bius, FiV.  Con5^f^^^  i,  28,  speaks  only  of  the  cross;  but 
the  cross  seen  by  Constantine  was  this  verj-  monogram), 
as  also  on  his  helmet,  and  on  the  shields  of  his  soldiers. 
His  vision  is  recalled  in  the  Labarum  by  the  mono- 
gram in  the  hand  of  the  emperor,  who  is  crowned  by  vic- 
tory, and  by  the  legend  hoc  sigxo  victor  eris  on  the 
coins  of  his  son  Constantius,  and  of  the  contemporary 
Yetranius  (350)  and  Gallus  (351-354).    Of  his  own  reign 
there  is  a  celebrated  coin  with  the  monogram  of  the  La- 
barum, placed  on  and  piercing  a  snake,  with  the  legend 
ARES  PLBUCA  (Eckhcl,  Z>oc??-.  ?i«m?".vi!i,  p.  88).     Coins 
show  it  also  on  the  helmet  of  Constantine,  and  on  the 
shield  of  the  emperor  Majorianus  (457-461).  In  the  coins 
of  the  Eastern  Koman  empire,  the  monogram  in  its  two 
principal  forms  is  quite  common  until  the  time  of  Jus- 
tinian I,  with  an  interruption  during  the  reign  of  the 
emperor  Julian.    Under  Justinian  (j  565)  the  sign  of  the 
cross  took  the  place  of  the  monogram.    Soon  after  Con- 
stantine, in  the  second  half  of  the  4th  century,  we  find 
it  placed  on  buildings.     The  oldest  monogram  of  that 
kind  of  which  the  date  is  known  is  an  inscription  of  the 
year  377  at  Sitten,  in  Switzerland,  probably  by  the 
praetor  of  that  place,  and  relating  liis  restoration  by  the 
pra'tor  Pontius  (ilomiesse,  Inscript.  Ilelvet.  Eat.  pi.  3, 
No.  10 ;  Le  Blant,  Inscript.  Chret.  p.  496,  pi.  38,  No.  231 ; 
Gelpke,  Kirchengcsch.  d.  Schweiz.  pt.  i,  p.  86  sq.).     It 
was  especially  used  in  Church  architecture.    The  oldest, 
from  the  time  of  Constantine,  is  to  be  found  in  the  mo- 
saic of  S.  Constantia  at  Rome,  where  it  is  on  a  roll  in 
the  hand  of  Christ.     In  the  IMiddle  Ages  it  was  esiic- 
cially  placed  on  the  top  of  the  pulpit,  as  in  the  churches 
of  S"  Franccsca  Komana  and  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore  at 
Rome,  both  built  in  the  13th  century.     In  the  Latcran 
it  is  placed  in  the  gable  end,  according  to  tlie  orders 
given  by  Clement  XII  in  1735.     This  monogram,  in 
funereal  inscriptions, where  it  occurs  at  the  beginning,in 
the  middle,  and  at  the  end,  may  be  considered  in  gen- 
eral as  confessing  Christ.     It  is  sometimes  used  in  con- 
nection with  other  words,  but  generally  alone,  as  in  an 
inscription  at  Yienna  Faustina  "in  •^'  (Sl&x.Sanct.ver, 
nor.  coll.x,  432, 433) ;  one  in  the  museum  of  the  Yatican, 
on  Gentianus,  ends  with  the  words  '•qm&  scimiis  te  in 
^"  (Marini.  Jlist.  Allan,  p.  37).    In  the  images  on  the 
graves  it  is  especially  used  to  designate  the  person  of 
Christ,  particularly  where  there  are  any  representations 
of  him.     Thus  a  iamb  standing  on  a  mountain,  as  rep- 


MONOGRAM 


507 


MONOGRAM 


resented  in  Rev.  xiv,  1,  pictured  on  a  coffin  in  the  Vat- 
ican grottoes,  bears  on  its  liead  the  i^  (Bottari,  Scult. 
e  pitf.  sacre,  vol.  i,  tav.  xxi).  It  is  also  used  with  the 
bodily  representations  of  Christ,  either  simply  over  his 
head,  or  in  the  nimbus  around  him,  or  one  on  each  side 
of  his  head,  as  in  a  lately  discovered  painting  in  the 
cemetery  of  Prastextatus  (Perret,  Les  Catacumbes  de 
Rome,  t.  i,  H.  L.).  There  is  a  gem  of  heathen  origin 
representing  the  heads  of  Jupiter,  Apollo,  and  Diana, 
with  the  inscription  Vivas  in  deo  /(eliciter),  in  which 
the  head  of  Jupiter  is  surmounted  by  the  sign  ^.  This 
was  probably  added  to  it  in  after-times  by  a  Christian 
owner,  either  to  give  it  a  sort  of  Christian  consecration, 
or,  more  probably,  to  transform  the  head  of  Jupiter  into 
a  likeness  of  Christ  (Piper,  Mythol.  u.  Symb.  d.  christl. 
Kunst.  I,  i,  p.  115-117).  Sometimes  the  monogram  also 
appears  alone  in  carvings,  and  is  then  intended  to 
represent  the  person  of  Christ ;  for  instance,  on  glass 
vessels,  where  it  is  placed  between  two  persons,  to  sig- 
nify that  Christ  is  with  them.  An  especially  interest- 
ing instance  of  that  kind  recurs  on  several  coffins,  where 
a  cross  is  represented,  with  those  who  watched  at  the 
grave  at  the  foot  of  it,  and  on  the  cross  the  monogram 
■^,  in  a  wreath,  borne  by  a  soaring  eagle.  While  the 
lower  part  is  indicative  of  the  crucifixion  and  burial, 
the  crowned  monogram  held  aloof  is  the  emblem  of  the 
crucifixion  and  ascension.  A  drawing  and  explanation 
of  it  are  to  be  found  in  the  Eva/iff.  Kalender  for  1857,  p. 
37,  45  sq.  Finally,  we  tind  also  the  monogram  used 
with  a  symbolical  meaning.  On  a  grave-stone  of  the 
year  355  the  -^^  is  placed  by  the  side  of  the  figure  of  a 
person  who,  with  the  outstretched  right  hand,  takes 
hold  of  the  name  (Aringhi,  Roma  subterran.  lib.  ii,  c.  23, 
t.  ii,  p.  570). 

(2)  For  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  we  have,  first,  in 
Greek,  the  monogram  IC  XC.  This  is  the  usual  abbre- 
viation of  the  two  names  found  in  the  oldest  MSS.  of 
the  N.  T.,  as  in  the  Codex  A  lexandrinus  of  the  5th  and 
the  Claromontanus  of  the  6th  century,  and  which  is  re- 
tained in  the  Minuskel  MSS.  It  appears  also  on  mon- 
uments, namelv,  in  the  inscription  — \- — ,  found  in  the 

ni|ka 

catacombs  of  Naples,  in  a  niche,  at  the  place  of  an  old 
well  (Pellicia,  De  eccles.  Christ,  polit.  ii,  414,  ed.  Bonn ; 
Bellermann,  Ueber  d.  dltesteii  christHchen  Begrabniss- 
stdtteii,  p.  81),  and  is  still  used  in  the  Greek  Church, 
namely,  on  the  bottom  of  the  vases  used  for  commu- 
nion (Goar,  jEucholof/.  p.  99).  In  sculptures  and  carv- 
ings, we  tind  this  monogram  accompanying  the  figure 
of  Christ:  as  in  the  Byzantine  coin,  first  under  J.  Zi- 
misces  (969-975),  whence  it  remained  in  use  until  the 
downfall  of  the  Greek  empire.  There  is  yet  extant  a 
fine  gold  medal  of  the  last  emperor,  Constantine  XIV 
Palfeologus,  on  the  reverse  of  which  is  the  figure  of 
Christ  standing,  with  the  inscription  IC  XC  (a  speci- 
men of  it  is  to  be  seen  in  the  imperial  collection  of  coins 
at  Vienna)  (see  Eckhel,  Doctr.  nitmm.  viii,  273).  It  is 
also  found  on  ancient  Greek  monuments,  and  on  the  an- 
cient doors  of  the  church  of  St.  Paul  at  Rome  of  the 
year  1070.  Byzantine  paintings  in  which  it  is  repre- 
sented are  to  be  found  in  the  royal  gallery  of  Berlin 
(Nos.  1044, 1048).  The  introduction  of  this  monogram 
into  the  Latin  Church  is  especially  remarkable.  The 
ancient  church  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome  contained  mosaics 
of  the  time  of  Innocent  III,  which  represented  Christ 
enthroned  between  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  with  the 
inscription  IC  XC  (see  the  Ecanr;.  Kalender  for  1851,  p. 
50).  The  same  is  found  in  the  still  extant  mosaic  of 
Philip  Dusuti  of  1300,  in  the  church  of  S.  Maria  Mag- 
giore  at  Rome  (Valentini,  Basil.  Liber,  pi.  ciii).  There 
are  also  numerous  easel  pictures  of  Italian  origin  of  the 
14th  and  loth  centuries,  which  contain  the  likeness  of 
Christ,  together  with  this  monogram,  as,  for  instance, 


the  crucifixion  of  Taddeo  Gaddi,  of  1334,  in  the  royal 
gallery  at  Berlin,  No.  1080,  and  an  apparition  of  Christ  to 
Magdalena  after  his  resurrection,  by  Donatus  Bizama- 
nus,  in  the  Christian  Museum  at  the  Vatican  (D'Agin- 
court,  Peint.  pi.  xcii).  Secondly,  we  have  in  Latin  the 
monogram  IHS  XPS.  The  Latin  Church  has  also  a 
special  abbreviation  of  both  names,  which  we  find  in 
the  oldest  Latin  MS.  copies  of  the  Bible ;  for  instance, 
in  the  Greek  and  Latin  Codex  Claromontanus.  It  is  oc- 
casionally preserved  in  the  Minuskel  MSS.,  as  in  the 
Sacramentarium  of  Gellone  at  Paris,  in  the  8th  century, 
where  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  begins  with  the  words 
"Liber  generationis  ihu  xpi"  (fac-simile  in  Silvestre, 
Paleofjr.  t.  iii).  This  mode  of  writing  gave  rise  to  nu- 
merous researches  in  the  French  Church  in  the  "9th 
century.  Amalarius,  from  ]\Ietz,  author  of  the  book  De 
Officiis  Ecclesiastkis,  asks,  in  a  letter  to  Jeremiah,  arch- 
bishop of  Sens,  in  the  year  827,  to  know  why  the  name 
of  Jesus  is  written  with  an  aspirate,  an  H,  and  expresses 
the  opinion  that,  according  to  the  Greek,  it  should  be 
written  with  IH,  and  C  or  S  (D'Achery,  Sjncilecf.  iii, 
330) ;  to  which  the  other  answers  that  it  is  not  an  aspi- 
rate, but  a  Greek  H.  He  asked  also  bishop  Jonas 
whether  it  were  more  correct  to  write  IIIC  or  IHS,  and 
was  answered  that  the  latter  form  was  preferable,  the 
first  two  letters  being  taken  from  the  Greek  and  the  last 
from  the  Latin,  as  had  been  done  with  the  name  Christ, 
XPS.  The  formula  IhS  XPS  (and  IhS  XIS)  REX 
REGNANTIVM  occurs  on  Byzantine  coins,  according 
to  the  example  of  Justinian  II,  from  Basilius  Macedo 
(De  Saulcy,  Essai  de  classijicat.  des  suites  monet.  Byzan- 
tine, pi.  xix,  1),  down  to  Romanus  IV  Diogenes  (1068- 
1071) ;  and  it  is  only  there  that  the  other  monogram, 
IC  XC,  remained  in  use.  In  the  West,  we  find  the 
monogram  IHS  XPS  in  use  at  a  very  early  period,  both 
in  inscriptions,  carvings,  and  paintings,  as,  for  instance, 
miniatures  in  the  Carolinian  MSS.,  and  in  pictures  of 
the  Middle  Ages. 

(3)  For  the  name  of  Jesus  alone,  we  find  in  Greek  the 
monogram  IH.  It  is  the  first  form  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge,  and  occurs  as  early  as  in  the  Epistle  of 
Barnabas  (q.  v.),  e.  g.,  where  the  number  318  of  the 
men  circumcised  by  Abraham  (resulting  from  a  com- 
parison between  Gen.  xvii,  23  and  xiv,  14)  is  found  to 
be  a  sign  of  the  name  of  Jesus  and  of  the  cross,  for  318 
is  written  with  Greek  letters,  irir  .  This  meaning  was 
generally  received,  as  also  by  the  Latin  Church  (Cote- 
ler).  This  abbreviation,  however,  occurs  but  seldom 
on  the  more  ancient  monuments.  In  the  West,  the  mon- 
ogram IHS  (q.  V.)  obtained  great  popularity  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  through  the  preaching  of  Bernard  of  Sienna, 
who  in  divers  cities,  and  especially  at  Viterbo,  in  1427, 
was  in  the  habit  of  exhibiting  a  tablet  on  which  that 
monogram  was  painted  in  golden  letters,  surrounded  by 
a  halo  of  golden  rays,  and  to  which  he  directed  their  de- 
votions. He  was  accused  of  innovation  indeed,  but  suc- 
ceeded in  satisfying  pope  Martin  V  (Wadding,  A  nnal.  mi- 
nor.'V.\. a.  1427, p.  183  sq.).  This  monogram,  to  which  the 
cross  is  sometimes  added,  remained  in  use  in  small  Latin 
letters,  and  sometimes  in  Gothic.  Thus,  in  the  picture  of 
the  adoration  of  the  three  kings,  by  Raphael,  in  the  royal 
gallery  at  Berlin,  we  find  at  the  upper  edge 
of  a  golden  sun,  written  in  golden  letters, 
which,  however,  must  not  be  imderstood,  as  , 
some  have  made  it  out,  to  signifj'  in  hoc  sicpio.  The  Jesuits 
also  appropriated  that  monogram  to  their  use.  On  the 
election  of  the  first  general  of  the  order,  in  1541,  which 
resulted  in  the  elevation  of  Ignatius,  tlie  latter  had 
headed  his  vote  with  the  name  IHS,  and  the  sign  ihs 
was  engraved  on  his  seal,  the  same  with  which  the  elec- 
tion of  the  generals  since  Jacob  Laynez  has  always  been 
sealed  {Acta  Sanct.  d.  xxxi,  mens.  Jul.  t.  vii,  p.  532  a). 
See,  besides  the  authorities  already  referred  to;  Herzog, 
Real-EncyUopddie,  ix,  738  sq. ;  Munter,  SinnMlder  u. 


MONOIMOS 


508 


MONOPHYSITES 


5  6 

Various  forms  of  the  Coustautiuian  Monogram. 

(Figs.  1,  4,  6,  with  a  and  w,  as  symbols  of  eternity  ;  2,  with  olive-branch, 
uja  an  emblem  of  peace. ^ 

Knnstvorstellungen  d.  alten  Christen  (Altona,  1825) ;  Piper, 
Mifthologie  u.  iSi/mbolik  d,  christl.  Kiinsf,  vol.  i  (1847) 
and  ii  (1851);  Withrow,  Catacombs  of  Rome  (N.Y.  1874), 
11.  '2G4  sq.     See  Chkist,  Monogkam  of.     (J.  N.  P.) 

Monoimos,  an  Arabian  heretic  of  the  2d  century, 
%vho  ajijicars  to  have  been  a  follower  of  Basilides.  He 
Is  mentioned  by  Theodoret ;  but  the  particulars  of  his 
system,  which  was  formed  of  strange  geometrical  and 
arithmetical  speculations  respecting  the  origin  of  the 
world,  arc  given  only  by  Hippolytus.  The  substance 
of  these  is  that  primal  man  is  the  universe ;  that  the 
universe  is  the  originating  cause  of  all  things,  he  him- 
self being  unbcgotten,  incorruptible,  and  eternal ;  that 
a  son  of  the  primal  man  was  generated  iiideiieiidently 
of  time  ;  that  the  Son  of  man  is  a  monad  niiresentcd  by 
the  iota  and  the  tittle— that  is,  the  Greek  figure  lU  (i)  ; 
that  all  things  have  emanated  from  the  substance  of 
this  monad ;  that  cubes,  octahedrons,  pyramids,  and  all 
such  figures,  out  of  which  crystallize  fire,  water,  and 
earth,  have  arisen  from  numbers  which  are  comprehend- 
ed in  the  number  10.  In  a  letter  from  Monoimos  to 
Theophrastus,  which  is  quoted  by  Hippolytus,  the  for- 
mer avows  that  he  believed  in  no  God  separate  from 
man's  own  self.  See  Hippolytus,  Refut,  Ihtr.  viii,  5-8 ; 
X,  13;  Theodoret,  Ifm\-fuh.  i,  18;  Taylor,  Hippolytus, 
p.  lOti. — \\'etzer  u.  Wclte,  Kirchen-Lexikon,  vol.  xii,  s.  v. 
Monomania  (/loroc,  single,  and  fiavia,  madness) 
has  loosely  been  made  to  represent  every  form  of  par- 
tial insanity,  but  has  been  more  rigidly  definetl  as 
that  mental  condition  in  which  a  single  facultj-,  or 
class  of  faculties  or  associations,  become  diseased,  the 
mind  generally  remaining  health}'.  Slight  and  soli- 
tary aberrations  —  such  as  where  a  savage  antipathy 
to  cats  coexists  with  a  love  for  human  kind ;  where 
there  appears  to  be  an  incontrollable  tendency  to  steal, 
to  squander,  to  drink,  to  destroy — are  of  common  occur- 
rence, and  are  supposed  to  be  compatible  with  the  ex- 
ercise of  intelligence,  and  with  the  discharge  of  many 
of  the  ordinary  duties  of  life.  By  a  more  strict  limita- 
tion, the  term  has  been  confined  to  such  affections  as  in- 
volve the  emotions  and  propensities  alone.  It  is,  how- 
ever, hehl  that,  notwithstanding  its  apparent  integrity, 
the  whole  mind  is  involved  or  influenced  by  the  pres- 
ence of  such  morbid  conditions,  at  least  while  they  are 
predominant.  It  is  undoubtedly  difficult  to  point  out 
in  what  manner  the  belief,  e.  g.,  that  a  particular  organ 
has  been  transmuted  into  glass  can  interfere  witli  or 
render  the  niemorj',  or  the  power  of  instituting  compar- 
isons, defective  and  untrustworth}';  yet  it  is  legitimate 
to  receive  with  caution  every  manifestation  of  powers 
so  constituted  that  they  fail  to  detect  the  incongruities 
and  alisurdilics  with  which  they  are  associated,  or,  hav- 
ing (liti'cted  tlic  real  character  of  these  errors,  are  una- 
ble or  unwilling  to  cast  tliem  out  or  to  disregard  tliem. 
There  is  much  countenance  given  to  this  theory  by 
fait.s  whicli  indicate  that  even  trivial  forms  of  mental 
oblicjuity  are  connected  with  an  unsound  organization. 


and  that  particular  and  rarely  recognised  monomanias 
are  invariably  associated  with  the  same  structural  al- 
teration. The  unhealthy  elevation  of  the  sentiment  of 
cautiousness,  for  example,  especially  where  it  amounts 
to  fear  of  death,  panic,  or  panphobia,  is  a  symptom  of 
disease  of  the  heart  and  large  blood-vessels,  while  the 
monomania  of  ambition  (or  optimism,  a.s  it  has  been 
styled)  is  the  concomitant  of  the  general  paralysis  of 
the  insane.  It  will  be  obvious,  from  the  definitions 
previously  introduced,  that  the  species  or  varieties  of 
monomania  must  corresjjond  to  the  faculties  or  phases 
of  the  human  mind,  and  to  their  combinations.  Several 
great  divisions,  however,  have  been  signalized,  both  on 
account  of  their  frequency  and  of  their  infiuence  upon 
the  individual  and  upon  society.  1.  Monomania  of  sus- 
picion, comprehending  doubts  in  the  fidelity  and  hon- 
esty of  friends  and  those  around,  belief  in  plots  and  con- 
spiracies, the  dread  of  poison ;  and  Avhere,  as  is  f>ften 
the  case,  it  is  conjoined  with  cunning,  the  propensity  to 
conceal,  mystify,  and  deceive.  This  malady  has  fre- 
quently been  observed  in  intimate  connection  with  can- 
cer and  malignant  growths.  2.  Monomania  of  supersti- 
tion and  unseen  agencies,  where  credulity,  mingled  with 
religious  awe,  peoples  the  external  world  with  spectres, 
omens,  mysteries,  magnetism,  and  the  imagination  with 
horrors  or  ecstatic  reveries.  Insensibility  to  pain,  or 
indifference  to  external  injuries,  has  been  observed  as  a 
characteristic  of  individuals  affected  with  this  disease. 
3.  Monomania  of  vanity,  or  euphoria,  where  display  and 
ostentation  are  indulged,  without  reference  to  the  posi- 
tion and  means  of  the  patient.  4.  Monomania  of  fear. 
5.  Monomania  of  pride  and  ambition.  G.  Kleptomania 
(q.  v.).  7.  Dipsomania,  or  Oinomania  (q.  v.).  If  it  can 
be  proved  that  such  morbid  tendencies  as  have  been 
here  mentioned,  and  others  still  less  prominent,  are 
merely  salient  points  of  a  great  breadth  and  depth  of 
mental  disejise,  the  plea  of  insanity  ma)' justifiably  be  em- 
ployed more  frequently  in  the  consideration  of  criminal 
acts. — Chambers,  s.  v.  Dr.  Forbes  Winslow,  in  The  Pall 
Mall  Gazette,  holds  that  what  is  called  partial  insanity, 
or  monomania,  is  not  sufficient  to  prove  of  itself  a  testa- 
mentarj'  incapacity.  "I  have  often,"  he  says,  "wit- 
nessed among  the  insane  the  possession  of  delicate,  just, 
and  honorable  ideas  respecting  their  own  social  position, 
and  the  pecuniary  claims  of  those  most  near  and  dear  to 
them."  He  approves  the  action  of  ecclesiastical  judges 
in  former  times,  who,  when  a  will  was  brought  before 
them  to  be  contested,  inquired,  first,  if  there  were  prima 
facie  evidence  in  the  wording,  arrangement,  etc.,  of  the 
will  that  its  author  was  insane  ;  and,  next,  whether  the 
testator's  lunacj'  were  visible  in  the  distribution  of  his 
property.  If  neither  of  these  points  was  established, 
the  will  generally  stood  against  unquestionable  evidence 
of  mental  unsoundness  or  eccentricity  in  other  things. 
He  quotes  a  ease  where  the  testator  left  a  large  fortune 
to  his  housekeeper,  and  directed  in  the  same  will  tliat 
his  executors  should  make  fiddle-strings  of  part  of  his 
bowels  and  smelling-salts  of  others,  and  that  the  rest  of 
his  body  be  vitrified  into  lenses  for  optical  purposes. 
He  did  this,  he  said,  to  mark  his  moral  aversion  to  fu- 
neral pomp.  It  appeared  that  he  had  conducted  his 
affairs  with  great  shrewdness  and  ability.  See  Kscjuirol, 
I.a  ^[ntlowalli< ;  \\n\\v,  Maladies  du  Cerveau;  Stephens, 
Crimimd  I.titr  of  Kni/ltnul,  p.  02. 

Monophysites  (Greek,  Moi-o^raT-oi,  from  fi6- 
)or,  single,  and  4>vni<:,  nature)  is  the  name  of  a  Chris- 
tian sect  which  took  form  under  that  name  in  the^'ear 
451,  when  tlie  Eutychinn  heresy  was  condemned  by 
the  orthodox  Eastern  Church  in  the  Council  of  Chal- 
cedon.  But  though  the  name  of  the  ^Icnophysites 
first  occurs  in  the  acts  of  the  Council  of  Clialcedon, 
Monophysitism  must  be  regarded  as  of  much  older 
date,  and  is  to  be  traced  to  Entychiamsm  (q.  v.\  from 
wliich  it  sprang,  though  by  no  means  identical  with  it. 
Eutyches  not  only  attributed  Imt  one  nature  to  Christ 
after  his  incarnation,  Imt  held  that  Christ's  body,  be- 
ing the  body  of  God,  was  not  identical  with  the  human 


MONOPHYSITES 


509 


MONOPPIYSITES 


body.  The  Monophysites,  in  distinction,  held  that  the 
two  natures  were  so  united  that,  although  the  "one 
Christ"  was  partly  human  and  partly  divine,  his  two 
natures  became  by  their  union  only  one  nature  {Muvij 
(pvaig).  This  modification  of  the  Eutychian  doctrine 
•was  taught  by  Dioscorus,  the  successor  of  St.  Cyril 
as  patriarch  of  Alexandria.  He  presided  at  the  Coun- 
cil of  Ephesus  (A.D.  449),  which  considered  the  opin- 
ion of  Eutyches,  and  from  the  murderous  violence 
shown  by  his  Egyptian  partisans  was  called  "  Latro- 
cinium,"  or  "Robber  Synod."  Under  the  influence 
of  Dioscorus,  who  wished  to  gain  a  victory  over  the 
patriarchs  of  Antioch  and  Constantinople,  the  chief 
opponents  of  Eutyches,  the  assembled  bishops  were 
persuaded  to  give  their  decision  in  favor  of  Eutyches, 
the  key-note  to  that  decision  being  struck  by  the  pas- 
sionate exclamation  of  Dioscorus:  "Will  you  endure 
that  two  natures  should  be  spoken  of  after  the  incar- 
nation" (Mansi,  Concil.  vi,  583).  "  Partly  thus  terri- 
fied, partly  ignorant,  parth',  perhaps,  persuaded,"  says 
Neale,  "the  assembled  fathers  set  their  hands  to  the 
acquittal  of  Eutyches,  and  thus  the  Monophysite  her- 
esy was  born  in  the  Church"  (^Patriarchate  of  Alexan- 
dria, i,  295).  The  decision  so  given  was  not,  however, 
accepted  by  the  patriarchs  of  Antioch  and  of  Constanti- 
nople, Bor  by  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  another  council 
■was  called  by  the  new  emperor  Marcian  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  which  assembled  first  at  Nictea,  but  event- 
ually at  Chalcedon,  whence  its  name.  This  council 
condemned  the  doctrine  of  the  Eutychians  and  Mo- 
nophysites,  and  it  was  stated  "  that  Christ  was  really 
divine  and  really  human;  in  his  divinity  co-eternal, 
and  in  all  points  similar  to  the  Father ;  in  his  human- 
itj',  son  of  the  Virgin  Marj',  born  like  all  others,  and 
like  unto  us  men  in  all  things  except  sin ;  that  after 
his  incarnation  his  person  contained  two  natures  un- 
mixed {u<yvyKVTi>jq)  and  unaltered  (Jit piiTTioQ),  yet  at 
the  same  time  completely  (ahaipkrujc)  and  intimately 
(c'(Kwpi<Tbi(S)  united."  The  adherents  of  the  Alexan- 
drian school  saw  themselves  overpowered  and  with- 
drew from  the  council,  and  thus  "started  those  violent 
and  complicated  Monophysite  controversies  which  con- 
vulsed the  Oriental  Church,  from  patriarchs  and  em- 
perors down  to  monks  and  peasants,  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years,  and  which  have  left  their  mark  even 
to  our  daj'."  Dioscorus  himself  was  deposed  from  the 
patriarchate,  and  a  certain  Proterius  placed  in  his 
stead.  The  people,  however,  sympathized  with  the 
persecuted,  and  the  Monophysites  increased  very  rap- 
idl_v.  They  spread  especially  in  Palestine,  mainly 
through  the  agency  of  the  monk  Theodosius,  who  was 
instrumental  in  the  expulsion  of  the  patriarch  Juve- 
nal from  Jerusalem,  and  got  himself  appointed  in  his 
place.  The  conflict  between  the  two  parties  was  only 
quelled  by  force  of  arms.  Egj-pt,  and  in  particular 
Alexandria,  proved,  however,  the  greatest  strongholds 
of  Monophysite  views,  and  constant  troubles  were 
there  the  result.  The  patriarch  Proterius  was  fre- 
quently annoyed  b}'  his  opponents,  and  public  quarrels 
were  a  common  occurrence.  Finally,  in  the  heat  of 
passion,  a  few  Monophj'site  partisans  attacked  the 
house  of  Proterius,  and,  driving  him  from  it,  followed 
him  to  the  church,  and  there  stabbed  him  to  death,  and 
disposed  of  his  body  in  a  most  cruel  manner.  In  Pro- 
terius's  place  was  put  a  Monophysite,  the  presbyter 
Timotheus  ^lurus,  and  henceforth  there  ruled  in  Al- 
exandria an  unbroken  succession  of  Monophysite  pa- 
triarchs. Under  ^lurus's  rule  all  who  accepted  the 
decisions  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  were  excommu- 
nicated, especially  pope  Leo.  But  complaint  being 
made  against  ^lurus  to  the  emperor,  he  was  banished 
to  Gangra  in  460.  In  many  respects  the  rule  of  ^EIu- 
rus  was  a  profitable  one  to  the  Church,  and  had  fanatics 
only  stood  aside  the  best  results  would  have  been  as- 
sured. Ho  was  conciliatory  in  his  nature,  as  ma}'  be 
seen  from  his  acts.  He  evidently  intended  to  draw  his 
flock  back  into  the  orthodox  fold.    Thus  Dioscorus  had 


followed  Eutj'ches  in  denying  Christ's  human  nature 
to  be  of  the  same  kind  as  that  of  ordinary  men ;  but 
when  Timothy  was  on  a  visit  to  Constantinople,  and 
Eutj'chian  monks  desired  to  join  his  communion,  he 
took  the  opportunity  of  disclaiming  this  part  of  their 
belief,  and  declared  the  conviction  of  himself  and  his 
followers  to  be  that  the  Saviour  became  consubstantial 
with  men  according  to  his  human  nature,  as  he  had 
ever  been  consubstantial  with  the  Father  according  to 
his  divine  nature.  In  this  particular  the  Monophj'site 
followers  of  Timothy,  who  were  hence  called  "  Timo- 
theans,"  as  the  opposite  party  were  called  "Diosco- 
rians,"  returned  to  the  creed  of  St.  Cyril,  which  his 
deacon  and  successor  Dioscorus  had  forsaken. 

Anotlier  patriarchate  which  the  Monophysites  ap- 
propriated was  that  of  Antioch.  Peter  the  Fuller  (yva- 
(pevc),  an  adherent  of  Eutyches,  who  had  been  driven 
out  of  two  convents  of  Constantinople,  having  gone  to 
Antioch  with  Zeno,  a  relation  of  the  emperor,  connect- 
ed himself  there  with  the  remaining  Apollinarists,  and 
opposed  the  orthodox  bishop  Martyrius ;  the  latter  fled 
to  ask  help  of  the  emperor,  and  in  the  mean  time  Fuller 
was  appointed  patriarch.  He  condemned  the  Council 
of  Chalcedon,  excommunicated  all  who  held  that  God 
was  not  crucified,  and  introduced  into  the  liturgy  the 
formula  ^toq  u  crrnj'pajSfit;  Ci'  yi-ictQ,  which  became 
subsequently  the  shibboleth  of  the  Monophysites.  He 
was  finally  deposed  and  exiled  by  the  emperor. 

The  usurper  Basiliscus,  who  succeeded  Zeno  on  the 
throne  in  476,  protected  Monophysitism,  declaring  it  the 
religion  of  the  state,  and  condemning  the  Council  of 
Chalcedon  and  the  epistle  of  Leo  in  an  iytciiKXior.  But 
Acacius,  bishop  of  Constantinople,  having  in  the  mean 
time  organized  a  dyopliysite  counter-revolution,  and 
gradually  gaining  strength,  the  orthodox  succession 
was  revived  after  the  death  of  JLlurus  (477),  when 
Zeno,  who  had  recovered  the  throne,  appointed  Timo- 
thy Salophakiolus  as  patriarch  of  Alexandria.  At  the 
death  of  the  latter,  who  had  ruled  for  twelve  years, 
the  Catholic  party  nominated  John  Talaia,  and  the 
Monophysites  Peter  Mongus,  as  his  successor :  the  lat- 
ter succeeded  through  the  influence  of  the  emperor. 
In  482  Zeno  issued  his  Henotikon  for  the  purpose  of 
uniting  the  two  parties :  it  aimed  at  satisfying  both 
parties,  but  it  did  not  please  either.  The  stricter  Mo- 
nophj'sites  of  Egj'pt,  wlio  insisted  on  an  unvarnished 
rejection  of  tlie  Council  of  Chalcedon,  separated  from 
the  others  to  form  a  Monophysite  societj'  of  their  own, 
which  received  the  name  of  'AKtfaXoi.  See  Aceph- 
ALi.  The  dyophj'sites  also  split  into  two  parties,  one  of 
which  accepted  the  Henotikon,  while  the  other  rejected 
it.  At  the  head  of  the  latter  party  stood  Felix  II  of 
Rome,  who  excommunicated  Acacius  (484) ;  thus  this 
attempt  at  conciliation  resulted  only  in  making  four 
parties  instead  of  two,  and  in  creating  a  schism  be- 
tween the  Latin  and  the  Greek  churches  which  lasted 
thirty-five  years  (484-519).  Zeno's  successor,  Anas- 
tasius,  adhered  strictly  to  the  Henotikon,  and  even  in- 
clined somewhat  to  Monophj'sitism.  In  513  Severus, 
one  of  the  principal  men  among  the  Acephali,  became 
patriarch  of  Antioch.  His  attempt  to  introduce  the 
formula  ^tbc  (jravpoj!^ti(;  £i'  i/ncit:  in  the  churches  of 
Constantinople  created  fresh  troubles ;  the  patriarch 
Macedonius,  who  opposed  the  innovation,  was  deposed, 
and  the  disorders  which  followed  were  hard  to  repress. 
[  But  in  consequence  of  the  revolt  of  the  general  Vitali- 
I  anus  (514),  the  orthodox  party  were  finally  restored  to 
the  possession  of  their  rights,  and  in  519  the  unit}'  with 
Rome  was  fully  established.  The  partisans  of  the 
Henotilcon  were  taken  oft"  the  church  lists,  and  all  the 
Monophysite  bishops  deposed.  Most  of  these  witlidrew 
to  Egypt.  Here  they  were  soon  divided  among  them- 
selves. Julian,  formerly  bishop  of  Halicarnassus,  af- 
firmed that  the  body  of  our  Lord  was  rendered  incor- 
ruptible in  consequence  of  the  divine  nature  being 
blended  with  it.  See  Aphthartodocet.e.  Others 
maintained  that  it  was  corruptible.    See  Agnoet^  and 


MONOPHYSITES 


510. 


MONOTHEISM 


PHTHARTODOCETiE.  The  leader  of  the  last  named 
^vas  Severus,  the  deposed  patriarch  of  Antioch,  who 
maintained  the  corruptibility  of  Christ's  human  nat- 
ure, or  its  identity  with  tiiat  of  ordinary  pain-suffering, 
weak,  and  mortal  manhood.  This  theologj-  eventu- 
ally became  tliat  of  the  Monoph3'sites  at  large,  hence 
he  deserves  special  attention  in  this  connection.  Witli 
him  Monojdiysitism  receded  another  step  from  Eutych- 
ianisni ;  and  although  it  was  still  maintained  that 
Clirist,  after  liis  incarnation,  was  of  one  nature  only, 
the  doctrine  came  to  be  held  in  such  a  way  as  not  to 
be  extremely  divergent  from  the  Church.  For  "in 
tlie  theologj'  of  Severus,  the  qualities  of  human  nature 
were  all  retained  in  Christ  after  the  incarnation,  al- 
thougli  the  nature  was  in  him  so  amalgamated  with 
the  divine  Being  that  it  could  not  be  said  to  possess 
any  being  or  identity  of  its  own.  Tlius  the  Monophy- 
site  conception  of  Christ's  person  settled  into  that  of  a 
Theandric,  or  composite  nature,  analogous  to  that  com- 
posite action  of  his  person  which  later  divines  have 
called  a  Theandric  operation  (iiavcpiK))  tripytut). 
Yet  belief  in  such  a  composite  nature  is  inconsistent 
with  the  Nicene  Creed,  which  asserts  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  'of  one  substance  with  the  Father,'  and  since  the 
Father  is  not  of  such  a  composite  nature,  to  declare 
the  Son  to  be  so  is  to  declare  him  to  be  of  a  differ- 
ent suljstance  from  him."  Thus  the  intellectual  form 
which  Severus  gave  to  Monophysitism  cannot  escape 
from  the  charge  of  heresy  any  more  than  tliat  earlier 
form  of  opinion  which  was  condemned  at  Chalcedon. 
The  instability  of  opinion,  when  disassociated  from  tlie 
safeguard  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  was  also  strikingly'  il- 
lustrated in  the  case  of  this  later  monophysite  school 
as  it  had  been  in  the  earlier.  Severus  himself  "  held 
views  respecting  the  soul  of  the  united  natures  of 
Christ  which  were  not  logically  consistent  with  the 
theologj'  respecting  their  oneness,  and  thus  it  was  only 
one  step  forward  for  Themistius,  his  deacon,  to  invent 
the  tenet  of  the  Agnoctae,  that  the  human  soul  of 
Christ  was  like  ours  in  everything,  even  in  the  want 
of  omniscience  or  ignorance."  Wlien,  again,  Severus 
maintained  that  the  divine  and  the  human  wills  in  the 
united  natures  were  also  so  united  that  there  could  be 
no  volition  of  the  one  nature  one  way  and  of  the  other 
nature  in  the  other  direction,  he  was  preparing  the 
way  for  that  development  of  his  opinion  which  was 
made  by  the  MonothdUes  (q.  v.),  who  maintained  that 
"  tliere  was  only  one  will  in  Christ,  as  well  as  only  one 
nature."  After  the  death  of  Severus,  his  followers  di- 
vided— the  men  of  wealth  and  the  clergy  clioosing  as 
successor  to  Timothy  a  certain  Theodosius,  and  the 
monks  and  lower  classes  choosing  Gaianus,  tlie  leader 
of  the  Aphthartodocekf,  whose  partj'  took  the  name  of 
the  Gaianites  [see  Gaiaxit^k]  ;  the  latter,  viewing  the 
body  of  Christ  as  created  (/criffrov),  were  also  called 
Ktistolatr(F  (comp.  Dorner,  ii,  159  sq. ;  and  Eljrard,  Klr- 
clien-  u.  iJogmetif/esch.  i,  2G8  sq.).  This  division,  and  the 
energy  of  tlie  emperor  Justinian  in  supporting  the  or- 
thodox cause,  iinallj'  led  to  a  revival  of  the  ortliodox 
patriarchate  in  the  person  of  Paul  (A.D.  539),  and  for  a 
liundred  years  there  were  two  lines  in  the  patriarchate 
— one  monopliysite,  the  other  orthodox.  Many  other 
sects  arose  also,  such  as  the  Tritheists,  the  Philopo- 
iiists,  the  Conists,  the  Damianists.  Indeed,  the  Gth  cen- 
tury was  an  age  6f  as  great  turbulence  in  the  Church 
on  account  of  mono]iliysitisni  as  anj'  that  preceded. 
Justinian  was  even  moved  to  call  a  council,  which, 
convening  at  Constantinople  in  A.D.  553,  constituted 
tlie  fifth  oecumenical  council,  the  result  of  whose  de- 
liherati(ms  was  a  partial  victory  for  the  Alexandrian 
mondpliysitc  doctrine,  so  far  as  it  could  be  reconciled 
witli  tlic  ildiiiitions  of  Chalcedon.  Hut,  notwitlistand- 
ing  tin-  ^Ml1l(•(•s^ions  of  the  fifth  oecumenical  council, 
tlu'  ^Nlonopliysitcs  remained  separated  from  the  ortho- 
dox Cbiircli,  refusing  to  ackmiwlodge  in  any  manner 
tlic  dyophysite  Council  of  Ciialcedon.  Another  effort 
of  Justinian  to  gain  them,  by  sanctioning  the  Aphthar- 


todocetic  doctrine  of  the  incorruptibleness  of  Christ's 
body  (5G-1),  threatened  to  involve  the  Church  in  fresh 
troubles ;  but  his  death  soon  afterwards,  in  505,  put  an 
end  to  these  fruitless  and  despotic  plans  of  union.  His 
successor,  Justin  II,  in  5G5  issued  an  edict  of  tolera- 
tion, which  exhorted  all  Christians  to  glorify  the 
Lord,  without  contending  about  persons  and  syllables. 
Since  that  time  the  history  of  the  Wonophysites  has 
been  distinct  from  that  of  the  Catholic  Church.  A  nu- 
merous body  of  jMonophysitcs  of  Alexandria  seceded 
from  the  communion  of  the  patriarch  of  that  city  ap- 
pointed by  the  emperor,  and  chose  another  spiritual 
chief;  and  thus  tliey  continue  to  the  present  day,  un- 
der the  name  of  C'ojtts.  The  Ethiopian  or  Abyssinian 
Church  was  always  in  connection  with  them.  The 
Christians  in  Armenia  and  Georgia,  among  whom  also 
monophysitism  had  early  gained  acceptance,  openlj' 
declared  themselves  in  favor  of  this  doctrine  ;  and  thus 
the  Armenian  and  Georgian  churches  continue  at  this 
time,  separated  from  tlie  other  monophysite  churdics 
merely  by  peculiar  customs.  In  Syria  and  Mesopota- 
mia the  Monophysites  had  nearly  become  extinct,  in 
consequence  of  persecution  and  the  want  of  ministers, 
when  Jacob  Barada-us,  an  obscure  monk,  was  the  in- 
strument of  reviving  them  :  after  him  the  Syrian  Mo- 
nophysites are  called  Jacoliles  (q.  v.).  An  attempt  to 
reconcile  the  Monophysites  with  the  orthodox  party 
in  the  7th  century  led  to  a  modified  form  of  the  doc- 
trine, and  a  new  sect,  the  Monoihelites,  who  attempted 
to  compromise  between  the  two  factions  by  the  liy- 
pothesis  that  after  the  union  of  the  divine  and  human 
natures  in  Christ,  though  there  continued  to  be  two 
distinct  natures,  yet  there  was  but  one  will.  The  only 
effect  of  this  was  to  increase  the  controversy.  See 
MoxoTiiEi.iTES.  Monophysitism  still  continued  to  be 
held  in  some  parts  of  the  East,  and  even  by  the  Mar- 
onites  (q.  v.)  until  their  final  reconciliation  with  the 
Church  of  Kome  in  1182,  when  it  was  renounced  by 
them.  The  doctrine  that  Jesus  Christ  possesses  only 
one  simple  nature,  being  not  trulj-  man,  but  the  divine 
Spirit  in  a  human  body,  has  recently  been  revived  by 
Henrj'  Ward  Beeclier  in  his  Life  of  Christ,  and  is  also 
maintained  bj'  the  Swedenborgians.  See  New  Jeru- 
SALE.M  Church.  Tlie  union  of  the  divine  and  human 
natures  in  Christ  is  maintained  by  Dr.  Hovey  {God 
With  Us).  See  the  Acta,  in  Mansi,  vol.  vii-ix  ;  ^Mai, 
Scripiorum  reterum  nova  collectio  e  Vaticanis  codicibus 
edita  (vol.vii);  Gieseler,  Commentat.  qua  Monojihijsila- 
rum  veterum  varue  de  Christi  persona  opiniones  inprimis 
ex  ijisomm  effatis  recens  edltis,  iUustrantur  (1835-1838); 
Assemani,  De  Monophys.  (in  Bill.  Or.  vol.  ii) ;  Lc  Quien, 
Oriens  Ckn^tiunus  in  JV  pcdrianhatus  digest  us  (Par. 
1740);  Renaudot,  Jlist.  Patriarchanim  Alex.  Jacolita- 
ritm (Par.  1743) ;  Makrizii  IJist.  Coptorum  Chi-ist..ATa\>. 
et  Lat.  ed.  Wetzer  (Solisbaci,  18-28);  Walch,  Ktlzer- 
historie,  vol.  vi,  vii,  viii) ;  Baur,  Trinitdtslehre.  ii.  37-'JG; 
Dorner,  Lehre  v.  d.  Person  Chiisti  (2d  ed.).  vol.  ii,  pt.  i ; 
Hefele,  ConciUengeschichte,  ii,  545  sq. ;  Gfrorer,  AUg. 
Klrchengesch.  vol.  ii,  pt.  ii;  Schroekh,  Klrchrngisch. 
xviii,  433-6.'56 ;  Neander.  Ch.  Hist,  ii,  524  sq. ;  and  his 
Dogma,  i,  337 ;  Ebrard,  Ilandbuch  der  Kircheii-  ii.  Jfog- 
mengesch.  i,  2G3  sq. ;  Schaff,  Ch.  IJist.  iii,  143-115; 
Neale,  Ilist.  East.  Church  (patriarchate  of  Alexandria), 
i,  278  sq. ;  ii,  3  sq. ;  Stanley,  Lect.  East.  Ch.  p.  It2  sq. ; 
Ilagenbach,  Hist.  Doctrines,  i,  277  sq. ;  ^lilman.  Hist. 
Latin  Chi-istianity,  p.  312sq. ;  Princeton  Review,  xxxviii, 
507  sq. ;  Princeton  Peposilon/,  (January,  18G7),  art.  iii. 
Compare  also  Cureton's  edition  of  tlie  Kcc/es.  I/ist.  of 
John,  Bishop  of  Ephesus  (Oxf.  1853).  pt.  iii.    See  Chris- 

TOI.OCV;    IXCARXATIOX.       (J.II.W.) 

Monotheism  (from  /(oror,  one,  and  ^n'>r,  God)  is 
the  belief  in  and  worship  of  one  only  (Jod,  in  opposition 
to  polytluism,  which  acknowledges  a  plurality  of  gods. 
All  the  different  mythologies  have,  among  tlie  host  of 
gods  with  which  they  people  heaven  and  earth,  some 
superior  or  supreme  deity,  more  or  less  defined,  but  in 
evcrj'  case  distinguis-hetl  above  the  others;  ami  in  the 


MONOTHEISM 


511 


MONOTHELISM 


history  of  all  the  different  nations  where  polytheism  has 
obtained  we  may  trace  a  period  when  the  idea  of  one 
God  was  more  or  less  prevalent.  The  most  ancient  tra- 
ditions concur  with  the  testimony  of  sacred  Scripture 
in  representing  this  as  the  primary  and  uncorrupted  re- 
ligion of  mankind.  M.  Renan,  in  his  Ilistoire  Generale 
et  Systeme  compare  des  Langues  Semitiques  (Par.  1858, 
2d  ed.),  and  Nouvelles  Considerations  siir  le  caractere 
general  des  Peuples  Semitiques  et  en  particulier  sur  leur 
tendance  an  Monothekme  (Par.  1859),  takes  the  ground 
that  the  Shemitic  nations  of  the  world  are  the  propa- 
gators of  the  doctrine  of  the  imity  of  God  —  indeed, 
that  "of  all  the  races  of  mankind,  the  Shemitic  race 
alone  was  endowed  with  the  instinct  of  monotheism 
...  a  religious  instinct  analogous  to  the  instinct  which 
led  each  race  to  the  formation  of  its  own  language" 
(p.  73).  Max  Muller,  however,  takes  exception  to 
this  position,  and  insists  upon  it  that  the  primitive  in- 
tuition of  God  was  in  itself  neither  monotheistic  nor 
polytheistic,  hut  consisted  solely  in  that  simplest  ar- 
ticle of  faith  —  that  God  is  God.  "This  must  have 
been  the  faith  of  the  ancestors  of  mankind  previousl}' 
to  any  division  of  race  or  confusion  of  tongues.  ...  It 
is  too  often  forgotten  by  those  who  believe  that  a  poly- 
theistic worship  was  the  most  natural  unfolding  of  re- 
ligious life,  that  polytheism  must  everywhere  have 
been  preceded  b}^  a  more  or  less  conscious  theism.  In 
no  language  does  the  plural  exist  before  the  singular. 
No  humiui  mind  could  have  conceived  the  idea  of  gods 
without  having  previously  conceived  the  idea  of  a  god. 
.  .  .  There  are,  however,  in  reality  two  kinds  of  one- 
ness which,  when  we  enter  into  metaphysical  discus- 
sions, must  be  carefully  distinguished,  and  which  for 
practical  purposes  are  well  kept  separate  bj-  the  defi- 
nite and  indefinite  articles.  ...  If  an  expression  had 
been  given  to  that  primitive  intuition  of  the  Deity, 
which  is  the  mainspring  of  all  later  religion,  it  would 
have  been,  'There  is  a  God,'  but  not  yet  'There  is 
but  one  God.'  The  latter  form  of  faith,  the  belief  in 
one  God,  is  properh^  called  monotheism,  whereas  the 
term  henotheism  would  best  express  the  faith  in  a  sin- 
gle God"  {Chips,  i,  348-50).  This  kind  of  monothe- 
ism, according  to  Mliller,  "forms  the  birthright  of 
every  human  being.  ...  In  some  form  or  other, 
the  feeling  of  dependence  on  a  higher  power  breaks 
through  in  all  the  religions  of  the  world,  and  explains 
to  us  the  meaning  of  St.  Paul,  'that  God,  though  in  ; 
times  past  he  suffered  all  nations  to  walk  in  their  own 
ways,  nevertheless  left  not  himself  without  witness, 
in  that  he  did  good,  and  gave  us  rain  from  heaven  and 
fruitful  seasons,  filling  our  hearts  with  food  and  glad- 
ness.' This  primitive  intuition  of  God,  and  this  in- 
eradicable feeling  of  dependence  on  God,  could  only 
have  been  the  result  of  a  primitive  revelation,  in  the 
truest  sense  of  that  word"  (p.  346-8,  see  also  p.  363, 
374 ;  comp.  Gould,  Origin  of  Religious  Belief,  i,  267- 
277).  In  this  respect  Judaism,  Christianity,  and  Mo- 
hammedanism agree. 

"  Two  facts,"  says  Gould,  "  arrest  our  attention  .  .  . 
the  prevalence  of  monotheism,  and  the  tendency  of  civ- 
ilization towards  it.  Monotheism  is  at  present  the 
creed  of  a  large  section  of  the  human  race.  The  Chris- 
tian, the  Jew,  and  the  Mohammedan  hold  the  unity 
of  the  great  cause  with  varying  distinctness,  accord- 
ing to  then-  powers  of  abstraction"  {Oiigin  of  Religious 
Belief  i,  238).  But  in  regard  to  the  Trinity  they  se- 
riously differ,  the  Mohammedan  and  the  Jew  reject- 
ing with  vehemence  the  least  approach  to  a  trinita- 
rian  conception  of  the  Deity.  "  The  monotheism  of 
the  Mohammedan,"  says  J.  F.  Clarke,  "is  that  which 
makes  of  God  pure  will ;  that  is,  which  exaggerates 
personality  (since  personalit}'  is  in  will),  making  the 
divine  One  an  infinite  Free  Will  or  an  infinite  I.  But 
will  divorced  from  reason  and  love  is  wilfulness,  or  a 
purely  arbitrarj'  will.  The  monotheism  of  the  Jews 
differed  from  this  in  that  it  combined  with  the  idea 
of  will  the  idea  of  justice.     God  not  onlj-  does  what 


he  chooses,  but  he  chooses  to  do  onlj'  what  is  right. 
Righteousness  is  an  attribute  of  God,  with  which  the 
Jewish  books  are  saturated.  Both  of  these  sj-stems 
leave  God  outside  of  the  world ;  above  all  as  its  Crea- 
tor and  Ruler,  above  all  as  its  Judge ;  but  not  through 
all  and  in  all.  The  idea  of  an  infinite  love  must  be 
added  and  made  supreme,  in  order  to  give  us  a  Being 
who  is  not  onty  above  all,  but  also  through  all  and  in 
all.  This  is  the  Christian  monotheism.  .  .  .  Moham- 
med teaches  a  God  above  us;  Moses  teaches  a  God 
above  us,  and  j'et  with  us ;  Jesus  teaches  God  above 
us,  God  with  us,  and  God  in  us"  (Ten  Great  ReUg'ions, 
p.  481-83).  See  Jalu-b.  deutsch.  Theol.  (1860),  iv,  669 ; 
Brit.  Quar.  Rev.  (April,  1873),  art.  ii ;  Lond.  Quar.  Rev. 
vol.  cxxvii.     See  also  Unity  of  God. 

Gould  holds  to  a  gradual  development  of  monothe- 
ism. Reco'i;nising  a  Jewish,  Mohammedan,  and  Chris- 
tian monotheism,  he  traces  lirst  the  development  of 
the  Jewish,  which,  under  Moses,  received  "its  final 
and  complete  form  as  a  system,  and  embraced  four 
leading  doctrines:  (1)  the  absolute  being  of  God;  (2) 
the  absolute  unity  of  his  being ;  (8)  the  difference  in 
kind  of  matter  from  God ;  (4)  the  subjection  of  mat- 
ter to  God"  (i,  262 ;  comp.  Mosaism).  The  Moham- 
medan's monotheism  he  recognises  as  "the  oftspring 
of  Jewish  monotheism."  Yet  has  the  pure  deism 
proved  inferior  to  the  Jewish,  for  ."as  a  working  s^'s- 
tem  it  annihilates  morality.  Before  the  almighty 
power  of  God  the  creature  is  nothing.  Man,  ox,  ass, 
are  on  a  level ;  and  if  the  notion  be  humbling  to  him, 
he  may  recover  a  little  self-respect  when  he  remem- 
bers that  the  archangels  are  in  no  better  plight.  Be- 
tween man  and  God  is  a  profound  and  wide  abyss,  and 
no  bridge  spans  it.  Too  far  above  man  to  sj'mpathize 
in  any  way  with  him,  God  can  yet  crush  him  with  his 
jealousy.  If  man  attempt  to  attribute  to  himself  any- 
thing that  is  of  God,  and  appear  to  encroach  on  his  all- 
engrossing  majest}'  by  ever  so  little,  the  wrath  of  God 
is  kindled  and  man  is  levelled  with  the  dust"  (i,  265). 
"  It  is,"  sa)'s  Palgrave,  "  his  singular  satisfaction  to  let 
created  beings  continually  feel  that  they  are  nothing 
else  than  his  slaves,  tools,  and  contemptible  tools  also, 
that  thus  they  may  the  better  acknowledge  his  supe- 
riority, and  know  his  power  to  be  above  their  power, 
his  cunning  above  their  cunning,  his  will  above  their 
will,  his  pride  above  their  pride ;  or,  rather,  that  there 
is  no  power,  cunning,  will,  or  pride  save  his  own.  But 
he  himself,  in  his  inaccessible  height,  neither  loving 
aught  save  his  own  and  self-measured  decree,  without 
son,  companion,  or  counsellor,  is  no  less  barren  for 
himself  than  for  his  creatures,  and  his  own  barrenness 
and  lone  egoism  in  himself  is  the  cause  and  rule  of  his 
indifferent  and  unregarding  despotism  around"  (^Ara- 
bia, i,  366).      See  Polytheism. 

Christian  monotheism  Gould  excludes  from  com- 
parison with  the  Jewish  and  Mohammedan,  because 
"  its  doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and  the  incarnation  re- 
move it  from  the  class  to  which  Mosaism  and  Islam- 
ism  .  .  .  belong"  (i,  277).  See,  however,  God  ;  Trin- 
ity. See  besides  Gould,  Clarke,  Max  Muller,  and 
Renan  ;  Hagenbach,  Hist,  of  Doctrines,  i,  330  ;  Christ- 
lieb.  Modern  Doubt  and  Christian  Belief  (N.  Y.  1875, 
8vo),  lect.  iii  and  iv;  Lewes,  Hist.  Pliilos.  vol.  ii  (see 
Index)  ;  Liddon,  Divinity  of  Christ,  p.  67,  76,  95,  270, 
307  ;  and  the  literature  appended  to  the  article  The- 
ism.    (J.  H.W.) 

Monothelism  (from  /lovoc,  single,  and  ciXtjf^ia, 
will),  the  doctrine  of  a  Christian  sect,  maintains  that 
Christ,  though  possessed  of  two  natures,  was  yet  sub- 
ject only  to  one  will ;  the  human  will  being  merged 
in  the  divine,  or  absorbed  bj-  it.  The  doctrine  was 
given  shape  in  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  emperor 
Heraclius  to  unite  the  different  factions  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church,  and  to  bring  back  to  the  fold  the  Eutych- 
ians  and  the  Monnphysites.  There  was  near  the  be- 
ginning of  the  7th  century'  much  controversy  in  the 
Eastern  Church  respecting  the  two  wills  in  Christ, 


MOXOTHELISM 


512 


MOXOTHELISM 


kindred  to  that  concerning  his  nature.  The  Slonoph- 
3'sites  were  at  that  time  a  most  powerful  sect,  and 
the  movement,  especially'  in  Egypt,  threatened  to  as- 
sume a  political  character.  In  this  difficulty  the  em- 
peror Ileraclius,  hoping  to  reconcile  the  two  parties, 
adopted  the  doctrine  that  tiiere  was  in  Jesus  the  Christ, 
after  the  union  of  the  two  natures,  only  one  divine- 
human  energy  and  one  •will  (^fiovov  Sf\»;/na) ;  and 
when,  in  the  course  of  a  campaign  against  Persia,  lie- 
radius  passed  through  Armenia  and  Syria,  he  came  to 
an  understanding  with  the  Monophysite  leaders  of  the 
Sevcriuns  and  Jacobites,  and  induced  Sergius  (q.  v.), 
tlio  ortiiodox  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  to  give  his 
assent  to  the  doctrine  ofivS^iXijf^ia  Kai  ixui  iv'tpyHU,OT 
of  an  tifpyeta  ^tayCptKij.  Mouothelism,  it  will  be  per- 
ceived, then,  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  modifica- 
tion of  Eutychianism  (q.  v.).  It  consisted  in  main- 
taining that,  although  Christ  ha.s  two  natures,  yet  these 
natures  possessed  or  are  acted  on  bj'  but  a  single  will, 
the  divine  will  superseding  or  supplying  the  place  of  a 
human  will.  It  will  be  observed  also  that  in  this  way 
the  controversj-  was  removed  from  the  province  of  pure 
metaphysics  into  the  moral  and  practical  spliere;  and 
although  the  assertion  of  an  independent  nature  with- 
out independent  action  was  a  contradictio  in  adjecto, 
it  was  yet  hoped  that  the  doctrine  might  be  adopted 
by  tiie  Jlonophj'sites.  The  author  of  this  doctrine 
was  probabh'  Sergius  himself;  he  was,  at  least,  its 
most  active  propagandist.  The  progress  of  the  doc- 
trine was  materially  forwarded  by  tlie  relation  which, 
at  the  instance  of  Sergius,  and  under  his  representa- 
tions, pope  Honorius  (q.  v.)  was  induced  to  maintain 
regarding  the  question.  The  Monophj'site  Cyrus, 
wliom  the  emperor  had  i)romotcd  from  the  episcopate 
of  Phasis  to  the  patriarchate  of  Alexandria,  proni])tly 
called  a  synod  (A.D.  G33),  which  bj'  the  seventh  canon 
of  its  decrees  solemnly  approved  of  the  mouothelite 
doctrine  (in  the  words  tvv  avrvv  iva  Xpiaruv  Kai  viiv 
ivtpyovvTu  Tu  SriQ-pnrti  Kai  av^pwmva  fii^  Btavcpi- 
Kt)  ivtpy(i(f,  Mansi,  Condi,  xi,  565),  thereby  hoping  to 
effect  permanently  a  union  between  the  different  par- 
tics  (Mansi,  C'oncil.  xi,  5G4  sq. ;  Letters  of  Ci/rns,  ibid. 
5G1).  As  Cyrus  was  the  principal  mover  in  this  at- 
tempt, he  has  been  generally  esteemed  the  founder  of 
the  Monothelites.  The  work  of  the  council  certainlj' 
proved  salutary,  at  least  for  a  time.  By  bringing  the 
doctrine  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  nearer  to  the  Eu- 
tychian  system,  numbers  of  the  Eutychians,  who  were 
dispersed  tliroughout  Egypt,  Armenia,  and  other  re- 
mote provinces,  returned  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church. 
The  only  dissenting  leader  proved  a  certain  Sophro- 
nius,  a  monk  of  Palestine,  who  from  the  first  opposed 
the  decree,  of  the  Alexandrian  Synod  with  violence, 
and  when  elevated  to  the  vacant  patriarchate  of  Jeru- 
salem (G35)  was  thus  afforded  ecclesiastical  position 
and  power,  and  now  came  forward  to  contest  the  ques- 
tion, notwithstanding  that  the  patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople approved  of  the  Alexandrian  decision,  and  the 
pope  at  Home  offered  no  remonstrance.  Sophronius 
(q.  V.)  endeavored  to  show  that  this  doctrine  was  in- 
admissible, since  the  doctrine  of  two  natures  set  forth 
by  the  Sjnod  of  Chalcedon  (q.  v.)  necessarily  implied 
that  of  two  wills  (see  Sophronii  Epistola  Si/nodica, 
which  is  given  in  Mansi,  xi,  4G1).  He  finally'  sum- 
moned a  coimcil,  and  condenmed  monothelism  as  a 
branch  of  the  Eutycliian  heresy.  In  order  to  termi- 
nate, if  possible,  the  commotions  to  which  this  division 
was  giving  rise,  the  emperor  Ileraclius  in  638  issued 
an  edict,  "VjK^inu-  (so  named  because  it  contained  an 
exposition  of  the  faith),  in  which  he  confirmed  the 
agreement  made  by  the  patriarchs  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  ecclesiastical  union,  and  in  which  all  contro- 
versies upon  the  question  wlictlier  in  Christ  there  was 
a  double  operation  were  jjrohibited,  thougli  tlie  doc- 
trine of  a  unity  of  will  was  inculcated.  A  consider- 
alile  numlier  of  the  Eastern  bishops  declared  tlieir 
assent  to  the  Ecthesis,  and  above  all  Pyrrhus,  who 


succeeded  Sergius  in  the  see  of  Constantinople.  A 
similar  acceptance  was  obtained  from  the  metropolis 
of  the  Eastern  Church  ;  but  at  Rome  the  Ecthesis  was 
differently  received.  John  IV  assembled  a  council,  in 
which  that  exposition  was  condemned.  See  Ecthe- 
sis. Neither  was  the  mouothelite  system  maintained 
in  the  Eastern  Church  any  longer  than  during  the  life 
of  Heraclius.  In  G48  the  emperor  Constans  II  issued 
the  TvTroc,  i.  e.  an  edict,  by  which  the  Ecthesis  was 
suppressed,  and  the  contending  j)arties  were  prohibited 
from  resuming  their  discussions  on  the  doctrine  ia 
question  (see  Mansi,  x,  992, 1029  sq. ;  Neander,  Church 
Hist.  [Torrey]  iii,  186-192).  Pope  Honorius,  as  we 
have  seen,  appeared  in  favor  of  the  union,  and  was 
probably  himself  inclined  to  monophysitism  ;  but  his 
successors,  Severinus  and  John  IV,  tliought  and  felt 
differently.  The  latter  condenmed  the  doctrine  of  the 
Monothelites,  and  Theodore  excommunicated  Paul, 
patriarch  of  Constantinople,  till  the  doctrine  of  two 
wills  and  two  energies  was  at  last  adopted  at  tlie  first 
synod  of  the  Lateran,  held  under  Martin  I,  bishop  of 
Komc,  in  the  year  649  (see  Mansi,  x,  863  sq.).  "Si 
quis  secundum  scelerosos  hrereticos  cum  una  volun- 
tate  et  una  operatione,  qua;  ab  hicreticis  impiis  confite- 
tur,  et  duas  voluntatcs,  pariterque  et  ojierationes,  hoc 
est,  divinam  et  humanam,  qua;  in  ipso  Christo  Deo  in 
unitate  salvantur,  et  a  Sanctis  patribus  orthodoxe  in 
ipso  pra;dicantur,  denegat  et  respuit,  condemnatus  sit" 
(see  Gieseler,  c.  1,  §  128,  note  11 ;  ^liinscher  v.  Colla, 
ii,  78  sq.).  The  emperor  was  so  indignant  at  this  dar- 
ing of  Martin  that  he  had  him  secured,  carried  to  Con- 
stantinople, there  treated  for  a  time  as  a  criminal,  and 
then  banished  him  to  the  Crimea,  where  he  died  in 
655,  to  be  numbered  among  the  martj-rs  of  tiie  West- 
ern and  the  confessors  of  the  Eastern  Church.  His 
great  intellectual  supi>orter  at  the  council  had  been  a 
Greek  abbot  named  3Iaximus,  and  he,  too,  underwent 
a  long  persecution,  being  scourged,  having  his  tongue 
cut  out,  and  at  last  dying  a  death  little  short  of  mar- 
tyrdom just  as  he  had"  reached  his  place  of  exile,  A.D. 
6G2.  The  final  and  authoritative  condemnation  of  the 
monothelite  dogma  took  place  at  the  sixth  general 
council,  held  at  Constantinople  in  the  j-ear  680,  where 
it  was  decided  that  there  are  in  Christ  "two  natural 
wills  and  two  natural  operations,  without  division, 
without  conversion  or  change,  with  nothing  like  an- 
tagonism, and  nothing  like  confusion,  but  at  the  same 
time  the  human  will  of  Christ  could  not  come  into  col- 
lision with  his  divine  will,  but  is  in  all  things  subject 
,  to  it."  An  anathema  was  also  pronounced  on  Theo- 
I  dore,  Sergius,  Honorius,  and  all  who  had  maintained 
the  heresy-,  this  anathema  being  confirmed  by  Leo  II, 
I  who  wrote  to  the  emperor  respecting  his  own  prede- 
I  cessor  in  the  see  of  Rome:  "  Anatliematizamus  .  .  . 
necnon  ct  Ilonorium  qui  banc  a])0st()licam  ecdesiam 
non  apostolica'  traditicmis  doctrina  lustravit,  scd  pro- 
fana  proditione  immaculatam  subvertere  conatus  est" 
(Mansi,  Concil.  xi,  631-G37,  731).  This  anathema  of 
pope  Honorius  was  repeated  bj'  liis  successors  for  three 
[centuries.  See  lloxoitirs;  Infai.libiuty.  The 
council  (also  called  the  First  Trullan)  was  summoned 
bj'  Constantinus  Pogonatus.  The  decision  of  the  synod 
was  based  upon  the  ejjistle  of  Agatho,  tlie  Roman 
bishop,  which  was  itself  founded  upon  the  canons  of 
the  above-mentioned  Lateran  synod  (Agathonis  Ep. 
ad  [mperatores,  in  ^lansi,  xi,  233  sq.).  Baur  says  of 
this  controversy  {Dngmengesch.  p.  211)  :  "Its  elements 
on  the  side  of  the  Jlonothelites  were  the  unity  of  the 
person  or  suliject,  from  whose  one  will  (the  divine  will 
of  the  incarnate  Logos)  all  must  proceed,  since  two 
wills  also  presuppose  two  personal  sulijects  (the  chief 
argument  of  bishop  Theodore  of  Cara,  in  Mansi,  xi, 
567);  on  the  side  of  the  Dyothelites,  the  point  was  the 
fact  of  two  natures,  since  two  natures  cannot  lie  con- 
ceived without  two  natural  wills,  and  two  natural 
modes  of  operation.  Hdw  far  now  two  wills  can  be 
without  two  persons  willing  was  the  point  from  which 


MONOTHELITES 


513 


MONRO 


they  slipped  away  by  mere  supposition."  See  Com- 
befis,  Hist.  hcer.  Monothelit.  (Paris,  1G48) ;  Hagenbach, 
Hist,  of  Doctrines,  i,  229,  241,  282 ;  Schaff,  Church  Hist. 
iii,  752,  782 ;  Neander,  Church  Hist,  iii,  186  sq. ;  Giese- 
ler,  Church  Hist.  c.  i,  §  128 ;  Baur,  Dogmengesch.  1,  211 ; 
.  and  his  Trinitdtslehre,  vol.  ii ;  Ebrard,  Kirchen-  u.  Dog- 
'  mengesch.  i,  279  sq. ;  Trench,  Hidsean  Lect.  p.  200 ; 
Qregory,  Hist,  of  the  Chnst.  Church,  i,  379 ;  Dorner, 
Doct.  of  the  Person  of  Christ,  vol.  ii,  pt.  i ;  Neale,  Hist. 
East.  Church  (patriarchate  of  Alexandria),  ii,  60  sq., 
76  sq. ;  Stanley,  East.  Church,  p.  94, 110 ;  Knapp,  Chris- 
tian Theology,  p.  366 ;  Jlilman,  Hist,  of  Latin  Christi- 
anity, ii,  266  sq. ;  Walch,  Ketzerhistorie,  ix,  3-666 ; 
Gfrorer,  Kirchengesch.  vol.  iii,  pt.  i,  p.  36  sq. ;  Bollin- 
ger, Kirchengesch.  i,  170  sq. ;  Schroclvh,  Kirchengesch. 
XX,  386  sq. ;  Westminster  Kev.  April,  1871,  p.  247.     See 

MONOPHYSITES.       (J.  H.W.) 

Monothelite.s  {Movo^tXi'irai),  an  ancient  heret- 
ical sect  which  is  first  spoken  of  in  the  writings  of 
St.  John  of  Damascus,  ia  the  middle  of  the  8th  cen- 
tury, but  which  may  be  traced  back  to  Severus,  the  de- 
posed patriarch  of  Antioch,  who  flourished  in  the  first 
half  of  the  7th  centur3^  He  founded  Monophysitisni 
(q.  v.).  In  some  fragments  of  his  writings  which 
have  come  down  to  us,  Severus  remarks  that  Christ's 
words,  "Not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done"  (Luke  xxii, 
42),  do  not  prove  the  existence  of  a  will  distinct  from 
the  divine  will,  nor  that  there  was  any  struggle  or  re- 
sistance on  the  part  of  the  Saviour's  soul,  as  if  he  had 
a  human  fear  of  death  or  a  human  unwillingness  to 
die ;  but  that  the  words  are  so  set  down  by  way  of  ac- 
commodation, and  for  Christian  instruction  (Mai,  Coll. 
Nov.  vii,  288).  The  distinct  formulation  of  monothe- 
lism  is  attributed,  however,  to  Theodore,  bishop  of 
Cara,  in  Arabia.  Although  not  a  INIonophysite,  The- 
odore taught  that  all  the  acts  of  Christ  proceeded 
from  one  principle,  originating  in  the  Word,  and  oper- 
ating through  the  human  soul  and  bod}\  Hence, 
though  the  Logos  and  the  manhood  were  distinct  nat- 
ures, they  were  both  acted  upon  by  one  and  the  same 
ivipyiia  ;  and  there  being  one  activity,  there  was  one 
will,  by  which  it  was  moved,  that  will  being  divine. 
(AiToO  yap  to  ^iXi]ua  'iv  tan,  Kai  tovto  BtiKuv  ;  Man- 
si,  Condi,  xi,  568.)  Athanasius,  the  Monophj'site  pa- 
triarch of  Antioch,  was  a  zealous  convert  to  the  opin- 
ion of  Theodore,  and  laid  it  before  the  emperor  Herac- 
lius  as  offering  a  basis  for  such  a  compromise  between 
his  sect  and  the  Church  as  might  enable  them  to  re- 
unite in  one  communion.  The  emperor  most  enthu- 
siastically espoused  the  plan,  and  thus  became  the  pro- 
moter of  the  monothelite  dogma,  and  really  the  founder 
of  the  Monothelites.  This  emperor,  Heraclius  I,  was 
born  about  A.D.  575,  and  was  a  son  of  Heraclius,  gov- 
ernor of  Africa.  By  the  violent  death  of  the  tyrant 
Phocas  in  610,  Heraclius,  who  had  served  in  the  army 
with  credit,  obtained  the  imperial  power,  and  soon  af- 
terwards married  Eudoxia.  In  the  early  part  of  his 
reign  the  empire  was  ravaged  by  pestilence  and  the 
barbarian  armies  of  Chosroes,  king  of  Persia.  In  622 
he  led  an  army  against  Persia,  defeated  Chosroes  at 
Tauris,  and  fought  several  successful  campaigns,  in 
■which  he  displayed  great  military  talents  and  personal 
courage.  In  the  course  of  his  campaigns  against  Per- 
sia he  passed  through  Armenia  and  Syria,  and  came 
to  a  peaceful  understanding  with  the  Monophysite 
leaders  of  the  Severians  and  the  Jacobites,  who  at  this 
time  had  become  a  powerful  and  dangerous  political 
party.  Hoping  to  reconcile  them,  he,  in  connection 
with  Sergius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  proposed  to 
them  the  curious  doctrine  of  monothelism,  which  sat- 
isfied the  Monophysites,  without  apparently  disturbing 
the  decision  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon.  Having 
made  peace  with  Persia  in  628,  he  returned  to  Con- 
stantinople, and  abandoned  himself  to  inglorious  ease, 
sensual  vices,  and  the  subtleties  of  monothelism,  of 
which  he  was  the  chief  supporter,  ignoring  the  victori- 
ous progress  of  the  Mussulman  arms,  until  the  verv 
YI.-K  K 


subversion  of  his  empire  was  threatened.  In  639, 
finally,  he  made  an  energetic  attempt  to  establish  mo- 
nothelism bj'  issuing  his  "EKBrjaig,  with  Avhat  result 
may  be  seen  in  the  article  Monothelism.  Heraclius 
died  in  641.  His  character  is  a  puzzle,  and  presents 
surprising  contradictions.  Protected  and  nurtured  by 
imperial  approbation,  the  Monothelites  became  a  very 
considerable  sect.  The  decisions  of  the  sixth  Council 
of  Constantinople  determined  that  their  opinions  were 
not  consistent  with  the  purity  of  the  Christian  faith, 
and  monothelism  was  formally  condemned ;  and  though 
its  advocates  were  sometimes  the  objects  of  royal  favor, 
yet  they  were  in  general  condemned  and  depressed. 
In  711,  when  Philippicus  Bardanes  was  Greek  em- 
peror, they  became  once  more  influential  and  powerful. 
He  convened  a  new  council  at  Constantinople,  which 
reversed  the  decisions  of  the  sixth  council,  and  adopt- 
ed monothelism  as  an  orthodox  doctrine.  Some  few 
bishops  resisted,  but  were  driven  from  the  council. 
Two  years  later  Anastasius  II  reinstituted  dj'othelism, 
and  the  same  bishops  who  had  two  j-ears  before  vetoed 
dyothelism  now  changed  their  mind,  and  adopted  it  as 
the  only  true  exposition  of  faith!  Thus  persecuted^ 
the  Monothelites  retired  to  the  neighborhood  of  Mount 
Lebanon.  After  the  Crusades  (1291),  and  especially 
after  1596,  they  began  to  gradually  go  over  to  the  Ro- 
man Church,  although  retaining  the  communion  under 
both  kinds,  their  Sj-riac  missal,  the  marriage  of  priests, 
and  their  traditional  fast-days,  with  some  saints  of 
their  own,  especially  St.  Maron.  See  Maronites. 
The  Monothelites  have  often  been  bitterly  persecuted, 
but  our  concern  for  the  cruelties  they  suffered  cannot 
but  be  lessened  by  the  consideration  of  the  persecutions 
which  in  the  day  of  their  power  they  were  tempted  to 
commit  against  their  orthodox  brethren.  See,  besides 
the  references  in  the  article  Monothelism,  Blunt, 
Diet,  of  Heresies  and  Sects,  s.  v. ;  Schaff,  Church  Hist. 
iii,  752  sq. ;  Gregorj',  Hist,  of  the  Christ.  Church,  i,  397 ; 
'Mosheim,  Ecclesiastical  History,  ii,  36;  Robinson,  Pal- 
estine, iii,  744;  Walch,  Geschichte  der  Ketzereien,  ix, 
475 ;  Baumgarten,  Geschichte  der  Religionspartheien,  p. 
617. 

Monrad,  Ditler  Gothard,  a  Danish  prelate  of 
note,  was  born  at  Copenhagen  Nov.  24, 1811.  In  1836 
he  passed  his  theological  examinations,  and  was  two 
years  later  honored  by  the  title  of  D.D.  In  1846  he 
was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  Vester  Ulsler,  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Laaland.  Having  taken  a  prominent  position 
in  the  national  party,  he  was  made  chaplain  JMarch  24, 
1848,  but  occupied  the  position  only  until  the  following 
November,  when  he  retired,  together  with  most  of  his 
colleagues.  He  continued  to  take  an  active  part  in  po- 
litical affairs  until  1850,  when  he  was  created  bishop  of 
Laaland-Falster,  and  later  figured  as  a  cabinet  officer 
until  1804.  After  the  unsuccessful  termination  of  the 
war  against  Prussia  he  migrated  to  New  Zealand,  where 
he  died  in  1874.  He  published  valuable  papers  on  the 
Ot'ganization  of  Schools  in  many  large  Protestant  Cities 
(1844),  besides  which  he  issued  mainly  "  Political  Pam- 
phlets" (1839-42).  See  Vapereau,  Diclionnaire  Universel 
des  Contenqjorains,  s.  v. 

Monro,  Alexander,  D.D.,  an  English  prelate,  was 
born  in  1648,  in  the  County  of  Ross.  After  having 
taught  philosophy  in  the  University  of  Aberdeen,  he 
was  principal  of  that  of  Edinburgh  (1686),  and  had  just 
been  appointed  bishop  of  the  Orkney  Islands  when,  re- 
fusing to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  William  III,  he 
lost  that  dignity.  He  was  appointed  in  1688  bishop  of 
Argyle,  but  it  is  doidjtful  whether  he  ever  were  institut- 
ed. He  died  in  1713.  Bishop  IMonro  is  the  author  of 
X IT  Sermons  (London,  1673,  8vo)  :— Letter  to  Sir  Robert 
Hoioard,  occasioned  by  the  Twofold  Vindication  of  Arch- 
bishop Tillotson  (1696)  -.—hiquiry  into  the  New  Opinions 
of  the  Presbyterians,  etc.  (1696,  8vo).  He  was  also 
the  author  of  one  of  the  four  letters  published  as  An 
Account  of  the  Presmt  Persecution  of  the  Church  of 


MONROE 


514 


MONROE 


Scotland  (1690,  4to,  68  pages).     See  Allibone,  Diet,  of 
Brit,  and  A  mer.  A  uihors,  voL  ii,  s.  v. 

Monroe,  Andre'W,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  ('liiirch,  South,  called  the  patriarch  of  Mis- 
souri Methodism,  was  born  in  Hampshire  County,  Va., 
Oct.  29,  1792 ;  was  converted  and  joined  the  Church 
when  but  a  youth.  In  March,  1815,  he  was  licensed  to 
preach,  and  sent  to  labor  on  the  Fairfield  Circuit.  In 
the  following  year  he  was  admitted  on  trial  to  the  Ohio 
Conference.  In  1824  he  was  transferred  to  Missouri, 
and  stationed  at  St.  Louis;  he  returned  the  next  year, 
and  was  then  placed  over  the  St.  Louis  District,  which 
embraced  the  entire  state.  He  was  a  member  of  eleven 
General  Conferences,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Church,  South.  He  died  in  Mexico, 
Mo.,  Nov.  18,  1871.  His  several  appointments  were: 
1816,  Jefferson  Circuit;  1H17,  Franklin  Circuit;  1818, 
Fountain  Head  Circuit;  1819,  Bowling  flreen.  In  the 
Kentucky  Conference :  1820,  lIoi)kinsvillc ;  1821  and 
1822,  Maysville ;  1823,  presiding  elder  of  Augusta  Dis- 
trict. In  the  Missouri  Conference :  182-1  and  1825,  St. 
Louis  Station;  18-26  and  1827,  presiding  elder  of  Mis- 
souri District ;  1828  and  1829,  St.  Louis  Station ;  1830, 
St.  Louis  District;  1831,  left,  by  re(iuest,  without  an 
appointment ;  1832  to  1835,  presiding  elder  of  St.  Louis 
District ;  1836  and  1837,  Missouri  District ;  1838,  Co- 
lumbia District;  1839  and  1840,  agent  of  St. Charles  Col- 
lege; 1841  and  1842,  St.Charics  Station,  and  agent  of 
the  college ;  1843,  presiding  elder  of  St.  Charles  Dis- 
trict ;  1844  and  1845,  presiding  elder  of  St.  Charles  Dis- 
trict, and  agent  of  the  college  ;  184G  to  1849,  presiding 
€lder  of  Columbia  District ;  1850  and  1851,  Fayette  Cir- 
cuit ;  1852  and  1853,  presiding  elder  of  Hannibal  Dis- 
trict ;  1854,  transferred  to  the  St.  Louis  Conference,  and 
appointed  superintendent  of  Kansas  Mission  District ; 
1855,  transferred  back  to  the  Missouri  Conference,  and 
appointed  presiding  elder  of  Fayette  District ;  1856  to 
1859,  presiding  older  of  St.  Charles  District ;  1860,  agent 
of  Central  College;  1861  and  1862,  Fayette  Circuit; 
1863  and  1864,  Brunswick  District;  1865,  Faj'ette  Dis- 
trict; 1866  and  1867,  Conference  missionary;  1869  to 
1870,  St.  Charles  District ;  1871,  Conference  missionarj^ 
It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  sketch  to  enter  into 
any  exhaustive  analysis  of  a  life  so  protracted,  aims  so 
single  and  sublime,  purposes  so  pertinaciously  adhered 
to  through  a  long,  eventful  course.  His  name  is  his- 
toric :  scarcely  a  book  of  Methodist  annals  has  appeared 
■within  half  a  century  past  that  does  not  contain  it.  See 
McFerrin,  I/isl.  of  Meth.  in  Tenn.  ii,  473 ;  Minutes  of 
Conference  (f  Meih.  Episc.  Ch.,  South  (1872) ;  Elliott, 
Hist,  of  the  Meth.  Episc.  Ch.  in  the  South-west,  p.  74 
and  sq. 

Monroe,  Jonathan,  an  American  Methodist  min- 
ister, was  born  in  Annapolis,  Md.,  June  11,  1801 ;  joined 
the  Baltimore  Conference,  and  was  appointed  to  Alle- 
ghany Circuit  in  1825;  in  1826,  to  Concord;  in  1827  he 
was  ordained  deacon  by  bisliop  Soule,  and  a[)pointed  to 
Shamokcn;  in  1828,  to  Lewistown;  in  1829  he  was  or- 
dained elder  by  bishop  IM-Kendree,  and  appointed  to 
Concord;  in  1830,  to  Gettysburg;  in  1831,  to  Shrews- 
bury; in  1833,  to  Patapsco":  in  1835,  to  Calvert;  in  1837, 
to  Lewistown;  in  1839,  to  Warrior's  Mark;  in  1841,  to 
Huntingdon;  in  1843,  to  Bedford;  in  1845, to  Westmin- 
ster; in  1847,  to  Liberty;  in  1849,  to  Jlontgomery;  in 
1850.  to  Gettysburg;  in  i8.V2,  to  :Mcchanicsburg;  in  1854, 
to  :Mcr<(rsburg;  in  1856.  to  East  Hartford;  in  1858,  to 
Great  Falls;  in  1859,  to  Hereford;  in  1861,  to  Westmin- 
ster; in  1863,  to  Emmitsburg;  and  in  1864  he  became 
supernumerary,  and  retired  to  Westminster,  Carroll 
County,  Md.,  where  he  died,  Dec.  4,  1869.  His  Cliris- 
tian  virtues,  uniform  piety,  and  tievotion  to  his  calling 
demonstrated  the  power  of  divine  grace  in  his  life,  and 
endeared  him  to  all  who  knew  him.  .See  Minutes  <f 
Bidllim.rc  Cnnfrencefn-  1«70. 

Monroe,  Samuel  Yorke.D.D.,  an  emiiunt  min- 
ister of  the  Methodist  Ejiiscopal  Church,  was  burn  at 


Mount  Holly,  New  Jersey,  July  1 ,  1816.  He  enjoyed  the 
advantages  of  a  thorough  English  training,  and  after 
his  conversion,  which  occurred  in  1833,  decided  to  devote 
himself  to  the  work  of  the  Christian  ministrj'.  He  la- 
bored fur  several  years  as  a  local  preacher ;  was  admit- 
ted on  trial  into  the  New  Jersey  Conference  in  1843,  and 
quickly  rose  to  distinction  among  his  brethren.  His 
tirst  appointment  does  not  appear  in  the  minutes.  In 
1844  he  travelled  the  Sweedsborough  Circuit.  At  the 
Conference  held  in  Mount  Holly  in  1845  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  full  connection,  and  stationed  at  Salem,  N.  J. 
He  was  returned  to  the  same  appointment  in  1846.  In 
1847-48  he  preached  in  Paterson  ;  in  1849-50,  in  New- 
ark; in  1851,  at  Princeton.  He  was  next  successively 
stationed  at  Newark,  New  Brunswick,  Camden,  Trenton, 
and  Trinity  Church,  Newark  (located  in  Newark  Con- 
ference, to  which  he  had  been  transferred).  He  served 
as  presiding  elder  several  years,  first  in  the  Bridgeton 
District,  after  he  had  preached  at  Camden ;  and  in  the 
Camden  District  after  he  had  labored  in  Trenton.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  (jeneral  Conference  in  1856, 1860, 
and  1864,  at  which  last  time  he  was  prominently  named 
for  the  episcopacj-.  He  was  by  this  body  then  elect- 
ed a  member  of  the  General  Missionary'  Committee, 
and  shortly  afterwards  was  appointed  by  the  bishops  of 
the  Church  as  recording  secretary'  of  the  newly  organ- 
ized society  for  "  Church  extension."  Upon  this  work 
he  entered  with  his  usual  vigor  and  zeal,  and  was  meet- 
ing with  success  beyond  the  highest  expectation  of  the 
friends  of  tlie  enterprise.  On  Sunday,  the  27th  of 
January',  1867,  he  had  preached  in  St.  Paul's  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  New  York  Cit\',  for  the  cause  of 
"  Church  extension,"  and  was  on  his  way  from  Camden, 
New  Jersey,  to  New  York,  with  the  intention  of  occupy- 
ing one  of  the  city  pulpits  for  the  same  object,  when  he 
was  lost  overboard  a  train,  no  one  has  ever  found  how, 
and  was  killed  in  the  fall,  Februarj'  9, 1867,  as  was  de- 
clared by  the  verdict  of  a  coroner's  jury.  Few  men 
labored  more  earnestly  for  the  Church  than  did  Dr.  IMon- 
roe.  After  his  appointment  to  the  secretaryship,  be- 
sides attending  to  an  extensive  correspondence,  he  vis- 
ited and  addressed  some  tifiy  Conferences  upon  the 
subject  of  "  Church  extension ;"  preached  once  or  twice 
nearly  every  Sabbath  ;  organized  his  work  almost  over 
the  whole  Church  ;  and  raised  and  disbursed  about 
660,000  during  the  lirst  year  of  the  society's  existence. 
During  this  period  his  labors  were  undoubtedly  exces- 
sive ;  and,  in  the  ojiinion  of  those  who  had  the  best  op- 
portunity for  knowing,  were  beginning  sensibly  to  ira- 
I  pair  his  health  and  vigor.  "  Dr.  IMonroe,"  say  the  A  «c- 
I  ark  Conference  Minutes  of  1867,  "was  in  many  respects 
a  remarkable  man.  As  a  Christian,  he  was  conscien- 
tious, without  being  morbidly  sensitive ;  fervent  in  spir- 
it, without  being  boisterous  or  fanatical;  faithful,  with- 
out being  severe  or  censorious ;  and  spiritual  and  pure 
in  heart,  without  a  profession  of  extraordinary  religious 
attainments.  .  .  .  His  success  in  winning  souls  to 
Christ  proved  that  wherever  lie  labored  (iod  was  with 
him.  As  a  preacher  he  was  able,  evangelical,  and  edi- 
fying; and  as  a  pastor  diligent,  sympathetic,  and  faith- 
ful. But  that  which  distinguished  him  more  than  any- 
thing else  was  his  remarkably  clear  perception  of  the 
relations  of  things,  his  rapid  mental  comparisons  and 
inductions,  and  his  consequent  seemingly  intuitive  and 
almost  infallible  jutlgment.  In  this  respect  he  had  prob- 
ably no  superiors,  if,  indeed,  he  had  many  equals,  in  our 
Church.  Kemarkably  free  from  ]ireju(iicc  and  scllish- 
ness,  and  ever  cool  and  conscientious,  and  with  a  mind 
that  could  grasp  a  question,  view  it  in  all  its  relations, 
and  at  once  deduce  the  appropriate  conclusion,  lie  was 
an  eminently  wise  and  safe  counsellor  in  everything 
pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  (iod."  The  X.  Y.  Meth- 
odist (February  l(i,  1867),  commenting  on  his  death, 
says:  "Dr.  Monroe  was  one  of  the  leading  representa- 
tives of  the  American  Methodist  Church.  ...  As  secre- 
tary of  the  Church  ICxtension  Society,  he  displayed  his 
characteristic  good  sense,  rare  executive  ability,  labo- 


MONROE 


515 


MONTAGU 


riousness,  and  eminent  pulpit  power.  In  all  these  ele- 
ments of  character  he  excelled."  See  also  Ladies'  Re- 
pository, March,  1868;  Appleton's  Annual,  18G7  ;  N.  Y. 
Christian  Advocate,  February  8, 1872  {MS.  Sermons  of 
the  late  Dr.  Monroe).     (J.  H.  W.) 

Monroe,  William,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  was  born  in  Alleghany  County,  Ind., 
Sept.  8,  1783.  He  was  converted  when  but  a  youth ; 
was  licensed  to  preach  in  1809,  and  entered  the  Balti- 
more Conference  in  1810.  He  was  ordained  deacon  by 
bishop  M'Kendree,  and  elder  by  bishop  Asbury.  His 
active  ministerial  life  extended  over  a  period  of  thirty- 
three  years,  during  which  time  he  labored  on  some  of 
the  most  difficult  circuits  in  the  Baltimore  Conference. 
Mr.  Monroe  was  a  man  of  Christian  virtues  and  great 
piety,  and  his  true  devotion  to  Methodism  has  endeared 
him  to  the  whole  Church.  His  appointments  were — 
Lyttleton  Circuit,  Huntington  Circuit,  Greenville  Cir- 
cuit, Randolph  Circuit,  Georgetown,  D.C.,  Redstone  Cir- 
cuit, East  Wheeling,  Monongahela,  Rockingham  Cir- 
cuit, Va.;  Alleghany,  Va. ;  Ebenezer,  Washington,  D.C. ; 
Chambersburg ;  Winchester,  Ya. ;  Stafford,  Va. ;  Rock- 
ingham, Va. ;  Staunton,  Va. ;  Berkeley,  Va. ;  Jefferson ; 
Berkeley, Va.;  South  Branch;  and  Hillsborough.  After 
this  for  two  years  (1837  and  1838)  he  was  supernume- 
rary. In  1839-40  he  was  stationed  at  Boonsborough, 
and  in  1841  at  Codorus  Mission.  In  1844  he  was  again 
supernumerary;  in  1843-44,  Mercersburg;  and  in  1845, 
Greencastle.  This  year  closed  his  active  service,  and 
in  1846  he  asked  for  and  obtained  a  superannuated  rela- 
tion, which  he  sustained  until  removed  to  the  Church 
triumphant.  He  died  in  Washington  County,  Md., 
Mav  29, 1871.  See  General  Minutes  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
1872,  p.  17. 

Monseigneur  {iny  lord),  a  French  title,  once  ap- 
plied to  saints,  and  subsequently  to  princes,  nobles,  cer- 
tain high  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  and  other  titled 
personages,  is  now  only  given  to  prelates.  The  Italian 
monsignore  has  a  similar  signification. 
Monsignore.  See  Monseigneur. 
Monster.  See  Sea-monster. 
Monstrance.  See  Monstrantia. 
Monstrantia  (Monstruji,  Ostensorium)  is  a 
vesi»el  usetl  for  tlie  preserving  of  relics,  and  particularly 
for  the  consecrated  host  {sanctissimum,  venerubile,  eucha- 
ristia),  and  in  which  they  are  presented  to  the  adoration 
of  the  people.  When,  in  the  13th  century,  the  doctrine 
of  transubstantiation  was  established  by  the  Church,  the 
elevation  of  the  host  followed,  as  also  its  special  exhi- 
bition, for  instance,  in  the  procession  of  Corpus-Christi 
Day  (q.  v.).  For  that  purpose  the  host  (q.  v.)  was  placed 
on  a  curved  surface  (lunula),  and  introduced  in  a  trans- 
parent vessel  (inonstranfia,  in  qua  sub  vitro  crystallino 
cruor  inclusus  [Du  Fresne,  Glossar.  s.  h.  v.]).  This  case 
(^phylactei-ium,  arcula)  is  enlarged  by  the  addition  of 
rays,  forming  an  image  of  the  sun,  or  the  like,  and  pro- 
vided with  a  stand.  It  is  placed  on  the  altar.  Thus 
the  monstrantia  becomes  a  movable  shrme  for  the  sac- 
rament (Jahei-naculum  gestatorium),  generally  made  of 
costly  material,  and  richly  deco- 
rated. "  At  first,"  says  Walcott 
{Sacred,  Archceology,  p.  390), 
"  it  took  the  shape  of  an  ordina- 
ry reliquary,  but  at  length  was 
made  like  a  tower  of  crystal,  of 
cylindrical  form,  and  mounted 
on  a  foot  like  that  of  a  chalice, 
and  covered  by  a  spire-like  can- 
opy, with  Hying  buttresses.  In- 
side the  cylinder  was  a  crescent 
held  by  an  angel,  in  which  the 
host  was  set:  in  some  cases  the 
cylinder  was  replaced  by  a  quar- 
terfoil,  or  was  surrounded  by  a 
foliage  like  a  jesse-tree,  and  at  a 
Monstrance.  later  date,  by  the  sun,  a  lumi- 


nous disk,  with  rays  alternately  straight  and  wavy,  set 
upon  a  stand.  Upon  the  vessel  itself  the  Doom  was 
often  represented,  and  relics  were  placed  in  it.  The 
monstrance  did  not  become  common  tiU  the  15th,  and 
is  probably  not  earlier  than  the  14th  centurj'.  It  bore 
different  forms :  (1)  a  little  tower,  jewelled,  and  hav- 
ing aijertures  of  glass  or  crj'stal ;  (2)  the  figure  of  a  saint, 
or  the  Holy  Lamb,  with  St.  John  the  Baptist  pointing  to 
it ;  (3)  a  cross ;  (4)  a  crj'stal  lantern,  or  tube,  mounted  on 
a  pedestal  of  precious  metal,  and  covered  with  a  canopy 
in  the  15th  century;  (5)  a  sun,  with  rays,  containing  in 
the  centre  a  kind  of  pyx  (this  is  found  as  early  as  the 
IGth  century)."  The  ecclesiastical  laws  now  regulate 
its  construction.  The  statutes  of  the  archbishopric  of 
Prague  of  1605,  tit.  xviii,  command,  for  instance,  "  Mon- 
strantia ad  exponendam  vel  in  processionibus  deferendam 
hostiam  magnam,  si  non  ex  auro,  aut  argento,  saltern  ex 
aurichalco  bene  aurato  refulgeat,  et  velo  vel  peplo  con- 
gruo  ornata  sit."  The  monstrantia  is  a  sacred  vessel, 
and  not  to  be  touched  by  an  unconsecrated  person;  hence 
any  one  who  stole  it  was  to  be  burned  to  death.  The 
high  altar  is  always  provided  with  a  monstrantia,  and 
often  the  side  altars  also.  All  evangelical  churches 
have  rejected  the  prayer  De  venerahile  of  the  Romish 
Church,  and  Luther  declared,  "  It  is  insulting  and  dis- 
honoring to  the  holy  sacrament  to  carry  it  about,  and  to 
make  it  an  instrument  of  idle  idolatry."  See  also  Her- 
zog,  Real-EncyUopddie,  ix,  757. 

Montagioli,  Cassiodoro,  a  learned  Italian  eccle- 
siastic, was  born  at  Modena  Feb.  5,  1698 ;  entered  the 
Benedictine  Order  in  1717,  and  successively  filled  sev- 
eral prominent  offices  in  the  order.  He  gave  himself 
largely  to  the  study  of  philosophy.  His  principal  works 
are,  Esercizi  di  celesti  affetti,  tratti  dal  libro  de'  Salmi 
(Rome,  1742)  : — Trattato  practico  della  carita  Ci-istiana 
in  quanta  e  amor  verso  Bio  (Bologna,  1751,  and  Venice, 
1761)  :  —  Enchiridio  evangelico  (Mod.  1755)  :  —  Mani- 
era  facile  di  meditare  coti  frufto  le  massime  Cristiane 
(Bologna,  1759, 2  vols.) :  —  Detti  pratiche  e  ricoi-di  di  S. 
Andrea  AveUino  (Venice,  1771)  : — Parabole  del  figliuol 
di  Bio  (Plaisance,  1772) : — II  divine  sermone  net  monte 
(Rome,  1779). 

Montagnuoli,  Giovanni  Domenico,  an  Italian 
theologian,  was  born  at  Batignano  (territory  of  Sienna) 
in  the  first  half  of  the  17th  century.  As  a  Dominican 
monk,  he  was  distinguished  for  his  austere  piety,  as 
weU  as  for  his  attachment  to  the  doctrine  of  St.  Thom- 
as. He  was  the  author  of  Befensiones  philosophicce  an- 
gelicas Thomisticce  (Venice,  1609,  foL).  This  work,  en- 
larged and  revised,  appeared  again  under  the  same  title 
at  Naples  in  1610).  See  fichard  et  Quetif,  Script.  Ord. 
Prtedicat.  ii,  337. — Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  s.  v. 

Montagu,  Walter,  a  Roman  Catholic  divine  of 
note,  was  born  at  London  in  1004.  He  was  the  son 
of  Sir  Henry  Montagu,  who  afterwards  became  earl  of 
Manchester.  After  being  educated  at  Sidney  College, 
Cambridge,  he  travelled  abroad,  and  became  a  convert 
to  Romanism,  though  opposed  by  his  nearest  friends. 
On  returning  to  his  native  land,  he  attracted  the  atten- 
tion and  secured  the  favor  of  his  queen,  who  appointed 
him  her  confessor.  She  also  honored  him  by  sending 
him  on  a  confidential  mission  to  Rome,  where  he  met 
with  a  gracious  reception  by  pope  Urban  VIII.  The 
breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  clouded  his  prosperity, 
and  in  1643  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower,  where 
he  remained  confined  for  several  years.  As  soon  as  he 
was  released  he  retired  into  France,  where  he  became 
abbot  of  the  Benedictine  monastery  at  Nanteuil.  He 
afterwards  obtained  the  rich  abbey  of  St.  Martin's,  near 
Pontoise,  where  he  remained  until  the  Restoration,  when 
the  queen -mother  of  England  appointed  him  master 
of  St.  Catharine's  Hospital,  a  position  occupied  by  him 
till  his  death  at  Paris  in  1677.  As  an  author,  the  chief 
works  of  his  pen  are,  The  Shepherd's  Paradise,  a  pas- 
toral comedy  possessing  some  merit,  though  ridiculed 
severely  by  Sir  John  Suckling  in  his  "  Sessions  of  the 


MONTAGUE 


516 


MONTAIGNE 


Poets"  '.—Miscellanea  Spiritunlia,  published  in  two  parts 
(1618-54),  a  series  of  religious  essays  or  tracts :— a  Letttr 
from  Paris  to  his  father,  in  wliicli  he  justilies  the  Church 
of  Komc,  and  states  his  personal  reasons  for  changing 
his  belief.  This  letter  was  printed  with  lord  Falk- 
land's Discourse  on  J»fullH/iUty  (1651).  He  also  made 
an  English  translation  of  Bossuet's  Exposition  of  the 
Doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church  (1672).     (H.  W.  T.) 

Montague,  Richard,  D.D,     Sec  Moustagit. 

Montaigne,  Michel,  Seigneur  de,  a  distinguished 
French  moralist,  remarkable  for  his  deep  insight  into 
the  principles  of  our  common  nature,  was  born  Feb. 
28, 15y3,  and  was  a  younger  son  of  a  nobleman,  whose 
estate,  from  -which  the  familj'  name  arose,  was  situated 
in  the  province  of  Perigord,  near  the  river  Dordogne. 
His  father,  an  eccentric,  blunt,  feudal  baron,  placed 
him  under  the  care  of  a  German  tutor  who  did  not 
speak  French,  and  the  intercourse  between  tutor  and 
pupil  was  carried  on  entirely  in  Latin ;  and  even  his 
parents  made  it  a  rule  to  address  him  in  that  language, 
of  which  they  knew  a  sutlicicnt  number  of  words  for 
common  purposes.  The  attendants  were  enjoined  to 
follow  the  same  ])ractice.  "  They  all  became  Latin- 
ized," says  Montaigne  himself;  ''and  even  the  villa- 
gers in  the  neighborhood  learned  words  in  that  lan- 
guage, some  of  which  took  root  in  the  countiy,  and  be- 
came of  common  use  among  the  people."  Thus,  with- 
out the  aid  of  scholastic  teaching,  Montaigne  spoke 
Latin  long  before  he  could  speak  French,  which  he  was 
afterwards  obliged  to  learn  like  a  foreign  language. 
He  studied  Greek  in  the  same  manner,  by  waj-  of  pas- 
time more  than  as  a  task.  He  was  sent  to  the  college 
of  Guienne,  at  Bordeaux  ;  and  at  the  age  of  thirteen  he 
com])lcted  his  college  education.  He  then  studied  law, 
and  in  1554  he  was  made  "consciller,"  or  judge,  in  the 
Parliament  of  Bordeaux.  He  repaired  several  times 
to  court,  and  enjoyed  the  favor  of  Henri  II,  by  whom, 
or,  as  some  say,  by  (Jharles  IX,  he  was  made  a  gentle- 
man of  the  king's  chamber  and  a  knight  of  the  Order 
of  St.  Michael.  AVben  he  was  thirty-three  years  of 
age  Montaigne  married,  to  please  his  friends  rather, 
as  he  says,  than  himself,  for  he  was  not  inclined  to  a 
married  life.  He,  however,  always  lived  on  good  terms 
with  his  wife,  by  whom  lie  had  a  daughter.  He  man- 
aged his  own  estate,  on  which  he  generally  resided, 
and  from  which  he  derived  an  income  of  about  6000 
livros.  In  15GS)  Montaigne  translated  into  French  a 
Latin  work  of  Kaymond  de  Sebonde  or  Sebon,  a  Span- 
ish divine,  on  Natural  Theology,  at  the  request  of  his 
then  recently  deceased  father,  who  had  feared  for  his 
son's  apostasy  to  Protestantism  (comp.  Fisher,  Hist. 
Bef.  p.  6,  note  2).  France  was  at  that  time  desolated 
by  civil  and  religious  war,  and  Montaigne,  disapprov- 
ing of  the  conduct  of  the  court  towards  the  Protes- 
tants, and  3-et  being  bj'  education  a  Poman  Catholic, 
and  by  principle  and  disposition  loyal  to  the  king,  was 
glad  to  live  in  retirement,  and  take  no  part  in  public 
affairs  except  by  exhorting  both  parties  to  moderation 
and  mutual  charity.  B}'  this  conduct  he  liecame,  as 
might  be  expected,  obnoxious  to  l)oth  sides.  The 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  jilunged  him  into  a  deep 
melancholy,  for  he  detested  cruelty  and  the  shedding 
of  blood.  It  was  about  this  dismal  eimch  of  1572  that 
he  began  to  write  his  J-Jssai.i,  which  were  published  in 
March,  1580,  and  met  with  groat  success.  (See  below.) 
"With  a  view  to  restitring  his  health,  which  was  not 
good,  Montaigne  undertook  a  journej'  to  Germany, 
Switzerland,  and  lastly  to  Italy.  At  Komc  he  was  well 
received  by  several  cardinals  and  other  persons  of  dis- 
tinction, and  was  introduced  to  pope  Gregory  XIII. 
and  received  the  freedom  of  the  city  of  Pome  by  a  bull 
of  the  i)ope,  an  honor  of  which  he  appears  to  have  been 
very  proud.  Montaigne  was  delighted  with  Pome  ;  he 
there  found  himself  at  home  among  those  scenes  and 
monuments  which  were  connected  with  his  earliest 
Studies  and  the  first  impressions  of  his  boyish  years. 


He  wrote  a  journal  of  his  tour,  evidently  not  intended 
for  publication ;  but  the  manuscript,  when  discovered 
after  nearly  two  centuries  in  an  old  chest  in  the  cha- 
teau of  his  familv,  was  published  (in  1774)  under  the 
title  o{  Journal  du  Voyaf/e  de  Michel  de  Montaigne  en  Ita- 
lie, par  la  Suisse  et  VAllemagne,  en  1580-81.  It  is  one 
of  the  earliest  descriptions  of  Italy  written  in  a  modern 
language.  While  he  was  aijroad  he  was  elected  may- 
or of  Bordeaux  by  the  votes  of  the  citizens,  an  honor 
which  he  would  have  declined  had  not  the  king,  Henri 
III,  insisted  upon  his  accepting  the  office.  At  the  ex- 
piration of  two  years  Montaigne  was  re-elected  for  an 
equal  period.  On  his  retiring  from  office  he  returned 
I  to  his  patrimonial  estate.  The  war  of  the  League  was 
I  then  raging  in  the  country,  and  Montaigne  had  some 
difficulty  in  saving  his  family  and  property  from  the 
violence  of  the  contending  factions.  At  this  time  the 
plague  also  broke  out  in  his  neighborhood  (in  1586), 
and  obliged  him  to  leave  his  residence  and  wander 
'  about  various  parts  of  the  country.  He  was  at  Paris 
in  1588,  busy  with  a  new  edition  of  the  Kssais.  It 
appears  from  De  Thou's  account  that  about  this  time 
Montaigne  was  employed  in  negotiations  with  a  view 
to  conclude  a  peace  between  Henri  of  Navarre,  after- 
wards Henri  IV,  and  the  duke  of  Guise.  At  Paris  he 
J  became  acquainted  with  Mademoiselle  de  Gournay,  a 
young  lady  wiio  had  conceived  a  kind  of  sentimental 
I  afiection  for  him  from  reading  his  book.  Attended  by 
J  her  mother  she  visited  him,  and  introduced  liersclf  to 
I  him,  and  from  that  time  he  called  her  his  "fille  d'alli- 
,  ance,"  or  adopted  daughter,  a  title  which  she  retained 
for  the  rest  of  her  life,  as  she  never  married.  Mon- 
!  taigne  was  then  fifty-five  years  of  age.  Tliis  attach- 
[  ment,  which,  though  warm  and  reciprocal,  has  every 
I  appearance  of  having  been  of  a  purely  Platonic  nature, 
is  one  of  the  remarkable  incidents  of  Montaigne's  life. 
At  the  time  of  his  death,  Mademoiselle  Gournaj'  and 
her  mother  crossed  one  half  of  France,  notwithstand- 
ing the  civil  troubles  and  the  insecurity  of  the  roads, 
to  repair  to  Montaigne's  residence  and  mingle  their 
tears  with  those  of  his  widow  and  daughter.  On  his 
return  from  Paris  in  the  latter  part  of  1588,  ^lontaigne 
stopped  at  Blois  with  De  Thou,  Pasquier,  and  other 
!  friends.  The  States-General  were  then  assembled  in 
that  city,  in  which  the  duke  de  Guise  and  his  brother 
the  cardinal  were  treacherouslj'  murdered,  on  the  23d 
and  24th  of  December  of  that  j-ear.  ^lontaigne  had 
long  foreseen  that  the  civil  dissensions  could  only  ter- 
mini-;te  with  the  death  of  one  of  the  great  party  lead- 
ers.  He  had  also  said  to  De  Thou  that  Henri  of  Na- 
varre was  inclined  to  adopt  the  Roman  Catholic  faith, 
but  that  he  was  afraid  of  being  forsaken  by  his  party; 
'  and  that,  on  the  other  side.  Guise  himself  would  not 
have  been  averse  to  emliracing  the  Protestant  relig- 
ion, if  he  could  thereby  have  promoted  his  ambitious 
I  views.  After  the  catastrophe  Montaigne  returned  to 
liis  cliateau.  In  the  following  year  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Pierre  Charron,  a  theological  writer  of 
considerable  reputation,  and  formed  an  intimate  friend- 
ship with  him.  Charron,  in  his  book  De  la  Sagesse, 
borrowed  many  ideas  from  Montaigne's  Essais.  Mon- 
taigne by  his  will  empowered  Charron  to  assume  the 
coat  of  arms  of  his  family,  as  he  himself  had  no  male 
issue.  Montaigne's  health  was  in  a  declining  state 
for  a  consideralde  time  before  his  death  ;  he  was  af- 
flicted with  the  gravel  and  the  colic,  and  he  obstinate- 
ly refused  to  consult  medical  men,  of  whom  he  had 
i  generally  an  indiflerent  opinion.  In  September,  15l>2, 
1  he  fell  ill  of  a  malignant  quinsy,  Avhich  kept  him 
'  speechless  for  three  days,  during  which  he  had  re- 
j  course  to  his  pen  to  signify  his  last  wishes.  He  in- 
!  vited  several  gentlemen  of  the  neighborhood,  in  order 
that  he  might  take  leave  of  them,  and  wlien  they  wore 
all  assembled  in  his  room,  a  priest  said  mass,  and  at 
the  elevation  of  the  host,  Montaigne,  while  half  raised 
!  iij)  in  his  lied,  with  his  hands  joined  together  as  in 
j  prayer,  expired.  Sept,  13, 1592.     His  body  was  buried 


MONTAIGNE 


517 


MONTAIGNE 


at  Bordeaux  in  the  church  of  the  Feuillants.  The  char- 
acter of  Montaigne  is  amply  delineated  in  his  Essais. 
They  contain  much  that  an  advanced  Christianity  can 
hardly  approve,  yet,  notwithstanding  these  inconsist- 
encies, it  is  impossible  to  avoid  admiring  the  continued 
benignity  and  pensive  gayety  which  distinguished  his 
temper.  The  amiableness  of  his  private  life  is  attest- 
ed by  the  fact  that,  under  the  five  monarchs  who  dur- 
ing his  time  successively  swayed  the  sceptre  of  a  king- 
dom torn  with  fanatical  divisions,  his  person  and  prop- 
ertv  were  always  respected  by  both  parties ;  and  <:ew 
at  an  advanced  age  can  say,  like  him,  that  they  are 
yet  untainted  with  a  quarrel  or  a  lawsuit. 

Montaigne's  Essais  have  been  the  subject  of  much 
conflicting  criticism.  If  we  reflect  upon  the  age  and 
the  intellectual  condition  of  the  country  in  which  the 
author  lived,  we  must  consider  them  a  verj'  extraordi- 
nary production,  not  so  much  on  account  of  the  learn- 
ingcontained  in  the  work,  although  that  is  very  con- 
siderable, as  for  the  clear  good-sense,  philosophical  spir- 
it, and  frank,  liberal  tone  which  pervades  their  pages, 
as  well  as  for  the  attractive  simplicity  of  the  language. 
Literature  was  then  at  a  very  low  ebb  in  France,  the 
language  was  hardly  formed,  the  country  was  dis- 
turbed by  feudal  turbulence,  ignorant  fanaticism,  dead- 
ly intolerance,  and  civil  factions,  and  j'et  in  the  midst 
of  all  this  a  country  gentleman,  living  in  a  remote 
province,  himself  belonging  to  the  then  rude,  fierce, 
feudal  aristocracj-,  composed  a  work  full  of  moral  max- 
ims and  precepts,  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  the  ancient 
philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  founded  on  a 
system  of  natural  ethics,  on  the  beauty  of  virtue  and 
of  justice,  and  on  the  lessons  of  history ;  and  this  book 
was  read  with  avidity  amid  the  turmoil  of  factions,  the 
din  of  civil  war,  and  the  cries  of  persecution  and  mur- 
der. "The  Essais  of  Montaigne,"  says  Hallam,  "make 
in  several  respects  an  epoch  in  literature,  less  on  ac- 
count of  their  real  importance  than  of  their  influence 
on  the  taste  and  opinions  of  Europe.  ...  No  prose 
writer  of  the  16th  century  has  been  so  generally  read, 
nor,  probably,  given  so  much  delight.  Whatever  may 
be  our  estimate  of  Montaigne  as  a  philosopher — a 
name  which  he  was  far  from  arrogating— there  will  be 
but  one  opinion  of  the  felicity  and  brightness  of  his 
genius"  (^Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Europe,  ii, 
29).  "  The  author  of  these  Essais,"  says  Leo  Joubert, 
"is  certainly  the  most  independent  spirit  that  ever  ex- 
isted— independent  without  revolt,  and  detached  from 
the  sj'stems  of  others  without  having  any  sj'stem  of 
his  own.  ,  .  .  We  recognise  in  his  Essais  a  nature  well 
endowed,  not  heroic,  perhaps,  but  generous,  exquisite- 
ly sensible,  not  aspiring  to  the  sublime,  capable  of  de- 
votion, and  incapable  of  a  base  act — in  fine,  a  model  of 
what  we  may  call  average  virtue"  {la  vertu  moyenne') 
(^Nouvelk  Biographie  Generate,  s.  v.).  Sprightly  hu- 
mor, independence,  naivete,  and  originality  are  the 
characteristics  of  his  mind;  and  his  style  is  admired 
for  its  graceful  simplicity.  His  works  are  highly  sea- 
soned with  his  own  individuality,  and  aff'ord  much  in- 
sight into  his  character.  "The  Essais,"  says  Emer- 
son, "  are  an  entertaining  soliloquy  on  every  random 
topic  that  came  into  the  author's  head — treating  ev- 
erything without  ceremony',  yet  with  masculine  sense. 
There  have  been  men  with  deeper  insight,  but,  one 
•would  sa}',  never  a  man  with  such  abundance  of 
thoughts:  he  is  never  dull,  never  insincere,  and  has  the 
genius  to  make  the  reader  c:ire  for  all  that  he  cares  for. 
.  .  .  This  book  of  Montaigne  the  world  has  endorsed 
by  translating  it  into  all  tongues  and  printing  seventy- 
five  editions  of  it  in  Europe — and  that,  too,  a  circula- 
tion somewhat  chosen,  namel}',  among  courtiers,  sol- 
diers, princes,  men  of  the  world,  and  men  of  wit  and 
generosit}'"  {Representative  Men).  John  INIorley,  the 
eminent  English  writer  and  most  recent  biographer  of 
Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  (Lond.  1873,  2  vols.  8vo),  fre- 
quently turns  aside  to  pay  a  tribute  to  ^lontaigne,  and 
acknowledges  that  the  author  of  Emile  had  read  Mon- 


taigne's Essais  "with  that  profit  and  increase  which 
attends  the  dropping  of  the  good  ideas  of  other  men 
into  fertile  minds"  (ii,  198  ;  comp.  i,  144). 

The  morality  of  the  Essais  has  been  called — and 
not  unreasonably,  though  not  correctly  in  the  expres- 
sion— a  pagan  morality :  it  is  not  founded  on  the  faith 
and  the  hopes  of  Christianity,  and  its  principles  are  in 
many  respects  widely  diff'erent  from  those  of  the  Gos- 
pel. Montaigne  was  a  sceptic,  but  not  a  determinetl 
infidel ;  his  philosophy  is  in  a  great  measure  that  of 
Seneca  and  other  ancient  writers,  whose  books  were 
the  first  that  were  put  into  his  hands  when  a  child.  Ac- 
cordingly Pascal,  Nicole,  and  other  Christian  moral- 
ists, while  they  do  justice  to  Montaigne's  talents,  and 
the  many  good  sentiments  contained  in  his  work,  are 
very  severe  upon  his  ethics,  taken  as  a  system.  "An- 
cient scepticism,"  saj's  Ueberweg,  "was  revived,  and, 
in  part,  in  a  peculiar  manner  further  developed  by 
Montaigne.  The  scepticism  of  this  clever  man  of  the 
world  was  more  or  less  directed  to  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, but  was  generall}^  brought  in  the  end,  by  a — 
whether  sincere  or  merely  prudent — recognition  of  the 
necessity  of  a  revelation,  on  account  of  the  weakness 
of  human  reason,  into  harmonj'  with  theology"  {flisf. 
Philos.  [N.  Y.  1874,  2  vols,  8vo]  ii,  14 ;  comp.  Fisher, 
Hist.  Ref.  [N.  Y.  1873,  8vo]  p.  251).  One  of  the  ablest 
of  moralists  of  our  own  time,  Prof.Vinet,  has  given, 
we  think,  a  very  fair  anah-sis  of  the  spirit  of  Mon- 
taigne's ethics  {Essais  de  Philosophie  Morale  Eeliffieuse 
suivis  de  quelques  Essais  de  Critique  Littiraii-e,  Paris, 
1828).  In  the  fiftj'-fourth  chapter  of  the  first  book  of 
the  Essais,  Montaigne,  after  distinguishing  two  sorts 
of  ignorance,  the  one  which  precedes  all  instruction, 
and  the  other  which  follows  partial  instruction,  goes 
on  to  say  that  "men  of  simple  minds,  devoid  of  curi- 
osity and  of  learning,  are  Christians  through  rever- 
ence and  obedience ;  that  minds  of  middle  growth  and 
moderate  capacities  are  most  prone  to  doubt  and  er- 
ror ;  but  that  higher  intellects,  more  clear-sighted, 
and  better  grounded  in  science,  form  a  superior  class 
of  believers,  who,  through  long  and  religious  investi- 
gations, arrive  at  the  fountain  of  light  of  the  Script- 
ures, and  feel  the  mysterious  and  divine  meaning  of 
our  ecclesiastical  doctrines.  And  we  see  some  who 
reach  this  last  stage  through  the  second,  with  marvel- 
lous fruit  and  confirmation,  and  who,  having  attained 
the  extreme  boundary  of  Christian  intelligence,  enjoy 
their  success  with  modesty  and  thanksgiving ;  unlike 
those  men  of  another  stamp,  who,  in  order  to  clear 
themselves  of  the  suspicions  arising  from  their  past 
errors,  become  violent,  indiscreet,  unjust,  and  throw 
discredit  on  the  cause  they  pretend  to  serve."  A  few 
lines  farther  on  Slontaigne  modestl}'  places  himself  in 
the  second  class,  namely,  of  those  who,  disdaining  the 
first  state  of  uninformed  simplicity,  have  not  yet  at- 
tained the  third  and  last  exalted  stage,  "and  who,"  he 
says,  "are  thereby  rendered  inept,  importunate,  and 
troublesome  to  society.  But  I,  for  my  part,  endeavor, 
as  much  as  I  can,  to  fall  back  upon  my  first  and  natural 
condition,  from  which  I  have  idly  attempted  to  de- 
part." In  his  chapter  on  pra3'ers  (bk.  i,  56)  he  recom- 
mends the  use  of  the  Lord's  Praj'er  in  terms  evidently 
sincere ;  and  in  the  journal  of  his  travels,  which  was 
not  intended  for  publication,  he  manifested  Christian 
sentiments  in  several  places.  Montaigne  has  been 
censured  for  several  licentious  and  some  cynical  pas- 
sages in  his  Essais.  This  licentiousness,  however,  ap- 
pears to  be  rather  in  the  expressions  than  in  the  mean- 
ing of  the  author.  He  spoke  plainly  of  things  which 
are  not  alluded  to  in  a  more  refined  state  of  society, 
but  he  did  so  evidentlj'  without  bad  intentions,  and 
only  followed  the  common  usage  of  his  time.  Mon- 
taigne combats  earnestly  the  malignant  feelings  fre- 
quent in  man— injustice,  oppression,  inhumanity,  un- 
charitableness.  His  chapters  on  pedantry,  on  the  ed- 
ucation of  children,  and  on  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice, are  remarkably  good.     He  also  throws  much 


MONTAIGU 


518 


MONTALEMBERT 


li.t;ht  on  the  state  of  manners  and  society  in  France  in  ! 
his  time.  The  IJssais  have  gone  through  very  many  ^ 
editions,  and  been  translated  into  most  European  Ian-  i 
guages :  the  edition  of  Paris  (1725,  3  vols.  4to)  was 
perhaps  the  most  complete  until  the  appearance  of  the 
recent  edition,  Avec  Its  notes  de  tons  les  commentateurs, 
clioisies  et  compUtees  par  M.  J.  V.  Le  Clerc,  et  une  nou- 
velle  etude  sur  Mtmtaigne  par  Prevosi-Paradol  (Paris, 
1865).  Cotton's,  the  best  and  oldest  English  transla- 
tion, is  somewhat  coarse,  though  characteristic.  It 
has  frequently  been  revised,  and  in  the  form  given  it 
by  the  learned  Hazlitt  is  pronounced  a  superior  work. 
Very  recently  an  edition  of  the  Complete  Works  of 
Montaigne,  etc.,  was  brought  out  at  London  (1873). 
Vernier  published  in  1810  Notices  et  Observations  pour 
faciliter  la  Lecture  des  Essais  de  Montaigne  (Paris,  2 
vols.  8vo).  It  is  a  useful  commentary.  Meusnier  de 
Querlon  published  his  journal  under  the  title  Journal 
du  Voyage  de  Michel  de  Montaigne  (Home,  1774,  4to). 
Extracts  from  the  Essais  have  at  various  times  been 
published,  as  Pensees  de  Montaigne,  propres  a  former 
l esprit  et  les  mceurs,  par  Artaud  (Paris,  1700, 12mo) ; 
L' Esprit  de  Montaigne,  ou  les  maximes,  pensees,  juge- 
ments,  et  reflexions  de  cet  auteur  redigees  par  ordre  de 
matures,  par  Pesselier  (Berlin  [Paris],  1753,  2  vols. 
12nio);  Cliristianisme  de  Montaigne,  ou  pensees  de  ce 
grand  homme  sur  la  religion,  par  jM.  I'Abbe  L.  (Labou- 
derie)  (Paris,  1819,  8vo).  See  De  Thou,  IHstoria  sui 
temporis;  E.  Pasquier,  Lettres;  La  Croix  du  Maine, 
Biblioth'eque  Frangaise ;  J.  Bouhier,  Memoires  sur  la  vie 
et  les  ouvrages  de  Montaigne,  avec  une  comparaison 
d'E/nctete  et  de  Montaigne  (by  B.  Pascal) ;  Talbcrt, 
Eloge  de  Mich,  de  Montaigne  (Paris,  1775, 12mo)  ;  Dom 
Devienne,  Eloge  historique  deMich.  de  Montaigne  (Paris, 
1775,  12mo) ;  La  Dixmerie,  Eloge  analgtique  et  histo- 
rique de  Montaigne  (Paris,  1781,  8vo) ;  Mme.  de  Bour- 
die-Viot,  Eloge  de  Montaigne  (Paris,  1800.  8vo) ;  Jay, 
Eloge  de  Montaigne  (1812,  8vo);  Droz,  Eloge  de  Mi- 
chel Montaigne  (1812,  8vo);  Villemain,  Ehge  de  Mon- 
taigne {Journal  des  Savitns,  July  and  October,  1855); 
Payen,  Notice  bibliographique  sur  Montaigne  (new  ed. 
Paris,  18;>C,  8vo) ;  Documents  inedits  ou  peu  connus  sur 
Montaigne  (1H47,  8vo)  ;  Nouveaux  documents  (1850, 
8vo);  Documents  inedits  (1855,  8vo);  Recherches  sur 
Montaigne  (1856, 8vo) ;  Griin,  La  viepuUique  de  Michel 
Moutaigiw  (Paris,  1855,  8vo) ;  Vinet,  Essai  de  I'hilo- 
sophie  morale;  Emerson,  Representative  Men;  Sainte- 
Beuve,  Port-Royal;  Causeries  du  lundi,  vol.  iv;  (JM- 
ment,  Revue  Contempojaine,  Aug.  SI,  ISbo ;  Bayle  St. 
John,  Montaigne,  the  Essaipst  (Lond.  1858);  De  Las- 
champs,  M.  de  Montaigne  (2d  ed.  Paris,  18G0,  12mo); 
Brinbenet,  Les  Essais  de  Montaigne  dans  Iturs  rapports 
avec  la  legislation  rnodeme  (Orleans,  1864,  8vo) ;  Mrs. 
Shelle}',  Lives  of  the  7no.tt  eminent  French  Writers;  Ten- 
nemann,  (ieschichte  der  Philosophie,  ix,  443 ;  Church,  in 
Oxford  Essays  (1857) ;  Morell,  History  of  Modern  Phi- 
losophy, p.  I'J'J ;  Lewes,  History  of  Philosophy  (see  In- 
dex in  vol.  ii);  the  Histories  of  France  by  Michclet 
and  ^lartin  ;  English  Cyclopcedia;  II  oeteT,  Nouo.  Biog. 
Gmirale,  xxxvi,  55-71 ;  Retrospective  Review,  vol.  ii 
(1820);  Quart.  Rev.  (Lond.)  Oct.  185G ;  Westm.  Rev. 
July,  1S3S. 

Moutaigu,  Guillaume  de,  a  French  ecclesiastic, 
wasliorii  ill  the  latter  i)art  ot  the  r2th  century.  He  was 
at  first  prior  of  Clairvaux.sul)se{iuently  abbot  of  La  Ferte, 
then  of  Citeaux.  (Jrogory  IX  employed  him  in  a  very 
important  negotiation.  In  1220  lie  was  sent  to  recon- 
cile the  kings  of  France  and  luigland,  who  were  on  the 
point  of  going  to  war.  ^Moutaigu  first  went  to  the  king 
of  France,  calmed  his  resentment,  and  afterwards  was 
similarly  successful  with  the  king  of  England,  and  con- 
8e(|uently  the  impending  war  did  not  take  jilace.  Dif- 
ferent letters  of  IJrcgory  IX,  publislied  in  the  Anmdes 
des  Citeaux,  inform  us  tliat  the  court  of  Home  intrusted 
to  Guillaumc's  sagacity  the  regulation  of  many  other 
affairs  of  less  general  interest.  In  12;i0.  as  ho  was  jiro- 
ceeding  to  the  Council  of  Kome,  he  fell  into  the  hands 


of  Frederick  II,  was  taken  captive,  and  loaded  with 
chains.  Towards  the  close  of  his  life  Montaigu  abdicat- 
ed the  government  of  Citeaux,  withdrew  to  the  monas- 
tery of  Clairvaux,  and  there  died  in  the  garb  of  a  simple 
monk,  Jlay  19, 1246.  See  A  nnales  Cistercienses,  vol.  iv, 
liassim ;  JJist.  Litter,  de  la  France,  xviii,  358 ;  Gallia 
Christiana,  vol.  iv,  col.  995. — Hoefer,  Nouv,  Biog.  (Jene- 
ralf,  xxxvi,  72. 

Montaigu,  Pierre  Gueriu  de,  thirteenth  grand- 
master of  the  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  of  .Icru- 
salem,  was  born  at  Montaigu-en-Combraille,  near  Kiom, 
in  Auvergne,  France,  about  11  ('(8.  He  was  elevated  to 
the  grand-mastery  in  1208,  after  having  successively 
filled  all  the  lower  oihces.  His  devotion  and  valor  dis- 
tinguished him  everywhere  during  the  second  crusade 
(1186);  but  he  refused  to  take  part  in  the  third  (1188), 
though  he  had  himself  encouraged  pope  Gregory  XIV 
to  preach  it,  because  this  movement  was  headed  by  the 
German  emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa.  then  under  the 
major  excommunication,  (nierin  de  ^lontaigu  died  in 
1230  in  Palestine.  See  Bosio  and  Baudouiii,  I/ist.  de  Vor- 
dre  de  Jerusalem ;  Naberat,  Privileges  de  Vordre  de  Je- 
rusalem.— Hoefer,  Nouv.  Biog.  Generale,  xxxvi,  71, 72. 

Montaigut,  Gilles-Avceltn  de,  a  French  prel- 
ate, was  born  at  Glaine -Montaigut,  near  Billom  (Au- 
vergne), about  1252  ;  appointed  provost  of  the  cathedral 
of  Clermont  in  1285,  and  shortly  after  canon  of  Nar- 
bonnc.  He  was  finally  chosen  archbishop  of  that  city, 
by  a  part  of  the  chapter,  in  1287.  Ordained  priest,  ^larch 
17,  1291,  by  Simon  de  Beaulieu,  archbishop  of  Bourges, 
he  subsequently  started  for  Rome,  and  cardinal  (lerard 
Bianchi,  bishop  of  Sabine,  consecrated  him  at  Viterbo 
in  the  following  Jlay.  He  is  found  in  the  number  of 
counsellors  of  state  present  at  the  Louvre  in  129G,  when 
the  chancellor,  Pierre  Flotte,  read  the  letters  by  which 
(jUJ",  count  of  Flanders,  revoked  the  powers  of  his 
ambassadors  commissioned  to  negotiate  a  peace  with 
Philip  the  Fair.  Gilles,  in  the  name  of  the  latter  prince, 
signed,  June,  1299,  the  truce  concluded  with  the  king 
of  England  at  Slontreuil.  October  24, 1301,  he  was  one 
of  the  assembly  convoked  at  Senlis  to  judge  Bernard 
Saisset,  bishop  of  Pamiers,  legate  of  the  pope,  and  one  of 
his  suffragans.  Called  to  Kome  by  this  affair,  Gilles 
was  ordered  by  the  king  not  to  repair  to  that  city,  and 
he  obeyed  his  royal  master.  He  was  one  of  the  live 
prelates  of  the  council  at  the  Louvre,  JIarch  12,  1303, 
held  against  Boniface  VIII,  and  labored  for  the  election 
of  Bcrtrand  de  Goth  (Clement  V),  his  friend.  He  was 
also  the  first  of  the  French  bishops  appointed  to  proceed 
against  the  Templars.  February  27. 1309,  he  was  made 
keeper  of  the  seals;  and  after  liaving  presided  over  a 
diocesan  synod  at  Narbonne,  and  in  1310  over  a  coimcil 
at  Buziers,  he  exchanged  his  bishopric,  IMay  5, 131 1,  for 
that  of  Kouen,  Present  at  the  coimcil-general  of  Vien- 
na, he  was  there  persuaded  that  it  was  useless  to  allow 
the  Templars  to  attempt  to  vindicate  themselves.  On 
his  return  to  Kouen,  he  there  presided  at  a  provincial 
council,  October,  1313 ;  held  two  others  at  ]\oueii  in  1315, 
and  one  at  Pontoisc,  November  17,  1317.  ^Montaigut 
died  at  Paric  June  23, 1318.  By  his  testament,  Decem- 
lier  13, 1314,  he  constituted  his  nephew,  Albert  Ayceliu 
de  Montaigut,  bishop  of  Clermont,  his  heir,  on  the  con- 
dition of  maintaining  in  the  houses  belonging  to  him 
in  Paris  as  many  poor  scholars  as  the  number  of  times 
the  sum  often  pounds  should  be  contained  in  the  an- 
nual revenue  of  these  houses.  Such  was  the  origin  of 
the  College  of  Jlontaigut,  on  the  site  of  which  the  Lil)ra- 
ry  of  Saint-Gcnevieve  now  stands.  See  Gallia  Chris- 
tiana, vols,  vi  and  xii;  Du  Chesne, //is/oiVc*  </<.<  Chan- 
celiers  de  France ;  France  Pontifcale. — Hoefer,  Nouv. 
Jiiiig.  Generali ,  s.  v. 

Montalembert,  Charles  Forbes  Rene,  Comte 
de,  one  of  the  l)rightest  lights  in  the  history  of  mod- 
ern France,  noted  for  his  attainments  in  ecclesiastical 
as  well  as  secular  learning,  distinguished  as  states- 
man, orator,  and  writer,  was  born,  of  French  extrac- 


MONTALEMBERT 


519 


MONTALEMBERT 


tion,  at  London,  March  10, 1810.  He  was  the  descend- 
ant of  one  of  the  oldest  noble  families  of  France.  One 
of  his  ancestors  played  an  important  part  in  the  reign 
of  Francis  I.  His  own  father  served  in  the  army  of 
Conde,  but  quitted  France  during  the  Kevolution,  and, 
marrying  a  Scottish  lady,  entered  the  English  service, 
and  fought  in  Egypt  and  Spain  against  Napoleon,  re- 
turning only  to  his  native  country  after  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Bourbons  in  1814.  Charles  was  left  in 
Britain  in  charge  of  his  grandfather  on  his  mother's 
side,  an  old  gentleman  who  had  evinced  his  interest  in 
the  child  when  yet  only  a  one-year-old  babe  bj'  dedi- 
cating to  him  a  great  work  (Onental  Memoirs,  42  vols. 
4to),  by  which  the  name  of  Forbes  was  to  live  for  ages 
to  come.  Mr.  James  Forbes  watched  over  his  young 
charge  with  the  fondest  affection,  training  and  edu- 
cating the  boy  himself,  until,  at  the  age  of  eight,  it 
was  thought  best  to  place  him  at  school  in  Fulham. 
Charles  remained  there,  however,  on\j  one  year,  for, 
his  grandfather  dying  in  1819,  he  was  sent  for  by  his 
parents,  who  were  then  residing  in  Paris,  and  leading 
a  most  fashionable  and  gay  life.  This  was  hardly  a 
proper  sphere  for  a  boy  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
spend  much  of  his  time  in  reading  and  study  in  the 
well-filled  library  of  his  grandpa's  retreat  at  Hanmore, 
near  Harrow,  or  in  intellectual  conversations  with  his 
accomplished  ancestor,  for  whom,  if  we  may  believe 
Mrs.  Oliphant,  Montalembert's  biographer,  this  boy, 
with  his  early  and  precocious  intelligence,  had  become 
a  "companion."  The  count,  his  father,  who  had  but 
recently  returned  from  Stuttgard,  where  he  had  repre- 
sented his  country  as  minister  plenipotentiary,  was  too 
much  absorbed  by  political  movements  and  intrigues 
to  give  any  time  to  Charles,  and  his  mother  was  still 
too  young  and  too  ga.y  to  assume  parental  cares  and 
duties,  sure  to  interfere  with  the  exciting  stir  and  bus- 
tle of  her  life,  to  whicli  she  had  hitherto  been  left  free 
by  Charles's  stay  with  his  grandpa ;  hence  the  boj' 
was  largely  left  to  his  instructors  or  to  himself.  That 
he  did  not  waste  his  opportunities  is  apparent  from 
his  diarj',  which  he  always  kept.  The  life  of  mere 
amusement  by  which  lie  saw  himself  surrounded  had 
no  attraction  for  his  early  developed  sense  of  duty, 
and  he  marks  the  irksome  demands  frequently  by  a 
record  of  a  "day  lost,  like  so  many  others."  His 
principal  instructor  at  this  time  was  Prof.  Gobert,  of 
the  College  Henri  IV.  In  1824  abbe  Nicolle,  head  of 
the  College  of  Sainte-Barbe,  was  brought  into  contact 
with  the  precocious  3'oung  student,  and  finalh',  in  1826, 
induced  his  parents  to  place  him  under  a  regular  course 
of  study.  It  was  while  in  this  school,  engaged  in 
close  mental  application,  that  the  great  thought  which 
never  after  ceased  to  animate  him,  which  became,  in 
fact,  the  motto  of  all  his  labors — "  God  and  freedom" 
— first  took  shape.  "He  was  seventeen,"  says  Mrs. 
Oliphant,  "when  he  wrote  in  his  commonplace-book, 
'  God  and  liberty^these  are  the  two  principal  motive- 
powers  of  my  existence.  To  reconcile  these  two  per- 
fections shall  be  the  aim  of  my  life.'  "  "  We  call  es- 
pecial attention  to  this  phenomenon,"  says  a  recent 
reviewer  of  Mrs.  Oliphant's  work,  "for  it  is  the  best 
answer  to  the  imputations  so  frequently  levelled  at  his 
consistency.  His  probable  liability  to  them  even  then 
dawned  upon  him:  'What  shall  I  do.'  What  will 
become  of  me  ?  How  shall  I  reconcile  my  ardent  pa- 
triotism with  religion  ?'  He  would  neither  have  found 
nor  feared  any  difficulty  of  the  kind,  if  he  had  meant 
religion  in  the  broad  sense  of  the  term.  He  was  clearly 
speculating  on  the  difficulty  of  reconciling  love  of  I 
country  with  ardent,  uncompromising  devotion  to  the 
Catholic  Church.  In  August,  1828,  he  records  a  fixed 
determination  to  write  a  great  work  on  the  politics  and 
philosophy  of  Christianity',  and,  with  a  view  to  its  com- 
pletion, to  waste  no  more  time  on  the  politics  or  history 
of  his  own  time.  Three  notes  of  admiration  in  red 
ink  are  set  against  this  entry  in  the  original  journal. 
He  attended  the  debates  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  and 


found  them  (Tune  mediocrite  effrayante.  In  fact,  his 
thoughts,  his  plans,  his  subjects  of  interest  were  those 
of  a  matured  intellect,  of  a  formed  man,  who  feit  '  cab- 
in'd,  cribb'd,  confined'  within  the  walls  of  a  lecture- 
room."  Yet  he  quitted  Sainte-Barbe  in  the  following 
year  (1829)  with  great  regret,  for  he  knew  that  before 
him  lay  much  more  of  frivolous  gayety  than  delight- 
ful interchange  of  heart  and  mind.  Far,  then,  from 
looking  forward  with  fervent  expectations  of  enjoy- 
ment to  his  approaching  introduction  to  society,  he 
foresaw  no  gratification  in  mingling  undistinguished 
in  the  crowd  :  "  I  can  imagine  Pitt  or  Fox  coming  out 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  where  they  had  struck  their 
adversaries  dumb  by  their  eloquence,  and  enjoying  a 
dinner-party.  I  can  imagine  Grattan  amusing  him- 
self, after  fifty  years  of  glory,  playing  hide-and-seek 
with  children.  But  for  an  obscure  and  unknown  in- 
dividual, lost  in  the  crowd  of  other  men,  or  at  the  best 
numbered  only  among  the  elegants  who  feel  themselves 
obliged  to  wander  every  evening  into  three  or  four 
houses  where  they  are  half  stifled  under  pretence  of 
enjoying  themselves,  I  see  neither  pleasure  nor  honor 
in  it.  I  see  only  a  culpable  loss  of  time,  and  mortal 
weariness."  In  this  mood  he  started  to  join  his  fa- 
ther, then  French  ambassador  at  Stockholm,  via  Bel- 
gium and  Holland,  lingering  on  the  wa_y  to  see  every- 
thing worth  seeing,  and  duh'  recording  his  impressions 
as  they  arose.  Received  at  once  into  the  gay  circles 
of  the  Swedish  capital,  he  was  with  difficulty  induced 
to  lay  aside  his  stiffness  and  reserve ;  his  manner  nat- 
urally enough  gave  offence  to  the  light-hearted  and 
hapl}'  frivolous  companions  who  were  forced  upon  him ; 
he  was  voted  a  prig;  and  it  was  not  till  some  time 
that  his  reullj'  gentle  and  unassuming  nature  began 
to  be  recognised.  But  if  Charles  was  formal  on  the 
surface  at  this  time,  in  the  consciousness  of  the  gran- 
deur of  his  youthful  aims,  he  was  j'et  sharply  obser- 
vant, as  he  alwaj's  was,  and  his  journal  contains  "an 
extremely  lively  sketch"  of  the  Swedish  court  and  its 
surroundings.  He  studied  also  carefully  the  institu- 
tions of  Sweden,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  article  he 
published  on  the  subject  shortly  after.  He  besides 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  philosophj^,  and  by 
advice  of  Cousin  spent  much  time  in  the  reading  of 
Kant,  whom  he  found  "terribly  difficult,"  as  he  him- 
self tells  us,  and  not  by  any  means  a  congenial  study 
— a  fact  not  to  be  wondered  at,  for  Montalembert's 
mind,  with  all  its  noble  and  powerful  impulses,  had  no 
affinity  for  philosophic  studies.  He  was  throughout 
life  impatient  of  sifting  principles  to  their  last  results, 
and  holding  them  upon  his  mind  in  pure  rational  ab- 
straction. "Metaphysics,"  says  his  biographer,  "were 
never  much  to  his  taste,  and  he  was  wont  to  arrive  at 
conviction  bj'  a  shorter  road  than  argument.  Truths 
divine  did  not  come  to  him  sounded  by  the  tongue  of  a 
theologian  ;  they  came  by  insight,  by  intuition,  by  in- 
spiration ;  and  they  went  forth  from  him  with  the 
lightning  flash  of  genius,  in  spontaneous  and  irresisti- 
ble bursts."  His  genius  was  poetic,  rhetorical,  but  in 
no  degree  philosophical.  Hence  the  speeches  of  the 
great  Irish  orators,  Grattan  and  O'Connell,  and  the  el- 
oquence of  Burke,  were  far  more  attractive  than  even 
"  the  great  Schelling,"  of  whom  he  speaks  at  this  time 
"as  being  so  ill  understood  in  France."  But  j'et  fore- 
most among  all  his  thoughts  came  forth  the  great  ob- 
jects to  which  he  had  consecrated  himself— religion 
and  freedom.  Roman  Catholicism  was  now,  and  al- 
ways to  him,  religion,  and  this  Catholicism,  in  order 
to  triumph,  he  saw  clearly,  "must  have  lilierty  as  its 
ally  and  tributarj'."  Everj'  eflx)rt  of  his  own,  and 
those  of  his  friends  whom  he  believed  fitted  to  take  a 
part  in  this  great  work,  he  endeavored  to  make  ser- 
viceable in  this  direction.  In  this  spirit  he  wrote  to 
his  friend  Rio,  the  future  historian  of  Christian  art, 
whom  he  numbered  thus  earlj'  among  his  most  de- 
voted associates:  "Do  not,  I  beseech  3'ou,  abandon 
yourself  to  that  political  discouragement  which  Burke 


MONTALEMBERT 


520 


MONTALEMBERT 


justly  calls  the  most  fatal  of  all  maladies.  Do  not  I  ing  brought  in  contact  with  him  and  his  pupil  Lacor- 
despair  of  the  cause  wliich  you  have  adopted,  or  give  daire,  the  three  men  together  launched  a  paper,  L'Ave- 
up  sound  principles,  because  a  generation  without  faith  nir,  by  which  to  give  circulation  to  their  opinions, 
and  witliout  soul  seem  to  dislionor  them  l)j'  pretended  See  Lacordaike  ;  Lamenxais.  And  why  should 
attacliment."  I5y  a  like  spirit  he  was  enthusiastically 
inspired  for  Roman  Catholic  Ireland,  and  resolved  to 
make  a  journey  to  that  country  in  order  to  fit  himself 
properly  as  historian  of  the  Green  Isle  ;  this,  however, 
was  prevented  by  the  sudden  illness  of  a  sister,  who 

died  at  Besancon,  Oct.  29, 1829,  in  his  arms  but  a  few  j  the  Church  remained  in  bondage."  Why  should  this 
hours  after  he  had  reached  her.  He  had  been  passion-  be  so  ?  AVhy  should  the  Cliureh  not  be  free  as  well  as 
ately  attached  to  her,  and  this  sudden  removal  threw  the  State,  with  right  to  ajipoiiit  her  own  bishops,  and 
him  into  a  deep  melancholic  state.  He  was  now  more  educate  her  own  children  as  she  wished.'  These  were 
than  ever  interested  in  religious  subjects,  and  was  even  questions  that  demanded  agitating,  and  for  it  L'Avenir 
inclined  to  take  holy  orders.     But  he  finally  forsook  ,  came  into  existence.     The  first  number  of  the  paper 


they  not .'  France  was  in  one  of  its  fits  of  "  Liberal" 
ecstasy.  "The  charter — the  free  institutions  it  guar- 
anteed, the  self-government  whicli  it  held  out  to  the 
hopes  of  the  nation — was  the  jiopular  idol.  But  in  the 
midst  of  this  impetuous  rush  towards  ])olitical  freedom 


this  plan,  thought  of  studying  law,  and,  under  a  pass- 
ing impulse,  even  of  joining  the  army  of  Algiers,  a 
folly  to  which  in  after-life  he  thus  pleasantly  alluded : 
"Je  suis  le  premier  de  mon  sang  qui  n'ai  guerroyc 
qu'avec  la  plume."  He  had  no  real  military  ardor, 
and  the  pen  in  his  hand  proved  a  far  more  trenchant 
weapon  tlian  the  sword. 

In  this  restless  state,  utterly  unable  to  make  a  choice 
for  life,  he  wrote  an  article  on  Sweden,  and  presented 
it  to  the  learned  Protestant  Guizot  for  publication  in  the 
Revue  Frangaise,  of  which  Guizot  was  editor.    Though 


appeared  Oct.  15,  1830.  In  a  little  more  than  three 
months  the  country'  was  ablaze  because  of  the  severe 
attacks  made  upon  the  government  by  the  triumvirate 
of  L'Avenir.  Jan.  31, 1831,  two  of  its  editors  were  in 
criminal  courts  answering  to  charges  of  bitterly  assail- 
ing the  king  for  exercising  his  constitutional  right  in 
clerical  appointments.  This  time  thej'  were  lucky 
enough  to  secure  acquittal.  But,  instead  of  profiting 
bj'  their  experience,  they  only  drew  from  it  encour- 
agement to  continue  in  their  course,  and,  not  content 
with  the  limited  influence  of  L'Aveni?;  attempted  a 


exception  was  taken  to  parts,  and  much  erased  that    fresh  and  original  enterprise.     They  formed  a  society 


the  young  would-be  litterateur  thought  his  best,  the 
article  was  printed,  and  at  once  established  his  fame 
as  a  good  writer  and  careful  observer.  His  literary 
friendships  rapidly  multiplied,  and  he  counted  among 
his  most  intimate  associates  Lamartine,  Sainte-Beuve, 


called  Agence  de  la  liberte  reliffieuse.  which  publicly  an- 
nounced that,  attendu  que  la  liberte  se  prtnd  et  ne  se 
donne  pas,  three  of  their  members  would  open  a  school, 
free  and  gratuitous,  at  Paris,  for  Catholic  education, 
independent  as  well  of  the  university  as  of  all  other 


md  Victor  Hugo,  "then  the  poet  of  all  sweet  and  vir-    state   influence,  by  way  of  testing  the   right.      The 
tuous  things,"  cherishing  the  hope  of  "a  universal  ,  school  was  opened  on  JIa}'  1,  1831,  after  due  notice  to 


religious  restoration  and  rebirth  of  the  world."  He 
now  also  became  a  contributor  to  the  Corresjiondant,  a 
well-known  Koman  Catholic  periodical,  for  which  he 
continued  to  write  all  his  life.  But,  restless  as  he  was, 
he  could  not  give  up  the  plan  of  writing  on  Ireland, 
and  at  length,  in  the  end  of  July,  on  the  very  eve  of 
the  Revolution,  he  set  out  for  that  country.  The  news 
of  the  re-overthrow  of  the  Bourbons  met  him  at  Lon- 
don, and  he  went  back  to  Paris ;  not  to  stay,  however, 
for  his  father  insisted  upon  his  quitting  the  scene,  and 
he  resumed  his  journey-.  We  cannot  touch  upon  his 
Irish  visit  in  detail,  but  we  must  at  least  allude  to  his 
call  at  Maynooth,  for  the  scene  he  there  Itehcld  had  no 
doubt  a  wonderful  influence  on  his  life-work.  He 
himself  describes  a  most  striking  scene  of  suffering 
and  devotion  which  he  enjoyed  at  a  mass  celelirated 
there,  "the  men  kneeling  in  the  mud,  all  uncovered 


the  prefect  of  police,  by  three  members  of  the  societj', 
Lacordaire,  IM.  de  Coux,  and  ^lontalombert  himself, 
who  succinctly  relates  what  followed  :  "  The  abbe  La- 
cordaire delivered  a  short  and  energetic  inaugurative 
discourse.  We  formed  each  a  class  for  twenty  chil- 
dren. The  next  day  a  commissary  came  to  summon 
us  to  decamp.  He  first  addressed  the  children  :  '  In 
the  name  of  the  law,  I  summon  you  to  depart.'  La- 
cordaire immediately  rejoined  :  '  In  the  name  of  your 
parents,  whose  authority  I  have,  I  order  you  to  re- 
main.' The  children  cried  out  unanimously,  '  We  will 
remain.'  Whereupon  the  police  turned  out  pupils  and 
masters,  with  the  exception  of  Lacordaire,  who  pro- 
tested that  the  schoolroom  hired  by  him  was  his  domi- 
cile, and  that  he  would  pass  the  night  in  it  unless  he 
was  dragged  out  l)y  force.  '  Leave  me,'  he  said  to  us, 
seating  liimself  on  a  mattress  he  had  brought  there  ;  '  I 


though  the  rain  fell  in  torrents,  and  the  mud  quivered  remain  here  alone  with  the  law  and  my  right.'  He 
beneath  them."  No  wonder  that  such  a  scene  deep-  did  not  give  way  till  the  police  laid  hands  upon  him  ; 
ened  his  ardent  devotion  to  Romanism,  and  confirmed  j  after  which  the  seals  were  aflixed,  and  a  prosecution 
in  him  the  hitherto  half-resolved  purpose  to  give  him-  \  was  forthwith  commenced  against  the  schoolmasters." 
self  to  the  service  of  the  Church  and  of  Freedom !  Montalembert's  father  Iiaving  died  soon  after  the 
Mrs.  Olijihant  may  well  tliink  that  it  was  this  visit  to  commencement  of  these  jiroceedings,  he  was  entitled, 
Ireland  that  decided  the  future  of  Montalembert.  He  by  successorship  in  the  peerage,  to  trial  befure  the 
had  seen  the  Island  of  the  Saints,  the  island  in  which  Chamber  of  Peers  ;  and  before  them  he  appeared  on 
liberty  was  making  common  cause  with  faith,  in  which  i  Sept.  19,  1831,  and  there  made  tlie  event  memorable 
the  standard  of  patriotism  was  waved  from  the  altar  \  by  his  first  speech,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  upon  rec- 
by  the  priest.     In  the  Irish  Church,  then,  the  twin    ord,  and  a  clear  foreshadowing,  not  alone  of  the  elo- 


ideals  of  his  young  enthusiasm  seemed  to  him  united, 
sitting  like  "a  dethroned  queen"  amon'j;  her  people, 
the  guardian  of  their  faith  and  of  their  rights,  and  all 
the  more  glorious  in  her  rags  and  poverty  to  his  d; 


quence,  but  of  the  bold  and  unconipromismg  earnest- 
ness in  the  cause  of  his  Church  and  of  the  common  in- 
terests of  religious  liberty  which  constantly  character- 
ized his  later  career.     After  a  touching  allusion  to  his 


zled  vision.  Here  was  an  object  worthy  of  all  his  ardor  great  bereavement,  and  an  exposition  of  the  reasons 
and  labor.  Here  religion  was  the  emblem,  not  of  sue-  '  which  induced  him  to  claim  the  judgment  of  his  peers, 
ccssful  power,  but  of  patient  suffering.  Here  she  was  \  he  said  :  "  It  is  sufiicieiitly  wcl^  known  that  the  career 
plainly  on  the  side  of  the  people.  He  returned  to  j  on  wiiich  I  liave  entered  is  not  of  a  nature  to  satisfy 
France,  burning  with  eagerness  to  give  a  like  noble  an  aml)ition  wliich  seeks  jtolitical  honors  and  places, 
place  to  the  Church  of  his  own  country,  that  there  also  '  The  jvnrers  of  the  present  aqe,  Ix'tli  in  i/uvrrnment  and  in 
the  Church  might  be  the  guardian  of  the  jieople's  faith  ojjxisition,  are,  by  the  grace  of  J/eiven.  eqnalhi  hostile  to 
and  of  their  rights.  Not  only  the  peculiar  condition  (yitholia.  Tliere  is  another  amiiition,  not  less  devour- 
of  the  countrj'— the  July  Revolution  had  just  ended—  in^',  perhaps  not  less  culpalde,  which  aspires  to  reputa- 
favored  his  project,  but  Lamennais  had  long  dreamed  j  tion,  and  which  is  content  tobuythat  at  any  price;  that, 
of  just  such  a  work  as  Montalembert  proposed,  and,  be- 1  too,  1  disavow  like  the  other.     No  one  can  be  moro 


MONTALEMBERT 


521 


MONTALEMBERT 


conscious  than  I  am  of  the  disadvantages  with  which 
a  precocious  publicity  surrounds  youth,  and  none  can 
fear  them  more.  But  there  is  still  in  the  world  some- 
thing which  is  called  faith ;  it  is  not  dead  in  all  minds. 
It  is  to  this  that  I  have  early  given  my  heart  and  mj' 
life.  My  life— a  man's  life— is  always,  and  especially 
to-day,  a  poor  thing  enough  ;  but  this  poor  thing,  con- 
secrated to  a  great  and  I10I3'  cause,  may  grow  with  it ; 
and  when  a  man  has  made  to  such  a  cause  the  sacrifice 
of  his  future,  I  believe  that  he  ought  to  shrink  from 
none  of  its  consequences,  none  of  its  dangers.  It  is  in 
the  strength  of  this  conviction  that  I  appear  to-day  for 
the  first  time  in  an  assembly  of  men.  I  know  too  well 
that  at  my  age  one  has  neither  antecedents  nor  expe- 
rience ;  but  at  m_v  age,  as  at  everj'  other,  one  has  du- 
ties and  hopes.  I  have  determined,  for  my  part,  to  be 
faithful  to  both."  He  thus,  on  the  most  solemn  occa- 
sion of  his  life,  deliberately  took  his  stand  upon  the 
principles  to  which  he  persistently  adhered  to  his  dy- 
ing day  ;  and  the  nobilitj'-  of  thought,  the  moral  cour- 
age, the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  which  actuated  him  are 
beyond  cavil  or  dispute,  whatever  maj'  be  thought  of 
the  prudence  or  wisdom  of  his  course.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  all  the  time  that,  inasmuch  as  in  the  in- 
fidel reaction  following  the  great  Kevolution  Roman- 
Catholic  France  had  been  allowed  to  sink  into  a  with- 
ering and  hopeless  secularism,  nipping  its  youthful 
national  life  at  the  root,  and  yielding  a  stunted  har- 
vest of  many  evils  (the  end  of  which  is  not  even  yet), 
the  effort  of  Montalembert  and  his  colleagues  to  vindi- 
cate a  place  for  religion  in  the  national  life  and  gov- 
ernment— to  proclaim  that  society  without  God  is  a 
soulless  and  corrupting  mass,  never  far  from  anarchy 
■ — was  a  manifestation  of  an  enthusiasm  such  as  all 
France  could  not  but  pronounce  both  noble  and  true, 
and  therefore  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  result  of  the 
trial  was  a  simple  fine  of  100  francs.  But  then  came 
also  the  question  what  step  to  take  next.  The  circu- 
lation of  L'Avenir  had  not  reached  3000;  instead  of 
being  self-supporting,  it  had  proved  a  drain  on  the 
scanty  resources  of  the  societj'',  which,  having  to  sus- 
tain also  the  expense  of  prosecutions  and  propagand- 
ism,  broke  down.  As  the  little  band  had  contrived  to 
place  themselves  very  much  in  the  position  of  Ish- 
mael,  and  the  clergy,  headed  by  the  episcopacj',  were 
among  the  fellest  of  their  foes,  further  appeals  to  an 
enlightened  public  were  voted  nugatorj',  and  thej' 
formed  the  extraordinaiy  step  of  submitting  the  cru- 
cial questions  in  dispute  to  the  pope.  The  great  law- 
suit was  not  to  be  at  Paris,  but  at  Rome.  His  holiness 
was  to  decide  whether  L'Avenir  was  or  was  not  enti- 
tled to  the  support  of  the  Roman  Catholic  world,  and 
the  journal  was  to  be  suspended  till  his  sovereign  will 
and  pleasure  should  be  made  known.  The  suggestion 
came  from  Lacordaire  :  "  We  will  carry  our  protest,  if 
necessarj^,  to  the  Citj'  of  the  Apostles,  to  the  steps  of 
the  Confessional  of  St.  Peter,  and  we  shall  see  who 
will  stop  the  pilgrims  of  the  God  of  Liberty."  No 
one  thought  of  stopping  them  ;  the  moi-e's  the  pity,  for 
this  expedition  was  a  blunder  of  the  first  magnitude, 
conceived  in  utter  ignorance  or  forgetfulness  of  that 
traditional  policy  of  Rome  which  lord  Macaulay  deems 
a  main  cause  of  her  durabilitj'  and  strength.  "  She 
thoroughl.y  understood,  what  no  other  Church  has  ever 
understood,  how  to  deal  with  enthusiasts.  In  some 
sects,  particularly  in  infant  sects,  enthusiasm  is  suf- 
fered to  be  rampant ;  in  other  sects,  particular!}^  in 
sects  long  established  and  richly  endowed,  it  is  regard- 
ed with  aversion.  The  CathoUc  Church  neither  sub- 
mits  to  enthusiasm  nor  proscribes  it,  but  uses  it."  She 
used  Ignatius  Loyola  and  St.  Teresa  ;  she  would  have 
used  John  Bunvan,  John  Wesley,  Joanna  South- 
cott,  Selina,  countess  of  Huntingdon,  and  Mrs.  Fry. 
The  founders  of  L'Avenir  were  just  the  sort  of  en- 
thusiasts she  wanted,  so  long  as  they  could  be  kept 
within  bounds.  But  thej'  had  proved  uncontrolla- 
ble.    If  the  pope  and  his  advisers  had  been  equally 


confident  that  the  Church  of  Rome  owed  no  more  to 
absolute  power  than  the  primitive  Church  of  Christ,  or 
would  rise  the  higher  if  cut  free  from  its  temporalities, 
they  would  liave  wished  nothing  better  than  the  sup- 
port of  an  organ  like  L'Avenir.  But  they  would  have 
been  unaccountably  wanting  in  the  sagacity  for  which 
Macaulay  gives  them  credit  "had  they  not  penetrat- 
ed to  the  fallacy  of  such  arguments  at  a  glance,  and 
drawn  a  widel}-  different  moral  from  the  history.  They 
could  not  shut  their  ej'es  to  tlie  fact  that  spiritual  su- 
premacy attained  its  loftiest  pitch  in  the  Dark  Ages, 
and  has  everywhere  declined  in  proportion  to  the 
spread  of  knowledge."  The  three  apostles  of  the  new 
ajra,  which  thej'  hoped  to  inaugurate  with  the  direct 
approval  of  an  infallible  guide,  knocked  at  the  gate  of 
the  Vatican,  were  admitted  into  the  presence  of  "  his 
holiness,"  but  completely  failed  in  their  mission.  See 
Lacordaire  ;  Lamennais.  The  ver}'  Church  the}' 
wished  to  serve — to  whose  cause  they  had  consecrated, 
with  such  touching  earnestness,  all  their  gifts — repu- 
diated their  aid.  The  court  of  Rome  understood  its 
own  mission  better  than  they  did.  It  admitted  "their 
good  intentions,"  but  at  the  same  time  silenced  them 
as  inspired  by  a  zeal  without  discretion  in  the  treat- 
ment of  "supremely  delicate  questions!"  Indeed,  this 
was  but  the  only  consistent  course  for  Rome  to  take. 
It  could  not  sutler  severely  orthodox  followers  to  pro- 
fess to  hold  upon  essential  points  the  doctrines  of  ad- 
vanced modern  liberalism  without  seeing  them  in  di- 
rect antagonism  with  the  teaching  and  practice  of  the 
Church  in  all  ages ;  hence  the  encyclical  of  pope  Greg- 
ory XVI,  declaring  the  conviction  of  the  writers  of 
L'Avenir  "abominable,"  and  fulminating  anathema 
against  the  most  sacred  liberties,  declaring  that  "free- 
dom of  conscience  is  a  mortal  pest."  This  was  any- 
thing but  a  flattering  and  brilliant  solution,  yet  the 
triumvirate  meekly  submitted.  Outwardly  all  three 
were  equally  actuated  by  that  sense  of  duty  which  Ro- 
man Catholics  are  wont  to  place  as  highest — of  bowing 
reverentially  and  unqualifiedly  before  the  wisdom  of 
the  papal  incumbent,  as  "the  voice  of  God  in  the 
flesh  ;"  but  in  the  inner  camp  there  was  a  terrible 
struggle.  To  Montalembert  the  whole  case  was  a  mat- 
ter of  but  little  moment  after  all — certainly  of  much 
less  moment  than  to  the  other  two.  True,  his  faith 
was  not  less  sincere  or  ardent  than  theirs,  but  he  was 
as  yet  merely  a  young  writer ;  the  other  two  were 
priests  —  Lamennais  a  preacher  whose  f^ime  had  al- 
read}'  reached  through  the  whole  Catholic  world,  and 
had  brought  him  back  many  distinctions.  In  vain  did 
Lacordaire  offer  to  submit  quietly,  and  argue  that  they 
should  act  consistently,  as  there  was  only  one  alterna- 
tive from  the  first — "Either  we  should  not  have  come, 
or  we  should  submit  and  hold  our  tongues."  Mon- 
talembert and  Lacordaire  forever  after  acted  on  this 
plan,  and  held  their  peace ;  but  Lamennais's  submis- 
sion was  hollow  and  formal,  and  it  wanted  only  (as 
was  afterwards  apparent)  an  opportunity  to  be  dis- 
dainfully ignored.  See  Lamennais.  We  as  Protes- 
tants, unaccustomed  to  such  "  Catholic"  submission, 
find  it,  of  course,  difficult  even  to  conjecture  by  what 
process  of  reasoning  these  men  contrived  to  reconcile 
absolute  submission  to  the  Romish  Church  with  the 
defence  of  that  which  she  has  again  and  again  emphat- 
ically denounced  and  condemned.  "  The  conduct  of 
Lamennais,"  as  the  Brit,  and  For.  Ev.  Rev.  (October, 
1863,  p.  726)  has  well  said,  "  was  at  least  more  consist- 
ent than  that  of  his  two  disciples.  The}%  proclaiming 
themselves  the  faithful  and  obedient  followers  of  an 
infallible  Church — which  says  to  its  disciples,  '  I  am 
the  truth  ;  it  is  in  me,  in  me  alone  ;  to  seek  it  else- 
where is  heres}'  and  rebellion'— accepted  a  part  of  her 
doctrine  and  rejected  a  part.  He,  finding  that  his  at- 
tempt to  reconcile  the  Church  with  the  tendencies  of 
the  age,  to  unite  Republicanism  and  Romanism,  was 
condemned  by  Rome  herself,  and  that  he  must  choose 
between  the  two,  broke  with  Rome,  and  proclaimed 


MONTALEMBERT 


522 


MONTALEMBERT 


himself  readj'  to  combat  and  to  suffer  for  what  he 
deemed,  however  erroneously,  the  cause  of  justice  and 
humanity.  He  broke  with  a  Church  which  had  lost 
the  germs  of  life  and  progress,  and  sought  elsewhere 
the  means  of  regenerating  mankind,  while  they  pro- 
fessed implicit  submission.  But  his  schism  was  at 
least  logical  and  consistent ;  their  submission  partial 
and  absurd.  He  and  the  Church  were  thenceforward 
in  direct  antagonism  ;  while  they,  its  submissive  sons, 
for  the  rest  of  their  lives  went  on  endeavoring  to  carry 
out  ttie  plan  which  Lamennais  had  traced  in  the  col- 
umns ofL'Avenir,  which  lionie  had  emphatically  con- 
demned, and  which  its  author  had  abandoned  as  im- 
practicable. He  gave  up  Rome  because  he  found  her 
claims  inconsistent  with  those  of  humanity  ;  thej'  at- 
tempted to  save  her  in  spite  of  herself — to  reconcile 
her  with  the  wants  and  aspirations  of  the  age — to  put 
new  cloth  into  old  garments,  new  wine  into  old  bottles. 
Yet  we  cannot  but  believe  that  both  master  and  disci- 
ples were  sincere  and  disinterested  in  their  conduct: 
the  former  in  his  sciiism,  the  latter  in  their  submis- 
sion." No  one  certainly  can  be  believed  to  know 
aHything  of  either  Lacordaire  or  Montalembert  who 
would  suppose  for  a  moment  that  these  men  were  in- 
fluenced by  anj'  mere  personal  considerations.  No 
men  ])robably  ever  acted  under  a  higher  sense  of  duty, 
only  they  never  thought  of  dutj-^  in  the  case  apart  from 
the  pope.  When  they  saw  what  the  result  was  likeh' 
to  be,  they  quietly  and  without  struggle  bowed  the 
knee.  "The  position,"  saj's  a  writer  in  Blackwood 
(Nov.  18T2,  p.  G03),  "is  intelligible,  but  hardly  great 
or  magnanimous.  Submission  may  be  heroic  in  a 
grave  practical  crisis  which  admits  of  no  argument, 
but  it  is  hardly  so  in  questions  of  truth  and  right, 
which  have  roused  the  conscience  as  well  as  the  judg- 
ment to  vigorous  action.  We  confess  to  following 
Lamennais  in  his  disdainful  retirement  with  far  more 
interest  than  we  contemplate  the  'Catholic  submis- 
sion' of  his  colleagues.  Duty  loses  its  higher  heroism 
when  it  loses  individuality,  and  passes  into  blind  self- 
surrender."  Lamennais's  publication  of  Paro/es  rf"«» 
Croyant  caused  Lacordaire  to  step  forward  in  defence 
of  the  papacy,  and  this  left  Montalembert,  who  had 
stood  liy  Lamennais  through  good  and  evil  report,  no 
alternative  but  to  concur  with  Lacordaire  in  separat- 
ing from  him.  Hereafter  the  three  men  stand  apart, 
Lamennais  the  propagator  of  a  socialist  theor\',  Lacor- 
daire the  exponent  of  papal  Christianity,  and  jMonta- 
lembert  the  student  of  mediajval  institutions. 

His  journalistic  career  being  cut  short  by  papal  dis- 
approval, and  himself  unable  to  enter  political  life  for 
lack  of  age  (the  peerage  begins  at  twenty-five),  Mon- 
taleml)ert  now  went  abroad  to  travel,  mainly  in  Ger- 
many, to  study  the  preservation  of  Roman  Catholicism 
as  well  as  monuments  of  its  history  in  that  country. 
It  was  during  one  of  his  frequent  tours  of  inspection  of 
mediiBval  buildings  and  monuments  that  he  was  in- 
spired with  the  conception  of  his  first  sustained  and 
eminently  successful  effort  in  literature,  the  historj'  of 
St.  Elizabeth  {HU.  da  SIp.  Elisabeth  de  JJonf/rie  [183G]  ; 
transl.  into  English  liy  JIary  Hackett  and  Mrs.  J.  Sad- 
lier,  N.  Y.  lSo4).  Tiie  o])ening  sentences  of  the  intro- 
duction to  this  work  are  so  characteristic  that  we  quote 
them  here  :  "  On  the  lUth  of  November,  183.%  a  trav- 
eller arrived  at  Marbourg,  a  town  in  the  electorate  of 
Hesse,  situated  upon  the  ijeautiful  Ijanks  of  the  Lahn. 
He  paused  to  examine  the  church,  which  was  celebrat- 
ed at  once  for  its  pure  and  perfect  beauty,  and  because 
it  was  the  first  in  Germany  where  the  pointed  arch 
prevailed  over  the  round  in  the  great  renovation  of  art 
in  the  13th  century.  This  churcli  bears  the  name  of 
St.  Elizabeth,  and  it  was  on  St.  ]';iizal)oth's  day  that 
he  found  himself  within  its  walls.  In  the  church  itself 
(which,  like  the  country,  is  now  devoted  to  the  Lu- 
theran worshi]))  there  was  no  trace  of  any  special  so- 
lemnity, except  that  in  honor  of  the  day,  and,  contrary 
to  Protestant  custom,  it  was  open,  and  children  were 


I  at  play  in  it  among  the  tombs.     The  stranger  roamed 

I  through  its  vast,  desolate,  and  devastated  aisles,  which 
are  still  young  in  their  elegance  and  airy  lightness. 
He  saw  j)laced  against  a  jjiUar  the  statue  of  a  young 
woman  in  the  dress  of  a  widow,  with  a  gentle  and  re- 
signed countenance,  holding  in  one  hand  the  model  of 

'  a  church,  and  with  the  other  giving  alms  to  a  lame 
man.  .  .  .  The  lady  is  there  depicted,  fairer  than  in  all 
the  other  representations,  stretched  on  her  bed  of  death 

I  amid  weeping  priests  and  nuns ;  and,  lastly,  bishops 
exhume  a  coffin,  on  which  an  emperor  lays  !iis  crown. 

'  The  traveller  was  told  that  these  were  events  in  the 
life  of  St.  Elizabeth,  queen  of  that  country,  who  died 
on  that  daj'  six  hundred  years  ago  in  that  very  town 
of  Marbourg,  and  lay  buried  in  that  very  church." 

j  After  his  first  visit  to  the  church,  Montalembert  with 
great  difficulty  sought  out  a  copy  of  a  "Life  of  St. 

I  Elizabeth,"  of  which  he  possessed  himself  as  a  prize  ; 
and  though  he  found  it  "  the  cold,  lifeless  composition 
of  a  Protestant,"  the  sympathetic  chord  was  struck, 
and  he  set  about  the  study  of  her  career  with  hourly 
increasing  eagerness,  consulting  traditions,  visiting 
ever}'  place  that  slie  had  hallowed  by  her  presence, 
and  ransacking  all  the  books,  chronicles,  and  manu- 
scripts in  which  mention  was  made  of  her,  or  which 
threw  light  on  her  contemporaries  or  her  age.  He 
spent  his  days  and  his  nights  in  the  preparation  of  the 
work,  and  it  need  not  surprise  us,  therefore,  that  the 
book  established  his  fame  as  an  author.  What  is  really 
most  valuable  and  most  characteristic  in  the  book  i3 
that  which  elucidates  her  age,  especially  the  Introduc- 
tion (135  pages  royal  8vo),  in  which  he  seeks  to  prove 
that  the  18th  century,  in  which  she  flourished,  has 
been  shamefully  calumniated  ;  that  it  was  not  merely 
the  age  in  which  the  papacy  attained  its  culminating 
point  of  pride  and  power,  but  the  age  in  which  Chris- 
tian literature  and  art— that  is  to  say,  what  he  deems 
the  best  and  purest  literature  and  art — approached  near- 
er to  perfection  than  thej'  have  ever  approached  since 
or  are  likelj'  to  approach  again.  This  clearly  mani- 
fests that  though  his  historic  insight  was  fine,  minute, 
and  picturesque,  he  yet  lacked  depth  of  historic  judg- 
ment, and  strength  and  range  of  sympathy.  Here  as 
every  where  yhc^,  with  its  complex  variety  of  associa- 
tion and  breadth  of  human  interest,  v.as  not  so  attrac- 
tive to  him  as  sentiment,  and  the  curious  personation 
with  which  it  can  invest  the  most  obvious  realities. 
With  all  its  beauty  and  grace  of  outline  and  charm  of 
portraiture,  Montakmbert's  life  of  St.  Elizabeth  does 
not  gainsay  this  judgment. 

On  his  return  from  Germany,  IMontalembert  married, 
in  the  celebrated  Flemish  family  De  Jlerodc.  a  sister 
of  the  now  greatly  renowned  jMonsignore  de  ^Icrode, 
and  selected  for  his  wedding-trip  an  excursion  into 
Switzerland  and  Italy.  He  then  settled  at  Paris,  and 
having  succeeded  to  the  peerage  in  1835,  he  now  fully 
entered  upon  his  distinguished  political  career.  Though 
not  entitled  to  the  right  of  voting  until  thirty,  Monta- 
lembert was  j-et  entitled  to  a  seat,  and  in  consequence 
to  a  participation  in  the  debates,  and  in  these  he  took 
a  lively  part,  distinguishing  himself  very  rapidly  as  an 
orator  of  no  common  rank,  as  well  as  a  man  of  princi- 
ple. He  broke  ground  as  a  debater  in  September.  1835, 
in  behalf  of  the  liberty  of  the  press,  followed  by  other 
speeches,  all  of  a  liberal  tendency.  But  his  great  aim 
at  this  time  was  the  successful  issue  of  the  work  which 
he  had  intended  to  bring  about  by  the  Avniir—\iz. 
liberty  of  the  Church;  struggling  mainly  in  behalf  of 
an  educational  system  free  from  the  state  and  in  alli- 
ance witli  the  Church.  In  its  behalf  he  dared  to  say 
anything  which  he  felt  to  be  tiie  truth.  "  He  could," 
says  Sainte-Beuve,  "utter  with  all  freedom  the  most 
passionate  pleadings  for  that  liberty  which  was  only 
the  excess  of  his  youth.  He  could  develop  without 
interruption  those  absolute  theories  which  from  an- 
other mouth  would  have  made  the  Cliamlier  sliiver, 
but  which  pleased  them  from  his.    He  could  even  give 


MONTALEMBERT 


523 


MONTALEMBERT 


free  course  to  his  mordant  and  incisive  wit,  and  make 
personal  attacks  with  impunity  upon  potentates  and 
ministers.  .  .  .  His  bitterness — and  he  was  sometimes 
bitter — from  him  seemed  ahnost  amenity,  the  harsh- 
ness of  the  meaning;  being  disguised  by  the  elegance 
of  his  manner  and  his  perfect  good  grace."  "  It  was 
a  sight  full  of  interest,"  says  another,  "to  see  this  ar- 
dent, enthusiastic,  impetuous  young  man  rise  in  the 
midst  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  composed  almost  en- 
tirelj'  of  the  relics  of  past  conditions  of  society — men 
grown  gray  in  public  business,  conversant  with  poli- 
tics, and  among  whom  experience  had  destroyed  en- 
thusiasm— and  disturb  with  the  accents  of  an  impas- 
sioned voice  the  decent  calm,  the  elegant  reserve,  and 
the  polite  conventionalities  of  their  habitual  discus- 
sions, as  he  vindicated  the  rights  and  interests  of  that 
religion  which  was  said  to  have  no  partisans  but  old 
men,  and  no  life  but  in  the  past."  Montalembert  did 
not,  indeed,  shine  by  lofty  sustained  imagery,  like 
Burke  and  Grattan,  the  objects  of  his  early  admira- 
tion ;  nor  by  polished  rhetoric,  flights  of  fancj',  or 
strokes  of  humor,  like  Canning.  His  strength  lay  in 
earnestness,  ready  command  of  energetic  language, 
elevation  of  thought  and  tone,  rapidity,  boldness,  con- 
viction, passion,  heart.  His  vehemence,  his  vis  vivida, 
■was  power :  when  he  warmed  to  his  subject,  he  carried 
all  before  him  with  a  rush.  He  had  all,  or  almost  all, 
that  is  comprised  in  the  action  of  Demosthenes. 

But  as  an  author  also  Montalembert  was  now  great- 
ly adding  to  his  fame.  He  devoted  a  large  share  of 
his  time  to  study,  and  as  a  result  published  a  work  on 
"Medieval  Art"  (Z>m  Vandalisme  et  du  Catholicisme 
dans  les  arts  [1840])  and  a  "  Life  of  St.  Anselm"  (Saint 
Anselme,  fragment  de  V introduction  a  Vhistoire  de  St. 
Bei-nard  [1844]).  In  1843  he  began  to  develop  an  un- 
usually great  activity  in  the  debates  in  the  Chamber 
of  Peers,  and  he  delivered  some  masterly  speeches  on 
such  general  questions  as  the  liberty  of  the  Church, 
instruction  and  education,  the  theorj-  and  constitution 
of  the  monastic  orders,  and  the  affairs  of  Poland,  in 
■which  he  always  took  a  deep  interest.  Towards  the 
close  of  the  same  year,  while  staying  at  Madeira  for 
the  sake  of  his  health,  he  published  Du  Devoir  des  Ca- 
tholiques  dans  la  Question  de  la  Liberte  d' Eiiseiijnement. 
This  was  followed  by  his  celebrated  Letter  to  the  Cam- 
briJge  Camden  Society,  designed  to  disprove  the  at- 
tempts made  by  that  society  to  identify  the  Reformed 


valuable  servant  of  Rome.  ButtheUltramontanes  des- 
ignated it  as  a  base  compromise  of  the  best  interests  of 
the  Church.  The  very  paper  which  he  had  been  main- 
ly instrumental  in  raising  up — Z,'Z7mVers— denounced 
him  and  all  who  had  been  instrumental  in  passing  the 
law  in  most  virulent  language.  Thus  is  it  evermore 
in  the  Church  of  Rome.  Her  most  devoted  members, 
if  happily  they  do  the  bidding  of  the  Ultramontanes, 
are  applauded,  and  they  who,  while  seeking  earnestly 
to  serve  the  Church,  should  yet  fail  to  accomplish  all 
that  is  demanded,  are  condemned  and  ignored.  See 
Maynooth. 

Although  Montalembert  lost  the  support  of  those 
upon  whom  he  had  reason  to  lean,  he  now  found,  as 
everj'  honest  man  is  sure  to  find,  support  from  all 
classes,  and  he  enjoyed  further  successes.  Yet  none 
of  these  elated  or  even  satisfied  him.  He  had  dedi- 
cated himself  to  the  interests  of  the  Church,  and  fail- 
ing to  gain  that  support  from  the  source  to  which 
he  believed  himself  entitled,  he  finally  in  1852  deter- 
mined to  close  his  political  life.  He  was  not  super- 
seded in  the  Legislature  until  1857,  yet  his  political 
activitj'  may  be  said  to  have  closed  in  1852.  And 
now  that  he  was  free  to  consider  the  past  and  the 
part  he  had  played,  the  bitter  truth  broke  upon  him 
that  he  had  been  acting  for  Romanism  against  liberty, 
and  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  he  determined  to 
struggle  manfully  to  repair  or  atone  for  his  mistake. 
That  he  failed  utterly  it  ■will  not  be  necessary  to  state 
here.  But  even  in  his  failure  there  is  yet  apparent 
the  striving  for  truth  and  right,  as  we  shall  see  pres- 
ently. At  the  outset  of  his  political  career  under  the 
republic  he  had  avowed  democratic  sentiments,  and 
voted  against  Napoleon's  admission  to  the  Assembly; 
but  when  the  Bonapartists  turned  defenders  of  Rome, 
Jlontalembert's  sj'mpathy  was  enlisted,  and  he  for 
some  time  favored  the  Imperialists.  After  the  confis- 
cjti(m  of  the  Orleans  property  he  ignored  the  Bona- 
jartitts,  and  it  was  therefore  no  small  mark  of  distinc- 
tion which  he  received  at  this  time  from  the  Academy 
by  election  to  its  mcnil  ership.  In  1854  he  was  en- 
gaged in  the  publication  of  L'Avenir politique  de  VAn- 
gleterre  (transl.  in  185G),  -which  aims  to  show  that  the 
future  prospects  of  England  would  be  improved  by  a 
resumption  of  intercourse  with  Rome ;  and  this  lead- 
ing idea  he  pursues  through  an  infinity  of  digressions 
and  speculations,  interspersed  with  various  particulars 


Church  of  England  with  that  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  !  of  English  life  as  exhibited  in  its  schools,  its  journal 

ism,  and  its  political  institutions.  He  was  bitterly  as- 
sailed on  both  sides  of  the  Channel,  especially  for 
what  he  said  about  the  churches ;  and  in  a  letter  dated 
La  Roche-en-Breny,  Jan.  3, 1856,  he  wrote,  "  This  act 
has  been,  and  deserves  to  be,  looked  upon  as  an  act  of 
foolhardiness.  I  have  to  contend  both  in  Europe  and 
America  with  the  -whole  weight  of  religious  prejudice 
against  Protestant  England,  and  oi  political  prejudice 
against  English  freedom  or  English  ambition."  What 
turned  out  an  act  of  still  greater  foolhardiness  was  an 
article  in  the  Correspondant  of  October,  1858  (published 
separately  in  England),  entitled  Un  Debat  sur  VInde 
au  Parlement  Anglais,  which  he  made  the  vehicle  of 
such  exasperating  allusions  to  the  Imperial  regime  that 
it  provoked  a  prosecution.  In  brilliant  and  enthusi- 
astically admiring  pictures  he  drew  the  social  and  po- 
litical institutions  of  Britain,  for  the  purpose  mainly  of 
covertlv  contrasting  them  with  the  condition  of  his 
own  naUve  land.  He  was  defended  by  Berryer,  and 
gave  his  own  evidence  as  to  the  exact  meaning  of  the 
inculpated  passages,  which  no  English  judge  or  jury 
could  have  held  liliellous,  but  he  was  found  guiltj',  and 
the  sentence  on  him  was  six  months'  imprisonment 
with  a  fine  of  3000  francs:  one  month's  imprisonment 
and  a  fine  of  1000  francs  on  the  publisher.  The  sen- 
tence, after  being  confirmed  on  appeal,  was  gladly  re- 
mitted by  the  emperor;  so  that  the  prosecution  proved 
a  signal  triumph  to  Montalemliert  in  all  respects,  and 
had'the  singular  advantage  of  presenting  him  for  the 


of  continental  Europe.  In  1847  he  delivered  his  cele- 
brated speech  on  the  affairs  of  Switzerland,  in  which 
he  distinctly  foretold  the  revolution  which  broke  out 
among  the  continental  nations  in  the  year  following  ; 
and  his  brilliant  Discours  sur  les  affaires  de  Rome,  de- 
livered shortly  after  the  popular  outbreak,  was  re- 
ceived with  a  triple  salvo  of  applause  by  an  audience 
which  sympathized  but  coldly  with  his  views.  After 
the  revolution  of  February,  1848,  the  department  of 
Doubs,  in  which  he  held  property,  elected  him  its  rep- 
resentative to  the  National  Assembh',  from  which  he 
passed  into  the  Legislative  Assembh',  where  he  uni- 
formly acted  true  to  his  professions  as  the  exponent  of 
the  views  and  interests  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
He  worked  hard  as  a  member  of  the  commission  which, 
under  manj'  difficulties  and  compromises,  prepared  the 
new  law  of  education  known  as  the  "  Loi  Falloux" 
(and  which  he  might  be  excused  from  thinking  ought 
to  have  been  the  "Loi  Montalembert") ;  but  his  influ- 
ence was  even  at  this  time  due  in  the  main  to  his  pow- 
ers as  an  orator.  Like  many  other  men  of  the  orator- 
ical temperament,  he  was  not  fitted  for  parliamentary 
diplomacy  and  intrigue,  or  the  many  acts  behind  the 
scenes  by  which  political  power  is  often  acquired  and 
maintained.  It  is  thus  that  the  estrangement  of  the 
extreme  section  of  the  clerical  party  from  him  after 
the  passage  of  the  educational  law  is  to  be  accounted 
for.  He  called  this  settlement  of  the  question  the 
"  Concordat  d'Enseignement,"  and  believed  himself  a 


MONTALEMBERT 


524 


MONTALEMBERT 


last  time  hofore  the  world  in  the  attitude  which  above 
all  he  would  liave  prohahly  mcst  desired — of  an  advo- 
cate for  the  freedom  of  the  press. 

The  remainder  of  this  nohle  man's  life  was  entirely 
devoted  to  literary  lalwrs.  He  had  for  twenty  years 
earnestly  inquired  into  the  medi«val  institutions  and 
characters,  and  in  18G0  l)rou<;;ht  out  the  first  two  vol- 
umes of  Les  Moines  d'Occidtnt  chpnis  Saint  Beno'it 
jusqii  a  Saint  Bernard  (transl.  into  English  hy  IMrs. 
Oliphant,  Edinb.  18G1  and  sq.).  The  whole  Western 
world,  Protestant  as  well  as  Konian  Catholic,  was  at- 
tracted, and  everybody  who  claimed  a  place  for  cult- 
ure read  what  were  a  decade's  studies — the  mature 
conclusions  of  this  brilliant  Frenchman.  Especial- 
ly in  England,  where  Montalcmbert  had  always  been 
well  known  and  much  admired,  the  work  was  univer- 
sally spoken  of  and  freely  commented  upon  bj'  the 
press.  (See  Blackwood's  .^fagazine,  ,Iune,  1801.)  The 
British  and  Foreign  Kmngdical  Review^  in  July,  1868, 
reviewing  the  first  five  volumes,  observes,  "  Howev- 
er mistaken  we  may  think  this  gifted  son  and  ser- 
vant of  the  Church  of  Rome  as  to  the  importance 
of  the  object  to  which  he  has  consecrated  so  large  a 
portion  of  his  life,  it  is  impossible  to  withhold  our  ad- 
miration, either  from  the  earnestness  of  spirit  which 
prompted  him  to  make  the  sacrifice,  or  from  the  fine  con- 
ception and  vigorous  execution  displayed  in  his  attempt 
to  teach  the  world  what  it  owes  to  the  monks,  what  it 
has  gained  b}'  their  existence,  what  it  has  lost  by  their 
overthrow.  .  .  .  He  would  disclaim  —  indeed,  he  does 
expressly  disclaim — the  work  of  the  paneg3-rist;  he 
even  admits  and  deplores  the  errors  and  follies  and 
abuses  which  the  system  has  developed  in  the  course 
of  ages"  (p.  450,  454,  47G;  compare  British  Qurtrterly 
Review,  July,  1868,  p.  202,  203).  See  Monasticis:m. 
Montalcmbert  lived  to  bring  out  three  more  volumes 
of  this  work,  making  five  in  all,  but  did  not  complete 
it.  Though,  as  we  have  seen,  Protestants  cannot  in 
every  particular  endorse  it,  they  have  yet  gladly  as- 
signed it  a  most  important  place  in  ecclesiastical  lit- 
erature. Of  course  Roman  Catholics  regard  it  as  a 
chef-d'oeuvre  in  all  respects,  and  greatly  lament  that 
the  author  did  not  live  to  complete  it.  "  This  great 
monument  of  history,  this  great  work  interrupted  by 
death,"  says  M.Coclin,"  is  gigantic  as  an  uncompleted 
cathedral."  It  is  certainly  a  vast  conception,  a  dura- 
ble, if  unfinished,  monument  of  energy,  zeal,  litera- 
ry skill,  research,  learning,  eloquence,  and  (we  must 
add)  credulity.  The  most  remarkable  result  of  Mon- 
talembert's  labors  in  this  direction  he  reaped  in  his 
own  household.  "One  day,"  says  Mr.  Coclin,  "his 
charming  and  beloved  child  entered  that  library  which 
all  his  friends  know  so  well,  and  said  to  him,  'I  am 
fond  of  everything  around  me.  I  love  pleasure,  wit, 
society  and  its  amusements ;  I  love  mj'  faniilj',  my 
studies,  my  companions,  my  youth,  my  country,  but  I 
love  (iod  better  than  all,  and  I  desire  to  give'myself 
to  him.'  And  when  he  said  to  her, '  My  child,  is  there 
something  that  grieves  you?'  she  wciit  to  the  book- j 
shelves  and  sought  out  one  of  the  volumes  in  which  he  | 
had  narrated  the  history  of  the  monks  of  the  West.  \ 
'  It  is  you,'  she  answered,  'who  have  taught  me  that ' 
withered  hearts  and  weary  souls  are  not  the  things 
which  we  ought  to  offer  to  God.'  "  After  descril)ing 
the  agony  inflicted  on  botli  mother  and  father  by  this  I 
event,  jMontaleml)ert  exclaims,  "How  many  others  ! 
have  undergone  this  agony,  and  gazed  with  a  look  of 
distraction  on  the  last  worldly  appearance  of  a  dearly  i 
beloved  daughter  or  sister."  Yet  it  never  once  oc- 
curred to  til  is  warm-hearted,  noble-minded  man  that  a 
system  whicli  inflicts  such  agony  on  so  many  innocent 
suflVrers,  which  condemns  to  the  chill  gloom  of  a  clois- 
t<-r  what  is  meant  for  love  and  light  —  which  runs 
counter  to  tlic  whole  course  of  nature — may  be  wrong. 

In  1862  Montalcmbert  published  a  sketch  of  the  life 
of  Lacordaire  (q.  v.),  which  al)ounds.  like  all  his  other  , 
productions,  in  loyal  expressions  to  the  Church  of  his  | 


birth  as  well  as  of  his  choice.  His  motto  was  still,  "Tout 
pour  I'Eglise  et  par  I'figlise"  (comp.  Brit,  and  For.  Ev. 
Rev.  Oct.  1863,  p.  722  sq.).  In  the  same  year  he  gave 
yet  more  emphatic  expression  to  his  devotion  to  Roman- 
ism in  his  oration  before  the  Roman  Catholi(j  Congress 
held  at  Mechlin,  and  afterwards  published  in  a  sepa- 
I  rate  form  under  the  title  of  L'Fglise  Libre  dans  V Ftat 
j  Libre  (Paris,  1863,  8vo).  As  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers 
and  in  the  Assembly,  so  also  at  tliis  time  count  ^lon- 
talemliert's  orations  proved  highly  interesting,  both 
on  account  of  the  eloquence  of  style  and  nobleness  of 
sentiment,  as  well  as  because  they  contain  so  strong 
an  advocacy  of  the  principles  of  religious  toleration. 
Yet  it  was  not  inappropriately  said  by  a  Protestant 
'  journal  in  1864  that  in  these  discourses  he  appeared 
not  as  the  exponent  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  but  rather  as  an  opponent  and  impiigner  of  her 
teaching  and  authorit3%  No  doubt  this  was  not  his 
intention  ;  quite  the  contrary.  Yet  in  these  speeches 
we  Protestants  can  only  see  that  "  he  praises  what  she 
condemns.  He  aifirms  what  she  denies.  He  claims 
as  a  right  for  everj'  man  what  she  refuses  to  accord  to 
any.  He,  a  devout  Roman  Catholic,  defends  doctrines 
which  the  head  of  the  Church  denounces  as  'fatal,' 
and  as  '  works  of  Satan  ;'  and,  so  far  at  least  as  these 
doctrines  are  concerned,  distinctly  and  unequivocally 
despises  and  denies  the  authority  of  the  Church.  In 
short,  in  these  speeches  count  Montalcmbert  has  shown 
himself  a  good  Protestant"  (^Biit.  and  For.  Ev.  Rev, 
April,  1864,  p.  337). 

The  foolhardy  move  of  1869  to  establish  the  in- 
fallibility dogma  -Nvas  the  first  occasion  on  which 
Montalcmbert  rose  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  pa- 
pacy. He  clearly  saw  that  the  Jesuits  were  schem- 
ing the  plot,  and  he  boldly  descended  into  the  lists, 
and  dealt  vigorous  sword-thrusts  all  around.  Per- 
haps in  his  whole  long  and  illustrious  career  Mon- 
talcmbert never  committed  a  more  courageous  act,  nor 
I  ever  clothed  lofty  and  nol)le  thoughts  in  nobler  and 
I  loftier  language,  than  he  did  in  his  letter  of  Feb.  28, 
i  1870,  addressed  to  a  friend  in  England,  and  published 
!  in  the  London  Times,  March  7,  1870,  in  which  he  de- 
clared himself  against  the  absolute  tende:icy  in  the 
Church ;  yes,  he  even  boldly  and  uncompromisingly 
]  declared  that  he  "gloried"  in  counting  as  his  colleagues 
in  the  Academic  Francaise  two  such  great  and  good 
champions  of  truth  as  the  bishop  of  Orleans  and  father 
Gratry,  and  he  denounced  the  Jesuit  intrigues  at  Rome 
as  "idolatrous,"  quoting  in  sujtport  of  the  word  "idol," 
as  applied  to  tlie  pope,  a  most  remarkable  letter  writ- 
ten to  him  seventeen  years  ago  hy  the  (then)  arch- 
bishop of  Paris,  IMgr.  Sibour.  "  Nothing,"  said  a  cor- 
respondent of  the  N.  Y.  Xation,  under  date  from  Paris, 
March  11, 1870,  "so  strong,  so  decided,  or  so  eloquent 
has  yet  appeared  on  this  terrible  Roman  question  as 
this  letter  of  count  Montalcmbert.  It  will  lie  read 
wherever  the  French  tongue  is  spoken,  and  it  will  sujv 
port  and  console  all  right-thinking,  high-minded  Cath- 
olics— but  the  obloquy  that  will  be  cast  upon  M.  de 
Montalembert  bj'  the  Ultramontancs  is  indescrihaMe. 
He  perceives  the  bare  truth  when  he  says  that  tlie 
'  Litany  of  Abuse'  will  be  lavished  upon  him.  It  will 
be  .so  unlimitedly,  and  it  will  require  all  the  genuine- 
ness of  his  faith  and  all  the  chivalry  of  his  nature  to 
bear  what  will  be  his  inevitable  fate."  Of  course  such 
an  act  was  enough  to  eclipse  all  the  services  of  a  life- 
time. He  had  dared  to  act  in  harmony  with  the 
avowed  opinions  of  his  youth;  he  had  sujiported  the 
demands  of  the  (Jerman  Catholics,  and  heVas  to  liear 
forever  the  sorrow  of  such  a  self-willed  act,  and  it  is 
most  painful  to  reflect  that  not  even  his  spirit  was  suf- 
fered to  pass  away  in  peace ;  tliat  his  dying  hours  were 
troubled  by  an  imperative  call  to  choose  his  side  in  a 
wantonly  provoked  schism.  He  died  Jfarcli  15,  1870, 
just  sixteen  days  after  writing  his  memorable  letter 
on  papal  infallibility.  In  reply  to  a  visitor  who  vent- 
ured to  catechise  him  on  his  death-bed,  he  is  reported 


MONTALEMBERT 


525 


MONTANI 


to  have  given  in  his  unconditional  adhesion  to  what 
confessedly  he  did  not  understand.  "And  God  does  not 
ask  me  to  understand.  He  asks  me  to  submit  my  will 
and  intelligence,  and  /  tcill  do  so."  This  concession 
even  failed  to  satisfy  Eome.  The  atonement  was  not 
sufficient  for  the  crime  he  had  committed ;  and  the 
highest  tribute  of  ecclesiastical  respect  which  the 
Church  accords  to  a  faithful  son  was  denied  to  his 
memorj' ;  to  the  memory  of  him  who  had  devoted  his 
whole  life  to  her  cause,  who  had  dared  impossibilities 
for  her  sake,  who  had  given  up  to  her  what  was  meant 
for  mankind,  and  thereby  abdicated  that  place  among 
practical  statesmen  and  legislators  which,  apart  from 
her  blighting  influence,  his  birth,  his  personal  gifts, 
his  high  and  rare  quality  of  intellect,  his  eloquence, 
his  elevation  of  purpose,  his  nobilit}-  of  mind  and  char- 
acter, must  have  won  for  him  (comp.  Italian  corre- 
spondence of  the  N.  Y.  Tribune,  under  date  of  March 
25, 1870).  No  wonder  that  we  are  told  by  the  Tiib- 
une  correspondent  that  "the  feelings  awakened  in  so- 
ciety were  very  strong  both  among  the  clergy  and  the 
laity,  one  of  the  former,  a  bishop,  saj'ing,  '  I  would 
have  gone  to  Paris  to  attend  a  service,'  and  another, 
speaking  of  prohibition,  observed,  'Ce  n'est  pas  un 
crime,  mais  c'est  une  fiiute.' "  And  well  might  the 
Tr'ihwie  editorial  add  that  "count  de  Montalembert 
filled  too  large  a  space  in  the  esteem  and  admiration 
of  his  co-religionists,  and  of  the  political  and  literary 
world,  not  to  be  accorded  a  special  chapter  of  remem- 
brance." 

Montalembert  was  a  man  whom  title,  gifts,  accom- 
plishments, fortune,  united  to  make  illustrious.  The 
opposite  in  many  respects  of  his  great  contemporary, 
Sainte-Beuve,  who  preceded  him  but  a  little  while  to 
the  tomb,  he  laid  down  his  life,  with  all  its  brilliancy 
and  all  its  latter  suffering,  upon  the  altar  of  his  faith. 
"  We  are  dying  of  the  same  disease,"  Sainte-Beuve  is 
said  to  have  remarked;  "only  I  trace  it  to  nature, 
while  Montalembert  will  ascribe  it  to  Providence." 
The  man  was  not  shallow  who  saw  in  life  religion  and 
in  death  Providence  ;  and  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  say 
which  of  the  two  great  men  has  left  the  most  earnest 
example.  Well  has  it  been  said  that  "a  braver  or 
more  chivalrous  spirit  never  passed  from  earth.  He 
•was  a  veritable  '  miles  Chrisii' — Chevalier  de  VEglise — 
as  he  liked  to  describe  his  monastic  heroes.  He  was 
much  besides — a  picturesque  historian,  an  eloquent  or- 
ator, a  keen  and  in  many  respects  enlightened  politi- 
cian ;  but  his  religious  chivalry  was  the  essence  of  his 
nature.  No  monk  of  old  ever  consecrated  himself 
w^ith  a  more  cordial  devotion  to  the  service  of  God  and 
the  Church.  No  knight  ever  fought  more  gallantl}' 
for  the  cause  dear  to  his  heart.  Shall  we  say,  in  the 
view  especially  of  his  last  words  on  the  doctrine  of  in- 
fallibilitj' — which  he  struggled  against  to  the  last,  and 
yet  was  prepared  to  accept  when  once  proclaimed — no 
hero  of  the  cloister  ever  offered  as  the  sacrifice  and 
service  of  his  faith  higher  powers  or  a  more  entire — 
—  only  too  entire! — self-submission?"  (Blackwood's, 
Nov.  1872,  p.  609).  On  one  thing  the  whole  world, 
irrespective  of  religious  difference  of  opinion,  can  unite 
in  praise  of  Montalembert.  "  He  was  the  very  per- 
sonification of  candor.  He  had  not  a  shadow  of  big- 
otry ;  he  hated  intolerance ;  he  shuddered  at  persecu- 
tion ;  he  had  none  of  the  arrogance  or  unbending  hard- 
ness of  the  dogmatist;  he  was  singularly  indulgent  to 
what  he  deemed  error;  the  utmost  he  would  accept 
from  the  temporal  power,  from  the  state,  was  a  fair 
field  and  no  favor;  the  Church,  he  uniformh-  main- 
tained, far  from  having  any  natural  affinity  with  des- 
potism, could  only  blossom  and  bear  fruit  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  freedom  ;  while  liberty,  rational  liberty-,  was 
never  safer  than  under  the  protecting  shadow  of  her 
branches — 

'Nusqnam  Libertas  gratior  exstat 
Qnam  sub  rege  pio.' 

If  he  waved  the  consecrated  banner  of  St.  Peter  with 


the  one  hand,  he  carried  La  Charte,  the  emblem  and 
guarantee  of  constitutional  government,  in  the  other ; 
and  his  life  and  character  would  be  well  worth  studv- 
ing  if  no  higher  or  more  useful  moral  could  be  drawn 
from  them  than  that  it  is  possible  to  reconcile  a  dog- 
matic, damnatory,  exclusive  system  of  belief  with 
generosity,  liberality.  Christian  charity,  patriotism, 
and  philanthropy"  (Land.  Qu.  Rev.  April,  1873,  p.  219, 
220). 

Among  publications  of  his  notj'et  mentioned  deserve 
to  be  alluded  to  his  Des  Interets  catholiques  au  dix-neii- 
vi'eme  si'ecle  (Paris,  1852,  8vo),  which  gives  a  rapid  and 
brilliant,  though  one-sided,  review  of  Catholicism 
throughout  the  whole  of  Europe  in  that  day  as  com- 
pared with  what  it  was  some  fifty  years  previous,  main- 
taining that  upon  the  whole  the  progress  made  is  deep, 
sound,  and  likely  to  be  lasting :  in  the  same  work  he 
expresses  himself  strongly  on  the  political  clianges  that 
had  taken  place  in  France,  and  on  the  language  of  the 
French  press  in  their  regard,  and  thus  this  publication 
largely  resembles  the  Political  Future  of  England  spo- 
ken of  above.  It  was  translated  and  published  in  Eng- 
lish in  1855.  He  also  republished  two  articles  from 
the  Correspondant — Pie  IX  et  Lord  Palmerston  and  La 
Paix  et  la  Pai7-ie,  and  a  review  of  the  memoirs  of  the 
duke  de  St.  Simon.  He  was  a  frequent  contributor  to 
the  Jievue  des  deux  Mondes  and  the  Encyclopedie  Catko- 
lique. 

See  Sainte-Beuve,  Cat/series  du  Inndi,  vol.  i ;  Nette- 
ment,  Histoire  de  la  litterature  Frangaise;  De  Lome- 
nie,  M.  de  Montalembert,  par  un  Homme  de  Rien  (Paris, 
1841) ;  Mrs.  Oliphant,  Memoir  of  Count  de  Afontalembert, 
etc.  (Edinb.  and  Lond.  1872,  2  vols.  8vo) ;  Duke  d'Au- 
male's  Eloge  sur  Montalembert,  read  in  the  Academj"- 
on  April  4,  1873,  and  the  periodicals  quoted  and  re- 
ferred to ;  Lond.  Qu.  Rev.  April,  1856,  July,  1861 ;  Ed- 
inb. Rev.  Oct.  1861 ;  North  Brit.  Rev.  Aug.  1861 ;  Blach- 
u-ood's  Magazine,  April,  1870 ;  also  Le  Temps  (Paris), 
March  15, 1870 ;  Le  Journal  des  Dibats,  March  15, 1870. 
The  catalogue  raisonne  of  Montalembert's  published 
writings,  including  his  pamphlets  and  contributions  to 
reviews,  in  the  Revue  Bibliograpliique  Universelle,  fills 
five  closely  printed  pages  of  small  type.     (J.  H.  W.) 

Montalto,  Elias,  a  Jewish  savant,  was  bom  in 
1  Portugal  in  the  second  half  of  the  16th  century,  and, 
I  professing  Christianity,  went  under  the  name  of  Felipe 
;  or  Filotheo.  About  1598  he  went  to  Italy,  where  his 
'  medical  skill  and  fame  attracted  the  attention  of  Con- 
I  cino  Concini,  who  caused  his  appointment  as  principal 
I  ijhysician  to  Mary  de  Medici,  queen  of  Henry  IV  of 
i  France,  and  this  obtained  for  him  the  free  exercise  of  his 
'  religion.  He  was  subsequently  physician  and  counsellor 
to  Louis  XIII,  and  died  at  Paris  in  1616.  The  queen 
caused  his  body  to  be  embalmed,  and  it  was  conveyed 
into  Holland  by  some  of  his  Jewish  relations  whom  he 
had  about  him.  Montalto  not  only  wrote  some  esteemed 
medical  works,  but  also  a  theologico-apologetical  book  in 
the  Portuguese  language,  wherein  he  defends  Judaism 
against  Christianity — his  Liv7-o  Fayto,  ii,  388  sq.  He 
also  wrote  a  tract  on  Isa.  liii,  and  on  Daniel,  which  are 
still  in  MS.  See  Ftirst,  Bibl.  Jud.  ii,  388  sq. ;  De  Kossi, 
Diziunario  (Germ,  transl.),  p.  233;  Cassel,  Leilfaden  fur 
jiid.  Gesch.  u.  Literatur  (Berlin,  1872),  p.  100;  Basnage, 
Histoire  des  Juifs  (Engl,  transl.),  p.  676 ;  Lindo,  Hist,  of 
the  Jeics  in  Spain,  etc.,  p.  362  sq. ;  Griitz,  Gesch.  d.  Ju- 
den,  ix,  521,  524;  x,  10;  Kavserling,  Gesch.  d.  Juden  in 
Portugal  (Leipsic,  1867),  p."274  sq.,  283,308;  Sephar- 
dim,  p.  176,  201 ;  his  essay,  "  Drei  Controversisten,"  in 
Frankel's  Monatsschrift,  1858,  p.  323  sq. ;  Zunz,  iJie 
Monatstage  des  Kalendei-jahres  (Berlin,  1872),  p.  9 ;  Gei- 
ger,  Jiid.  Zeitschrift  fur  Wissenschaft  u.  Leben,  1867,  p. 
184  sq. ;  1868,  p.  158*  sq.     (B.  P.) 

Montani,  Giovanni-Giuseppe,  an  Italian  theolo- 
gian, was  born  at  Pesaro  about  1685.  He  was  descend-  ■ 
ed  from  a  noble  family;  joined  the  Society  of  Jesus  at 
Eome,  and  taught  in  the  schools  of  that  order  moral  the- 


MONTANISM 


526 


MONTAXISTS 


ology  with  so  much  success  that  persons  came  from  dis- 
tant parts  to  consult  him.  He  revised  and  corrected  a 
work  of  P.  Pelizzari,  made  many  additions  to  it,  which 
he  drew  mostly  from  the  decrees  of  the  sacred  conprej^a- 
tion  and  frora'the  bulls  of  Benedict  XIV,  and  published 
it  under  tlie  title  Tractatus  <le  Monialibus  (Rome,  1755, 
4to;  2(1  ed.  Venice,  17t31).  He  died  in  1760.  See  Rich- 
ard et  Giraud,  Bibliotheque  Sacree. — Hoefer,  Xouv.  Bio</. 
Generate,  s.  v. 

Montanism.     See  Montaxists. 

Montanists,  a  Christian  sect,  is  now  generally  be- 
lieved to  have  arisen  in  Asia  Minor,  about  the  middle 
of  the  2d  century  after  Christ.  But  little  if  anything 
is  known  of  their  earliest  history.  It  is  apparent,  how- 
ever, that  as  a  sect  they  embodied  all  the  ascetic  and 
rigoristic  elements  of  the  Ciuirch  of  the  2d  century. 

As  Christianity  had  gradually  become  settled  in  hu- 
manity, "its  supernatural  principle  being  naturalized  on 
earth,"  prophecy  and  miraculous  manifestations  were  be- 
lieved to  be  past.  The  Montanists,  however,  came  for- 
ward to  declare  a  continuance  of  the  miraculous  gifts  of 
the  apostolic  Church,  and  proclaimed  that  the  age  of  the 
Holj'  Ghost  and  the  millcmiial  reign  had  been  estab- 
lished in  the  village  of  Pepuza,  in  Western  Phrygia  (Epi- 
phan.  De  Ilceres.  xlviii,  14),  which  they  termed  the  New 
Jerusalem.  Those  who  followed  the  Holy  Ghost,  speak- 
ing through  these  new  prophets,  were  held  to  be  the  only 
genuine  Christians,  and  were  to  form  the  Church.  They 
were  the  pnenmatici,  the  spiritually -minded;  and  all 
the  opponents  of  these  new  revelations  were  ihepsi/chi- 
ci,  the  carnally -minded.  As  a  sect  they  condemned 
secon<l  marriages,  considering  wedlock  a  spiritual  union, 
sanctilied  by  Christ,  and  intended  to  be  renewed  beyond 
the  grave.  They  expelled  from  the  Church  all  that 
were  guilty  of  notorious  crimes,  imposed  rigid  fasts,  ad- 
vocated celibacy,  encouraged  martyrdom,  allowed  of  di- 
vorce, and  held  it  unlawful  to  fly  in  time  of  persecution. 
Such  wore  their  notions  of  their  own  sanctity  that, 
while  they  did  not  directly  separate  from  the  rest  of  the 
Church,  they  esteemed  others  very  imperfect  Christians, 
and  deemed  themselves  a  spiritual  Church  within  flie 
carnal  Church.  The  Christian  life  was  by  them  not 
merely  referred  to  a  miraculous  beginning,  the  interven- 
tion in  history  of  a  reparative  and  saving  power,  in- 
augurating a  new  and  final  historical  development.  No, 
there  must  be  nothing  less  than  a  perpetual  miracle ; 
everything  would  be  lost  if  the  concurrence  of  natural 
activity,  of  patient  labor,  were  for  a  moment  admitted, 
if  tlie  conditions  of  a  slowly  progressive  development 
were  in  any  degree  recognised.  The  Montanists  thus 
conceived  religion  as  a  process  of  development,  which 
they  illustrated  by  the  analogy  of  organic  growth  in 
nature,  distinguishing  in  this  process  four  stages:  (1.) 
natural  religion,  or  the  innate  idea  of  God  ;  (2.)  the  le- 
gal religion  of  the  Old  Testament;  (3.)  the  Gospel  dur- 
ing the  earthly  life  of  Christ;  and  (4.)  the  revelation 
of  the  Paraclete;  that  is,  the  spiritual  religion  of  the 
Montanists,  and  accordingly  they  called  themselves  the 
TTVivfiartKoi,  or  the  spiritual  Church,  in  distinction  from 
the  psychical  Catholic  Church.  This  is  the  tirst  in- 
stance of  a  theory  of  development  which  assumes  an 
advance  beyond  the  New  Testament  and  the  Christian- 
ity of  the  apostles;  misapiilying  the  parables  of  the 
mustard  seed  and  the  leaven,  and  Paul's  doctrine  of  the 
growth  of  the  Church  in  Christ  and  his  Word,  not  be- 
yond  them.  In  such  a  light,  "  the  religion  of  the  Spir- 
it," says  Pressensti  aptly,  therefore  "  is  not  a  new  sun 
which  has  arisen  on  the  horizon  of  humanity,  and  which 
is  to  run  its  regular  course  after  the  primary  miracle  of 
its  ai)pe.arance ;  it  is  to  retain  ever  the  brilliancy  of  its 
lightning;  it  is  to  be  one  long  flashing  storm,  rather 
than  the  quiet  shining  of  the  sun.  The  divine  does 
not  harmonize  with  the  human  element ;  it  always  de- 
scends upon  it  as  on  its  prey,  overcoming  and  subvert- 
ing" (J/insi/  ami  Chnstiini  Doctr.  p.  105).  Sucli  was 
the  fundamental  error  of  Montanism ;  it  did  not  recog- 


nise the  supernatural  as  taking  possession  of  the  natural 
order,  penetrating  and  transforming  it ;  it  marked  out 
the  two  domains  as  in  direct  and  constant  opposition. 
The  Montanists,  then,  believed  in  the  constancy  of 
supranatural  phenomena  vithin  the  Church.  The  mi- 
raculous element,  particularly  the  prophetic  ecstasy,  was 
not  removed ;  on  the  contrary,  the  necessity  for  it  was 
greater  than  ever,  and  they  considered  those  only  to  be 
true  or  perfect  Christians  who  possessed  the  inward 
prophetic  illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit — they,  indeed, 
were  the  true  Church ;  and  the  more  highly  gifted  were 
to  be  looked  upon  as  the  genuine  successors  of  the  apos- 
tles. They  thus  asserted  a  claim  to  universal  validity, 
which  the  Catholic  Church  was  compelled,  for  her  own 
interest,  to  reject;  since  she  left  the  effort  after  extraor- 
dinary holiness  to  the  comparatively  small  circle  of  as- 
cetics and  priests,  and  sought  rather  to  lighten  Chris- 
tianity, than  add  to  its  weight,  for  the  great  mass  of 
its  professors. 

According  to  Apollinaris  of  Hierapolis  (quoted  by 
Eusebius  in  his  Ecclesiastical  Ilistm-y,  ch.  xvi),  the 
earliest  Montanists  were  exclusively  Phrj'gians;  but 
this  is  not  correct,  though  it  is  easy  to  see,  from 
what  we  have  said  in  the  article  Montasus,  why  his 
views  should  have  laid  strong  hold  on  that  race  of 
excitable  and  superstitious  Asiatics.  Gieseler  and  !Mil- 
man  remark  that  the  national  character  of  the  I'lirygi- 
ans  impressed  itself  on  their  Christianity,  and  led  to  a 
sensuous,  enthusiastic  worship  of  the  Deity,  and  to  a 
wild  mysticism.  But  this  cannot  have  been  the  cause 
of  the  Montanist  movement;  it  can  only  have  given 
a  peculiar  character  to  the  heresy,  and  influenced  its 
details.  For  '•  Montanism  is  but  one  of  a  number  of 
similar  movements  in  the  Church.  At  intervals  through- 
out the  ainials  of  Christianity,  the  Holy  Ghost  has  been 
summoned  by  the  hopes,  felt  as  present  by  the  enkindled 
imaginations,  been  proclaimed  by  the  passionate  enthu- 
siasm of  a  few  as  accomplishing  in  them  the  imperfect 
revelation — as  the  third  revelation  which  is  to  supersede 
and  to  fulfil  the  law  and  the  Gospel."  This  notion  ap- 
pears not  onl\'  thus  early,  but  again  in  the  Jliddle  Ages, 
as  the  doctrine  of  the  abbot  Joachim,  of  John  Peter  de 
Oliva,  and  the  Fratricelli ;  in  a  milder  form  it  is  that  of 
George  Fox  and  of  Barclay  (Milman,  I.at,  Clirislianittj, 
i,  1),  and  in  the  Irvingites  of  to-day.  In  all  these  cases 
there  is  a  striving,  but  a  misguided  striving,  after  a 
higher  standard.  Certain  it  is  that,  whatever  doubt 
may  exist  as  to  the  historical  existence  and  conseiiuent 
influence  of  Montanus.  the  heresy  which  bears  his  name 
spread  not  only  in  Phrygia,  but  throughout  the  l;ounds 
of  the  Catholic  Church  ;  and  that  if  he  existed,  and 
taught  Montanism,  he  Avas  rather,  as  Neander  observes, 
'•the  unconscious  organ  through  which  a  peculiar  men- 
tal tendency,  which  had  devel(>i)ed  itself  in  various  parts 
of  the  Church,  ex]iressc(l  itself  with  clearer  intelligence 
and  greater  strength"  (.1  ntii/uost.').  Indeed,  there  was 
much  in  the  system  which  their  pretended  revelations 
were  employed  to  establish,  not  only  well  adapted  to 
take  root  and  flourish  among  such  a  people  as  the  Plirj-g- 
ians,  but  also  sure  to  find  in  everj'  country  persons  pre- 
pared to  receive  it  by  previous  habits  of  mind.  "It 
was  attractive  to  the  more  rigid  feelings,  by  holding  out 
the  idea  of  a  life  stricter  than  that  of  ordinary  Chris- 
tians ;  to  weakness,  by  offering  the  guidance  of  ])recise 
rules  where  the  Gospel  had  only  laid  down  general 
principles;  to  enthusiasm  and  the  love  of  excitement, 
by  its  pretensions  to  prophetical  gifts ;  to  pride,  by  pro- 
fessing to  realize  the  jnire  and  sjiotlcss  mystical  Church 
in  an  exactly  defined  visible  communion ;  and  by  en- 
couraging the  members  of  this  body  to  regard  them- 
selves as  spiritual,  and  all  other  Christians  as  carnal" 
(Robertson,  p.  71).  It  is  said  to  have  been  chiefly 
among  the  lower  orders  that  ^lontanism  spread :  but 
even  in  the  powerfid  mind  of  Tcrtullian  it  found  conge- 
nial soil ;  and  his  embracing  their  opinions  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  events  in  the  history  of  the  sect,  as  it 
is  also  in  the  biography  of  TertuUian  himself.     It  oc- 


MONTANISTS 


527 


MONTANISTS 


curred  about  A.D.  200,  and  the  treatises  which  he  wrote 
after  that  important  period  in  his  life  give  us  the  clear- 
est insight  into  the  essential  character  of  Montanism  ; 
for  he  carried  the  opinions  of  the  sect  to  their  utmost 
length  of  rigid  and  uncompromising  severity,  though  at 
the  same  time  on  the  great  fundamental  points  in  which 
the  Montanists  did  not  differ  from  the  Church  he  con- 
tinued, as  he  had  before  been,  one  of  the  ablest  cham- 
pions of  scriptural  truth,  and  one  of  the  mightiest  oppo- 
nents of  every  form  of  heresy. 

Montanism,  it  is  apparent,  then,  must  be  treated  as 
a  doctrinal  development  of  the  3d  rather  than  of  the  2d 
century ;  for  though  the  history  of  the  sect  may  be 
dated  back  to  tlie  middle  of  the  2d  century,  it  remained 
for  Tertullian  to  give  definite  shape  to  Montanism,  and 
it  is  as  a  separate  sect  that  we  can  first  deal  with  the 
Montanists  (or  Tertullianists,  as  thej'  were  also  called  in 
Africa)  in  the  3d  century,  continuing  to  flourish  as  a 
sect  until  the  close  of  the  6th  century,  and  all  this  time 
being  the  subject  of  legal  enactments  under  all  the  suc- 
cessors of  Constantine  down  to  Justinian  (A.D.  530). 
As  a  doctrinal  system,  INIontanism  in  its  original  incep- 
tion agreed  in  all  essential  points  with  the  most  catholic 
teachings,  and  held  very  firmly  to  the  traditional  rule 
of  faith.  This  was  acknowledged  even  by  those  who 
were  opposed  to  Montanism  (compare  Epiphanius,  IIa;r. 
xxviii,  1).  Nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at.  "  For  Mon- 
tanism," as  Dr.  Schaff  has  well  said, "  was  not  originally 
a  departure  from  the  faith,  but  a  morbid  overstraining 
of  the  practical  morality  of  the  early  Church.  It  is 
the  first  example  of  an  earnest  and  well-meaning,  but 
gloomy  and  fanatical  hyperchristianitj',  which,  like  all 
hj^perspiritualism,  ends  again  in  the  flesh. ...  Its  views 
were  rooted  neither  (like  Ebionism)  in  Judaism  nor 
(like  Gnosticism)  in  heathenism,  but  in  Christianity, 
audits  errors  consist  in  a  morbid  exaggeration  of  Chris- 
tian ideas  and  demands."  It  is  true  also  that  the  Mon- 
tanists combated  the  Gnostic  heresy  with  all  decision, 
and,  through  Tertullian,  contributed  to  the  development 
of  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  in  asserting 
against  Patripassianism  the  personal  distinctions  in  God, 
and  the  import  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Yet  this  orthodoxy 
in  the  substance  of  its  doctrine  did  not  give  IMontanism 
the  right  to  claim  its  place  in  evangelical  Catholicity, 
for  it  was  itself  a  principle  of  implacable  and  irreconcil- 
able exclusion.  Though  first  seen  and  felt  only  in  the 
field  of  practical  life  and  discipline,  this  Montanistic 
movement,  coming  then  into  conflict  with  the  reigning 
Catholicism,  finallj'  and  consistently  carried  out,  broke 
to  some  extent  into  the  province  of  doctrine,  and  thus 
proved  true  the  theory  that  "  every  schismatic  tendency 
becomes  in  its  progress  more  or  less  heretical"  (SchafiF). 

The  one  thing  by  which  Montanism  came  to  be  espe- 
cially distinguished  from  the  Church  catholic  was  its 
assertion  of  the  continuance  of  prophecy,  and  hence  it 
■went  generallj'  under  the  name  of  iwva  propheiia.  Now 
there  was  nothing  heretical  in  the  simple  doctrine  that 
charismata  had  not  ceased  in  the  Church ;  but  there 
was  heresy  in  the  doctrine,  which  the  Montanists  es- 
poused, that  these  charismata  introduced  a  new  dispen- 
sation superior  to  that  of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  That 
Christ,  who  came  to  fulfil  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and 
promised  his  Holy  Spirit  to  his  apostles  to  guide  them 
into  all  truth,  bequeathed  to  his  Church  only  an  insuffi- 
cient morality,  and  a  dispensation  which  needed  to  be 
supplemented  by  the  Paraclete  of  Montanus,  is  utterly 
inconsistent  with  a  true  reception  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church  catholic  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  spake  by 
the  prophets.  This  distinction  in  Montanism  between 
the  Paraclete  and  the  Holy  Ghost  is  not  a  distinction 
(or  difference,  rather)  of  person  or  nature,  but  the  dis- 
tinction of  a  plenary  bestowal  for  a  complete  revelation 
following  a  partial  bestowal  for  an  imperfect  and  tem- 
porary revelation.  It  may  be  compared,  and  is  virtu- 
ally compared  by  Tertullian  in  the  passages  cited  above 
from  the  treatises  De  Monorj.  and  De  Virg.  VeL,  to  the 
distinction  drawn  by  St.  John  when  he  says, "  The  Holy 


Ghost  was  not  yet  given."  It  was  the  same  Spirit  in 
the  Mosaic  and  the  Christian  dispensations,  yet  might 
be  called  another  on  account  of  the  different  and  larger 
grace  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  So  the  Paraclete 
is  in  person  and  being  identified  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 
but  the  larger  measure  of  the  Spirit  given  for  the  com- 
pletion of  Christianity  introduces  a  distinction  by  which 
the  Hoi}'-  Ghost  bestowed  on  the  apostles  is  inferior  to 
the  Paraclete.  The  Paraclete  is  undeniably  identified 
with  the  promised  Spirit  of  Truth— i.  e.  the  promise  of 
Christ,  which  the  Church  believes  to  have  been  fulfilled 
on  the  first  Pentecostal  day,  was  not  fulfilled  until  the 
Spirit  came  on  Montanus.  Mosheim  (cent,  ii,  pt.  ii,  ch. 
V,  sect.  23,  note),  we  must  take  the  liberty  of  saying, 
entirely  mistakes  the  nature  of  the  distinction  if  his 
words  imply,  as  we  understand  them  to  imply,  a  teacher 
other  than  the  third  person  of  the  Christian  Trinity. 
This  heresy  gave  a  character  to  the  new  disciplinary 
rules.  It  introduced  also  schism  in  its  most  aggravated 
form,  asserting  that  the  party  of  Montanus  alone  was  the 
true  Church,  the  pneumatici,  all  other  nominal  Chris- 
tians being  psychici. 

Montanism  manifestly  claimed  for  itself  a  position 
above  the  organization  and  regular  powers  of  the 
Church,  asserting  as  its  own  monopoly  the  continu- 
ity of  revelation.  Anterior  revelations,  to  be  sure,  are 
not  set  aside ;  they  are,  however,  regarded  simply  as  in- 
itiatory steps.  The  Old  Testament  retains  itsclaims, 
but  the  New  Testament  suffiers  depreciation,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  no  longer  the  final  utterance  of  the  divine  teach- 
ing. It  has  not  brought  revelation  to  perfection  ;  it  has 
made,  especially  in  the  teaching  of  the  apostles,  more 
than  one  concession  to  human  weakness,  and,  like  Mo- 
ses, it  has  allowed  certain  practices  because  of  the  hard- 
ness of  men's  hearts.  "The  Lord,"  says  Tertullian, 
"  has  sent  the  Paraclete,  because  human  weakness  was 
not  capable  of  receiving  the  truth  all  at  once ;  it  was 
necessary  that  the  discipline  should  be  regulated  and 
progressively  ordered,  until  it  was  carried  to  perfection 
by  the  Holy  Spirit"  (De  Virr/.  VelancJ.  pt.  i).  Paul  gave 
certain  instructions  rather  by  permission  than  in  the 
name  of  God;  he  tolerated  marriage  because  of  the 
weakness  of  the  flesh,  in  the  same  manner  as  Moses 
permitted  divorce.  "  If  Christ  has  abolished  that  which 
Closes  had  commanded,  why  should  not  the  Paraclete 
forbid  that  which  Paul  allows  ?"  (Be  Monog.  i,  4).  "  In 
fine,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  rather  a  restorer  than  an  inno- 
vator (ibid.).  Was  not  the  new  development  of  the  rev- 
elations given  foreseen  and  declared  by  Jesus  Christ? 
The  final  and  glorious  economy  of  the  Paraclete  may, 
indeed,  have  commenced  at  Pentecost,  but  it  only  reach- 
ed its  culminating  point  with  the  appearance  of  Mon- 
tanus and  the  prophetesses  of  Phrygia ;  none  can  tell 
where  its  developments  may  end."  Such  were  the  prin- 
ciples of  Montanism.  Surely  it  were  impossible  to  make 
a  more  serious  assault  than  this  upon  apostolic  Christi- 
anity. It  clearly  enough  regarded  revelation  not  as  a 
fact,  but  rather  as  a  doctrine  or  a  law,  and  in  conse- 
quence religion  lost  the  definitive  character  which  be- 
longs to  that  which  is  absolute.  "Inspiration,"  says 
Pressense,  "which  thus  had  power  to  change  everj'- 
thing,  was  exempted  from  the  restraint  of  all  the  rules 
of  reason,  as  well  as  from  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  It  was  admitted  to  be  a  sort  of  ecstasy,  and 
its  great  merit,  according  to  the  sect,  consisted  in  its 
bringing  man  into  a  state  of  complete  passivity.  'Ec- 
stasy seized  the  inspired  man ;  this  is  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  which  produces  prophecy'  (Tertullian,  De 
Anima,  pt.  ii).  It  is  a  sort  of  God-sent  madness,  which 
constitutes  the  spiritual  faculty  called  by  us  prophecy. 
The  soul  is  no  longer  self-possessed  when  it  prophesies ; 
it  is  in  a  state  of  delirium  ;  a  power  not  its  own  masters 
it.  Dreams  and  visions  occupy  the  principal  jilace  in  the 
inspiration  of  the  Montanists.  Inspiration  is  only  the 
harp  which  vibrates  as  it  is  touched  by  the  player's  fin- 
ger (Epiphanius,  Hwr.  xlviii,  4).  'Man  sleeps  :  I  alone 
am  Avalking,'  says  the  Paraclete  (ibid.).    In  such  a  con- 


MONTANISTS 


528 


MOXTAXISTS 


ception  of  inspiration,  flexible  natures,  susceptible  of  I 
keen  and  rapid  impressions,  were  the  chosen  organs  of 
revelation.  .  .  .  Ambiguous  and  lying  oracles  could  thus  ! 
be  substituted  for  the  clear  and  exact  prescriptions  of  j 
the  sacred  books.     It  is  obvious  that  the  whole  of  Chris- 
tianity was  imperilled  by  this  doctrine  of  the  Paraclete 
(q.  v.).     This  was  the  fundamental  heresy  of  Montan- 
ism,  and  intinitely  more  serious  than  the  particular  er- 
rors into  which  it  might  be  led"  (^Ilei-esy  avd  Doctrine, 
p.lU-115). 

The  view  which  the  Montanists  took  of  divine  inspi- 
ration led  them  to  ignore  the  demands  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical order,  and  to  assert  the  universal  prophetic  and 
priestly  office  of  Christians— even  of  females.  They 
found  the  true  qualification  and  appointment  for  the  of- 
fice of  teacher  in  direct  endowment  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
in  distinction  from  outward  ordination  and  episcopal 
succession.  They  everywhere  proposed  the  supernatu- 
ral element,  and  the  free  motion  of  the  spirit,  against 
the  mechanism  of  a  fixed  ecclesiastical  order.  Now 
they  were  undoubtedly  right  in  their  resistance  to  the 
encroachments  of  the  hierarchy,  and  to  the  relaxation 
of  discipline ;  but  they  went  too  far  on  this  point,  as  on 
every  other — insistuig  upon  a  Church  of  saints  and  per- 
fect men,  a  standard  applicable  only  to  the  invisible 
Church.  "  The  Church,"  said  Tertullian,  "  is  not  con- 
stituted by  the  number  of  bishops ;  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  spiritual  man"  (/>e  I'lulicil.  p.  21)— a  false  and 
dangerous  theory  for  practice  in  the  visible  Church, 
■where  the  secrets  of  the  heart  can  never  be  judged  of — 
where,  as  Pressense  has  aptly  said, "  the  tares  grow  with 
the  good  wheat,  and  their  separation  is  impossible.  For 
the  evil  is  not  excluded  bj^  making  a  profession  of  the 
faith  the  personal  condition  of  membership ;  there  is  no 
guarantee  that  this  profession  will  be  in  all  cases  sin- 
cere, and,  e\-en  were  it  so,  there  is  no  religious  commu- 
nity in  which  it  is  not  incomplete.  It  follows  that  no 
one  such  comrauuitj-  can  claim  to  be  itself,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  others,  the  temple  of  the  Holy  (ihost;  else  it 
becomes  an  exclusive  sect  like  the  Montanists,  who 
called  themselves  the  perfect,  the  spiritual  men,  sjjcak- 
ing  scornfully  of  all  other  Christians  as  carnal.  Their 
conception  of  inspiration,  as  never  final  and  complete, 
moreover  rendered  any  fixed  order  impossible,  and  de- 
stroyed ecclesiastical  authority.  All  the  elements  of  the 
faith  were  daily  liable  to  change.  It  was  iini)ossible  to 
divine  what  strange  answers  to  spiritual  questions  might 
fall  from  heaven"  (flerexi/,  p.  116).  Here,  then,  was  the 
point  >vhere  they  necessarily  assumed  a  schismatic  char- 
acter, and  arrayed  against  themselves  the  episcopal  hie- 
rarchy. They  only  brought  another  kind  of  aristocracy 
into  the  place  of  the  condennied  distinction  of  clergy 
and  laity.  They  claimed  for  their  prophets  what  they 
denied  to  the  Catholic  bishops.  They  put  a  great  gulf 
between  the  true  spiritual  Christians  and  tlie  merely 
psychical,  and  thus  induced  spiritual  pride  and  false  pi- 
etism. Their  affinity  with  the  Protestant  idea  of  the 
universal  priesthood  is  clearly  more  ap]iarent  than  real ; 
they  go  on  altogether  different  principles.  (Compare 
Schati;  i,  307.) 

As  to  its  matter,  the  Montanistic  prophecy  related — 
(1)  to  the  api)roaching  heavy  judffments  of  God,  a  sort  of 
^^sionary  millenarianism ;  (2)  the  persecutions;  (3)  fast- 
ing and  other  ascetic  practices,  which  were  to  be  en- 
forced as  laws ;  and  (4)  as  to  the  distinction  to  be  made 
between  the  various  Icinds  of  sins. 

One  of  the  most  essential  and  prominent  traits  of 
Montanism  was  its  visionary  niillenarianism,  founded, 
indeed,  on  the  Apocalypse  and  on  the  apostolic  expecta- 
tion of  the  speedy  return  of  Christ,  but  giving  them  ex- 
travagant weight  and  a  materialistic  coloring.  The 
Montanists  lived  under  a  vivid  inqiression  of  the  great 
final  catastrophe,  and  looked  tlurefore  with  contempt 
upon  the  present  world,  and  directed  all  their  desires  to 
the  second  advent  of  Christ,  which  they  believeil  to  be 
near  at  hand.  "  After  me,"  exclaimed  one  of  its  projih- 
etesses, "  there  is  no  more  prophecy,  but  only  the  enil  of 


the  world"  (Epiphanius,  //(er.  xlviii,  2).  The  failure 
of  these  predictions  weakened,  of  course,  all  the  other 
pretensions  of  the  system  ;  though,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
must  be  confessed  here  that  the  abatement  of  faith  in  the 
near  approach  of  the  Lord  was  certainly  accompanied 
with  an  increase  of  worldliness  in  the  Catholic  Church. 

But  besides  the  ])roininent  traits  of  Montanism  al- 
ready indicated,  there  remain  those  questions  of  disci- 
pline and  7norals,  which  were  made  tlie  suliject  of  spe- 
cial revelation  in  order  to  impart  to  the  system  its  legal 
character.  The  distinction  between  the  two  covenants 
was  lost  sight  of.  '"The  Church,"  says  Tertullian, 
"blends  the  law  and  the  prophets  with  the  Gospels 
and  the  writings  of  the  apostles"  (Be  Prescript.  §  6). 
The  Gospel  was  a  code,  no  less  than  ^losaism,  especially 
with  the  am|)lifications  given  to  it  by  the  Paraclete. 
"  The  law  of  liberty,"  says  Pressense,  •'  is  replaced  by 
precepts  of  the  minutest  detail.  All  that  was  not  per- 
missible was  laid  under  a  stern  interdict  (Tertullian,  De 
Coinna  Miiit.  p.  2),  and  thus  vanished  that  noble  Chris- 
tian liberty  which  enlarges  the  domain  of  the  moral 
principle  instead  of  narrowing  it,  and  takes  possession 
of  the  entire  life,  to  bring  it  all  under  our  direction,  and 
to  animate  it  with  the  inspiration  of  love  as  with  the 
breath  of  life"  {Heresy,  p.  117).  Jlontanism,  indeed, 
tended  to  a  system  of  growing  severity ;  and  Tertullian, 
moreover,  gloried  in  that  the  restoration  of  this  rigorous 
discipline  was  made  the  chief  office  of  the  new  prophecy 
{De  Monog.  c.  2  and  4).  Now  it  must  be  confessed  that 
the  Montanists  raised  a  zealous  protest  against  the  grow- 
ing looseness  of  the  Catholic  penitential  discipline,  which 
in  Rome  particularly,  under  Zephyrinus  and  Callistus, 
to  the  great  grief  of  earnest  minds,  established  a  scheme 
of  indulgence  for  the  grossest  sins,  and  began,  long  be- 
fore Constantine,  to  obscure  the  line  between  the  Cimrch 
and  the  world ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  re- 
membered also  that  Montanism  certainly  went  to  the 
opposite  extreme,  and  fell  from  evangelical  freedom  into 
Jewish  legalism.  It  turned  with  horror  from  all  the 
enjoyments  of  life,  and  held  even  art  to  be  incompatible 
with  Christian  soberness  and  humility.  Above  all,  it 
laid  stress  upon  three  points:  first,  it  exalted  martjT- 
dom  with  solemn  fervor.  It  courted  blood-baptism,  and 
condemned  concealment  or  flight  in  persecution  as  a  de- 
nial of  Christ :  "  For  if  persecution  proceeds  from  God,  it 
is  in  no  way  their  duty  to  flee  from  what  has  God  for  its 
author ;  it  ought  not  to  be  avoided,  and  it  cannot  be  evad- 
ed." The  treatise  of  Tertullian,  Flight  and  Persecution, 
clearly  and  perfectly  expresses  these  ideas,  and  they 
were  the  ideas  of  the  Jlontanists.  The  Church  had 
given  to  martyrdom  no  niggardly  honor,  but  in  the 
spirit  of  its  founder's  teachings  (Matt,  x,  23)  flight  was 
considered  jiroper.  Montanism,  however,  severely  con- 
demned every  measure  of  prudence  in  times  of  proscrip- 
tion (comp.  Euscbius,  Hist.  Eccles.  v,  10  ;  Tertullian,  De 
Fticja,  §  iv,  p.  091-0'J7). 

The  same  extreme  severity  characterizes  their  prac- 
tice of  fasting.  Kaye  (in  his  Tertullian.  p.  410)  sums 
up  the  differences  between  the  orthodox  and  Monta- 
nists on  the  subject  of  fasting  thus:  "With  respect  to 
the  jejunium,  or  total  abstinence  from  food,  the  ortho- 
dox thought  that  the  interval  between  our  Saviour's 
death  and  resurrection  was  only  the  period  during  which 
the  apostles  observed  a  total  fast,  and  consequently  the 
only  period  during  which  fasting  was  of  positive  obli- 
gation upon  all  Christians.  At  other  times  it  rested 
with  themselves  to  determine  whether  they  would  fast 
or  not.  The  Montanists.  on  the  contrary,  contended 
that  there  were  other  seasons  during  which  fasting  was 
obligatory,  and  that  the  appointment  of  those  seasons 
constituted  a  part  of  the  revelations  of  the  Paraclete. 
With  respect  to  the  Dies  stationarii,  the  Montanists  not 
only  proiionnceil  the  fast  obligatory  on  all  Christians, 
but  prolonged  it  until  evening,  instead  of  terminating  it, 
as  was  the  custom,  at  the  ninth  hour.  In  the  observance 
of  Xeropli(ir/i(v  ((j.  v.\  tlic  Montanists  abstained  not  only 
from  flesh  and  wine,  like  the  orthodox,  but  also  from 


INIONTANISTS 


529 


MONTANISTS 


richer  fruits,  and  omitted  their  customary  ablutions," 
ApoUonius  (in  Eusebius,  H.  E.  v,  18),  in  this  particular, 
simply  notices  of  Montanus,  "This  is  he  who  laid  down 
laws  of  fasting,"  pointing  out  in  these  words  that  Mon- 
tanus's  offence  was  not  the  changing  of  one  law  for  an- 
other, but  the  imposition  of  a  law  where  there  had  been 
liberty.  Tertullian  has  wTitten  an  entire  treatise  in  de- 
fence of  fasting,  and  the  objections  brought  against 
Montanism  on  this  point  show  clearly  the  exaggerated 
legalism  by  which  it  was  estranged  from  the  true  Chris- 
tian tradition.  The  law  and  the  prophets,  it  was  said 
to  the  Montanists,  were  until  John ;  fasting  thencefor- 
ward should  be  a  voluntary,  not  an  enjoined  act.  The 
apostles  themselves  observed  it,  without  laying  it  as  a 
yoke  upon  any :  we  must  not  return  to  legal  prescrip- 
tions. The  prophets  showed  great  contempt  for  all  that 
is  merely  outward  observance.  Tertullian  (De  jejimiis, 
c.  2  and  3)  replies  that  nothing  is  more  adapted  to  give 
large  license  to  the  tiesh  than  the  reducing  of  the  law 
to  the  great  commandment  of  love.  He  maintains  the 
necessity  of  fasting — lirst,  on  the  ground  that  self-indul- 
gence led  to  the  fall.  "  It  is  necessary,"  he  says,  "  that 
man  should  give  satisfaction  to  God  \vith  the  same  ele- 
ment by  which  he  offended,  and  that  he  should  deny 
himself  food,  which  caused  his  fall."  That  fasting  is 
agreeable  to  God  is  proved  by  the  words  full  of  tender- 
ness addressed  to  Elijah  when  he  was  fastuig  in  the 
desert  of  Horeb,  especially  as  compared  with  the  severe 
tone  of  the  call  to  Adam  when  he  had  been  eating  the 
forbidden  fruit.  Fasting  facilitates  holy  visions,  as  is 
proved  by  sacred  history  from  Daniel  to  Peter,  and  it 
prepares  for  martyrdom ;  while  the  neglect  of  such  ab- 
stinence leads  to  apostasy,  by  fostering  the  love  for  ma- 
terial pleasures.  To  the  objections  drawn  from  Holj' 
Scripture,  Tertullian  replies  by  the  revelations  of  the 
Paraclete,  which  legitimately  give  expansion  to  its  ob- 
ligation, and  refuses  to  recognise  any  distinction  be- 
tween the  O.  and  N.  T.,  as  might  be  naturally  enough 
expected  from  his  strictly  legal  stand-point  (comp,  De 
jejuniis,  c,  6-8), 

Its  strongest  protests,  however,  Montanism,  like  all 
ascetic  doctrines,  entered  against  the  union  of  the  sexes. 
It  not  only  prohibited  second  marriage  as  adultery,  for 
laity  as  well  as  clergy,  but  even  went  so  far  as  to  dis- 
tinctly impugn  all  marriage,  urging  its  faithful  ones  to 
absolute  continence.  Tertullian  does  not  hesitate  to 
compare  the  conjugal  union  to  adultery,  forgetting  his 
own  beautiful  words  about  the  perpetuity  of  marriage 
after  death  (^Adv.  Jfai-c.  i,  c.  29,  p.  452),  and  brands  the 
union  of  sexes  as  caused  by  an  impulse  of  lust.  "  Thus, 
then,"  he  suggests,  as  an  objection  urged,  "you  set  a 
brand  even  on  first  marriages."  "And  rir/hilt/,"  he  re- 
plies, "since  they  co7isist  in  the  same  act  as  adultery.  .  .  . 
Thus  it  is  good  for  a  man  not  to  touch  a  woman ;  vir- 
gmity  is  the  highest  holiness,  since  it  is  furthest  re- 
moved from  adulter}'"  (^De  Virg.  Veland.  p.  10).  In  his 
treatise  on  monogamy,  however,  Tertullian  contents 
himself  with  prohibiting  second  marriages,  taking  his 
stand  on  Scripture,  when  he  can  make  it  sustain  his 
view,  appealing  to  the  higher  power  of  the  Paraclete 
when  he  has  to  deal  with  the  exact  texts  of  St.  Paul. 
The  apostle,  according  to  him,  gave  sanction  to  second 
marriages,  but  with  a  marked  tone  of  antipathy,  and 
simply  in  consequence  of  his  knowledge  and  prophecy 
having  been  only  in  part.  The  Paraclete,  however,  in 
his  new  revelation,  always  acts  in  conformity  with  Je- 
sus Christ  and  his  promises.  "  We  acknowledge,"  said 
Tertullian, "  only  one  marriage,  as  we  acknowledge  only 
one  God.  Jesus  Christ  has  had  only  one  bride,  which 
is  the  Church.  By  his  example,  and  by  the  explicit 
command  revealed  by  the  Paraclete,  he  has  restored  the 
true  nature ;  for  monogamy  dates  from  Eden.  The  priests 
were  to  have  only  one  wife.  Now,  under  the  new  econ- 
omy, every  Christian  is  a  priest  of  Christ.  No  differ- 
ence should  be  made  in  a  moral  point  of  view  between 
the  clergy  and  the  laity,  for  the  former  are  taken  from 
among  Christian  people.  Besides,  how  can  maiTiage, 
VI.— L  L 


which  makes  of  the  man  and  woman  one  flesh,  be  re- 
newed ?  Is  such  an  assimilation  capable  of  repetition  ? 
Besides,  the  bonds  between  husband  and  wife  continue 
in  death ;  they  have  only  become  more  sacred  by  be- 
coming more  spiritual."  Yet  Tertullian's  views,  though 
extreme,  do  not  in  this  instance  clearly  set  forth  the 
views  of  all  Montanists.  Indeed  some  of  them  insisted 
that  their  founder  taught  Xvffeig  yajuwv— dissolution  of 
marriage— and  that  Prisca  and  Maximilla,  as  soon  as 
they  recognised  the  spirit,  abandoned  their  husbands.  It 
is  true  Wernsdorf  (see  Routh's  note.  Eel.  Sac.  i,  473)  ob- 
serves that  Montanus's  teaching  was  on  this  point  not 
by  precept,  but  by  the  example  of  his  two  prophetesses, 
and  yet  the  extreme  asceticism  must  have  had  a  far- 
reaching  influence  even  for  Tertullian  to  advocate  celi- 
bacy on  the  strength  of  i.%  and  in  his  Exhortation  to 
Chastity  he  comes  to  recognise  a  moralitj'  of  perfection 
which  rises  above  the  ordinary  standard.  "  Permanent 
virginity  is  its  highest  point ;  abstinence  from  the  sex- 
ual relations  in  marriage  is  akin  to  it  in  virtue."  In  an 
extreme  ascetic  tendency  Montanism  forbade  women  all 
ornamental  clothing,  and  required  virgins  to  be  veiled. 
Thus  Tertullian  urges  that  it  be  done  so  as  not  to  kindle 
the  flame  of  passion.  "I  entreat  thee,  O  woman,  be 
thou  mother,  daughter,  or  virgin,  veil  thy  head:  as' 
mother,  veil  it  for  the  sake  of  thy  son ;  as  sister,  for  thy 
brother;  as  daughter,  for  thy  father.  For  thou  dost 
imperil  men  of  every  age.  Put  on  the  armor  of  mod- 
esty; encircle  thee  with  a  rampart  of  chastitj'.  Set  a 
guard  over  thine  own  eyes,  and  over  those  of  others. 
Art  thou  not  married  to  Christ  ?"  (Z'e  Vi?-y.  Veland.  p. 
16). 

The  perversion  of  the  doctrine  of  redemption,  which 
is  the  source  of  all  such  legalism,  casuistrj',  and  extreme 
asceticism,  as  the  Montanists  taught,  is  more  especially 
notable  in  the  arbitrary  disposition  made  by  Jlonta- 
nisra  of  various  kinds  of  sins.  In  the  same  manner  as 
it  recognises  two  orders  of  perfection,  and  thus  does  vi- 
olence to  the  true  idea  of  good,  so  does  it  tamper  with 
the  idea  of  evil.  In  accordance  with  the  words  of  John 
— "a  sin  not  unto  death,"  and  "a  sin  unto  death" — it 
made  a  difference  between  sins  venial  and  mortal,  and 
denied  that  the  Church  had  power  to  pardon  the  latter, 
because,  as  it  taught,  there  is  no  possibility  of  a  second 
repentance  for  mortal  sins,  and  therefore  no  power  in 
the  Church  to  restore  the  lapsed  into  fellowship.  Ter- 
tullian's treatise  on  Modesty,  called  forth  by  the  decree 
of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  who  had  assumed  the  right  to 
pardon  the  gravest  sins,  expresses  the  IMontanist  the- 
ory with  perfect  clearness.  He  does  not  dwell  for 
an  instant  on  the  real  difficulty  of  obtaining  proof  of 
true  repentance,  but  speaks  only  of  the  comparative 
gravity  of  sins.  "Some,"  he  says,  "are  pardonable; 
others,  on  the  contrary,  are  beyond  remission;  some 
merit  punishment,  others  damnation.  From  this  dif- 
ference in  the  offences  comes  the  difference  in  the  pen- 
itence, which  varies  according  as  it  is  exercised  on  ac- 
count of  a  pardonable  or  unpardonable  sin."  He  held 
all  mortal  sins  (of  which  he  numbers  seven)  committed 
after  baptism  to  be  unpardonable  {De  Pudicit.  c.  2  and  19), 
at  least  in  this  world ;  and  a  Church  which  shoVved  such 
lenity  towards  gross  offenders,  as  the  Roman  Church  at 
that  time  did,  according  to  the  corroborating  testimony 
of  Hippolytus,  he  called  worse  than  a  "  den  of  thieves," 
even  a  "  spelunca  moechorum  et  fornicatorura."  At  the 
head  of  the  black  catalogue  of  unpardonable  or  mortal 
sins  the  IMontanists  placed  adulterj-  and  apostasy.  They 
did  not  deny  that  liod  could  pardon  them  directly,  or 
through  the  medium  of  an  exceptional  revelation ;  but 
on  this  side  the  grave  no  restoration  was  possible  for 
those  who  had  been  guilty  of  such  sins,  even  though 
they  gave  the  strongest  pledges  of  their  repentance. 
Here  we  have  a  clear  departure  from  the  grand  Chris- 
tian doctrine  of  the  fulness  of  God's  mercy,  irrespective 
of  the  proportion  of  sin,  and  that  the  Church  must  suf- 
fer all  to  enter  its  fellowship  who  manifest  "a  desire  to 
flee  from  the  wrath  to  come."     If  Montanism  taught 


MOXTANISTS 


530 


MOXTANUS 


truly,  it  follows  that  the  work  of  redemption  is  insuffi- 
cient, and  that,  in  addition  to  repentance,  a  certain  sat- 
isfaction is  demanded  of  the  sinner.  We  have  here  un- 
questionably reached  the  rfxjt  of  the  error  of  Montanism, 
from  which  grows  its  legalism  and  its  asceticism. 

The  religious  earnestness  which  animated  Monta- 
nism, and  tlic  fanatical  extremes  into  which  it  ran, 
have  frequently  reappeared  in  the  Church  after  the 
deatli  of  Montanism,  under  various  names  and  forms, 
as  in  Novatianism,  Donatism,  Anabaptism,  the  Carai- 
sard  enthusiasm,  Puritanism,  Pietism,  Ir\-ingism,  and 
so  on,  by  way  of  protest  and  wholesome  reaction  against 
various  evils  in  the  Church.  And  what  may  ajipear 
perhaps  more  strange,  several  of  those  very  doctrines  of 
the  Jlontanists  which  in  their  earliest  rise  were  pro- 
nounced heretical  gradually  made  their  way  into  tlie 
Church  of  Rome,  and,  with  slight  modifications,  remain 
to  this  day  a  part  of  her  creed.  Thus  it  is  to  Monta- 
nism that  it  owes  the  idea  of  the  infallibility  of  its  coun- 
cils, which  attempt  in  the  same  way  to  add  to  revela- 
tion. From  the  same  source,  too,  it  has  derived  its 
"counsels  of  perfection,"  and  the  distinction  between 
venial  and  mortal  sins.  Says  Dr.  Newman,  in  his  JJsgai/ 
on  Development,  a  work  which  he  would  liardly  care  to 
own  now,  "  the  prophets  of  the  Montanists  prefigure  the 
Church's  doctors,  and  their  inspiration  lier  infallibility ; 
their  revelations  her  developments"  (p.  349-352).  Since 
this  was  written  a  new  significance  has  been  given  it 
by  the  proceedings  of  the  last  Vatican  Council  (1869),  ; 
which  has  lodged  in  the  individual  head  of  the  Church 
the  infallibility  formerly  attributed  to  the  Church  as  a 
whole.     See,  however,  Infallibilitv;  Pai'acv. 

We  now  return  to  tlie  external  history  of  Jlontanism. 
We  have  stated  that  it  probably  originated  in  Phrj-gia 
about  tlie  middle  of  the  2d  centur\',  and  that  it  spread 
rapidly  during  the  bloody  persecutions  under  Jlarcus 
Aurclius.  In  Asia  Minor,  however,  it  met  with  oppo- 
sition, and  the  bishops  and  s\mods  almost  universally 
declared  against  the  new  prophecy  as  the  work  of  diC- 
mons.  Among  its  literary  opponents  in  the  East  are 
mentioned  Claudius  Apollinaris  of  Hierapolis,  MiUiades,  [ 
Apollonius,  Serapion  of  Antioch,  and  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria. The  lioman  Church  likewise,  during  the  ejjis- 
copate  of  Eleutherus  (177-190)  or  of  Victor  (190-202), 
after  some  vacillation,  set  itself  against  it  at  the  insti-  | 
gation  of  tlic  presbyter  (.'aius  and  the  confessor  Prax- 
eas.  Yet  the  opposition  of  Hippolytus  to  Zephj-rinus  I 
and  Callistus,  and  the  later  Xovatian  schism,  shows  that  | 
the  disciplinary  rigorism  of  Montanism  found  energetic  j 
advocates  in  Rome  till  after  the  middle  of  tlie  3d  century.  | 
Indeed  it  was  some  time  before  the  Montanists  formed 
themselves  into  an  independent  sect  in  the  Western 
Church  (comp.  Gieseler,  Eccles.  Hist,  i,  125,  note  G). 
The  Gallic  Christians,  Irenseus  at  their  head,  took,  it  is 
now  generally  believed,  a  conciliatory  posture,  and  sym- 
pathized at  least  with  the  moral  earnestness,  the  enthu- 
siasm for  martyrdom,  and  the  chiliastic  hopes  of  the 
Montanists.  They  sent  the  bishop  Irenieus  to  bishop  ' 
Eleutherus  at  Home  to  intercede  in  their  behalf,  and 
this  mission  may  have  induced  him  or  his  successor  to 
issue  letters  of  peace,  which  were,  however,  soon  after- 
wards recalled.  In  Xortli  Africa  they  met  with  exten- 
sive sympathy,  as  the  Punic  national  character  leans 
naturally  towards  gloomy  and  rigorous  acerbity.  Here 
it  secured  TertuUian,  who  helped  the  gropcrs  in  the  dark 
towanls  a  twilight  of  ])hilosophy.  lie  is  its  proper  and 
only  theologian.  Through  him,  too,  its  principles  re- 
acted in  many  respects  on  the  Catholic  Church ;  and  tliat 
not  only  in  North  Africa,  but  also  in  Spain,  as  we  may  , 
see  from  the  harsh  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Elvira  in 
203.  It  is  singular  that  Cyprian,  who,  with  all  his 
High-Church  tendencies  and  abliorrence  of  schism,  was 
a  daily  reader  of  TertuUian,  makes  no  allusion  to  3Ion-  \ 
tanism.  Augustine  {I)e  hnrcsibu.'!,  ^  (i)  relates  that 
TertuUian  left  the  ^Montanists  and  founded  a  new  sect, 
which  was  called  after  him.  but  was  through  his  (Au- 
gustine's) agency  reconcUed  to  the  Catholic  congrega- 


tion at  Carthage.  As  a  sect,  the  Montanists  run  down 
into  the  Gth  centurj';  but,  as  has  been  remarked  with 
much  truth,  although  the  actual  number  of  the  Monta- 
nists was  at  one  period  very  considerable,  the  impor- 
tance of  tlie  sect  is  really  to  be  estimated  by  tlie  extent 
to  which  tlieir  character  became  infused  into  the  Church. 
Neander  attributes  much  of  this  to  the  great  infiuence 
which  TertuUian  exerted  through  the  relation  in  which 
he  stood  to  Cyprian,  who  caUed  him  his  teacher.  At 
the  same  time  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  there  was  some 
tendency  in  the  opposite  direction  in  the  introduction 
of  a  prophetical  order  superior  in  rank  and  importance 
to  the  order  of  bishops.  The  first  order  among  the 
Montanists  was  that  of  patrUirc/i.  the  second  that  of 
cenones,  and  the  third  that  of  hUhop.  The  patriarch 
resided  at  Pepuza,  in  Phrygia,  the  anticipated  seat  of 
the  mUlennial  kingdom,  and  at  that  time  almost  exclu- 
sively inhabited  by  ilontanists. 

See  TertuUian's  works,  especially  his  numerous  ilon- 
tanistic  writings;  Eusebius,  Hist.  Eccles.  v,  3,  14-19; 
Epiphanius,  Har.  p.  48,  49 ;  Wernsdorl,  De  Montanis- 
tis  (Dantsic,  1741);  Miinter,  Effatu  et  oracula  Monta- 
nistur.  (Copenh.  1829) ;  Neander,  .4  ntignosticus  oder  Geist 
aus  TertuUian's  Schriften  (Berl.  1825;  2d  cd.  1849); 
Schwegler,  Der  Muntanismus  n.  die  christl.  Kirc/te  des 
2ten  Jahrh.  (Tiib.  1841);  Kirchner,  De  Montauistis  (Je- 
na. 1852,  8vo) ;  Baur,  Das  M'esen  des  Montanigmiis  nuch 
den  neuesten  Forschunyen,  in  the  Theol.  Jahrbiicher  (Tiib. 
1851 ;  comp.  his  Cliristenth.  der  3  ersten  Jahrh.  p.  213- 
224) ;  Niedner,  Kirchen-Geschichte,  p.  253  sq.,  259  sq. ; 
Ritschl,  Entstehung  der  alikathol.  Kirche  (2d  ed.  1857), 
p.  402-550  ;  Pressense,  Early  Years  of  Christianity 
(Heresy  and  Doctr.),  iii,  101-124;  Neander,  Ch.  Hist,  i, 
507,  526;  Hkt.  Christian  Dogma  (see  Index);  Schaff, 
Ch.  Hist,  i,  362-409 ;  Hagenbach,  Hist.  Doctr.  i,  60  sq. ; 
^^'alch,  Gesch.  der  Ketzereien,  i,  611  sq. ;  KiUen,  Anc.  Ch. 
p.  436  sq. ;  Burton,  Eccl.  Hist.  First  Th  ree  Cent.  p.  405  sq. ; 
Ebrard,  Kirchen-  u.  Dogmengesch.  i,  137  sq.;  Mossman, 
Hist.  Catholic  Church  (Lond.  1873,  8vo),  ch.  v;  Lipsius, 
in  IlUgenfeUl's  Zeitschr.Jlir  u-issenschaftUche  Theologie, 
1865  and  1866 ;  Lond.  Qu.  Rev.  Jan.  1869,  p.  473 ;  Chris- 
tian Examiner,  Sept.  1863,  p.  157 ;  Brit.  Qu.  Rev.  Oct. 
1873,  p.  288.     (J.H.W.) 

Montano,  LEANuno,  a  Spanish  theologian,  a  na- 
tive of  Murcia,  flourished  in  the  17th  centurj-.  He  was 
also  known  under  the  name  Leandro  of  Murcia.  He 
was  a  Capuchin  monk,  ecclesiastical  inspector  of  Castile, 
qualificator  of  the  Inquisition,  and  preacher  to  the  king. 
Among  his  numerous  works  may  be  mentioned,  Questi- 
ones  regulares  y  regla  de  los  menores  (^ladrid,  1645, 4to) : 
— Commentaria  in  Esther  (ibid.  1647.  fol.): — ExpUcacion 
de  las  bulas  de  Innocencio  X  (ibid.  1650,  4to)  : — Disqui- 
sitiones  morales  in  primani  S.  Thomcc  (ibid.  1G63-70,  2 
vols.  fol.).  See  Antonio,  Bihl.  Xova.  Hispana ;  Saint- 
Antoine,  Bibl.  unir.franciscana,  ii,  279. — Hoefer,  Xouv. 
Biog.  Generate,  s.  v. 

Montanus,  a  celebrated  heresiarch  of  the  early 
Christian  Church,  the  supposed  founder  of  a  sect  named 
after  him  Montani^s  (q.  v.),  was  a  Phrygian  by  birth, 
and,  according  to  Eusebius  {/fist.  Eccles.  x,  16).  made 
his  first  public  appearance  about  A.D.  170,  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Ardabar,  on  the  confines  of  Phrygia  and  ^lysia, 
of  which  place  he  is  believed  to  have  been  a  native 
(comp.,  however,  the  bishop  of  Lincoln's  [  Kaye]  Tertul- 
lian,  J).  13  sq.).  He  was  brought  up  in  heathenism,  but 
ajipearsto  have  embraced  Christianity  (about  170)  with 
all  the  fanatical  enthusiasm  for  which  his  countrymen 
were  noted.  Neander  endeavors  to  explain  his  diar- 
•acter  and  tendencies  on  the  supposition  of  his  possess- 
ing an  essentially  Phrygian  temperament,  and  the  little 
we  know  concerning  him  renders  this  highly  probable. 
The  frenzy,  the  paroxysms,  the  fierce  Ix-lief  in  the  su- 
pernatural, that  marked  the  old  IMm-gian  priests  of  Cy- 
bele  and  Bacchus,  are  repeated  unoer  less  savage,  but 
not  less  abnormal  conditions,  in  the  ecstasies,  somnam- 
bulism, and  passion  for  self-immolation  of  the  Mouta- 


MONTANUS 


531 


MOXTAZET 


nists.  According  to  some  of  the  ancient  writers,  Mon- 
Unus  was  believed  by  his  followers  to  be  the  Para- 
clete, or  Holy  Spirit,  But  this  is  an  exaggeration, 
for  he,  falling  into  somnambulistic  ecstasies,  came  sim- 
ply to  consider  himself  the  inspired  organ  of  the  Para- 
clete, the  Helper  and  Comforter  promised  by  Christ  in 
these  last  times  of  distress.  He,  however,  certainly 
claimed  divine  inspiration  for  himself  and  his  associ- 
ates. They  delivered  their  prophecies  in  an  ecstasy, 
and  their  example  seems  to  have  introduced  into  the 
Church  the  practice  of  appealing  to  visions  in  favor  of 
opinions  and  actions,  of  which  practice  Cyprian  and 
others  availed  themselves  to  a  great  extent  (comp.  Mid- 
dleton,  Free  Inquiry,  p.  98,  etc.).  His  principal  asso- 
ciates were  two  pro]ilietesses,  named  Prisca,  or  Priscilla, 
and  Maximilla.  The  doctrines  which  Montanus,  if  he 
taught  at  all  as  a  leader  of  a  sect,  disseminated  are  now 
clearly  seen  to  have  been  in  general  agreement  with 
those  of  the  Church  catholic  of  the  2d  centurj-,  and  the 
fact  that  Tertullian  at  one  time  became  the  most  bril- 
liant exponent  of  the  jNIontanists  would  go  far  to  con- 
firm such  a  position.  But  the  austerity  of  manner,  the 
strictness  of  discipline,  and  the  doctrine  of  a  permanent 
extraordinary  influence  of  the  Paraclete,  manifesting 
itself  by  prophetic  ecstasies  and  visions,  opened  wide 
the  door  to  all  manner  of  fanatical  extravagances,  and 
brought  reproach  upon  the  name  of  founder  and  sect 
alike.  Ecclesiastical  writers  of  succeeding  centuries 
have  in  consequence  brought  more  or  less  reproach 
upon  the  name  of  Montanus  by  accusations  of  immoral- 
ity and  crime,  and  he  is  even  said  to  have  ended  his 
days  violently.  But  there  is  no  authority  for  such 
statements,  if  we  may  believe  Schwegler,  Der  Mon- 
tanismus  u.  die  christliche  Kirche  des  zweiten  Juhrh. 
(Tub.  1841,  8vo).  He  insists  upon  it  that  "there  is 
nothing  of  historical  value  in  the  life  of  this  man  at  our 
command"  (p. 242),  and  believes  that  "the  person  Mon- 
tanus is  of  no  significance  in  the  examination  and  elu- 
cidation of  what  is  known  as  Montanism,'"  and  would  go 
even  so  far  as  to  "doubt  the  historical  existence  of  this 
apocryphal  character"  (p.  243).  There  is  certainly 
ground  for  such  a  position  in  the  fact  that  in  their  ear- 
liest days  the  Jlontanists  were  never  spoken  of  under 
that  name,  but  were  generally  called,  especially  bj'  Ter- 
tullian and  Eusebius,  after  the  name  of  the  country  in 
which  they  originated,  Catajyhrygiam,  or  after  the  name 
of  the  place  to  which  they  assigned  special  sanctitj',  Pe- 
jmzians  (comp.  Epiphan.  Hcer.  xlviii,  14).  Bishop  Kaye, 
in  his  Tertullian  (p.  28  sq.),  takes  it  for  granted  that 
J\lcntanus  was  a  historical  character,  and  awards  to  him 
the  dignity  of  founder  of  the  Montanists.  The  learned 
bishop  even  believes,  depending  upon  Tertullian's  work, 
"  that  the  effusions  of  Montanus  and  his  female  associ- 
ates had  been  committed  to  writing,"  and  that  "  Tertul- 
lian, believing  that  Montanus  was  commissioned  to 
complete  the  Christian  revelation,  could  not  deem  him 
inferior  to  the  apostles,  by  whom  it  was  only  obscurely 
and  imperfectly  developed."  See  references  to  the  ar- 
ticle ^lONTANISTS.      (.J,  H.  W.) 

Montanus,  Benedict  Arias.     See  Arl\s. 

Montanus  of  Toledo,  a  noted  Spanish  prelate  of 
the  early  Christian  Church,  flourished  in  the  6th  cen- 
tury. But  little  is  known  of  his  personal  historj'.  He 
succeeded  Celsus  in  the  see  of  Toledo  A.D.  531 ;  he  pre- 
sided at  the  council  held  in  Toledo,  and  died  in  the  year 
540.  There  are  two  letters  of  his  extant,  one  to  the 
brethren  of  Palantia,  and  the  other  to  Theodorius,  bishop 
of  Palantia.— Clarke,  Sacred  Lit.  ii,  306. 

Montanye,  Thojias  B.,  a  Baptist  minister,  was 
born  in  New  York  in  1769.  He  began  preaching  when 
quite  young,  and  was  in  1788  ordained  pastor  of  the 
Baptist  society  in  Warwick,  N.  Y.,  where  he  remained 
tnitil  1801,  when  he  accepted  a  call  from  the  Church  in 
Southampton,  Bucks  County,  Pa.,  which  situation  he 
held  until  his  death,  Sept.  27,  1829.  He  was  a  truly 
popular  preacher,  and  on  accoimt  of  his  talents  and  piety 


his  services  came  to  be  much  sought  after  for  ordina- 
tions, councils,  and  especially  religious  anniversaries, 
yet  none  of  his  works  have  been  published. — Sprague, 
A  nnals,  vi,  265. 

Montargon,  Egbert  FRAX901S  de  {Ilyacinthe  de 
VAssiiitiptiiiii),  a  French  preacher  and  theologian,  was 
j  born  at  Paris  ilay  27, 1705.  He  assumed  the  vows  of 
the  Augustines  of  the  street  Xotre  Dame  of  the  Tictoire's 
at  Paris  {les  Petits  Peres),  and  very  soon  became  re- 
markable for  his  oratorical  talent.  He  was  made  court 
preacher  by  Louis  XY,  and  received  the  title  of  almoner 
to  Stanislaus  I  (ex-king  of  Poland),  duke  of  Lorraine 
and  of  Bar.  His  life  was  consecrated  to  his  ministry. 
Attacked  by  paralysis,  be  resorted  in  1770  to  the  waters 
of  Plombieres  for  relief.  An  inundation  of  the  Angronne 
destroyed  that  city,  and  Montargon  found  only  death 
where  he  had  expected  recovery— July  25, 1770.  He  is 
the  author  of  Dictionnaire  apostolique  a  Vusaye  de  mes- 
sieurs les  cures  de  la  ville  et  de  la  campagne  qui  se  de- 
stinent  a  la  chaire  (Paris,  1752-58,  13  vols.  8vo);  this 
work  has  remained  the  vade  mecum  of  the  ecclesiastics. 
It  has  often  been  reprinted,  and  translated  into  different 
languages.  The  first  six  volumes  treat  of  morals,  the 
seventh  and  eighth  of  the  mysteries  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
ninth  of  the  Yirgin,  the  tenth  of  the  saints,  the  eleventh 
of  the  homilies  of  Lent,  the  twelfth  of  different  subjects, 
and  the  thirteenth  is  a  general  table  of  the  subjects 
treated  in  the  other  twelve  volumes.  See  Recuells 
d' Eloquence  sainte ;  Uistoire  de  Vinstitutioji  de  la  fete  du 
Saint-Suci-ement  (1753, 12mo) ;  Dictionnaire  portatif  des 
jrredicateurs,  s.  v. 

Montazet,  Antoine  de  Malvin  de,  a  French 
prelate,  was  born  Aug.  17, 1713,  in  the  castle  of  Quissac, 
near  Agen.  He  belonged  to  a  good  family  of  the  Age- 
nais,  and,  embracing  the  ecclesiastical  profession,  ob- 
tained, among  other  benefices,  the  abbeys  of  Saint-Yic- 
tor  of  Paris  and  of  ]\Ionstier  in  Argonne.  At  the  close 
of  1742  he  became  almoner  to  the  king,  and  in  1748  was 
appointed  bishop  of  Autun.  March  31,  1759,  he  was 
raised  to  the  archbishopric  of  Lyons  in  the  place  of  car- 
dinal de  Tencin.  "Zealously  opposed  to  the  philoso- 
phers," says  Feller,  "  an  ardent  defender  of  the  preroga- 
tives of  his  see,  which  he  claimed  privileged  even  to 
the  reformation  of  metropolitan  judgments,  a  successfid 
adversary  to  the  customs  and  privileges  of  his  chapter, 
which  he  succeeded  in  suppressing  by  civil  authoritj^, 
this  prelate  holds  a  distinguished  place  in  the  history 
of  the  Galilean  Church  of  this  century."  He  had  nu- 
merous debates  with  M.  de  Beaumont,  archbishop  of 
Paris,  relative  to  the  religious  quarrels  of  the  time.  He 
felt  much  inclined  to  side  with  the  Jansenists,  and  did 
say  much  in  their  favor;  yet  he  never  became  one  of 
the  number  of  the  Appellants,  and  avoided  any  formal 
proceedings  of  opposition  against  the  bull  Unigenitus. 
He  died  ]\Iay  2, 1788,  at  Paris.  Montazet  had  a  happy 
memory,  a  brilliant  imagination,  an  active  mind ;  bis 
eloquence  was  lofty,  energetic,  and  copious.  In  1757 
he  was  admitted  to  the  French  Academy.  His  princi- 
pal writings  are,Lettre  a  VArcheveque  de  Paiis  (Lyons, 
1760, 4to) ;  he  there  takes  the  title  oi  Primate  of  France: 
— Mandeinent  contre  "  L'Histoire  du  Pevple  de  DievH'  de 
Berruyer  (Lyons,  1762,  12mo) : — Instruction  pastorale 
sur  les  sources  de  I'incredulite  et  les  fondements  de  la  re- 
ligion (Paris,  1775,  4to) ;  this  work  was  greatly  praised 
up  to  the  time  when  it  was  reprinted  under  the  title  of 
Plagiafs  de  M.  VArcheveque,  and  with  the  passages 
drawn  from  the  Principes  de  lafoi  chretienne  of  Daguet ; 
but  there  is  reason  for  believing  that  the  composition  of 
the  Instruction  pastorale  is  by  P.  Lambert : — CatecMsme 
(Lyons,  1768)  : — Rituel  de  diocese  de  Lyon  (Lyons.  1788, 
3  vols.  12mo).  It  was  under  his  auspices  that  the  In- 
stitutiones  Theologicm  appeared  (Lyons,  1782, 1784, 6  vols. 
12mo) ;  and  the  Institutiones  Philosophicce  (Lyons,  1784, 
5  vols.  12mo) ;  this  system  of  theology,  proscribed  in 
France,  was  introduced  into  Italy  and  Spain,  where  it 
was  held  in  esteem  for  a  short  time.     See  L'Ami  de  la 


MONTBAS 


532 


MONTE 


ReUf/ion,  xxii,  161, 172;  Bachauraont,  Memolres  secrets, 
passim  ;  Migne,  Diet,  ties  J nnsenistes,  8.  v. ;  Feller,  Diet. 
Hist.  s.  V. ;  Hoefcr,  Xoui:  liiorf.  Generate,  s.  v. ;  Jervis, 
IJist.  Ck.  of  France  (Lond.  1872,  2  vols.  8vo),  ii,  325  sq. 

Moiitbas,  Jean  Bahton  de,  a  French  prelate,  a 
iiaiivc  <'t"  (liii-rct,  flourished  in  the  loth  century.  He 
was  aliljnt  r)f  the  Dorat  in  144G,  and  on  April  1, 1407, 
was  made  bishop  of  Limoges,  ami  counsellor  to  the  Par- 
liament. In  14G5  he  resigned  his  functions  in  favor  of 
his  nephew,  .lean  Barton  de  -Montbas  II,  who  put  into 
print  the  Breviurium  Lemovicense  (Paris,  1500,  8vo)  and 
the  Breriariiim  diacesis  Lemovicensis  (1504),  M<tmtscrit. 
de  1C38,  in  the  library  of  Limoges.  He  died  in  the  cas- 
tle of  Isle,  Jlarch  4,  1497,  with  the  honoraWe  title  of 
archbishop  of  Nazareth.  We  owe  to  him  tlic  construc- 
tion of  the  magnificent  nave  in  the  cathedral  of  Limoges, 
and  the  impression  of  the  Missule  ad  usuiii  Lemoriccn- 
sis  Ecdesice  Parisiis, per  Joannem  de  Prato  (1483,  4to). 
See  Gallia  Christiana  nova,  vol.  ii,  col.  5.3G,  551  ;  Bona- 
ventura,  iii,  166,  713,  729,  731.— Hoofer,  Xoia:  Blxj.  Gi- 
nerale,  s.  v. 

Montboissier.     See  Pkter  the  Yexehable. 

Montbray,  Oeffuoi  de,  a  French  prelate,  was 
born  at  .M(inil)ray,  near  Saint  Lo,  in  the  early  part  of 
tlie  11th  centur}'.  Descended  from  a  noble  family  of 
Normandy,  he  was  early  devoted  to  the  Church,  and  on 
April  10,  1049,  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Coutances. 
He  was  present  at  the  assembly  hold  in  lOGt!  by  Wil- 
liam, duke  of  Normandy,  at  Lillebonne,  in  which  it  was 
resolved  to  invade  England.  One  of  the  i)rincipal  pro- 
moters of  that  war,  he  followed  the  duke,  his  friend,  to 
the  conquest,  and  acquitted  himself  very  courageously  at 
the  battle  of  Hastings.  He  accompanied  William  to  Lon- 
don, and  in  the  ceremony  of  the  coronation  at  Westmin- 
ster acted  as  chamberlain  for  the  states  of  Normandy. 
When  the  Conqueror  was  recalled  to  his  duchy,  he  left 
(jefTroi  de  Montbray  at  the  head  of  his  soldiery.  In 
10(57,  when  he  had  defeated  the  two  Anglo-Saxon 
princes,  Edmund  and  Godwin,  Geffroi  entered  Dorset 
and  Somerset,  and  there  destroyed  all  who  rose  in  arms, 
or  who  were  suspected  of  having  taken  np  arms.  Some 
years  after  the  earls  of  Northumberland,  Norfolk,  and 
Hereford,  having  rebelled  against  the  Conqueror,  (icf- 
froi  powerfully  aided  in  the  victory  of  Fagadon,  ob- 
tained over  tliem  in  1074,  and  forced  them  to  take  ref- 
uge in  Xorwicli,  where  he  besieged  and  toolv  them  by 
capitulation.  As  a  reward  for  these  noble  and  numer- 
ous deeds,  William  gave  to  him  in  lief  280  manorial 
lands.  After  the  death  of  that  prince  (1087)  he  was 
obliged  to  return  to  Normandy,  whore  be  died.  Feb.  2, 
iniu.  Sec  Orderic  Vital,  y/iiVoiy-fl  eec/^s/'/.-^/y//!  .-  CnlHn 
ChristiiiiKi,  vol.  xi;  Thierry,  Hist,  de  hi  Cnmiihtr  il<- 
/'.  I  iKjhli  r  re  par  li's  XoriniiiKh ;  Lecanii,  ///.</.  il<  .s-  En'ijius 

drConfinicrs;  Visqwt,  Fnil/rej,(,i,fllir(llr.^\liK'{'vT,  Xoiii: 
Bin;,.  Gaurnb:  s.  v. 

Montbiun,  Charles  du  Puy,  a  lluguonot  war- 
rior, and  a  /.oalous  Protestant,  was  born  in  the  diocese 
of  Gap  in  I.mII.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  civil 
wars  of  his  time,  and  rendered  the  Huguenots  great  ser- 
vice, performing  several  very  daring  deeds,  and  show- 
ing his  bravery  in  an  especial  maimer  at  Jarnac  and 
]Montcontour.  He  was  at  last  captured  and  executed 
in  157.').  See  Allard,  VU'  du  brave  Monthrun  ((Jrcnoble, 
1675,  12mo):  ^Martin,  Hist,  de  Charles  /Jiipin/  (2(1  cd. 
I'aris.  ISIO.  Svo);  IloclVr.  Xi,>ir.  Hi,,,;.  Ghierah:  xxxvi. 
Ill     l:!;   Smiles.  Il,„i„.  w,l.<. 

Montbrun,  Guillaume.     See  BitiroNSET. 

Montchal,  Ciiaui.es  de,  a  French  prelate,  was 
li(irn  ill  l.'>.'-!'.i  at  Annonay  (Vivarais).  His  ;nothcr  was 
Ainu;  of  (iuillon.  At  lirst  abbot  of  Saint-Amand-de- 
Boisse,  in  the  diocese  of  .Vngoulome,  and  of  Saint-.Sau- 
veur-le-Vicomte,  in  the  diocese  of  Coutances,  he  became 
archbishop  of  Toulouse  in  1627  by  the  resignation  of 
Louis  de  Xogaret,  cardinal  of  La  Villcttc  The  cardinal 
of  La  Yillette  had  not  received  lioly  orders,  and  was  not 
even  a  simple  clerk.     As  for  ^Montclial,  he  had  not  onlv 


I  been  ordained,  but  he  was  that  rare  thing  among  eccle- 
siastics of  quality,  a  theologian,  and  even  an  erudite 
I  theologian.  He  was  consecrated  in  Paris  Jan.  9,  1628, 
and  subse(iuently  repaired  to  his  metropolitan  town. 
Toulouse  then  had  a  prelate  who,  clothed  in  liis  sacer- 
dotal robes,  ofKciated  and  preached,  which  was  a  great 
novelty.  Charles  de  Montchal  returned  to  Paris  in 
1635,  and  assisted  at  the  assembly  of  the  clergy,  where 
he  was  one  of  the  principal  orators.  In  1641  he  was  pres- 
ent at  the  assembly  of  Mantes,  the  history  of  which  ha 
wrote.  In  1645  he  again  took  his  seat  in  the  assembly 
of  Paris,  where  he  energetically  pleaded  the  cause  of 
ecclesiastical  franchise.  Sept.  8,  1643,  he  consecrated 
the  church  of  Soroze.  Under  his  administration  the 
Church  of  Toulouse  prospered  greatly,  and  became  en- 
riched by  a  considerable  number  of  monasteries  and 
convents.  He  died  at  Carcassonne  Aug.  22, 1651.  The 
zeal  of  Montchal  for  religion  was  that  of  an  eidightened 
mind.  He  thought  that  the  Church  should  be  power- 
ful, and  was  sensible  enough  to  seek  for  the  elements  of 
that  power  in  the  example  of  good  morals,  the  progress 
of  ecclesiastical  studies,  and  the  noble  triumphs  of  clo- 
(pience.  He  was  the  patron  of  a  multitude  of  learned 
men,  who  dedicated  their  works  to  him ;  among  them 
may  be  mentioned  Elienne  Jlolinier,  Fran(;ois  C<jrabe- 
fis,  Iimocent  Cironius,  Casanova,  Kavel,  etc.  He  is  the 
author  of  Memoires  (Rotterdam,  1718,  2  vols.  12mo) ;  iu 
these  Memoires  is  the  Journal  de  VAssemblee  de  Mantes. 
See  Gallia  Christ,  vol.  xiii,  col.  61 :  Du  ^lege,  IJist.  des 
Institut.  de  la  ville  de  Toulouse,  iii,  126,  127, — Hoefer, 
Xouv.  Biofj.  Generale,  s.  v 

Mont  de  Piete.  See  Montes  Pietatis, 
Monte,  Cardinal  deL  See  JuLifS  II. 
Monte,  Andreas  de  C::5Ta  ^n  DXi^ISS),  a 
celebrated  Jewish  convert  to  Christianity,  so  named 
after  he  had  embraced  the  new  faith  (before  his  conver- 
sion he  was  called  /*.  .Joseph  Tsarjnithi  I/a-A  Iphasi, 
"^OEsXn  "irS^U  "Ol"^),  was  born  in  the  early  part  of 
the  IGth  century  at  Fez,  in  Africa  (hence  his  second 
surname,  "^DS'sxri),  of  Jewish  parents,  who  were  na- 
tives of  France,  which  is  indicated  by  his  first  surname 
(irSi:j.  Gallvs).  He  emigrated  to  Rome,  where,  after 
exercising  the  office  of  chief  rabbi  for  many  years,  and 
distinguishing  himself  as  an  expounder  of  the  Mosaic 
law,  ho  embraced  Christianity  about  the  year  1552,  dur- 
ing the  ])onti(icate  of  Julius  III.  He  at  once  conse- 
crated his  vast  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  rabbinical  lit- 
erature to  the  elucidation  of  the  prophecies,  with  a  view 
to  bringing  his  brethren  into  the  fold  of  the  l.'oinish 
Church,  and  wrote — (1)  A  voluminous  work,  entitled 
Cimn-in  n^in-S,  The  Perplexity  of  the  Jen-s,  demon- 
strating both  from  the  Scriptures  and  the  ancient  rab- 
binical writings  all  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  relig- 
ion. Bartolocci,  who  found  the  MS.  in  loose  sheets 
in  the  Neophyte  College  at  Pome,  carefully  collated  it 
and  had  it  bound.  He  did  not  know  that  it  ever  was 
])rinted,  but  Fllrst  (hibliothcca  .htdaica,  iii,  544,  s.  v. 
Zarfati)  states  that  it  was  published  in  Pome,  16 — ,  4to. 
However,  Fabiano  Fiocchi,  in  his  work  called  Dialogo 
delta  Fi-dc,  has  almost  entirely  transcril>ed  it,  so  that 
the  Biblical  student  may  derive  all  the  advantages 
from  it  for  Christological  purposes.  (2)  An  epistle  to 
the  various  synagogues,  written  both  in  Hebrew  and 
Italian,  and  entitled  Clbu:  H'lSX,  Lettera  di  Pare,  dated 
Jan.  12, 15.S1.  It  treats  of  the  coming  of  the  true  3Ies- 
siah,  and  shows  from  the  prophecies  of  the  O.  T.,  as 
well  as  from  the  works  of  the  ancient  rabbins,  that  he 
must  have  come  long  ago  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ 
(Home,  16—,  4to).  Tiiis  learned  work  and  the  former 
one  are  very  important  conlributions  to  the  exposition 
of  the  Jlessianic  prophecies,  and  to  the  understanding 
i  of  the  ancient  Jewish  views  about  the  Messiah.  Greg- 
I  ory  XIII  ap|)ointed  JNIonte  in  1576  preacher  to  the  He- 
,  brews  of  Pome  in  the  oratorv  of  the  Holv  Trinitv;  ho 


MONTE  CASSmO 


533 


MONTE  CASSINO 


was  afterwards  made  Oriental  interpreter  to  the  pope, 
in  which  capacity  he  translated  several  ecclesiastical 
works  from  the  Syriac  and  Arabic.  He  died  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  17th  century.  See  Bartolocci,  Bihlio- 
theca  Magna  Rahhitiica,  iii,  848  sq. ;  Wolf,  Bibltofheca 
Hebrwa  i,  556  sq. ;  Ginsburg,  in  Kitto,  Cyclop.  Bill.  Lit. 
s.  V. ;  Kalkar,  Israel  n.  die  Kirche,  j^.  7 1 ;  Filrst,  Bibl, 
Jud.  i,  45  (s.  V,  Andreas). 

Monte  Cas(s)ino,  the  first  Benedictine  convent 
ever  established,  "the  venerable  mother  of  Western 
monachism,"  and  for  a  thousand  years  the  spot  especial- 
ly dear  to  the  great  Benedictine  order,  was  so  named 
after  the  place  in  which  it  was  located. 

Benedict  of  Nursia  (q.  v.)  having  been  induced  by 
the  representations  of  the  jiriest  Florentius  to  settle 
in  the  Campania,  near  Naples,  found  on  a  mountain, 
near  the  old  Castrum  Casinum,  a  temple  of  Apollo  and  a 
shrine  of  Venus,  which  were  still  resorted  to  by  the  hea- 
then inhabitants.  He  converted  them,  destroyed  the 
temple  and  shrine,  and  in  their  place  erected  a  chapel 
dedicated  to  St,  Martin,  and  soon  after  commenced  build- 
ing a  convent  for  himself  and  his  followers,  which  sub- 
sequently received  the  name  of  Monte  Cassino.  The 
undertaking  succeeded  in  spite  of  difficulties  of  all  kinds 
(it  is  said  the  devil  made  the  stones  so  heavy  that  it 
was  impossible  to  lift  them,  etc.!),  and  was  terminated 
in  529.  The  convent  was,  of  course,  subject  to  the  rule 
of  Benedict,  who  remained  its  abbot  until  his  death, 
March  21,  543.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  abbots  Con- 
stantine,  Simplicius,  and  Vitalis,  under  whose  govern- 
ment the  convent,  although  often  invaded  by  the  bar- 
barians, continued  to  prosper,  owing  chiefly  to  the  mir- 
acles performed  by  the  relics  of  its  founder.  In  580 
Monte  Cassino  was  stormed  by  the  Lombards.  The  ab- 
bot and  monks,  taking  with  them  their  most  valuable 
ornaments,  and  the  original  copy  of  their  rule,  fled  to 
Rome,  where  they  were  well  received  by  pope  Pelagius 
II.  They  soon  built  a  new  convent  by  the  side  of  the 
Quirinal  Palace,  and  remained  in  possession  of  it  during 
140  years.  Gregory  the  Great  proved  particularly  ^^■ell- 
disposed  towards  the  order,  inciting  them  to  turn  their 
attention  towards  missions,  and  particularly  to  Eng- 
land, from  whence  they  spread  to  Scotland,  Ireland,  and 
Germany.  St,  Willibrod  introduced  the  order  in  Fries- 
land,  and  under  St.  Bonifacius  it  acquired  supremacy 
throughout  Germany,  In  720  pope  Grcgor\-  II  appoint- 
ed the  Brescian  Petronax  to  build  a  new  convent  and 
a  church  on  the  ruins  of  Monte  Cassino,  which  was  then 
only  inhabited  hy  hermits,  and  the  church  was  conse- 
crated by  pope  Zacharias  himself  in  748,  Petronax  was 
appointed  abbot,  and  the  pope  confirmed  all  the  dona- 
tions made  to  the  convent,  exempting  it  at  the  same 
time  from  episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  restoring  to  it 
the  autograph  rule  of  St.  Benedict.  But  in  the  mean 
time  the  convent  had  met  with  an  irreparable  loss :  a 
French  monk,  Aigulf  de  Fleury,  had  in  G33  taken  from 
the  ruins  the  remains  of  the  saint,  and  carried  them  to 
his  own  convent,  which  henceforth  had  taken  the  name 
of  St.  Benoit  sur  Loire.  Abbot  Petronax  died  May  6, 
740.  Under  his  successors  Monte  Cassino  became  a  cen- 
tre of  learning.  Prof.  Leo,  in  his  Gesch.  v.  Italien,  says : 
"Benevento  and  the  convent  of  Monte  Cassino  must  be 
considered  as  having  been  for  a  time,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  most  important  abode  of  scien- 
tific activity.  Africa,  Greece,  and  the  Western  German 
countries  met  there ;  and  from  the  meeting  of  the  dis- 
tinguished men  of  these  different  countries  resulted  nat- 
urally a  higher  intellectual  life  than  could  be  found 
anywhere  else;  for  there  neither  trade  nor  the  coarse 
enjoyments  of  immoderate  eating  or  drinking,  which  en- 
gross all  in  the  sea-towns  and  on  the  northern  coasts,  were 
the  adversaries  of  science"  (ii,  21).  Among  its  eminent 
men  we  may  mention  Paulus,  the  son  of  Warnefried,  the 
historian  of  the  Lombards,  whom,  after  in  sorrow  at  the 
fate  of  his  country  he  had  retired  to  Jlonte  Cassino, 
Charlemagne  repeatedly  invited  to  his  court,  and  who 
wrote  the  Uomiliarium,  and  taught  Greek  to  the  cler- 


gy. Under  his  influence  Charlemagne  granted  great 
privileges  to  the  order,  and  subjected  all  the  convents 
of  his  empire  to  their  rule.  The  relations  between  Rome 
and  Monte  Cassino  were  always  erf  the  most  friendly 
character;  and  while,  down  to  the  8th  century,  it  was 
Rome  that  encouraged  and  sustained  the  convent  in  its 
progress,  the  latter  came  in  the  troubled  times  of  the  xth, 
9th,  and  10th  centuries  to  be  considered  by  the  Romish 
clergy  as  the  centre  of  scientific  culture.  However,  in' 
884,  the  Saracens  attacked  the  convent,  slew  the  abbot, 
Bertharius,  at  the  altar,  and  destroyed  Monte  Cassino 
and  St,  Salvator ;  and  the  monks  had  to  flee  witli  their 
treasures  to  the  convent  of  Teano.  In  88G,  monk  Er- 
chembert,  at  the  head  of  some  of  the  order,  made  an  at- 
tempt to  restore  the  convent;  but  they  were  driven  off 
by  Greek  robbers,  and  remained  until"  the  death  of  ab- 
bot Leo  in  915  at  Teano,  gradually  losing  their  impor- 
tance. The  count  of  Teano  was  thus  enabled  to  seize 
without  opposition  some  of  the  property  of  the  convent; 
those  of  Capua  appropriated  also  a  part,  and,  finally, 
after  the  death  of  Leo,  the  young  archdeacon,  John  of 
Capua,  a  cousin  of  the  duke  of  Capua,  became  the  ab- 
bot of  the  remaining  Cassinites,  who  now  removed  to 
Capua.  There  they  built  the  church  of  St,  Benedetto, 
together  with  a  rich  college  of  canons.  But  they  now 
commenced  gradually  relaxing  the  severity  of  their 
rule,  and  we  find  pope  Agapetus  II  complaining  bitterly 
of  their  insubordination.  In  949  abbot  Aligernus  suc- 
ceeded b}^  his  zeal  in  restoring  Monte  Cassino ;  through 
the  protection  of  the  princes  of  Capua  he  regained  the 
possessions  taken  from  it  in  former  times;  he  invited 
colonists,  with  whom  he  concluded  a  "placitum  libel- 
lari  statuto,"  and  built  for  them  in  several  places  church- 
es and  chapels.  He  obliged  the  monks  to  devote  them- 
selves to  agriculture  and  to  literary  labors,  and  enforced 
the  discipline.  He  obtained  also  from  the  emperors 
Otto  I  and  II  the  confirmation  of  the  possessions  and 
privileges  of  the  convent,  and  used  every  exertion  to 
restore  it  to  its  former  splendor.  He  remained  abbot 
thirty-five  j-ears,  and  is  called  the  third  founder  of 
]\Ionte  Cassino.  His  successor,  Manso  (986),  only  sought 
to  increase  the  temporal  welfare  of  the  convent,  regard- 
less of  discipline.  He  led  a  princely  life,  and  the  dis- 
order became  so  great  during  his  administration  that 
Nilus,  visiting  the  convent,  exclaimed:  "Let  us  quick- 
ly, my  brethren,  leave  this  place,  which  will  soon  be 
visited  by  the  anger  of  God."  Manso,  deceived  by  some 
of  his  own  monks,  died  of  grief  in  996.  Nothing  partic- 
ular occurred  imder  the  succeeding  abbots  Athenulph 
(1011-22),  Theobald  (1022-35),  Richerius  (1038-55), 
Frederick  (1057-58).  Under  abbot  Desiderius  (1058-87) 
the  order  commenced  to  improve  again ;  he  was  a  son 
of  a  duke  of  Benevento,  and  had  been  educated  in  the 
convent  De  la  Casa;  Leo  IX  made  him  cardinal  deacon 
of  St.  Sergius  and  Bacchus,  and  on  JNIarch  26,  1059, 
Nicholas  II  appointed  him  cardinal  priest  of  the  title 
of  St.  Cecilia.  The  next  day  he  was  appointed  abbot 
of  Monte  Cassino,  He  restored  the  building,  the  church 
was  consecrated  by  pope  Alexander  II  in  person,  and 
the  number  of  the  monks  increased  to  two  hundred. 
At  the  same  time  the  discipline  was  strictly  enforced, 
and  scientific  studies  vigorously  resumed  (see  Giese- 
brecht,  De  lift,  stvdiis  apud  Italos  primis  medii  cevi 
sceculis  (Berol.  1845).  Gregorys  YII  himself  designated 
Desiderius  as  his  successor,  and  he  was  finally  made  pope, 
somewhat  by  force,  in  1086,  as  Victor  III.  He  ever  re- 
gretted having  left  his  convent,  and  finally  returned 
to  die  in  the  place  he  loved  so  dearly,  after  reigning 
eight  years.  His  successor  as  abbot  was  Oderisius  I 
(1087-1105).  Under  him  the  convent  received  various 
valuable  endowments,  a  hospital  was  added  to  the  al- 
ready existing  buildings,  and  these  completed  in  a  very 
handsome  manner.  Pdpe  Urban  II  confirmed  by  a  bull 
all  the  donations  wliich  had  been  made  to  the  convent, 
and  replaced  the  abbey  of  (ilanfeuil,  in  France,  founded 
by  St.  Maurus,  under  the  rule  of  Monte  Cassino.  LTn- 
der  the  successors  of  Oderisius  I  the  reputation  of  Monte 


MOXTE  CATIXO 


534 


MONTENEGRO 


Cassino  gradually  declined  again,  and  was  never  regain- 
ed. Among  those  who  inhabited  it  are  yet  to  be  men- 
tioned bishop  Bruno  of  Segni  (abbot  1107-11),  cardinal 
tJiovanni  Gaetano.  afterwards  pope  Gelasius  II,  and  es- 
pecially the  learned  Tctrus  Diaconus.  In  1239  the  em- 
peror Frederick  II  dispersed  the  monks,  and  occupied  the 
convent  with  his  soldiers.  Urban  IV  then  ajipointed  the 
wise  and  learned  Bernard  Ayglerius  of  Lyons  abbot  and 
reformer  of  the  convent.  He  succeeded  in  regaining 
some  of  its  lost  possessions,  and  in  subjecting  the  monks 
to  the  discijiline,  for  which  purpose  he  coinix)sed  the 
;Speailtim  Monachorum  (A^enice,  1505),  and  a  comment- 
ary on  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict.  Bernard  died  April  3, 
1282.  In  1294  pope  Celestinc  V  made  an  attempt  to 
change  the  rule  into  that  of  the  Celestines,  and  with  that 
view  appointed  the  Celestine  Angelarius  abbot  of  Monte 
Cassino;  but  Boniface  YIII  gave  up  the  attempt.  A 
bull  of  John  XXII  made  the  church  of  Monte  Cassino  a 
cathedral,  the  abbot  bishop,  and  the  monks  cathedral 
canons.  Still  the  order  continued  to  siidi,  and  in  1359 
there  remained  but  a  few  monks  living  in  huts  built  on 
the  ruins  of  their  convent.  Pope  Urban  V  sought  to  re- 
vive an  interest  in  the  convent,  bocamo  himself  its  ab- 
bot, invited  the  assistance  of  the  otlicr  PxMRMlictine  con- 
vents, had  well-disciplined  KonodiL-tincs  imported  from 
two  other  convents,  and  finally  in  1370  ai)i)ointed  An- 
dreas de  Faenza,  a  Benedictine  of  the  Camaldula,  abbot 
of  Monte  Cassino.  But  the  political  troubles  which 
were  then  agitating  Italy,  and  particularly  Naples,  pre- 
vented prosperity  in  the  convent,  and  pope  Julius  II  in- 
corporated it  witli  the  Benedictine  convent  of  St.  Justina. 
The  services  which  have  been  rendered  to  science  by 
the  convent  of  Monte  Cassino  arc  related  by  Dora  Luigi 
Tosti  in  his  Storia  della  Badia  di  Monte-Cassino,  divisa 
in  libri  nove  ed  illustraid  di  note  et  documenti  (Naples, 
1842-43,  3  vols.).  He  concludes  with  the  words:  "At 
present  there  are  some  twenty  monks  dwelling  in  the 
vast  convent,  attending  with  praiseworthy  diligence  to 
the  singing  of  psalms  and  their  devotions ;  they  take 
much  trouble  in  educating  a  school  of  fifteen  boys,  who 
wear  the  monks'  garb,  and  they  direct  the  seminary  of 
the  diocese  of  Cassino,  containing  some  sixty  pupils. 
They  occupy  themselves  besides  in  publishing  old  works 
contained  in  the  archives  of  the  convent," — Herzog, 
Retd-Eiicyklop.  ix,  765.  See  also  Tosti's  A  rchivi  Ciisi- 
nese  (Naples,  1847) ;  Maclear,  J  list.  Christian  Missions, 
p.  172.     See  Moxastei4Y.     (J.  N.  P.) 

Monte  Catino,  Axtomo,  an  Italian  philosopher, 
was  born  at  Ferrarain  153C.  Of  noble  extraction,  ho 
studied  different  sciences  in  his  own  country,  and  be- 
came professor  of  jihilosophy.  He  was  particularly  es- 
teemed by  duke  Alfonso  II,  who  chose  him  for  his  sec- 
retary, and  sent  him  as  ambassador  to  the  court  of 
France,  and  to  that  of  Pome.  According  to  IMuratori, 
he  repaid  the  family  of  his  benefactor  with  ingratitude, 
and  was  the  principal  instrument  in  the  overthrow  of 
the  duchy  of  Ferrara  by  the  Holy  See.  He  died  at  Fer- 
rara  in  1599.  Monte  Catino  is  the  author  of  .1  listolelis 
Politicorum  lib.  Hi  (I'errara,  1587-97,  3  vols,  fol.);  this 
Latin  version  is  accompanied  by  a  commentary,  which 
Naude  does  not  esteem  very  highly;  and  the  second 
volume,  which  apiicared  in  1784,  contains  also  the  lie- 
jvihlic  and  the  Luws  of  Plato,  as  well  as  some  frag- 
ments:— In  octaviini  libnun  PhysiccB  Aristofelis  Com- 
mmtarius  (Ferrara,  1591,  fol.)  : — In  prinuim  jxirtem  lib. 
Hi  AHstotdis  de  Animii.  Francesco  Patrizi  has  dedi- 
cated to  JMonte  Catino  one  of  the  volumes  of  his  Disnis- 
siones  Peripaleticer,  and  he  has  left  a  magnificent  eulogy 
of  the  virtues  of  this  philoso|)her.  See  Bayle,  Diet.  Cri- 
tique, s.  V. ;  Nan<le,  Bibliofp:  I'nf!/,  vol.  xxvii ;  Ag.  Su- 
jierbi,  A pporalo  dt'f/li  Uomini  illiistri  di  Feirara;  Mu- 
ratori,  Antichitn  Ksfeim,  pt.  ii,  c.  14;  Tiraboschi,  »'?^)?-tV/ 
della  Letter.  Iltil.  vol.  vii,  pt.  i. — Iloefcr,  Xoiti:  Bio//.  Ge- 
nerate, s.  v. 

Monte  Corvino,  John  de  (chiefly  known  on  ac- 
count of  his  wonderful  missionary  labors  in  the  East),  a 


native  of  France,  was  bom  in  1247.  By  papal  authori- 
ty Monte  Corvino  visited  India  in  1291,  and  thence  jiro- 
ceeded  to  China,  where  he  was  kindly  received  by  the 
emperor  Kublai  Khan,  who  permitted  him  to  build  a 
church  at  Peking,  then  called  Cambalu.  In  spite  of  the 
opjHisitiou  he  met,  not  only  from  Pagans,  but  also  from 
Nestorians,  he  seems  to  have  been  so  successful  that  as 
a  result  of  eleven  years'  labor  he  baptized  nearly  GOOO 
persons  and  gathered  150  children,  whom  he  taught 
(ireck  and  Latin,  and  for  whom  he  composed  sundry  ile- 
votional  works.  He  also  translated  into  the  Tartar  lan- 
guage all  f)f  the  N.  T.  and  Psalms.  The  success  which 
attended  his  labors  caused  Clement  V  to  constitute  him 
archbishop  of  Peking  in  1307,  and  seven  bishops  were 
sent  to  him  as  suffragans.  His  death  occurred  in  1330, 
and  scarcely  forty  years  passed  before  the  results  of  his 
life-work  were  almost  annihilated  by  the  Ming  dynasty, 
which  ex])elled  his  successors.  See  Williams,  Middle 
Kiiif/dom  (see  Index  in  vol.  ii)  ;  Newcomb,  Cyclop,  of 
Mlssio,<s.     (II.W.T.) 

Monte  OlivetO,  a  rich  and  famous  abbey  in  It- 
aly, is  the  most  noted  place  of  this  order.  The  Order 
of  the  Holv  Sacrament,  also  known  as  the  Congregation 
of  the  Body  of  Jesus  Christ,  united  with  the  ( )liveten- 
ses  in  1582.  See  P.runel,  I/ist.  du  Clerye  seculicr  et  reg- 
ulier  (Amst.  1710,  18mo),  ii,  288,  291, 

Monte,  Pietro  dal,  a  celebrated  Italian  ecclesi- 
astical canonist,  was  born  at  Venice  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  15th  century,  xVfter  studying  Greek  and  Ital- 
ian under  the  direction  of  Guarino,  he  was  made  mas- 
ter of  arts  in  Paris,  and  then  obtained  the  rank  of 
doctor  in  Padua,  In  1433  he  was  made  aiwstolic  pro- 
thonotary,  and  in  1434  was  sent  by  pope  Eugenius  IV  to 
the  council  at  Basle,  He  afterwards  went  to  Pome  to 
ask  of  her  citizens,  in  the  name  of  that  council,  a  tax 
for  liberating  a  nephew  of  the  pope,  whom  cardinal 
Condolmieri  had  imprisoned.  In  1434  he  was  sent  to 
England  to  collect  the  taxes  due  the  pontifical  court. 
He  remained  in  that  country  five  years,  during  which 
time  he  became  a  favorite  of  the  duke  of  Gloucester, 
uncle  of  the  king.  In  1442  he  was  made  bishop  of 
Brescia,  a  position  which  he  held  for  two  years.  He  was 
afterwards  sent  to  France  as  legate  of  the  Holy  See,  In 
1447  he  again  visited  Rome  to  assist  in  the  ceremonies 
attending  the  ordination  of  pope  Nicholas  V,  On  his 
return  to  Brescia  he  founded  many  churches  and  a  few 
religious  institutions,  JMonte  died  in  14.57,  leaving  a 
reputation  worthy  of  a  learned  and  pious  man.  His 
works  are,  Repertoriuni  .luris  utriusque  (Bologna,  14G5, 
3  vols,  fol.)  : — Mona>-cliin.  in  qua  rieneralium  conciliornm 
materia.  (l<  pn/i  sla/i  d  /m'shni/ia  Rnwaui  I'oi/tijiri.i  et 
Iinperulnn's  (lisriii;//),- i\luuir.  I  i'Xt.lUt):— a  Latin  trans- 
lation of  the  Minioihnii  Jjn-liariatia-  of  St.  Epiphany 
(Home,  1523,  8vo).  Some  fragments  of  his  discourses 
and  letters  have  been  published  by  cardinal  Quirini  in 
his  I'r.  BarbaH  Epistol(T,  t.  ii,  and  in  his  A'pi.ttolce  ad 
Btufdicttim. — Iloefer,  Xoitv.  Biog.  Generate,  s.  v. 

Montenat,  BicsoiT,  a  French  ecclesiastic,  was 
born  about  the  commencement  of  the  lOth  century;  he 
was  almoner  to  duke  Charles  of  Bourbon,  but  he  was 
so  little  known  that  his  name  cannot  be  found  in  the 
Biblioth'eque  I'ran^aise  of  La  Croix  du  Maine.  At  the 
rcijuest  of  Anne  of  France,  daughter  of  Louis  XI,  he 
wrote  in  1505  a  treatise  on  the  Conformite  des proph'etes 
et  Sibylles  arec  les  dome  articles  de  lafoi;  this  work 
remains  imedited,  and  is  preserved  among  the  manu- 
scripts of  the  Imperial  Library,  No.  7287.  See  Paulin, 
Paris,  Mdiiiisi-ri/s  Fran^(tis  de  la  bibliol/ieqtie  du  Roi,  vii, 
310.— Iloefcr,  Xiiuv.  Biog.  (ieiierale,  s,  v, 

Montenegro,  called  !)y  the  natives  Tchemagora, 
and  by  the  Turks  Karadagh.  i,  e.  Black  JMountains,  in 
view  of  the  dark  appearance  of  the  wooded  hills  of  this 
remarkably  mountainous  country,  is  a  semi-independent 
Slavish  jjrincipality,  between  lat,  42^  10'  and  42^  5(j'  N., 
and  long,  18^  41'  and  20^  22'  E. ;  bounded  on  the  north 
by  the  Turkish  provinces  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina, 


MONTENEGRO 


535 


MONTENEGRO 


on  the  south  and  east  by  Albania,  and  on  the  west  by 
the  Dalmatian  circle  of  Cattaro,  and  covering  a  terri- 
tory of  about  1800  square  miles,  •with  a  population  of 
about  130,000. 

General  Desaiption. — The  country  is  very  mountain- 
ous, and  agriculture  is  therefore  prosecuted  to  a  moder- 
ate extent  only,  and  in  a  very  rude  and  primitive  man- 
ner. The  products  are  like  those  of  other  European 
lands  of  the  same  latitudes.  "  The  general  aspect  of 
Montenegro,"  says  Wilkinson,  the  celebrated  English 
traveller,  "is  that  of  a  succession  of  elevated  ridges, 
diversified  here  and  there  by  a  lofty  mountain -peak, 
and  in  some  parts  looking  like  a  sea  of  immense  waves 
turned  into  stone.  Trees  and  bushes  grow  amid  the 
crags,  and  in  the  rugged  district  of  Ceoo  the  fissures  in 
the  rocks  are  like  a  glacier,  which  no  liorse  could  pass 
over  without  breaking  its  legs.  The  momitains  are  all 
limestone,  as  in  Dalmatia;  but  in  no  part  of  that  coun- 
try do  they  appear  to  be  tossed  about  as  in  Montenegro, 
where  a  circuitous  track,  barely  indicated  by  some  large 
loose  stones,  calling  itself  a  road,  enables  a  man  on  foot 
with  difficulty  to  pass  from  the  crest  of  one  ascent  to 
another.  Some  idea  of  the  rugged  character  of  the 
country  may  be  formed  from  the  impression  of  the  people 
themselves,  who  say  that '  when  God  was  in  the  act  of 
distributing  stones  over  the  eartli,  the  bag  that  held 
them  burst,  and  let  them  all  fall  upon  Montenegro.' 
The  chief  productions  cultivated  there  are  Indian  corn 
and  potatoes;  cabbages,  cauliflowers,  and  tobacco  are 
also  grown  in  gTeat  quantities,  and  vegetables  are 
among  the  principal  exports  of  jMontenegro.  Potatoes, 
indeed,  have  been  a  most  profitable  acquisition  to  the 
poor  mountaineers,  as  well  for  home  consumption  as 
for  exportation,  since  their  introduction  in  178G"  {Dal- 
matia and  Montenegro  [London,  1848,  2  vols.  8vo], 
i,  411-413).  Besides  agriculture,  the  chief  occupation 
of  the  Montenegrins  is  fishing.  There  are  few  who 
exercise  any  trade,  though  some  perform  the  ofiices  of 
blacksmiths,  farriers,  or  whatever  else  their  immediate 
wants  may  require.  They  are  liuit  together  in  clans 
and  families,  and  have  many  feuds  among  themselves, 
which  are  perpetuated  by  the  hereditary  obligation  of 
avenging  blood.  In  their  disposition  towards  strangers 
they  are,  like  most  mountaineers,  hospitable  and  cour- 
teous, and  bear  a  friendly  feeling  for  those  who  sympa- 
thize with  tlieir  high  notions  of  independence  and  de- 
votion to  their  country.  They  are  cheerful  in  manner, 
and  though  very  rude,  yet  by  no  means  uncouth.  Edu- 
cation among  them  is  at  a  very  low  ebb;  in  fact,  it  is 
held  in  contempt,  and  many,  even  among  the  priests, 
are  unable  to  read  or  Avrite.  In  1841  several  schools 
were  estabhshed,  and  the  art  of  printing  introduced; 
but  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country  has  hitherto  pre- 
vented much  improvement.  Their  language  is  a  very 
pure  Servian  dialect,  called  by  Krasmski  "the  nearest 
of  all  the  Slavonian  dialects  to  the  original  Slavonic 
tongue;  that  is,  that  into  which  the  Scriptures  were 
translated  by  St.  Cyril  and  Methodius  in  the  9th 
centurj^,  and  which  still  continues  to  be  the  sacred 
tongue  of  all  the  Slavonian  nations  who  follow  the 
Eastern  Church." 

There  are  no  towns  in  IMontenegro,  and  the  largest  vil- 
lage contains  only  1200  inhabitants.  Cettigne  or  Tzet- 
tinie,  the  seat  of  government,  contains  between  twenty 
and  thirty  well-built  houses,  besides  a  convent  and  the 
palace  of  the  prince  of  Jlontenegro.  The  villages  are 
unwaUed;  the  houses,  or  rather  huts,  which  compose 
them  are  very  rarely  provided  with  chimneys,  and  in 
the  elevated  districts  are  more  wretched  in  appearance 
than  even  the  mud-hovels  of  Ireland.  "  The  houses," 
says  Wilkinson,  "  are  of  stone,  generally  with  thatched 
roofs,  but  many  are  covered  partly  or  entirely  with 
wooden  shingles,  a  mode  of  roofing  very  common  in  Sla- 
vonic countries.  Some  of  the  better  kinds  are  roofed 
with  tiles,  on  which  large  stones,  the  primitive  nails  of 
Montenegro,  are  ranged  in  squares,  to  keep  them  from 
being  torn  off  by  the  wind.    Each  house  generally  con- 


tains one  or  two  rooms  on  the  ground-floor,  with  a  loft 
above,  occupying  the  space  between  the  gables,  where 
they  keej)  their  Indian  corn  and  other  stores.  The  as- 
cent to  it  is  by  a  ladder,  applied  to  a  square  hole  in  its 
floor,  calling  itself  a  door ;  and  this  floor,  which  per- 
forms the  part  of  ceiling  to  the  lower  room,  is  frequently 
of  wicker-work,  laid  on  rafters  running  from  wall  to 
wall.  The  lower  room  is  at  once  the  parlor,  the  sleep- 
ing-room, and  the  kitchen ;  but  in  the  small  villages 
the  liouses  have  no  loft,  and  their  style  of  building  is 
very  primitive,  the  walls  being  merely  of  rude  stones, 
without  cement,  and  the  roof  of  the  coarsest  thatch.  In 
the  better  kind  of  houses  is  a  bedstead,  standing  in  one 
corner  of  the  room.  It  may  be  styled  a  large  bench, 
and  generally  consists  of  planks  resting  on  a  simple 
frame,  having  the  head  and  one  side  to  the  wall ;  and  a 
foot-board,  with  a  post  running  up  to  the  ceiling,  com- 
pletes the  whole  wood-work.  Those  who  can  afford  it 
have  a  large  mattress  and  quilt,  or  blankets  ;*but  no 
Montenegrin  bed  is  encumbered  with  curtains  or  sheets, 
and  the  only  extras  seen  upon  it  are  intended  for  warmth, 
in  which  the  struccha  [somewhat  like  the  Scotch  plaid, 
and  worn  hy  both  sexes  over  their  shoulders]  performs 
an  essential  part.  Native  visitors  are  satisfied  to  roll 
themselves  up  in  their  strucche  and  lie  on  the  floor,- 
which  is  the  bare  earth;  and  the  poorer  people,  who 
cannot  afford  bedsteads,  do  the  same  at  their  homes, 
though  this  is  no  great  hardship  to  the  Montenegrin, 
who  is  accustomed,  as  long  as  the  season  will  allow  him, 
to  sleep  out  of  doors,  upon  the  ground,  or  on  a  bench 
made  of  stones  and  miul.  But  whether  in  or  out  of  the 
house,  in  a  bed  or  on  the  ground,  the  Montenegrin  al- 
ways keeps  on  his  clothes,  his  arms  are  close  to  his  side, 
and  when  aroused  by  anj'  alarm,  or  by  the  approach  of 
j  morning,  he  is  up  at  the  shortest  notice ;  and  no  toilet 
intervenes,  on  ordinary  occasions,  between  his  rising  and 
his  pipe.  The  embers  of  the  fire,  which  had  been  cov- 
ered up  with  ashes  the  night  before,  are  then  scraped 
up,  and  the  usual  habits  of  the  day  begin.  The  fire- 
place, which  is  in  another  corner  of  the  room,  is  a  raised 
hearth  on  the  floor,  with  a  caldron  suspended  from  a  ring 
above;  it  also  serves  as  an  oven,  the  Montenegrin  bread 
being  merely  dough  baked  in  ashes,  as  by  the  Arabs 
now  and  by  the  patriarchs  of  old,  and  witliout  leaven. 
Chimneys  are  an  unknown  luxury  in  most  IMontenegrin 
houses,  and  the  smoke  escapes  as  it  can.  The  furniture 
is  not  abundant,  consisting  of  a  bench,  a  few  wooden 
stools,  and  a  simple  table;  and  the  only  brilliant-look- 
ing objects  in  the  house  are  the  arms  and  dresses  of  the 
inmates.  Clocks  or  watches  are  also  luxuries  unknown 
to  Montenegro,  except  at  Tzettinie  and  the  convents, 
and  the  only  mode  of  ascertaining  time  is  by  watching 
the  sun,  or  by  common  hour-glasses,  and  an  occasional 
simdial.  In  some  of  the  wildest  mountain  districts 
the  houses  or  huts  are  of  the  meanest  character,  made 
of  rough  stones  piled  one  on  the  other,  or  of  mere 
wicker-work,  and  covered  with  the  rudest  thatch,  the 
whole  building  being  merely  a  few  feet  high.  Few 
houses  in  Montenegro  have  an  upper  stors^,  except  at 
Tzettinie,  Rieka,  and  some  other  places,  where  they  are 
better  built  than  in  the  generality  of  the  villages,  of  solid 
stone,  and  roofed  with  tiles.  Warm  houses  are  indeed 
vert'  requisite  there  in  winter,  when  it  is  very  cold,  the 
level  of  the  whole  country  being  considerably  above  the 
sea,  amid  lofty  peaks  covered  with  snow  during  many 
months,  and  subject  to  stormy  winds  that  blow  over  a 
long  range  of  bleak  mountains.  The  climate,  however, 
is  healthy,  and  these  hardy  people  are  remarkable  for 
longevity. 

"Both  men  and  women  are  verj'  robust,  and  they 
are  known  to  carry  as  much  as  200  funti  (about  175 
pounds)  on  their  shoulders,  over  the  steepest  and 
most  rugged  rocks.  All  appear  muscular,  strong,  and 
hardy  in  Montenegro;  and  the  knotted  trees,  as  they 
grow  amid  the  crags,  seem  to  be  emblematic  of  their 
countrj',  and  in  character  with  the  tough,  sinewy  fibre 
of  the  inhabitants.     But,  though  able,  the  men  are  sel- 


MONTENEGRO 


536 


MONTENEGRO 


dom  inclined  to  earn-  anything,  or  take  any  trouble  that 
they  can  transfer  to  the  women,  who  are  the  beasts  of 
burden  in  Montenegro;  and  one  sees  women  toiling 
up  the  steepest  hills  under  loads  which  men  seldom 
carry  in  other  countries.  They  are  therefore  very  mus- 
cular and  strong,  and  the  beauty  they  frequently  pos- 
sess is  soon  lost  by  the  hard  and  coarse  complexions 
they  acquire,  their  youth  being  generally  exhausted  by 
laborious  and  unfeminine  occupations.  The  sheaves  of 
Indian  corn,  the  bundles  of  wood,  and  everything  re- 
quired for  the  house  or  the  granary  are  carried  l)v 
women ;  and  the  men  are  supposed  to  be  too  much  in- 
terested about  the  nobler  pursuits  of  war  or  pillage  to 
have  time  to  attend  to  meaner  labors.  As  soon  as  the 
tillage  of  the  lands  is  performed,  they  think  they  have 
done  all  the  duties  incumbent  upon  men;  tlie  inferior 
drudgery  is  the  province  of  the  women,  and  the  Monte- 
negrin toils  only  when  his  inclination  demands  the  ef- 
fort. The  men  therefore  (as  often  is  the  case  in  that 
state  of  society),  whenever  active  and  exciting  pursuits 
are  wanting,  instead  of  returning  to  participate  in  or 
lighten  the  toils  necessity  had  imposed  on  the  women, 
are  contented  to  smoke  the  pipe  of  idleness  or  indulge 
in  desultory  talk,  imagining  that  they  maintain  the 
dignity  of  their  sex  by  reducing  women  to  the  condition 
of  slaves.  The  men  wear  a  white  or  yellow  cloth  fiock, 
reaching  nearly  to  the  knees,  secured  by  a  sash  around 
the  waist ;  under  it  is  a  red  cloth  vest,  and  over  it  a  red 
or  green  jacket  without  sleeves,  both  richly  embroidered, 
and  the  whole  covered  by  a  jacket  bordered  with  fur. 
They  wear  a  red  Fez  cap,  and  white  or  red  turban,  be- 
low which  protrudes  at  the  back  of  the  neck  a  long  lock 
of  hair.  The  women  wear  a  fiock  or  pelisse  of  white 
cloth  and  open  in  front,  but  much  longer  than  that  ot 
the  men,  and  trimmed  with  various  devices,  and  with 
gold  ornaments  in  front  as  well  as  around  the  neck. 
The  red  cap  of  the  girls  is  covered  with  Turkish  coins 
arranged  like  scales.  The  red  cap  of  the  married  women 
has,  instead  of  coins,  a  black  silk  border,  and  on  gala 
days  a  bandeau  of  gold  ornaments.  Women  and  men 
wear  opanche  (sandals),  the  soles  of  which  arc  made  of 
untanned  ox-hide,  with  the  hair  taken  off,  and  that  side 
outward,  and  these  enable  them  to  run  over  the  steep- 
est and  most  slippery  rocks  with  facility.  The  mar- 
riage ceremonies  are  celebrated  with  great  signs  of  re- 
joicing. Eating  and  drinking  form  a  principal  part  of 
the  festivity,  with  the  noisy  discharge  of  guns  and  jus- 
tols,  and  the  duration  of  the  entertainment  depeiuK  on 
the  condition  of  the  parties."  When  a  young  man  re- 
solves on  marrying,  he  expresses  the  wish  to  the  oldest 
and  nearest  relation  of  his  family,  who  repairs  to  the 
house  of  the  girl,  and  asks  her  parents  to  consent  to  the 
match.  This  is  seldom  refused ;  but  if  the  girl  objects 
to  the  suitor,  he  induces  some  of  his  friends  to  join  him 
and  carry  her  off;  which  done,  he  obtains  the  blessing 
of  a  priest,  and  the  matter  is  then  arranged  with  the 
parents.  The  iiride  only  receives  her  clothes,  and  some 
cattle,  for  her  dowry. 

Political  Dirisiims  and  Government. — Montenegro  is 
divided  into  the  districts  of  Montenegro  Proper  and 
Brda  or  Zjcta,  each  of  these  lieing  subdivided  into  four 
"nahies"  or  departments,  and  these  are  further  sub- 
divided, each  subdivision  having  its  own  hereditary 
chief.  Some  islands  in  the  Lake  of  Scutari  also  belong 
to  Montenegro.  Until  ]>i.'>2  the  head  of  the  govern- 
ment was  the  Vladika  ("metropolitan,"  or  "spiritual 
chief),  who,  besides  his  proper  otlice  of  archbishop  and 
ecclesiastical  superior,  was  at  the  same  time  chief  ruler, 
lawgiver,  judge,  and  military  leader.  This  theocratic 
administration  became  (1(597)  hereditary  in  the  Petro- 
vitch  family,  l)ut  as  the  vladika  cannot  marry,  the  dig- 
nity was  inherited  through  brf>ther3  and  nephews.  (See 
below.)  Since  lHr>2  the  two  ofhces  have  been  disjoined, 
and  the  vladika  is  restricted  to  his  ecclesiastical  office, 
while  the  cares  of  government  devolve  upon  the  "(Jos- 
podar"  ("hospodar")  or  lord,  though  the  common  people 
still  ajiply  to  him  the  title  "svcti  gospodar,"  which 


I  properly  belongs  to  the  vladika  alone.  The  vladika 
[  Pietro  II  (1830-51)  established  a  senate  of  sixteen  mem- 
I  bers,  elected  from  the  chief  families  of  the  country,  and 
in  this  body  the  executive  power  is  vested.  The  pub- 
lic ofhcers,  local  judges,  and  public  representatives  are 
appointed  by  popular  election.  From  time  to  time  an 
Assembly  of  all  the  adult  males  of  the  country  takes 
place  in  a  grassy  hollow  near  Cettigne,  the  capital ;  but 
j  the  powers  of  this  assembh'  are  very  undefined.  For 
defraying  the  expenses  of  government,  taxes  are  levied 
on  each  household.  The  prince  also  receives  from  llus- 
sia  a  subsidy  of  8000  ducats  (£3733),  and  from  France 
one  of  50,000  francs  (4)1980).  As  the  Montenegrin, 
even  when  engaged  in  agricultural  operations,  is  ahvays 
armed  with  rifle,  yataghan,  and  pistols,  an  army  of 


ai>  Costume  of  the  "Ilospo